Indeed! A brief search for the historic King Arthur will reveal a great example of this quite quickly. The monks...discovered...a coffin with two sets of remains, clearly marked with a 10th century style cross (inside the coffin) identifying King Arthur and his second wife, Gwenyvere. Big problem: Arthur lived (probably) near the end of Roman rule, long before the 10th century. Also, the earliest social status named for him was dux bellorum (war leader), not king. Monks making shit up just to have a famous relic and please the royalty!
No mention of the Mabinogion here, which I find disappointing. The story of Taliesin (which means 'radiant brow') seems to suggest a druidic death and rebirth initiation ritual. Then there is the story of Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Gwydion, the druid/scientist (gwyddoniaeth means 'science' in Welsh). The work of Gwylim Morus-Baird is well worth looking at as his knowledge of Welsh Celtic mythology with a particular focus on the Mabinogion is fascinating. I would also recommend reading The Ancient Paths by Graham Robb which contains mind blowing information on the druidic system of solstice/solar paths.
I was thinking about bringing these things up too. Happy to see it here. I was curious about his thoughts on the Taliesin. There is a lot in there reflecting on Druid ideologies. It's being translated yet again, with a more modern perspective, if I understand correctly. However, wasn't it written several hundred years after the Druids?
Solstices as an important religious element significantly predate druids though. In Britain the first population to build solar-oriented megalithic structures were the Western Hunter-Gatherers, who were then mostly replaced by Early European Farmers (cows, sheep, and grains were religiously important to them), who were in turn mostly replaced by Indo-European Steppe people. This third group was a bronze age people with horses and a religion that worshipped Woden (a version of Oden) and Tiw (a version of Tyr) among others. Then finally you get a Celtic civilization of merged farmers and steppe people developing and entering the iron age.
If you can get hold of them, read John Mathews' Song of Taleisin (the original if possible), and his academic work Taleisin: shamanism and the bardic mystery in Britain and Ireland
There is a sizable amount of info on the Druids within the Irish Mythological Cycle. Also Druidry existed in Ireland until the Renaissance as a secular group - within the Brehon Code - called the Filid and who carried all the previous Pagan traditions (genealogy, healing, law, counsel) within a secular form. We know lots about the Druids from the Irish sources. But generally I agree, trying to get to grips with the tradition is a tricky balance of careful consideration of their role in society and weeding through the propaganda/fantasy.
I really enjoyed this video! I love the romantic notions of modern neopagan druidry. But at the same time, I find it refreshing to hear a no nonsense discussion of the facts about the ancient druids. My opinion is that it is better to find value in neopagan druidry for what it is, instead of finding its value in biased history. Thank you for this presentation.
I found one of your videos on perfect timing. Just when I was getting comfortable with life, accepting, letting go, and healing....... Here comes your knowledge, understanding, and view of things. Thank you for all that you do
Greetings from the Texas Gulf Coast, USA. The "little grey cells" are always happy when you make a new video. I thank you on their behalf. Keep up the good work.
I've been waiting for this one! Pretty much what I suspected as far as what we can know about them. I did learn a bunch though! And got some great clarity on a few points. Thank you so much for making this excellent video! :)
Thanks for your sharp words! I live a few kilometres away from Bicracte, in France, an ancient and long forgotten gaulish town/opidum. The topic of the druids is quite fascinating and yet so frustrating when it comes to "sources", indeed! It's like trying to understand "shamanism" from what some western priests or traders wrote about it in the 15th century!
very interesting video as always. actually the symbol of your thumbnail is called a Tribann (3rays in medieval welsh) and it symbolizes the Awen (poetic inspiration) in neo druidism. If you're interesting in the revival of druidry since the 16th century onward I greatly suggest the reading of Blood and mistletoe the history of the druids in britain by Ronald Hutton, Yale University Press
Something about the Welsh that I keep getting guided to as if there's something that belongs to me in north Wales something only I can claim any good resources you can recommend regarding dragons and big kitties
I clicked on this video, but then checked on an older, shorter one to try and gauge the quality before I dived into an hour long video. The beard difference is striking, good job man!
Such an amazing video! And it's not the actual point of the video that amazes me, nor the way it is explained. It's the presentation on how we should view history and historical sources. How we should not fall into the trap of bias towards the point of view of cultures from which certain sources originate. And the most important thing, in my opinion, is the point that we should not generalize. Celts in Ireland were not the same as Celts in Portugal. It should be obvious, but people overlook that. Your comprehensive history of druids, written in the 19th century, should not be immediately taken for granted as a definitive source material on druids. Even if you do not actually have many other sources.
