'Ireland retained its largely undiluted Celtic ethos well into the medieval period. A long oral tradition stretching back, at least in part, to the pre-Christian Iron Age was committed to writing in the early Christian monasteries. This material, in contrast to the accounts of the Classical authors, does not purport to document historical people or events, or at least if it does we have no way of knowing that this was so. Instead the Irish sources present us with an immense body of material combining fact and fantasy, myth and legend, ancient lore, Classical interpolation, pan-Christian fables and medieval folk tradition. As a source of information on the Irish Iron Age it provides us with a challenge of exceptional complexity.'
- Barry Raftery - Pagan Celtic Ireland - P. 13

'The druids formed a privileged class exempt from taxes and from military service, attractions which apparently encouraged large numbers of young men to seek admission to the order. Training, however was rigorous. The initiates were required to memorize a great volume of oral learning; so much says Caesar, that some of them spent twenty years at their studies. 'The druids believe that their religion forbids them to commit their teachings to writing... but,' he adds, 'I imagine that this rule was originally established for other reasons- because they did not want their doctrine to become public property and in order to prevent their pupils from relying on the written word and neglecting to train their memories.' His explanation was superfluous since the real reason was that Celtic was not a written language. What the druids committed to memory was the entire knowledge store of the community: magic formulas, ritual procedures, medical knowledge, law, folk history, and genealogies. To aid the memory a simple verse form with repeated epithets would have been adopted. It was by this means that the Irish folktales were passed from one generation to the next until they were eventually written down by Christian scribes in the eighth century.

Caesar recognized the druids as the only class of intellectuals in Gaul, but this seems to be an oversimplification. Other writers - Strabo, Diodorus, Athenaeus - supported by the Irish literature, distinguish three distinct categories: the bards, in whose poetry the history and traditions of the tribe were immortalized; the augurers, who oversaw the sacrifices and foretold the future; and the druids proper, versed in law and philosophy - the conservers of the ancient wisdoms. An occasional overlap in function may have obscured the differences and led Caesar into his somewhat inaccurate generalization.'
- Barry Cunliffe - The World of the Celts - P. 106

'I have encountered many calling themselves 'New Age Celts', usually not Celtic by culture, preaching harmony with Nature, fighting to protect endangered species of animal and plant life, who have stared in incomprehension when it has been pointed out that the Celtic civilization itself is struggling in a last ditch attempt to survive in the modern world. Only two-and-a-half million people out of the sixteen millions living within the Celtic areas still speak a Celtic language. Language is the highest form of cultural expression. The decline of the Celtic languages has been the result of a carefully established policy of brutal persecution and suppression. If these Celtic languages and cultures die then it will be no natural phenomenon. It will be as the result of centuries of a careful policy of ethnocide. Once the languages disappear then Celtic civilization will cease to exist and the cultural continuum of three thousand years will come to an end. The world will be the poorer for one more lost culture. What price is 'spiritual awareness' with the ancient Celts when we have stood by and allowed their modern descendants to perish? This is the uncomfortable reality for those who would conjure Druids and ancient Celts to their new concepts of 'spiritual enlightenment' while ignoring the plight of the modern Celts.'
- Peter Berresford Ellis - The Druids - pp. 280-281

There you have some opinions of author's both modern and ancient. Note the oftentimes conflicting statements/opinions. Be aware also, that there is a great deal more that could be shown to you on this subject... but size constraints limits us. If you would like to read more on the subject; you couldn't go wrong but to read the works of the author's I just cited and then read each of the bibliographies contained in each book. That should point you in some direction.

But with all the books in the world the whole truth is not contained there. There is partial truth... but it is not the big picture.

I used to believe that the above covered the first few questions on Druidry well enough, but we continually get mail etc. from several neopagans that simply do not get the point of this exercise.

To those of you that do NOT get it... let's lay it right out there for you. #1 - The term 'Druid' in Gaeilge means 'to close' or to 'draw nigh' or it represents a small bird{a starling - relative to the Crow/Raven}. It does NOT mean 'priest' or any other such thing as the thousands of neo-pagan movements seem to claim. Look it up folks. A more appropriate term which we have slid into the text of this website from time to time in hopes that some of you make the correlation... is 'Draoi'. Draoi means 'magician', and would come a bit closer to the actual representation in terms of accuracy.

#2 - It is virtually impossible for ANYONE in these modern times to make the outlandish claim of being a 'Draoi' or 'Druid'. You see, in order to actually have this title - if they used it at all which is doubtful. {more like Fili} One would have to be able to at the very LEAST do the following without hesitation:
a. Ascend through all of the Bardic Grades
b. Recite ALL of the lore, without adding or subtracting a single word or letter
c. Be fluent in Gaeilge and/or Gaelic.
d. Be able to describe the cosmos, the replenishment of same and all other things corresponding to this subject.
e. Be fluent in Brehon law / as well as the Bardic metres.
f. Have a thorough understanding of all forms of Magic, Sacrifice, and Ritual

This a very much abbreviated list of a very vast subject matter. In other words, this is really nothing in comparison to what the individual would be required to know. We have yet to meet anyone like this in the history of our lives, though it would truly be a treat if there actually was someone that could fit the bill.

So, to put it bluntly. Those of you that are calling yourselves 'Druids' are telling the world what an ignorant fool you really are. The O.B.O.D., the A.D.F., the Henge of Keltria... are all 100% frauds. They are the result of over-romantic hippies and other new-age fruit loops that have brought back the also fraudulent victorian times and flock to Stone Henge and Glastonbury making complete arses out of themselves banging on bodhrans like they're tambourines and howling at the moon. They are money-making organizations that are exploiting the cultures, the history's, the very lives of our ancestor's to make a buck. They are making that buck off of some very mixed-up and lost souls that are just trying so hard to find something other than the dominant religion of Christianity. I say to you, lost souls... Reading IS Fundamental.

Do your homework.