Short description:

Over the past three decades, the academic study of modern Paganism has gone from strength to strength. Scholars now have access to a plethora of studies available on such new religions as Wicca, Heathenry, and the Goddess Movement - but despite its prominence, modern Druidry has been much neglected. This book seeks to change that. This volume is interdisciplinary in basis, bringing together contributions from anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion. It fundamentally deepens collective scholastic understandings of modern religious Druidry as an actor within the broader Pagan milieu. In addition to looking at the movement in various national contexts, the volume also explores thematic topics that have largely been neglected before. It will serve as a benchmark upon which all future studies of modern Druidry, as well as modern Paganism more widely, can draw upon, thereby making a particularly important and much-needed contribution to the field.

Ethan Doyle White completed his PhD in early medieval studies at University College London (UCL) in 2019. He teaches courses on topics such as witchcraft and Paganism at City Lit in London and is the Lead Director of Interviews for the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP), based out of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jonathan Woolley received his PhD in social anthropology at Cambridge University in 2017. He has published articles in the Implicit Religion and Environmental Humanities journals and is the author of Common Sense in Environmental Management: Thinking Through English Land and Water (2019).

Long description:

Over the past three decades, the academic study of modern Paganism has gone from strength to strength. Scholars now have access to a plethora of studies available on such new religions as Wicca, Heathenry, and the Goddess Movement - but despite its prominence, modern Druidry has been much neglected. This book seeks to change that. This volume is interdisciplinary in basis, bringing together contributions from anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion. It fundamentally deepens collective scholastic understandings of modern religious Druidry as an actor within the broader Pagan milieu. In addition to looking at the movement in various national contexts, the volume also explores thematic topics that have largely been neglected before. It will serve as a benchmark upon which all future studies of modern Druidry, as well as modern Paganism more widely, can draw upon, thereby making a particularly important and much-needed contribution to the field.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Cutting the Mistletoe: An Introduction to Modern Religious Druidry.- Chapter 2 Druids in Contemporary Druidry: The Myth as seen by a (Cultural) Psychologist and a (Cultural) Outsider.- Chapter 3 Feeling into Atmospheres: Druids and the Aesthetics of Ritual.- Chapter 4 Orders of Magnitude: The Socio-Cultural Significance of Druidry for the English Landscape.- Chapter 5 Psychedelia Britannia: Druids on Drugs.- Chapter 6 ?A Druid Land?: Druid Identities and Practices in Contemporary Ireland.- Chapter 7 Nature at the Nexus of the Sacred and the Everyday: Ecological Knowledge in Contemporary American Druidry.- Chapter 8 Cooking, Crafting, and Composing for the Gods: Ritual Creativity around Modern Druidic Sacrifice.- Chapter 9 ?Druids Down Under?: Australian Druidry as Adaptation and Innovation.- Chapter 10 Has Anything Changed? The Public Perception of Druidry.- Chapter 11 Afterword.