Celtic Studies:
Celtic cultural revival has been going on now since the very late seventeenth century with various groups and organizations forming along the way. At that time scholars were starting to examine and explore ancient Celtic culture and that academic research continued to develop until it became a full fledged field of study in the mid nineteenth century when the first courses were taught by Eugene O’ Curry. The academic field of Celtic Studies continues to develop and grow today.
The various Celtic Cultural revival groups that have developed through the years have ranged from those based strictly in fantasies of what the ancient Celtic world was like to those groups which are informed by the latest in the academic fields. Some of the revival groups have been focused on one or two areas such as music, myth, dance or religion while others have been broadly focused to include all areas of cultural practice.  Some groups have sought and continue to seek a reconstruction of an ancient way of life while other groups study that way of life in order to apply those beliefs and principles to our modern lives. 
In the early twentieth century the cultural revival helped spark the successful fight for Irish freedom from foreign rule and Ireland became the first independent Celtic country of the modern world.  In many other areas where Celtic nationalities have developed there exist nationalistic political movements which often seek to establish governments that are independent of foreign rule and places such as Wales, Scotland and Brittany have active nationalist movements within them.
In the very early eighteenth century groups started forming which identified themselves with the ancient Druids. These groups were based on fraternal structures and generally viewed Druidry as a philosophy with some claiming to have been associated with alleged survivals of actual Druidic teaching. These fraternal and philosophical groups continued to grow, create offshoots and spread and some of these groups still exists today. Shortly after the mid twentieth century groups started to form which were dedicated to the practice of Celtic religion with some focusing again of ancient Celtic religion and spirituality as wished for and fantasized about and other groups practicing ancient Celtic religion based on serious academic research into Celtic studies and religious phenomenology.
Today we see a wide variety of Celtic cultural and religious revival groups ranging from cultural groups celebrating and maintaining more recent Celtic culture to those which celebrate and revive ancient Celtic beliefs and practices. We currently see groups which treat “Druidism” as a philosophy of nature and life in a fraternal setting with no overt Celtic religious practices. There are other groups that treat “Druidism” as a nature focused spirituality and philosophy which they are creating in its modern form as they progress, tending to include practices garnered from a variety of spiritual and religious sources which are borrowed from in an eclectic fashion. Other groups tend to ward using “Druidism” as a term to describe a very modern ‘neo-paganism’ which blends some study of the ancient Celts with studies of many ancient peoples but applies it all to a very generic modern model. Some people are strict reconstructionists who heavily research academic sources and adhere to a religious practice of Druidry that is as close to the ancient belief system as possible eschewing anything modern. Other people are also reconstructiionists who do heavy academic research but who then apply those beliefs and practices to modern life and spirituality and so practice Druidry as a religion which is based as much as possible in good research but applied to our lives today. There are other people who describe themselves as Celtic traditionalists who have practices based only on historically known practices and folk beliefs. There are also those who are really practicing other non-Celtic faiths such as Wicca and Christianity but who borrow from Celtic practice and belief freely.
There is a large variety among modern Celtic groups, one could spend years researching these groups and volumes could be written about their history structure and activities. This examination does not have the ability to be exhaustive and is only a surface glimpse of three centuries of Celtic revival. The student is invited to do his or her own research into the many varied groups and types of groups out there in the Celtic cultural, spiritual and religious revival movement.     

Druidry:
This prayer is an old highland incantation which has been translated and modified to make god plural and to address gods and goddesses. This prayer is used as a nighttime blessing for those in need.

 Gods before me, gods behind me, gods above me, gods below me, I on the path of the gods, gods upon my way. Who is there on land? Who is there on wave? Who is there on billow? Who is there by doorpost? Who is along with us? Gods and Goddesses. I am here abroad, I am here in need, I am here in pain, I am here in straits, I am here alone, O gods aid me.

