Pathways to Druidry

The diversity of religious beliefs in North America is an indicator that religion continues to play an important role in the lives of Americans. The corresponding decline of religious fervor once associated with the secularization thesis is incongruent with 85 percent of the U.S. population who self-identify as religious and/or spiritual.1 One expression of this spirituality is exemplified in the revival of ancient European religious traditions, more commonly referred to as contemporary Paganism or Neopaganism. Max Weber’s theory of the declining influence of religion resulting from a rationalizing Western monotheism that eradicated spirits and magic is challenged by the varied expressions and growth of Neopaganism and other new religious movements.2 Contemporary Druidry is one such expression, or reconstruction, of an ancient European religious tradition that is emerging in Western society. One Druid insider articulates this expression simply, “Far from Weber’s ‘disenchantment’ of the world, [Druidry’s] worldview involves exactly the opposite: a radical ‘re-enchantment.’”3

After defining and situating Druidry in the context of contemporary Pagan religions, the emergence of one particular movement in North America, Ár nDraíocht Féin (pron. arn ree-ocht fane [ADF]), also known as A Druid Fellowship or, literally, Our Druid Fellowship, will be examined. In the context of conversion theory, three factors that make up pathways to ADF—religious deprivation, identity, and legitimacy—are put forward. As such, the study demonstrates that these factors make significant contributions in a person’s religious affiliation and should be taken seriously in future studies of conversion.

One of the challenges facing researchers of contemporary Paganism is data collection. While not unfeasible, the private nature of some religious rituals makes participant observation by outsiders difficult. Access to Pagan events is generally limited to adherents.4 However, religious rituals conducted in public are less problematic, as, for example, my participant observation of a summer solstice ceremony at Glastonbury Tor in June 2003. At the same time, I was denied permission to observe a Druid ordination at Stonehenge after the summer solstice ceremony due to its private nature. It is also less problematic for the researcher once a relationship with the insider has been established. It took nearly three years before one Druid grove invited me to videotape a religious ritual. In this case, it was an ordination ceremony of a Druid priest.5 Even then, the private nature of the ritual prevented the videotaping of some participants.

Nevertheless, my research has progressed for six years and, along with participant observations of three religious rituals, has culminated in nearly 230 interviews of seventy adherents, mainly through the Internet and electronic mail. This research attempts to outline Druid beliefs and compare them to the religious views of Western society in general. The majority of respondents represent two Druid organizations: the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and ADF. The data for this article come from interviews with twenty-six ADF members. Data have also been gathered from thirty autobiographical sketches of ADF leaders posted on the group’s Web site (<www.adf.org>).

The religious identity of contemporary Druidry relies upon the historical record of the Celtic peoples. Much of what is known about the ancient Druids, the priestly class of the Celts, comes from Greek and Roman archeological and written sources. There are no primary source documents of this ancient people due to their reliance on oral tradition as a means to pass on cultural patterns. Like many indigenous religions of Indo-European origin, the religion of the Celts was characterized by nature veneration, polytheism, and worship of both male and female deities.6 While it is almost impossible to identify the Celtic pantheon in any precise manner, Celtic Studies scholar Nora Chadwick surmises that “devotees might have sought from their deities such benefits as protection in war, succour in distress and guidance in life generally.”7

Among ancient sources, Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars identified Celtic deities with those of the Romans, recounting their beliefs in a sovereign power as well as gods of art, manufacturing, healing, and war. The religion seemed to be tribally focused with no real congruence of the gods and goddesses. The cult of a deity was identified with a particular location, such as a spring, lake, river, or forest. While the Celts had sacred enclosures or temples for lay-people, the Druid central places of worship were situated in natural environments. Greek and Roman writers suggested that the Druids worshiped gods in uninhabited groves of trees.8 Groves were considered sacred places held in great awe and only approachable by the Druids.

In part, responsibility for Celtic intellectual and religious life resided with the Druids. They studied for as long as twenty years to master their societal role and Chadwick describes their teaching as “on a lofty plane and included such subjects as the stars and their motions, the nature and greatness of our earth, the power and majesty of the immortal gods, and other matters which comprised natural and moral philosophy.”9 Caesar relates that the Druids knew both Greek and Latin, and were active in the political and military aspects of their people. He considered them the scientists and moral philosophers of the people as well as judges and arbitrators in public and private disputes. They taught that the soul was immortal and a part of the deity known to Caesar as Dis Pater. Instead of being extinguished at death, the soul’s existence would pass to other bodies. Such belief in the after-life gave credence to accounts of the Celts’ fearlessness in the face of death.10

Reliance upon a historical record of mainly secondary and tertiary sources of the Druids can be problematic. In the case of Caesar, political ambitions colored his relationship with the Druids, at least two of whom he knew personally and whom he seems to have glossed in the text. Nevertheless, as Monica Emerich recognizes, contemporary expressions of this ancient religion can generally be regarded in two ways. On the one hand, revivalist movements utilize history as a starting point for the development of religious practices. Thus, because many ancient Druid practices are unrecoverable, these movements incorporate traditions and practices of other Pagan religions. Revivalist movements are typically labeled Neopagan since they are adding something new to their historical understanding. Reconstructionist movements, on the other hand, place greater significance on history and believe that ancient practices can be discovered and reconstructed by studying archaeology, epigrapha, historical records, folk traditions, and the early literature of the United Kingdom.11 In trying to explain ADF one informant states, “ADF Druidry is a reconstruction religion. We do this by researching history, archaeology and the way humans lived and their belief systems and their migrations.”12 Admittedly, there is a range of understanding whether contemporary Druidry is a revivalist or reconstructionist religion.

There are certainly aspects of contemporary Druidry that fit each of these categories. Even so, because this study is focused on one Druid organization and its members it is important to understand how they self-identify. ADF describes Druidry as follows:

NeoPagan Druidry is a group of religions, philosophies and ways of life, rooted in ancient soil yet reaching for the stars. We are part of the larger NeoPagan movement, one of the world’s most vital and creative new religious awakenings. Like much of that movement we are polytheistic nature worshippers, working with the best aspects of the Pagan religions of our predecessors within a modern scientific, artistic, ecological and wholistic context using a nondogmatic and pluralistic approach.13

Responding to my initial contact, one informant described ADF as follows:

There are other Druid churches just as there are Christian churches other than the EFCA [Evangelical Free Church of America]. And just as your beliefs may differ from those of, say, the Byzantine Catholic Church of Slovakia, so may ours differ from other Druid churches. In fact, since ADF is pan Indo-European in nature, our beliefs may differ from Grove to Grove, i.e., one Grove may have a Celtic focus while another may have a Slavic focus. In this way we are similar to the EFCA, or at least my understanding of the EFCA, which is, I believe, an association of independent congregations with a central mission but no central dogma.14

Isaac Bonewits, founder and first Archdruid of ADF, defined Druidry in light of its relationship with the ancient expression, or “paleo-Paganism” in Bonewits’s understanding.15 As such, Druidry is a Neopagan religion. By this, Bonewits meant that ADF would be a new expression of what he called “Paleopaganism.” He desired to differentiate Neopaganism from those Pagan religious groups that incorporate elements of Christianity or other religious elements into their practice, that is, “Mesopaganisms” that took shape during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that today find their existence in fraternal organizations such as Freemasonry and magical orders like Ordo Templi Orientis. These distinctions do not seem important to adherents. However, as Breanna indicates:

As for myself, I respond with a shameless yes to both terms. I am a Pagan and a Neo-Pagan. I find, however, as time goes on, that I call myself Pagan more and more, rather than Neo-Pagan. Probably because I’ve been a Pagan for ten and a half years now. I’m not exactly new to it anymore.16

Nonetheless, ADF has elements that are revivalist as well as reconstructionist. They could also be considered geopagan, neopagan and recopagan.17 Since an exact definition is elusive, however, it seems reasonable to suggest the following: Contemporary Druidry is a new religious movement attempting to revive and/or reconstruct ancient folk practices associated with certain Indo-European peoples. As such, contemporary Druidry is nature-venerating and polytheistic, with an explicit attempt to incorporate what is known about ancient Druidic theology and practice.

