Lesson Two ~ Druids Ancient and Modern
The word Druid conjures up all sorts of images. For some, they see old men with Gandalf beards, wearing white robes and dancing round stone circles. Others imagine the same old men spattered in blood as they sacrifice virgins in true Hammer Horror film style. Some imagine tree-hugging mystics communing with nature in a lonely forest glade, whilst others envision upper-class twits engaging in some kind of Celtic Free Masonry. Strangely, few people imagine female Druids as their initial image.
There is no “One True” version of Druidry, as each person finds in it something unique for them. The ancient world gave us two contrasting images of how they perceived the Druids. The Roman writer Tacitus, described the attack on the Druid colleges of Anglesea, saying:
“They deemed it, indeed, a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails.”
This makes the Druids seem quite revolting. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the Roman authorities despised the Druids for stirring up political resistence against the occupation of Britain. The general Suetonius Paulinus was directed to massacre the Druids on Anglesea for this very reason. The evidence for human sacrifice in Britain and Ireland is quite limited, and it may well be that Tacitus exaggerated what did go on in order to justify the actions of the Roman army.
Other writers portrayed the Druids as people of great wisdom and social standing, giving them a more positive image. Diogenes Laertius said:
“Druids make their pronouncements by means of riddles and mysterious sayings, teaching that the Gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behaviour maintained.”
Pomponius Mela, writing a few centuries earlier, stated:
“[The Celts] have, however, their own kind of eloquence, and teachers of wisdom called Druids. These profess to know the size and shape of the world, the movements of the heavens and of the stars, and the will of the Gods. They teach many things to the nobles of Gaul in a course of instruction lasting as long as twenty years, meeting in secret either in a cave or secluded dales.”
Some of these more glowing writers came from cultures that actively traded with Celtic tribes, so they might have been laying it on a bit thick in order to curry favour. It certainly isn’t good for business if you insult your trading partners! The upshot of this is, the ancient Celts (like every other ancient society) may have done things which modern people would find quite horrible ~ yet they also engaged in many things that would be of great benefit to us now. As modern Druids we look to continue the good, and to understand the reasoning behind the more unpleasant activities (always bearing in mind that many of the things our Society does today would have seemed quite awful to our ancestors, and may be roundly condemned by future generations.)
The Druids themselves did not believe in writing down their philosophies and rituals. When they were killed during the Roman Invasion, and survivors later censured by some Christian missionaries, much of their knowledge and ideals were lost. It is difficult to say with absolute certainty precisely what the old Druids believed, or how exactly they worshipped. However, we do have some comments from Classical writers that give us lots of clues and pointers. Pomponius again told us:
“One of their dogmas has come to common knowledge, namely, that souls are eternal and that there is another life in the spirit regions… And it is for this reason too that they burn or bury with their dead, things appropriate to them in life.”
Other writers repeat this notion that the Celts believed in an Afterlife which was similar enough to this life that the dead would require their daily possessions in the Otherworld. Lucan expanded on the Druid view of the Afterlife when he told us:
“…rather you tell us that the same spirit has a body again elsewhere, and that death, if what you sing is true, is but the mid-point of long life.”
So we see that after death the Druids felt that people reincarnated into another body of some description, rather than just wafted about twanging a harp on a cloud. Many writers, especially the Greeks, felt that there was much in common between Druid beliefs and the philosophies taught by Pythagoras. Some assumed the Druids had learned from Pythagoras, and others felt the reverse was true. Pythagoras lived in the 6th century before Jesus, and some aspects of his teachings do have a “Celtic feel” about them ~ for example, his view that the human soul had three aspects to it. He also taught reincarnation, particularly a school of thought called Transmigration (which was also attributed to the Druids) that says a soul can return as any species, not just in human form.
The Druids held considerable influence within Celtic society. The Greek writer Dion Chrysostom, who put his thoughts to paper in the 4th Century, claimed that:
“…without [the Druids] advice even kings dared not resolve upon nor execute any plan, so that in truth it was they who ruled, while the kings, who sat on golden thrones, and fared sumptuously in their palaces, became mere ministers of the Druids’ will.”
The Greek Diodorus Siculus gives us an example of an unusual degree of power exerted by these Celtic holy men and women:
“Often when the combatants are ranged face to face, and swords are drawn and spears bristling, these men [the Druids] come between the armies and stay the battle, just as wild beasts are sometimes held spellbound. Thus even among the most savage barbarians anger yields to wisdom, and Mars is shamed before the Muses.”
The image of Druids putting an end to a battle hardly squares with the idea of them as sadistic old loons engaging in endless gory sacrifice. Whilst people like Tacitus might have seen the Druids as tyrannical monsters, not all Roman citizens saw them in such a bad light. The emperors Diocletian and Aurelian consulted Druids for prophecy, and people like Decimus Ausonius spoke proudly of the fact that their friends were descended from Druids (which also tells us that Druids married and had children.) Even amongst the early Christians there were positive views of Druids. Saint Columba called Jesus his Arch-Druid, which he would scarcely do if he was of the opinion that Druids were bloodthirsty nutters.
