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143-677: The Druid Order is a contemporary druidry fraternal order , founded in 1909 by George Watson MacGregor Reid in the United Kingdom . At various times it has also been known as The Ancient Druid Order, An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas, and The British Circle of the Universal Bond. Initiated members are called companions. Meditation is a key activity. Druidic discussions typically cover personal experience as well as philosophical, biological, mythological, political, poetic, astrological, religious, and similar subjects. Direct experience

286-504: A reverence for nature and the supernatural , an idealization of the past as a nobler era , a fascination with the exotic and the mysterious , and a celebration of the heroic and the sublime . The Romanticist movement had a particular fondness for the Middle Ages , which to them represented an era of chivalry , heroism, and a more organic relationship between humans and their environment. This idealization contrasted sharply with

429-468: A "Late Romantic" period and " Neoromantic " revivals are also discussed. These extensions of the movement are characterized by a resistance to the increasingly experimental and abstract forms that culminated in modern art , and the deconstruction of traditional tonal harmony in music. They continued the Romantic ideal, stressing depth of emotion in art and music while showcasing technical mastery in

572-406: A "calling of the quarters", in which a participant draws a circle in the air in a deosil direction to hail the north, south, east, and west, marking out the space in which the ceremony will take place. Libations may be poured onto the ground while a chalice of drink is passed around the assembled participants, again in a deosil direction. Food, often in the form of bread or cake, is also passed around

715-523: A "revival" of genuine pre-Christian druidic practices, others see it a creative and respectful borrowing from one "native spirituality" into another, and a third school of thought regards it as a form of cultural theft. Native Americans who preserve the sweat lodge ceremonies for their communities have protested the appropriation of the ceremony by non-Natives, increasingly so now that people have been injured, and some have died , in fraudulent sweat lodge ceremonies performed by non-Natives. In Druidry,

858-587: A Druidic baby-naming ceremony which took place at Kent's Chestnuts Long Barrow . Attitudes to land and environmental conservation are important to the Druidic world-view. In 2003, Druids performed a ritual at the Hill of Tara to heal the location after road construction took place in the adjacent landscape. Others have carried out rituals at Coldrum Long Barrow to oppose fracking in the landscape. Druids have also involved themselves in tree planting projects. In

1001-660: A centre of German Romanticism, where writers and poets such as Clemens Brentano , Achim von Arnim , and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff ( Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts ) met regularly in literary circles. Important motifs in German Romanticism are travelling, nature, for example the German Forest , and Germanic myths . The later German Romanticism of, for example E. T. A. Hoffmann 's Der Sandmann ( The Sandman ), 1817, and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff 's Das Marmorbild ( The Marble Statue ), 1819,

1144-402: A ceremony at noon for the fullness of the light. In recent years these ceremonies have taken place on the night and day following the 'open access' to Stonehenge on Summer Solstice itself. The public ceremonies above are, obviously, open to all. Companions of the ordered dress in white robes and wear a cowl. They process to the place of the ceremony and form a circle with key positions oriented to

1287-629: A collection of versified folk tales, in 1806–1808. The first collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm was published in 1812. Unlike the much later work of Hans Christian Andersen , who was publishing his invented tales in Danish from 1835, these German works were at least mainly based on collected folk tales , and the Grimms remained true to the style of the telling in their early editions, though later rewriting some parts. One of

1430-684: A complicated history. By the 18th century, European languages—notably German, French and Slavic languages—were using the term "Roman" in the sense of the English word " novel ", i.e. a work of popular narrative fiction. This usage derived from the term "Romance languages" , which referred to vernacular (or popular) language in contrast to formal Latin . Most such novels took the form of " chivalric romance ", tales of adventure, devotion and honour. The founders of Romanticism, critics (and brothers) August Wilhelm Schlegel and Friedrich Schlegel , began to speak of romantische Poesie ("romantic poetry") in

1573-428: A considerable number always had, or developed, a wide range of conservative views, and nationalism was in many countries strongly associated with Romanticism, as discussed in detail below. In philosophy and the history of ideas, Romanticism was seen by Isaiah Berlin as disrupting for over a century the classic Western traditions of rationality and the idea of moral absolutes and agreed values, leading "to something like

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1716-612: A defence of religion and the medieval spirit ( Génie du christianisme , 1802), and finally in the 1830s and 1840s his enormous autobiography Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe ("Memoirs from beyond the grave"). After the Bourbon Restoration , French Romanticism developed in the lively world of Parisian theatre , with productions of Shakespeare , Schiller (in France a key Romantic author), and adaptations of Scott and Byron alongside French authors, several of whom began to write in

1859-482: A distinct national identity and began to enjoy an international reputation. Allan Ramsay (1686–1758) laid the foundations of a reawakening of interest in older Scottish literature, as well as leading the trend for pastoral poetry, helping to develop the Habbie stanza as a poetic form . James Macpherson (1736–1796) was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. Claiming to have found poetry written by

2002-529: A dramatist, with his play on the life of the English poet Chatterton (1835) perhaps his best work. George Sand was a central figure of the Parisian literary scene, famous both for her novels and criticism and her affairs with Chopin and several others; she too was inspired by the theatre, and wrote works to be staged at her private estate . French Romantic poets of the 1830s to 1850s include Alfred de Musset , Gérard de Nerval , Alphonse de Lamartine and

2145-534: A fixed ceremonial framework unique to the Druid group, and a central ritual activity that varies with the season. Druids residing in the traditionally Celtic regions of Europe are significantly more likely than Druids residing in other parts of the world to perform their ceremonies and rituals in groups. In the British Isles, Druid group rituals often involve the participants standing in a circle and begin with

2288-498: A form of contemporary Paganism, and on the contemporary Pagan spectrum between reconstructionism and eclecticism, Druidry sits on the latter end. Various Druidic groups also display New Age and neo-shamanic influences. The Druidic community has been characterised as a neo-tribe , for it is disembedded and its membership is elective. Druidry has been described as a form of Celtic spirituality , or "Celtic-Based Spirituality". Scholar of religion Marion Bowman described Druidry as

2431-401: A full sensory and spiritual awareness of whatever or whoever may be near by. Environmental stewardship work extends this connection through acts of reciprocity. Druids regularly participate in activities such as restoring native ecosystems, creating wildlife habitats, growing organic food crops, composting, installing solar or wind power systems, and changing personal consumption habits to protect

2574-487: A highly critical view of recent social changes, including urbanization , brought about by the Industrial Revolution . Romanticism lionized the achievements of "heroic" individuals—especially artists, who began to be represented as cultural leaders (one Romantic luminary, Percy Bysshe Shelley , described poets as the "unacknowledged legislators of the world" in his " Defence of Poetry "). Romanticism placed

2717-612: A longing for the unbounded and the indefinable, for perpetual movement and change, an effort to return to the forgotten sources of life, a passionate effort at self-assertion both individual and collective, a search after means of expressing an unappeasable yearning for unattainable goals". Romantic artists also shared a strong belief in the importance and inspirational qualities of Nature. Romantics were distrustful of cities and social conventions. They deplored Restoration and Enlightenment Era artists who were largely concerned with depicting and critiquing social relations, thereby neglecting

2860-408: A mature Romantic style. By the time of World War I , though, the cultural and artistic climate had changed to such a degree that Romanticism essentially dispersed into subsequent movements. The final Late Romanticist figures to maintain the Romantic ideals died in the 1940s. Though they were still widely respected, they were seen as anachronisms at that point. Romanticism was a complex movement with

3003-409: A modern spiritual or religious movement that promotes the cultivation of honorable relationships with the physical landscapes, flora, fauna, and diverse peoples of the world, as well as with nature deities, and spirits of nature and place. Theological beliefs among modern Druids are diverse; however, all modern Druids venerate the divine essence of nature. While there are significant variations in

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3146-579: A monotheistic god. In modern times, with the increase in polytheistic Druidry, and the widespread acceptance of goddess-worship, the word "Goddess" has largely replaced the word "God" in The Druid's Prayer; other variants include "God and Goddess" and "Spirit". Some Druids regard it as possible to communicate with various spirits during rituals. For example, certain Druids in Ireland have adopted belief in

3289-408: A novel by Laurence Sterne (1759–1767), introduced a whimsical version of the anti-rational sentimental novel to the English literary public. An early German influence came from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , whose 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther had young men throughout Europe emulating its protagonist, a young artist with a very sensitive and passionate temperament. At that time Germany

3432-626: A specific ceremony takes place known as an Eisteddfod , which is dedicated to the recitation of poetry and musical performances. Within the Druidic community, practitioners who are particularly skilled in their recitation of poetry or their performance of music are referred to as Bards. Although bardism can also be found in other Pagan traditions such as Eco-Paganism , it is of particular importance within Druidry. Bards perform at Eisteddfod at various occasions, from formal rituals to pub get-togethers and summer camps and environmental protests. Among

3575-431: A term reflects the movement's association with trees, and references the idea that Iron Age druids performed their rituals within tree groves. Larger Druidic organisations are usually termed orders , and those that lead them are often termed Chosen Chiefs or Arch Druids . Some British Druid orders divide membership into three grades, referred to as "bards", "ovates", and then "Druids". This three-tier system mirrors

3718-439: A variety of viewpoints that permeated Western civilization across the globe. The movement and its opposing ideologies mutually shaped each other over time. After its end, Romantic thought and art exerted a sweeping influence on art and music , speculative fiction , philosophy , politics , and environmentalism that has endured to the present day. The movement is the reference for the modern notion of " romanticization " and

3861-583: A very typical view, and about 1830, perhaps a little later than some other critics. Others have proposed 1780–1830. In other fields and other countries the period denominated as Romantic can be considerably different; musical Romanticism , for example, is generally regarded as only having ceased as a major artistic force as late as 1910, but in an extreme extension the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss are described stylistically as "Late Romantic" and were composed in 1946–1948. However, in most fields

4004-400: A way of living that they regard as being more "natural". Through seeking a connection with nature, neo-Druids pursue a sense of "cosmic belonging". "Grant, O God, Thy protection; And in protection, strength; And in strength, understanding; And in understanding, knowledge; And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice; And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it; And in that love,

4147-471: A wistful Macpherson seeking to recreate the oral traditions of Scotland. Everything presently known about the Iron Age druids derives from archaeological evidence and Greco-Roman textual sources, rather than material produced by these druids themselves. Due to the scarcity of knowledge about the Iron Age druids, their belief system cannot be accurately reconstructed. Some Druids incorporate everything that

4290-477: Is a system of tree lore, through which different associations are attributed to different species of tree, including particular moods, actions, phases of life, deities and ancestors. Different species of trees are often linked to the ogham alphabet, which is employed in divination by Druids. Rather than ogham, some practitioners favour coelbren —an alphabet likely devised by Iolo Morganwg —for their divinatory practices. Romanticism Romanticists rejected

4433-493: Is believed to be a "flowing spirit" that is given by the deity, which can be invoked by the Druid. In many Druidic rituals, Awen is invoked by either chanting the word "Awen" or "A-I-O" three times, in order to shift the consciousness of the participants involved. The word "Awen" derives from the Welsh and Cornish terms for "inspiration". A connection with ancestors is important in Druidry. In some recorded examples, Druids regard

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4576-417: Is known about Iron Age druids into their practices. However, as noted by Irish contemporary paganism scholar Jenny Butler, the historical realities of Iron Age religion are often overlooked by Druids in favour of "a highly romanticised version". Many Druids believe that the practices of the Iron Age druids should be revived and modified to meet current needs. In Ireland, some Druids have claimed that because

4719-576: Is more important than learning acquired through books. For well over a century, The Druid Order has held Public Ceremonies, one at each of the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes, and one at Summer Solstice. Sometimes the location or time varies due to current circumstances. The first public ceremony of the year, the Autumn Equinox, takes place on Primrose Hill in London. The second ceremony of the year,

4862-445: Is most evident in the aesthetics of romanticism, where the notion of eternal models, a Platonic vision of ideal beauty, which the artist seeks to convey, however imperfectly, on canvas or in sound, is replaced by a passionate belief in spiritual freedom, individual creativity. The painter, the poet, the composer do not hold up a mirror to nature, however ideal, but invent; they do not imitate (the doctrine of mimesis), but create not merely

5005-510: Is no set dogma or belief system followed by all adherents. Druid perceptions of the divine tend to be complex, and subject to change as the individual Druid learns and grows. Most Druids identify with more than one theological category: 64% of Druids identify as animists ; 49% of Druids identify as soft polytheists , 37% of Druids identify as pantheists , 15% of Druids identify as hard polytheists, 7% of Druids identify as monotheists ; 7% are agnostic ; and 2% identify as atheists . Druidry

