Four Elements, Four Directions: Is that Celtic or Druidic

Ancient Celtic cosmology does not use nor require elaborate correspondences of numbers, directions, elements, colors, and the like as is found in conventional occultism. Romantic Druidism does tend to make use of such correspondences. Among the few numbers the Druids did use, Three was usually more significant, for Celtic cosmology tended to organize the world in triads, and not even numbers or mutually-opposite duality's. It is three Goddesses whom the first mortal settlers of Ireland encounter, three Realms that comprise the physical world, three spirals that make the arms of the triskele. To the Celts, two and four are not balanced numbers because they do not have anything in the middle, as do the numbers three and five!

The Druid's elements may have been eight or The pillars of the modern Druidic symbol called the awen, /|\ stand for truth, knowledge, and justice; the triskele (which looks something like a spiral with three arms) also demonstrates the significance of the number 3, and may stand for any triad though usually understood to stand for the realms of Earth, Sea, and Sky.

Celtic mysticism also includes at least one case of spiritual dualism, and it is the coupling of fire and water. These are the opposing forces out of which are born the three realms, and all magic. But as both fire and water have constructive and destructive qualities, it would be wrong to say that the fire and water represent good and evil, male or female, or some other pair of human qualities. They simply are two different kinds of divine force.

There is a strong case to be made that the Druids made use of four directions. The well of healing constructed by the Irish god Diancecht, to aid the gods in their battle against the Fomorians, required four operators (himself and his three children) and it is reasonable to presume that they stood in the four cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west, with the well in the middle. Ireland itself is divided into four territories, called provinces: Ulster in the north, Lenster in the east, Munster in the south, and Connaught in the west, but in ancient times there was a fifth province in the center, called Meath, and it is in this province that the hill of Tara, seat of the high kings, was located. Many European ritual sanctuaries, such as Gournay-sur-Aronde in northern France (ancient Gaul), are constructed with solar and astronomical alignments that correspond to the same four cardinal directions, anchored by votive offering pits in the center. So it would seem that the ritual "center" "middle" or "between" place is central to old Druid magic, no matter what other number symbolism is being employed.

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