My guest his month is Australian based Nyx Vera. She was kind enough to share her personal experience with Druidry.
We think of druids as these ancient sages with long beards and personally, I was heavily influenced by my childhood comic Asterix, to the point where I took for granted the idea that druids had always existed in Europe and that they were somehow connected to my ancestors, as a French born person.
I found out thanks to Nyx’s book recommendation that entire myths had been created by a couple of authors in the 1700s in the UK that were sometimes plucked out of thin air for the author’s ulterior motives. The truth is that due to the fact that Druidry used to be a purely oral tradition, like most indigenous traditions, very little is known about them.
A lot more is known about Modern Druidry however and Nyx was kind enough to direct us to two books that can give us a lot of information about this practice. One called World Druidry by Larisa A. White and one called Australian Druidry by Julie Brett. What I found fascinating from my chat with Nyx is that Druids come from all sorts of backgrounds and not only from tree hugging individuals, however endearing that might sound. There are scientists, artists, and so many more who are all united by a devotion to nature and the land. There is no formal authority and no requirements to become a druid. Some druids choose to study and if they do so, there are usually three levels of studies that can take at least one year to complete.
In our discussion with Nyx we explored the following questions: is there an intersection between paganism, druidry and witchcraft? Is it possible to practice druidry in a city environment? The most common misconception people have about druids? And so much more.
What struck me is how inclusive the world of druids seems to be.
To connect with Nyx, click here.
To listen to the episode, click here.