|

Druidry Druid Druidic Treelore
Glossary Terminology

Divine Forests and Sacred Groves
The Divine Forest, typified
by the Sacred Grove or Nemeton was hallowed ground for the Druids and Celts who worshipped their Goddesses and Gods in natural spaces. Sacred Groves
were the settings for ceremonies, meetings, and sanctuaries.
For instance the
Galatian Celts met at the Oak Sanctuary once a year to discuss crucial tribal
concerns. Woods were so sacred to the Celts and played such a significant role
in their overall cultural existence that at one time the Celtic heartlands in
Northern Europe and Southern Germany were almost entirely covered with trees.

Druid Storytellers
The storyteller, the Seannachaidh, was a popular fixture around the fire especially during the wintertime. Since
daylight hours were scarce that time of year and families spent a lot of time
around the light and the warmth of the hearth, which became a gathering place
where the Seannachaidh burning with the fires of inspiration would tell
the stories of the people. The most honored and revered of the storytellers were
those who told the longest and most intricate tales.

Druidic Shamanism
Druids often acted as
Shamans and Shamanism was practiced by the ancient Celts. Some of the most
superbly crafted and enchantingly enduring of the Druidic Celtic tales, like
those about Taliesin and Fionn mac Cumhail, were richly textured with symbolism about alternate realities.
The Storytelling was full of animal totems,
divination, drumming, ecstatic dance, journeying, healing, oracles, shamanic
trance, shapeshifting, soul loss retrieval, spirit guides, transformation, and
vision quests. Working within the context of the Celtic Cosmology, the Druids
used their power to access the Otherworld and their knowledge of what they had
personally seen to help and benefit others.
Top of Page

Druidry Art
In Druidry, all kinds of objects including household items, jewelry, religious statues, and weapons were
decorated with harmoniously balanced and exceedingly complex geometric patterns. Most of the
Celtic artwork depicted the Druidic reverence and respect for Nature in the
elaborate entwining plant (flowers, leaves, trees, vines) and animal (birds,
deer, dolphins, griffins) motifs.
The Druidry of the Celts also
portrayed the mystical mysteries of the Natural World and Otherworld with dynamically intricate
designs (chevrons, knotwork. labyrinthine patterns, spirals). The vibrant
diversity of Celtic Druidry influenced artwork permeated all areas of daily life from the stylized animal heads on
the open ends of a neck torc to the swirling vegetative carvings on a the handle
of a bucket...
Continue on Go back
Explore Druidry Treelore Articles
Druids as Celtic Shamans,
Glossary Terminology,
Hallowed Symbols and Holy Ground,
Megaliths and Sacred Mounds,
Ogham Storytelling and Oral Traditions,
Reverence for Natural World Animals and Birds,
Spiritual Beliefs of Druids,
Sacred Wheel of Seasons,
Sun Talismans and Holy Wells,
Threefold Path of Bards Ovates Druids,
Treelore and Sacred Groves
Visit other Beliefs Faiths Religions Traditions
Aboriginal Dreamtime,
Alchemy Alchemist,
Cosmos Astronomy,
Buddhism Buddhist,
Christianity Biblical,
Daoist Confucian,
Druidry Treelore,
Heathenry Ásatrú,
Hinduism Vedas,
Islam Sunnah,
Judaism Talmud,
Native American,
Paganism Wiccan,
Shamanism Shaman,
Shintoism Kami
Druidry Druid Druidic Treelore Copyright
© 2002-2008 Maureen Grace Burns, Blessings Cornucopia. All Rights Reserved.
Top of Page
|