druids

Pre-Christian Druids did not commit their teachings to writing. Not that they didn't know how to write, but, according to Julius Caesar, they preferred not to for reasons of secrecy and for the better cultivation of memory. Merlin, in Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian novel, The Winter King, suggests another reason, saying that

"Once you write something down it becomes fixed. It becomes dogma. People can argue about it, they become authoritative, they refer to the texts, they produce new manuscripts, they argue more and soon they're putting each other to death. If you never write anything down then no one knows exactly what you said so you can always change it."

Clearly, this makes writing about Druidry a project fraught with difficulties. To attempt a history of Druidry is only a little less foolish than trying to capture its philosophy and teachings in words. Why? Because its history shifts and changes. Druidry is not confined to one time, one people or one understanding; each successive generation reformulates it, shaping it in their own image, or in their own image of the past. Even those few apparently solid facts that can be established seem to swirl and change before the eyes, open to several interpretations. With these warnings given, we begin our exploration.

The origins of Druidry are lost in remote antiquity, but its history, so far as we can trace it, has been one of continuous evolution; a process which continues to the present day. Unlike Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, Druidry had no human founder, nor does it have a fixed canon of scriptures. Perhaps its nearest equivalent is found in Hinduism, where the Brahamana caste have much the same socio-religious role as the Druids in pagan European society. Like the Brahmins, the Druids of old were teachers, priests and priestesses, doctors, historians, prophets, guardians of lore and givers of law. Brahmin and Druid were both noted for their devotion to the concept of a transcendent and all-encompassing Truth. The word Druid may indeed derive from an Indo-European root `dreo-vid,' meaning `one who knows the truth.' In practice it was probably understood to mean something like `wise one,' or `philosopher-priest.' Some Druids did (and still do) perform priestly functions; officiating in public and private worship, initiating and instructing, healing and blessing.

As far as we know, the religion practised among the Celtic peoples of pre-Roman Europe had no name, just as adherents of what we call Hinduism refer to their faith simply as `the eternal religion.' Again like Hinduism, Celtic religion seems to have consisted of innumerable localised cults based around local or tribal deities. It seems likely that the rites of these local cults were overseen by members of the Druid caste, just as those of Hinduism are overseen by Brahmins. Their function was to ensure that rites were performed correctly, and their presence in itself lent spiritual authority to the proceedings, for they were professional `walkers between the worlds;' mediators between Gods and people.

In the popular imagination, links have always been made between Druids and megalithic monuments such as the Avebury henge in Wiltshire and the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire. This was also the accepted academic orthodoxy until the 1930's, when it was decided that Celtic civilisation did not reach Britain until 500 BCE, that Druids were a purely Celtic priesthood, and that they could not, therefore, have had any connection with megalithic structures erected circa 3000 BCE. Recent developments in linguistic archaeology have, however, re-opened the debate. Professor Colin Renfrew, in his book Archaeology and Language, (Jonathan Cape, 1987), suggests that Indo-European language and culture had already spread across Europe and into Britain by 4000 BCE, and that the cultural and linguistic group we call Celtic developed in situ out of this earlier base, rather than being the result of external influences. This `steady state' theory of cultural evolution was dramatically borne out by the recent discovery of a teacher living in the West of England who is genetically descended from a man whose remains were found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge, and who had lived in the same area 9000 years ago. It seems that Celtic Druids may, after all, have been the linear descendants of the megalithic builders of late Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe.

Our knowledge of the ritual practices and religious beliefs of these early periods derives from our interpretation of the physical evidence they left behind. These include complex passage graves such as New Grange in Ireland, where a narrow window above the entrance admits a shaft of light at sunrise on the winter solstice, illuminating an inner chamber deep within its covering mound, massive stone circles such as those at Avebury in Wiltshire, with its complex lunar and solar alignments, and the nearby Silbury Hill, an enigmatic structure which is the largest man-made prehistoric mound in Europe. Associated with monuments of this period are beautifully worked gold ornaments, decorated stones, and fragments of pottery, tools of antler and bone, ritual implements of bronze, and beads of amber and jet.

