may discern for yourself what is fiction and/or speculation; and what is fact. Are some of these quotes completely off the mark of scholastic aptitude? Why, yes of course, some are. Are they in any particular order? No they are not, for this is our purpose. By not giving you an organized, one by one listing enables you, the reader, to see the underlying differences therein. Take what you can use, discard the rest. The choice is always yours.
'What can be said with certainty is that the concept of a Celtic heritage, rather than being an undisputed historical fact, is something which has been recreated in modern times as a tool to connect people with their past in times of change and uncertainty. The 'Celtic Twilight' movement was spawned during a time of great tension at the turn of the century, and the deep and emotional appeal of all things Celtic has resurfaced again during the great social upheavals of the 1960's. It continues to this day of the New Age and Earth Mysteries movements.
In the late twentieth century more and more people, disillusioned with religion and society in the West, are seeking to rediscover ancient and lost wisdom. They are studying a variety of sources: Celtic, Eastern, native American - often a mixture of all three - modernized, repackaged and re-exported in a form acceptable to our own society. Mysticism and paganism are part and parcel of this view of the Celts, with the druids seen as the guardians of their ancient wisdom, and the enigmatic standing stones and other megalithic monuments their pagan temples.
To cater for the demand, a whole vast publishing genre has geared itself to re-create and redefine for new generations what we mean by 'Celtic Religion', using a variety of sources, ancient and modern. These books confidently tell us about what Celtic religion was and is, the gods and goddesses, the festivals, the rituals... But how can we really be so sure what the Celts believed when they left so little unambiguous evidence? And who were the Celts anyway? As J.R.R. Tolkien so perceptively concluded, 'Celtic' is actually a magic bag 'into which anything may be put, and almost anything may come...''
- David Clarke & Andy Roberts - Twilight of the Celtic Gods - pp. 14-15
The pagan Celtic priests, known as the Druids, have attained to a popularity which the evidence for their existence in no way justifies. This 'cult' has its origins in the antiquarian speculations of romantic writers from the seventeenth century on, culminating in the works of the 'Arch-Druid' William Stukeley, whose writings did so much to stimulate the interest of the literateurs of the time in the manners and customs of the 'Noble Savage'. The publication of James MacPherson's Ossian in 1761 aroused further curiosity about the early inhabitants of the Bristish Isles, and the whole history of this 'pseudo-Druidism' makes a charming and delightful study. But it is completely irrelevant to a work dealing with the religious beliefs of the pagan Celts. If we dismiss this large body of writings on the Druids, as we must in a study such as this, then we are left with an extremely insubstantial corpus of actual evidence for the Celtic priesthood, the validity of which decreases upon critical study. Most of this occurs in the writings of the early Greeks and Romans. Druids are referred to in the vernacular literatures of the British Isles, but, no matter what their function and status was in the pre-Christian period, they figure in the post-Christian literatures in the role of wise men, shape-shifters, shamans, prognosticators. They lack the social dignity, the political power and the religious connotations of their fully pagan predecessors, The two actual sources of potential evidence for the Druids then are the comments of the classical writers, and to a very much lesser degree, the inferences which can be drawn from the evidence of prehistory. The classical source material for Celtic custom and ethnography in general has been recently reconsidered and freshly translated in a brilliant paper by Professor Tierney {1960). The actual source material can be studied in detail in this publication, and it is only necessary in this context to give a very brief resume' of the facts which emerge from a consideration of the classical sources. It is unlikely that much more information will be forthcoming, apart from the possibility of future archaeological excavations revealing temples containing cult material and inscriptions referring directly to the Druidic caste, but a further consideration of the philosophical background which gave rise to the interpretations which the classical writers gave to the Druidic doctrine may afford some help in understanding their remarks more fully.'
- Anne Ross - Pagan Celtic Britain pp. 77-78
'The term Druid means different things to different people. For some, it conjures up images of venerable white-robed and bearded gentlemen gathering at Stonehenge or at the Welsh National Eisteddfod. Others, with more awareness of the past, think of Druids as cruel religious fanatics, striking down hapless victims of human sacrifice by stabbing or burning. For others, again, Druids are somehow mixed up with secret forest groves, mistletoe, magic and spells. So what is the reality? Who were these mysterious people? When and where did they manifest themselves? And how do we know anything about them?
The available contemporary evidence presents a complex picture: Druids were involved in politics, sacrificial ritual, prophecy and the control of the supernatural world. They were teachers, keepers of oral tradition, royal advisors and, in some instances they were themselves rulers. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, they were feared and venerated because they had the ear of the divine world.'
- Miranda J. Green - The World Of the Druids - P. 7
'The real significance of the druids for Celtic religion cannot be estimated with any degree of accuracy. They probably possessed powerful religious and political influence during the free Celtic period. Certainly, the notion of a powerful religious leadership in later European prehistory is entirely comprehensible. Whilst there is no direct evidence to support this, it is not impossible that the druids were pan-Celtic before the Roman period, surviving in Ireland until the coming of Christianity.'
- Miranda J. Green - Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend - P. 87
'Skulls that gaze out from stone temple walls... statues of animals, horned figures, men-beasts... and everywhere triple groupings of gods, priests heads. Such evidence leaves no doubt that the Celts carried on an active spiritual life, marked by apparitions, cults, talismans, and supernatural symbolism. Roman witnesses, some sympathetic and some contemptuous, have added their words to the record, giving us accounts of coldblooded human sacrifices and superstitious taboos, while explaining the priestly role of the druidic elite. The shadow-world of the Celtic supernatural is filled with landmarks. What our guides do not provide - for no doubt it did not exist - is a master plan, a world-system, a hierarchy like that of the Greek and Roman pantheon. Moreover, the deeper significance of so many Celtic religious symbols eludes us as it did the Romans, since the druids imparted their teaching only by word of mouth, in woodland clearings, by sacred springs, or in temple sanctuaries closed to any outsider. And thus we find ourselves with more questions than answers concerning the religion or religions - of the Celts.'
- Barry Cunliffe - The Celtic World - P. 69
'It can never have been easy to make an exact distinction between priests and diviners, poets, seers, and visionaries, since their functions must have overlapped. In later literature the druids were to an increasing degree represented as expert magicians. In Gaul and Britain they appear in pre-Christian times to have organised sacrifices, acted as judges, and been responsible for the preservation and handing on of learning and traditional lore, which was largely oral. Special skills such as the compilation of calendars, medical knowledge and Ogam writing also fell within their province, and their responsibilities included the teaching of young chiefs and warriors, so that they had considerable political influence. The fact that they influenced and advised rulers made them important in Caesar's eyes. The emphasis on the secret wisdom of the druids has tended to be emphasised from the Roman period onwards, so that they became romantic and impressive figures in the minds of poets and scholars in seventeenth century England and Wales, and it is difficult to take a objective view of them. The controversy still continues and the one point which we can be fairly sure about is that the position was never as fixed and clear cut as many scholars have tried to make it.'
- H.R. Ellis-Davidson - Myths & Symbols in Pagan Europe - pp. 156-157
'The evidence for the druids as a powerful group of religious leaders is mainly contained within the comments of Classical writers on the Gaulish Celts. The most famous material is chronicled in writings of Strabo {IV, 4,4}, Diodorus Siculus {V, 31,2-5) and Caesar (de Bello Gallico VI, 13-14), but all these writers derive their material from a lost shared source, Posidonius.'
- Miranda J. Green - Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend - P. 86
'It is however, Posidonius, a Stoic philosopher who lived in the first century B.C., who provides the deepest insight into Celtic society. In Book 23 of his History he presented a detailed ethnographic account of the Celts as a prelude to discussing the first transalpine war, which took place in 125-131 B.C. Since it is known that he lived in southern Gaul for some while, we may reasonably suppose that he collected his material by firsthand observation. Unfortunately his 'Celtic Ethnography' no longer survives intact but comes down to us in extensive summaries provided by later Greek writers, Diodorus, Siculus, Strabo, and Athenaeus. Although they naturally make modifications and additions of their own, their basic source is clearly Posidonius.'
