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Ancient Links Between Ancient Peoples
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Common
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The Celtic Peoples were spread across Europe about 4 millennia ago and moved into the British Isles and Ireland at the beginning of the last millenneum. The basic day to day spiritual needs of the tribe were generally met by the local shamans, usually women, while the spiritual and ethical welfare of the greater community of the Celtic Kingdoms was entrusted to the mysterious Druids.
The more one examines this ancient cultural and spiritual thread running through the history of Europe and the Western Isles, the more similarities one finds with the Vedic thread of culture and spirituality that runs through the even more ancient history of Bharat (India). The Celtic mark is stamped upon all the cultures of medieval and modern Europe. The Celtic traditions have most clearly survived in Irish faith and culture.This Celtic mark in nearly every instance finds a reflection in the ancient Vedic culture and it's influence upon modern Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Just as our ancient Celtic forebears began each day by entering naked into the cold, sacred rivers for morning ablutions, chanting mantras in their Indo-European Celtic tongues, wearing topknots in their long hair "so emblematic of the brahmins," as recorded by Tacitus, the ancient historian. From surviving Celtic sculpture, we know special yogic sitting postures were utilized for spiritual purpose. The rubrics and rituals of our Celtic ancestors can be found in any number of the Vedic traditions of modern Bharat.. One of the most telling evidences of historical connection is in music. If you are at all familiar with traditional Celtic music, especially the slow, yet rythmical mournful ballads will immediately recognize and even anticipate the melodic progression in Indian music from any of the traditions. As a musician myself, I can tell you that a note for note comparison between a Celtic tune and a Hindu tune would show amazing similarities.Druids, in their capacity as the 'spiritual elite' of Celtic society and in their severe and comprehensive training are unique, their only counterparts are the rishi seers and brahmins of Bharat in Vedic times.
The Druids did not dwell in the villages or towns with the general population. They kept to themselves, alone or in austere caves or timber cloisters, just as the holy men of Bharat, be they Brahmins, swamis or sannyasins. On the ancient and magickal island of Avalon (modern Glatonbury?) was a community of priestesses. Depending on what one felt called to, a Druid served the greater community in any number of capacities; seer, nemeton priest, judge, king's counselor, lawyer, bard, healer, or astronomer.
Some Comparisons:
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A mystical-religious
order, these Brahmins of the West trained for 20 years and more in
philosphy, oration, metaphysics, ritual, magic, meditation, science,
medicine and law. There were several levels of initiation and
specialization within the Druidic order such as the Bards, through whom
we have what little of the ancient wisdom is exant in ancient tales and
songs. Druids were seldom tied to any kingdom or community. The Druids
were free to come and go as they chose, for their own mysterious
reasons. They generally held regional councils seasonally or in time of
need.
The decimation of the
Druidic order by the Romans and the subsequent absorption of Celtic
culture into Christianity by the Church has left us with precious little
knowledge of the Druids, and little more about Celtic daily life. One
Greek historian's eyewitness description of an old, bearded druid has
him draped in a white, cowled cloak, wielding a sacred gold sickle to
harvest a branch of the sacred mistletoe from a holy oak tree. The
woolen cowled cloaks were an insignia of druidship-though not always
white-as were triple-ended staffs and other talismans embossed with
chariot wheel, swastika or triple-swirl symbols. The white robes may
have been reserved for the most sagely, psychic druids, called ovates.
Their hair swept long, often braided or curled in a topknot. This
physical description is uncannily like a typical description of a
Brahmin, from nearly any age of India's history. We know that they were
exempt from taxes and from warfare, but were required to teach warriors
breathing and chanting techniques to induce a battle-trance, or
blood-lust, and high body heat, a sign of psychic energy.
