The Druids: High Priests of Ireland

In examining the very early histories of the Western parts of Europe, we every where meet with the monumental remains of a race of persons called the Druids - Godfrey Higgins (Celtic Druids)

Pliny says, the Druids are the Gaulish Magi. Porphyry says, the name Magi...was most august and venerable: they alone were skilled in divine matters and were the ministers of the Deity - ibid

It can easily be proved that the science of astronomy was not unknown to the Druids. One of their temples in the island of Lewis in the Hebrides, bears evident signs of their skill in the science. Every stone in the temple is placed astronomically. The circle consists of twelve equidistant obelisks denoting the twelve signs of the zodiac. The four cardinal points of the compass are marked by lines of obelisks running out from the circle, and at each point subdivided into four more. The range of obelisks from north, and exactly facing the south is double, being two parallel rows each consisting of nineteen stones - W. Winwod Reede (Mystery of the Druids)

…in the very oldest monuments of the Druids, we have the circle of stones, in the number 12, the signs in the circle - signs of the zodiacal circle, with the arch of heaven for the cupola; and, in fact, the divisions of the heavens marked in a great variety of ways - Godfrey Higgins (Anacalypsis)

The Druids are men of penetrating and subtle spirit, and acquired the highest renown by their speculations, which were at once subtle and profound. Both Caesar and Mela plainly intimate that they were conversant with most sublime speculations in geometry and in measuring the magnitude of the earth - Ammianus Marscellus (Historian 350 AD)

Opposite to the coast of Gallia Celtica there is an island in the ocean, not smaller than Sicily - lying to the north, which is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are so named because they dwell beyond the north wind. This island is of a happy temperature, rich in soil, and fruitful in every thing, yielding its produce twice in the year. Tradition says that Latona was born there, and for that reason they venerate Apollo more than any other god. They are in a manner his priests, for they daily celebrate him with continual songs of praise, and pay him abundant honors - Diodorus Siculus (Greek Historian, 90-30 BC)

The word Druid has been mistranslated as referring to oak trees and their veneration. The Oak was indeed sacred to the Druids, but then so was all of nature.

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The word's origin has several probable related sources. The word is probably from the Celtic DRU-VID which means "one who knows," or "one who has knowledge." The suffix vid (also wid) is the root of wise. We find this syllable in India in the words vedic and veda which connote the highest wisdom. It may also derive from from DRUTHIN which means "Servant of Truth." In German it means "of God." A Celtic priestess was also known as a Druith. In fact, we derive the word truth from druthin. The hard d sound becomes Anglesized as t. Another acceptable rendering is from Welsh Gaelic - der wydd meaning "superior-priest" or "inspector" and from draoith meaning "Magician." In Persian we have duree meaning "noble and holy man." In Arabic it is dere, a "wise man," and in Persian it is daru, meaning "Magus." We seem to get the English dear ("beloved one") from this. Then there is the Sanskrit Deva (from Duw) which meant "one without darkness," and Veda, meaning "knowledge"		The word city comes from the Gaelic Cyfaith, meaning "Seat of the Druids"

The word can also mean "to shine" and it clearly referred to the sun and to the gods of light such as Indra, Agni, Adonai, and Aton, etc. Undoubtedly, this is also the origin of the word dove and to the title David, as used by the Levites to denote their military commanders and chieftains (for instance Tuthmosis III).

