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In the "order" of the druids, which provided such great opportunities to its members, a harmonious hierarchy and firm internal discipline was established. The organization was headed by the arch druid. He was elected by the Druids themselves, rather than appointed by state authorities. The "order" of the Druids stood completely independent of all civilian power.
The famous French historian Fustel de Coulanges (1830-1889) noted that the Druid class "was placed outside the Gallic tribes and, as it were, even towered over them." [30 - Fustel de Coulanger. The history of the social structure of ancient France. T. 1. Roman Gaul. SPb., 1901. S. 35.]
The hierarchy in the "order" of the druids was not limited to the presence of the arch druid. The priests were divided into three categories, differing in rank and dignity of the duties performed. The dominant position in the "order" was occupied by the druids [at Diod., V, 31; Strabo, IV, 4, 5, druids in Caes., B. Y., VI,. 13, 3; dryade from Amm. Marc, XV, 9, 8.] who performed the most solemn of sacrifices and performed political functions.
Secondary priestly functions and various kinds of magical rites were performed by druids-diviners, for which ancient writers use various terms. The third category was made up of druid poets, whom all authors unanimously call bards. [35 -; in Diod., V, 31, 2-5; Strabo, IV, 4, 4; bardi in Amm. Marc, XV, E, 8.]
The druids also had legal functions. During the annual meetings of the Druids of all Gaul, which took place in the 5th century in the area of the Carnuts (Carnutum, now Chartres), they tried crimes of all kinds. [36 - Caes, BG, VI, 13, 5.] The formidable sanction supported the authority of the Druids: they had the right to excommunicate those who did not obey their sentences. This sanction fully explains the high social position that the Druids occupied in Gaul. Possessing the power and the right to excommunicate from the cult, a harmonious organization and strict discipline that rallied them and favorably distinguished them against the background of the scattered, undisciplined tribes that made up Gaul, the Druids had real power over the civilian population.
In this version, it is impossible to find analogies for Druidism either among the cult organizations of the ancient world, or among the religious organizations of the new time. The only parallel, perhaps, can be found again in Rene Guénon. He defined traditional civilization as follows: “We call a traditional civilization a civilization based on principles in the literal sense of the word, that is, one in which the spiritual order dominates all others, where everything directly or indirectly depends on it, where both science and social institutions are only a transitory, secondary application of purely spiritual ideas that do not have any independent meaning. " [37 - Guenon R. Orient et Occident. Paris, 1924. P. 150.]
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According to Guénon, in the case of a truly traditional civilization, the highest authority is, therefore, a purely spiritual power, in the competence of which is the preservation of the total human knowledge and its higher principles. Below are the levels of secular authority that apply the principles to specific social conditions. Even lower are the levels of the economic structure, which is formed in the course of applying the same principles to an even more specific sphere. It is clear that in such a society the highest place should be occupied by the spiritual elite, standing above social institutions. [38 - Guenon R. La crise du monde moderne. Paris, 1964. P. 88.]
René Guénon's cherished dream was to recreate this spiritual aristocracy, to form a “new elite” capable of leading the modern Western world out of the deep crisis in which it finds itself. And it seems that in the case of the Druids, Guénon's theoretical constructions have acquired historical reality.
Thus, the ancient literary tradition about the Druids has long been thoroughly studied, which made it possible to recreate a fairly clear picture of the existence and functioning of the “order” of the Druids, as well as build interesting hypotheses about the nature and essence of Druidism and its relationship with the complex ideological life of the ancient world.
However, in addition to the ancient literary tradition, there are other groups of sources on Celtic Druidism.
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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