What is Pagan Druidism?
Defining the term “Druidism” can be a fruitless endeavor: There are numerous organizations around the world identifying as practicing “Druidism” and which often show little evidence of commonalities apart from a tendency to focus on Celtic material. Isaac Bonewits, founder of one such organization (ADF), attempted to distinguish among various forms of Druidism (also called “Druidry”) by categorizing them as “Paleopagan,” “Mesopagan,” and “Neopagan,” depending on whether they represented ancient practice, Christian era ecumenical or fraternal groups, or modern non-Christian approaches. These categories are useful, but have also come in for criticism from both fraternal Druids and Celtic reconstructionists/restorationists. The Druid Academy chooses to embrace the term “Pagan” strictly as a marker of its orientation to non-Christian practitioners–thus setting it off from philosophical or interfaith training systems like the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD). Druidism is seen here
