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Returning to the magic of plants, one of its varieties of a completely different kind should be noted, which, as we can see, is used by a druid in the search for a queen kidnapped by an inhabitant of the Sids, one of those deities of the Other World who often coveted goods belonging to people: “Then Eohaid, who lost his wife, the king, summoned the druid Dallan to seek out Etain. On the same day, he went west, to the mountain now called Sliab Dallan ("Mount Dallan"), and there he stayed overnight. Meanwhile, the druid was painfully worried that Etain would be hidden from him for a year; he cut four rods out of yew and inscribed on them the signs of the Ogam: the source of wisdom and the Ogamic signs revealed to him that Etain was hidden in Side Breg Leith. "[305 - Windisch," Ir. Texte ", I, 129, 18.] Ogham is the alphabet and magic instrument of the Celts, the secret language of Ireland,an ancient way of divination.
Philid Kesarn also used four yew rods for his spells, "cetheora flescae iphair." [306 - ZCP, 3, 460 and 20, 220.]
The name Dallan etymologically means "little blind man." The blindness of the druid is also discussed in other places of epic and mythological texts: one of the significant characters of the Battle of Mukram, the druid Dil was blind (drui side is e dall - he is a druid and blind), [307 - Silva Gadelica, I, 315.] like Mog Ruith, who “lost one eye when he killed a calf in the midst of the great snows in the Alps, and went blind the second, when he held the sun in Dairbre for two days, so that two days would be one. [308 - Les aventures de Mogh Ruith (Initaachta Moighi Ruith, ZCP., 14, 145 sqq.). Regarding blindness, one should recall the parallel example of Odin, the supreme deity of Germanic mythology, who gave one eye in exchange for the gift of clairvoyance, see G. Dumezil, Les dieux des Germains, p. 41.]
Druid Mog Ruith used the wheel in his divination activities, from which his name comes: “Mog Ruith, where did this name come from? This is not difficult to say. Roth, the son of Rigoll, raised him, and this Roth was a famous druid. That is why he was called the servant of Rotha. Or rather, Mog Ruith means priest of wheels (magus rotaram - priest of wheels), because with the help of wheels he made his druidic predictions …”[309 -“Coir Anmann”, § 287, Windisoh, Ir. Texte, III, 409.]
It is not explicitly said that these prophetic wheels were made of yew, but at least there is a possibility that they were made of wood. Another text contains a clarification indicating that the Moga Ruith wheel was a “knotty wheel” (roth ramhach): “It was he who went to study druidism with the druid Simon. And together with him, he made, a year before the quarrel between Simon and Paul and Peter, a knotty wheel that should appear in Europe before the last judgment.”[310 - MS Rawlinson, B502, 157, 36.
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It will probably be legitimate to associate the Mog Ruith wheel with one curious device, which in a way replaced the ratchet that was used earlier in Britain in some communities, at a time when, according to the liturgical calendar, the bells were supposed to be silenced. It was a tarabara, a cogwheel, the hooks or teeth of which, on the outside, touched a rounded bar fixed on one of the supports of the frame in which it was placed. This wheel was attached to a horizontal, outwardly bent axle, which was set in motion by means of a rope. It also resembles a round bell-beam, the so-called wheel of fate, or Santig ar Rod [cf. wheel from Saint-Tuptu], in which the bells would be replaced by teeth or hooks. When this structure turned, the teeth made a monotonous and rather unpleasant sound,as commented by Mr. Noel Speranza, whom we thank for his kindness. With regard to Mog Ruith and the generally "dual" character of the druid, we can refer the reader to our work. Le dieu-druide et le druide divin. Recherches sur la fonction sacerdotale celtique "-" Ogam ", XII, 1960, p. 349-382; on blindness see Ogam, XIII, no. 74/75.]
