Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge/Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge.iso/OCCULT/DRUIDS.INF

Text File | 1993-04-07 | 34KB | 553 lines

                  What Neopagan Druids Believe
                   (c) 1984 P. E. I. Bonewits
            Reprinted from "The Druids' Progress" #1

   Here's a brief introduction to the basic beliefs that I expect
will characterize most members of ADF (a Neopagan Druid organiza-
tion).  These spiritual beliefs are similar to most of those held
by  other Neopagans (see Margot Adler's book,  "Drawing Down  the
Moon")  and the similarities are far more important than whatever
specific distinctions of doctrine or ethnic focus there might  be
between  us and other Neopagans.  I should also mention that  not
all  Neopagans  who consider themselves Druids  will  necessarily
agree with every point of the following list.  Nonetheless, these
beliefs  will be the roots of ADF's polytheology,  the source  of
the spiritual grove we seek to plant.

   1)  We  believe that divinity is both immanent (internal)  and
transcendent (external).  We see the Gods as being able to  mani-
fest  at  any  point in space or  time,  including  within  human
beings,  which  they might choose,  although they may often  have
their preferences.  Often this develops among some Neopagans into
pantheism  ("the physical world is divine") or panentheism  ("the
Gods are everywhere"). We tend more towards the latter position.

   2)  We  believe  that divinity is as likely to manifest  in  a
female form as it is in a male form, and that therefore women and
men are spiritually equal. We insist on a dynamic balance between
female and male deities honored and/or invoked at every ceremony,
and a strict gender balance in whatever theories of  polytheology
that we eventually develop. We're "liberals" about women's rights
and gay rights, but not "radicals;" that is to say, we're unwill-
ing  to subordinate all our other principles in order to  promote
this  particular principle.  People who wish to make feminism  or
gay  activism the absolute center of all their spiritual activity
will probably be happier in other groups.

   3) We believe in a multiplicity of gods and goddesses,  all of
whom are likely to be worthy of respect,  love and worship. Some-
times  we  believe in these divinities as  individual  and  inde-
pendent entities; sometimes as Jungian "archetypes of the collec-
tive unconscious" or "circuits in the psychic Switchboard;" some-
times  as aspects or faces of one or two major deities (the "High
God/dess" and/or "the Goddess and the Horned God"); and sometimes
as  "all  of the above!" We feel that this  sort  of  flexibility
leads  to pluralism (instead of monism),  multi-valued logic sys-
tems  and  an increased tolerance of other people's  beliefs  and
lifestyles.  All of these are vital if our species is ever  going
to  learn  to  live in peace and harmony amid a  multiplicity  of
human cultures.

   4) We believe that it is necessary to have a respect and  love
for Nature as divine in her own right, and to accept ourselves as
a  part of Nature and not as her "rulers." We tend to accept what
has come to be known as "the Gaia hypothesis," that the biosphere
of  our  planet is a living being,  who is due all the  love  and
support that we,  her children,  can give her. This is especially
important  in  our modern era,  when 3000 years  of  monotheistic
belief  that  "mankind is to have dominion over the  Earth"  have
come close to destroying the ability of the biosphere to maintain
itself.  Many Neopagan groups refer to themselves as "Earth reli-
gions"  and  this is a title which we believe  Neopagan  Druidism
should proudly claim,  and which we should work to earn.  Thus we
consider  ecological awareness and activism to be sacred  duties.
If the ecology,  conservation and anti-nuclear movements are ever
to have "chaplains," we should be among them.

   5)  We  believe in accepting the positive aspects  of  western
science and technology,  but in maintaining an attitude of  worry-
ness towards their supposed ethical neutrality.  The overwhelming
majority of Neopagans are technophiles, not technophobes. We tend
to be better scientifically educated than the general population,
and  thus we have a religious duty to speak out about the  econo-
mics,  political and  ecological uses and abuses of  science  and
technology.

   6) We share with most other Neopagans a distaste for monolith-
ic  religious organizations and would-be messiahs and gurus.  Ob-
viously,  this  places the founders of Neopagan religious  tradi-
tions in a complex position: they need enough religious authority
to focus the organizations they're founding,  but not so much  as
to  allow them (or their successors) to become oppressive.  Since
the  pluralistic  approach denies the existence of any  One  True
Right  and Only Way,  and since Neopagans insist upon  their  own
human fallibility,  we expect to be able to steer ADF between the
Scylla of tyranny and the Charybdis of anarchy.

   7)  In  keeping with this,  we believe that healthy  religions
should  have  a minimum amount of dogma and a maximum  amount  of
eclectism  and  flexibility.  Neopagans tend to be  reluctant  to
accept any idea without personally investigating both its practi-
cality and its long-range consequences.  They are also likely  to
take  useful  ideas from almost any source that doesn't  run  too
fast  to  get  away.  We intend ADF to be  a  "reconstructionist"
tradition of Druidism,  but we know that eventually concepts from
nonDruidic  sources will be grafted on to our trees.  There's  no
harm  in this,  as long as we stay aware of what we are doing  at
every  step  of the way,  and make a legitimate  effort  to  find
authentic  (and therefore spiritually and esthetically congruent)
parallels in genuine Indo-European sources first.  As for  flexi-
bility,  Neopagan  Druidism is an organic religion,  and like all
other  organisms it can be expected to grow,  change and  produce
offshoots as the years go by.

   8)  We believe that ethics and morality should be  based  upon
joy,  self-love  and  respect;  the avoidance of actual  harm  to
others; and the increase of public benefit. We try to balance out
people's needs for personal autonomy and growth,  with the neces-
sity  of  paying  attention to the impact  of  each  individual's
actions  on the lives and welfare of others.  The commonest  Neo-
pagan  ethical expression is "If it doesn't hurt anyone,  do what
you  like." Most Neopagans believe in some variant or another  of
the  principle  of karma,  and state that the  results  of  their
actions  will always return to them.  It's difficult for ordinary
humans to successfully commit "offenses against the Gods,"  short
of major crimes such as ecocide or genocide,  and our deities are
perfectly  capable of defending their own honor without any  help
from mortal busybodies.  We see the traditional monotheistic con-
cepts of sin,  guilt and divine retribution for thought-crimes as
sad misunderstandings of natural growth experiences.

   9)  We  believe  that human beings were meant  to  lead  lives
filled with joy, love, pleasure, beauty and humor. Most Neopagans
are fond of food,  drink,  music,  sex and bad puns, and consider
all  of  these (except possibly the puns) to be  sacraments.  Al-
though  the  ancient Druids appear to have  had  ascetics  within
their ranks, they also had a sensualist tradition, and the common
folk  have  always preferred the latter.  Neopagan Druids try  to
keep these two approaches in balance and harmony with each  other
by avoiding dualistic extremes.  But the bedrock question is, "If
your religion doesn't enable you to enjoy life more, why bother?"

   10) We believe that with proper training,  art, discipline and
intent,  human  minds and hearts are fully capable of  performing
most  of  the  magic and miracles they are ever likely  to  need.
This  is  done through the use of what we  perceive  as  natural,
divinely  granted  psychic powers.  As with many  other  Neopagan
traditions,  the conscious practice of magic is a central part of
most  of  our religious rituals.  Unlike monotheists,  we see  no
clearcut division between magic and prayer.  Neither, however, do
we  assume an automatic conn