FREE THE DRUIDS PRIMER PDF

Luke Eastwood | 318 pages | 24 Feb 2012 | John Hunt Publishing | 9781846947643 | English | Ropley, United Kingdom Druid | Description, History, & Facts | Britannica

A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Perhaps best remembered as religious leaders, they were also legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. While the druids are reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form, thus they left no written accounts The Druids Primer themselves. They are however attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. In about CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmacwho wrote about Jesussaying that he was "better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage. Many popular notions about druids, based on misconceptions of 18th century scholars, have been largely superseded by more recent study. Sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious The Druids Primer and social roles involved in being a druid. The Greco- Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree that the druids played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar claimed that they were one of the two most important social groups in the region alongside the equitesor nobles and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination, and judicial procedure in Gaulish, British, and Irish societies. Pomponius Mela [21] was the first author to say that the druids' instruction was secret and took place in caves and forests. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and The Druids Primer remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. What was taught to The Druids Primer novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literaturenot one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, [22] the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek characters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from the Greek script to the The Druids Primer script. Greek and Roman writers frequently made reference to the druids as practitioners of human sacrifice. A form The Druids Primer sacrifice recorded by Caesar was the burning alive of victims in a large wooden effigy, now often known as a wicker The Druids Primer. A differing account came from the 10th-century Commenta Bernensiawhich claimed that sacrifices to the deities TeutatesEsus and Taranis were by drowning, hanging and burning, respectively see threefold death. Diodorus Siculus asserts The Druids Primer a sacrifice acceptable to the Celtic gods had to be attended by a druid, for they were the intermediaries between the people and the divinities. He remarked upon the importance of prophets in druidic ritual:. These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds The Druids Primer by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power There is archaeological evidence from western Europe that has been widely used to back up the idea that human sacrifice was performed by the Iron Age Celts. Mass graves found in a ritual context dating from this period have been unearthed in Gaul, at both Gournay-sur-Aronde and Ribemont-sur-Ancre in what was the The Druids Primer of the Belgae The Druids Primer. The excavator of these sites, Jean-Louis Brunaux, interpreted them as areas of human sacrifice in devotion The Druids Primer a war god, [24] [25] although this view was criticized by another archaeologist, Martin Brown, who believed that the corpses might be those of honoured warriors buried in the sanctuary rather than sacrifices. Rives remarked that it was "ambiguous" whether the druids ever performed such sacrifices, The Druids Primer the Romans and Greeks were known The Druids Primer project what they saw as barbarian traits onto foreign peoples including not only druids but Jews and Christians as well, thereby confirming their own "cultural superiority" in their own minds. Nora Chadwickan expert in medieval Welsh and Irish literature who believed the druids to be great philosophers, has also supported the idea that they The Druids Primer not been involved in human sacrifice, and that such accusations were imperialist Roman propaganda. Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor referred to the druids as philosophers and called their doctrine of the immortality of the soul and reincarnation or metempsychosis " Pythagorean ":. The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body. With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its The Druids Primer, can the The Druids Primer form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on astronomyon the extent and geographical distribution of the globe, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion. Diodorus Siculuswriting in 36 BCE, described how the druids followed "the The Druids Primer doctrine", that human souls "are immortal and The Druids Primer a prescribed number of years they commence a new life in a new body". Mackenzie speculated that Buddhist missionaries had been sent by the Indian king Ashoka. Druids play a prominent role in Irish folkloregenerally serving lords and kings as high ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities — the best example of these possibly The Druids Primer Cathbad. The chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of UlsterCathbad features in several tales, most of which detail his ability to foretell the future. In the tale of Deirdre of the The Druids Primer — The Druids Primer foremost tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle — the druid prophesied before the court of Conchobar that Deirdre would grow up to be very beautiful, but that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. This prophecy, ignored by the king, came true. Thus Amergin called upon the spirit of Ireland itself, chanting a powerful incantation that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin [34] and, eventually The Druids Primer successfully making landfallaiding and dividing the land between his royal brothers in the conquest of Ireland, [35] [36] [37] earning the title Chief Ollam of Ireland. Irish mythology has a number of female druids as well, often sharing similar prominent cultural and religious roles with their male counterparts. Which deities they honored is unknown. Sena, in the Britannic Sea, opposite the coast of the Osismi, is famous for its oracle of a Gaulish god, whose priestesses, living in the holiness of perpetual virginity, are said to be nine in number. They call them Gallizenae, and they believe them The Druids Primer be endowed The Druids Primer extraordinary gifts to rouse the sea and the wind by their incantations, to The Druids Primer themselves into whatsoever animal form they may choose, to cure diseases which among others are incurable, to know what is to come and to foretell it. They are, however, devoted to the service of voyagers only who have set out on no other errand than to consult them. According to Historia AugustaAlexander Severus received a prophecy about his death by a Gaul druidess druiada. The earliest surviving literary evidence of the druids emerges from the classical The Druids Primer of Greece and Rome. The archaeologist Stuart Piggott compared the The Druids Primer of the Classical authors towards the druids as being similar to the relationship that had existed in the 15th and 18th centuries between Europeans and the societies that they were just encountering in other parts of the world, such as the Americas and the South Sea Islands. He highlighted the attitude of " primitivism " in both Early Modern Europeans and Classical authors, owing to their perception that these newly encountered societies exhibited lesser technological development and backwardness in socio-political development. The historian Nora Chadwickin a categorization subsequently adopted by Piggott, divided the Classical accounts of the druids into two groups, distinguished by their approach to the subject as well as their chronological contexts. She refers to the first of these groups as the "Posidonian" tradition after one of its primary exponents, Posidonious, and notes that it takes a largely critical attitude towards the Iron Age societies of Western Europe that emphasizes their "barbaric" qualities. The second of these two groups is termed the "Alexandrian" group, being centred on the scholastic traditions of Alexandria in Egypt ; she notes that it took a more sympathetic and idealized attitude towards these foreign peoples. Lovejoy and Franz Boas. One school of thought within The Druids Primer scholarship has suggested that all of these accounts are inherently unreliable, and might be entirely fictional. They have suggested that the idea of the druid might have been a fiction created by Classical writers to reinforce the idea of the barbaric "other" who existed beyond the civilized Greco-Roman world, thereby legitimising the expansion of the Roman Empire into these areas. The earliest record of the druids comes The Druids Primer two Greek texts of c. Some say that the study of philosophy The Druids Primer with the barbarians. In that among the Persians there existed the Magi, and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldaei, among the Indians the Gymnosophistae, and among the Celts and Gauls men who were called druids and semnothei, as Aristotle relates in his book on magic, and Sotion in the twenty-third book of his Succession of Philosophers. A military general who was intent on conquering The Druids Primer and Britain, Caesar described the druids as being concerned with "divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public, and the interpretation of The Druids Primer questions". He claimed that they played an important part in Gaulish society, being one of the two respected classes along with the equites in Rome the name for members of a privileged class above the common people, but also "horsemen" and that they performed the function of judges. Caesar claimed that the druids recognized the authority of a single leader, who would rule until his death, when a successor would be chosen by vote or through conflict. He remarked that they met annually at a sacred place in the region occupied by the Carnute tribe in Gaul, while they viewed Britain as the centre of druidic study; and that they were not found amongst the German tribes to the east of the Rhine. According to Caesar, many young men were trained to be druids, during which time they had to learn all the associated lore by heart. He also claimed their main teaching was "the souls do not perish, The Druids Primer after death pass from The Druids Primer to another". They were concerned with "the stars and their movements, the size of the cosmos and the earth, the world of nature, and the power and might of the immortal gods", indicating they were involved with not only such common aspects of religion