- Barry Cunliffe - The Celtic World - P.28
'The Druids are the most advanced of all intellectual classes
among the peoples of ancient Europe beyond the Greek and Roman World'
- Nora Chadwick
'It seems, then, that the Celtic priesthood had much more direct political power than that of Greece or Rome, where magistracies were a secular appointment, augurs had only the power to advise, not to direct, and secular officials, however many priestly obligations they might have in virtue of their office, were chosen for thei rationality, good judgement and perhaps good luck, rather than any direct line they had to the gods. After the Roman conquest of Spain, Gaul and Britain, reports of the Druid priesthood are few, presumably since the political structure of decision-making had changed. Both Claudius and Tiberius attempted to stamp out the 'religion of the Druids', and the altars for the 'savage superstition' of human sacrifice were destroyed, but we do not hear details of a general persecution. Occasional reports of single Druids and Druidesses surface in the later Empire, and in Ireland, which was never Romanised, the traditional tales mention Druids and fili, poets or seers whose pronouncements were highly valued and often feared by their communities. In historical times too the Irish fili and Druids travelled around and were known as 'hedge-preachers', like the wandering sadhus of India, passing on their teaching to anyone who would have it.'
- Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick - A History of Pagan Europe - P. 85
'Druids have long been the subject for myth making, from the time of the Latin writers, who were not exactly sympathetic to the Celts or the druids, until the nineteenth century romantic revival, which accorded all manner of weird and wonderful powers to the druids. Latin writers maintained that the druids were practitioners of human sacrifice, with particular reference to the Celts of Gaul. Cicero, Dionysius, and Pomponius Mela recite human sacrifice stories ad nauseaum, which were taken up by such early Christian leaders as Terullian, Augustine, and Lactantius. However, it must be pointed out that there is no native tradition of this. One would have thought that if there had been some hint of such a tradition then the Chrisitan scribes would have undoubtedly seized upon it in an effort to denigrate the older religion and its practices, as they did with the story of Cromm Cruach, an idol who demanded sacrifice but who is portrayed as an aberration and not the norm in Celtic society.'
- Peter Berresford Ellis - A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology - P. 85
'The Celtic priests were collectively known as druids, but the
druids were certainly not the only priests of the Celts. The
name druid derives from a plural form in the Latin sources,
but this word in Gaulish was singular, druis and plural, druides.
The other priests were the uates, the gutuater, and the uelis or ueleda.
All were collectively called druids, but the druid proper was the chief
priest and judge who advised the Rix, the chieftain or king.'
- Tadhg MacCrossan 'The Sacred Cauldron' p.13
'The Druids officiate at the worship of the gods, regulate public and private
sacrifices, and give rulings on all religious questions. Large numbers
of young men flock to them for instruction, and they are held in great honour
by the people. They act as judges in practically all disputes, whether between
tribes of between individuals; when any crime is committed or a murder takes
place, or a dispute arises about an inheritance of a boundary, it
is they who adjucate the matter and appoint the compensation to be paid
and received by the parties concerned. Any individual or tribe failing
to accept their award is banned from taking part in sacrifice - the
heaviest punishment that can be inflicted upon a Gaul. Those who are under
such a ban are regarded as impious criminals. Everyone shuns them and
avoids going near or speaking to them, for fear of taking some harm
by contact with what is unclean; if they appear as plaintiffs, justice is
denied them, and they are excluded from a share in any honour.'
- Gaius Julius Caesar
'Woods and groves are the sacred depositories; and the spot being consecrated to those
pious uses, they give to that sacred recess the name of the divinity that
fills the place, which is never profaned by the steps of man. The gloom fills
every mind with awe; revered at a distance and never seen but with the eye of
contemplation.'
- Tacitus
'The order was under the control of an archdruid appointed by his fellows by virtue of his outstanding merit. Caesar mentions that election ensues if several people of equal ability present themselves, and adds that orderly voting sometimes degenerates into an outright fight between contestants - a not unexpected eventuality in the Celtic world.'
-Barry Cunliffe - The Celtic World - P. 106
'They prepare a ritual sacrifice and feast under the tree, and lead up two white bulls whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest {sacerdos} attired in a white vestment ascends the tree and with a golden pruning-hook cuts the mistletoe which is caught in a white cloth'
- Pliny the Elder - Natural History
'They used to strike a man whom they had devoted to death in the back with a knife, and then divine from his death-throes, but they did not sacrifice without a druid.... We are told of still other kinds of sacrifices; for example they would shoot victims to death with their arrows, or impale them in temples....'
