The Druid Order

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The Druid Order
An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas
HeadquartersUnited Kingdom
LeaderDavid Loxley
Websitethedruidorder.org

The Druid Order is a

George Watson MacGregor Reid in the United Kingdom
. At various times it has also been known as The Ancient Druid Order, An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas, and The British Circle of the Universal Bond. Initiated members are called companions.

Activity

Meditation is a key activity. Druidic discussions typically cover personal experience as well as philosophical, biological, mythological, political, poetic, astrological, religious, and similar subjects. Direct experience is more important than learning acquired through books.

Public Ceremonies

For well over a century, The Druid Order has held Public Ceremonies, one at each of the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes, and one at Summer Solstice. Sometimes the location or time varies due to current circumstances.[1]

The first public ceremony of the year, the Autumn Equinox, takes place on Primrose Hill in London.[2]

The second ceremony of the year, the Winter Solstice, passes without a public ceremony.[citation needed]

The third ceremony of the year, the Spring Equinox, is held at Tower Hill in London.[3]

Ceremony at Spring Equinox
Ceremony at Spring Equinox

The fourth and final public ceremony of the year is the Summer solstice. This event is marked by three ceremonies at Stonehenge in Wiltshire: a simple ceremony at midnight for the darkest hour, a dawn ceremony marking the rising of the Sun behind the Heel Stone, and a ceremony at noon for the fullness of the light. In recent years these ceremonies have taken place on the night and day following the 'open access' to Stonehenge on Summer Solstice itself.[4]

Druids at Stonehenge
Druids at Stonehenge
Druids at Tower Hill
Druids at Tower Hill

The public ceremonies above are, obviously, open to all. Companions of the ordered dress in white robes and wear a cowl. They process to the place of the ceremony and form a circle with key positions oriented to the cardinal points and the Sun. Most of the ceremonies feature banners, a sword bearer leading the procession, three ladies bearing items in some way related to the season, the blowing of a horn, the reading of a scroll, representations of the elements Earth, Air, Water and Fire, wine or cider, an invocation to East, West, North and South, and words.[citation needed]

History

Gorsedd of Bards), called for Druids to meet at the Apple Tree Tavern, Covent Garden, London a year and a day later, and that the meeting which formed An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas i.e. The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond took place on 22 September 1717 with representatives from London, York, Oxford, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, Scotland, Anglesey, Ireland and Brittany.[8] It was also claimed that John Aubrey, the seventeenth-century antiquarian, revitalised the Mount Haemus Grove, founded in Oxford in 1245. The claim of Toland and Aubrey as members of any druid order is thought now to be unlikely from a historical perspective. Hutton suggests any lineage prior to George Watson MacGregor Reid is a legendary aspect of the order's origins.[9]

Chief Druids

References

  1. ISBN 9781444302929
    .
  2. ^ Autumn Equinox ceremony pictures Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "March 2008 - my london diary". Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  4. ^ Ploeg, Dirk Vander. "Summer Solstice Among the Ancient Druid Order At Stonehenge". Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  5. ISBN 978-1-85285-533-8
  6. ^ "THOMAS LACKENBY MAUGHAN - Peter Morrell". Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  7. ^ "British Homeopathy during two centuries by Peter Morrell". Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  8. ^ Nichols, Ross, The Book of Druidry, pp76-113, Thorsons, 1992
  9. ^ Hutton, Ronald, Blood and Mistletoe: A History of the Druids in Britain, Yale, 2009

External links

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