A few weeks ago we reported on this website that “Never before, in modern times, has so much pagan symbolism been used by the British establishment for a state occasion. The 2012 Olympic opening ceremony was a triumph of expression of British identity that for once did not ignore our cultural and spiritual pre Christian roots.”
If you thought that parts of the para olympics ceremony sounded like a druid ceremony,
you were right.
They were originally used in a BDO (British Druid Order) gorsedd ceremony
back in 1997 written by Emma Restall Orr and Phillip Shallcrass (aka Greywolf)
The entire ceremony was opened in the way of a Druid rite of celebration!
Closure for the 2012 London Olympics/Paralympics
Druid Style
"I call upon the spirit of Autumn
The spirit of WATER
of the ebb and flow of emotion
of open seas and running streams
of cleansing rain
spirit of the evening sun
of twilight and of Autumn
I call upon the spirit of Winter
the spirit of EARTH
the womb of creation
of night and the snows of winter
deep roots and ancient stones
I call upon the spirit of Spring
the spirit of AIR
the breath of life
of sunrise and of new life
and new growth
I call upon the spirit of Summer
The spirit of FIRE
of energy and of passion
the spirit of the noon day sun
the heat of summer, vitality and abundance"
"My friends, let the festival commence!"
“The circle is unbroken,
The ancestors awoken.
May the songs of the Earth
and of her people ring true.
Hail to the Festival of the flame
of root and branch, tooth and claw,
fur and feather, of earth and sea and sky.”
BDO Druid, Greywolf, tells how this came about in his own words:
We were sworn to secrecy beforehand, but Emma Restall Orr and I were approached by the organisers of the 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony with a surprising request. They wanted our permission to use parts of the gorsedd ritual we wrote in 1997. So, about 20 minutes into the ceremony, these words went out to 750 million people around the world, spoken by Rory Mackenzie on behalf of Help For Heroes: