SOPORTE PREMIUM

When the Celt and other Indo-European tribes moved into Europe, they carried with them a partial memory of the Vril Science. Over thousands of years, a priestly class grew up among the Celts, that is known to us today as the Druids. There has been a great deal of confusion about who and what the Druids were. Besides acting as judges, priests, doctors and educators, the Druids were also reli- gious leaders representing one of the highest points of spirituality ever achieved among the Indo-European peoples, and perhaps among any group of people any- where in the world. Even Pythagoras sought their wisdom, by living with them, so that he could learn the sacred knowledge they possessed.

From their center, on the Isle of Man, the Druids spread out across Europe, from Spain and Ireland in the west to as far east as Asia Minor. They won great esteem and respect, helping the common people and Celtic leaders alike, wor- shiping the Celtic Gods of Taranis, Esus, Teutates, Lugh, and Dagda. Those who became Druids were expected to memorize a whole library of knowledge and text. They were reputed to possess great powers, and served as guardians of sacred knowledge passed down to them from the beginning of time. Much of what they knew and guarded has been lost because they never wrote it down. They lived ascetic lives like Tibetan or Christian monks, choosing to make their homes in the forests and mountains, so they could be close to nature. It was claimed that they could speak with birds, animals and even communicate with trees and stones. Wherever they congregated soon became a site known for its learning and spirituality. They did not eat meat for fear of harming animals, and lived in stone homes or huts, and made fires only from wood that had already fallen to the ground, wishing not to harm any living tree.

The druids rejected gold and all wealth, detesting materialism. They were the high priests of the Celtic people, living simple lives, studying and helping the common people and great leaders alike. The Celts spoke a language that was closely related to Italic, from which Latin originated. Celtic is also very closely related to the language of the Torcharians, who lived in western China. The Tor- charians shared many cultural similarities with the Celts, obvious from their clothing, jewelry and art.

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As a religious class among the Celts, the Druids shared a status within Celtic society similar to that of the Brahmins within the Indo-European society of ancient India. Both the Druids and Brahmins preformed the same function within their societies—they were responsible for religious services, studying sci- ence, teaching and preserving knowledge, poetry, law and healing. Like the Brah- mins, the Druids were political leaders, who held a higher position than both military leaders and chieftains.

Druids met in sacred droves, and once a year they would come from across Europe to meet in the most sacred—the “Navel of Gaul.” This site was located where the present-day Benedictine abbey of St. Benoit near Orleans, in France, is located. There they discussed affairs of political and religious importance, and exchanged new knowledge and information acquired throughout the year. The leader of the meeting was the archdruid, known as Chartres, named after one of the Celtic tribes, and now the name of a world-famous cathedral. Two thousand years before the invention of the post office and mail, druids were able to main- tain communication among their tribes which were spread across Europe from Spain to the British Isles, and to Asia Minor. Many believe this was done through a form of telepathy or astral communication.

Julius Caesar has described the role of the Druids in Celtic society in his accounts of his campaigns in Gaul. “They officiate at the worship of the Gods, regulate public and private sacrifices, and give rulings on all religious questions. Large numbers of young men flock to them for instruction, and they are held in great honor by the people. They act as judges in practically all disputes, whether between tribes or between individuals.” Cicero tells us that they were the guard- ians of scientific knowledge, especially dealing with astronomy and physics. Pliny explained that the Druids dealt with matters concerning medical knowledge, served as teachers, healers, judges, poets, and were augurs of Celtic society, pos- sessing the ability to foretell the future. Diodorus called them philosophers and theologians, claimed they possessed a superior moral philosophy, and were great scholars of natural science.

