( I ) Finding The Druids

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( I ) Finding The Druids
How Do We Know About The Druids ?
The Druids In Celtic Society
The Geography Of The Celtic World

'Woods and groves are the sacred depositories; and the spot being consecrated to those pious uses, they give to that sacred recess the name of the divinity that fills the place, which is never profaned by the steps of man. The gloom fills every mind with awe; revered at a distance and never seen but with the eye of contemplation.'
- Tacitus

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'The term Druid means different things to different people. For some, it conjures up images of venerable white-robed and bearded gentlemen gathering at Stonehenge or at the Welsh National Eisteddfod. Others, with more awareness of the past, think of Druids as cruel religious fanatics, striking down hapless victims of human sacrifice by stabbing or burning. For others, again, Druids are somehow mixed up with secret forest groves, mistletoe, magic and spells. So what is the reality? Who were these mysterious people? When and where did they manifest themselves? And how do we know anything about them?

The available contemporary evidence presents a complex picture: Druids were involved in politics, sacrificial ritual, prophecy and the control of the supernatural world. They were teachers, keepers of oral tradition, royal advisors and, in some instances they were themselves rulers. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, they were feared and venerated because they had the ear of the divine world'

- Miranda J. Green - The World Of the Druids - P. 7

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