as theology and cosmologybut also astronomy. Caesar The Druids Primer that they were "administrators" during rituals of human sacrificefor which criminals were usually used, and that the method was through burning in a wicker man. Although he had first-hand experience of Gaulish people, and therefore likely with druids, Caesar's account has been widely criticized by modern historians as inaccurate. One issue raised by such historians as Fustel de Coulanges [61] was that while Caesar described the druids as a significant power within Gaulish society, he The Druids Primer not mention them even once in his accounts of his Gaulish conquests. Hutton believed that Caesar had manipulated the idea of the druids so they would appear both civilized being learned and pious and barbaric performing human sacrifice to Roman readers, thereby representing both "a society worth including in the Roman Empire " and one that required civilizing with Roman rule and values, The Druids Primer justifying his wars of conquest. Other historians have accepted that Caesar's account might be more accurate. Norman J. She defended the accuracy of his accounts by highlighting that while he may have embellished some of his The Druids Primer to justify Roman imperial conquest, it was "inherently unlikely" that he constructed The Druids Primer fictional class system for Gaul and Britain, particularly considering that he was accompanied by a number of other Roman senators who would have also been sending reports on the conquest to Rome, and who would have challenged his inclusion of serious falsifications. Other classical writers also commented on the druids and their practices. Caesar's contemporary, Marcus Tullius The Druids Primernoted that he had met a Gallic druid, Divitiacuswho was a member of the Aedui tribe. Divitiacus supposedly knew much about the natural world and performed divination through augury. Alongside the druids, or as he called them, drouidaswhom he viewed as philosophers and theologians, he remarked how there were poets and singers in Celtic society whom he called bardousor bards. He states that these "terrified our soldiers who had never seen such a thing before". The courage of the The Druids Primer, however, soon overcame such fears, according to the Roman historian; the Britons were put to flight, and the sacred groves of Mona were cut down. These were all written by Christian monks. In Irish-language literature, The Druids Primer druids — draoitheplural of draoi — are sorcerers with supernatural powers, who are respected in society, particularly for their ability to perform divination. When druids are portrayed in early Irish sagas and saints' lives set in the pre-Christian past of the island, they are usually accorded high social status. The evidence of the law-texts, which were first written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, suggests that with the coming of Christianity the role of the druid in Irish society was rapidly reduced to that of a sorcerer who The Druids Primer be consulted to cast spells or practise healing magic and that his standing declined accordingly. While druids featured prominently in many medieval Irish sources, they were far rarer in their Welsh counterparts. Unlike the Irish texts, the Welsh term commonly seen as referring to the druids, drywwas used to refer purely to prophets and not to sorcerers or pagan priests. Historian Ronald Hutton noted that there were two explanations for the use of the term in Wales: the first was that it was a survival from the pre-Christian era, when dryw had been ancient priests; while the second was that the Welsh had The Druids Primer the term from the Irish, as had the English who used the terms dry and drycraeft to refer to magicians and magic respectively, most probably influenced by the Irish terms. As the historian Jane Webster stated, "individual druids Fitzpatrick, in examining what he believed to be astral symbolism on Late Iron Age swords has expressed difficulties in relating any material culture, even the Coligny calendarwith druidic culture. Nonetheless, some archaeologists have attempted to link certain discoveries with written accounts of the druids. The archaeologist Anne Ross linked what she believed to be evidence of human sacrifice in Celtic pagan society—such as the Lindow Man bog body—to the Greco-Roman accounts of human sacrifice being officiated over by the druids. The crown is bronze with a broad band around the head and a thin strip crossing the top of the head. Since traces of hair were left on the metal it must have been worn without any padding beneath. The form of the headdress resembles depictions of Romano-British priests from several centuries later, leading to speculation among archaeologists that the man might have been a religious official — a druid. According to accounts produced in the following centuries, the new rulers of Roman Gaul The Druids Primer introduced measures to wipe out the druids from that country. The story of Vortigernas reported by The Druids Primerprovides one of the very few glimpses of possible druidic survival in Britain after the Roman arrival. He wrote that after being excommunicated by Germanusthe British leader Vortigern invited twelve druids to assist him. In the lives of saints and martyrs, the druids are represented as magicians and diviners. They are represented as endeavouring to prevent the progress of Patrick and Saint Columba