Druid?: by Benn

"Abandon all hope of fruition." - Atisha

There is so much to say about this little five-letter word. But I propose one simple (but not easy!) definition:

Druid = "Eternal discovery". Anything else is to narrow.

We live in exciting times. Many groups are springing up worldwide in which the Druid is one of the important figures driving inspiration. I have seen "Druid" defined in ways that usually refer to the historic learned class of Celtic civilization. I have seen lists (even made them myself!) of what a Druid should know, teach, and do. All give glimpses, but in a lot of ways when you have read one article on "What is a Druid?" you have read them all.

I have yet to meet a Druid, and yet I meet them all the time. We stand in the midst of a great universe that is itself a great mystery. One that will never be solved. What bliss! To feel with your heart that the journey never ends. That always around the next corner will be something new and ancient all at the same time. A Druid does not need to be chided into learning Celtic language, or any other Celtic flavor of knowledge. A "Celtic wisdom" becomes a healthy and everlasting obsession, the true Druid simply cannot help but pursue it. I have found that most Druids will never refer to themselves as such, they have learned to hold the word in too high regard.

The Irish term of "Ollamh" (pronounced roughly "ol-lahv") was considered the highest grade of skill inside the Filí in Ireland. Ollamh, in my opinion, was once the Celts way of saying "Bodhisattva". The word Ollamh can be translated to "great teacher" or "great master", the great masters in Celtic tradition that can reveal the ultimate truth. Sometimes poetically expressed as "An Fhírinne in aghaidh an tSaoil", "The Truth Against the World". The Ollamh is a being who has achieved a state of great realization, and can show the rest of us the very real possibility of living a fuller, more textured, and less fearful life.

In the end a Druid's goal transcends Celtic culture and reaches towards the ultimate reality from which all things spring. A Druid simply walks a Celtic path to that ultimate reality that all traditions have touched.

One of my favorite stories about one of the Druids of old comes from Brittany. The Christian monk Guénolé writes of the time he met with one of the last living Druids of his time. He encounters the Druid comforting the dying King Gradlon whom Guénolé has come to see as well. Gradlon asks the monk to be kind to the Druid. When King Gradlon dies both the Druid and the monk sing their songs and dirges over his body. The Druid then addresses the monk as, "brother, for are we not sprung from common ancestors?" The Druid then says to Guénolé:¹

There was once a time, I was young then, when a block of red granite stood here. It's touch gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, hope to hearts in distress. May the sanctuary that you raise inherit the same virtues; it is my wish, the wish of one conquered but resigned to the changing order of the times, one who feels neither bitterness nor hatred. I have spoken.²

Guénolé offers to teach the Druid the truths of Christianity at which point the Druid points at the blue sky saying that when either of them passed on to the Otherworld they might both find, "perchance there is nothing but a great mistake". Guénolé offers to take the Druid back to the abbey with him but the Druid refuses expressing his love for woodland paths and saying, "Do not all tracks lead to the same great centre?" A revolutionary idea to the sixth century Christian world. Heck, it is a revolutionary idea today.³

The "Eternal Discovery" of a Druid is a man or woman who longs to know everything about the path of the Ollamh all the while knowing that they never will. They, "Abandon all hope of fruition",⁴ and a great weight is lifted.

They hunger for the subtleties of Celtic language, folk customs, Irish cooking, poetic expression, the motions of the stars and moon, the embrace of love, the sting of hatred, and the realization of all who walk this Earth with them. The Druid rejects nothing, fears nothing, and lets the oak of realization grow naturally within them. Even if it takes lifetimes. There is no rush.

In the end the question mark after the word "Druid" is even more important than the word itself. The question of what makes a Druid is the fuel that gives us greater compassion, humility, bravado, and hope that we can use in the here and now. We can start by relaxing into the question and not worry so much about the answer. The Druid has a deep, unconquerable love for all things Celtic. All things wise. All things beautiful, even all things hideous.

The story of how the would-be Irish King, Niall of the Nine Hostages, achieved Sovereignty is one to study. Niall encounters a hag of the most hideous aspect guarding a well of water. Niall needs access to this well, for Niall and his brothers are lost and have a great thirst on them. The hag is described as:

. . . every joint and limb of her, from the top of her head to the earth, was as black as coal. Like the tail of a wild horse was the gray bristly mane that came through the upper part of her head-crown. The green branch of an oak in bearing would be severed by the sickle of green teeth that lay in her head and reached to her ears. Dark smoky eyes she had: a nose crooked and hollow. She had a middle fibrous, spotted with pustules, diseased, and shins distorted and awry. Her ankles were thick, her shoulder-blades were broad, her knees were big, and her nails were green. Loathsome indeed was the hag's appearance.⁵

When Niall asks the hag for some of the water of the well the hag tells him that he may have some if he will give her kisses. Niall says not only will he kiss her but he will lie with her! Niall throws himself upon her, and when he does she changes into a woman of extraordinary beauty. When Niall asks who she is she replies, "I am the Sovereignty of Erin . . . O king of Tara, I am Sovereignty".⁶

Nothing is rejected. When a Druid feels hatred they sit with that hatred and feel it as deeply as possible. When they feel love they feel it deeply. Fear, physical pain, hope, confusion, joy, sorrow, and repose. The Ollamh lets all emotion wash over them and have it's time. And just like Niall, the ugliness of the hag becomes the enduring beauty of the Sidhe only when life is embraced in it's totality. Then, slowly, and with continued practice, we live with true Sovereignty. It is, after all, our birthright. The Druid longs to live with Sovereignty and falls in love with the sweet face of eternal discovery.

1. The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis; William B. Eardmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI., 1994. pg. 90

2. The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis; William B. Eardmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI., 1994. pg. 90

3. The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis; William B. Eardmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI., 1994. pg. 90

4. The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times; Pema Chodron, Shambhala Classics, Boston, MA., 2002. pg. 35

5. The Cycle of Kings: The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon

6. The Cycle of Kings: The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon

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