Wor.

ks by Le'lv,isSpena
TilE PROBLEM HIS:rOR.V GODS OF OF ,'\T"LANTIS

rne
I"BE

0.1' ATLANT.IS MEXICO. OF OCCULTISM

ENC'iCLOP.,IEDIA

ETC.

--

---

e~~,;2~.::z~:li~.2~t:'

l.
~

THE MYSTERIES

l
,

OF BRITAIN
;e:t
Rite! and Traditions

l
(

~
'I~

E..

if

Jlncie?zt 'Britain
Restored'

I
~ by LEWIS SPENCE

~'

'I
, WITH WOOD E[GRT AND DRAWINGS,BY OTHER WENDY

~
ILL.USTRA,nONS

I l
)

,l f

t
,
~ ~,' .•. {

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)

LONDON:

R1DER & CO, PATERNOSTER Row, E.C.4

ThlE nlTE

01' I\:ITI,\TIO:-";

.a.'~~"C~~~~~~~

PREFACE

nO" .. h"oor'''''Ilb

IIf40

",II<! P,.",leoI·i."

:Press, 51. 11.11>"".

G..... ,~Bril.i,. I'isile' .... L(nisbt. '" Co", Lbd ,

HAT the island of. Britain was the seat of the development of a c,ultus and secret tradition of extraordinary v.itality and individ'Iidity is. no new thesis, but, SOl far" it is one which has not been dealt with .in any tolerable or scientific uumner. nor has the evidence concerning it been r-xamined :in the light of modem research. especially ;lS regards recent valuable conclusions in Folklore and An:hceology. An I can claim to have done in [he present volume is to have collected the data nmcerning it and to have made an effort to. system.uize the same, with the dual intention of proving iLS authentic character and value to British mystics ;"lS pJl"ovirling them with a horizon of native and, therefore, sympathetic lore and practice ;,and its long survival in these islands- -a survival which, ill certain districts, appears to have lasted until a time which we are now accustomed to regard as comparatively recent, That the cult we caU " Druidism " possessed a much higher mystical tendency than the :generality of British people are aware has, of course, been frequently advanced as a serious contention. But, because of the bizarre method by which this view has formerly beenadvanced, a perfectly sound hypothesis has not only been seriously damaged, hut has been greeted with unmerited contempt. I have striven, ill setting it forth in a more catholic manner, to employ only such sources as appeared to me

absolutely worthy of credence and to eschew anything in tJ1C nature of the extreme or the empirical-s-in short, to let the evidence plead for the I:I1:00ry by virtue Qif its copiousness, .its obviousness, and its generally overwhelming character. At the same lime, I have made every endeavour to arrange and select: this in such a manner that the orderly presentation of facts would not in any way derogate ~rom their weight 0]" possible acceptance, and to digest them into the beginnings of a system which win at least give pause to those who altogether deny the former presence of a highly intellectualized ntitus and mystery in our islands, or its survival in a more or less official form until recent times. The nucleus of proof is, natm-al1y, to be sought in \I\lales, the las~ stronghold of official Druidism, where a quite extraordinary treasure )f manuscript material relating to it still exists. It has been Ea]too much the fashion to assume a problemarica] or comparatively recent origin for ancient Cambrian literary sources. But] believe I have brought suffi·cient evidence to bear to show conclusively tlh<B!t this gredit em'pus of venerable material is not only authentic in esse 111 ce , but of such preponderating value as i~ is scarcely possible to overestimate. Especially do I believe the writings preserved by 1010 Morganwg in Barddas to have been handed down from an immemorial antiquity, as his editors maintained, and to enshrine the beliefs, ideas, and practices of the Secret Tradition o:E Britain, and ] feel that the unbiassed reader will, aEl:erhaving perused the evidence relative to this. find himself in genet:al agreement with this view .. The evidence concerning the rites ::mr]ceremonies of initiation is , I think, dear and conclusive, and should once ~or all lay at rest any dubiety on this

particular head. It should. also he of peculiar value In British mysties, as providing them with a general view of a system or code of conduct by whi.ch their ;mcestors sought to gain a knowledge o~ that higher i-xistence which. they personally seek to attain, and [I am mot without hope that tt may induce them to n nsider the propriety of examining further, and p{·rhaps embracing a soul-philosophy more in natural nm(ormity with our native psychology than any r-xotic system can possibly be. \Ale Britons are, alas, too prone 1:0 find ill alien systems, sesthetic and philosophic, that whi.ch is seemingly more desirable than anything of native nngUL So far as mystical philosophy is concerned, \ve have not until. the present, perhaps, had any real opportunity of gauging the values of a tradition developed in accordance withWes~ern, and more exclusively Britannic, mentality. But I feel that with the mass of fact I have been enabled to place before him, the British mystic may no longer believe himself compelled to seek guidance from Oriental cults and philosophies of arcane origin, but may turn for the purposes of psychical instruction and enlightenment to the noble and venerable tradition of his lathers, ill which he annot but discover ideals and beliefs which strike at familiar and hereditary chord, to his refreshment, encouragement, and final illumination. I have also carefully indicated the sources from which he may gain a more cornprehensive knowledge of the system in its entirety. I cannot close without expressing my sincere thanks to Miss Wendy Wood for the eight excellent drawings which she has made for I:his book. Deeply imbued with the Keltic spirit and versed in the details ol Keltic antiquity, she has also infused them with the richness of Keltic imagination and

Preface

mysnosm. ] have also to thank my daughter Rhoda for tireless assistance ingathering and arranging the materials which are the foundations of this attempt to rebuild the house of our decaying Brirish tradition -an edifice which, I am eon;"inC!i:d, the patriotic mystic will lend every aid In gloriously rebuilding!

CO'NTENTS
CHAPTER
lNTiWD'UCTORl'
nlU I'.MN ANI :h;;sUJ~" S,\cRA-SURVlVA[. 'rlli\DlTION-P'ROPOSED P~OOOPIUS E,\I~LV -AI[.LlED
l'lc,Nr,\N

L. s.
66 Arden Street,

OF

H~:R OCCUI.T OF' SAMETElillIT-

Edmnburgh.

RECONS:<:RUCTlON OF THE

',"SAR: ON DRUIDI.SM-BRlTAlN ON F.ERR'r'

THl3 DRUl[)]C

DEIID-QUESTION ASSOCI,\TEO
,\ND

OF WtTlJ

Rm..I:'GIOus
WI:Trl

EnINOLOG,,'-MuST

Looe -ro

INn.lJr;NCE

SP:.lIN-CAPSIAN

CULWRE

TMmENOISIlI.N-!\ZIL,L!\N BR[Y'AlN-NEOU"FIIIC
HAIRY J\ND

C,U,I.

CULTURES IN

TIMES-

"'''D
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tI'h,GALITHIC Psoru.ss LON'"

l\'tEN, 2,(]()Q

TRADIU!s-Do:L~mNS

B!m"Ro\\"s~VOYAGGS B.C.-C[JI.I
,],HE

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Or: 'I'I·lll Dl'"AD OF EUROP£..U<I

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M:O:N IN SI'JIUI-CSNTRAL
OF

INVADERS

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CIVIUZATION, OF

v.

(:m.TURl: "CAPSIAN" em.T

01'

SI·.UN"

Er\STERN
STONIE

PMNTINGS

MEGALITHIC
,U.D

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AGE~DEVEI.op~rIlNT THE M!!STABAON ORIGIN IT OF OF nm CULT OF' .FRO~I: 1\. O'F AUD OF THr:l

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IN
OF

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]'I.U.L

SI&RG'.(-Iml.RIAN Rrrss

T.

D.
TO

KENDRICK"S DRUIDISM -BRITAIN .. Rm.}GIOUS A]}~rll{Tu:ru:

rAUL AND

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A KEl.TIC

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DURIN'G THE PRI~STL'I'

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DISTlNCTION"-KELTS

"I.m.
HI'

NATIYE

Rl'.tl.mON-KELTS .
'WI"[EI

FOIu~ A

Gl\lJLU~
liN!

ABORIG1.N1AL. FAITH-'DRUIDISM DRUlIDS "'OFF1CIAL'"

DRUlDlSM

BRIT.\IN-VilE.RE

HRIT!\IN?-JUSTIFICATIONI
BI:JTAIN-DRUlmS]!

OF "'OFFICIAL"

IN
11

AND THE STON.E 9

CIRCILf.S

10
THE
TI~E()R~'-THF. RElFE,R:8NCBS. HU~I"'N AM.DNG

Contents
CHAPTER
CULT
GAULS TO

Co n t.e n t s n
C"UGM'IT.
:rUE

11
EN,IGMA OF Boos PALL 'Of' INTO

C:IRCLE O~' DE.IT~'--'l·HE NAMES O:Er or GO:D-"'fllE

OF

THE
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DEAD
FOR, nns
D[S___JCUISS~.CAL IM~\lORI.~LLT!i'OF THE

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'~\NCi':

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001" THE!,

DirwuJI;s:1II ,,,- CULT 01' 'Hi].

G"lUI.ISH

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CEHLDREN

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THIii

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BoOK

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iii I!
01'
IN

ANCtIN.E TRADITION IN .BRITlSH JIIEDlAi:VJIL LH'ERA1'URE

M'ONMO'UTI: .... S I·'LAMENS "'H:ISTORIA"'-hs
,\5

lR.IlL!lIND-SORCF..IHIlS, DRumlSM llARIlS

lmsa

SOURCI':5 DRUID lU"'I)'

DRUID5.-SUllllnr,"I!L

'ilil,u.l<:s--

,\1 P1'.BIENTll~-BRl'I'ISH Kn~Gs

S,\I.;I'IIFI:t:,,--THfl \'OItl"IGERN'-THE 0'1'
/I

"GO,DS"-}\,

TO. IT mlY 'ililm.SH

BRI'FJlIIiI-MERUN

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M}'Sl'E.R'l'

OF

KELT1C

BRI;'FON POI>.~1nN liND

Psycno.lJoGy-ERIT,\IN DRUIDIC IDEAS DON

PRI':SF.NiTLY L\CKS

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BRITIlIN-Tllri AND B.RIIN SOURCES 01:' Co.NTE;

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TIlE

.DRUIDIC

LEGEND-TilE:

'" Pl,RCEVAL''''-])RAIII'II.1r.IS ON THO, G:RML-TIIE

CHAPTER
" B.4.RDDiIS"
HISTo.RV
0.1'

IV
'1\'(

W"F.!!.50N,:E OF KERIDWEN'S UM:r, GRMlo-C,'1NON 1[01.0 'IORGANW'G

MYTH THER&]N-TH11:i

M,I\CCIJU.OCH

T I~ VO[.UM:E-CO:u.I':CTl!l) lI.unIF.NTIC'IT¥ CII.urPIDNrm 13001{ OF

Mrrn THE
II~ II

EX,I'M'INEm>-Tni:. GRi\U, AS CAULDRo.N!

.137 AND

-ITs

1\111 :ITS EDITo.RSSnn!OI,S"-SL,,'rmT

01' TI:H!

PRDOFS, OF TIll': S,"MR-"G]1NITIN~:IR."~'I..IIN'" Of' ANCWIH DRUmls,M"-"TU]1

iiI'll)

',,"VI!I1l'1I4GS OF THE BARDS-Tu:ti: TIUIR wrns BRIT:lIN-""TI,m DF.'IT'i'

1,1

MYSTIC LE'TTERS 0 [ V,

SIGN'IFICANCE-SECRI>I' 130o.K
DR.

B... IDS R
NlON'

O~·

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CHAPTER VH SfiG.REl' TRA.DlTlON IN Ui:GEND

BHII'I!!NG
WELSH

RITE

AND L!iGENOS

ON 'THE SI:CRIi., TIlAD[l]ONlIDOL DF' Hu-THE; INW"\I.ES .ANI) nlE E'EN CERBM:ONIHS

OF TIIEDLOGY"-

OF'

SIXT:!::U>;NTHCI1NTUIU'

POWERIi.ESSNCSS"'-"

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011 VIII,

CIIXNGELING SVPERsrn.ION-I:-Lu.l.o\v -ARTHUR'S

l'\Bvss-THE

CYCLES

PL,tNRS, OF iEXISTICNCE-AIIRF,I'>.

NIl;II;TERN'TI~ CIlN'liURY PAGAN "'PRIE5'FS"

'rUE P,IWSI,C,~.I.,PLilNE-GWYNVYD'. THe: SPIRI,:rU.U.PLANIl:

Sump

.oF G'U,SS-WI,TCHCRAn'

12
SloCR"T
Dxtnmc

Contents
TR,lUlTlON'-W'ITCH

Contents
DRUID Mi\G1CS-BY THE

13

ANlD 16 .... I)-THE

URVTVALS ASSEMBLY

IN; IN

SOOTl •• l·_AcHON· u

l>ENIiIM.L SuuNs-TnE

ANHQUl1'lES IN liND

OF

TIl Ii
"N~'~-(),!WirDISM"-"

CHAPTER X W UH'J.fllGS OF "MORIEN"

[oRmN's" NE'G'I1f.IV~:
Till!

C,\
0.1"

I..URO.N o~r KE.RIDWEN TilE MtSl·urro..,-GOG

AND

Scon.MiD
MAGDG,

SVSTE~I-THE
P(UNCIPL&S-Tuo:

TRl'lD

01'"

-Tun:: Rn,E
GODS
OF

uu:

Sm.:-THIB

DRUID,
I N~~ B,I.RDIC

COC!l.-\IGNE.-GOJl)'[VA

BRIGANTI""

I':I'~ ~ NOM~' OF'

N.I rURE~

E,IRTH

AS

"Buv
PAnl

ENCI.OSUR.1:::"-T,\UI,SIN

lIS, nm

SUN-THt:

i\'hnl

OF 215

CHAPTER
TfIE HIGHER PHILOSOPHY MYSTICISM
OR

VUI
OF BRITJSl-I DEI,nI' \

1\",l<fUWEN !\ COSMIC

ALLEGDR'l-l'Hfl

OF SOULS

CHAPTER
1J80IDISJ1{
1,\'

X[
TRAVJ1'JON

Tu!:: Nt\lrUlU: Oli' GOD~Hu Hrs FORM AS AN OX

THllIU::
·"THE.

THE SUPIUlM:!> DRUIDIC BULL-Esus. FACUl.TlES

A.ND

THE

SEGNET

OR HEsvs.--1"mi: NECI!SSAln'
CONTAINED BAROS'"

IN
Dnums
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DIl.DlOIe CI':RIlMONV
RrfF.:s-Mf'\GIC_,\L

CIRCUS
SEN'FKNCES

DR

PLANI~SOF BEINiC-l'HB

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SUIIVIWIL
~ :U\\I-h.!SII

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TRIU~[pJ~JlNT ] o,r-DIFFI'iRBNCE. OF PSYCHIC

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XII
CONCl.USIONS
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The Mysteries of Britain

CHAPTER
INTRODUCTORY

I'I Ih peoples of antiquity the isle of Britain was environment ol mystery" a sacred which was tn encroach upon a 1I',:inn of enchantment, the dwel[ing o~ gods, the Illri 11(' and habitation of a cult of peculiar sanctity and 111\ .1 ie,d power. Britain was, indeed" the i1tSULa ,I(tet of the West, an island veiled and esoteric, the I: "/ pt 101 the Occideot. Legends of its strange and. It rill! IUS marvels were current among the semii I, iliz d races who dwelt over against its ghostly whit cliffs; it was regarded as the haunt and refuge i: III g-i;ncnts,demons, and spirits; by not a few, even as IIIii' paradise and resort of the dead.. The early "1lTOllilts of its ten-ors show how varied were the I «mders ascribed to it, Perhaps thatin:stinct or I" >Iicy of secrecy which inspired early traders to , II"W md an area oEmercantile monopoly with tales of i lI'cad was responsible for much of this supernatural 11"1".Jtation. But the fame of Britain as a territory withdrawn and occult cannot altogether be explained by such a theory, The intention of this 'book is to explain the ancient ·.Iatus of Britain as a country of almost unique ',:lllIdity in the ancient world, and to demonstrate the r.urvi val of the mysticism and occult tradition which
1111' very home and 11'1 r[lory, to enter
17 B

18

T' h e 1\1y s t erie

f B r itat i[I[
I[

Introductory
II.'III~ill ion

19

,I

were certainly develope I among Our Bl'rulisb all esters to an extent unrivalled on the continent of Europe .. I shall also endeavour to make it plain, by arguments founded upon authority, that the ~rad.ition of my~tic.istTlwhich fl.o~l.Irish~d our island was of equal in annquity and sancD.on with that developed in Egypt and the East" and III no sense derivative from it so [ar as its ori.gins W,ere concerned. ..The romance of distanoe has, indeed, played havoc with OUf native occult philosophy. Eitherbeca:use the East appears to us more glamorous than our own environment, or because we have become conventionally used to the notion, we assume that is ~he mother of all mystery, that her ancient ,cmvlhzatlOns-Egypt, Babylonia, and [ndia-were the sole andworl I-originators of secret Jore..\'et. it is demonstrable thar 011 'Our insular and isolated soil the.re ~rose all arc~u~ tradition as potent and as IDa}estIc as any similar system fostered by the Orient, and better accommodated to om racial psychology. Alth?~,gh it is impossible to dogmatize concerning th~ . ongms. ~nd earlier affinitie.<, of this separate Brieish tradlHon,we Can affirm with confidence that: thmugh IOIl~ a~d ,insular seg~'~ga:tioll..it developed a system entirely Its Own ,whIch was handed down through. the ages and is still capable of extensive recovery, Jnst as .in the early centuries of 'Our era, and before them, Brita~1lwas r garded as specifically sacred, an enclosure of the gods, so throughout the Ag~ '~f Ro~anc.e was she thought of as :peculiarly the Island of ~aerle glamour and enchanted adventure. This secondary phase ... merely a survival of the vas much. more ~'enerablelbelief in her religious sane it)'. .But if she .IS .no longer the haunt d and magical Island of Spanjsh and French romancers, the elder

S?~.

!l1~"I)!liollUher as the ibirthp~ace of a distinct occult of should hold a vivid and abiding interest for dUI',,· u[ her sons and daugh~erswho still feel inspired II \ hen' mystical significat[]:ce.. The attempt will be UIOI I,· in these pages to reconstruct the fragments of 1111111"ancient Brirish esoteric philosophy in such a l1li' uuu-r that the salient outlines at least of its edifice I'll IY be apparent and distinct, and ~hat its system jillill,\' he at the disposal of British mystics lor their '111,0' and comprehension as mOl"e suited by it . genius 11'11' the native menrality and disposition than the IIli,' ,c:ultus so IOongin vogue. I~vidences regarding the belief in the sacred and 11111\"0;.1 j'rCl'1 character of the British Isles in early times II" !'I'adily forthcoming. Julius Ca=sar, who almost " ullniniv received his information from the .t£duan Illnlli,d biviciacus, the friend of Cicero, says of the II )I:mid culr : ," It is believed that this discipline was I I; I instituted:in Britain, and from thence transferred II, ( ;;\1.11" for even at this day those who desir to be ""rf,l'(' adepts of their art make a voyage thither to h· ru il." It is thus dear from Caesar's testimony !lllll [he Gaulish Druids regarded Bri.tain not only as Ilu' hi:rthplaJce of their cult" but in some respects as !I'I .. fficial headquarters" its Tibet. Every religion I, "Ikswith veneration toward the place of its origin, III! I Ihe mere fact that the Gaulish Druids not only I ,,·li~·1;Ie(1 the British Isles to be the 61:"sthome of Ilwi r faith, but that they actually sent their neophytes III" instruction to its seminaries is, perhaps the best I ",1 imony the experienced student of religious science I ullld desire in al!-m-iving a conclusion favourable to at tlu- inception of Druidism in our island, PI' copius, the Byzantine historian, who flourished 11'11 the sixth century (A ..D,. 500-565) unquestionably
I

" De. Bd!Q Gal!ko,

B:k. VI,

13.

refers to a [ate f:orm or the belief ]11 the mysterious reputation of Britain in his De Bello Gothico" Speaking 0.£ the Isle of Brittia, by which he means Britain, he states that it~s divided by a wall, Thither fishermen from the Breton coast are compelled to ferry over at darkest !light the shades of the dead, unseen by them, but marshalled by a mysterious leader. The fishermen who are to row the dead across to the British coast must ~ to heel ao early, for at midnight !:heY'are aroused by a tapping at the door, and someone calls them in a low voice, They rise and go down to the shore, attracted. by some force which they cannot explain. Here they find their boats apparently empty" yet the water rises Ito the bulwarks, as if they were crowded. Once they commence the voyage, their vessels cleave the waves speedily, making the passage, usually a day and a half's sail~ng, in an hour. When the British shore is reached, the souls of the dead leave the craft" which at once rise mn the sea as, if unloaded. Then a loud voice on shore is heard calli,rrugthe name and style of those who have disembarked. How hard Keltic lore dies is MUustratedby the fact that it is still usual at Treguier in Brittany to. convey the dead to the churchyard in a boat over a part of the river called the" P.assage de rEnier," instead of taki,ng the shorter way by land." As has already been said the argument to be upheld in these pages is that European civilization, both Eastern and W estern, arose tram a common centre. It follows from this that the religious and mystical ideas which flowed from tba~ commonfount had also a single andprjmitive origin. J LIst as the
t I

26

The

Mysteries

of

Bri t ain

Introductory
which appears to have been the uill iVI~ and pristine religious impulse o~ ~hmsearly I ~IIi:Hr , developed certain special tendencies and ,liI.lI':wterist~cs in Egypt and the East, there 1S 1I'li:Ih'le evidence that it similarly developed in Illilain., taking on the CO~Ol1.r of its insular environ!II1'lll and evolving an occult tradition of equal 1111111'11('1 and authority capable of revealing to u~ .~ I"Y'ili~lfy as majestic and more in consonance With 111111' II culiar psychology. With this theory are iudissolubfy associated those 1'1uhlerns of the origin of our race which for so lO:li'Ig 1II,iVl' aroused the fiercest controversy, but which ,nil «Icrn archreolozv has to a great extent succeeded III resolving. h been the bane of that species of III \'~;Iicism whieh xlrew authority Irorn alien sources Ilill,Il many of its most powerful apologmsts were uur-ouversant with the sciences of archeeology and uuhropology, and that they have Jf~cog.niz~dsour?es I ,IIIdubious character and aUegedll11sprratlon whilst III' Ilcclting the proven conclusions of science. These lil!.cions have, however, been. utterly wrecked by II TI"llt archaeological demonstl!"a~::iol1 and need not illl'~ ain us here. The race now generaUy called! "Iberian'", or "~II cditerraneau' by the majority of ethnologists, wns pmbably rn:he last wave of a welm-ma:rk~dstock h,I'!ing its origin in ortb-vVestern Ain.ca, and whmch during thousands 0,[ years sent out I.mpu~s~s h ~ both. East and ';Vest. Its precise place of. ongm 1\11" do not know, but Sergi, perhaps the most I", unpetent and experienced ~f ruts historians, beli~,:ed mhisto be situated in the regLon .of the Sahara" w][uch W:l~ not always prone to desert conditions. That it g;il'l! Egyptian civilization its first impet~s I h?pe to .how , and if it flourished more exceedingly m the
IIh oE the Dead,

h~s

Di1!ulorff's edltion, Vol. II" p, 559. Si"~ rnv Legends aPld ROII:I.Cll1ces "1 l1.rillt"'Y,

p. 3&3·

22

The

M y s t e r ie S

0(

13r ita i n
C(

Ln t.r o d uc aory

23

Nile-land than else\~~ere, th~t was alll~osffi:whony on account of the propinous environment It encountered there. Similarly it took on special. attributes in Britain. the Cult of the Dead wh~ch it carried with· it to o~r isbnd,. as it did to Egypt, culminating in the subljme and intellectual system of Druidism whieh found here its. natural horneand environment' which survived in ~ritain long after it had. perish~d elsewhere .. and hnger~~ 011, affecting the entire process and ]1Isto.I"Yof Bntish mystical thought even t.o the present time . . in order to justify the above statements a digression . into t~e sphere o~ archaeology and ethl1ology IS essential. This will draw itsfacts and sustain its ar~ul1leJ1ts lrom the writings of authorities who have gIven the most recent attention to the problems of European archceology and those of the Near Eas~. In Europe,. the history of civilization may be said to begin with the Aurignacian or Cr&Ma~l1onrace,. who appear to have entered our ~O[~tIUent about 23000 B.C. Certain authorities belLe~e them to have had an African origin. The Capsians, who Eollovvedthem, roughly aboet 10000 B.,C.., were admittedly of Afri.can migi 11, and their ml.turewa~ superior to that of their predecessors, in th.c dorrrestication of the dog and the use of the bow. LIke the Aurignacians, the Capsians were artists who left their paintmngs on the walls of their rocks~lelt'er5 in the central parts of Spain, only these display a much more marked oonventional treatment of t~e subject and were nearly all of a religious or magical character.
I

111·.mln.~~!lerea mixed race, ornprising '''Med:iterI III!'.UI," or Iberian." elements, negroid and " \ Ilucn.oid" strains. Their culture, characterized 11\ ·.111a11nely-workedHakes 11 has been allied by some I.tlilw'ities with that o~ Tardenoisian (about 6000 u .) \I!lhich shows certain superficial resemblances I! II. But the affinity is now regarded as question!II.I,·. The Azilian culture, a degeneration of that of lilt!" urignacian, .. ms discovered in Britain, at the il I, tria Cave near Settle, and in the island of '1IIIISOlY and a~ the 1acArthur Cave near Oban. Il'ml her a culture having widespread centres in h.mce, Belgium, Germany ,1 and parts of ]taily, and I UflWI'l as the Campignian (about 4000 B. c ..) and h.rmcterized by unpolished flint implements, is also "nwl,'lllItered in Britain. AU these cultures are .·,'.clI"iated with the period of low development to'l Iln·jng between the Old and ew Stone Ages. ·(lming to Neolithic or New Stone Age times, 1111" stream oE culture seems to have arrived by sea
I I I

III nm

~he south.