- Strabo -
'Among all the tribes, generally speaking, there are three classes of
men held in special honour: the Bards, the Vates and the Druids. The
Bards are singers and poets; the Vates interpreters of sacrifice and
natural philosophers; while the Druids, in addition to the science
of nature, study also moral philosophy. They are believed to be the
most just of men, and are therefore entrusted with the decision of
cases affecting either individuals or the public; indeed in former
times they arbitrated in war and brought to a standstill the opponents
when about to draw up in line of battle; and murder cases have been
mostly entrusted to their decision . . . These men, as well as other authorities
, have pronounced that men's souls and the universe are indestructible, although
at times fire or water may {temporarily} prevail.'
- Strabo
'In Old Irish the word is drui, plural druid. There has been much discussion
as to the probable etymology of the name, and current opinion tends to
concur with those ancient scholars such as Pliny who regarded it as
related to the Greek word for an oak tree, drus. The second syllable
is regarded as cognate with the Indo-European root *wid, 'to know'.
Relationships with such a tree-word would be appropriate enough to a
religion with sanctuaries in the deciduous mixed oak forests of temperate Europe and
we shall see how specific association with the oak tree is attested.
The name of the Galation sanctuary in Asia Minor recorded by Strabo,
Drunemeton, appears to contain the same first element combined with the Gaulish
sanctuary word nemeton discussed in the last chapter.'
- Stuart Piggot 'The Druids'
'Thus among the Celts of Gaul the Druids esteemed nothing more
sacred than the mistletoe and the oak on which it grew; they chose groves
of oaks for the scene of their solemn service, and they performed none of
their rites without oak leaves.' - 'Indeed the very name of
Druids is believed by good authorities to mean no more than oak men.'
- Sir James George Frazer - 'The Golden Bough'
'According to Caesar there were two governing classes in Gaul: the warlike aristocracy and
the Druids. The latter were free from military service and from all
exactions, and through these privileges many of them were drawn to their
profession, the more readily as Druidism was apparently not founded upoon
birth, but merely upon the engagement and training of novices. The
Druids were philosophers and teachers of youth. They gave not only
lessons in theology and mythology but also spoke much about the
course of the stars, about the nature of all things, and the magnitude
of the universe. From all the ethical doctrines of the Druids nothing
but a single sentence is preserved. - The novices had to learn by heart a large
number of verses, and some spent twenty years in learning them.
Almost nothing is preserved to us from the tradition of the Gaulish Druids,
for they were not allowed to put down their teaching in writing.'
- John Matthews - 'The Druid Source Book'
'While Druidry and Wicca share much in common, they also differ in
many ways, and have a distincly different 'feel' to them. In the past,
writers have outlined the differences in the following ways: Druidry tends
to be solar oriented, whilst Wicca is lunar oriented; Wiccans tend to
work at intuitive and instinctive levels, while Druidry is more
philosophical and intellectual - concerning itself, for example, with
numerology and geomancy; Druids practice 'high magic' while Wiccans
practice 'low magic', Druidry is 'Apollonian' while Wicca is 'Dionysian'.
In common with most generalizations, however, these suggested distinctions
mask a far more complex relationship in terms of theory and practice
between the two groupings. The similarities are numerous. Both
traditions are concerned with opening to the powers of the natural world,
and both traditions celebrate the seasonal festivals. Wiccans meet in covens,
Druids meet in groups called groves. Both types of groups come
together and celebrate in circles {rather than in serried rows, as in
churches or mosques} and both accord great significance to the four
elements of earth, air, fire, and water, together with the uniting
fifth element - aether, or spirit. An intriguing question is whether
these two streams were originally one. We can never know for certain
whether in the early days there was just one Old Religion, which
at some time forked into these two branches, or whether from the very beginning
they were seperate but related mysteries.'