The earliest megaliths were the great tomb-shrines, of which New Grange is a highly developed example. They were built from about 4500 BCE until about 2500 BCE. They are, in effect, artificial caves, believed by many to be symbolic representations of the womb of an Earth Mother Goddess. Many of them are aligned on the rising or setting of the sun or moon at significant times of the year. The light entering the tomb may represet rebirth. Bodies were exposed or buried for some time until the flesh had gone from the bones before they were deposited in the tomb-shrines. Usually, only the skulls and long bones were put into the tomb chambers. These seem to have been brought out periodically and used in rituals around the entrances, which often seem to have involved fires and ritual feasting. The fact that most tomb-shrines are located near water indicates that ritual bathing may also have formed part of the rites. Other practices included making offerings in deep ritual shafts and the ritual use of cattle skulls.

From about 2500 BCE onwards, the tomb-shrines fell into disuse, often being deliberately blocked to prevent re-use. The focus of ritual activity shifted to open air circles of wooden posts or standing stones, sometimes surrounded by a bank and ditch, as at Avebury. The existence of huge circles such as Avebury, linked by pilgrim routes spanning much of Britain, suggests a growing interdependence of peoples, coming together in great joint celebrations at particular times of the year. There were, however, large numbers of small circles scattered around the country, suggesting that local, tribal or familial religious rites were also carried out. Like the tomb-shrines that preceded them, the circles show wide variations in design and alignment. Celebrations at some circles included fires and ritual feasting. Offerings in ritual pits also continued, as did the ritual use of cattle-skulls. Many circles include human and animal burials, seemingly placed to provide spirit guardians of the place.

The first recognisably Celtic culture in terms of its physical remains is the so-called Hallstatt culture, named after the Austrian site where it was first identified. The Hallstatt Iron Age began around 800 BCE, and its remains are found in a relatively small area of central Europe. The great expansion of Celtic artefacts occurred around 500 BCE during the La Tene period, named after a site in Switzerland. This period is typified by highly stylised decorative metalwork, the ultimate example of which is the famous Gundestrup cauldron, found in a Danish bog, with its silvered panels depicting cult scenes, animals, and Celtic deities.

The first historical record of Druidry comes from classical Greek and Roman writers of the 3rd century BCE onward, who noted the existence of Druids among a people called the Keltoi who inhabited central and southern Europe a few centuries before our Common Era (BCE). The Keltoi, or Celts, were also noted for, among other things, their horsemanship, their intricate metalwork, their use of light-weight war chariots, the quality of their woollen cloaks, and the fact that they wore trousers, an obvious sign of barbarity to their toga-wearing neighbours. From writers such as Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Poseidonius, and Julius Caesar we learn that the Druids of their time believed in the transmigration of souls, that they traced their descent from a common ancestor, and that their social status equalled that of the highest nobility. They tell us that Druids were a respected class or caste among the Celts, forming a kind of intellectual and spiritual elite within Celtic society not unlike the Brahmin caste in India. They also refer to the various sub-divisions within the Druid caste, notably Bards, who were poets, singers, musicians, genealogists and historians; Vates or Ovates, who were philosophers and diviners; and Druids themselves, who were priests, spiritual leaders, legal authorities and `natural philosophers.'

It seem likely that there were many different Druidries in ancient Europe, just as there are today. The diversity of belief and practice among pagan Celtic peoples is demonstrated by wide variations in the type and structure of ritual sites, and in the many different deities worshipped. However, the fact that a few Gods and Goddesses seem to have been almost pan-Celtic suggests the possibility that Druids may have had a common pantheon of their own, since Druids were the only social group who were able to move freely across tribal boundaries. Examples of such pan-Celtic deities include Lugos (Irish `Lugh,' Welsh `Lleu'), youthful God of the Sun, Light and Fire; Nodens (Ir. `Nuada,' W. `Nudd'), Otherworld Lord and Warrior God; Belenos (Ir. `Balor,' W. `Beli'), Solar Grandfather God; and Don (Ir. `Danu'), primeval River Goddess and Mother of the Gods. We know from classical writers that Druids from wide areas met together regularly at central locations called nemetonae, `sanctuaries' or `sacred groves.' We also know that students from other parts of Europe travelled to Britain to receive instruction in Druidry.

