What is Druidry

Druidism, or Druidry as it is often called, is for some a spiritual path, for others a religion, and for others a cultural activity.

As a cultural activity, Druid ceremonies provide part of the context and pageantry for the National Eisteddfodau of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.

As a spiritual way or philosophy, Modern Druidism began to develop about three hundred years ago during a period known as the ‘Druid Revival’. It was inspired by the accounts of ancient Druids, and drew on the work of historical researchers, folklorists and early literature. In this way Druidry’s heritage stretches far back into the past.

In the following movie clip Philip Carr-Gomm talks about the recent and ancient roots of Druidry and about its relevance today.



Read different authors’ views on What is Druidry?:

What does it mean to be a Druid today? Above all else, Druidry means following a spiritual path rooted in the green Earth. It means participating in a living Western spiritual tradition drawn from many sources, including surviving legacies from Celtic wisdom teachings, but embracing the contributions of many peoples and times. It means learning from archaic traditions, from three centuries of modern Druid scholarship, and from the always changing lessons of the living Earth itself. It means embracing an experiential approach to religious questions, one that abandons rigid belief systems in favour of inner development and individual contact with the realms of nature and spirit.
John Michael Greer, Druidry – A Green Way of Wisdom
It’s an attitude, an understanding, an exquisitely simple and natural philosophy of living. For a great many it is a rich and ancient religion, a mystical spirituality. For others it’s simply a guiding way of life. It is absolutely open and free for anyone to discover. Emma Restall Orr, Druid Priestess
Rather than being an organised religion, Druidry offers a personal individual life path that can become part of a modern urban existence as easily as a rural life. It connects us instinctively to the life-giving energies of the earth beneath the pavements, and the sky above the highest office or apartment block.
Cassandra Eason, The Modern-Day Druidess
What is Druidry? A Spiritual Path, a way of life, a philosophy, Druidry is all of these…Druidry today is alive and well, and has migrated around the world forming a wonderful web of people who honour and respect the Earth and the sacred right to life of all that is part of the Earth. Like a great tree drawing nourishment through its roots, Druidry draws wisdom from its ancestral heritage. There is a saying in Druidry that ‘The great tree thrives on the leaves that it casts to the ground’. Druidry today does not pretend to present a replica of the past, rather it is producing a new season’s growth.
Cairistiona Worthington, The Beginner’s Guide to Druidry

Rune Wizard

WHAT IS A RUNE-WIZARD?
A Rune Wizard Uses Mental Radionics
to Create magic



Rune-Wizard
What is a Rune Wizard

Norse Rune Wizards cast spells, make charms and chant rhymes.

A Norse Rune Spell gives the Rune Wizard access, control and direction of life force for a specific purpose.

A Rune Wizard practices Mental Radionics which is Magic at a distance. For mental radionics you need a power source and a spell, charm or rhyme and a target ( where you want the life force "Magical force" to go.)

rUNE-wIZARD

A Rune Wizard has a large tool kit of materials to set up his spells. Stones, metals, herbs, wood, rope, candles runes, air, water, fire, earth are some of them.

Nordic and Germanic Rune Wizards used spoken spell craft which is very powerful. It is a form of Mental Radionics.

As a modern 21st Century, Age of Aquarius Rune Wizard, you can invent your own spoken spells for your special needs.

Rune-Wizard

Now you can use the Laws of Quantum Physics which tell us that there exists an infinite ocean of Thinking Energy called the Quantum Ocean or Mind of God. There is no time in the Quantum Ocean only the NOW. All the Gods/Goddesses of the North, the old Rune Charms, spells, rhymes (incantations) are there. The Runes which are individual Keys to the Creative Energies of the Universe are there. All the materials you will need as a Rune Wizard are there. So you can create your own magic and bing the mythology, power and Wisdom of our Norse Germanic Ancestors into the NOW.

Many of the old Norse Traditions have been buried under a veneer of Christianization. It is time for you, the 21st Century Rune Wizard to clean them off.

The Norse, Germanic and English people adapted the charms, spells and rhymes to the new Christian Religion, rather than discard them completely. They hid them for future use.They are so effective that they felt Christianity could not erase their power.

Rune-Wizard

Rune Wizards do not simply speak or copy spells from a book. The "MIND" of the Rune Wizard is where the power is; not in the words. The emotions of the Rune Wizard increases the power. Emotional thoughts are the key to success.

