Druidry 101 - Lines of the Dragonlinesofthedragon.com/Druidry_Wicca/Druidry_101.doc · Web viewUnfortunately, of the Picts, little is known; even their name is the word the Romans

Page 1 of 68

Druidry 101Basic Study of Druidry

All material contained in this handout is either copyright of James Sangster or the source sited in the text.

Page 2 of 68

Table of Contents

Celtic Society & Druids The Original Druids Druids in Celtic Mythology Druids as Teachers and Diviners Druids as Healers Druids as Counselors Druids as Mediators Druids as Magicians Druids Today Druid Cosmology The Three Realms Pillars of Druidry The Celtic Nations Celtic Society History of the Celts Sources of Druidic Information Human Sacrifice Druidic Misconceptions Druidic Symbols Druidic Ritual Tools Druidic Gods and Goddesses Holidays and Festivals A little History of Ogham Sacred Animals Witchcraft & Wicca Arthurian Druidsm Celtic Christianity Romantic Druidism Song of Amergin Awen - the Holy Spirit of Druidry Interview with a Yew Tree Other Resources Recommended Reading


Page 3 of 68

IntroductionThis class will explore the world of the druid by examining what we know of the ancient druids and the culture of druidry today. It is important to note that the organizations of druids are generally not as organized in terms of creeds and beliefs as other pagan and neo-pagan traditions such as Wicca. The information presented here may not represent the beliefs of all individuals who title themselves as druids. Instead, we aim to learn of the generalities, not the specifics. There is no single source of information such as the Christian Bible nor are there central creeds expressed specifically such as Wicca’s Charge of the God and Goddess. Instead there are fragments of epic poems recorded by Christian monks who were trying to conquer the Druidic culture. The contempt these sources had for the druids make their accounts suspect by default. A few other scattered samples of observations about the Druidic culture as it stood in the Celtic nations of old.

Today’s druidry is much the same. There are not central doctrines. There are general themes but even these may vary from group to group and organization to organization. There are several modern druidic organizations. These can be best explained by labeling them as denominations of druidry. These denominations make reference to various sources of ancient druidry and often interpret the information gathered there very differently. This will be discussed later in the class.

For now, understand that there is little that is known of the ancient druids that is historically accurate. Anyone claiming to have a direct lineage to the original ancient druids that walked the earth shortly after the erection of Stonehenge is probably yanking your chain.

Also, it should be noted that the vast majority of this document is text directly borrowed from the books, websites and articles listed in the Sources section of this handout.


Page 4 of 68

Celtic Society and Druids – Source 1The Druids were the wise men and women of the Celtic peoples. So before we describe the Druids let us describe the Celts.

From about 1800 BCE on, a new cultural impulse flowed across northern Europe. It descended from Indo-European roots, and brought with it new technologies especially in metal-working. Its people spoke the family of languages known as ‘Celtic.’ By the first millennium BCE (the Iron Age), this culture dominated central and western Europe. The evidence suggests that this domination did not occur forcibly, but by a process of slow assimilation with the earlier peoples. It is likely that the older Native European Tradition in its shamanic form continued in an unbroken line into this, the Celtic period.

A specifically "Celtic" style appeared in central Europe as early as 1200 BCE with the advent of the Hallstatt Culture. The development of this culture was influenced by the control of trade routes. This culture declined after 600 BCE, but there arose from it a new and vigorous impulse known as La Tène. These peoples, composed of many different tribes, had contacts with the raw material hungry Mediterranean world. Through this trade they became wealthy and populations expanded. By 400 BCE large groups were migrating east and southwards. Celtic Gauls sacked Rome in 390 BCE, while other tribes moved eastwards, occupied the Danube area and threatened Greece. In the third century BCE, Celtic culture was at its peak. Although still extremely diverse, the many tribes shared the exquisite artistic traditions of La Tène. They possessed a similar social structure, they were able to understand each other, and an immense wealth flowed between them in the form of ideas, stories, myths, laws, values, wine, weapons and trade goods.

By the fourth and third centuries BCE, urban centers and social stratification increased. Charismatic men, and sometimes women, gained power through control of trade and resources with the support of a warrior elite. Some of these centres verged on statehood, with cities, ”national“ boundaries and sanctuaries, nobility and kings, and several classes of subjects. The wise men and women comprised one of these classes. They gathered around the halls of the aristocracy to supply their needs. Their functions included entertainment and genealogy - music, songs, the telling of stories and poems, especially those that praised the exploits of the ruler and his warriors. They provided the old shamanic functions such as herbalism, healing, divination,


Page 5 of 68

sooth-saying, and dream-interpretation, but took them in a new direction to serve the needs of the more complex society. These people were the Druids.

By the end of the first century BCE, Celtic society was crumbling before the power of Rome. Resistance in Gaul was at an end, and Julius Caesar had already launched the first invasion of Britain. With the second, Claudian invasion of Britain, the Druids were singled out and massacred. The Romans deliberately undermined Druid leadership and power among the conquered Celtic peoples. But in the long occupation of Britain that followed, 43 - 410 CE, local Celtic practices merged with Roman to produce a synthesis that did maintain many ancient customs - they were both, after all, pagan.

Pressure from the east finally ended both the Roman Empire and Celtic society. Nomadic tribes from the Caucasian steppes invaded Europe in the fourth century CE, and lack of space forced the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples west. The Angles, Jutes and Saxons defeated the newly independent Celts of Britain, and drove them into Wales, Brittany and the never-defeated Celtic fastnesses of Ireland, Scotland and the Isles. It is unlikely that the Druids ever staged a comeback at this time. The tales of King Arthur and Merlin represent what might have been if the Celts had been successful in defeating the Northmen. Christianity followed hard upon the heels of the Germanic invaders, and challenged any remaining Druids. Druid Brehon law however prevailed in Ireland until the Cromwellian invasions. These forces irrevocably changed the face of Celtic culture forever.

In summary, ‘Celts’ was the name given to the European tribes north of the Mediterranean by the Greeks and Romans. This covered an extremely diverse group of peoples none of whom called themselves by this name. ‘Celtic’ was adopted by linguists to refer to the family of languages of Indo-European origin spoken across a broad area of Europe and introduced there from as early as 2000 BCE. ‘Celtic’ was later used by historians to describe the cultural impulse that began in central Europe (Hallstat) before 1000 BCE, and achieved its full flowering with the La Tène era after about 500 BCE. This culture (with the virtue of combining all the above definitions) developed towns, and a highly centralized, hierarchical and socially stratified society. Its features included classes of nobles, priests, warriors, craftsmen and farmers, characteristic of its Indo-European origins. Growth depended upon trade with the Mediterranean world, and for many centuries the Graeco-Roman world mirrored the Celtic and vice-versa. The Druid class grew in response to these social developments and, like the priests of Etruria and Rome, largely served the warrior class and nobles.

Since the conquest by Rome, Celtic or Gaelic-speaking culture only remained on the northern and western fringes of Europe, but has had an enormous effect on the Western world, especially in North America. This is the Celtic diaspora, a rich and varied culture that is giving rise to Druidry again today.


Page 6 of 68

The Original Druids – Source 1After about 500 BCE, in the northern and western part of the patchwork quilt of Celtic Europe, wise men and women emerged as the Druids. They came from out of the old, indigenous, shamanic worldview. The Druids organized knowledge, passed it on through oral tradition, and served the political, social and spiritual needs of the people. The primary purpose of this emerging class of scholars and bards was to nourish the soul of the tribe and people. They did this by venerating the ancestors and spirits of place, and by supplying words to an increasingly sophisticated society so it could describe and think about itself. The Druids told and remembered the stories, songs and myths. They knew the ancestries, the prophecies, the pledges, treaties, alliances, and the legal codes.

Increasingly they had to organize, to systematize and pass on this growing body of knowledge. They became arbitrators, lawyers and judges. They were advisors to the kings, negotiating alliances, making prophecies, describing the law. They became teachers, and took into their schools children who showed skill in any of the branches of learning. And as the poets and bards, they praised and celebrated the achievements of their nobles, their champions and their tribe.

The organization of the Druids had a price. It meant that they no longer participated in the grass-roots level of society where traditional shamanism continued to thrive. There was a distinction, but not a split between Druidry and shamanism. At best they complemented and recognized the strengths and weaknesses of each other. A further distinction was that the Druids, serving the elite, became increasingly male-dominated, while women continued to serve the needs of the far-greater body of the common population.

The name, Druid, may have applied to any woman or man wise in the native tradition of their ancestors. The herbalist, the midwife, the seer, the storyteller, may all have been called druids, generically meaning "truthful," "firm" as a tree is firm, or "wise ones." The training of most Druids began on the grass-roots level, and many would have remained there, serving the land, the tribe and people. Only a few went on into the service of the king or clan chief, and there they established schools and selected the pupils who would be their successors.

By the time the Romans conquered Gaul and Britain, circa 0 B.C.E., a distinction had arisen between Druids who advised the nobility, and local practitioners, mostly women, who birthed babies and cast spells. The latter who provided cradle-to-grave magical care were to become known as witches and sorcerers. The Romans set about systematically exterminating all organized Druidic practice, while it is likely that the "hedge-row" witches with their ancient shamanistic roots survived.

Early Irish literature uses "witch" and "Druid" in a similar way. Both are men and women, with more Druids being men, especially in the royal courts. The stories list shape-changing, illusion-making and weather-craft as the particular skills of the witches. Both witches and Druids were oriented to nature and had reverence for the ancestors. This was all part of the flavour of pagan spirituality at the time. The negative connotation of "witch" derives from later Christian transcribers of the early Irish texts and subsequently, the Inquisition.


Page 7 of 68

In summary, the Druids codified and developed the knowledge of the Celtic branch of the Native European Tradition. They organized traditional knowledge, taught it in schools, and served the needs of a complex, growing society. Druids were exterminated to the extent that no-one can claim to have received anything in a direct line from Celtic times to this time. Although the context in which Druidry operated is now entirely lost, the early literature of Ireland and Wales contains records of their work. Such material has to be treated cautiously as it contains many overlays, interpretations and omissions. On the other hand, some witches and folk tradition survived. Despite persecution they have handed down some of the ancient ways to the present day. Folk tradition, however, was not organized to the philosophical level of Druidry and fulfilled a different social need.

Druids in Celtic Mythology – Source 1

Early Celtic myths and legends are full of things called Druid spears, Druid cloaks, Druid wands, rods, spells, songs, harps and other instruments that seem to be in the preserve of almost everyone. Just about anyone could apply "Druid herbs," and some who are obviously not Druids have access to "Druid wands." At times the sources use "Druid" as a catch-all description for anything mysterious, especially if it comes from the fairy world. In ‘The Fate of the Children of Lir’, for example, both Aoife and Bodb Dearg of the fairy race use "Druid rods" to effect transformations. In ‘Dairmuid and Grania,’ Angus Óg of the Sidhe of Brú na Boinne uses a "Druid cloak" to conceal and help Grania fly away from several entrapments. This frequent use of the word "Druid" probably entered the texts during the Christian era. Apart from this usage, there is another class of Druid descriptions that refer to specific Druids, often named, who feature in the stories. These descriptions are of special interest as they are likely to have originated in the pre-Christian era

Druids as Teachers and Diviners – Source 1

Cathbad ‘the Wise’ foretells the fate of Cuchulainn and gives him his name in the ‘Boyhood Deeds of Cuchulainn.’ He combines this role with that of a teacher. It is likely Cathbad was divining from the stars.One day, Cathbad the Druid was in his house...teaching Druid lore to many studious men, and a pupil asked him what the day would be lucky for. ”The man who takes up arms today or mounts his first chariot today will have his name enduring for ever in Ireland with his mighty deeds,“ Cathbad said. ”But his life will be short.“

The ‘Fate of the Sons of Usnach’ makes the role of the Druid as teacher especially clear. The woman-Druid, Levorcham, is not only an herbalist, astronomer and natural scientist, diviner and dream interpreter, but also a poet.

Deirdre was raised in a remote place so that none should see her until she was ready to be the wife of the king of Ulster. Only her foster parents were allowed to be with her, and the old woman Levorcham, a satirist, to whom nothing could be refused. Deirdre grew up straight and clean like the rush on the moor, her movements were like the swan on the wave or the deer on the hill. She was the woman of the greatest beauty and the gentlest and kindest nature in all the provinces of Ireland. Levorcham taught her every skill and knowledge that she had herself. There was not an herb on the ground or a star in the heaven or a bird in the wood that Deirdre did not know the name of, and besides these skills Levorcham taught her the Druid crafts of poetry, dreaming and seeing.


Page 8 of 68

Druids as Healers – Source 1There are many references in the texts that describe Druids as herbalists and healers. The following extract is typical. The great epic known as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley,' has as its centerpiece the combat between Cuchulainn and Ferdiad. After a day of fighting the heroes break off for the night:

Cuchulainn and Ferdiad threw their spears into the arms of their charioteers, and came up to each other and put their arms around the other and exchanged three kisses.

Their horses passed that night in the same enclosure, and the charioteers shared the same fire and they made up beds of rushes for the wounded men.Druids came and put healing herbs in Cuchulainn’s wounds, but they could do little but chant spells and lay magic amulets on them to staunch the spurts of blood for the deepness of the wounds.

Druids as Counselors – Source 1

The Druids had immense authority in the great houses, and their word was law. Sencha ‘the Great,’ could "pacify the men of the world with his three fair words." This account of Sencha at work is from ‘Bricriu’s Feast.’

Then chairs flew and tables overturned. One side of the hall filled with the fire of clashing swords, while the other side was like a flock of white birds from the glaze flying from the surface of the shields. There was a great alarm and fear for their lives on the people of the gathering. King Conchobor and Fergus were angry to see two men fight together against Cuchulainn. But no one moved or dared to part them, until the Druid Sencha rose.

