draoidh

-ean, sm Druid, magician. 2 Conjurer. 3 Philosopher. 4†† Morose person.
No direct native information is available, concerning druidism in Scotland or Ireland and it is only when Christianity had been long established and druidism had become a thing of the remote past, that we have writers who speak of the druids and then only refer to them as magicians and diviners, sometimes only as conjurers; there is no hint of either philosophy or religion in Druidism. They surrounded kings and chiefs. The power of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the pre-eminent masters of druidic art, over the forces of nature shows them to have been degraded gods. The Druids opposed Columba and Patrick with darkness. A blow from their wand caused transformation and spells. Their sacred wood was not the oak, as in Gaul, but yew, hawthorn and especially the rowan. Divination by watching smoke and flame, chewing raw flesh (cf. Fionn's thumb), &c, was one of their chief occupations. Bards were sometimes diviners, thus apparently showing an ancient connection with the Druids. Sometimes we have an echo of the time when Druidism was something more than mere wizardry and even when human sacrifices were offered (for example, the Columba and Odhran story). Prof Rhys sums up:— At the time of Caesar, the Druids were a powerful class — soothsayers, magicians and priests. In Gaul, under the influence of mediterranean civilization, they were also philosophers and discoursed on the stars, the world, the nature of things and the power of the gods. Rhys thinks Druidism non-Aryan, MacBain does not.
The following remarks by foreign writers were made while Druidism was still practised and full particulars easily obtainable. The accuracy of Latin writers on the military and domestic arrangements of the Celts is well known, so their remarks about the druids are probably quite as reliable.
Diodorus Siculus calls attention to the druidic doctrine that the souls of men were immortal and that after the lapse of an appointed number of years they came to life again, the soul then entering another body.
Julius Caesar says the Druids were occupied with religious matters, conducted public and private sacrifices and interpreted omens. They were the teachers of the country, and judges in public and private disputes, awarding damages and penalties. Any contumacy in reference to their judgments was punished by exclusion from the sacrifices — the severest punishment among Gauls. Men so punished were treated as outlaws. There was one supreme head over the Druids, who, on his death was succeeded by the nearest in dignity, or if several were equal, the successor was chosen by the vote of the Druids. Sometimes the primacy was not decided without arbitrament of arms. Caesar mentions the belief that their doctrines originated in Britain and were carried from thence into Gaul. The Druids were immune from military service and payment of tribute. They were said during their training, which sometimes lasted twenty years, to learn by heart a large number of verses. They held it wrong to put their religious teaching in writing. Their cardinal doctrine was the transmigration of souls and this was a supreme incentive to valour, by making the fear of death count for nothing. They discussed the stars and their motions, the size of the universe and the earth, the nature and the might and power of the immortal gods. They presided at the human sacrifices, which might be public or private.
Cicero says the Druid.s possessed knowledge of natural science, and foretold the future.
Origen says they practised sorcery.
Strabo refers to them as judges, philosophers and divines, says they were held in exceptional honour and mentions their belief in immortality. No sacrifice could be made without the presence of a Druid. They were in great request in time of war, being consulted alike by the enemy and those of their own side. Even when two armies were on the point of going to battle, Druids have been able to stop them.
Lucan refers to the seclusion of the Druids' groves and their belief in immortality.
Pliny refers to their veneration of the mistletoe and the tree on which it grew (if an oak), hence their predilection for oak-groves and the requirement of oak-leaves for all religious rites. He mentions a serpent-egg, produced from the frothy sweat of snakes writhing together in a ball.
Ammianus Marcellinus says they were closely linked together into confraternities and declared the soul immortal.
Caesar includes under the term druid all non-military professional classes — whether priests, seers, teachers, lawyers or judges. To others, druids are philosophers and teachers and distinguished from seers. To others again, such as Pliny, they were the priests of the oak-ritual, whence their name was derived.— Extracts from art. by Dr. MacBain in Celtic Mag. 1883-4 and Celtic Religion by Prof. Anwyl.

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