I'm a Rewilder Druid

I'm a Rewilder Druid. What does that mean?

Well let me begin from the beginning. I began Wicca at the age of 17. I’ll share that story at a later date. Here I rather tell how I came to be a Druid. I was 21. I believe it was 1986. I was hanging in Boulder back in them days. I hung out at the iconic Penny Lane Coffee Shop. One day I was sitting there enjoying my coffee and this beautiful silver hair older woman walked up to me and said, "Cyfarchion i chi!"
Though I was Dianic, I had heard enough Welsh Wiccans use the term enough to know it was a greeting. I said Merry Meet back. She smiled and asked if she could sit. I said sure, while thinking, “How old is she? Silver hair but flawless skin.”

She sat, looked at me and said, “You’re all fucked up.” I was stunned and just went off on her. After several moments I stopped to catch my breath. She looked at me calmly and asked, “If I was done” then, “SIT”

So powerful did the command come that I sat without hesitating. Later I was to learn she was an Empath and sense it in me which grew her to me and made her say what she said to me. The conversation went on into stuff that for me is personal and private, so I won’t bore you with it.

Her name was Nia, but she went by Sparrowhawk. I ended up apprenticing to her for nearly 2 ½ years. She was a Welsh Druidess. She used no aspects of Wicca in her Druidry. Rather she taught me to open the gateways to Earth, Sea and Sky. Though her little cottage like home in Whispering Pine near Nederland was filled with books she never had me read a single one. She taught me purely orally and hands on. She set my feet squarely on the Druidic path.

When I first heard the poetic words from the mouth of Lone Wolf (Jesse Wolf Hardin), it touched me. But didn’t mesh with my Dianic beliefs. Sparrowhawk’s teaching brought me home and open my soul to Lone Wolf’s words and Rewilding. I later settled my Hearth in Irish Druidry rather than my mentor’s Welsh Hearth. Though I still use many of the words in Welsh rather than Gaelic. Like I prefer the Welsh, Awen over the Irish Gaelic, Imbas. Though sometimes I use both to invoke the Soul of the Universe.

So what is a Rewilder? I'll start by giving you the definition of what Rewilding is. I've pulled this from Wikipedia;

"Rewilding is the process of re-instating the role of keystone species to human society where the expression of this role appears lacking. The term originates in conservation biology in which "rewilding" stands for the re-introduction of keystone species into areas where such species appear locally extinct. Rewilding in the anarchist context applies this concept to initiating and regenerating human culture that embodies the role of a keystone species.

In green anarchism and anarcho-primitivism, humans are said to be "civilized" or "domesticated" by civilization. Supporters of such human rewilding argue that through the process of domestication, human wildness has been altered by force.[1]

Rewilding is about overcoming human domestication and returning to behavior inherent in human wildness. Though often associated with primitive skills and learning knowledge of wild plants and animals, it emphasizes the development of the senses and fostering deepening personal relationships with members of other species and the natural world. Rewilding intends to create permanently wild human cultures beyond domestication.[2]

Rewilding is considered a holistic approach to living, as opposed to skills, practices or a specific set of knowledge."

Ok! For me there are different levels of Rewilding. Homesteaders are what I call light Rewilders. They are still domesticated, but they tone it down by choosing a more eco-friendly lifestyle and place their well-being more into the hands of the land than civilization.

Also for the record, there are different levels of anarchy as well. I personally am not interested in say a Mad Max world, which most gutter punks would love. I am what is called a Tribal anarchist.

For a group to live together peacefully there has to be some structure/dogma. Tribalism is hard-wired into humans even in a modern world. Humans are social animals, and ill-equipped to live on their own. Tribal politics is perfect for a small community (small scale).

So what is a Rewilder Druid (I prefer the term Hedge Druid now)? I believe this is what my ancestors were before the influence from Rome. Rome was influencing the Celts and other Europeans long before Caesar invaded. The Celts were already starting to adopt some of the domesticated ways of Rome which slightly soften them up for Caesar's later invasion.

Who were the Druids? The Druids were the wise ones, the educated class of the Celts. They were lawyers, doctors, teachers, storytellers, and other professionals of that culture. They were more than just clergy. The Celts of Ireland called them the Aes Dana (men of art), today archeologists/anthropologists/historians call them the Intelligentsia of the Celtic world.

But Druidry actually predates the Celts, which we know by the old Irish myths. When the Milesian (Celts) first came to Ireland, Amairgen came up against the Druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

The Druids understood Nature, and were natural scientists with a great knowledge of physics and astronomy. They knew how to live in balance with Nature. This is why I feel the Rewilder way fits so well with Druidry and I feel is closer to real Druidry than most of the modern Neo-Druidic groups today. Including my own former ADF, which places a heavier emphasis more on history than natural science.

Knowing our history is important, but is not the whole of Druidry. Druids are the keepers of the accumulated knowledge of the tribe, not just it's history. They honor the First Ancestors (gods) by preserving the knowledge and passing it on.

For me, the best way we can honor the First Ancestors is reclaiming our wildness, our oneness with Nature. This doesn't mean we have to give up technology. Rather learning the old skills/crafts and adding modern green technology is best.

Thanks to modern science, our understanding of herbalism is greater. Oh yah, I'm an herbalist & wild food forager as well as a bushcrafter and priest. Put that all together and you get a Rewilder Druid (Hedge Druid).

Basically I've been on a journey to Rewilding since the beginning. Slowly I've been shedding the trappings that Paganism in a civilized domesticated urban society has weighed itself down with. For me they all get in the way with connecting with Nature and the Universe (creator). For me sitting down in the wilderness keying in on say the sound of the wind or the gurgling of a stream is as powerful as a full blown ceremonial ritual. In fact, I say the keyer is more powerful than the ritual because they can do it within themselves.

I believe the greatest words ever spoken was by the Oracle of Delphi, when she said; "Know Thyself!" Everyone, no matter what Path they walk are heading toward fulfilling these words. She also said; “Nothing to excess”.

In my 37 years as a Pagan, I've come to realize that modern religions have way too much excess. So like the Universe itself, I am forever evolving. Ever growing.

I am a Polytheistic Pantheist. What Pagans call the Gods, I call the First Ancestors. The oldest, wisest most evolved beings in the Universe and they number in the 1,000, maybe more. They are not creators or even beings who need us to worship them. But revere and respect them we should, because they can teach us much about the Universe (creator).

There are other enlighten but lesser beings as well and I don't believe we are the only mortal intelligence in the Universe either. I don't believe that "The Divine Plan (evolution)" evolves around the Earth. We be pretty arrogant to believe that.

So that is me in a nutshell. A small taste of where I’ll be going in this blog.

Welcome to my Blog.

Beannachtaí duit!
/|\ Seosamh the Hedge Druid /|\