"Part these men," said Sencha.

Conchobor and Fergus stepped between the fighting men and made them drop their hands to their sides. "Will you do as I advise?" said Sencha.

"We will," said the three men.

”Then divide the Champion’s Portion between the whole of the gathering tonight," said Sencha


Page 9 of 68

Druids as Mediators – Source 1

There are several episodes where Druids mediate between opposing forces. Although the Druid fails in this extract from the ‘Death of Cuchulainn,’ it is nonetheless informative for his method.

”Cuchulainn is upon us,“ said Erc. ”Let us form a fence of our shields, and let three pairs of men appear to struggle here and there among us. They must call on Cuchulainn to help them resolve their dispute, and have a Druid beside them to ask him for his spears. We must get his spears, for it is in the prophecy of the daughters of Catalin that a king will be killed by those spears in this battle, and it will be hard for him to refuse the request of a Druid.“

------... Cuchulainn came to one of the pairs of men that were put to quarrel with each other, with a Druid beside them. ”Help us put an end to this quarrel,“ cried the Druid. ”Give me your spear.“

-----"You are not so much in need of it now as I am,“ said Cuchulainn.

-----"A bad name upon you if you refuse me,“ said the Druid.

-----"I have never had a bad name put on me yet on account of a refusal,“ said Cuchulainn. He threw the spear, handle foremost, at the Druid and killed him.

Druids as Magicians – Source 1

Magic is a common task of the Druids in the myths. It often involved shape-shifting or the creating of illusions. When Cuchulainn becomes distraught at discovering he has killed his son, the Druid Cathbad casts a spell of glamoury upon him that makes it seem an army is coming against him from the waves. Cuchulainn fights against the waves until his fury and hurt are spent. On another occasion the Táin Bó Cúailnge describes Cuchulainn as follows:

Then the hero Cuchulainn took his battle-array of contest and strife. On his head he put his crested battle-helmet, from whose recesses his scream echoed so that his enemies thought the fiends of the air called out from it. And about him he cast the cloak of concealment, made of cloth from Tir Tairngire, the Land of Promise, that was given to him by his foster father, an expert in the magic of Druidry.

Finally, in the mythic narratives of the ‘Book of Invasions,’ it falls to the magical abilities of Birog of the Mountain, to bring Cian to Eithlinn. The result of their union is the pan-Celtic deity, Lugh.

Cian went to the woman-Druid, Birog of the Mountain for help. Birog gave Cian the appearance of a queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann, dressed him in woman’s clothes and took him on the winds to the tower where Eithlinn lived. She called out to the women in the tower and asked them to shelter a high queen from some hardship. Because the women did not like to refuse a woman of the Tuatha Dé Danann they let them in. When they were inside the tower Birog cast a spell on the women to send them to sleep. Cian went to Eithlinn, and the moment she saw him she recognized his face from her dreams and gave him her love.


Page 10 of 68

Druids Today – Source 1

Although being a Druid originally meant being of the priestly order of a Celtic society that no longer exists, today it is essentially a matter of self-definition. Being a Druid means identifying oneself as a Druid, and choosing to follow the tradition of the Druid path. To have an idea of what a Druid is today, look deeply into what the word means to you. You may be thinking, however, that simply calling oneself a Druid does not a Druid make. There must be something - a belief or training perhaps - that graduates and qualifies the aspirant into the title of Druid. At present, this is difficult to answer, and until an answer appears you can do what many do which is consider themselves "Druids in training."

There are however many Orders of Druids here in Britain and around the world. They have different styles. Some base themselves on the Druid revival which has been slowly taking place since the 17th century. Others base themselves upon native traditions, such as the Welsh Gorsedd. Most grew out of the tremendous revival of earth-centred spirituality which took place in the latter part of the 20th century. This revival, as well as many branches of paganism, is continuing. Their websites can be found alongside this one. Books on Druidry are in most bookstores.

Although no single Order or author can claim to possess the "true" path of Druidry, most agree that Druidry was in the past and is now polytheistic, pantheistic, animistic, bardic, poetic, life-affirming, earth-honouring, law-abiding, civic-minded, rational and intuitive. It was and is not belief or faith based, religious or dogmatic.

If there is one thing Druids today may have in common it is a reverence for life: for nature and the Earth. Do you? Whether this view defines a Druid is impossible to say. Another unifying factor among all contemporary Druids of whatever order or inclination is very likely the wish to give something back to the earth. This is indubitably something the Druids of old did, so here indeed is a common tradition. In the same way as the ancient Druids presided at rituals where offerings were made to the earth so Druids today are rediscovering the results of gifting. It is through gifting that service to life begins. It is through gifting that it becomes possible to arrive at a true understanding of our place in all things. We are indebted to life. We are sustained in every moment by water, earth, fire and air. Coming into an understanding of how we can give back to these things allows the possibility of consciously re-entering the sacred web of reciprocal relationships that make up all life.

Druid Cosmology – Source 1

The universe itself is infinite. Without beginning and without end. Spirit is without time and matter. It exists outside of the world as we understand it. Linear time and space are foreign concepts in the other worlds. The task of the druid is to fully realize this and our connection with the world on multiple levels of consciousness. We seek to become one and understand the universe and how it works by observing and learning. When we come to fully realize this and we have learned all the lessons we need to learn we become an Ascended Master or a soul which can become one on a fully conscious level with the Universal Soul.

In my mind, this concept is not unlike ( try not to laugh here ) the concept of The Force in the Star Wars stories/movies. The Universal Soul or Source is the universal force of life which flows


Page 11 of 68

through all things. When we realize it’s presence and reach out to it we can tap into it’s connection with all things.

The Three Realms – Source 1

The Land of the Living, The Land of Youth, ‘of Women,’ the Blessed Ones, Summer Land, The infinite Universe, The dwelling place of the eternal Soul when it is not with a body (where we go when we die). This realm infuses, surrounds and contains the Otherworld and the Human World. It is vast, and knows no corporal, spatial or temporal limits. It has no beginning and no end. This is the center of the wheel of creation; the hub of life if you will. Divine sacred light of creation and of God emanates from this place that is not a place.

The Otherworld, The realm of the Fae/Fairy, The Land of the Sidhe, gods, goddesses and ancestors. The Otherworld infuses the Human World at all times with its power and influence. It can be seductive and dangerous. This is the resting place of all god archetypes, demons, fairies, familiars, spirit guides, ghosts and mythic places/heroes or those people/things/places that have since passed from the human world. This world is represented as the spokes on the wheel of creation as it lies between the Land of the Living and the Human World. It is also our interface with the Land of the Living while we are in Human form as this world must be crossed in order to access the Land of the Living.

The Human World: The manifestation of Life for us at this time. This is the here and now. What we know consciously as our world. The embodiment of the Life of the Universe in Nature on this planet. The Soul is accompanied by a body in this world, and the physical senses of the body determine its perceptions. It is possible to journey to the Otherworld or the Land of the Living from here, or be visited by beings from there. Druids can learn or remember awareness of the eternal Soul and thereby gain some understanding of the Otherworld and immortal existence in the Land of the Living while incarnate, but full memory usually does not return until death. However, if we learn to listen to ourselves we can usually hear the whispering of our higher self (soul) whispering and hinting to us from the full wisdom of our soul gained from our many incarnations in creation.


Page 12 of 68

Pillars of Druidry – Source 1

Reincarnation: The Soul (anam) comes and goes in an eternal cycle of lives. Between lives in this world, the Soul dwells in the Land of the Living. The Soul may incarnate in any form, animate or inanimate. At death, the Soul generally loses memory of the details of each individual life but carries the result of the experience across the worlds in the form of wisdom. This may manifest as inspiration (awen - Welsh, imbas - Irish), as music or poetry, or in other ways. There is no evidence to suggest that the experience of the Soul as it journeys between the worlds and between lifetimes is sequential. The experience is better understood as being contracted or expanded, shallower or deeper, inner and outer. The beauty of death is that it erases memories of the life, while leaving the soul with the wisdom that the lessons of the life have imparted.

Spirit in All Things: The whole universe is alive with immanent presence. Water, rocks, fires, hills and rivers, even thoughts, shouts, waves and the wind are alive with soul or spirit presence. The spirits of place and especially the Goddesses of Sovereignty represent this power in the land. The Druids revered the landscape, worshipped within it, and let nature be their guide and teacher. Their task was to nourish the Soul of Life with the life of their own soul.

Reverence for Ancestors: The awareness or wisdom that each soul brings into existence is both individual and collective. The life of the individual, the life of the village, and the life of the land, are the same. The lineage and tradition into which the Soul incarnates shapes consciousness. The Druids honoured the ancestors and the tradition, usually expressed as honor for the tribe and its symbols. The community of the tribe is made up of the dead as well as the living. As we are our ancestors (multiple lifetimes concept) we also pay tribute to ourselves and our brothers and sisters as we honor those in the ancestors.

Multiple Worlds: In addition to this world, there are two others: the Land of the Living and the Realm of the Sidhe. These worlds co-exist and interpenetrate each other. It is possible to journey between the worlds, but to do this in human form is dangerous. Time in the other worlds is non-linear, and glamour and the subjective limitations of the physical senses may seriously affect the traveller’s experience. An image for these many worlds is that of a wheel. We live on the rim of the wheel and experience time on the journey around its perimeter. The spokes of the wheel are the many other worlds (Irish myth mentions thirty-three), and the Soul passes through these to get to the hub. The hub is the Land of the Living, where the experience of the Soul is not constrained by birth, death or time. The hub of course, also contains the perimeter, so the wheel imagery turns out upon itself.


Page 13 of 68

The Celtic Nations – Source 2

The traditional Celtic nations, where Celtic civilization 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 farm stead 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 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. The Celts of Galatia, in what is now Turkey, was visited by Paul of Tarsus around 40AD; his epistle to them has a permanent 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.

Unfortunately, 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 artifacts, 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 honorable 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').


Page 14 of 68

map from http://www.sheilascelticwisdom.com


Page 15 of 68

Celtic Society – Source 2

Other classes in the old Celtic social order: the warrior-aristocracy; out-caste Fianna warriors; (see Warriors) Bards, brehons (lawyers), historians and other more specialized professionals; land-holders (landlords); freeborn laborers; and non-freeborn laborers. Celtic law included ways for anyone, including non-freeborn laborers, to move up or down the social hierarchy; 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 honorably 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.


Page 16 of 68

History of the Celts – Source 2

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, Confucius 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 colonized, 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 indigenous 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, and the islands of Britain and Ireland.

Timeline of Celtic History – Source 2Era People Events And Notes

Up to 4000 BCE

Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)

Hunters and gatherers

4000-1800 BCENeolithic (New Stone Age)

Construction of Maes Howe, Callanish, and other megalithic monuments. First farmers

3500 BCE Construction of Newgrange, largest megalithic monument in Europe

1800-1600 BCEBronze Age 1000 BCE-Christian Era Iron Age

900-500 BCE Hallstatt Rise of the Celts. First emergence of Celtic languages

Circa 600 BCE Greeks establish trading colony at Messalia (Marseilles) to trade with Gaul

500-15 BCE La Tene Heroic Age Celts. Most mythologies take place now.Circa 450 BCE Celtic people reach Spain

Circa 400 BCE Celts cross the Alps into Italy. Within ten years, they sack Rome itself.

279 BCE Celts invade Greece, through Macedonia, and plunder the Temple of Delphi


Page 17 of 68

270 BCE Celts establish Galatia in Asia Minor154 & 125 BCE Celts sack Massalia, Roman armies raise the siege both times82 BCE Romans defeat Celts in Italy55 & 54 BCE Julius Caesar attempts to invade Britain twice

52 BCE Julius Caesar defeats Gaulish chieftain Vercingetorix at Avaricum, and imprisons him.

AD 43-409 Romano-British Rome dominates Britain and parts of Wales

AD 61 Druid stronghold at Anglesey destroyed by Romans; Boudiccia begins her rebellion

AD 120 Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins Mid 3rd century Saxons begin raiding east coast of BritainMid 4th century Cormac Mac Art rules Ireland at Tara

AD 409-600 "Dark Age" Britain Final Roman withdrawal from Britain

AD 425 Vortigern takes power in Britain and holds off Saxon advancesAD 432 Padraig begins his mission to Ireland

Circa AD 450 Anglo-Saxon invasion; British refugees settle in Armorica and Brittany, France

AD 454 Artorius Roithamus (Arthur) succeeds VortigernCirca AD 500 Arthur defeats Saxons at Mount BadenCirca AD 500 Formation of Dalriada in southwest ScotlandCirca AD. 537 Arthur is killed at the Battle of Camlann.AD 563 Saint Columba arrives at Isle of Iona.

AD 663 The Middle Ages

Synod of Whitby: The Celtic Church joins the church of mainland Europe

Circa AD 790 Colonization and raiding of British Isles by Vikings beginAD 843 Kenneth Mac Alpine unites the Scots of Dalriada and the Picts

AD 1014 Battle of Clontarf: Vikings expelled from Ireland by Brian Boru. They withdraw from Celtic nations everywhere soon thereafter


Page 18 of 68

Sources of Druidic Information – Source 2

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 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), and 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.

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 philosophy. There is also an attempt to cast the old Celts in the role of the innocent and wise noble savage, uncorrupted by civilization 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.

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 medieval 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 unrecognizable, 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


Page 19 of 68

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, represent some of the expressions of Celtic spirit.

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 heavenly 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 foretell 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 behavior maintained.

Strabo

notes not only their practical knowledge of natural phenomenon, 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)


Page 20 of 68

Human Sacrifice – Source 2

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.


Page 21 of 68

Druidic Misconceptions – Source 2

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 Poseidon, 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 Halloween (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.