Bosch Gimpera, a Spanish arclha:::ologist 'Of experience, has given it as his opinion that the

Since the close ofthe WaL, Hritish archreology has , Xl)l -rienced a process of reconstruction more 1IIIIH~;J.m.entaI than that applied 1:0 many departments III 0111" national life equally in need of reorganization .. ~1[ ,rr ,undeed , has been achieved during this decade III the solution of vexed questions than during the t receding century, and the enthusiastic reviva] of .uuiquarian effort in France, Spain, and Scandinavia IllIs placed an extraordinary stream of new and n'lIvilu:ing data a~ the disposal o~ British students, I IIIlscuriries in British prehistory were due chiefly to II poverty of Continenta I analogies, but comparison Ilr the results of recent excavations abroad has made il possible' not only to point with precision to the t 'unl inerrral areas of lrigin of the several primitive

24

The

Mysteries

or

Br it ajn

Introductory
nu almost exact model of structures to be found on 'I 1I1I1:illC'ntal sites to-day. I'mm Los LvI illares mn Almeria in the Soutb of

cultures whose remains are fcund on Br,itish soil, but even run some cases to the actual Iocalities and ident~cal sites in Spain, in Gaul, and elsewhere whence they must have been carried to our shores some twenty to forty centuries ,ago. At first, conservative antiquaries were chary of giv,ing assent to conclusions so novel and far-reaching in their consequences to Bw-itish prehistory. Bill: the evidence has been so overwhelming mn its character and so universal in its acceptance as to justify complete agreement with its deductions. These most surprising results have been arrived at chiefly through painstaking comparison between British and Continental megalithic or rough stone forms of architecture, pottery, and artifacts in stone and bronze, and by the rise of a wonderful European journalism of antiquity hitherto unapproached in aCC1!.lracy, perception, and distinction. The remarkab~e()onclusions alluded to. are to. a great extent due to the excellent pioneer work accomplished in Spain by Senors Obermeier and Bosch Gimpera, and in Great Britain by Messrs O. G_ S. Crawford, E... H .. Stone, and Professor V. Gordon Childe. Concentration on the question of the trade-routes blazed by the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean and Atlantic areas during the ew Stone and Bronze Ages has, indeed, revolutionized our <comprehension of ehe Western "Vorld four thousand yea,s agOo,.and has made it clear that the traders of Sp.a.in and Brittany even at that dim era regularly engaged in a eontinccus and well-organized commerce 'with our islands. Not only did they carry with them such articles 'Of merchandise as they could I arter for aold amber, and jet, but they instructed aUF rude fore~ fathers in their own system of' .rough. stone building to such purpose that in many cases tile result was

cry to lone Rhinaire, in Caithness. proved, the horned cai.rn III 11.1' Scottish site reproduces exactly the plan of JlI'IIl!: ancient tombs at the ALmerian station, and "IhilJils the selfsame system of oorbelling. Four ~Ihlluf;and years ago men from Southern Spain in 1III'g'(' dug-out 'boats p~uggedwith Spanish cork were i n,ll 'Iilla the Iberian sea-line, rounding the horns of 1lll'iHany, and making slow passage by the aid o£ 1",llh'Tll sails up the W,est Coast of Scotland and dhl'ulIRh the Pentland Firth to. Denmark in search of ~:"I.I and amber. Some of these vessels have Iii ~llq;I~lly been found in the raised beaches of Scotland, I ill ..ontaining the green-stone adzes they brought III~ILhem. The rectangular chambers with lateral iIIW~WS in the Orklleys repeat above ground the nhh'I"I"21neanchambers oEAnghelu Ruju in Sardinia, Illw brochs or dry-stone towers which stud the coasts "II S· tland ageepractically identical with the nuraghm ,II ~:ll"dinia" even if somewhat later in period than the l.uu-r and the remarkable series of tombs scattered '11111Il~ the western and northern coasts of Scotland «rve 1:00 indicate the line of the trade-route from ~ Illthern Spain to DeUllmal:"k.On the other hand, II uni:-h amber and English jet are found in the graves II Lus Millares, and help to indicate the precise kind "II tn-asure which the early traders were anxious to
'~~i"lin is a far
,'d,

as has been definitely

1·.-I.lrC_

II rtlll'!)duced first

These early traders to Britain seem to have the "dolmen' type of grave, a large IIIIIC' raised 011 three or four monoliths. A later I" 11111 is the chambered ~ong barrow and the cairn" Ilida penetrated inland in BI"jl;,]:in as elsewhere.

26

The

Mys.teries

of

Britain
I

I ntr o d I!.lC t or y
11'.1111115,

2.7

The ~ong barrows were used as collective sepulchres in which the dead were usually buried although in Yorkshire and some parte; of Scotland undoubted evidences of cremation are forthcoming, The men 1who constructed these long barrows were long-skulled and short in stature. That they came by sea and from the Souili-West is certain, as the distribution of their burial-places reveals, and the barrows they built cam be referred only to similar structures in Spain and the \¥estern Meditenanean" especially in Almeria. These long barrow men were traders, voyaging from Spasn to Denmark by way of the northern coasts of Scotland, as the series of these tombs shows, and the Danish amber and British jet ~otlnd in their Spanish burial-places are eloquent of the far-flung traffic in which they engaged. BUI: few signs are evident of any colonizatjon on a la.rge scale by this enterprising race of maritime merchants, which may be dated at about 20Q() iB.C., and is contemporary with tile Middle Mino.:'1ncivilization in Crete. But the long barrow culture did 110t impinge on our eastern coasts, O.I!', indeed, press f<lr inland, although it seems improbable that it may have been "'taken over by the natives from traders m:ouchingon the shore;" as Professor Childe suggests. Surelyhad such been the case such precise similarity to Iberian models as he alludes to could scarcely have resulted .. The Jives of the builders 0.( the long barrows. were evidently almost entirdy conditioned by the Cull: of the Dead. That these New Stone A.ge people were originally Df African origill is now clear.' In Spain, extraordinary numbers of reli:giOlls objectsassociaeed with this cult have been found, made chiefly [rom bone, idols D~ a flat or "plaque'·' shape, and
I

ee Chikle,

DU1l'rI

of

lElITOrean Ci'llilicalivlI, p. I ·Ii.

,. '[,oziers" of schist. These objects, taken from show how elaborate the Cult of the Dead 11,111 become ill tile Iberian peninsula at that early ~ r ifld. ,"· Kj~gardil1g the race and culture of the folk who II "lowed [he men of the long barrows in Britain there I', 1l0W no dispute. J n the Rhineland, a fusion III'L ween the "beIl-beakeur" people and the "baule"I'{t·" folk:of Thuringia had taken place, The former WI"lreprobably of Italic or~gin, and had opened up the Ilk 'ml"er route from Italy fOJ!' the amber trade, linking !lipthe Elbe Valley with the AdFiaric about 2000 B.C . I'hey were a race of prospectors and traders. The l.aule-axe ~olk were users and makers of bronze IIIlIpkmellts, mming from Hungary and Tran<vlvania. These, mingled with a small proportion III • , Alpines, 'J .or short-skulled people, invaded iBlI"il'lin. This mixed race was short-skulled, ••lIlumgh certain structural peculiarities seem to. show l~h;ll they were not without "Nordic" or orthern 1'. Irlala:ffinities. They spread rapidly in Britain. II1I1 reducing a metal culture into the island for the 11I',~t time, manubcturing gold objects on a fairly la.rge !'('alc, and a peculiar shape OE food-vessel with a lu-ll-shaped mouth. Their contribution to Blitish I 1:111 ure was certainly greater than that o~ their i\l!antic predecessors. But the cultures overlapped .un! mixed. And there is sufficient evidence that the 11'ligious and mystical ideas of the earlier Iberian I"a'oi)les triumphed, completely dominating in the "'IHI those of the Central European new-comers, and 1~llIillgfor all time a peculiarly "Iberian" aspect to British religious and mystical thought. Britain was, 1I1II k-ed destined to. remain Iberian in a religious .j'llse long after the Iberian Cult of the Dead had ,·.llnishedin its own original milieu. Once introduced,
I

28

The

Mysteries

of

Britain
III
UI

I ntroduc

tory

this Iberian form appears to have taken a powerful hold on the imagination. of the native stock and its successors, and even the later' Celtic invaders seem to have adapted its basic prin6ples and to have grafted their mythology upon it, This then it was 'Which rendered British mystical thought unique in Europe" and which caused it to be looked u:ponhy the ~e.oples of the Continent at the beginning oE the Christian era as the exemplar and prototype of the ancient faith of the West. Controversy rages on the question of the priority of civilization in East and West. Those who maintain the more venerable character of Eastern civilization regard the Iberian culture of Spain as a reflection of that of the Eastern Mediterranean, or, at least, a carrier of its benefits 1:0 more northern lands, But the bare fact that the megalithic or rough, stone monuments of Spain exhibit exactly similar, if more convensionalized, paintings to those of the more ancient Capsian culturewhich came from North-West Africa, should grove the. protagonists of Eastern civilization considerable pause. It is precisely the gream:centres of megalithic architecture ill Europewhich have obviously the closest affiuatiol:il with survivals from the Old Stone Age of the West, an age pre-dating anything that the. Nile and Mesopotamia have to show. Even the Old Stone Age in pain and France was. not only demonstrably native to theW est and. more ancient them the cultures of the East, but it assuredly exhibits the earliest known germs of the great Cult ,~f w:he Dead. Late Aurignacian burials display the first steps .i n the development of mummification at a period at least 14-000 years B.C. The Hesh was removed lrorn the bones and these were painted red, the colour of life. "The deadman was Ito Iive again

29

Ilis own body, of which the bones were the frame-

, "To< paint it nearest thing to people kn.ew; it again serviceable . , "1\,[. . •. has II In' liS owner s use. IV IcroscopIC exarmnation II"" -ved ehar the bones so painted were in several '!',I'S wrapped around by skins, the first rude I uJL!lt}'pe of mummy-swathing. The simple fact is II ill Egypt has nothing so ancient to show run the way , I 1·;llI"ly efforts at embalming. St:veral gi£jjed writers among the "Orierntalists" huvc attempted to prove Eastern i!1Auence in the ul,'galith.ic culture of the West by showirng that t:h,e III urture known as the "dolmen'" was modelled on II... ~lgyp'l:ian mastaba, Among these Elliot Smith' Illtl Peny are the most outstanding British defenders 1,1 this theory. But the Egyptman mastaba differs II ulically from the dolmen in that was a funerary I hal' 1 built over the actual tomb cut in the rock, whereas the dolmen was the substructure of a graveill~!ll1ld. Elliot Smith, Perry, and Professor Peake, uli.. cn,ring the aSSOCIatIon between European 111.lq.:t-dithic structures and gold, have inferred thereh illll that Eastern prosp!i!ctors for the precious metal buih these monuments, Peake believing them to. have I,·,·n Sumerians, while Elliot Smith and his school I,'all to an Egypt~an origin. The religious urge in EJ.(Yltt, the latter think, the need for ti£e-g~vtng ubstances employed in the Cult of the Dead, aroused I spirit of exploration in Egypt and stimulated distant \'11)1 ages. But 110 meta] in a worked state is to be IllIiHld in th.e megalithic monuments, and the explanaI'inn I:hat the Eastern voyagers refused to initiate the
\ II h

Ii," says Professor Macalister the colour of lj~e was the IIn Illunification that the Paleeoliahic W,I'; all attempt to make the body

,t

" UjllYS

• Sl'I~ his "Evolution of the Rock-cut Tomb and Dolmen", .Pre$,ented to _<:;ir H'illimn Ridgeway.

in

30

The

Mysteries

of Bni t ain
1111,lIm:l1c, about

lntrod

u ct or y

31

natives into the art of metal-working, while .instruc~ing them :in the art o~ dolmen-building (that is, acoording to Smith and Perry, rnastaba-building] will scarcely recommend itself as being well founded or reasonable. Why the "prospectors" should have taught the rude populations of Spain and Brittany the rudiments of their religion and the art of imitating the rnastaba ami yet have refused them rhe boon of instruction in ore-working, is not sulfieiently made plain. There is no real reason to believe that the dolmen was 110t the invention of the late survivors oE the Old Stone Age civilization of the Adan~ic or Western region. "The gr,eat centres of megalithic architecture :in Europe are precisely those regions where the Old Stone Age survivals are most numerous." remarks Professor Clhi.Me... He goes on to remark that this thesis, too, has its difficulties. " How did megalithic architecture spread from the Atlantic Coast to the Caucasus, to say nothing of India or the Pacific Islands? IE the comparison drawn (in a preceding chapter) between the early civilizations of the Near East and theWes.t has any weight, it would be absurd eo argue that the Western barbarians taught the Egyptians and Cretans the Cult o~ the Dead .." So it would certainly appear to one who was not armed with a third and ajteruative theory-the thesis that both West and East drew the idea of the Cult o~ the Dead from a common source, a N orth A~rican source. My own belief is that this great and ancient cult, dating from the late Palseolithic times, spread from some centre in N orth- West Africa to Egyp~ on the one hand, and to Spain" Gaul, and eventually ro Britain on the other. That it had alreadybegun to develop in Spain in late Awrigna ian times we have seen, and that it invaded Britain through "Spanish"

2000 B.C., and Egypt about the I'ir·;mDynasty, is also dear. My contention is that jl was this very ancient curt which brought to Britain 111i' elements o.f that faith which later took shape as l lruidism, a religion which came to have an especial II ,'!III and sanction in our island, and which was, II"~ h·~~ the root and beginning of British mysticism. I, BlI'i[~lgn" we know from Csesar, was regarded as the ,.Uwial home of Druidism. Let us see precisely what I \' ia k-nee we possess of the North- 'iNest African II" i, "in of the Cult of the Dead. Iumrnification, the preservation of the human IIlndy after death in order that it might once more be '"'vivified by the return of the spirit, seems to have II i';t~n in Egypt out of the Cult of Osiris, god of the h-.ul and the Underworld. Osiris does not make his J'l'p!'aranoc in Egypt before the period of the First 11~lnasty, or about 3.400 D.C., when a centre of his ,or:hip is found at Abydos. The so-called Book J ~I lilT Dead, or early fragments of it, are known to h. ve been in use in Egypt early in the Osiriao era. Now the Book of the Dead [S obviously, in its , .irher fragments, the written expression of a much ~ld!:r ritual dating from prehistoric times, and I hl{csted into writing in early Dynastic or late preIi~ nastic times, Tt is also the book of Osiris a nd ill'" Osirian cult. Or .. Budve says of Osiris "his 1'lllIle and Oliwgin were possibly Libyan," that is, he i .rrue from the "Vest .. Sallconiathon, the Carthagtnian writer, tells us ~'h.lII the cult of the Cabiri, a mysterious religion, llll.iginaled in N orth- West Africa, and was delivered uln,llug others ., to the Egyptian Osiris." The 'I : •• 'hiri are said by Sanconiathon to. have been the IU\'("'Illors of boats, of the arts of fishing, building and I'll:'irulturc, writing and medicine. There is mittIe

32

T he l\l yster ie s of Britain

doubt, indeed, that they were the old civilized race of the West, whom we have seen penetrating to British shores in their dug-out canoes. If 'Osiris was one of its apostles, !then the reljgioll of the Cabiri was merely the Cult O[ the Dead, as Sanconiathon asserts" Cicero calls the Cabiri the "Sons of Proserpine," goddess of the Underworld" llifhich IS to say as much. Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Macrobius, Varro, and others, regarded the Cabiri as the Penates of the Romans, that is the dead presiding as household familiars, and Voss,ius thought them the ministers of the gods who were deified after their death. Strabo regarded them as the ministers of Hecate, and Bachar!: recognized them as "infernal deities."'" This eab,i:rian cult, then! hailing from North-West Africa" is evidently nothing but a dim survival or memorial or the ancient civilized race of that regiorll, which made its way into Sp'ain, and after undem:-goil1g many phases there from Pa~<eoLi.th.ic N eohthic to times, gradually found its way., or sent. its doctrine of the Cult of the Dead, to Egypt om the one hand and to Britain on the other. This theory explains in a word all the notions of Egyptian influence ill Britain, and the many apparent resemblances between Egyptian and British mysticism and folk-belief. But it may he said" and with some justice" that all this iis scarcely of the nature of evidence, Who, aEt.er all, was Sanconiathon, someone may ask, the problematical Carthaginian model of at late Roman writer? It haschowever, been proved long ago that Sanconiathon's account was in aU probability genuine enough. 5611, let us get on to firmer footing. We have it om the soundest authority that more [han one race of Afr.ican origin in vaded or crossed over to
• See Rich, Ocw~~ Scie'~GeS', p. [60 ff',

x:

..

~.

Inh·odu,etory
1111

33

Isurope in Palseolithic and Neolithic times. Great -ories, indeed, stand or WI by this assertion, and 11.·y are backed by sturdy proofs enow, The ;;I~psjal1 Culture" which came to Europe as we have ,I· 'II, emanated Hom Norili-WestAfrica; it is, 111.:1 .ed, named. after Capsa Dr Gafsa in Tunis, The .z.ilianculture is also indisputably African. "With 11111" Capsian culture, says Professor Macalisrer, " must undoubtedly be associated the Spanish wallIlai.ntmngs at Alpera, Cozul, and elsewhere II he Capsian Hint industry is the parent of the hil,j Il-T ardeuoisian ,' , The Aziliam culture in 'II'. earliest phase is to be EOllIDd in North-West \I"dea_ N ow my point is that these ancient cultures were Ilourishing' in North-Wesr Africa and Spaia at a I'~:rjod about 10,000 years ago and more, when 111·~J.fypthad no definite culeure of any kind whatsoever" ,I ,.. the Badarian ~ca. 9000 a.c.) in itself an echo of I he Solutrear» or late Aurignacian. The North '\lllI"ican .cu.lt:us had, indeed, been preceded by that of II much oider race. the Cro-Magnon,. which seems II,~ have arrived in Spain about 20,000 years ago, and ~ hieh certainly laid the foundations of the art of nuunmitieation, Yet in face of these facts the I. Jrientalists" insist that "civilization" is of older II. i~in mnEgypt and the East! Is it contended that Ih. arly culture 01 the Aurignacians, Capsians, and ( ilians, primitive though it was, did not precede jl~l I(,hing E;_gypl: bad to show, that they perished I~'II....y and transmitted .l no. traditions either to the INI ,pies who succeeded them or to the East? Is it 1111il' i.mprobahle that 'their cultural and religious .1".1 , however elementary, did nom:gradually and in IIII~ xnirse of ages find their way to Egypt (where IIiUr , developed under more favourable conditions] as c
I.'

34

o.I Britain they cer~ain~ydid to Britain at a later time by a much The Mysteri,es
difficult and dangerous route? Or is it

I:ntroductory
Ilh!· !lrigrulls of the Mednerraneau

3S

more

O'f E1t'Yopea1J A'rd~83ology, gives his 0plIllon_ that the Aurignacian race originated m Central Afnca.. All authorities azree that the C~psian and Azilian cultures develop~d in NorthWest Afrka. That this culture reached the East and may have sent backcultural gifts in a superior form to Western Europe at a later period, I do not for at moment deny. But that is altogether another matter, and in any case the "Orientalists" have grossly exaggerated the importance of the ."comeb~~~"., The point. IDS that the earliest signs of C1VRIJzal'Jon appear m North-VI/estern Africa and :iVestern Em~pe, and that no~hing analogous appears 111 Egypt until about 9000 B. C." and even that date is dubious .. Now it cannot be questioned that ahe earliest civilized inhabitants of Egypt were oE Iberian stock. Mr. H". R. ,!-bll, .an excellent authority, speaking of the earliest inhabitants of Egypt, says: "We see Egypt originally inhabit d by a stone-using Hamitic race. (rhe ,Iberians) related to the surrounding Semites, LIbyans, andiV]editerranean.s." Again, he say~:: '" II'lI the Delta, they (the invading Armenolds) probably found a civilization of a primitive lVlediterranean type much more advanced than in the Upper country. , _ . The hieroglyp~c. sy~tem, and all the acoompanying culture that It implies, may have been theirs, but was more likely fllediterranean ..'" No one gave closer or more prolonged study to
~t as
J.

?~S H_and~'o~k

contended that the similaritybetween !;heir beginnings and that of Egypt IS merely Fortuitous?' .. Professor 1\1 acalister, in a memorable passage in

CCI'1'n,f)ridge Auciellt

History,

01. It p. 264.

or Iberian race than til'" hue Professor Sergi of Rome. He writes : .. lilll that original stock could not have its cradle III rhc basin of the M,editerranean" a basin more fitted 111'1 the confluence of peoples and for their active d"v(,lnpmellt; the cradle whence they dispersed in l1li,111 directions was more probably in Afr.ica. The II IIdy of the fauna and flora of the Mediterranean "'xhih~ls the same phenomenon and becomes another III ,:lIInent in favour of the AEri.can ori.gin of the 'l",·,li,lerranean peoples .." I I e proceeds to Saty that a study of the Hamitic Ihl"1' has assisted him in arriving at a conclusion, In II....rlescription "Hamin:i.c" he includes ancient and ulqd.:rn Egyptians., Nubians, Abyssinians" Ganas, "r>l1lI;1Ii , Berbers, Fulahs, and the Guanches of the II .maries. The physical characteristics of all these ~I'~'"ples he finds to be essentially tbe same, and he Inl'!ks [or theirplace of origin in Africa.. At first he dul soin East Africa, in the region of the great lakes" 111':1'1" the sources of the Nile and in Somaliland, hij·Uy encouraged to do so by the bct that the race 1'1/.1'; so b1equently and anciently portrayed oa the 1:- t:vpti;an monuments, and by the presellce of flint uuplements of the Paleeolithic Age in the Nile valley. I UI xtensive finds of worked flints are also found In North Africa and the Sahara. "The idea has lints arisen that Western rather than Eastern Africa U'"IS the original home of these peoples;' That the [lu-risms of orth-West Africa carried their culture llil Egypt seems, therefore, much more than probable. 11'1111' Western sites pre-date those of Egypt, and that l.ut alone should weigh with lltS"Eor the Iberians were IlH'rely the cultural descendants of the Capsians and ".til:i:'1I1S. Moreover, as J shall show at a later stage, ,I lilt' of the rites and customs of the early Iberian

36

The

Myst1eries

or

Britain

I nt rodu c t o r y
II 1:1,"d that the Druids 1111111'1 of the great stone II'IS were
monuments

peoples of Britain are still to be found in their pristine entirety among their Iberian kindred in North-West Africa. That the entire rite of Belrane, a rite adopted from the British Iberians by the Kelts" should survive in Morocco is, perhaps, tile best proof not only of the Iberian oroigjl1 of Druidism but of the bet "t~at an Iberian people actually brought i,t to our Island,
I

37
actually the
of a p.nor

The earliest notices of religion in Brita.in allude to a strange cult called Druidism, which, as we have seen, the Gauls believed to have originated in the country, An extraordinary mass of ponderous nonsense has been accunnslated throug:h the centuries relative to the nature and beliefs oE this cult, and it is on Iy recentiy that modern methods of study :have been applied to the exalnination o~ such kagrrientary material relative to it as is worthy of examination and has come down to us. In- his remarkably interesting hook The Dm1;ds, a study i1~ Kel't'ic P,'ehistory' i"ir.. T. D. Kendri k, of the lkitish Museum, has succeeded in placing the entire question on a much more tolerable basis than formerly., and has made jt possible to draw certain more 01" less final conclusions regarding the origins and nature of that the Saxon invasion bloHed out all memory of the Druids in Britain and that this was graduaUyrecover,ed only hy the scholarship of the sixteenth century, a conclusion which is certainly open to challenge, as I hope to show later. But he is abundantly justified in hJis statement that the .~oma11ticrevivalridiclJloll.lsly exaggerated the tradition of Druidism, describing it, however alluringl y, in an unnatural and rheaerical manner, at the same time disseminating the mendacious
I

were the Druids? What were the 1llllJ:ins of Druidism, what was its, nature :nd forms II)I worship? To these quesnons which ha.ve 11.~llat·d British archreology ~ODi ear~y four centuries n II I~;still impossible to supply defimt,~ and ~oncr~te 11.',,\ (;]"5, but they are now capabie or bemg H plieotl to in a sufficiently satisfactory general
1II11l1ll1

~\\rhn,then,

r,

Druidism, He is of the opinion

Aith.ollgh at the dawn of British hi~tory we .llq,,nlver Druidism as a cult practised officlal.ly by a II'! 1IIIc of Keltic race, there is every reason to believe I h.11 il was not o~ Keltic origin. but had been adopted II~ Ihe Keltic invaders or Britain from ~er older and I 111'ceding population. But Mr,. Kendrick refu_ses to d",nlss Druidic origins in Britain other than In the h~h,t of what we know of Druidism in Gaul, '~n the 'Ionnds that in Britain ,- it is too nebulous a thlllg to ~, 'Ii: ., "N or cal) III, rw a reasonable baSIS tor 'di lSCUSSIOll, III!" square Druidic ascendancy in Gaul with Ccesa~'~ 1,l.,ll:ell'}lentthat it originated in our island, to Whl,~h IIII' Kelts had penetrated only alter their arrival in ;.IIlL Caesar. he believes, merely recorded an "I'ilftion., not a staten~ent of F~ct, which, ~owever, was ,t'> rociated with the information that sertous devotees ,( Qruidism betook themselves to Britain for its

study. .... ", l'roceeding, Mr. Kendrick reasonably Infers, that "I~illDruidism originate in Britain it most ha~e been
I

II;

iser

1",1 ab:iished

, f927'

here longlbefore Csesar wrote. From a 1'.ls!-.;lge in Diogenes Laertius (Vil:::e, intra, L) we ue aware that Sotion of Alexandna had alluded to I,Jruidism as early as about 200 B, c. in the twentyiI, inl book DE his Succession oj Phi~osopkers, now

38

Tbe

Mysteries

o I B~'itain
I II'

Lntr o duc t o r y 1 'II'PI 001"1. " .

has come eo attempt
.

3,9
metho d
," ,

lost. Its origin in Gaul, and, a fortiori, In i13witain, were this the place of its beginning, must thus be of still greater antiquity, and accepting the statement in C cesar ,s wrilings as an expression of a general belief, fI..'I, Kendrick finds it " difficult to resist ahe r conclusion that at the beg.inning of the La Tene period (the Iron Age) at the time OF the first Keltie traffic with England, there existed in our country some novel religious element that after the Kelt~c invasion was grafted upon Keltic faith and spread throughout Gaul, giving rise to 'what thenceforward was termed Druidism." But 'what was the specifically British element in Druidism? he asks, Was it the priesthood! itself, or the Druidic theology or dogma? It does not seem likely to have been the first, in view of the complete subjugation ot the conquering Kelts by a defeated caste which it implies. ,01" were the Roman invaders particularly impressed by the Druid hegemoll)' in Britain, to which they vouchsafe only passing mention, But certain of the Keltic tribes. and confederates did not have Druids, who seem to have been confined to Gaul and Britain. The original Kettic province I:ying between Switzerland and H Ul1gary where the La Tene iron culture arose was certainly not peopled by a homogeneous race, if it enjoyed a common culture and language, and when at last it broke up in emigration its different elements were unlikely to retain the sell-same religious ideas. For this and ot'her reasons, Mr. Kendrick believes Druidism in Gaul to have been of Keltic origin, and be can fino nothing in its beliefs" that was not aliso known to one or other of the indogermanic peoples." He admits that there is not" much encouragement for inquiry on these lines, >. however. and " that the
I

anotth er
, ". .

of

Kendlnck also admits, IS mer~ly a 11~'I'~"theticalreconstruction of events:". Summ.anzed, .uuounts to this: Gaul and Britain during t~e I 1II';IlZ~' Aue had achieved a general cultural unity II'n~ I ("IIoy:d intimate j trade relati?n~,. This ,il11p'lie~

!Ihis, Mr,

,I
,

"'rlain reliojons unity. Two distinct provlUce:s of I ullu:re in ~his area can be discinguished-c-one
I

V,",L ru Gaul, Ireland, and Vi/estern and South, "',((-rn England, the other and more important, N 11'1 I. hem Gaul and South-Eastern and Eastern 11'11 ·bllil. The common Fe~igjous bond. joining all 11I11'~t have been of high antiquity, as a h~moge:neous illllIl reilture had prevailed over the entire area for' IIII J,uo.;allds of years. .. Hill at the beginning of the Iron Age Britain I" ..une relatively more secluded because of~he III w r .iourian and! Ea t Germanie influences which ~ ,I, "" c'hanging Continental c~vilization" an~ ha:d I 1,lll'n-lore, better opportunities for p~eservmg. Its , form This gave It,', a 1'1""11"111 re'1··' Iglon III a pur~ ,01... ." :" Ii I i rio us distinction" on the Contmen~, and natn-:e I ul"':prise" may have done the rest. At this llirwi IIIrc the Kelts arrived ill Eastern and N orth11,.1' 'lll Gaul, developing their special iron culture h ,,1111.,. La Tene type in the Marne ar,~a. .Ith~s been II,. '\\'11 that Stone Age artistic traditions in this very 111",11 were preserved until Roman times, an~ there , "I 11~' to be "an equal probabiliry DEthe pel:Slstence 1,1 n.uive relioicus tradition .." The KeltiC Invaders 1I1~1':ph'd the ~ative faith of, t~e 'land. ~hen came
j'~

1111~,·I(eltUc invasion.
11\',I';iun

of

Bntam,

But

It

was

an

whose minds had already been ! I'hisl icated by the prehistoric religious ideas of the ~I un ,. ar a. In Britain they encounter the same

of Kelts

40
faith in its pristine purity. and have 110 difficulty in its adoption.
At the period of the concentration would, therefore.

