One of my main characters in To Sleep With Stones is a mysterious blue-tattooed dwarf who runs an antiquities shop in Glasgow and practices Druidry. Creating Magus Dubh has led me on a journey into the  realm of contemporary Druids. Over the past several months I’ve researched Druidry and reflected on its importance to a planet in peril. Living on the West Coast of Canada means I’ve had to do this via the net and missed the visceral experience I could get in the UK. Still, I’m learning.
One of my best teachers is Philip Carr-Gomme. A brilliant man, who can distill even the most complicated of issues with a wave of his pen, Carr-Gomme has led the The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids since 1988.
It seems to me that Druids are People of the Trees. Their love for nature inspires them to protect and preserve, celebrate and advocate for the natural world.
Spiritually affiliated with the Celtic tribes, Druids are both artistic and political, bards and judges, but I leave this to Carr-Gomme to explain.
On his latest blog post, he offers an mp3 recording of a talk on Druid Wisdom. Listening to him explain in story what Druidry entails is both inspiring and peaceful. Perhaps I hear the voices of my ancestors in his words; or perhaps I am recalling bygone days when I lived in the Druid world myself. Maybe I am just resonating with the magic of storytelling.
When I laid on the hill of Tara in 2005, I experienced something similar. What now looks like a sheep pasture was once a vibrant home to the kings of Ireland. It is a sacred landscape to which I long to return because it feels like home.
Musing with the Sidhe. Tara Ireland