by raising clouds and mist. The Irish druids seem to have had a peculiar tonsure. Similarly, a life of Saint Beuno states that when he died he had a vision of "all the saints and druids". Sulpicius Severus ' vita of Martin of Tours relates how Martin encountered a peasant funeral, carrying the body in a winding sheet, which Martin mistook for The Druids Primer druidic rites of sacrifice"because it was the custom of the Gallic rustics in their wretched folly to carry about through the fields the images of demons veiled with a white covering". So Martin halted the procession by raising his pectoral cross: "Upon this, the miserable creatures might have been seen at first to become stiff like rocks. Next, as they endeavoured, with every possible effort, to move forward, but were not able to take a step farther, they began to whirl themselves about in the most ridiculous fashion, until, not able any longer to The Druids Primer the weight, they set down the dead body. John Aubrey — had been the first modern writer to incorrectly connect Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments with the druids; since Aubrey's views were confined to his notebooks, the first wide audience for this idea were readers of William Stukeley — The Druid Primer | Luke Eastwood

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want The Druids Primer Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Perhaps the first serious attempt to collate the vast body of druidic knowledge from verifiable ancient sources and Celtic survivals The Druids Primer one usable and practical volume as a handy reference for druids and a learning tool for the would be druid. Inspired by the medieval Irish 'Scholar's Primer' this work is The Druids Primer culmination of 15 years' research and practical exploration of Perhaps the first serious attempt to collate the vast body of druidic knowledge from verifiable ancient sources and Celtic survivals into one usable and practical volume as a handy reference for druids and a learning tool for the would The Druids Primer druid. Inspired by the medieval Irish 'Scholar's Primer' this work is the culmination of 15 years' research and practical exploration of what it means to be a druid in a modern context. Get A Copy. Paperbackfirst Editionpages. More Details Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Druid's Primerplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. The Druids Primer details. More filters. Sort order. The Druids Primer your review of The Druid's Primer. Aug 12, Brian Breathnach rated it The Druids Primer was amazing. Also available on kindle I recently found myself recommending this book to several people, and in the process I realized I never got around to reviewing it here. Better late than never The Druids Primer suppose. This book is set in the context of the Irish druidic tradition, and although there are references to modern Welsh druidry, for example the description of the three circles of manifestation Abred, Gwynfyd and Ceugant as a comparative to Irish druidic cosmology and the three realms, the book stays The Druids Primer to its Irish bias. For the most part the sources are Irish or classical, drawing from historical sources, or acknowledging when practices belong to a modern syncretic tradition. The preliminary history of druidry and the definition of the druid show an intelligent struggle to grasp the core content. A real attempt is made to differentiate Irish druidry, identifying differences between Irish, and Gaulish and Welsh druidry. Eastwood also acknowledges the The Druids Primer that many contemporary druid orders have grown out The Druids Primer the Romantic Movement and the works of Morganwg. There is nothing The Druids Primer with this in itself, as these teachings form a core of belief and practice in modern druid orders, and have a modern affinity The Druids Primer the Druidic worldview. Still, there have been some very ill informed books, such as 21 Lessons of Merlyn, that do not place this historical context on such material, and which paint a poor picture of the intellectual rigour of contemporary druidry. This is not the case with Eastwood. As anyone who has dug into Irish mythology can tell you, it is inevitable that comparisons will be made between Fionn and Taliesin, Llew and Lugh, and a lot can be gained by seeing where both similarities and divergences lie. Like for many of us, there are questions of syncretic and ever evolving traditions, and each individual must find a system of meaning that works. To have various possibilities presented and debated allows a process of developing meaning for work. Eastwood soon develops into the three realms land, sea and sky and evokes the image of the world tree. One can see the image of the three realms as roughly corresponding to the three Greek elements of earth, water and air. Many The Druids Primer and CR practitioners have worked to reconcile the role of fire as a Greek element with Irish cosmology, particularly as fire plays an important role in the life of the tribe and the celebration of the festivals. A suggestion is made that The Druids Primer fire is The Druids Primer through the cauldrons of poesy, a system many consider analogous with the vedic chakra system. I would have liked to see more on the provinces and the functions Cath, blath, fis, seis, mide and although touched upon, given that this is an Irish centred book, I would have liked