British Druid Order

The British Druid Order is an international organisation based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards, once described by the Spectator magazine as "religion without the boring bits."

From an initial grove established in Sussex in the late 1970s, the BDO developed under the guidance of Philip Shallcrass, a Druid since 1974 and a High Priest of Alexandrian Wicca since 1979. Philip, or Greywolf (his Druid name), was recently described by Prof. Ronald Hutton as "a shaman quite convincingly diguised as a Druid." This reflects the fact that the BDO sees the Druids of old as having been the 'shamans' of Britain and Europe, a role they may still undertake today. The process of renewing Druidry as a spiritual system answering to the needs of the 21st century is referred to by the BDO as 'rekindling the sacred fire.'

Beliefs and acts

BDO Druidry is animistic, seeing all things as imbued with spirit. It is polytheistic, recognising many gods and goddesses and, therefore, promoting tolerance of other faiths. It offers respect and reverence to our ancestors of blood (our direct physical forebears) and of spirit (those who have walked similar spiritual paths before us). It is Pagan in the original sense of honouring spirits of place, i.e. of hearth and home, village or town. We see the basis the Druid path as being to understand and work with the spirit of inspiration and creativity known in the British Druid tradition as 'awen' (literally, 'the flowing spirit'). Its ultimate goal is that of all mystical paths: oneness with the universe. The BDO promotes the importance of the bardic arts within Druidry, from music, poetry and storytelling to dance and digital photography. The BDO was responsible for establishing the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri at Avebury in 1993, the Gorsedd of Bards of Cor Gawr at Stonehenge in 1995, and has since seeded other bardic Gorseddau and local groves in Britain and around the world.

External links

• British Druid Order website