Is belief in astrology a key component of druidism?

[Phi92]

Hello everyone!

Although it may sound as a silly question because there is no dogma in Druidism, I wonder if many of you accept astrology and other esoteric practices such as tarot, divination, spiritualism, palm reading, dowsing... etc.

Also, what's your stance on alternative medicine, such as homeopathy, bioenergy, acupuncture, crystals, faith healing etc...?

Personally, I'm rather sceptic, so I wonder - can one be highly sceptical/science-minded/critical person and a druid?

I'm looking forward to hear your opinions!

[Uman]

[Rin]

From what I know about Druidism, it's pretty open minded, so I can't imagine they'd require you to believe in these things.

[SkyTemple]

While I have heard of Druids watching the movements of celestial bodies for religious purposes, it does not seem to have been a primary focus of Celtic religion.

[autodydact]

Personally, I'm rather sceptic, so I wonder - can one be highly sceptical/science-minded/critical person and a druid?

Can a science minded person be a Christian? We've all heard of fundamentalists who refute evolution and think the world is 6000 years old or whatever. There probably are some crackpot druids who ignore scientific truths, but they are a minority. It is nature focused and to be honest, I don't think that any druid beliefs really oppose science at all.

I assume you are talking about astrology in terms of the ability to read one's future using the positions of the stars? You don't have to think that. I believe that the position of planets and stars has an effect on people, but I certainly wouldn't plan my life by it. In terms of horoscopes, if those were to be accurate in any way shape or form you'd need far more info on the circumstances of your birth than being born in a specific set of days. You'd need the exact day (and time), longitude and latitude would come into play too... even then, if you were to spend a week or so of your life planning a highly detailed horoscope which took into account every factor which would determine planetary influences etc, I would take it with a big pinch of salt.

tl;dr- No, you don't have to belive in astrology to be a druid and in my opinion, anyone who sets any store by the daily horoscopes in a newspaper needs a reality check.

[Asurendra]

The Druidism of the ancient world was an oral tradition so I don't think that we know a great deal about it directly. Some speculate there may be remnants in Medieval poetry, particularly Welsh. The emperor Claudius persecuted the Druids as a group on the moral grounds of a war against human sacrifice, but, they were a nexus of resistance to Rome so I'm sure that played a part. This was the end of that tradition as a large, functional group so far as I know.

[autodydact]

^ I assumed that OP was referring to the neo-Druidic/Celtic reconstructionist paganism. You are right that ancient Druids passed on their tradition orally and were forbidden to write their knowledge down. But based upon what scant knowledge we have of them (and with a good deal certainly appropriated from other traditions) there is a burgeoning modern day tradition, which cannot claim to be 100% authentic, but certainly helps many people get closer to the lost ancient traditions and spirituality of Europe.

[albatross]

This is an interesting subject. What others have said is correct in that we can only speculate about whether the ancient Druids practiced astrology. It is thought by many that, at the very least, they charted stars and planets as a way of calculating the passage of time, perhaps for purposes of navigation, agriculture, and conducting ceremonies on specific days of the year. However, theres no proof at all that they used the movement of stars and planets for divination or attributed human characteristics to the placement of the stars on someone's birth date.

Practitioners of modern Druidry would not "require" anyone to practice in or believe the principles of astrology. Many authors of books on modern Druidry talk about learning astrology as a way of simply enhancing our understanding of Hermetic Philosophy ("as above, so below").

If you haven't already, I would recommend reading "The Path of Druidry" by Penny Billington, as she dedicates a section of the book to this topic.