Common ritual practices of this period include animal sacrifice, most often of domestic animals such as pigs and cattle, and, perhaps, occasional human sacrifice; the placing of deliberately broken objects in water as offerings to the Gods, particularly in eastward-flowing streams and rivers; and the placing of similarly broken objects in deep wells or shafts, presumably as offerings to Underworld deities. Classical writers also refer to divination by studying the entrails of sacrificial victims or the flight or speech of oracular birds. The 1st century Roman author, Pliny the Elder, gives a famous account of white-clad Druids climbing oak trees to cut sacred mistletoe from them using gold sickles. The mistletoe was caught by attendants waiting below with a white cloth. Two white bulls were sacrificed during this rite.

After the Roman invasions, first of Gaul and then of Britain, the political influence of Druidry was curtailed, but it certainly did not cease to exist, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, which remained beyond the reach of the legions. In the rest of Britain, many Romano-British temples were built on the sites of earlier Celtic shrines, and Celtic deities were often worshipped in these temples side-by-side with the Gods of Rome.

The coming of Christianity, which first reached Britain about 200 CE, did not put an end to Druidry either. Many pagan Romano-British temples continued in use for a further three centuries. When Christianity did eventually achieve dominance, many pagan sites and popular rituals were adapted to Christian usage, and the old Druidic colleges emerged as new Bardic colleges. Some may even have became Christian monasteries. Even after the priestly functions of the old Druid caste had been entirely taken over by Christian priests, much of the old reverence for the pagan priesthood transferred to the Bardic order. Bardic initiates continued to compose Goddess-inspired poetry and to preserve the sacred lore of their pagan predecessors, while Christian monks of the period began to record pagan myths and legends in writing.

In the first half of this period Celtic scholars, particularly those of Ireland, were famed throughout Europe for the depth and diversity of their learning. They translated the great works of classical antiquity and composed treatises on subjects ranging from astronomy to zoology. Their love of learning seems to have been a direct inheritance from their pagan Druid predecessors. The same period also saw a great literary flowering in the bardic colleges, producing the poetry of such legendary figures as Taliesin, Myrddin, whose story Geoffrey of Monmouth later wove into his romantic figure of Merlin, magician to King Arthur, and Aneurin, whose great work, The Gododdin, is possibly the earliest surviving British poem.

The great collection of Welsh myths and legends known as The Mabinogion also achieved written form during this period, probably in the 9th century, as did the great Irish epics such as Lebor Gabala Erinn, `The Book of the Taking of Ireland,' and Tain bo Cuailgne, `The Cattle Raid of Cooley.' These and other texts of the period contain a good deal of information about Druids and Druidry, being written at a time when Druids not only still esisted but retained at least some of their ancient influence.

Under the patronage of the old Celtic noble families, many of whom traced their ancestry back to pagan Celtic deities, Bardic colleges continued to flourish until the 17th century in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The Flight of the Earls in Ireland left the bardic colleges there bereft of their patronage and they quickly closed. The bardic tradition, however, continued in the hedge schools, among wanderings minstrels and tinkers and through the support of less noble patrons. In Wales, he accession to the English throne of the Welsh Tudor dynasty began the decline of the colleges. Many of the aristocratic patrons of the bards simply moved to London, the centre of power, either taking their bards with them or leaving them to fend for themselves. Some colleges seem to have found new patronage from monastic foundations. Other bards survived as did their Irish counterparts, either by working for less exalted patrons or by teaching in the hedgerows and performing in taverns. In Scotland, the clan system that had supported the bardic colleges collapsed under the suppression that followed a series of rebellions by the Scots against the Act of Union of 1707.

As well as preserving poetry and prose, legends, histories and genealogies, the bardic colleges also retained some curious magical pagan practices. In Ireland, bards were taught secret languages and cyphers that used the Ogham alphabet, a script invented in Ireland in the 2nd or 3rd century. Also in Ireland, bards were taught ancient methods of divination, some of which involved animal sacrifice. In Ireland, Wales and Scotland, bardic colleges used a technique for incubatiing poems called "the cell of song." A bard would be given a subject on which to compose a poem. He would then be lain on a wattle bed in a closed, windowless cell for a day and a night, sometimes with a plaid wrapped around his head. In this state of sensory deprivation the bard would seek inspiration. After 24 hours a light would be brought in and the bard would write down the poem that had come to him in the darkness.

