Reformed Druids - Anthology 07 Miscellany, Wisdom Ancient

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PART SEVEN
THE DRUID
MISCELLANY
Introduction
Most of the material in this section is of very little importance to
most pre 1986 Carleton Druids (because of its heavy Celtic Pagan
orientation), but I feel that it has great importance for understanding
the later NRDNA, and it may be of use to modern Carleton Druids.
The books have been pretty much reprinted in order and verba-
tim from DC(E). This is better preserves the historical nature of
these documents, to show the approach and “angle” that the DC(E)
of 1976 was presenting, especially to the compilers of religious ency-
clopedists. Many issues of The Druid Chronicler magazine would
essentially add to this section from 1976 to 1980. I removed the
Book of Footnotes, broke it up and placed them under the appropri-
ate texts rather than stuffing all of them in this obscure section of
ARDA. I have added those sections and indicated so.
As with every section of this collection, none of this material is
necessarily indicative of the opinion of any other Druid except that
of the author(s). The material is not dogmatic or canonical, and can
not be assumed to represent the Reform as a whole. Most of it is
terribly out of date, and much better
Day 1 of Foghamhar Year XXXIV of the Reform
(August 1st, 1996 c.e.)
Michael Schardin
T
HE
D
RYNEMTUM
P
RESS
better
better recent materials are available.
The Original Chapter Contents
in DC(E)
Other:
The Humanist Society:* check local phone book.
The Theosophical Society:* clpb
The Vedanta Society:*
The Universal Life Church, Inc.,* 601 3rd St, Modesto, CA 52951
The Buddhist Churches in America:* clpb
The Socialist Party:* clpb
The Society of Friends (Quakers):* clpb
The Swedenborgian Churches: * clpb
The Spiritualist Churches:* clpb
Different Strokes
The Pronunciation of Gaelic Terms
A Guide to Gaelic [sic ] Dieties
The Book of Bards
Pagan Musings
The Other Druids
A Basic Wiccan Rite
The Book of Footnotes
A Bibliography of Druidism
Credits
Corrections
Note: The Majority of the addresses in the first two sections were
taken from “The Pagan Yellow Pages,” which were published over
two years ago. Addresses may not be current. A letter of inquiry to
the “Forum” of Green Egg (Box 2953, St.Louis, MO 63130) will
usually produce a reply.—Bonewits
Different Strokes
[This section is terribly out of date, but it is shown to you in its historical
orginality.Do you notice a bias in the presentation?—Scharding]
Ecology:
Druids of every Branch of the Reform are deeply concerned with
ecological matters. Therefore, we present a list of some of the more
effective ecological and conservation organizations in the United States.
Each of them deserves your support and (if you live close enough)
your volunteer time.
Write to them, enclosing a large self-addressed, stamped enve-
lope, to find out if there are local branches in your area and how you
can help.
America the Beautiful Fund, 219 Shoreham Bldg., Washington, DC
20005
California Tomorrow, Monadnock Bldg., 681 Market St., San Fran-
cisco, CA 94105
Defenders of Wildlife, 2000 “N” st NW, #201, Wash DC 20036
Environmental Defense Fund, 162 Old Town RD, East setauket,
NY 11733
Friends of the Earth, 529 Commercial St, San Francisco, CA 94111
National Audubon Society, box 5133 Church St Station, NY Ny
10008
National Parks Association 1701 18th St NW, Wash DC 20009
National Wildlife Federation, 1412 16th St NW, Wash DC 20036
National Resources Defense Council, 15 West 44th St, NY, NY
10036
The Nature Conservancy, 1800 North Kent St, Arlinton VA 22209
Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Box 321, Bolinas, CA 94924
Sierra Club, 220 Bush St, San Francisco, CA 94104
Wilderness Society, 1901 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Wash DC 20006
World Wildlife Fund, 901 17th St NW, Wash DC 20005
After studying the materials available from the various Branches
of Reformed Druidism, it is possible that you may not find any of
them to your personal spiritual taste. Therefore, we append a list of
