The most comprehensive survey of Druidry available, from their earliest history to the current renaissance--including a study of the shaping of their ideas, their principal deities and myths, their learning and social organization, and more.
I'm going to refrain from giving this a star rating. I read this book as part of the curriculum for the AODA, and it's interesting as a part of the Druidry revival's history. Nichols founded OBOD, a significant contemporary order, and he has lots of interesting things to say about various Druid leaders that came before him; as a text that is part of Druidry's history it's an interesting read but it is not a good source about history. There are definite issues with accuracy, and lots of totally unfounded speculation; while some footnotes are present, many ideas are simply stated with no references. I think the contemporary audience who will be interested in this book is very, very limited.
I have very much been interested lately in ancient Britain. One aspect that has held my fascination is the melding of the various religious systems. Britain saw a number of religions sweep through...the cults of Mithras, the gods of the Roman Pantheon, the introduction of Christianity, the shamanistic, earth based religion of the Saxons, the Norse gods. All the while, there was Druidry. That's not really what this book is about. I found it a little too New Agey, more prescription than description.
A history of the modern Druid movement written by the head of the movement in England and published years after his death. Among other things, the work includes druid sights and teachings.
“maybe don’t read this as first book” and “this is hard-to-digest esoteric teaching, not easy-reading literal statement of fact” (hmm, kinda like Steiner…)
I really wanted to enjoy it, but I just couldn't follow Nichols' writing. The info is also possibly a bit dated. It holds wisdom, but it's just a bit too confusing.
Very interesting to read in terms of understanding the history of modern Druidry, particularly the history of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD).
You can tell it's a dated book and you can tell it is influenced by Greek and Roman influenced white males. They put way too much Greek and Roman mythology into it. They also took out the entire mother and matriarch part of the Pan-Celto ways. So just be careful with any ADF or quote unquote druid books if you are not an oral traditionalist and abide by the ancestral ways. This book is good information but it is incorrect.