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Wicca & Druidry
Written by Greg Tczap
The two main streams
of British Paganism are Wicca and Druidry. Although both traditions
draw their
inspiration from past ages, much of their contemporary practice
has evolved very recently - from the eighteenth century for Druidry,
from
the 1940s onwards for Wicca.
The eighteenth century saw the
development of Druid ceremony, much of it articulated by Iolo
Morganwg, and
in
the twentieth century the MacGregor-Reids and Ross Nichols gave
further
inspiration and form to Druid ceremony and thought, while Gerald
Gardner
proved the catalyst for the rebirth (or birth, depending on your
opinion) of Wicca.
Since Wicca and Druidry share so
much in common, it is natural
to wonder whether they were originally one and the same, only
developing later in different directions. Gerald Gardner, in
The Meaning
of Witchcraft
(1959) wrote "The great question is, were the witches and the
Druids members of the same cult?.....Personally, I think they were
not; the witch cult was the religion of the soil, as it were, and
the Druids were the more aristocratic religion.." At a
Pagan Federation conference and then later in The Druid Way
(1993) I
asked
Gardner's question again, and quoted various authors views
on the subject.
Christina Oakley's article continues
the debate, and her conclusion tallies with Gardner's: Wicca and Druidry
have different histories. They certainly "feel" different,
as Christina Oakley mentions, and I think our Paganism is all the
richer for these two vital, distinct and rich traditions growing side
by side. Many people, however, are now following both paths, combining
them idiosyncratically to suit their own tastes and practices, in
the time-honored slightly anarchical way of modern Paganism. There
is value in this, but also, I believe, a danger. The value lies in
our being able to develop our own unique path. Paganism, Wicca, Druidry,
Shamanism, the Earth Religions - all avoid the problems of the Revealed
Religions, which so easily develop into personality cults and dogmatic
systems. The eclecticism and anarchy of the former prevent this. And
so a creative meeting of Wicca and Druidry is occurring, with some
people feeling that the private focus of Wicca fulfils one need, while
the more public focus of Druidry fulfils another.
Christina Oakley says 'At the heart of Wicca is the image of the God
and Goddess joined in love as one'. Whilst variants of Wicca do not
make the Great Rite central, she is speaking here of Traditional British
Wicca, whose focus is on the act of union, just as Druidry's focus
is on the results of that act: symbolized by the Divine Child, the
Mabon, and expressed through the Arts and the Bardic tradition. Thus,
the emphasis on the joining of male and female energy in Wicca seems
perfectly balanced with the emphasis on the results of that joining
in Druidry. So we can see that it is quite possible to follow both
Wicca and Druidry, since each fulfils a different need and helps to
express a different facet of the self. To return to Gerald Gardner's
suggestion, we could say that now we can embrace both traditions because
socially we are no longer so constrained, and the person of the soil
and the person of culture both need feeding within us. Having said
this, it is important to realize the limitations of this argument,
since many Wiccan's and Druids will quite rightly point to the completeness
of their own tradition, which belies any necessity for combination
with a complementary path. Even so, the mixing is undoubtedly happening.
If you were to visit a non-aligned Pagan ceremony at a festival time,
you would almost certainly find yourself participating in a ritual
which draws its inspiration and form partly from Wicca and partly
from Druidry. Ask Wiccan's if they are Druids too, and a good deal
will say they are, and vice versa. The question is, are we enriching
our traditions or diluting them?
While some contemporary Pagans eclectically blend Wiccan and Druid
practice, research is revealing more of the connections that existed
in the seminal years of modern Druidry's and Wicca's development -
the 1940's and 50's. The influence of the related movements of Woodcraft
Chivalry and Naturism of the 20's and 30's, which could be seen as
effectively Pagan movements, is only now being explored (see Ronald
Hutton's article in Enchanted Autumn 1993 and Steve Wilson's article
in Aisling 8 (1995)). Both Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols, founder
of the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids, were influenced by these,
and we know that Gardner was a member of the Ancient Druid Order (The
Druid Way p.57). It has also been suggested that George Watson MacGregor-Reid,
Chief of the Ancient Druid Order, was also a member of the famous
New Forest coven in 1939 (W.E.Liddell The Pickingill Papers, Capall
Bann 1994 ). From conversations with Ross Nichols, and from his writings,
I believe that he was probably not an initiated Wiccan (although I
cannot be certain of this), but I know that he was highly sympathetic
to Wicca and had many Wiccan friends, including Justine Glass, author
of Witchcraft, the Sixth Sense and Us (Neville Spearman 1965) and
apparently Doreen Valiente. Gardner and Nichols were friends too,
and as a result of their exchanges the eightfold Pagan festival cycle
was born. (Or reborn, depending on your point of view. For a discussion
of the history of this central feature of modern Pagan practice see
Steve Wilson's article in Aisling 8 (1995) p.15 which is based partly
on detailed research by Ronald Hutton for his forthcoming book on
the history of modern paganism The Triumph of the Moon.) Following
their discussions, Wiccan's incorporated the Solstices and Equinoxes
into their celebrations, and Druids incorporated the fire festivals
into theirs. That is a tremendous example of cross-fertilization between
the two traditions, and in the last few years we have seen this happening
in a wider, though less dramatic form.
I believe we can avoid a dilution
or homogenization by understanding Druidry and Wicca as two discrete,
separate entities, which nevertheless have much to offer each other.
Some will want to work in both traditions, feeling that they complement
and enrich each other. Others will prefer to root themselves firmly
in just one tradition, sensing that it is complete in itself.
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