5148-651: Is now most highly regarded for his short lyrics and his generally unromantic prose writings, especially his letters, and his unfinished satire Don Juan . Unlike many Romantics, Byron's widely publicised personal life appeared to match his work, and his death at 36 in 1824 from disease when helping the Greek War of Independence appeared from a distance to be a suitably Romantic end, entrenching his legend. Keats in 1821 and Shelley in 1822 both died in Italy, Blake (at almost 70) in 1827, and Coleridge largely ceased to write in

5291-469: Is often called "romantic originality". The translator and prominent Romantic August Wilhelm Schlegel argued in his Lectures on Dramatic Arts and Letters that the most valuable quality of human nature is its tendency to diverge and diversify. According to Isaiah Berlin , Romanticism embodied "a new and restless spirit, seeking violently to burst through old and cramping forms, a nervous preoccupation with perpetually changing inner states of consciousness,

5434-497: Is the Fragments of Ancient Poetry , which was published by James Macpherson between 1760 and 1763. The poems were hugely popular; they were read by many of the notable figures of the period, including Voltaire , Napoleon , and Thomas Jefferson , and the quality of the poetry inspired contemporary comparisons with Homer . Though attributed to the ancient semi-legendary poet Ossian , the works are believed to have been composed by

5577-561: Is the sole religious or spiritual path for 54% of world Druids; the other 46% practice Druidry concurrently with one or more other religions traditions. The most common, concurrently practiced religious traditions reported among Druids were Buddhism, Christianity, shamanistic traditions, Witchcraft/Wicca, northern traditions, Hinduism, Native American traditions, and Unitarian Universalism. 63% of world Druids identify as either Pagan or Heathen, in addition to identifying as Druids; 37% of Druids reject both of these labels. Some Druids draw upon

5720-853: The Ancien Régime , and the French Revolution had been more of an inspiration to foreign writers than those experiencing it at first-hand. The first major figure was François-René de Chateaubriand , an aristocrat who had remained a royalist throughout the Revolution, and returned to France from exile in England and America under Napoleon, with whose regime he had an uneasy relationship. His writings, all in prose, included some fiction, such as his influential novella of exile René (1802), which anticipated Byron in its alienated hero, but mostly contemporary history and politics, his travels,

5863-674: The Carmina Gadelica . Most use some form of Morganwg's Gorsedd Prayer. Some Druids also involve themselves in spell-casting, although this is usually regarded as a secondary feature among their practices. The two most common locations for Druid rituals are indoors, at home, at a home altar or shrine (92% of Druids), or outdoors in a private garden or wild space (90% of Druids). Only 48% of world Druids regularly participate in rituals held in publicly viewable spaces, and 18% attend rituals at public monuments or popular tourist destinations such as Stonehenge or Avebury, however, Druids in

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6006-504: The Origin of Species , the transition from widespread revolution in Europe to a more conservative climate, and a shift in public consciousness to the immediate impact of technology and urbanization on the working class . By World War I , Romanticism was overshadowed by new cultural, social, and political movements, many of them hostile to the perceived illusions and preoccupations of

6149-513: The British Druid Order have established their own gorseddau . Unlike the Welsh cultural gorseddau, these Druidic events often allow anyone to perform as a bard if they are inspired to do so. Druids have participated in other musical genres and with more technological instruments, including the blues and rave music, and one British club, Megatripolis, opened with the performance of a Druidic ritual. Among many Druids, there

6292-771: The Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent . In Ireland, Druids perform ceremonies at one of the island's best known prehistoric sites, the Hill of Tara . In 2000, scholar of religion Amy Hale noted that Druidic rituals at such prehistoric sites were "increasingly more common". She regarded the stone circle as "a symbol of an imagined Celtic past" shared by both Druids and Gorseth Bards. As well as performing group rituals at sites, Druids also visit them alone to meditate, pray, and provide offerings. Aside from seasonal celebrations, rites of passage can also take place at such sites, such as

6435-704: The Cornish Gorsedd for example has publicly disassociated any links to Paganism. Some Druids identify as Pagan, others as Christian. Some practitioners merge Pagan and Christian elements in their own personal practice, in at least one case identifying as a "Christodruid". Other practitioners adopt additional elements; for instance there are self-described " Zen Druids" and " Hasidic Druids". The Berengia Order of Druids drew upon elements from science fiction television shows like Star Trek and Babylon 5 . The earliest modern Druids aligned themselves with Christianity. The writer William Stukeley regarded

6578-585: The Crusades that he had researched to a degree that was new in literature. In contrast to Germany, Romanticism in English literature had little connection with nationalism, and the Romantics were often regarded with suspicion for the sympathy many felt for the ideals of the French Revolution , whose collapse and replacement with the dictatorship of Napoleon was, as elsewhere in Europe, a shock to

6721-545: The Lake Poets were widely regarded as a marginal group of radicals, though they were supported by the critic and writer William Hazlitt and others. In contrast, Lord Byron and Walter Scott achieved enormous fame and influence throughout Europe with works exploiting the violence and drama of their exotic and historical settings; Goethe called Byron "undoubtedly the greatest genius of our century". Scott achieved immediate success with his long narrative poem The Lay of

6864-445: The Sí , which are spirits from Irish folklore, into their Druidic system, and they believe that those spirits are elementals . Those druids have adopted the folkloric belief that such spirits are repelled by iron, and thus they avoid bringing iron to their rituals, so as not to scare those spirits away. Awen is a concept of spirit or divinity in Druidry, which inspires poetry and art, and

7007-404: The national poet of Scotland and a major influence on the Romantic movement. His poem (and song) " Auld Lang Syne " is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and " Scots Wha Hae " served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Scott began as a poet and also collected and published Scottish ballads. His first prose work, Waverley in 1814, is often called

7150-526: The natural sciences . Romanticism had a significant and complex effect on politics: Romantic thinking influenced conservatism , liberalism , radicalism , and nationalism . Romanticism prioritized the artist's unique, individual imagination above the strictures of classical form. The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience. It granted a new importance to experiences of sympathy , awe , wonder , and terror , in part by naturalizing such emotions as responses to

7293-475: The social conventions of the time in favour of a moral outlook known as individualism . They argued that passion and intuition were crucial to understanding the world, and that beauty is more than merely an affair of form , but rather something that evokes a strong emotional response. With this philosophical foundation, the Romanticists elevated several key themes to which they were deeply committed:

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7436-634: The supernatural / occult and human psychology . Romanticism tended to regard satire as something unworthy of serious attention, a view still influential today. The Romantic movement in literature was preceded by the Enlightenment and succeeded by Realism . The precursors of Romanticism in English poetry go back to the middle of the 18th century, including figures such as Joseph Warton (headmaster at Winchester College ) and his brother Thomas Warton , Professor of Poetry at Oxford University . Joseph maintained that invention and imagination were