North American Druidry began at a small Lutheran college in Minnesota. The Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) explains its founding in 1963 on the campus of Carleton College as a result of protests against compulsory chapel attendance. The founders never intended to form a religion and did not expect that it would continue after their departure from college. RDNA did not draw from any historical sources for its identity, and many who participated in the movement ultimately returned to their previous faith. Some suggest that RDNA had similarities with the United Ancient Order of Druids (a split from Henry Hurle’s the Ancient Order of Druids) as well as with other fraternal orders organized along the lines of freemasonry.18

ADF began as a split from RDNA. In 1968 Robert Larson, Archdruid and cofounder of RDNA, left Carleton College without graduating and formed a Druid grove in Berkeley, California. Fascinated with ancient Paganism, he found a following there from which one of his disciples, Isaac Bonewits, would begin ADF.19 Having become a Druid priest in 1969, Bonewits would attempt—unsuccessfully—to move RDNA from its Mesopagan origins into Neopaganism.

I’ve studied, practiced and written about many different forms of magic and religion over the years, yet always I find myself going back to Druidism. Many people have written to me to tell of similar spiritual histories, of their knowledge that they are meant to walk the Druid Path.

Yet what can we, who wish to worship and to grow as Neopagan Druids, do for fellowship? The Masonic Druids have much to teach us, yet they are not Neopagan. The “Druidic” traditions of Wicca are interesting, but they’re not really very Druidic. The members of the RDNA have no interest at all in being organized by anyone, nor in recruiting and training would-be Neopagan Druids. There doesn’t seem to be any organized group of people trying to reconstruct what the Paleopagan Druids actually believed and did, nor trying to apply such knowledge to creating a Neopagan religion fit for the Space Age.20

In 1984, Bonewits laid out his vision for a Neopagan Druidry that would ultimately result in the formation of ADF:

The purpose of this letter is an announcement of, and an invitation for your participation in, the creation of a new Neopagan religion: Ár nDraíocht Féin. The Irish words (pronounced “arn ree-ocht fane”) mean “Our own Druidism,” and that’s what I have in mind—a brand new form of Druidism, not just Pan-Celtic, but Pan-European. (By this latter term, I mean to include all of the European branches of the Indo-European culture and language tree—Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, even the pre-Classical Greek & Roman.) Paradoxically, this would resemble the original Paleopagan Druidism far more than any efforts of the last thousand years. It would be based on the best scholarly research available, combined with what has been learned (about art, psychology, small group politics and economics) through the theory and practice of modern Neopaganism, and my own knowledge of (the polytheological and practical details) magical and religious phenomena.21

Twelve years later, on 1 January 1996, the founding Archdruid resigned due to personal health issues, as well as other problems. “It is also true,” he wrote, “that I am tired of fighting to maintain our standards in training and liturgy, of the constant backbiting and gossip that has replaced actual work for many of our members and some officers, of egalitarian campaigns to cripple my office, and of sanctimonious efforts to silence me from expressing controversial opinions. All of these are, of course, common human behaviors for members of all religions. I just don’t have the physical and mental stamina to handle them anymore.”22

Bonewits comments that the transition went smoothly and he remains Archdruid Emeritus of the order. The growth of ADF has remained consistent over the years (see Graph 1), and since 1984 has had three Archdruids: Bonewits (1984–1996), Fox (1996–2001), and finally Skip Ellison (2001–present). Ellison indicated that as of March 2005 ADF had forty-nine groves with a membership of 957. Presently, ADF claims sixty-one groves23 and, as of August 2007, 1177 adherents.24

