THE DRUIDS by Jean Markale
Celtic Priests of Nature
$16.95
Druidism was one of the most exalting adventures of the human spirit, but because of the oral nature of Celtic civilization our understanding of the druids -- and of the spiritual truths and rituals of druidism -- remains shrouded in mystery and misperception. Yet evidence does exist that gives us a more detailed and factually accurate picture of these enigmatic figures and of the doctrine that took druidic apprentices, sequestered in the remote forests of the British Isles and Gaul, twenty years to learn.
Using the descriptions of the druids and their beliefs provided by the historians and chroniclers of classic antiquity -- as well as those recorded by the insular Celts themselves when compelled, under Christianity's influence, to utilize writing to preserve their ancestral traditions -- Jean Markale painstakingly pieces together all the information known for certain about these esoteric religious leaders. But the druids were more than simply the priests of the Celtic people; their influence extended to all aspects of Celtic life and provided the very core of Celtic culture.
The Druids delivers the most comprehensive portrait yet of the Celtic religion, its intellectual speculations, cultural, scientific and magical practices that have come down from the Celtic priesthood.
Poet, philosopher, historian and storyteller, Jean Markale has spent a lifetime researching Celtic civilizations. He is the author of more than forty books on pre-Christian societies, including The Celts, Merlin, Women of the Celts, and King of the Celts. He lives in the Brittany region of France.