(continuation)

Like the deep wisdom of many indigenous peoples, much of the Celtic wisdom of our ancestors has been preserved like a beautiful gift for the troubled world of today. If we can learn from the ancestors and rediscover our deep connection with the earth and all of nature we can also remember how to honour the creation and God and Goddess once more. The Celtic people had a different perception of God and Goddess; if people today think about God at all, they tend to think of Him as something like a stern but loving, patriarchal grandfather dispensing reward or punishment. The understanding of the Goddess has been much eroded during the past 2,000 years, She is returning to the consciousness of more people now through the New Age movement but many still seek a deeper understanding of the true nature of Her being. Our ancestors were able to name many aspects of the primal creator God and could experience Him in His creation and also as the transcendent, uncreated One God. The triple Goddess was very much loved and honoured in Celtic lands, as the Great Mother She cares for our fields and our homes and families. Together Goddess and God bring everything into life; the minerals and plants, the animals and humans are all Their much loved children that all have a part to play on this earth and all have their own path of development. We human beings have the responsibility to care for, protect and foster the healthy development of all the beings on earth; we cannot live without them and they sacrifice much for our needs.

From our ancestors we know that we have many earthly lives; as spiritual beings our real home is in the spiritual world, this wondrously beautiful planet has been given to us that we may learn and mature into the true human being that we are intended to become. Like young adults we are demanding to make our own decisions and like them we must learn by our mistakes and discover the consequences of our actions. Nature must heal Herself and the extent of the natural upheavals that will come depend on the choices that we make now.

At this extraordinary time we see change approaching from many directions; the effects of climate change are accompanied by the earth’s efforts to cleanse herself of the poisons and toxic waste that we have polluted her with; social and cultural change is preceded by the breakdown of the old structures. This cleansing and breakdown can lead us to a better way of doing things; new leaders may appear and human beings may come to value our beautiful planet.

There is an opportunity for druidry to become once more a valuable and respected path of ancient wisdom as it brings an urgent message to a modern but declining age. The interest in druidry continues to grow as people search for meaning in this uncertain world. We don’t want to live as our ancestors did, neither do we want to become a new religion ~ we want to bring the spiritual wisdom into our daily lives and to be a healthy part of the wave of change that is gathering strength. With the old ceremonies enlivened and teachings true to the stream of the cosmic tradition, our Orders and Groves can bring something of value to many people and so may survive the coming wave and preserve the Truth for the future as did those good ancestors of our path.

Let us remember each other as we celebrate the festivals and honour Goddess and God with ritual, song, dance and story. Our ceremonies can bring us back into harmony with nature and the other worlds, they can help people to remember where they really belong on earth and we can begin to heal that great separation that has occurred between humanity and nature and from God and Goddess.

May the Celts of today come together in great gatherings; respecting one another and learning from one another, preserving the old crafts, arts and skills, telling our stories and performing our Rites with joy and love as we embrace a new and better future for the earth and all beings.

You can find reliable information about Atlantis in the writings of Rudolf Steiner e.g.

Lucie Eva
Ard Ban Draoithe, Order of the White Stag. May ‘09