This book does convey something of the relationship between culture and belief, and the impossibility of considering them as separate in this context. However, when you start considering religion as inherent to culture, part of the underpinning fabric of a society, it is necessary to consider it in very different ways. The book religions have adapted and changed to fit into other cultures, but that sense of religion transcending culture is, I think, out there. Druidry – it’s a bit like Shinto, only rooted for some of us in a Celtic history and culture rather than a Japanese one. Given the trouble pagans have trying to get people to grasp the idea of religions without sacred books, this is a very useful thing to have. Also interesting to note, it has no sacred book, no doctrine, very little authoritarian structure, and yet it works and other religions and bodies are able to recognise it. It honours the land of Japan, the ancestors of Japan – I cannot see that you could do it anywhere else without being culturally Japanese. It has a long and complex history, influenced by Buddhism and Confucianism, caught up in politics and the development of the nation. Shinto honours spirits of place, and ancestors (kami), using ritual and creativity. It provided me with some very interesting surprises, and I have come to the tentative conclusion that Shinto makes a very interesting comparison with Druidry. In many ways it’s a dry and academic little book, but it is packed with information. This book was purchased on spec, and is the first thing I’ve read on the subject. My only prior sense of Shinto came from watching Miyazaki films, realising this is a creator who is drawing on a tradition, and that I want to know more about the tradition.
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