Page 22 of 68

Druidic Symbols – Source 2

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 monasteries, such as at Iona and Aberlemno. (see Christianity)


Page 23 of 68

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 organization 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 symbolizes 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.


Page 24 of 68


Page 25 of 68

Druidic Ritual Tools – Source 2

Curved blade; sickle or scythe 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. 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.

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 possess 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.


Page 26 of 68

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 colorful 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. 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 correspondences 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.


Page 27 of 68

Druidic Gods and Goddesses – Source 2

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 temperament, they are so much more accessible and comprehensible to humans. The idea that the gods might be makers of morality and judges of humanity is a foreign 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 sovereignty 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 epithet "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 possesses 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".


Page 28 of 68

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 traveled 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 resurrect 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 think the Mabinogion more accurately describes medieval 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 specializes 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.

Arianrhod: She is the Goddess of Caer Arianrhod, 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 Taliesin (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.


Page 29 of 68

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 artifacts 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.


Page 30 of 68

Holidays and Festivals – Source 2

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 honor 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 characterized by athletic 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


Page 31 of 68

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.


Page 32 of 68

A Little History of Ogham By Philip Shallcrass of the British Druid Order

Fourteen hundred years ago, when Guaire was High King of Ireland, he challenged his Ollamh (chief poet), Senchan Torpeist, to recite the greatest of all Irish epics, the Tain bo Cuailgne, the `Cattle Raid of Cooley.' To his great shame, Senchan had to admit that he did not know more than a few fragments of the tale and he knew of no one else who could recite any more of it than himself. So he asked which of his pupils would be willing to try to recover the tale. His own son, Muirgen, volunteered, along with a young bard named Eimena. They travelled across the land, questing for the lost saga. Late one evening, beside a lake in Connaught, they rested by a standing stone:

Shone the sunset red and solemn: Muirgen, where he leant, observedDown the corners of the column letter-strokes of Ogham carved."Tis, belike, a burial pillar," said he, "and these shallow linesHold some warrior's name of valour, could I rightly spell the signs."Letter then by letter tracing, soft he breathed the sound of each;Sound by sound then interlacing, lo, the signs took form of speech;And with joy and wonder thrilling, part a-thrill with fear,Muirgen read the legend plainly, "Fergus son of Roy is here." (1)

Fergus mac Roich was one of the principle players in the events recounted in the Tain and also its reputed author. Having discovered his Ogham stone, Muirgen was able to summon the spirit of Fergus who told him the whole story of the Tain, which Muirgen duly carried back to his father. Many standing stones like the one referred to in the poem, bearing inscriptions in the Ogham alphabet, still survive in parts of Britain and Ireland. The Ogham alphabet consists of twenty letters to which a further five were added at a late stage in its development. The original twenty letters each consist of from one to five straight lines or notches intersecting a stem line. The earliest surviving Ogham inscriptions are carved on standing stones with the edge of the stone forming the stem line. Inscriptions are usually written from the base of the stone upwards, sometimes passing over the top and continuing down the other side. By its nature, the Ogham alphabet is impractical for writing much more than the short inscriptions found on these stones.

Most Ogham inscriptions are found in Ireland and consist of personal names written in an archaic form of the Irish language. The largest concentration of Ogham stones is in County Kerry, the part of Ireland where the construction and use of megalithic tomb-shrines and stone circles survived longest. Stones bearing Irish Ogham inscriptions are also found in Wales, mainly in the south-west, and there are scattered examples in western regions of England and Scotland. All occur in areas that were subject to raiding, trading, and settlement from Ireland in the late Roman and post-Roman periods when the inscriptions were made, i.e. from the 4th to the 8th centuries CE. A few Ogham inscriptions which may be in the British language of the Picts have been found on Pictish symbol-stones in north-eastern Scotland.


Page 33 of 68

For many years it was assumed that Ogham stones were memorials or grave markers for the individuals named on them. This assumption is called into question by the fact that they are never found in association with burials. It has been argued that the majority of them have been moved from their original sites, but it seems likely that some at least would have remained in place alongside their burials, had there been such burials. If they were not gravestones, what were they? Perhaps they were memorials to warriors who fell in distant battles, raised by their families at home. Or they may have been boundary markers set up to mark the borders of clan territories, in which case the names would probably have been those of the living clan chief. It may be that some of the earlier stones were set up to hold the spirits of powerful heroes or ancestors of the clan. The stones are clearly reminiscent of standing stones erected during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, except that those earlier stones bore no Ogham inscriptions.

Ogham OriginsAlthough all the surviving Ogham inscriptions can be dated between the 4th and 8th centuries, J. F. Killeen places the origins of the alphabet itself considerably earlier, in the Graeco-Celtic culture which flourished in southern France in the centuries before the Common Era. He derives the word Ogham from the Greek ogmos, meaning `a furrow,' supporting this with Greek literary references which compare writing to ploughing (2). Ogham letters do bear some resemblance to the furrows left by a plough, but the derivation does seem somewhat contrived. Others believe that the Ogham script was derived from the Roman alphabet, and R. A. S. Macalister has provided an ingenious explanation of how this may have been done (3). He suggests that Ogham began as a sign language using the fingers, this being the reason why the letters are made from groups of one to five lines, that the inventors of the Ogham script wished to keep to this fivefold scheme, and that this is why the original alphabet had 20 letters, grouped in fives. He suggests that the inventors began by taking the following eighteen letters of the Roman alphabet, in the Roman order:

A B C D E G H I L M N O Q R S T V (pronounced as U) Z

To make a number divisible by five, the consonantal value of V was added as a separate letter, usually transliterated as F, and the double-letter NG was also added. The vowels were then separated out and grouped as broad and slender in the order:

A O U E I

Next, they took the initial letters of the early Irish names for the numerals one to five:

H (huath) D (da) T (tri) C (cethair) Q (quic)

This left the ten letters:

B G L M N R S Z F NgFrom this group they took every second letter, beginning with the B, giving them:

B L N S F

The remaining five letters; G M R Z Ng, were then rearranged, beginning with M, the middle letter of the original group of twenty, and working backwards. This gave them the final group:

M G NG Z R

The resulting four sets of letters were then rearranged, placing the three groups of consonants alphabetically by their first letters, and putting the vowels last. This gave the final order:

B L N S F, H D T C Q, M G NG Z R, A O U E I


Page 34 of 68

This cryptographic process seems perfectly in keeping with the Bardic love of mystery and concealment.

On balance then, it seems likely that the Ogham alphabet originated in Ireland, probably as a result of contact with literate Romanised Britons in Wales, perhaps a century or two before the first Ogham stones were inscribed. This places the origin of the Ogham script around the 2nd century CE. Curiously, the same date seems likely for the development of the Common Germanic Futhark or Runic alphabet. It is conceivable that the creation of the two alphabets came about through some interaction between northern Germanic peoples and those of southwest Ireland during the period in question, but, on the whole, it seems more likely that both inventions were inspired separately by contact with literate neighbours in the Roman Empire. In the case of the Runic alphabet, the inventors drew on two sources for the form of the letters. One was a script already in use in northern Italy and the other the rune-like pictographs used in Scandinavia since the Bronze Age (4). Did the inventors of the Ogham script also use a set of preexisting characters and, if so, what were they? We have already seen R. A. S. Macalister's suggestion that Ogham began as a sign language using the fingers. Now let's look at another, albeit related possibility.

The nature of the Ogham script, with its groups of one to five lines or notches, suggests that it may have originated as a system of keeping count on wooden tally sticks. Such a system of counting by fives results naturally from counting on the fingers. Being temporary records made from a perishable material, such tally sticks are unlikely to have survived. That the Ogham script began as a system of counting which was only later adapted as an alphabet is suggested by Julius Caesar's statement (5) that the Druids of his time were deliberately non-literate so as not encourage students to "neglect the cultivation of the memory," but that "in public and private accounts, they make use of Greek letters." This clearly indicates that the Continental Celts of Caesar's time were not averse to using writing for mundane matters, but preferred to maintain a purely oral transmission for cultural records and esoteric lore. The Ogham alphabet, being thoroughly impractical for writing inscriptions of any length, fits perfectly with this ethos. The fact that the second group of five letters in the Ogham alphabet represents the initials of the numbers one to five may also point to a numerical origin for the script. Further support for this theory comes from the medieval Ogham text, The Scholar's Primer, in which several counting Oghams are listed, e.g. "Dog Ogham, to wit: Watch-dog for group B, one watch-dog, two, three, four, five watch-dogs. Greyhound for group H, one greyhound, two, three, four, five greyhounds. Herd's dog for group M .... Lapdog for group A ...." Other examples of similar counting Oghams include Boy Ogham, Girl Ogham and Ox Ogham (6).

That the Ogham alphabet was carved on wooden staves is borne out by references to the practice in Irish Bardic literature, and by the fact that Ogham letters were given the names of trees at an early point in their history. In medieval Irish manuscripts the Ogham alphabet was called Beth-Luis-Nion after the Gaelic names of the first three letters, which are also the names of trees. Beth is the birch, Luis the rowan or mountain-ash, and Nion the ash tree. However, before the first stone inscriptions were carved, the N and F had been transposed, so that the final order of the letters became:

B L F S N, H D T C Q, M G Ng Z R, A O U E I

The fact that the transposition of N and F happened so early, while the alphabet retained the name Beth-Luis-Nion, indicates that the tree names were given to the letters soon after the alphabet was devised, and that the alphabet itself predates the surviving stone inscriptions.

Ogham SpeechIrish Bardic texts provide evidence for the use of Ogham in magic and divination. Ogham was supposed to have been invented by the Irish God, Ogma Grianaineach, `Youthful (?) Sun-Face,' "as a proof of his ingenuity, and that this speech should belong to the learned apart, to the


Page 35 of 68

exclusion of rustics and herdsmen." Ogma is an incarnation of the Celtic young Sun God. Note that Ogham is referred to here not as an alphabet, but as a form of speech for the learned. Ogham as a form of speech was certainly known to Irish Bards of the 12th century, and seems to have been related to a type of speech called Shelta, still in use among Irish gypsies in the 1890s. Neither appears to have been a true language, but seems to have consisted of ordinary Irish words disguised in various ways, such as adding letters or syllables, changing initial letters, or reversing whole words (7).

Below are the Ogham letters, along with their tree-names in Irish and English. The names in brackets are suggested equivalents for use in an English version of the spoken Ogham back-slang, inspired by the work of Dylan ap Thuin, Archdruid of the Insular Order of Druids (8). The simplest method of creating a spoken Ogham is to select a single tree name and insert the name each time it appears in speech in place of its initial letter. Thus using the word sallow in place of the letter s, the phrase "Listen, I must say something" becomes "Lisallowten, I musallowt salloway sallowomething."

The 'B' group:b, beith, birch [birch]l, luis, rowan [larch]f, fearn, alder [fir, or fern]s, saille, willow [sallow]n, nion, ash [nut, or nettle]The 'H' group:h, huath, hawthorn [hawthorn]d, duir, oak [durmast]t, tinne, holly [trefoil]c, coll, hazel [cedar, or crabapple, depending on whether the `c' is soft or hard]q, quert, apple [quince]The 'M' group:m, muin, vine [mistletoe]g, gort, ivy [gorse]ng, ngetal, broom or reed st, straif, blackthornr, ruis, elder [rowan]The 'A' group:a, ailm, silver fir [apple, or ash]o, onn, furze [oak]u, ura, heather [ulmus]e, eadha, aspen [elder]i, idho, yew [ivy]

As some English letters and sounds aren't represented in the Ogham alphabet, the following could be added for the purposes of the back-slang:

j [juniper]k [kelp]p [pine]th [thorn]v [vine]w [willow, or witchhazel]x [xylem]y [yew]z [zinnia]

Ogham Magic


Page 36 of 68

The first written message in Ogham was said to have consisted of seven strokes, each representing the letter B, carved on a single birch rod. As we have seen, the letter B is called beith in Irish Gaelic, meaning `birch'. This message was for the God, Lugh of the Long Arm, who interpreted it to mean that his wife would be carried off seven times into Sidhe mounds, or into another country, unless she was protected with birch (9).

In the Tain Bo Cuailgne, `the Cattle-Raid of Cooley,' the mythical Ulster hero Cuchulain left a warning for the approaching army of Connacht in the form of an oak-sapling, twisted into a hoop and secured with a wooden peg, on which he carved Oghams. He then placed the hoop around the top of a standing stone. He did all this standing on one leg and using only one arm and one eye, a posture frequently adopted by Otherworld beings and Druids in Irish literature. When the Connacht army, led by Cuchulain's childhood friend Fergus mac Roich, found the hoop, Fergus read the message on the peg. It said "Come no further, unless you have a man who can make a hoop like this with one hand out of one piece. I exclude my friend, Fergus." Fergus then showed the hoop to the Druids of Connacht and chanted: (10)

"This hoop: what does it mean to us?What is the riddle of the hoop?How many men put it here?A small number? A multitude?Will it bring the host to harmif they pass it on their way?Druids, discover if you canthe reasons it was left here."The Druids answered:"It was a great champion made itand left it as a trap for men,an angry barrier against kings- one man, single-handed.The royal host must come no further,according to the rule of war,unless you have a man among youwho can do what he has done.This is the reason, and no other,why the spancel-hoop was left."

Cuchulain later left a similar Ogham message on the fork of a tree, which he cut with a single sword-blow and planted in the middle of a river. On this occasion, the message was reinforced by having the severed heads of four Connacht warriors hung on the fork of the tree.

