Celtic Rebirth

"And you, O Druids, now that the clash of battle is stilled, once more have you returned to your barbarous ceremonies and to the savage usage of your holy rites. To you alone it is given to know the truth about the gods and deities of the sky, or else you alone are ignorant of this truth. The innermost groves of far-off forests are your abodes. And it is you who say that the shades of the dead seek not the silent land of Erebus and the pale halls of Pluto; rather, you tell us that the same spirit has a body again elsewhere, and that death, if what you sing is true, is but the mid-point of a long life." (Lucan Pharsalia I.450-8)

It is known that the wheel was a Celtic symbol of rebirth. The wheel appears on sword-sheaths and countless pieces of art. Celtic men were willing to have their throats cut so they could follow their prince into death, and then into a new life. An explanation for this might be the Celts compared men to sacrificial vessels in which human life was offered up in exchange for another existence. The Celts did not fear death because they were reckless but because of generations of Druid teachings – that the soul lives on and returns.

Many seasonal assemblies were held at burial sites, including the enigmatic passage graves of dolmens and megaliths that stud Ireland. From these assemblies and rituals came the blending of the spiritual and physical worlds until the two were one. It is this blending and balancing of the spiritual / physical that is the foundation of Druidry.

The Druids were said to be the keepers of traditional wisdom that was concerned with moral philosophy, natural phenomena and theology. They were skilled in the reading of omens, the interpretation of dreams, the conducting of sacrifices, the construction of a calendar, herbal medicine, astronomy and the composition of poetry. They also practiced sexual magic as fertility was of high importance be it human, crop or livestock. No greater love existed than between two men and homosexuality was far from forbidden. By ancient Druidic law a man was permitted to have two wives and one male lover.