18. WHAT DID THE ANCIENT DRUIDS BELIEVE?

A complete and full answer to this question is beyond the scope of this book, for it is not a thing easily summarised in a few lines. Your humble author has been attempting to decipher this problem for over twelve 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 most prominent teaching attributed to the Druids by Roman writers was the belief that the human soul is immortal. Some writers attribute to Druids the Pythagorean belief in reincarnation. Others claim that the Druids taught that the soul is reborn in an otherworldly afterlife that is much the same as this one. The belief in immortality was so strong that people could put off repayment of debts to the afterlife. However there is no indication that the Druids believed in Karma, as the Hindu people did.

The Druids taught that there exists 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.

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 inseparable 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, goddesses, 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. Fire possesses the magical properties of both destructiveness and cleansing, bringing heat and energy and with it civilisation. Poetic inspiration is said to be a fire in the head, which is why Brighid is a deity of poets and of fire. The ritual “need fire” ignited on 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 Well of Wisdom (auspiciously located at the centre 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.

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 inseparable 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 forecasting, 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. 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 “advice speeches” 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 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 fulfilment in our tongues.”

19. WERE THE DRUIDS SHAMANS?

20. WHAT ANIMALS ARE SACRED TO THE DRUIDS?

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. Aisling A dream or a vision (from the sky, perhaps). Possibly, Aisling referrs to altered states of consciousness. Immram A journey to the realms where the Gods live, possibly by shaman flight. Literally, Immram means “sea journey”, for it is in the western ocean that the islands of otherworldly paradices were located. Imbas Inspiration, poetic frenzy, the “fire in the head” that Amergin speaks of. Possibly, Imbas referrs to altered states of consciousness. Echtra “Adventure”, expeditions and journeys on holy ground. This way of magic often happens “accidentally” to heroes, warriors, and hunters. Dra/iocht The word for magic. Literally translated, it means “what Druids do”. Fi/rinne “Truth”, or “Justice”. The binding force of nature, the way of nature. Note the 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 few 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 which 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.