I've enclosed a report I wrote to the local newspaper, The Eastern Daily Press. A Vicar  was once degrading eco-warriors, Druids, Witches and our religion and ways and well, pissed me off, so I wrote my own letter and actually won first prize as top letter.

It's radical and biased and if you are a Christian,Witch or Druid please don't take it to heart. It is only my ramblings.

THOUGHTS OF A DRUID

My people have always known the Goddess of the land. Once there was a perfect balance in the land. All the people loved the land and tended it. And the land fed them. They only took what they needed to eat and they did not kill animals for sport or human hate. But then the land was invaded and the people were forced from the perfect balance. We were constantly on the run, fearing for our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Most of all a majority of my people turned away from the land and eventually forgot the dreams the land gave us in our sleep.

The Romans, the Vikings and the Saxons who came to conquer, to rape and pillage our lands soaked the ground in blood. The blood of our people and our Druid Priests and Priestesses. Disease, slavery and warfare killed most of my people. Then the early missionaries came with word of a Jewish rebellion lead by a man they called Jesus, and they told my people that he was the Son of God. The Christian missionaries believed it was their Solemn, holy duty to scour the country of Pagans and so prepare our Island of Britain for the second coming of this rebel, their god, Jesus. My people had no use for Son of God and refused even to listen. But these missionaries were fanatics, deciding that the only way they could convert my people was by the blade. First they started to convert kings and chieftains and once they had a hold on our great leaders, they started to convert the population.

They cut down all our great forests and filled the land with screams of agony. They tore apart our sacred burial sites and our ancient monuments of stone. They stole my peoples land and killed all spoke up against them. Our sacred sites were uprooted and in its place they built great ugly churches and cathedrals and forced the people to attend their services.

We were slowly pushed from our home lands because we would not change. My great land of the Iceni Tribe were taken over and called Land of the Angli. Later it was called East Anglia. Many other native Celtic tribes found that they too were driven from their lands.

But when the Christian Priests found that the people of my land were still worshipping the Old Gods, they decided to turn our deities into their own. Our great Horned God, Cernunnos, Lord of the animals and the forest, Consort the Great Mother, became the devil. Our Great Mother Goddess, Sheila-Na-gig, the Goddess of

fertility became the virgin, Mary. Many other of our Deities were used for their own Christian purposes. But still my people worshipped the Gods and Goddesses of old, and continued to worship on the same days.

Then the Christian Church decided to take our religious days and used them for their own needs. What was Midwinter solstice and Yule, became Christmas. Our New Year, Samhain, became All Saints Day. Lamas became Easter and so on. In fact most of the dates these Christian people use were our own dates. Eventually my people turned away from the land and worshipped gold and the Nailed God. The missionaries told my people that their God gave man power over the earth and over all animals.

Then as time went by over hundreds of years, my people, the Celtic Nation changed. There were still some practicing the Old Religion. When the Christian Church heard this they immediately put their foot down. They called us evil Devil worshippers, the children of Satan. They tortured those who said they were Witches and burned them alive on the stake. They called our religion heresy and they did every thing in their power to stop it. It became unlawful to worship the Earth Religion and many innocent people died at the hands of these Christian fanatics.

As the time went by, my people tried to pretend the were European or British rather than endure any more of the punishment. Some gave up their Earth Religion because they were scared of the consequences.

Eventually our land changed, and more people who were greedy for power took over. They formed governments in order to steal from my people. They enforced laws that went against the law of the land and we were powerless to stop them. The governments created ways to steal my people's money and they called it taxes. If we do not pay these taxes then they confiscated the land and left us homeless. But even then, some of us continued to live off the land. We lived in tribes and moved where-ever we chose. But the government wanted every one to do what they demanded and seeing how we continued to live, they outlawed us. They called us Hippies, New Age Travellers, and they did everything in their power to stop us from roaming the land freely. There were battles and fights with their police force and their security forces, but still we continued to live our lives as our ancestors did.

Now the Europeans and the British are one hundred times worse than my people, the ancient Celts. Now the land is suffering from a thousand different poisons and governments threaten to kill all life forms with weapons of mass destruction. All our animals are threatened too. It was the Christians that set the example to deface our country. No wonder we have such a server population explosion. They also said that man was the steward or keeper of the Earth. No wonder population and animal abuse runs strife throughout the land. The last thirty years the land has been polluted by companies and intensive farming. Our air has been dirtied by planes and factory smog and cars. Our animals have been abused and tested on in horrid experiments and our trees have been cut down to make way for more roads and houses. All these things that are happening to the land is done by the laws which the government has made. The Government supports all these changes as does the Christian Church and it is these people who are to blame for the way our ancestral lands have been treated. Our battle has not ended. The fight has only just begun.

Today I can hear the bulldozers carve up the land. The screams of falling trees. The call of birds and the cries of animals displaced. It's the terror of the tortured land and that terror also runs through me. Somehow, I too can feel the hurt, all the pain and anguish as the earth cries out. She says to me " I cannot speak except to those who hear me and because it is in your nature to hear and to listen, I spoke to you and led you here to save me. Do you know what they are doing to me? Do you know that the desert they will make of me? Encased in burning dust or layers of ice; either way I'll be dead. My whole purpose is to thrust life upwards out of my soils, and feel the press of living feet. Hear the songs of the birds and the low music of the animals, Growling, lowing, chattering, talking, by whatever voice they choose. That is why I have called you. Live, learn, love and dance the dance of life."

This is my Holy Land. England . Not the England that you know of and stands today, but the England my forefathers knew. Lands such as Summerland. Land such as the Iceni Tribal Land. Celtic England is being killed. There used to be that hymn we all used to sing at school " And did those feet in ancient times". All those lovely lines. The bow of burning gold. Those mountains green. Wonderful, until you get to the last bit, "till we have built Jerusalem." If you have a green and pleasant land why would you want to deface it with such filth. Jerusalem is a Christian town. We have no need of their Jerusalem in our country. They heard about this legendary holy island in the west, with the power to transform peoples lives, in a place you could walk with the spirits and they wanted a piece of the action.

My people have suffered enough. We have gone through so much hatred and destruction and we were powerless to stop it all. Now most of our forests are gone and our land has been carved up. Roads litter the place and cities and towns scar the land. Governments continue to let people destroy and pollute the waters and air and they let science and abusers kill our animals. It is time we reclaimed our lands.

Our purpose is to restore Britain as she was in the old days before her perfection was soured by the peoples greed and hatred. All my life I have sought to bring the Gods and Goddesses back to Britain. We today have the means to spread the knowledge, but we are up against some very powerful people. I don't mean spiritually or magically, I mean through their governments which make laws which in turn supports the Christian church. We have seen what they have done to our island, even the whole world. They have put man against man, sword against sword, all in the name of their god, Jesus. I'll not let that happen in my lifetime. Our old Gods and Goddesses are good to us, so why do we need new ones? That's the problem with Britain, most people have lost touch with the Old Ones, and so they have lost touch with the Earth.

It is time we reclaimed our heritage, our sacred lands, our sacred sites and ancient burial grounds, and most of all we must take back our lives. We must reclaim this Earth. We must reclaim our Celtic Heritage and we must do this soon or it will be too late.

Badger Richards Friend of LAW
28th January 1999

Badger Richards  is presently serving a prison sentence for his beliefs.

ooOoo