Thoughts and Reflections on the Sun and Celtic Druidry

We are approaching the Summer Solstice and while we have a clear High Day for many Indo-European hearth cultures, we don't have this luxury for the Irish Celtic hearth.  

According to the ADF website, there is no real proof that the solstices are celebrated by ancient Celtic peoples but we can assume that it was still likely they did. This is where I start seeing where ADF and Celtic recinstructionists would clash. 

There was a quote on the ADF site that really resonated with me: 
"Do we, following a Neo-Druidic path of spiritual exploration, limit ourselves to not using powerful themes, even those established by the regional predecessors of the Druids, simply because there's a lack of evidence for the Druids having used them? I think that, just as long as we aren't found doing something in the style of the Stonehenge folk, saying "the Druids did this...", we are freer to follow the Spirit of Ancientry, as we see it, without the unnecessary constraints of "scholarship" de jour."

This is where I tend to realize I agree with Neo-Druidry and ADF more than that of Celtic Reconstructionists. (No offense intended whatsoever <3) I find that I like the freedom for modern religious interpretation. Yes, I value the history we can interpret, but I also remember, much as most modern Christians  do, that times change and adaptations are important. We no longer need to sell our children into slavery to pay off debts, we no longer need to marry virgins, we no longer stone people to death for crossing us, we no longer have any need to practice human sacrifice and so on. So if we can make these modern adaptations to ancient religions, why not with Druidry as well? 


I will never consider myself a historical Druid, because I am not. I live in the modern society of 2015 and relate to many elements of ancient druidry but not all. Im not an ancient druid, I am a modern neo-druid. This is where academia breaks away to spirituality for me. Academia will only give me fragments of an ancient people, my spirituality lets me take those fragments and form my own spiritual path with them as elements to work with and admire. Do I wish there were more material available on the Ancient Celtic druids? Sure. But I would likely still do exactly as I am doing now with that material, use it to shape my individual spirituality, not let it rule me as word of unyielding fact. 


The last thing I want to mention is the comments on the Sun being a forgotten element of worship for most modern pagan societies in favor of the Moon or other "feminine" deities. 
I will admit, my initial path to pagan faith was through Wicca and it was the idea of powerful women and anti-male power structure that I really wanted most. Having been part of Christian structures where women were not allowed to be pastors or leaders (outside choir directors or Sunday school for children) it was clear to me that women were secondary to male leaders. Yes, years ago I would have avoided contact with any male deity likely in favor of a sisterhood spirituality. This has changed for me now. 


I can understand the male association with a Solar Deity or the Sun itself but I suppose I have never truly gendered the Sun for myself. The sun is a crucial part of our earthly existence. Without the sun we would have nothing and so why would I not celebrate this amazing aspect of one of our Kindreds? Just as I connect to the moon, I connect to the sun as well. Thinking about how so many cast off solar deities in favor of darker pagan elements (gothy, witchy, nocturnal, things) made me also realize that unlike many other pagans I know, I don't gender the moon as well.  I suppose I don't gender ANY natural existing thing outside of Gods and Goddesses who present their gender preferences clearly. It just seems silly to me to avoid nature and its elements one could consider "masculine" either in antiquity or now. It could be my libra brain going nuts here but I see the importance in balance. Dark and light, Power and weakness, male and female, and the entire spectrums between them. 


The ancient Celtic peoples may not have formally celebrated the summer solstice like other Indo European cultures who celebrated the sun at this time but I can. 

I am a neo-druid, I celebrate nature, I worship the gods and goddesses, I connect with my ancestors. I appreciate balance, and I embrace and celebrate the sun without guilt.