7579-483: The "Celtic spirituality" par excellence . Some practitioners regard Druidry as a form of "native spirituality", and it displays an affinity with folk religions . In defining Druidry as a "native spirituality", some Druids seek to draw elements from other native religions , such as the belief systems of Australian Aboriginal and Native American communities. Practitioners differ in the levels of formality and seriousness that they bring to their adherence. Some groups use

7722-409: The "ancestors" as an amorphous group, rather than as a set of named individuals. The Druidic concept of ancestry is that of "ancestors of the land", rather than the "ancestors of the blood" venerated by some Heathen groups; they perceive a spiritual connection, rather than a genetic one, as being important. Emphasising ancestors gives practitioners a sense of an identity which has been passed down from

7865-399: The "beautiful" and the "sublime". Romantics stressed the nobility of folk art and ancient cultural practices, but also championed radical politics , unconventional behavior, and authentic spontaneity. In contrast to the rationalism and classicism of the Enlightenment , Romanticism revived medievalism and juxtaposed a pastoral conception of a more "authentic" European past with

8008-730: The "romantic harp" and "classic lyre", but in 1820 Byron could still write, perhaps slightly disingenuously, It is only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, and in 1824 the Académie française took the wholly ineffective step of issuing a decree condemning it in literature. The period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place "roughly between 1770 and 1848", and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter

8151-479: The 1790s, contrasting it with "classic" but in terms of spirit rather than merely dating. Friedrich Schlegel wrote in his 1800 essay Gespräch über die Poesie ("Dialogue on Poetry"): The modern sense of the term spread more widely in France by its persistent use by Germaine de Staël in her De l'Allemagne (1813), recounting her travels in Germany. In England Wordsworth wrote in a preface to his poems of 1815 of

8294-406: The 1820s. Wordsworth was by 1820 respectable and highly regarded, holding a government sinecure , but wrote relatively little. In the discussion of English literature, the Romantic period is often regarded as finishing around the 1820s, or sometimes even earlier, although many authors of the succeeding decades were no less committed to Romantic values. The most significant novelist in English during

8437-521: The 18th century Romanticist movement in Britain, which glorified the ancient Celtic peoples of the Iron Age , the early neo-Druids aimed to imitate the Iron Age priests who were also known as druids . At the time, little accurate information was known about these ancient priests, and the modern Druidic movement has no direct connection to them, despite contrary claims made by some modern Druids. In

8580-454: The 1990s and early 2000s, the use of a ritual based on the sweat lodge became increasingly popular among some Neo-druids in Ireland and the U.K. Some Druids regard these sweat lodges as "initiatory and regenerative opportunities to rededicate oneself to honouring the Earth and the community of life." This practice is regarded differently by different individuals. Some practitioners regard it as

8723-679: The British Isles are significantly more likely to do so. Public rituals in the British Isles frequently take place at formations in the natural landscape or at prehistoric sites, among them megalithic constructions from the Neolithic and Bronze Age or earthworks from the Iron Age. Druids often believe that, even if the Iron Age druids did not build these monuments, they did use them for their rites. Performing rituals at said sites allows many Druids to feel that they are getting close to their ancestors. Druids regard them as sacred sites in part as recognition that prehistoric societies would have done

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8866-399: The Druidic community, it is often believed that bards should be divinely inspired in producing their work. Storytelling is important within Druidry, with stories often following themes from the literary traditions of Celtic nations and Arthurian legend. Musical performances typically draw from the folk traditions of Ireland , Scotland , England , France , and Brittany . Groups like

9009-428: The Druids and consumed. This may be followed by a period of meditation among those assembled. A form of earth energy is then visualised, with participants believing that it is sent for a designated healing purpose. This may be designed to help the victims of a particular event, such as a war or an epidemic, or it might be directed to assist individuals known to the group who are ill or requiring emotional support. After

9152-601: The French retreat from Moscow in 1812, fantasies of heroism and adventure had little appeal for him, and like Goya he is often seen as a forerunner of Realism. His most important works are Le Rouge et le Noir ( The Red and the Black , 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme ( The Charterhouse of Parma , 1839). Romanticism in Poland is often taken to begin with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz 's first poems in 1822, and end with

9295-661: The Iron Age and there is no evidence that it was ever used by Iron Age druids, many modern Druids believe that their ancient namesakes did indeed use it for their ceremonies. Druids also use many other prehistoric sites as spaces for their rituals, including stone circles like that at Avebury in Wiltshire. Some Druids have erected their own, modern stone circles in which to perform their ceremonies. Druidic practices have also taken place at Early Neolithic chambered long barrows such as Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire , and

9438-472: The Iron Age druids as monotheist proto-Christians who worshipped the Christian god. In a similar vein, some modern Druids believe that ancient druidic wisdom was preserved through a distinct Celtic Christianity . Over the course of the twentieth century, and particularly since the early 1960s, Druidry increasingly came to be associated with the modern pagan movement. Druidic beliefs vary widely, and there

9581-588: The Iron Age druids. By 2020, modern Druidry had spread to 34 nations, across 6 continents, and had taken root in 17 diverse biomes. The importance that modern Druids attributed to Celtic language and culture, circa 2020, varied depending upon the physical and cultural environments in which the individual Druid lived. By 2020, roughly 92% of world Druids were living outside the British Isles . Based on 2011–2013 census data from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, and 2008 ARIS Report data from

9724-616: The Last Minstrel in 1805, followed by the full epic poem Marmion in 1808. Both were set in the distant Scottish past, already evoked in Ossian ; Romanticism and Scotland were to have a long and fruitful partnership. Byron had equal success with the first part of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812, followed by four "Turkish tales", all in the form of long poems, starting with The Giaour in 1813, drawing from his Grand Tour , which had reached Ottoman Europe, and orientalizing

9867-1041: The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (including 57% of world Druids), Ár nDraíocht Féin (12%), the Ancient Order of Druids in America (8%), the British Druid Order (6%), The Druid Network (4%), the New Order of Druids (2%), each of which offers either Druidry curriculum materials or online reference materials about how to practice contemporary Druidry. Survey results indicated that 25% of world Druids belong to multiple Druid groups; 57% belong to just one group, and 18% are unaffiliated, solitary practitioners. Despite these Druid group affiliations, 92% of world Druids report that most of their devotional practices and rituals are celebrated alone, as solitary practitioners. Druidic groups are usually known as groves . Such

