Druids?

Do we have any Druids that could answer some questions or point me in the right direction for answers, please? I've just included one in my NaNo story.

Thanks!

I'm not a Druid, but I do know quite a bit about things Celtic

Great! Thanks Gorm. The father of the main character is a practicing Druid and her mother is a Christian. Anyway, zombies and vampires have become something of a threat and the everyone is warding their houses and collecting flame throwers.

He keeps referring to his group as a grove, would that be correct? Is it generally a group of men and how big would it be? Do Druids cast circles or anything like that when they do ritual? How would a Druid ward a house, draw a protective circle, use herbs, charms, trees or anything like that? Would a Druid feel that trees would help protect him/his family or anything else? Gods?

gillyflower wrote:Great! Thanks Gorm. The father of the main character is a practicing Druid and her mother is a Christian. Anyway, zombies and vampires have become something of a threat and the everyone is warding their houses and collecting flame throwers.

Alright, I'm assuming these are modern folks, what with the flame throwers and all, so when you say Druid, I also assume you're referring to neoDruids. With that in mind.

He keeps referring to his group as a grove, would that be correct? Is it generally a group of men and how big would it be?

Many Druid's do refer to their groups as Groves, generally referring to any given congregation. Strict gender divisions are not that prevalent among modern Druid groups, though female Druids are generally called Druidesses. They range in size, groups of two or three are generally referred to as proto-groves (becoming a grove with an expanded membership base). Some Druid groups are considerably open in their rituals, memberships and public activities. Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), one of the largest modern Druid groups in the US, was actually founded on the notion of not being secretive (unlike many of the other Pagan religions when they were founded).

Do Druids cast circles or anything like that when they do ritual?

Many of the modern Druid groups have a similar base in CM (Ceremonial Magic) as other Pagan practices, so many do operate using the five element/ circle casting, often with the same ritual implements as well. Though as more Reconstructionist elements are being incorporated, the impotence of triads is also worth pointing out. Traditionally the cosmological divisions are earth, sea and sky, there are other triads, in an ADF model, they recognize three realms, the underworld (associated with ancestors), the other world (associated with Gods) and this world (associated with nature spirits/ Aes Sidhe).

How would a Druid ward a house, draw a protective circle, use herbs, charms, trees or anything like that?Would a Druid feel that trees would help protect him/his family or anything else?

This I am less familiar with, though since they have a shared ritual structure with other Pagan religions, I'd imagine a normal warding spell would be fine. Many Druids do hold to Crann Ogham (that is the ogham alphabet has 25 characters, each asociated with a different tree/plant) Googling it would turn up pertinent info.

Gods?

As far as deity goes, generally the focus is on Celtic Gods, so Gallic (Cerrunos, Epona), Gaelic (the Tuatha De Dannan (Lugh, An Dagda, Nuada, Ogma, Bridgit, An Morrígan) Mannan Mac Lir, Welsh (Cerridwen, Morfin). ADF expands its deity base into other Indo European countries so will occasionally incorporate Greek, Roman and Norse pantheons as well.

I'd Google ADF as well to learn more specific things, possibly informing more on the ritual aspects too.

Thanks. I will google that. I also just heard a tip to use [insert info on Druids here] in my NaNo so that I can skip over and come back, do the research and rewrite or add so that it does not have bad info in it. Silly, but I hadn't thought of that. To write about one I have to know a lot more about the different groups.