How did you become a Druid?

My father was a teacher at a London college where the principle was the chief Druid and I was asked to photograph Druid ceremonies as a teenager. I began to see it as a philosophy and Britain’s magical landscape, tied up with its mythology and stories, began to captivate me. Then studied I psychology and psychotherapy and the two interests fused.

What is your role now?

I lead The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids which has become the largest Druid group in the world. It started in 1964 in London and has grown over the last 40 years or so.

Would you say that this group marked a shift in modern Druidy?

There was a revival period in the 17th and 18th century - but what really happened in the 1960s was that this movement coincided with the era of flower power. In 1969 a man called Jean Michell (who died last week) wrote a cult classic called The View Over Atlantis which proposed the idea of Britain being a sacred land with a network of sacred sites; this inspired a lot of people. Also, in that same year, John Lennon’s song Mind Games came out, with references to Druids 'lifting the veil'

So in the 1960s you had a slightly archaic Druid structure meeting flower power. And then by the time we moved forward into the 1980s, the environmental movement was emerging with people wanting spirituality that respects the earth and is nature-based, as opposed to being dogma-based and theistic. So you have Druidy in the modern era becoming a green religion that is light on dogma; it has its roots and inspiration in the ancient past and yet it’s actually very new in a way.

So do you think modern living is in many ways responsible for a renewed interest in the movement?

The ideals of sustainability, simple living and returning to basics - these are all ideas and ideals that are very much in tune with Druidy and the present time. It’s clear that we’re in this awful mess because of the ideas that have guided us; like consumerism and treating the earth as a resource to be plundered. What we really need are philosophies that are ecological and sustainable.

What kind of people become Druids?

Essentially, there are three types of Druid. Cultural Druids, the ones you see on the TV doing eisteddfods for the promotion of the Welsh language and in Cornwall for the Cornish language - they’ll be mostly Christian and it’s a purely cultural activity. Then you’ve got fraternal Druids who are people like Rotarians who in the 18th century were the alternative to Freemasons. (Winston Churchill became one and there’s a wonderful photograph of him surrounded by people with false beards after his induction into the ancient order of Druids.) There are still about 5000 of them in the UK and they use the idea of Druidy as an inspiration to raise money for charity and organise social events. In the third category are the Druids who treat it as a spiritual path or as a religion, and that’s the one that we, The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, fall into. Within that category there are people who might campaign for freedom to be at Stonehenge - which can have quite a wild element to it, there’s a man called King Arthur Uther Pendragon for example, who does road protests. At the other end of the spectrum, will be those with a more philosophical bent who don’t wear robes, who don’t do public festivals, but are interested in it as a spiritual way, in a contemplation. So there’s a range within the Druid movement.

How important is this range and lack of dogma?

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