The Ancient Druids

A Classic Caste of Celtic Clergy

More than two millennia ago, in the year 335 BCE, Alexander the Great encountered a group of Celtic warriors with huge golden neck rings and brightly colored cloaks. As the story goes, he asked the so-called barbarians what they feared most in this world, hoping that they would say him. However, to his surprise, the noble knights just laughed at him and said they feared nothing at all. Unbeknownst to him, they understood the truth about reincarnation and this is what gave them such intense courage on the field of battle. That is to say, knowing that they would be reborn to live and fight again, they went to war with no concern of dying. They had learned this esoteric insight from the Druids, who were mystical Iron Age intellectuals that were part of the priestly caste of Celts among the islander Britons and mainlander Gauls, from about 600 BCE to 600 CE, give or take a century or two.

As pagan polytheists, the Celts worshiped many different deities, such as Tamesis the goddess of the River Thames. More importantly, Druids had to oversee every important ceremony in their society. In line with this, unlike other ancient civilizations that celebrated the solstices and equinoxes, the Celts observed the cross-quarter holidays instead. These are known as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasa, and Samhain. They happen on January 31st to February 1st, April 30th to May 1st, July 31st to August 1st, and October 31st to November 1st, respectively. Moreover, this used to occur from sundown to sundown, as part of an eight-day, rather than a seven-day week. In addition to this, the Druids also supervised every religious practice in the Celtic world, including the sacrifices that were given to the gods and goddesses of regional pantheons. Plus, Druids were required to study everything from cosmology to theurgy. Unfortunately, understanding the precise history, philosophy, and theology of the Druids is rather difficult because, although they were highly literate polyglots and proficient polymaths, Druids were strictly forbidden from recording anything.

As part of this, it took a Celtic priest or priestess two decades of apprenticeship in order to master three levels of initiation, from Bard to Ovate to Druid. They progressed from storytellers to soothsayers to spellcasters. So, these were not separate…