10010-436: The Romantic interest in folk literature, but neither had a fully Romantic approach to life or their work. Though they have modern critical champions such as György Lukács , Scott's novels are today more likely to be experienced in the form of the many operas that composers continued to base on them over the following decades, such as Donizetti 's Lucia di Lammermoor and Vincenzo Bellini 's I puritani (both 1835). Byron

10153-472: The Romantic period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier. The early period of the Romantic era was a time of war, with the French Revolution (1789–1799) followed by the Napoleonic Wars until 1815. These wars, along with the political and social turmoil that went along with them, served as the background for Romanticism. The key generation of French Romantics born between 1795 and 1805 had, in

10296-498: The Romanticist movement and its ideals. The events and ideologies of the French Revolution were also direct influences on the movement; many early Romantics throughout Europe sympathized with the ideals and achievements of French revolutionaries. A confluence of circumstances led to Romanticism's decline in the mid-19th century, including (but not limited to) the rise of Realism and Naturalism , Charles Darwin 's publishing of

10439-530: The Romantics. However, Romanticism has had a lasting impact on Western civilization, and many works of art, music, and literature that embody the Romantic ideals have been made after the end of the Romantic Era. The movement's advocacy for nature appreciation is cited as an influence for current nature conservation efforts. The majority of film scores from the Golden Age of Hollywood were written in

10582-475: The United States, the population of Druids residing in anglophone nations was estimated at 59,299. The current global population of Druids is likely to significantly exceed this number, as many countries with resident Druids do not allow for the existence of Druidry within their census instruments. Pagan faith surveys are also likely to undercount Druids, as only 63% of world Druids identify with either of

10725-563: The Welsh Gorsedd of Bards ), called for Druids to meet at the Apple Tree Tavern, Covent Garden, London a year and a day later, and that the meeting which formed An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas i.e. The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond took place on 22 September 1717 with representatives from London, York, Oxford, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, Scotland, Anglesey, Ireland and Brittany. It was also claimed that John Aubrey,

10868-758: The Winter Solstice, passes without a public ceremony. The third ceremony of the year, the Spring Equinox, is held at Tower Hill in London. The fourth and final public ceremony of the year is the Summer solstice. This event is marked by three ceremonies at Stonehenge in Wiltshire: a simple ceremony at midnight for the darkest hour, a dawn ceremony marking the rising of the Sun behind the Heel Stone, and

11011-721: The act of "romanticizing" something. For most of the Western world, Romanticism was at its peak from approximately 1800 to 1850. The first Romantic ideas arose from an earlier German Counter-Enlightenment movement called Sturm und Drang (German: "Storm and Stress"). This movement directly criticized the Enlightenment's position that humans can fully comprehend the world through rationality alone, suggesting that intuition and emotion are key components of insight and understanding. Published in 1774, " The Sorrows of Young Werther " by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began to shape

11154-710: The ancient bard Ossian , he published translations that acquired international popularity, being proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical epics . Fingal , written in 1762, was speedily translated into many European languages, and its appreciation of natural beauty and treatment of the ancient legend has been credited more than any single work with bringing about the Romantic movement in European, and especially in German literature, through its influence on Johann Gottfried von Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . It

11297-473: The anthropologist Thorsten Gieser, Druidic rituals are best seen not as a set of formalised actions but as "a stance, an attitude, a particular mode of experience and perception which gives rise to a feeling of being-in-the-world, of being part of Nature." The practices of modern Druids typically take place outside, in the daylight, in what is described as "the eye of the sun", meaning around midday. In some cases, they instead perform their rites indoors, or during

11440-448: The beginning of a tradition of resistance to Enlightenment rationalism—a "Counter-Enlightenment"— to be associated most closely with German Romanticism . Another early definition comes from Charles Baudelaire : "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling." The end of the Romantic era is marked in some areas by a new style of Realism , which affected literature, especially

11583-486: The best known works, which became a paradigm of the French Romantic movement. The preface to his unperformed play Cromwell gives an important manifesto of French Romanticism, stating that "there are no rules, or models". The career of Prosper Mérimée followed a similar pattern; he is now best known as the originator of the story of Carmen , with his novella published 1845. Alfred de Vigny remains best known as

11726-478: The brothers, Jacob , published in 1835 Deutsche Mythologie , a long academic work on Germanic mythology. Another strain is exemplified by Schiller's highly emotional language and the depiction of physical violence in his play The Robbers of 1781. In English literature , the key figures of the Romantic movement are considered to be the group of poets including William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , John Keats , Lord Byron , Percy Bysshe Shelley and

11869-557: The cardinal points and the Sun. Most of the ceremonies feature banners, a sword bearer leading the procession, three ladies bearing items in some way related to the season, the blowing of a horn, the reading of a scroll, representations of the elements Earth, Air, Water and Fire, wine or cider, an invocation to East, West, North and South, and words. Ronald Hutton writes that the Druid Order in its current form started around 1909 or 1912 when George Watson MacGregor Reid (1862-1946) led

12012-479: The categories Pagan or Heathen . In addition, 74% of world Druids report having significant privacy and safety concerns, due to discrimination and persecution within their local communities, and so are likely to be underreported in the census data that does exist. While modern Druidry has spread rapidly across the globe, Druids do not proselytize, and 74% of world Druids actively work to keep their spiritual practices private. Modern Druidry derives its name from

12155-463: The celtic magico-religious specialists of Iron Age Western Europe who were known as druids . There is no real historical continuity between the druids of Iron Age Europe and modern Druids. However, some Druids nevertheless regard modern Druidry as a genuine continuation of the practices of the Iron Age druids. The 18th-century figure Iolo Morganwg fabricated what he claimed were early Welsh literary sources and traditions that supposedly dated to

12298-418: The chief qualities of a poet. The Scottish poet James Macpherson influenced the early development of Romanticism with the international success of his Ossian cycle of poems published in 1762, inspiring both Goethe and the young Walter Scott . Thomas Chatterton is generally considered the first Romantic poet in English. Both Chatterton and Macpherson's work involved elements of fraud, as what they claimed

12441-707: The crushing of the January Uprising of 1863 against the Russians. It was strongly marked by interest in Polish history. Polish Romanticism revived the old "Sarmatism" traditions of the szlachta or Polish nobility. Old traditions and customs were revived and portrayed in a positive light in the Polish messianic movement and in works of great Polish poets such as Adam Mickiewicz ( Pan Tadeusz ), Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński . This close connection between Polish Romanticism and Polish history became one of

12584-437: The defining qualities of the literature of Polish Romanticism period, differentiating it from that of other countries. They had not suffered the loss of national statehood as was the case with Poland. Influenced by the general spirit and main ideas of European Romanticism, the literature of Polish Romanticism is unique, as many scholars have pointed out, in having developed largely outside of Poland and in its emphatic focus upon

12727-524: The difficulty of defining Romanticism in his seminal article "On the Discrimination of Romanticisms" in his Essays in the History of Ideas (1948); some scholars see Romanticism as essentially continuous with the present, some like Robert Hughes see in it the inaugural moment of modernity , while writers of the 19th Century such as Chateaubriand , Novalis and Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw it as

12870-402: The early 20th century, merged with contemporary movements such as the physical culture movement and naturism . Since the 1980s, some modern druid groups have adopted similar methodologies to those of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism in an effort to create a more historically accurate practice. However, there is still controversy over how much resemblance modern Druidism may or may not have to

13013-664: The early nineteenth century, caused Edinburgh to emerge as the cultural capital of Britain and become central to a wider formation of a "British Isles nationalism". Scottish "national drama" emerged in the early 1800s, as plays with specifically Scottish themes began to dominate the Scottish stage. Theatres had been discouraged by the Church of Scotland and fears of Jacobite assemblies. In the later eighteenth century, many plays were written for and performed by small amateur companies and were not published and so most have been lost. Towards

13156-444: The end of the century there were " closet dramas ", primarily designed to be read, rather than performed, including work by Scott, Hogg, Galt and Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), often influenced by the ballad tradition and Gothic Romanticism. Romanticism was relatively late in developing in French literature , more so than in the visual arts. The 18th-century precursor to Romanticism, the cult of sensibility, had become associated with

13299-498: The end of the ceremony, the Druids may remain together to take part in a meal, or visit a nearby pub . There is no specific dress code for ritual within the Druidic movement; some participants wear ordinary clothes, others wear robes. Some groups favour earth-coloured robes, believing that this links them to the natural world and that it aids them in traveling unnoticed when going about at night. Celtic languages are often employed during ceremonies, as are quotations and material from

13442-414: The exotic and historical settings pioneered by the Romantics, but experimentation with form and technique was generally reduced, often replaced with meticulous technique, as in the poems of Tennyson or many paintings. If not realist, late 19th-century art was often extremely detailed, and pride was taken in adding authentic details in a way that earlier Romantics did not trouble with. Many Romantic ideas about

13585-434: The expression and practice of modern Druidry, a core set of spiritual and devotional practices may be observed, including: meditation; prayer/conversation with deities and spirits; the use of extra-sensory methods of seeking wisdom and guidance; the use of nature-based spiritual frameworks to structure devotional practices and rituals; and a regular practice of nature connection and environmental stewardship work. Arising from

13728-668: The fields of intellectual history and literary history throughout the 20th century, without any great measure of consensus emerging. That it was part of the Counter-Enlightenment , a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment , is generally accepted in current scholarship. Its relationship to the French Revolution , which began in 1789 in the very early stages of the period, is clearly important, but highly variable depending on geography and individual reactions. Most Romantics can be said to be broadly progressive in their views, but

13871-499: The first historical novel. It launched a highly successful career, with other historical novels such as Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818) and Ivanhoe (1820). Scott probably did more than any other figure to define and popularise Scottish cultural identity in the nineteenth century. Other major literary figures connected with Romanticism include the poets and novelists James Hogg (1770–1835), Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) and John Galt (1779–1839). Scotland

14014-409: The flamboyant Théophile Gautier , whose prolific output in various forms continued until his death in 1872. Stendhal is today probably the most highly regarded French novelist of the period, but he stands in a complex relation with Romanticism, and is notable for his penetrating psychological insight into his characters and his realism, qualities rarely prominent in Romantic fiction. As a survivor of

14157-458: The group, influenced by universalists . When Thomas Maughan (1901–1976), who practised homeopathy, was elected chief in 1964, some senior members and the Order's Maenarch (Chairman) Ross Nichols (1902–1975) left to form the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids . Nichols wrote that MacGregor Reid told of a history in which John Toland, on the day of the Autumn Equinox 1716 at Primrose Hill, (where began

14300-476: The highest importance on the freedom of the artists to authentically express their sentiments and ideas. Romantics like the German painter Caspar David Friedrich believed that an artist's emotions should dictate their formal approach; Friedrich went as far as declaring that "the artist's feeling is his law". The Romantic poet William Wordsworth , thinking along similar lines, wrote that poetry should begin with "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings", which

14443-449: The idea that these deities predate Christianity. These deities are usually regarded as being immanent rather than transcendent. Some practitioners say that the real existence of these deities is less important to them than the impact that the belief therein has upon their lives. A central prayer in modern Druidic traditions is " The Druid's Prayer ", which was written in the 18th century by Druid Iolo Morganwg and originally addressed to

14586-454: The imagination of born artists followed instinctively when these individuals were, so to speak, "left alone" during the creative process. These "natural laws" could support a wide range of different formal approaches: as many, perhaps, as there were individuals making personally meaningful works of art. Many Romantics believed that works of artistic genius were created " ex nihilo ", "from nothing", without recourse to existing models. This idea

14729-494: The island was never conquered by the Roman Empire , the Iron Age druids survived here and their teachings were passed down hereditarily until modern times, at which modern Druids can reclaim them. Some Druids claim that they can channel information about the Iron Age druids. Druidry has been described as a religion, a new religious movement , a "spiritual movement", and as a nature religion . It has been described as

14872-495: The late 1820s. Cliques of pro- and anti-Romantics developed, and productions were often accompanied by raucous vocalizing by the two sides, including the shouted assertion by one theatregoer in 1822 that "Shakespeare, c'est l'aide-de-camp de Wellington" ("Shakespeare is Wellington 's aide-de-camp "). Alexandre Dumas began as a dramatist, with a series of successes beginning with Henri III et sa cour (1829) before turning to novels that were mostly historical adventures somewhat in

15015-571: The late 18th century, modern Druids developed fraternal organizations modeled on Freemasonry that employed the romantic figure of the British Druids and Bards as symbols of the indigenous spirituality of Prehistoric Britain . Some of these groups were purely fraternal and cultural, such as the oldest one that remains, the Ancient Order of Druids founded in 1781, creating traditions from the national imagination of Britain. Others, in

15158-681: The legends surrounding King Arthur . One of the clearest links between Arthuriana and Druidry is through the Loyal Arthurian Warband, a Druidic group in Britain that employs Arthurian symbolism as part of its environmental campaigns. Neo-Druidry has been described as a nature-venerating movement. Neo-druids conceive of the natural world as being imbued with spirit, and thus regard it as being alive and dynamic. 89% of world Druids practice nature-connection, along with some form of environmental stewardship work. Nature-connection involves spending time alone in nature, while maintaining

