Now you're just being pathetic.
Stand up and say the truth as you understand it. For real.
Refer them to this site; they will find everything here they need to know about the issues, if they can be arsed to look.
And if they kick you out as a heretic or something, then fine. Then you will be free - not only free to pursue your own personal studies, but also free from the sole responsibility of having to make everything OK with everyone. You are not that important.
I'm sorry - perhaps I was unclear
Standing up and speaking out is exactly what I plan on doing. I feel that my apology here would be a little hollow if I didn't try to share my findings and change things.
I've already raised this with several friends of mine within OBOD, and they were all just as shocked and concerned as I am. I've even spoken about cultural appropriation more generally with some senior figures within the order, and they are of the same mind. As a result, I have been invited to speak at the next White Horse Camp (White Horse Camps are camps held in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire and organised by OBOD members) on the topic.
However, there are less effective and more effective ways of winning people over. My primary aim here is that I get as many people as I can to shift their practice away from any fraudulent, or dangerous techniques they might have (perhaps unwittingly) absorbed. Clearly that's an aim of this organisation, so I would like to know is if there are any techniques you have used successfully in the past - other than mentioning this site, which I will naturally do - that you'd be happy for me to deploy? :-) For example - are there any Cherokee organisations or individuals who might be prepared to send me a formal letter, outlining their view of the Dance of Life and its practice? Their words will carry more weight than mine alone
I hope you don't think this is vanity; it's just I believe in collective responsibility. That requires that I try, at least, to invite others to learn what I have learned.
OBOD members and their offshoots are running dangerous, potentially deadly, fake sweatlodges in badly-constructed, airtight structures covered with plastic tarps and sealed with duct tape. If you really want to make a difference, do what Elders here in American have done: Get together some friends and go tear those abominations down.
Yes, the "sweat lodges" have always worried me, even before coming here. I remember asking one of the builders if the structures were airtight (the James Arthur Ray case had happened earlier that year, and I mentioned it), and he said no - that the tarps being used were canvas and so could breathe. They also didn't use any duct tape that I recall. This is by-the-by however (even if it does make them a little safer) - the bender structure of these things clearly resembles the faux-inipis used by nuagers, and that is reason enough to not use them.
The builders did stress that they were attempting to revive a vapour-bath practice that was native to the British Isles and suggested by the archaeological record (Wilkins 2011), using modern materials - do you have anything more on that?
Not only that, but "druidry" is really a misnomer, and I think that if you've really studied Celtic history, you know that. The draoithe were the educated classes of the ancient Celtic cultures. Some were ceremonial leaders, but others were other learned professionals. OBOD and similar groups have a very limited, and rather colonial, view of Celtic history. They don't really have much, if anything, to do with the living cultures in the Celtic Nations that I've seen. Do they require that people learn the language? Last I heard, all their rituals were conducted in English.
If they are English people doing their idea of ancient ceremonies, in English, they're not Druids, nor are they Celtic.
I think this is a separate issue from my original post - namely, the authenticity of modern NeoDruidry vs. Celtic Reconstructionism and whether or not English language and culture has a place within it. I think there's a broader discussion to be had about this - but perhaps it would be better staged on a different thread? My views and yours are probably rather similar in most respects, but there are some points you've made above that I differ with you on, based on my own research. If you'd like to have a discussion about this, then do let me know!
It's probably relevant to say here is that OBOD - like the Welsh, Irish, and Scottish governments - currently encourages people to learn Celtic languages, but does not force them to do so. During this year's 50th anniversary, a number of blessings were read out in Welsh, Irish, Italian and English during the ceremony, and teaching within the order is available in seven languages - two of which are Cymraeg and Gaelige.
There are many Irish, Scottish, Cornish, and Welsh members of the Order, and many more who have ancestral links to those areas. Most of the people I see regularly are English, but as I live in England, that is perhaps to be expected.
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I would suggest doing what others who have fled the neopagan and nuage communities have done: Study the real history from primary sources. Study the language. Get out in Nature and make traditional offerings to the spirits. For fellowship, work with family and friends who share your interests. Get involved in cultural preservation groups. Learn the music. Don't join any spiritual groups unless they are committed to cultural preservation, language preservation, and take a firm stand against cultural appropriation.
I agree with all of these suggestions - many of which I am following already. To this, I will add "Read real historical and cultural analysis by experts". There is far too much pseudo-intellectualism masquerading as genuine scholarship about - reading primary sources without sufficient training can lead to significant errors. Ronald Hutton and I were once discussing the goddess Sulis (my patron) and I mentioned how I'd discovered in the
Roman Inscriptions of Britain that she existed in a plural aspect - the Suliviae. Ronald gently pointed out that linguists had concluded a more likely etymology for the latter was "Goddesses of the Parade Ground".
Like you, I'm very keen to preserve regional languages. My aunt (a retired headmistress of a Welsh-language school who lives in Port Talbot) has given me an open invitation to go with stay with her to learn Welsh via immersion. As soon as I've finished my PhD, that's my next stop!
I will not, however, be fleeing OBOD just yet. As I've said, there's a lot of support for a move away from cultural appropriation in the Order, nor do I think slinking off to my library would a very honourable thing to do. I have a great many friends in OBOD, who have been tricked by this stuff as I have. Dialogue, I feel, will be invaluable.
P.S. Welcome to the forum, Jonathan. I am glad you are questioning this stuff and here to learn. Sorry if I came off a bit cross; the psuedo-drood stuff is unfortunately not a new area for us here.
Not at all! Thank you for the information and advice; I can see I'm going to like it here
Wilkins, B. (2011) "Past Orders" in Current Archaeology, 256, pp. 28-35.
