[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

were familiar with the Episcopal church.156 For the sake of the joke but no more than could be expected for a general College crowd on
and to lend an air of venerable age to the group, David Fisher is a weekend. I doubt this is a conclusive point of evidence of a frater-
reputed by Norman Nelson as having claimed that he [David Fisher] nal influence or fraternity influence. I ll discuss the issue later under
had been initiated as a  third order Arch-Druid while in high the Pseudo-Judeo-Christian influences.
school. 157 Not long after the group s purpose was completed by the
repeal of the Chapel Attendance ordinance, Fisher denied his high
Conclusion to Section I: Fraternal Influences
school ordination and claimed that he had acquired the symbology
The possibility of a Masonic connection must remain open to
through Frazer s  Golden Bough, which is also plausible. Fisher s
debate, but NONE of the Carleton Druids have ever shown much
motives for denial are slightly suspect because he feared not being
concern, credence or knowledge of a possible preceding Druid group.
admitted to Episcopal Seminary.158 However, because Fisher unsuc-
For them, it STARTED in 1963, irregardless of what future evidence
cessfully tried to start other  secret groups before founding the RDNA
may show to the contrary. Many of the similarities can be chalked up
,
while at Carleton,159 one may suspect Fisher (and an undisclosed
,
,
,
to similarities that exist between organizations founded for the same
other person) as having at least some Masonic or fraternal knowl-
purposes (in this case: universal siblinghood and opposition to ty-
edge or at least an inclination to form a group similar to those based
rannical organizations). IF there was any influence it soon ceased
on Fraternal principles (even if Fisher had not been previously a
within the first months of Reformed Druidism as David Fisher s
member of a Fraternal group).
influence within the group was supplanted by the interests of the
Other evidence of Fraternal influence are the 10 orders of the
other Founders and members. If the fraternal influences existed in
RDNA. In the Scottish Rite of FreeMasonry there are 10 orders of
the earliest weeks, they were greatly overshadowed by other factors;
initiation; the first three have different functional purposes within
such as the need to look like a religion to get rid of the Chapel
the group, but the next 7 are honorary. The RDNA has three basic
Requirement, the prominence of the philosophies of Asia and the
orders of 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and the 4th through 10th orders are
pseudo-Judeo-Christian influences.
completely honorary. Each order in FreeMasonry and the RDNA is
accompanied by an initiation by someone of that order. Whereas in
Freemasonry a ritual, a password or handshake is learned, Druidism
only gives a distinctive ribbon and a ritual as a sign of office.
Another interesting possibility of connection is the title of  pre-
ceptor for one of the three officers of a grove.  Preceptor often
appears as a title of organizational hierarchy in some Fraternal orga-
nizations, particularly Freemasonry. I believe the title could also have
come from a position in the Anglican mass.
Then there is the surprising similarity of names and dates of the
same eight festivals of the Reformed Druid calendar with the  8-fold
wheel of the year found in Neo-Paganism and the British Druid
Fraternal system. I believe that this can easily be explained in that all
three groups could have easily researched the popular literature writ-
ten on Celtic customs. Beltane, Oimelc, Lughnasadh and Samhain
were common Celtic festivals in the British Isles up until the 19th/
20th century. So anyone spending an hour or two reading MacCulloch
(1910) or Kendrick (1932) could have learned of these four great
calendar festivals. As for the  cross-quarter festivals (named so be-
cause they lie exactly half-way between the aforementioned holidays)
of the solstices and equinoxes; these can be explained by the com-
mon (possibly false) assumption that the Druids or Celtic peoples
had built the megalithic stone circles as observatories to measure the
lunar cycles and the movements of the sun. Since many of these
megalithic circles do bear some validity for judging the equinoxes
and solstices, many have assumed that great Druid festivals must
have occurred at these times also. While Christmas and St. John the
Baptist/Midsummer s days are carryovers into the Christian calen-
dars, it is harder to prove the case with the equinoxes.160 Since these [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]