The 18th century saw a Druid Revival in England and Wales, inspired by the writings of antiquaries such as John Aubrey (1629-1697), John Toland (1670-1722), and William Stukely (1687-1765). Aubrey was the first modern writer to put forward the idea that Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments were built by Druids. He was also the first person to make surveys of Stonehenge and Avebury. On the strength of this, he has been claimed as an Archdruid by some modern Druid groups whose origins lie in the 18th century revival. Toland was an Irish revolutionary who, as a young man, met Aubrey and was fascinated by his views on Druids and stone circles. Toland wrote a book in which he expounded his own theories on the subject and expanded on those of the older writer. With the arrogance of youth, Toland failed to mention Aubrey as his source. On the strength of Toland`s book, he too has been claimed as an Archdruid. The Ancient Druid Order (ADO) claim that Toland held a gathering of Druids from all over Britain and Ireland in a London tavern in 1717. Odd then that Toland should have written only a year later that:

"No heathen priesthood ever came up to the perfection of the Druidical which was far more exquisite than any other such system: as having been much better calculated to beget ignorance, and an explicit disposition in the people, no less than to procure powre and profit to the priests... To arrive at perfection in sophistry requires a long habit, as well as in juggling, in which last they were very expert: but to be masters of both, and withal to learn the art of managing the mob, which is vulgarly called leading the people by the nose, demands abundant study and excercise."

These are the words of a man who clearly felt nothing but contempt for all priesthoods, including the Druidic, a contempt he repeats over and again in his writings with a vehemence perhaps only possible in a rebellious lapsed Catholic such as he. If, as seems obvious, we must dismiss Toland as an Archdruid, we should also question whether the supposed Primrose Hill gathering ever took place. It can surely be no coincidence that the first Grand Lodge of Freemasonry was founded on June 24th, 1717, the very day that Toland`s supposed Druid gathering took place, also in London, also in a tavern.

William Stukeley was an antiquarian much in the mould of John Aubrey. Stukeley too made field trips to Avebury and Stonehenge and made surveys and drawings of both sites. He agreed with Aubrey on the Druidic nature of megalithic monuments. However, publi interest in Druidry had waned and Stukeley found it difficult to find publishers for his writings. Instead, he took holy orders and became a clergyman. Once settled into his parish, his ideas regarding Druidry became increasingly eccentric. He had the vicarage garden redesigned in his idea of a Druid grove complete with megalithic folly, he began to expound Druidic principles from the pulpit of his church and he started to sign letters "Chyndonax, Druid of Mount Haemus."

The late 18th century saw the Druid revival kickstarted by a group of gentlemen who met at another London tavern to found the Ancient Order of Druids in 1781. Foremost among them was Henry Hurle. Hurle`s group seems to have incorporated a lot of Masonic ideas, including those of mutual support and charitable good works.

Shortly after the founding of the AOD, the Druid revival gained new strength and vitality through the work of an extraordinary Welsh visionary, poet, scholar, and charlatan, Edward Williams (1747-1822), better known by his Bardic name, Iolo Morganwg. His writings, some of which were published as The Iolo Manuscripts (1848), and Barddas (1862), remain influential in the Druid movement to the present day. He claimed to have found a complete system of Druidry in ancient manuscripts he had collected in his native Wales. Using them as a basis, Iolo held a gathering of what he styled the Gorsedd of Bards of the Isles of Britain. In fact, he had composed the `ancient` manuscripts himself, beginning while he was imprisoned for debt after a business enterprise failed. His forgeries were good enough to fool the best scholars of his day and continued to be regarded as genuine until 150 years after his death, when an inquisitive scholar looked through Iolo`s manuscripts and found draft versions of most of the supposedly medieval documents written in Iolo`s own hand. In spite of the exposure of this massive literary fraud, the rituals Iolo concocted for his Gorsedd of the Bards are still performed in August each year as part of the Welsh Royal National Eisteddfod, while the Gorsedd Prayer he composed is used by several modern Druid groups. As well as his Druidic forgeries, Iolo was also a fine poet, both under his own name and those of several medieval bards. He was also a fervent supporter of the French and American Revolutions.

