Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Druid Thoughts: Introvert, Extrovert, Druid

Druid Thoughts: Introvert, Extrovert, Druid

Last updated on: December 31, 2014 at 10:11 pm by Nimue Brown

Druid Thoughts: Introvert, Extrovert, Druid 2014-12-31T22:11:47+00:00 Nimue Brown

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Over at my regular blog, I’ve been contemplating the place of the Druid as someone who undertakes to have a foot in both camps, wherever there are two things that seem in opposition to each other. My initial theme was of nature and civilization, but the issues of introvert and extrovert working certainly come into play here too. (Read here if you want to see where I’ve already been with this.)

There is a service aspect to Druidry – as a ritual celebrant, teacher, or bard, a fair amount of extroversion is called for. You need to be willing to get up there in public and draw a lot of attention, be the focus and make your voice carry. There’s a huge performance aspect to ritual work, and if you have one of those big circles of over a hundred people – not unusual in open rituals – you need projections skills, a larger than life presence and a capacity for a bit of theatre. Go into that as anything other than a total extrovert, and not only will you have a hard time, but the odds of doing the job well are slim.

To teach, or to lead in any way requires a lot of engaging with people. It’s not enough to get up front for an hour and lecture, either, people will seek you out to talk, question, explore. Sometimes the media seek you out too. Call yourself a Druid in public and people will expect you to act like one, offering ideas, opinions, wisdom and insight, being willing to lead a thing or run a thing. If you are neither able nor willing to do those things, then it might be safer to self identify as a student of Druidry, and keep your head below the parapet a while longer.

The Introvert B3, by h.koppdelaney

However, Druidry is not all about the big public show. What are you going to say, in the circle, or at the podium? What are you going to teach? If all you do is cheery extrovert play in public spaces, you won’t have any content. You might be able to manage the surface of a public Druid but will have no depth or content to back it up with. Enter the introvert side of the equation.

Druids learn by listening. Not just to each other, but to the wind and the birds, the land, the ancestors, the spirits of place. Meditation, contemplation, and an ever deepening relationship with the natural world are key parts of this. That all calls for quality time alone. You need to sit silently, walk quietly, step away from human concerns. You may need to go hermit-like to the cave to meditate, or disappear into the wilderness now and then. You can’t teach others about nature religion if you don’t know what nature is. You can’t share a path based on self awareness, conscious choice and honourable behaviour, without first searching your own soul. The thread of introverted work is critically important.

In practice, most dedicated Druids will spend time shifting between the two. Many will have a preference, but both are necessary. If you come to understand deep mystery, it’s not enough to do that for yourself, you have to bring it back and try to share it. That’s a vital difference between a service-oriented path like Druidry and a quest for personal enlightenment. If all you want is personal enlightenment, you can walk the inward path of the introvert, and never need to find any means to share that. I’m sure that path has many names, but Druidry isn’t one of them.

There’s a balancing act in this way of working. That’s why I like the mythic image of the man with one foot on a goat and the other on a well. It’s a precarious place to stand, but often necessary. Doing the aspect of the work that does not come naturally may make hefty demands, but if you enter a path with a service aspect, you expect this. The demands will stretch and develop you, allowing you to go further and do more. The questions of students will stimulate your own learning. Everything feeds into everything else.

It is important to remember that the ideas of introvert and extrovert are human constructs. They are tidy ways of thinking about human nature. However, human nature, like the rest of nature, is not innately tidy. Technically, tomatoes are fruits, and a koala bear is not a bear. Technically. When we name and classify, we do so for our own convenience but nature was not designed to make life easy for biologists and psychologists.

In a spiritual life, balance is so often hard wired into what we’re trying to do. Inner peace is all about balance. Stare at any religious system long enough and you’ll see that same pattern – how to live a balanced, and functional life. The most innately introverted person still needs times of human engagement. The wildest extrovert equally needs to pause and reflect now and then. There’s a lot to be said for watching out for differences between what is actually your nature, and what you’ve taken from your culture and internalised. We like our labels. They tell us where we fit. The only trouble is that none of them fit.

I for one am an applause-hungry extrovert who craves attention at least a couple of times a week, whilst holding a deep need for regular periods of solitude and silence. I am both an extrovert and introvert, or neither, or something else, depending on how you choose to look at it. I think in practice, most of us are, and need to be.

Druid Thoughts is published monthly on Agora. Follow it via RSS or e-mail!

Previous Post

February 8, 2013

Gateway Goddess: Looking at Lent through Pagan Eyes

Next Post

February 12, 2013 Making Light: Interfaith is Not a Dirty Word

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "If I perish, I perish"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Deborah Hannah Esther Ruth