I ntroduc OlE the Kelts in

tory

41

their ancient home in the A[pine lands and in Central Eu~ope they had not yet organized a priestly class of ~helr own, but .when they did so at last, they did so
m Gaul, Mr. KendFi,ckbelieves, at some time in the fourth or third century B.C. Thus the ori in oE Druids and of Druidism are different events rlue to different causes. Druidism in Gaul, for Mr. Kendr[ck, is Keltic relig-ion after amalzamation with the native faith it fOUl;d in Gaul on settlement there. Druidism in Britain is the i.l1dusion in the Kelticized faith of the ancient nati ve Bri tish relicion whicb. in itself was a purer :~ol!"ln the Contin~ntCl!i of native element in Druidism. Bl!lt while Druidism in Gaul was govemeolby a priestly caste, it seems to have been in Britain ~tal under the sway of kings and chiefs rather than a priesthood. At th time of the Keltic invasion DE our island the Continental Kelts of Gaul had not vet developed the system. Those who called themsel~es "Druids," when a€ last the word 'was introduced, " were only the magieians.md soothsayers of a fugitive and desperate people" shatte1i~d by the Belgic occupation and the coming of the Ro~nans. In view of evidence to the contrary it is difficuh to agree 'with Mr,. Kendrick on this head, and his attitude regardino: it appears Ito me rather deliberatdv wa yward, as J hope to be able to show although h~ seems more favourably disposed to the theory of a DruidiC' official priesthood in Ireland, a "faint reflection " of the Gallic system. IE T have paraphrased Mr. Kendrick's conclusions at some length T have done so because the asrree with my own so completely that on perusing'" his

its

r-xcellent book 1 recognized not only the almost entire identity of his views with those held by myself for many years" but a treatment of the subject so convincing, yet Sf) hee ~rom dogmatism as 1:0 provide a most suitable starting-point for such an 'inquiry as ~hat on which I have embarked in this volume. OE rourse, NIr .. Kendrick .is in no sense responsible for the superstructure which I hope to erect on the bedrock of his conclusions, of which my own, prior In, readino+his work, were the more nebulous and shadowy duplicates. But a few of his minor findings appear to me rather unjustified. and in this preliminary examination of ~he Druidic question ] feel T shnuld advance my own views before approaching other issues. In the first place, itt is a little surprising to discover II1;:1E 1\1r , Kendrick almost entirely ~gnores the subject I f traditional survivals of the Druid.,c faith. I n view or the extraordinary degree of attention which hac; hf~ n paid to this question by writers on Folklore, both accurate and the reverse, this attitude :1.ppe;]l"s In I!rl.e somewhat unaccountable, but as it is obviously IT r. Kendrick's expressed intention to employ only such materials as might justly be classed as "historical"', and as the whole tenor o£ the present volu me is in consonance with tradition, it is unnecessary to stress the point, which we wiUhave nhundant opportunity of returning to. But the ;ilmost entire neglect of the traditional aspect of hi.s 'illhject takes a more positive form when he gives, It :,shis opinion that the Saxon invasion blotted out all 1:1.1f'mory or the Druids ill Britain, and that the n"('rnllection of them was only recovered by later s~·hnlarship,. The truth is that a hundred cnstoms, "laif'Ay local" scores o£ little rites and lestivals survive ill contradiction of this assertion, and these are almost

42

The

Mysteries

of

Britamn
l'I]"t',
1

Ln t r o du e t o r y
indeed, hostile to the intervention

43.
of Irish

as mnnerous in allegedly Saxon England as in Keltic. Scotland and Ireland. AU the same, these may not have been remembered as "Druidmc ..', As in this chapter I am dealing with genera]jties alone, I refrain from citing instances" and leave :for the moment the question oE the Druidic nature of these rites, but I hope to adduce testimony that not only did a concrete memory of Druidism survive the Saxon invasion, but that a very powerful traditional recollection oil:it was handed down, and that the ripest Keltic scholarship is equal to the refutation of the theory thaI: local place-names display only a fmgmentary reminiscence of it, as Mr. Kendrick believes. The a.rgument that no re~llar and official caste of Druids existed in Britain, and that they were only the magi and sorcerers of "a fu.gitive and desperate people" at the time Olf ~he coming of the Romans seems not only to. lack cogency, but to run directly counter to au' the evidence. The very circumstance that the Gauls sent their neophytes to our island for instruction, is in itseU almost sufficient to refute it. To whom did these apply for instruction in the priestly art and function? To the native kings and chiefs, whom, Mr. Kendrick supposes, took the place in Britain of the official priesthood in Gaul? ot only js this highly unlikely OIn the face of it, but the existence OIf a large and powerful caste oE Druids in Mona or Anglesea refutes it. Tacitus distinctly alludes to Mona as the last refuge of Druidism in Briaain (' "insulam incolis va lidam. et perfugarum receptaculum")', and this accounts for the absence of Druids in other parts of what is now England at a certain period. And I shall only remark here that the best possible evidence exists of the presence run Scotland at a much later date of a caste of Pictish Druids who owednothing to hish culture, and who.

hri.-lnan missionaries. As IS now well. known, the j'lI h were a people of ancient British stock" ming!e~

wnl! aborigines,

the very stock, indeed, among whldn I 1'1 Ili'l !Iism, or at Least its aboriginal phase, "vas most III.-Iv to have flourished most strongly <lind to have ,II~vivcd longer than elsewh.ere, on Il:r. K.e~drick"s ,'\\In ~IIO'\!Ving, nd the ~ateexistence of Dml~sm and a • I h'llidlic I,ri sthood in Pictavia is icyond dJsput~. NoL nnly is this the case, hut it must h~ mamfest 111,11 i r Csesar does not allude to the existence of IIJ'llIitis in South-Eastern Britain, that he does not Ii, I I [or political reasons. Students from Gau~wer.e 1I~I'i 'Toing all the way to Anglesea ~or their l'l"ln~.tiol;. One sometimes sighs for a little 1"1.1,1'1 icnl. commonsense in modern archaeology, and II 'I', ~mdly needed here. h has b~en mad:e dear by ~I. Carnine JuUiall that the Gaulish ~hmds.too.k a 1, Illllling part in the rebe!lion ot Vercingetorix, but liI,11 Cresar ignored the cIrcumstance: and Pro:fessoJ" 111.Ui'ITfield saw in this studied neglect a desire IOn I'lli' p:wt of the Roman conqueror not inteFm~ddle "'"lIih Oli religious caste." Mr .. T. ~Ice Holmes. .11.·.•llillg" very humanly wjth the question, sucrgests Ilh"l "Cesar may have bought over the ArchI h 111'(1 ".> and thus have mnsideredhi rnself compelled
I
'1~

to.

II ';n:r

·cy. _. ..., I Im ever this may have been, it seems mcred~b,~e II h.d 1111' Druid caste officiated between Drmdlic NlIl'lll ru Gaul and Druidic Anglesea. The lil';lnriral memory of the Druids was entir~ly at the ~W'I'(' I of their Roman enemies, and Cresar. If reason.11.1· just, was certainly not generously disposed to
, T'uc.il'l,lfeMriX'.
o 3.

ii,'!g. iu«. Revie'lv, 18, p. 336,l!)03· i"~cienl. Britfli!I, p.. 2'98, note.

[1[1.

HJ7-·II,

1902.

[ntrodllctory
his foes, I submit that this. is a case where the absence .of records is more eloquent than their presence. We have also to bear in mind that C;esar had only a. very limited knowledge of Britain" and that he expressly states that only the south-eastern coasts were inhabited by the non-Druidic Belgce .. ill'. T. Rice Holmes reasonably concludes: '0 Tt was British Druidism that supported and renovated the Druidism o~ Caul, and formed one of the bonds of union between the two Keltic lands.'" in any case it is sufficient for om purpose that Czesar distinctly states that Britain 'was the Mecca of Druid disciples, andihat Tacitus makes .mit dear that .<,-\,j)glesea was an important Druid centre, The two facts combined suffice to demonstrate that Druidism. so far' from languishing in Britain, had a powerful hold ill the .island., It remains to show later that this authority' and tradition was 110t destroyed nn Roman times, but was retained as a. secondary and secret faith in many parts of the country long subsequent to the introducuon of Christianity, and that it contributed largely ~o the secret arcane ~raclil:ion or the island of I3rilaiu. The late Sir John Rhys was originally of the opinion that Druidism reached Gaul "undoubtedly ~hrough the Belg<e, who had settled in Britain"" Bun: in a later publication he gav'e it as his opinion that other people of Brythonic stock preceded the Belgae in our island. From this h gathered that the date of the first mention of Druidism threw no light on its place of origin. He also believed that no "BeIgic or Brythonic people ever had! Druids", but received the belief from the older non-Keltic inhabitants. That the Druids used the stone circles of Britain

45

fOol' l"elmgiiouspUliposes is denied almost by the collective opinion ol modern arC:h;::eo~ogy. Tradition :lS unanimously credits them with the erection of 1110stof our rough stone monuments, but tradition, :-ruotordingto the modern archseologist, is "an ass". The writer of the official Government gu.ide to Stonehenge dismisses the theory in a few sCCllthrung sentences,' as does Mr. T. Rice Holmes, who admits that ' 'in this country also the beli:d has long been growing that Druidism Was. of non-Keltic origin".= Yet I. Salomon Reinach3 attributes the megalithic monuments o( Gaul to Druidic

i I~Huenee .

The truth is that the stone monuments, or most of them, were constructed at a period so relatively early Ihat it is extremely difficult to posit very much wnceming the religion of the people who raised them. Mr. Stevens thinks that "It would not he inconsistentwith existing evidence to set the date of Stonehenge roughly at hoOm 1700-1800 years B.C,'· . Now this is precisely the period at which. the men from Spain, whose culture is referable much farther back to North-West African sources, were voyagi1i1g I.() Britain and seemingly settling there, Whether their cult was "Druidism'o or not, it certainly had in it the germs of that Iberian faith from which Druidism ~ateli resulted, so that if Stonehenge and other circles of the kind 'Were not "built by the Druids"" they may at least have been erected hy 1"1" to-Druids, as I fuU.y believe posterity will discover, by a people who, if ~hey had not yet finally Ileveloped the faith of Druidism, which they were found in possession of in Caesar's time, nearly
[-I. Sumner, Sto~~d'letlge, pop. 6(" IT. .h1cilmt Britoi»; p. 1'5. 3 Reuue. Cefliqtle, X:III, p, :1'14,1&12.
r

46

The

Mysteries

of

Br-rt ai n

seventeen hundred years later, were at least developing its tenets. H the theory I have put forward ill this book is worth anything at all, it must stand or fall by proof, ~o be adduced as we learn more of our megalithic monuments, that the deveiopr):l,e'rlt of Druidi.sm was associated with them. Dmidism was a thing "Iberian" in the first instance, and so were they. Stonehenge was built at a period when the bronze culture had begun to overlap that of polished stone .. Mr. Kendrick, bam teehnical considerations, believes it to have been erected in the La: T erie or Iron Age:. "If," he says" "S~onehel1lge was not a temple of Druidism, then i~ must have been a disused ruin in tbe La T eoe period, \'II hen IDruidi.sm was the religion of the land." He also points to the fact that a La Tene man was buried within its area, and bejieves that the "Kekicized population oE\N essex. took advantage of the ancient nationa.! sanctity of the old circle-site on Salisbury Plain to construct rhereon a temple tor their faith that should serve as a rallyil1g-point, and, more than that, a stimulus, for D mid ism after the failure of the order .in Gaul, that is to say, in the IS'l: ,oenil:ury B. c .." He does not, however, class the other Brrunish megalithic structures along with Stonehenge, which he regards as relatively "classical" to rheir type, and sophisticalJedby Mediterranean architectural models. But he wisely concludes that the true temples of the Druids in general were natural g.mves. except when the gradual influence of civilization "prompted them to t.ranslate the groves into buildings", such as Stonehenge.. thus wiping Qiutthe possibility of the megalithic altars and rude stone circles being Druidic. But, as 1 have suggested,. they 1uay have been proto-Druidic,

CHAPTER
nIE

CULT O'F THE DEAD

lour search for the origins of the ancient mysticism of Britain we are almost immediately arrested by the absorbing question of Druidism, which, like an immense forest, seems to draw all paths Ito it. As J have shown, efforts have been made to prove that Druidism scarcely flomishe:d with such vigour in om island as in Gaul, and that in any case the Roman orcupation speedily stamped it out. But the authorities who have advanced this view have 'Ilmiued all consideration of the question of its survivals, those festivals and popular rites which can indubitably be proved Ito have been derived from it, and which not only illustrate ills former ascendancy ~11 Britain, but its age-long presence in the by-ways liE popular affection for centuries after the Saxon invasion of England. As I have said tentatively, I believe Druidism to h. ve arisen out of a Cult of the Dead which had waduaUy been taking form during the long centuries of the Old Stone Age, and which, in the New Stone Age, had in a generalized state been disseminated past and west from some point in North-West AErir.a t ) Spain on the one hand and. to Egypt on the other. I"ro~ the former country it gradually ~ol1nd ~ts way, Iltl"Hh directly and through Ga1lll, to Britain. At the rornmencemem of the [ron Age it became more (specially segregated in this island, which at that I' .riodwas more culturally apart Irorn the Continent
~7

48

Tbe

Mysteries

of Britain

than during the Bronze Age. That this cult tDok on the colours of its environment inboth Egypt and Britain is scarcely to he wondered at, bUI: that it remained a Cult of the Dead in both countries there is evidence irrefragable. Thai: evidence, in the 'case of Egyptian religion, is so generally accepted as to need no demonstration here. But as regards iits application to the early British faith ,proof is essential, for the reason that so far it has not been tested Dr even advanced theoretically in any bu~ a rather perfunctory way. Let us see then what evidence exists that Druidism: was actually a branch of the great Iberian or Mediterranean Cult of the De3Jd. ., The Gauls," says Caesar,' re state that they are aU descended from a common father, Dis, and say that this is the tradition of the Dmiids." Now Dis is merely the Latin form of P~uto or Hades, god of the dead, lord. of the shadowy region of the departed. To him is ascribed the inven6Dn of honouring the dead with funeral obsequies, and he itt was who seized upon Proserpine and haled ber off to his gloomy dwelling beneath the earth. Black bulls were his victims, .in sacrifice, the Fiver Styx must be ferried to reach his realm. According Ito Rhys, he is the Kelticgod Llyr , or Bran .. •, W ith grand contempt for tile mortal lor,' says Ammanus Marceliinus ,.' ... they professed the immortality of the soul;' "One of their dogmas," writes Pornponius Mela," "has come to common knowledge, namely, t:ha~ souls are eternal, and that there is another life in the infernal. regions. . .And. it is for this reason, too, tha~ they burn or bury with their dead things appropriate to them in life, and that in times past they even used to defer the completion
I.

()n~uJ)·:-;
IlJiscu\"'ro:cl in

n-I.\IR Cnruwall]

VI" 18, .w..

' XV. 9', 4.

3,

De Situ

Of'lJis,

HE,

2,

'IS,m9'

The

Cult

01 the

Head

49

uf business and the payment of debts until their ..lrI·ival an another world. Indeed, there were some ,r them who flung ~hemse.lves willingly on the funeral piles of their relatives in order to share the new wit 11 them. .." Valerius Ma.ximlls,,' descrihing the Druids of ,Glulhern France, says: ". It is said that they lend to cuch other sums that are repayable in the next world, so firmly are they convinced that the souls u men are immortal." That they sacrificed criminals and even the iunocena to the :rtwues or the dead or to the gods of Ih . dead is also clear enough from the statements II[ Caesar, Dian Cassius, Tacitus, Diodo:ru.s Si.culus,
I

me

1'l.lIdi

other classical

writers.

This is a practice

which

ran spring only from one idea, that of placation of Ih . dead. T me" it ,msoccasionally to he observed ,I' an offering to the plOwers of growth, a rite of the rr-surrectionof the "dead", so to speak, but its early history and origin undoubtedly point in the first
instance to a rite intended for the placation of the rleceased, and itsvelics are to be found in ancient Egypt and elsewhere. Csesar mlorms us that it was
oi

custom of the Gauls to immolate the favourite

.mimals of the dead man on. the funeral pile, and he Ids that not long before his time slaves and rr-tainers had been sacrificed, ,. Their funerals;' he .• s, "are very sumptuous and magnmficent wn II'rorortion to their quality" Everything that: the I!",I' c'lseOperson set the grea~est value on is cast into !
.1'1

pile, even animals, and formerly those vassals urd ciientswhom they held the dearest were obliged I~~ attend them to the other world.' ,. They also IlI'lip.veol "that the gods are never appeased but I, the death of one man for another, wherefore they
l'ht'
D

50

The

lHysteries

of Britain

The

Cult

of the

Dead

51

have public offerings of the kind which are committed ~o the care of the Dr~ids, who have large,hoUow lmages. bound about ~~rlth osiers, into which they putt men alive , and, settmgfire to the image, suffocate them, Th,ey believe thieves, outlaws, and other offenders to be the most grateful offerings to the oods IL· h b , ~Illt, wr ell honesty has made them scarce, the IIIDOQent re forced to supply rh ,ir places. "~I a That the Cult of the Dead was well developed among the Kelts there are many other evidences. The bards sang the praises of departed heroes, and the tombs of some of these were regarded as sacred places. More than one Irish god was believed ~o have his dwelling in a burial caim. In some cases the deadwere interred around the family hearth, the spot round which the domestic lares or ghosts were wont to oongregate. 011 All Souls' Eve the Kelts of Brittany are still accust med to spread a feast fnr the hungry dead, as did Lh Egyptians periodically. The ram. and the serpent, Kehic symbols of the Und~rworld, are discovered as figurines among Gaubsh. grave-goods. CallOn MacCu'lloch, writing em the Cult of the Dead in his corependious work The Religioll of ihe A ncieni C ens, says:
. The dead were also. fed at Ihe grave or in the house, [hlls. CUI):; were placed in tin: I'Cl: 'S~ of' a well in the churchyard of Kih'allebgh by those interring a child under fi~,c, and the. 1;11051, 0[.111" child was supposed to ~u,[Jply the other SPIrits ,,"vllh. \"':1'1'1' from these cups. mn Irdand, an,c~' a death, rood IS pl~ced out for the spirits, or, at a burial, nut s are placed HI the coffin. r n some part~ ?f F.rance, m.il" is poured out 011 'Ihe grave, and both In Brittany and! In Scotland Un: dead are supposed to partake . of the funeral feast, These are survivals of lP,agan tmles,. ,and cor~espolld to UICrites, in lise among ll1?'Se who stili worship ancestors, ]n Keltic districts a cairn o.r a cross is placed over the spot where a violent or accidental death has occurred, the purpose being to

appease the ghost., and a stone' is often added to the cairn by all passers-by .. n

The practice of holding funeral games was also a Keltic rite associatedwith the Cult of the Dead, an~. n'.calls the Trojan obsequies. The dead were mmmeHlIorated at certain of the festivals of fertility. ·;tIl·b as 1Luguasad and Sa.mhain, which symbolized the birth and death of vegetation, and which appear In have arisen om of the notion that certain shin p rsons represented spirits of fertility. ., The time !PI" earth's decay;" says Canon MacCulioch, "was Ih season when the dead, her children, wouldlcne rnmrnemorated, ", Sir James Fraser believes thaI: the feast of AU Saints (November 1St) was il1ltended Lo take the place of the pagan Cult of the Dead." Now this form of the Cult of the Dead, as maniIcsted in Oruidism, must not be directly identified wilh the Pvthavorean doctrine of re-birth or metern<:> I,sychosis, according to which the soul took another I,odily shape after death. It is dear that in Druidism 'we have an ancient and conservative form of the Cult H[ the Dead preserving a more early phase of it than ! hat which was developed in Egypt. Mr. Kendrick hac; shown that although Csesar identified ~he belief (If the Druids in immortality with the Pythagorean IIm·trine. and was followed in 500 doing hy Hippolytus Ci iment, Valerius Iaximus, and others, that they I ro1 ably knew of it only mn terms of Czesar's staterrwnt, that it was improbable that any intercourse 11m].;: place between Pythagoras or his disciples and 11](' Kelts, so brietr was the vogue of his doctrine and '~II circumscribed its scope. Again, "The recorded instances of resemhlancesoetw'een the: Druidic and I)yth~gorean systems are not sufficiently remarkable IUP justify a claim tor their intimate relationship; and
I

, 11' L67,

' op, cit.. pp. l69~]70.

JAdonis,

p. 253, fT.

52

Th'e Mysteries

of Britain

The 11I~-11

Cult

o I the

Dead

second~y: in e~ch case the grm.vth of the systems can b~ explained 10 local terms without recourse to such d~stant borrowi ngs' , . He observes" too, that the ~llews of the Gauls on the question of the soul's l~mortd!lJty, quoted ab~ve from Mela, show that they did ,not a~, all a~prec!ate :or profess Pythagoras's teaching, ac~on:lmg to .whlch such continued enjoyment of one s belongmgs or the transaction of postponed affairs af:er deat.h ~vas impossible, They coukl not have beheved,Et IS dear, in an instant metempsychos,is, perhaps into animal as into other ~lUman badi,es,but rather in the survival oE the .identity)'of t,h.e deceased in its recognizable form,' '. Me. Kendrick then proceeds to search Keltic Literat~r,e far instances. of a belief in metempsychosis, and discovers seve~al allegories, which, he demonstrates, altholllgh occasionally produced to assist the theory of rransrnigration, are scar-cely illustliatmveof the belief. But a~ar ~OFe trustworthy m thod of arri.ving at the true slgmfi'cam:::e of the Druidic 00]' ancient British Cult of the Dead, with its belief that souls rnicht return to the body, is ~o be ~ound in the survival ot an idea which CRill readily enoll.l.ghbe linked with ancient Keltic dogma. The [{eltic belief in a race of si~1ze or [airies , by 110 mans yet abolished, is most defimtely a relic of the great Cult of the Dead as. it Aouris~ed run Drum~lic times and, indeed, supplies all the evidence req;u,.red t~at Dmidism was essentially a mXstery associated with the Otherworld and the belief in a process oE reincamation-c-but a reincarnation taking place at a period sufliciently removed from ,~ea~hto permit of a more or less prolonged existence In the Otherworld. Research has now made it clear that the Keltic sidlee or "fairies"'., as the word has rather Joosely
,. up. cit. p_ m8.

translated, are nothing more or less than the ..piriL of the dead. As the fairies of later folklore they .ire also, obviously enough, the ghosts of the departed. That in many countries fairies were regarded as ,rullIIec.ted with the dead there is proof pressed down and running over. They were thought of as dwelling ill a dim, subterranean sphere, in sepulchral barrows" 11.- in a far paradise, like those fays encountered by ( )gier the Dane or Thomas the R ymour . The Fairy ~Jueen in the old ballad warns Thomas against eating the apples and pears which hung in her gardens, for ~n partake of the food of the dead is Ito 'know no return. This place of faery seems to be the same as the island o~ Avallon (the Place o~ Apples) or the Keltic Tir-nan-Og, the Land of Heart's Desire and renewed youth. A fairy who taught sorcery to the Scottish witches was said. to have been killed at the battle of Pinkie some thirty years before. I think, roo, that in the wearing of butterflies' wings by the fays of art andfolk-1tale one can discern a folkJnemory 0-£ that Keltic belief that butterflies were the souls of the dead. Some races still retain the belief that on the death DE a person his soul at once takes up its abode in the body oE a new-born child, But the lairiesare souls waiting their turn in a dim paradise for an opportunity to recommence the earth-life. The belief that the fays were a dwarfish race appears to have been a later borrowing from the idea ur the smaU and sv.rarming Teutonic elves. The rays or Keltic folklore are of normal human height. 'The lrish sidhe, Morgan le Fay" the Welsh Y Mamau, n:r "the Mothers", are all at mortal bulk. 5.0 were I he Brewn fays, and those Scottish fairies who !';lrried off Tamlane and taught witches the lore of

IIii' sorcerer, And each and all of them were in some manner associatedwith the realm of the departed.

54
SUI

The

M.ysteries

of Br it.a in

The

Cult

of

the

Dead

5S

:?e Ibelief i.n fairy changelings is obviously the vival of an Idea that the souls of the dead return ~o }nhah[~ the bodies of mortal children.. Faerie is, indeed, like the Melal1esian j ualla, a great reservoir of sou l-Ior ce , to which the human spirit, its bodily sheath destroyed or outworn, returns, and which ms everready 1:0 po~r out its psychic ene:rgy into the new-born mortal frame.
f

The belief mn the si_dlte or fairies. the dead awaiting a :re.t~.m to .mortal lIfe,was essentially a feature of ~rUJdlc belief, as ealrl}r Irish and later Vilelsh literature shows] and this in itself suffiees to demonstrate that Druidism was a Cult of the Dead. How far the idea of the S1;dhe was Keltic and how far ~lboriginal or lberian is a problem the answer 1:0 whjch IS no~ far to. se k, , [or. we fillld the sidhe constantly assoclatedw!th burial chambers in Ireland and 5C'Otlcu.]d. hj~h. were originally of Iberian or "aborig'inaf" w ongill.. [hal: they were accepted and used as Keltic and Druidic burial-places is cc~·taill enough, indeed they were ~?robably employed in mallY cases as graves by successive generations in Ir eland and Britain for oenturi~, as .:~cavationhas abundantly proved .. But If Druidism ~llas, like the religion of Egypt, a Cult of the Dead, It was so with a difference, That Clill~l"a~ .of early and l'a~:id development in Egypt Q1,:~l1gchIefly to tts exceptional Iy hot and dry climate" whieh seel~s to have suggested and even naturallv :favou:red thel:wcess of mummification. 111 Britain the Cule o~ the Dead passed through the same early phases as 1.11 Egypt, that is, coloration of tile bones Wi,tll I:ed.pigment, probable wrapm ing "in skins, and e~lJ'[1-bunalaccompanied Iby grave-goods. Here and mere, .too" large monolithic temples, som ew hat resembling the grove-like pillared structures of Egypt, arose in association with it ..

