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Druidry and the Ancestors
Ancestors are part of our shared humanity, we all have them. Ancestry in the guise of race, has been used as a tool to divide. Even so, it might yet help us move in greater harmony. Are we playing out the motifs of our family history, or making our own lives? Are we held back by the past, or empowered by it? And why does any of this matter? Druidry and the Ancestors will take you on a journey into how you imagine yourself, and how you can take control of your identity and future. Druid, author, bard and dreamer. Nimue Brown is OBOD trained, a founding member of Bards of The Lost Forest and Druid Network member.
244 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2012
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348 people want to read
About the author
Nimue Brown
47 books129 followersAuthor of fiction and non-fiction works.
Born in Gloucestershire, Nimue writes Pagan non-fiction, speculative fiction and poetry.
Green, queer, woke lefty Druid, passionate about life, creativity and building a better world.
Born in Gloucestershire, Nimue writes Pagan non-fiction, speculative fiction and poetry.
Green, queer, woke lefty Druid, passionate about life, creativity and building a better world.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 24, 2014
The author breaks the book down into a look at how we perceive history, the way that viewpoint shapes our ideas about ancestors, and a discussion of the ancestors themselves. She is refreshingly open about her own biases and viewpoints and uses anecdotes to illustrate her points to good effect creating a personal touch to the text. The author is also not afraid to tackle the more difficult or emotional issues of ancestry - including adoption, abuse, and invention - in a direct manner.
After an initial chapter which defines who the ancestors were and are the second chapter delves into "history as story". I found this section to be profoundly thought provoking as it challenges the reader to look at what we know about history, how we know it, and how our view of it shapes our understanding at the most basic level. The book raises several points that I had never before considered but which will require some profound reflection long after I've put this book behind me.
Next is a chapter on 'spotting the melons" which encourages critical thinking in reading and offers a list of basic guidelines to sort bad sources from good. The author feels, as do I, that paganism is plagued by bad source material and faulty or outdated facts and tries to educate readers about the pitfalls to be found. Although I felt that some of the examples used were a bit vague, overall the chapter was a great edition to the book. Particularly in Druidism sorting fact from fiction from fantasy is an endless process and discernment is essential.
Moving on there is a chapter on the importance of ancestors and then several on individual types of ancestors, including ancestors of place and of tradition. I enjoyed the way that a variety of non-blood ancestors were included and that the author continues to challenge readers with new perspectives and ideas. The reality of ancestors whose stories we know well stand side by side with those who we have invented as part of our own narrative, and we are encouraged to value fact as well as myth in building practice. In this book knowing our ancestors is about knowing ourselves, and indeed one of the final chapters, "ancestors of the future", encourages us to look at ourselves as tomorrow's ancestors.
This book is not a workbook or how-to of ancestor work; in its pages you won't find how to set up ancestor altars or what offerings to make to who. What you will find is an invaluable guide to connecting to your own past, healing broken connections, and how today's Druids are and will be the ancestors of tomorrows spiritual seekers. More than worth reading, more than once
After an initial chapter which defines who the ancestors were and are the second chapter delves into "history as story". I found this section to be profoundly thought provoking as it challenges the reader to look at what we know about history, how we know it, and how our view of it shapes our understanding at the most basic level. The book raises several points that I had never before considered but which will require some profound reflection long after I've put this book behind me.
Next is a chapter on 'spotting the melons" which encourages critical thinking in reading and offers a list of basic guidelines to sort bad sources from good. The author feels, as do I, that paganism is plagued by bad source material and faulty or outdated facts and tries to educate readers about the pitfalls to be found. Although I felt that some of the examples used were a bit vague, overall the chapter was a great edition to the book. Particularly in Druidism sorting fact from fiction from fantasy is an endless process and discernment is essential.
