The Druid Order
Encyclopedia
The Druid Order is a neo-druidic
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...

 group in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It is also called An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas or, in English, The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond. 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 the Autumn Equinox, one at the Spring Equinox, and one at Summer Solstice.

Sometimes the location or time varies due to current circumstance.

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

The second ceremony of the year, the Winter Solstice, passes without a public ceremony.

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

The forth 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 Hele Stone, and a ceremony at noon for the fullness of the light. In recent years these ceremonies have taken place the night and day FOLLOWING the 'open access' to Stonehenge on Summer Solstice itself

The public ceremonies above are, obviously, open to all. Companions of the order 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.

History

Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A reader in the subject at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio...

 in his book The Druids writes that the Druid Order in its current form started around 1909 or 1912 when George Watson MacGregor Reid (1862?-1946) led the group, influenced by universalists
Universalism
Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...

. When Thomas Maughan (1901–1976), who practiced homeopathy, was elected chief in 1964, some senior members and the Order's Maenarch (Chairman) Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols was a Cambridge academic and published poet, artist and historian, who founded the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in 1964. He wrote prolifically on the subjects of Druidism and Celtic mythology.- Work :...

 (1902–1975) left to form the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic organisation based in England, but based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards...

. Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols was a Cambridge academic and published poet, artist and historian, who founded the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in 1964. He wrote prolifically on the subjects of Druidism and Celtic mythology.- Work :...

 in 'The Book of Druidry' wrote that MacGregor Reid told of a history in which John Toland, on the day of the Autumn Equinox 1716 at Primrose Hill, ( where began the Welsh 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 ie. The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond took place the 22nd September 1717 with representatives from London, York, Oxford, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, Scotland, Anglesey, Ireland and Brittany. It was also claimed that John Aubrey, the eighteenth-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. Ronald Hutton, in his book 'Blood and Mistletoe: A History of the Druids in Britain,' takes the lineage prior to George Watson Reid to be merely part of the legend of the order's origins.
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