While ADF has grown, the question of why people are attracted to this religious system remains. Conversion theory has been a focus of religious studies for several decades, beginning from the hypothesis that conversion to religious groups was typically exemplified in a Pauline manner.25 Influenced by St. Augustine’s interpretation of the Apostle Paul’s experience, the Pauline conversion was dramatic and divinely initiated. Augustine also understood the New Testament to teach the sometimes violent coercion of heretics and unbelievers.26

Conversion theory evolved to consider more seriously human responsibility in the conversion process.27 According to the Lofland-Stark model of conversion,28 two motives precipitate people’s tendency to affiliate with religious movements: predisposing conditions and situational contingencies. Lofland and Stark understood predisposing conditions to include three factors. First, pre-converts sense a tension between a perceived ideal and their current situation. Next, this tension leads pre-converts to the perspective that a new religious affiliation might resolve the tension. Lastly, pre-converts look for a solution to the problem through a religious system that makes sense of their current situation. Thus, through the appeal of an ideology that soothes the feeling of deprivation potential recruits are predisposed to religious shifting.

Situational contingencies were the second reason Lofland and Stark asserted pre-converts affiliated with a religious movement, that is, “conditions that lead to the successful recruitment of persons predisposed.”29 Four salient characteristics inform these contingencies. First, a pre-convert has reached a turning point by the time of contact with the religious movement. Second, an “affective bond” is created between the pre-convert and a member or members of the religious movement. Third, competing social networks are reduced or eliminated. Fourth, the pre-convert is exposed to “intensive interaction” with other recent converts. Thus, the Lofland-Stark theory posits that the change of a pre-convert’s social network is instrumental in the conversion decision.

While the Lofland-Stark theory has been tested repeatedly over the years,30 Lorne Dawson regards the model in terms of the degree to which their seven factors (three predisposing conditions and four situational contingencies) are empirically supported.31 Admittedly, Dawson states, “the degree to which any or all of these factors are involved in recruitment to any NRM is subject to variation.”32 Rather, it could be any combination of factors that move a person to convert or reaffiliate.33 Thus, in some cases of conversion, ideology is central in one’s motives, while in others, it is the social network. For example, while Stark and Bainbridge contend that social networks are essential in recruitment,34 Helen Rose Ebaugh and Sharon Vaughn found that the nature of such networks and their success in recruiting were influenced by a religion’s ideology.35

In reviewing theories of conversion, Dawson notes seven generalizations regarding reasons for involvement in new religious movements.

• Recruitment to NRMs occurs to a greater degree through social networks.
• Recruits are induced to join NRMs through affective ties.
• Intensive interaction with members contributes to securing a recruit’s conversion.
• Weak social ties outside of the activities of an NRM strengthens activities with the NRM.
• Weak ideological positions increases the tie with an NRM.
• Active seeking of religious answers precedes some conversions.
• Promised rewards precipitates conversion.36

It can be any combination of these generalizations that contribute to religious shifting by conversion or reaffiliation. In the case of Druidry, social networks that lead people to convert are apparently absent (at least absent from the testimonies of adherents). However, ideological appeal and deprivation do contribute significantly as pathways to Druidry.

There are many reasons why people choose to affiliate with a religious movement. While many ADF adherents would not refer to themselves as converts, religious shifting has taken place nonetheless. Rodney Stark and Roger Finke have defined such shifting in two ways: conversion and reaffiliation. Conversion is understood as “shifts across religious traditions.”37 In most ADF cases, “conversion” has taken place among adherents. In some cases, affiliation with ADF was in line with what Stark and Finke define as reaffiliation, “shifts within religious traditions,”38 as in the case of movement from Other Pagan or Wicca to Druidry. As Table 1 indicates, the greatest shift across religious traditions occurred from Christianity to Druidry. Conversion, then, occurred in the majority of cases (54 percent), while reaffiliation constituted 30 percent.

Three recurring themes emerged in practitioners’ responses regarding their affiliation with ADF: religious deprivation, religious identity, and religious legitimacy. In most instances, these themes, or pathways, have worked concomitantly and have opened the door to further exploration into religious shifting. While there are identifiable organizational and structural components to ADF’s growth, they fall outside of the scope of this essay. The focus here will be on practitioners’ self-understanding as they walked the various paths to Druidry.

Religious Deprivation

One common theme was ADF adherents’ disillusionment with western Christianity. Druids look at the Christian era as one of destruction and futility. To them, western Christianity has been an oppressive force that has subordinated women and disregarded the environment. Similarly, it is characterized by its emphasis on reason at the expense of imagination. This reliance on rationalism resulted in the demythologization of the universe and the concomitant disenchantment once described by Max Weber and Peter Berger.39 Commenting on his impression of Christianity, Christopher said, “Christianity today: I think much of it is NOT Christ like. I truly think Jesus would be very ashamed of what ‘his’ people have been doing in his name over the centuries. This is not to say that ‘every Christian’ is like this. I know there are TRUE Christians and they have my utmost respect.”40

As might be expected from a society dominated by Christianity, many practitioners of Druidry have come from Christian backgrounds. Thirty-seven percent of ADF interviewees were once a part of some Christian denomination. While it is not surprising that conversion in the Western context would be away from the dominant religion, the reasons for such conversion are of particular interest. For example, Peter said, “Since I was raised as a ‘Christian,’ I can say with certainty that Christianity as a ‘Formal Religion’ is the most perverted, corrupt, despicable excuse for a religion I have ever heard of.”41 After an experience with the death of a pet, Bryan Perrin decided to leave the Christian faith of his parents. He writes:

It was then that I was told that the Bible teaches that animals have no souls, no heaven and no savior. I thought: if God’s heaven didn’t allow animals then I didn’t want any part of it! If the Bible teaches that humans are the only form of life with spirit, then the Bible is wrong. It was then that I tossed the book aside and went to the source—the Earth, the Mother of All Life.42

On occasion, this disillusionment with Christianity led to exploring new faiths and, ultimately, to Druidry. The current Archdruid of ADF came from a Baptist church. Before switching religious affiliation, he described his Christian experience as “born again.” He states, “The more reading I did, the more I realized it just wasn’t true. There were more things out there than what they were telling people.”43 When asked what he thought was out there that the Baptists were not telling him, he responded:

I disliked the idea that I had to believe everything that was written in one book when there were more manuscripts available from that time period that disproved it, or talked about other things that weren’t even in the book. The more reading I did in history, and on archaeological research that was being done, the more I resented that I wasn’t being told the entire story by the Baptists. I started getting books and reading them. I belonged to the Psychic Book Club. This was in the 1960s and I found that was more in line with what I was looking for. But I’ve always been interested in nature and the woods and hunting.

And to have a religion that accepts all of that, that embraces nature and makes your lifestyle part of your religious experience—I don’t think that most monotheistic religions do that.

No, very few of them do. There’s starting to be a few ecological Christian groups coming up now, but they’re really heretical in what they’re saying within the Church.44

The idea that Christianity was somehow misguiding people was common. For example, Ann comments:

Let me give a bit of my history. I grew up in the Church of God and Assembly of God. I went to three years of AG summer camp (where, one year I was one of eight nominees for “Camper of the Week”), belonged to the youth group and started a Bible study class my junior year of high school, which met in the library every morning before class. My senior year, at a new high school I started a lunch time fellowship group . . .

I was baptized . . . twice. The first time was when I was seven years old. I chose to do this again at seventeen, because I didn’t feel, as a child, I really understood the serious nature of baptism. I say all this to let you know that I “lived” the life . . . I didn’t just go through the motions . . .

However, I questioned and questioned. I could NOT understand how God could allow good people to go to hell, just because they believed differently. People who were TRULY GOOD would have to suffer. I also couldn’t understand how He could allow people to suffer who had never heard of Him before. I asked my youth leader once “What about the people in the African jungles who’ve never heard of God?” The response I got was “Everyone will have a chance to turn to God.” . . .