A Rune Wizard must practice, practice, practice the Art until it becomes embedded in their sub-conscious. Their subconscious mind is connected to the Quantum Ocean, the Mind of God. This is where all the feelings, moods, images, dreams, invocations and energy exists. Some of the older writers called it the "Astral Plane."

The Rune Wizard's intellectual mind has a language in words, and their sub-conscious has a language in feelings and images. Their conscious mind is where they make their decisions. It works with thoughts and ideas. Their subconscious uses emotions.

The Rune Wizard must understand the three levels of subconsciousness that exist in the Quantum Ocean, Mind of God. Their own personal level; the level of the Nordic Germanic Folk and the collective conscious level of all humanity.

The personal subconscious takes everything literally. It gives you what it thinks you want. It does this by monitoring your thoughts and feelings.

Rune-Wizard

The Folk Soul or Group Mind must also be considered by the Rune Wizard. Powerful competing energies exist there. Some of the more well known conflicting energies of Folk Souls are the one that exists between the German and the French races. Two world wars precipitated due to these differences.

In America, the North Eastern Group mind is different from that of the Deep South. The Civil War is an example.

The Karma and destiny of the Folk-Soul affects every member of its race whether the individual realizes it or not.

The Rune Wizards uses the Folk Soul to give more power to their Magic. Their spells must first pass through their individual subconscious, through the Folk-Soul subconscious, into the Universal Collective subconscious, the Quantum Ocean, Mind of God. Here is where the greatest power exists.

When a Rune Wizard meditates upon a rune, he first touches the energies of the rune contained within his own personal subconscious, then the energies of the runes contained within the Nordic Germanic Folk Soul's subconscious and finally to the runic energies in the Collective Subconscious, the Mind of God. It is from this powerful place that they do their work. There is no time nor space there. Only the NOW!

Rune-Wizard

Study: Vikings May Have Taken a Native American to Iceland - TIME

Study: Vikings May Have Taken a Native American to Iceland - TIME

Runes

Want to learn more about Norse Vikings? We provide information and insight for people interested in Viking Age Scandinavia. The present web site is a dynamic resource that treats on current and past issues related to Norse cultural heritage. The Viking Rune offers unique online features: free Rune Converter and Motto Generator. We are committed to greater access to knowledge about the Vikings, which is the only way to dispel the myth about Norse warriors as cruel and bloodthirsty raiders who did nothing but kill, pillage and rape. The Viking Rune is always up-to-date with the latest developments in North Germanic studies, including hot archeological finds in Scandinavia and elsewhere.

Runes Runestones of the Viking Age July 8, 2010 Rune Stones Runestones are stones with runic inscriptions. The eldest runestones, inscribed with Elder Futhark inscriptions, date from the 4th century. However, the most of the runestones were created during the late Viking Age and thus inscribed with the Younger Futhark runes. The runestones were usually erected to commemorate one or several deceased kinsmen, and in most [...]
Read the full article → Germanic Names in the Eldest Runic Inscriptions July 6, 2010 Elder Futhark Male Names Ado – Gammertingen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), ivory box. Adujislu – Westeremden A (Groningen, Netherlands), weaving-slay of yew-wood. Meaning: ādu- < *auda, ‘wealth’ and -jīslu < *gīsalaz, ‘hostage’ or ‘offspring’. Aebi – Schwangau (Bayern, Germany), gilt-silver buckle. Æko – Chessel Down II (Isle of Wight), silver plate. Æniwulufu – Folkestone (Kent, England), gold tremissis. Meaning: [...]
Read the full article →. Norse Rune Symbols and the Third Reich July 31, 2009 Runes Meaning Some of the symbols treated in this article may be interpreted as pointing to Nazi ideology in certain contexts. Their use in the present article has nothing to do with it. Any such connotations are a recent development as compared to the long history of the most of these signs. Below both their original meaning [...]
Read the full article → Rune Stone Used as Parking Lot Border May 20, 2009 Rune Stones Last fall an area near a church outside Stockholm, Sweden was excavated in order to lay some cables. The workers dug out some rocks, which were left on the plot. One of these rocks covered with mud and earth was thought to be quite fitting for use as a church parking lot border. Week after [...]
Read the full article →. Jelling Rune Stones Remain Outdoors March 29, 2009 Rune Stones The Jelling stones are two massive runestones standing in a churchyard in Jelling, Denmark, between two large mounds. Both date to the 10th century. The older and the smaller of the two was erected by Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The Larger stone was erected by Harald Bluetooth in memory of [...]
Read the full article → The Rune Converter March 26, 2009 Old Norse Just added a page with a new feature: the Rune Converter. One can input a word or phrase, press the “convert” button and get the same sequence of signs in runes. So the converter transforms the letters of the Roman alphabet into runic writing. What distinguishes it among similar scripts is its extended functionality: there [...]
Read the full article →. Norse Viking Symbol – Horn Triskelion January 27, 2009 Norse Mythology Three interlocked drinking horns is an important Norse Viking symbol. It seems to be closely related the Valknut and Triquetra and is often referred to as the Horn Triskelion. A triskelion (or triskele) is a symbol with threefold rotational symmetry (such symmetry means that a figure, which has it, looks the same after a certain [...]
Read the full article → Elder Futhark – Inner Structure December 17, 2008 Elder Futhark Countless “introductions to runes” each represent the Germanic Elder Futhark in a standardized form, both as for the appearance of the individual runes and the order in which they are arranged (my earlier post on the Elder Futhark is no exception). However, we should be aware of the fact that getting the real picture implies [...]
Read the full article →. Magic Runes December 13, 2008 Elder Futhark Among the most ancient Elder Futhark inscriptions there are a few words that appear pretty often, but what they actually mean is unclear. According to a subtle remark by R. I. Page, in runology, like in too many other knowledge areas, the following principle has been extensively used as a guideline: “Whatever cannot be readily [...]
Read the full article → Runic Love Quotes December 1, 2008 Medieval Runes The fire of 1955 destroyed part of Bryggen, the old quarter of Bergen (Norway). This made possible large scale excavations of a medieval town. Archeologists brought to light over 550 objects with runic inscriptions, dating to 1150-1350. The most of them are on wooden sticks with flattened sides. At a time when everyone had a [...]
Read the full article →. Younger Futhark Runes And Later Developments November 29, 2008 Medieval Runes At the end of the 8th century an unknown rune-master reformed the Elder Futhark having reduced it to 16 runes. By the 10th century the new form of writing was accepted in the whole of Scandinavia. This variant of runic alphabet is known as the Younger Futhark. It is this set of runes that may [...]
Read the full article → Elder Futhark Runic Alphabet November 16, 2008 Elder Futhark The elder Futhark is the most ancient Germanic runic alphabet. The word futhark is formed after the first six runes in it, the same way as the Greek word alphabet is formed after the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta. See below which signs represented which sounds: The order of the runes has nothing [...]
Read the full article →. Viking Runes on the Piraeus Lion in Venice November 9, 2008 Runic Inscriptions The Venetian Arsenal is guarded by four statues of lions. One of them, a nine feet high marble beast, bears on its mighty shoulders two lengthy runic inscriptions. These are carved within the intricate ornaments that represent writhing lindworms, characteristic for classical runestone design. The holy patron of Venice is St. Mark; the vicissitudes of [...]
Read the full article →

The Ancient Celts

The Ancient Celts What is surprising to most modern readers is just how widespread across Europe the Celts once were. The Celts have been called the "Fathers of Europe," that is north of the Greco-Roman Mediterranean. Long before the Germanic invasions of the 400s A.D., the Romans considered the Celts as the principal barbarians [9] north of the Alps.
The Celts had no written language, [10] so we must depend on archeology, Greek and Roman writers from antiquity, and early Irish monks to tell us the story of the primeval Celts. But these ancient historians and figures from antiquity did write quite a lot about the Celts. Among those who helped chronicle the Celts were Herodotus (c. 440 B.C.), Xenophon, Aristotle, Strabo, Virgil, Tacitus, Livy, Polybius, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Julius Caesar, and many other classical writers.
The Greeks called the Celts by two names--the Keltoi and the Galatai. The Romans modified this a tad, and called the Celts-- the Celtae and the Galli. We can easily see how history developed the modern words Celtic and Gaelic from these earlier roots.
CelticaOne ancient Greek writer called the land of the Celts, "Celtica." [11] Some modern writers have even called it an ancient "Celtic Empire" across Europe.
But, it was not an empire in the same sense as the Roman Empire. On the mainland of Europe, there was no Celtic capital city (in fact virtually no Celtic cities at all). There was no Celtic emperor or single common leader. There was no Celtic centralized administration, no sophisticated form of government, or written code of law. There was no unified army of all the Celts.
Rather, the Celts consisted of dozens, and dozens, and dozens of individual Celtic tribes, [12] each acting independently and on their own. Sometimes these tribes would join together against a common enemy, as when the Celtic chieftain Vercingetorix was pitted against the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in Gaul. And combined Celtic tribes could field an army of 100,000 warriors (Dottin, pg. 19).
(An important distinction should be made here, between the Celts of Ireland and their Celtic cousins on the mainland of Europe, the latter whom we shall call the "continental Celts." The Celts of Ireland were able to form kingships and kingdoms, and had a stronger sense of Celtic unity that has lasted.)
In terms of a starting point, the Celts probably had their birthplace in the Alsace-Lorraine region of eastern France in the years between 1500-1000 B.C. [13] This is roughly the time when Moses and King David were said to be active in Judea. The Celts of this period were a Bronze Age people, although before long they became the first people north of the Mediterranean civilizations to use iron, giving the Celts a superior position in weapons and tools in their geographic region.
Between 800-400 B.C., a period called the Hallstatt [14] Celtic civilization, the various Celtic tribes began to dominate what is now France (called Gaul then), southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, western Hungary, and excursions into Great Britain. This period corresponds to the high point of Greek civilization, from Homer to the building of the Parthenon.
From about 400-100 B.C., a period called the La Tene [15] Celtic civilization, the Celtic tribes expanded their dominance into Ireland, northern Italy, parts of Spain, parts of Belgium, Bosnia in the Balkans, and had some presence in southern Scandinavia. [16] This time period is when the Romans began to be a powerhouse in the Mediterranean world.
A couple of Celtic military campaigns are worthy of note. In 390 B.C., invading Celtic armies sacked Rome and held it for seven days. These Celts later marauded down the Italian peninsula as far as Sicily, but were driven back.
The Celts also invaded the region around Greece in circa 285 B.C. They raided Thrace (now in Bulgaria), Macedonia, Illyria, and Thessaly (in northern Greece). A coalition of Greeks finally drove the Celts back after the latter had sacked Delphi (in the center of Greece) in 279 B.C.
At about this time, three tribes of Celts crossed the Dardanelles into Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and established the region of Galatia. [17] St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians was a letter to the descendants of these Celtic peoples.
(Note the similarity of area names derived from the Gaelic root word: Gaul in modern France, Galicia in Spain, Galatia in present-day Turkey--all dominated at one time by Celtic peoples.)
Ancient Celtic Culture[18] The Celts on the main continent were largely ruled by the chieftain of their individual tribe--some chieftains were elected by the free men of the tribe for a limited term of office.
Here are some of the names of ancient Celtic chieftains, to get an idea of what the old Celtic names sounded like: Orgetorix, Sinorix, Dunmorix, Cartismandua (a woman), Prasutagus, Amborix, Clondicus, Luernios, Ariamnes, Adiatorix. (The "rix" ending to the Celtic name signified that the person was a supreme chieftain, perhaps over more than one tribe or over a large land area). Because there was no written Celtic language there, these types of personal names and the names of the tribes themselves are our best idea of what old Celtic words on the mainland of Europe sounded like. The great names of the Gaulish chieftain Vercingetorix and of Boadicea, the female chieftain of Celtic Briton, will come up later in our story.
Classical writers said that the Celts were taller than the Romans, more muscular, had fair skin, and blonde hair was common. [19] The Celts were known for their hospitality, but could be boastful and irritable. They were fond of feasting, were high-spirited, and in general liked excitement. Yet, in Rome, culturally sophisticated Cicero was able to become friends with a Celtic druid from Gaul named Diviciacus, and Cicero said that a Celtic leader from Galatia named Dejotarus was "gentle and honest." The ancients said that the Celts liked to speak in riddles, and loved to exaggerate. Some Celtic tribes had a sense of wanderlust and were nomadic (often in response to threats from the outside), while others stayed put in farming communities.
The ancient Celts lived in scattered villages without fortified walls. In wartime, they would build hill forts for protection. Their homes were circular and made of wood with thatched domelike roofs. They had little furniture, and ate and drank out of earthen dishes and goblets. They slept on beds of straw.
Agriculture was a major activity of the Celts of old, with many of them owning private farmlands. They produced mostly wheat for bread. In fact, the ancient writers said that this was the main difference between the Celts and the Germanic tribes of the day, [20] the latter of whom did little farming and consumed mostly meat and milk. Whereas the Celts grew crops, the Germanic barbarians then did little of this. The Celts were also large swinehearders (most of the meat they ate was ham and pork), and cattle was common for dairy products. They brewed beer, which they called "cervesia," and added honey and cumin to beer, which they called "corma." The Celts also appreciated wine and mead.
In terms of clothing, the Celtic women wore a simple long garment with a cloak. The men wore trousers (sometimes knee length), [21] a sleeved tunic reaching the thigh, a cloak, and sandals or boots. A metal piece of jewelry for around the neck called a torc (torques) was quite popular. Clothing dyed in bright colors was common. Men wore droopy moustaches, sometimes beards, and often long hair, all of this in contrast to the contemporary Romans. Women enjoyed painting their bodies, and some tribes of Celtic warriors went into battle stark naked and painted all over in bright blue.
The basic social structure was threefold: the chieftain, the warrior aristocracy, and the freeman farmers. Woman had a lower place, but some women were able to attain the position of chieftain, which was unknown in other cultures of the period. Slavery was accepted, largely conquered peoples. Three other roles in Celtic society were quite important: the druid, the bard, and the artisan.
The bard was the chief poet of a clan or extended family. He was the keeper of the family or tribal oral history and entertained gatherings with epic tales of Celtic gods and heroes. [22] He was a storyteller and a man of rhymes--a wordsmith. The Celtic bard, as did the Bard of Elizabethan times, tried the best he could to portray his benefactors as well as possible in laudable terms. Bards often sang their verse while playing a lyre (which in Ireland was eventually replaced by the harp). The artisan, who is often overlooked in books about the Celts, made all the wonderful metalwork, carvings, and tools for the tribe. The works of the ancient Celtic artisans exist today in museums all over Europe.
Druids and the Celtic Deities [23]The primeval Celts believed in the immortality of the soul, and had a host of divinities they gave homage to--over 370 such gods and goddesses have been documented. The Celts viewed gods as being territorial, and would give homage to the gods of whatever lands they conquered. Among the Celtic gods of mainland Europe were Cernunnos, Smeros, Morrigan, Brigindo, Anvola, and Alisanos. There was a water deity named Sequana and another deity named Dirona. (The pagan gods of Celtic Ireland will be mentioned later). Most of the Celtic deities had a connection with nature or the processes of living, for example, fertility and healing.
The druids were the high priests of the Celtic pagan religion. They led the pagan rituals and ceremonies, offered sacrifices, engaged in fortune-telling, performed magical deeds, were Celtic arbiters of faith and morals, and generally were depended on to make things good with the gods. The druids built a philosophy of the natural world, interpreting the forces of nature. [24] They were called "the men of the oaks" and were thought to speak "the language of the gods." According to the ancient Greek writer Diogenes Laertius, the druid maxim was to "honor the gods, do no evil, and be brave."
The oak tree was sacred to the druids, and rituals were often performed in oak groves. Mistletoe from oaks as well as hawthorne were thought to have magical powers. Sacred springs and wells were another pagan gathering place for Celts, as were certain rivers where wood-carved votive offerings were placed. Celtic worship included incantations, dancing, libations, and sacrifices.
The Celts followed a lunar calendar and the full moon had importance. The bull was a sacred animal, as were the boar, crane, and horse. Throughout the year there were eight pagan festivals, each celebration roughly six weeks apart. One major Celtic festival was Beltaine on May 1 (May Day), which celebrated crop planting and fertility. At the end of October was Samhain, a harvest festival, when the underworld of the dead supposedly opened up and ghoulies walked the Earth. This was an early form of Halloween, and the Celts used to carve faces in large turnips to scare away the evil spirits. Samhain was the night before the Celtic new year, and druids built enormous bonfires for the occasion.
The Decline of the Continental CeltsBy 100 B.C. two things were happening on mainland Europe that were very important to the Celts there. First, the Romans were beginning to look northward, hungry for conquest. Second, the Germanic tribes to the far north were looking southward and westward, also hungry for conquest. The continental Celts were sandwiched in between by hostile invaders and were being squeezed out. By circa 60 B.C. the Germanic barbarians controlled the territories west to the River Rhine and south to the River Danube. And about this time Julius Caesar decided he wanted Gaul for Rome.
History students are taught that Caesar conquered Gaul in the Gallic Wars, but it usually isn't made clear that the people he conquered there were Celts. The military campaign in Gaul (now France) began in 58 B.C., and within a year Julius Caesar had ten Roman legions at his command (including legions 7 through 14 as well as others); this amounting to over 40,000 infantrymen, and 4,000 cavalrymen. [25] The forced takeover of Gaul from the Celts went quite well; Caesar won many battles; they fought only during the summer, and Caesar returned to Rome to politic during the winter.
Then a military genius almost equal to Caesar arose among the Celts. His name was Vercingetorix, a chieftain from the Arvernian tribe. He united the Celtic tribes of Gaul, proved to be a skillful tactician, "and if followed wholeheartedly, might have driven the Romans from Gaul."
Vercingetorix beat Caesar at Gergovia, but then lost decisively to the well-organized Roman legions at Alesia in 52 B.C. Vercingetorix surrendered, was taken back to Rome, where he was paraded before and mocked by the crowds of the victorious nation. There he was executed. Julius Caesar subjugated Gaul and turned it into a Roman province, exacting an enormous annual monetary tribute, becoming personally wealthy. (A consolation: French emperor Napoleon III erected a large statue of Vercingetorix near Alesia in the 1860s.)
As Rome became an empire, the Celts of mainland Europe lost their autonomy, and over the centuries they assimilated into the cultural groups that gained control in the various territories. There is a Celtic presence today in Brittany, France, though this came as the Celtic Britons migrated there after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain in the 400s A.D. Happily, we can know that Celts and celticisms still exist in Ireland and parts of Great Britain, surviving what invaders could not take away.


Part I: Who are the Celts?
Part III: The Celts in Galicia, Spain

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8. This sketch of the ancient Celts was pieced together from a number of sources: the BBC series on The Celts; Georges Dottin, The Civilization of the Celts, (New York: Crescent Books, 1970); the Encyclopedia Britannica article "Celt"; and the World Book Encyclopedia article "Celts" (1982 edition--all future references from the this encyclopedia are from the 1982 edition, unless otherwise noted). Additional references on specific topics listed below. Statements that the Celts were the "Fathers of Europe" and the "principal barbarians north of the Alps" were from the BBC series The Celts. Georges Dottin (op. cit.) provides a broad representation of what the different classical authors had to say about the Celts, quoting the writers directly in many instances.

9. It can't be argued, the ancient Celts were barbarians. Because this paper is intended for gentle reading, I haven't emphasized many of the unsavory aspects of the ancient Celts. For instance, they practiced human sacrifice to their gods, slavery, and head de-capitation of their enemies (and made a big deal about it). Celtic men had an annoying habit of clanking their weapons instead of applauding when they approved of things they heard in assembly (Dottin, pg. 82). Among of the good things the Romans did when they conquered Gaul and other lands of the Celts, is they stopped human sacrifice, and they stopped the cult of severed heads. St. Patrick and the Celtic church stopped these things in Ireland, as well as slavery.
The Romans also brought cities to the Celtic areas they dominated, and cities (the Latin civitas), and civil behavior there, was a main root to civilization. Nevertheless, I agree with the experts who maintain that the Celts had their own brand of civilization. Perhaps it was less sophisticated and less orderly than the Romans, but it did produce wonderful art and literature, and made room for the free-spirits of society.
Note: From early times, the ancient Celts traded with the civilized cultures of the Greeks and Etruscans (pre-Roman peoples in Italy). There were other types of interaction--for instance, Cleopatra had a Celtic contingent in her army guard (Dottin, pg. 96). In 335 B.C., Alexander the Great received a delegation of Celts living in the Adriatic area. Pliny reported that the Celts in Gaul invented soap made from tallow and ash. (Dottin, pg. 33).

10. In Ireland, the Celts did invent a very simple writing form called Ogham (or Ogam), formed by strokes or notches on a line. It was cumbersome, and only a few words could easily be formed with it at a time. It was often used to write down personal names. More than 400 ancient ogham inscriptions exist today in Ireland. The alphabet consisted of about 19 of the letters in the current European alphabet; five more letters were added in modern times.
--partly from Encyclopedia Britannica article on "Ogham Writing"
11. The reference to "Celtica" was made by the ancient Denys of Halicarnassus.
--from Dottin (op. cit.), pg. 165. The reference to a "Celtic Empire" was from the BBC, The Celts.
12. Some of these Celtic tribes were named the Bituriges, the Arverni, the Aedui, the Senones, the Boii, the Insubres, the Lingones, and there were many more. The Helvetti were a Celtic tribe that settled in Switzerland; to this day the official name of Switzerland is Helvetia or Confederatio Helvetica.
13. This date and geographic placement for the beginning of the Celts is from Robert MacNeil et al, The Story of English (New York: Viking, 1986). One might argue that the further roots of the Celts go back to 3500-2500 B.C., when the Indo-European language community first began, perhaps north of the Black Sea or south of the Baltic Sea. (MacNeil, pgs. 54-55)
14. The Hallstatt area is in the Austrian Alps near Salzburg; it is the site of a major archeological dig, the earliest such evidence of a Celtic community--dating back to 700 B.C. The Celts mined salt there, and left a huge burial area of about 2,500 skeletons. As it turns out, the burial practices of the ancient Celts were pretty uniform across Europe, as discovered in research digs. Archeological work in Hallstatt began in 1843 through the efforts of a curious mining engineer in the salt mines. It has since become a major reference word used by people describing the central and western European cultures of antiquity.
15. La Tene is the name of an area near Lake Neuchatel in western Switzerland; in the latter half of the 19th century an important archeological dig was begun there, and it continues today. The La Tene culture was a Celtic people, later and more advanced than Hallstatt. The Celtic patterned art that many people in the modern world love is called the La Tene Celtic art-style. This La Tene art also included highly stylized animal portrayals.
16. This idea that the Celts had a presence in southern Scandinavia is mentioned in Dottin (op. cit.) pg. 169. This notion is supported with the fact that the Gundestrup Cauldron, a famous work of Celtic art, was discovered in a swamp in Denmark.
17. The Celtic region of Galatia was in the center of what is now Turkey. About 20,000 Celts first entered what became Galatia in 278 B.C., under the pretense and invitation of one area king at war with another. The early presence of the Celtic "horde" in this region has been characterized as marauding and given to plunder. Eventually they settled down and built fortified villages, and aligned themselves with local kings. They became a Roman protectorate in 85 B.C., and there was a line of Celtic kings of Galatia. The Celtic Galatians ruled as a military aristocracy over the indigenous peoples. For centuries the Celts there kept their own language and customs, but by the 2nd century A.D. they were quickly assimilating into the predominate Greek culture of the area.
--from the Encyclopedia Britannica article on "Galatia"
My speculation is that due to St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, and his missionary work with them, the Galatians were the first Celtic Christians in the world.

18. This summary description of the ancient Celt culture is full of generalizations, and as in most generalizations, there were exceptions. There were many Celtic tribes, and many variations in cultural development. For instance, in Austria there are archeological remains of Celtic villages consisting of rectangular log cabins. In Ireland, the Celts did build lasting fort complexes--made of wood.
--from BBC, The Celts.
19. Reports were that blonde hair was common among the ancient Celts. However, they also put lime in their hair to appear blonde.
20. The author of the Encyclopedia Britannica article on "Celtic Languages" says that the ancient Celts had a higher degree of social organization than the Germanic tribes. Poseidonius (considered the most learned man of his day, and tutor to Cicero) said the Germanic tribes were somewhat less civilized than the Celts (1). Julius Caesar said the Celts of Gaul had superior valor in comparison to the German tribes (2). Some experts express the idea that in more modern times the Germanic peoples adopted the order and regimentation of the Roman organizational systems more readily than the Celtic peoples have.
SUBNOTES: (1) from Encyclopedia Britannica article on "Druidism"; (2) from Dottin, pg. 162

21. In Irish myth, Celtic heroes are often depicted as wearing kilts.
22. In Ireland the bards were wandering poets and minstrels (with harps). There was another class of hereditary poets and storytellers called the filid, who also preserved Irish oral tradition.
--from World Book Encyclopedia article on "Irish Literature"
23. nformation related to the number of Celtic gods, their territorial nature, and the Celtic festivals is from interview with Gordon Ireland, June 25, 1999. Much of the information is also from sources cited earlier, particularly the BBC series, The Celts.
24. According to Dottin, in Civilization of the Celts, Diogenes Laertius claimed that the first philosophers were barbarians, from four areas: 1) the druids of the Celts; 2) the Persian magi in Babylon, 3) the Chaldeans in Assyria; and 4) the Gymnosophites in India. Diogenes Laertius is also the source of the quoted "druid maxim." Living in the 3rd century A.D., Diogenes Laertius wrote Life of the Philosophers, an early history of Greek philosophy.
--from Dottin (op. cit.) pgs. 132 and 143; and the Encyclopedia Britannica, article on "Diogenes Laertius"
25. Sources about Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul, and about Vercingetorix are from Encyclopedia Britannica articles "Caesar, Gaius Julius," "Gaul," "Alesia," " Vercingetorix," and "Arverni"; also Dottin (op. cit.) and BBC, The Celts. It might also be mentioned that Julius Caesar characterized Vercingetorix as "a man of inexhaustible energy." The Romans held him captive for six years before strangling him to death in 45 B.C. As for the Celtic Gauls, they slowly became Romanized as they appreciated the benefits of Roman civilization; there was the Vindex uprising of the Celts in 68 A.D., but that was quelled, and Celtic identity disappeared in Gaul over the years.
Military historians point to Caesar's campaign in Gaul as an early example of how a well-organized army of soldiers can defeat a force of warriors with superior numbers who lack good organization. Caesar felt that the Celtic Gauls were very powerful in the initial push of battle, but lacked staying power in long-term fighting action. The Celts were renowned for their fearsome battle cry, and were said to have a distinctive victory yell in battles they won.

26. Material on Galicia, Spain from BBC, The Celts, and articles entitled "Spain" in the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Book Encyclopedia. Claims of Irish Celt origins from Spain found in Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization (New York: Doubleday, 1995), pg. 79. Cahill believes that the Celts of Spain had a different language type than that of Celtic Britain, which explains how Irish Gaelic differs from the Brythonic Celtic languages of Great Britain.

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Good bye guns...

Folks

Whether you are a democrat or a republican this is a scary message and maybe the beginning of a police state. Read it carefully call your representative and your congressman and you and your family vote your conscience on Nov. 2.


Subject: FW: GUN REGISTRATION---LIKELY CONFISCATION




________________________________________

I checked this on the web also and you can check also.

Foks --- if you've ever thought about or fantacized about having a gun in the house as civil institutions continue to shrivel, THIS IS IMPORTANT!

I've thought long and hard on the notion BUT THIS DEFINITELY kills the possibility for me, as well as putting a lot of gun shops and their people on the edge of oblivion.

Our "governmental process" is in the toilet!!! November 2nd may be the last chance to pull the FLUSH lever. Good luck to us all!



GOOD MORNING America!!! Are you STILL NOT AWAKE?
WELL,YOU WILL BE AWAKE BEFORE TOO LONG!!!
JUST KEEP SNOOZING WHILE OBAMA 'CHANGES' THINGS!!!
No Guns ..No Protection..No Freedom
Please Read This One ! ! ! If this doesn't scare you about what's happening in Washington DC nothing will ! ! !

Verified true on Snopes http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/blairholt.asp
Gun owners.... Look what's on the 2010 tax return....

If you have a gun, I hope it isn't registered!

It begins... More Freedom gone.... The right to protect yourself and your family gone! Now ALL GUNSmust be listed on your next (2010) tax return!




Senate Bill SB-2099 will require us to put on our 2009 1040 federal tax form all guns that you have or own. It will require fingerprints and a tax of $50 per gun. This bill was introduced on February 24, 2009, by the Obama staff. BUT, this bill will only become public knowledge 30 days after the new law becomes effective! This is an amendment to the Internal Revenue Act of 1986. This means that the Finance Committee has passed this without the Senate voting on it at all. Trust Obama? You must be kidding!

The full text of the IRS amendment is on the U.S. Senate homepage: www.senate.gov. You can find the bill by doing a search by the bill number, SB-2099. You know who to call; I strongly suggest you do.

Please send a copy of this e-mail to every gun owner you know.
Text of H.R.45 as Introduced in House: Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009: www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text
Obama's Congress is now starting on the firearms confiscation bill. If it passes, gun owners will become criminals if you don't fully comply.

It has begun... Whatever Obama's "Secret Master Plan" is... This is just the 'tip of the iceberg!'

Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House. This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009.
Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because the government is trying to fly it under the radar as a 'minor' IRS revision, and, as usual, the 'political' lawmakers did not read this bill before signing and approving it!

To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.

Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless: 1) It is registered 2) You are fingerprinted 3) You supply a current Driver's License 4) You supply your Social Security number 5) You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing. Each update change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25. Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.
There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18. They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 years in prison.

If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this.. It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along. Any hunters in your family pass this along. This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it.

This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not..

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Please..... Copy and send this out to EVERYONE in the USA , whether you support the Right to Bear Arms or are for gun control.. We all should have the RIGHT TO CHOOSE!