We also gain information on how the Druids organised themselves from the writings of travelling Greeks and Romans. Strabo, speaking of the Gaulish tribes, said:
“…there are generally three classes to whom special honour is paid ~ the Bards, Vatis and the Druids. The Bards composed and sung odes; the Vatis attended to the sacrifices and studied nature; while the Druids studied nature and moral philosophy. So confident are the people in the justice of the Druids that they refer all private and public disputes to them…”
This concept of there being three types of mystic amongst the Celts is reinforced by various other sources. Strabo’s basic description of what each did is consistent with other sources. Julius Caesar, for example, listed the duties of the Druids as including ~ settling legal disputes, investigating murders, judging wrangles over land ownership, performing ritual and making offerings, teaching the children of the tribe, study astronomy, and communing with the Gods. Caesar also gave more information on how the druids of Gaul were organised:
“But one presides over all these Druids, who possesses the supreme authority among them. At his death, if any one of the others excels in dignity, the same succeeds him: but if several have equal pretensions, the president is elected by the votes of the Druids…”
Many modern Druid orders have a leader usually called an Arch Druid, or some similar title. It is interesting to see that the ancient Druids exercised some degree of democracy in the choice of their leaders, much the same way as the Chieftain of the tribe was voted for amongst an elite body. What is unknown is wether all Druids in all tribes had the same leader, or if each region had its own Arch Druid.
As you can see the ancient Druids were defined not only by what they believed, but also by what they did. It was as much a job description as a religion. It is debatable if a person can really be a Druid if they have no tribe to work for. This doesn’t mean that someone cannot follow the same Gods quietly by themselves, just that being a Druid is largely a matter of being able to offer services to friends, family, the wider community.
Obviously modern Druids can no longer walk on to a battlefield and command the armies to depart in peace. Nor can we be advisers to kings and politicians. Some things have changed beyond our power to reinstate them, which is possibly just as well. However, other duties are still viable. Bards can still compose poetry, praise or condemn through the magic of their words. Ovates can still prophecy the future, counsel people, and make offerings to the Gods. Druids can still teach the old ways, give advice on how to live an ethical life, conduct ceremony, heal the sick, study the natural world etc.
Modern interest in Druids began to revive in the 16th century. A mysterious Welshman named Llewellyn Sion published a book called the Barddas, which he claimed contained ancient Celtic teachings. These days most historians think it was a forgery, but it certainly helped to get people thinking about the Druids again. Whilst some class it as forgery, others take a more charitable view that it was a visionary work and so still worth studying. A lot of the Druid groups in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were very concerned with Celtic nationalism, and opposed the dominance of English and French governments. These days many are still actively involved in preserving Celtic languages, ancient sites etc, but party politics is far less common.
One of the earliest revival groups that formed was the Druid Circle of the Universal Bond, in 1717 (founded by John Toland.) To put that in a global context, the Sikh religion was founded only eighteen years earlier and is now regarded as a respectable mainstream religion. In 1781 the Ancient Order of Druids was formed by Henry Hurle. Iolo Morganwg, himself the publisher of supposedly ancient books (subsequently proved to be forgeries), formed the Maen Gorsedd, in 1792. Again for global context, the Baha’i Faith wasn’t founded until about fifty years later. Most of the groups formed during this period mixed elements of pagan Druidry with Christian ideas, and concepts from the Eastern religions. Some groups from this period still exist today. Historians often refer to these lodges as Romantic Druids to distinguish them from the Iron Age Druids.
One of the reasons why so many people tend to imagine Druids are all white-robed old men with long beards is due to these Romantic revivalists. Many of them felt that there was a link between Christianity and the Druids ~ some even believed the Celts were descended from the Thirteenth Tribe of Israel, or that Jesus spent time in Britain either during those years which the Bible says virtually nothing about, or after his supposed death on the Cross. The common image of a Biblical patriarch is that of wise old man with a long white beard and a floaty kaftan. So when artists illustrated books on Druids, they often drew pictures very similar to the ones found in biblical literature.
There are many sources mentioning female Druids, and strong suggestion that they could occupy the same degree of authority as male Druids. Caesar was one of those who thought that it took a good 20 years to train as a Druid, so they might well have been of mature years (though we don’t know how young they were when first enrolling at “Druid school”.) As to beards… facial hair was popular amongst the Celtic tribes, but mostly in the form of moustaches rather than beards! But who knows ~ fashions change constantly. There are Irish and Greek source to say that Druids wore white robes, but only for certain occasions. They appear to have had different garments for different types of ritual.
During the 20th century a growing number of people wanted to learn about what the original Druids believed, and to explore their religion without mixing in notions from monotheist religions. In the last twenty-off years a huge number of web sites have sprung up, making previously difficult-to-access information about the earlier cultures readily available. Some modern pagan Druids belong to large orders, such as OBOD, whilst others work in small independent Clans or Groves. Some cannot find (or don’t wish to be part of) a group, and so operate alone. Our Clan is an example of a small independent group exploring the early polytheist religion of the Druids.
Some questions for you to think about:
Can you see any parallels between the way the Romans viewed the druids and more recent political events?
The ancient druids were part of a structured hierarchy, whilst many modern pagans avoid anything that smacks of hierarchy. What have we gained, and what have we lost, by rejecting such power structures? How do you personally feel about the idea of an organised priesthood?
Given that we have large gaps in what we know of the ancient Celtic beliefs, many people seek to fill them by looking at other religions ~ Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism, other pagan religions etc. Is this a wise move? What are the advantages and pitfalls of looking to other creeds? Are there any other ways to try and fill the gaps?
A practical task:
Research a particular Druid. This could be one from the pages of ancient history, such as Divitiacus; or one from myth such as Cathbad; or one from relatively recent history such as Dr William Price; or even one that is still living (though it might be wise to draw the line at Getafix). Having found out as much as you can about their life and what thoughts they may have left to posterity, meditate upon them ~ what sort of person do they feel like, what impact did they have in their own day, what lessons to you draw from them now?