Ancient Druidic/Celtic beliefs
An Irish triad reads: "Three candles that illuminate every darkness: Knowledge, Nature, Truth". This is one of hundreds of Triads that impart wisdom for many aspects of life, both spiritual and mundane, but this one is the my first, best choice for a simple description of the highest Good in Druidism and the Celtic faith.
The Triad is a convention of Celtic poetry, and as it is through poetry that much Druidic wisdom is communicated, it is well to examine the poems that the Old Celts used to make. Even as the Christian scribes were recording the oral literature of the people, the magic poetry of the Druids was so inseparable from the narrative that many fragments have survived the translation. In Ireland and Scotland a Druid's most potent ritual tool was her voice, when she wanted to work some change in the world, and to do so she would set herself in the proper trance-like frame of mind through which her chanted, spontaneous words would flow. Wisdom becomes a kind of knowledge above ordinary knowledge (like facts), a form of total-awareness, or even a state of mind. Archeological evidence of "beehive" huts, secluded mountain shelters, etc. suggest the Druids used them to achieve higher states of consciousness in pursuit of this inspiration.
This poetic tradition in Druidism is related to the oral-transmission method the Celts used to trace their faith. Written records were distrusted for the most part, and though a runic writing system called Ogham did exist, it wasn't used for much beyond burial monuments, property divisions, and landmarks. To write things down is to weaken the power of edidic memory, which the Druids cultivated carefully, and to dishonor the thing written down. Druids in training had to learn all the Bardic poetry, in a manner we would call sensory deprivation. Poetic inspiration was an important spiritual practice, which the Welsh have focused on in their Eisteddfod. In Irish myth there was a deity of poetry (Brigid), and a particular style of poetry, called Roscanna, which has as its purpose the construction of magical incantations.
The Druids taught of the omnipresence of a spiritual Otherworld, that is sometimes accessible to us, and particularly close at certain times of the year, like at Samhain. There is a great sense of connection and continuity between life and death, such that the ancient Druids and Celts did not fear death, but instead viewed it as a transition phase in the course of a long, even eternal, life. There is also no damning division between an Underworld and an Upperworld (although, in Welsh Druidism, perhaps a case can be made for Annwn as an Underworld and Caer Arianrhod as an upperworld). The deities which live in the Otherworld have a moral bias though "sin" is not the issue; And "punishment" is the withholding of the Gods and Their attention and company.
Reincarnation, or Rebirth in an otherworldly afterlife much the same as this one, was probably their view of human destiny after death. A strong case for the latter is the Celtic economic convention of holding one's debts off until payment in the afterlife. However there is no indication that the Druids believed in Karma, as the Hindu people did. So strong was the Druidic doctrine of the immortality of the soul, that Celtic warriors would enter battle and fight without fear of death, a phenomenon that puzzled not only Roman historians but also Roman military strategists.
The Druidic beliefs regarding deities is also a complicated problem. The feature that all Gods share, which makes them distinct from mortals, is that they are descended from a particular divine ancestor. In the case of the Irish, that ancestor deity is the Goddess Danu, and so the pantheon of Irish Gods are called Tuatha de Dannann, meaning "Tribe of Danu". The Celtic Gods are inseparable from the environment in which they live, so much that it is difficult to categorize them neatly into areas of particular concern (that is to say, it is difficult to say what each deity is "god of"). As the Druids looked upon nature and saw it populated with spirits, Goddesses, and gods, it is safe to speculate that they regarded nature as sacred and divine.
Fire-worship is central to Celtic religion as well, as it certainly played a role in the four annual Fire Festivals. Fire is a spiritual force unto itself, and it is not bound into a cosmology of four equally necessary elements, as the Greeks are known to have done. Fire possesses the magical properties of both destructiveness and cleansing, bringing heat and energy and with it civilization. It is a spiritual principle, because it is always reaching up to the sky. This may be why they built those hilltop fires. Poetic inspiration is said to be a fire in the head, so Brigid is a fire-deity as well. The ritual "need fire" demonstrates the high spiritual regard the Celts had for fire, which was their main source of energy in a time without electricity, and without matches!
Druidic mythology points to knowledge as the key to self awareness, symbolized by certain mythological holy-places of great importance that are associated with wisdom, such as the Well of Wisdom (auspiciously located at the center of the world), the Spiral of Annwyn, and the Cauldron of Cerridwen. Mythic places are inaccessible but also not inaccessible, for it requires a leap of faith to find them; the Well of Wisdom is at the bottom of the ocean, but to Sea Gods like Manannan, who are capable of that magical leap, the occean is as the sky. That leap of faith is often found in the moment of poetic inspiration.
The Druidic pursuit of knowledge and inspiration is more than an occult or esoteric exercise in weirdness. As Druids were also required to be the professionals of their society, the skills they had were meant for the benefit of the tribe each Druid worked for. A Druid was expected to use his/her divination skills and his/her sight of otherworldly things for many essential and pragmatic purposes, such as: advising the Celtic chiefs as they make policy, settling disputes and legal claims, and announcing the beginning of agricultural seasons such as planting, harvesting, and hunting. Druids were involved in stage-of-life rituals such as childbirth, maturity, marriage, and death. In times of war a Druids skills were needed to learn about the enemy's movements and plans, and also to call elemental powers to the aid of the tribe; alternately, the Druids could put an end to an unjust war (a power for which there is a great deal of evidence). A Druid's skills belonged to his/her tribe and not to themselves alone. In this way the Druid was an inseparable part of a Celtic faith and necessary for the tribe's continued survival and welfare. In these days of mechanized farming, atomic-clock time keeping, and satellite weather forecasting, it is difficult to grasp how the mysterious religion of the Druids, and of other ancient priesthood's, was not merely abstract, intellectual, and theoretical.
The moral and ethical position of Druidism is also difficult to describe. It is my opinion that the essence of Druidism is not in its ethical positions. But this does not mean Druidism and the Celtic branch are a faith in which anything goes! By understanding the things that were held to be sacred, one can understand the moral obligations they had. There is some textual reference to old Celtic morality in the myths, such as the instructions of great heroes and kings to their students; Cu Chullain, Fionn Mac Cumhall, Cormac Mac Art, and others gave "advise" to their juniors that survive to this day. They are characterized by a great interest in justice, honor, and fair play, and emphasize that each person is responsible for her own conduct, not determinist forces like fate or the will of gods. The Fianna hero Oisin gives us this famous statement of Celtic ethics which I shall arbitrarily name Oisin's Answer, because it is how he answered St. Patrick's question of what kept the Fianna together: "It is what sustained us though our days, the truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our arms, and fulfillment in our tongues."
© 1997 silverphoenix@cybergal.com
