Reformed Druids of North America - Branches

Branches

In 1966, Robert Larson, an ordained priest of the original Carleton Grove, moved to Berkeley, California, where he and Isaac Bonewits founded a small Druidic group with connections to various wiccan covens, and groups which practiced ceremonial magic. This became known as the Berkeley Grove.

In the mid-1970s, Bonewits sought to recast the RDNA as a Neo-Pagan organization with substantially more organizational machinery; but this met with resistance from several Druids from the Carleton Grove, which had never identified as Neo-Pagan, and saw no point in the organizational innovations. Several groves subsequently broke off to form "Branches" of Reformed Druidism. From the RDNA, in 1976, a new order formed called the New RDNA (NRDNA), which organized under a Council of Arch-Druids, specifically to have a national body more responsive than the Council of Dalon Ap Landu. Some NRDNA groves wanted to restrict membership to Neo-Pagans, and experiment with changes to ritual and the structure of their groves; these became the Schismatic Druids of North America (SDNA). Groves not participating in these changes or schisms were, by default, considered the RDNA. The definition of "Reformed Druidism" stretched to include these variants, not just the RDNA, but the NRDNA, SDNA, and independent folks who just believed in the Basic Tenets.

Each of these branches generally followed the same ordination formula for First through Third Orders; members of each branch would enter Higher Orders too. Any Third Order member of any Branch was still a member of the original Council of Dalon Ap Landu; but this Council had already stopped functioning for practical purposes. Other means of interaction between Groves were devised, but they also faded away.

Many members of the SDNA groves left in the 1980s to form the Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), taking a few lessons from Reformed Druidism with them—notably the Waters of Life, an RDNA invention. Currently, in most RDNA and NRDNA groves, members can belong to any or no religion; and due to the emphasis on Grove autonomy, and resulting Grove diversity, there is now little to distinguish between RDNA and NRDNA.

Today Ár nDraíocht Féin has groves present across the United States, in Canada, and in some other countries. There is also another group which was an offshoot from the ADF and considers its lineage to come from the Reformed Druids, the Henge of Keltria. They also have various groves and groups around North America.