The term is from Monica Furlong’s Juniper / Wise Child / Coleman trilogy.
What I love about the first book she wrote in the series, which was the middle book "Wise Child," is that it’s basically magic-based fantasy created using *only magical practices that can actually be done in real life.* The prequel and especially the sequel use a lot more Hocus-Pocus-esque fancy fantasy stuff, but Wise Child - which can be read alone - is full of bits of wisdom and is 100% legit stuff.
Best bit? The writer of this excellent stuff was actually a Christian, and as someone who does a lot of Interfaith work, I appreciate that. Furlong is actually far better known in the UK as the Anglican Church theologian who lead the push for women to become priests in that denomination of Christianity. Yet here she sat, writing a book about magic *that totally gets it right.*
But back to the question.
Please note that I have no problem with the word witch, and the opening quote is from the book, not me. Also note that while anyone can cast spells, there’s more to being a Doran (even if it is, technically, a fictitious category - though it’s solid enough in the book to be real, as I said). It involves a lot of direct energy and trance work, not just casting spells. It also sounds a lot fluffier from these bits than it winds up being in the rest of the book(s). The characters in it are pretty hardcore. For all that is said, in the prequel, Juniper, there’s knives, blood, extremely hard work, borderline starvation during hard winters, etc.
**********
“[Witch is] just a vulgar word for it that can mean all kinds of
things. The word we use is doran.” Juniper went on to explain that the
word doran comes from our Gaelic word dorus, an entrance or way in (the
English have a word very like it.) It was someone who had found a way
into seeing or perceiving.
“Seeing or perceiving what?”
Juniper hesitated. “The energy,” she said at last. “The pattern.”
…
“So what does a doran do then?”
“Some of us do healing things, like me and my herbs. Some of us sing or write poetry, or make beautiful things. Some of us don’t do anything at all. They often stay in one place, and they just know.”
“Know? Know what?”
“How things are,” said Juniper mysteriously.
***
“Not everyone is familiar with the vocabulary of witchcraft,” [said the inquisitor.] “Perhaps you will tell us now what a doran is.”
“It is someone who loves all the creatures of the world, the animals, birds, plants, trees, and people, and who cannot bear to do any of them any harm. It is someone who believes that they are all linked together and that therefore everything can be used to heal the pain and suffering of the world. It is someone who does not hate anybody and who is not frightened of anyone or anything.”
I could see from the expression on the inquisitor’s face that he had not expected such a reply.
*********
All above quotes are from Wise Child, by Monica Furlong.
Doran, a word invented by British writer Monica Furlong in the late 1980’s for her book “Wise Child,” is a reference to standing in the door: between darkness and light, between the natural world and the supernatural. The original Old Irish / Scots Gaelic root from which Furlong derived this word is doras/dorus, which has a related Irish term doirseoir. Before it became a term for a caretaker, by way of being used to mean “porter” in more modern times, doirseoir originally referred to the job of a gatekeeper. A Doran, then, is one who lives at the gates between dimensions of reality. Furlong also tied the term to the idea of the Cailleach. While Cailleach can refer to a specific Celtic goddess of Winter, the term cailleach can also simply mean hag or wise woman. The Cailleach and Brigid were two halves of a whole, and the word Cailleach is similar to a word meaning “stranger” and “outsider” in multiple languages and cultures.
With the addition of these connotations a Doran takes on, in addition to the idea of a spiritual gatekeeper, the attributes of the wise person who is capable of surviving even in solitary (during a time when such things usually meant a very hard survival - you grew your own food, made your own clothes, etc), with the wisdom to not only thrive in spring, but to maintain power during the harsh winters of life. Unlike the more common English term “witch,” the word “doran” does not have historical baggage attached to it, and might feel less exclusionary to Non-Wiccan Pagans not wishing to be confused with Wiccans, or even to members of Abrahamic faiths with an interest in the magical or mystical.
(Yes, I know that there is the perfectly good word "seidkona," and one can talk of Galdur, but this is an umbrella word that also carries ethical and theological implications, and can be a shared path among those of vastly different perspectives, whereas a seidkona is specifically Norse.)
“Seeing or perceiving what?”
Juniper hesitated. “The energy,” she said at last. “The pattern.”
…
“So what does a doran do then?”
“Some of us do healing things, like me and my herbs. Some of us sing or write poetry, or make beautiful things. Some of us don’t do anything at all. They often stay in one place, and they just know.”
“Know? Know what?”
“How things are,” said Juniper mysteriously.
***
“Not everyone is familiar with the vocabulary of witchcraft,” [said the inquisitor.] “Perhaps you will tell us now what a doran is.”
“It is someone who loves all the creatures of the world, the animals, birds, plants, trees, and people, and who cannot bear to do any of them any harm. It is someone who believes that they are all linked together and that therefore everything can be used to heal the pain and suffering of the world. It is someone who does not hate anybody and who is not frightened of anyone or anything.”
I could see from the expression on the inquisitor’s face that he had not expected such a reply.
*********
All above quotes are from Wise Child, by Monica Furlong.
Doran, a word invented by British writer Monica Furlong in the late 1980’s for her book “Wise Child,” is a reference to standing in the door: between darkness and light, between the natural world and the supernatural. The original Old Irish / Scots Gaelic root from which Furlong derived this word is doras/dorus, which has a related Irish term doirseoir. Before it became a term for a caretaker, by way of being used to mean “porter” in more modern times, doirseoir originally referred to the job of a gatekeeper. A Doran, then, is one who lives at the gates between dimensions of reality. Furlong also tied the term to the idea of the Cailleach. While Cailleach can refer to a specific Celtic goddess of Winter, the term cailleach can also simply mean hag or wise woman. The Cailleach and Brigid were two halves of a whole, and the word Cailleach is similar to a word meaning “stranger” and “outsider” in multiple languages and cultures.
With the addition of these connotations a Doran takes on, in addition to the idea of a spiritual gatekeeper, the attributes of the wise person who is capable of surviving even in solitary (during a time when such things usually meant a very hard survival - you grew your own food, made your own clothes, etc), with the wisdom to not only thrive in spring, but to maintain power during the harsh winters of life. Unlike the more common English term “witch,” the word “doran” does not have historical baggage attached to it, and might feel less exclusionary to Non-Wiccan Pagans not wishing to be confused with Wiccans, or even to members of Abrahamic faiths with an interest in the magical or mystical.
(Yes, I know that there is the perfectly good word "seidkona," and one can talk of Galdur, but this is an umbrella word that also carries ethical and theological implications, and can be a shared path among those of vastly different perspectives, whereas a seidkona is specifically Norse.)
