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The Ancient Druids |
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The ancient Druid religion was created within Celtic society at around 500 B.C. The religion itself was manifested through observations of the natural world. These
observations of nature led to the philosophical, spiritual, and ritual base of the Druid
religion.
The ancient Celtic people populated Gaul and the British Isles from 900 B.C. to
700 C.E.(1,2,5). These were a people of nature. At the height of their society at around
300 B.C. there were hundreds of independent Celtic tribes. Each tribe had fixed borders
but held the forest and agricultural land as common ground. Some of the land was
worked in common for the sick and the poor (5).
The social structure was based on democratic idealism. Every person had his or
her place in the tribe and officials were elected yearly. The majority of tribal business
was conducted at annual assemblies where land disputes were decided, petty criminals
were tried and officials were elected (2,5).
The common link between all the tribes was the Druid priesthood. The Druid
priests had authority over every tribal chief and could move wherever they wanted. They
were the arbitrators between the tribes. Their purpose was to preserve the common
culture, religion, history, laws, scholarship and science of the Celtic people
A Druid would begin training at age 5 and continue for 20 years. He or she would
be taught in a large group by a few Druid teachers and would be educated in astrology,
magic, and in the powers of plants and animals. All of the instruction was oral and
hands-on (1,2,3,4). The training was also very physically demanding. A Druid had to
master and understand his or her body because it was the soul’s link to nature and life.
It is believed that the students would live in the sacred oak forests for long
periods of time. There they would learn to communicate with nature and understand its
mysterious ways. They would also learn magic based on the powers of nature. A student
had to always be open and observant.
A student could train to be a Priest, a Bard or an Ovate. The Bards were the
keepers of tradition through oral art. After basic training they would study grammar for
twelve years. They would memorize hundreds of stories, poems, and philosophical
proverbs. They would keep the history of the Celtic people and were considered to be
very important to society (2,5).
The Ovates were the sorcerers of the Druid order. They were the healers of the
Celtic people. They specialized in divination, conversing with the spirits and
prophesising the future. They practiced magic through the powers of nature. The most
advanced Ovates were said to be able to control the weather, levitate various objects
including themselves, and change their shape into something else, most commonly a
crow (2,5).
The Priests formed the professional class of Celtic society. They were the
teachers, the ambassadors, the astronomers, the philosophers, the theologians, the
scientists, and the judges. They led all public rituals, which were held within fenced
groves of oak trees. They were not mediators between man and god. They served as
guides of wisdom and directors of ritual. Each Celtic person has his or her own
connection with the devine (2,5).
Women were allowed to become Druids as well. The female Druids were held in
the same regard as the male Druids. In Celtic society, women could own land and rule a
tribe. The ancestry was traced maternally and women were able to divorce their
husbands. The strength of the Celtic women can be seen in Boudicca. She was one of the
first people to lead a revolt against the Romans in Britian (3,4).
Druid magic is the result of an in-depth awareness of nature, and the spirits and
gods who live in nature. A Druid must be able to understand the language of nature and
absorb its ever flowing wisdom. All other wisdom follows from that. The main principle
behind their magic was to appeal to the gods for a particular service in return for an
offering.
The Druids believed in a spiritual other world that paralleled our world. This
other world is made up of many gods, spirits and powers. They believed in a continuity
between life and death. Death was viewed as a transition phase in the course of a long,
even eternal, life. There is no true division between this world and the other world. The
gods that live in the other world are neither good nor evil (1,5)
Reincarnation was believed to occur in one form or another after death. The
advanced Druids would be reborn in the other world, while the common people would
most likely be reborn in this world (2,3). There was the practice of holding one’s debts
off until payment in the afterlife. It said that because the Celts believed so strongly in the
immortal soul they would fight in war without any fear of death (5). This caused many
problems for the Romans as they tried to invade the British Isles.
Fire was believed to be one the most powerful substances in the Druid religion.
There were four annual fire festivals every year. Fire was considered a spiritual force
unto itself possessing the magical properties of both destructiveness and cleansing. It is
the force behind the creation of civilization, and therefore it is sacred. Fire was used in
almost all of the Druid rituals. It was used in healing and communicating with the gods
(5).
The gods that the Druids worshiped were believed to be created from one mother
goddess. She is the deity Danu. She is represented by the oak tree and she is ever eternal.
There is no existing creation myth of Danu or of the world. What is known is that every
god and goddess is inseparable from the aspect of nature that they represent. Dogda was
the father of most of the gods and he carried a club that could heal the dying and kill the
living. Morrigu was the goddes of war, and she is the one who is responsible for choosing
who will die in battle. Brigid is the Celtic goddess created from fire. It is said that she
causes fire in the head which is the root of poetry. When the Celts were reformed by the
Christians, Brigid was turned into St. Bridget. Diancecht was the god of healing. He
created a well that could heal anyone who was put into it. These are some of the main
gods all the Celtic tribes believed in. It is believed that each tribe had its own local deity;
therefore thousands of deities were known to the Druids (4,5).
Animals were respected by the Druids because they were nature and its true
essence. Many animals represented a sacred quality. The salmon represented wisdom.
Deer represented honor because they were hunted for food and the appearance of a deer
sometimes indicated the presence of an entrance into the other world. Boars represented
heroic skill because of the effort needed to kill one. The serpent was sacred because it
represented earth powers. The crow was very sacred because it carried the soul from one
life to the next. To the Druids all the animals of nature were holy (4,5).
Possibly of greater importance than the animals to the Druids were the trees. The
word Druid itself comes from the Gaelic word “duir” meaning oak. Trees were most
special because they connected the earth and the sky and within them the other world.
Where these realms came together was considered a powerful place.
The Druids had eight main festivals throughout the Celtic year. They included
four major holidays, Shamain, Imbolc, Beltain and Lughnasad. Along with these four,
they celebrated the equinoxes and the solstices. Samhain was held around November and
was the beginning of the new year. On this day the boundaries between this world and the
other were closest, making it the day of the dead. Imbolic was celebrated around the first
of February. It celebrated the rebirth of spring. Beltain was celebrated around the first of
May and was called the day of life. Lughnasad was celebrated around the first of August
to thank the earth for the bounties of the year (4,5).
During these festivals, two fires would be lit on top of a hill. People would then
heerd sheep and cattle between them or jump over them for purification. These rituals
would last for three days, starting at sunset the first day and ending at sunset of the third.
At day time games would be played while at night the serious rituals were performed.
Today there some misconceptions about the Druid rituals that took place in
ancient times. It is not known for sure whether or not the Druids had human sacrifices. If
they did have human sacrifices, it was an offering to nature by the person being
sacrificed. No one was forced to be sacrificed. The Druids did not worship any evil
spirits but the whole of dark and light that is the universe.
Druidism was driven underground as Christianity moved into Western Europe.
Much of Druidism was incorporated into the Christianity of the British Isles. But by 700
C.E. Druidism was almost completely gone. The only reason we know as much as we do
about the Druids is because of Christian monks who documented them. It is from their
writings that we know the ways of the ancient Druids
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