Anyway, the older I got, the more things just didn’t sit well with me. THEN, I met my husband, who was Catholic. According to the way I grew up that was a “no no.” Catholics would also be going to hell. This also did not make sense to me. My dear husband’s family were some of the sweetest, most wonderful people I’d ever met . . .

For years after we were married, I still held on to these beliefs . . . but felt torn. My standard answer to questions asked from others or those I asked myself, “Because the Bible says it is so.” But I still felt torn. It didn’t feel “right.” . . .

Then eight years ago, I took a comparative religions class. This started the ball rolling. I later started to read a bit of the Tao te Ching. WOW! So many cultures had teachings very similar to Jesus. Yet many of these were BEFORE his time. And, gee, look at all these different “creation” myths!!! Anyway, one thing led to another and I found my home here. I do not place the label “druid” on myself. I became part of ADF and RavenWood to learn and to be with others who honor ALL life as sacred.45

The notion that Christianity was not satisfying or that it misled people by depriving them of other religious experiences and expressions often precipitated a move either directly to Druidry or to Druidry from yet another religious tradition. It seems clear that individuals experienced what Lofland and Stark described as deprivation induced by a tension between what they perceived as the ideal and the reality of religion. With religious deprivation, there was a certain degree of unresolved tension before affiliating with the new religious movement. As in Ann’s case, this tension was most often exemplified in the adherents’ realization that Christianity did not fulfill their spiritual needs. This precipitated their search for another religious expression. In both instances, whether conversion or reaffiliation, a desire for a religious identity somehow connected to an ancient spirituality was also important.

Religious Identity

A second common theme that emerged was the desire for religious identity. For centuries Christianity offered the West a religious identity, but in recent years the proliferation of immigrant religion and new religious movements has filled the religious marketplace with competing identities. Due in part to globalization and the popular acceptance of Eastern philosophies, exploration of ancient European religions such as Druidry have legitimized practices once thought of as superstitious and disavowed by Christianity. Ellison’s comments above allude to these. His openness to explore new faiths or beliefs is indicative of the religious pluralism of a globalized world, but it also highlights a crisis in the religious identity of late modern society. Several respondents expressed an interest in other religions as a factor in their journey to Druidry. However, they had not only an interest in religion, but also in mystery, especially as it relates to nature and the divine. This sense of religious identity is important to ADF as it strives to bring the past into the present.

While there might be some instances of Sarah Pike’s assertion that Neopaganism has developed out of religious traditions connected to eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Esotericism, practitioners of Druidry have sensed more of a connection with nature or ancestry than with Theosophy or Asian religions46 and these two connections have led many on the path to ADF. For example, Zachary states, “My feeling about Druidry is that it offers one of the most direct ways of connecting with those god/goddess manifestations and through its reverence to nature offers mankind a stabilizing reconnection with who we really are. This is something that Western civilization is desperately in need of.”47 Some simply feel a connection to the earth. As Debbie stated, “I also seemed to have a ‘connection’ to the Earth that seemed, to me, akin to magic.”48 For others, the connection between nature and ancestry are combined. Explaining his reasons for being involved with ADF, one leader remarked, “Like so many others, I craved a connection to our Mother Earth and my European ancestors.”49 Dorothy offers yet another example, saying in an interview, “I have some Irish ancestry, and felt drawn to there, so ended up making a kind of meandering beeline to Ireland. It was while wandering the countryside around Sligo, and specifically at Queen Maeb’s tomb, that I felt awakened to something different. For the first time, I felt that the land ‘spoke’ to me and that discrete, sentient intelligences were speaking.”50

In relation to religious identity, there is some congruence between the Lofland-Stark theory and the conversion of ADF adherents. For example, a decisive turning point is apparent in many of their conversion stories, though that point was more often expressed in terms of a sense of connection with nature and the divine than connection to a social network. This aspect reflects Dawson’s suggestion of an ideological alignment, or what I label a desire for religious identity. Rarely did an adherent suggest that a connection with another member of ADF was instrumental in their affiliation. However, with the Druid belief in the spiritual nature of the earth and the perceived reality of ancestral and spirit contacts, social networks might be conceptualized in terms of a connection with the spirit world rather than the material.

