About that word “Reformed”

 

 

I’ve received a few negative reactions to my essay, Who’s A Druid?, wherein people will go on and on about how my definition of Druid is just so wrong. But I’m not defining the word Druid, I’m defining Reformed Druid. Do English teachers no longer teach the use of modifiers? I got an email a while back from a guy going on about our choices for Honorary Druids. He went on and on, basically with his panties all in a wad about how the Dahli Lama can’t be a Druid etc. He didn’t read the modifier: Honorary. And when I pointed it out to him he still didn’t get it. It was like talking to a wall. Now, getting back to my essay, it is true that having used the adjective at the beginning of the piece, I dropped it’s use but only because once used, it is understood that the adjective is implied, just as on our websites, once it is established that the kind of Druid we are discussing is the Reformed kind, it’s no longer necessary to use the adjective every time. For example, at reformed-druids.org it’s not necessary to use the word Reformed anywhere ever again, since the domain name tells everyone that we are talking about Reformed Druids, and not Reconstructionist Druids, or Revivalist Druids or any of the other kinds. It’s important to understand that there are lots of different ways to be a Druid today. Reformed Druids differ in focus and practice from ADF Druids, who differ from Henge of Keltria Druids, and who are further different than AODA Druids. Then there are OBOD Druids, who differ from them all. Even within the Reform (an umbrella term we use for all Reformed Druids) there are different flavors: RDG, RDNA, SDNA, NRDNA, HDNA ZDNA (and actually Henge and ADF are considered to be under this umbrella also, having evolved from the 55+ year Reformed Druid tradition). Having pointed out that differences exist, I must now insist that those differences be ignored. Druids should come together as a brotherhood, embracing each other in spite of those differences and maybe even in celebration of them.