Regular readers will have noticed that neither Phaedra nor I have been posting much since we got the blog back up a few weeks ago. In large part that’s because we’ve been dealing first with sickness here, then with the death of Phae’s father and the subsequent family activities involved in Chicago. This has put me very far behind on the writing schedule for my next book, Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Druidism, which is what I’ll be concentrating on for the next few weeks.
Tomorrow, however, I’ll be recording a special show for XM Radio with my old friend Bill Kates, to be broadcast on Halloween! I’ll be including Pagan music by myself and other Pagan bards and talking about Halloween’s real history, as distinct from the usual Fundamentalist nonsense spread at this time of year. Be sure to tune in!
Okay, dumb question time (and don’t give me that line about there aren’t any dumb questions..:-)).
Are there black (African-American) Druids? I attended a Samhain ritual hosted by a group from OBOD and really enjoyed myself. I just didn’t know if this was a movement geared more towards people of European descent (such as Asatru) or not.
Best regards,
Indigo
There sure are! Firstly because most modern Druid groups at least try to be nonracist. Secondly, because the overwhelming majority of African-Americans have some European, especially Celtic, ancestry. Thirdly because souls can choose to incarnate inside or outside of their previous family lines, retaining spiritual connections to groups their current body may not resemble. Fourthly, there are some interesting similarities between West African mythology and social structures and those of the Western Indo-European language/culture groups, so for Ãr nDraÃocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship and those groups descended from it, we have no reason to exclude African-Americans descended from those West African cultures.
As I have told my son for many years, us All-American-Mutts can’t afford to discriminate against anyone, because they are probably cousins!
cheers,
Isaac