Celtic Mysticism, Theory and Practice
Mysteries of Druidry
by Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D.
What do Paleopagan Irish Druids
really believe in? If I am to understand Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D.
-- the author of The Mysteries of Druids -- right, it seems to be
the wonders of the natural world. As well as the supernatural world!
"The core of Celtic Druidry is the
relationship between people and the sacred landscapes which surround
them," proclaims this book -- but first things first. What is a Druid?
Apparently, the mysterious priesthood of the ancient Celtic people,
explains the text. "The nearest modern equivalent, then, would be
professors in universities or colleges, medical doctors, lawyers and
judges, school teachers and so on…If you imagine what it would be like if
your doctor, lawyer or teacher was also a priest, and the hospital, law
court, and college was also a temple, then you have an idea of what
Druidry was like for ancient Celtic people," Myers writes.
Chapter one, titled "Questions and
Answers," aptly defines who were the Celts; the history of the Celtic
people; and even the status of women in the Celtic world (quite
elevated). The author then goes on to discuss mysterious realms in the
Celtic world such as Tir Na n-Og, the Otherworld, known also as the "Land
of Youth." As the Winter Solstice recently passed in my corner of the
world, I was fascinated to see photos of and read about Newgrange (Brugh
Na Boinne), a Neolithic passage mound. More than 5,000 year old, it is
truly an engineering and spiritual marvel. The long passage is lined up
so that sunlight enters the center chamber on only one day out of the
year, and that is on the morning of the Winter Solstice, symbolically
bringing together the realms of Heaven, Earth and Underworld.
Myers also instructs on a
Celtic-based meditation called "Peaceful Abiding," which he describes as a
"simple form of meditation, for it requires no particular training in
theology, metaphysics, psychology or philosophy." The exercise's goal is
simply for peacefully inhibiting this world, essential for the
nature-loving Druid. Many symbols of Druidry are discussed, such as the
apple branch or Brighid's Cross (often displayed on the Celtic
cross-quarter day Imbolc, a fire festival which celebrates the
arrival of springtime).
Speaking of fire, and Brighid (a
fire deity, according to this book), the Celts often celebrated important
days with bonfires, and fire was also used as a scrying device or
divination tool. Related to fire, trees were so magical to the Druids
that they had their own alphabet, the Ogham. The 20 trees of the Ogham
were also used for divination.
All in all, this is a fascinating
book; scholarly but written in a down-to-earth manner. The photographs
and drawings illustrate the subject manner nicely. If one cannot travel
to Ireland to see these natural and manmade wonders in person, it
certainly is the next best thing.
Mysteries of Druidry
by Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D.
New Page Books, 2006
237 pp., $15.99
Review by Diane Saarinen
