Customer Reviews

The Book of Druidry

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The Book of Druidry was essentially the life work of the author (published posthumously) and represents a maximum attempt to catalogue and share the collective of what we know about the ancient Druids. It reads somewhat like an encyclopaedia or almanac with the reader able to look-up items of particular interest (e.g. sacred sites such as Stonehenge) or read straight-through, cover-to-cover. Given the number of bogus (revisionist) works in print purporting to inform us about druidry or druidism (as it is sometimes also called), some of which claim access to secret or otherwise sacred texts, etc. (which is complete bull-manure), enough cannot be said about a work like this which has both scholarly merit and general appeal. Buy it and see for yourself!

Modern druidry traces its roots to the early 1700's and that is the tradition that this book is about. The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids is still around and going strong and this book seems to be an introduction to the Order.

All that aside, it is a good read. A wealth of ideas, this book can be one step on your spiritual path. Or it can be just an interesting book about modern druids. Regardless of your beliefs, if you have any interest in the subject this is a good book.

There are many other books available if you are interested in historical druids- "The Druids" by Stuart Piggott, for example.

The Book of Druidry claims to be a history of an ancient religious system. In fact, the book presents a modern blend of New Age approaches, pop psychology, Nicholls' own ideas, and the well-intended but inaccurate writings of 18th century antiquarians such as John Toland and William Stukeley. For example, Nicholls and Carr-Gomm present druidry as a prehistoric system of belief that they say originated on Atlantis, was practiced by the builders of Stonehenge, and was adopted later by Celtic settlers in Britain. Such statements contradict all the archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence that document the druids as the clergy of the pre-Christian Celts. Another imaginative idea asserted as fact in this book is that the Ce/li De/, a monastic reform movement of ninth-century Ireland, was actually founded by the sixth-century saint Colum cille as a refuge for persecuted druids and a vehicle for preserving druidry for future generations. If you are seeking accurate information in an easy-to-read format, try Miranda Green's _The World of the Druids_ or Barry Cunliffe's _The Ancient Celts_. For more depth, see Anne Ross's _Pagan Celtic Britain_, Green's _The Celtic World_, and _The Celts_ ed. by Moscati. The facts about the druids are intriguing in themselves; there's no need to manufacture a history for them.

Strangely enough, there is some fact out there in the massive amounts of ficticous information concerning Druidry. This is not one of those romantic fictitions written to embrace a genre and make money, but is a very thorough account of history, geography, lore, and wisdom beheld from many (as in probably all) historical sources. Well worth the money, and ESSENTIAL reading for druids.

This book is a must-have not because of its many historical/archeological inaccuracies but because it was one of the first produced by someone in recent history proclaiming to be following a Druidic Way. No one truly knows what the ancient druids did or believed with any exactness. It's left up to Anthropology and its constant flux of theories in order to interpret archeological finds versus historical documents and data to come up with a possible answer. Even so, no Anthropologist will tell you that there science leads to truth.

I think that some reviewers think other folk are stupid. The title of this book gives it all away. This is a book about "Druidry" and not really about the ancient historical persons known as druids. I had no misconceptions when reading this book. I knew it was a modern/romantic view of the druid religion through the eyes of someone who was part of the Ancient Order of Druids as well as the Martinist Order. As far as I know Ross Nichols was not a historian with a PhD from Oxford with scholarly publications in peer reviewed journals. As such I do not expect that kind of scholarly material in his work. I look more for the history of romantic Druidry and a peek into his spiritual path. I also expect to find (within this book) the cumulative lore and rituals as found within the AOD and his OBOD.

Purchase this book before it goes out of print!

I was a little dissapointed at the Christians elements at the beginning of this book, but as you go along, you'll realize why this book is so good. Celtia and Druidry are two of the most touchy topics in historical-magickal literature, because when you take a faith an interesting as that of the Celts, it's diffucult to leave a book that's "incomplete", so authores frequently make things up where they have found holes in their research, thus creating books that are half fact, half fiction. Not true here. Here we are provided with an account that does not touch on those touchy topics, and leaves open exploration available for the reader. We have both a detailed account of the history of both Witchcraft and Druidry, and we learn that yes, these religions are very similiar and can essentially trace their deepest origions to the same place. Which will really annoy those "Druids" who wouldn't be caught dead doing anything witchy. Surprisingly though, just like in "The Wiccan Mysteries", the reader can take what they have learned and make their own judgements. Not like in most technical occult books, like the ones by Silver Ravenwolf, where yoo get nothing but hundreds of pages of magickal rites and techneiques, yet never learn what the meaning behind them is. This is book that should find a spot on the shelf of every Druid, Wiccan, and pagan enthusist,

Modern Druidry owes a lot to Ross Nichols. He removed the masonic ties and brought paganism back into the path. Inspiring and educating many followers of the modern Druidic Revival - we all owe a great debt of gratitude to this man. And his lessons live on through Philip Carr-Gomm. Everyone should have this book in their collection.

this book was more than I anticipated. i didn't know anyone who could fit that much information in any type of book Ross does it well and keeps it interesting. A must for anyone wishing to know history and druidism...

Crap.
The Book of Druidry by Ross Nichols was a huge disappointment for many reasons. Many of its assertions have been proven false by scholars, archeologists, and historians. It's like Nichols got most of his information from sources published in the 19th century and certainly before 1950. And it's just a big advertisement for OBOD in a lot of ways. In my opinion, this book is crap and not worth a dime, much less the price on the cover.