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there from Islam. I never really understood that, be-
people, or it wouldn t still be around some very deep
cause there are some marvelous things in Islam. But
religious or spiritual currents. 464
like many of the Judeo-Christian religions, a large part Eric: It was you, wasn t it who actually added something in
of it is hellfire and brimstone and doesn t really say Greek to one of the books of liturgy?
much, personally, to me.
Dick: Yes. I was asked to do the officiating there [at the Clas-
The weekly services were pretty much as I ve just de- sics Department Picnic], and a friend of mine helped
scribed. Each of the major feast days had its own cer- me write a  traditional Greek sacrifice traditional in
emony. Again, although originally there were set cer- quotes; who knows what actually happened in ancient
emonies, by the time I joined Druidism, the liturgy Greece! We knew that one was supposed to pour liba-
had become fairly fluid, and a lot was left to the discre- tions in the name of various gods, so we did that. And
tion of the presiding priest. The feasts were almost al- then in addition, I translated the opening part of the
ways celebrated in the evening the evening before the Druid service, that I just recited a ways back on the
official day. Samhain, for example, the beginning of tape, into Greek, and that s there as well.
the religious year, is an ancient festival from the Celtic
tradition. The official day of Samhain is November 1st,
Eric: You mentioned earlier having received the Parapherna-
but it actually begins at sundown the previous day. This
lia. What exactly was all that?
period was considered a day between years. It was dur-
ing that day that the forces of the underworld could
Dick: The most important part of the Paraphernalia were the
come out, and that s the origin of Hallowe en.
mimeograph masters for The Druid Chronicles, which
I believe have since vanished. We did a printing in  71,
 Us Reformed Druids were pretty tame: no burnt sac-
and I believe that was the last time they were actually
rifices, certainly not human sacrifices, although in the
used. There was another printing after that, but I haven t
Celtic tradition there is very strong evidence for them.
seen a copy of that, and I don t know whether [it] came
(Although, one always has to remember that virtually
from the same masters or not.
all of the historical information about the historical Dru-
ids came from their enemies; so a lot of the stuff you
In addition there was a red glass chalice, about four
have to take with a grain of salt.) Our celebrations chiefly
inches in diameter, I d say. That, I m pretty sure, was
involved lighting a fire; the basic service was pretty much
not original. The original chalice, I believe, was green;
the same as the ordinary weekly service, but it had ad-
the tradition is very fuzzy on that. There was a revers-
ditional parts in it to commemorate the specific day.
ible chasuble that was made I forget by whom back
in Fisher s day for Fisher himself. Fisher had a flair for
Eric: Where did you hold your meetings? Was it on the Hill
the dramatic. Everybody else wore sheets, but he wore
of Three Oaks?
black! So he stood out, with this chasuble in addition
to that. It was primarily green on one side and prima-
Dick: We had three locations that were used with some regu- rily red on the other. The tradition very early grew up
larity. I d say the majority of services were held on the that during the summer half of the year, from May
Hill of Three Oaks. I always preferred Monument Hill, until November 1st, one wore the green side out, and
although in passing I have to mention that at that time for the [other] half of the year when actually very little
Monument Hill was kept quite mowed, and it was much ever happened, except on February 1st, which was one
more manicured than it is now. The grove near the of the feast days you wore the red side out. (During
monument, the circular grove, was a very wide and the winter half of the year, also, the Waters of Life were
open place, and from it you could see a lot of the Up- the Waters of Sleep: they didn t have any scotch in
per Arb. To me, that s the heart of Druidism, and in them.) That chasuble was still around in my day, and
fact, that s where Druidism started. That s where the still around in Don Morrison s day; but I think it s
first services were held. since vanished.
Occasionally we would hold services on what we knew There was originally a staff for the Arch-Druid, but that
as Faculty Hill. If you take the drive that goes behind was lost before my time. A friend of mine gave me a
Goodhue, and go down across the creek and up on the staff, but it turned out not to be particularly useful,
other side where there s that Postage Stamp Prairie, because in getting services ready and hauling stuff to
there s a road leading off towards the east that goes by wherever the service was to be held, you needed all the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]