This page is devoted to defining the beliefs, practices and codes of the Druids. It includes items of tradition from the past and the experiences of the present, including sources for each item. It is our hope that this Code will serve as a strong foundation upon which to build our mutual education, development and future.
Each one of these codes will become an essay and a course of study in the curriculum of our Druidic study and our schools in The Summerlands.
A Druid is Open to the Sources of Power.
“All these things that you have said that you will do, I will also do.”
The words of An Dagda as given by Gilla Riabhach O’ Cléirigh, Cath Maige Tuired
A Druid is a Student and a Master of Wisdom.
“A warrior has come named Samildánach; and all the arts which help your people, he practices them all, so that he is the man of each and every art.”
A description of Lugh as given by Gilla Riabhach O’ Cléirigh, Cath Maige Tuired
A Druid Practices the Nine Parts of Magic.
“(I am) very small, very great, very bright, very hard, angriness of fire, fire of speech, noise of knowledge, well of wisdom, sword of song …”
Nede mac Adne’s response to “what is thy name?” as stated in Immacallam in do Thuarad and translated by Caitlin Matthews
A Druid is Reborn Through the Act of Sacrifice.
“I am the son of the man without a father, who was buried in his mother’s womb, who was blessed after his death. Indeed death betrothed him, and he was the first utterance of every living one, the cry of every dead one: lofty Ailm is his name.”
Ferchertne’s response to “whose son are you?” as stated in Immacallam in do Thuarad and translated by Caitlin Matthews
A Druid Maintains Order and Balance.
“The Gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and right behavior maintained.”
Diogenes Laertius, Vitae,Introduction I, 5.
A Druid is Honored by the People.
“Among all the Gallic peoples, generally speaking, there are three sets of men who are held in exceptional honor: the Bards, the Vates, and the Druids. The Bards are singers and poets; the Vates, diviners and natural philosophers; while the Druids, in addition to natural philosophy, study also moral philosophy.”
Strabo, Geographica.
A Druid Lives Many Lives.
“The soul is immortal.”
Strabo, Geographica, IV, 4, 197-8.
A Druid Looks Beyond Life.
“The same spirit has a body again elsewhere.”
Lucan, Pharsalia, I, 450-8.
A Druid Knows the Ecstasy of Imbas.
“The Gods touch a person through divine and human joys so that they are able to speak prophetic poems and dispense wisdom and perform miracles… “
The Ways of Imbas according to Amergin White-knee, The Cauldron of Poesy Materials.
A Druid Becomes One with the Gods.
“God of druids, my god above every god, he is god of the ancient druids.”
An invocation to the power of Draíocht by the Great Munster Druid, Mogh Roith, Forbhais Droma Dámhgháire.
A Druid Seeks the Truth
Against the World.
“Well then, get into a chariot, boy, and proceed to find out for yourself whether my words are truth.”
Instructions to CúChulainn on taking up arms as given by the Great Ulster Druid, Cathbad, The Boyhood Deeds of CúChulainn.
Many more codes and references to come as each day increases our wisdom…
A Few Words About Directions
To change the world, alternatives to the ways of the world must be presented and lived. Otherwise we risk becoming the products of an already soulless instant consumerism. Education and awareness are two of our greatest allies and tools in rescuing humanity from the snare of its ingenuity and the pits of its own greed and insecurity.
In The Summerlands, we are moving toward having schools for Druids where questions can be asked and answers can be discussed. In order to allow these schools to be as close to Draíocht as possible, they are being structured around what the Druids actually taught as codes of living and learning. I have assembled these ideas and quotations on this web page so that we can make a beginning together. Each idea or statement here represents an area of training (or several areas of training) that are important to becoming and being a Druid IMO. Any suggestions and quotations will be much appreciated. Each of these ideas as implemented on this page will become a link to an essay on its particulars. Beyond the thoughts of the essay will be created a course of study that deals in daily activities to bring life to the truth as taught by Druids.
In the past, a Druid’s education might have taken anywhere from 12 to 20 years. It began with a study of the tales and traditions. It included a study of poetry, Nature and law. It continued into areas of communication and music. It included the science and arts of herbalism, medicine, astronomy/astrology, nature sciences, mathematics and composition. All of these concepts were tied more closely to the souls of Celts and those of a Celtic heart, by learning the language of the Celtic ancestors. Beyond the beauty of the Celtic languages there was also taught a Secret Language of the spirit.
*ALL* of this was harmonized in a work of beauty entitled, the “Great Song.” Using this foundation of knowledge as a base, the Druids investigated the ways of spirit as contained within the world, the self and the deities. In learning the entire wisdom of the world, they also learned the secrets of putting away worldly things, even to the extent of living beyond worlds. It was through their embracing of all that life has to offer that they also conquered death and discovered truth. Bringing this inner light back to the people in the form of Triads, teachings and innovations, was the beginning of a true Druid.
Education among Druids no longer takes 12 to 20 years. It now takes 12 to 20 lifetimes, as we have increased the number of worlds in which we must study. The need for study and dedication on the part of Druids within modern society have increased as the expansion of the world’s grasp has created a vacuum within the hand and heart of its spirit. This task is the work of many souls and many lifetimes. We ask that you join your spirit to our own as we endeavor to light the signal fires upon the mountains so that the pathways to wisdom might be more easily uncovered.