Pliny thought that the name "Druid" was a Greek appellation derived from the Druidic cult of the oak. The word, however, is purely Celtic, and its meaning probably implies that, like the sorcerer and medicine-man everywhere, the Druid was regarded as "the knowing one." It is composed of two parts - dru-, regarded by M. D'Arbois as an intensive, and vids, from vid, "to know," or "see." Hence the Druid was "the very knowing or wise one" - J. A. MacCulloch (The Religion of the Ancient Celts)

This short, apparently innocuous title bespeaks volumes once we consider the peculiar vicissitude of words and their habit of morphing as they enter into the vernacular. The Vedic duw becomes duwa, and then the modern diva. Diva becomes deva, the root of the word divine ("in" or "of" god). Deus (meaning god) comes originally from Dis or Dis Pater, a major Celtic deity and Lord of the Underworld. The name shows up as the Latin deus and dyaus, and as the Anglo-Saxon Jeus. So we have our Jesus. We can see Duw in "Jew," in "Jehusa" and perhaps "Yeshua." And, if the U is rendered V we derive Jehov or Jehovah. We can see how, given the variance of dialect and intonation, the true largely unacknowledged origin of the words Jesus, Joshua, Jove, Jupiter, Jehovah, Jason, Judah, Judges, and Jerus-alem, etc. In every case these titles referred to light and more specifically to the sun. They were titles for the Sun Priests of the ancient Solar Cults.

Joshua, it seems, was an ancient sun-god, who was demoted to the status of a man by the priests of Yahweh cult. However, the worship of Joshua was continued in secret by his devotees, until the fall of Jerusalem. After that event, secrecy was no longer necessary, so that the Joshua cult again came out into the open - John G. Jackson (The Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth)

Jehovah is probably derived from the Irish letter Jodh which gave rise to the Hebrew Yod, the first letter of god's name. This letter Jodh or Yodh (the Greek Iota) is our modern "I" and "J."

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The river, the tree, the dove and the Baptizer - ancient pagan symbols appropriated by Christianity

The Irish Druids associated this letter with the tree we refer to as the Yew (from Yeu or Yodh). This is why Moses encountered his god Jehovah at a "burning bush" or tree. The name Jerusalem may derive from Darusalem or Derusalem. The letters d and j were often used together, as in the Egyptian Djed. In this case it would mean "Place of the Druids" or "Place of the Oaks." "The groves were God's first temples," says Bryant. The groves, too, were among man's first gods...Not only the Druids of Britain, but the Greeks, and the Semitic races of Asia were worshipers of trees. The giant oaks and the symmetrical evergreens were gods..."The worship of trees," says Soury, "only disappeared in Syria at a very late date...The largest and tallest trees, and the evergreen ones, were adored as gods - John E. Remsberg (The Christ) The Aryans observed various rites and ceremonies, among them being Baptism and the sacrament of the Eucharist. Indeed, the doctrine of Transubstantiation is one of the most ancient of doctrines. Baptism was held to be a regenerating rite; and rivers, as sources of fertility and purification, were at an early date invested with a sacred character. Every great river was supposed to be permeated with the divine essence, and its waters held to cleanse from moral guilt and contamination - Sarah Elizabeth Titcomb (Aryan Sun Myths, 1899)

The incarnate god was probably representative of a god or spirit of earth, growth, or vegetation, represented also by a tree. A symbolic branch of such a tree was borne by kings, and perhaps by Druids, who used oak branches in their rites. King and tree would be connected, the king's life being bound up with that of the tree, and perhaps at one time both perished together. But as kings were represented by a substitute, so the sacred tree, regarded as too sacred to be cut down, may also have had its succedaneum. The Irish bile or sacred tree, connected with the kings, must not be touched by any impious hand, and it was sacrilege to cut it down - J. A. MacCulloch (The Religion of the Ancient Celts)

Maximus of Tyre also speaks of the Celtic...image of Zeus as a lofty oak, and an old Irish glossary gives daur, "oak," as an early Irish name for "god - ibid

The word city derives from the Gaelic word cyfaith which originally denoted a seat of learning established by the Druidic Order. In Britain there were forty such seats, or Druidic universities. In his book St. Paul in Britain, the British-Israelite Rev. R. W. Morgan describes some of the features of these exceptional and ancient seats of learning;

The students at these universities numbered at times sixty-thousands souls, among whom were included the young nobility of Britain and Gaul. It required twenty years to master the circle of Druidic knowledge...Natural philosophy, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, jurisprudence, medicine, poetry, and oratory were all proposed and taught, the first two with severe exactitude. The system of astronomy inculcated had never varied, being the same as that taught by Pythagoras, now known as the Copernican or Newtonian.

The British words for "star" "astronomer" "astronomy" are seren, seronydd: hence the usual Greek term for the Druids was Seronidoe - astronomers.

Of all the attainments of the Druids in all the sciences, especially in this of astronomy, classic judges of eminence, Cicero and Caesar, Pliny, and Tacitus, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, speak in high terms.

In the Druidic order indeed centered, and from it radiated to the whole world civil and ecclesiastical knowledge of the realm: they were its statesmen, legislators, priests, physicians, lawyers, teachers, poets; the depositories of all human and divine knowledge; its Church and parliament; its court of law; its colleges of physicians and surgeons; its magistrates, clergy and bishops

So we can see why the chief motto of the Druidic Order was Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd ("Truth Against the World"). These servants of truth held greater power than the kings who took their advice from them:

For, without the Druids, the Kings may neither do nor consult anything; so that in reality they are the Druids who reign - Dion Chrysostom

When studying the Druids we are to be skeptical of various reports concerning these venerators of nature found in the works of their enemies and destroyers. A great deal of the negative reports that we read from the "historians" of the time, and more recently, are simply to be ignored. Few reports were based on personal eye-witness accounts and so the most erudite scholars rightly pay little heed to them.

One will be at first confounded by the extreme disproportion which exists between the rare documents left by the past, and the large developments presented by modern historians - James Bonwick (quoting the French historian Leflocq in his Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, 1894)

Our knowledge of so-called Celtic religion has been largely derived from Caesar and other Roman authorities. These, imbued with Italian ideas, were not very reliable observers - James Bonwick (Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions)

The second source of evidence comes from the insular traditions of Ireland and Wales which although written by Celts, date from a period when Christianity had already become established as the dominant religion. These would thus be suspect as first hand testimony, containing elements of doctrinal re-editing by the clerics who first put them down on paper - Gregory A. Clouter (The Lost Zodiac of the Druids)

No Celt has left us a record of his faith and practice, and the unwritten poems of the Druids died with them. Yet from these fragments we see the Celt as the seeker after God, linking himself by strong ties to the unseen, and eager to conquer the unknown by religious rite or magic art. For the things of the spirit have never appealed in vain to the Celtic soul, and long ago classical observers were struck with the religiosity of the Celts - J. A. MacCulloch (The Religion of the Ancient Celts, 1911)

The druids were the exclusive intellectual elite, and were recruited among the ranks of the nobility. They enjoyed special privileges, such as exemption from tributes and were not obliged to bear arms coins…Their education was very lengthy, and involved twenty years of memorizing sacred texts which religious taboo banned from being put in writing…In their religious role, the druids insured the conduct of religious practices, presided over sacrificial rites, and received and interpreted omens. The only ones "to know the nature of the gods," they acted as intermediaries between the world of humankind and the domain of the supernatural. Guardians of the fundamental gnosis, they perpetuated a conception of mankind and the universe contained in an esoteric doctrine which, for obvious reasons, remains a mystery - Otto Hermann (The Celts)

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There have never been snakes in Ireland. So who or what were the "Serpents" that were cast out by Christianity?		The Druids held the symbols of the serpent and the dragon in the highest esteem and considered them insignias of royalty. They referred to themselves as Naddreds. This world means "Wise Serpent." It may be connected to the Hebrew Naassians (a title meaning "Serpent Priests"), and to Nagas (a Hindu word meaning "Kingly Serpents"). We derive the word adder from it. The symbol of the Serpent is found throughout Ireland, yet physical snakes are not to be found. This is because there is a world of difference between physical snakes and the symbol of a dragon or a serpent. "Wise Serpent" refers to those who have been initiated into the highest mysteries. It signified those who possessed healing abilities and great knowledge of astronomy and astrology. The Magi of Ireland were expert architects and had the most intimate connection to flora and fauna. Like the Pharaohs of Egypt they were semi-enlightened beings who lived in harmony with each other and with nature. They obeyed Nature's superordinate laws and ordinances and knew well the penalties for breaching them. They conducted their ceremonies in underground hollows, very much like the American Indians, and also in the daylight. The serpentine shapes that we see on later monkish books, like the famous Book of Kells, have a much earlier origin than we have been told.

