Some things you should know

[Aonghus]

By Aonghus

So, you want to learn more about the Celts and Druids huh?? Well... before you embark on this fantastic and highly rewarding journey, there are some things you should know...

The field of Celtic study is plagued with misconceptions. I like to call these misconceptions "Celtic Quackery". These erroneous beliefs come from a wide variety of sources. Some of these misconceptions are due to commonly held "myths", some are due to movies and Hollywood fantasy, but the most sinister and insidious propagators of misconception is by BOOKS.

One of the hardest concepts to "get over" in research is: Just because something is written in print, doesn’t necessarily make it true.
We as a culture are very used to reading and taking the printed word verbatim. Most of us do it everyday when we read the newspaper. And, as we like to say, the news is printed in "black and white". We often make the mistake of assuming that most of what we read is fact.

Now I could go on how even newspapers and governments distort the truth... but that’s a bit beyond the scope of what I’m talking about so, just to tell you about books on Celtic history, I'll keep it somewhat short. Books, as you know, are written by authors. Authors are people. People can be unscrupulous, greedy, on some personal quest, and, sometimes, just flat out wrong. Therefore, a book does not necessarily tell the facts.

The "bad book" authors come in a few flavors, Mercenaries, New Age Cranks, and some are just Novelists!

I know alot of you are saying "How could something get printed if it isn’t true?? Doesn't somebody check these things out???" Well, books are published by publishing companies. Publishing companies want to make money. If they think a book will sell, you bet they are gonna publish it. Also bear in mind that in this day and age there are companies known as "Vanity Presses". These companies will print just about anything you want as long as you pay them.

Most of bad books on Celtic and Druidic quackery will be found in the "religion" or even "philosophy" section of your bookstore. You'll find a lot of them mixed in with books on "wicca". Many of these people claim and some actually "believe" themselves to be the inheritors of forgotten druidic lore, who either read a book by a "real" druid or may have even been taught by a "real" druid. These "real" druids can be somewhat convincing...they will wear robes, practice rituals, and might even hang out at Stone Henge. The average schmo might think its a lark, but the unwary can take these props and behavior as proof of authenticity.

These types of "clubs" (or "covens" or "druidic circles" or whatever these people chose to call themselves) actually can date back quite a few years. But they certainly do not date back to the 5th-6th century, when history saw the last of the druids. Modern occult practices, as most people know them, were largely conceived by groups and individuals during somewhat of a cultural rebellion of the 1800s. These people were often highly literate, educated, aristocratic, and very creative to say the least. Alister Crowley is one such individual. The poet, W.B. Yeats, was a member a group known as "The Order of the Golden Dawn" that was involved in all sorts of chicanery. And its a person as respected as Yeats that can cause a lot of confusion. Yeats may have been a great poet (and, personally, is on of my favorites ), but he was no Archaeologist nor Anthropologist, and respect due to him for his poetic works should not necessarily spill over to his opinions on ancient druidic practices.

I say these people were educated, which may seem somewhat of a paradox in this situation, but bear in mind that Archeology and Anthropology did not develop as a science till after World War II. Though there were a few pioneers in the science before then, a person read in the classics and interested in these areas was more properly called an "Antiquarian" ( The difference between an antiquarian and Cultural Anthropologist of today might be seen as similar to the difference between a Roman leech and a modern day brain surgeon.

As far as the modern off shoots of these practices, well, to borrow another medical analogy, if religion were medicine and these new age authors doctors, you would be suing for malpractice by now.

(Oh and let me tell you, if I had the money to be a bored aristocrat, I'd be pretty damn eccentric too :~)

Another thing to look out for is the category "Historical Fiction". It may be a good read folks, but authors are free to take as much license as they want to tell a good story. Morgan Lywelyn is a great author in Celtic historical fiction, but her books should only be read as inspiration and to give you the "flavor" of a Celtic setting. On that note, even the new age books can be somewhat inspiring...

Likewise with movies. Seeing might be believing, but history doesn’t always make a good movie and film makers can and will take whatever license necessary to be entertaining. Heck, Braveheart was an awesome flick (and one of my favorites) but i can point out a haggis load of historical error.

So, how do you know a good book when you see one??

Well... you cant judge a book by its cover, but you CAN judge by its inside back cover... that’s usually where they have the "About the Author" notes. If its not there, it may be in the first or last couple of pages. See if the author is a Ph.D. or has other relevant academic credentials. Basically, you want to confirm that the author is a scholar and not some wacky snake oil salesmen.

Oh and guess what... just because a person has a Ph.D. doesn’t mean they are right either. It does mean that they do know a lot on their chosen subject and that they have formed and documented an original theory and have extensively supported their idea with logical arguments and collected data.

So you know what that means???

Dont rely on a single source of information. The field of archeology is subject to almost as much varied interpretation and debate as economics.... If you want proof, ask a bunch of archaeologists with Ph.D.s what happened to the Neanderthals and you will soon see what I mean.

Unfortunately, there is more we dont know about the practices of the druids than what we do know. The best we can do is take what we have and attempt to fill in the holes using facts from other related cultures (other Indo-Europeans) using our best judgment. Any work that does not endeavor to adhere to this ethic should be regarded with suspicion.

Fortunately, there is a wealth of knowledge on Celtic material culture, and while the actual "dance steps" to the religious rituals have faded into time, we do know the names of the gods, and bunch of the legends. The sciences of Archeology and Anthropology improve every year, and with that more and more books will be available.

Hey... guess what, I wrote this whole thing without documenting any of my facts!!! Shame on me!!! Every assertion of fact in this document should have been followed by a footnote referencing the source where I got it from to give you the opportunity to verify those facts and to make sure I didn’t take anything out of context. Well... this is just to illustrate my point on how easy it is to take things as they are without a second thought... and if you believe that one I got some books I want to sell ya :)