In Pure Spirit

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Paralympics Closing ceremony secretly included Druid verse

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Greywolf of the British Druid Order has blogged to say that the closing ceremony of the Paralympics included words from the gorsedd ritual.

The gorsedd rital was written by Emma Restall Orr and Greywolf (formally Philip Shallcrass) was written in 1993 and designed to bring together many different faiths and cultures for a multi-faith conference in Avebury.

Organisers from the Paralympics contacted the British Druid Order, sought permission to use parts of the verse and asked them to keep the secret. They appeared in two sections; both spoken by Rory Mackenzie on behalf of Help For Heroes.

The first verse appeared 20 minutes into the ceremony;

I call upon the Spirit of Summer. The spirit of fire, of energy of passion; spirit of the noonday sun, the heat of summer, vitality and abundance.
I call upon the spirit of Winter. The spirit of earth, of the womb of creation; of the night and the snows of winter, deep roots and ancient stones.
I call upon the spirit of Spring. The spirit of air, the breath of life; of sunrise, of new life and new growth.
I call upon the spirit of Autumn. The spirit of water, of the ebb and flow of emotion; of open seas and running streams, of cleansing rain; spirit of the evening sun, of twilight and of Autumn.

The second verse appeared 30 minutes in when Rory spoke to these worlds;

The circle is unbroken,
The ancestors awoken.
May the songs of the Earth
and of her people ring true.
Hail to the Festival of the flame
of root and branch, tooth and claw,
fur and feather, of earth and sea and sky.

In Pure Spirit

It is estimated that some 750 million people around the world heard this Druid ceremony which I think is a wonderful thing. I wonder whether there will be people of other faiths who might be surprised by this news, though.

What do you think about the inclusion of Druidic verse in the closing ceremony?

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Druidism officially recognised as a religion in Britain

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The Charity Commission in the United Kingdom will re-classify Druidry / Druidism as a religion. This means that the Druid Network will be able to maintain charity stats that gives it tax breaks.

However, the amount of money the Druid Network will earn will be very small. There are only 350 or so people registered with the Druid Network, the group that holds the charity status, and they’ve paid only £10 for their membership.

Despite the small numbers, the charity commission accepted that promoting Druidry as a religion was in the public interest.

Druids worship spirit rather than deities; the spirit of the earth and spirits of nature.

It took the charity commission four years of debate to decide that there was enough structure to Druidry to provide a beneficial moral framework.

The announcement has met with some concern. Right-wing, prize-winning,  journalist for the Daily Mail, Melanie Phillips, was up in arms over this. She hoped this was a joke and added “Stones of Praise here we come.”

Will someone please tell me this is all a joke. Until now, Druids have been regarded indulgently as a curious remnant of Britain’s ancient past, a bunch of eccentrics who annually dress up in strange robes at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice.

Emma Restall Orr, Founder and Trustee of the Druid Network published a reply to this on their site – read it below – but it’s a shame this was published in a PDF rather than a simple blog post that the internet would have found easier to link to and share of Facebook.

PDF: Response to Melanie Philips.

In Pure Spirit

Is this good news? Do you think we’ll see more druid charities following the Druid Network’s success?

The BBC uses the term Druidry. Are you more familiar with the term Druidism? Which is correct? Both?

You can find out more about The Druid Network from their site.

Hood Hill’s Druid crash site desecrated

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The old F86 Sabre
Image by FrancoisRoche via Flickr

The North York Moors National Park and the Forestry Commission was joined by The Ministry of Defence in calls to put an end to the macabre and dangerous quest for the remains of a British aircraft.

A mystery crash brought Flying Officer Colin “Snatch” Grabham’s Sabre aircraft down on Hood Hill in 1954.

Collectors with metal detectors have be seen with metal detectors attemping to find either pieces of the historic Sabre aircraft or the crash site.

Military experts told local papers that despite the lack of financial incentive for finding any part of the plane that collectors would value the pretty and very rare finds.

Photographs taken of the crash site in September 1954 show a 20-ton boulder known to locals as The Altar.

Legend states that The Altar was a sacrificial stone used by the druids. It is thought to be marked by a dragon’s or dinosaur’s foot print.

The Ministry of Defence object to the military aircraft collectors being active on the site due to the possible presence of Flying officer Grabham’s body and cold war weapons.

A spokesperson for the MOD told local press, “It is highly likely the remains of Flying Officer Grabham are still on the site and therefore the site should be treated with the respect it deserves.

“In addition, there is a chance that ordnance may remain at the site and it can become unstable when exposed to the air, leading to death or serious injury.

“We would remind people that it is an offence under the Protection of Military Remains Act to tamper with, damage, move or unearth any remains and crashed UK military aircraft and their equipment remain the property of the Crown. Anyone who breaches the act is reminded they could face civil or criminal proceedings.”

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Should collectors be allowed to dig on Hood Hill or not?

Protester Arthur Pendragon ordered from Stonehenge

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Arthur Pendragon, formerly known as John Rothwell before his deed poll name change 30 years ago, has been ordered by the English Courts to leave Stonehenge.

The pagan protester is 10 months into a Stonehenge sit-in against the enforced restricted access to the world-famous stone circle. Pendragon believes not only should visitors be able to walk through the stone circles at any time but they should be able to touch them.

In particular, Pendragon is upset at the fence that has been added to the site in order to keep visitors away. The druid suggested the religious site was now “in a stranglehold like a snared animal”. The visitor centre is also under criticism. He said: “It was supposed to be a temporary building. It’s awful. It is a national disgrace so what I am hoping to do by my protest is embarrass the government.”

Supporters in white robes have waited with Pendragon while the legal process started by Wiltshire county council was underway. He had been demonstrating on behalf of the Council of British Druid Orders.

If Pendragon does not leave Stonehenge by Sunday then he could be physically evicted by bailiffs. If he returns to the site then he could be arrested for trespass.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Are the Courts right to insist that Pendragon leave Stonehenge? Does he have any right to camp there throughout the year?

Druids battle over skeleton

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_45418131_skeleton226In 1929 the archaeologist Alexander Keiller discovered the remains of a skeleton near Windmill Hill, a Neolithic site.

The skeleton, which has been named Charlie, has been on display in the local museum since the  museum opened.

The Council of British Druid Orders argued in 2006 that the skeleton should be re-buried. The resulting peroid of public consultation is due to end this weekend when English Heritage and the National Trust will make a decision.

The skeleton will eiter remain in the museum or be reburied at Windmill Hill.

Rollo Maughfling, the archdruid of Stonehenge and Glastonbury, said: “Beyond all the other philosophical, scientific and religious arguments, in the end it comes down to something called common human decency.”

The move is opposed by academics who worry that any decision to rebury Charlie will result in a trend of other  important archaeological finds  being returned to the earth.

Dr Josh Pollard from Bristol University told the BBC, “I think it could set a very dangerous precedent, one in which we would find a situation where all prehistoric human remains held in museums, held in other collections across the United Kingdom, have to be reburied.”

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Should Charlie be reburied? Is Charlie different from any other ancient skeleton unearthed by archaeologists? Or are you concerned that once we start to rebury skeletons found near historic sites that our ability to rediscover and learn from the past will be impaired?

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