A different Gnosticism

This is a peculiar book edited by John Michael Greer, a leading member of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA). The AODA belongs to the Druid Revival, a modern current of thought inspired by the spirituality of the Celtic Druids. Since very little is known about the original Druids, modern “Druid” groups have been free to experiment with various forms of alternative spirituality. Greer himself is mostly known for his attempts to combine Neo-Druidry with Hermetic Cabala. However, it seems that the AODA also experiments in other ways. The Gnostic Celtic Church (GCC) is a subdivision of the AODA. Membership and spiritual training within the AODA are necessary preliminaries for those who want to enter the GCC. Neo-Gnosticism was fused with the AODA when Matthew Shaw, a leading member of the Universal Gnostic Church (UCG) joined the Druid order and eventually became its “Archdruid”. The UCG was a split from the Universalist Church and traced its spiritual lineage to a French Neo-Gnostic group. It seems that the AODA and the UCG had largely overlapping memberships after Shaw's elevation. When Greer became Archdruid, he too received consecration as a “bishop” of the UCG. Eventually, the AODA decided to create a Gnostic auxiliary which would be more directly connected with its training and studies. Hence, the GCC was born (it's not clear what happened to the original UCG).

This book or manual contains presentations of the GCC's faith, plus descriptions of its rituals. It turns out that the GCC seldom celebrate “real” masses. Instead, every member of the Church is expected to be a solitary practitioner. Home altars, solitary rituals involving a lot of visualizations, and homage to your own personal deities form important parts of the GCC's practice. Members are also expected to read edifying literature as part of the rituals, for example Tao Te Ching or Aldo Leopold's “A Sand County Almanac”. The GCC's theology (if that's the right word for it) is unabashedly pantheist: “The Doctrine of One teaches us to see the presence of the Divine in every phenomenon, and to recognize a kinship among all beings that admits of no exceptions. If all things are manifestations of one ultimate reality, those things that have commonly been despised by dualistic faiths are just as much revelations of that reality, and thus just as worthy of contemplation and reverence, as those things that have commonly been exalted by these same faiths.” (Kindle Locations 358-361). It's not clear if this includes, say, evil and suffering. The Nature-worship is also obvious in incantations offered to the hawk of May, the white stag of the summer greenwood, the salmon of wisdom who dwells in the sacred pool, and the great bear who guards the starry heavens.

That being said, the GCC have a broader definition of “Nature” than simply physical nature. Nature also includes realms normally seen as supernatural, such as the solar and tellurian currents, two powerful energy patterns in the cosmos, one descending from the sun, the other ascending from the bowels of the Earth. When they meet, they will form the lunar current, but usually not by itself – the Gnostic practitioner must help the process along with some benign magic. There are also powerful spiritual beings in the cosmos (“gods”) with whom the individual practitioner can establish a personal relationship. If the highest divine power is personal or impersonal is left unclear. The goal of every seeker is to find his or her “Awen” or purpose in life. Awen seems to be similar to karma in other traditions, but it's positive rather than negative and limiting. The GCC believes in reincarnation, whereby those who discover Awen enter “Gwynfydd” (a kind of heaven) after their physical deaths, while others are reborn as humans or even animals to learn new life lessons.

Despite its churchly designation, the GCC can hardly be described as Christian. The book never mentions Jesus or the Bible and explicitly rejects traditional Christian dogmas such as original sin and atonement. It has a polytheist tendency. It's not really Gnostic either, since Gnosticism is sharply dualistic and rejects the material world as evil. The GCC is rather a pantheistic and less anthropocentric form of world-affirming Hermetism. Of course, one can define “Gnosticism” as to include Hermetism, but personally, I find it more meaningful to keep them apart. Otherwise, I'm not sure why the GCC is needed at all, since many of its rituals are strikingly similar to those of the AODA…

That being said, “The Gnostic Celtic Church: A Manual and Book of Liturgy” may nevertheless be of some interest to spiritual seekers, especially those interested in a Nature-centered spirituality with elements of ritual and ritual magic. It also sheds some light on the far corners of both the Druid Revival and the so-called independent sacramental movement. For these reasons, I give Greer's manual three stars.