Many people may wonder: in addition to its spiritual and magical teachings, does Druidry also offer social and ethical teachings? The answer is Yes. Druids in ancient times as well as today have a deep interest in the most important questions of moral and social philosophy. Yet Druidry teaches ethics in a gentle and open-minded way. In a traditional Celtic fashion, the Druid does not pronounce rules or commandments. Rather, he or she poses questions, such as: What does it mean to be a good person, or to live a good life? What values should guide our relationships, our communities, even our nations? What must we do to become responsible for ourselves and our world? The investigation of questions like these has always been a distinctly Druidic activity, even back in the ancient times.
Some ancient Roman and Greek writers who were in a position to observe Druids first-hand made notes about their social structures, their values, and their ethical teachings. In such notes it is clear that our predecessors fulfilled many important social functions for their people, not just the well known religious or ceremonial functions. Prominent among these functions was the role of the philosopher and the teacher of moral philosophy. For instance, here are the words of Strabo, a Roman historian:
The bards composed and sung odes; the Uatis [Ovates] attended to the sacrifices and studied nature; while the Druids studied nature and moral philosophy. So confident are the people in the justice of the Druids that they refer all private and public disputes to them; and these men on many occasions have made peace between armies actually drawn up for battle. (Strabo, Geographica, IV.4.198)
From this quotation it is clear that the Druids were the philosophers of their people, and that they had a deep interest in studying and teaching ethical values. Similarly, Julius Caesar wrote the following in his account of the war in Gaul:
The Druids officiate at the worship of the gods, regulate public and private sacrifices, and give rulings on all religious questions. Large numbers of young men flock to them for instruction, and they are held in great honour by the people. They act as judges in practically all disputes, whether between tribes or between individuals; when any crime is committed, or a murder takes place, or a dispute arises about an inheritance or a boundary, it is they who adjudicate the matter and appoint the compensation to be paid and received by the parties concerned. (Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul, VI.13.1)
It is clear, therefore, that the Druids acted like magistrates or judges, resolving conflicts of various kinds among their people. Thus not only did the ancient Druids study ethics in a speculative way, they also put their studies into practice. Here is an observation from the Roman commentator Diogenes Laertius, who described part of the actual content of the Druidic moral teachings:
Druids make their pronouncements by means of riddles and dark sayings, teaching that the gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behaviour maintained. (Diogenes laertius, Vitae, I.5)
By ‘riddles and dark sayings’, it is probably intended that the Druids taught their ideas using a stock vocabulary of proverbs, symbols, metaphors, and the like, which they would have learned during their training, and which may have sounded obscure (ie dark) to outsiders like Diogenes. The triad that Diogenes mentions next suggests that the Druids valued piety, non-malfeasance, and honour, among their ethical teachings. Furthermore, these classical sources attest a Druidic belief in the immortal soul. Pomponius Mela wrote this about the beliefs of the Celtic Druids:
One of their dogmas has come to common knowledge, namely, that souls are eternal and that there is another life in the infernal regions, and this has been permitted manifestly because it makes the multitude readier for war. And it is for this reason too that they burn or bury, with their dead, things appropriate to them in life. (Pomponius Mela, Factorum et dictorum libri, II.6.10)
This belief in the immortal soul was also observed by Julius Caesar: “A lesson which they take particular pains to inculcate is that the soul does not perish, but after death passes from one body to another…” (Caesar, Conquest of Gaul, V.16.5) However, there is no evidence to support the idea that people were punished or rewarded in the afterlife for the way they lived their mortal lives. Instead, the classical writers made favourable comparisons to the Pythagorean belief in ‘Metempsychosis’, a form of reincarnation. It also appears, on the basis of other classical writings, that the Celts believed that the next life would be rather a lot like this one. Indeed Pomponius Mela observed that “in times past they even used to defer the completion of business and the payment of debts until their arrival in another world.”! (Mela, ibid.)
Some of the Irish wisdom texts are very specific about the ethical teachings of the Druids. There are several “wisdom texts”, or accounts of teachings imparted by Druids or other significant people in old Irish society. Sometimes these teachings were offered at the ceremony of inaugurating a new chieftain, to teach the candidate how to be a good chieftain. Sometimes the teachings were intended for the speaker’s own children or grandchildren, to teach them how to become mature adults. Here is an example of the latter:. Cormac mac Airt is asked by his grandson Carbre “what were your habits when you were a lad?” Cormac replies as follows:
I was a listener in woods,
I was a gazer at stars,
I was blind where secrets were concerned,
I was silent in a wilderness,
I was talkative among many,
I was mild in the mead-hall,
I was stern in battle,
I was ready to watch,
I was gentle in friendship,
I was a physician of the sick,
I was weak towards the strengthless,
I was strong toward the powerful,
I never was hard lest I be satirised,
I never was feeble lest I should have my hair stripped off,
I was not close lest I should be burdensome,
I was not arrogant though I was wise,
I was not given to promising though I was strong,
I was not venturesome, though I was swift,
I did not deride old people, though I was young,
I was not boastful though I was a good fighter,
I would not speak about anyone in his absence,
I would not reproach, but I would praise,
I would not ask, but I would give,
For it is through these habits that the young become old and kingly warriors. (Instructions of Cormac, § 7
Note that there is a certain emphasis here on respect and kindness to others, yet there is no indication that a person should be passively obedient to others. Nor is there any suggestion that he should sacrifice his dignity for the sake of others. Furthermore there may even be an implicit mysticism in this text, as the first two lines suggest that as a lad Cormac simply studied the woods and stars, and was ‘silent in a wilderness’, as if to learn from the elements themselves how best to live. Here is another example, also from the Instructions of Cormac. Cairbre asks his grandfather Cormac how he should behave “among the wise and the foolish, among friends and strangers, among the old and the young, among the innocent and the wicked” – or in other words, how he should act no matter what situation he is in. Cormac answers him as follows:
Be not too wise, be not too foolish,
be not too conceited, be not too diffident,
be not too haughty, be not too humble,
be not too talkative, be not too silent,
be not too harsh, be not too feeble.
If you be too wise, one will expect (too much) of you;
If you be too foolish, you will be deceived;
If you be too conceited, you will be thought vexatious;
If you be too humble, you will be without honour;
If you be too talkative, you will not be heeded;
If you be too silent, you will not be regarded;
If you be too harsh, you will be broken;
If you be too feeble, you will be crushed. (Instructions of Cormac, § 29)
Again, note that something resembling a path of ‘balance’ is advocated here. Cairbre is invited to act in such a way that he neither too hard nor too soft with each of his qualities of character.
It must be noted that the ancient Druids lived in a tribal warrior society, and some of their ethical values make the most sense only within such a society. But in the best philosophical spirit of their predecessors, contemporary Druids are making their own study of ethics and social values. They draw upon ancient sources such as the Greek, Roman, and Irish texts here mentioned, as well as on various more recent sources, and of course their own intellectual and emotional insights.