Previous Part: Essence of the Druidic Teachings
The point of view of the French thinker René Guénon (1886-1951), a representative of traditionalism, who opposed the “sacred” and “profane”, the cyclical course of history and the “evolutionary”, “linear” path of its development, is extraordinary. According to Guénon, there is a so-called primordial tradition (i.e., the original content of spirituality), which represents a super-temporal synthesis of all knowledge of the human world-cycle. [21 - Guénon P. The crisis of the modern world, M., 1991, S. 122.] Primordial tradition (the original content of spirituality) of this cycle came from the Hyperborean regions. Then it split into several secondary streams corresponding to different directions of the historical movement.
In the West, the features of the great Hyperborean tradition were most clearly visible in the sacred doctrines of the ancient Celts, which were preserved and preached by the Druids. [22 - Ibid. Pp. 29-30.] This point of view confirms the role of the Druids, as the greatest sages and philosophers, strongly attributed to them by the authors of the Alexandrian and Posidonian traditions.
Whatever the real role of the Druids in the general context of ancient intellectual life, there is no doubt that the Druids were the spiritual elite of their own Celtic world. This position of the Druids in the Celtic society was reinforced and determined by the rather complex structural organization inherent in the Druid corporation, the high social status of the Druids, and their political power.
The high position of the Druids in the Celtic society has been reported by ancient authors who belonged to both the Posidonian and Alexandrian traditions. So, Diodorus Siculus speaks about the public authority of the Druids, about their ability to prevent wars that are about to start: “Not only in peaceful houses, but also in wars, not only friends, but also enemies are especially obedient to them (druids) and lyric poets. Often they come out between the troops lined up in battle formation, threatening swords, bristling spears, etc. they pacify them, as if taming some wild animals. " [23 - Diod., V, 31, 5.]
Caesar, our main source for the Druids, begins his story about them immediately by underlining the extremely high position of the Druidic class among the Gauls: “In all Gaul there are generally only two classes of people who enjoy a certain value and honor. The above two classes are druids and horsemen. " [24 - Caes., B. G, VI, 13.]
This series of testimonies, insisting on the great political significance of the Druids in Celtic society, is completed by the statement of Dion Chrysostomus, an author already belonging to the Alexandrian tradition. His testimony especially emphasizes the socio-political power of the Druids: “And without them, the kings were not allowed to do anything or make any decisions, so in reality they ruled, while the kings, sitting on golden thrones and luxuriously feasting in large palaces, became helpers and doers of their will”. [25 - Dion Chrys., Or., XLIX.] There is controversy over the testimony of Dion Chrysostomus. S. Piggott believed that "here the golden-tongued orator invents his own golden age." [26 - Piggott S. The Druids. New York, 1968. P. 109.]
In the opinion of T. Kendrick, the story of Dion Chrysostom is a rhetorical adaptation of some earlier (than the time of Dion Chrysostom - about 100 AD) evidence of the former power of the Druids. [27 - Kendrick TD Op. Cit. P. 93] Indeed, if we discard the rhetorical form, then in the story of Dion Chrysostomus we will get a state of affairs characteristic of independent Gaul of the Dorian period, when in a fragmented country, exhausted by civil strife, the spiritual elite, tightly united into a single class, was the only real force that stood above the secular power of the communities.
Promotional video:
It should be emphasized that the "order" of the Druids was not replenished according to the principle of heredity, they entered it voluntarily, but at the direction of the gods. [28 - Caes., B. G, VI, 14, 2.] Thus, the Druids were not a closed hereditary caste, such as are found in the East.
On the other hand, they did not form a caste opposite to the aristocratic class: the Druids were initiates who served the cult, as the horsemen were aristocrats who devoted themselves to weapons. [29 - Caes., BG, VI, 13, 1-3.] The Druids enjoyed special advantages over all other Gauls: they did not pay taxes and were generally exempted from military service and all other duties. Druids belonged to secular life, lived in "society": they could marry, own property, move around, engage in diplomatic and judicial activities.
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
Next Part: The Spiritual Authority of the Druids