The Pillar of the Nautes - How can I journey with Hekate along a druidic path?

I wrote this post for the Sanctuary of Hekate Potnia Theron’s blog as an answer to one of the most common questions I get about my path. I then realized that this topic resonates with many devotees, so I decided to share it on the CoH blog as well, hoping to help others who walk on the threshold between Hekatean theurgy and Druidry. This is not meant to be an exhaustive explanation of the common ground I find between theurgical and druidic perspectives. It is just a brief exploration of one of the very few archaeological findings that clearly shows that in Paris, in the 1st century AD, Roman and Celtic gods were celebrated side by side. Therefore, the choice to do the same today should not stir any polemic.

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It is time to reply to the question I get most often: how can I walk with Hekate along something that looks like a Druidic path - and it actually is, since I am not only a Keybearer deeply involved with PGM and theurgic practice, but I am also an Ovate within OBOD? How can I place the practice of Theurgy and the Druidic way of life under the same roof?

To answer, I will take you to Paris and let the pictures do the talking. We are now in the Musée de Cluny, inside the Roman Baths of ancient Lutetia (the Roman name for Paris).

Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, everyone knows that. He wrote the De Bello Gallico describing his military campaign and - by chance? - providing some of the very few ancient information about the Druids and, more generally, about "Celtic" religion. The Romans built roads, temples, an arena (a small Colosseum), the Roman baths... and they imported to Paris their own religion and the Interpretatio Romana - the Roman practice of interpreting or identifying foreign gods by equating them with Roman deities who had similar functions or attributes. We may think that the local gods vanished, syncretized with the Romans deities, especially in the "public" official life of the town. They did not. Look carefully at the following images:

You have been looking at the Pillar of the Nautes, the Pillar of the Boatmen. This pillar, now displayed in the Roman Bath of Musee de Cluny, was discovered in 1771 under Notre Dame Cathedral and belonged to a votive monument dedicated to Jupiter by the Nautes' guild during the reign of Tiberius. The iconography is exceptional because each side represents gods of the Celtic pantheon such as Esus or Cernunnus (giving us one of the few representation of both of them!) and of the Roman pantheon, such as Jupiter, Vulcan, Mars or Fortuna. This pillar has been read as a "testament" to the conversion of the Gauls to Roman religion but, it fact, at least in my opinion, it is a testament of the opposite: it clearly shows how the "new" Roman religion and the "local" religion simply coexisted, side by side, in the 1st century AD. I am far from idealizing the ancient pagan world, describing it as a realm of complete religious tolerance and eclectic ritual behavior (it was not). However, I agree with Assmann when he states that it is monotheism that tends to marginalize or delegitimize other religions. Polytheism, especially in the Mediterranean region, was generally more inclusive and pluralistic. A symbol of this is that mystery cults were not exclusive, and the Mithraic religion, for example, was also not exclusive. This very pillar is a tangibile proof of such pluralistic behavior. If our ancestors, who knew the gods better than us now, could display the Roman and the Celtic gods in one singular monument (dedicated to one of them) why should I refrain to do the same?

If ancient writers often compared the Druids to early Greek philosophers, such as the Pythagoreans, because of their belief in metempsychosis and their philosophical studies, or to the Magi of the Chaldean region due to their knowledge of the stars, why should the Druidic tradition be considered completely distinct from other experiences within the Indo-European world?

In my Neodruidic practice, the study of living nature forms the foundation of my understanding and knowledge of the cosmos. Aligning with the seasons, the stars, the moon, and the natural cycles serves as the starting point of a path that leads me toward the higher spheres, a journey that, in a very Neoplatonic sense, should bring me closer to the gods and, in a very practical sense, should guide me to become a better person. Dialogue - even a dialectical one - with different traditions, with practitioners who see things differently from me, is not experienced as a clash of titans; rather, when conducted with knowledgeable and thoughtful individuals, it becomes a space for personal growth. So I will keep my door open, I will keep my icon of Hekate close to the icon of The Morrigan and I know I am not the only one doing it.

Sara Vervain

Torchbearer and Keybearer, keeper of the Sancturay of Hekate Potnia Theron