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Did the Irish Druids really get their oblivion elixir solely from plants? Be that as it may, the drink turned out to be effective: when Cuchulainn, having fallen in love with the beautiful and graceful Fand, the wife of the sea god Manannan, goes insane that he had lost her, “Emer [his lawful wife] went to Conchobar in Emine Mahu and told him what happened to Cuchulainn. Then Conchobar sent singers, sorcerers and druids for Cuchulainn to take him and bring him to Emine Mahu. Cuchulainn wanted to kill them first. But they sang their magic songs before him, firmly holding his hands and feet, until his mind began to clear up. After that, he asked for a drink. They gave him the drink of oblivion. And after drinking it, he forgot about Fand and everything that happened to him. Then they gave the same drink to Emer, for she was in the same position. Manannan shook his cloak between Fand and Cuchulainn so that they would never meet again.”[292 -“Cuchulainn's Disease”or“Serglig'e Cuchulainns, - “Ogam”, X, p. 310 // Quoted from: Cú Chulainn's Disease // Irish Sagas / Cer. and comments. A. A. Smirnova // 'Academia, 1929.]
Healing and sleep. Music
So, the Druids practiced three archaic types of healing: bloody healing, or surgery, [293 - See the present. ed. pp. 116-117.] in particular applied by Fingen to Conchobar; plant healing and witchcraft.
Witchcraft healing was certainly highly developed, and even in the Middle Ages, Irish healer incantations are found in manuscripts from Saint-Gall. [294 - "Thesaurus Paleohibernicus, II, 248". For example: “In case of urine disease: I am healed of this urine disease! May the art of birds save us, flocks of magicians - birds! Let them (charms) always be in the place where your urine is formed! "]
Sleep was also appreciated, and since every good music in Ireland was credited with the ability to miraculously lull its listeners, harpers were classified as "bo aire", that is, free cattle owners; [295 - Ancient Laws, V, 106.] they are often mentioned next to a phylid of a higher rank, and the incarnate druid god Dagda, in order to lull his enemies, played a harp obedient to his master: “Then the harp came down from the wall and, having struck nine, approached Dagda. Three songs he played, what the harpers know, - a sad song, a sleepy song and a song of laughter. He played them a sad song, and the women burst into tears. He played a song of laughter, and the women and children had fun. He played a drowsy song, and everyone around fell asleep, and Lug, Dagda and Oghma left the Faiors, for they wished to destroy them.”[296 - Battle of Mag Tuired. - Per. S. V. Shkunaeva, § 163-164.] The harp has the same effect in the story of “The Destruction of Dind Rig.” [297 - See Orgain. Dind Rig; ZCP; 3, 12, § 19-20.]
Well of health
"Well of health", the likeness of which we, it seems to us, found in Gaul, in Glanum (Saint-Remy-de-Provence), [298 - See "Ogam", XII, 59.] in "The Battle of Mag Tuirede" entrusted to the god-healer Dian Keht: “And this is how they instilled rage in the wounded soldiers, so that they would become even more courageous the next day. Over the source, whose name is Slape ("Health"), Dian Keht himself, his sons Aktridil and Miach, and his daughter Airmed, spoke spells. And the fighters slain to death plunged into the spring, and left it unharmed. They returned to life thanks to the power of spells that four healers sang around the source.”[299 - Per. S. V. Shkunaeva. Dian Kecht (Old Irish Dían Cécht) - the god of healing in Irish mythology, who lived in the Tribes of the goddess Danu.]
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It wasn't just spells that had to work, though; healing was also achieved with the help of plants, and both types of healing interacted: “Another name for this source is the Lake of Plants, since Dian kecht put in it a little bit of every herb growing in Ireland.” [300 - Battle of Mag Tuired, § 126, cf. … from. 160. - Per. S. V. Shkunaeva.]
Likewise, the Pictish druid Drostan advised the king of Ireland, in order to heal the soldiers wounded by the poisoned arrows of the Bretons, to collect milk from one hundred and forty white cows and fill it in a pit in the middle of the battlefield. Those who dive into it will be healed. [301 - Leabhar Breathnach, The Irish Version of the Historia Britanum of Nennius, Dublin, 1848, ed. Todd, 122-124.] If the Leinster Book reduces the number of cows to one hundred and twenty, it also specifies that they must be “bo mael find” - “white cows without horns.” [302 - Fol. 15a, 29.] This story is also found in the poem "Old Places": [303 - Ed. Gwynn, III, p. 164-166.] “The Druid Drostan then said to the associates of King Krilithhand:“Any person who is hurt by a figda, let him be immersed in a puddle of white milk; despite the wounds inflicted by numerous evil weapons,he will come out healthy and without scars "…" [304 - Cm. Rev. celt, XV, 427, where the prosaic version of Dindshenchas gives the same details.]
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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