But when the Kelts entered Britain, bringing with them the La. T'ene iron culture, they appear 1:0 have introduced a form of thought somewhat opposed to the ancient Iberian or Mediterranean belief in the necessity for preserving the relics of the dead. There seems to have been a dash of ideas between the Keltic conquerors and the Iberian inhabitants which, ill the event, resulted ill a confusion of ideas, the ;tccep}ance on either side ol a part of the religious beliefs oE the other. The Kelts seem at firs I: to have femred ow'disliked the Cult of t],e Dead as they found ill in Gaul and Britain. Instead of regarding life as a mere ante-chamber of death, at preparation for the hereafter, as did the IDberians of Egypt and Britain" they rather considered it as one of the main objects of religion t preserve life ill the fleshly body, and ro keep ~he world of spi~'i[s at bay by placation and other means, as m.my other primitive people have done and still do. This explains their partiality EoI' the mistletoe, the plant and emblem of life, the divine life-substance or protoplasm, their aversion from thieves, higlwiaymen, and murderers" whom they burned in the sacred fill"es along with the beasts of I!,rey which depleted their Hocks and herds. In short , ':my agency destructive of life OF sustenance they waged relentless war upon, and this outlook is still, and always has been, typical of British popular philosophy andfolk-sen6ment. The Kelt "vas terrified OE the sidhe or fairies, the spirits of the dead, to wt)om the Egyptians and Babylonians raid such meticulous reverence. The Oriental has always been comparatively indifferent to or acquiescent in the idea death; the Westerner has almost from. the first dreade I and disliked it ; and in this difference of attitude we shall probably find grounds for much of tile objection to early British survivals in later times.

nr

56

T'he Mysteri,es

of Bri t ai n

T'he

Cult of the

Dead

But the Kelts could not aftogether overcome the Iberian predilection for the worship of the departed, and had necessarily to compound with it. This explains, for example, their clocl:l·ine that money lent durrifliglife might be repaid in the Otherworld. Time and again we find the Cult of the Dead breaking through the structure of Druidism or Iberian-Keltic religIon, merrging with it at last in .at complete pattern to compose a very special type of British rill ysticism. If these conclusions be granted, we are 110W enabled to take a dearer view of Druidism and to correct, in virtue of the fight thus vouchsafed us, older theories, corrucerning i~s tenets and practice. They may also assist IJS in a:nQltting 1:0 folk-beliefs of later times, traditional festivals and the like, a Druidical s.ignificance so far as their manifestations square with the known [acts .. AU the evidence, classical and otherwise, goes to show that the Druids were CI!. well-defined, priestly class with sub-divisions !laving diflierent functions, religious, oracular, magical,. administrative, and bardic, Diodolrtls, Strabo, and Timagenes, Cicero ami Tacitus, allude to these classes separately or generally. The 1.l"ishevidence substantiates their existence. The Gaulish Druids, prophets, and bards are reAected in the Irish ruids, Fathi or Vares, and Filid or poets. In Wa~es both Druids and hards are found" and long after Dru:idi.sm had outwardly vanished in the Principality the den1Iydd-'iJm'd, or Druid~bard, survived as a repository of Druid philosophy and belief. That both sections of the Kel6c race, Goideli.c and Brythonirc, were !LInder the sway o~ the Druids is abundantly dear. That Keltic religion and Druidism are interchangeahle terms is also indubitable, That is as much as 10 say rhnt it was not the mere addition of something Ib rian and

.,horiginal as an annexe to Keltic faith, but a lon~j'ontinued and well-dellelopedfusion of early Keltic Ilf:li.eEwith Iberian belief, welded as to its parts, as the Kelt-Iberian race bad been welded in Spain and Southern Gaul, and thus the psychological conI' rnitant of the physical and racial admixture. The same process took place in Britain as O~l t~e ontinent, the Iberian and Kdticraces fusing m these islands in the same manner, and producing a like religious result. Only, by virtue of segregation from the Continent, Druidism in Britain seems to have taken on a special andjnsular col.ourirng, and to have survived EoI'a considerably longer period. in ~he more outlying parts of the British archipelago .. Those who exalt the knowledge and philosophy of the Druids to supreme heights of magica;1 and mystical ascendancy are obviously as mistaken as th~ opposing school who wish to reduce t~eir ..~ta~~s to that of mere witch-doctors. The probability IS that they were atleast the equals in scientific: ability 'mel genera~ scholarship with the Egyptian p~i~s.thood of the dosingoentU[·ies o~ the last pre-Christian millennium. Pomponios Melare~ers to them as "'teachers of wisdom", and as professing a knowIrdge oE the size and shape of the world, and the movements of the heavens and stars, They were" he says, the instructors of the GaUie nobles. C~sar alludes to the Druids as teach.ersheld in .~re<l!1!: honour, I.eaming a gre.:'1tnumber of verses by rote as part of their mystery, making use of Greek. letters, and versed in astronomical science. nivici~CllS, the JEduatlllDruid,is quoted by Cicero as h;]Jving "that knowledge of Nature 1i!lhich. the en·eeks call physiologia"'. Says Mr.. Kendrick :
flood of light on the conditions

This , in conjunction with Oresar's testimony, thro~s a of service in the ~nest·

58

'The

Myster~ies

of

Britain

liI?od during tile first century before Christ, and at once .chsposes of ~he quite natural idea th.at all its members were secluded and ruysterious ancients holdins- aloof from ...the. common ",:orld in :a gloomy l atmosphere of esoterie ntual; and priestly taboos. For Divitiacns was a ~~rn.of affairs, ~cknowl.erlg,cd ruler of the .fEdlli, and a politician aud diplomatist of established reputation throug'hout the. whole of Gaul;'

Diodorus5mculus describes the Druids as , 'philosophers and theologians' , , and Ammi:ll!lf1us Marce~IDinus.tells us ~hat they were "uplifted hy searclungs into secret and sub~ime t!11.I1O"S". Dion err~ys~s.tom says tIlat '" t.h ey concern themselves with '. .::. . divination and al1 branches of w.isdOl'I'Tl". N.oW I submit that all this goes to show that if dle Drl~idls 'iVer~ not the possessors of a vast corfnts of native learmng, they were at 'the least Iar removed {rol~ ~he status of mere medifine-rnen, which some obviously rather cynical authorilies profess to believe th~y occupied. Th~ very fact that they employed wrrtten characters disposes of the charge, Ear it is known that tiley, p?s~es;ed a system of writing pecu~iar to themselves. 1 his IS the alphabet known as Ogharn, so caned after Ogmios, the Keltic god of learning and eJ,oquence, a med1~d of writ~ing "vh]d, seems to have been confined entirely within the four seas of Britain, Inscriptions carv~d in its characters have been discovered On rough stone monuments, crcm~echs,~nd other stones, as well as on fragments 'Of wood, run Cornwall, South \Vales, the North and West of Scot~a_nd, ?nd in. Ireland. Antiquarians have been familiar with the key to these symbols for upwards o~ a ,e:entury (indeed, in some quarters it was ne~er lost), andit '~as readily found that the~anguage which they embodied was the Old Keltic, the forerunner of the tongue now known as Q-Keltic or Gaelic. Its characters are of the very simplest and most
!

59 primitive form. Indeed, itwou1d 'be extremely ~Iirf,cull to point to a script more artless or more practical in its design and ease oE employment. It <n )Ilsists of a series of strokes written or carved on I'i'lner side, 01'" both, of a dividing line. Thus for the vowels the letter A is, merely a singie straight stroke meeting the line at right-angles. 0 consists of two ~;,illl;br strokes, U of three, E oE four, and I oE five. H is a straight stroke beneath the line, and D, T, e" and Q or K are represented by from two In five strokes of the same kind.. D, L, \V, 5, and N arc indicated by from (me to five strokes above IhC' line, whilst 1\11, , NG" F, and Rare G slanting ,.Imkes crossing the line from right to left. The ·;vstem can be mastered, so far as its alphahetics are "'ml~e,rned, in less than a quarter of an hour and I,t'ars a dose resemblance to the elementary exercises i.1I Pitman"s shorthand, Another variety is known as Virgu'hu Ogham, in which the strokes are indicated by a series of arrow1I(·:l<Ils.In this system none of the strokes intersect 1.1lI' medial. line. This line hequently consisted WI'I"f'ly of the edge or corner of the stone or stick
I

The

Cult of the

Dead

the inscription was carved : that is, the kHl'I"s were carved on two faces of the stone, the I'dge' 'IrtinQ" as the dividing line. The majority of 1Il~,nil"Lions in Ogham appear to date from the ear~y 1""1' (:hr;st~;li1 centuries, and that it was a script in
i

IU

wliirh

111"~'

;unnng the Druids

in Ireland,

Cornwall,

and

" 1"lbnd there is no reason 11:0 doubt.

«l~. cit,

f.

80,

J ~III,besides the Ogham, the Druids of Britain ~.,d,· lise of an even more interesting and certainly i,lllU' involved system of writing, This, called by I Ilrl:rili.=-lll name" Bobileth, which may be translated !. I'r!,(l,-,"vrit.ing"', consisted of thirty-four characters, ,!Iii I ill 01(1 Keltic, or Gaelic, was known as

60

The

Mystel-ies

of Britain
1.1

Th,e

Cult

of t.he Dead

61

Bethluisnion, from the names of the first three letters, "Beth", the birch tree, "Luis", the quicken, and. , ,.Nion' " the ash, Of this alphabet each letter was named after a tree, It was written on tree bark, 01' on smooth tablets o~tirdll.wood known in Erse as T aible Fileadh, or " Poets' Tablets" , and the characters theruselves were described as "twigs'" and' 'branch-letters' , It was Ito this kind of '\iVriting that the We1sh bard T aliesin alluded when he sang: "'fi know every reed or [wig in the cavern of the chief diviner," The Bobilerh script could be used symbolically !by composing a message made up 'Of the leaves of the appropriate trees, strung on a cord, a system which recalls tbequipus or messages, of !the ancient Incan Peruvians made of knotted strings. Very probably this was the original-or at least one of the earliest-methods of communication in vogue in Britain before it occurred to the Druidic inventors that to write the hieroglyphs. 'Or pictures of the trees themselves. was a much more simple and effective process, and we can scarcely doubt that Erom some such mode of picture-wrjting the Bobileth alphabet was later developed '; in any ease the tree-names. of the alphabet are still preserved in the Keltic languages of Britain, Under Roman persecution the Druids disappeared --or seemed to disappear. Says Strabo : I, On account of their evil sacrifices the Romans: endeavoured to destroy all the superstition of the Druids, but. it? 'I.min:' The Druids were. indeed, the protagonists of their country's liberty , the patriots of all island Keltic in its culture and sentiment, and still preponderatingly so, whatever may be said or written to the contrary _ They saw their beloved isle invaded, tom, and despoiled by the crudest of materialists, by men whose whole desire was to loot

1,1, its treasure OlE gold and pearls, as they them, ·1 " declared-first v!' by Julius Caesar, the decadent

II! 1~lJman society, "the inevitable co-respondent in •' .. ry' Iashionable w divorce case"" as he has been I ,.llt'd, then by Agricola .•.the sycophantic servant or , wretched tyrant. Did not the Druids appreciate dlHI righdy gauge the character DE their enemies? I'll view of the known culture of Britain, its beautiful ~1,Ill"ISinanship and work in enamelling, jewellery, and 'Inage, the eloquence of its priesthood, the skin of II'. marin rs, "Those vessels were of a tonnage and '" Ii~lillgcapacity immeasurably superior to the rather III iIII iiive gaUeys o~ the Romans, the assumption that IILlr ancestors were mere barbarians is indeed one of i'X I raordiuary short-sightedness. The Druids retreated in front oE their merciless ~ 1101 -mies to the forests and fastnesses oE our island.' 1111 on the retreat of the Italian conquerors and their II uhcr pitilul native auxijiaries, they returned, as the ill i.;11 version of Nennius declares, in the reign of V" .u igern ." A number of them had revolted against I IH!l~ after the death of Nero in the year A.D. 68, which in itselF is the best .of proof that more than a i t'lll'ury alter the first Roman invasion oE our island Ilw nrder had not been effaced. In A.D. 70 a diet ••1 Ilwm gathered and prophesied the world-empire • II Ihe Kelts." Ausonius mentions that even in the I" urrh 1("I'nl:ury men run Gaul were wont to boast of 1111"11' IIlrui 1i:c:dcscent,4 And .if the tradition flourished ,U la'Dlg in Gaul, how much more must it have dlone II' lin the remote and un-Rornanized portions of ~lh ,lin , in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland?' In the sixth II IIf nl'Ury the Druids opposed Columba i.n Scotland I iu lreland they had opposed St. Patrick, pitting Iiii ;. mag-i' <l.o-ainstthat of the Christian missionaries.
I j"

I II "~I1I."i<;, ,I.rs D'rn1.fes. •. p_ 7.3. ,_ 1111; a!H1 'H,,!. B,.ilotJlolfU, p.. 40.

3 T'aciti4S., IV, S·h 4·· 4 V, ]2:; XI, [7·

62

The~Vlys'~eries

o I Br it ain

The
.. H HI
j

Cult

of the

Dead

63

E believe that it is not improbable that the Druids flourished for cencuries as a culius under- the name of Cukiees. The Cuklees are generally supposed ~o have been a caste of Christian priests or monks of early ~r!ti~11 origin, unfriendly to Roman authority and discipline. But there are many circumstances connected with them which seem to show that, a they practised a species of Christianity, lheir doctrine still retained a large measure of the Dmidic philosophy, and! that, indeed, they were the: direct descendants of the Druidic caste. '.iV efind the Culdees, previously to the arrival of Augustine in 5'97, in various parts of England. Scotland, and Ireland, and they must have differed in their views very considerably from the Roman priesthood, else they would not ha ve been persecuted by them, as Hede avers. They married, and their abbots held office by herBditaryright, so I:hat in Armag:hllheen g-eneratiol1s held the episcopate succ:ssively. Tiley dwelt in colleges, practising mUSIC as well as the mechanical arts. They celebrated Easter at a differen!: period from the Roman bierarchy, holding it a month before the Roman festival. They shaved the head in a tonsure from their foreheads backwar-d. in the form of a crescent, baptized infants by immersion, without: the consecrated chrism ,were opposed to the doctrine of the F"ea] pl!esence, and denied the worship of saints and ang-els..~hey condemned t11. mass" paid no respect 1[0 holy relics, and refused to offer up prayers for the dead. In fact, anything Jess resembling Roman practice t~a~ their~ call scarcely be imagined. Many early ChTlstlan writers condemn the rudeness oftheir forms of worship and the unauthorized character of their ecclesiastical government. The second Council of Chalons denounced them as heretics in 8131 and

,hI IIIth canon of the Council of Ceal- H ythe decreed

that they were not to be permitted to function

AI s~.Andrew's, in Fife, the Culdees '''conti:rmed

t,

pi il's'!s in England,

~",,'llIr~hip in a certain corner of the church after

manner", says the registry of thePrimy Andre\\r's, "nor could this evil be removed 11111 lime of Alexander o~ blessed .memory. in IIII' I I .' I ' •, so I':hatt Culdees and Roman priests 1"'llmllloo their services in the same church [or III "u'ly three hundred years! Now it is only in such districts as Druidism is Ikumvil La have lingered in ~or generations that ln-reditary priestly descent in the Christian. Church 1"11,1', he 11 observed. In Brittany it prevailed until it W.I,:; al lished by Hild bert" AI, hbishop of Tours, 11111 r 1-7. Air the end of that century Giraldus 'I ·,IIIII.Jrcnsis complains of it as a disgrace to Wales tba~ ~.IIW; should follow their fathers in the priestly of-fice. Moreover, ~!: is precisely in these localities where 1111I,j, lism had been most strongly entrenched that we hlu'l the largest Culdee settlements. At Ripon and \"[I:rr'k they dwelt and flourished ill the time of Bede , dllil they worshipped at ahe Church of SI:. Peter in IIII!' latter CruEY so late as the year 936. Their' chief .~. I ,in Scotland was the island of [ana, the ancient I 1I.L1n . of which was Inis Druineach, or "the island III I he Druids". Wiah the monastery of St. Columba at ]01)<1 is .11'.'.1 wi<lwd a weird legend which [ells how the saint ~. 1": unable to found a church there because of the Illdl'hinalions of an evil spiritvwho threw down. the .lIls as fast as they were built until a human victim .1' sacrificed and buried under the foundations. \ rv probably the story is a survival from the
llu-ir own
1,111 •

, jamiesen,

Hist,

of the Culdces"

p.

21.

G4

The

Mysteries

01 Britain R., .'B [BollleI.

..1., L Loth, ,-I "B

Druidic forerunners of Columba. Under each of the twelve pillars of one of the circular temples of Iona, according to Higgins, a human body was found to have been buried.' Jamieson remarks that the CU:ldees succeeded the Druids in Iona at no gr,eat ]ength of time. When Columba came to' lalla: he was opposed by one Broichan, a Druid, and Odonellus relates that on due Saint's landing ill nhe: island be was met by Druids, who disg:uised tke'msdvesin the habits 0.1 monks. They told bim that they had come there to preach the Gospel, but be discovered the imposture, and they resigUlJ'ed field the to him." All this tends Ii:o show that the Culdlee.'>,who dwelt on lana and professed the rule of Columba, were merely Christianized Druids, mingling with their' £a~tha large dement of the ancient Druidic wltus. The account of the coming of ColULmba in Adamnan's life of the saint reveals very dearly that be himself was not unacquainted with Druidic lore .. Indeed, he opposed the Druids with arts similar to their own.. In a striking passage Canon NIacCuUoch observes :
Since Christian writers, irlllly believed ln the magkal powers of the Dl'uids., aided, Ilm!IH!Ver, by tile devil", tlley taught tha;!: Christian saints bad miraculously overcome them with their own weapons" St. Patrick dispelled snow.stOIl'IHS and darkness raised by Druids, or destroyed Druids, who had brought down fire from heaven. Similar deeds are attributed to St. Columba and others, TIH~ moral victory of the Gross was la'Ler regarded also. as a - magical victory, Hence also lives of Keltic saints are full of rniracles which are simply a reproduction of Dn. idic magic=-controlling the elements, healing, carrys ing love coals without hurt, callsi~g eonfusion by their curses, producing invisibility or shape-shittlng , making the ice-cold waters of a river hot by sllaO!di.llg in them , G. Higgins, HIe Cellic Drtlid.s.
• Higgin '" p.
20{;

,
h
~

'Beth
NuI,l'L
I

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IS
9alf,iIi.

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1. L.uiS,

!N' Nea',gadol'\
D llaib'horih

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gw\
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,

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'R 'Rulbe
l

-p '"Path 7\) ''R lluis

, C;..
~

111' ~ T 'T'~

C ,Col' M M,Wl'i. G God:

A t\CaD X 0 Os'e ')'" IU Ufa. "3 B E.su. l:, ,'J" '1lJaicWm

,-t
Col..: Soloileth

)~ E
',7
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\L,L A. -\') 0

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On ,Eactha.
Jo,dha.

I
,

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crul 'Col. : Beth-luis-non

"ll'hal,el

II
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II !Ii liB
.A.JJ:

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'ttL. .-& 1'.

.£.
1111

'I

II A1 l1li 1//1/
THE 0(;1-11\[ .. \

II' III

-L..
:\[J'I-UBET

Smith,

Uf.e

QI

]1).2002

..

Columbu.,

p. 92.

The
;rut

Cult

o( the

Dead

165

theim" devotions, or walking unscathed tIl rough the Iiercest storms, They were SOOI'l regarded as more expert magicians than the Druids themselves. They may have laid claim to magical powers, 0[" perhaps they used a natural shrewdness in such a way as. to suggest magic. 'But all their pm!iPcr they ascribed to Christ. "'Christ is my Drlli.d"-the true miracle-worker, said St. Columba. Yet they were imbued with the superstirlons of their own age.. Tbus St. Columba sent a white stone to King Brucie at. Inverness for the cure of his Druid Broiehan, who drank the water poured over it and was heeled. Soon similar virtues w'el'"eascribed to the relics of the saints tbemselves, and at a later' time, when most Scotsmen ceased to believe in the saints, they thought that the ministers of the kirk had powers like those of pagan Druid and Catholic sainr, .Ministers were Jevitated, or shone l~ith a celestial light, or had clairvoyant gifts, or, with dire resuttsy-cursed the ungodly or the bellighl:ed prelatist, They prophesied, used trance-utterance, and exercised gifts of healiug. Ange:ls ministered to them, as rwhen Samuel Rutherford, having fallen into a well when a child, was pulled out by an allgeL The sui!)stratum of primitive belief survives all changes of creed, and the folk impartially attributed magical powers to pagan Druid" Celtic saints, old crones and witches, and! Presbyterian ministers.'

Still, the people would not have believed these things possible had not a large leaven of the oldbelief survived. Indeed, its last echoes have not yet died away" even in the great cities of Scotland, much less in the Highlands and islands. I think I have said enough to prove thai Druidism bad mot died out in Scotland at least in the sixth century, and that is all I wish to do at the moment. I might speak of Columba's magical war with the Druids of Invemess , or of the proof that Druids survived in other districts of the N orth, but the above evidence surely suffices. The evidence of the survival of a Druid priesthood in Ireland until comparatively late times is sufficiently plentiful. En Erin they 'Were not only the companions
I

.op. cit.pp.

331.-2 ..
E

66

The

Mystel"ie,s

of Britain

67
their feats in the mysterious arts the sagas are eloquent, They flooded plains, pro~uced blizzards and fiery hail-storms, overcast rnountarns , and turned stones into armed men, They assumed what shapes they pleased, or made others ass~e them.. They could cause forge~fulness by a magic draught, an.d seem to have possessed hypnotic powers . Their training induded memorizing long .incantatmons an.d spells, and these descended to the filtd,. or poets, their successors. The very earhest written records of Irelandrefer to '"the Science of Coibniu'", a master of Druidic magic, and ~o"the healing of Dianeecht" , and. these are to he found in manuscripts of the eighth or ninth. cenl:u~y still in use mag.tcally ilil Christian times. " When we recall the fact.' says Mr. Kendrick, " that there most certainly were important assemblies held in Ireland, taking place at fixed intervals and attended by delegates fmm distant parts, it W,EU be seen that we cannot fairly assume that Irish Druidism lacked that co-ordination of its members such as obtained in Gaul." Alld again: "It is significant that the Dmids of Ireland were servants of the prirnitive Keltic festival-system m its central. European Iorm.' , The evidence for the existence of Druidism mn Wales is even more abundant, and exhibits more positive proofs of the continuance of the ICUlt in t~e PrincipalitYl!1ntil a relatively laue dare. There IS every xeason to believe that 011 the arrival of the Saxons and the consequent withdrawal of the Kelts oJ South Britain to what is !JOW called \rVa~es, whence large numbers of them ceF"tainly sought refuge, the cult of Druidism found a haven among the Welsh mountains. [am aware 'that several 'writers of authority have questioned both the emigration and

but the tutors of the native kings and princes, and they sat in judgement in criminal cases, as did the (ilid, their descendants and successors. That they had written records we know, for King Loegaire requested that the books of Saint Patrick and those of the Druids should both be subjected to the ordeal by water to prove which were the more efficacious. They were in. the habmt of baptizing children, and of one hero it is told that they chanted the baptismel rite over him as an infant. They also took part in burial rites, and presided over the sacrifices which were made at the entombment. They practised the healing art, and of Cuchulli.11 it was said that had Fergus been il.1 "he would have m:a&el1 no rest tiU he had found a Druid able to discover the cause of that illness' '. They are spoken of as wearing cloaks of white, and in some cases aa wearing bulls' hides, presumably after sacrifice. They also wore a tonsure which seems to have borne some relation to that used later by the Culdees, The Irish texts appear to have been re-edited with special relation to the omission of .aU material Felating to the Druids, but in most accounts of the salient occurrences in Irish history they are referred to in such a. manner as makes :it impossible to doubt their great influence inpolieieal and public affairs. The Irish deities known as the T uatha De Danann are alluded to as masters of Druidic lore. Female Druids functioned as priestesses or guardians. of the sacred fires at Kildare and elsewhere, and to them Christian nuns. duly
succeeded; In the Ir.ish popular tales and sagas Druidism is mentioned S10 frequently as to jpmve beyond doubt that it was the ancient religion of Erin. In these
Oil"

, 'Druidism" stands for magic and slat na dmoicn;ta "'the rod of druidism" Eor the magic wand. Of
I

68

The

l\IJysteries

Brrt.a in
III ~

the religious revival which accompanied it, but they historical evidence, but on "reasonable" grounds alone. However" no arguments are reasonable which do IiUO!: rest on solid proof, and these certainly do not. That Druidism did not die out in Wales after the Roman period is dear enough, although the point has been hotly contested. Not only do the Triads conserve notices of its survival until at least the smxth century of our era, but the memorials of folklore prove it to have lasted much Ibnger in a more or less corrupted form, Indeed, the Bards of Wales pretended IDO 3! knowledge of the mystical lore of the Drui:ds. The bard. Gwalchmai (I I 50- I I go) says, in his elegy on. the death of Madog, Prince of Powys : "Woul.d to God the day of donna were arrived, since Druids are come bringing the news of woe," We find the position of the B rd hid down clearjy enough by Cynddelw, a cent mporaryof Gwalehmai,
ha ve done so not on accepeahle .in his panegyric on Owen Gwynedd, in which he

