- - - A Druidic Life - - -
Basics
--Starting Out
**What's a Druid?**
--Maps
--Global Information
--Bashing
--Defenses
Skills
--General Skills
--Mini Skills
--Herbology & Concoctions
--Metamorphics
--Groves
Helpful Hints and Random Bits
--Triggers
--Aliases
--Research and Development
--The Library of the Oak
--Firefighting & Patrolling
--Gaelic, Latin, and the Ogham
--Links
--Chammilla Lena-Weltsdown
--Deonymus TijuLena
--Mistalis Vorondil
--Silverwind Sa'Rithven-Jaydde
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This is a direct COPY from "A Druid's Herbal For the Sacred Earth Year, By Ellen Evert Hopman." And in no way is this an original work by the webmasters and mistresses of this site. We take no claim nor do we accept any Funds or Try to SELL this. We are not PREACHING this information unto anyone, as being a direct violation to the Druidic laws. Any Questions about this information, either consult the book or Speak with Druid Silverwind Personally.
The Druids are actually a order from alot of the worlds history. The ancient Poet-Priests and -priestesses who have inspired so much reverence and so much nonsense since they were repleced by Christianity in the Fifth century C.E have been credited with the building of Stonehenge (Not true), with being Atlanteans (no evidence ever found), and with being a lost tribe of Israel (very Doubtful). Eighteenth-century romantics such as John Toland and Henry Hurle (both freemasons) have bequeathed to us the image of the white-garbed, bearded, male priest with a Sickle.
History has generally chosen to ignore the ancients' testimony to the existence of female druids- whole islands of them- and Tacitus' description of the black-clad screaming Druidess who attempted to fight the Romans at Anglesey in 61 C.E.
The Irish Arch Druid was Described by his contemporaries as wearing the skin og a white bull and a white-feathered headdress with fluttering wings, or a many-coloured cloak and ornaments of gold. (Overview: See: Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain) The White robes we moderns envision were worn for specific rituals such as gathering sacred herbs.
The Tian Bo Cuailnge is an Ancient Gaelic tale from the La Tene (Iron Age) pre - Roman civilization. It is the oldest Vernacular Epic in Western Literature. From it, we can glean some references to the Druids and their Functions. According to the Tain, Druids could shape-change into deer and prophesy the future.
The Tain also gives us some idea of the Ancient Healing Practices used by the Iron Age Celts. The hero CuChulainn healed the wounded Morrigan by wishing her to health and by placing the blessings if tge gids abd tge bib0gids yoib ger. Lug Mac Ethnenn, one of the sidhe (faeries or fairies), sang to CuChulainn to sleep for three days and nights that his wounds might heal. He then dropped healing herbs and grasses into the sores while CuChulainn slept.
Itger geakers are described as dropping plants and hers in the wounds of Ferdia as well. Charioteers made beds of fresh rushes with headrests for the wounded.
Serious wounds that spurted blood had magic amulets laid on them, and spells and incantations were sung over them by healers. The wounded CuChulain was bathed in numerous streams and rivers to restore his health after battle. His wounds were bound with hazel twigs. The mortally wounded Cethern was made to sleep day and night in bone marrow.
Other legends tell us that the Druids could raise winds and fogs, dry up lakes and rivers, and lay hills flat.
The druids did not use formal buildings for their religious services. Their sanctuaries were the Nemetons: cleared spaces in the forests, surrounded by earthworks, a wooden palisade, or trees. The teachings of the Druids, which could take up to Twenty years to impart, were given in forests away from the distractions of hill forts or towns.
The wood "Druid" most likely comes from the prefix dru, meaning "hard, true, resistant, permanent." Dru-uides were the "True seers," and the word for the female druid was ban-drui, or Druidess. Druids studied divination, magic, astrology, theology, law, medicine, natural sciences, music, and poetry. So well respected were they that they advised queens and kings.
The teachings of the druids were passed down Orally; very little was written. This was not, however, for want of an alphabet. The ancient Celts used Ogham, or the"tree alphabet," for secular matters, preferring to keep the important Druidic knowlewdge sacred and less accessible by committing it to memory. Gaulish Druids went to Britain for formal training but met in France at Chartres, at the site of the present-day cathedral.
Within the Druid orders, Brehons, Vates, and Bards had seperate functions. Bards specialized in the Poetic composition and singing, whereas the Vates practiced divination and seership. The Brehons were the judges, arbiters of the ancient Brehon Laws. The clergy-- priests and prestesses-- were referred to as "Druids."
Both Bards and Druids could arbitrate in wars and could even stop a battle. The Brehons presided over criminal, civil, and property disputes. They were empowered to put individuals to death for serious offenses, much as we do toda. A severe judgement could bar an individual from religious rites, thus stripping them of both secular and religious status. Druids could invoke Divine Retribution upon an individual or a tribe by ritual cursing.
According to Pliny the Druids reckoned the beginning of each month on the sixth day following the new moon. The Day began at twilight, as darkness was understood to precede light, much as gestation precedes birth and chaos precedes creation.
Druids were the history-keepers, the repositories of lore and wisdom. They were "living books." Law, medicine, the knowledge of nature and the gods and goddesses, the otherworld, and the timing of ritual and agricultural cycles were their special domains.
This was the First Section in Chapter One of "A Druids Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year, by Ellen Evert Hopman."