 Shocker, but I'm not a historical druid. Hey there saplings, welcome back to esoteric moment. Today we are going to tackle the topic of historical druidry. Every once in a while I get some, I'm going to assume, well-intentioned comments, pointing out that I am not a historical druid. I am not being true to the history we know of druids, the things I am talking about have no validity because they are not rooted in history or I am spreading misinformation because I am not heavily talking about the historical use of a tool or idea. Sometimes these comments rub me the wrong way because I feel like I have been very clear that I am not a historical druid. I am not a reconstructionist. And yet these comments come from a place that seem to be saying that my practice and ideas have no validity because I am not being historical or true enough to history. So I wanted to take a video to kind of talk about these issues because I think it comes up in druidry and in these conversations more. So like let's lay it all out there and talk about history. Druids love history and I love history. I think it's really interesting, really inspiring and vital to being a modern person to understand where we come from. The connection we have to our ancestors, to the history of our place, to the history of our movements is so important. You cannot make good decisions today without understanding the past. You cannot heal wounds without knowing where the wound originated. We are a product of our history. It is so crucial that we honor and learn and discover about that. I don't do book reviews of specific historical druid texts right now because it is such a deep topic and evolving topic of which historical resources are valid and which aren't that I am loath to take that study away from someone. I think it's important that we each research and learn history on our own that we are cautious of what biases and influences we bring into that study and research by not covering specific texts that are original, reviewing the books that talk more about history. My goal is to reduce the amount of bias I'm bringing to your own study when it comes to the history of druid. Now maybe this will change, maybe this conversation will evolve where I think it's really important actually to help guide you into an efficient study of the history. But I'm not at that point now. Yeah, I'm not sure that's going to, yeah, I'm just not at that point now. It is great if history is such an important part of your druidry that you lean more towards the reconstruction side of druidry. You are trying to take original sources, primary sources, and recreate those practices and ideas in your life today. I am not a reconstructionist. While I see history as being a vital foundation to our practices today, I am not trying to recreate them. The simple fact that I can't, like I live in 2019, the world I live and interact and I'm part of is vastly different from the ancient world. The other part is while I love history and study it, I also know it's an evolving study. We are always learning more about primary sources. We are uncovering new artifacts. That is very important that we stay abreast of that. But it's hard for me to use that as my sole authority in the practices I do today. If I put too much value on that for me, that makes it challenging when what I've put so much value in changes so significantly, you know, then I've got to like rearrange my practices and ideas pretty significantly. If it is an important and vital part of my inspiration and practice, I can continue to be inspired and influenced with it while being firmly rooted in who and what druidry is to me today. I don't feel that just because I'm not a reconstructionist, I can't call myself a druid. Clearly, labels are important because they help us communicate between each other where we have similarities, differences, and they make communication more efficient and accurate. Druid is a word that we apply both to reconstructionist path and more modern path. That creates confusion. I acknowledge that. But I don't think it makes me a illegitimate druid to call myself a druid just because I'm not so heavily focused on history and reconstruction and reconstructing historical druid practices. Here are the ways that as a modern druid, I try to emulate the important role that druids played in the ancient culture. One, I have worked in a legal setting in the U.S. So I worked for five years at the state law library. That meant that while I wasn't a judge, I was helping lawyers, attorneys, justices, find legal resources, and navigate a very complicated system. In my current position at a land trust, you know, we use legal means to protect land. We use conservation easement legal contract to help people recognize the value of preserving land forever. That feels very druid to me. A connection to land and a connection to justice. Justice for the community and future generations. Not just, you know, retribution, but like so much more like the real core of justice. I also work as a teacher through this YouTube channel because I'm sharing my path that inadvertently teaches people. And it's really kind when people, you know, say, I've helped them find a new resource or I've inspired them in some way. That is not my main purpose of this channel, you know, I'm not out to be a guru or anything ridiculous like that. I'm sharing my path and my druidry, and this comes out of it. Teaching comes out of it. I have a seed group that is local that I was recently started and I helped facilitate and lead that. Outside of druidry, though, I do a lot of community building. I've helped start community gardens. I have helped with town governments. There are a lot of different places where I am working on building community, fostering good relationships and really taking the things that I think were important to ancient druid, like peace and justice and healing, bringing that into the modern world through the leadership and skills that I have currently. Again, if you are a reconstructionist and if you feel that history is really important to your path to the point where being too modern is a detriment, be you, like make sure your druidry works for you. I have so much respect for individuals who are following a druid path like that. I think it's wonderful and it brings so much to the druidry movement in general. I don't claim to be a reconstructionist. I'm a member of OBOD in part because they're an order that recognizes that history is important. We can work towards the future, but we are part of this moment now, 2019 and I am a modern druid. Okay. In the comments below, let's discuss what do you think about the tension between historical influences and modern practices, all of those tensions and goodness. You know, I'm really curious about what other people are thinking and feeling about on this topic. This week's sapling shout-out goes out to Kellsyer, K-E-L-Z-Y-A-R-E, have no idea how to say that. Anyway, you recently wrote some great comments on some of my videos talking about how you found druidry and also that your youngest child was terminally ill and I just wanted to say my heart goes out to you. That is a really intense time and if you are in the comments, can you maybe leave Kells some extra love because, you know, that's what a community is for. When tough things happen, we can find love and support in all sorts of places. If you want to be a sapling shout-out, definitely talk to me in the comments here on YouTube or over at Instagram. That is where I hang out a bunch. Thanks for watching and as always, may you find peace in the sacred grove.