Ethics/morality:
The Irish triad here translated shows a Celtic view of what is required in order to bring or deliver justice. Judgment should be good and based on discernment and awareness of the facts of a situation. Measure is that the justice is to balance the injustice to which it responds and restore balance to the situation. To little would fail to establish a balance while to much would overbear the balance and upset the balance in the opposite direction and it is the point where justice becomes revenge. Conscience is a sense of duty and an awareness of the effects ones actions have on others a conscience is important to those who meet justice so they may always maintain a perspective as to their judgments.

Three things which justice demands: judgment, measure, conscience.

Myth:
The role of a mythic system is that it tells how and why the world is ordered in the way that it is ordered in, by and for the society of the people who adhere to that particular mythic system. The term myth has taken on a connotation of ‘something false’ but it actually is a Greek term meaning ‘legend’ and so it is a story taken to be true but not known to be true. But it is the role of myth that we are examining here in this writing. The truth of a myth does not relate to its factualness and many myths contain details of the order of society but cannot have been a factual event.  A myth gives us the reasons and traditions for beliefs and practices in a culture and though they are often thought of as an idealized history by the people of that culture to establish that a particular myth is not an historical event does not dismiss that myth as a falsehood without relevance to the culture.
As an example for many people science has become their modern mythic system. Describing science as a mythic system does not dismiss it or invalidate it and only describes the role that it plays in the lives of some people.  Some people are bothered when science is called the modern mythic system and they respond that science is fact while myth is just a false story to fill in what a person or culture does not know. The person who answers this way has no understanding of the meaning of myth and most likely has not understanding of science. Science is a method for gathering and examining evidence and that method produces results that are accepted or believed by many to be truths or near truths. Science in its role of examining and describing helps to explain our world and so it serves a cultural function that is best described as myth.
As you examine mythic material from Celtic cultures remember that it is a description of a way of life and as such it may tell how a thing or practice came to be, or it may explain why certain behaviors are expected or abhorred. Myth must be considered as it relates to the society both in the details of any specific myth and the broader aspects of a mythic system.

Cosmology/Theology:
Water is associated with many things in the Celtic mythic system. We see pools of healing or wisdom with streams flowing from them. We see rivers breaking forth and rushing to the sea. We see the wild ocean as the great surrounding uncontrolled force while the navigable, calm sea stretches out for the distance of nine waves from shore. We see rivers and streams that function as the border between worlds with the fords across them serving as the gates of passage between these realms. A calm pool of water appears to be a window into another world just as formed and detailed as our own.
Water is obviously of great import because it sustains life and without it life and order soon are lost. We see this in the descriptions of the takings of Ireland in which each new group of inhabitants represent an new level of order and form and so river and lakes are said to burst forth at the great cosmic organization events. When going to battle the Tuath De hide the waters of Ireland from their enemies. The Great Queen stands astride the river Unias with one foot on each shore as she has her tryst with the All Father.
To this day we have healing wells and sacred pools scattered across the Celtic countries and though a new religion has risen to dominance, these sacred places of an old faith remain.  In our rites of today we often see a water symbol as some sort of well if not an actual body of water and into this gate is placed some offerings just as offerings in elder days were dropped into the pools and rivers. Also from this gate is seen to flow blessings of the otherworld from our gods and we often drink the sacred waters as we acknowledge and receive these blessings. As we see these waters in our rites we should remember the waters of ancient days, waters which sustain our lives, stand ready to receive our offerings sending them through gates to the otherworld, and bringing in return the strength and blessings of our gods.