Ogham DivinationIn another Irish tale, Tochmarc Etaine, `the Wooing of Etain,' a Druid named Dalan used a method of Ogham divination to find where the God Midir had taken Etain. He cut four wands of yew on which he inscribed three Oghams, and used them to find the "eochra ecsi (`keys of divination'?)," which enabled him to discover that she had been taken to the Sidhe-mound of Breg Leith, where Midir dwelt (11). Other Irish sources refer to the use of four Ogham-inscribed yew-wands or a single wand with four sides being used in divination. The number four may be significant because of the division of Ogham letters into four groups. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, a similar method of divination was in use in Germany in the 1st century CE (12). He describes how the Germans would:

"cut off a branch of a nut-bearing tree and slice it into strips; these they mark with different signs and throw them completely at random onto a white cloth. Then the priest of the state, if the consultation is a public one, or the father of the family if it is private, offers a prayer to the gods, and looking up at the sky picks up three strips, one at a time, and


Page 37 of 68

reads their meaning from the signs previously scored on them. If the lots forbid the enterprise, there is no deliberation that day on the matter in question; if they allow it, confirmation by the taking of auspices is required."

We have clear evidence for the magical and divinatory use of the Ogham alphabet from the insular literature of medieval Ireland. It may be that such esoteric uses were influenced by contact with Rune-using Viking raiders and settlers who came to Ireland in increasingly large numbers from the 8th century onwards. If the esoteric use of Oghams was increased or inspired by such contacts this might explain why the Ogham alphabet ceased to be used for memorial inscriptions after the 8th century although its use continued in the Bardic schools of Ireland until the early modern period. Perhaps it became too secret for use on public memorial-stones.

Much of our knowledge about the meanings attributed to the Ogham alphabet comes from a compilation known as The Scholar's Primer (Auraicept na n-Eces) which records some of the teachings of the Bardic colleges of medieval Ireland (13). Versions of this text are found in the 12th century Book of Leinster, the late 14th century Yellow Book of Lecan and The Book of Ballymote. The oldest sections of the Primer may be as early as the 7th century, but the bulk of it seems to have been written in the 10th. Included in it are two lists of phrases linked with the letters of the Ogham alphabet. The second phrase list is attributed to the pagan Irish God, Mac ind Oc, `Son of the Young.'

The 'B' group:b, beith, birch - faded trunk and fair hairl, luis, rowan - delight of eyef, fearn, alder - shield of warrior-bandss, saille, willow - hue of the lifelessn, nion, ash - checking of peace

The 'H' group:h, huath, hawthorn - pack of wolvesd, duir, oak - highest of bushest, tinne, holly - (The Primer gives the word trian for this letter, but no associated phrase. Trian means 'a third,' or 'a good portion.' Ed.)c, coll, hazel - fairest of treesq, quert, apple - shelter of a hind

The 'M' group:m, muin, vine - strongest of effortg, gort, ivy - sweeter than grassesng, ngetal, broom - a physician's strengthst, straif, blackthorn - strongest of redr, ruis, elder - intensest of blushes

The 'A' group:a, ailm, silver fir - loudest of groaningso, onn, furze - helper of horsesu, ura, heather - in cold dwellingse, eadha, aspen - distinguished woodi, idho, yew - oldest of woods

The phrase-Oghams of the god Mac ind Oc are as follows:The 'B' group:b, beith, birch - most silvery of skinl, luis, rowan - friend of cattlef, fearn, alder - guarding of milk


Page 38 of 68

s, saille, willow - activity of beesn, nion, ash - fight of women

The 'H' group:h, huath, hawthorn - blanching of faced, duir, oak - carpenter's workt, tinne, holly - fires of coalc, coll, hazel - friend of crackingq, quert, apple - force of the man

The 'M' group:m, muin, vine - condition of slaughterg, gort, ivy - (the Primer gives the words med nercc, meaning 'abundance of mead.' Ed.)ng, ngetal, broom or reed - (the Primer skips this letter. Ed.)st, straif, blackthorn - increasing of secretsr, ruis, elder - redness of faces

The 'A' group:a, ailm, silver fir - beginning of an answero, onn, furze - smoothest of worku, ura, heather - growing of plantse, eadha, aspen - synonym for a friendi, idho, yew - most withered of wood

At some point a further five letters were added to the Ogham alphabet. These represented diphthongs as follows:ea, ebad, eclampsia (or aspen)oi, oir, spindle treeui, uillean, ivy (or woodbine or honeysuckle)io, pin, pine (or gooseberry)ae, emancoll, witchhazel

None of these diphthong letters appear on the Ogham stone inscriptions, so we may assume that they were added some time after the 8th century.

In the present century there has been a good deal of speculation about the origins and uses of the Ogham alphabet. Among the more outlandish ideas are those of Dr. Barry Fell in his book, America BC, in which he claims to have identified a 17-letter Ogham inscription in Maine dating from c. 3000 BCE. I have heard others suggest that the script dates back to c. 5000 BCE. All of the so-called Ogham inscriptions from these early periods that I have had the chance to examine have turned out to bear very little resemblance to Irish Oghams. Some of them seem to be aimless doodles, a few may be attempts at counting, or representations of fish-bones or other skeletal structures, but none of them are Oghams.

Several modern Druids have tried to construct workable systems of magic and divination based on the Ogham script. Most of these attempts owe a good deal to Robert Graves' extraordinary book, The White Goddess, which weaves a complex web of symbolism around the Ogham alphabet (14). Liz and Colin Murray were certainly influenced by Graves when they produced their Ogham divination card set, The Celtic Tree Oracle (15). Kaledon Naddair of the Edinburgh-based College of Druidism (see Druid Directory) also draws inspiration from Graves for his books and wall charts based on the Ogham alphabet and relating it to the Celtic calendar, animal lore and so on. Mark Graham of the Charnwood Grove of Druids (see Druid Directory), Nigel Pennick


Page 39 of 68

(16) and others use Ogham divination sets in which each letter is carved on a slip of wood of the appropriate tree. These are stored in a bag or pouch and drawn at random.

After this article appeared in The Druids' Voice, I received the following suggestions (from Graeme K. Talboys) as to how the Irish Ogham divination system using four yew-wands might have worked:

"They may have been used in relation to or cast upon a cloth marked out with `Fionn's Window.' How they fell would then indicate what was sought.

"They may have been carefully crafted in pentagonal section. Each side would represent one of the oghams in a particular group, the four wands containing all twenty original characters. Each time they are cast on a flat surface they will land on a particular face - that being the one to be read. The position of each stick would also be relevant - the direction they point, their position within a given area, whether one crosses another, and so on.

"There may have been a method analogous to methods of consulting the I Ching. The yew wands would have been cast a set number of times, each cast building up to a set of oghams that could then be read. Perhaps one cast indicated which of the many oghams was relevant. Further casts may have indicated past, present and future influences or courses of action.

"This is all speculation of course. It is just that these methods have been used elsewhere and in other systems. The recent archaeological finds just outside Colchester that are probably related to a Druid include two sets of metal wands (four copper and four iron) which may have served a similar divinatory purpose."

Shortly after receiving this letter from Graeme I was browsing the web when I came across a site put together by American Druid, Searles O'Dubhain, on which he talks about a method of Ogham divination involving casting staves onto a cloth marked with Fionn's Window. This kind of synchronicity often seems to crop up when one is onto something.

From the evidence of the surviving literature, it seems likely that there were several variations on Ogham divination, just as there were several variations on spoken Ogham. The use of yew-wands is a common factor linking some of the accounts. If, as one source has it, there were four wands, we may speculate that each wand may have had one of the four original groups of Oghams carved on it. And if, as another source has it, they were four-sided we might assume that each letter was carved on a different angle, with one angle bearing both the first and last letter of each set of five. When cast, each wand would then show either two or three letters. If, however, the wands were three-sided, then only the uppermost angle would be read, showing either one or two letters. Another source suggests that only one wand was drawn at random from a bag to make each divination. This would certainly simplify matters when it came to interpretation. Whatever the method of drawing or casting the wands, when read in conjunction with the Ogham letters in Fionn's Window, the range of possible combinations is enormous.

The question then becomes, how does one interpret the resulting Oghams? For the Germanic Runes there are surviving poems that give reasonably complete, fairly practical meanings for each of the letters. For the Ogham alphabet, we have the two phrase-lists given above and the lists of other meanings given in the Scholar's Primer. Are these enough to enable us to recover the `keys of divination?' It should be possible to draw up a table of correspondences of the type beloved of a certain school of tarot buffs and most Golden Dawn influenced Kabalists from the data given in the Primer. If anyone would like to do this, I'll add the results to this page. Your local library should be able to get you a copy of George Calder's translation of the Primer. See Note 6 below for publication details. Meanwhile, if you would like to experiment further, using the information already contained on this site, here's a picture of Fionn's Window, from the Scholar's Primer:


Page 40 of 68

I suggest drawing or embroidering the Window on a piece of cloth about 24 inches square, though I guess a paper print-out would work too.

The meanings attributed to the Ogham letters in the Scholar's Primer are mainly based on lists of words beginning with the same initial letter as the Ogham. This being the case, it would be possible to arrive at an English-language Ogham by creating similar lists, as we have already seen with the English Tree Ogham given above. To take another example, the Primer contains a Bird-Ogham, listing the Irish names of birds beginning with each letter of the Ogham alphabet. This could be adapted into English as follows:

B - BlackbirdL - LarkF - FinchS - SwallowN – Nightingale

and so on. This suggestion may outrage some Celtic purists, but it would certainly make things easier for the one or two members of the Druid community who may be unfamiliar with medieval Irish!

Well, good luck. Please let me know how you get on. If I get any further myself, or receive any more useful suggestions, I'll tell you all about it when this page is next updated!


Page 41 of 68

Copyright BDO, 1999Notes:1. Sir Samuel Ferguson, Lays of the Western Gael, 1865.2. J. F. Killeen, 'The word Ogam,' in Lochlainn, 3, pp.415-419 (1965), quoted in H. D. Rankin, Celts and the Classical World, Croom Helm, London, 1987, p.284f.3. R. A. S. Macalister, `The "Druuides" Inscription at Killeen Cormac, Co. Kildare,' in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol.XXXII, sec.C, no.14, Dublin, 1914, pp.231-233.4. Stephen Pollington, Rudiments of Runelore, Anglo-Saxon Books, Hockwold cum Wilton, 1995.5. Quoted in T. D. Kendrick, The Druids, Methuen & Co., London, 1927, p.78.6. George Calder, Auraicept na nEces: The Scholars' Primer, John Grant, Edinburgh, 1917.7. Kuno Meyer, `On the Origin and Age of Shelta,' in Revue Celtique, Edinburgh University Press, 1891. Reprinted in The Druids' Voice, no.5, BDO, St. Leonards-on-Sea, 1995.8. Philip Shallcrass (ed.), Druidry: Native Spirituality in Britain, BDO, St. Leonards-on-Sea, 1996, p.45f.9. Sean O'Boyle, Ogam: The Poet's Secret, Gilbert Dalton, Dublin, 1980, p.13.10. Thomas Kinsella (trans.), The Tain, Oxford University Press, 1969, p.69ff.11. Sean O'Boyle, op. cit., p.13; T. W. Rolleston, Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race, George G. Harrap, 1911, p.163.12. Tacitus (translated by H. Mattingly), The Agricola and the Germania, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1970, p.109.13. Calder, op. Cit.14. Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Faber & Faber, London, 1961.15. Liz & Colin Murray, The Celtic Tree Oracle, Rider Books, London, 1988.16. Nigel Pennick, The Secret Lore of Runes and Other Magical Alphabets, Rider Books, London, 1991.

A version of this article appeared in The Druids' Voice no.8, Summer 1997. It is a revised extract from Philip Shallcrass' forthcoming book, The Bardic Tradition in Britain and Ireland.


http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/druidsvoice.htm

Page 42 of 68

A Note from Merddy: - Source 3

Trees were sacred to the druids and Celts in general for many reasons. The livelihood of the people depended on the trees for food, shelter, weapons, tools, eating utensils, furniture and warmth. It’s likely that every Celt knew what trees would burn long and hot and which trees would be best for making tools and weapons. Some trees like the Elder were so sacred that Breton law forbade felling the sacred wood under penalty of death.

Our wooden brothers and sisters were revered for more than just the utility of their branches and the warmth of their fire though. Trees were seen as a living personification of the universe. A tree springs forth and draws life from the darkness of the earth mother and reaches for the sky father with it’s branches and is nourished by the water of our world. Thus, a tree exists in all three elements sacred to the druids. They are dependent on both the earth mother and the sky father (sun) to live. Celts believed in the divinity of all living things and saw trees as especially spiritual creatures that existed in their own time and space element.

Each tree in the traditional Celtic calendar represents a different aspect or element of life. Together the properties of them all form the great druidic tree of life (Not to be confused with Nordic World Tree, Yggdrasil, which was reputed to be an Ash.). Trees were arranged in a hierarchy. The different schools of Druidry from Britan and Ireland had slight variations on the order of the hierarchy. The order presented here is Beth-Luis-Nion alphabet which is generally accepted as one of the primary alphabets. The order and standing of the trees is generally a topic of hot debate among schools of modern druidry.

Another point to notice here is that the tree listing presented here is based on the indigenous trees of the area. A North American tree listing and hierarchy would be very different based on the plant life in the region.

One of the primary focuses of druidry today is to keep the art and science alive and active. It’s believed that one of the reasons the original druids detested writing is because once a story or idea is written it is frozen in time and ceases to be alive and dynamic. It can never evolve and change. The same logic generally applies to the Celtic tree calendar and the Celtic tree alphabet. Practitioners are encouraged to re-order and re-arrange so that things feel right to you.