Moving on there is a chapter on the importance of ancestors and then several on individual types of ancestors, including ancestors of place and of tradition. I enjoyed the way that a variety of non-blood ancestors were included and that the author continues to challenge readers with new perspectives and ideas. The reality of ancestors whose stories we know well stand side by side with those who we have invented as part of our own narrative, and we are encouraged to value fact as well as myth in building practice. In this book knowing our ancestors is about knowing ourselves, and indeed one of the final chapters, "ancestors of the future", encourages us to look at ourselves as tomorrow's ancestors.
This book is not a workbook or how-to of ancestor work; in its pages you won't find how to set up ancestor altars or what offerings to make to who. What you will find is an invaluable guide to connecting to your own past, healing broken connections, and how today's Druids are and will be the ancestors of tomorrows spiritual seekers. More than worth reading, more than once
November 4, 2015
'I liked it' is my conclusion to this book. It was okay. It wasn't what I expected, and it wasn't what the author expected either. I admire her dream to become an author and I respect that, but from a reader's point of view I didn't get enough to justify the amount I paid for, in my opinion. I expected a concise guide on how to communicate with the ancestors and how it would benefit my spiritual journey. The contents gave me confidence that I would gain some good knowledge from the book- however as informative as it was, the information was set out more like a sort of long essay than a book- a stream of thoughts bought together through a collection of personal anecdotes and introspections that rarely offer me as a reader any chance of transferable insight. The book includes what can only be described as a guide to reading other books on similar subjects, and how to identify fraudulent writing which I did find useful, just not what I expected from the book. Overall, it was a good read if not a little repetitive and un-relatable (as nice as it is to hear about the author's own thoughts and experiences they aren't always useful). I'm glad to have read it but overall it has not been as useful to my spiritual journey as I thought it would be, and I don't think it would be that useful to others either.
December 6, 2022
There were some good points in this book but I find myself kind of disappointed, There was almost zero knowledge about anything regarding the actual practice of Ancestor Veneration, As a reconstructionist Celtic Pagan I felt there was nothing of a theological nature particular to anything I could recognize as a Celtic pagan tradition on the subject. I initially was going to give this book three stars as it makes some good points about skepticism and narrative regarding ones Ancestors and it can help people think about it, but I would expect a book like this to have a lot more depth and crunch to it, and to be more rigorous theological. Its also a little repetitive like at a certain point at least for me I can kind of guess what she is going to say next. With that said her honesty as an Author is nice and refreshing and she has some great insights at times, I just wish it had more to do with Ancestor Worship in Celtic Paganism. (Also I don't like the way she uses the word Druid and its starting to make me think it means something different for her than for me, but then sometimes she says something that makes second guess that.)
December 7, 2023
I adore this book! There are so many ripe nuggets of wisdom between its pages. I love how so much of it can be applied to the present day. Often, the best way forward is to examine where we’ve been. Nimue reminds us of how far we’ve come, how looking at the past can help us navigate current challenges and feel great about our own chosen paths.
September 17, 2014
REVIEW: DRUIDRY AND THE ANCESTORS
Although ‘Druidry and the Ancestors’ is ostensibly about the beliefs of the Druid Path it is also invaluable reading for everyone who considers themselves traditional witches. The Ancestors play an integral part within traditional British Old Craft belief and practice – and we can never move very far into the realms of witchdom before we come up against their influence on our progression along the Path. I particularly liked the observation made by Nimue Brown that the: “wholesale borrowing of other people’s beliefs and ways of living is not always honourable though, nor is it reliably helpful. Relationship with the ancestors is not a concept that can ever exist in isolation. It belongs to place and time, to ways of life, to art, story and life experience. The ancestors are not separate from life as we live it, but intrinsic to it. We need to see them as part of our community, not a few extra lines in a ritual. A modern, western pagan with no ancestral tradition of reverencing the ancestors cannot simple take someone else’s approach and assume it will work out of context”.
For the readers’ benefit, modern Druidry identifies three groups of ancestors: the ancestors of blood, the ancestors of place, and the ancestors of tradition. We may identify with slightly differing viewpoints on this, or argue semantics, but the fundamentals are basically the same in that: “This is a book about making peace with the ancestors, understanding their legacies and their ongoing presence in our lives, and exploring how ancestry impacts on community, and ideas of race, nation and culture.” In other words, Nimue Brown eloquently explains that which cannot be described - only experienced. It is certainly a book I will be recommending to my own group. 5-Star
Melusine Draco, Principal Coven of the Scales.
