Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
Modern Druids
Today’s practitioners of Druidism follow
a spiritual path that is based on guesswork
of what the religion might have been like
When the Roman legions expanded across Northern Europe they did a good job of suppressing the Druids in the first and second centuries CE.
Julius Caesar wrote about them: “The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another.”
It is known they held certain natural features, such as the sea, sky, many plants, and, possibly, even animals to be sacred.
Reinvented Druidism
Druidism was brought back to life in the 17th century. Because very little was known about ancient Druidism, the modern version is based on guesswork. It has no continuous connection to its ancestor.
Every year, at the Summer solstice, modern Druids gather at Stonehenge in England; this despite the fact that there is no known connection between Stonehenge and the ancient Druids.
They also get together at other stone circles in Europe and even in North America.
For some, dawn on the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere is a spiritual occasion.
The Druids are closely associated with the Celtic cultures of Northern and Western Europe. The Wicca movement also comes out of that tradition also.
Misunderstood Wicca
There is probably more misinformation available about Wicca than there is truth.
It is not about hook-
Here’s how a Wiccan who calls himself Herne describes what he accepts: “Wiccan believe that the spirit of the One, Goddess, and God exist in all things. In the trees, rain, flowers, the sea, in each other, and all of Nature’s creatures. This means that we must treat ‘all things’ of the Earth as aspects of the divine. We attempt to honour and respect life in all its many manifestations both seen and unseen.”
Image credit
Ken Crosby
© Canada and the World, March 2009
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EGYPTIAN KEMETIC TRADITION
There is a growing popularity for Egyptian Paganism; in today’s world it is called the Kemetic tradition (Kemet is an ancient name for Egypt).
Its followers worship one god, but that god may have many different personalities; probably, the best known being Ra (the Sun God) and Asar (the God of the afterlife).
The concept of the afterlife is an important feature of Kemetism as it was to ancient Egyptians. After death the soul must pass through several tests before the weighing of the heart. If the heart is heavier than an ostrich feather it is fed to a monster and the person is destroyed forever. If the heart is light enough to pass the test the person goes on to live with ancestors and can communicate with humans on Earth.
According to the 2001 Census, 21,080 Canadians, 0.1 percent of the total population, identified themselves as Pagan.