Ancient Civilisations: Celts

I'm doing some research at the moment for a paper that's due in in around a month's time. I thought that writing some of my findings up here might make me do a little bit more work on the actual project, or at the very least, help me come up with some more interesting ideas.

In the 3rd century AD, the Gauls were taken over by the Romans and given the name Cisalpine Gaul, meaning 'Gaul this side of the alps'. Before that time, the Celtic Gauls were a race of people whose laws and stories and religious rituals were passed on by oral tradition. Priests and lawgivers were the druids and if a boy wished to become a druid, he had to train for 20 years to grow up to that level. Most of that time would be spent learning things by heart. Druids were the most highly respected and important part of the Gallic society. Their secrets were well guarded to utmost secrecy. They were the ones in charge of defining aristocracy; they also had the right to determine war and peace.

The Celtic Gauls worshipped in sacred groves and sanctuaries that were built of stone. Their worship was to the earth, and to the living spirits who lived in and of the earth. They practiced the belief that all objects are inhabited with a soul. In accordance to their religion, lakes, streams, mountains, etc, were imbued with human characteristics and almost divine status. The worship of animals was not uncommon; indeed, it is only a recent development in culture that says we must not be able to respect or worship the animals which are killed for us to eat.

Many of the gods the Celtic Gauls gave worship to were related in some way to the gods worshipped in Greece at the time. The primary god that was worshipped at the arrival of the Romans was Teutates; the Gallic equivalent to the Greek god Hermes.

Of course, as with most ancient -and some less than ancient- cultures and religions, their belief in trees and rivers being imbued with soul and divine spirit was stamped out near the beginning of the Roman takeover.


Nikki Watson.

William Butler Yeats and fairy lore

I mentioned, in my last post, a little bit about William Butler Yeats. In addition to my interests of fairy folklore, I happen to be quite interested in the history of occult practice. Very obviously, our move towards an anthropocentric culture, away from an animistic world view, has had far reaching consequences where we're no longer open to seeing a tree as a spiritual being or home of the fairies. We don't need fanciful stories that will make the questions of the world more easily understandable to us.

We don't need them, perhaps. But many of us want to.


It is said W. B. Yeats very deeply believed in the reality of fairies, in fact, it was quoted that he "was fully aware of the 'everyday aspect' of fairy lore and had great respect for it." Ireland, and its people, are still today one of the regions who most believe in the existence of supernatural creatures. It's a large part of why I so love the chance to set novels in Ireland. There's a piece of that suspension of disbelief that seems to come from the country itself to aid in the acceptance of fantasy aspects of a book set in Ireland, or medieval Europe. The number of fantasy novels written in a nondescript medieval fantasy location would tend to give proof to this argument.

To give a taste of W. B. Yeats' writing inspired by what he believed of the fairy folk, this is his poem, The Hosting of the Sidhe

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare;
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away:
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are agleam,
Our arms are waving, our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the dead of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,
And where is there hope or ded as fair?
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away.