Who We Are

The Mother Grove of this new Order is located in the metro-Atlanta area of Georgia. We are individuals with a variety of backgrounds, professionally, religiously, and educationally. We share in common, a love for the earth and for a spirituality centered in an intimate connection with the earth. We belong to other Druid orders, as well as other religious and spiritual traditions. We are women and men. We welcome people of all ethnic backgrounds. We are a welcoming group irrespective of sexual orientation. Our most basic requirement is this: respect for integrity. That integrity begins with one’s own self, extends to other human beings, to all beings, to the earth itself.

What We Value

Our most basic value is respect for integrity (wholeness). All by itself, learning how to reclaim our own integrity as a primal basic aspect of one’s spiritual path is a lifetime’s work. The remainder of our values as a new Druid Order flow from this respect for integrity, and finds voice in some pieces of ancient Druidry. They are the Three Elements and the Bond of Druids.

We use the Three Elements from ancient Celtic expression, Nwyfre (life force), Calas (solidity and stability) and Gwyar (fluidity, flexibility and change), as a tool for discernment for any important decision and for the basics of our ritual work. We value creative energy, stability and flexibility. We recognize an essential energy in all things and that we interact with at all times, with every breath. As human beings, we require safety and security, and the stability and solidity in which we can root the realities of our lives. We recognize that life is always changing and that the cycle of the year and the cycles of life and death and life again are essential to who we are and what this earth is. Any decision, any organization, any step that omits one of these ceases to respect basic integrity.

We value: (based on the Bond of Druids, or Gorsedd)
• Protection (i.e. safety and security for all members. The grove is a safe place)
• Strength
• Understanding
• Knowledge
• Knowledge of Justice (Justice—where all beings get what they need to survive and thrive)
• The Love of Justice
• The Love of all existences
• The Love of Earth our Mother and all goodness

We commend these elements of the Bond of Druids to regular use in our rituals, and to individual druids for regular meditation and reflection. Each is rooted in a basic respect for integrity.

Ritual and the Druid Path

The Druid Order of the Three Realms has a growing collection of Grove rituals that are provided for member Druids as a starting place. They are the stability of the Order, but it is expected that Awen inspiration, in conjunction with the life force, will constantly lead Druids of the Order both in private and in community to variations on these basic rituals and to create new ones to add to the collection.

The basic rituals have certain common features: the grove circle, oriented to the seven directions, the invocation of the Three Elements and the central Working through the Sphere of Protection, and the recognition of the Druid/Druids celebrants as the center from which this work happens, a center shared with the Earth, the Sun, and the Universe.

While the Druid Order of the Three Realms does not make use of the traditional “degrees” system found in other forms of Druidry and Wicca or Fraternal Orders, we do find the work of John Michael Greer in his Druidry Handbook and Druid Magic Handbook and Brendan Myers in his Mysteries of Druidry very helpful to the individual Druid in crafting his/her path. In short, we commit ourselves to working with the Solar Path of seasons and festivals of the Wheel of the Year, to the Telluric Path work of manifestation, personal calling, the arts, and earth projects, and to the Mystic Path of meditation, reflection and creativity.

Why a New Druid Order

Druidry in the modern world keeps evolving. Druidry has its roots in ancient Celtic traditions, much of which are lost to us; and yet some of which are so powerful, that they speak to us even from the glimpses that we have recovered. Some of us even believe that the spirituality of indigenous Celts may somehow still speak through our DNA!

Modern Revival Druidry affirms both the value of what we can know about ancient Druids and the necessity of crafting our own modern path. The more recent history of Revival Druidry has been largely the product of the British Isles and Ireland as well as male fraternal lodge societies. It has been influenced by the Hermetic tradition and Jewish Kaballah. It has taken on some aspects of Buddhist philosophy and Asian martial arts. And many Druids acknowledge the strong similarities between Celtic Druid traditions and Native American and other Indigenous People’s traditions.

This coming together of indigenous, earth-centered spiritual practices in a modern Druid Order is appropriate and should be cultivated. It is also very clear that the structure and organization of such an order needs to be freed from the patriarchy that still runs fraternal lodges and druid orders that have historic ties to monotheistic religions. We think that we have found resources within Celtic history that will allow us to organize ourselves around something that is energizing and life-giving, stable, and open to creative change. And, that statement in itself is a hint! Keep reading.

Order Organization

This New Order is organized around the elements of energy, stability, and fluidity. The Druid Order of the Three Realms is based on the Grove Circle and therefore is non-hierarchical. This is fundamental to respect of integrity. All members of the Order are known as Druids. Those interested in our order are welcomed as guests and to take up our ritual and practices until they are ready for initiation. Each initiated person is known as a Druid of the Order of the Three Realms, and continues to study and work the Paths and Spirals that are appropriate for his/her life.

The Druid Order of the Three Realms elects as its leaders three Custodian Druids at varying cycles, so that there is always a new Custodian and experienced Custodians on the job at all times. The Custodians plan, organize, facilitate and tend the ongoing activities of the Order. It is the call of all Druids in the order to provide care and concern for one another.

Druids within the order have two other personal choices that they may make for themselves. Druids who want or need clergy status, and who have training that facilitates this status, may ask the order to recognize them as Druid Priests, giving them legal status as Priest functionaries of the Order. Training that facilitates the status of Druid Priest may be varied, and the Order is free to recognize that variety. It is the responsibility of the Druid asking for this status as Priest to demonstrate how the training has prepared him/her to be a Druid Priest. Status as a Priest in no way elevates one Druid over another, but recognizes a particular kind of work that the Druid Priest does on her or his path. This work is not more important than any other kind of Druid work.

Likewise, Druids in the Order may elect a temporary or permanent designation as a Druid of a particular element. If a Druid, for instance, works primarily on his/her path with sustainability and permaculture, he/she may ask the order to recognize him/her as a Druid of the Earth. Our Ceremonies contain rituals for these designations.

Before each public Solar Holiday ritual, Druids meet, alternating between business meetings and fellowship meetings. Druid and Aspirant members are included at business meetings, where all attendees sit in a circle to discuss items on the agenda, which was formed with input from all members. Druids vote and majority rules. Fellowship meetings are also for all members and are a time for Druids and Aspirants to discuss the work they have been doing, if desired. This is a time for stories, songs, music, art, or any other relevant Druid worked to be shared. In addition to the business and fellowship meetings, four times a year, the Order offers workshops, giving members the opportunity to teach others in the community, allowing the work of each to benefit all.