This was a great look at the Druids, the only thing i would add is that the term 'Druid-Priest' is a Neo-Druidic term, they where not historically called Priests but had Priestly-functions - the Gaelic term into English is really 'Druidists' like 'Buddists'. The Ogham (Oh-wham, or Oh-whum) was used by Druids for very short inscriptions. Later in history the Younger-Futhark and its Gaelic forms came into Ireland and was even mixed with Ogham (Gall and Lochlannach scripts) adding the druim/faobhar line above the letters. The Welsh had a 'Celtic' system of Runes based on the Anglo-Saxon Runes called the Nennian-script which would later be called Coelbrenn (omen-wood) by Iolo which he also refined. The names of these letters have not yet being fully translated.
Hmm just remember some of the older words of Gaelic in their Original form .. example Draoidh .. which can mean ..en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draoidh Also looking at words Modern for name but really also means soul or your animism.. ie Ainm /anam etc. ... but there is references of course with bias by Julius Cesar etc. etc.. on the "Gauls and Celts" etc. so ...we have the perception today ..but in reality we just dont know .
@@IainMcGirr Draoi can also mean 'close' and 'starling', but Druid is just one of many titles they took (Filli, Brehon, Ollamh, Faidh). We (in Ireland) can't know everything but only what traditions are handed down to us often broken forms. We can compare them to folk-religion, 'Celtic' Christian traditions, historical stories (native and non-native) and similar cultures. It may also be that the pre-Celtic Irish influenced the Celts with non-Celtic concepts. Ainm (name), Anam (soul) and Anail (breath) are meant to have the same root, but i am not 100% sure.
@@johnmcmahon9062 Your opinion is as valid as anyones.. Im pretty sure of the "syntax" and feel "Meaning" considering I grew up in Kerry close to but no in the Gaeltacht
@@ArithHärger I run a spiritual page on Fb coving all forms of beliefs etc . I share your programmes all the time as I am keen on promoting a higher standard of spiritual awareness through knowledge not woo woo xxx
there is no future only now there is no future only now and now and now time ends when there is no now you spoke forever said not a word i understood everything how absurd thank yew arith really good and in depth.
Hello Mr. Häger... You have delivered a very sharp overview of the Druids! Herewith are my comments: on Celsus, the Druids were Monists and not Monotheists as you have well guessed. The educated elite among the Celts generally viewed polytheism as popular superstition. The aristocrats of the warrior class tended to be dualistic in religious upkeep. Both the druids and the warriors were dutiful and morally legalistic. In Uir (man) was Uiria (truth), and Uiriona (sincerity). On Pliny, Druid is not from Drys = "Oak" but from druuis, dru- "true, firm, hard," + uis "seer, knower;" obviously designating someone who is highly knowledgeable, therefore someone of the elite. Remember from Caesar's War Commentaries there is the mention of the two Edueni brothers, one Dumnorix (a magistrate) and Diviciacus (a druid), again the aristocracy. This you have well explained. On the Pythagorean / Druidic equation, right again. Both orders required long initiation involving all subject matters of the antique curriculum which included Mathematics, Astrology, Natural Science, Symbology, Jurisprudence, and the Arts in general. Also, there were many Nations and Tribes which belonged to the Celtic Civilisation or Culture, the list of ethnic peoples belonging to this culture went well in the hundreds. Again, you are right to insist on the point of not injecting our modern misconceptions and biases into this, not well-known period. Also, for the Christianized Irish, the term drui became synonymous with "sorcerer, witch, magician." This explains why the term Magi "magician" was grafted onto the name. One good way to know these "true knowers" is to read their own writings (Glozel) in Old Celtic, which, interestingly are in a script belonging to Iberian system. You can say they are rune-like.
I found this to be a very interesting summary of what is really known about the druids and what was later made up. However the Cat really didn't care. It sleept super hard, barley moving an inch in one hour 😀
Can confirm: "Celticisation" is a great path; even information from nearby cultures and their evolutions can help with filling knowledge gaps, even if only temporarily. People with Celtic and similar inclination exist in abundance nearly everywhere even today. It's just a matter of digging around for like-minded people. Here in Australia, the Aboriginal people's Dreamtime folk stories as well as their tangible past is incredibly similar to that of many other pantheistic beliefs such as ofc Paganism and Hinduism to name just a couple. Although nowadays it's difficult to practise traditional-like Paganism without looking like a neo-pagan Tik-Tok creator, I find that simply going into nature and venerating your personal gods, maybe even throwing a related offering into a creek or consulting your Hávamál (or alternate) is an unbeatable spiritual experience. Peace to you and awen through you ❤
That's what I did when I found it... click on his "videos" tab and scrolled all the way to the beginning. I've seen them all with the exception of most rune videos. I wanted to get a certain book first, and then I will go back to all of them. lol
Alchemists is the descriptor that came to my mind when you were sharing the view of Druids being magicians. **this was quite interesting. Thanks for making and posting this. 🥂🖖🏼
Thanks for another fascinating video. Can you say more about the 'end of the druids' and their role in resistance to the Romans? My memory is that the Romans regarded the druids as danger in their conquest of Briton and went to great lengths to exterminate them on the Welsh island of Anglesea. Does that suggest the druids had a social role in motivating Celtic resistance to the Romans? (maybe - as you mention - they were connected to the sense of the bravery of the Celts).
I watch a lot of DnD videos and thought this would be about those Druids and where they came from so this video was recommended by RU-vid. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this wasn't the case AND I had no idea druids were actually a real thing
My biggest question is, "where did they come from? where did their ideals evolve from?" -Some people say they come from Whales, Ireland. -some people believe they are an evolution of both the Phoenician and Greek settlements of northern Spain. They can't be from the Tuatha De Danann (legend) because the Milesians forced them under ground with the help of Druids... Biggest question never answered for me yet.
Great video again. We now have evidence or archaeological developments which may show celtic culture was in Britain long before we initially thought. That there may have been a migration from central Europe that displaced the beaker culture. Evidence is showing that celtic dialects were spoken in Britain, maybe even at the time of Stonehenge. Barry Cunliffe had stated that celtic culture in Britain was more about a lingua franca based around trading routes...this is now looking weak. We may never know the real story but I suspect Britain was most definitely a celtic society at its core.
You are correct that we do not know much about the actualities of the Ancient Druids. Where you are slightly incorrect is the Order’s current stance that “we are the continuation” of the ancient lines. If you speak with Philip Carr-Gomm, you will know that we seek to carry on the “nature worship” side of What IS known of the Druids. We are a “rebirth and renewal” of the Druids. :-) love your voice.
Some of the information on Druids was written by their enemies such as the Romans and earlier Christians and of course by the Romantic Nationalists around the Georgian/Victorian era. The Scottish 'Picts' - Latin for painted people-were also defined by their enemies, the Romans, which is a headache for historians. 'Vikings' were also defined by their enemies, fortunately the many Sagas counter the enemies spin. Don't let your enemies define you. #WomenWontWheesht #WitchesWontWheesht.
@@thrawn1598 Because they provide the historian with the only clues they have. No one is suggesting it is something more than sinister propaganda and spin to demean their enemies. Such techniques have been used throughout history.
Very enlightening to listen to your thoughts about this topic. However, I was wondering a bit why you gloss over some historical events and occurences that are reported to have happened with the druids like the fact that the romans outlawed the Druidic profession from which we can deduce that the druids had some sort of political power and were a potential rallying point for gallic anti-roman sentiment. Also, the druidic cult that hid from the romans invading britain on an island in front of wales.
Thank you, Arith, for this video. I feel connected to the practice of Druidry, and I love your video. I have no problem with the "new" Druidry, but it's frustrating that they proport their brand of Druidry as fact. Christian Druids (as you say, philospohers) are often discounted by modern Druids even though Druidry has no univeral text or doctrine since it was an oral tradition. To me it's the same difference as Wicca (a religion) and witchcraft (a lifestyle). Druids are philosophers and if they find religion in it, that's a different thing entirely. Thank you for the video, and wishing you all the very best of light and love.
There are some great Druid groves that have druidrybas a philosophy so say that you can follow any or no pantheon. Isle of Wight druid order for example. Joanna van der hoeven has some great books stating this fact
As a Galician I must say hearing about the Gallaeci you gained my full attention. Appreciate the unbiased take on this as we tend to romanticize Galician history (as any other group of people tend to do), as a galician nationalist I have been guilty of this in the past. It is my belief the Galician nation and its culture can still be protected without having to rely on romantization of castro/celtic and suebic peoples. Grazas polo teu traballo neste vídeo! Ps: Galician nationalism is more based around the self-determination of the galician and other peoples of the iberian peninsula. Not a neo-nazis as you may see around here in some videos (I am aware that it is not reflective of your videos or thoughts). Once again, thank you for your work.
Wonderful presentation as always! But wow, so many questions: 1) What characteristics did Celts have that surrounding peoples did not have, which thus made them Celts and not something else? 2) Is it true that it was Augustus who came up with the idea of original sin as the reason for Baptism, although various peoples were performing ceremonies akin to baptism before Christianity. Surely "original sin" was not the reason for these earlier ceremonies? What did baptism represent to non-Christians? Also, obviously, Abrahamic adherents claiming they were the first to believe in a single creator is a conceit on their part. Correct me if I am wrong, but Hindus believe that Brahma is the supreme god from which all other deities emanate. And how can you say you believe in a single god if you also pray to angels and saints? Isn't that just an altered form of polytheism? Thanks, as always, for another professional and well-documented video. .
1) They spoke related languages and was considered the same culture for the Greeks and Romans. The where considered warlike and liked to cut the head of their enemies and they had "necklace" golden rings. Torc. 2) In Scandinavia "baptism" was a name giving, and meant that the child was accepted and could not be "exposed" after that.
@@margaretwhitmer2715 No they where not, it was not what I meant. Both Greeks and Romans considered them a specific culture regardless if they lived in present day Spain or Turkey. They considered them barbarians like they did with everyone.
Christian sects required converts to continue throughout time or they would have aged out, ergo because the peoples they accepted in were often illiterate and or of different languages and or came from religions that had pantheons, it was easier to massage the situation by creating a hierarchy similar but different from pantheons …the angels and saints are not on the same hierarchical level as the entity of an omniscient God
There are some problems. For one thing, Celtic peoples were quite spread out, and probably varied. It would be like "Latin" now. There are commonalities between, say Chileans and Peruvians, there are some between them and Brazilians, there are even some between these groups and say Italians, but it isn't always easy or simple and there will be lots of exceptions. The other issue is that a lot of our assumptions are based on archeology. We see a particular style of house or sword and say "these people were celts", but we actually don't know what language they spoke, what gods they worshipped, what laws they followed, what foods they ate. We just kind of assume they were similar to the other people who lived in similar houses that we do know about because of classical sources. But there could be hundreds of years and hundreds of miles between them and, say a tribe that Caesar describes in de bello gallico.
The "Spirits" of the past influencing us in our modern pagan reconstruction, is our responsibility in honoring those that were the spiritual leaders of then. Modern Druidry is just that- modern. I have much room for the sciences such as archeology, to help us to better connect to what we regard as the Divine. I learned things! ...and took notes.
Great to see you tackle this subject. I never knew that the romans considered them philosophers. I suppose the myths of Britain talk about their magical powers. No classical sources for this??
When speaking from an ancient Roman perspective, of the multiple "barbaric" tribes, Celts were seen as the most civilized when compared to say Gauls or Germanic tribes. I'd imagine most texts were lost during the 4th and 5th centuries after the Holy Roman Empire was established in the south and the Saxons and later Vikings invaded through the north. That's a lot of change in just a few hundred years.
I've been using a book called A Brief History of the Druids by Peter Beresford Ellis that i found in a bookshop in London. Ellis tries to distinguish the facts from the myths, but as you pointed out we cannot know the truth as they didn't write things down. A small quoye from the work is, "One person's Druid is another person's fantasy," and this seems to be the case once the Victorians got hold of it. There's a comment here about the lack of a mention of the Mabinogion and I must say I was expecting to hear something from there, or maybe you aren't familiar with that book? If that is the case let me know and I will send you a copy.
I have that book by Peter Berresford Ellis and also "Pagan Britain" by Ronald Hutton, both given to me by a British gentleman (with a stronger portuguese spirit than I have) named Colin Paterson, cool guy. His only problem is being friends with Mr. Thorstein. I have the Mabinogion, although older versions and all in the Modern English language, such as the first translations by Lady Charlote Guest (between 1838 and 1849); Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones (c. 1949); and Jeffrey Gantz (1976). I plan on getting a more recent one by Sioned Davies. There are a couple of reasons why I haven't mentioned the Mabinogion here, and it's not just because most of what we truly know about the ancient Druids is based on the Druids of ancient Gaul, and much of the accounts concerning Druids of other geographical places is mostly based on what classical authors wrote about the Druids of Gaul, so it is often assumed that Druids of other places did the same things as the ones from Gaul, especially medieval and modern accounts of Druids, so I don't entirely trust such accounts, especially the ones from the XVIII century. The Mabinogion does contain interesting accounts concerning Welsh myths and legends which have survived through oral tradition, and, of course, when written for the first time there were surely several changes and purposed omissions and suppressions of accounts, religion and cults, but there's still much to explore. It doesn't specifically say "ok, this guy is a Druids and does this, this and that" but there's indeed indications of "Druidic behaviour", no doubt, but that's the thing - the Mabinogion is a case that should be explored in itself, and that would be at least another hour of video just to talk about the Mabinogion. The Mabinogion deserves a closer and detailed attention in order to try to perceive what can be taken as passages about Druids and Druidry and what doesn't. That's something I would lake to explore on its own because the accounts come as something quite different from Medieval Irish accounts about Druids. In fact, both Welsh and Irish myths and legends is something I would like to explore on several videos, one for each account, and I would like to do that in Ireland and Wales. A project for later on in life if I ever have the chance. Surely a work that would take me several months, perhaps a whole year in Ireland and another year in Wales, because it feels right to me to be there to deliver this information on several videos. I may never have the chance to do that and end up staying home and speak about these subjects anyway in the near future, but indeed I would like to try to make a different project for Celtic myths and legends of Ireland and Wales, at least, as I am doing for the Celtic myths and legends of Portugal and Galicia. I do have plenty of material on this, but I want to be there, "feel" it, if you take my meaning.
@@ArithHärger If you're planning work on Merlin, the Mabinogion is considered to contain passages referring to one of the characters that is the influence for Merlin. It is thought that Geoffrey of Monmouth took inspiration from there. I forgot that I had sent that to you. I will look for the version of Mabinogion you mentioned. I'm not sure whose translation I have.
@@ArithHärger Well said ..Arith .. hope you do get a chance to explore Ireland and try to travel along the wild atlantic way.. you will be so fascinated with the sheer archeology in and around Dingle .. and much to see..PS love your work.. and Go raibh míle maith agat
For SO long I’ve been thinking, “I wonder what Arith would say about the Druids?”. Because reliable sources are so hard to find!! Although I find some Druid related neo paganism fun to explore and fantasize about, (for instance, I like the tree alphabet, wheel of the year type stuff, much of which seems to be modern) I don’t want to delude myself into thinking it’s accurate, nor tell others it’s the absolute truth.
I agree obviously with what you say about Druids in that the bones of information come secondhand and many years later. My question is though, because 'we' all seem to find the idea of Druids as priests & priestesses so believable, do you think we subconsciously remember something? By 'we' I mean us present day humans as well as the writers who described them albeit after a delay of a thousand years.
I've recently made a video on Merlin, if you would like to watch it I'll leave the link here, friend. Have a great day : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CBng-DdEXg4.html
Good stuff. However, I find it difficult to see the druids proper as a kind of institutionalised priesthood, at least in pre-Norman Ireland. Nerys Patterson's excellent book "Cattle Lords and Clansmen" (1994) doesn't seem to leave a space for them in the political economy of the day. Poets and some soothsayers are there among the artisan class, but there is nothing that implies the social authority attributed to druids, such as the ability to prevent rival armies from fighting. So I wonder if they might have been a sort of extra-social construct, operating outside of the conventional structure of society.
Thanks for the effective breakdown of sources and potential problems with them. I'm curious if there are any sites, places, books, etc. you would recommend for finding out more about the Gaelic belief systems specifically? I have a great curiosity about the beliefs of pre-Christian Gaels, but I'm not sure on the validity of most sources on the topic.
This is such an interest of mine I long for accurate information of Druid thanks for sharing you’re knowledge of Druid’s I hope to learn more about Druid it seems to be a mysterious study none of the study really know much about the earliest begins of Druids would it be probable to link the earliest archaeological findings of North Eastern European sites as Druid on some level ? and if no why not is the question. I was under the assumption that Druid was links to sun worshiping and the myth of Apollo and had accurate calendar and astrology legacies In their history. But perhaps this is misleading Assumptions ?
That's a subject I should like to cover one of these days, hehe. Even though there aren't any certainties in relation to Merlin, I think we can come up with a lot of interesting conclusions based on surviving sources, mythology and the structure and hierarchization of ancient societies of the British Isles. This myths of Merlin and King Arthur have been greatly romanticized by the French during the Late Middle Ages and Modern Period, but the myths are far older in Welsh history and mythological accounts.
@@ArithHärger the Arthurian legend is of Sarmatian origin just renamed, passed over to the Cimbri-Kurds who ended up across western, northern and eastern Europe.
Arith, have you read the book The Immortality Key? If not, I highly recommend it. Being the student of history that you are I think you may find it fascinating and highly relevant to your research. Keep up the good work 👍
