The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids is not a cult or a religion. The study is designed to
teach us about ourselves and nature, to help us get back to ourselves, nature, and our source.
It’s aim is to help us develop our potential, and encourages a way of life in harmony with
nature.
There is no Master or Guru at the head of the Order. That way no one is diverted from the
aims of the order toward the adoration of another person. One of the advantages of an order
as against a movement centered around a teacher is that it prevents the development of a
personality cult.
Druidry re-establishes a connection we have lost between ourselves and nature and our
source (God, Goddess, lifeforce, whatever that is to you), and also between ourselves and our
deep selves within us.
Since we seem to have lost our connection with the earth and with nature to the extent that
man seems bent on destroying it, it is more important than ever that we take steps to learn, to
connect to the earth again in a way meaningful and productive.
Druidry is basically a solar path, connecting us to the spritual sun, and with the stars and
moon, the earth and sky, and with the four elements. Druidry teaches a way of communion
with with nature and the divine spiritual source that manifests through the natural world.
Many methods and techniques are taught within the Order, and in particular eight ceremonies
that connect us with the natural world and our spiritual source. They help us to commune with
nature and with ourselves.
The Bardic grade is that of the Arts. Through poetry and music, painting, dance and
sculpture, we develop our esthetic senses, the esthetic nature in ourselves. In every Gorsedd
(gathering) of Druids, a part of the meeting is dedicated to the Arts, and is called an
Eisteddfod. The teachings engage our Intellectual Self, the exercises of the Practical Work
develop our Inner Abilities and evoke the Will and Imagination, and the Eisteddfod engages
our hearts and souls.
The Glen
Fruitful glen of fish-filled pools
beautiful your rounded hills of wheat;
remembering you causes me great distress,
glen of bees and the horned wild ox.
Glen filled with cuckoo, thrush and blackbird,
joyous forest to every fox,
glen of garlic, green with cress,
flowering clover curly-crested.
The clear voice of the red-backed deer
under the oak tree, high on the summit
gentle hinds and they so timid
lying hidden in your well-wooded glade.
Glen of the scarlet berried rowan
fruit praised by every flock of birds,
for the badgers a sleepy seclusion
quiet in their burrows with their young.
Glen of the silent blue-eyed hawk
glen with rich bounty from every tree
glen sheltered by peaks on every side
glen of the blackberry, wild plum and apple.
Glen of the sleek brown flat-nosed otter
leaping lightly, freely fishing,
many are the graceful white-winged swans,
salmon spawning in the stony streams.
Glen of the tangled branching yew
glen of mists and gentle cows
glen of the clear brilliant sun
glen of the graceful women, perfect as pearls.
from “Deidre Remembers a Glen”
Irish. 14th Century
Perhaps now would be a good time to tell you something of the
differences between the three grades of the druid system.
First is the Bardic Grade, then Ovate, then Druid. The Bardic grade is
concerned with the arts, particularly with poetry, song, and dance. This
doesn’t mean the the Bardic grade isn’t spiritual, or deal with esoteric
matters. It means that the development of the imagination and the Artistic
Self is a pre-requisite to further work.
In our mechanical and science-oriented world, it is right that in order to
regain our balance, we need to first pass through a a stage of awakening
the Artist Within.
The Ovate grade is concerned with healing and the study of the body in
relation to energy, and with the development of the inner abilities and
divination-with the mysteries of time. The Druid Grade is with an ability
to use and direct energy.
To summarize:
The Bard’s gift is Art
The Ovate’s gift is healing and divination
The Druid’s gift is teaching and the direction of Light.
Credit to: Richard Philip Carr-Gomm
Chief of the reconstituted Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids
