Druidism Guide Page One: Background

1. INTRODUCTION

The memory of the Druids emerges from the mists of time and history to be with us
again.

This is the seventh edition of a project that has been ongoing on the internet for several
years. Celtic culture, its music and art, has been "re-discovered" by the media and the
folk of europe and north america once again. The popularity of all things celtic can be
seen by the success of dance shows like "Riverdance", films like "Braveheart", and in the
multitude of celtic music festivals that have sprouted all over this continent (many of
which are regularly attended by this author). Perhaps a re-emergence of Celtic values and
spirituality is happening as well.

This essay is for those who are newly exploring the spirituality of the Druid, Bard,
Fianna, or Celtic Pagan. It is for those who have Celtic ancestors, or who wish they did. It
is for those who like learning about the ancient Celts, their beliefs and practices, and have
a desire to emulate them in a manner valid for themselves and for this century.

As in past editions, emphasis is placed upon that which is historically proven, or

historically plausible by induction from known facts. It attempts to consider the history
and the spirit together. The period in history in which it focuses is the Celtic Iron Age,
from aproximatly 500 BC up to the common era.

2. WHY DRUIDISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY?

There are a number of good reasons for modern people to consider Druidism today. Some
see it as a way to reconnect, or "ground" themselves in history, or to improve their
understanding of their origins and ancestors (if they are of Celtic descent). Some are
attracted by the relationship with the natural world that a Druid cultivates, or by the
artistic, creative methods used to build that relationship.
It is thought by many that the loss of the old ways of living, close to the
living Earth and close to our tribes, is responsible for the social and
environmental problems we face today, so a return to the old ways will
be a healing force in the world in this life and time. Druidism today is
not an abandonment of technology, nor is it a rejection of society. It is
not a retreat from the world into an illusory garden of delight where
problems need not be faced. Rather, it is an affirmation of our needs in
this life, and an energetic attempt to take power over them.
There are those who choose Druidism over other forms of neo-paganism. Perhaps a
reason for that is because Druidism is not only a branch of neopaganism, but also the
subject of academic study. Druidism is often of interest to archaeologists, historians, and
mythographers who don't necessarily consider themselves Druids, or even remotely
pagan. Thus, there is a wealth of serious academic material available concerning the
Druids, and many discover Druidism through it.

Finally, there are those who choose Druidism over more conventional Western religions
that are more accepted and widespread, such as Christianity. An exploration of Druidism
is for many people a revival of one of Western Europe's indigenous spiritualities. Many
seek Asatru to revive Northern Europe's spirituality for much of the same reason. To
those who feel alienated or harmed by Christianity, and there are many, and who still
believe religion has a place in their lives, paganism is a viable, and healthy alternative.
(Your author also thinks that Buddhism is beautiful!)

While there is no doubt that the standards of living and the lifestyles we lead have
changed incredibly since the age of the Celts, and even within each of our lifetimes, the
human needs for understanding, communication, companionship, and even empowerment
have not changed. To questions about human life, the age of the answer has no bearing
upon its truth. The solution is not more right or more wrong for being old or new. Thus
we continue to be illuminated by history, and we continue to create history.

3. WHO WERE THE DRUIDS?

Druidism must be understood in the context of the culture that created it. Only the Celtic
people called their religious professionals Druids; other cultures had other names for their
clergy, and expected different duties from them. Druids were not an ethnic or cultural
group in themselves, but part of a larger society in which they participated. In the pre-
christian era of Celtic culture, the Druids were members of a professional class in their
culture, the Celtic Nations of Western Europe and the British Isles. (see Nations)

The eminent scholar Fergus Kelly wrote that a Druid was "priest, prophet, astrologer and
teacher of the sons of nobles". Jean Markale, another respected scholar, noted that the
Druids were divided into these specialisations:

Sencha; historian, analyst

Brithem; judge, arbitrator, ambassador
Scelaige; keeper of myths and epics
Cainte; master of magical chants, blessings, curses, invocations, execrations,
banishments
Liaig; doctor who uses plants, magic and surgery
Cruitre; harpist who uses music as magic, master of the "Three Noble Strains" of
music: music that invokes laughter, tears, and sleep.
Deoghbaire; cup bearer who knows the properties of intoxicating and hallucinogenic
substances
Faith; diviner
Bard; popular poet and singer
Fili; sacred poet and diviner
Druids filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mage, mystic, and clerical scholar; in
other words, they were the religious intelligensia of their culture. To become a Druid,
students assembled in large groups for instruction and training. An Irish epic called the
Tain Bo Cuailnge describes the druid Cathbhad teaching as many as one hundred students
in something like a college. Julius Caesar noted that apprentice Druids were trained for a
period of up to twenty years. The mythologies describe Druids who were capable of
many magical powers such as divination & prophesy, control of the weather, healing,
levitation, and shapechanging themselves into the forms of animals, trees, or people. A
good word for them would seem to be "priests", yet I am reluctant to use it for two
reasons: The Romans never used it, and because Druids didn't minister to congregations
as priests do.

Rather, they had a clientele, like a lawyer, a consultant, a mystic, or a shaman would
have. (see Shamen) Caesar and his historians never referred to them as priests, but
perhaps they could not recognise them as priests since the Roman priesthood, officiating
over an essentially political religion, were primarily teachers and judges, with less
emphasis on being seers or diviners, whereas the Druids appeared to have both legal and
magical powers and responsabilities. (see Definition of a Druid)

A Druid's connection to nature is the source of all her powers,

both in society and in magic. By understanding that connection,
a Druid's being is joined with nature, and so she becomes aware
of all that is known to nature, which is all things. A Druid then is
a kind of nature mystic. To experience Druidism, turn off the computer
and go into the woods, and listen. The voice of the old Gods are not
silent. Their language is the blowing wind and the waves of the great
pouring sea.

4. WHAT ARE THE CELTIC NATIONS?

The traditional Celtic nations, where Celtic civilisation achieved its height, and where an
indigenous Celtic language was spoken, are Alba (Scotland), Breizh (Brittany, or Gaul,
what is now France), Cymru (Wales), Eire (Ireland), Galatia (northern Spain), Kernow
(Cornwall), Mannin (Isle of Man), and Britain. The Celtic culture was a tribal society,
meaning the basic social and political unit was the extended family. They had Iron-age
technology at the height of their achievement, meaning they could forge iron for their
tools, use gold and silver for art, clear land for agriculture and animal husbandry, and
lived in settled farmstead communities. The Celtic people migrated from the ancient
indo-european homelands in eastern Europe, to span most of western Europe. It is
possible to trace the migration routes by examining the artefacts they left behind. Two
classes of celtic artefacts, La Tene and Halstadd, are named for towns in which artefacts
from each period were discovered: Halstadd is in the Salzkammergut in Austria, and La
Tene is in Switzerland. The Celts of Galatia, in what is now Turkey, was visited by Paul
of Tarsus around 40AD; his epistle to them has a permanant place in the Christian Bible.
The Celts of Scotland were Irish colonists, Scots, and also indigenous, possibly pre-celtic
people known as Picts, who had a matrilineal kingship pattern, and who dominated
Scotland until united with the Scots of Dalriada by Kenneth Mac Alpine in AD 843.

Unfortunetly, of the Picts, little is known; even their name is the word the Romans used
for them and not the name they used for themselves. ("Picti", meaning "painted people",
was their epithet from the Romans, because Pictish warriors used to paint themselves
blue with an extract from the woad plant when in battle. Some Pictish artefacts, mainly
carved stones, do remain, although their symbols cannot be fully understood.

In modern times, strong Celtic cultural centers can be found in Newfoundland and Nova
Scotia, Canada, some parts of New England, USA, and Australia.

One Gaulish celtic tribe worth an honourable mention is the Helvetians, who fought
against Julius Caesar's armies in 58BC. Their territory is in what is now Switzerland, and
they live on in that modern nation: the official name of Switzerland is still 'Confoederatio
Helvetica' (latin for 'the Helvetian Confederation').

5. WHAT OTHER CLASSES EXISTED IN CELTIC SOCIETY?

Other classes in the old Celtic social order: the warrior-aristocracy; out-caste Fianna
warriors; (see Warriors) Bards, brehons (lawyers), historians and other more specialised
professionals; land-holders (landlords); freeborn labourers; and non-freeborn labourers.
Celtic law included ways for anyone, including non-freeborn labourers, to move up or
down the social heirarchy; what rights and responsibilities were due to each of them, and
what kind of punishment could be given to criminals according to their status (for more
was expected from those who had more). An old Celtic proverb goes: "A man is better
than his birth".

Bards and Fili were the primary keepers of the histories, genealogies, laws, poetry, music
and stories of the Celtic people. Their training was similar to the Druid's training, and
their rank in society was second only to the King. A bard was expected to be able to
perform what were called the "three noble strains", which were music to inspire laughter,
tears, or sleep. They were guaranteed to receive special hospitality wherever they went,
and be free from insult, among other rights; a breach of this would allow the bard to
compose a satire-poem that would tarnish the offender's reputation for generations to
come.

The Celtic noble class held the political and economic power of the tribe. Kingship was
passed from king to his son, or (as in the case of the Picts) from king to mother's son.
Many Celtic tribes actually elected their king for a lifelong term, from among eligible
men whose ancestors were kings. Of interest to those who study Druidism is the concept
of the sacred king, in which the king was ritually married to the Goddess of the land.
Sometimes a Druidess (or, as in one recorded case from Donegal, Ireland, a horse) would
temporarily represent the Goddess to whom the king was married. He had to rule justly
and honourably in order to satisfy his immortal spouse, for if he did not the land would
become barren and infertile, and the tribe's prosperity would decline, an event which
occurs reasonably frequently in mythology. The king had to be in full health and without
physical blemish as well to please her, and this is why the god Nuada had to abdicate the
throne when he lost his hand in battle. A sacred king would also be bound by a geas, (see
Geas) as an additional condition for his prosperous rule. This ritual is evidence for a
Druidic doctrine of the unity of humans and nature.

6. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE CELTIC PEOPLE?

In general, it is believed by historians that the Celtic people migrated from a common
Indo-European homeland somewhere in eastern Europe and migrated westward. The
increasing sophistication, social-stratification, state-building, and so forth, of central
Europe gave rise to the periods that that scholars call proto-Celtic and Celtic, or Hallstat
800-500 BCE and La Tene 500-100 BCE. The spread of Celtic culture to the British Isles
and to the Atlantic seaboard of Europe took place roughly around 900 BCE. It is safe to
assume that there were religious specialists of some kind there at the time, though the
notion of "Druids" as a comprehensive religious and intellectual caste doesn't emerge
until about 500 BCE or shortly after.

To correlate that date with other world events, 500 BCE is about the same time that the
Buddha is alive in India, Aeschylus and Thespis are writing plays in Greece, Confucious
is working for Emperor King-Wang 3rd of China, The Republic of Sicily establishes its
first allegiance with Rome, Jeshua is high priest of Palestine, Darius 1st heads the Persian
Empire, annually elected archons rule Athens, and Pythagoras is visiting Egypt.

There is good evidence that through their trade routes, and the adoption of customs
indigenous to the areas they colonised, that Celtic culture experienced much change and
innovation over time. The British Isles may have been visited by humans as early as the
retreat of the Ice Age, and has been home to an indeginous neo-lithic (new stone age)
culture that contributed much to the development of the Celtic culture at its height of
achievement. (Historian Colin Renfrew has, for example, argued that the Celts emerged
from an indigenous pre-celtic Neolithic culture.)

Here is a brief, and certainly not complete, timeline of the history of the Celtic people,
focusing on the time period which is relevant to this project, and the islands of Britain
and Ireland.

Timeline of Celtic History

Era People Events And Notes
Mesolithic
Up to 4000
(Middle Stone Hunters and gatherers
BCE
Age)
4000-1800 Neolithic (New Construction of Maes Howe, Callanish, and
BCE Stone Age) other megalithic monuments. First farmers
3500 BCE Construction of Newgrange, largest megalithic
 monument in Europe
1800-1600
Bronze Age
BCE
1000 BCE-
Iron Age
Christian Era
Rise of the Celts. First emergence of Celtic
900-500 BCE Hallstatt
languages
Circa 600 Greeks establish trading colony at Messalia
BCE (Marseilles) to trade with Gaul
Heroic Age Celts. Most mythologies take place
500-15 BCE La Tene
now.
Circa 450
Celtic people reach Spain
BCE
Circa 400 Celts cross the Alps into Italy. Within ten years,
BCE they sack Rome itself.
Celts invade Greece, through Macedonia, and
279 BCE
plunder the Temple of Delphi
270 BCE Celts establish Galatia in Asia Minor
154 & 125 Celts sack Massalia, Roman armies raise the
BCE seige both times
82 BCE Romans defeat Celts in Italy
Julius Caesar attempts to invade invade Britain
55 & 54 BCE
twice
Julius Caesar defeats Gaulish chieftan
52 BCE
Vercingetorix at Avaricum, and imprisons him.
AD 43-409 Romano-British Rome dominates Britain and parts of Wales
Druid strongold at Anglesey destroyed by
AD 61
Romans; Boudiccia begins her rebellion
AD 120 Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins

Mid 3rd
Saxons begin raiding east coast of Britain
century
Mid 4th
Cormac Mac Art rules Ireland at Tara
century
"Dark Age"
AD 409-600 Final Roman withdrawal from Britain
Britain
Vortigern takes power in Britain and holds off
AD 425
Saxon advances
AD 432 Padraig begins his mission to Ireland
 Anglo-Saxon invasion; British refugees settle in
Circa AD 450
Armorica and Brittany, France
AD 454 Artorius Roithamus (Arthur) succeeds Vortigern
Circa AD 500 Arthur defeats Saxons at Mount Baden
Circa AD 500 Formation of Dalriada in southwest Scotland
Circa AD. 537 Arthur is killed at the Battle of Camlann.
AD 563 Saint Columba arrives at Isle of Iona.
Synod of Whitby: The Celtic Church joins the
AD 663 The Middle Ages
church of mainland europe
Colonisation and raiding of British Isles by
Circa AD 790
Vikings begin
Kenneth Mac Alpine unites the Scots of Dalriada
AD 843
and the Picts
Battle of Clontarf: Vikings expelled from Ireland
AD 1014 by Brian Boru. They withdraw from Celtic
nations everywhere soon thereafter

7. WHAT ARE THE SOURCES BY WHICH WE CAN KNOW THE

DRUIDS?

The main sources we have on what they did are Roman historians, such data as
archeological remains can provide, and mythological literature recorded by monks in the
eighth through twelfth century. Also, analogies can be drawn between the Celts and such
Indo-European cultures that existed around the same time and had the same level of
cultural achievement, such as the Hindu people.

Archaeology is an excellent resource for the study of celtic history. Scientists have
uncovered the remains of votive offerings to the Gods in lake bottoms, bogs, and "votive
pits" (a narrow hole dug deep in the ground in which votive offerings are buried), which
tell us about Celtic religion. There are also the remains of celtic fortresses, habitations,
temples, jewelry and tools. These remains speak to us not of events and people in Celtic
history, but what life was like, what their technological capeability was, what food they
ate, what crafts and trades they practiced, what products they made and traded (which in
turn tells us about their economy), and where they travelled and how they got there.
These facts about Celtic social life are an important element for understanding Druidism,
because it is necessary to understand the whole culture in which Druidism was situated.

The Roman historians are another important source, though they wrote on the
Celts from their own points of view; Julius Caesar, for example, was in the
process of conquering Gaul (what is now France; a variant of Gaelic is still
spoken in Brittany) and therefore would have written a highly prejudiced account.
Posidonius was trying to fit the Druids into his own Stoic philosphy. There is also an
attempt to cast the old Celts in the role of the innocent and wise noble savage,
uncorrupted by civilisation and close to nature, as in the case of the writer Tacitus.
Romans are usually under stood as "hostile witnesses", but they are the only eyewitnesses
that we have.

Nevertheless they were often impressed by the Druids' grasp of mathematical and
astronomical skill. One Roman author, Diogenes, placed the Druids on a list of the
ancient world's wisest philosophers; a list which included the Magi of Persia, the
Chaldeans (the priesthood of the Babylonians) and the Gymnosophists (an Hindu sect
which preceded the Yogis), all of whom were selected for their skill in mathematics,
physics, logic, and philosophy.

Here is what some of the Roman historians had to say about the Druids...

Diodorus: [The Druids are] philosophers and theologians... skilled in the divine
nature.
Lucan [addressing the Druids]: To you alone is given knowledge of the Gods and
heavanly powers - either this, or you only have not this knowledge..... But you assure us,
no ghosts seek the silent kingdom of Erebus, nor the pallid depths of Dis' realm, but with
a new body the spirit reigns in another world -- if we understand your hymns [i.e. poems]
death's halfway through a long life.
Ammianus: [Druids investigate] problems of things secret and sublime.
Cicero [speaking about Diviciacus]: [he] claimed to have that knowledge of nature
that the Greeks call "physiologia" [natural science].
Julius Caesar: [they have] much knowledge of the stars and their motion, of the size
of the world and of the earth, of natural philosophy [physics].
Hippolytus: They can fortell certain events by the Pythagorean reckoning and
calculations.
Diogenes Laertius [attributes to Druids]: ...riddles and dark sayings; teachings that
the gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behavoir maintained.
Strabo notes not only their practical knowledge of natural phenominon, but also
their pursuit of "moral philosophy". He also writes that the Druids teach that "men's souls
and the universe are indestructible, though at time fire and water may prevail."
Mela: Souls are eternal and there is another life in the infernal regions.

(These can be found in The Druids by Stuart Piggot, pg.113)

But in this author's point of view, the best sources are the mythologies. There we can read
of what the Druids did, how they behaved, what some of them said, and though the
medieval manuscripts that preserved them were written and edited by Christian monks,
much wisdom yet remains there. In Ireland the four chief myth cycles are the Ulster
Cycle, the Fionn Cycle, the Invasion Races, and the Cycle of Kings. In Wales, the
primary myths are contained in a book called The Mabinogion. In this century, a
number of folklore collections were made of remaining oral-tradition stories and
prayers. The famous "Carmina Gadelica", a collection of folk prayers from the
Hebrides of Scotland, is an example of the use of folk tradition as a source for the
study of celtic mysticism. Two novels, "Gods and Fighting Men" and "Cuchullain of
Muirthemney", produced close to the turn of the century, written by Lady Augusta
Gregory, are excellent source texts for the study of Celtic spirituality, as they integrate the
medaeval texts with the folklore of the time.

One of the problems with studying Druidism academically is that the

Druids were the subject of a number of persecutions and conquests, not
only by the Romans, but also by Norsemen, Normans, Saxons, and
Christians. Much Druidic wisdom was censored, evolved into something
unrecognisable, or just plain lost; although it is true that the Romans never
invaded Ireland, so that country became a haven for Druidic learning for a
while. A modern person seeking the Druid's path must attempt to
reconstruct the wisdom based on some or all of the sources discussed
above. Yet in doing so, one discovers that despite the enormous amount of
cultural data presumed lost, the truly Celtic disposition of the sources
remains strong and clear. Much Druidic magic also can be found in the
writings of contemporary Irish and Scottish artists. The Irish Literary
Revival, with such authors as William Butler Yeats, Lady Augusta
Gregory, and James Joyce, is one of this author's favourite expressions of
Celtic spirit.
Druidism Guide Page Two: Custom

8. CAN WOMEN BECOME DRUIDS?

Yes, women can become Druids, and frequently do. The mythologies record that many
Druids were women; in fact Celtic women enjoyed more freedom and rights than women
in any other culture of that time, including the rights to enter battle, own and inherit
property, trace her kinship matrilinially (through her mother's family line), and choose
and divorce her husband. The Irish hero Cu/Chullain was trained by a land-owning
warrior queen named Scathach, for whom the Scottish island of Skye is named. In the
Welsh myths, there is the powerful sorceress/Goddess Cerridwen, and also Arianrhod
who ruled Caer Arianrhod. (See Gods) In Briton, Boudicca was a female chieftain of the
Iceni tribe, powerful enough to lead a revolt of united Celtic tribes against the Romans in
61 BCE. Her patron was the Andrasta, a goddess of ravens and of battles, similar in many
ways to the Irish war goddess Morrigan. Similarly, Irish women have a heroine in Queen
Maeve of Cruachan, who led an army against the province of Ulst er, all to establish her
equality in her marriage. Mogh Roith, who was one of the greatest Irish Druids, was
taught by a female Druid named Banbhuana, the daughter of Deargdhualach.

Women were also permitted to become Fianna. (see Warriors) Fionn MacCumhall, from
the Irish Fenian myths, was trained in poetry and magic by a Druidess. A woman named
Asa (Irish for "Gentle") became Fianna and took the name Ni-Asa ("Not Gentle"), which
eventually became "Nessa", at the time she became mother to King Conchobar. Her
influence was such that her son kept her name instead of his father's name, thus:
"Conchobar Mac Nessa", or "Conor, son of Nessa".

Celtic law identified up to nine different types of marriages, some differentiated on the
basis of how much property was brought into the marriage by each partner, and some
differentiated by the circumstances of meeting her partner. The latter type is ap parently
designed to protect the rights of children. Here is a list of nine marriage types from Irish
law:

"union of joint property" in which the man and woman contribute the same amount
of property.
"union of woman on man's property", in which the woman brings little or nothing
into the marriage.
"union of man on woman's property", in which the man brings little or nothing into
the marriage.
a less formal partnership in which the man visits the woman who still lives with her
own kin.
a union in which the wife's kin does not consent to the marriage.
an abduction, in which the wife willingly elopes but her kin does not permit her to
go.
a partnership of secrecy,
 a one night's stand or "soldier's marriage"; apparently this is to protect the rights of
children who might issue from a rape, and finally
the marriage of two insane persons.

Many of the most powerful gods in Celtic mythology were female. But the gender of
deities is not a reliable guide for determining what each deity's area of responsibility is.
There are male earth gods, female sun gods, female animal gods, female war gods, and
male & female fertility gods, which is very much in contrast with contemporary Western
occultism, especially Wicca. There are also female river gods, male smithcraft gods, male
& female soverenty gods, and so on which is similar to conventional occultism. Your
humble author thinks that this is because the old celts did not view gender as the most
defining attribute of a deity. With their shape-changing powers, perhaps species is not a
definitive attribute either!

Thus there is no good reason to believe that Druidism was strictly and unilaterally
patriarchal in ancient times, and modern Druidism certainly is not remotely patriarchal.

9. DID THE DRUIDS PRACTICE HUMAN SACRIFICE?

The Romans recorded that the Druids sacrificed condemned criminals. Judicial
executions were no different elsewhere in Europe, including Saxony. The Romans wrote
that such victims were tied into huge wicker man-shaped effigies and burned alive. There
were also some forms of punishment in Celtic law deemed worse than death, such as
banishment. Some mythologies describe one person's life being sacrificed so that a
terminally ill noble would survive, thus indicating a belief in a cosmic balance of forces.
The archeological record does reveal a number of sacrificial deaths, such as "triple-
deaths", of which the most famous is the "Lindow Man", who was recovered from a bog
near the border of Wales on 1st August 1984. He had been simultaneously strangled,
drowned, and clubbed. The absence of any signs of struggle on the body seems to
indicate that he did no t resist the sacrifice but rather agreed to it willingly. To the Celts,
death was not the frightening, final thing it is to most of us born in the 20th century (see
Belief), and human sacrifice may not have been so immoral. Rather, it was a very special
and powerful ritual, performed only in times of serious need. It is important not to
assume that ancient people held the same values that we do today.

However, there is some debate over this; the written records of Druid sacrifices may have
been nothing more than anti-Druid propaganda. Julius Caesar had good reason to make
the Druids look bad, because, after all, he was trying to conquer them. It would fuel
interest in his campaign back home if he could prove that the Celts engaged in such
barbaric practices. Yet the Romans would kill people in gladiatorial games, for the
entertainment of the people. The Druids, if they did sacrifice people, could claim
religious sanction. The archeological record is ambiguous if such sacrifice was judicial or
ceremonial. Furthermore there is no evidence of human sacrifice in Ireland's archeology,
to my knowledge, though there is evidence of animal sacrifice there.
Rest assured that modern Druids do not sacrifice anything at all (though the author of this
paper is fond of sacrificing an occasional pint of Guinness!).

10. WHAT ARE SOME OTHER COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS OF

DRUIDISM?

Since the early Romantic Revival of Druidism, which began in the early eighteenth
century, there have been many ideas on Druidism that owe more to imagination than to
history. Here are some of the most common:

"The Barddas": a book of Welsh Bardic and Druidic knowledge. This book is known
to be almost entirely forged by its author, Iolo Morganwyg. It claims as a source the
"Book of Pheryllt", which is also a fictional work. It makes good poetry, but very poor
history. Distinguishing the two is important, but almost never easy. (see also Romantic
Druidism)
The Druids were Monotheists": A popular idea during the Romantic Revival, but
without historical sanction, for there were many large and complicated pantheons of
Deities, and not all were common to all the Celtic nations. Many of Druidism's early
revivers were strongly influenced by Freemasonry and other similar fraternal orders, and
attributed to Druids the worship of an exclusively male Christian God. Also, more
recently, some have believed that the Druids worshipped the Earth Mother exclusively,
but while Earth-mother Goddesses are present in the Celtic pantheons, they are not
usually worshipped exclusively.
"The Druids were from Atlantis": There are many myths of magical islands in the
Atlantic, but Atlantis was not one of them. The earliest documented evidence on Atlantis
comes from Plato, who was a Greek and not a Celt, and was probably writing an allegory
and not a history. He wrote that the chief god of Atlantis was Posidon, a Greek (not
Celtic) God.
"Pumpkin Blossoms were a Holy Druidic Tree": Pumpkins are, for one thing, not
trees, and secondly, not native to Europe. The ancient Druids could not have been aware
of their existence. The Jack-o-Lantern used at Haloween (Samhain) would have been a
turnip, but that is not a tree either. The function of the jack-o-lantern was to ward off the
souls of the dead, but this tradition owes its origin to Mediaeval times, for the Celts had
no great fear of death.
"Samhain was a Celtic God": Samhain is the name of a festival, not a God of the
Dead, though the festival is associated with the dead. In the Mediaeval times the fear of
the dead, and of the old religion, was taught to the populace in order to integrate
Christianity more completely. Indeed, most of the things we typically associate with
Halloween (vampires, devils, etc.) come from this period and not Celtic myth.
"The Ogham Alphabet was used by Druids for divination": Virtually all the
Ogham inscriptions that exist are burial monuments, property divisions, or landmarks.
The University of Cork has an excellent collection of them. It's not enough evidence to
claim that Ogham was used as an oracular tool by Druids, however, many modern Druids
do use ogham effectively for that purpose. Historians cannot be certain because any
Ogham inscriptions carved on wood have rotted away long ago; only stones remain. Each
letter in the Ogham alphabet was also the name of a tree, which may have had a mystical
meaning associated with each tree. (see also Ogham )
"The Druids were celibate": Actually Druids were encouraged to marry and raise
families. The Irish seer Cathbhad was the father of Conchobar Mac Nessa, for example.
(see Women) This misconception is another attempt to christianize the early Druids.

11. WHAT ARE THE SYMBOLS OF DRUIDISM?

Druidism probably did not have one universal symbol to represent itself, since it was
differentiated between seven different Celtic nations, and divided further into many tribes
within these nations. Some of the most commonly used symbols are:
The Triskele: a rounded spiral with three arms radiating from a central point, turning
counter-clockwise. It stands for any one of hundreds of Triads in Celtic literature, but
typically is understood as standing for the land, sea, and sky, which composed the
foundation of the Celtic cosmology.
The Spiral: Neo-lithic monuments typically have spiral patterns carved into the
stones. Being pre-celtic, we have no clear idea what the Spiral meant to the people who
carved them, although it is reasonable to believe they stood for the cycles of seasons, of
day and night, and of life and death. If one stands facing south, the sun appears to trace a
clockwise spiral (deosil) as it rises in the east and sets in the west; also, the stars turn in a
counter-clockwise (tuathail) as they rotate around Polaris, the pole star. It is possible that
spirals carved on to pre-celtic monuments such as Newgrange represent these
astronomical movements.
The Awen: Three upright bars, with the tops of the outer two bars leaning toward the
top of the center bar. Its first appearance in Druidism appears to be in the Bardass, but its
use by modern Druids is widespread. Sometimes the Awen is draw with three stars above
it, and the whole enclosed in three circles. The word "Awen" is Welsh for "inspiration".
The Circle: As with many indo-european sun symbols, the Circle is the simple
geometric shape we all know and love. It makes up the pagan part of the Celtic Cross.
Circles are also the shape that many megalithic monuments are constructed in, which is
why we call them "stone circles" and "round barrows". The circle is a natural shape for
religious symbols across the world, for it is the shape of the sun, the moon, the horizon,
the bird's nest, and the human eye.
The Celtic Cross: A Christian Cross with a circle surrounding the middle point where
the vertical and horizontal lines of the Cross intersect. It is the essential symbol of Celtic
Christianity, and is commonly used as monuments, grave markers, and landmarks
indicating holy sites. The largest Celtic Crosses are carved from stone blocks and stand at
monastaries, such as at Iona and Aberlemno. (see Christianity)
The Druid Sigil: A circle intersected by two vertical lines. In Stuart Piggot's book
"The Druids", there is a photo of a Romano-British building, possibly a temple, located at
Black Holmes, Thistleton, Leicestershire (England) in which this symbol forms the
foundation; other than that, this author knows of no ancient origin for this symbol. The
Henge of Keltria, a large Druid organisation in the United States, uses this symbol for
itself.
 The God with the Horns: An image of a male God with horns on his head, usually
stag antlers but sometimes small bull horns. Though this symbol probably represents the
God in the image and not Druidism as a whole, it is used quite commonly by modern
pagans. The stag antlers represent tree branches, and thus stand for fertility; the bull horns
stand for power-- in a culture where the measure of one's economic affluence was the size
of one's cattle herds, bull horns clearly symbolises power. Goat horns were not used, nor
introduced into Horned God images until the Christian period, and at this time the
probably stood for subservience, domesticity, and also sin & evil (hence "Scapegoat").
The Crescent Moon: A symbol probably introduced into Druidism by the Romantics,
it stands for the divine Feminine principle of fertility, corresponding by opposition to the
God with the Horns.
The Tree: A primary symbol of Druidism, however, each species of tree known to the
Druids had a meaning of its own. There probably was no one symbolic meaning applied
to all trees. Trees are important because they are bridges between the realms of Land and
Sky,they communicate Water between these realms; the Irish God Bile is said to make
this possible. The Realms of Land, Sea and Sky unite within a tree, as also at a seashore
for example; great power could manifest there, and such places were best for poetic
composition or spellcasting.
The Head: Heads definitely had mystical significance. To the Celts, it was the seat of
the soul. Mythologies report many heroes beheading their enemies to ensure they stay
dead (not an unreasonable precaution in this time period) and numerous excavations of
Celtic buildings have niche holes carved to hold human heads.
Long White Beards: Romantic period depictions of Druids in art and in caricature
typically showed them with long white beards, long white hair, and long white robes.
Your author thinks they look ridiculous.

12. FOUR ELEMENTS, FOUR DIRECTIONS; ISN'T THAT CELTIC?

Ancient celtic cosmology does not use nor require elabourate correspondances of
numbers, directions, elements, colours, and the like as is found in conventional occultism.
Romantic Druidism does tend to make use of such correspondances. Among the few
numbers the Druids did use, Three was usually more significant, for Celtic cosmology
tended to organise the world in triads, and not even numbers or mutually-opposite
dualities. It is three Goddesses whom the first mortal settlers of Ireland encounter, three
Realms that comprise the physical world, three spirals that make the arms of the triskele.
To the Celts, two and four are not balanced numbers because they do not have anything
in the middle, as do the numbers three and five!

The Druid's elements may have been eight or nine in number, of environmental rather
than abstract nature, (such as clouds, stars, oceans, and so forth. The gaelic word for
element is Duile (pronounced DOOL-yuh). The Four Element cosology comes from
certain pre-socratic philosophers, including Pythagoras, (father of western occult
numerology, among other things) and Anaxagoras, and adventurous Greeks and Romans
may have compared this thought with the Celtic metaphysics they encountered. It is
known, however, that Pythagoras was aware of Druidic thought, and may have travelled
to the Celtic nations. Rather than four elements the Druids may have used three Realms,
being the Land, the Sea, and the Sky, for it is on these Realms that the ancient Celts used
to make oaths.

The pillars of the modern Druidic symbol called the awen, /|\ stand for truth, knowledge,
and justice; the triskele (which looks something like a spiral with three arms) also
demonstrates the significance of the number 3, and may stand for any triad though
usually understood to stand for the realms of Earth, Sea, and Sky. (see Symbols)

Celtic mysticism also includes at least one case of spiritual dualism, and it is the coupling
of fire and water. These are the opposing forces out of which are born the three realms,
and all life. But as both fire and water have constructive and destructive qualities, it
would be wrong to say that the fire and water represent good and evil, male or female, or
some other pair of human qualities. They simply are two different kinds of divine force.

There is a strong case to be made that the Druids made use of four directions. The well of
healing constructed by the Irish god Diancecht, to aid the gods in their battle against the
Fomorians, required four operators (himself and his three children) and it is reasonable to
presume that they stood in the four cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west,
with the well in the middle. Ireland itself is divided into four territories, called provinces:
Ulster in the north, Lenster in the east, Munster in the south, and Connaught in the west,
but in ancient times there was a fifth province in the center, called Meath, and it is in this
province that the hill of Tara, seat of the high kings, was located. Many european ritual
sanctuaries, such as Gournay-sur-Aronde in northern France (ancient Gaul), are
constructed with solar and astronomical alignments that correspond to the same four
cardinal directions, anchored by votive offering pits in the center. So it would seem that
the ritual "center" "middle" or "between" place is central to old Druid magic, no matter
what other number symbolism is being employed.

#13. WHAT RITUAL IMPLEMENTS DID THE DRUIDS USE?

Curved blade; sickle or scyth Pliny, a Roman historian, recorded a Druid ritual in
which mistletoe was cut from an oak tree by a Druid in white robes, using a gold sickle.
The mistletoe was to be caught in wicker baskets and not allowed to touch the ground.
One must not assume (as apparently Pliny did) that all Druid rituals involve the use of
mistletoe, scythes, and white robes; and what is more, gold is too soft a metal to be used
as a cutting tool. In modern Druidism the curved blade has entered common use as a
cutting implement, for harvesting particular plants and herbs at particular times of the
year. Its cutting action in ritual is not so much one of taking down, but of releasing and
freeing, as in "to cut free"; the energy freed by the cut plant is sent on to the Gods or
blessed upon the assembly. Its shape is also reminiscent of the crescent moon.
Druid Rod Some legends show Druids using wands, staves, and rods to direct their
energy when working magic, usually when cursing or shape changing. It was made from
hazel and had to touch the thing that it was directed at.
Bell Branch This was traditionally a silver tree branch with gold bells attached to it.
The sound of the bells is pleasing to the Gods and attracts their attention, while at the
same time it is offensive to the ears of malevolent spirits who are thereby driven away.
Many stories of heroic adventures begin with a goddess inviting the hero into her
Otherworldly realm by giving him a branch of silver with bells, apple blossoms, or fruit
growing on it. It is no wonder that the faerie host have silver bells on the harnesses of
their horses! Modern Druids use the Bell Branch to make calls to spirits and deities, and
to purify a person on a spiritual level, to announce the beginning and the ending of a
ceremony.
Crane Bag The only mythological reference to this ritual object that this
author knows of is the Crane bag that belonged to Cumhall, father of Fionn Mac
Cumhall, which Fionn had to recover when it was stolen. It contained many
treasures from such deities as Manannan and Giobhniu, and would be full at high
tide and empty at low tide. Its function appears to be similar to that filled by the medicine
bundle of native north americans. The poet W.B.Yeats mentions a "bag of dreams" in his
poem "Fergus and the Druid".
Cauldron Two prominent Celtic deities have magical cauldrons, the Irish Dagda and
the Welsh Cerridwen, both of these cauldrons posess the property of granting wisdom to
any who drink from it. Archaeologists have uncovered several cauldrons and buckets that
may have had ritual uses; this conclusion is based on how they are decorated. Modern
Druids use cauldrons to make or distribute offerings.
Druid Egg The Druid's Egg was described mythologically as a small object formed
from the dried spittle of serpents, and possessing magical healing qualities. Pliny (a
Roman historian) said he was shown one of these by a Druid from Gaul, who told him it
was called an "anguinum". Existence of eggs in Druidic mysticism causes some scholars
(and new-age fiction authors) to believe that the Druid's creation-myth was the same as
the Sumerian creation story, in which the world was hatched from a divine primordial
egg. It is not a widespread tool in modern Druidism, although it is used by some as a
ritual implement for "grounding", or, drawing unhealthy energy from a patient into the
egg where it is supposed to be incubated and transformed ("hatched") into positive
energy.
Animal and plant remains There is no doubt that ancient Druids used animal and
plant remains for decorative, medicinal, and religious purposes. One ritual called the Tarb
Feis requires the Druid to sleep under the skin of a freshly killed bull, so that the spirit of
the bull can send prophetic dreams to the sleeper. Some Druids used colourful bird
feathers in their cloaks to denote their rank. On continental europe, Druids used mistletoe
for its magical healing quality (ironic since mistletoe is poisonous!). The use of sacred
plants in old european paganism was so strong that the Catholic Church forbad the
presence of mistletoe and holly in its churches.
Musical instruments Musical instruments are, of course, constructed entirely from
animal and plant remains. The myths make frequent reference to harps in particular, and
the celts may also have used drums, but with reference to old Celtic religion, these tools
are in the domain of the Bard rather than the Druid. But just like the Bards themselves,
musical instruments were certainly a part of public Druid ceremonies.
Stones A ring of stones in the ground was the most probable "temple", or place where
religious ceremonies took place. Many stone circles are named for Druids, such as
Drombeg Circle in West Cork, Ireland, which is also known as the Druid's Altar. It is
difficult to speculate if the ancient Druids attributed particular qualities to particular
"species" or rock or crystal, but many modern Druids employ the correspondances of
modern occultism and witchcraft to good ends. Stones could channel, store, and direct
earth-energy, and thus were used for markers, set in circles, and libations were poured
over them in sacrifice.
Druidism Guide Page Three: Lore

14. WHAT GODS DID THE DRUIDS WORSHIP?

The Celtic people believed in a variety of gods and goddesses, although not every Celtic
nation believed in the same group. Ireland had different gods than Wales, who had further
different gods than Gaul. Another point to consider is not only were gods known by
different names, but many of the names were deemed too holy to pronounce aloud. (thus
the common oath: "I swear by the god my tribe swears by".)

It is important to remember that in the pre-christian times, the people believed in complex
and imperfect gods who, like human beings, had personalities, interests, and feelings. A
religious professional would be required to know these things in order to avoid angering
them, thereby risking the welfare of the tribe. Because the Gods are similar to humans in
disposition and tempermant, they are so much more accessible and comprehensible to
humans. The idea that the gods might be makers of mor ality and judges of humanity is a
foregn idea to most ancient european peoples.

The Tuatha de Danann (Tribe of the Goddess Danu) was the name of the Irish pantheon,
for the Gods were descended from Her. Ironically, Danu herself never makes a personal
appearance in the myths, but perhaps she is already everywhere, like the land. Certainly,
some European rivers are named after her like the Danube and Dneiper, and the Don river
in Toronto, Canada. Stories of the Gods are found primarily in the story of the
two Battles of Mag Tuireadh (or Moytura), where they won the soverenty of
Ireland from the race of Fomorians. With the introduction of Christianity, the old
Gods lost status and power and became the Sidhe, or faeries, and many Druidic
ideas evolved into the Faerie Faith. (see Faerie Faith).

This is a brief list, offering only a brief description of the Gods. In the bibliography for
this page there are many titles that can provide better descriptions of more deities.

Lugh Lamh-fada (Long Handed), Son of the Sun, father of Cu/Chullain. He is

known by many names, such as Lleu in Wales, and Lugos in Gaul, and appears to be one
of the few pan-Celtic deities. He bears the epit het "Samildanach", or "Master of Crafts"
and on account of this Dagda stands down and allows him to command the armies of the
Gods at the battle of Moytura. He is more commonly known as "Lamhfada", or "God
with the Large Hand", and as such has numerous counterparts in other Indo-European
cultures, including the Hindu culture.
Dagda the Good (good not because of his moral disposition but because of the
diversity of his skills) He is King of the Tuatha de Dannans, most of the time, and is
father to many of the Gods. He possesses a magical club that can heal the dead or slay the
living, and also posesses a cauldron that can feed unlimited numbers of people.
Nuada Argat-lamh (Silver Hand) twice king of the Dannans. Nuada lost his hand in
the Battle of Moytura, and had it replaced with a mechanical hand by Dian Cecht. He has
a counterpart in the Norse God Tyr, who is also missing a hand, though for a different
reason.
Morrigu, Babd, and Nemhain (a triple goddess of War, and also connected to
sovereignty) A powerful Goddess. Morrigan is responsible for choosing who will die in
battle. To the Iron-Age Celts, this means she chooses who will pass into the Otherworld.
One of her more grisly omens is the Washer at the Ford, where she appears as a maiden
wringing blood from the clothes of the hero who is destined to die that day. Her sisters
are named Babd, "Frenzy", and Nemain, "Eater of the dead".
Brigid (a triple Goddess of Fire, Poetry, and the Forge). She is christianized as Saint
Bridget. Perpetual fires were kept blazing for Her and never allowed to go out. Brigit's
Crosses (a cross with three or four arms, woven from reeds) were hung over the hearth of
the home, and Her blessing invoked in the preparation of forged items, food, and other
commodities requiring fire. She is also a fertility deity, as she assists in childbirth of
animals and of people; her Christian symbolism casts her as the midwife of Christ. The
festival of Imbolc is sacred t o her, and the folk would often leave bits of cloth outside
their back door for her to touch and bless as she travelled abroad through the night.
Diancecht, god of healing. His name translates roughly as Dia- "God", and Cecht- "of
the plough". He crafted a magical well which would ressurect to life anyone thrown into
it, although the Fomorians filled it with stones. His children were great healers in their
own right; Miach, his son was a better surgeon (a slight for which Diancecht killed him)
and his daughter Airmud was a master herbalist.
Manannan mac Lir, God of the sea and master of magic. His name survives in the
Isle of Man. Manannan is also a pan-Celtic deity, at least among the British Isles. In His
realm, the Sea, are found the many magical islands that populate the Celtic Otherworld.
The Sea is the Sky to him. In this way his concern is not merely the sea but also of the
passages to the Otherworld, of which he is the guardian. His many titles include "Lord of
Mists", "Lord of the Land of Women", "Lord of the Land Beneath the Waves". In the
Christian period, worship of Manannan was probably transferred to Saint Micheal.

Welsh mythology tends to focus on the actions of heroes, and their interaction with gods.
The primary source is the Mabinogion, a compendium of legends from Wales' mythic
time. Some scholars thin k the Mabinogion more accuratly describes medaeval Wales
rather than Iron-Age Wales; nevertheless it is a valuable source for Welsh-Celtic
mysticism. Your author would like to admit that since he specialises in Irish and Scottish
folklore his grasp of Welsh deities is weak.

Arawn, lord of the Annwyn (the Otherworld).

Math ap Mathonwy, the quintessential wizard. Math requires a virgin to rest his feet
upon, apparently to prevent him from contacting the Earth and thereby losing his power.
Pwyll, lord of the kingdom of Davyd, and husband of Rhiannon.
Arianhrod: She is the Goddess of Caer Arianhrod, which is sometimes identified
with the constellation Coronea Borealis ("Northern Crown"), which is where the souls of
slain heroes go. Her name means "Silver Wheel", which may also refer to the
constellation, or to the Wheel of the Year that is celebrated at each of the Fire Festivals.
Rhiannon, (wife of Pwyll) Goddess associated with horses and the Underworld. She
is the great Goddess with whom Pwyll is joined as a sacred king.
 Cerridwen, mother of the poet Taliesson (and perhaps therefore a patroness of poets).
She possesses a cauldron in which a magical wisdom-granting brew can be concocted.
Lyr, god of the sea
Manawyddan, the Welsh counterpart to the Irish Manannan.

Gaulish deities are the focus of Caesar's records. He drew analogies between six of his
own Roman gods and those he "discovered" in Gaul. The archeological record in Gaul
reveals 374 god-names, many of which were gods of individual tribes or locales, or the
many names used to describe the same deity.

Lugh (Roman= Mercury)

Belinus (Roman= Apollo)
Taranis (Roman= Mars) a thunder god
Teutatis (Roman= Jupiter)
Brigid (Roman= Minerva)
Cernunnos (Roman= Dispater) the Animal Lord or Green Man, and probably the God
depicted on a panel of the Gnudstrup Cauldron. (see Symbols)
Esus, Hu'Hesu, the perpetually Dying God
Epona, the Horse Goddess, with attributes of fertility for mares and women.

Also of note is the deity Herne the Hunter, a Saxon god popularly revered in the
Mediaeval times and likely evolved from the worship of Cernunnos. Like Cernunnos,
Herne is a male hunter-god, making his home in deep forests, having stag antlers on his
head, and also associated with animals and with fertility. His image is likely the origin of
the Horned God (see Symbols and Wicca ) worshipped by modern Wiccans. Cernunnos
(and Herne) have a Hindu counterpart in Shiva, who is depicted surrounded by animals
and named Pasupati, "Lord of Animals", in a rare excavation discovered in Mohenjodaro,
India.

Not all Druids worship the gods by name. There is some (albeit historically unreliable)
evidence that the Druids of old believed in a kind of universal Life Force, flowing
from a central place (such as the Irish Well of Wisdom or the Welsh Spiral of
Annwyn), to and from all living things. Such a force would presumably be
superior to even the gods. Perhaps the best modern description is Obi-Wan's
description of "The Force", from the famous Star Wars films by George Lucas. If this
force has a name in Celtic literature, that name is Truth. A number of heroes use a
declaration of Truth to work some magical change in the world, and some magical
artefacts respond to the Truth around them. One classic example is Cormac's Cup, which
would shatter into three pieces of three lying words are told near it, and mend itself if
three true words were told.

15. WHAT ARE THE DRUIDS' HOLY DAYS?

There was a series of fire-festivals, occurring at approximately 12-week intervals, and

spaced between the seasonal festivals of solstices and equinox (thus, a festival roughly
every six weeks.) These fire-festivals would last three days, beginning at sunset on the
first day, and would be the best time for sacrifices and divinations. They are:
Samhain (1st November: pronounced SOW-win) The word literally means "end of
summer". Traditionally, it is the Feast of the Dead, and beginning of the new year. Death
came before Birth in the Druidic cycle of life, because before new growth can occur,
there must be room for it. On this day it was thought that the boundary between this
world and the Otherworld is weakest, and so passage between the worlds is smoother,
and as they might be listening a little closer it is a time to remember and respect all those
who died during the year. Games, feasts, and bonfires were held in honour of the dead,
and often the Faeries would hold revels of their own, and invite mortals to join them. At
Samhain, every fire in Ireland was extinguished and re-kindled from the "need fires" that
were lit at the ritual centers of Uisneach and Tara, distributed by runners with torches.
Imbolc (1st February: pronounced IM-volk) The Return of Light. The ewes begin
lactating around this time of year, and it is a sign that winter is coming to an end. In the
British Isles spring flowers are already blooming at this time of year. Perhaps divinations
were cast to determine when spring would come (from this practice we might have got
Groundhog Day.) Imbolc celebrates the coming springtime and preparations for the
planting season are begun. In Anglo-Saxon and Wiccan culture, Imbolc is sometimes
called Candlemas. Imbolc was sacred to the Goddess Brigid, and the rituals on this day
tended to center upon the home and hearth.
Beltaine (1st May: pronounced BEL-tain-yuh) The Fires of Bel. Spring has arrived,
and the people give thanks. This was a day of fertility and life, often the choice day for
marriages. This is the beginning of the summer half of the year, and the mid point of the
seasonal cycle. Fairs, dances, and divination games to determine the identity of future
marriage partners were held at this time of year, and often there would be a minor baby
boom nine months later...
Lughnasad (1st August: pronounced LOO-na-shav) The Feast of Lugh. The essential
harvest festival, to give thanks to the Earth for Her bounty. The name is a reference to the
Irish god Lugh of the Long Hand, son of the Sun, who defeated Balor in the Battle of
Magh Tureadh and won the knowledge of animal husbandry for His people on this day.
Lugh is said to have instituted funeral games for his foster-mother Taltiu who died in the
battle against Balor; accordingly, Lughnasad festivals in celtic times were characterised
by atheletic competitions. In Anglo -Saxon and Wiccan culture, this festival is called
Lammas, or "loaf-mass", as it celebrates the end of last year's harvest and the beginning
of the current harvest.

I understand that Australians, and other residents of countries in the southern hemisphere
who celebrate these festivals, do it in reverse order, because these dates are for northern-
hemisphere seasons. It would make sense for them to celebrate Beltaine on 1st
November, for example.

In Wales, there was an annual festival called the Eisteddfod, which was a bardic musical
and poetry competition. It still exists, alternating between North and South Wales. It is
against the rules of the modern Eisteddfod to speak any language but Welsh on the
performance stages!
During these ancient festivals, great bonfires were built on hilltops and kept burning
throughout the whole of the fire festivals. By day, there would be carnival-like
celebrations, and by night, serious rituals. Cattle were driven between bonfires to purify
them, and couples would run and leap over the flames, often completely naked, also for
purification (and it was fun!) Some sites were centers for the "perpetual chant", where
Druids in rotation would chant incantations without stop; during festivals the entire
community would join the chant.

Astronomical celebrations (the solstices and equinox) have only passing reference in the
source literature (that is, the myths, Caesar, etc.), and so would appear to have less
importance in the Celtic cosmology, but astronomical alignments are found everywhere
in the archaeology, particularly in the archaeology of the neolithic pre-Celtic culture.
There are hundreds of stone circles, round barrows, menhirs, etc. with solar, lunar, and
stellar alignments.

16. WHAT IS OGHAM?

Ogham is the Goidelic Celtic alphabet. It has twenty letters, grouped into four "aicme" of
five letters each. A fifth Aicme was invented later to account for sounds in latin that do
not occur in Gaelic. On the archeological artifacts where Ogham has been found, which
are mostly in Scotland and Ireland, the letters appear as horizontal strokes and slashes
across a vertical base line, which is typically the corner edge of an upright standing stone.
They are read from the bottom up. They do not appear as the arabic characters we use in
modern Indo-european languages, such as english. Ogham is often used as an oracular
divination tool, in much the same way that Norse runes are employed.
Letter Name Tree
First Aicme
B Beth (BETH) Birch
L Luis (LWEESH) Rowan
F Fearn (FAIR-n) Alder
Saille (SHAL-
S Willow
yuh)
Nionn (NEE-
N Ash
uhn)
Second
Aicme
Huath (HOO-
H Hawthorn
ah)
D Duir (DOO-r) Oak
Tinne (CHIN-
T Holly
yuh)
C Coll (CULL) Hazel
 Quert
Q Apple
(KWAIRT)
Third
Aicme
M Muin (MUHN) vine
G Gort (GORT) Ivy
Ngetal (NYEH-
Ng Reed
tl)
Straiff
St Blackthorn
(STRAHF)
Ruis
R Elder
(RWEESH)
Fourth
Aicme
A Ailm (AHL-m) Silver Fir
Furze, or
O Onn (UHN)
Gorse
U Ura (OO-rah) Heather
E Eadha (EH-yuh) Poplar
I Idho (EE-yoh) Yew

17. WHAT IS A GEAS?

The Geas (pronounced "GESH"; plural Geasa) is a kind of magical obligation,

prohibition, or taboo that a person may posess. It is usually imposed on magical people
such as sacred kings, Druids, and great heroes. As it is the sacred king's duty to maintain
the peace and prosperity of society, and as he is married to the local land Goddess, his life
is surrounded and infused with magic. The geas upon him are there to help him avoid
unbalancing that magic. Great heroes could also be bound by geasa, and so long as the
hero observes his geasa he will be successful and victorious.

There are several ways to recieve a Geas. A parent can grant one to her children at birth, a
king or Druid can impose one upon a criminal as a punishment, or a Druid can determine
by oracular means what Geasa a person already has. In heroic mythology there is a trend
in which male heroes recieve their Geas from women, as in the cases of Cu Chullain and
Diarmaid ua Duibhne. A hero may lose a gamble of cards or a chess game to a hag, and
she imposes a geas upon him as her reward for winning; typically a geas of that kind is a
requirement to perform some impossible task.

The risk of breaking Geas is great. To break a geas is to act contrary to the forces of
nature, and the result is the death of the person, or some other great social catastrophe.
Knowing this, many heroes met their end when their enemies discovered the heroes' geas
and plotted a situation in which it was impossible to avoid breaking them. For example,
Cu Chullain was under a geas not to eat the meat of dogs, and also to always sample food
being prepared at a roadside. On the day he was killed in battle, he stopped to sample
some food according to his geas but it was dog meat, and so he could not avoid breaking
one or the other geasa.

Each geasa is unique and appropriate to each person. Cu Chullain's prohibition against
eating dog meat is related to his name, "the Hound of Cullain", so it would seem that for
him to eat dog meat would be a kind of cannibalism. This personal and intimate aspect is
why the geas is so serious to those who posess them, and why they are usually kept
secret.
Druidism Guide Page Four: Spirit

18. WHAT DID THE ANCIENT DRUIDS BELIEVE?

A complete and full answer to this question is beyond the scope of this web site, for it is
not a thing easily summarised in a few lines or in a television sound-byte. Your humble
author has been attempting to decipher this problem for over ten years. Perhaps an outline
of some of the important points will suffice.

An Irish triad reads: "Three candles that illuminate every darkness: Knowledge,
Nature, Truth". This is one of hundreds of Triads that impart wisdom for many aspects
of life, both spiritual and mundane, but this one is the author's first best choice for a
simple description of the highest Good in Druidism.

The Triad is a convention of celtic poetry, and as it is through poetry that much Druidic
wisdom is communicated, it is well to examine the poems that the Old Celts used to
make. Even as the Christian scribes were recording the oral literature of the
people, the magic poetry of the Druids was so inseperable from the narrative that
many fragments have survived the translation. In Ireland and Scotland a Druid's
most potent ritual tool was her voice, when she wanted to work some change in
the world, and to do so she would set herself in the proper trance-like frame of mind
through which her chanted, spontaneous words would flow. (see Implements) Wisdom
becomes a kind of knowledge above ordinary knowledge (like facts), a form of total-
awareness, or even a state of mind. Archeological evidence of "beehive" huts, secluded
mountain shelters, etc. suggest the Druids used them to achieve higher states of
consciousness in pursuit of this inspiration.

This poetic tradition in Druidism is related to the oral-transmission method the Celts used
to trace their lineage and history. Written records were distrusted for the most part, and
though a runic writing system called Ogham did exist, (see Ogham) it wasn't used for
much beyond burial monuments, property divisions, and landmarks. To write things
down is to weaken the power of edidic memory, which the Druids cultivated carefully,
and to dishonour the thing written down. Druids in training had to learn all the Bardic
poetry, in a manner we would call sensory deprivation. Poetic inspiration was an
important spiritual practice, which the Welsh have focused on in their Eisteddfod. In Irish
myth there was a deity of poetry (Brigid), and a particular style of poetry, called
Roscanna, which has as its purpose the construction of magical incantations.

Perhaps one could say, Druidism is a religion of poetry.

The Druids taught of the omnipresence of a spiritual Otherworld, that is sometimes

accessible to us, and particularly close at certain times of the year, like at Samhain. There
is a great sense of connection and continuity between life and death, such that the ancient
Celts did not fear death, but instead viewed it as a transition phase in the course of a long,
even eternal, life. There is also no division between an Underworld and an Upperworld
(although, in Welsh Druidism, perhaps a case can be made for Annwn as an Underworld
and Caer Arianrhod as an upperworld). Thus, the entities which live in the Otherworld
have no moral bias; they are neither good nor evil, like ourselves, but what is spiritual
about them is that they exist.

Reincarnation, or Rebirth in an otherworldly afterlife much the same as this one, was
probably their view of human destiny after death. A strong case for the latter is the Celtic
economic convention of holding one's debts off until payment in the afterlife. (this old
Celtic tradition has not survived to this day!) However there is no indication that the
Druids believed in Karma, as the Hindu people did. So strong was the Druidic doctrine of
the immortality of the soul, that Celtic warriors would enter battle and fight without fear
of death, a phenomenon that puzzled not only Roman historians but also Roman millitary
strategists.

The Druidic beliefs regarding deities is also a complicated problem. The feature that all
Gods share, which makes them distinct from mortals, is that they are descended from a
particular divine ancestor. In the case of the Irish, that ancestor deity is the Goddess
Danu, and so the pantheon of Irish Gods are called Tuatha de Dannann, meaning "Tribe
of Danu". The Celtic Gods are inseperable from the environment in which they live, so
much that it is difficult to categorise them neatly into areas of particular concern (that is
to say, it is difficult to say what each deity is "god of"). As the Druids looked upon nature
and saw it populated with spirits, godesses, and gods, it is safe to speculate that they
regarded nature as sacred and divine.

Fire-worship is central to Celtic religion as well, as it certainly played a role in the four
annual Fire Festivals. The centrality of fire is another point at which Celtic and Hindu
religions correlate. Fire is a spiritual force unto itself, and it is not bound into a
cosmology of four equally necessary elements, as the Greeks are known to have done.
(see Elements) Fire posesses the magical properties of both destructiveness and
cleansing, bringing heat and energy and with it civilisation. It is a spiritual principle,
because it is always reaching up to the sky. This may be why they built those hilltop fires.
Poetic inspiration is said to be a fire in the head, so Brigid is a fire-deity as well. The
ritual "need fire" (see Holy Days) demonstrates the high spiritual regard the Celts had for
fire, which was their main source of energy in a time without electricity, and without
matches!

Druidic mythology points to knowledge as the key to self awareness,

symbolised by certain mythological holy-places of great importance that
are associated with wisdom, such as the the Well of Wisdom
(auspiciously located at the center of the world), the Spiral of Annwyn,
and the Cauldron of Cerridwen. Mythic places are inaccessible but also
not inaccessible, for it requires a leap of faith to find them; the Well of
Wisdom is at the bottom of the ocean, but to Sea Gods like Manannan,
who are capable of that magical leap, the ocean is as the sky. That leap of
faith is often found in the moment of poetic inspiration.
The Druidic pursuit of knowledge and inspiration is more than a occult or esoteric
exercise in wierdness. As Druids were also required to be the professionals of their
society, the skills they had were meant for the benefit of the tribe each Druid worked for.
A Druid was expected to use her divination skills and her sight of otherworldly things for
many essential and pragmatic purposes, such as: advising the tribe chiefs as they make
policy, settling disputes and legal claims, and announcing the beginning of agricultural
seasons such as planting, harvesting, and hunting. Druids were involved in stage-of-life
rituals such as childbirth, maturity, marriage, and death. In times of war a Druids skills
were needed to learn about the enemy's movements and plans, and also to call elemental
powers to the aid of the tribe; alternately, the Druids could put an end to an unjust war (a
power for which there is a great deal of evidence). A Druid's skills belonged to her tribe
and not to herself alone. In this way the Druid was an inseperable part of a Celtic tribe's
life and necessary for the tribe's continued survival and welfare. In these days of
mechanised farming, atomic-clock timekeeping, and satellite weather forcasting, it is
difficult to grasp how the mysterious religion of the Druids, and of other ancient
priesthoods, was not merely abstract, intellectual, and theoretical.

The moral and ethical position of Druidism is also difficult to describe. It is the
opinion of this author that the foundation of Druidism is not in its ethical
positions. But this does not mean Druidism is a religion in which anything goes!
By understanding the things that ancient Druids held to be sacred, one can
understand the moral obligations Druids had. There is some textual reference to old celtic
morality in the myths, such as the instructions of great heroes and kings to their students;
Cu Chullain, Fionn Mac Cumhall, Cormac Mac Art, and others gave "advices" to their
juniors that survive to this day. They are characterised by a great interest in justice,
honour, and fair play, and emphasise that each person is responsible for her own conduct,
not determinist forces like fate or the will of gods. The Fianna hero Oisin gives us this
famous statement of Celtic ethics which I shall arbitrarily name Oisin's Answer, because
it is how he answered St. Patrick's question of what kept the Fianna together: "It is what
sustained us though our days, the truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our
arms, and fulfillment in our tongues."

19. WERE THE DRUIDS SHAMANS?

This is an extremely hot topic of debate, mostly because Celtic matters and Shamanistic
matters are very popular right now, and a synthesis of the two has been sought by many
fiction authors and some scholars. Druidism does bear very similar features to
shamanism, particularly in some of the magical feats that Druids were said to have
performed. It is this author's opinion that a more meaningful question is whether Druids
were similar to shamans (and the answer to that is probably yes) because the Druids did
evolve from an Indo-European culture that had shamanism. But they were also something
more. To answer the question, I shall defer to two people who know more about it than I
do, whom I believe represent the two sides of the problem.

From: Erynn Laurie

quoted with permission. Her position: No, Druids were not shamen.
The Celts had some very specific words for their religious functionariesand their
visionaries. "Shaman" was not one of those words. Is there something wrong with the
terms that our ancestors used, so that we must go off and find new words with which to
label our seers and priests and poets? Druids are firmly a part of the noble social order
and ruling class, rather than being at the fringes of society. Poets more often lived at the
fringes, as shamans do. Druids could and did bar people from participation in community
sacrifices and rites. I don't believe that this was a part of shamanic practice.

Formal training for many years in schools of druids or poets does not seem to be a part of
the shamanic framework, although I could be wrong about this. Shamanism usually is
taught either under a single master with one or a very few students, or by the spirits
themselves. Druids and poets are described as gathering in considerable numbers in
"colleges" for the purpose of instruction in many subjects, particularly in the cities of
Gaul.

Druids and fili were considered very well-trained formal speakers by the Romans, who
sometimes sent their young sons to be trained in oratory by Gaulish druids. The Greeks
and Romans thought of the druids as being Pythagorean natural philosophers, with a firm
and delicate grasp of mathematics. I do not believe that the Altaic shamans are known for
their command of mathematics, nor do I believe that they have an understanding of the
metonic cycle of the sun and moon. The Gaulish druids had a very complex calendar
which is preserved in the Coligny fragments. I have never seen any reference to shamans
having calendars of this complexity. I could simply be missing something here.

Many Celtic "otherworld journey" tales are about people who have gone there
unwillingly and without any control over the experience. The shaman is a master of
control, and always decides when and where sh/e will or will not go into the otherworlds.
Shamans can't be stolen away against their own will.

Celtic societies were literate societies. Although the druids were said not to write down
important things, they were able and willing to keep other records in writing, using Greek
for many purposes. Patrick was said to have burned "hundreds of druidic books" during
his conversion of Ireland. Druids and poets are described as writing down tales and
poems on staves. None of the shamanic societies that I know of were literate. Many still
do not have written languages. This is not to say that all pre-literate societies are therefore
shamanic societies.

In shamanism, there is a common theme of ascending to the upper worlds or sky realms,
while I know of no extant Celtic tales about anyone ascending into the upper worlds to
confront Gods or spirits. Yes, Gods arrive from there, but what humans go there? "Spirit
flight" through the middle realms to spy on one's enemies or flit through the tops of trees
in the forest isn't quite the same thing. I know of only one tale that could be taken as a
tale of a shamanic crisis and illness (the Sickbed of Cu/ Chulainn), but Cu/ sends his
charioteer into the Si/dhe realm to check it out for him before he goes there himself. The
shaman in crisis cures himself. Cu/ was cured by the same fairy women who beat him in
the first place.
While we have a number of shamanic elements appearing in Celtic mythology, we don't
usually have more than two or three themes appearing in the same tale. It's my
understanding that a majority of the themes need to appear in the same person for them to
be seen as a shaman. This may be my own prejudice in the matter. And again, it is
entirely possible to have a spirit animal guardian, to have visions, and to make voyages
into otherworlds without being a shaman. It happens in many tribal societies all the time.
Sleeping in a cave, eating berries and salmon and wearing fur doesn't make a person a
bear either.

From Searles O'Dubhain, quoted with permission. His position: Yes, Druids were
shamen.
The Druidh were masters of fire. It was they that created the ritual fires. It was they that
attended the sacred flames of the Gods. They even had their own special "Druid fires"
with which they fought battles. Many Druids could "magically fly". The Dr uids
Ciothruadh and Mogh Ruith flew into the clouds to fight a Shamanic battle. To perform
this "Magical flight" they donned feathered bird head pieces and bull hides and ascended
the heat, flames and smoke of their own Magical Druid fires. Mogh Ruith was physically
blind, yet he ascended into the clouds to "see" the enemy. This "seeing" implies using the
"third eye" and leaving the body. The ceremony of the Tarb Feis is very similar to a
shamanic journey. The Druid would lie beneath the hide of a sa crificial bull and "dream"
a prophetic dream. Four other Druids would station themselves at the four "quarters" and
engage in Magical chanting.

Druids frequently lay or slept upon graves to communicate with and/or to invoke the
spirits of the dead. "How the Tain was Recovered" is only one example of this technique.

Druids did not "channel" their gods or speak with the voices of Entities as modern-day
"channelers" and Wiccans do. [as in the Wiccan rite of "Drawing down the Moon" --
Cath] Druids went to their gods during "amruns", periods of Magical chanting where th
ey conversed with and learned from the gods. These amruns were periods of *ecstasy*!
Druids also were able to walk the dreamways and even into the Otherworld itself. They
were masters of Nature as well. Who would dispute that Druids were able to talk to
nature spirits, trees and springs? What Druid could not feel the pulse of the Land and the
heartbeat of Nature? What Druid could not read the writings of destiny in the clouds of
the sky? Druids were the Masters of Magick. They were the wielders of Mys tical Power.
They lived with a foot in both this world and the Otherworld. They were the poets,
healers, advocates and magi of the Celts.

Druids were also the ultimate judges for the Celtic peoples, primarily because they could
see reality clearly (all of it). A Druid was expected to see the past, the present and the
future for any given person, object or situation. This is why they were the chosen
advisors of kings. This is why they sat at the king's right hand. This is why they were
entrusted with the Magical well-being of the tribe. This is why they taught the traditions
and the techniques of the people within their nemetons.
The crux of the argument seems to rest on whether Druidism is essentially a votive or an
ecstatic religion. A votive religion is one that attempts to communicate with and influence
divine powers by way of offerings, prayers, sacrifices, ritual taboos, an d other physical
means. An ecstatic religion attempts communication and influence of divine powers
through trances, spirit posessions, visions, and direct non-intellectual encounter with the
spirit. For example, The fundamentalist christian experience o f "being saved" or "born
again" is ecstatic, whereas the ritual breaking of bread and its distribution, as practiced by
protestant and catholic christians, is votive. With regard to Druidism, there are elements
of both. The modern practice of Druidism ra nges across the spectrum. The magical sight
that Druids were expected to posess is probably ecstatic, whereas their legal and
intellectual responsibilities are clearly votive, insofar as they are religious at all.

20. WHAT ANIMALS ARE SACRED TO THE DRUIDS?

Here is a brief, and by no means complete, list of animals that have frequent mention in
the mythologies, and some of the situations in which they appear.
HorsesSeveral deities have attributes or connections with horses, including the irish
Macha (after whom the fortress Emain Macha is named) the welsh Rhiannon, and the
gaulish Epona. In fact, the horse goddesses Macha and Rhiannon were married to mortal
kings, so perhaps they were Goddess to whom the Sacred King (see Classes) were
married. Horses are an earth animal, and a symbol of soverenty.
Salmon appear fairly frequently in Fianna myth, and usually represent Wisdom. Fionn
MacCumhall gained supernatural wisdom when he accidently burned his thumb on a
magical salmon cooking on a spit, for example.
Crows were sacred to the Goddess Morrigan, and typically appeared in the myths to
forshadow battle or death. They are not necessarily birds of bad omen, however; they can
indicate simply that otherworldly beings are present at the time of death, for better or
worse. A crow landed on Cu Chullain's shoulder as he was dy ing, for example.
Deer were a hunting animal, and probably represented the honour that the hunters and
warriors were obliged to maintain. Appearances of deer sometimes indicate the presence
of an enterance into the Otherworld.
Boars were also a hunting animal, but a far more dangerous prey than deer. Boars
probably stood for war and death, but also heroic skill because of the effort needed to kill
one. The ritual of the Champion's Portion required a Boar for a feast.
Serpents As we have seen before, the Gaulish Druids used a special "druid egg"
supposedly made from the spittle of serpents. When Saint Padraig banished the serpents
from Ireland, perhaps this is a metaphor for the banishing of the Druids. T he Serpent in
myths appear to represent the earth powers.
Cattle were the primary economic unit of the Iron-Age celtic people. The larger your
herd, the more influential and powerful you could be among the nobility. Cattle therefore
represent temporal or political power. cattle also represent bounty and fertility; indeed the
river Boine is said to spring from the udder of a mythic cow owned by the river goddess
Boann.

21. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF DRUID MAGIC?

Druid magic is the result of a strong and healthy awareness of nature, and the spirits and
gods who live in nature. A Druid must understand the language that Nature uses to speak
its wisdom. All else follows from that. Druid magic has a votive quality; magic is
performed by appealing to the gods to perform a service in return for an offering. Mythic
Druids often used trance-ecstacy to achieve their purpose as well. But in the myths very
little attention is paid to summoning or controlling spirits and gods, instead, the Druids
sought communication and communion.
A dream or a vision (from the sky, perhaps).
Aisling Possibly, Aisling referrs to altered states of
consciousness.
A journey to the realms where the Gods
live, possibly by shaman flight. Literally,
Immram Immram means "sea journey", for it is in the
western ocean that the islands of
otherworldly paradices were located.
Inspiration, poetic frenzy, the "fire in the
head" that Amergin speaks of. Possibly,
Imbas
Imbas referrs to altered states of
consciousness.
"Adventure", expeditions and journeys on
holy ground. This way of magic often
Echtra
happens "accidentally" to heroes, warriors,
and hunters.
The word for magic. Literally translated, it
Dra/iocht
means "what Druids do".
"Truth", or "Justice". The binding force of
nature, the way of nature. Note the
Fi/rinne
signifigance of Truth and Justice being in
the same word.

22. WHAT DRUID SACRED SANCTUARIES AND TEMPLES EXIST?

Unfortunetly the majority of Druidic temples, sanctuaries, and holy sites are in ruins
today, either through age & disuse or else from wilfull destruction by enemies. Still
others have been "converted" from its ancient function to serve christianity, as in the case
of Ireland's numerous holy wells that are now sacred to Saints Bridget, and Saint Ann
(who was once the goddess Danu). Another class of sacred places are those constructed
by the pre-celtic neolithic people, which because of their monumental size remain
numerous and reasonably intact to this day. There are hundreds of stone circles dotting
Scotland, Britain and Ireland. The Hebrides of Scotland are famous for them.
Stonehenge It is unlikely that Stonehenge is a Druid temple. The question of who
build Stonehenge remains one of academic debate, yet the theory that most historians find
acceptable is that since carbon-14 dating places the construction of Stonehenge before the
rise of Druidism, they did not build it. However that does not rule out the probability that
they knew how to use it. The solar and stellar alignments Stonehenge embodies would
not have been lost on an intelligensia so well versed in astronomy. The connection of
Stonehenge to Druidism came during the eighteenth-century romantic revivals of
Druidism. Today, through the co-operation of several British Druidic groups, it is open to
the general public on summer solstice morning, and an impromptu festival takes place
there at that time every year.
Glastonbury Some folkloric traditions and mythographic examinations suggest that
Glastonbury Tor is the mythic Isle of Avalon. If, for example, the nearby river were to
flood, the Tor would be an island. It is the reputed burial place of King Arthur. A certain
thorn tree is said to be the descendant of the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, an associate of
Christ, which was changed into a thorn tree when he set it there (the Thorn is sacred to
faeries!), when he brought the Holy Grail to Britain. Avalon means "Isle of Apples", and
there are many tales of magical apples in the myths. Some archaeologists believe that, if
one accounts for centuries of erosion, the sides of the Tor are terraced into the shape of a
Cretan Maze pattern. Your author wishes to refrain from making judgement, but whether
or not the region is Druidic, anyone who has meditated by the nearby Chalice Well knows
it is a holy place.
Callanish On the Island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, there is a circle
of very large stones, not topped with capstones as is Stonehenge, but impressive in its
own right. The stones form an irregular Celtic Cross, with a large ring of 13 stones surr
ounding a large central stone, and four lines of stones extending in a cross shape from the
center; the east and west lines have four stones each, the north line forms an avenue of
two paralell lines of eight and ten stones, the south line is formed by six smaller stones.
The main axis is aligned to the midsummer solstice; other astronomical alignments
include the annual rising places of bright stars Altair and Capella. An interpretation of its
ritual use from the number and position of the stones is tempting, but it is a purely
speculative exercise, since we cannot know if its neolithic architects used a sacred
numerology.
Newgrange, and the Boyne Valley Complex Newgrange has many names: Cashel
Aengus, Brugh Na Boinne, or the Wonder Hill. It is what archaeologists call a "passage
grave" or "passage mound". New Grange is the world's largest passage mound of its kind,
and also among the oldest; dated at 3,500 BC, it is reckoned older than the Great Pyramid
of Gizeh, in Egypt, and constructed to engineering standards equally as precise and
impressive. It is a large circular man-made mound of earth surrounded by a ring of
kerbstones. A single (known) passage open s from its south-east face that leads into the
mound to a central chamber. The passage is angled so carefully that direct sunlight can
enter as far as the central chamber, some 80 feet inside the monument, only at sunrise on
midwinter morning. Within a f ew miles from Newgrange are several other passage
mounds, including Knowth, which has two passages aligned to sunrise and sunset on the
equinoxes. Other famous passage mounds include the Loughcrew Complex, elsewhere in
Ireland, and Maes Howe in Scotland w hich also admits sunlight only on Midwinter
morning. Their use is no doubt ritual in nature, serving perhaps as a center for initiations,
a tomb, a calendar and timekeeper. Newgrange features in Irish mythology as the home of
several gods, including Dag da and his son Aengus, and Boann, the goddess of the nearby
river Boyne.
 The Hill of Tara The Hill of Temhair (Tara), in the county Meath, was the seat of
Irish kings. There is a stone that stands on it which is thought to be the same one called
Lia Fail, Stone of Destiny, upon which the Ard Ri (High King) was inagurated. The stone
would "cry out" if a worthy king stood upon it. Also on the Hill of Tara is a small passage
mound, which admits sunlight into the center chamber only on sunrise of Samhain and
Imbolc. It is the place where the mythological wise king Cormac kept his court. In the
county of Armaugh, the hill of Emain Macha stands, which is where Conchobar Mac
Nessa reigned as king of Ulster.
Druidism Guide Page Five: Traditions

23. WHAT IS CELTIC WARRIOR AND HUNTER SPIRITUALITY?

It is difficult to describe warrior life to twentieth century people living in european and
new world societies, because there is nothing comparable in today's western cultures. It is
usually assumed that it is not possible nor desirable to cease participating in society. The
existance of the Fianna in old Celtic society seems to show that ancient people thought
differently about that.

Of course there were soldiers, merceneries, and bounty hunters in ancient europe, but of
interest to those studying Druidism is the warrior as a way of life, as opposed to the
warrior as a career. Though many of the great Celtic heroes were professional soldiers,
what makes them heroes is the warrior's spirit and not their salary.

The Fianna was an out-caste class of warriors, typically adolescents and young-adults,
similar to the Hindu "sadus" (wandering holy men) in their severance from society, but
more militant and limnal than religious in nature. Still, there is a mystical dimension to
the Fianna, for many of them were accomplished poets and seers, and Fenian myth
abounds with hunting trips that wind up in the Otherworld. Perhaps it is easier to slip into
magical space when one lives on the border of civilisation and savagery.

To join a band of Fianna it was necessary to establish "surities" with the initiate's
tribe, in order to ensure that the initiate's tribe would not be held responsible for
any damage the new Fianna does, nor would they seek to avenge themselves on
the tr ibe whose son or daughter had become Fianna and damaged their property.
This shows just how important tribal life was to the Celts, for to be denied the protection
of one's tribe, which is what the surities gurantee, was to be truly alone. This also shows,
however, how important it was to the old Celts that a chance to be alone was made
available to everyone. Joining a band of Fianna was an acceptable way for people to
"drop out" of society for a short time to resolve the developmental tasks of maturity, a
socially "safe" space for adolescent boys and girls to assert their independance, learn a
few hard lessons about survival and life, and then establish their place in society as
adults. It was not treated as an escape for people who could not handle the difficulties of
their life and duties of their station, nor as a mandatory rite of passage that everyone was
obligated to undergo, but rather functioned as a kind of proving ground for growing
adolescents, al lowing them an environment for transformation from youth to adulthood.

Fianna may spend their time as Fianna living off the land, travelling, raiding the cattle
stocks of other tribes, and experiencing some freedom. Fianna legends are filled with
magical hunting expeditions, in which white animals with red ears lead hunters on a wild
chase through unknown territory, after which they emerge in the Otherworld, in the
presence of the gods. The Welsh story of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, for example, brings
Pwyll into the presence of Arawn, lord of Annwn (the Welsh word for the magical
otherworld) while the two of them were hunting after the same stag.

The way of the hunter was known to warriors both in the Fianna and in regular Celtic
society, for hunting was an important fact of their lives. But the prey that the hunter
follows is more than just a source of food and clothing, but also a guide and a pathfinder
in the Otherworld, in a manner reminiscent of the "totem animals" used by shamen as
they travel through the spirit world. One who hunts an animal becomes the hunted one,
for by taking the animal's flesh into the body as food, the animal lives again in the hunter,
and transfers its wisdom to the hunter. The hunter is aware that the death he brings to the
animals he kills will someday come to him. In this way the relationship between predator
and prey is not one of competition nor antagonism, but of love and kinship.

Most societies across the world that have hunted for their food have
developed rituals to affirm and strengthen that brotherhood with the
animals they hunt, and to bring them back again. It is very difficult to
convey this idea when the animals we eat ar e captive, fed with
hormones and genetically selected, and the preservative-laden meat we
purchase bears no resemblance to the animal who gave it. What is more,
"sport hunting" as done in industrialised nations bears no resemblance
whatsoever to the sacr ed hunt of ancient people, who depended upon the
animals for their entire livelihood.

24. WHAT IS CELTIC WITCHCRAFT AND CELTIC WICCA?

The present form of popular witchcraft, wicca, is less than a century old, though it
follows a tradition of wisdom that is as old as Druidism, if not more. Without going into
great detail, modern Witchcraft was "remade" and popularised by the late British civil
servant Gerald Gardner in books he published in the 1940's. Those who practice it say
that witchcraft is the worship of a comprehensive Earth Goddess, whose religion begain
in the late stone age, refined during classical civilisations such as Egypt, Sumer, and
Babylon, (and presumably also by European civilisations like the Greeks and Proto-Celts)
wrongly branded as satanism by zealous medaeval christians, and violently hunted to
near-extinction. This prejudice continues to this day, altho ugh thankfully not with
violence.

The case for the survival of european witchcraft from antiquity to today is the same as the
case made by Romantics for the survival of Druidism. It is said that during periods of
persecution and inquisition, the old witches practiced the Craft in secret, transmitting the
lore from mother to daughter and from father to son, re-emerging into society only after
the flames of the inquisition pyres had mostly died down. It is an unverifiable claim, but a
very compelling one.

Some who practice Celtic Witchcraft make the claim that Druidism was the religion of
male mysteries and Witchcraft was of women's mysteries, in the ancient Celtic culture.
Given that there are many cases of powerful female Druids in the myths, it is unlikely.
This author knows of only two textual references that might infer that ancient Celtic
religion had special mysteries for women, both of which are on the Readings
page. (I wonder if anyone can find them.) There is the perpetual fire of Brigid that
is kept at the monastary in Kildare, Ireland, that is tended only by women, which
is certainly a women's mystery but is probably part of the worship of Brigid (or of
Saint Brigid) and not a witchcraft ritual. As indicated elsewhere, Druidism does not
specialise its skills across gender divisions.

The essentials of Wicca are signifigantly different from Druidism. It emphasizes the
Earth, and the Earth-Mother; Druidism has equal emphasis on the Earth, Sea, and Sky.
Wicca has two deities, The Goddess (in her triple maiden-mother-crone aspects) and The
Horned God (sometimes with the additional aspect of the Dark God). Druidism has many
gods, who are not aligned in a dualistic polarity but exist independently. Druidic triple
goddesses are not linked by matrilineal line (like maiden-mother-crones) as is the Wiccan
Goddess, but by generation, as sisters: Morrigu/Nemhain/Babd (war & battle goddesses),
Banba/Fodla/Eiru (land and sovereignty goddesses) for example are all sisters. Witchcraft
makes liberal use of four elements whereas Druidism does not. Druids are not bound by
the Wiccan Rede; perhaps the closest thing to an ethical statement is Ossian's Answer (see
Belief)" Pectiwitta" is another non-historical Wiccan variation of Celtic religion, and the
error is obvious in the name, for the Gaelic language does not include the letter W.

