I’m from england. Norfolk originally, currently in hampshire, via Derbyshire.I’ve been aware of the countries pagan past for as long as I can remember, I was raised with the knowledge of it from my mother and a handful of my school teachers. It helped that Norfolk was once the land held by the Iceni - Boudicca was something of a local heroine. It helped too that a hord of Iceni torcs was unearthed in the village that neighboured mine while I was in school, and some years after that Seahenge was excavated a few miles up the coast. Wicca and druidry was very much part of my surroundings.At first, I defined myself as Wiccae. My studies were much in old societies, the culture, law, legends, language. I learned herb lore and researched the occult side of things. Not only did I celebrate the festivals, I began applying what I’d learned.Mother and myself done an experiment in divination once.. asking multiple decks of tarot and a few other methods the same question, and all came up with the same reading.Being asked to do a read for other people in college I quickly began to develop a reputation, people even began seeking me out when I was needed.I began to gain influence beyond that normally excercised by the Wiccae, they were originally healers and didn’t influence much beyond that, which led me into druidry. Politics and law was their domain, It was there that I could in good consience start to intervene more in the world around me. Much of the skills expected of a druid I’d developed over the years, since in a sense I’d been learning since childhood.I did look up the official druid orders of the time, and found it didn’t entirely sit well with my own personal development and journey. Not only could i not afford the membership fee, which didn’t sit to well with me personally anyway, they were citing welsh as the original language england, or as close to as anyone could trace, and expected I learn it. I may not speak much welsh at the moment, but I do know an amount of Gaelic and Englisc what is now called anglo-saxon. I can use old language, which was just as much part of old society as welsh was. most people don’t speak them, so what use is telling the old tales if those we’re talking to can’t understand what you’re saying?In the end, I took up the mantle of a druid of my own will, in my own path. When it comes to practice, it is more about action than anything else. In a sense, being a bard or ovate or any other role in the druid caste isn’t just something you are, it’s something you do.I have quiet times, sometimes for quite some time, then I’ll be called upon my circumstance to mediate a dispute, to give counsel in some form or other, to teach, sometimes to heal. This is as much practicing the druids path as honoring the festivals. There have been times I’ve taken a lead role within like-minded people I’ve met along my way. Most following a pagan path, some there simply to observe out of academic curiosity.It wasn’t always easy, though. I was in foster care in my teens when I was learning and placed with Catholic carers. At the climax of the argument they went so far as to call in social services to try an stop any contact with my mother. The attempt failed, the social worker listening to the values of paganism and reporting that it was a positive thing for me to be involved it. This was also a period when the resurgance of whats now called the celtic reconstructive religions wasn’t so much in the public eye; I was met primarily with ridicule for a period of several years until public awareness had been raised. It was a time when not everybody had internet access, most book stores didn’t stock the literature, even from libaries we had to order books from the other end of the country.To give you an idea of timescale, I consiously began studies when I was 12 years old, I’m now 30.I think the main merit of this path over most others is personal responsibilty. It is very rare you will hear Wiccae or druid cite divine intervention. Theres a saying amoung Wiccans especially “Goddess helps those who help themselves”. It’s a philosophy that judges not on your intentions, but what you actually do.If we set in motion a chain of events, we are responsible for that chain of events. We have to think seriously before we act.one example I love to torment my students with is the hypothetical situation of: You come across someone, not fatally injured, but hurt enough to be, for the time being, incapacitated.you know this person, if they could, would in the very near future cause great harm to another. There’s no reason to believe you can change their mind. The question: do you intervene?My our point of veiw, the they could heal that person, then and there, and they go forward to commit a murder, than as the healer they have innocent blood on their hands since they facilitated that event.The world is not binary, not black and white as many see it, and any action must be thought through. Those of us who honor a diety aren’t so subsurvient as many of the organised religions. It is not down to God or Goddess to get involved every time, it is for us, and we must act for the greater good.of course I don’t profess we are always successful, but that is our aim. The downside of it all is that mind-set is a lot of pressure to bear. We don’t have the option of ‘God’s plan’ to fall back on, many of the events in our lives are because of our own actions. We can only learn from it, but that doesn’t make some of the lessons any less painful.The central aim of the Druids is to preserve a history, and to look to the future; to make that future a brighter place if we can. Most druids I’ve met have been highly politically savvy, and generally involved in some activism movements.All things are connected, and we cannot ignore those connections. We have a responisbilty as sentient beings to attempt to act in the best interests of the world as a whole. from the natural world of which we are part, to those living now, and to the generations that will follow us.I think thats awnsered things.. in perhaps a roundabout fashion in places as much as I can. I hope it’s been of help.~Ngetal.