Their significance has to do with arcane mysteries and the bloodline of the kings. The Welsh term for the Gaelic Kings was Pendragon. This title meant "Head of the Dragons" and referred to a kingly bloodline going back to the ante-diluvian epoch.

No country in Europe is so associated with the Serpent as Ireland, and none has so many myths and legends connected with the same. As that creature has furnished so, many religious stories in the East, and as the ancient faiths of Asia and Egypt abound in references to it, we may reasonably look for some remote similarity in the ideas of worship between Orientals and the sons of Erin - James Bonwick (Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions)

Keating assures his readers that "the Milesians, from the time they first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use of no other arms of distinction in their banners than a serpent twisted round a rod, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors" - James Bonwick (Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions)

...the nuptial tree, round which coils the serpent, is connected with time and with life as a necessary condition; and with knowledge - the knowledge of a scientific priesthood, inheriting records and traditions hoary, perhaps, with the snows of a glacial epoch - Kennersley Lewis

Jesus is said to have been from the town of Nazareth. It is known that no such place ever existed. It is also known that the word was blatantly mistranslated to signify a place instead of a sect of cult. In fact, it has been revealed to be more likely that the man given the name Jesus was a "Nazarene" from the cult of that name. This gives us greater insight, since this Cult's name bears great similarity to the Naasarites or Naassians - the "Serpent Priests" who followed Moses out of Egypt. It was this Egyptian connection that had to be obscured. And so the editors of the Bible's Testaments cleverly rendered Nazareth as a place name. This is only one small example of the tampering and distortion which has taken place to the Bible and to so many other great texts which would have served mankind to have a truer understanding of the world and of the past had they been left intact.

The Talmud also contradicts the gospels in some essential points concerning Jesus. For instance, it never mentions that he was a Galilean or came from the city of Nazareth. Although it refers to him being a Nazarene (Greek Nazoraios) used to indicate a religious sect, not a geographical location - Ahmed Osman (Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion)

Just who these Serpent Priests, the keepers of the Brazen Serpent following Moses really were, is revealed in Volume Two.

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent - (Exodus 7:5-7)

One of the titles for the Biblical John the Baptist was the "Great Nazar." Clearly, this initiator of Jesus was himself connected to the Nazarenes and Serpent Priests. One of the monograms for Christ is the Greek Chi Ro. The word "carpenter" comes from the Hebrew naggar which is thought to mean "learned man" but which is very close to the Hindi naga, and the Irish Gnadir, which mean "Serpent." However, this title is very near to the term cheiro, meaning "Serpent Holder." The great stones found in Stonehenge at Salisbury Plain in England actually came from a place named Naase in Western Ireland. Naase means "Serpent."

In light of this, when we read in Irish legends of the arrival of Saint Patrick and of his casting out "serpents" from the land, we understand that the reference is not to physical snakes but to the non-Christian Druidic Cults of "Serpent Priests" (Astrologers) which he was sent to depose and eradicate.

