Celtic Druid Alliance Gathering 2019 ​

Planning has already begun for our next Celtic Druid Gathering in Portugal in 2019. Other Celtic Druid groups that would like to become members and participate in our 2019 CDA Gathering should make contact with CDA groups or a CDA members they know in the displayed list and have a chat.

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A Celtic Druid International Gathering
The 2019 September Equinox weekend will witness a Celtic Druid International Gathering under the initiative of the Celtic Druid Alliance (CDA) at Centro Druídico da Lusitânea, Reguengos, near Évora, in Portugal, hosted by the local Assembleia da Tradição Druídica Lusitana (ATDL).

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The CDA considers it is time to work towards the establishment of a framework where we can meet, discuss, rebuild our common Celtic heritage and re-establish amicable reciprocity between our communities. This is a call to serious Celtic Druid groups wishing to participate in this great council. Namely those which, regardless of their own particular characteristics and idiosyncrasy, observe and respect the following:

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1) Open and honest approach to genuine native Celtic traditions: Groups with a primary focus on the research, study, teaching and practice of Celtic-only spirituality and heritage, with no mixtures or eclecticism.

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2) Non-commercialism: Non-profit groups and organisations exclusively, with no interest in personal or media promotion.

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3) Non-racist, non-sexist, non-bigot groups: Groups with a clear and reputable public presence.

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4) Against animal cruelty and solidly linked to environmentalism: Groups putting Nature in a central and visible place in their ethics and philosophy.

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If you consider that your group or organisation is interested in attending please contact CDA. Note that admittance is not automatic and your attendance will have to be confirmed. A limit to the number of attendants may be imposed due to logistical and organisational reasons.

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Inauguration Speech of the II Gathering of the Celtic Druid Alliance

 

Dear Celtic Sisters and Celtic Brothers, Dear Guests:

 

Guided by the igneous forces of the Celestial Fire, the Great Cosmic Roulette of Destiny, guarded by the Universal Spirit, h

 

as brought us to this mythical Celtic Land, where the Celtic Gods and Goddesses have been worshiped since the Primal Night.

So that the feeling of openness and fertility prevails and that he Light of the Spirit can act within each one of us, let me begin this reunion by asking you to join me in a brief meditation in honor of our Ancestors.

(Meditation)

 

“Wake up...

- Freely accept the Light of the Universal Spirit and make a commitment to serve It;

- Boldly Defend the Prevalence of Truth;

- Remain incorruptible and untamed by earthly powers;

And so you will become a Pilgrim of Love … a Voice made of Light and a Heart full of Nature.”

 

This Lusitanian Celtic Triad will serve us as a theme for the itinerary that we will try to present at this very special moment. In fact, it translates crystal-clear the way we, humble pilgrims, can reach the true Wisdom of the Celtic Druids, a Wisdom which not only refers to simple encyclopedic knowledge about our Tradition, but also to the ability to mobilize this stock of knowledge to solve problems in this world of fatality in which we inhabit, currently so in need of the Spiritual Enlightenment our Celtic Tradition can provide. This awakening refers, firstly, to the intuition that there is a Way that can lead us, through a benevolent event, to be able to breathe in unison with the Highest Spiritual Spheres and, finally, to reach the three transcendences: Happiness, Freedom and Love. It is the Path of the Tradition of the Celtic Druids.

 

But this Path, from which many narratives emerged, many of them sustained by mere casuistry, begins with a free, genuine and loving binding which represents an oath or commitment assuming it as a fundamental belonging  Celtic Identity or a Celtic way of being.

 

A deeper analysis of the process of the formation of the Celtic Identity shows that its interpretation in each historical moment is necessarily conditioned by religious and politically established paradigms. First and foremost, analyzing this evolutionary process of Celtic Identity formation involves the understanding of what the Celts truly valued as significantly important, in short, what idea or notion the Celts had of 'Good'.

 

This "Good", which is not reduced to the categories of having or having not, of mere possession, can project itself in availability towards the attainment of a future "Good", not only desired, but fundamentally imagined, felt or dreamed, finally, a truly spiritual «Good». As regards both, the Celts (in particular) and the Tradition and Culture to which we belong, it is possible to identify a reality and a non-instrumental pattern of the expectations or aspirations we establish in its relation towards the Celtic principles by which we rule ourselves and the Celtic values with which we identify.

The essential issue is not whether or not our wishes can be fulfilled and the intentions that underlie our actions, but a Celtic World embedded in moral senses whose existence is so magical that it is independent of our desires.

