Imaginative illustration of 'An Arch Druid in His Judicial Habit', from The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands by S.R. Meyrick and C.H. Smith (1815),  By S.R. Meyrick and C.H. Smith. - from "The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands", Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15351179

A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lore keepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks.

The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BCE. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero, Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century.

Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. What was taught to druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek letters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from Greek script to Latin script.

Druids play a prominent role in Irish folklore, generally serving lords and kings as high ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities – the best example of these possibly being Cathbad. The chief druid in the court of King Conchobhar mac Ness of Ulster, Cathbad features in several tales, most of which detail his ability to foretell the future. In the tale of Dierdre of the Sorrows – the foremost tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle – the druid prophesied before the court of Conchobhar that Deirdre would grow up to be very beautiful, and that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. This prophecy, ignored by the king, came true.

The greatest of these mythological druids was Amergin Ghúingel a Bard and judge for the Milesians featured in the Mythological Cycle. The Milesians were seeking to overrun the Tuatha Dé Danann and win the land of Ireland but, as they approached, the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to bar their ships from making landfall. Thus Amergin called upon the spirit of Ireland itself, chanting a powerful incantation that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin and, eventually (after successfully making landfall), aiding and dividing the land between his royal brothers in the conquest of Ireland, earning the title Chief Ollam of Ireland.

Other such mythological druids were Tadg mac Nuadat of the Fenian Cycle and Mug Ruith, a powerful blind druid of Munster.

Druids in Myth and Legend. The Druids' powerful central role in religion and society helped earn them a place in mythology. It was believed that the Druids had strange and magical powers and could foretell the future. Some reports described how the Druids would stab some of their sacrificial victims and look for omens by observing the flow of blood or examining the victims' insides. It was also said that the Druids used human sacrifice and magic rituals as a means of controlling supernatural forces and ensuring prosperity and success.

• immortal able to live forever
• ritual ceremony that follows a set pattern
• omen sign of future events
• supernatural related to forces beyond the normal world; magical or miraculous
• prophet one who claims to have received divine messages or insights

In early Celtic literature, Druids were frequently represented as prophets and magicians as well as influential royal advisers. Some accounts told how Druids could read minds and predict future events, while a few went even farther, characterizing Druids as "shape-shifters" who could take the form of birds or women. Some stories described the Druids as using their magic for evil, for example, turning people into animals.

Druids made frequent appearances in early Irish mythology, notably in the four groups of traditional tales. A Druid who lived in the household of King Conchobhar of Ulster sometimes had more power than the king himself because of his ability to predict the future. The Irish hero Finn was raised by a Druid. Throughout the myths, Druids used their powers of prophecy (foretelling of what is to come); also something that is predicted and magic both for good and for evil.

The image of the Druids changed over the centuries. By the 1700s, Druids as presented in literature had lost much of their connection with the ancient religious order. Some English writers even claimed that the Druids were descendants of the biblical Noah. Others said that the Druids were one of the ten lost tribes of Israel.

A Druid Legend of Catastrophe

The Druids of ancient times had no illusions about the stability of our planet, or about the other planets in our solar system. They had inherited knowledge of earlier catastrophic happenings, and this led them to believe that the earth would be destroyed by fire and water. But they always preached that the universe and the souls of those living in it are indestructible. In the legendary voyage of Snedgus and McRiagla there is an island with two lakes, one of fire and the other one of water.

In the Mythological cycle we are told that the world will end when the sun and moon will be mixed together. The Sorcerer Mathgen promised to cast the mountains of Ireland on the Fomoire, and that the lakes and islands of Ireland would be hidden from the Fomoire, and that the Druid Figol would cause three showers of fire to fall upon the faces of the enemy and that Dagda, Lug and Ogma spent seven years making weapons and preparing for battle in the heavens. In the Cattle Raid of Cooley the transmitted memories of terrestrial catastrophes were left unmodified by the monk chroniclers, when Sualtaim, who was Cuchulains father, was told about his son fighting against the odds and when he heard the noise of the battle, he called out: "This is from afar. Is it the sky that cracks or the sea that ebbs or the earth that splits or is it the distress of my son against the Foray of Cuailgne."

When he got to his son Cuchulain told him to go to the Ulstermen and tell them to protect their cattle. When Sualtaim reached Emain he told the Ulstermen and their King Conor..."Men are slain, women are carried off, cattle are driven away, O Ulstermen"

King Conor replied "A little too loud is that cry, for the sky is above us, the earth beneath us, and the sea all around us, but unless the sky with its showers of stars fall upon the surface of the earth or unless the ground burst open in an earthquake, or unless the fish abounding blue bordered sea come over the surface of the earth, I shall bring back every cow to its byre and enclosure, every woman to her own abode and dwelling, after victory in battle and combat and conquest "What I always find interesting is the thought that he would retrieve the cattle first, and the women second.

When Queen Meave had got the Brown Bull of Cooley and was on her way home, she sent MacRoth, her chief messenger to check if the Ulstermen were following them over the plains of Meath. When MacRoth returned to Queen Meave he reported the following..."Not long was he there when he heard a noise and a tumult and a clamor. It seemed to him almost as if the sky had fallen onto the surface of the earth, or as if the fish abounding blue bordered sea had swept across the face of the world, or as if the earth had split in an earthquake, or as if the trees of the forest had all fallen into each other’s forks and bifurcations and branches. However the wild beasts were hunted across the plain in such numbers that the surface of the plain of Meath was not visible beneath them". This occurred over 100 years before the birth of Christ. The story was transmitted orally (like so many others) in the strict Celtic Bardic Tradition before being written down by unknown monks.

Today's Irish Druids can have no illusions about the stability of our planet, or about the other planets in our solar system. We have the old Druids knowledge of actual impending catastrophic happenings - that the earth would be destroyed by fire and water. We have modern ecological and environmental awareness of the global weather patterns collapsing. The fire of the internal combustion engine has consumed nearly all the fossil oxygen in our atmosphere. Commercial deforestation has destroyed the air and water cycles in ways that will take many thousands of years to self-repair. These modern looming catastrophes are denied by the governments of the money lenders but even the dogs in the street know its bad and that it's getting worse. But today's Celtic Druids know that the Universe and the souls of those living in it are indestructible - so we live in the here and now - just as our ancestors did.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Dr-Fi/Druids.html

https://www.celticdruidtemple.com/ancient-stories.html An EXCELLENT SOURCE FOR MORE MYTH AND LEGEND

Originally compiled by LFN Member Rifkin the Historian – posted for informational and educational purposes only.