Dead prophecies of the Druids as if they were his

T he

Cult

of the

says: ,,' Bards are constitut d the judges of excellence, and bards will praise thee, even Dlruids of the circle, of four dialects, coming from thejour regions ..'" Elsewhere in a poem recited at a: poetic contest, he speaks o~ "'Druids of the splendid race, wearers of the gold chains". as if they were still existing. In another poem addressed to Owen Cyveilcawg, Prince of Powys, he makes repeated mention of the Druids : " It is commanded by Druids of die land .. .. " let songs be prepared", and inhis Icgy on the death of Rhiryd, he calls himself ""3 bard of Keridwen, the mystic goddess", and alludes to the poems of
T aliesin as follows: "From the moutl: of Tal iesi n

is the Hardie mystery, concealed by the Bards". Llywarch ab Llewelyn (1160-[220) also alludes to .. the order of the primitive Bards", and speaks of

c:cmtemporaries. Philip :Brydyddl, president of the Bards (12:00-125,0), alludes to the Bardic contests and hi aspirants to the chair he holds, saying that none in the presence of the grave Druids o~ Britain could aspire ao i~without distinction in their art; thus also In'ntion~ng the Druids as his 'COntemporaries. There is, indeed, little doubt that some more or less corrupted survival of Druidism was known in Wales even so [ate as the thirteenth century" as we shall see in the ensuing chapters. NOTE: Davies in his Mythology of t11.e B'"itisJt Ih-uids' rather elaborately outlines the evidence Ior the existence of Druidism in North Britain in the sixth century s.n. In the stOFY of Col.l, "'the great mystagogue" of Cornwall, he says, it i.s stated that this magi'cian gave to Brynach, pn~1ce iQE the 'N orthern Gwyddelians .of Srrathclyde, ill Scotland, .l present of the Eaglet which was deposited by the mystical 50\1' whose symbolical pr'Ogeny was farrowed nearly over the entire length of Britain, The young or this ,eagle\vere the "two dusky birds of I( ;\'lPenddo'lell, prince o~ the Strathclyde Britons,,, who lived about 593. and who was defeated and slamby I he Saxon prince o~ Deira a~d Ber~icia" t~e defeat o£ a Druidic prince and m} snc, Davies believed, by :1 Chrmstian Saxon rufer. Merlin, he states, was a priest of Gw'enddoleu, as iS~lentione~ in the poem called "Avallenau", and to hun the prlnoe presented .:1 hundred and forty-seven apple trees, which Davies Ihough~ were the mystical letters el!li~hrining..the serrets of Druidism, " Gwenddoleu," he wntes, " was thehead o~ an ancient Druidical esrablishrnem ill North Brirain.' Continuing his description .of Medin, he writes:
I

p. 462 .It

70

The

l\tysteries

of Britain

Merddin is styled supreme judge oE the North ; that is, of the regjons beyond the Iittle kingdom of Strath Clwyd i and the S'Y'W, or diviner, of every region: and in virtue of this office he was Cerdd:glild Cl,'d Iliant, president of Bardiclore. about the waters of Clyde. He was companion of Cmlawon CyuUl1ith, the oll"spring o~ the goddess of s·laugh~erJ whom Aneurin thus commemorates, in the song~ of the Gododin: ., I f., in the banquet of mead and wine" dIe Saxons saerifi ed to Siaugbter, the rnother Dr Spoliation ; the energetic Eidiol also honoured her before the mount, in the presence 01: the god of victory, the king who rise: lfl light" and ascends the sky. nAnd .bis connectiou between the British divinities of slaug'hter and victory is marked in the character of Merddin, or Merlin, who is. styled: AUu.,edd, byddin. Budd Ne'l'-the key or interpreter of the army 'of the god of victory. He was the brother of G'IJ!1Imdd,.dd n ~m" Ad'hl"~ Cerdd:eu~tf:).e Jair lady of the day" the refuge of Ba:rdic lore-a. mythological character; ann this lady addresses the venerable priest iu the following rerms : "'Arise from thy secret place, and unfold th books of the .4~t'etl. (Bardic spirit), the object of general dread, :U1d the speech of .13 WI (Proserpine)' 3L1cl the visions of skeffiJ'." These are some olf the qualifications of. Merddm, as recorded by 3... No,'Ute1"'J. but unkoowl]l3ard, who wrote in his name and character about the year 948. He was a supreme judge, a priest, and :-J prophet-e-and he was conversant in the mysteries, or the very same djviniries, CvnUaith, Budd. Awen:.::md Bun:, which were revered at [he great temple of Stonehenge, '

CHAPTER
THE MYSTERY OF KELTIC

III
PHILOSOPHY

Stephens" however, in his Liferature oj the does not believe ~hese poems to be earlier than the reign of Owen Gwynedd (TT 60) and points to a circumstance of anachronism in that the poet has mad'eiVnedin a devout Christien ! It is difficult, therefore, to regard this "evlc1ence" seriously and it is only given here for the sake of completeness. At the same time it is certainly partiaUy authenticated by other more trustworthy I\Irss., and there can be no doubt that Druidism did survive :in the Cymric portion of Southern Scotlanrl fcr centuries.
I{ "V1nry'
J t E

p, 2J.3 If.

Tm: mystery DE Keltic thought has beel~ the desp~ir III" generations of philosophers andaesthet!es. ~e It"bate concerning it has been scarcely ~e~samazmg ill its vehemence than. that other and allied centrov ~rsy on the origin oi the K~lti~race. .Re~an and Arnoldi mani[esl:ly wrestled with It much LI1 the same primitive manner as the astrologers ~EChaldea strove w.illl the science of the stars, But an abyss SI) IlroEoum:l is scarcely to be plumbed by the dlsc~rn~ ment of the polite essayist, or measured~y the l?g;lcal I"l"Ocessesof the student of ComparatlVe Rehg~on. 'I, is a task for the prophet or the seer, lor a B1a~e r 01" a Brahan Seer. To the mall who has no. magic in hi. blood m:hecavern10:[ Keltic profundityis Ior ever sealed. He who approaches it jmist, I feel, not alone be of the ancient stock of the first culturehringers of this island, but be must also have heard ,i'llf childhood the deep and repeated call of ancestral \'uices urging him to the task of the exploration of Ilw myster~es olhis people. . . The Kelts ~ha1!: race OE artists, poets, and aresto(': ts, appear orwginaUy to have Eor.medthemselves inhJ a nation in the region bet.vlxt France a~d J 'llngary, in all Iikelihood in the So.uth German pbm Iwtwecn Switzerland and Bohemia, and probahly tl,.v loped slowly as a nation from a race known as 11;' ,,"Urn-Field people"', a Bronze Age folk. In III ' course of generations they became welded into
I

:~I

7.2

The

Mvst er-i es

of

Britain
III';

Mystery

or

Kelti.c Philosophy

73

a nation" and as snell they were known to the Greeks at least SOD years hefore our era, their oOUlnllybe.ing spoken of by Hellenicwr.i ters as
Keltica. They introduced rhe iron eivi I..zation of La i Tene into Gaul and Britain, and in doing so mingled

with races of older occupancy, losung: some of their racial characteristics in the process, perhaps. But their cultural and ~sthetic outlook, their peculiar philosophy" they did not lose, notwithstanding that this must have been powerfully affe ted by the behefs and customs of the peoples witlll,. ...hom they intermixed, so that even to-day, although the name Kelt is rather confusedly applied to mixed races of almost wholly different physical appearance to Welsh Irish Scots, and Bretons alike, there still remains among these dissimilar types ;]I mental habitude and a similarity of opinion ::IIlJ outlook which reveal the previous existence of a common philosophy and a common tradition. The Kelt, tall or short, long- or round-skulled, dark, fair or rufous, is nev ertheless scarcely to be mistaken so Iar as his mental qualities are coneernedi, He was Labelled by the older School of Anthropologists, by Broca, and others, as "'sanguinebilious", and one ~an see no goool reason to doubt or discard the psychologicnl diagnosis. He reveals himself normally as a man Irequently gloomy and mrril:able, prone to the sudden illumination of enthusiasm, a man of pro1ongc 1 silences, suddenly garrulous" dreamy, but passing from repose to violent but usually short-lived action. Conservative and superstitious, fatalist, fearless, be is all these things. Yet he :is as various individually as the men of other races, in some eases highly emotional, in others strangely passive, In all probability [he general type of man we now call the Kelt: displays the several
, . . tI' J

I".)'1 hological facets of the various races with whom primal stock originally millgled, and, according 10 'he law of miscegenation, these assume a different IUl'lnwit:h each individual, as he rhrows back to Ilwrian, Teu tonic , or other ancestors. Hut, despite t:hc intermixeure, the ancient leaven of Kelticisrn triumphs and the peculiar genius o~ the ancient race s1rong because so ancient and so perfectly moulded !II she matrix of its .origin-shines with an almost ',III' rhurnan radiance through the veils of alien 1II.00I"acter r idiosyncracy which in some cases even o ',,"['m at first sight to have obliterated it. One must ,oh '11 wait long and patiently to behold the illuminatinn. But some day WIder stress of passion or triumph ,11m- sorrow it wil] manifest itself in such a way I:hat iii: 4'll.unot be mistaken, in the sad, low, characteristic laugh, the gloomy and ominous scowl, in a quick ~' iasperation and fierce resentment which will surprise !If amuse men of slower blood, or in the proud and haughty scorn to which the finer and more purely11"'('d scions of this race of Europe's aristocrats are ',II disconcertingly prone. W hat is the mystical secret of the Kelt, poet, prophet,warri.or aristocrat among aristocrats? It is lilH' memory, the soul-reeolleetion of a former moral :l1li111 intellectual pre-eminence which he has not lost, lUI" its gifts remain withjn him" but the arcanum of which he cannot discover. He is like a man. with a dIl'SL- of treasure who haslost the key, In this repository lie the Books of the Secrets of Blti,1 ain , those most ancient and mysterious volumes ~·lIlllailling the lore of the civilizing race of this island ill its pristine days. The secrets it holds are of iurstimable spiritual. concern and imptortance to the (I1·up'le of a land still overwhelmingly Keltic in Ihuught and character. That Britain, to which the
I

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whole world looks for guidance in science and political thought, which governs almost one quarter of the globe, which has achieved triumphs unparalleled in the fields of scholarship, irwenaion. and government. whose light bums above ahose of all naJtions, should yet nat be enabled to boast a native mysjicism of her own, but be compelled t.o borrow from Eastern ~olilroes to supply this deficiency, is humiliating mdeed.. It is not that that native mystical tradition does not exist. It lies almost undisturbed in the cavern of the Keltic past. whence it is still possible to regain it for the behoof of our race. The first task before us in seeking to recover the secret of the Keltic Gra.il is, naturally, to review briefly the material, documentary and otherwise, which may help us to a just understanding of the mystical literature of the British Kelt. It is from this and from the relies o£ early British faith and philosophy as evinced in popular rites of immemorial eradition that we hope to glean the broken sherds of the vessel of British native mysticism, and to piece them into a recovered and restored whole. The mystical and occult .li~er<J1[lLLre Brvthonic of the Kelts of South. Britain is pardy derived lrom the col~ection of tales known as the Mabinogi01l .• which, though existing in a IS. of the fourteenth century ,was obviously composed at .<1 much earlier date, as its mythological character proves. The Welsh Triads likewise enshrine similar material, datmng., probably, from the: twelfth century, but embalming mystical lore grearly more ancien~: The so-called Book of T a.1iesin, written or more probably re-written, at some time during the fifteenth century, is on the same footing" The many efforts to disprove the authentic and ancient character of the mythological material. contained in these MSS. have signally

f.li.letl" made as they were by l.iterary persons for the IIHl.>l part unacquainted with mythological science, The question of the survival of Druidical knowh·d,~ein the bardiepoerry of Wales .is one which has Il,'cn debated wi11:hnusual heat. u One of the earliest

of the theory of its continuity was the Davies, who, in his Mythology 0/ the N.ritisk D-ruids" uncompromisingly and. whole~I~"ilrt,edlyddressed himself to its affirmation. It has a 111l'1·1I. proved amply enough by Nash and. others' that hi: translations of the ancient Welsh poems were ·.oIH\vhat inexact and garbled, and ~hal:his my thoIH!!:icai notions of the existence of a "Helio-Arkite" I digion in Wales until a late date were sufficiently .'II!Islm:L But as the "translations" of his critics were ['"lIally bad and their' views equally unsound, allow.1,11('($ must be made for him. His theories were lurther elaborated by the Hon. Algernon Herbert in I,i~ anonymous works: .B'f"iiamna after the Romans (IR;\6) and The N eo-D midic Heresy (1838), ill which he gave it as his belief that the adherence to llil{' olel paganism of the Druids had caused a schism In the British Church, and encouraged the maintendill' • of at Neo-D.midic heresy therein. Their opponents, indicated not only that the 111:1 jurity of their translations were inexact" but that 111.111)' 'of the passages believed to be of a mystical III mythological naturewere in reality of Christian "r').!in. But in doing so, they went too far-as far uulr- -d, as Davies and Herbert had g.one in the other din·(,tion. The truth is that when the Welsh poems III Tlw Book of Talie.sin, The Red .Book ot Hugest, 'nit' lJlad~ Book of Cael'1'Jui.!·thc1J:, and in the tales i II I he 1\4 abino gion are sifted and examined .1'il·l1ulifi.cally.they still contain a residuum of mystical
Rr-v. Edward
I

'i Imtagonists

, See his T.uiesifl,

[8S8:.

76
and mythological material not to be accounted for by the methods of their critics. These were not practicalmytholog.ists or mystics, and mostt of them. (N ash, in particular, as Skel1ehas shown) had a very short way of dismissing evidence which ran counter ~o their ideas. They stressed the notion that rh.e bards of Wales, Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, and Aneurin referred to the deities of ancient Britain sesthetically, as might the Augustan poets to the gods of classical mythology. But the direct and per-sonal manner .wnwhich the allusions are often made renders such an idea quite untenable, Moreover, as will be shown, there is nOi!:'I':ling inherently impossible in the idea that ahe ancient: British religiolll and mysticism lingered in '\Vales and other distant parts of the island for many centuries after the departure of the Romans. Those who adopt the negative positive have to explain the presence of hundreds of surviving superstitions. in Br.itain at the present time, the burning ot a Welsh Druidic idol along with its priest in London ~n the reign of Henry V] I I , the comparati vely recent sacrifice of bulls in the Highlands of Scotland in con uect iOIl with primitive rites, the existence of such celebrations as the worship of Shoney in the North of Scotland, and many other similar ~estivals which will be adduced in then' proper place, the~ate observance of witchcraft, a broken-down survival of Iberian-Kelticreligion, ;;:Jida host of other evidences. They have also to account satisfactorily for the survival of antique faiths elsewhere .in lands where paganism has, to all intents, seemil1gly been rooted out for cenmries , fOI" the Nagual,ism oWMexico and Central America, £01- the Alltiche ReI'igione or the worship of Diana in modern Italy" and for similar belieEs and practices in the Balkans and Russia ..

Mystery

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77

lhis is not the place [or a full-dress discussion on 111,1''1Ilth snticity of the ancient \Welsh literature asa 11111.,. Vet the present writer cannot but subscribe witness [or the preservation of a very !wl'·.id!':rahle body of authentic British lore of Oruidic 1111111 KelL:icorigin. Tha~ being so;! he will endeavour IIII PlIll'loy only such evidences of it as appear to him .I•. ,Iud reasonable tornake use of, and will do so withIlul hlrlhem- apology for its witness unless where such qlll'l·.~rs essential to the course of reasonable proof. IIdnre prooeeding to examine the mystical material 1111"" rnntajn, it will be well to. summarize bn"ieAy such 1111,. mnution as we possess regarding the principal iw:illilLies of whom these tales and poems recount the ,lh"I'I'liUlres. Some of them have 'been :identified w~th 1111 ~u(bof the Gaels, but the majority of them have I'! I h ":11 and strictly "Welsh" character. [t is safe ~I, ..I Y. however that they are of both Brythonic and .'1ida·llir origin, the results of a mingling oEbeliefs and i 111.', rosrtrnon to both branches of the Keltic f.amily, I'•.;tdmi'tted by the majority of standard authorities. '1'111' first group to attract 01llF attention, and 11" III: I pH the most outstanding, is that of Llyr, as, dlllll!'!'d to in the 11ifa,binogion. Uyr is god of the "I, and the histories of his sons Bran and luuowydden, his daughter Bmnwen,. and the halfhllllhl'ft:"s Nissyen and Evanissyen are recounted in I~I, '.1 )I-ies oE Branwen and Manawydden. These 111I'illl"o the invasion of Ireland, to whose king I hIllWI'11 had been married, Manawydden is Lord HI Elys.illm, and a craftsman and agri,eulturist. Bran I hif'ny famous as the possessor of a magical head hlll,I" after death ,. prophesied and protected the , hmdi d Britain from invasion. He presided over p~1'liI")f an~l bardic music" and was of titan mould. II; uns to have been associated with the world
I'
I
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I.~,I~',pa rtial

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o:ti'B:ritain

of the hereafter. or rather the underworld of fertility, as is his sister Branwen, as her possession of a magic eauldronrevea 15. The children of Don, another Brythonic group,
are Gwyd:ion, Gilvrethwy, Arnsethon, Govannon, and

Arianrhod, W~!llh,er sons Dylan and Llew, They resemble the Irish T uatha De Danaan, and their adventures are described in the mabinogi of Math, which recounts the passion of Gilvcethwy for Math's handmaiden Goewin, and the manner in which Gwydmon procu~'es the magical swine of Pryderi I which had been gifted him by Arawn Lord of Annwn or Hades. Math rns obviously a territorial and local god of Gwynedd in 'Wales, a magician pal' excell'82~ce, a "god of Druidism"'. Gwyc1ion is the patron of poetry, divination. and prophecy, the ideal bard, as well as a philosopher and culture-bringer. Ama::thon is a husbandman, and Govannon a "smith" or artificer, a species of Keltic Vulcan. Arianrhod, 001" " Silver Wheel" I, represented the constellation Corolla Borealis, but is also associated with the earth's fertility. Another group found in the iVabi,wgion is that of lP.vyll, Prince of Dyved,nis wife Rhiallnoli'l, and their son Pryderi, Pwyll changes places for a year with Arawll, King of Amzwn, or Hades, and makes war on his rival Havgan. Still another group is that
of Beli and his sons Llud, Caswallawn, and Llevelys, In Th.e Book, O'j Taliesin we encounter at group stilt more important from the mystical point of view, that

of Keridwen,
Creirwy, Avagddtl,

her hideous son Avagddu, his sister his brother Morvran, So that the ugly, may be compensated by the possession iQf supernatural knowledge" Keridwen prepares a cauldron of inspiration which must be brewed ~or a year, and which w~n produce three
and

THE :\1.\GIC\L

ITY OF DIRY.

I\lystery

of KehicPhimosopby

7.9

rlrops of wvine fluid. She sets a servant, Gwmon, In warch it, and the three drops falling on his finger, III coaveys it to his mouth and becomes inspired. Keridwen, in her anger, pursues him, and as he assumes various forms, a hare, a fish, and a grain of wheat, in his flight, she takes on the shape of a ,!eyhound, ant otter, and at last a hen, in which guise. she swallows the grain, later bearing Gwion as. a rhild, whom she abandons to the sea in a coracle. As we shall see,iliis myth is all-important to an understanding of British mystical lore. The ICh~ld she abandons to the waves becomes, later, Taliesie, the magical bard .. The Druidic bards who lived and sang under the Welsh princes unanimously represent Keridwen as presiding over the hidden mysteries of their ancient cult. Cynddlelw, who flam-rushedabout the middle of the tweUtb century, sings: ". How mysterious were the ways of the songs of Keridwenl How necessary to understand them in therurt:rue sense!" Llywarch ~p Llywelyn, who wrote between I 160 and 122:0, asks for "insp.iration as if it were from the Cauldron of Kerjdwen' ~, and sa.ys that he ·willl: address his lord "with the dowry of Keridwen, the Ruler of Bardism"'. It was.essential for those bank who aspired Ito. the Chair of Song to have tasted the waters of inspiration from her cauldron, Ito. have been initiated into her mysteries. That the myth of Keridwen of the Lake of Tegid, the god or genius, of wh~chwas the husband of this deity, is aUimportant in our quest :may be g:a:thered from a passage in The Book of Talie.sin.
Then she [Keridwere] d.eterminoo,agreeably to the mystery of the books of Pheryl1t,to prepare for her son 2. cauldron of water of insplratioe and knowledge. In the meantime Keridwen, with due attention to the books of astronomy, and to the hoars of the planets,

T'he

Mysteiries

o ] Bt"itain

Myste r y o I Keltic
r-ncompassed

P hiloso

phy 81

employed herself daily ill collecting plants of every species: which preserved ally rare virtues. _ " . She stationed G-..viontlle Little, the son of Gwreauy the Herald of Llanvai:r, in Powys, the: land of rest" to superintend the preparation of the cauldron.

The Pheryllt, a1coording to whose ritual she proceeded, are frequently mentioned by t.he bards of Wales" and an old chronicle, quoted by Dr. Thomas WiUiams, states that the Pheryllt had a conege at Oxford prior to the foundation of that University. These Pheryl1t appear to have been a section of the Druidic brotherhood, teachers and scientists, skilled in all that required the agency of fire, hence the name has frequently been traeslared "alchemists" or "metaUurgists".. Indeed, chemistry and metallurgy are known as Celllyddydan P/~e1'yllt, or "the arts of the Pheryllt.", who would seem to have had as their headquarters the city of Emrys in the district of Snowdon, famous for its magical associations, the city oE the dragons 'Of Beli.' Somewhere in the district 'Of Snowdon lie jt'he remains of this ancient British city of Emrys, or "the ambrosial city"', also known in Welsh. tradition as the city of Dinas AHaraon., or "the higher powers"; To this mysterious community the poems of the Welsh bards allude so frequently as to place its, actual existence beyond all question. Not only is it mentioned in The Black Bool« of Caerma;rUten and other Cymric manuscripts as the centre of mystical rites, but itis alluded to by one of Camden's commenraaors as occupying the summit of "'the panting diH" on Snowdon itself. Davies says that it stood' 'upon the road from the promontory of Lleyn to that part of the coast which .is opposite Mona" (Anglesey), and Gibson, in his work on Camden, identifies it with the ruins of an exceedingly strong fortification
• My1!)rrian, iJI.Tdla?t'l',!ogy, u,
~). 59.

by a triple waU on an eminence called Broich y Ddinas, "the ridge of the city"', which lurms part of the summit of Penrnaen. Within each wall the foundation of at least a .lfn:mdredtowers of .thout sjx yards' diamem:er remain, and the defences [I hemsel yes were at least six feet in thickness. "The ~~·eatness of this work,," he says, " shows that it was ;[I princely fortification, stref1lg~hened1by Nature and workmanship, seated on the top of one of the highest mountains of that part of Snowdon whicb lie toward the sea." In Ern:rys were concealed in the time of Bile the solar deity. and in the time or Prydain the son of IEdd the Grear, the dragons which are so frequendy referred to as harnessed eo the car of Keridwen, 00 it appears not improbable that the city was in some mariner associatedw.ith her mysteries, Davies believed that the Pheryllt were priests of those Inysteries in the ambrosial city of Emrys .. Now what, precisely is the significanoe of the p;odJdess. Keridwen and her mystical. cauldron? MythicaUy speaking, the vessel in question was designed for the preparation of.oilbrew 1i!lhichinduced inspiration and. awoke the prophetic and bardic faculties. The myth is obviously an allegory of initiation, of which the tasting of the water was an essential rite. In the poem known as "The Chai:r of Taliesin" iill TJ~,eBook of Taliesi7'~ (No. XIH) a number of ingredients are enumerated which went to compose Ihe mystical elixir brewed in the Cauldrou of Keridwen, the Pair Pumwydd, the "Cauldron o~ the Five Trees" so-called in allusion to the five particular trees or plants requisite to the preparation. 'ertain Cymric legends represent this Pair as at bath, [Ihf' water of which conferred immortality" but ,lcll,:ived the bather of utterauce-e-an allusion,
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Mystery

of Ke lt ic Philosophy

83

perhaps, to the oath of secrecy administered prior. to initiation. Elsewhere T aliesin alludes to i.t as "the Cauldron of the ruler of the deep"', and. states that ~twill not boil the food of him who is not bound by his oath .. I t is thus dear enough that the We1sh Bards made use in their initiatory rites of a decoction of plants or herbs which they believed could bestow certain powers of inspiration, eloquence, prophecy, and song upon the votary who partook of it. The use of such purificatory or lustrational water was not 1111i1kno:wn in the mysteries or Greece and Rome. In connectson with the mysteries of Ceres a decoction of laurel, salt, barley sea-water, and crowns of !lowers was employed, and this appears as si~ilar to ~he ingredien~s of Keridweu's cauldron, which, according to 'Taliesin, contained berries, the foam of the ocean, cresses, wort and vervain which had been borne aloft and kept apart from the influence of the moon. A part of this potion was also added to the Gwin, OF Bragwod, or sacred> drink used commonly by the British initiates, which was made from wine, honey, water. and malt, and whieh thus resembles the liquor of the devotees of Ceres, a.concoction of wine, barley, water and meal. There.sidue of the waeer in the cauldron of Keridwen was, as \'IIe have seen,poisonoos and accursed, that is, it was symiboLicaUysupposed to contain the sins and pollutions of the novitiates, and was cast out, precisely as was the residue of the water employed i11 the mysteries of Ceres.' The mysterious cauMiron is alluded to by Taliesin as having been instituted by nine maidens who "lj'l,'armed it with their breath". Davies' believes
I i

'Atllenreus, Lib.. XI" Ch, • 13t:i.lish D:ruii!s, (I•. 223·

15.

them to have been the GwyUion.,. or "'fairies'·, prophetic damsels who bore a resemblance to the nine muses of classical lore, They are mentioned by Taliesin as preparing their cauldron in a "quadrangular caer' or sanctuary in "the island of the strong door "; This seems to refer to the island of , eon mentioned in the same poem, and which must surely be one and the same widl the Sena or Ile de Sein , not far hom B.rest, mentioned by Pomponius Mela' as the' 'abode of priestesses holy in perpetual virginity, and nine in number. They are I" he proceeds called. GaUicen<e, and. are tho1l.lghtto be endowed with singular powers. By their charms they are able to raise the winds and seas, to tum themselves into what animals they will, to cure wounds and diseases incurable by others, to know and predict the future." In a word, they were Druidesses, as modern authorities have admitted. Once a year they unroofed their temple, and if in the task oE re-thatching it, one of them stumbled, she was immediately torn in pieces by the others. Strabo likewise mentions these priestesses of Sena as the devotees of ., Bacchus' ". ' 'possessed of Dionysius '", This is" of course, merely another way of saying that these women were the hierophants of a Keltic deity whose rites and mysteries resembled those of Bacchus, the orgias~ic celebrations which preceded the deity's gifts of inspiration and prophecy. M. Salmon Reinach dismisses the stories of Strabo and Mela as. a fable based all the myth of Circe, but, as Canon MacCulloch reasonably remarks, ,. even if they are garlb]ed, they seem to be based on actual observation and are paralleled from other regions. The facts tha~ the rites were called Dionysiac is no reason for denying the fact that some
I ,. I

, op. cit p .. 317.

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The

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85,

orgiastic rites were practised. Classical writers usually reported alkharbaric rites in terms of their own religion.'" Says Mr. Kendrick: I. Although it is quite possible the authors were tempted 1:0 interpret the reputed existence of Keltic islandcommunication in the terms of classical mythology with its tales of the Isle of Circe and so 0:0, yet, since there is abundant evidence that the Gauls, like many other ancient peoples, felt that some peculiar holiness was attached to lonelyi~lands, it is almost an inevitable consequence that the quality of sacredness should be translated to those who lived upon
them. " that the bard Aneurin

h1l view of the sea, in the front of the assembled men, and neal' the pit of conflict, the raven has pierced thee in wrath!

h: is obvionsly to some sud) orgiastic ceremony alludes iifnJ a poem cited by Davies."
In the presence of the I less rl ones, before the gr,eat assembly, before the occupiers of the holrne when the house was recovered from the swamp, surrounded witb crooked horns. and crooked swords, in honour of the miighty king of the plains, the king with open countenance : I saw da.rk ~ore .l'IrisiIlg' on the sealks of plants, OIlJ the clasp of the chain, all the bunches 011 the sovereign, on the bush and spear. Ruddy W3S, the sea-beach" whilst the clrcalar revolution was performed by the actendanrs, and the white bands, in graceful extravagance. The assembled train were dancing, after the manner, and sing ing in cadencev wirh g'a:rlands. on their 'brows; 'loud was the clattering of shields round the ancient cauldron in frantic mirth, and lively was the aspect of

That these Druidesses of Senarwere identified with the nine guardians of the Cauldron of Keridwen, shows that they were the Irereditary priestesses of her cult, like tile priestesses of Gala~ian Artemis or the goddesses of Gaul with their female votaries. But the allusion of Aneurin to the "'involved h~II" introduces us to another phase Df the Keltic mysteries. The ball in question is, of course, the celebrated serpent's egg of Druidic lore. The ,Ioms tw:ssicus of its allusion is the well-known statement of Pliny' who says. o[ i~:
There is also another kind of egg, of much renown in tile Ga:IIRe provinces" but ignor'ed by the Greeks. In the surnmcr , numberless snakes entwine themselves into a ball, held together by a secretion from their bodies and by the spittle, This is called anguilmtn.. The Druids say that hissing serpents, throw this up into the air, and that it must be caughl.Bn .:31 cloak, and not allowed to touch the ground; and that one must instantly take to ~ight on horseback, asIhc serpents will pursue until some stream cuts them off. I t maY' be tested, they say, by seeing :iiE .it floats ag:Ji:inst the curren I of a river, even though it be set in gold. But as it is the w,aJYof m,ag'icians to cast a cunning veil. about their frauds, they pretend that these eggs can only be taken om a. certain day of the moon, as thougb ir rested with mankind to make the moon and the serpents accord as to the moment of the operation. I myself, however, have seen one of these eggs; it was round, and about as large as a smallish apple; tile shell was cartalag-inous, and pocked like the arms of a po~ypus. The Druids 'esteem It highly. It is said to ensure success in lawsuits and a. favourable receplion with princes; but this is false, because a mall of the Voconfii, who was. also a Roman knight, kept one of i hese eg'gs in his bosom dllrillg a trial., and was put to death by 'Ihe Emperor Claudius, as far as I can see, ~or

him, who,

run his prowess, had snatched over thefordthar

involved ball which cast its rays to a distance, the splendid product of the adder, shot forth by serpents. !But wounded art' thou, severely wounded, thou delight of princesses, tlaou who lovccis.t the living herd! It was my earnest wish that thou mightest live, 0 thou OF victoriousenergy l Alas, thou Bull, wrot1gful'ly oppressed, thv death [deplore.. Thall hast heel] aJ friend of tranquiUityl

that reason alone.

• op. 'Cit .. p. 139.. ., 01'. cit. appendix, p.. 57"1.

, Nat. l1ist .. XXIX,

52 .

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The

Atysteries

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Mystery
Williams, who Auhreology.

of KehiicPhilosopby
afterwards edited
the

87
Myvyrian.

Regarding the precise nature of this "snakes' egg" there is considerable conflict of opinion .. Certain prehistoric beads of blue and green glass" sometimes carved and inlaid with white paste, are known in Cornwall, '\iV , and Scotland as '''snakeales storres " and in Ireland as "D.uids' Glass." These appear to date from the early centm"iesbe£ore the Christian era. and, as the Druids must :havebeen familiar with them. it rus improbable that they would have regarded them as natural formations. Nor do they fit in with the description Df Pliny, who. represents the a.ngT.tin'uml as about the size of an apple, and its shell or husk as horny. Some aurheriaies believe the "serpel1lt's =ss" to have been a fossil echidnus or ammonite. But when we recall the circumstance that the Druids were known to the Welsh bards as Nadd1'e,d, or Adders, in allusion probably to their supposed regeneration as ireitiates, an allegorical reference to the serpent 'which casts its skin" it will be s en that the statement DE Pliny is merely a confused account of the manner in which the Druids or "Adders" assembled and manufactured these emblems, which were probably glass balls covered with skin, and known [0 the Kymry as Glei,~ialt Na.d·redd. That they were supposed 1:0 ensure good fortune in lawsuits seems to indicate their probable significance as amulets radiating "rightness" orjustice, and perhaps bestowiog eloquence in advocacy .. "rVe now approach another and most important avenue of possible proof that the philosophic ideas of the Dmidls actually did survive in Wa.les by the aid of the Bards. [n the first pl.aoe it may he interesting, if nothing more, to quote hom the "Advertisement'" of Poems, Lyrical and Pastoral. published m 1794" by Edward

He maintained says Skene'] that there had existed at an early period, when bardisrn flourished as an institution of the country, four chairs or schools of bards" and that one of these chairs still remained-the chair of Glamorgan . that the succession of bards and bardic presidents could be traced back to £3°0. that Llywelyn Sion, W]IO was bardic pre ident in 1580 and died in 1616, had reduced this system to writing under the tide of tmle Book 0,/ Bardisa:t" or' the Druidism oj the Bards of the: Isle QJ Bri:!tU7I, which he professed to have compiled from old books in the collection of MSS. at Raglan Castle.

The "Advertisement"

is as follows:

The patrian::ha1 religion of Ancient Britain, called Druidism, but by the \;Velsh most commonly Barddas, Bardisru, thousrh they also term it Derwyddoniaeth, Druidism, D.S no more inimical to Christianity than the religion of Noah, Job, or Abraham; it has never, as some imagine, been quite extinct in Britain; the Welsh Bards have, through ail ages ,d.ownto the preslmt, kept it alive .. There is in my possession a manuscript synopsis, of it by Llewelyn Sion, a Bani, written about the: year 15,60: its truth and accuracy are corroborated by innumerable notices and allusions in OUF Hardie manuscripts of every age up to Taliesin :in the sixth oentmy,whose poems exhibit a complete system of Druidism, By these (undoubtedly authentic ) writings it will. appear that the Ancient British Cl1ri:stiarni.tY\'II"as strongly tinctured with Druidism.

Sharon Turner, the celebrated antiquary, addressed himself to the consideration of Williams's presentation of Siori's work" and wrote :
These triads, of course, 00]1' prove vthat the bards of the middle agles had these notions, but it is highly probable that what they believed on this point they derived frOITl their ancestors. They mention three circles or existence :'-1', The Cykh , Ce-ugat:l,t, or all-enclosing circle, which contains the Deity alone. 2, The circle of GW.'l"m.!ydd or Felicity" the abode of good men who have passed through their
• Four Anc,j,ent 1l0oks 01 W,a/e-s, I, 29'.

88

The

Myst,er ie s of Britain
j.

Mys,tery
(w
I

of Kej t ic Philosophy

89

terrestrial changes, 3, Tile circle of AlI'red or Evil" that in which mankjnd pass throllgh their various. singes of existence before IGcing qualified to enter tile ejrcle of felicity, Ai,1 animated beings have three stages, of existence to pass through-the state of iibr,ed or evil, in Anllw'I'i: or tile Great Deep; the stale of freedom in the human form, and the state of love, which is happiness in the ,Nef or heaven. All beings but' God must lJlldergo three (wgrnt or necessities : they must have a beginning in lllmmm or the great deep, a progression in A bred Dr the state of evil, and a 'completion. in the circle of felicity in heaven, In passing film ugh the changes of being, attached to the state of dbred, it is; possible for man by misconduct to fallretl""Ograde into the lowest state from which he had emerged. There are three things. which will inevitably plunge him back into the changes. of Abred-I , Pride ; ~0J:" this he will fall to A nnwm, which is, the lowest point at whidl existence begias, 2, Falsehood" which 'will re-plunge him il1l Glory!:!, or a transmigration into some degrading form, 3, Cruelty, which will consign him to Cyd1JI'I, or a transmigration into some ferocious beast. From these be must proceed again in due course through changes of being, up to humanity, Humanity was the limit of degrading transmigrations ;<111 the changes above humanity were felicitating, and they were to be perpetual, with ever-increasing acquisitions of knowledge and happiness.

Now Nash, as he is bound to do in view of his thesis of the dubious character of all Welsh Bardic literature" tries to throw fold water upon the authentic nature of Sian's writings. He says:
The MS. of Llywelyn Sion was, aeoording to the statement of Dr. Owen Pughe, last transcribed and revised by Edward Davydd of Margam, who died in I69O. The latter says, in his preface, that he compiled if from the books of bards and learned teachers, lest tile materials sho1!lldbecome lost', and more particularly from the books of Meyrig Davydld, Davydd Llwyd I!.bthew, Davydd Benwyn, ami JL;lywelyrl Sion, who were Bardic presidents of the GJamorgan chair' from 1560 to 15801'_ l.1ywdyn Sian, who died in 16'16, says that the a!uthors. teachers, and judges, who sanctioned this system and code" were tile Druids and Bards afser they had come to the fait1~ in Christ.

The orig:ina.l manuscript of Edward Davydd is ote T urner in J Ro3} yet extant in the library of (Jan Haran, ill Glamorganshire.' , What, one asks, is there of the improbable in ,a,1l this? "It does not follow," says Skene, ,,' because the poems are not what Davies and Herbert r rn resent them to be that they_ are rherefore not I«-nuine. ' Have the literatures of other countries not been handed down by means more devious than we find recorded by Sinn?' vVha1t at the Central American "Popol Vuh "', the Kabbala, the S .riptures themselves, the works of the classical era ?' Are the evidences of their antiquity in manuscript any' more " res-pecta'bl e "?. And did Llywelyn Sion actually invent the mystic cycles of which he speaks? If he did, it :issurprising that they so closely resemble those oE other myth(.,Iogics, and that one of these cycles at least is m ntioned in several of the old Iays and ~n the Mabinogio'n. It seems to me, indeed, highly improbable that Sian "Invented" this mystical II rogression [or the follow illg reasons: (I) Thae, as .1sllall show later , it agrees with the circumstances of other and similar systems; (2) that similar mystical cosmologies have come down to us unimpaired from an even greater antiquity than we are here dealing with; and (3) that the system bears the impress of authority and tradition on the face of it. .!But Davies, the extreme protagonist of Neonmidism, would have none of Sian's system, and attributed at later French origin to it. ., It is not,'" he says, " the Druidism of History, or of the Bri.tish Bards." In this estimate Nash agrees with him. But he seems to have been carried away by the fac~ that Edward VJilliams's son, Taliesin Williams, published a version of the Book oj B'a'fdism which
I

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The

Mysteries,

of

Britain

did not contain any reference to the mysteries, and that the Book mntaining the material of Sion remained unpublished at the time of Edward Williams's death, although it was later published, under the tide of Barddas, for the Welsh Society
in 1862"

CHAPTER
, '.BARDDAS' ,

IV

Before deali.ng with the extraordinary material contained in Ba1·dda.s-material which entirely shatters the contentions .of the critics DE the authentic character of the Druidic tradition in Wales-let me remark that it is amazing to a modern student of myrrh and folklore that the antagonists of the Hardie and Druidic tradision should have utterly denied the mythological. authenticity .oF many of the poems and even of the incidents in the Mabinogion. These are now, especially the latter, fuHy reoognized by standard authorities as the verirable remains of Brythonic myth. And jf the mythology of the Keltic race, whose priests were the Druids, should have been handed down almost unimpaired, why mary not the philosophy of the Druids have been preserved by similar means? That this was actually achieved I hope to demnnstrate in the succeeding chapter.

the volume containing the materi~l the existence of which N ash had denied, was published under the auspices of the W elsh M~lJiuscript Society at Llandovery in 1862, with translations and notes by the Rev., J. Williams ~b I thel, .. re?tor . of Llanyomowddwy, Meriouethshire. In its title It .purpor~ed lIn be " a collection ol original documents Illustrative of [he theology, wisdom and usages o~ the BardoDruidic system of the Isle of Britain."" In the preface it is stated that the pron:oters of the National Eisteddfod held at Llangollen m 1858, desirous of rescuing the traditions of the~ards, fr?ffl oblivion, offered a prize for ',' the EuUes,tl~Iu:~tratlo~ from original sources of the theology, discipline and usages of the Bardo-Druidic s~s.tem of ehe IS.le of Britain." Only one compositron wasrecelve~: hearing the anonymous sig~l~ture of ~'Plennydd. With respect to its authenticity, the Judges st~ted that the manuscripts it contained we~e genUl~e" though their authors cannot in many mstances be named, any more than we can name the~uthors of the Common Law of England" yet the existence of the peculiar dogmas and usages ~~.ich they repr,esent may be proved from the composrnons of the Ba~ds, From the era of T aliesin down to the present time . it is among the remains of Bardism we may hope to discover" if at all, that Goiden
•I

BARDDAS,"

•I

• The word "Barddas"

91

means "Bardism".

'92

The

M y s t e. if 00 So e

0f

B :r ita in

Key" concealed and secured, which can open the mysueries. or esoteric doctrine of ancient nations." With few exceptions, we are told, the documents

included in. the coUection were gathered from the manuscripts of the late 1010 N[orga[lwg,ifrequel1tly mentioned in the precerl:ing chapter as Edward Williams.. They were in his handwriting, and the judges had every reason to believe that they were t!ranscr:ipl:s from older manuscripts. He made them in the first instance on the backs of old letters and bins, in which state they were discovered after his death. The Editor, writing of these, says:" 'We have had an opportunity of examining fuUy and ,eareful.ly those papers and unhesitating.ly pronounce him to be incapable of perpetrating literary deceit or forg1ery." 1ndeed, the style is in general. too archaic for the eighteenth century. and .it appears that IoJo 1\1organwg EuirnseU non: fully understand did certain of the documents., nOT did he correct the errors they obviuusly contained. lit is clear, too, that in making his transcripts he had frequently more than one original to found upon and the lack of unwrormity in some of the details eonclusivelv proves that he was merely a copyistand nothing more .. Again., be refers to the actual existence of some of the documents which he bas copied, and gives\'I1ith great minuteness the names and addresses of t.he owners. He further states : "The T riades that are here selected are from a manuscript col1ection by Llywdyn Sion, a Bard of Glamour-gall, about the year 1560. .of this manuscript I have a transcript; the or.iginal ~sin the possession of if r. Richard Bradford
of Beu,;ys.,near Bridgend, in Glamorg'Jul, son of the late Mr. John Bradford, who, for sitj~lin ancient British Bardism, Idt not h.is equal behind." This statement must have been penned nearly a century

!\

URUIDIC

nRC\'

"Ba:rddas~"

93,

before the pub~icatiO!n of B'at',d,das and was pm-inted in Williams's Poems, Lyrical: and Pastoral. already .rlluded to. Hatd the reference been a fa;lse oneil: woukl certainly have been refuted at the time. Other critics attempted to refer the material of llurddas to the Eisteddvoddau held subsequently 10 the beginning of the fifteenth century, when certain bardic rites were authorized which were handed flown through the medium of the bardic chair of Crlamorgan. These were said to be the invention of the bards of the fifteeneh, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, simply because the code had not been reduced to. writing be~ore their time. Some actually said that they derived it [rom the Brahmins uE India I This notwithstanding, it bears the stamp of authenticity ill every line, and that it: could have been "invented" by Welsh bards who lived centuries apart and had not a scintilla of knowledge regarding Hrahminism or any other esoteric religion is a suggestion of the most jejune description. Indeed, I ne is forced to agree with the editor oE Ba:rdda.s when he says: " We believe that the bards of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were, to some extent, acquainted. with the poetical productions .of their predecessors, ". even if they did not agree upon any :system drawn [rom their writings. Many rassages in the volume may be paralleled from the works of theW elsh bards. The material of Ba,'ddas, its editor believed, had been collected chiefly from the works of bards whoflourished from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centl!lry, by Llywelyn Sion, who copied them in the libra:ry oE Raglan Castle. ,. Th ere IS no doubt." says th e e ditor;' ...that th ese . ou t, .. bards viewed the' traditions of the Gorsedd as the g,enuine remains of Anc~el1t Druidism; amI t.here~is
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95

rea;on to' believ.e t.hat in th.eir m~in fe.,ature: they We"f8 so. I~he. var!atwJ1ls ~,~ser:,able In minor points,
would Indicate 111 what direction and to what exte ... 1 they suffered in their passa~e from the el!.. ~ ..... ' nL . . .,• b'" nnS'LIa.n era. ,downwards ..'

OF THE THREE."
Indeed, Christianity

Th~t the introduction of Christianity did not mean the abandonment. o! the Druidi,c philosophy is dear enough from (:ertampassages in the works ot the elsh bar.ds. On~ o:f the triads refers especially to I:~IS when it says: .There. are three special doctrines that have been obtallled by the nation of tbe Cymry : tile first,. f~om the age of ages, was that o.E the Gwyddoniaid, prior to the time of Prydain, son of Aed~ the Great; the second was lBarcl'ism" as taught 1b~ the Bards, after they had been instituted; the third was the Faith in Christ, heing THE BEST

w_

inscribed were known as coeiiwen:' Bran the Blessed it was who brought the art of dressing goatskin as parchmentfrom Rome. The three origi.nal letters were obtained by Meow the Aged hom t.he ... ioe d' God Himself, which manifested itseU :in rays o uf light, thus in three columns. The sense 0 was given to the first column" [ to the second eJDi middle, and V to the I:nird,,,,,,rhence the word O[V, which may not be pronounced. As a bardic poem

(l~r

II \

says:
The Eternal, Origin, Self-existent Distributor. Holy bethe lips that canonically pronounce them; An01iher name in iuJlword, Is 0'1 and OIV thewor,dJ-Ieuan Rudd sang it.

to have been regarded of Druidism, a creed attun;ed 5? closely to the nobler aspirations of the K,eltlc spmt that it. was easy. of assumption by it. \\ h~t has ~een saul concemmg the Culdee caste obviously a.ids this reRection., and it is known that many Dnuds, .actuajly became Christian priests. The ~a.mous bull .of Pope Gregory I (A.D. 54'0-604) permitted a fusion between Keltic anell Cfuistian b~lief which rendered the latter easier of acceptcmce WIthout ahogether destroying the former. \~e come now to the material in Basddas itself. ..The fir'5~ .book is entitled "Symbol" and deals WI~. the ongm of letrers, the alphabet and the secret Wflt~.~g- of the. !Bards. Letters,., says the. Ha.rruc traditiorr , were Invented by E iniged the Giant, son of ~ lser, for the purpose of recording EJllraisewm·thy actions, and thewooden blocks 0111 which they were

seems

by the Kelts as, the fulfilment

By I:his name the Universe calls God jnwardly-rthe sea, I:heland, earth and air, and all the visibles and invisibles of the world, all the worlds of :aU the Celestials and T errestriais, every thing animate and inanimate, The three mystic letters signity the three attributes of God: love,knowiedge and truth, It was, because of this principle that three degrees were conferred upon the Bards of the ~51e of
Britai.n. Out of the knowledge of the vocalization of language and speech received from these three principal letters sixteen letters were lormed ; all letters employed by the Bards were developed from them, and formed the Abced~lros, a word <composed of the ten primary letters. Later other letters were formed, to the number of twenty-fou:r. But only a Bard of thorough secrecy knows now the name or God is to be spoken audibly by means. of the three principal columns IQf ~ette[s, because on~y he knows their meaning, accent and powers. ThIS
, At least a dozen passages i~ the .~ardic 'betw,een IlOo and [600 allude to this tradition. poems written

• Italics are mine.-L.S.

96

The

Mysteri,es

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97
missive epistles and secret books are COHthe meaning of wh.ic~ DO. one knows b~t 0onfidan'ts; ncr is it right, according. to IlJsa¥,e and troth, 1:0 divulge the same. They are called the Charms of the Bards, nr Hardie Myst,ery.. . Secrer CQel1).(Jlim are sl.U'I111ar made ~f sma[~; st.o~1es ,. hearing the marks of mystery; and It lS by . dlSposlIlg them, according to the arr angernent and art of the secret, that necessary sciences arc demo.nstrated. And where such coelb"lms exhibit the number of the lC,tters of .~the Historical co,etbrell, let them be made secret ~Y challg.mg one letter fOI" another, so that it be [lot asce.rtam.ed, except from the necessity and declination of the same leuer twice in the same meaning and power.
10'

secret must not be divu~ged save ~o him who is warranted as having Aw'en ' from God, tor God alone can pronounce His name perfectly. He who reasons and meditates will comprehend the meaning DE the primitive system of sixteen [etters and will perceive and understand the Name of God and the just reverence due to Him, The three ;etters O.LV. were originally and authoritatively Wl·.mtten I V. and without tbe violation of secrecy there cannot be another system arising from these letters. From this trinity of letters arose the custom of casting knowledge into Triads, and the three rays oE light were regarded as the three principal signs of the sciences, and from them were obtained fix.ity and authority for the arts and sciences. Aber a dissertation on the rraditions of the manner mn which Bardism and the Go.rsedd were established, we receive en[jghtenment on the principal dements of things. These are power, matter and mode. The elements of Science are life, intellect: and! affeetion; of Wisdo.m, object, mode and benefit; and of Memorials, understanding' from affection, distinctwve sign and reverence for the better. The three foundations of A wen from God! are : eo uaderstend the truth, to love the truth and to maintain the truth, A long description ot Cymric arithmetic follows, and of the technica] making of books or co eU'nen , neither which is germane <toour subject. Butwe may quote the following:

secrecy,

lwuded

<>

That is, they are to be cast in cipher. . , The last entry in the B,ook. O'J SY'fnboLs
following queSl:ionary :'

ts

the

Question-What is the D(LS_ClI;b:eURodd? AusweT- The keys of the prurutrve c.o,e·~b:ren. . Q.,-What is it that explains the prunsnve coelbren? A.-TbeVasgl!beU Rodd. Q.-What else? . . . A.-The secret of the DosgubeU R,odd. Q,.""":What secret? . ._ . A.-The secret of the Bards of the Isle of Er:Btam: .. ,I IQ.""":What "~in. ivulge the secret of the Bards of ~he Isle d of Britain? A.-Inst.ruction by a master in virtue of .3. vow, 'Q.-What kind of vow? A.-A vow made with God.

or

The mysteries of the nards, that is to. say, the secret coelbrcru;, are small ebilliOlI,. a linger long, having notches, so. that t]leymay be used! by two persons or more, who arc confidants" It is by placing and jiQ,jning them together, with reference to w~mt is secret, that words and phrases are formed; and by bUllcHimlg them into words according
, Genius,
Oil"

For us the second book, entitled ,,' Dwyffyddiaeth", or "Theology':' is o[ gre~tly more importance, for in it are enshrined the myssieal teach~ngs of Bardism. It opens with aIarge number <:>f theological triads, which need not be quoted at t~llS juncture. But brther 011 we enoaunter th~ caption .• 'Druidism' ',in which document we are inforrned oE the Druidical ideas concerning the nature of godhead. God is goodness and power, and js, opposed in dllality to Cyth1'aut darkness and powerless
,-rill
101 ~"

In spirntion,

n:1s~ullcll Rod i.s the "gin besom", ccp away what hldes the tn.ldit.

which Is supposed
G

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The

,Mysteries

of Britain

" Bardda s"

includes humanity, and all below it. But necessarily evil as its condition is, God does not hate rhe lower things existing in it, knowing that they cannot be otherwise. iBUll when life arrives at the pointe of humanity irnI Ab7Cd, where good and evil equiponderate , man is free Iroen all obligation, and his state is one of will and freedom and ability, where every act is, one oE consent and choice. Whatever be does he could do differently, therefore it is rigbt that he should receive punishment or reward as his works require ..
I

inability. God mercituiIy united Himself with this li£elessness or evil with the intention of subduing i.t UDlbo liJe or ,goodness" and from this intellectual existenoesacd animations first sprang. These began in the depths of A~~nwn, or the abyss, the lowest and least grade, for there can be no intellectual existence withoun gradation, and in. respect of gradation there cannot but be a. beginnu:g, .a middle" an end or extremmty-first,augmentatwn and ultimate or conclusioa. "Thus animations in A unum are partakers of life and govdness in the lowest possible degree and of death and evil in the highest degree,. Therefore they are necessarily evil, because oE the preponderance of evil over Ith,e good. Their duration is uecessarily short, but by dissolution and death they are removed gradually to a higher degreevwhere they receive an accumulation of ~ife and goodness, and thus they progress fro~ grade .to grad~, nearer and nearer .to the ~xtremlty ..o£~lfe and goodness" God, of hIS merciful affection tor animated beings" preparing the ways along A bred, out of pure love to them until they arrive at the state and point of human existence;. '~here goodness ,and evil equiponderate, neither wetghmg down the. other. From this sprang liberty and choice an.d elective power in man, so that he can perform w~lchever he likes of any two things, as of good and evil; and thus, is .it seen that the state of humanity is a state of probation and instruction, ... vhere the good and ev~l equiponderate, and animated beings are left to their own will and p~easur,e." There are three circles of spir.itUlal evolution, the Circle of A bred, in which are all corporal and dead existences the Circle of Gwyn.vyd, in which are all animated and i,rnmol"ta~beings, and the Circle of C eu:gant where there ES only God. A bre,d, thus
I I

The enigma of the Bards is posited thus: " There is nothing truly hidden but wn.a!t IS not
conceivabje;

There is nothing not conceivable but what IS immeasurable; There is nothing immeasurable but God; There is no God but that which .is not conceivable :;, There is nothing not conceivable but that which is truly hidden ;. There is nodfling truly hidden but: God ..••
Its solution is as follows:

What is not conceivable is the greatest of a.111and the immeasurable of what is not in place ; God is, [he greatest of an, and the immeasurable of intelligence; And there can be no existence to any thing hut hom intelligenee ; And the non-existence of all things comes from what is not in place. God the Father, we are informed, is called by some Hen Ddihenvdd, that is "Al1Icient and Unoriginated One."~ "the original ~ifespring" or springing into life at the lowest point of animated

100

'T'h Ie I\!{ysteries

of

Br ita in
[rom the Gr,eat
An1'lwn,

"Barddas ,,'

