Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Questions and Answers
Throughout these regions, as people gradually became more civilized, study of praiseworthy doctrines grew, introduced by the Bards, [Vates], and Druids. The Bards sang the praise-worthy deeds of famous men to the melodious strains of the lyre. The [Vates] endeavored to explain the sublime mysteries of nature. Between them were the Druids, an intimate fellowship of a greater ability who followed the doctrine of Pythagoras. They rose above the rest by seeking the unseen, making little of human mortality, as they believed in the immortality of the soul.
— Ammianus Marcellinus, circa, A.D. 330-395
In this chapter I shall describe some of the factual information with which the reader may gain a general idea of the character, archaeology, literature, and mythology of the Celtic people through history until today. How much do we know about the ancient Celtic people, and their mysterious priesthood, the Druids? How much do we know about who they were and what they did, and how much of this can be carried forward into today?
1. Who were the Celts?
The Celts were an indigenous people of Europe, whose heroic culture dominated Europe for centuries. Historically, they were almost a nation. They did not have a single central government, but they occupied a distinct territory. They were not genetically distinct from other European populations at the time, but they had their own language. They lived in many tribes which were politically autonomous from each other. Yet they had an intertribal institution, the Druids, who could operate across tribal boundaries — evidence of highly advanced social organization.
The traditional Celtic nations, which are the territories where a Celtic language was once spoken, are:
* Alba, Scotland
* Breizh, Brittany, north-western France
* Gaul, what is now France, Belgium, and parts of Germany and middle Europe
* Cymru, Wales
* Éire, Ireland, the "Isle of the Blest"
* Galatia, in what is now Turkey
* Kernow, Cornwall and parts of England's "West Country"
* Mannin, the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea
* Britain, what is now England, the "Island of the Mighty"
Parts of what is now northern Spain also hosted Celtic tribes, and some mythologies assert that Celts from that area colonized Britain and Ireland. Celtic culture was a tribal society, meaning the basic social and political unit was the extended family and not the individual. They had Iron-age technology at the height of their achievement, and lived in settled farmstead communities. The Celtic people migrated from the ancient Indo-European homelands in Eastern Europe to cover most of Western Europe. It is possible to trace the migration routes by examining the artifacts they left behind. Two classes of Celtic artifacts, La Tene and Halstadd, are named for towns in which artifacts from each period were discovered: Halstadd is in the Salzkammergut in Austria, and La Tene is in Switzerland. Switzerland was once the territory of a Gaulish Celtic tribe called the Helvetians, who fought against Julius Caesar's armies in 58 B.C. The official name of Switzerland is still "Confoederatio Helvetica" (Latin for "the Helvetian Confederation"). The Celts of Galatia, in what is now Turkey, were visited by Paul of Tarsus around A.D.40; his letter to them has a permanent place in the Christian Bible. The Celts of Scotland came from Irish colonists, called Scots, and also an indigenous and possibly pre-Celtic people known as Picts, who dominated Scotland until united with the Scots of Dalriada by Kenneth Mac Alpine in A.D. 843. Unfortunately, very little about the Picts is known. Even their name is the word the Romans used for them and not the name they used for themselves. They were called "Picti," meaning "painted people," because Pictish warriors used to paint themselves for battle with a blue pigment from the woad plant mixed with semen.
There was a class system in old Celtic society, which had the ruling warrior-aristocracy on the top, followed by the professional classes which included Druids, bards, poets, lawyers, historians, and so on. Next on the ladder were landlords, followed by free workers, followed by bonded workers. There were also provisions for outcast groups. Celtic law included ways for anyone, including bonded workers, to move up or down the social hierarchy; what rights and responsibilities were due to each of them, and what kind of punishment they would recieve based on the status of their victims, and their own status. More was expected from those who had more. An old Celtic proverb goes: "A man is better than his birth."
The main sources of information are the reports of Roman historians, such data as archaeological remains can provide, and mythological literature recorded by monks in the eighth through 12th century. Also, although this is a weaker source, analogies can be drawn between the Celts and similar Indo-European cultures from the same time in history, such as the Vikings, the Greeks, and the Hindus. Had the ancient Celtic religion survived history, I suspect that it would resemble modern Hinduism, with its many diverse forms of expression.
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 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 individuals in Celtic history. They reveal what life was like, what their technological capability 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), where they traveled, 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.
One of the problems with studying Druidism historically 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 unrecognizable, or just plain lost. It is true, however, 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 here. 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.
2. What is the history of the Celtic people?
In general, it is believed by historians that the Celtic people originated in 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 800-500B.C.E. and La Tene 500-100 B.C.E. The spread of Celtic culture to the British Isles and to the Atlantic seaboard of Europe took place around 900 B.C.E.
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.
3. What is the nature of Celtic Mythology?
In my opinion, the best source for knowledge of Celtic Mysticism is mythology. There we can read of what the Druids did, how they behaved, and what some of them said and taught. They are represented there not as a class, as the Roman writings represent them, but as actual human beings with their own biographies, interests, successes, families, friends, and even failings. The whole range of human emotion and experience is represented here: victory and tragedy, love and romance, violence and death, and even humor and play. Through it all, the presence of magic and wonder is apparent, as if driving the events toward inevitable conclusions both tragic and profound. Celtic mythology is one of the great treasures of European literature.
In Ireland, there are four main groups of stories. The first is the cycle of the Invasion Races, which describes the pseudo-historical tribes who colonized Ireland. It starts with Partholon and his race; and followed by the Nemedians; the Tuatha de Dannan, the only race described by the narrator as gods; and the Milesians, from whom we mortals are descended. Each race fights battles with a tribe of monsters called the Fomorians, until the Tuatha de Dannan finally defeat them. The great tragedies of the Children of Lyr and of the Sons of Uisneach are included here. The second group of Irish myths is the Ulster Cycle, which includes the story of Cú Chullain's birth and boyhood deeds, the tragic romance of Deirdre and Naoise, and the War of the Bull between the armies of Maeve of Cruachan and the province of Ulster. The third group is the Fianna Cycle, which centers mainly around Fionn MacCumhall and the members of his warrior band. They fight various battles against foreign invaders and against other Celtic tribes, and along the way encounter various magical beings and enchantments. The elopement of Dairmud and Grainne is included here. The final group of Irish myths is the Cycle of Kings, which details the life stories of various kings of Tara.
In Wales, the primary myths are contained in a medieval manuscript called The Mabinogion; the stories are of 12th century origin and the characters behave very much like people of that time, but there are numerous clear reflections of the Welsh pagan past. The Mabinogion comprises 11 stories in all, of which the interconnected Four Branches are the most important. The first is the story of Pwyll, lord of a land called Dyfed (south-western Wales), who trades places with Arawn, the lord of the Underworld, to help save Arawn's kingdom. The second is the story of Bran who takes an army to Ireland to avenge his sister Branwen, but on his return trip gets lost in the Otherworld and only seven men, bearing the still-living severed head of Bran, survive. The third branch is the story of Manawydan, a fallen king who restores his wasteland kingdom to glory again by overthrowing the magical forces responsible for his downfall. The final branch of the Mabinogion concerns the goddess Don, her family, and the birth of a hero-god Lleu who overcomes a curse placed on him by his mother (to have no name, no weapon, and no wife) with the help of his sorcerer uncle Gwydion. Lleu's romance with Bloduedd, the "flower-face" woman, is included here. She was created for him by the wizard-king Math ap Mathonwy, but ultimately fell in love with another man. As a result Lleu nearly died but was restored to life through a shamanic transformation.
The stories of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the Quest for the Holy Grail deserve to be included here as well. This body of mythology is a product of 11th century Norman-French culture, fused with historical memories of an actual 3rd-century British king named Arthur, yet contains many concepts and images which hearken back to earlier Celtic times. Many modern Druids treat them as having spiritual and theological importance. The conception of Arthur and his ascension to power; the wounded Fischer King whose rules over a wasteland; the Holy Grail which heals him; the Perilous Bridge; the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere; the romance of Tristan and Iseuld; the contest between Gawain and the Green Knight; and the last battle between Arthur and his illegitimate son by his half-sister Morganna, are some of the most important tales here. Interestingly, many of them have parallels in Welsh and Irish mythology.