On Mistletoe:Druids draw inspiration and knowledge from nature. Knowing this, it’s little doubt why mistletoe is such a sacred plant to Druidry. Mistletoe is a plant that is not what it seems to be and certainly not like many other plants. In that way it stands apart form the rest. The exception to the rule of nature within the world of nature is truly noteworthy. Mistletoe has fleshy leaves like a plant but woody stalk like a tree. It doesn’t grow in the earth like most plants but instead it draws nourishment directly from other plants. It doesn’t grow toward light like most plants but can often be found growing upside down. Imagine the significance of a mistletoe plant growing on the most sacred of all trees to the druids, the oak. This plant would have been seen as drinking only the essence of the oak tree for nourishment and would be considered extremely potent.

The root of the word Mistletoe translates to “heal all” and that’s exactly what it was used for, everything. The berries are poisonous but the other parts of the plant are not, though they probably should be eaten in large amounts. Homeopaths have been using mistletoe as a sedative for centuries. It can also be used to lower high blood pressure. Recently, research has begun into using mistletoe as in the fight against cancer with promising results.


Page 43 of 68

Sacred Animals – Source 2

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.

Horses Several 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 sovereignty.

Salmon appear fairly frequently in Fianna myth, and usually represent Wisdom. Fionn MacCumhall gained supernatural wisdom when he accidentally 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 foreshadow 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 dying, for example.

Deer were a hunting animal, and probably represented the honor that the hunters and warriors were obliged to maintain. Appearances of deer sometimes indicate the presence of an entrance 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. The 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.


Page 44 of 68

Celtic Witchcraft & Wicca – Source 2

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 popularized 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 began in the late stone age, refined during classical civilizations such as Egypt, Sumer, and Babylon, (and presumably also by European civilizations like the Greeks and Proto-Celts) wrongly branded as Satanism by zealous medieval Christians, and violently hunted to near-extinction. This prejudice continues to this day, although 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. There is the perpetual fire of Brigid that is kept at the monastery 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 specialize its skills across gender divisions.

The essentials of Wicca are significantly 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. 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.


Page 45 of 68

Arthurian Druidism – Source 2

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 Excalibur 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 independently.

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.


Page 46 of 68

Celtic Christianity – Source 2

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 Armaugh 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 permanent 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 hierarchal, 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.


Page 47 of 68

Romantic Druidsm – Source 2

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 exaggerated 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 organized 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 "Excalibur". 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 correspondence 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 possessed 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.


Page 48 of 68

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.


Page 49 of 68

Song of Amergin – Source 2

This particular poem is perhaps the most famous piece of Druid poetry. It was uttered by the druid Amergin when he first set foot on Ireland. I quote it here because, in a magical way, it is the answer you would get if you asked a Druid, "what is a Druid?"

I am the wind on the seaI am the wave of the sea

I am the bull of seven battlesI am the eagle on the rockI am a flash from the sun

I am the most beautiful of plantsI am a strong wild boar

I am a salmon in the waterI am a lake in the plain

I am the word of knowledgeI am the head of the spear in battle

I am the God that puts fire in the headWho spreads light in the gathering on the hills?

Who can tell the ages of the moon?Who can tell the place where the sun rests?

A note from Merddy – Source 3

The song of Amergin is a classic druidic poem stating the realization that the druid is in connection with everything. It has also be suggested that this form of poetry makes reference to reincarnation in that Amergin is recognizing that he has been each of these things in a previous life. Notice several of the references are to things that we do not traditionally associate with being alive. It has also been suggested that the inclusion of these references may mean that Amergin recognized his life was a form of energy such as a sound or beam of light or the wind or wave or a particular instance of time (spear point in battle). This suggests that druids see an intimate connection with everything in the world in every moment. The last few lines may suggest that because he realizes this connection it has empowered him to a greater wisdom.


Page 50 of 68

Awen - The Holy Spirit of Druidryby Greywolf, This article is extracted from Druidry: Re-Kindling the Sacred Fire, copyright BDO, 1999.

The quest for Awen is a quest for the spirit of Druidry itself, and, as such, it brings together many paths. We may pursue the quest as historian, linguist, poet, philosopher, priest, magician, shaman, and in many other guises. Each, in its own way, helps us to gain understanding and, as we walk the Druid path, one of the things we discover is that in understanding lies strength.

The first recorded reference to Awen occurs in Nennius' Historia Brittonum, a Latin text of circa 796 CE, based on earlier writings by the Welsh monk, Gildas. After referring to King Ida of Northumbria, who reigned from 547 to 559, Nennius says that:

"Then Talhearn Tad Awen won renown in poetry."

Tad means 'father,' so Talhearn is the Father of Awen. This doesn't tell us much about what Awen is, but, if we accept Nennius as a reliable source, it does show that Awen existed as a concept at a time when Diarmait mac Cerbaill still reigned as the last semi-pagan High King of Ireland, and only a century or so after St. Patrick's mission to convert the Irish to Christianity.

The last pagan Romano-British shrines had only fallen into disuse over the previous two or three generations; St. Columba, himself the great-grandson of a pagan High King, had yet to found his monastery on Iona, from which he set out to convert the pagan Picts, and St. Augustine's mission to the pagan Angles would not start for another fifty years. Our first reference to Awen, then, dates from a period when Britain and Ireland were still in transition from paganism to Christianity. This, along with other evidence set out below, points to Awen being a concept carried over from pagan Druidry into Christian Bardic tradition.

To discover what Awen is, we should first look at what the word means. The feminine noun, Awen, has been variously translated as 'inspiration,' 'muse,' 'genius,' or even 'poetic frenzy.' The word itself is formed by combining the two words, aw, meaning 'a fluid, a flowing', and en, meaning 'a living principle, a being, a spirit, essential'. So Awen may be rendered literally as 'a fluid essence', or 'flowing spirit'. The next stage of our quest takes us to the surviving works of the Bards of medieval Britain, who were both the inheritors and the medium of transmission of remnants of pagan Druid tradition.

The so-called Four Ancient Books of Wales; the White Book of Rhydderch, the Red Book of Hergest, the Black Book of Caermarthen, and especially the 13th century Book of Taliesin, contain a number of poems which refer to Awen. These verses vary widely in date. Some may be as old as the era of the Cynfeirdd, or 'Early Bards,' which began in the 6th century, while others


http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/BDO%20Subscription.htm#Kinski

Page 51 of 68

are much later, composed shortly before the compilation of the manuscripts in which they are found. The earliest poetry consists largely of eulogies on dead heroes, and contains few allusions to religion of any kind, but,throughout most of the period in question, Bards were avowedly Christian, and this needs to be borne in mind when we are seeking references to pagan tradition in their works. In seeking to establish what medieval Bards understood by the term Awen, we are hampered by the fact that their poetic style is often enigmatic and allusive. They had no need to explain what Awen meant to them; they already knew well enough, and were evidently happy for outsiders to the poetic craft to make of it what they could.

There are, however, clues to be found in their writings. The 12th century poet, Llywarch ap Llywelyn (c.1173-1220), also known by his splendid Bardic name, Prydydd y Moch, the 'Poet of the Pigs' says:

"The Lord God will give me the sweet Awen, as from the cauldron of Ceridwen."

Ceridwen and Taliesin: the Goddess and the Bard

Here, although the Bard identifies Awen as a gift from God, he states that it is given "as from the cauldron of Ceridwen." Who then, is Ceridwen? Elsewhere, Prydydd y Moch refers to her as "the ruler of Bards (rvyf bardoni)", a title accredited to her by several others. Our most extensive single source of information about her comes from a late prose tale entitled Chwedl [the Story of] Taliesin. A 'historical' Bard named Taliesin has been identified as having lived in the late 6th century, although, of the 77 surviving poems attributed to him, including those which comprise the Book of Taliesin, most were composed much later. The earliest surviving version of Chwedl Taliesin is found in a 16th century manuscript which evidently contains much older material since it refers to motifs found in poems dated as early as the 9th century.

In the story, Ceridwen is said to dwell in the midst of Lake Bala in Powys, with her husband, Tegid Moel ('Beautiful Bald One'). They have three children: Morfran ('Cormorant'); Creirwy ('Crystal Egg'), the most beautiful maiden in the world; and Afagddu ('Utter Darkness'), the most ill-favoured man. To compensate Afagddu for his ugliness, Ceridwen decides to make him all-wise by brewing him a magical cauldron of Inspiration (i.e. Awen) "according to the arts of the Fferyllt ('Alchemists, or Metal-workers')." The cauldron must brew for a year and a day, and Ceridwen sets two people to tend it while she goes out gathering herbs; a blind man called Morda ('Good Sea' or 'Great Good'), and a child named Gwion Bach ('Little Innocent'). On the last day, three drops of liquid fly out from the cauldron and burn Gwion's finger.

He puts it to his mouth and instantly gains the three gifts of poetic inspiration, prophecy, and shape- shifting. Unfortunately, the rest of the brew is deadly poisonous andthe cauldron bursts its sides. With his gift of prophecy, Gwion knows that Ceridwen will try to kill him for having taken the draught meant for her son, so he uses his shape-shifting ability to flee in the shape of a hare. Ceridwen pursues him in the form of a greyhound bitch, so he turns into a fish. She transforms into an otter bitch. He becomes a bird; she a hawk. He becomes a grain of wheat and hides on a threshing floor, but Ceridwen becomes a black hen and swallows him.


Page 52 of 68

'The Hostile Confederacy,' a poem from the Book of Taliesin, refers to this part of the tale as follows:

"A hen received me,With ruddy claws, [and] parting comb.I rested nine nightsIn her womb a child,I have been matured,I have been an offering before the Protector,I have been dead, I have been alive.....Again advised me the cherisherWith ruddy claws; of what she gave meScarcely can be recounted;Greatly will it be praised."

After nine months, Gwion is reborn from the womb of Ceridwen, who cannot bear to kill him "by reason of his great beauty," so she ties him in a leather bag and throws him into the sea on the eve of May Eve. On May Day morning, the bag is pulled from a weir and opened. The first person to look upon the beautiful baby in the bag says, "Behold, a radiant brow!" And so the child takes the name Taliesin, which, in Welsh, means 'Radiant Brow.' Taliesin, although a baby, is immediately able to compose perfect impromptu verse by virtue of the Awen received from Ceridwen's cauldron. He goes on to achieve fame as Primary Chief Bard of Britain.

This tale parallels many others in British and Irish Bardic literature and folklore, where individualsreceive gifts of wisdom, power, or poetic inspiration from Otherworld women. The role of Ceridwen in this story, coupled with references to her in Bardic poetry, have led most commentators to conclude that she is a pagan Goddess. Her name means 'Crooked Woman,' or 'Bent White One,' suggesting an association with the crescent moon.

The Cauldron of Inspiration

It is tempting to interpret the whole story as an instruction manual for Bardic initiation. Gwion encounters three receptacles of transformation: the cauldron, the womb, and the leather bag from which he finally emerges as Taliesin. He encounters each through the actions of Ceridwen, who acts as initiator throughout. We could further speculate that the three receptacles represent a series of initiations into the three `grades' of Bard, Ovate, and Druid: the drink from the cauldron opens the mind of the Bard to the gift of Awen; the sojourn in the womb of the Goddess gives the Ovate wisdom to understand it; the ordeal of being cast into the sea in the leather bag (perhaps a coracle?) enables the Druid to conquer the ultimate fear: the fear of death. The gifts bestowed on Taliesin by the magic drops from the cauldron can also be equated with the three 'grades': poetic inspiration for the Bards; prophecy for the Ovates; shape-shifting for the Druids.It is also tempting to envisage the cauldron of inspiration as containing some intoxicating drink. In support of this, there are various references to mead in the Taliesin poems, notably 'The Chair of Taliesin', which refers to aspects of the brewing process as well as to a variety of herbs, and ends with the lines:

"Radiance pervades the brewer,Over the cauldron of five trees,And the flowing of a river,And the spreading of heat,And honey and trefoil,And supreme mead intoxicating,


Page 53 of 68

As metal to a warlord,The gift of the Druids."

North European traditions contain many instances of spiritual or magical gifts being conferred by drinking mead. The Norse God Odin drinks the magic mead, Kvasir, from a cauldron called Odhroerir, 'Inspiration,' having seduced the giant's daughter who is its guardian. Irish mythology even presents us with a Goddess, Meadhbh, whose name is the same as that of the drink. It should be borne in mind, though, that our ancestors had a very different relationship with alcohol; beer and mead being their staple drinks due to the fact that the brewing process killed off the bacteria which infected water supplies. Even so, it is more likely that Bards used drinking from the cauldron of Ceridwen as a metaphor for receiving poetic inspiration.

Ceridwen and her cauldron are mentioned in a number of poems, including one preserved in the Book of Taliesin, from which the following lines are taken:

"Shall not my chair be defended from the cauldron of Ceridwen?May my tongue be free in the sanctuary of the praise of Gogyrwen.The praise of Gogyrwen is an oblation which has satisfiedThem with milk, and dew, and acorns."

There is considerable uncertainty as to the meaning of the word Gogyrwen, or Ogyrwen. Iolo Morganwg identified it with the symbol of three light rays (/|\) which he and others also give as a symbol of Awen. Pughe's Welsh Dictionary defines Gogyrwen as 'a spiritual being or form; a personified idea.' W. F. Skene claims that it is a synonym for the Goddess Ceridwen. More recently, John Matthews has suggested that it might be a title applied to Goddesses in general, and to Ceridwen in particular. A reference in 'The Hostile Confederacy,' to "seven score Ogyrwens in the Awen" certainly indicates that the term could be used in the plural. Its meaning can be interpreted as 'Youthful Fair One,' a not unreasonable title for a Goddess one wishes to be on good terms with. From the lines quoted above, it seems that Gogyrwen may be propitiated with offerings of "milk, and dew, and acorns," all offerings associated with the Faery Folk.Another Taliesin poem, 'The Chair of the Sovereign,' refers to the;

"Height whence came the Wise One of the Cauldron.Ogyrwen of the three Awens."