101

existence, or out of thechaotic mass of matte,!" in :its utmost state of decomposition;' according to a note or gloss of Iolo Morganwg. God the Son is called lau, that is the YOllnger, the last manifestation of the Deity or God under a finite form and eorporeity. " And when He became man in this world, he was called Jesus Christ, •• or God the Dov)rdd, I:hat is " God the Tower" . .And he had other names, such as Perydd or "tbe First Cause," and '" God the N" d" 'rOC eli" or' "E nergy " , dLl'ID, ' G 'I the N av ," or Creator. He is also called "Bu the Mighty, or " the Pervade ... ' ", ' The next manuscript in the" Book of Theoloo:y" ' db' as t hIS epartrnent of Ba:rd.dasmay be called, is "The Book of Bardism ", by L1ywe1vn Sion himself, This he professes to have extracted from old books, "namely the books of Einion the Priest, Taliesin the Chief of Bards, Davydd Ddu of Hiraddug, Cwtta Cyvanvydd, Jonas of Menevia , Ederyn the Goldentongued, Sian tCent, Rhys Goch,:md others in the Library of Raglan. by permission of the lord \iViniam Herbert, ea:rl of Pembroke, to whom God gra.nt that ] may prove thankful as I,oog as] live. Th.e first is a Treatise in the form of Ouestion and Answer bv a Bard and .his DisciplHhe work of Sion Cent, which contains many of the principal subjects of the primitive wisdom, as it existed among the Bards of the Isle of Britain from the age of ages. ". It is couched in the form of question and answer between the Bard and his disciple. The Bard first informs the novice that he •"carne
tJ,

vVorl.cl." and had his beginning in but that he is now in the Little 'Noild,

, He is pmbaDly one and the same with that Hesus, described b}' ,lLiIlIC8n as a god of the Gauls, and 'Il.1:W Iater have been confounded with jesus. 2 IDtshould be mentioned here that the existence of every one' or the bards alluded to has been authenticated, and that the works of most 'of them have been published in 'T'~e MYVllri'HI .'IrrduillOIQgy and el:s:e'where. See' notes to B'a.r.rl'd!ls,PIl. 224-5:.

having traversed the circle of A bred, and is a man at its terrnination and extreme limits., Before that, he was in A:nt~W11 "the least possible that was capable DE life", and he has come through every form capable of body and life 1:0 the state of man a:1ongthe circle of Abred. G'wynvyt~, he assures the novice, "cannot be obtained without seeing and knowing everything, hut it is not possible 1:0 see and ~o know everything without sufferiing everything. And there can be no full and perfect love that does not produce those thillgswhich are necessary to lead to the knowledge that causes Gwyn:vyd. for there can be no Gwyn'l,/yd without the complete knowledge of every form of existence" ami 0.£ every evil and good , and of every operation and power and! condition of evil and good. And this knowledge cannot be obtained without experience in every form of life, in every incident, in every suffering, in every evil and in every good, so that they may be respectively known one from the other. AU this is necessary before there can be GZeJ)'nvyd, ami there is need of them all before there can be perfect love ol God, and there must be perfect love of God before there can be Gwynwyd.·' E very living being shall attain at last Ito the circle of G'lVY1,1,""y'd, traversing the circle of Abred hom the depth. of A H,f;'1Vn, and passing through death to the .ircle o~ G'Wy1~Vy.d. so that at length the ·A hi' ed wi II end for ever, ," and there shaUbe no mi:grclting through every form of existence after that. '" But
Cod alone can traverse the circle o] Ce.1tgmrL fhll:

none shall go at death tr) GW)IW11)Id who in life di,rl no') attach himself to goodness and godliness and every act of wisdom, justice and love. II: isa preponrler-

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The

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~, ar d d as." B

103

ance of these qualities whidl. open to the human soul the gates of Gwynvyd:., But he who does not follow go~dness. ' •shall~aU in A bred to a corresponding form and spec]cs of existence o~the same nature as himself ·whence he shall return to the state of man as before. . . . And thus shall he fall for ever until he seeks godUness." One may fall many times in Abred, and the migr,ation of most through it is tong,. Even. the angels who reached Gwyuvyd feU once more in Abr~d th:ough attempting to reach Ce't·tgant, the sphere inhabited by God alone. When the Cymry were converted to the faith of Christ, says Sian •. their Bards obtained a dearer Awen, or inspirational vision, Irorn God. A-wen is to be o~bta~nedby. habituating oneself to a holy life, to lo~e, justice and m~rcy and! the practice of good sciences, and the avoidance of all hatred and cruelty .. T~at t~~nsmigration of a kind., is implied in the bardic wntmgs may be observed from thefoUowing passage: "When a wicked man dies and his soul. enters ~he meanest worm in existence, he 'becomes. better and ascends on the migration of A bred. ". ~he bard CaslilodYIl (A.D. ] 290-m34o) seems to allude to this bd~d when he says:
Thou di~s.t 1?repalie the slough o~ heU suitable for Satan, The .habltatlorn for worms, where tl1ey will be in mor~al; strife.

worlds and lives and creatures, without number. we~ght o~ m~asure. And :1~:~n!ln, the aby.ss~ wa~ created 111 the extreme hmlts. of the CIrcle o~ G·itJy1'!'vyd" • . We have next to traverse an Immense tract of long and rather sententious uiads which need not detain lIS here, such as ."The three indispensables of godliness: love; truth; and prudence." 'But we return to essentials when we encounter the doctrine of E1:!eidvad:deu. In the Laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud ~e r~d': , "There are three strong pun~shments:. ene~d1J.ad.d.e'lt ; cutling off a limb; and banishment from the coun,tr~1 by the. cry and pursuit_o~~en .and dogs;. a~d It ~~. for the king to direct whIch he wllle.th to be ullfhcted. This makes the doctrine in quesuon as old at ieast as 430 ]B.C.., says the commentator or Barddas, an.d it is plain that the sigllificance of t~e wo~d rs "reparation", As the passages inrelatlOu to It are somewhat obscure I prder to. quote them:
In rhree ways a man may happen to b~come eu~dl1add~!I.; one is. punislunent du~e, by t~~ v.errucl ,'~~ .countm-y and la".... for injurious ,. c·vll-anmj,lIrl.OIlS. e.'nl being killing and bl!lrning.nlur~er andwar]aYlIlg,: and ~he betraying of .country and natl~n. That IS to say". he who. commits those ·evils ought to be exe,cllItecl.; and every esecntion takes place eithe:r b~ the judgme!ill: of a c~llrt of law, or in war by the verdict of count~y an~ nation. The second is the man whiQ sunrender~ himself, at the demalld of jUMice ..w:hi~h he feels in. his conS~lence,. to and .. pUnLsha. hle evil, '.'iI.h,c.h execu tlIon.. for an. ulJunous ... . d I l t
be confesses Ito have oomm'~t.t.e:dl,. .an . 'IN iere ~e ..canno render compensati,on and saus.factm:n .. foF the nl'J,u~'y he has done, otherwise than by sub[mttlng viQluntarlly ~to the punishment due for what be has done. The third is the man who undergoes the dan~·er and chance of excwtion in behalf of truth and] ijustlce, at .the ~all of peace and mer.cy. and is slain. Such arnaD 1.5 .adJ,udged

There follows a quaint myth of the creation, in whic~ Hebrew and Cymm-~cideas are strangely associated, and in which we are informed. that the first man was Menyw the Aged," The world, it is said, was formed out of the man.Ted,. atoms collected out of the infinite expanse in the circle of Ceuga,nt and arranged in order in the circle of G1e1:Jmvyd "as

• cr.

l:he Egyprlan

M'Ena, 01' Menes..

to be slai(l for the good, which ,he has d~one; and on that account he ascends to the en-de of G'lV)Invyd. .~(l

The
amy

Mysteri,es

of
ways,

Britain

them,

a mall cannot be ~ld'l.Jdged as cmezdvaddcl(. by man, Ior it is God alone who k !owsho~v I'~jutlge\Vhal is othl~I'wi~'e. The first of them w~II remal~'. III Abrcd; in the state and nature of man, wUho.ut fallmg lower ; and the other two will ascend to ~he Circle: of GmYn'lJyd. . T~e: t~ree accelera~ions of, the end o~' .4bre,]: diseases; fi,ghtLn~, an~ becoming. e.iwrd1.1add,CII, J~sdy". reasonably, and Il,ecessanly, from domg good; for without them there \!IO~I'ld be I!lO .rel':3se from Abred , hili! at a muctr Jater period, . Hereln.ls, seen .UI:lJt it was for the l~ene:ll~of', and .mc:rcy to, Ilvmg tlelllgs, God ordained the mutual :flghtmg and rnllh.l<l!i. slaughter w lrich take place, among

other' than. Ihese three

''''B a r dda s "

105

'We now come to the third book' 'The Book of \;Vis~om", ill which we are first ~tbacted by the doctrines of. the elements.: ".ill (I.n'1€,d the original ~orm of all the materials, or all the eonstituerns, that IS., the elements" of which the first four of the five were dead, namely, colas, fluidity, breath, and fire ~ntiJ God agitated them by uuering His Name, when IllstamJy~hey ?ecame al~ve and. one triumphant song, and manifested their condition. "T'he t~]ree materials of every being and existence .: calas, and hence every motiolless body and solidity, and every hardness and concretion ,;. fluidity, and hence every cessation, miguratiol1, and renarn ; and '!1;'lvyv're, hence every. animation and life" and every sl:reng~h, tmderstandmg and knowledge, and the same IS God"w:ithoutWhom there can be no life and vitality .. Others say:
I'

According to another mode, as other eeachers say from an ld account : Earth, water, firmament, (lire and nyv; and the "nJ'V is Godl, and life, and intellect. From the first lour are a.1I death and mortality; and from the fifth are all life and animation" all power, knowledge, and motion. We next 'come ~o statements regarding the Materials of Man. These are attributed to the Bard Tal.iesin, are taken from The Book 0/ Llanwrst and are as follows:
There are ei.ght parts in lilian: the first is the earth, whicbis inert and heavy, and [rom it proceeds the flesh : the second rare the stones" which are hard, and are the substance of 'the bones; the rhi rd is the water, which is moist ami cold, and is the substance of the blood; th,e fourth is the salt, which is briny and sharp, and from I.!: arc the nerves, and the temperament of feeling, as regards bodily sense and Iaculty ; the fifth is the firmament, or wind; OHt of which proceeds the breathing ; tile sixth is tile SUIIl, which is clear and fai~,a.nd from it proceed the fire, or bodily heat, the light and colour; the seventh is the Holy Ghost, from Whom issue the soul and I.ife; and the cliglith WS C~lI'i.st, tha.t is the intellect, wisdom" and the ~ight of soul and life" I [ the preponderating pad of man is :from the earth, he wiU be fod!ish. sl uggish and very hea V)"j also a short I little, and slender dwarf, in a great or small degree, according to the preponderance. If it should be from the firmament, he will he light, unsteady" gar.ruJous" and fond of gossip.. If from the 'stones" his heart, understanding and judgment will be hard, and he. will be a miser and a thief. If from the sun" he will be genial, affectionare, active, docile, and poetic. If [:rom the Holy Ghost" then he will be godlv,:lIlJ1iab!e" and merciful, with a just and gentle jLld£;'me~!, and aboundmg in arts. And being UlIlS, he ca':..not but equiponderate with Christ, and divine sonship,

!11

of everything, namely: ; fluidity, and hence every colour and form, and every course anal return; and ~j:wyv~'e, and hence ever:r Iife being God, fro~ Whom proceeds every soul, animation ,. streoath and understanding, for where He is not, neither ~ne nor another of these things can exist."

There

are three materials

calas,and hence every corporeiry

The pa:r~s of the human body in which the facult.ies lie are enumerated as follow::
,2.

r ., In the forehead are the sense and intellect [n the nape is the memory;

;;

106

The

Mysteries

or

Britain

3. In the pate are discretion and reason ;, 4. In the breast is lust; .5. In the heart is love; 6. [n the bile are anger and wrath; 7· lin the lungs is the brearh; 8,. In the spleen is joyousness '; 9,· In the body is the blood '; ro, [11 the liver is the heae ; ] I., In the spirit is the mind; 12. In the soul is faith. Weare then introduced to a long series of
dissertations Oil the cycle of the year. and the months". and later to the ,. Book of Privilege and Usage".

, , "8 ar' dd as "

107

which deals 'with, the laws and regulations of Bardism. The surprising resemblance of the ideas discovered in Barddas eo certain systems of Eastern philosophy and theo~ogy cannot but have struck the reader. Indeed, it must be clear that it enshrines the remains of a world-system of thought probably greatly more ancient than Druidism itself, and containing ideas, common to Egyptian, Brahmin and Buddhist philosophy. Hu~ that it was copied from any of 1i:heseat firsthand! it is ludicrous to suppose. There was, indeed, no opportunity [or a Welsh bard or bards of the thirteenth or any century lip to the seventeenth deliberately borrowing from the sacred systems of the East. True, in Roman times a great deal of Oriental pbilosOophy found its way to Britain, and. it is possible that this may have coloured Druidism to some extent. But the main beliefs set fort11 in the system appearing in Ba-rd.da.s are already indicated, i.f roughly, in what Caesar and other classical writers have to say regarding Druidism.

It seems, indeed, much more proba1J:l.ethat the system appearing in Barddas had Its primal origin ~n. that North-West; African centre w?ence came the Iberian race, than m the East. That It bad absorbed Christian elements as wen is obvious, but in the course Q1t centuries of Christianity it was impossible that it should not be so. But t~is rend~rs it no more "'Christian" than certain American Indian legends have become Christman through European sophistication. Let us brieRy review the "theological" material drawn from .nardd.as. First, we have in God and C yUzmul, light and darkness, an evidence at tha,~ duality visible m most religions which nav.epassed the primary stage. Only, we do not find Cytnraul, which is described. as "dal""kness" and •'powerless i:nahility" as an active force of evil, ~ike Satan, or the Persian Ahriman. Indeed, this "Inability" is so lirtle harmful that God actually uniees with it to "subdue it unto life." Annwn, the abyss; is a region by no means exotic, for it enters into· the l'nabinogi of ,. PwyU, Prince of Oyfed." hs ruler :is Arawn, who takesPwyll's place on earth for a year while the .. rince IQf' ~yfed P sets the affairs of his dark realm to fIghts. It IS also mentioned in m:he ancient poem called "The Spoils of Am~w1.t" mn Tk,e Book ,oJ Toiiesi», and the name may even have been applied in a mocking sense to that part of Britain north of the WalL. . But the earliest type of A.1!ttwn was raehes a place of Elysium than an abyss of death or it may ~e,; conversely, that it was the idea o~ a grim gulf '1;~hlcl1 was transformed to the notion of. a place of debght. fin any case, early ideas of the Otherworld ~re usually sufficiently vague, but it certainly looks as IE the w~rd had been utilized in the Bardie writings as a specific
I

108

The

Mysteni.es

E Bri tain

name for a pit of matter awamting the vivifying infinence of soul-force to spring into life. In this it bears a resemblance to certain American Indian mythic centres, especially to thae of the Zufii of New Mexico, and iris similar 1:0 the state alluded to in a hymn in the Hindu Rig-Ved,a, when there was neither entity nor non-entity, when the Universe was undistinguishaHewater enveloped in darkness. "The desire (Karma) arose in i~, which was the primal germ of mind the bond between entity and non-entity." This is certajnly a most curious correspondence, but to argue that those from whose writings the materials. in Bantdas was taken knew of this somewhat obscure hymn, is absurd. 'lYe find much the same state of thi.ngs. alluded to in the Egyptian myth of Ra, in his form of Khepera. " H eaven, '" says, Ra., " did not exist, and eaeth had not come into being, and the things of the earth and creeping things had not come into existence in ,that place, and I raised them from out of Nu, hom a state of in activity . '" This N u was a watery abyss, similar to A nnwn (pronounced' 'Alloon' '). \lVhen the myth was affixed to the theology oE the Osirian religion we read tha~ Osiris gave the primeval abyss a soul o~
its own ..

From A nu'w1t, life crawls out to Abred, the ,cilrcie of trial, the material workl, A.bi'·ed is, indeed, the
earth-plane, which CCllnno~ hut be evj], but from which the rise to GZI.'ynvyd is certain, sooner or later. although many relapses into A.b'l'ed may take place
THE GODDESS KERIDWE~

before its consummatio n . But we shall return 1:0 the consideration of ehe theology of Ba1'"ddas in a subsequent chapter after deal..:ng·with matters whi ·11 i may throw considerable .Iight upon it.

CH.APTER
THE ARCANE TRADITION
lImm..nv AL

V
IN BRITISH

LITERATURE

WE have now to pursue our quest for the evidences of the survival ol native arcanebelief in the mediaeval literature of BI"itati11. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Hsstoria Regn,m B1'ilannire has been so canvassed by the critics that [ do no~ propose to enter the welter of controversy concerning the authenticiry of its sources. I will o.nly say that from the h:r:st I almost instinctively adopted the theory of its derivation from ancient Camhrian and Urel:on sources. Subsequent study of the work bas not slraken that early impression, but I may perhaps briefly justify it here. Geoffrey"s proper name was Grufydd ab Arthur, he was a Welshman and Archdeacon o.f Monmouth, therefore had exceptional opportunities of gleaning the traditions of his race as 'current during the twelfth century. He states clea.rlyin the preface of one of the earliest manuscript copies of his work that he "turned this book from K ymraeg to Latin and in myoId age retranslated it Irorn Latin to. Kymraeg." It was, therefore, first written .in the W e:lsh tongue. A~ater version of the manner in which it was composed states, tham:Walter Mapes, Archdeacon of Oxford, brought a book from Brittany, written in the Britjsh.language.~vhichcowdonly be translated by one who had a knowledge of Kymric, and that this is the 'basis of Geoillrey's history. There seems to he nothing inharmonious in the two statements. Geoffrey might well have drawn the materials of his history from Welsh tradition and

110

The

Mysteries

of Britain

The

Arcane

Tradi t io n

1tt

from such a Breton book" and I ha:.ve never felt constrained to credit Ear a moment that his work is "one of the great lirerary ruses of all time." His facts differ materially from those of Nennius and the Cymr~c c~ronicles by being more diffusive in parts, ddectlve In others and [ess particular .In aIL [do not for a moment suggest that much of it is nor fabulous, but this does not at all detract from the pliObability that it was drawn from such sources as I belie~ve it to howe been. Moreover, many of the allusions to the Arthurian story are such as were almost certainty derived £1iO~ a Breton source. .Arthur's residence is invariably given as Caerleon while the British chronicles as constantly refer it te Cornwajl. Moreover the Roman wars of that hero .arealtog~th.er unknown to the native legends, and the descnptlons ~fParis, .Burgundy, the Alps and Italy could certainly not have been written in the 6Tst,instan~e by a contemporary Briton, Again, Geoffr:ey ~s?lays a~ almost complete ignorance of K ymnc incidents In Arthur's career and the discrepancies between his work and that 'of Nennius as regards early British chronicles are so salient as to render -it positive that he followed some alien source in the main. The mere fact, too, that the Breton book is as~ociated with the name of VJalter Mapes, the great Introducer of Cymric romance in Norman dress, is sufficient to justify Geoffrey's statement that he procured. it from Mapes, who never at any time denied the circumstance .. But this is 110t to say that Geoffrey bad not access tOi ce.rtain Vif elsh manuscripts and traditions, or that ~~ did. not. make use of them. That he did, is" ID think, obvious enough, from the fact that he was also the author of the Vita .Merlini, the prophecies
of Merlin.

Now, Mr. Kendrick says that in his history and his llita Geoffrey mentions not a word about Druidical training or practice .. But that is surely beside the question. . He anudes to Merlin, fnT example, as "rex eras et vates'", a 'king and. a prophet. But as we do not have the Welsh version of his history to guide US,. we cannot say Erom what .". woro t'h e expression vates '" was trans ltd en. a In Geoffrey's history. then, ] believe we have a mingling of British and Armor~can traditions. ~~at tight, precisely, does it cast on the early BritIsh tradition ol arcane belie], if any at all? In Chapter X we read how Bladud kept fires in the Temple DE .Minerva which never went out, and how he tauzht necromancy in his kingdom, '·'110£ did he leave practising his magical operations t~l1he attempted 1:0 fly to the upper region of the air with wings which he had. prepared, .and fell ?own upon. the Temple of Apollo in ~he Cl,?, of !r~novan~um, where he was dashed to pieces. 'This ss precisely what we find certain Irish Druids practising. Then live read of King Leir, who partitioned the kingdom between his daughters, and of the manner ill which he was buried in a tomb under the River Sore at Leicester, "which had. been built origiDaUy undergroul1d to the honour 0,[ the :god Janus"". J anus here undoubtedly stands for Bran •'the Blessed' '. whose triple-faced headvlike tha~ of l.he Roman god,ha.d magical properties o£ guardianship, and Leir himself is merely the British sea-god Llyr, the father of Manannan. Belinus who follows in the chronicle, is another Druidical god disguised as a British king. Searching, for other reminiscenc:es of the survivals of Druidmc belief" we encounter a reference to Lud, who rebuilt the watts, of Trinovantum" er London,
_!U

.off

1'12 The

Mysteries

o I Britain

who is the Keltic deity LIud or Nodens. A little farther on, we read of a great sacri.fi:oe of animals offered up by Cass~belaun to .'the tute1a.I!Y gods" in token of victory. ," At this solemnity they offered forty thousand cows and a hundred tfJollsand sheep, and also fowls of several kinds without number besides thirty thousand wild beasts of several kinds: As soon as they had performed these solemn honours to I:heir gods, they feasted themselves 011 the remainder, as Was usual at such sacrifices." The description of the animals thus slaughtered is precisely in line with DnJidic practice" especially with regard to the wild beasts, o£ which many thousands were annually sacrificed at the Druidie festivals, ]n the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book an accom~t i~ given of the manner in which Lucius, King om Bntam, embraced. Christianity. Thepassa.ge reads:
The. holy doctors, after they ihad almost extinguished paga~lsm over the who~,e island, dedicated the temples, that ~a!(il been f;oul)d~d In. honoar of many gods" to the one only God and HIs saints, andfill.!ed them with congregations of Christians. There were then ill Britain eightalld bventy flarnens, ,3;S aISle)three ard:nfl.amens to 'Wh~se jurjsdiction the other' jiudige:sand enthusiasts .. 'ere ~ subject. Tbes:, also" acc~rdliog to the apostolic command, they dehvered from idolatry, and where they were flarnens :made them bishops, where archf.larnens, archbishops. The seats of the a.rd:n9amens 'were at the three nob~~st citie.s, yiz., London, ¥ori:',and the City of LeglOn~, which Its old wa,~ls and buildings sbow to have been. situated Up all the. Rl'vC'r Uske in Glamorganshirc.. To these three, now pumli.e,d from superstition were made subject twenty-eight bishops, with their djo()e~es.

The

Arcane
I

T'rad iti o n

113

dergy, it seems not altogether improbable that it lIIlay be based on fact if it is not altogether accur~te. The next reference of interest is that concernmg I\'[er'lin.,who was consulted by Vortigern regarding tbe buildi.ng of a tower ill which he might successfully defend himself from the fury of the Saxons. Hearing that I\'Iedil1 is a man who never had a father, and being advised.by his magician:, to see~ for sU~l.an one and to sprinkle the foundations of the towel WIth his blood, in order to put a finish to an earthquake which constantly overthrows it" Vortigern sends .foOr him, He confutes the magicians, and tells the kmg that his tower will not stand because of I:\1VO dragons, n-ed and white, which I.ie beneath it in a pool, Merlin then prophesies concerning the future OE Britain in a strain which indubitably must have been borrowed lrom native Cambrian sources. Later, Amelius, King of Britain, desirous of erecting a monument. to those British nobles who had been slaughtered by the Saxons, once more consults Merlin as to the nature it should take, and the enchanter advises him to send to Ireland fot- the Giants' Danoe (Stonehenge)" and 1:0 erect it in Britain as a lasting memorial to the dead heroes. At this Aurelius laughed,. and Merlin" rebuking him, answered :
what

This account .is usually regarded as entirely j=abulolJ~,. But '~'hen one recalls what has. already been said regardllll1g the Culclees and the existence in the early Bri~ish Church for many centuries of a caste which in many ways differed from the orthodox

I entreat your majesty to forbear vain Ia.~lghter. for r sav is without vanity. They are mystical stones, and of a -medicnnal virtue. TIH~giants of old brought [hem [rom the- farthest' .oast of Africa, and placed t'1!cm illl~ reland, while they inhabited that country, Their desien in this was to. make baths ill them when they !;ho~d be taken With any illness. For their method was to wash the stones, and put their sick into the water, which infallibly cured them, With the li~e ~tlccess they cured wound also" adding only the application of orne herbs, There is not a stone there which has not some healing virtue.

114

The

Mysteries

of

Britain

The

Arc a ue Tradition

'115

The stones were accordingly taken down and conveyed to Britain, where they were re-erected. ] submit that this account is a broken and hazy tradition of the actual .carriage of certain of the stones of Stonehenge eo Salisbury Plain. ] do not for a moment mean to convey the impression that Stonehenge was erected by the Druids, for there is the best possible evidence that i[ was built 1700-1800 years B.C., akhough .it was certainly utilized by the Druids ill their time. But I wish to. mndicalJe the African association of the cult connected with Stonehenge, as mentioned in the legend, and 11.0 point out that certain of the stones or lesser uprights are actually o~ non-local origin, having been brought, according ~o Dr. Thomas, of H ..M. Geologi.cal Survey, from the Prescelly Range in Pernbrokeshire. That they were erected a little later than the large outer stones is certain, Their "alien" origin is thus soundly proven, and I believe Geoffrey's account 01 the business to be a distorted and time-worn memory of the manner in which they were conveyed &om west to east. His history is thus justified to a great extent as a record o~ traditions extraordinarily venerable and important.' But was MerLin reaUy a "Druid"? Indeed, are there any grounds for beleving [ha~ he ever existed? Says Mr. Kendrick :
Actually the Merlin stories form a group, that originally concerned two distinct perSOI1S, one a sixth century Welsh prince, Myrddin ab i:II~odryn,. alld the. oilier Vortigerns prophet Ambrosius, who ligures 111 the Historia Britotl:ltm of Nennius, Geoffrey used the name MerlimJs for both these persons, and then proceeded to. eornblne the, stories about them as though tffiley referred to a singi.e individual The 'iVelsb prince is c;ertaiil;ly ~e hero of his later Vita. MuLini., but in the earlier Histoei«
, On thewl10le question of Stonehenge see F. Stevens's S!of:elienge T.o-daY' afld~ Yesterday,. published ffi>y the Stationery Ofli<ce.

R,eg"u.m Britanniw it is Ambrosius who is ,uppermost in his. mind; in fact, in his first work h,e plainly says that Ambrosi.us was another name .for Merlin.

