The druid: ‘I was nine in religion class and it just dawned on me that the God the nun was talking about didn’t exist for me’

I’m a druid. For me, it’s a nature-based, spiritual path where we look to the landscape and the seasons as a metaphor for our lives.

When people are in sync with the seasons and the landscape, there is harmony and balance in our lives. We can do that by following the wheel of the year.

Now, we are in the dark time of the year, when the days are shorter and the nights are longer. Samhain was about drawing in, allowing the Cailleach (the goddess of the winter months) into our lives. What she does is she clears away, she sweeps clean the leaves from the trees because they no longer need them. That’s what she does for us, too, putting into her cauldron what we no longer need so we can start fresh again in the next cycle.

Our ancestors told stories and were quiet at this time of year. Christmas I find really difficult because it’s all the commercial stuff. I find no pressure with the solstice, I really enjoy that.

We have a ceremony in complete darkness. Then we light the first candle and spread that light around, and it’s beautiful.

I have a druid grove or community here in Kilkenny. We started 20 years ago when I joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids that I now head. This is our 21st wheel of the year to celebrate.

I think we can easily lose our connection with nature and the seasons. I used to live in Dublin and you are driving to work in the rain and cold and you come home and you are inside. Wherever you are, it’s about being able to find nature and connect with whatever little patch you have.

I grew up in Offaly and would spend hours unsupervised up the fields. I remember I was nine in religion class and it just dawned on me that the God the nun was talking about didn’t exist for me. I just loved being outside and I remained agonistic for a long time.

I was in a bookshop one day and a book popped out on druidry and it mentioned the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. I went online and bought the introductory pack and couldn’t wait to start. The rest is history.

I’m a legal solemniser of pagan weddings. I do it as a druid, but it falls under the umbrella of “religious”, so it’s not a civil ceremony. The ceremonies are in a circle, so people are not looking at the couple’s backs. People close to the couple do blessings, so it’s not just me.

A baby-naming ceremony welcomes the baby. It’s not what you’ve got with a baptism where you are renouncing Satan; there is none of that. This baby has emerged from love and is coming into this world surrounded by loving people. There is no mention of sin.

My husband died eight years ago, he had cancer. We had always talked about death and what we would like. We had his funeral in the garden, and the ceremony was completely personalised. People were blown away by that. I live in an old rectory and he is buried in the graveyard next door.

Years ago, I baulked at the idea of prayer or Mass or ritual because of my own reaction to the Catholic Church. It took me a long time to go back and to honour ritual and not to be uncomfortable with the word “prayer”.

There are other ways you can have meaningful rituals in your life, and I do think we need rituals to mark our lives.

When you are younger, you are listening to the rules and regulations of how a woman should be – what you can wear, you are too old for long hair. Turning 50 was hugely freeing for me, and then 60 – brilliant. I am 64 now and I have long hair.

There was something as well for me coming into the menopause, you can engage with it as a time of empowerment. The goddess Brigid is the god of fire and water, and menopause is about gaining mastery over fire and water. There is a wiliness and an invincibility now I didn’t have when I was younger.

The order is just amazing, I’ve met so many wonderful, magical, ordinary and beautiful people. Also having a spiritual path like this has grounded me, so when my husband died, I was able to engage with his passing in a very deep way. It supported me in my grief. During the pandemic, it gave me the resources to manage uncertainty and to manage times of stillness and restriction.

In the order generally, there are pagans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists – you can be anything and be a druid. It’s about finding a space to express yourself without having to defend it. There is no dogma, there is no list of sins, there are no commandments. Ethics are very important, taking responsibility for your life and your actions.

With climate change, druidry gives people an anchor. It’s an earth-based spiritual path. We are grounded here; we are not thinking of the next life. It’s not that we don’t recognise the other world, but it’s about living well right now and not conditionally to get your reward in the next life.

Watching for the first snowdrops or the birds returning or when the blackthorn has its first flowers – there is magic everywhere; beautiful discoveries in ordinary things. That’s what I love about it.

In conversation with Joanne Hunt