4. Who were the Druids?
In ancient times, the Druids were members of a professional class in which their society's religious and spiritual life was embodied. They were the philosophers, scientists, theologians, and intellectuals of their culture, and the holders of the philosophical, scientific, and religious knowledge of their age. The nearest modern equivalent, then, would be professors in universities or colleges, medical doctors, lawyers and judges, school teachers, and so on. One could say that such people are the real "Druids" of our time. The ancient Druids brought all of these practices together into a single structure, unified by religious commitment. If you imagine what it would be like if your doctor, lawyer, or teacher was also a priest, and the hospital, law court, and college was also a temple, then you have an idea what Druidry was like for ancient Celtic people.
The Roman historians wrote the only first-hand accounts of ancient Druidry that we have. Even though they are usually understood as "hostile witnesses," they were often impressed by the Druids' philosophical wisdom, and their grasp of mathematical, scientific, and astronomical knowledge. Posidonius wanted to fit the Druids into his own Stoic philosophy. Tacitus tried to cast the old Celts in the role of the innocent and wise noble savage, uncorrupted by civilization and close to nature. Diogenes placed the Druids together with the ancient world's wisest philosophers, alongside the Magi of Persia (who allegedly invented magic), the Chaldeans (the priesthood of the Babylonians) and the Gymnosophists (a Hindu sect which preceded the Yogis). Strabo recorded how the intellectual caste of the Celts was subdivided into three distinct sub-castes, each with their own particular specialization:
Among all the tribes, generally speaking, there are three classes of men held in special honor; the bárdoi, the ováteis, and the druídai. The bárdoi are singers and poets; the ováteis are interpreters of sacrifice and natural philosophers; while the druídai, in addition to the science of nature, study also moral philosophy.
In this note about the Druids as philosophers of nature and of ethics, we have almost universal agreement among ancient commentators. The eminent scholar Fergus Kelly wrote that a Druid was a "priest, prophet, astrologer, and teacher of the sons of nobles." More recently, the American scholar Paul Lonigan narrowed down the list of what Druids do, as follows:
* astrologers and prophets, interpreters of lucky and unlucky days
* conjurers, diviners, necromancers
* guardians of sencha (ancient tradition), law, and genealogy
* an institution both national and international
* law interpreters and advisors
* peacemakers
* philosophers
* physicians
* protectors against evil
* sacrificers
* shapechangers
* speakers of divine language
* subsumers and consecrators of the land
* teachers
* tree-diviners
* warriors
To become a Druid, students assembled in large groups for instruction and training. An Irish epic called the Táin Bo Cuailnge describes the druid Cathbad teaching 100 students in something like a college. As the story says, "Cathbad the druid was staying with his son, Conchobar Mac Nessa. He had 100 studious men learning druid lore from him — that was always the number that Cathbad taught." Apprentice Druids on the continent of Europe would study for a period of as much as 20 years: although this fact comes to us in only one literary source: Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico ("The War in Gaul"). The exact quote is: "Reports say that in the schools of the Druids, they learn by heart a great number of verses, and therefore some persons remain 20 years under training." The mythologies describe Druids who were capable of many magical powers such as divination and prophesy, control of the weather, healing, levitation, and shape-changing themselves into the forms of animals or other people. But a Druid was not, strictly speaking, exclusively a mystic or a magician. He or she was mainly an important public leader. Her divination skills and magical sight were required for many essential social and political purposes, such as advising the tribal leaders as they make policy, settling disputes and legal claims, and announcing the beginning of agricultural seasons such as planting, harvesting, and hunting. Druids were responsible for providing a system of justice, and apparently they possessed many of the same powers of investigation, mediation, conflict-resolution, and even sentencing that today's court judges have. It also appears that they were able to magically oppose criminal activity by, for example, performing magical spells intended to return stolen property, or to reveal the thief's identity in a dream. In times of war a Druid's magical skills were needed to learn about the enemy's movements and plans, to magically empower the warriors, and also to call environmental powers to the aid of the tribe. Alternatively, the Druids could put an end to an unjust war by walking into the center of the battlefield and telling everyone to go home. As reported by Julius Caesar, who observed Druids in action first-hand,
They are believed to be the most just of men, and are therefore entrusted with the decision of cases affecting either individuals or the public; indeed in former times they arbitrated in war and brought to a standstill the opponents when about to draw up in a line of battle; and murder cases have mostly been entrusted to their decision.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Mysteries of Druidry"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D..
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