15301-521: The lives of the poor in his native Lake District , or his feelings about nature—which he more fully developed in his long poem The Prelude , never published in his lifetime. The longest poem in the volume was Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , which showed the Gothic side of English Romanticism, and the exotic settings that many works featured. In the period when they were writing,

15444-402: The love of all existences; And in the love of all existences, the love of God. God and all goodness." Iolo Morganwg, The Gorsedd Prayer. By the end of the 19th century, Druidry was described as a "monotheistic philosophical tradition". Druidry is now often described as polytheistic , although there is no set pantheon of deities to which all Druids adhere. Emphasis is placed upon

15587-409: The lush orchestral Romantic style, and this genre of orchestral cinematic music is still often seen in films of the 21st century. The philosophical underpinnings of the movement have influenced modern political theory, both among liberals and conservatives . Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as the glorification of the past and nature, preferring

15730-444: The manner of Scott, most famously The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo , both of 1844. Victor Hugo published as a poet in the 1820s before achieving success on the stage with Hernani —a historical drama in a quasi-Shakespearean style that had famously riotous performances on its first run in 1830. Like Dumas, Hugo is best known for his novels, and was already writing The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), one of

15873-408: The means but the goals that they pursue; these goals represent the self-expression of the artist's own unique, inner vision, to set aside which in response to the demands of some "external" voice—church, state, public opinion, family friends, arbiters of taste—is an act of betrayal of what alone justifies their existence for those who are in any sense creative. Arthur Lovejoy attempted to demonstrate

16016-401: The medieval over the classical. Romanticism was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution , and the prevailing ideology of the Age of Enlightenment , especially the scientific rationalization of Nature. The movement's ideals were embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature; it also had a major impact on historiography , education, chess , social sciences , and

16159-433: The melting away of the very notion of objective truth", and hence not only to nationalism, but also fascism and totalitarianism , with a gradual recovery coming only after World War II. For the Romantics, Berlin says, in the realm of ethics, politics, aesthetics it was the authenticity and sincerity of the pursuit of inner goals that mattered; this applied equally to individuals and groups—states, nations, movements. This

16302-526: The mid-century the undoubtedly Romantic novels of the Yorkshire -based Brontë family appeared, most notably Charlotte 's Jane Eyre and Emily 's Wuthering Heights , both published in 1847, which also introduced more Gothic themes. While these two novels were written and published after the Romantic period is said to have ended, their novels were heavily influenced by Romantic literature they had read as children. Byron, Keats, and Shelley all wrote for

16445-607: The movement. Though his novels celebrated Scottish identity and history, Scott was politically a firm Unionist, but admitted to Jacobite sympathies. Several Romantics spent much time abroad, and a famous stay on Lake Geneva with Byron and Shelley in 1816 produced the hugely influential novel Frankenstein by Shelley's wife-to-be Mary Shelley and the novella The Vampyre by Byron's doctor John William Polidori . The lyrics of Robert Burns in Scotland, and Thomas Moore from Ireland, reflected in different ways their countries and

16588-436: The much older William Blake , followed later by the isolated figure of John Clare ; also such novelists as Walter Scott from Scotland and Mary Shelley , and the essayists William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb . The publication in 1798 of Lyrical Ballads , with many of the finest poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge, is often held to mark the start of the movement. The majority of the poems were by Wordsworth, and many dealt with

16731-409: The natural environment from damage. Many Druids are also involved in environmental activism, acting to protect areas of the natural landscape that are under threat from development or pollution. Druids are generally critical of mainstream society, regarding it as being "governed by consumerism, environmental exploitation, and the supremacy of technology". In contrast to this, Druids seek to establish

16874-557: The nature and purpose of art, above all the pre-eminent importance of originality, remained important for later generations, and often underlie modern views, despite opposition from theorists. In literature, Romanticism found recurrent themes in the evocation or criticism of the past, the cult of " sensibility " with its emphasis on women and children, the isolation of the artist or narrator, and respect for nature. Furthermore, several romantic authors, such as Edgar Allan Poe , Charles Maturin and Nathaniel Hawthorne , based their writings on

17017-423: The night. Druidic rituals usually reflect on the time of year and the changing of the seasons. The most common form of ritual used for seasonal celebrations is a solitary nature ramble to observe and connect with nature, combined with a personal meditation on the meaning of the season at hand. When larger, group rituals are organized among Druids, the rituals tend to be more elaborate and formally structured, with

17160-414: The novel and drama, painting, and even music, through Verismo opera. This movement was led by France, with Balzac and Flaubert in literature and Courbet in painting; Stendhal and Goya were important precursors of Realism in their respective media. However, Romantic styles, now often representing the established and safe style against which Realists rebelled, continued to flourish in many fields for

17303-598: The past over the course of many centuries. Ancestor-veneration leads many neo-druids to object to the archaeological excavation of human remains and their subsequent display in museums. Many neo-druids have organized campaigns for their reburial . For example, in 2006, a neo-Druid called Paul Davies requested that the Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury , Wiltshire rebury their human remains, and he said that storing and displaying those human remains

17446-422: The peak Romantic period, other than Walter Scott, was Jane Austen , whose essentially conservative world-view had little in common with her Romantic contemporaries, retaining a strong belief in decorum and social rules, though critics such as Claudia L. Johnson have detected tremors under the surface of many works, such as Northanger Abbey (1817), Mansfield Park (1814) and Persuasion (1817). But around

17589-417: The poet then "recollect[s] in tranquility", enabling the poet to find a suitably unique form for representing such feelings. The Romantics never doubted that emotionally motivated art would find suitable, harmonious modes for expressing its vital content—if, that is, the artist steered clear of moribund conventions and distracting precedents. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others thought there were natural laws

17732-481: The prehistoric druids. Gorsedd , one of the 18th century traditions that were founded by Morganwg, became part of the National Eisteddfod of Wales festival. The concerns of modern Druidry, which include healing the planet, and seeking connections with the natural world, are likely very different from those of the Iron Age societies in which the original druids lived. Another 18th-century fabrication

17875-451: The reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves." This quality in Romantic literature, in turn, influenced the approach and reception of works in other media; it has seeped into everything from critical evaluations of individual style in painting, fashion, and music, to the auteur movement in modern filmmaking. The group of words with the root "Roman" in the various European languages, such as "romance" and "Romanesque", has