The Druid groups formed by the 18th-century revivalists tended to blend classical Druidry with Christianity, and even attempted to present pagan Druids as pre-Christian Christians. Central to most of the revival groups of this period was the Sun as symbol of Divine Light. The membership of most groups was either wholly or predominantly male. As we have seen, some had links with revolutionary politics, unorthodox Christianity, or Freemasonry.

The 19th century saw a remarkable flourishing of scholarship in the field of Celtic studies, which again provided renewed impetus to the Druid movement. Notable landmarks included the publication Godfrey Higgins', The Celtic Druids in 1829, the first English translation of The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest in 1849, and the publication and translation of much of the poetic heritage of the Welsh Bards in W. F. Skene's, The Four Ancient Books of Wales in 1868.

The Druid tradition has undergone further revision in the present century, through the writings of Lewis Spence, Ross Nichols, and others. Nichols was the founder of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) when he led a breakaway from the Ancient Druid Order in 1964. He was a friend of Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca. From his research into folklore, Nichols devised the eightfold festival cycle now celebrated by most Pagans. Gardner incorporated it into his Wiccan writings in the 1950s while Nichols introduced it into Druidry through OBOD.

The process of re-inventing the tradition continues at the present day through writers such as the singer and folklorist R. J. Stewart, the highly prolific authors John and Caitlin Matthews, and the present chief of OBOD Philip Carr-Gomm. There now seem to be more publications available on the subject of Druidry than at any other time in its history. This in itself is evidence of the way in which Druidry continues to resonate in the modern mind, appearing to echo some deep-seated need.

Modern ideas of Druidry are constantly updated in the light of archaeological research and new techniques for exploring and understanding the past. But the Druidry of today, while it draws heavily on the past, is very different from the Druidry of 5000, or even 500 years ago, and this is as it should be, for a static tradition is a dying tradition, and Druidry is very much alive. Throughout its history, Druidry has changed and adapted in response to circumstances. Each century re-creates the tradition to satisfy its own needs. The fundamental needs of our own age are to find personal harmony and balance amid increasing technological and cultural chaos, and to preserve the ecological balance of our hard-pressed Mother Earth. Modern Druidry seeks to address both these needs.

One of the strongest trends in Druidry today is the growth of ecological awareness and activism. Such concerns come naturally to a philosophy that has always regarded trees, stones, springs, rivers, lakes, hills and mountains as sacred and imbued with spirit. Part of this ecological movement has led many Druids to rediscover sacred sites in their own neighbourhood and to find appropriate ways of working with those sites both in spirit and in active conservation. This represents something of a return to the localised cults which flourished in pre-Christian times.

Another significant trend in contemporary Druidry is the re-emergence of a `shamanic` understanding and practice, working directly with spirits of place, of the land, of trees and plants, animals and ancestors. This has been inspired by the discovery of `shamanic` practices described in the medieval literature of Ireland and Wales and also by study of and contact with other indigenous earth-ancestor spiritualities. Native American practice has been particularly influential. The living example of Lakota sweat lodge ceremonies led to the re-introduction of sweat lodges into Druidry. Britain and Ireland actually have a native sweat lodge tradition that dates back at least to the Bronze Age, but it had been lost until its reintroduction in the 1980s.

Another encouraging trend is the growth of ecumenism, represented by the Druid Forum, which had its first meeting at Avebury in June 1996. The broad spectrum of modern Druidry is well represented in The Druids' Voice: the Magazine of Contemporary Druidry (published by the BDO). For more information on modern Druid groups, their history, beliefs and practices, see A Druid Directory, edited by Philip Shallcrass (BDO, 1997). See also Stonehenge and the Druids by Greywolf and Issues Facing Contemporary Druidry by Bobcat.