more. The theme of the three realms and the cauldrons is expanded in the chapter on cosmology. This chapter also delves into the relationship of the druids with time and cycles. The chapter on inspiration takes a more practical bent with exercises to experience the imbas or awen Welsh term and the chapter on Imramma or wonder journeys gives a very tangible sense of the role of the Faidh or ovate. The chapter on the cycles of the sun, moon and earth is really the gem of this book for me, with many very practical indications and folkloric resources for developing symbol filled ritual. It gives no real words or instructions, but leaves enough information for further research and personal expression. Eastwood has obviously drawn heavily from Kondratiev, yet also goes a step beyond, and is much more specific to Ireland. I will now be sending people looking for festival indications that are well based in the Irish culture to this book. Beyond this point the book moves from belief to practice, with chapters on the tools of the druid, divination, medicine and healing, and justice. There is also an interesting chapter on the The Druids Primer which has obviously been worked on over a period of time. Eastwood works mainly from the perspective of the tree ogham, which is the most common perspective in contemporary druidry. Even though working from the branch of ogham on which most published information is available, the text reflects a personal struggle to come to a personally The Druids Primer system. Overall, this book is significantly different from other sources on druidry in that it is uniquely Irish the first Irish druidry book I know ofwell sourced and substantiated, and a resource of starting points for developing personal practice. This book is for you… Jun 23, Andy rated it it was ok. Full disclosure The Druids Primer front, I am reviewing the eBook. I have no idea whether the problems noted below are solely related to the transfer of the text from a physical to a digital format or not. The author took on an ambitious project and made a solid attempt. The Druids Primer information in this book was helpful, but the format was so distracting that it made it a chore to read and actually disseminate the information. There was not a single chapter that didn't suffer from significant spelling or grammatical er Full disclosure The Druids Primer front, I am reviewing the eBook. There was not a single chapter that didn't suffer from significant spelling or grammatical errors. Incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, etc. Outside of these simple errors, there were significant formatting issues. It almost felt like the author sat down and tried to write the entire book in one pass through and sent it on because the flow seems to follow a logical path until a jarring connection is made between AD Ireland and BCE Gaul without any preparation. The Druids Primer book needs a serious editing in order to ensure flow, grammatical correctness, and informative value. My last issue was that the book purported to put forth a number of facts and sought to analyze a number of historical and anthropological texts in order to educate the reader, yet there were only about 25 footnotes across almost pages. There is a bibliography that notes a wide range of texts and notes that the author relied on a number of The Druids Primer primary sources and oral discussions, but there is no indication of how frequently each text is used. All in all, this book had a laudable purpose and made a good effort, but it seriously needs a good editor in a hurry. I would absolutely recommend a heavily edited edition of this book that made it more scholarly and readable. Apr 30, Jana rated it really liked it. That is all I can say. So why give 4 stars, if it seems like a relief to be finished? Well, the book has some good information in it, but is just written in such a The Druids Primer that I could probably if at all keep half of it in my mind for a longer time. There were some good moments Chapter X I liked very muchbut it is written a bit academically, so not the easiest read for a non-native speaker of English maybe it's different for native speakers. I am glad I read it, but I had some or most of the The Druids Primer information in the novel Priestess of the Forest by Ellen Evert Hopman I remember a lot of information from that book, because it was presented better. Still everyone interested in Druids on a more scholarly level should definitely read this one. View 2 comments. Aug 16, Bagun rated it it was amazing. Excellent intro level text. Apr 25, Morgan rated it it was amazing. There are many books on the market that aim The Druids Primer introduce the seeker to the basics of Druidism, but The Druid's Primer The Druids Primer Luke Eastwood is perhaps the single best introduction book I have read. It's greatest strength is that it manages to present a great deal of modern Druidic material fairly and The Druids Primer clear references to the sources. The author has done a great deal of The Druids Primer into the historic material, which is also presented well and in an easily accessible manner. The book begins with a chap There are many books on the market that aim to introduce the seeker to the basics of Druidism, but The Druid's Primer by Luke Eastwood is perhaps the single best introduction book I have read. The book begins with a chapter that summerizes the historic material. This was