"The Wise One of the Cauldron" is presumably Ceridwen. A poem attributed to the Bard Cuhelyn begins;

"According to the dignified ode of Ceridwen, the Ogyrwen of mixed seed,The mixed seed of poetry, speaks to the extensive skies enclosing beauty."

Reference to "three Awens" and to the "ode of Ceridwen" remind one that chanting the word Awen three times is one of the methods employed by some Druid groups for opening the individual spirit to the spirit of the Goddess as source of inspiration. The chant takes the form of a long, low, vibratory mantra, similar to the Hindu Om, or Aum. That Awen was sung, or chanted, in the past is clear from a number of medieval poems, including 'The Hostile Confederacy,' where the Bard says:

"The Awen I sing,From the deep I bring it,A river while it flows,I know its extent;I know when it disappears;I know when it fills;I know when it overflows;


Page 54 of 68

I know when it shrinks;I know what baseThere is beneath the sea."

Awen, the 'flowing spirit,' is here referred to as a river, apparently drawn from the sea by the poet's singing. The 'sea' may be taken as a reference to the all-encompassing spirit that surrounds us, the 'river' being that portion of it which the Bard draws to himself through his invocation.

The Cell of Song

So Awen may be obtained by drinking from the cauldron of the Goddess, and through singing or chanting. Other references, although much later in date, give us further ways in which Awen, or inspiration, may be obtained. The Memoirs of the Marquis of Clanricarde, published in 1722, contain an account of a Bardic school in Ireland, which tells us that:

"It was... necessary that the Place should be in the solitary Recess of a Garden or within a Sept or Enclosure far out of the reach of any noise... The Structure was a snug, low Hut, and beds in it at convenient Distances, each within a small Apartment without much Furniture of any kind, save only a Table, some Seats, and a Conveniency for cloaths to hang upon. No Windows to let in the day, nor any Light at all us'd but that of Candles, and these brought in at a proper Season only... The Professors... gave a Subject suitable to the Capacity of each Class, determining the number of Rhimes, and clearing what was to be chiefly observed therein as to Syllables, Quartans, Concord, Correspondence, Termination and Union, each of which were restrain'd by peculiar Rules. The said Subject... having been given over Night, they work'd it apart each by himself upon his own Bed, the whole next Day in the Dark, till at a certain Hour in the Night, Lights being brought in, they committed it to writing. Being afterwards dress'd and come together into a large Room, where the Masters waited, each Scholar gave in his Performance, which being corrected or approv'd... either the same or fresh subjects were given for the next Day... The reason of laying the Study aforesaid in the Dark was doubtless to avoid the Distraction which Light and the variety of Objects represented thereby commonly occasions. This being prevented, the Faculties of the Soul occupied themselves solely upon the Subject in hand, and the Theme given; so that it was soon brought to some Perfection according to the Notions or Capacities of the Students."

The conditions described here are clearly a form of what we would now call sensory deprivation. The researches of Dr. John Lilly (The Centre of the Cyclone, Granada, 1973) and others have shownthat this technique can give rise to extremely vivid visionary experiences. The whimsically named Martin Martin provides an account of a similar practice in use among Bards in the Western Isles of Scotland in the late 17th century:

"They [the Bards] shut their Doors and Windows for a Days time, and lie on their backs with a Stone upon their Belly, and Plads about their Heads, and their Eyes being cover'd they pump their Brains for Rhetorical Encomium or Panegyrick; and indeed they furnish such a Stile from this Dark Cell as is understood by very few..."

Perhaps the stone referred to here is the legendary Glain Naddair, or 'Adder Stone,' believed to have been created by covens of copulating serpents on Midsummer's Eve, and credited with protective and healing properties. Philip Carr-Gomm (The Druid Way) has recently suggested that a somewhat weightier stone was used in order to create "one over-riding sensory input in order to block out all others."


Page 55 of 68

Martin's remark about the style of composition produced by this technique being "understood by very few" certainly describes well enough the allusive and mystical style of the medieval Welsh Bards. There is no explicit reference to such a technique being used in the Bardic colleges of Wales, although there are allusions which hint at it, such as the following lines from a poem by Iolo Goch:

"The dark island, the cell of song,So once was called Anglesey of the green nape."

Similar vision-inducing techniques were common in classical Greece, where many oracular shrines had an inner sanctum in which priestesses, priests, or visitors would sleep in anticipation of receiving healing or instruction in dream visions. A similar technique seems to have passed into Christian usage in Ireland under the guise of St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cavern on an island in Lough Derg, Co. Donegal, in which pilgrims spent a day and a night experiencing visions of "the sorrows and the pains of evil men and the joys and bliss of good men". Local folklore held that Lough Derg was the last bastion of Druidry in Ireland. The 6th century Irish missionary saint, Columba, was said to have spent three days and nights alone in a darkened house, during which the Holy Spirit gave him the power to see "many of the secret things that have been hidden since the world began".

A related technique, which survived in folk memory into the 19th century in Scotland, involved being wrapped tightly in a bull's hide and laid beside running water, or a waterfall, for a day and a night. The bull's hide restricted movement and helped maintain body temperature, while the sound of running water provided the sensory block. This is reminiscent of an incident in 'The Dream of Rhonabwy', a story contained in the collection of medieval Welsh folk tales and legends known as The Mabinogion. In this tale, the hero enters a strange hall, the sole inhabitant of which is a toothless crone (a 'Crooked Woman'), where he falls asleep for three days and nights on a yellow ox-hide and has a vivid divinatory dream.

The folklore surrounding certain megalithic chambered tombs in Wales tells how spending the night inside them will render one either mad or an inspired poet (though some would question whether there is a difference). Irish literary tradition contains many stories of people sleeping on prehistoric burial mounds, referred to as sidhe or Faery mounds, and being visited by Otherworld women who bestow poetic inspiration or wisdom on them. It is possible that such tales reflect a distant echo of rites carried out by the builders of these tombs, 5000 years ago, for archaeology has shown that their use was as much ritual as funereal. Massive stone chambers with covering earthen mounds would certainly have been effective in depriving the senses of sight and hearing. Both archaeology and tradition suggest that these ancient mounds were places where the living might contact ancestral spirits to gain power, wisdom, or inspiration. Perhaps, then, the Bards of Britain and Ireland, lying in their dark cells in the 17th century, were enacting a rite whose origins lay with priest- magicians of the Neolithic period.

A Bardic Vision

An extraordinary account of the descent of Awen in the form of a hawk is given in a letter to the 17th century antiquary, John Aubrey, from the Welsh poet, Henry Vaughan (1621-1695), who writes:

"As to the later Bards, who were no such men, but had a society and some rules and orders among themselves, and several sorts of measures and a kind of lyric poetry, which are all set down exactly in the learned John David Rhees, or Rhesus his Welsh or British grammar, you shall have there, in the later end of his book, a most curious account of them. This vein of poetry they call Awen, which in their language signifies as much as Raptus, or a poetic furor; and in truth as many of them as I have conversed with are, as I may say, gifted or inspired with it. I was told by a very sober and knowing person (now dead) that in his time there was a young lad fatherless and motherless, and so very


Page 56 of 68

poor that he was forced to beg; but at last was taken up by a rich man that kept a great stock of sheep upon the mountains not far off from the place where I now dwell, who clothed him and sent him into the mountains to keep his sheep. There in summer time, following the sheep and looking to their lambs, he fell into a deep sleep, in which he dreamed that he saw a beautiful young man with a garland of green leaves upon his head and a hawk upon his fist, with a quiver full of arrows at his back, coming towards him (whistling several measures or tunes all the way) and at last let the hawk fly at him, which he dreamed got into his mouth and inward parts, and suddenly awaked in a great fear and consternation, but possessed with such a vein, or gift of poetry, that he left the sheep and went about the Country, making songs upon all occasions, and came to be the most famous Bard in all the Country in his time."

This account is strongly reminiscent of the spirit or vision quest, or journey to obtain power, undertaken by medicine men and women in many different cultures. Such quests frequently involve journeys into mountains, or remote wilderness areas, where initiatory dreams are experienced, as well as encounters with power animals, or spirit helpers who appear in animal form. These, like Vaughan's hawk, sometimes enter the body of the shaman. A hawk was, of course, one of the shapes assumed by Ceridwen in her pursuit of Taliesin, but what of the "beautiful young man with a garland of green leaves upon his head?" Perhaps he is some greenwood God of summer; perhaps he is Taliesin.

Divine inspiration appearing in the form of a bird is a not uncommon theme in Europeanpaganism. An oracular shrine at Dodona was founded after the God Zeus, in the form of a dove, spoke from the branches of an oak tree. The priestesses who interpreted the voice of the God at thisshrine (from the rustling leaves of the sacred oak) were known as Peliai, 'Doves'.The poetic genius of Taliesin, obtained from the cauldron of the Goddess, was held in great respect by generations of Bards, who, over a period of several centuries, continued to attribute poetry to him, and to view him as the pre-eminent master of their craft.

Prophetic Poetry of the Awenyddion

The second gift of the cauldron is prophecy, and prophecy by means of Awen, as practised among a specialist group of diviners, is described by Giraldus Cambrensis in his Description of Wales (trans.Lewis Thorpe, Penguin Books, 1978, p.246ff.), written in the late 12th century. Giraldus says that:

"among the Welsh there are certain individuals called Awenyddion who behave as if they are possessed... When you consult them about some problem, they immediately go into a trance and lose control of their senses... They do not answer the question put to them in a logical way. Words stream from their mouths, incoherently and apparently meaningless and lacking any sense at all, but all the same well expressed: and if you listen carefully to what they say you will receive the solution to your problem. When it is all over, they will recover from their trance, as if they were ordinary people waking from a heavy sleep, but you have to give them a good shake before they regain control of themselves... and when they do return to their senses they can remember nothing of what they have said in the interval... They seem to receive this gift of divination through visions which they see in their dreams. Some of them have the impression that honey or sugary milk is being smeared on their mouths; others say that a sheet of paper with words written on it is pressed against their lips. As soon as they are roused from their trance and have come round from their prophesying, that is what they say has happened... "In the same way, at a time when the kingdom of Britain still existed, the two Merlins, Caledonius and Ambrosius, each foretold of its destruction, and the coming first of the Saxons and then of the Normans...


Page 57 of 68

"If you should ask... by what supernatural agency such prophecies are made possible, I do not necessarily say by sorcery or by the intervention of evil spirits. It is true that knowledge of what is to be is the property of God alone, for only He can foretell the future by His omniscience freely dispensed from on high... "It is not to be wondered at... if those who suddenly receive the spirit of God as a sign of grace come down from above should for a time seem to have lost their reason."

The final two paragraphs remind us that Giraldus was both a Welshman and a Christian clergyman, hence he cannot bring himself to accuse his fellow countrymen of commerce with "evil spirits," but equates the gift of Awen inspiring these trance mediums with "the spirit of God." It would appear from Giraldus' description that Awenyddion were able to enter prophetic trance states at will, without the use of rhythmic drumming, singing, dancing, or psycho-active plants resorted to in other traditions.

Inspired prophets such as those described by Giraldus were widely known throughout the pagan Graeco-Roman world. Their prophecies were usually delivered in poetic form, sometimes being worked on by professional Bards retained for the purpose at oracular shrines. The prophetsthemselves could be either male or female. In Greece, the women were frequently considered to receive their inspiration from the God Apollo, the men from the Muses, who were Apollo's handmaidens.

Taliesin's prophetic gifts are celebrated in a number of poems, where he rehearses events sincethe creation and predicts the fate of the British until the end of time, as in `The Four Pillars of Song,' where he sings of the Saxon conquest of Britain:

"Oh! what misery,Through extreme of woe,Prophecy will showOn Troia's race.A coiling serpentProud and merciless,On her golden wings,From Germany.She will overrunEngland and Scotland,From Lychlyn sea-shoreTo the Severn.Then will the BrythonBe as prisoners,By strangers swayed,From Saxony.Their Lord they will praise,Their speech they will keep,Their land they will lose,Except wild Walia."

This reminds us that knowledge of the future is both a gift and a burden, for the future holds both joy and sorrow. With knowledge of the future, the gift of Awen also brings memory of the past, and Taliesin not only claims knowledge of past events, but also to have been present at them, as in the following verse in which he recalls events from the Bible, from classical antiquity, and from British myth and legend:

"Primary Chief Bard am I to Elffin,And my original country was the region of the summer stars;Idno and Henin called me Myrddin,


Page 58 of 68

At length every king will call me Taliesin.I was with my Lord in the highest sphere,On the fall of Lucifer into the depths of hell;I have borne a banner before Alexander;I know the names of the stars from north to south;I have been on the galaxy at the throne of the Distributor;I was in Canaan when Absalom was slain;I conveyed the divine Spirit to the level of the Vale of Hebron;I was in the Court of Don before the birth of Gwydion;I was instructor to Eli and Enoch;I have been winged by the genius of the splendid crozier;I have been loquacious prior to being gifted with speech;I was at the place of the crucifixion of the merciful Son of God;I have been three periods in the prison of Arianrhod;I have been chief director of the work of the tower of Nimrod;I am a wonder whose origins are not known;I have been in Asia with Noah in the Ark,I have seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah;I have been in India when Rome was built,I am now come here to the remnant of Troy;I have been with my Lord in the manger of the ass;I strengthened Moses through the waters of the Jordan;I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene;I have obtained the Awen from the cauldron of Ceridwen;I have been Bard of the Harp to Lleon of Lochlin;I have been on the White Hill, in the court of Cynfelyn,For a year and a day in stocks and fetters,I have suffered hunger for the Son of the Virgin,I have been fostered in the land of the Deity,I have been teacher to all intelligences,I am able to instruct the whole universe;I shall be until the day of doom upon the face of the Earth,And it is not known whether my body be flesh or fish.Then I was for nine monthsIn the womb of the hag Ceridwen;I was originally little Gwion,At length I am Taliesin."

