Ancient Celt heritage were enchanting, mysterious and legendary people full of myths, magic, and healing. Julius Caesar called them “brave, but headstrong and impetuous”. They were defined by their language, culture, and unshakable faith. It is difficult to ascertain exactly what the origins of the Celts are but many believe that these tribes of people date back to the beginning of time.

These ‘mysterious’ people migrated to what we now know as England, Ireland, and Scotland. The language of the ancient Celts still exists in some ways through the old Briton spoke as Welsh and Breton spoke as Scots Gaelic and Irish. The society of the Celts was a mixture of religious, animism, and philosophical idealism with each tribe holding its own district. Each district having certain rites known only to them. They were agricultural, priests and warriors combined strangely in comparison to other social structures.

In Britain many of the shrines and feasts still celebrated today are perpetuated from megalithic times of the Celt society with the four “Fire Festivals” being the most important. They were polytheistic belief people and their pantheon had hundreds of deities. They believed that their souls transmigrated to other humans, winged creatures, or animals upon death. When Christianity arrived, some of the beliefs were transformed. A historic example is St. Brighid, even today she and her followers keep the sacred fire at Killdare burning.

There were various tribes with individual local beliefs and customs. One of those were the Druids which means “someone immersed in knowledge”. The Greeks are actually the first to record the world Druid back into the second century BCE. Each tribe of Druids had their own sacred symbols that was their totem (although some scholars argue that the oak tree was the only symbol of tree). The Druid priests preserved the religion, law, science, and government judgments of the people. The Bards of Druids were the keepers of oral tradition; while the Ovates or Seers were the philosophers and keepers of prophecy and divination. Druidism was taught only to a few who would spend years in study as nothing was written down and thus each student must commit the traditions, beliefs, laws, and philosophies to memory.

The first time that any of the Celtic mythical stories were written down were in the 600’s CE and not by Druids but by Christian Monks. Much of the ancient myths are still preserved today by those who have gifted the knowledge of the stories by teachers today. Naturally the most famous of all these myths have been told and retold over and over, the legend of King Arthur and the Druid priest Merlin. There are many versions of this myth from the Arthurian Tales of Welsh to the historians who are trying to conclude that Camelot was in England and the story of the King Clinoch. This controversy may never come to conclusion. Merlin has been portrayed as a priest, wizard, prophet, bard, and keeper of arcane secrets which combines all three known tiers in the Druid beliefs known.

There are some that also believe that the ancient Druids were also Shamans as well as clergy, who wore costumes of long white robes, headdresses and carried a Rowan wood scepter which was a sign of their power and rank. A dependence on sound and healthy awareness of nature, the spirits, the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, and of the Gods is what the Druid belief system is actually based upon. There were many rituals and rites that were performed by the Druids that were highly sacred ceremonies.

The Celtic Druids were learned in medicine as well, which may very well be the confusion with the Sharmanic culture. They were learned in herbs, plants, healing stones, and healing magic. They actually used a crude stethoscope made of a horn. Astronomy and astrology were also vital parts of their medical practice. They venerated the Sun and the Moon and had a deep belief in the signs of nature to foretell of the prognosis. There were many stories of the deities invoked in medicine such as Airmid (Irish), Laeg (Irish), Meg (Scottish, and Ariadne (Breton) Armid was the daughter of the God of Medicine, Diancecht. Every celestial event was an omen brought about by invoking of one of the deities.

The interest and wonder of the ancient Celts has survived for centuries. Druidism was revived in London and even Sir Winston Churchill was an initiated Druid. Gratefully the heritage and culture of the Celts has been preserved forever in the legends, arts, music, and literature. Even the simplest of things such as the Celtic knot leaves us with some of the mystery of the interconnection between the Three Worlds and the human soul are beautiful, intricate and intriguing to urge any on to want to know more of the myth and magic of the Celtic heritage.