The Druids

THE DRUIDS

During the Anglo-Saxon period, magic was often practiced among several different classes of people in their own ways. It was considered sinful but its power was always believed in. Their knowledge of magic was first sought out from the biblical story, The Three Wise Men. According to one legend, the men who visited baby Jesus were astrologers who located him by magic use of the stars. The Bible has many ferences to magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Since religion was valued during the Anglo-Saxon period, the Bible held the laws to their lives. Church authorities tried to ban witchcraft but people in many parts of the world continued to practice witchcraft as a religion. From the Anglo-Saxon period, the most well known of these people were the Druids.

The Druids were the priests or ministers of religion among the ancient Celtic nations in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. They combined the functions of the priest, the magistrate, the scholar, and the physician. Druidism is a reconstruction of the beliefs and practices of the ancient Celtic priesthood-professional class. They underwent lengthy training; about twenty years. Druids led all public rituals, which were normally held within fenced groves of sacred trees. They didn't use any images to

represent the object of worship. A circle of stones enclosing an area from twenty to thirty yards in diameter, constituted their sacred place. The most sacred of this is the Stonehenge. When privacy was called for, these rituals took place in sacred grooves and clearings hidden deep in the forests. They believed in only one god, to whom they gave the name "Be'al". In modern english this translates to "the life of every thing," or "the source of all beings". It has a connection with the Phoenician Baal. The Druids identified this with the Sun. Fire was referenced as a symbol of the eternal life. In record, most of the leaders were males. It wasn't known whether female Druids were considered of equal part. Two festivals were of great importance to the Druids. The first festival took place in the beginning of May and was called Beltane or "Fire of God". A large fire was heated on an elevated spot, in honor of the sun, whose returning beneficence they then welcomed after the winter time. The second festival of the Druids was called "Samh'in" or "Fire of the Peace" and was held on Hallow-eve, November 1st. On this occasion they would rally in solemn conclave, in the most central part of the district, to discharge the judicial functions of their order. It was a forerunner of today's Halloween and was considered a dangerous time. It was then that the barriers between this world and the next were temporarily removed, allowing spirits and mortals to cross back and forth between the two realms.

Historians believe that the ancient Druids performed human sacrifices. Some remains of executions have been found in the archeological record, but it is not obvious whether the victims were killed during religious rituals or to carry out the sentence of a court. Chronicles credited all kinds of powers to the druids. It was claimed that they could affect the weather, causing snowstorms, fog, and even showers of blood and fire. They could erase a person's memory by concocting a "drink of forgetfulness". Victories could be achieved while in a battle by casting spells over the opposing team and creating a fence that protected their own men. Also, by a magic cloak that made a warrior invisible. It was said that Druids conducted these

spells while standing on one leg, with an arm outstretched and one eye closed, imitating the posture of a heron. Clairvoyance was important to the Druids but they also used observation of their surroundings such as cloud patterns, the stars, the singing birds, etc. to see the future. Through