18018-399: The relationship between people and Nature. Romantics generally believed a close connection with Nature was beneficial for human beings, especially for individuals who broke off from society in order to encounter the natural world by themselves. Romantic literature was frequently written in a distinctive, personal "voice". As critic M. H. Abrams has observed, "much of romantic poetry invited

18161-484: The rest of the century and beyond. In music such works from after about 1850 are referred to by some writers as "Late Romantic" and by others as "Neoromantic" or "Postromantic", but other fields do not usually use these terms; in English literature and painting the convenient term "Victorian" avoids having to characterise the period further. In northern Europe, the Early Romantic visionary optimism and belief that

18304-623: The same. Druids in various parts of Ireland and Britain have reported such sites being home to a "Spirit of the Place" residing there. Many Druids also believe that such sites are centres of earth energy and lie along ley lines in the landscape. These are ideas that have been adopted from Earth mysteries writers like John Michell . In the popular imagination, Druids are closely linked with Stonehenge —a Neolithic and Bronze Age site in Wiltshire , southern England. Although Stonehenge predates

18447-523: The seventeenth-century antiquarian, revitalised the Mount Haemus Grove, founded in Oxford in 1245. The claim of Toland and Aubrey as members of any druid order is thought now to be unlikely from a historical perspective. Hutton suggests any lineage prior to George Watson MacGregor Reid is a legendary aspect of the order's origins. Neo-Druidism Druidry , sometimes termed Druidism , is

18590-528: The stage, but with little success in England, with Shelley's The Cenci perhaps the best work produced, though that was not played in a public theatre in England until a century after his death. Byron's plays, along with dramatizations of his poems and Scott's novels, were much more popular on the Continent, and especially in France, and through these versions several were turned into operas, many still performed today. If contemporary poets had little success on

18733-563: The stage, the period was a legendary one for performances of Shakespeare , and went some way to restoring his original texts and removing the Augustan "improvements" to them. The greatest actor of the period, Edmund Kean , restored the tragic ending to King Lear ; Coleridge said that "Seeing him act was like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning." Although after union with England in 1707 Scotland increasingly adopted English language and wider cultural norms, its literature developed

18876-424: The themes of the Gothic novel in verse. These featured different variations of the " Byronic hero ", and his own life contributed a further version. Scott meanwhile was effectively inventing the historical novel , beginning in 1814 with Waverley , set in the 1745 Jacobite rising , which was a highly profitable success, followed by over 20 further Waverley Novels over the next 17 years, with settings going back to

19019-488: The three degrees found in British Traditional Wicca . Other groups eschew any division into bard, ovate, and druid. OBOD primarily educates its members in its form of Druidry through a correspondence course. Every solitary Druid and Druidic grove conducts its rituals and ceremonies in a unique way. Druidic rituals are designed to align their participants with the spirit imbuing nature. According to

19162-459: The values of their contemporary industrial society, which they considered alienating for its economic materialism and environmental degradation . The movement's illustration of the Middle Ages was a central theme in debates, with allegations that Romanticist portrayals often overlooked the downsides of medieval life. The consensus is that Romanticism peaked from 1800 until 1850. However,

19305-805: The word Druid for both male and female practitioners, eschewing the term Druidess for female followers. Following terms devised by the Druid Philip Carr-Gomm , a distinction has been drawn between "cultural" Druids, who adopt the term as part of their Welsh and Cornish cultural activities, and "esoteric" Druids who pursue the movement as a religion. The scholar of religion Marion Bowman suggested "believing" as an alternative term to "esoteric". There are also individuals who cross these two categories, involving themselves in cultural Druidic events while also holding to modern Pagan beliefs. Some cultural Druids nevertheless go to efforts to disassociate themselves from their esoteric and Pagan counterpart;

19448-422: The words of one of their number, Alfred de Vigny , been "conceived between battles, attended school to the rolling of drums". According to Jacques Barzun , there were three generations of Romantic artists. The first emerged in the 1790s and 1800s, the second in the 1820s, and the third later in the century. The more precise characterization and specific definition of Romanticism has been the subject of debate in

19591-427: The world was in the process of great change and improvement had largely vanished, and some art became more conventionally political and polemical as its creators engaged polemically with the world as it was. Elsewhere, including in very different ways the United States and Russia, feelings that great change was underway or just about to come were still possible. Displays of intense emotion in art remained prominent, as did

19734-451: Was "immoral and disrespectful". Criticism of such demands has come from the archaeological community, with statements like "no single modern ethnic group or cult should be allowed to appropriate our ancestors for their own agendas. It is for the international scientific community to curate such remains." The World Druidry Survey of 2018–2020 identified 147 active Druid groups internationally. The six largest and most influential of which were

19877-555: Was a multitude of small separate states, and Goethe's works would have a seminal influence in developing a unifying sense of nationalism . Another philosophic influence came from the German idealism of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling , making Jena (where Fichte lived, as well as Schelling, Hegel , Schiller and the brothers Schlegel ) a centre for early German Romanticism (see Jena Romanticism ). Important writers were Ludwig Tieck , Novalis , Heinrich von Kleist and Friedrich Hölderlin . Heidelberg later became

20020-460: Was also popularised in France by figures that included Napoleon . Eventually it became clear that the poems were not direct translations from Scottish Gaelic , but flowery adaptations made to suit the aesthetic expectations of his audience. Robert Burns (1759–96) and Walter Scott (1771–1832) were highly influenced by the Ossian cycle. Burns, an Ayrshire poet and lyricist, is widely regarded as

20163-437: Was also the location of two of the most important literary magazines of the era, The Edinburgh Review (founded in 1802) and Blackwood's Magazine (founded in 1817), which had a major impact on the development of British literature and drama in the era of Romanticism. Ian Duncan and Alex Benchimol suggest that publications like the novels of Scott and these magazines were part of a highly dynamic Scottish Romanticism that by

20306-455: Was darker in its motifs and has gothic elements. The significance to Romanticism of childhood innocence, the importance of imagination, and racial theories all combined to give an unprecedented importance to folk literature , non-classical mythology and children's literature , above all in Germany. Brentano and von Arnim were significant literary figures who together published Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Boy's Magic Horn" or cornucopia ),

20449-474: Was earlier literature that they had discovered or compiled was, in fact, entirely their own work. The Gothic novel , beginning with Horace Walpole 's The Castle of Otranto (1764), was an important precursor of one strain of Romanticism, with a delight in horror and threat, and exotic picturesque settings, matched in Walpole's case by his role in the early revival of Gothic architecture . Tristram Shandy ,

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