However, there is no initial connection between blindness and divination through plants, which, in Dallan's case, is the most important characteristic of this character. However, it should be emphasized that the tree used by Dallan is very important in the religion of the Celts, which is found in Gaul in the ethnonyms of the Eburones and Eburoviks (Evreux). [311 - Ogam, XI, 39 ff.] Celtic tribe Eburones (Eburones) called Gauls and Germans, it lived along the Meuse River, the main city of Aduatuca.
Plant war
The magic of plants takes on another new form in one of the versions of the text of The Death of Ku-hulin, when the sorcerers, who went to study their druidic art (druidecht) in Britain and Babylon, decide to put the Ulad hero to death: “Then the three daughters of Kalatin, one-eyed and dumb, with crippled bodies, three wandering beggars Bodb, three disgusting black sorceresses, devilish and sinister … On the lightning of a fast wind, with a wild cry, they brought them to Emine and sat down, three vile, terrible ghosts, on a green meadow near the city. By their enchantments they engendered a great ghostly battle between two armies, between wonderful moving trees, beautiful leafy oaks, so that Cuchulainn heard the noise of battle … "[312 - Ed. Van Hamel, 80-81, § 12 and Ogam, XI, 200.]
In the same way, in the "Battle of the Mag Tuired" we find a promise to arrange a "battle of plants" (§ 116-117), which is threatened by the same "sorceresses": - how will you serve us in the battle? " “It’s not difficult to answer,” they said, “we will send the enchantment, and stones, trees, and sod on the ground will become an army with weapons, which will put the enemy to flight.” [313 - “Battle of Mag Tuired” / Per. S. V. Shkunaeva. - Approx. ed.]
These two Irish narratives are comparable to the Welsh Battle of the Bushes, as reproduced by Shakespeare in Macbeth in the Walking Forest episode.
There is almost no talk of Pliny's oak, in the text of the "Battle of the Bushes" there is only a slight hint of this: "Immediately the oak comes in motion, both the earth and the sky tremble in front of it, in the face of the enemy he is a brave guardian. His name is his support … ". [314 - "Ogam", XI, 187 sqq.]
Oak, rowan and hazel
As for the Irish, they seem to be more willing to use mountain ash or hazel for their magical actions. This is exactly what the druid Kitruadh does, for example, lighting a druidic fire for the High King Cormac during the Siege of Druim Damgair: “Cormac started a conversation with Kitruadh and asked if he had the means to help the armies. "Nothing will help you but the fire of the druids." "How to do this," asks Cormac, "and what is it for?" “Here,” Kitruadh replies. - Let the soldiers go into the forest and bring rowan berries, because it is from them that our best fire is obtained. And, perhaps, from the south side they will respond in kind. When the fires light up, everyone will look after their own. And if the flames turn south - which I don’t believe - you must pursue the people of Munster. And if it turns to the north, then you leave yourself,for you will be defeated even if you defend yourself staunchly. " [315 - Ed. Sjoestedt, Rev. celt, 43, p. 105-107.]
However, we cannot draw any conclusion from the difference in tree, oak or rowan species observed in Gaul and Ireland. It should only be noted that on the continent one should always be wary of confusion among the classical authors, who often ascribe to the Germans what actually refers to the Celts, [316 - Cm. Maxime de. Tyr, "Dissert.", VIII, 8, which declares the oak to be "the visible image of the supreme god."] And Ireland and Great Britain could well have given preference to a genus of trees other than Gaul, which in local variants did not violate the unity of the principle … An unconditional violence against the Celtic civilization would be an attempt to reduce it all to several ideas or the same rules everywhere.
It must be admitted, however, that on the islands, as in particular in Gaul, a miraculous power was recognized behind the tree. It is in this sense that the Irish expression "crann-chur", the Breton "prenn-denn" or "teurel prenn", "to throw a tree", which are specified in comparison with the combination of "prinni loudi" and "prinni lag" from the "Calendar from Coligny" ". [317 - Rev. celt., 16, 313-314 and 44, 1 sqq. Wed tr. 170, 200.] The divination by tokens and numbers, as evidenced by Hippolytus, [318 - Philosophum, I, XXV.] Must have been one of the ways in which the tree was used.
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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