A lot of things might come to mind when you hear the word druid — Stonehenge, robes, long white beards, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These mysterious figures stand as a kind of proto-example of ancient magic, but who were they really? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are very few written accounts about the druids, and none from the druids themselves. Unfortunately, Celtic culture relied very heavily on oral accounts and preserved their history through bardic traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the Romans swept through Europe, many of these stories were either lost, or altered to fit the conquering culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, many of them began to include Christian elements. Despite this, through the efforts of modern-day Pagans and Celtic reconstructionists, Druidry has reappeared in a modern form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Druidry, sometimes called Druidism, describes the practices, beliefs, and roles of the druids. They constituted a high-ranking intellectual and spiritual elite class in ancient Celtic culture, serving as royal advisors, legal authorities, and even doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are first referred to in accounts dating back to the fourth century BCE. The word “druid” is, itself, fairly complicated — nobody really knows what it arose from, but we can take a few educated guesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The modern word “druid” comes directly from the Latin word “druides,” which came from what the Celts and Gauls called the druids. There are words in Old Irish and Cornish that refer to the druids but these don’t give much of a hint as to where the words came from. The closest may be Middle Welsh’s “dryw,” which means “seer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One possible origin for the word “druid” is from the Proto-Indo-European words “deru,” meaning “tree, oak,” and “weid,” meaning “to see.” Together, this would give “druid” the meaning “oak-seer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n