What is a Druid?

Druids as Judges

The Druids are considered the most just of men, and on this account they are entrusted with the decision, not only of the private disputes, but of the public disputes as well; so that, in former times, they even arbitrated cases of war and made the opponents stop when they were about to line up for battle, and the murder cases in particular were turned over to them for decision.
Strabo Geographica

It is natural that those people perceived as the wise elders of the community should be turned to for judgement and arbitration in times of dispute or when a crime has been committed, and some of the most interesting information about the ancient Druids can be found in the old Irish laws, known as the Brehon laws. Irish texts tell us that in 714 BCE the High King Ollamh Fódhla formalised the legal system by founding the Festival of Tara, at which every three years the laws already in existence were discussed and revised: and we know some of the names of the more prominent Druid judges of old, including a female judge named Brigh, a male judge named Finnchaemh, and Cennfaela, the Druid of King Cormac, who in the third century CE was said to be the most learned judge in Ireland. Peter Berresford Ellis, in his book The Druids, says: “the Irish system is the oldest surviving complete codified legal system in Europe with its roots in ancient Indo-European custom and not in Roman law, and is therefore the oldest surviving Celtic system of jurisprudence, and one in which the Druids are still mentioned.” Fortunately for us these laws have been recorded – set down in writing as early as the fifth century, according to some sources. Even as late as the seventeenth century some aspects of the Brehon code survived in Ireland, despite attempts by the English to suppress it. Charles Graves, the grandfather of Robert Graves whose book on Ogham The White Goddesswas seminal in the revival of interest in Goddess worship and Paganism, was an expert on Ogham and on Brehon law. He initiated a Royal Commission to transcribe and translate this treasure-trove of information, which was published in six volumes between 1865 and 1901.

Reading the Brehon laws today offers us an opportunity to enter into the minds of the early Druids – and to many peoples’ surprise, rather than discovering the beliefs of a primitive and savage people, we find a highly considered system that is mostly based upon ‘Restorative Justice’ – a concept that is found, for example, on the other side of the world amongst the Maoris of New Zealand . Restorative justice is concerned with compensation rather than revenge – the offender rather than simply being incarcerated is made to make good the damage or loss they have caused the victim. This picture was marred somewhat in Ireland by licence being given for vengeance killings, but these were allowed only in response to the murder of family members, and limits were exerted on retaliation. Undoubtedly we are seeing here an attempt to control situations that could so easily escalate.

As we would expect from Druid lawmakers, severe penalties resulted from the unlawful cutting down of trees, with important trees such as oak and yew being designated ‘Chieftain trees’ and carrying greater demands for compensation than ‘Peasant trees’. And when it came to marriage and divorce the Brehon laws were more humane than the later Christian laws. In the times of the ancient Druids, a woman could divorce a man for a number of reasons: if he was so obese he was unable to make love, for example, or if he preferred to sleep with men, if he beat her leaving visible marks, or if he spread malicious stories about her. Under the Christian post-Druidic law in Ireland, divorce was illegal until 1995 – even if a husband or wife was physically abusive.

The Brehon laws offer us the most complete view of the kind of society that the ancient Druids helped to guide and lead. We have information from Wales too, but the old Welsh laws known as the ‘Laws of Hywel Da’ were recorded much later than the Brehon laws and offer us less insight into the world of the Ancients.

Druids as Kings and Advisors to Kings & Queens

There is evidence that some kings were also Druids. The Druid Ailill Aulomon was King of Munster in the first century CE and it is recorded that three Druid-kings ruled in “the Isle of Thule” . Thule was the name given to Iceland, and here lies the fascinating possibility that Iceland was a kingdom once ruled by Druids – long before its Viking conquest. The official history of Iceland states that the first Norse colonisers, arriving in 874 CE found and drove away a few isolated Irish hermits, who had journeyed there via the Faroe Islands. But recent work on Icelandic blood-group types shows them to have a greater similarity to those of Ireland than of Scandinavia. This leads one to agree with those historians who claim that Iceland had in fact been colonised by the Celts long before the Vikings arrived. This claim gains further support when we learn that the only extant manuscript source of information that we have about the Nordic pagan cosmology, the Edda, was written in Iceland and not in Scandinavia. The manuscript looks remarkably like the early Irish manuscripts of the same period, and it is tempting to see the Vikings of Iceland being persuaded to record their cosmology by Irish Druids, or their descendants.

To return to Britain and Ireland, when Druids were not kings, they were advisors to kings, queens and chieftains, and were accorded such status that they were often the first to speak at official functions. At the court of Conchobar, King of Ulster, for example, no one had the right to speak before the Druid had spoken.

Druids as Alchemists and Metal-workers

While they may or may not have experimented with fireworks, they certainly worked with fire and with metals. And this work was undoubtedly alchemical. Since fire, like water, was and is considered sacred by all those with a spiritual understanding of the natural world, we can be sure that the Druids were masters and mistresses of fire. Their esoteric work with fire is a matter of inner knowledge – for it deals with their ability to relate to and work with the sacred fire within the body as well as within the grove. The fact that the Goddess Brighid is goddess of healing and poetry and both fire and water, provides us with the key to understanding the connection between the inspiration sought by the Bards, the healing developed by the Ovates and the alchemical work of inner healing and inspiration performed by the Druids. Contemplating this one idea reveals the depth of the Druid Mysteries, the nature of its teaching and its relevance for us today.

