ADF Druidism
Ár nDríaocht Féin, A Druid Fellowship (ADF), was founded by Isaac Bonewits circa 1984 as a new way of approaching Neopagan religion. Prior to that time, Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG), the writings of folks like Margaret Murray and James Frazier, and a vague sort of mishmash of Native American and Celtic cultures were the primary sources of theology and cosmology for most new Pagans. Isaac decided that we could all do better than that. He founded ADF on the assumption that sound scholarship using ancient sources and hard work would be required to build the bones of a viable, Neopagan religion, with UPG used to fill in the missing pieces. After all, the best scholarship is useless without spiritual experience to inform it. And this was an approach that worked.
Through the scholarship of religion, archeology and comparative mythology, certain cosmological themes were identified that were shared in common with some or many of the Indo-European cultures. In creating ADF's cosmology, some of these themes were taken directly from the Germanic/Norse, Celtic or Vedic cultures, primarily. Examples include the World Tree/Axis Mundi, the Sacred Fire, the Well or Pit(as connector to the Underworld), the concept of *ghosti (reciprocity), Fire in Water, sacrifice, etc.
In ADF we worship the three Kindreds (the Deities, the Spirits of the Land, and our Ancestors) by making sacrifices to Them, asking for Their blessings in return. We use divination to discover the nature of these blessings, and the use of magic is one way to connect with these Powers. ADF is an orthopraxic religion rather than an orthodoxic one, meaning that what we do matters far more than what we believe. And it is my belief that ADF Priests are primarily ritual specialists. While priests lead groups of the People in making sacrifices, acting as the face of the People towards the Kindreds, anyone, with experience and practice, can experience the Kindreds on their own.