PollySis

Ta, Rainy - I think we're all so diverse that as many of us that can chime in here, the better! I have so many wiccan friends, one or two witches and some druids and am very aware we're all so different, so the more perspectives we can get the better!

So here I'll give you a druid-y/witchy take on things, and hope the wiccans and others can help out with their perspectives. That said, I can't speak for all druids or witches, just for this one!

Amanda asks:

I know pagans run the gamut, when it comes to afterlife. My own personal belief - and it's shared by many - is that souls can choose to return to earth if they want (reincarnate). Some hang round on the astral plane. Some may have evolved to the point they become spirit Guides. We all have several Guides - some stay with us throughout lfe, others are with us only for certain life-lessons. Once their job's done - they pass on. Guides are with everyone, whatever their belief system, but can't make themselves overtly known to the individual, until the individual chooses to seek them out. This you can do over months, or years, by learning meditation techniques, or lucid dreaming. Anyone can do it but it takes time. Your most important Guide/guardian whatever you want to call them is never a relative or loved one who has died, although they can pop up too, from time to time, in dreams or meditation, if needed.

Therefore there is no concept of 'heaven' - let alone hell or purgatory. The reason we must be caring and decent people on earth is not to win something after we are dead. There is no time for 'deferred gratification' and no concept of building up brownie points as to most pagans, that is seen as the measure of a 'death cult' and we are the very opposite of that.

Paganism is in some respects, closest to Buddhism where simply living in the 'now' is seen as enough. I personally am a pantheist - I believe the gods/goddesses are here, now, all around us, and within us. Therefore the universe is indifferent to our individual fates - nothing I can do here on earth will make a better place for me when I die. Or a worse place. I do not believe in concepts like 'sin' or punishment or retribution - our European ancestors don't seem to have had these concepts until the coming of christianity, around the 4thC. Pagans reject the whole notion of deity categorising people as good or bad. This puts onus on us as individuals to be decent people and makes us firmly responsible for our own behaviours and actions, right now but there is absolutely no concept of 'Do this and the gods will reward you with X, or punish you with Y'.

As a result, I believe 'heaven' (for wont of a better word for it) is right here, now. I can see it in my kids' faces or when I go for a walk in the stunning Yorkshire countryside. I can see it in a cloud, or a bird singing in a tree, or the sea, or a lake - or anywhere. So can we all. As a result, the concept of 'afterlife' is in a sense redundant.

I also believe that time is only a perception, so all times - past, present and future - co-exist. (This is also the kind of thing you might find in Tibetan Buddhism, for example, but by no means exclusive to any one culture). Our European ancestors believed rivers, for example, or any waterways/crossroads, certain holy sites like stone circles - are portals through to any place or time. They would make offerings at holy wells, sacred trees or wherever was a potent place locally, for them, and also use them in ceremony, along with other techniques - such as used by the original people of America and Australasia - to travel freely across place and time.

We know some of their beliefs not just from classical sources, but things like old irish law books. Also things like the 12thC Canons of Wulfstan, and other christian edicts and laws which forbad the English from worshipping at trees, and water, and stones, as they wanted to. Also there are 4th or 5thC (I forget) Roman edicts banning any form of paganism anywhere in Europe. We have elarned more of pagan practices, ironically, from christian law books and edicts, than from our own culture, as the lengthy lists of 'banned' behaviours luckily outline precisely what people were really doing! We also have a lot of clues from archaeology - artefacts, etc.

I'm specifically discussing Celtic druidry, here, and it's modern revived version, rather than other forms of modern paganism. Many European heathens, would have a sense of the afterlife being a very definite place like the Vikings' Valhalla.

We know the ancient Celts believed in reincarnatio, from classical sources but also from the recorded sayings of the Irish druids (judges) and laws that stretch back into the pre-christian era. They appear to have believed that as a soul died in this world, it was born into the Otherworld. So when someone died, you were both sad and happy for them. The other side of that coin - birth was seen as both sad and happy too, because as the baby was born into this world, it died in the Otherworld. The Celts also believed that reincarnation was possible to repay debts. 'Karma' is not just an Eastern concept!

If you feed 'Irish Triads' into a search engine, you will find some lovely druidical sayings. They give an insight into the druid mindset.

I should also say here that 'Celts' was just a name the Romans made up for the tribes of Europe. These days we only think of the Irish, Welsh and Scots as Celts but in fact, the English are also a Celtic people, as are some other European people. (And many US/Australian people f English descent, of course!)