Metalworking in early societies was also considered a sacred art – for upon it depended the tribe’s ability to defend itself and to gain food from the earth or from animals. The Welsh tradition states that a branch of Druids, known as the Pheryllt, worked as metallurgists and alchemists in the magical city of Emrys in Snowdonia. This ‘ambrosial city’ was also known as Dinas Affaraon, the ‘city of the higher powers’.

The Druid as metalworker would have forged the swords for the warriors and nobles, which would have been imbued during their casting and annealing with magical spells designed to protect the bearer and ensure them victory.

The sword figures largely in the Druid mythos: It emerges out of the two fixed elements of water and earth in the Arthurian legend: being pulled out of stone by Arthur, and being raised mysteriously out of the Lake when needed. It is born in fire with the skill of the Druid-Alchemist, and it is raised in the air during the Order’s Beltane ceremony, as the Sword-bearer cries: “Behold this sword Excalibur, which rose from the lake of still meditation and was returned to it again. The sword of spirit, of light and truth, is always sharp and always with us, if our lake be stilled.” At a spiritual-psychological level, the sword represents the Will. When the Will is not aligned to our higher values and purpose it runs amok – and the sword becomes the weapon which maims and destroys. When it is aligned with higher purpose it becomes the sword of spirit – a representation of our ability to be spiritual warriors in a world filled with difficulties which require the warrior spirit to overcome them. In the Druid circle the sword is placed in the South, just as the wand is placed in the East, the cup of water in the West, and the stone in the North.

We can surmise too that the Druids as metalworkers would have cast the sacred cauldrons. Just as the sword represents the ‘male’ directive qualities of mind and spirit, so does the cauldron represent the ‘female’ inclusive qualities of heart and soul. And just as the sword figures largely in Druid ceremonial and mythology, so too does the cauldron – representing, at its roots, the origin of the grail symbol.

Druids as Philosophers

Some say that the study of philosophy was of barbarian origin. For the Persians had their Magi, the Babylonians or the Assyrians the Chaldeans, the Indians their Gymnosophists, while the Kelts and the Galatae had seers called Druids….
Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers c.250 CE

We know a little of early Druid philosophy. A study of the old Irish and Welsh laws, developed by the Druids, can provide us with a glimpse into the ethical foundations of early Druid philosophy. In addition we can turn to the triads of Ireland and Wales, which – although often of disputed origin, and clearly influenced by Christianity – provide further material. The Classical writers say that Druid philosophy was influenced by Pythagoreanism, and if this is so, we can start to build a fairly comprehensive picture of the philosophy of these forest sages. But the picture does not stop there, because as we have seen in the earlier chapters, Druidry has grown and evolved constantly over the centuries – on its way absorbing or drawing on many influences. In the early days these came from Greece and Rome, and perhaps Egypt and India too. Later, during the Revival Period, the ideas of the Romantics found their way into modern Druidry.

In the early years of the twentieth century it adopted many of the ideas of the Western Mystery Tradition, which originated in Classical Greece, Babylonia and Ancient Egypt. And in addition, until the 1970s, Druidry was influenced by Universalism, which attempted to trace the universal themes in all religions. Theosophy was likewise driven by Universalist aspirations, and many Theosophists became interested in, and undoubtedly influenced, Druidism.

Into the historic picture we are building, we must add the most recent influences on the development of modern Druid philosophy. In the 1940’s and 50’s Ross Nichols became interested in the depth psychologies of Freud and Jung, and partly inspired by their insights, he saw in Druidry a way of helping modern humanity reconnect with Nature and the Gods. The problem of modern civilisation, as he saw it, was that humanity had become alienated from the land and the seasonal and agricultural cycles. In addition, an understanding of the value of mythology had been lost. As a result we had become alienated from the deepest and the highest sources of inspiration. This psychological perspective took into account our deepest needs, and in recent years Druidry, certainly as expressed within the teachings of the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids, has been clearly informed by it.

In addition, in the last decade or so, Druidry has been influenced by the ideas and philosophies of the holistic and environmental movements, so that alongside its preoccupations with the search for wisdom and union with Deity (who is seen as one with Nature) Druidry today is passionately concerned with protecting the natural world, and developing attitudes and lifestyles which promote living in harmony with Nature.

In contemporary Druidry, the tree which represents the Druid Grade is the Oak – the regal tree of wisdom and tradition – the primordial tree that has always been associated with both Druids and Nemeta (sing.Nemeton) – the oak groves where they gathered and taught. The East is the place of the Druid, for it is from the East that the sun rises and from which comes the illumination that all Druids seek. The times associated with the Druid Grade are noon and Summer – times of greatest brightness and growth.