This poem may be read as a series of incarnations through which the poet has passed. Such a reading brings to mind Julius Caesar's comment that:

"The cardinal doctrine which [Druids] seek to teach is that souls do not die, but after death pass from one body to another.""I Have Been in Many Shapes"

Other poems recall non-human transformations, as in the most famous of all the works attributed to Taliesin; Cad Godeu, 'The Battle of the Trees,' where the Bard says:

"I have been in many shapesBefore I took this congenial form;I have been a sword, narrow in shape;I believe, since it is apparent,I have been a tear-drop in the sky,I have been a glittering star,I have been a word in a letter,


Page 59 of 68

I have been a book in my origin,I have been a gleaming ray of light,A year and a half,I have been a stable bridgeOver confluences of compassion,I have been a pathway, I have been an eagle,I have been a coracle on the brink,I have been the direction of a staff,I have been a stack in an open enclosure,I have been a sword in a yielding cleft,I have been a shield in open conflict,I have been a string on a harp,Shape-shifting nine years,In water, in foam,I have been consumed in fire,I have been passion in a covert.Am I not he who will singOf beauty in what is small;Beauty in the Battle of the Tree-topsAgainst the country of Prydein."

Alwyn and Brinley Rees (Celtic Heritage, p.230) have pointed out that "Taliesin is everything, and it is a fair inference that among the Celts, as in India and other lands, there existed alongside the belief in individual reincarnation, a doctrine that there is essentially only One Transmigrant." In other words, Taliesin, through contact with Awen, discovers his identity with the divine, becoming, in effect, a supreme, all-wise, and omnipresent God. There are clear parallels here with Hindu spiritual traditions, where one way of attaining enlightenment is to merge one's identity with that of a chosen Deity.

Hinduism has a Goddess-spirit which parallels Awen in many ways. In its universal aspect, this spirit is called Shakti, and is represented as a Goddess who is the active, creative spirit of Deity, partnered and directed by the wisdom of the God, Shiva. The power of Shakti manifests in many, or all, other Goddesses, including the awesome Kali, with her rosary of human skulls, and the beautiful river Goddess, Sarasvati, patroness of music and learning. In Tantric tradition women identify themselves with Shakti, men with Shiva, and ultimate spiritual fulfilment is to be found in union between the two. This doctrine was formulated during the same centuries which saw the composition of the Taliesin poems.

In Bardic tradition, individual women can become incarnations of Awen, or the Goddess as museIn the 'Dialogue Between Myrddin and Gwendydd,' the Bard and his muse refer to each other in reverential terms:

"I ask of my Llallogan,Myrddin, wise man, soothsayer,A song of dispensation, and from me,The maid who bids thee, a song of summer."I will speak to Gwendydd,Since she has addressed me in my hiding-place.With their secrets in the first of tongues,The Books of Awen tell of invocations,And the tale of a maiden, and the sleep of dreams.I reaffirm the stirrings of thy creator,The chief of all creatures,Gwendydd fair, refuge of song."


Page 60 of 68

The poems quoted above suggest that Bards sought to identify themselves with the divine, and some may have done so by identifying themselves with Taliesin as the archetypal Awen-inspired Bard. His role in relation to Ceridwen seems to indicate that Taliesin should also be regarded as a pagan deity, or at least as semi-divine. Ceridwen herself is seen as the giver of Awen, the divine creative energy, and, therefore, as initiator and muse. Her role is echoed in that of many women in Celtic mythology who cause, drive, or inspire the actions undertaken by the male heroes, whom they also suckle, nurture and often teach. Men in the legends frequently seek power and knowledge, which are often either embodied by, or under the control of, women. Female Bards would presumably have sought to identify themselves with the Goddess, either directly, or perhaps through devotion to Taliesin, much as Hindu women might approach deity through devotion to Shiva, perhaps in his incarnation as the divine lover, Krishna. Such quests for realisation of the self as one with the divine make sense of the statement in the medieval Irish text, Senchus Mor, that:

"druids ... said that it was they that made heaven and earth, and the sea, &c., and the sun and moon, &c.."

Such a level of personal identification with Deity is not part of mainstream Christian tradition in the West, although the Eastern Orthodox church has always embraced the concept of theosis, or the divinization of self. In the century during which the Book of Taliesin was compiled, there was a monastery at Mount Athos in northern Greece where the monks used physical means, including breath control, to attain higher states of consciousness, culminating in a vision of divine light, and total union of the self with God. Similar ideas were current in the West through the teachings of mystics such as Bernard of Clairvaux (1115-1153), who taught that the summation of the mystical life lay in consciousness of the divine within.

This aspect of Bardic tradition may not, then, be regarded as completely heretical in 13th century terms. What remains problematic is how Bards in the Christian Britain of the period could have reconciled an apparent reverence for the pagan Goddess Ceridwen with their professed faith in Christ. It has been suggested that Bardic references to Ceridwen demonstrate no more than an antiquarian interest in their own traditions. My own feeling is that the references are so strange, and so tied in with the occult and mystical concept of Awen, that they can only represent a genuine pagan survival, or rather, a remarkable semi-pagan synthesis, based partly on the Celtic past, but merged with spiritual ideas current in other traditions of the period.

The Bardic Goddess

The nearest equivalent to Awen in the Irish Bardic tradition is Dan, or Dana, a term which has a number of related meanings, including 'a gift, treasure, spiritual gift or offering,' 'art, science, calling,' 'the art of poetry,' 'poem' or 'song.' In Ireland, the term Aos Dana (literally; 'People of Art') denoted anyone who practised the Bardic arts. The word may also be related to Danu, Dana, or Anu, the eponymous mother-Goddess of the pagan Irish pantheon, the Tuatha de Danaan, or 'Tribe of Danu.' One early text describes poetry (i.e. Dana) as "multi-formed, multi-faceted, multi-magical, a noble well-clasped maiden" who appears to Bards during the process of composition.The Goddess most associated with the Bardic Order in Ireland, however, is Brighid, whose name means 'Maiden,' or 'Fair Woman,' although it can also be interpreted to mean 'the Power of Fate.' According to the 9th century Irish manuscript, Cormac's Glossary, Brighid was Goddess of filidecht (i.e. 'Bardism'), healing, and smithcraft. The same source refers to her as

"A Goddess worshipped by poets on account of the great and illustrious protection afforded them by her."

With the coming of Christianity, the pagan Irish Goddess was replaced by a saint bearing the same name, who took over many of the attributes of her predecessor. This is clear from the epithets attached to the saint's name in Scottish folk tradition, which include 'Brighid Melodious-


Page 61 of 68

Mouthed,' 'Brighid of Prophecy,' 'of the Harp,' 'of the Slim Faery Folk,' and 'of the Tribe of the Green Mantles (i.e. the Faery Folk).' This canonised Goddess is also linked with a magical fire, with childbirth, with a mysterious white serpent, and with intoxicating drink. Her feast day at the beginning of February marked the first stirrings of spring, when the Serpent of Bride was said to emerge from its hole, where it apparently spent the winter, suggesting that it represents the Goddess's power of growth in nature.

The power of Shakti, which we have likened to Awen, is identified, in its microcosmic form, with the Goddess Kundalini, whose serpent energy sleeps in the lowest of the body's subtle centres until awakened by the practice of Kundalini yoga. Neiddred, 'Adders, or Snakes,' has long been an alternative name for Druids, and in the Taliesin poem, 'The Cattle-fold of the Bards,' the poet identifies himself both as Druid and serpent:

"I am song to the last; I am clear and bright;I am hard; I am a Druid;I am a wright; I am well-wrought;I am a serpent; I am reverence, that is an open receptacle."

We have seen that one of the primary attributes of Brighid's British counterpart, Ceridwen, is herCauldron of Inspiration. In Irish myth the primary deity associated with a similar magical cauldron is Brighid's father, the Dagda ('Good God'), called in one text the 'God of Druidry.'What then have we learned about Awen? We know that it is a flowing spirit, a kind of life essence, a source of spiritual strength, prophetic insight and poetic inspiration associated with deities called Ceridwen and Taliesin in Britain, and Brighid and the Dagda in Ireland, all of whom are associated with magic cauldrons and intoxicating liquors. It is quite likely that individual tribal groups had their own deities associated with the `flowing spirit.' Meadhbh and Dana have already been mentioned, and it seems not unreasonable to suggest that our Druid ancestors regarded all deities as sources of, or conduits for, Awen. We have seen that Awen can manifest in a variety of forms such as liquid, a hawk, a woman, or the taste of honey on the lips. We also know that it can be contacted by drinking from the cauldron of the Goddess, by singing or chanting, by controlled trance induction, by vision quest, or by sensory deprivation. Modern Druid groups also use various forms of meditation, visualisation and ritual.

Awen has counterparts in other cultures. We have already mentioned the Hindu Shakti, called the Great Mother of the Universe, and the Christian Holy Spirit, which the early Gnostic writer, Irenaeus, called the First Woman, or Mother of All Living. Both are regarded as the energy through which Deity creates the universe, as well as being linked with healing and prophecy; gifts also associated with Awen. Mircea Eliade (Patterns in Comparative Religion, p.21) says that

"The Sioux call this force Wakan; it exists everywhere in the universe, but only manifests itself in extraordinary phenomena (such as the sun, the moon, thunder, wind, etc.) and in strong personalities (sorcerers... figures of myth and legend, and so on)."

The Melanesian term, Mana, has been used as a universal term for such spiritual forces.Not all people and things are equally endowed with this spiritual force; some possess it very strongly, and become, therefore, objects of power and reverence, while others seem to lack it almost entirely. It is possible for individuals to accumulate this energy in themselves, and to channel it into other people or into objects, for the purposes of healing, inspiring, or empowering.

The ways in which we have envisaged Awen so far have, perhaps, made it seem occult and mysterious, and so it is, yet its inspiring energy is all around us if we can but learn to sense its presence and open ourselves to its gifts. It may be experienced in the thrill of standing on a windswept hilltop, or walking through a moonlit wood, or by the sea-shore, or being out in an electrical storm, or performing ceremonies at ancient sacred places, where it accumulates like water running into a hollow. It is sensed in that strange, tingling thrill that comes on first hearing


Page 62 of 68

an inspired piece of music, or a poem, or on seeing a magnificent painting. It is a response to the inspiring spirit channelled into a work of art by its creator. The poet Robert Graves has described it as a prickling sensation on the back of the neck. Some experience it as a tingling in the palms of their hands, like contacting a static charge, or as a glowing warmth in the region of the solar plexus. It leaves one feeling uplifted and energised.

One summer afternoon, I stood in a wood with about a dozen Druids. We joined hands and asked Spirit for guidance. A great silver bowl, about eight feet in diameter, appeared above our circle. Above the bowl a woman's hand, pale and slender, emerged from the air. From her fingers ran a stream of silver liquid that quickly filled the shallow bowl, which overflowed, sending streams of silver down upon the heads of those gathered in the circle. Such was my vision of Awen on this occasion.

But this vision was personal to me. It is for each individual to discover the way, or ways, in which Awen manifests for them, just as we must find our own creative talents through which to make manifest its gift of inspiration, and must each find our own relationship with Deity. And so we see that Awen lies at the heart of the Druid tradition, for it is Awen, the Holy Spirit of Druidry, that provides our true link, not only with the past, but with the deeper reality of the present, and with the infinite possibilities of the future, and which gives as its ultimate gift the recognition of our own divinity.


Page 63 of 68

Interview with a Yew Treeby Greywolf of the British Druid Order

One thing that's expected of Druids is that we should talk to trees. I recall in my youth watching the Andy Williams Show on TV and seeing him start singing the old standard, "I Talk to the Trees." After the first few bars two men in white coats came and carried him away. It gets you like that sometimes. Undaunted, I read about Ents in Lord of the Rings, ingested a mind-altering substance, and, towards dawn, as the effects of the drug were wearing off, wandered down through the trees towards the sea on the Isle of Wight. On the way I was called by a particularly fine and upright conifer. I took out my recorder and began to play, improvising a tune to fit the moment, responding to the spirit of the tree.

I gave my music as an offering in return for the beauty of the moment and the tree. The tree really liked my music. I was rewarded with the most spectacularly gorgeous sunrise I have ever seen; one side of the sky was velvet night, embracing the moon and stars, the other side fresh with the light of newborn day, the red-gold disk of the sun just cresting the horizon. Breathtaking.

That was almost thirty years ago. As we grow older, we're supposed to get more sensible, but a good deal of Druidry, like most spiritual traditions, has little to do with sense as defined in the Pocket Oxford Dictionary as "sanity or presence of mind regarded as based on the normal action of the senses." Indeed, an excess of this kind of rationality can be a positive hindrance when one is seeking to encounter worlds beyond the mundane.

So it was that, whilst walking through my local park recently, I passed a yew tree with whom I had previously struck up an acquaintance. She's a young tree for a yew, only about 120 years old. I saw that she'd had some vandal trouble. One of her lower branches was cracked and twisted. There were stumps here and there where other branches had been lopped off. In my concern for her, I went over to ask how she was doing. I was thinking in human terms. I rested my hands on her trunk and thought about her plight, stuck there close by a busy main road, swung on by passing children, abused or peed on by occasional drunks. I framed my question:

"What is your wyrd?" I asked her.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term, wyrd is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning something like fate. Her reply was simple:

"The wyrd of all living things: beauty and then death."

I quickly realised the stupidity of my human response to what I saw as her ill treatment. Another quotation from my teens comes to mind: "You call it fame, but the human name doesn't mean shit to a tree." That's from Eskimo Blue Day by Jefferson Airplane. Yes, the value system of trees is very different from ours.


