Notes and Additions to Chapter One
What is Druidry?

1. A request has been made that I further emphasise the ethics of offerings, for it is crucial that we don't leave items that are not biodegradable scattered around the countryside. There is enough rubbish thrown or desposited by unthinking people, without Druids adding the problem. All gifts given that are not going to biodegrade quickly or be eaten by wildlife should go to a charity shop or similar.

2. One reader has expressed concern about the final paragraph of this initial exercise. While there is a spiritual truth contained in the task, she wondered how a beginner might respond. Would they take it as rhetorical or literal - and, if literal and their searching were still tentative, would they feel as though the door were slamming shut, feeling that the book were aimed at those who had already made up their minds? Alternatively, would the beginner simply ignore it, provoked by the suggestion 'not to read on'? While I still hold to the importance of this initial challenge, I recognise that it may be too much of a challenge to some.

3. The phrase ‘bloody-minded’ is a very English one. For those reading this text outside of the context of British English, this term can be translated as stubbornly independent.

4. A 'twigloo' is a tree house often crafted by those protecting trees from developers. It is usually made of fallen wood, branches and old planks.

5. The connections between Druidry and the other religious traditions mentioned here could be explored in intricate detail as a fascinating study.

Paganisms, described in their simplest form as the spiritual relationship between a people and their environment, exists all over the world. These, we can imagine, are the primary religions of humankind, emerging as folk reached to understand and positively interact with the powers of nature. From an overview, it is easy to see how human beings are so similar, but it is the little details that differentiate particular cultures, and many of those details emerge from the environments in which we live. Each tradition of Paganism expresses those differences through spiritual or religious beliefs and practices, through their own distinct language. So, Aboriginal traditions of the Australian deserts reflect that dry landscape, while Amazonian Indian traditions are made up of reverence for very different gods, different needs, crises and resources. The island traditions of Japanese Shinto and British Druidry have insular similarities, but express the differences of their distinct ecosystems.

6. The word 'creature' is used in the text in the animistic sense, to mean any aspect of nature’s ongoing creativity, not just a nonhuman animal.