The only eye-witness account of a Druid ceremony was recorded by Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.). He described a ceremony taking place in a grove beneath a sacred oak. The Druids harvested mistletoe on the sixth day of the waxing moon. Two white bulls were sacrificed to a God by Druids dressed in white robes. Prayers were offered to ask the God to make the mistletoe an effectively potent medicine. They believed that mistletoe growing on oak was a sacred plant that possessed the power to harness the Vril, and were calling on the God to fill the mistletoe with that power. Remember, it was mistletoe that was used to kill

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Balder. Since the Vril is the regenerative power of Balder, mistletoe was used to master the Vril’s power by the Druids.

It is possible that the God they worshiped at this ceremony was Lug. Lug was one of the greatest of the sixty-nine major deities of the Celtic religion. He is often described as a noble warrior, and possessed a golden breast plate and hel- met, a green cloak and “on his white skin he wore a shirt of silk,” and on his feet, sandals made of gold. His primary weapon was a spear. He was accompanied by ravens who flew over the world every day and returned to tell Lug of everything that happened. When the city of Lyon, France, was founded (the city was named after Lug), it was claimed that swarms of ravens descended from the sky. Lug was believed to walk with a limp and had lost an eye somehow. He has been identi- fied with Odin, who also was accompanied by ravens, possessed a spear and had one eye. Both Odin and Lug fought the Giants. The two Gods also had some- thing else in common—they were both great shamans. Zeus was also related to both Gods. He too had slain a Giant, Chronos, his father, so that he could come to power. But while Lug has many similarities to Odin, there is one thing that sets him apart—rebirth. Lug is supposed to have died in a war and then rose again from the Netherworld. Upon his resurrection, he is transformed as the leader of a divine hierarchy. Since Balder is Odin’s son, it would seem that the Celts merged the tale of the father (Odin) with the son (Balder). On August 1, Lugnasad (Lug’s Day), the God enters into a marriage with an Earth Goddess. Remember, both Odin and Balder are married to earth Goddesses—Frigga (Odin) and Nanna (Balder).

Like most Indo-Europeans, the Celts held certain trees sacred, especially the oak. The region of Europe they inhabited was covered with great oak forests. Lightning often struck the oak tree and they considered this a mark of favor by the Gods. They believed that the oak tree possessed sacred qualities and through the oak, one could communicate with the Gods. In fact, the name, “druid,” was derived from the word for oak. In Sanskrit, druh is the word for oak. The Greek word for oak was drus. The word “druid” was probably derived from two words. The first syllable, dru, clearly means oak, but the second syllable is probably derived from the word wid (which is related to wyrd). It is an Indo-European root word that means “to know.” Thus, the two words mean “knowledge of the oak.” This is a reference to the Druids as an order of holy men possessing a sacred knowledge rooted in the Yggdrisall, or the Vril. They clearly were in possession of what knowledge had been passed down to them through the millenniums—the lost Science of the Vril.

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This knowledge was passed down through oral tradition. The Druids never wrote down their sacred knowledge, and those who became Druids had to possess exceptional memory. When a student became a Druid, he was expected to com- mit to memory, the entire teachings of the Druids’ sacred knowledge. Though they did not develop a written language for their native Celtic, most Druids could read and write Latin and Greek.

Anyone could become a Druid, provided he had the fortitude to survive the rigorous training. Once a young man of exceptional intelligence and memory passed the training, he had to dedicate his life to serving his people. A candidate could be from any class within Celtic society. They were expected to memorize tens of thousands of lines of text, which were put to verse to make them easier to memorize. Because of these requirements, the best and most intelligent Celts often became Druids. Druids could marry and have families, so that their genes could be passed on to the next generation.

The Druids possessed an exceptional, sacred place in Celtic society. If anyone refused to accept a decision made by a Druid, he was excommunicated from par- ticipating in any sacrifices, which was the worst punishment short of death that could be passed in Celtic society. When they passed judgement in a dispute, the decision was considered final, and it was accepted not just by the community in which the Druid resided, but by all Celtic tribes. Even opposing Celtic armies stopped fighting when a Druid made his appearance on the battlefield. The Druid was the center of the Celtic community, thus maintaining a sacredness that can still inspire us today.

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