While an affective bond with other members was not apparent, there does seem to be a bond via the Internet. It is still unclear as to whether the Internet contact was simply with the ADF Web pages or with individuals on the discussion forum. It could very likely be that an affective bond was created through electronic means rather than face-to-face. There is little indication that bonds outside ADF were reduced or that there was intensive interaction with recent converts. Instead, it seems apparent that the ideological shifts were due in part to the desire for a religious identity based upon an ideological appeal that fit personal experience.

Religious Legitimacy

Finally, religious legitimacy based upon scholarship and the perception of antiquity provides a third pathway to Druidry. The influence of scholarship is especially evident in Druidry’s eighteenth-century revival,51 a fascination with ancient religious identity that resulted in part from the European encounter with native peoples of North America. Combined with the translation of classical texts into English, a renewed awareness of Europe’s ancient identity was born.

However, historical data regarding the ancient Druids are limited, and claims to a unified religious belief among the Celtic peoples, who spanned the continent from Iberia to the upper Danube, are unsubstantiated. Barry Cunliffe writes, “The immensely rich vernacular literature of the Insular Celts must be approached in the awareness that Celtic religion was not necessarily consistent across Europe, nor was it unchanging.”52 Similarly, Chadwick affirms, “It would be unreasonable to seek within the whole corpus of early Irish literature a coherent summary of the beliefs of the Celts as such.”53 In spite of how tempting it is to some, there is no evidence to suggest a unified ancient religion in Europe. Consequently, Christina Oakley asserts that it is incorrect for contemporary Pagans, whether Wiccan or Druid, to claim a single surviving ancient European religious history. Instead, it is more accurate to speak of ancient systems of varying beliefs that were woven into the fabric of an accommodating folk Christianity.54

Those special people who believed in their local spirits, who cultivated psychic or magic powers, who told and retold their ancient myths, who cast spells and performed divinations, who dressed in animal skins—almost all considered themselves Christian once Christianity had arrived and established itself, although in rural areas this may have amounted to no more than a nominal Christianity.55

Nevertheless, many Pagans in contemporary Western society are struggling to find some measure of historically verifiable continuity with ancient practices. Modern Druidry attempts to help practitioners with a sense of legitimacy by transmitting an awareness of traditions, even though there is an uncertain historical provenience. Oral traditions and legends abound in ancient Druidry and contemporary Druids utilize them for this sense of connectedness to an imagined past. An historically continuous line to ancient Druidry is not essential in Druidry’s contemporary expression, and it is enough to suggest a connection. The oral nature of the ancient Druid practices allows considerable room for interpretation by contemporary practitioners. This is not to suggest that modern Druids disregard their ancestors or their history, but to highlight their creative ability to bring what was once considered an irrelevant and superstitious practice into less marginal areas of Western spirituality.

According to adherents, though, the contemporary practices of ADF are based upon scholarly research. Consider, for example, the goal of research in ADF as articulated by Fox, a former Archdruid of ADF:

ADF is working to combine in-depth scholarship with the inspiration of artistry and spiritual practice to create a powerful modern Paganism. We’re researching and interpreting sound modern scholarship (rather than romantic fantasies) about the ancient Indo-European Pagans—the Celts, Norse, Slavs, Balts, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Vedics, and others. Upon these cultural foundations we are working to build a religion that these ancient people would appreciate and understand yet one which has depth and power for modern people. We’re working to develop genuine skills in composition and presentation in the musical, dramatic, graphic, textile and other arts. We’re bringing together people trained in ritual, psychic skills and applied mythology to bring the remnants of the old ways to life. We’re creating a nonsexist, non-racist, organic, flexible and publicly available religion to practice as a way of life and to hand on to future generations.56