various other organizations you may find more to your liking. Feel
free to write to them about their beliefs, activities and goals. Always
include a stamped, sel-addressed envelope (a large one) with ever
request for information. Those organizations with a star (*) attached
publish newsletters, magazines or other periodicals .—Bonewits
Neopagan:
Coven du Bandia Grassail, Alliston, MA
Manhattan Pagan Way Grove, New York, NY 10022
Children of the Moon, Bladensburg, MD 20710
Ordo Templi Dianos, Lake Worth, FL 33460
Sabaean Religious Order, Chicago, IL 60613
Chicago Mithraeum, Chicago, IL 60614
Temple of Isis, Chicago, IL 60656
Temple of Uranus, Chicago, IL 60637
Church of All Worlds,* St. Louis, MO 63130
Church of Seven Arrows, ULCDenver, CO 80210
Feraferia, * Altadena CA 91001
Temple, Tujunga, CA 91042
Church of the Eternal Source,* Burbank, CA 91505
Council of Earth Religions, San Diego, CA 92116
Temple of the Golden Calf, Berkeley, CA 94704
Wiccan:
Seax-Wicca, *Weirs Beach, NH 03246
Temple of Rebirth, Inc., Passaic NJ 07055
Theos & Phoenixm,* Commack, NY 11725
Moonstar/Starrcraft, Watertown, NY 13601
Association of Cymmry Wicca, * Atlanta Metro Branch, Smyrna,
GA 30080
American Order of the Brotherhood of Wicca,St.Paul, MN 55165
Church and School of Wicca, * Salem, MO 65560
Wicca Contact Service, Dallas TX 75205
The Dianic Craft,* Dallas, TX 75221
Arianhu Church, Albuquerque, NM 87101
Susan B Anthony Coven, Venice CA 90291
Church of Wicca of Bakersfield,CA 93304
New Reformed Orothodox Order of the Golden Dawn,* Oakland
CA94661
The Covenant of the Goddess, C/o NROOGD
Nemeton, * Oakland, CA 94661
The Elf Queen’s Daughters, Seattle, WA 98104
300
Other
Ecology
Ecology
Neopagan
Wiccan
Wiccan
The Pronunciation of Irish
Gaelic Terms
This is not going to be a lengthy explanation of Gaelic spelling or
pronunciation. What I hope to do is to give the reader a good enough
idea of the basic sounds of the language to enable them to pronounce
those words found in the DC(E).
Every consonant in Gaelic has two sounds, “broad” and “slen-
der.” A slender consonant is pronounced more tensely than a broad
consonant, and often a “y-glide” can be heard between the conso-
nant and the following vowel. For those of you who know Russian,
there is a similarity to hard and soft (“palatalized”) consonants. the
slender consonant is palatalized, though usually not as noticeably as
in Russian. A broad consonant is one which is preceded or followed
by a slender vowel, to wit: “e” or “I.” Usually the consonant is both
preceded AND followed by the appropriate vowels.—IB
course only approximate, but they are very good approximations.
They are those of the Munster dialect, which is grammatically the
most conservative dialect in modern Irish The spellings used will be
the modern spellings, except where the Chronicles have the old form.
In that case, the new spellings will be also presented next to the old.
I personally prefer the older spellings, but the newer ones are more
understandable to those unused to Irish spelling. Broad consonants
will be the CAPITALIZED ones, slender consonants in lower case.
5) For those interested in more information and a good beginning
grammar and vocabulary, see Teach Yourself Irish by Myles Dillon
and Donncha O Croinin, English Universities Press, London 1961.
Another good source is Learning Irish by Micheal O Siadhail from
Yale University Press, 1988.
Modern Comments by the Editor, Scharding
“Unless you are one of the rare ones, like myself, you probably
won’t have a clue on how to pronounce most of the Irish Gaelic
terms bandied about in the Druid Compendium. It is not necessary
to know hardly a single word of Irish to be a Reformed Druid, at
least in the RNDA sense. Hoewever, a great number of people are
attracted to Reformed Druidism because they would like to be in a
“Celtic Religion,” and something called “Druid” sounds Celtic. The
usual result of this is that many of the people who are Reformed
Druids have at least a passing interest in Irish culture and Irish lan-
guage.
“It is an interesting fact that celtic-oriented Druids in America
seem to have a dominant preference for Irish language, gods & cul-
ture. This is probably due to the fact that the Irish culture retained
intact more elements of a Paleo-pagan culture into the modern era
than the Welsh, and certainly longer than the Gauls. It is also due to
the fact that over 45 million Americans claim Irish descent versus
less than the 15 million who claim Welsh descent. It is also a result
of the Irish dominance in Folk music. Irish is only one of the Gaelic
languages, there is also Scottish Gaidhlig and Manx Gaalige; but
Irish language tutorials are by far the most abundant in America.
This is but the most simple of pronunication guides, most major
libraries and book-store chains should be able to provide lexicons &
language instruction books.”
IIB
consonant
b
c
d
f
g
h
l
m
n
p
s
t
bh
ch
dh
fh
gh
mh
ph
sh
th
r
phonetic
translation
b
k
d
f
g
h
l
m
n
p
s
t
v
ch
gh
(silent)
gh
v
f
h
h
r
broad sound
as in boot
“ “ cool
“ “ do
“ “ foot
“ “ good
“ “ hood
“ “ loot
“ “ moon
“ “ noon
“ “ poor
“ “ soon
“ “ tool
“ “ voice
“ “ scots loch
voiced ch
silentt
as dh
“ “ bh
“ “ f
“ “ h
“ “ h
“ “ trilled
slender sound
as in beauty
“ “ cure
“ “ dew
“ “ few
“ “ jewels
“ “ hew
“ “ lurid
“ “ music
“ “ innure
“ “ pure
“ “ sure
“ “ tune
“ “ view
“ “ German ich
‘y’ as in year
silentt
2) Vowels are a whole ’nother kettle of fish. These will be the sym-
bols used and the sounds they represent; (remember the words are
spoken by a cultured English voice):
symbol
a
·
e
È
I
Ì
o
Û
u
˙
sound
At
fAther
bEt
fAte
sIt
shEEt
OUght
sOOn
bUs
dUne
3) The accent in an Irish word is stronger than in English and usu-
ally falls on the first syllable. In the transliterations that appear in
The Berkeley Calendar under the Druid Months and elsewhere, if
the accent falls on a syllable other than the first, that syllable will be
underlined. The accent in Irish is so strong that vowels in unac-
cented syllables become murmured.
4) Syllables are separated by hyphens. these pronunciations are of
301
Modern Comments by the Editor, Scharding
A Guide to Celtic Deities
[In the same sense that many in the Reform are at least mildly
interested in Celtic languages, there are some who prefer to research,
venerate and meditate upon Celtic forms of deity. Whereas some
forms of Reformed Druidism have chosen primarily Asian, African,
Philosophical or Native American paths, there is a very large percent-
age of our membership interested in Celtic religion, so a handy guide
of Celtic gods has many been provided here for them. Although
there are far better collections of material on Celtic deities out there,
I thought I’d reprint this list from the DC(E)—Scharding
The Following Gods were most frequently associated with the Ro-
man God Mercury, and are said to have had many of His
attributes:
Scharding]
The following article was originally written as a course supple-
ment for a class entitled “Witchcraft: the magic of ancient Classical
and Celtic beliefs in a Contemporary Society,” taught by its author,
Michael Nichols. It has been mildly edited in order to make the data
more relevant to Reformed Druids, but it is essentially intact. Com-
ments by the Editor appear in brackets. God names with a “#” after
them are of particular relevance to Reformed Druids. Mike depended
almost entirely upon one book (MacCulloch’s), which is an excel-
lent one, but others of equal interest may be found in the Bibliogra-
phy of Druidism. It should be noted that Celtic Paleopaganism is a
highly controversial subject and experts will frequently disagree with
one another. Therefore this article should be taken as merely a start-
ing point in your researches in the field.—
Bonewits
Artaios (Artaius): A Bear God, and God of Agriculture.
Moccus: A Swine God, a Corn God and a vegetation spirit.
Cimiacinus: God of Commerce, Roads and (perhaps) Leys.
Ogmios: God of Speech, binding humans with His eloquence.
Dumias: God of Hilltops and Mounds (and beacon points?).
Alaunius, Acecius, Arvernorix, Arvenus, Adsmerius, Biausius,
Canetonensis, Clavariatis, Cissonius, Cimbrianus, Dumiatis,
Magniacus, Naissatis, Tocirenus, Vassocaletus, Vellaunus,
Visucius: Gods whose attributes and functions are not specifi-
cally defined, though generally identified as Mercury-like. [Sev-
eral of these deities may be the same, under different spellings.]
The following Gods are associated with Apollo, both in His capacity
of God of Healing and God of light:
Bonewits
Grannos #: God of Thermal Springs, name means “burning one.”
Borvo (Bormo, Bormanus): God of Bubbling Springs, “boiling one.”
Votive tablets inscribed to these two show that They were
often invoked for healing.
Belenos #: Sun God, name means “the shining one” [from root
“bel”— “bright”— “good.”], the most popular and widely
known of the Celtic Gods.
Maponos (Mabonos): God of Youthfulness.
Mogons (Mogounos): Sky God, God of Plenty, God of Increase.
Anextiomarus, Cobledulitavus, Cosmis, Livicus, Mogo, Sianus,
Toutiorix, Vindonnus, Virotutis: Gods whose attributes and
functions are not defined, though Apollo-like. Certain Gods
in this group are said to have been worshipped in a circle of
stone by priests called Boreads [from Greek myths of a land
called Hyperborea, the land beyond Boreas, the North Wind].
There is a report by one of the Classical writers that every 19
years the Sun God appeared dancing in the sky over this
stone circle, playing the lyre. Many past and present schol-
ars speculate that the circle may have been Stonehenge and
the 19 years refer to the 19 year Solar-Lunar cycle said to be
measured by these stones [see “The Mysteries of Stonehenge”
for a detailed reporting of this matter].
Introduction
The First writers to attempt any clarification of the topic of Celtic
Paleopaganism were the Romans, who helped little with their habit
of replacing the names of Celtic deities with the names of their own
Roman deities. A modern scholar attempting to recapture the lost
legacy of Celtic religions finds that he or she has rather limited re-
sources. Briefly, these are: dedicatory and votive inscriptions, manu-
scripts dating from the Middle Ages but perpetuating much more
ancient traditions, stories and chronicles and mythical legends, and
most importantly, the Bardic tradition which inspired Gallic, Breton
and even Norman minstrels.
Such religious anthropology is discouraging and tedious, yet in
this field there is one scholar who stand out and deserves all the
accolades that a grateful Pagan can bestow upon him. Unfortunately,
his mammoth contribution is seldom remembered, or acknowledged,
or even realized. The man in question is the Can J. A. MacCulloch
and his 390 pages of amazingly exciting research was published in
1911 c.e. under the title The Religion of the Ancient Celts. All research
(others would disagree with such a sweeping conclusion) in this area
since 1911 c.e. is merely a footnote to this great man’s pioneering
efforts. It is for this reason that the bulk of the following material is
culled from MacCulloch’s extensive work, for his own publication is
long since out of print and is exceedingly hard to find.
[MacCulloch’s book can be gotten in microfilm from several places,
however. Also to be highly recommended are the works of Squire, Piggott,
Greene and MacCana.]
The following are tribal War Gods associated with aspects of Mars,
and there many [some 60 are known]:
Caturix: “battle king.”
Belatu-Cadros (Belacetudor?): “comely in slaughter.”
Albiorix (Albius?): “world king.”
Rigisamus: “king like.”
Teautates (Toutatis, Totatis, Tutatis): a tribal War God, regarded as
an embodiment of the tribe in its warlike capacity. Lucan
regards Him as one of the three Pan-Celtic Gods, the other
two being Taranis # and Esus.
Neton: “warrior.”
Camulos: pictured on coins and war emblems.
Braciaca #: God of Malt and Intoxicating Drink, such as the Irish
“cuirm” and “braccat” [not to mention “na h-uisce beatha”—
the waters-of-life! Braciaca may also be a God of Altered States
of Consciousness and may be related to the Smith Gods].
Alator, Arixo, Asterix, Beladonis, Barres, Bolvinus, Britovis [con-
sort to Britinia, perhaps?], Buxenus, Cabetius, Cariocecius,
Camenelus, Cicollus, Carrus, Cocosus, Cociduis, Condatus,
Cnabetius, Coritiacus, Dinomogetimarus, Divanno, Dunatis,
Glarinus, Halamardus, Harmogius, Leusdrinus, Lacavus,
Latabius, Lenus, Leucetius, Laucimalacus, Medocius,
Mogetuis, Mullo, Nabelcus, Ocelos, Ollondios, Randosatis,
The Gods of Gaul and the Continental Celts:
Though many Druids are concerned more with the traditions de-
veloped in the “British Isles” it must be remembered that these ma-
jestic and magical deities ultimately had their origin in the beliefs of
the Continental Celts [who were spread all the way into Turkey!] and
one must keep in mind at all times that the great majority were local,
tribal Gods, of the roads and commerce, of the arts, of healing, etc.
There were very few Pan-Celtic deities. MacCulloch quotes another
authority, Professor Anwyl, to this effect: 270 Gods are mentioned
only once on inscriptions, 24 twice, 11 thrice, 10 four times, 3 five
times, 2 seven times, 4 fifteen times, 1 nineteen time (Grannos #),
and 1 thirty times (Belenos #). If the notes on the following deities
seem brief, you may console yourself with the understanding that it
is all that we know of them:
302
Scharding
Bonewits
Riga, Rudianus, Sinatus, Segomo, Smertatius, Tritullus,
Vesucius, Vincius, Vitucadros, Vorocius: War Gods whose
attributes are not specified.
Stanna: “the standing or abiding one.”
Sequanna: Goddess of the Seine River.
Bormana and Damona: associated with Bormo.
Dea Brixia: Consort to the God Luxovius.
Abnoba, Clota, Divona, Icauna, Sabrina, Sinnan: River Goddesses.
Dea Arduinna and Dea Abnoba: both Forest Goddesses.
Rosemerta: Consort to one of the Mercury-like Gods, but which one
is not clear.
Epona: A River Goddess and Goddess of Animals (especially Horses).
Deae Matres: grouped Goddesses, usually three in number, repre-
senting fertility and abundance.
Berecynthia: an individual representation of a triple Goddess.
Abonde: A fairy Goddess who brough riches to house.
Esterelle: a fairy Goddesss who made women fruitful.
Aril: A fairy Goddess who watched over meadows.
Melusina and Viviane: two extremely popular fairy Goddesses [the
latter of Whom was responsible for distracting the wizard Merddyn
in the Arthurian Cycles—which are full of references to disguised
Celtic Deities.]
The Following Gods are equated with Jupiter, as Ruler of the Celtic
“heaven,” “Otherworld” or afterlife [and as Sky Gods and
Thunder Gods].
Taranis #: (Taranoos, Taranucnos): God of Thunder & Lightning
[also Fire, Storms, the Sun and protection from all of these, as
the name is obviously cognate with Thor, Thunder, Donner, Tyr
and a number of other inter-related Thunder-Fir-War-Demon
Killing Gods. Quite possibly He is also related to the Sylvannus/
Esus/Cernunnos trinity and/or Sucellos mentioned below.]
Cernunnos: “the Horned One,” pictured as a three-faced God, squat-
ting, with a torque and ram’s headed serpent, and some-
times holding a cornucopia [He is the one usually shown with
antlers or other large horns, and with furry legs, cloven hooves
and a large phallus (erect). More than one scholar has pointed
out the similarities both to the Hindu deity Shiva and the postu-
lated “shamanistic” cult of the Horned Sorcerer”]. He is consid-
ered a God of Abundance, an Earth and Underearth God,
Lord of the Underworld, and an Ancestral God [also as a
God of the Hunt and God of the Wildwood. Among Wiccans,
He is the most widely worshipped male deity, combining all of
the above aspects, plus a few more (including Sun God, God of
Animal Life, etc.).]
Sylvanus (Silvanus) and Esus: pictured with a cup and hammer, a
Wolf God and a God of Woods and Vegetation, an Under-
world God of Riches (cattle). As Esus, He is many times
associated with a bull and three cranes. [Cernunnos, Sylvanus
and Esus form a trinity comparable to Diana/Hecate/Selene [or
Jupiter/Neptune/Pluto]. Some times They are seen as three sepa-
rate deities, while at other times they are viewed as three aspects
of the same God. The confusion is felt in that Aeracura is a
Consort to one of the three, but it is not clear which one. If the
three are considered to be as one, the problem is greatly reduced.]
Dio Casses: a collective name for a group of Gods worshipped by the
Celts, possibly Road Gods. On some of the inscriptions, the
name Cassiterides occurs, which was an early name for Brit-
ain, meaning beautiful or pleasant land.
The Gods of the Irish Mythological Cycle
The Tuatha De Danann (the Children of the Goddess Danu)
reached Ireland on Beltane and defeated the Formorians, who were
the earlier dark inhabitants. [It is believed by many scholars that] the
Formorians are actually a personification of the fierce power of the storms
of the western sea [however, they could also be (a) memories of a real
tribe—perhaps even Neanderthals—that had settled Ireland previously, (b)
mostly imaginary giants, demons, etc., (c) a previous invasion by ancestors
of the same tribe the Tuatha came from, or all of the above].
The defeat of the Formorians did not take place until the second
battle at Samhain. Then the Tuatha remained masters of Ireland
until the coming of the Milesians. The Druids of the Tuatha raised a
magical storm to prevent the Milesians from landing on the shores,
but Amhairghin, a poet of the Milesians [i.e., a magician and Druid]
recited verses which overcame the storm [some of which appear in
“The Customs of the Druids” in the DC]. The Milesians fought with
the Tuatha and defeated them after much time and effort. The survi-
vors of the Tuatha are said to have taken refuge in the hills where
They became the “fair folk” of later generations, seen less & less by
mortals.
The Following is a [short] list of some of the Gods and Goddesses
who play in the great Irish mythological drama, with genealogy and
attributes where known:
Grouped Goddesses were considered more important than individual
Goddesses, Who were known only as Consorts to certain
specific Gods [so much for the theories of the Celts having a
matriarchal religious system]. Professor Anwyl gives the fol-
lowing statistics: there are 35 Goddesses mentioned once, 2
twice, 3 thrice, 1 four times, 2 six times, 2 eleven times, 1
fourteen times (Sirona #), 1 twentyone times (Rosemerta),
and 1 twenty-six times (Epona). The following listing includes
both individual and grouped Goddesses.
Dagda (sometimes called Cara or Ruad-rofhessa): the Great Father,
Chief of the Gods, a cunning deity with great knowledge [like
most Irish deities]. He owned a cauldron of plenty, and thus
may be related to Cromm Cruaich. His main feast was Samhain
and human sacrifices were [said to be] common.
Danu # (Anu): Daughter of the Dagda, She gave Her name to the
entire family of Gods [and in many way superseded Dagda in
importance]. She had three sons (Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba)
and is associated with Brighid and Buanann.
Oengus (Angus #) : “the young son,” He superseded Dagda in cult
worship. A God of Love [and of Youth], He was Patron to
Diarmaid na Duibhne.
Brighid (Brigit, Bride): Supreme Goddess of Knowledge, Crafts, etc.
Her ancient shrine at Kildare housed the sacred [and perpetual]
fire. She is a Fire Goddess and is celebrated on St. Bride’s Day
[after the Christians turned Her into a “Saint”], also known as
Candlemas [or Oimelc]. She had a female priesthood and Her
shrines were often found in oak groves.
Ogma: Son of Danu and the Dagda [divine incest was not unknown
among the Celts], a master of poetry and inventor of Ogham
script. He was a God of Eloquence and the Champion of all
Belisama: “shining Goddess,” representing Woman as the first civi-
lizer, discovering agriculture, spinning, the art of poetry, etc.
Perpetual fires burned in Her temples. [Also known as the
Goddess of Light, and sometimes as Consort to Belenos].
Sul (Sulis): “to burn,” associated with a cult of fire.
Nemetona: a War Goddess.
Andrasta (Andarta): “invincible.” sometimes worshipped [it is alleged]
with human sacrifices.
Sirona # (Dirona): associated with Grannos, the “long lived” God-
dess of Healing Wells and Fertility. {in England, She is also a
Goddess of Rivers and of Wisdom]
Vesunna and Aventia (Avenches): also associated with Grannos.
303
The Gods of the Irish Mythological Cycle
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