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In that among the Persians there existed the Magi, and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldaei, among the Indians the Gymnosophistae, and among the Celts and Gauls men who were called druids and semnothei, as Aristotle relates in his book on magic, and Sotion in the twenty-third book of his Succession of Philosophers.
The historian Ronald Hutton estimated that, in 1996, there were approximately 6000 members of Druid groups in England, two-thirds of whom were OBOD members. [167] The 2001 UK Census , 30,569 individuals described themselves as "Druids" and 508 as "Celtic Druids".
The main problem, however, is the fact that the term Celtic spans such an enormous area, from Ireland to Anatolia; there is no reason to expect that the position of women was the same over this whole area. Source material must, therefore, be clarified by archaeological evidence, which, however, can only answer certain kinds of questions.
The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, which split from the Ancient Druid Order in 1964, began to develop a more neo-Pagan style of Druidry, partly through the friendship between its founder, Ross Nichols, and the founder of modern Wicca, Gerald Gardner. More overtly Pagan Druid groups began to develop in the UK from the late 1970s onwards.
Celtic paganism, as practised by the ancient Celts, is a descendant of Proto-Celtic paganism, itself derived from Proto-Indo-European paganism.Many deities in Celtic mythologies have cognates in other Indo-European mythologies, such as Celtic Brigantia with Roman Aurora, Vedic Ushas, and Norse Aurvandill; Welsh Arianrhod with Greek Selene, Baltic Mėnuo, and Slavic Myesyats; and Irish Danu ...
Philip Crummy, director of the trust, remained cautious, adding that there may be other explanations. "In the report we draw the possibility that this man or woman was a druid," he wrote: "The so-called ‘druid’ could have been a doctor. The tea strainer contains artemisia pollen, which is commonly associated with herbal remedies.
General deities were known by the Celts throughout large regions, and are the gods and goddesses called upon for protection, healing, luck, and honour. The local deities from Celtic nature worship were the spirits of a particular feature of the landscape, such as mountains, trees, or rivers, and thus were generally only known by the locals in ...
The landing was opposed by a mass of warriors, Druids, and women. Tacitus describes the scene: "On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and ...