The implications of this statement began to sink in. First, it implies that all living things are beautiful, even slugs, mosquitoes and politicians. I found this less difficult to contemplate than I would have imagined, standing there with my hands on the bole of that yew. All life is beautiful.


Page 64 of 68

Think of an autumn sunset across the sea, the full moon of midsummer flickering through the woodland canopy, flickering firelight on a lover's naked body, an eagle gliding over a rocky mountainside, the twitch of a hare on its hind legs, sniffing the spring morning air, the dancing patterns of ants around their nest, the intricate traceries of a spider's web, silvered with dew on a frosty morn. To know that life is beautiful one need only look, and look with feeling, focus, and full awareness. A regular meditation I used to practice in my teens was to find a pebble on the beach and just sit and look at it. At first it would sit in the hollow of my palm like a ... well, like a pebble, then the patterns and colours on its surface would begin to stand out, signs and symbols emerging within them, then beginning to move and shift. Eventually, the pebble would disappear, shrinking to the size of a single atom and beyond, expanding to fill the universe and beyond. All existence would be contained within the pebble, held in the palm of my hand. I used this meditation to re-balance myself, to re-connect, to merge my individual human consciousness into the immense awareness of the infinite universe. I found it a simple, yet invariably effective way to produce mystical experience. I used pebbles because I live near a beach, and because the sound of the sea is a fine accompaniment to meditation. But the exercise works just as well with a hazel-nut, a feather, a fir-cone, a shell, a mushroom, an egg or anything else for that matter. Nor is the setting important. When one's vision is awakened, even the ugly grey buildings that populate our cities begin to glow with strange, swirling colours, tracing intricate patterns of life through their manufactured forms. The more intense the mystical experience, the more it is possible to find beauty even in the most gruesome artefacts of modern life - or death...

"Beauty and then death," the yew tree said.

Yes, for all things must die, even those we love, even ourselves, perhaps especially ourselves, for we relate to mortality, as to life, as sentient, self-aware creatures. One of the greatest fears we sentient beings have is the fear of our own death, of extinction. As we work through the chaotic discipline of Druidry, we come across death many times and in many forms as we seek to conquer or transcend our fear. We experience the death, often excruciatingly painful, of aspects of our selves; we work with the dying, easing their passage to the Otherworld, or with those left behind to live, working with their grief; we work through our own pain at the death of friends or loved ones; we shape-shift into other forms, some of which may die while we inhabit them; we go back through past lives, the final wall of each being the crushing instant of death; we communicate with the spirits of the dead, sometimes allowing those spirits to enter us so that we can feel the pain of their death and, through our empathy, help them to release; we guide the living on spirit journeys to the point of death and beyond, helping them too to experience release, knowing that this will help them to overcome their fear of death and, consequently, of life.

Woden and the World Tree

At the summer solstice of 1997, I had spoken with my priestess of my desire to undergo an experience like that of Odin when he hung for nine nights on Yggdrasil, the world tree, pierced with a spear, sacrificed to himself. Yggdrasil is said by some to be a great ash tree whose roots penetrate to the depths of the Underworld and whose branches reach the realm of the gods. Others say that Yggdrasil is a yew tree. I have a strong connection with Woden, as my Anglo-Saxon ancestors called Odin. I have clear memories of a past life in late fifth, early sixth century Wessex when my spirit inhabited the body of a Saxon shaman who was dedicated to Woden. Well into medieval times, Woden was recalled as leader of the Wild Hunt, riding his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, leading the souls of the dead on their nocturnal journey to the Otherworld. When working as a priest, particularly when dealing with a deity as powerful as Woden, it pays to be very careful what you wish for. Beginning shortly after the conversation with my priestess, and for about two months, I had the unpleasant experience of witnessing the death of everyone I saw. At first, I was confronted with the actual moment of death of each one, some in car crashes, some by drowning, others through old age or disease, some on operating tables, some by murder. After a while, I no longer saw the moment of death, but its aftermath. It was like living on the set of Plague of the Zombies. I was surrounded by walking corpses.


Page 65 of 68

Then one day a scrawny, white-haired old man came walking purposefully, if creakily, up the hill towards me. He would have been tall once but was bent with age. Our eyes met briefly and in that moment I saw that his focus was fixed with stubborn determination on his own imminent death. I saw too that he viewed death as a welcome friend, that he had no fear, but a grateful acceptance both of life and its allotted end. He seemed to me a pagan saint, that old man, though for all I know he may have been the best of Christians. I blessed his strength, his courage and the vision he had shared with me and continued on my way. From that moment, the death-visions stopped. A few weeks later, I saw the old man again. He was wearing a bright red cap, a dreamy smile, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and he was skipping, yes skipping, down the same hill I had seen him struggle painfully up before. Again, our eyes met briefly as he passed, and he smiled just the flicker of a knowing smile. Was he real? Was he some spirit of the Otherworld? Was he a servant of Woden, or the god himself, the great shape-shifter, come to earth in frail, human form to teach me the lesson I needed? Was he a creature of my imagination? Of someone else's imagination? Of his own? I don't know, but I accept the gifts he gave me with gratitude and respect. He showed me again what I had learned many times before, but had contrived to forget: that death has its own beauty.

The words of the yew tree reminded me again of that beauty, for death can be beautiful, even when it is outwardly tragic, clinical, painful, even brutal. Part of its beauty lies in the fact that death itself takes those experiencing it beyond tragedy and pain, changing their perceptions, altering their priorities. Many of those who have had near death experiences report that their outlook on life has been dramatically changed as a result. Many have reported visions of profound peace and exquisite beauty. Some out-of-the-body experiences in my teens proved for me beyond doubt that consciousness is capable of functioning without a physical frame. It seemed logical to conclude that the death of the body need not be the end of existence. Curiously, by no means all who die realise this. There are spirits who cling to places they inhabited in life, endlessly reliving echoes from their mortal existence in the belief that they are still alive. Some are unable to release into the experience of death simply because they are so conditioned in the belief that death equals oblivion that they refuse to accept its reality. We experience them as ghosts. Others are aware that they are no longer in body, but still cling to their earthly haunts because of some trauma experienced in life that will not let them move on, or because their own emotions, whether of love or hatred, bind them to this world. When we find such souls, our sympathy may lead us to work with them, teasing out the threads that bind them, helping them to find the will to cut those threads and release into the freedom and beauty that is to be found in letting go.

The Cormorant and the Three Worlds

The local park where the yew tree lives harbours other spirits I have worked with and learnt from. One day in the depths of winter, whilst walking my son to school, I saw a dead cormorant floating some way from the shore in one of the lakes in the park. I decided that, if it was still there next time I passed by, I would take that as a sign that I should take it home and work with it. The weekend intervened and I felt sure that the park wardens would have removed the bird. But on Monday morning there was the cormorant, only now it had drifted right up to the shore close by the path. That was omen enough. I took it home, made prayers for the safe passage of its individual spirit to the Otherworld, and to the divine spirit of the cormorant clan. I worked with the body, dismembering it, making tools to help me in my work: an outstretched wing for fanning incense smoke in saining rites; a claw and tail feathers to adorn a rattle I was making.

Why a cormorant? Well, the cormorant moves through the three worlds of earth, sea and sky. On land it often sits with its dark wings outstretched, drying in the breeze. It swims low in the water because its feathers are not waterproof, making it heavy. It swims with only a little of its body and its long, snake-like neck above the surface. Then it flips forward in a trice to dive down, its long, bent, arrow-sharp beak searching for fish. It emerges again into the sunlight, tips back its head and, in a flash of wriggling silver, the fish is gone. In the air, the cormorant is a black shadow,


Page 66 of 68

beating its wings hard and steady, then gliding in graceful arcs, looking for a landing place. The three worlds of earth, sea and sky parallel the three worlds of the living, the dead and the gods. The ability to travel consciously and deliberately within these three worlds is, for me, the defining skill of the Druid. So, for me, the cormorant is an exemplar of what a Druid should be. As Morfran, the Sea Crow, the cormorant appears in the Welsh story of Taliesin, where he is one of the children of the goddess Ceridwen, she who brews the cauldron of awen, inspiration. He turns up as a warrior in an early Arthurian tale, Culhwch and Olwen, where it is said that "no one struck him at the battle of Camlan by reason of his ugliness: all thought he was an auxiliary devil."Here is one of the prayers I made while working with the cormorant's body:

Morfran eil Tegid

Hair had he upon him like the hair upon a stag,and dark was he like Afagddu, Utter Darkness,from whose spirit he was made before the world began.Guardian of the Crystal Egg that all of life contains,beauty is its nature, and Creirwy its name,created from the coupling of Tegid Foel and Ceridwen,the Beautiful, the Crooked White One, patroness of Bards,when turned to serpent form they make the sacred spiral dancethat takes them far across the face of ocean deep and dark,before the sun and moon are made in answer to their prayer,the one arising from the sea, the other born of air.Morfran his name, the dark, ill-favoured, Cormorant, Sea Raven,haunting shores of Llyn Tegid and diving 'neath its wavesin search of food he goes from upper world to world below,resting on the Earth between, black wings drying on the wind,master of the three worlds, of earth and air and water,guiding souls to Otherworlds beyond the western seas.Driven inland by the gales of winter with your kin,to seek freshwater fish beneath the heavy frosted icethat held you down until your spirit broke free from this life,and I who found you floating ask for wings and feet and headto grant me power to pass between the worlds with equal skill,that I may make the journey to the dark land of the deadand bring the gifts of healing and of wisdom to my clan;I ask this in the name of Celi Mawr, Morfran.

Celi Mawr means 'Great Creator.'The partner of the dead cormorant remained for many weeks, perched on the end of a branch sticking up out of the water near where her mate had died. In the summer she departed, but as autumn turned to winter she returned, bringing six of her family with her. They held a wake for the dead one. The others stayed for a few weeks then moved on. The partner remained until the Beltane moon had passed, then she too left. Almost the last time I saw her I took the time to merge my consciousness with hers, diving with her beneath the surface of the dark lake. Within the waters we found the spirits of the dead, their forms reflecting the passions and concerns of life. We dived deeper and there we found darkness, the utter darkness that the Welsh language calls Annwn, the Not-Place. I encountered this inky, eternal state of non-existence many times as a child. It used to beat into my mind night after night in the space between waking and sleeping and it terrified me. It seemed all-embracing, eternal, merciless, cold, inescapable, like a great yawning mouth eager to devour my very soul. Now, through the experiences I have described and others besides, I have come to know death as a friend and have found the beauty in death. And so, when the cormorant and I dived together into the inky blackness of Annwn, it seemed no longer a threatening maw but a welcoming embrace, not the fearful darkness of childhood, but a warm velvet bed of rest from the stresses and struggles of life. There is peace in Annwn, the Not-


Page 67 of 68

Place, a peace beyond any other, a peace in which our wounds may be healed, our cares resolved, freeing the spirit to journey on into rebirth unhindered by the burdens of the past. And yes, there is a vast and indescribable beauty in the embrace of that great night. Having understood these things, we returned to the surface of the lake. I carefully and deliberately separated my consciousness from that of the cormorant, acknowledging with gratitude her help in making the journey.

The implications of the yew-woman's words continue to echo around me, drawing threads of association and understanding into my own centre of the web of wyrd. A tree helps me to grow. A cormorant helps me to understand. I read once about a Native American who, confronted by a black-clad Christian priest brandishing a Bible, patiently tried to explain that he and his people didn't try to trap the Great Spirit in a book, but read his words in the clouds, in the trees, in the movement of animals, in the sun, moon and stars. It's much the same with Druidry. Julius Caesar said that the Druids of his time never wrote down their teachings, preferring to rely on memory. I like to think that there was more to it than that and that the old Druids, like that bemused Native American, rejected the written word in favour of the greater text of the rich, complex and intelligent world around them. After all, not only these words, but a hundred thousand more that have escaped the printed page, all stem from the simple answer the yew tree gave to my simple question:

"What is your wyrd?"


Notes1) For more about the concept of wyrd, see the book, The Wisdom of the Wyrd, by Brian Bates, Rider Books, 1996.2) The prayer, Morfran eil Tegid, is included in The Passing of the Year: A Collection of Songs, Poems, Spells and Invocations, by Philip Shallcrass, published by the British Druid Order, St Leonards-on-Sea, 1997.


Page 68 of 68

Additional Resources: http://orgs.carleton.edu/druids/ http://www.adf.org/core/ http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/ http://www.druidry.org/ http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/

OBODSacredGroves/ http://www.fatheroak.com http://www.keltria.org/

Sources Source 1: Druid Magic, by Maya Magee Sutton and Nicholas R. Mann, Llewllyn 2000. Source 2: http://www.druidsgrove.com Source 3: James D. Sangster (Merddy)

Recommended ReadingDruid Magic: The Practice of Celtic Wisdom Author: Maya Bagee Sutton & Nicholas MannISBN: 1-56718-481-2

The Celts Author: Gerhard Herm ISBN: 1-56619-218-8

A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth YearAuthor: Ellen Evert HopemanISBN: 0-89281-501-9

The 21 Lessons of Merlyn: A Study in Druid Magic and LoreAuthor: Douglas MonroeISBN: 0875424961 (note: this book claims to be historically accurate but is not. None the less, it’s a good read)


http://www.druidsgrove.com/

http://www.keltria.org/

http://www.fatheroak.com/

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/OBODSacredGroves/

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/OBODSacredGroves/

http://www.druidry.org/

http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/

http://www.adf.org/core/

http://orgs.carleton.edu/druids/

Documents

Druidry 101 - Lines of the Dragonlinesofthedragon.com/Druidry_Wicca/Druidry_101.doc · Web viewUnfortunately, of the Picts, little is known; even their name is the word the Romans