Many adherents were drawn to ADF because of its commitment to scholarship. For example, responding to the question, “Why did I join ADF?” Sharon Smith replies, “Because it was exactly what I was looking for—solid scholarship coupled with a very workable approach to modern Druidic practice.”57 Similarly, Jenni Hunt states, “Here was a religion that balanced intellectualism and spirituality; books and intuition; study and ritual; solemnity and fun.”58 Still another writes, “It allows room for a deep spirituality, while staying true to scholarship and our ancestors.”59 The Senior Druid of Red Oak Grove in New Jersey is no different, adding, “I love the vision of ADF: to be dedicated to the achievement of excellence in every area, and to recreate a living, dynamic religion for today, inspired by serious research into the actual practices of the ancient Druids.”60

Much of ADF’s scholarly work is available on their Web site. In fact, the Internet has contributed to the legitimization of ADF, as it has many other religious groups. As sociologist Wade Clark Roof states, “The very fact that Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft can just as easily have web pages on the Internet as the Roman Catholic Church means that religions once considered esoteric, if not blasphemous, now gain legitimacy and acceptance, and thus increasingly take their place in this country’s evolving religious pluralism.”61 Roof adds, “The Pope and leaders of a pagan community become equals in the cyberspace staging of religious possibilities.”62 Aesa, a Lynchburg, Virginia resident, found safety in ADF’s Web presence, writing, “I found the website and found people mingling scholarship with faith—great googly moogly! I spent several entire days cruising the ADF website, reading every article on it, reading every word I could find. It was a safe thing to do—join an organization without actually having to meet other pagans.”63 Another ADF leader writes, “I found ADF on the web, lurked for six months and joined in 1999.”64

Religious legitimacy through scholarship emerged as a factor that is not often considered in conversion theory. I have recently argued that “ancientization” is an important factor in the construction of religious identity.65 Similar to the effects of Easternization on the Western religious landscape, ancientization legitimizes religious identity through a connection with the ancient past. One informant summed up her journey and it is representative of many: “My interest in Earth-based religion, my own Celtic ancestry, past life memories of being a Druid, experiences with geographically specific energies/entities, a love of scholarly pursuits, history, social anthropology all this created my following the path.”66

Philip Carr-Gomm suggests that the revival of Druidry is due both to the failure of “established” religions to meet the spiritual needs of people and to the environmental crisis brought on by the dualism and authoritarianism of formal religions.67 According to Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, the resurgence of Paganism has been a response to the desire to relocate humanity in both physical and chronological contexts: physical in the sense that the natural world is an indispensable part of life, and chronological in the sense of continuity with ancient beliefs and practices.68 Contemporary Paganism offers what they suggest is a “possible religious philosophy for a pluralistic, multicultural society.”69

This article has highlighted three themes in decisions to affiliate with ADF: religious deprivation, religious identity, and religious legitimacy. Religious deprivation occurs when spiritual needs are not met by the religious tradition that was being practiced. Religious identity spurs seekers to make ideological connections that seem congruent with one’s personal feelings and experiences. Finally, the fact that religious belief was legitimized through scholarly pursuits that led to a realization of an historical connection constituted another factor contributing to conversion.

These are personal stories and journeys only occasionally influenced by other people. Often, journeys have included the Internet, but often even nature itself. The pathways to Druidry reflect the desire for a connection to something beyond the self, a metaphysical social network, as it were. Feelings and emotions are supported by “ancientization” which legitimizes personal experience. All of these pathways have led adherents to a sense of “this is where I am meant to be.”

That said, further study is needed, however. The degree to which converts simply express their conversion verbally in relation to the degree to which they demonstrate active religious practice congruent with their verbal expression needs to be explored. Similarly, study should also focus on other themes that emerged in conversion to ADF: the role of Isaac Bonewits; religious switching between contemporary Pagan groups; and the contribution of printed materials and friendship networks.