Although ‘Druidry and the Ancestors’ is ostensibly about the beliefs of the Druid Path it is also invaluable reading for everyone who considers themselves traditional witches. The Ancestors play an integral part within traditional British Old Craft belief and practice – and we can never move very far into the realms of witchdom before we come up against their influence on our progression along the Path. I particularly liked the observation made by Nimue Brown that the: “wholesale borrowing of other people’s beliefs and ways of living is not always honourable though, nor is it reliably helpful. Relationship with the ancestors is not a concept that can ever exist in isolation. It belongs to place and time, to ways of life, to art, story and life experience. The ancestors are not separate from life as we live it, but intrinsic to it. We need to see them as part of our community, not a few extra lines in a ritual. A modern, western pagan with no ancestral tradition of reverencing the ancestors cannot simple take someone else’s approach and assume it will work out of context”.
For the readers’ benefit, modern Druidry identifies three groups of ancestors: the ancestors of blood, the ancestors of place, and the ancestors of tradition. We may identify with slightly differing viewpoints on this, or argue semantics, but the fundamentals are basically the same in that: “This is a book about making peace with the ancestors, understanding their legacies and their ongoing presence in our lives, and exploring how ancestry impacts on community, and ideas of race, nation and culture.” In other words, Nimue Brown eloquently explains that which cannot be described - only experienced. It is certainly a book I will be recommending to my own group. 5-Star
Melusine Draco, Principal Coven of the Scales.
January 25, 2013
The description of this book sounded intriguing.
And I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. Nimue has a lovely style of writing which makes you believe you are sitting across the table from her having a chat. She shares her thoughts and ideas on the ancestors in an extremely thought provoking way.
This book really made me stop and think about how we see the ancestors and how we define them, Nimue’s book has caused me to ponder on all the ideas I had and to reassess them.
This book will make you look at not just the history of druidry but your own history too, it will make you re think about how you see and work with the ancestors, not just your immediate family but on a much, much wider scale.
It will make you think about ancestors in a completely different way.
Whether you are a druid, a witch, a pagan or not this book will challenge your ideas and make your brain do some overtime (in a good way!).
Highly recommended.
And I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. Nimue has a lovely style of writing which makes you believe you are sitting across the table from her having a chat. She shares her thoughts and ideas on the ancestors in an extremely thought provoking way.
This book really made me stop and think about how we see the ancestors and how we define them, Nimue’s book has caused me to ponder on all the ideas I had and to reassess them.
This book will make you look at not just the history of druidry but your own history too, it will make you re think about how you see and work with the ancestors, not just your immediate family but on a much, much wider scale.
It will make you think about ancestors in a completely different way.
Whether you are a druid, a witch, a pagan or not this book will challenge your ideas and make your brain do some overtime (in a good way!).
Highly recommended.
June 1, 2014
Nimue writes a very interesting treatise on Ancestors, the various viewpoints in looking back at history, and what I consider to be a superb section on critical thinking and sourcing material (Spotting the Melons). For me, ancestry of blood-lines has not been that important, but Nimue brings another perspective of looking at Ancestors of Place and Ancestors of Tradition - which really focused a different viewpoint for me. This is not a how-to book, but more a "why" book, which opens avenues for connecting to your ancestors. Also, as an aside, Nimue is very open about her own biases throughout the book - a very refreshing point of view in writing.
April 11, 2015
This is a well written book, full of insight, facts and personality. Too often in Druidry, we look to and call upon the ancestors, that are so much more than "blood". There are those of blood, of tradition, of place and even our future ancestors - because we too will one day be ancestors.
February 4, 2016
I love Nimue's writing. This is a thoughtfully written book in an easy to read but intelligent style. It covers aspects of Druidry not considered in many other books.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews