The Druids
Celtic Priests of Nature
Foreword
Part One: The Druids
1 The Druids' Name
2 The Druidic Hierarchy
3 The Druids and Society
Part Two: The Beginning Times
4 Where Did Druidism Come From?
5 Gods and Men
6 The God Above the Gods
7 The Physician and the Sun
8 The Warrior Deity
9 The Father of All
10 The Three-Faced Goddess
11 In the Depths of the Sanctuary
Part Three: Initiations and Rituals
12 The Druidic Sanctuary
13 Mistletoe and Plant Ritual
14 The Four Elements
15 The Sacrifices
16 Festivals and Holidays
17 The Power of the Word
18 Totemism and Shamanism
19 Neodruidism
Part Four: Druidic Thought
20 A False Polytheism
21 Druidic Monism
22 Mind and Matter
23 The Otherworld
24 The Quest
Conclusion
Notes
Index

Druidism was one of the greatest and most exalting adventures of the human spirit, attempting to reconcile the unreconcilable, the individual and the collective, creator and created, good and evil, day and night, past and future, and life and death. Because of the oral nature of Celtic civilization our understanding of its spiritual truths and rituals is necessarily incomplete. Yet evidence exists that can provide the modern reader with a better understanding of the doctrine that took druidic apprentices 20 years to learn in the remote forests of the British Isles and Gaul.

Using the descriptions of the druids and their beliefs provided by the historians and chroniclers of classic antiquity -- as well as those recorded by the insular Celts themselves when compelled, under Christianity's influence, to utilize writing to preserve their ancestral traditions -- Jean Markale painstakingly pieces together all that is known for certain about them. The druids were more than simply the priests of the Celtic people; their influence extended to all aspects of Celtic life. The Druids covers everything concerning the Celtic religious domain, intellectual speculations, cultural or magical practices, various beliefs, and the so-called profane sciences that have come down from the Celtic priesthood.

Poet, philosopher, historian, and storyteller, Jean Markale has spent a lifetime researching Celtic civilizations. He is the author of more than 40 books on pre-Christian societies, including The Celts, Merlin, Women of the Celts, and King of the Celts. He lives in the Brittany region of France.

Jean Markale (1928-2008), was a poet, philosopher, historian, and storyteller, who spent a lifetime researching pre-Christian and medieval culture and spirituality. He was a former specialist in Celtic studies at the Sorbonne and author of more than 40 books, including The Celts, Merlin, Women of the Celts, and King of the Celts.