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The Solitary Druid: Walking the Path of Wisdom and Spirit
Ellison lays out the basics of Celtic Paganism in a scholarly yet accessible way. He supports each of his assertions about Druidic beliefs and practices with citations from ancient sources and from archeology, and lays it all out in an outline that allows students to get started immediately with a Druidic spirituality. Far from being duotheistic, the book gives advice for constructing your Druidic pantheon of worship based on the realities of the local land, and the spirits proper to each individual worshipper. From there, he presents a full system of Druidic ritual, as used in Ar nDraiocht Fein - about as far from a Wiccan form as one could get. It involves offering to the Gods & Spirits, divining their blessing, and then receiving that blessing. Ellison gives solitary rituals for each of the Celtic holy days (and for the solstices and equinoxes), as well as ideas for Druidic funderal and wedding rites. There is a section on spells and practical magic as well, and the book ends with a listing of every Druidic group and order of any size at all. This is a valuable resource - one of the very first books on Druidry drawn from a non-wiccan, scholarly perspective, adapted to practical use. Highly recommended. S. parker "Ian Corrigan"
262 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2005
About the author
Robert Lee (Skip) Ellison
7 books8 followersRev. Robert Lee "Skip" Ellison is a past Senior Druid of Muin Mound Grove, Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), in greater Central New York.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 23, 2022
Not a bad introduction to ADF Druidry for beginners. The bulk of the book was suggested rituals for high days.
November 27, 2013
Great book, I learned more from this one book that I did from years of internet searching and book store browsing.
September 18, 2023
Robert Lee (Skip) Ellison did a wonderful job of describing the modern Druidic Revival in his book, "The Solitary Druid: Walking the Path of Wisdom and Spirit."
Ellison starts the book with a history lesson on Celtic myth and directly into veneration of the Kindred (ancestors). Ellison gives a brief overview of a general consensus of what Druids believe on a variety of topics as to what is and isn't acceptable while giving examples of past indications. Of course, this is a history lesson as well as to what we believe the Druids were like with the minimal amount of mentions there are of Druids from history. As Ellison points out, much of what we know today is from people who quoted others or from enemies who had to fight them who had an agenda with what they wrote. So, the idea that we will ever really and truly know the Druids of the ancient days is never going to happen, but at least with so many comments in common, backed with archaeological evidence, there is plenty that is known for certain. Ellison presents these, with the sources, in this book as well.
Ellison covers all of the holidays and even certain things that happen in everyone's lives, such as the loss of a beloved pet. There is all of this and more with how to prepare for rituals, how to open and close the ritual, as well as giving poems and prayers that can be said for the intention behind the ritual. Also, what would a book about Druids be without mention of the Ogham, which Ellison also talks about in this book? He even gives A LOT of sources for all he wrote about with handy charts to say what each means with a bit on Runes as well.
This book was a collection of a lot of history and valuable resources. Many other Druidic orders were mentioned besides his ADF organization so that you could explore other avenues. It would be a great book for anyone interested in Druidry, the history of Druids and the Celtic people, as well as inspirational for prayers and veneration of Kindred and gods/goddesses alike. Did I agree with everything, no, but Ellison didn't put anything in the book that was opinionated that could be taken poorly, only a different belief, which was even more interesting to read about.
Ellison starts the book with a history lesson on Celtic myth and directly into veneration of the Kindred (ancestors). Ellison gives a brief overview of a general consensus of what Druids believe on a variety of topics as to what is and isn't acceptable while giving examples of past indications. Of course, this is a history lesson as well as to what we believe the Druids were like with the minimal amount of mentions there are of Druids from history. As Ellison points out, much of what we know today is from people who quoted others or from enemies who had to fight them who had an agenda with what they wrote. So, the idea that we will ever really and truly know the Druids of the ancient days is never going to happen, but at least with so many comments in common, backed with archaeological evidence, there is plenty that is known for certain. Ellison presents these, with the sources, in this book as well.
Ellison covers all of the holidays and even certain things that happen in everyone's lives, such as the loss of a beloved pet. There is all of this and more with how to prepare for rituals, how to open and close the ritual, as well as giving poems and prayers that can be said for the intention behind the ritual. Also, what would a book about Druids be without mention of the Ogham, which Ellison also talks about in this book? He even gives A LOT of sources for all he wrote about with handy charts to say what each means with a bit on Runes as well.
This book was a collection of a lot of history and valuable resources. Many other Druidic orders were mentioned besides his ADF organization so that you could explore other avenues. It would be a great book for anyone interested in Druidry, the history of Druids and the Celtic people, as well as inspirational for prayers and veneration of Kindred and gods/goddesses alike. Did I agree with everything, no, but Ellison didn't put anything in the book that was opinionated that could be taken poorly, only a different belief, which was even more interesting to read about.
June 6, 2008
I guess this is sort of a dumbed down :Solitary Wicca: for Druids. Or maybe not dumbed down; maybe he was just trying to fit so much in that everything was just glossed over? Its not that it was a bad book, and some it was quite helpful to me, since I have been attending some Druidic (Kalderic) rituals and seeing the structure written out is helpful - but some it was terribly black and white/simplified in a way that below the 101 level.
Either way, I was not terribly impressed, although there was some interesting bits of information. Finally, an coherent explanation of ADF (Bonewitt is never really coherent about this), some nice phonetic breakdowns for the completely welsh/celtic clueless folks (like me!), and some nicely done bibliographies/resources guides.
I suspect what annoyed me the most was some of the sweeping generalizations that was made. My favorite was that Wiccans are actually monotheists, and they all pray to just one God/Goddess diety.
Wow. Just...wow.
(Interestingly enough, Skip is probably the first "real life Druid I even met, and the first person I ever heard of ADF from. I caught I lecture about Druids and ADF from here years ago at a festival, and couldn't believe he lived near me. We talked for a bit afterwards.)
Either way, I was not terribly impressed, although there was some interesting bits of information. Finally, an coherent explanation of ADF (Bonewitt is never really coherent about this), some nice phonetic breakdowns for the completely welsh/celtic clueless folks (like me!), and some nicely done bibliographies/resources guides.
I suspect what annoyed me the most was some of the sweeping generalizations that was made. My favorite was that Wiccans are actually monotheists, and they all pray to just one God/Goddess diety.
Wow. Just...wow.
(Interestingly enough, Skip is probably the first "real life Druid I even met, and the first person I ever heard of ADF from. I caught I lecture about Druids and ADF from here years ago at a festival, and couldn't believe he lived near me. We talked for a bit afterwards.)
November 15, 2010
When I believe in one God, it is strange to be reading about people who pray to many gods in the contemporary.
May 20, 2011
I had a hard time getting into this book. It's heavy with ritual writing and lengthy chapters on holidays, which are fine if you are interested in that.
August 13, 2016
Great suggestions on deepening your spiritual practice with connection with the earth, ancestors, nature spirits, and Gods & Goddesses.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews