Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Part 04 : THE CULDEES OF DRUIDICAL DAYS. So many questions have been raised concerning the mysterious community, called "Culdees", and such various opinions have been expressed concerning them, that one may be excused inquiring whether in their midst we can trace reminiscences of old Irish faiths. The noti...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Idol : IDOL-WORSHIP. SOME Irish writers, from a spirit of patriotism, have expressed the opinion that, though English, French, Germans, and any visitor to Hotel Cluny, in Paris, can soon satisfy himself as to the truth, by a glance at the images stored in that noble museum of French history. Vallencey...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Holy Bells : HOLY BELLS HE who has visited Burmah or Russia will have no doubt about the reverence for bells, and special reverence being paid to special bells. There are fixed bells, and portable bells, the last being held in the highest estimation. Their special virtue lay in dominion over the powers...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Serpent : SERPENT FAITH. No country in Europe is so associated with the Serpent as Ireland, and none has so many myths and legends connected with the same. As that creature has furnished so, many religious stories in the East, and as the ancient faiths of Asia and Egypt abound in references to it, we may...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Round : ROUND TOWER CREED. WITHOUT entering upon a description of these ancient and graceful architectural objects, it may properly be p. 264 asked, "Do they throw any light upon the question of religion in Ireland?" The first inquiry will be as to their age. If, as some authorities declare, they date...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Well : WELL-WORSHIP THAT so wet a country as Ireland should have so great a reverence for wells, is an evidence how early the primitive p. 239 and composite races there came under the moral influence of oriental visitors and rulers, who had known in their native lands the want of rain, the value of wells...
Part I. Irish Druids. Druidical Mysticism : DRUIDICAL MYSTICISM. However orthodox the Irish of the present day may be esteemed, there must have been a fair amount of mysticism in the past amongst so imaginative a race. Perhaps this quality brought them into some disrepute with the Church, down to the time when the Pope gave their country...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Animal : ANIMAL WORSHIP THAT religion was early associated with animals admits of no question The Apis worship of Egypt prevailed several thousand years before Christ. Animals have served as "Totem"s to the tribes of America and other parts, but have been certainly regarded as religious symbols in most...
Title Page : IRISH DRUIDS AND OLD IRISH RELIGIONS By James Bonwick London: Griffith, Farran [1894] Original Redaction By Phillip J. Brown, Www.belinus.co.uk Reformatted, Pagination, And Proofreading , November 2002. J.B. Hare, Redactor
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Part 02 : THE LIA FAIL, OR THE STONE OF DESTINY. ELSEWHERE, mention has been made of the Irish "Lia Fail", Stone of Fate, Fatal Stone, or Stone of Destiny, generally believed to have been the Irish Kings' Inauguration Stone, afterwards used for Pictish and Scottish kings at Scone, ultimately becoming...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Ancient : ANCIENT IRISH LITERATURE. THERE are such contradictory views upon the originality, authenticity, and reliableness of Irish literature among Irish scholars and experts, that it is necessary to give various p. 304 ideas of this question, as has been given upon other subjects treated of in this book...
Part I. Irish Druids. Neo Druidism : NEO-DRUIDISM. Edward Davies, author of "Mythology and Rites of British Druids", was one of those who, with Job Morganwg, regarded the Arkite theory as having its foundation in Genesis. But, p. 63 as Professor Rhys says, "when one turns to Davies's authorities for his unhesitating statements...
Preface : p. iii PREFACE IRELAND, whether viewed from an antiquarian or an ethnological point of view, is one of the most interesting countries in the world. It is not the less an object of attention from the fact, that in its early history there are traces of nearly every kind of pagan belief. It is...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Ossi : OSSIAN THE BARD. A WILD storm of controversy once raged, when Macpherson put forth a work purporting to be a collection of old Gaelic songs, under the name of the "Poems of Ossian," who was the last of the Fenian Chiefs, and who, reported, on his return to Ireland after his enchantment, failed...
Part I. Irish Druids. French Druidism : FRENCH DRUIDISM. The "Deroo" of Brittany were more ancient, said Henri Martin, than those Druids known to Romans; being "primitive Druids, a sacerdotal caste of old Celts." Yet Forlong, who believed the Gallic coast tribes long traded and intermarried with the Phnicians, saw "abundant evidences...
Part I. Irish Druids. Opinions On Irish Druids : OPINIONS ON IRISH DRUIDS. Leflocq wrote his "tudes de Mythologie Celtique" in 1869, observing, "Some represented the Druids as the successors of the Hebrew patriarchs, the masters of Greek philosophy, the forerunners of Christian teaching. They have credited them with the honours of a religious...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Irish. Part 02 : IRISH MAGIC, AND TUATHA DE DANAANS BY far the most interesting of the peoples that formerly inhabited Ireland were the "Tuaths", or "Tuatha de Danaans", or "Dananns". There is much mystery about them in Irish traditions. They were men, gods, or fairies. They came, of course, from the East, calling...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Stone : p. 211 STONE-WORSHIP. IN many lands shapeless stones have been adored. Among several ancient nations the idea of Divinity was symbolized by a rough stone. That arolites should be revered is not surprising, since they, as the idol stone of Ephesus, came down from heaven. A single pillar stone might...
Part I. Irish Druids. Irish Bards : IRISH BARDS. The BARDS proper occupied a high position in Ireland. The Ollamhs had colleges at Clogher, Armagh, Lismore, and Tamar. On this, Walker's "Historical Memoirs", 1786, observes that "all the eminent schools, delectably situated, which were established by the Christian clergy in the fifth...
Part I. Irish Druids. St. Patrick And The Druids : ST. PATRICK AND THE DRUIDS. Let us see what the biographers of St. Patrick have to relate about the Druids. A work published at St. Omer, in 1625, by John Heigham, has this story:--"One day as the Saint sayd masse in the sayd church, a sacrilegious magitian, the child of perdition, Stood without...
Untitled : IRISH DRUIDS AND OLD IRISH RELIGIONS By James Bonwick [1894] This scholarly, but very readable, book covers what was known about Druids and Irish Paganism at the end of the nineteenth century. It discusses many of the concepts which later would be utilized by the Wiccan movement to construct Celtic...
Part I. Irish Druids. Irish Druidism : IRISH DRUIDISM. Turning to Irish Druidism, we may discern a meaning, when reading between the lines in Irish MSS., but the mystery is either not understood by the narrators, or is purposely beclouded so as to be unintelligible to the vulgar, and remove the writers (more or less ecclesiastics)...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Introducti : p. 76 PART II. EARLY RELIGIONS OF THE IRISH. INTRODUCTION. ONE of the most philosophical statements from Max Mller is to this effect: "Whatever we know of early religion, we always see that it presupposes vast periods of an earlier development." This is exhibited in the history of all peoples th...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Irish Gods : p. 116 IRISH GODS. SOME writers, from a jealous regard to the reputation of their ancestors, have been unwilling to acknowledge the idolatry of ancient Erin. They reject the testimony as to images, and decline to accept the record as to heathen deities. Yet it is surely a satisfaction to know th...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish : p. 232 THE SHAMROCK, AND OTHER SACRED PLANTS. THE Shamrock is even more typical of Ireland than the Oak is of Britain, and was the greater object of reverence and regard. "Chosen leaf Of Bard and Chief, Old Erin's native Shamrock! Says Valour, 'See They spring for me, Those leafy gems of morning!'...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Irish : IRISH CROSSES. WHO could write the history of the Cross? It is the most ancient, and the most deeply reverenced of all religious symbols. To the men dwelling beside the Nile or the Euphrates, to the inhabitants of India to the East and of Mexico to the West, to those sojourners in Egypt before...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Irish. Part 03 : IRISH SUPERSTITIONS. THE peculiar superstitions of a people will often throw a light upon their ancient faiths. Baring-Gould has remarked, "Much of the religion of the lower orders, which we regard as essentially divine, is ancient heathenism, refined with Christian symbols." Whatever doubt may be...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Fire : FIRE-WORSHIP. FROM the earliest time, the sun has been the object of human adoration. But the common flame itself, being destructive, yet beneficial, while ever mounting upward as if disdaining earth contact, became with most races of mankind a religious emblem, if not a Deity. Pyrolatrei...
Part I. Irish Druids. Welsh Or British Druidism : WELSH OR BRITISH DRUIDISM. Druidism has been of late years so persistently appropriated by the Welsh, that English, Scotch, and Irish have seemed to have no part in the property. Even Stonehenge has been claimed by the Welsh, on the very doubtful story of the Britons, Csar's Teutonic "Belg", being...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Part 03 : THE FUTURE LIFE, OR LAND OF THE WEST. No more touching or inspiring belief was there among the ancient Irish, than in the hope of another life beyond the grave Nature restored the dead forest of winter to the wealth of foliage in spring, why should not the breathless form of man once more find joy...
Part I. Irish Druids. Druidical Magic : p. 50 DRUIDICAL MAGIC. As to magical arts, exercised by Druids and Druidesses, the ancient Irish MSS. are full of stories about them. Joyce has said, "The Gaelic word for "Druidical" is almost always applied where we should use the word "magical"--to spells, incantations, metamorphoses...
Part I. Irish Druids. Druidical Belief : DRUIDICAL BELIEF. Immortality was adjudged to be a Druidic creed. The "Inverness Gaelic Society's Journal" has this affirmation: "They looked for an immortality more substantial than the rewards of fame, in a heroic state in the far-off spirit land, to which the bards, it would appear, issued...
Part I. Irish Druids. Isle Of Man Druidism : ISLE OF MAN DRUIDISM. The Isle of Man lies just between Ireland and Wales. Let us examine what can be shown about these matters therein. Boetius, translated by Alfred the Great, had a particularly doubtful story to tell; too similar, alas! to the narratives of early Christian writers. "Cratilinth...
Part I. Irish Druids. Who Were The Druids : p. 1 IRISH DRUIDS Who were the Druids? This question has agitated the minds of the learned for a long period; and various, as well as contradictory, have been the replies. Tradition preserves their memory as of a pious and superior race, prominently associated with the British Isles and France...
Part I. Irish Druids. German Druidism : p. 49 GERMAN DRUIDISM. Louis de Baecker, 1854, gave an account of Teutonic Druidism, similar to that of the Belg of Britain, in his "De la Religion du Nord de la France avant le Christianisme". He, unlike men of the Welsh Druidic school, joins Dr. Ledwich, and some Irish authorities, in tracing...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Sun Worship : SUN-WORSHIP. WHATEVER the earlier savage races may have thought of religion, if they thought at all about it, those who came after, with more or less touch of civilization, were led, in Ireland, as elsewhere, to contemplate Deity in the Sun. Sun-worship may have superseded other and grosser forms...
Part Ii. Early Religions Of The Irish. Part 05 : THE SACRED TARA HILL TARA, Temor, Temhuir, or Temoria, is intimately connected with the early religion of Ireland, and has been associated with singular theories. As "Tea-mur", it was the mount or home of Queen Tea, wife of the Milesian King Heremon. The centre of Druidical song and power, the se...
