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Druidry/Celtic History/Modern Druidism
 - taught by Witan February 12, 2002

Witan© : as the sun sets in the west we bid a fond farewell to the sillies and hanker down for some serious talk
Witan© : is everybody in their happy place and ready to begin
 
lighthart1 jumps down from the tree and settles herself in for the good stuff
 
SunlitNickel : yesyesyes
 
Witan© : ok
 
hooplight�?: build fire for marshmello
 
_Mykkyo_ : fortunately i just watched happy gilmore....so i have a new happy place to rest in
 
lighthart1 : I'll hand out the mellow after teaching
 
hooplight�?gets comfy  by fire light listens to witans teaching
 
Witan© : first the tedium, for those unfamiliar with SLC here is the communities home
Witan© : <
http://communities.msn.com/SpiritalLearningCenter>
Witan© : for those unfamilair with me here is my home
Witan© : <
http://communities.msn.com/Witenagemot>
Witan© : now probably all y'all or most didnt need that but i like to get it outta the way
Witan© : Many of you know I can be quite a knitpicky bastard so I will begin by picking my own Knits
Witan© : I do not know that the earth revolves around the sun but i believ it does, so any referance to facts or certainityy merely refer to high probabilities
Witan© : so that we dont go there later
Witan© : It also seems approiate to give a brief re lesson on witchcraft
Witan© : Wicca did not exist, it is a new thing, witchcraft or wise craft is actually many practices
Witan© : witches did not have the internet
Witan© : since we will be discussing witchcraft and druidism i thought id get that out of the way
Witan© : any questions based purely on what i have said so far?
Witan© : ill take that as a no
 
SunlitNickel : wait
 
Witan© : yes
 
SunlitNickel : is this witchcraft like we see on tv?
 
Witan© : no
 
SunlitNickel : oh come on.. being serious
 
Witan© : Tv delves into popular myths but it over indulges
 
SunlitNickel : ok doke... ty please cont.
 
Witan© : no probelm Sun
Witan© : the most valuable questions are often the ones that sound foolsih so dont let anyone stop you from asking

Witan© : ok Druidism
Witan© : Druidism represnts a revival of interest in ancient celtic practices and the integration of new age practices with ancient celtic themes
Witan© : Just like wicca Druidism didnt exist until recently
Witan© : but rather is founded upon old principles not a direct relationship
Witan© : its roots are deeply obscured by everything that has been recently lumped into the category of druid.
 
lighthart1 : was there a name for those principles then?
 
Witan© : yes
Witan© : In general we refer to them as Druidry
Witan© : however we do not know what celts themselves specifcally called them
 
lighthart1 : ty
 
Witan© : like witches druids did not have the internet so there are many differences in languag and eloqution
Witan© : phrasology slang etc
Witan© : Druidry is the actual practices of the Druids and the sub starta of the Druidic culture within Celtic society.  They did not keep written records therefore we KNOW nothing about them.  We have some information as a product of what their enemies wrote about, we have some archaelogical data and several sources but in general the picture we have of druidry is so histerically incomplete that anyone can claim most anything about druidry and for the most part we canot dispuet it with anything but Quasi facts.  That out of the way lets dive right in and see what we can about the Celts.
Witan© : are we all on the same page?
 
lighthart1 : may I ask a question?
 
Witan© : of course
 
lighthart1 : or would you rather I wrote them all down until the end?
  
Witan© : no shoot now
  
lighthart1 : ok, what about past life reference, has anyone come across that?
 
Witan© : past life referance is meaningless since we cannot divide fact from fantasy
 
lighthart1 : yes but I mean as a way of knowing more about them
lighthart1 : true, I see what you mean
 
Witan© : if we had some facts to base past life experience on it might be different but we don't
 
lighthart1 : how frustrating
lighthart1 : ok ty
 
sweetsoul37 : what about the buddist's
 
Witan© : what about the buddhists?
 
sweetsoul37 : well, don't they strongly believe in reincarnation
 
hooplight�?: we are talking druid now
 
sweetsoul37 : ok
 
Witan© : yes they do, but they have very specific practices and tests regarding determing if one is a reincarnation  beyond that there info is as fallable as any ones
Witan© : the info is not trustworthy as far as writing missing history
Witan© : actually light, today i wrote most of what i want to cover
Witan© : this being the case i dont mind getting questions out of the way

Witan© : The Celtic lands.  As for the Celtic lands rather than use my own words I will steal those of another
Witan© : An Drac Cluiun is a member of several communities and heads one located at <
http://communities.msn.com/DruidGrove> So I will quote one of his posts in that he has proven to be an excellent Celtic Historian and I trust his words.

Witan© : "Historical Druidry and Celtic Culture are at a bit of a paradox actually. You see, when you refer to "Celtic Culture" you are in reality referring to the lower half of Europe from Portugal to Turkey.
You are referring to a time-span from 1500 B.C.E. to roughly 500 C.E. In that nearly 2000 years the Celtic tribes spread all over the place, some staying in a given place... others moving on.
The greatest facet of the Celts was their individuality; it was their greatest undoing as it was also the hardest thing for us to track. Because they could rarely see eye-to-eye, Rome was able to defeat the tribes one by one
 
Witan© : . Because they constantly spread in every direction, absorbing and blending with what they ran into (or over) it is hard to separate them from what was there before. When Saint Peter converted the Galatians after the crucifixion...it was a Colony of Celts that had settled in Asia Minor 200 years before that he converted, not Turks.  From this wide array of cultures we like to say that there were some singular differences, and there were.  But by and large, every one had its own deities (some 400 at last count), and very few liked the others ones' deities at all, only about 30 were considered "Central" because they are referred to more than once...but often not more than 10-20 times....and
none were universal.
 
Witan© : Two things that were universal were the Druids and the laws governing that society....and those laws were governed by the Druids themselves. This system of "Checks and Balances" was in place before Greece ever dreamed of equality (and Greek equality was only equal for Greek males....the women were virtual slaves and considered property)."
Witan© : well that ends ADC's words
Witan© : now we are back to mine

Witan© : I think that adequately covers the celtic lands and time frame.  Though they spread as stated their main bases of power seem to have been Gaul (now called France), Ireland, England, and Scotland.
Witan© : how are we all doing?
 
Laurelovely01 : doing good
 
Witan© : i need more water so i will take a quick break and then check if there are any questions before we move on
Witan© is away.