Spirituality/ritual:
Edges and borders were very important to the ancient Celts because these defined the limits of the people and the land of the people. We see where many of the mythic events take place in naturally liminal places such as the sea shore or shallows, at fords across rivers or in doorways. These places are considered to be in between, neither here nor there. The first borders were often natural features such as a river, ridgeline, mountain or the shore.  When an ancient people spoke of the world and how it was given form they were not generally speaking of our planet or universe but of their own land, their world being the land where their people live.
When we look at ancient Celtic sites for religious worship we see this concept demonstrated. Some sites are marked by a shallow ditch and embankment, often rectilinear, around the site. Other sites seem to have been open fields where festivals were held with the field being the sacred site. There also would appear that some sacred sites were hill tops where the sacred space was defined by the hill itself. There are reports of sacred groves of trees where the sacred space is defined as what is contained within that grove. What seems to run through all of these is the idea of liminality or of a defined area reserved for and devoted to spiritual and religious functions.
This concept of liminality is often seen in our religious rites as the space for the rite is being defined, though the methods may vary greatly. One rite may be celebrated in a room and the room itself becomes the defined space. Another rite may take place in an open field where the edges of the field are the edges of the sacred space. Some groups may have rites under a large tree where the area shaded by the tree is the sacred space or in the shade of a grove of trees which contain the ritual area. A small island in the middle of a lake may serve some as a defined sacred place while others may find a hill top. A permanent ritual area may be defined with shallow ditches and embankments or marked by a perimeter of stone. We see a great deal of variance from group to group yet the concept of edges and borders remains. 

Self awareness:
Each person has abilities developed either through a special interest, training or that seem to be something for which that person has an affinity or talent. Any group or society is strengthened by having these specialists in certain areas since these people can makes very specific high quality contributions in those areas. Comhaltacht Draiocht is no different and we benefit from the talents and special skills of our people.
Examine yourself and identify your own special skills, talents and abilities. Be careful to consider this issue deeply because we often have a skill that others recognize but which we ourselves feel is of little import or to common to bear consideration. Ask some of your friends about your strengths and skills as they see you.  How can you use your skills? How can your own skills be applied to helping those around you?

World awareness:
Many people of Druidic faith decide to take some sort of action toward improving the world around them. This action can be as individual as the person and there is no standard that says that all people of Druidic faith must hold the same social or political opinions or that all of us must take the same sorts of action. Some people consider themselves to be environmental conservationists, while others consider themselves to be activist. Some people feel that they are improving the world by working in their local community while others feel that their own duty is global. For some of us issues of social justice are of paramount import to us personally.  Some people chose the path of an activist or protestor while others choose a path of quietly working to bring about change through education.
There are many projects and paths open and each of us alone decides which concerns and approaches interest or motivate. When deciding a task to which one wishes to apply oneself one must take stock of personal values and choose that which is of great personal import. In choosing an arena one must decide if one can be more effective on a local level or on a larger level. In choosing a method one must decide if one is better suited to quiet intellectual pursuits and educating others or if one is better suited to more activist methods.
We often feel the need to do something to improve the world around us. Some of us will work to improve the lot of our fellow humanity while others will concern themselves with the environment. Some of us are better suited to quietly teach while others wish to be more activists in approach. Some of us seek to nurture what we see as the right course while others are more interested in protesting and opposing what they see as the wrong course. Some are pulled to act locally perhaps with one person at a time while others focus on large scale global issues and many of us falling in between these extremes. There is no one absolute activity, arena or approach that all people of Druidic faith are expected to participate in. What any one of us chooses to do should be based on our own individual abilities, interests and values and never on the opinion of what another think that a “real druid” should do. This broad spectrum approach makes Druidry a force for growth, change and betterment in the modern world.

Expressions:
New methods of expression develop constantly. A century and a half ago there was no expression through film yet now we have a tremendous store of film based art. Computer animation has only recently been possible but it is in wide use today as a medium of expression with children easily able to create their own work on their home computers. High quality recording has become possible on desk top systems allowing any musician to have access to recording studio quality sound. Think now of the speed with which we are able to communicate and share our art. A poem, song, sculpture or any piece of expressive art can be created and presented to a world wide audience in the same day.
As new technologies develop we will see those technologies continually pressed into the service of art and expression. We can only imagine what expressive arts we will see in the future or what the media for that expression will be. We must keep our eyes, ears and minds open to these new methods and vehicles of human expression so that we will appreciate the value of the ability to express. We should explore these new arts and tools to see how to apply them ourselves as we express our own messages and convey our own thoughts and feelings.  As surely as there is a familiar beauty in our past, a beauty that we know and are comfortable with, there are things of beauty ahead of us that we have not even imagined or considered.