Druidry - Spirits of Place

Thursday, 28 December 2023 Written by Nimue Brown

We don’t know what the ancient Druids thought about spirits of place. We do know from the Romans that they gathered in oak groves and had a bit of a thing about mistletoe.

This not being especially sensational, it’s likely to be true. We also know that Celtic peoples honoured a lot of Gods and that many of them were associated with specific places and were probably not worshipped widely. 

The idea of working with spirits of place is something we find in modern Druidry, and I’m not claiming there’s anything historical about it. However, based on what we do know about the beliefs of Celtic peoples, it seems fair to assume that modern and ancient Druidry have things in common around this concept.

The line between very local deities and spirits of place isn’t a clear one. Once you’re talking about a river, a well, a hill or a cave with a deity associated I’m not sure it makes any sense to try and categorize them as separate things. Deities who belong to specific places and who cannot meaningfully be honoured anywhere else are arguably spirits of place.

Spirits of place are everywhere. They are what dwells in a place – seen or unseen. Many of them have no interest in humans – consider the microfauna in the leaflitter, tiny insects in the tree bark or bugs living amongst the feathers of birds. We are unlikely to have anything much to say to each other. Some presences have more impact on humans – as with the trees and the birds. Connecting to these kinds of presences is a very different sort of process than trying to engage with a deity.

At the moment, David is sharing his explorations of working with the Morrigan. I’m struck by how different a path it is from working with spirits of place. There clearly are areas of overlap between the divine manifesting at a local level, and other kinds of local presence. Working with spirits of place has not (so far) offered me anything much to help directly with my own challenges. What it gives me is a sense of belonging and involvement that means a great deal to me, but does not direct me in any particular way.

I think it will be interesting to juxtapose these two different approaches as David and I seek sacredness and connection in radically different ways.

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