What Is Druidry?

As found on and originally published by: Stone Dragon Press, Written by Sam Z.

It is difficult to define what a Druid, or Druidry, is without first agreeing on the general role religion plays in our lives. Without this shared understanding, it is too difficult to express what it is at the heart of being Druid. Instead, the dialogue becomes one of comparing details of religious dress, speech, and pose. Those details are cultural demonstrations of a religion, but they are not the heart of a religion. The heart of being Druid grows from its purpose as a religion.

Many of us who are now pagan were introduced into a mainstream religion at a time when we were deeply engrossed in the sensual world around us. We were affected by our experiences on a physical level, not yet having made the connection that those experiences were supposed to be spiritually or intellectually meaningful. We went through those experiences only for the moment. Then we forgot them or swept them aside, along with the religions we dismissed as flawed.

As adult pagans, we find that our beliefs fall far outside those spread by mainstream religions: our gods and goddesses don't demand our sacrifices; we have more than one deity at any one time; we're expected to celebrate as creatures of nature. It's understandable then that those of us outside the mainstream religion lack a common language. Our English is good, but beyond that, our symbolic communication is shaky. In fact, most of us are making it up as we go along. We explore our understandings, redefine our beliefs, and question the foundations on which our "traditions" are based. The variety and diversity of thinking is powerful. But in order to understand each other, we need to have a common "symbology" so that we can both agree and disagree.

So here's a stab at defining the general purpose that religion plays in our lives: At its best, at its finest, religion is a tool for awakening the spirit. Religion creates a common language for spiritual understanding.

Let's assume that Religion is our guide to living larger, to gaining greater spiritual awareness. The more physically complete, the more spiritually aware, the more intellectually productive we become, the greater the chances that we become the living expression of our religion. Unlike the religions that are codified and mummified, this enables our systems of belief to remain dynamic and animate.