This is not to say that versions of Celtic Wicca are inherently untruthful from a
philosophical point of view. Wicca occasionally borrows Celtic deities and themes for its
work, and this Celt has no problem with that. It is to say, that there is no historical Celtic
Wicca. Having said that, however, Celtic Wiccans are occasionally and most wrongfully
berated by modern Druids for not being culturally or historically "pure" enough. Wiccans
often call upon Celtic deities as their Goddess and God, which they justify with the
interesting idea that, to quote the famous British witch Doreen Valiente, "All Goddesses
are one Goddess, all Gods are one God, there is but one Initiator". The problem is not one
of historical accuracy, but of philosophical coherence.

25. WHAT IS ARTHURIAN DRUIDISM?

The Arthurian legends are unique because they take place during delicate transition
period between Druidism and Christianity. Christianity was well entrenched as the
religion of the nobility, yet Druidism remained in the form of folk-practices. Arthurian
mythology contains many distinctly ancient celtic concepts but is a new and unique
mythology as well. Misty islands and otherworldly hunting expeditions, which comprise
much of Arthurian legend, clearly originate from the older Celtic mythologies where such
encounters are common ways to enter the Otherworld. The Irish Druid Uath Mac
Immoman challenged a warrior to a mutual beheading in much the same way The Green
Knight (who can be interpreted as Cernunnos The Green Man) challenged Sir Gawain.
The Perilous Bridge that Lancelot has to cross is similar to the bridge at Scatha's School
for Heroes that Cu/ Chullain must cross. And perhaps all those "wise hermits", that the
Knights are always running into, are Druids in hiding. Merlin himself is now thought to
have been a Druid by some modern fiction authors, since he too was an advisor to a king,
a prophet, and made his home in the wilderness. To stretch it a bit, perhaps the Grail
legends follow those magical cauldrons like the one possessed by Dagda, which could
feed armies and raise the dead, and by Cerridwen, which was a font of wisdom.

It is worth noting that the sword called Excaliber may have come from legends
surrounding a real sword. The Celts were iron-workers, ahead of most other
contemporary cultures. Iron-age technology helped the Celts defeat the Dannans (who
worked bronze). Around Arthurian times, it was discovered that nickel-iron from
meteorites could be used to create stainless steel, and swords layered with this metal
would never bend, scratch, break, nor rust. Weapons like that would have been seen as
magical, and would have developed names and reputations independantly.

An important concept in Arthurian Druidism is the concept of the sacred king. Arthur is a
sacred king because he was chosen by God to rule, by virtue of his birth and the wisdom
he developed. The story of the Fischer King is another that demonstrates the connection
between kings and God, who is the Earth Mother, for he is suffering from the unhealable
wound while at the same time his territory is barren and infertile, as if wounded just like
him. The Grail is a symbol of divinity, of feminine divinity in particular, and though it is
said to be the cup of Christ most Arthurian druids agree that it is the Earth Goddess,
which is why its wine can be drunk by only those who are connected to her, like the
sacred king, and the chaste knight who reserves his love only for her. Perhaps these
concepts are a remnant of the old ritual of the marriage of kings to the land.

26. WHAT IS CELTIC CHRISTIANITY?

After Saint Patrick and Saint Columcille completed their missions to Ireland and
Scotland, those nations evolved an unique and beautiful blend of Christianity and
Druidism, headquartered on the Isle of Iona in Scotland and Armagh in Ireland, both of
which we re later to be eradicated by the English. Catholicism eventually became an
important element of national identity in Ireland, and without it they may never have
become independent.

The Celts of Gaul were among the first Celts to accept christianity, but it is unclear when
christianity first entered the british isles. By successfully adapting itself to celtic society,
christianity entered celtic culture without confrontation, and without martyrs. The first
well-recorded christian mission to Ireland was by Saint Padraig, who was living in
Britain (or Wales) and taken as a slave to Ireland during a raid. He made an escape to
France, where he studied the new religion until he became a bishop. Then in 432 he
returned to Ireland to preach. The complete conversion of Ireland did not happen within
his lifetime, but the first permanant foothold of christianity was established by him.

Celtic Christianity is an union of Druidism and Christianity nominally founded by

Columba and Columcille and centered on the Scottish island of Iona, in the southern
Hebrides. Saint Columba is said to have first spoken the famous prayer "Mo Drui, Mac
De", My Druid, Son of God, as if identifying rather than contrasting the old and the new
religions. Early christian sanctuaries were built in circular shapes, unlike the rectangular
or cruciform shapes of Roman christian sanctuaries, which is in keeping with the earlier
Druidic concepts. Many Druids may have converted to Christianity when it became
popular with the nobility, and though they followed the new religion they kept most of
the old wisdom. Other Druids became Bards, and the Bardic tradition kept many of the
old mythologies alive in the culture. There are stories of Celtic saints speaking with
animals and plants, as the old Druids used to do, something usually attributed only to St.
Francis of Assisi. The Carmina Gadelica, a book of celtic-christian prayers collected by
Alexander Carmichael in the outer Hebrides, shows a very strong connection to the
natural world.

The Celtic church was less centralized than the Roman church, being somewhat more
monastic than heirarchal, and also used a different way of calculating the date of Easter.
Some of these monasteries were headed by women, including Abbes Hilda of Whitby
who hosted the Council of Whitby, where it was decided to join with the Roman church
and the rest of Europe.

There is debate among historians as to how distinct the Celtic church was from other
forms of Christianity of its time, but there are some unique elements nonetheless. One
unique feature of the Celtic church was the cut of the tonsure, which was bald in the front
and long in the back, unlike the Benedictine tonsure, which is short all around with a bald
spot in the center. The Celtic Christian art of illuminated manuscripts, such as the
beautiful Book of Kells, is another uniquely Celtic contribution to christianity. Its symbol
is the Celtic Cross, a cross with a circle around its center.

27. WHAT IS ROMANTIC DRUIDISM?

Romantic Druidism is the style of Druidism which developed in the early eighteenth
century from the desire of mystically-inclined fraternal-order members (such as
Freemasons) to develop an indigenous British mystical order. It is heavily influenced by
fraternal-order occult groups such as Freemasons, ceremonial magicians, the Golden
Dawn, and other similar groups, even to the extent of using Cabbalistic ritual tools like
the Enochian Key! Most of its claim to Celtic origin comes from the Arthurian myths,
and the concepts of the Sacred King, the Grail Quest, and the Ordained Knight. It is
characterized by a number of features that make it distinct from historical Druidism,
although many Romantic Druids assert that theirs is the historically authentic Druidism.
In some of their rituals they call upon the four classical elements, archangels, dragons,
and non-celtic gods in ritual methods that resemble wizardly conjurations rather than
otherworldly journeys. They often speak of the need for "shielding", as if all of nature's
powers are malevolent and threatening, and it is the Druid's duty to subdue them. But
these are somewhat exagerated extremes. Some of the features of Romantic Druidism,
and some of the reasons why historians dislike it, are:
The Barddas: (see Misconceptions ) A two-volume book composed in the sixteenth
century by Edward Williams, a stonemason from London, who used the bardic pen-name
of Iolo Morganwyg. This book describes a set of laws and philosophical propositions
about the universe that the author asserts are what the Iron-Age Celts of Wales believed.
According to the Barddas, the universe is organised into a trio of concentric circles:
Abred in the center, being the source of organic life; Gwynfyd, or the realm where we are
living now; and Ceugant the outer realm, inhabited only by God and apparently
accessible to humans through enlightenment, or a merging with the divine soul, rather
like the Hindu idea of Atman. The book correlates with historical Celtic mysticism in that
it describes things in threes, however, the cosmology described in this book correlates
more closely with the neo-Platonic Christianity popular among protestant clergymen at
the time, and has virtually no hint of confirmation in the mythologies.
The Charm of Making: a magical incantation that forms the basis of all magical
invocations. The world is a kind of sleeping beast, such as a Dragon, and the recitation of
the Charm of Making causes it to dream into existence the Druid's desire. A version of the
Charm of Making is found in the Boorman production of the BBC film
"Excaliber". This author has never found in Irish or Welsh mythology an instance
of a Druid using the Charm of Making, or any similar magical chant, although it
is true that not every instance of magical chant is recorded word-for-word by
them. What is more, the concept of a sleeping being whose dream is the universe has a
correspondance in the Hindu God Indra, which may indicate a common Indo-European
source.
The Book of Pferyllt: This famous work is reputed to have recorded in it a great
many of the magic secrets posessed by Welsh and British Druids, including the Charm of
Making. However, as such no copies exist, but for those forged by their owners. In the
Welsh legend called the Ystoria Taliesin, it is said that Cerridwen consulted "llyfreu
Fferyllt" which means the books of Virgil, the Roman poet; this perhaps is the origin of
the legend of the Book. In modern Welsh the word Fferyllt means "alchemist" or
"sorcerer", and Virgil himself was the author who wrote the famous Roman epic "The
Aeneid", and was reputed a sorcerer. Considering that the Druids transmitted their
mysteries through poetry and the spoken word, it is somewhat difficult to imagine such a
book actually existing except, as noted above, when a copy has been forged by its owner.
The Thirteen Month Year: The Celtic calendar is believed by the Romantic Druids
to be thirteen months long, with each month corresponding to one of the lines in the
poem "Song of Amergin", and with one of the trees in the Ogham alphabet. Overlooking
for the moment that there are more than 13 lines in the poem and more than 13 trees in
Ogham, the earliest reference to the 13-Month Year that your humble author could find is
in the 1961 edition of Robert Graves' book on Celtic poetry called "The White Goddess",
where Graves apparently invented it himself. His calendar begins at Midwinter, whereas
all mythologies indicate that the Celtic New Year began at Samhain (see Holy Days)
OIU: These letters are thought to form the sacred Name of God, which God
pronounced when he became conscious of Himself, felt fear because He was alone, and
so created the universe. From the historian's point of view it cannot be true because the
Celtic people did not use that kind of writing (those letters are not Ogham runes), nor did
they believe in a monotheistic God.
Monotheism: Romantic Druidism posits that the Druids worshipped one God, a male
patriarchal Creator Deity, and further proposes that the Druids were an all-male and
celibate clergy. Some variations of Romantic Druidism posit that there are two deities: a
God and a Goddess, and that all deities of all cultures are actually manifestations of the
One God and One Goddess. This may well be true, philosophically, but it is an idea that
probably would not have occurred to the Iron-Age Celts, who had large and diverse
pantheons of many Gods.

28. WHAT IS THE FAERIE FAITH?

The Faerie faith is the set of folk beliefs and folk religion practices that entered the celtic
culture when Christianity became the official religion. The Faerie Faith has no priests,
ministers, Druids, or licensed professionals of any kind, nor does it have established
churches or complicated theology. Its scripture is folk memory. For its professionals,
there are "wise women" and "faerie doctors"; individuals who have experienced the
faeries and carry the knowledge and skills nessisary to see them, identify their
handiwork, and occasionally cure any ills caused by them. Biddy Early was a famous
Wise Woman from Ireland. The Faerie Faith includes a number of superstitions and
taboos designed to prevent insulting or angering the faeries. When the Faerie Faith was
most widespread, it was common to seek out a wise woman or faerie doctor to cure a
disease in cattle or humans when the medical doctors or priests were unable to do so.