Druid Priestess (Emma Restall Orr in general)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Emma Restall Orr in general
Date:	01/10/03 (343 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: interesting writing

Disadvantages: can be a bit like wading through honey sometimes.

It's always a bit odd reviewing a person, especially when it's someone you've met - ok, twice, and only personally in a very brief sort of way. But it does make for a curious perspective.

Emma Restal Orr is a Druid, and an author. She turns up on the radio every so often, she leads huge rituals at Avebury and Stonehenge, runs courses and is blatantly an unfeasibly busy person. If your interested in her as a person, her homepage is http://www.nemeton.demon.co.uk/Bobcat.html - it's interesting, and has some good links to other Druid sites. Emma Restall Orr is the leading light in the Druid Network - www.druidnetwork.org and for a long time was joint leader of the British Druid Order - www.druidorder.demon.co.uk

I've read three books by ERO, which I will briefly overview here. The first thing to say, is these aren't 'how to' books. They tend to turn up in Mind Body Spirit sections of bookshops, and in new age places, but they aren't going to teach you how to do Druidry, how to cast spells or anything like that - if that was what you were after, this isn't for you.

'Principles of Druidry' - published by Thornsons as part of their 'Principles' series. This is a book aimed at people who are just starting to consider their spirituality, it's for people who don't know anyhting much about paganism- anyone with experience of paganism, or Druidry is probably going to find it all a tad superficial, although it does include a few gems of ideas that make it well worth reading. If you've looked around and wondered what you're here for, and what it all means, if you've felt a draw towards the image of Druidry, this is the book to read. I would recomend it to others who are further along their paths, but be aware of who its aimed at. It gives you some idea of what Druidry is, how its practised today and how to become involved, but it wont' tell you how to do it, just how to fi
nd the path.

'Ritual' - this one's on dooyoo with several very good and detailed reviews, so please have a look at those. This is a more focused book, while not a how to' it does go into a lot of detail both about the natuire of Druidry and Druid ritual, it's point, and some examples of how you might go about doing it. This is a book ideally used to support other learning - if you are part of a Grove, or studying with OBOD (www.druidry.org - they do correspondance courses) or doing some other course in Druidry, then this will be a great aid, full of colourfuld descriptions, vivid writing and good ideas. On its own, it isn't going to teach you how to be a Druid, and really speaking, the nature of Druidry is such that you can't really learn much about it without interacting with others in some way.

'Spirits of the Sacred grove' - later re-published as 'Druid Priestess'. Again, this isn't a 'how to' book, although there's a lot that you can take from it. It's very personal and an exploration of the Druid calender, peppered with autobiographical details. It's beautifully written, intensley moving, sometimes hard to follow and I couldn't put it down. It requires you to have a very open mind about the nature of reality. It's a very interesting read and has given me a great deal of inspiritaiton, coupled with a much better idea of what Druidry is all about. I would strongly recoomend it. I would also say, if you've never read anything about Paganism, much less Druidry, don't start here - it doesn't hand out much in the way of explanations, and I doubt it would be that heklpful for someone totally new to things Pagan.

Further to this, ERO has written a huge number of articles, been interviewd countless times etc - a brief internet search on ehr name will give you pages and pages of material. She's an interesting writers, a very unusual person and well wo
rth a look.

Summary: