Sorry to all I have been gone for a while, But for now am getting back into the swing of things again Hopefully will have some more interresting things to post once again.

Hope everyone is doing well

Phoenix sun 

Wiccan magic is concerned with projecting the willpower of the caster into the universe, normally through natural energy flows. Part of this magick and ritual is calling on the four quarters of the world, North, South, East and West. Generally there are classical Hermetic elements associated with those quarters, Air, Earth, Fire and Water. These elements give power and energy to the ritual and generally boost the "feel" of the ritual. Druidry is votive in nature, meaning that a critical component of the spirituality and magic is the relationship one has with the Gods, for they are never ordered or commanded, but they are petitioned as friends and companions.

Under very specific circumstances Druids occasionally used the same structure of calling upon the Natural World. Even then it's vastly different from "standard" Wiccan practices. In Druidic rituals the Land, Sea and Sky are called upon.

Each of the Three Realms has specific attributes and very definite associations with them. If I were to ask a Wiccan where the Gods lived, many would not be able to tell me, for the Elemental Quarters hold no answer. But ask a Druid who also uses and understands the Three Realms in a cosmological sense, and the immediate answer will be "The Sky".

Each Realm is associated with a time of life, a stage of development and a mental quality, as well as having several other associations, ranging from Magical to the Time of day.

The Sea is the time before time, when we are not born. All life comes from the Sea. It is where we go at death; it is the source of Dreams and Inspiration. It is the realm that is traveled over to get anyplace when coming from or going to Ireland.

The Land is the here-now. It is this moment, life, and creation, all that is around us. It is fertility, conscious thought, the Universe. All science fits into the realm of the Land, for it is all concerned with the physical realm.

The Sky is the dwelling place of the Gods, the super-conscious, logic and thought. It is where logical ideas come from, and it is a place we hope to gain eventually, to become one with the Gods. It is also where Divine Inspiration comes from.

Every single one of the associations for the elements in the classic Hermetic elemental structure exist in Druidic belief and practice within the three Realms. They are not broken out into separate aspects or spheres as they are in Wiccan beliefs and practices. There are no elementals, deva of the elementals, rulers of the elements or realms in Druidic belief or practice. The realms have no spirits, no consciousness of mystical places, and certainly no angels associated with them because the realms simply are all encompassing. For Druids, it would be like trying to reduce the entire universe down to one human consciousness.

Which brings us to Druidic magic. It's different in some very fundamental ways from Wiccan Magick.

In Wiccan magick, a Circle is cast, the Quarters are called, the Gods are (preferably) asked to bless the work, energy is raised and the spell is cast. After a while, the Wiccan will send that energy off with their desire "tacked on" to it. The intention being that the energy will work to bring their desire to pass.

A Druid, by contrast, is not raising energy. The Druid will invoke the Realms, invite the Gods to the ritual, possibly invoke the Hallows and Provinces (depending on the ritual structure the Druid uses) and then ask the Gods to do them a favor. For this, the Druid will offer food, service of body and/or mind to the Gods, a literal sacrifice to them. In one ritual to help me with a job, I dedicated a blood donation to the Red Cross to Lugh (for his Spear) and used that as my sacrifice to him for a favor I needed. In the same ritual, I baked the Dagda some bread and offered it to him and then gave it to the birds. It depends entirely on what you are willing to give and what the Gods want in return.

In this case, the reasoning is that as a druid, we are members of the Land. Things that could happen in the future belong to the Sky, where the Gods live. Therefore, it's easier for the Gods to make certain things come to pass than it is for us, since we are busy dealing with the now. So, asking the Gods to make an action more likely to happen is an efficient use of your energy. Nothing is free. The Gods will demand and have a right to demand a price from those who need something. If we want the object of the ritual, it makes sense for us to pay the price demanded in order to get it.

As my teacher pointed out to me, the Gods are reasonable. They won't demand anything that would decimate us to provide. If they did, it could be a test to see how strongly you are committed to gaining what you want. For example if a Druid was casting a spell to gain a new job, and barely had enough money to feed himself and his family, I doubt the Gods would demand gold from that Druid, mainly because the Druid probably doesn't have the means to gain the Gold. They may demand a feast for themselves, which the Druid and his family would also share.

It should also be mentioned that witchcraft is a collection of granny-tales and native superstition, sometimes based in fact, but quite often based in protecting oneself from the Elves and Faery. A Druid doesn't try to protect themselves from the realms of the Faery, but rather strives to come to a partnership with those forces, so that they are working with the Druid, not against them. The High Magick in Wiccan practice is generally also influenced from other sources, most notably the Kabala of Judaism and the Ceremonial and Hermetic Magick of the Middle Ages. Druidic magic, rather than being "Do Steps A, B, C, D and E, in order to get outcome 78", is more of a give and take between working partners, a quid pro quo system of cause and effect.

  # Curved blade; sickle or scyth Pliny, a Roman historian, recorded a Druid ritual in which mistletoe was cut from an oak tree by a Druid in white robes, using a gold sickle. The mistletoe was to be caught in wicker baskets and not allowed to touch the ground. One must not assume (as apparently Pliny did) that all Druid rituals involve the use of mistletoe, scythes, and white robes; and what is more, gold is too soft a metal to be used as a cutting tool. In modern Druidism the curved blade has entered common use as a cutting implement, for harvesting particular plants and herbs at particular times of the year. Its cutting action in ritual is not so much one of taking down, but of releasing and freeing, as in "to cut free"; the energy freed by the cut plant is sent on to the Gods or blessed upon the assembly. Its shape is also reminiscent of the crescent moon.

  # Druid Rod Some legends show Druids using wands, staves, and rods to direct their energy when working magic, usually when cursing or shape changing. It was made from hazel and had to touch the thing that it was directed at.

  # Bell Branch This was traditionally a silver tree branch with gold bells attached to it. The sound of the bells is pleasing to the Gods and attracts their attention, while at the same time it is offensive to the ears of malevolent spirits who are thereby driven away. Many stories of heroic adventures begin with a goddess inviting the hero into her Otherworldly realm by giving him a branch of silver with bells, apple blossoms, or fruit growing on it. It is no wonder that the faerie host have silver bells on the harnesses of their horses! Modern Druids use the Bell Branch to make calls to spirits and deities, and to purify a person on a spiritual level, to announce the beginning and the ending of a ceremony.

  # Crane Bag [Readings]" The only mythological reference to this ritual object that this author knows of is the Crane bag that belonged to Cumhall, father of Fionn Mac Cumhall, which Fionn had to recover when it was stolen. It contained many treasures from such deities as Manannan and Giobhniu, and would be full at high tide and empty at low tide. Its function appears to be similar to that filled by the medicine bundle of native north americans. The poet W.B.Yeats mentions a "bag of dreams" in his poem "Fergus and the Druid".

  # Cauldron Two prominent Celtic deities have magical cauldrons, the Irish Dagda and the Welsh Cerridwen, both of these cauldrons posess the property of granting wisdom to any who drink from it. Archaeologists have uncovered several cauldrons and buckets that may have had ritual uses; this conclusion is based on how they are decorated. Modern Druids use cauldrons to make or distribute offerings.

  # Druid Egg The Druid's Egg was described mythologically as a small object formed from the dried spittle of serpents, and possessing magical healing qualities. Pliny (a Roman historian) said he was shown one of these by a Druid from Gaul, who told him it was called an "anguinum". Existence of eggs in Druidic mysticism causes some scholars (and new-age fiction authors) to believe that the Druid's creation-myth was the same as the Sumerian creation story, in which the world was hatched from a divine primordial egg. It is not a widespread tool in modern Druidism, although it is used by some as a ritual implement for "grounding", or, drawing unhealthy energy from a patient into the egg where it is supposed to be incubated and transformed ("hatched") into positive energy.

  # Animal and plant remains There is no doubt that ancient Druids used animal and plant remains for decorative, medicinal, and religious purposes. One ritual called the Tarb Feis requires the Druid to sleep under the skin of a freshly killed bull, so that the spirit of the bull can send prophetic dreams to the sleeper. Some Druids used colourful bird feathers in their cloaks to denote their rank. On continental europe, Druids used mistletoe for its magical healing quality (ironic since mistletoe is poisonous!). The use of sacred plants in old european paganism was so strong that the Catholic Church forbad the presence of mistletoe and holly in its churches.

  # Musical instruments Musical instruments are, of course, constructed entirely from animal and plant remains. The myths make frequent reference to harps in particular, and the celts may also have used drums, but with reference to old Celtic religion, these tools are in the domain of the Bard rather than the Druid. But just like the Bards themselves, musical instruments were certainly a part of public Druid ceremonies.

  # Stones A ring of stones in the ground was the most probable "temple", or place where religious ceremonies took place. Many stone circles are named for Druids, such as Drombeg Circle in West Cork, Ireland, which is also known as the Druid's Altar. It is difficult to speculate if the ancient Druids attributed particular qualities to particular "species" or rock or crystal, but many modern Druids employ the correspondances of modern occultism and witchcraft to good ends. Stones could channel, store, and direct earth-energy, and thus were used for markers, set in circles, and libations were poured over them in sacrifice.

A complete and full answer to this question is beyond the scope of this book, for it is not a thing easily summarised in a few lines. Your humble author has been attempting to decipher this problem for over twelve years. Perhaps an outline of some of the important points will suffice.

An Irish triad reads: "Three candles that illuminate every darkness: Knowledge, Nature, Truth". This is one of hundreds of Triads that impart wisdom for many aspects of life, both spiritual and mundane, but this one is the author's first best choice for a simple description of the highest good in Druidism.

The most prominent teaching attributed to the Druids by Roman writers was the belief that the human soul is immortal. Some writers attribute to Druids the Pythagorean belief in reincarnation. Others claim that the Druids taught that the soul is reborn in an otherworldly afterlife that is much the same as this one. The belief in immortality was so strong that people could put off repayment of debts to the afterlife. However there is no indication that the Druids believed in Karma, as the Hindu people did.

The Druids taught that there exists a spiritual Otherworld, that is sometimes accessible to us, and particularly close at certain times of the year, like at Samhain. There is a great sense of connection and continuity between life and death, such that the ancient Celts did not fear death, but instead viewed it as a transition phase in the course of a long, even eternal, life. There is also no division between an Underworld and an Upperworld (although, in Welsh Druidism, perhaps a case can be made for Annwn as an Underworld and Caer Arianrhod as an upperworld). Thus, the entities which live in the Otherworld have no moral bias; they are neither good nor evil, like ourselves, but what is spiritual about them is that they exist.

The Druidic beliefs regarding deities is also a complicated problem. The feature that all Gods share, which makes them distinct from mortals, is that they are descended from a particular divine ancestor. In the case of the Irish, that ancestor deity is the Goddess Danu, and so the pantheon of Irish Gods are called Tuatha de Dannann, meaning "Tribe of Danu". The Celtic Gods are inseparable from the environment in which they live, so much that it is difficult to categorise them neatly into areas of particular concern (that is to say, it is difficult to say what each deity is "god of"). As the Druids looked upon nature and saw it populated with spirits, goddesses, and gods, it is safe to speculate that they regarded nature as sacred and divine.

Fire-worship is central to Celtic religion as well, as it certainly played a role in the four annual Fire Festivals. The centrality of fire is another point at which Celtic and Hindu religions correlate. Fire is a spiritual force unto itself, and it is not bound into a cosmology of four equally necessary elements, as the Greeks are known to have done. Fire possesses the magical properties of both destructiveness and cleansing, bringing heat and energy and with it civilisation. Poetic inspiration is said to be a fire in the head, which is why Brighid is a deity of poets and of fire. The ritual "need fire" ignited on holy days demonstrates the high spiritual regard the Celts had for fire, which was their main source of energy in a time without electricity, and without matches!

Druidic mythology points to knowledge as the key to self awareness, symbolised by certain mythological holy-places of great importance that are associated with wisdom, such as the Well of Wisdom (auspiciously located at the centre of the world), the Spiral of Annwyn, and the Cauldron of Cerridwen. Mythic places are inaccessible but also not inaccessible, for it requires a leap of faith to find them; the Well of Wisdom is at the bottom of the ocean, but to Sea Gods like Manannan, who are capable of that magical leap, the ocean is as the sky. That leap of faith is often found in the moment of poetic inspiration.

As Druids were also required to be the professionals of their society, the skills they had were meant for the benefit of the tribe each Druid worked for. A Druid was expected to use her divination skills and her sight of otherworldly things for many essential and pragmatic purposes, such as: advising the tribe chiefs as they make policy, settling disputes and legal claims, and announcing the beginning of agricultural seasons such as planting, harvesting, and hunting. Druids were involved in stage-of-life rituals such as childbirth, maturity, marriage, and death. In times of war a Druids skills were needed to learn about the enemy's movements and plans, and also to call elemental powers to the aid of the tribe; alternately, the Druids could put an end to an unjust war (a power for which there is a great deal of evidence). A Druid's skills belonged to her tribe and not to herself alone. In this way the Druid was an inseparable part of a Celtic tribe's life and necessary for the tribe's continued survival and welfare. In these days of mechanised farming, atomic-clock timekeeping, and satellite weather forecasting, it is difficult to grasp how the mysterious religion of the Druids, and of other ancient priesthoods, was not merely abstract, intellectual, and theoretical.

The moral and ethical position of Druidism is also difficult to describe. There is some textual reference to old Celtic morality in the myths, such as the instructions of great heroes and kings to their students; Cu Chullain, Fionn Mac Cumhall, Cormac Mac Art, and others gave "advice speeches" to their juniors that survive to this day. They are characterised by a great interest in justice, honour, and fair play, and emphasise that each person is responsible for her own conduct, not determinist forces like fate or the will of gods. The Fianna hero Oisin gives us this famous statement of Celtic ethics which I shall name Oisin's Answer, because it is how he answered St. Patrick's question of what kept the Fianna together: "It is what sustained us though our days, the truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our arms, and fulfilment in our tongues."