Druidism cont...pg 2
hooplight�?: I am surprised that they are ..so many tribes and would like to know their deities..were they common to native american?
Witan© : ok any questions?
Witan© : sure
Witan© : lol
Witan© : well the celtic deities i really couldnt say
Witan© : there are too many i dont care enough to study them
Witan© : they do use animal 'totems' much as the native americans do
hooplight�?: sounds like the native way of thinking though..different tribes and areas so different gods
Witan© : but hoop when we travel through history everyone originally behaved like native Americans
hooplight�?: thats what i thought
Witan© : ok shall we continue
hooplight�?: yup
SunlitNickel : yes
Witan© : it might be obvious now why druidism has hit such a revival recently
Witan© : if not i will tell you
Witan© : we white folks lack a sense of history and belonging especially since we are effectively cut off from our homeland
Witan© : and since many no longer see christianity as ourt root they seek out something deeper more primal to identify with
cristi_360 : ???????????
Witan© : yes cristi?
cristi_360 : white folk lack a sense of history and belonging?
Witan© : definitely
cristi_360 : just curious.. continue
Witan© : we see strongly the african american people searching out their roots and tryiong to reclaim their heritage
Witan© : everyone disposessed and brought here has done the same
Witan© : it makes sense that whites would do it to
Witan© : in the case of white folks their heritage is either celtic, norse or both
Witan© : with very little exception
Witan© : so natuarlly the celtic lore would make a big comeback
Witan© : Traditional Druidry
lighthart1 : I found that when I started looking for a spiritual heritage, druidism kept coming up
Witan© : not surprising
Witan© : So we touched on the Celtic lands now a bit about their culture
Witan© : as ADC implied women in celtic lands were not considered slaves
Witan© : but were actually regarded with equality
Witan© : long before it was popular
hooplight�?says power to the Celtics
Witan© : women as far as we know existed in every strata of life including being druids
Witan© : one very interesting practice involved youths
Witan© : upon coming of age
Witan© : kids were allowed to run away if they wished
Witan© : if they did so they were disowned
Witan© : and woiuld join a roving band of youths with swords looking for adventure
Witan© : when they were ready to settle down they would return home
Witan© : and the family would take them back and everything they did while away was considered non existant
Witan© : as if someone else did it
hooplight�?: good idea
Witan© : in this way the family did not suffer due to the impetuous nature of youth
Witan© : and kids had choices
Witan© : it is much like our own quasi tradition of kids backpacking through europe after school
Witan© : with a lot less fuss
Witan© : ok
Witan© : so now on to Druids what everyone wanted to here
Witan© : Druids were the proffessional class of celtic culture
Witan© : guess what that means
Witan© : noone
Witan© : lol
hooplight�?: knowledge
Witan© : it means they werent magicians
hooplight�?: schooled in a trade
Witan© : lol knowledge yes they had a lot
lighthart1 : politicians?
Witan© : yes schooled in a trade
Witan© : yes
Witan© : politicians
Witan© : doctors (real doctors not witch doctors)
Witan© : lawyers
Witan© : judges
Witan© : arbiters
Witan© : negotiators
Witan© : most likely real estate agents as well
Witan© : The Celts had universities
Witan© : massive ones
Witan© : and a druid would study for twenty years to learn his/her profession
Witan© : in the case of a doctor
Witan© : after his schooling the doctor then took on two or more medical students
SunlitNickel women too?
Witan© : yes
Witan© : in this way students get on the job training, doctors get assistants
hooplight�?: welcome dend..we have a speaker sit down and join
Witan© : and the doctors pay the community for their schooling by serving and teaching
Witan© : in turn the society feeds and houses and clothes the doctor
hooplight�?: sounds like utopia
Witan© : and it was all done verbally
Witan© : 20 years of studying medicine and nothing was written down
Witan© : for 2000 years
Witan© : quite amazing
intense_female : Witan was there a way of determining who would become a doctor? Would someone be chosen?
Witan© : since the celts expanded as far as turkey they had access to trade routes with india
Witan© : noone knows intense noone has any idea whatsoever
intense_female : ty
Witan© : so there medicine would have been advanced beyond what the christians had at the end of the celtic empire
lighthart1 : the native americans did it that way, I imagine the celts did too
Witan© : so we established that Druids were the proffessional class
SunlitNickel : so it wasn't like it was passed on thru the family?
Witan© : naturally normal people made up the trtade or working class
Witan© : not at all
Witan© : they gave us universities without the celts who knows where we would go to school
Witan© : Druids were not magicians lets stress that
Witan© : here
Witan© : that does not mean a magician couldnt be a druid
Witan© : but that is conjecture
Witan© : next in the strata of higher celtic culture
Witan© : The Bards
Witan© : Bards also were both male and female
Witan© : they also went to university
Witan© : they studied for at least 15 years
Witan© : and in that time they had to memorize every celtic story of their area ever told WORD FOR WORD
lighthart1 : wow
Witan© : they had to repeat the stories word for word
Witan© : for a few years bards were allowed to do comedy and satire but that soon became illegal
Witan© : because they were too valuable
Witan© : Bards were celtic books
SunlitNickel : I knew that, like the African story tellers
Witan© : right
intense_female : or scribes of sorts
Witan© : it was there job to record everything mentally and be able to repeat word for word on command
Witan© : they also created stories of their own to continue to build the history
Witan© : and poetry and music etc
Witan© : this is a key problem since if ya kill the bards ya kill celtic knowledge
Witan© : and there aint no bards no more
Witan© : further much of their lore was done in fantasy style so we couldnt have trusted the literal accuracy
Witan© : SO on to the third and final class
Witan© : any questions first?
lighthart1 : they had schools
lighthart1 : but didn't write anything down?
Witan© : exactly
lighthart1 : amazing
Witan© : it actually makes sense, when your culture reveres trees as being like deities what are you going to write on?
SunlitNickel : good point
hooplight�?: natives also did that..taught history threw tale and story..and only those able were chosen
lighthart1 : very good point
Witan© : ok the third class
Witan© : when we refer to celtic magick etc we are reffering not to Druids but to Ovates. They have a variety of names depending on the tribe but you would know them best as SEERS. The Ovates (Seers) also went to school to study their craft
there job was to commune with the ancestors of the tribe and advice based on the lessons of the elders. How they did it and what they did is unknown. We can only guess and try to reconsturct what they may have done but its a grey area. Our best bet is to suggest that they communed with the ancestors much as natives do and all other cultures do through altered states via drugs or exertion.
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