We were always told the Romans chased everyone West to Wales, or they must have gone North of the Border to Scotland - but archaeological and advances in DNA studies now show that of course didn't happen. Whilst the Romans wiped out the druids at Mona, their holy island, even by the time the Anglo Saxons invaded these islands, most of the general populace of England was still, genetically British - and remained so. For some reason our entire language and culture was wiped out after the Romans left and within a generation or two of the Anglo Saxons getting here.

We think of druidism as Welsh or Irish, as it was revived by a Welshman in the 18thC, Iolo Monganwg, and the surviving writings are in Irish. But the classical sources say druidry started in England, and that the English priesthood educated visiting nobles from Ireland and France, and students of druidry and that's why it spread to ireland in one direction, and Brittany in the other. Sorry for the history lesson but I'm just giving some background to the written sources.

Many other pagans, especially wiccans, (help me out here, any wiccans around!) believe in the summerlands - that when you die you pass to a sort of elysium. Spirits or ghosts are either trapped here on earth or choose to return temporarily.

We also revere our ancestors, and believe they can visit us at certain times of year when the 'portal' between one reality and another is thin - Samhuinn.

Amanda's next q:

In my order, we celebrate 8 festivals. In the Southern hemisphere, these are reversed.

4 of the festivals are related to the moon/sun so are astronomical - the solstices and equinoxes. The sun is important to us as it's the life force, or giver of energy. The male principle.

The other 4 festivals are called the 'cross quarters', they're tied in with the seasons and our traditions.

The festivals are:

Samhuinn (or 'Samhain', pronounced 'Sow-en')
Beltane
Imbolc ('I-molk')
Lughnassadh ('Loo-nass-ar')

Alban Hefin (summer solstice)
Alban Arthan - (winter solstice)
Alban Eilir (Spring Equinox)
Alban Elfed (Autumn Equinox)

The stones at NewGrange in Ireland have the sun illuminate a chamber on winter solstice. The stones at Stonehenge see the sun rise at a precise point, at summer solstice.

Our rituals can be big ceremonies with loads of people there - or solo rituals, done alone at home. A group of druids may meet as a study group (called a 'seedgroup') or a full blown group of druids may meet to celebrate with full ritual. Some groups are 'closed' - as ritual can be a very personal thing and group dynamics easily disrupted by outsiders who are unknown to the group. Many are open. Some are open to anyone - and bystanders are encouraged! I work alone as most of my pagan friends happen to be wiccans from a nearby city. I've been very honoured to be invited to their closed circles, but with 5 kids to care for have yet to get across there for one!

We are mavericks, and have no official liturgy. Although my order has solo rituals - and group ones - in circulation for members. There is a fantastic book out about creating your own rituals by the well respected druid, Emma Restall-Orr. Incidentally, we believe that no one has the authority to preach at us, so although some groups have leaders, even something akin to the wiccan high priest/priestess, druids often create their own rituals around the wheel of the year. To us, our self-created rituals are as important as anything our Order has given us. I sometimes follow the script so to speak, sometimes write my own.

Certain bits of druid ritual are almost identical to wiccan - that's because the founder of wicca, Gerald Gardner, was closely associated with one of the key figures in 1950s druidry, who we call 'Nuinn' (It means ash tree).

I do my rituals at midnight, using the energies of the moon. As a woman, I feel that's more 'me'.

Many druids know the druid's prayer and this gets used at many gatherings/rituals, also certain little phrases seem to be used by people whichever Order they're in. Thanks to the book 'Modern Day Druidess' by Cassandra Eason, a lot of people have come to druidry as solitaries, and practice alone.

Very broadly, our rituals involve honouring the great spirit/gods and goddesses, the spirit of place, and the four directions. We create energy and then use that for whatever purpose is needed/relevant at the time. The gods and spirits of place are thanked and the circle closed when we're done. Rituals can be long and complex or as short as you want to make them.


You can read more of druid rituals here:

www.druidry.org

And finally:

I'll try and be brief. (Hurrah! I hear you say!)

A circle is the space in the physical world, but also astral plane, where we do our workings (magic), or simply meditate. Some people create a circle for divination, too. The more confident and adept you become, the faster and easier it is. Basically, it's visualising a cone or ball of white, protective light/energy round you. This prevents problems from any stray nasties in the spirit world - but also some pagans believe it is a place 'out of time and place', in which to work. In druidry, we create via meditation over many months and then years, a 'grove' which is a sort of inner sanctum. To some wiccans and witches, this is their circle. The circle is the place you can do your work. So if, for example, someone wanted to cast a spell (we call it a 'working') then the safe place to do it is their circle.

I've seen Christian Spiritualist Mediums also do some form of protection when they work - it's not dissimilar!

Hope that helps!

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