- Philip Carr-Gomm - 'The Druid Way'
'The Ancient Celts did not categorize these elements as earth, air,
fire, and water as the ancient Greeks, but instead they preserved
a much older tradition of the early Indo-European list of elements. -
It has long been a cliche' that our Celtic ancestors worshipped rocks,
trees and other 'senseless' things, or that the druids {as if they
were a seperate people} were wistful old wizards who either pined mystically
in the misty glades or butchered everyone who wandered into their
gruesome groves. Of course, these are all popular misconceptions and
most people should know better, but we still hear of 'neo-druidic'
organizations who call their small groups groves as if they were somehow
the 'Druidic' counterpart to a temple, church, or mosque. This
is a significant misconception as well. Sacred grounds or places are
common to most religions, and there is no exception with our
Celtic forebears. The sacred ground was called a nemeton in Gaulish
and Brythonic, and the word simply meant 'sacred place''.
- Tadhg MacCrossan 'The Sacred Cauldron'
'In ancient days there was one great culture, from India to Ireland:
the Wise were their healers, counselors and priest/esses. Men and Women
devoted their lives to learning and working the accumulated lore of
their peoples. They spent years in study, ritual and meditation. They
spoke to and with God/desses and Spirits: they made magic and taught
wisdom. As well, they were the memory and justice of the folk. These
Wise Ones were known by many names in the many tongues of the ancient world.
Brahman among the Aryans, Flamen and Flamenca among the Latins,
Gothi among the Germans and among the Celts there are called Druidh
{singular Drui. Gaelic Draoi, Druidheachd = Druidry.} In our time there
are those who are called by these images, these cultural memories.
They wish to light the Sacred Fire in the place of the Spirits;
they seek the hidden Holy Spring in the forest's heart. They
feel called to worship the Old God/desses and to restore Their honor in
modern life. Some of us who seek these ways call ourselves Druids in honor of the
mighty Wise Ones of old. We seek to walk the Elder Way, though we
may not have the skills fo the ancients. The work of Druidry is
the work of re-making the connections between our common lives
and the wonder and Magic of the Inner Worlds. It is the opening of
the Gates of the Soul where before they were closed. Is is the use
of every Power of the Self - intellect, feeling, intuition, instinct,
and flesh - to seek the good of all folk - health, wealth, and wisdom -and
then the secrets of initiation - wisdom, love, and power. We are beginning to relciam the
Pagan heritage from the rubble of history. We may never know the forms that the ancient Druidry took.
We strive to make a spiritual system - a religion and a Magic - that
the Elder Wise might approve and understand. Equally, we seek to make Pagan religion
that will serve the needs of today's folk., and the land in which we live.'
- Ian Corrigan 'Druidheachd - Symbols and Rites of Druidry'
'When I was only a knee-child my grandmother had caught me staring,
finger in mouth, at several figures swathed in robes of undyed wool.
The robes had hoods like dark caverns from which eyes glowed mysteriously. 'They
are members of the Order of the Wise,' Rosmerta had said to me as she took my
hand and led me away, though I continued to look back over my shoulder. 'Never stare
at them, Ainvar; never even look at them when their hoods are raised. And always show them
the greatest respect.' 'Why?' I was always asking why. Knees creaking, my grandmother had
crouched down until her face was level with mine. Her faded blue eyes beamed love at me
from amid their network of wrinkles. 'Because the Druids are essential for our survival,' she
explained. 'Without them, we would be helpless against all the things we cannot see.' - The principal
obligation of the druids was to keep Man and Earth and Otherworld in harmony. The three were
inextricably interwoven and must be in a state of balance or catastrophe would follow. As the
repositories of a thousand years of tribal wisdom, the druids knew how to maintain that balance. Beyond
our forts and farms lurked the darkness of the unknown. Druid wisdom held that darkness at bay.'
- Morgan Llywelyn - 'Druids'
'In this twilight phase, there are also now a great many people striving to rediscover the Old Ways and traditions and preserve them for future generations. Unfortunately, they often go about it the wrong way, taking their information purely from books which themselves are often fifth-generation copies of earlier works. Few of today's urban pagans have any real practical experience of the countryside and elements they claim to empathize with. It is little wonder then that those who have inherited the old traditions are sceptical of the New Age publishing explosion of the last 30 years. Now anyone can go out and buy a book which will show them 'how to be' a Celtic shaman, a witch or any other adept supposedly at one with the universe, and the enthusiast can go further by joining any number of New Age or pagan groups, all of whom declare commitment to the planet, usually from the warmth of a London flat.'
- David Clarke & Andy Roberts - Twilight of the Celtic Gods - P. 165