very well done, with the material being covered thoroughly but concisely. This section touches on everything from the early Celtic period and what we have from seocndary sources such as Pliny and Caesar up to the modern era revival. Although not gone into as deeply as in other books the single chapter effectively summerizes the highlights and is more than enough to get a beginner started or serve as a basic refresher for a more experienced person. The next chapter tackles possibly the most complex subject in modern Druidism, defining what a Druid is. The book does an excellent job of presenting the different current theories fairly, including The Druids Primer possible etymologies of the word "druid" itself. The different The Druids Primer sources are once again drawn upon including Irish mythology and the later Barddas, which the text The Druids Primer as a well known forgery but also influencial on the revivalist period. The author also discusses his own view of what a Druid does and who The Druids Primer Druid is, creating a fascinating and complex picture of the modern Druid. The Druid's Primer by Luke Eastwood | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble®

Druidmember of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest known records of the Druids come from the 3rd century bce. According to Julius Caesar The Druids Primer, who is the principal source of information about the Druids, there were The Druids Primer groups of men in Gaul that were held in honour, the Druids and the noblemen equites. Caesar related that the Druids took charge of public and The Druids Primer sacrifices, and many young men went to them for instruction. They judged all public and private quarrels and decreed penalties. If anyone disobeyed their decree, he was barred from sacrificewhich was considered the gravest of punishments. One Druid was The Druids Primer the chief; upon his death, another was appointed. If, however, several were equal in merit, the Druids voted, although they sometimes resorted to armed violence. Once a year the Druids assembled at a sacred place in the territory of the Carnutes, which was believed to be the centre of all Gaul, and all legal disputes were there submitted to the The Druids Primer of the Druids. Caesar also recorded that the Druids abstained from warfare and paid no tribute. Attracted by those privileges, many joined the order voluntarily or were sent by their families. The Druids Primer studied ancient verse, natural philosophy, astronomyand the lore of the gods, some spending as The Druids Primer as 20 years in The Druids Primer. The Druids were said to believe that the soul was immortal and passed at death from one person into another. Roman writers also stated that The Druids Primer Druids offered human sacrifices for those who were gravely sick or in danger of death in battle. Huge wickerwork images were filled with living men and The Druids Primer burned; although the Druids preferred to sacrifice criminals, they would choose innocent victims if necessary. Caesar is the chief authority, but he may have received some of his facts from the Stoic philosopher Poseidoniuswhose account is often confirmed by early medieval Irish sagas. In the early period, Druidic rites were held in clearings in the forest. Sacred buildings were used only later under Roman influence. The Druids were suppressed in Gaul by the Romans under The Druids Primer reigned The Druids Primer ce and probably in Britain a little later. The Druids Primer Ireland they lost their priestly functions after the coming of Christianity and survived as poets, historians, and judges filid, senchaidi, and brithemain. Many scholars believe that the The Druids Primer Brahman in the East and the Celtic Druid in the West were lateral survivals of an ancient Indo- European priesthood. Interest in Druids surged occasionally in later time, notably during the Romantic period in the 19th century. From then on various movements claiming Druidic beliefs flourished in Britain and in the United States. Druid Article Media Additional Info. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Give Feedback. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article requires login. External Websites. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree See Article History. Two Druids walking in the English countryside, 18th-century engraving. Woodcut from depicting Druids preparing a wickerwork filled with live humans to be burned as a sacrifice. Get exclusive access to content from our First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today. Roman soldiers attacking Druids in the 1st century ce19th-century engraving. Learn More in these related Britannica The Druids Primer. This threefold hierarchy had its reflex among the two main branches of Celts in…. The druids, who were occupied with magico-religious duties, were recruited from families of the warrior class but ranked higher. As in other Indo-European systems, the family was patriarchal. Mistletoe was once believed to have magic powers as well as medicinal properties. Later the custom developed in England and, still later, in the United States of kissing under the mistletoe, an action that once was believed to lead inevitably to marriage. Most mistletoes…. History at your fingertips. Sign up here to see what happened On This Dayevery day in your inbox! Email address. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.