 

This means that we, the contemporary Celts, carry an ancestral spiritual predetermination that constitutes our essential radicality which we make present each moment of our existence. The making present of these spiritual frameworks, which constitute the values and guiding principles of our Celtic happening, naturally translates into our attitudes, behaviors and actions, evidencing decisions we make regarding not only instrumental issues, but with a much deeper and more substantive meaning, since they must necessarily occur within a community of belonging that will give them meaning: the Great Celtic Egregore, that our Encounter is a perfect example.

 

The Great Egregore is the Community to which we belong, and the bond of belonging that binds us is expressed in our way of being, our way to be, to act and to feel, so much more than the language and history that we might share or not within that Community; this is objectified in the institutions that frame our intercommunal life, as it actually happens with the Celtic Druid Alliance, which is how our Celtic Collective Identity conveys to the world its core values, hence its extreme importance for all participating groups.

 

Two factors contribute to the clarification of what is articulated and how this contributes to the fomentation and formation of a Pan-Celtic identity, both individually and collectively understood:

On the one hand, the aims that guide our existence are not the product of an arbitrary and sovereign choice, but the product of a contextualized self-interpretation of our situation within a spiritual and cultural community horizon that precedes us. From this perspective, what primarily gives meaning to the existence of each one of us, Celts, are pre-existing substantial contents that will allow us to weave our own narrative. These contents are already pre-registered in Celtic Spirituality and Culture in the form of Tradition. This Tradition, that we have in common, that binds us, that unites us, that allies us, thus functions as a unifying framework of a meaning that, being common, is necessarily inclusive and that can be Found.

 

It is from the articulation between the commitments, the identifications, the choices of each one of us and the communitarian cultural horizon that precedes us, that  can emerge a Celtic Identity which will be manifested and recognized as worthy by our Ancestors and Spiritual Heritage. Thus, our Tradition, atavistic as it is, can only be properly interpreted in the light of solidified results, works resulting from community and intercommunal efforts and from the articulation of feelings and experiences. Otherwise, a fractionated and unrecognizable over time identity will prevail. However, it is necessary to emphasize that the interpretation of Tradition as a solidified result does not imply its stagnation or its perpetual repetition, on the contrary.

 

In fact, the development of the Celtic Tradition is guaranteed by the possibility of reflexive integration of the old value meanings in the face of new realities, solidifying and affirming the constitutive values through which we form our identity. It is these constituent values of the Celts as individuals, and otherwise of the collective identity as Egregore, that will enable humanity to perceive the value map by which the Celts of today orient themselves in the construction of their lives and their communities, as well as the important message they convey, concerning, for example, Nature, which the Celts regard as the Supreme Sacred Being.

Such constituent values can be designated as "moral sources", that is, sources that can motivate and inspire human action into the world, and are therefore worthy of being pursued, aspired, desired and transmitted. Otherwise, when a constituent value of a community is not an articulated value to all its constituents, it may eventually fade, that is, lose its driving and inspiring force of human behavior or action, that is, it risks losing effectiveness as a moral source and, by extension, as a spiritual source.

 

In this sense, all Celts worthy of that name need an identification group. People do not learn on their own what is necessary for their self-definition: expressions, gestures, affection, love and spirituality - as forms of sharing and communion of Rituals and Ceremonies, more or less solemn, simpler or more complex – they have always been with us and they are a constitutive part of us.

 

If the meaning of Celtic identity is what we are, the reason we are, and the way we are, Celtic Egregore is the framework in which our tastes, desires, opinions, and aspirations make sense. This means that if the people here present identify with each other by their “Celticity”, that means, by the Celtic Tradition and Spirituality that binds them, then, this common ground justifies the reason why the Celtic Druid Alliance has chosen to hold cyclically these Gatherings and Pilgrimages to other Celtic Lands, to other Cultures, to other Houses, where the common sharing of these characteristics may give rise to an increasingly healthy Egregore through which a Pan-Celtic identity can truly emerge around an interest, an ideal and a Spirituality that, despite their various expressions, shares this common ground. This means that the various groups, even though having those variables that characterize people and allow them to identify, can always make room for the Encounter with others.

  

Dear Sisters and Dear Celtic Brothers, Dear Guests:

You are all very Welcome to the second Celtic Druid Alliance Gathering, to this House that belongs to all of you. It is our deepest wish that this Pilgrimage to the Lusitanian Celtic Land will be remembered in a very special way throughout your lives, as special and honorable it is for the Assembleia da Tradição Druídica Lusitana to welcome all of you at the Centro Druídico da Lusitânia.

 

/|\ Adgnatios

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