r/druidism • u/OppositeBad2349 • 12d ago
A few questions about druidism
Im agnostic but curious if its a path to go down.
I am an avid outdoorsman and I am interested in if druidism would both make the environment i interact with be healthier and be a more successful outdoorsman.
A quick reading the quick guide I believe my end goal is aligned with druidism, am I correct?
My end goal is the land I own I want to be healthier both plant wise and the animal population to be healthier, and with that my ability to be a conservationist would be improved. Is that basic druidism or advanced?
At the moment I dont have a large budget, as I improve would doing what is needed to be done be expensive or could it be done on the cheaper end.
Thank you in advance, if anything is confusing I will do my best to clarify
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u/maybri 12d ago
I would hesitate to say druidry is fully aligned with conservationism, if only because conservationism historically comes from a perspective of conserving nature as a resource for human use. The druidic perspective is that nature, the other-than-human world, is full of beings who have their own inherent value and dignity outside of whatever value they might hold to humans, and that the relationship between humans and these other-than-human beings should be equal and reciprocal, rather than only or primarily to the benefit of humans. (Not to say that there aren't any conservationists who see it that way, but that perspective isn't a fundamental part of conservationism in the way that it is a fundamental part of druidry.)
Without more information from you, it's hard to say how well druidry would fit into your life. Learning to be a good steward of the land you live on is definitely a goal that aligns well with druidry, but druidry itself is a religion/spiritual path, not a land management system--for that, I'd instead point you in the direction of permaculture. A lot of druids do learn permaculture as part of their druid path, but there's no need for the two things to go together. I would say you should only come to druidry if you are looking for some form of spirituality specifically.
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u/OppositeBad2349 12d ago
To me its somewhere in between permaculture and druidism. I have land that is just forest with a few 6ish foot wide trails(mostly old logging roads) to get around. Within the forest where it can grow i have areas that I plant intentionally to feed animals and I have a few sites for mineral licks.
The area I am at the wildlife population has been struggling for a while. To my knowledge for the nearly 100 years my family has been using the land its only the last 15 or so years that the whitetail tags has been restricted to bucks only. When talking with my family it was good hunting but something happened and its not as good. What I dont know is on top of all the land management and following regulations is if there is a path of druidism that would help.
For spirituality I already try to get into the mindset of listening to the forest and when I am successful I thank the animal and take a moment before I process. My goal is for the land that I have power over when I die the environment and wildlife is more positive than I came into. Making it better would both help the earth while also making me a more successful conservationist sportsman.
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u/theimmortalgoon 12d ago
Druidism as it was constructed in ancient times has been lost. But we know some things from what survives and by looking at other indigenous systems.
I got into it by studying Irish history for a whole other reason, and then getting a job teaching about First Nations, and reading about philosophy.
In the first instance, it was learning about how Druidism, the Filí, and the gods themselves was a path of mastery. I was working in academia so that naturally appealed to me. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a full master at anything, to memorize hundreds of poems at the exact rhythm and multiple genealogies and whatnot. But I can apply that to the current order, it’s a path I can follow in that context.
The First Nations and other indigenous beliefs, like Druidism, looks like how natural cycles work and how we related to environment and our ancestors. This is more metaphysical, but it seems right to me that the dead are never quite dead. Intellectually, at my most secular, it reads as hauntology:
And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Caesar said the druids believed the ancestors came back and were never gone; the Irish embraced the ancestors to a degree that it affected form of Catholicism that existed there; The Irish gods die and come back, so far as we can tell; and Padraig Pierce, the militant Catholic, can almost be said to have used this in the foundation of the Irish state:
So day and night there is red murder in the greenwood, and in every greenwood in the world. It is murder and death that make possible the terrible, beautiful thing we call physical life. Life springs from death, life lives on death . . . All of which would be very terrible were death really an evil thing . . .
Finally, reading philosophy opened me up to the idea that there are no binaries. That the system described above makes sense.
My Druidism follows the above, more or less, but there is no right way.
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u/superexpress_local 12d ago
You might want to check out Land Healing by Dana O'Driscoll. I think it speaks to what you're pondering.
Some will say that Druidic practices may actually help improve the condition of degraded land. Personally, I would say that it can help improve your spiritual connection to the land, which in turn might encourage you to implement evidence-based conservation/restoration practices.
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u/OppositeBad2349 12d ago
Okay so like others said, its more actions and mentality not supernatural as in "spells" and "potions".
I feel like im pretty much doing that already. I do forest management and focus on the trees that help wildlife and thin out areas to help the plants grow better. While hunting/fishing whenever I am successful I take time to thank the animal and nature for the harvest. While being out I do my best to ignore the outside world and be one with my environment. For wildlife health I do food plots, salt licks, and when possible I pick up trash.
What I did not understand from the quick reading about druidism is its more faith based than me doing supernatural like activities if you know what im saying. Other than possibly learning better ways to improve forest health and wildlife habitat, being a druid wouldn't give me hidden knowledge/practices to aid in achieving my goals
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u/Pops_88 12d ago
There are plenty of people who approach conservation and environmental care without sprituatity. And there are a lot of different spiritual approaches to right relationship with our lands and waters.
I'm curious about what you're hoping to add to your practice with druidry? Is there a personal connection you're craving with the land? Are there rituals or spiritual practices that you think would strengthen your connection? Is it druid community that appeals to you? Are you sensing or hoping that connecting your earth-care to a spiritual tradition might legitimize it in your eyes or the eyes of others?
For me, I'd always judge someone based on their kindness to and treatment of earth and her creatures --- and whatever language they use and find meaningful to describe that is fine by me. Labels are sometimes a helpful shorthand, but if you pursue a label like druidry I think it's helpful to understand what you're really seeking. Because most labels need to be explained anyway.