As a social network of ovates, bards, druids, and associate members, we assist with and provide bardic services and civic-ceremonial support for Welsh and other Celtic groups and festivals in the western region of Canada and the United States. The Western North American Gorsedd is the first regional gorsedd within the North American Gorsedd Association. Its three subgorseddau, the Pacific Northwest Gorsedd, the California and Nevada Gorsedd, and the American Southwest Gorsedd, shall provide assistance for various Celtic cultural events throughout the western United States and portions of western Canada for civic ceremonies, rituals, and competitions.

Currently,, our three area subgorseddau and their local gorseddau willsupport gatherings and events within their areas. The immediate goal for Region 1 of the North American Gorsedd Association is to develop its three area gorseddau and their local gorseddau and to announce regular events and competitions for bards,.

There shall be three grades of members in the gorsedd, each with a separate and distinct purpose: Ovates, Bards, and Druids. As a civic and social network, the Gorsedd employs these distinctions in secular ways quite different from similar organizations with sacred, rather than secular purposes.

So, What is Civic Druidry?

Civic Druidry draws on the archeological, historical, and cultural legacy of Celtic peoples of Europe and present-day Celtic countries and applies what is learned as a social mechanism to better understand and relate to contemporary culture and the natural world.

Civic Druidry draws inspiration from an appreciation of a Celtic impulse or consciousness arising from the traditions, folkways, stories, and appreciation of family, community, and people and their connection to the land on which they live. In a modern sense, we might say, "the land and the people are one." In the middle ages, it could be said "the land and the king are one," but today, sovereignty has been vested in the people directly, rather than embodied in a sovereign lord. How we choose to recast these ancient mores and motifs, and how we explore the meaning of this cultural heritage and impulse continues to provide rich sources for contemporary Druidry, be it sacred or secular. Although Druidry has its roots in ancient Celtic and pre-Celtic peoples, its legacy today has reached out beyond its ethnic roots to inspire people throughout the world.

Positions

Druids as custodians of cultural values and what some have called an impulse or "Celtic Consciousness," a distinct group of living points of reference, feelings, ways of thinking about and relating to the world, and other mores and enculturated values, practice and conduct civic rituals for their immediate and broader communities. They have particular responsibilities to maintain, conserve, appreciate, and respect the natural world and how we cooperate and relate to it. Druids understand and live according to green values and advocate balanced-responsible environmental lifestyles. When a Druid gazes at the world, she or he may envision unspoken or unseen forces binding people and the land, one to the other. Druidic arts often encompass law, philosophy, landscape architecture, and responsible envirommental and ecological discipline and knowledge.

Ovates preserve, promote, and employ the arts and sciences of natural health and healing. They also look to outer and psychological means for interpreting the past, understanding the present, and predicting the course of future events for people, families, groups, communities, and nations. Ovates often use elements and principles of design to develop and explain the interrelationships between future, past, and present events and actions. When working in the fine arts, Ovates primarily employ visual imagery not to record, but to expand understanding of their art and vision. Today, we see similar developments in holistic and alternative medicine and in quantum physics where rigid empiricism faces new challenges from inspired and broader visions of the world..

Bards use words, music, and images to record and present information about people, their world, social, and cultural things of interest. They inspire and preserve, entertain and convey the arts of comedy and drama as life moves forward. Through prose, poetry, music, and other creative, performing, and fine arts, they add elements of aesthetic value to those who see, hear, or read their works. As Druids may be said to embody the life and consciousness of a community, bards are keepers of an intangible inspiration, Awen as it flows through and infuses or revitalizes creativity among their friends and in their communities.. And, as noted, ovates bring a clarity of vision and understanding to those willing to consider broader avenues for life and health,.

Each grade, ovate, bard, or druid, may elect to invite new members into their respective grades as members of the gorsedd who have demonstrated exceptional and meritorious contributions to their areas of service and responsibility. These may include winners of competitions at various cultural festivals and eisteddfodau and, in the case of bards, to those who make important contributions to the survival, appreciation, and living presence of our Celtic languages.

As Ovates, Bards, and Druids, and descendants of the isle of ancient Albion, our Association and its Gorseddau stand ready to serve and generate the creative impulse, the flowing Awen, of the Celtic heart, not only for the survival and vitality of Welsh culture, but for other Celtic peoples, and indeed for any who would dine at the table of inspiration. In this manner, we may from time to time, according to the decisions of the members of each grade recognize with appropriate honors and membership in the Gorsedd within that grade for excellent service and accomplishment to the arts safeguarded by our Druids, Bards, or Ovates. The flame within the heart burns with life and truely is a universal bond beyond gender, beyond language, beyond race. As such, we serve this vital flame as it grows to express the cultures of North America.

Historical languages in Region 1 include English, Spanish, French, and Russian, as well as the full complement of languages of Native American, Inuit, and First Nation peoples. While the Western North American Gorsedd has specific responsibilities to promote appreciation for and the survival of Welsh culture and language, we shall at various times also promote special events for speakers and writers of these other languages present in our region today.