The three, five, seven, or nine-headed snake is the totem of a race of rulers, who presided over the Aryan Hindus - J. H. Baecker

The Maruts, Rudras, and Pitris are esteemed "Fiery dragons of wisdom," as magicians and Druids were of old - Hans F. K. Günther (The Religious Attitudes of the Indo-Europeans)

In every ancient language the word Dragon signified what it now does in Chinese, i.e. the being who excels in intelligence - Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Indeed, the prowess of Christian magic was always overstated. The miracle working prophets and saviors of Christianity had, after all, a lot to compete with. In our estimation, there is little doubt that the astonishing accounts of Christian miracle healings and banishings - from the wizardry of Moses in the wilderness to the raising of the dead talent of Jesus to the feats of St. Patrick and St. Columba - were deliberately concocted and added to the Christian canon in order to out do the legacy concerning the power of the Druids. The alleged healing powers of the waters of Lourdes is, for instance, about a pagan a motif as one could conceive. In the end we must be aware that the Druidism of post-Christian times, as well as the Druidism presented to us in official accounts, is not the same thing as actual Druidism. It is mere propaganda and distortion.

Druidism was an artfully contrived system of elaborate fraud and imposture. To them was entrusted the charge of religion, jurisprudence, and medicine. They certainly well studied the book of Nature, were acquainted with the marvels of natural magic, the proportions of plants and herbs, and what of astronomy was then known; they may even have been skilled in mesmerism and biology - Windele (Kilkenny Records)

These insular Druids are represented as being little better than conjurers, and their dignity is as much diminished as the power of the King is exaggerated. He is hedged with a royal majesty which never existed in fact...his Druids are sorcerers and rain-doctors, who pretend to call down the storms and the snow, and frighten the people with the fluttering wisp, and other childish charms. They divined by the observation of sneezing and omens, by their dreams after holding a bull-feast, or chewing raw horseflesh in front of their idols, by the croaking of their ravens and chirping of tame wrens, or by the ceremony of licking the hot edge of bronze taken out of the rowan-tree faggot. They are like the Red Indian medicine men, or the Angekoks of the Eskimo, dressed up in bull's-hide coats and bird-caps with waving wings. The chief or Arch-Druid of Tara is shown to us as a leaping juggler with ear clasps of gold, and a speckled cloak; he tosses swords and balls into the air, and like the buzzing of bees on a beautiful day is the motion of each passing the other - Professor Eugene O'Curry (On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish)

St. Columba, the Culdee, was much the same as St. Patrick in his mission work, and his contests with Druids. He changed water into wine, stilled a storm, purified wells, brought down rain, changed winds, drove the devil out of a milk-pail, and raised the dead to life. All that tradition acknowledged as miraculous in the Druids was attributed equally to Columba as to Patrick - James Bonwick (Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, 1894)

 

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I think today the Druids and especially those who call themselve Druid preists or Druids in a priestly manner or form should still be the "wise man" man of learning, the keepers of the knowledge and wisdom of the ages past present and future.

That is what I strive for in my own druidic life : to learn to adapt to create to help others.

The Druids of old were generally "hermits" that is to say they kept their dwelling on the outskirts of the village , and kept to themselves in their off time, or in their groups of other Druids, but were no less a valuble part of society when they were working.

To be called a Druid in the ancient times  ( and to many today) is similar to calling someone a nurse, doctor, lawyer, judge, it professional, etc, it was who they were, it was their profession and their function in life, and it was a life long commitment.

Today many call themselves Druids: and some have made a religion out of it.

A Druid is a one who follows spiritual life path, of learning and helping.

Druidism and druidry are 20th century terms that deal with modern people and groups who attempt to re-create the ancient celtic ways, or create a religion based around that as such.

I do not think that there is anything wrong with this endeavor, and anyone of any faith, or structure can indead incorporate druidism and druidry, as a philosophy of life ,into their own, As well I highly recommend it for all. Druidism can only serve to enhance what you all ready have.

Let us seperate the Ancient Druids Those that follow the path of the Druid Preist , from the rest by denoting the term Druid ( capitalized) for the Priestly caste , and druid ( all lowercase ) for the others.

And let there be no shame for the lowercase style druids. For their path is just and good as well.