Other au thori ties , however" have different explanations of the personality of Merlin .. Canon TII!I acCuUoch reoards him as "an ideal magician, possibly an old g;d, like the Irish 'god_ ~~ Dru:i~isn:" " . Rhys believed him to be a descriptinn of K..eltic Zeus, who was worshipped at Stonehenge. . .. . ., It has been assumed by certain authorities, the Comte de Villernarque among them,' that MYl'ddin ab Modryn was at different persol1age~rom M,,:rtinAmbmsius, or Merlin Emrys, as he IS sometrmes called. But both appear to have lived in Strathclyde , bothwere enchanters and predicted dle same events. Again Merlin-Ambrosius appears as a young .man before Vortigern about the year 480, and ~erhn ap Iorfryn a~ the Court of Rydderch Had 1_S an old man in 57o.1erlin ab 1\l[OI'fryn the pnnce was apparendy the person whose character Tormed the nucleus from which the other was developed as a fi.gmre in later romance. At the Cour.t of Rydderch HaeJ he was known as. Laloekin, or 'the twin" ,I and in the dialogue between him and his sister Gwenddydd she alludes to him as "my world-famous twirl brother". The ,xV elsh bards of the[wel~th century, too, put the predi.clions of Merlin-Arn,bmsms into the mouth of Medin ab Mmfryn, and this more than a century after Geoffrey's hisb;>ry had been written, therefore they must have believed them. to be identical. It seems probable that MerhnAmbrosius was so called because of his patronage by Al!Irelius Ambrosius, brother of Uther Pendm~o~, who was supposed to have destroyed the ,unpatnohc Vortigern, and to have transplanted Stonehenge .. In all likelihood i'llIer1in-Ambrosius is a mythological
,I I

BarM:; B:rei~. Intro.,

p.

12,

"01. I,

The

Mystel'ies

of Britain

The

Ar e a ne

Tradition

11.'7

character engrafted on 1:0 Merlin ah Morfryn, who in his youdl may have been associated with A urelius Ambrosius. Indeed, there are several V\felsh poems a!i:l:lfibuted Merlin, and there is 110 g'ood reason why to he should not be n-egarded as a .real man, a "bardie president about the Water of Clycle" , as his sister calls him, renowned as an enchanter and wise man in the sixth century, I am aware that recent criticism abso~uteJy denies the reality of N[eri:in, but that a Merlin actually existed is proved" and I cannot subscribe IJO decisions which are obviously based more 011 at mere affectation of contempt for tradition, and even fact, than on reasonable or historical grounds. To see the entire corpus of Arthurn-ian literature re jeered as an archteologist of the Tape- i[easme School mig-ht reject an artifact because it had no "horn-izon". is painful indeed. 'When will historical critics learn that tradition, in the proper hands, can be as of much avail as written record?' Bun: the

Merlin ! Merlin! retrace your steps; Leave the branch on tile oak, And the green water cress in the valley, As well <IS the. golden grass; . And leaee the red egg of the marine serpent,
In the roam by the hotlow of the
stOIlLC.

Merlin! Medii] '! I:"etrace tlly steps, There is no diviner but' God..

ViHemarque., \'iHiting of the above poem, says:

plant,

Her-be d'or, golden grass) is a n~~crli,c!nal the peasant B.reto[ls l:lOid gre:at estimatIOn. They pretend that at a distance it slimes like gold; and it is for this they give it the name. It one should happen to tread upon it, lie w]I.1 fall asleep, and cometc llnde~stand the languages of birds, dogs and wolves ... It 15
(the which

This

!!l

butrarcly to be met with, and then only cady 111 the morning; [0 gather' it, it is necessary to goObarefooted and i.:ru a shirt, and it should 111)[ be cut, but plucked out from the root, It is said that holy men Oon.lywi!1 be able to find it. It is no other than the Selage. Also, in going to gat~er it harefooted, and in a w~llite robe, and fasting, no iron should be employed, the.nght hand should be passed under the I,eft arm, and the linen should only be used once ..... '

Welsh poems which presume to have been written

by him are certainly much later than the actual Merlin's. time, That Cymric tradition acknowledged Merlin as at Druid may be seen From the f:ollowing verses from the Breton, given by V.illemarque;
Merlin I' Mer'lin I where art thou going So early illl HIe day wldJ thy black dog?' Oi I oi l oi I oil oi~! Ioi m oi! oi I loi! oi ~
I have oome here to search To find the red egg; fOor the WHY"

Tile red egg of the marine serpent, By the sea side in tile hollow of the stone, [ am going to seek in the valley, The green "later cress, and the goLden gra:!ls, And the top branch Oof the oak, In tbe wood by the side of the fountain.

It will thus be seen that Geoffrey's writings are perhaps more redolent of Druidism than certain critics may credit, tha1!:if he does not actualThymention the word" Druid", his pages enshrine a goodly propOI'tion .of traditional material referring to nl'lIidic customs and personages., proving that the tradition of Druidism, if concealed by the Bardic caste, 'Was by no means popu1arly defunct in his day, as, indeed, we know from the material concerning Prince H yweL The value of the Artburian literature in the conservation of ancient British mysticism is very considerable. That literature may Ior .an practical purposesbe divided into two sections: that which was the work: oE Wel.,h bards and arose out of Welsh tradition. and that which was p'robaibly derived there[rom a.nd composed ill Norman- French and Eugiish.
., 'It will be observed that the same procedure applies 100 the plucking of t.his plant as to ~hat of the mandrake.

118 The i\tys teries

f Sri ta in

T he Arcane

T'r a d ition119

It is SUfnf]siDg'.' what a hold the Ar·th urian saga . Pi""' .' seems to have. taken 011 the British mind hom first to last, and this can only be accounted for I think not '.only by the circumstances that 1it II@[d a natlv,e m.. . .' . . or~g:m. or that it appealed to the generations r 'when :hlvalry IIfted,up .her lance on high". but that it was Inna.tely ancimstmctively . felt that . In th. ese ancient . . ., . ~. ". Bnhsh tales there resided not only the memory of brav,e and romantic .,lth~ngs, but a mystical tradition much .more pmfo~I:~d a~d dlOught-cornpeUing. Thts '~ccult t~adll:J,on.mdeed, emerged more dearly definedm. the ~lterature of the Grail, which, in some respects" ~.s a.l1~pp'elldix to the Arrhurian saga. BUll: the latter ItseU In Its more separate form is 'Our theme
at themornens.

. .It wou~d. ~e fruitless here to deal at any ilength with .I:be ongl~~ ~f the Arthur]an saga. That mt was Keltic and BritIsh there can be noreasonab~e doubt. It appears from a comparative study to have been c.ommon to both branches of the Keltic race .~ B'" d I... _ ntam, an the Normans, makmng conquests~n South \\fa le s , became familiar with it. As Rlhys indicates, the names Arthur and Airem prooeed f.rom a Gammon verbal root. Airem and Emer were, in Irish legend, the sons of Golam or Mil,. and are the Keltic equivalents of Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars. Emer seems to have been the eponymous ancestor of the non- Keltic inhabitants of Ireland. and was ~lain. by ~irem, the. prugen~tor of the ~onquering K~lts .. Airem wedded Etam, dallg.hter ot EmF, Kmg of the Echraidi Or Faery, who was carried off by one Mider, in precisely the same manner as Guinevere was spirited away by Modred, Etain and. ~uinev~e~e were both d~lIghters of fairy Icings. Provided due allowance IS made for the difference between the social settings of the respective stories,
I"

says Rhys" "the similarity becomes more unmistak;,hle the more it is scanned". The names of both !Iuee ns, too" can be traced etymologically ~o a similar . I· " g hosr y or "1 ta dOWY' Thus not tl" " root, Imp ymg s ... €llllIy the circumstances of the legends but the actual silmilarity OF the names of their principal personages seem to show that the northern Goidelic Kelts possessed a body of myth almost precisely parallel with the Arthurian story of the Brythons. The high 'literary excellence and more ~orma~ shape of the Arthurian tradition, coming from the south,probably dictated the absorption of the similar Gorudelicmyth, and resulted in the final reunion oE traditions which must have had a similar provenance in the misty past, when Goidel and Cyrnrywere as yet undivided . The existence of a powerful British or Welshspeaking state in Strathclyde in the south-west of Scotland and Cumberland probably did much to fuse the two Keltic legends into one, and the later migration of many of its inhabitants to North Wales must have assisted the process. ." The original machinery, so to say " of 'Weish tales," says Rhys,' ,. was magic and the supernatural. This was also probably the ease with the stories about Arthur as they came from the mouths of the Brythonic Kelts .." That they bad their origin run mythological ideas associated with the religion of the Dmids. there can be no doubt. Says Canon MacCuIloch': "\¥ e may postulate a loc:JIL1 Arthur saga fusing an old Brythonic god with the historic sixth century Arthur. From this or from Geoffrey's handling of it sprang the gl:"eat romantic cycle. Tn the ninth century Nennius's Ardnlr is the historic war-chief, possibly Count of Britain, but in the references rn his hunting the Porcus Tmit (the
I

ilr"mril1!~ Lege.nd,

P:

2.

120

The

Mysteries

0.£ Britain

T'h,e Arcane

Trad it ion

121

TUl1'ch, Tr1.tlyth) the mythic Arthurmomenta.rily appears. Geoffrey's. Arthur differs [rom the later Arthur of romance, and he may have partially rationalized the saga, which was either of recent formation or else local and obscure. since there is no reference to Arthur in the Mabinogion.. In Geoffrey, Artl1mf is the [mit of Igerll!a's amour with Uthel', to. whom Medin has given her husband's shape. Arthur conquers many hosts as wdl as giants, and his court is the resort of all valorous. persons. But he is at last wounded bvhiswtfe's seducer, and carried to the Isle of A~~Uon to be cured of his wounds, and nothing more is ever heard of him. Some of these incidents occur also in the stories of Fionn and Mongan, and those of the mysterious begetting of a wonder child andhis final disappearance into fairyland are local forms of a tale common ~oall branches of the Kelts, This was fitted to the history of the local god or hero Arthur, giving: rise to the local saga to which were afterwards added events from the life of the historic Arthur . This complex saga must then. have acquired a wider fame long before the romantic cycle took its place, as is suggested by the purely Welsh tales of Kulhwych and the Drea.m .of Rhouab'lvy in the former of which the personages (gods)1 of the Ma.binogio'r1 figure in Arthur's train, though he is far from being the Arthur of the romances, Sporadic references to Arthur occur also in Welsh literature, and to the earlier saga belongs the Arthur who spoils Elysium of its cauldron in a T aliesin poem. He may have been the object of a cult as these heroes [Fionn and Cuchulainn) pernaps were, or he may have been a god more and more idealized as at hero. the earlier form of his name was Artor, '3 ploughman', but perhaps vwith a 'wider significance and
I

having all equivalent in Artaius, a Gaulish god 1'(j1ua~edw.ithMercury, he may have !been.a god oE agriculture who became a ,var-god. But he was also regarded as a culture-hero, stealing a: cauldron and also swine from the gods' land, the last incident cuhemerized into the ta~e of an unsuccessful theft from March, son of Meircbion, while, like other cujture-herces he is a bard .." This prett; well summarizes the question of Arthmian origins. In Arthur's saga nearly an the characters are reminiscent of ancient Brythonic deities, Kai, Perec1ur,.and the rest. It remains for us to discover precisely how much of the mystical tradilion is to be found remai·l1.ingin (I) the native \~ elsh poems which allude to him and (2) in the Norman <lindEnglish romances which deal with his Sl:mX' We have alreadv dealt to some extent With the tradition of Arthu~ as alluded to in the pages of Geoffrey and Nennius. The early Wdsh poems contain few references to Arthur, indeed on~y five mention him at all, and then ~t is rather the "historicaf' than the mythi,ca~ Arthur. But there is one poem which merits our especial C?,ns~dera1ti-o~l. That is the poem oreneraUy known as The Spoils of A'n1~Wl~", credited to the bard Taliesin, Owi_ng to :i~simportan e to our genera.~ t~esms it. is essential that the poem be here g:iven m its entirety. The translation is that of Thomas Stephens.'·
Praise to the Lord, Supreme Ruler of the high region" . Who bath extended his dominion to the shon~.~f lillWOrid. Complete was jhe prison. of Gwai:r in Caer ?Jdl. Through the permissiou of P~)'II and Pryderi No one before him went to it;
A h~avy blue cl~ail1 firmly held the 'youth., ..

And for the spoils of Am~w'll gloomily be SIngs, And tin doom shall he continue h~s lay. Thrice the fullness of Pri.dwen we 'l\Vellt info it, Except seven, none returned from Caer Sidi. I See his Ulerahlre of !.he Ky"HY, p. 192 ff.

122

The

Mysteries

of Britain

Am .I not a candidate for fa:me, to be heard in the song, In Caer Pedryean four times revolving! (t win be my llint. word from the cauldron when it expresses; !By the breath of nine damsels it is gently warmed. [5 it not the cauldron of the chief of llunwn ill its .b.shion? 'With a ridge round its edge of pearls ! Itwill not boil A sword bright And left in the And before the
burning,

the food of a coward. not sworn, Bashing to him will be brought, hand of Llemynawg, portals of hell, the horns of Iight shall be

And when 'we went with Arthur in hi plendid labours, Ex,cept seven. none returned from Caer Vediwid (or the inclosure of the perfect ones) .. Am I not a candidate for fame" to be heard in the song, In the: quadrangular inclosure,in the island of the strongdoor, WDer,e the twilight and the jet of night moved. together. Bright wine '1.'as the. beverage of the host, Three times the fullness of Prydweu, we went all. sea, Except seven, none. returned from Caer Ri.gor (or the inclosure of the Royal party)', I will not have merit, with the multitude in relating the hero's deeds" Beyond Caer Wydr they beheld not the prowess of Arthur? Three times twenty-hundred men stood on the wail" h was difficult to converse with their sentinel. Three times tlli:Jefullness of Prydwen, we went with Al'tilur, Except: seven, none returned, from Caer Colur [or the gloomy i:ndOos.ure). I will not have merit from the multitude with trailing Sll ie las" They know not on wl13t day or who caused it, Nor what hour in the: splendid day Cwy was born, •or who prevented him from going ro the meanders of Devwy, They know not the brindled ox, with his thick head-band, .And seven score knons in his collar. And when we ''II'ellt with Arthur of mournful memory" Except seven, [lone returned "From Caer Vandwy (0[" the inclosure resting on the height).
if will Dot have merit frOID men of deooping courage, They know not tt'nat day the chief was caused" Nor what hom' in the splendid d.3-}' the owner was born; What animal they keep of silver head .. When we went with. Arthur of mournful contention, Except seven, none returned from Caer Ochr ,1'1 (Oli the inclosure of the shelving' side),

THE

DESCEl\T

I!\TO

,\R;";WN

T he

A~cal1e

T'r a d ition

1.23

MOllikspack mgetfJer like: dogs in the' choir From 'their meetings with their witches; Is there blllt one course to the wind" one to the water of the sea, [5 there hut one spark to the fire of the unbounded hlmult? Monks, pack togdher Iike wolves, From their meetrungs with their witches, They know not when the twilight and the dawn divide, N or what tile course of the wind, nor who agitates it, 'lin what place it dies, 01.11 what~egion it roars, The grave of the saint, is vanishing from the foot of ~bc altar, I will pray to ahe Lord, the :great Supreme, That I be not wretched-may Christ be my portion.

The last line" as Davies surmised, is almost certainly a. later addition, Gl"rntics have turned away from this, most abstruse poem in despair. What is its pm-port,. its hidden meaning? ,. Gould Lycophon . or "'11 51 Y1S, ,,"~ k s T"urner, t e ·b ' as I or any ancient orac Ie be more elaborately incomprehensible ?" Davies believed that it was associated with his "Arkmte'" mythology. h: is obvious, however, that the Arthur
with whom we have to do is not the Arthur of

romance, but of myth, and that the expedition in which he sailed had. for its object the exploration of the infernal regions. The poem is on the same lines as "The Harrying of Hen''', the descent into the gu~£,. to OOw its evil denizens and carry away :its secrets and treasures. I t is, indeed, part of the ritual of the candidate £or~deptshilP .into the British mysteries, resembling that for the neophyte into the Osirian, Cabiric or Orphean mysteries. IE the poem be analysed, the first verse will be found to refer to the Underworld region of A -un-Wilt .. "The prison of Gwair in Caer Sidi" may be explained as follows: G.. air ap Geirein had v attempted the journey, or essayed the ad eptsh ip, had. failed, and. had been imprisoned in Caer Sidi wh~ch sometimes means the Zodiac, sometimes A nn,wn
p

124

The

Mysteri,es

of

Britain
III
I

T'Ire Ar,cane

Tradition

125

itself. He was known as "one of the three supreme prisoners of the isle of Britain.", and was held in bondage by Pwyll, Prince O[ Aunwn and Pryderi, his

son. The intention of Arthur and his company was probably torescue him 01" complete his initiation, and for that purpose three times a greater number of initiates than could be contained by Arthur's ship Pl-id'wen essayed the task. An'l':I'wn is described in the Mahinogion of PwyU as a palatial dwelling replete with every luxury rather than a darksome abyss, thus showing that the idea of it had become conventionalized. The second verse alludes to the mystic cauldron of Keridwen, warmed by the breath o[ the nine damsels, the cauldron of inspiration already described, and "the island of the strong door" mentioned in the fourth verse has reference to some such mysterious island as Sena, where dwelt the nine damsels or Druidesses, The Caer Wydr spoken of in the fifth verse was Arthur"s vessel of glass constructed for the especial purpose of the exploration of Ann~l!Im, and the bard says [hat he "'will not have merit with the multirude jn 'reiaJting the hero's deeds, because they could not see his prowess after he had entered Caer Wydr t or the 'place' or vessel of glass"'.. Merlin made a similar voyage in a similar ship or diving-bell, as did Alexander the Gm·ea:t, nd indeed a [he latter story is mentioned by Taliesin , The allusion to "the brindled ox with his headband" is obviously to the sacred beast which figured ill all such mysteries, the Osirian and the Mithraic as well as the British, the White Bull of the SUlI. The
place-names which conclude appear to have reference most
1:0

~;.'ems to cast aspersions on the knowledge Qif hurchmen compared with that of the Druidic bards, '''.p,·(;ially as reg-am-dstheir ignorance of the r'egions III planes of Druidical cosmogony. Taken as a whole, ~his mysterious poem seems to ! I,fl'r 110 a definite attempt Oil the part of the initiates III sUlne mystical. society 1:0. explore the underworld 1!I'1ll . of A1~:i'lW?l. Attemptshave been made: to prove .hal it reaUy has reference to' an expedition of Arthur III Cal .donia, which was euphemistically known as A'wmn or Eades, probably by virtue of the old III «lition mentioned by Procopius which alluded to the Illl.all conditions prevailing north of the Roman Wall.

mystical allusions in the poem readily dispose III surh a hypothesis.

HlIIl Ihe

KI,yS"writing
11\\1:'1)' .... I ..

on the subject, says" :

·II'I! , principal treasure, which he and his men carried thence, was the Gallld!mn of the Head of Hades, that say, of Pwyll, 111 that poem, xxx ,> Pwyll and I'll vdui are associated together, and the cauldron is found ill I II plm:c called Caer Pedryvan, the Four-horned o:r Foul", IIirn.·n,d Castle ill Ynys Pybyrdor or the Isle of the Active IInnr, the dwellers of which are represented qu,afling "1.1iII"!<lillg wine in :lJ ,di,ne that blends the grey twilight nl' ! lu- ~~v{!nil1g the jet-black darkness of Il.igbt j. so lamps with 1011111 ill the front of the gates of U ITem or Hell. Besides ~'Iw names Caer Pedryvan and Uffern, it has these others; I ·.[~·r "II cdwit , meaning' probably the Castle of Revelry, n I·,.,rf·r ence to the wine-dr'inking there j Caer Golud, or Iii' C;,u~ll,eof Riches : Caer Ochren, Caer Rigor, and Caer ',bIIllwy all three of unknown interprctarinn.
J

Fl· r-wh re Taliesin sings ::

II)c'l·fcd is my chair in Caer Sidi: l'la~uc and age hurt him not whos lIJJ it'·IH')' know, Mall a\Yyda n and Pryderi, ·nu'l'e' organs round a fire Sillg' before it, i'ml about its points are oceants streams i\ndlhc abundant well above it:-;\\1"1'1 er thanwhite wine the drink in it,
,. TIRe A.yUmrian Lege"!d, p.. 300. • " The Spoils of Ill1nwn."

various
t

of the stanzas regions in but in any ease

Anwu:m.
The last verse maybe an addition

126

The

Mysterie·s

o l Br ita in
in the Welsh

Tile Arcane

Tradition

127

Rhys equates, this with passages

,'Seint Greal" legend, and states with reference to Gweir I:hat "'he had only returned after a terrible imprisonment there (Caer Sidi) , an initiation which

made him for ever a bard". Farther on, once more referring to the cauldron, he says:
\Vith regard to that vesse], Taliessin, in poem xxx, mentions the following things respecting it :.The Cauldron 'Of the Head of Hades bad a rim set with pearls adorning it; the fire beneath it was kindled by the breath 'Of nine maidens, utterances might be heard i.s~uing from it; and i~ would not boil food for a coward, The other poem does [lot mention the' cauldron as being at Caer Sidi, but. says. that he who has his seat there has nought to fear from plague: or old age. Compare with this. what is said of the Grail in the romances, where Pelles and his brother :figum-e·.The Grail, when it comes, Feeds those at the table with whatever kind of food each one desires. But those who are not worthy are not allowed by it to remain 01" to approach too near with impunity. Similarly those who worship at tile Grail Chapel at King Peleur's remain young nor mark the lapse of time. Add to this that the Grail heals the sick and wounded, By means of accounts other than those in which the Grail belongs to. Penes .011 Peleur , the correspondence between it and the Cauldron of Pwyll, Head of Hades, might, perhaps, be more strikil1lglyshown; but tile foregoing is sufficiently near' for om:' purpose. ~<Q\iI1, as the original identity of Pefles and P'eleur with P'wyll and Pryderi 'has been shown to be probable, as has also the iclentit}· of Carbonek, where the. Holy Gr.ail was kept, with Caer Pedryvan, where Pwyll's Cauldron was found by Arthur and his men, the conclusion is all but inevitable, that the famous Cauldron served as a prototype of the far morefamous Grail.

We see" therefore, that: the visit to Awuwn, the .. Astral Plane"', as we might call it, was for the purpose of seizing its spoils, ~ts cauldron of mystical wisdom or inspiration. It is plain that a certain ritual must be gone through, a severe initiation, before its portals [Quid be gained., and there was a risk of failure and ' 'imprisonment ", even of destruction. The prize was the Grail or cauldron of prophecy,

",hi,a·1I enewed life and gave health to the soul. That r ! I... eIIU·ItS which guarded the secret was one of select Jlnil.iates is obvious from the allusion 1:0 the multitude \"~in "know not" the ritual of its mysteries. Bill what oE Arthur's connection with this myth nil initiation and of the Harrying of Hades? It is I I.lill that he, like Osiris" is the god of a mystical r ult who must periodically take a journey through Ill(' underworld" not only for the purpose of subduing II'. evil inhabitants, but of learning their secrets, and l'oI'is,!"'ords.in order that the souls of the just, the Ili'l'Jccted initiates, will be enabled to journey through i hat plane unharmed. This Osiris, did. By his ;1J.::cncy, through the spells and p~a:sswords given in lu'; hooks, the dead Osirian, the man of his cult,. is Ilran'ked safely through the gloomy region of A:menti, !IIII' Egyptian A'mx'W'I'!, to the golden realm IQf the Ilivilllty, so that he may live for ever. That Arthur and Osiris are indeed figures "I"i~;unating in a common source must be reasonably I lear to the student oErnyth. Druidism is only the rult D( Osiris in another form, and Arthur seems to have a common origin with Ausar or Osiris. When AI"ILIIllr is slain at the battle of Camelon by his II'c;wherous nephew Modred, he is carried off in a. IDI.U'llue by his sister to the mysterious Isle of Avallach III Avallon" an oversea or underworld locality, "the l'~a['r- of Apples". There he remains, neither alive U"!: 'l~ acl, awaiting the fatceful day when Britain shafl p'llI,ir' his sword. I'hc history of Osiris has many points of resernUnllf' with that of Arthm". When slain by his 'II c' I("h irous brother Set~ the body of the Egyp~ian 1'1111 was ferried in the sacred barque across the Nile, I tilll'lllD<1nied by his mourning sisters Isis and N«plnhys, to the region of Aalu intheW.est, a place

128

The

Mysteri,es

o.I Britain
.

The

Arcane

Tradition

129

of plenteous fruits and grain. There Osiris was suppo~ed to rule as .thegod of the not-dead" awaitin,g
a. glonoLLs resurrection..

npple-trees, 'which, however, must not be plucked. 'Ilut that Thomas entered it as an initiate is dear

.BoLh ArthllJr and. Osiris were associated with the cult of the bull. Osiris, indeed, is referred to as a bull, the Apis bull was merely a form. of him, and in the poem by T aliesin quoted previously, the sacred lOX is alluded to in connection with Arthur's
descent into Almwn. Horus is probably the resurrected form of Osiris .• and his myth bears a close resemblance to that of

Arthur. Like that monarch, he gathers round him a com pan y OF warriors who devote themsel.v,es to the destruction of evil monsters. Horus was typified by the haWK, as Arthur was by the crow" for no Englishman in olden times would kill a crow lest it held the hero's spirit. The name of Arthur's nephew Gwalchmei also means "hawk"'. It will thus be seen that the points of resemblance between Arthur and Osiris are neither few nor unimportant, and that their myths appear to have arisen from a common source. That Arthur was the god of a mystical. cult, one of whose Ti~es. was associate-l with a real or allegorical passage through a lower plane from which mysterious seerets vand treasures might be reft, seems certain enough. Are there any evidences of the sur-vival of that belief in British literature or tradition? Let us first examine the Scottish legend of Thomas the Ryrnour, which survives in a very ancienlt ballad form. Thomas meets with the Queen of Faerie at the Eildon Tree, near E rcildoune , and enters her mystic hill. After a long journey through the Keltic Underworld, they reach a sphere which is unquestionahly one and the same with the A1zn'lvn at Vielsh legend. It is, indeed" Avallon, for it is wealthy in

[rorn the fact that its queen instructs him in the art the very aJJ1t, indeed, sought in A nn"W:1l:: or Avallon by Arthur and his followers, .Moreover tile region in which Thomas actually lived was long before his day ei ther a part of the Keltic and Welshpeaking kingdom DE Strathclyde or closely in cultural touch with it. The Keltic implications of the myth are not far to seek. His surname of Learmont, indeed, if .it be actually historical: might be interpreted as signifying the Mount of Len- or L1yr, the old British sea-god, father of Manannan, from whom the Isle of Man and Clackmannan take. their names. But this is at mere walking upon the sands of surmise" and much surer rooting is to be Found! in the known fact that he flourishedmn an environment which run his time was by no means, yet dissociated from Kdtic tradition" and in the assuredly Keltic colouring of the myth in which he appears. Not only is the name of Thomas Rymour traditionally connected with prophecies which COm1llain a wealth of Keltic allusions, but something more than mere tradition associates his namewil:h the authorship of a romance the setting and personnel of which are essentially Keltic-e-that Sit" Tri'.st1'am1,., which was cobbled and completed by a \lVizard still more potent than he. There exist, too, excellent reasons lor believiug that even in the fourteenth century ihis countryside had not altogether cast off the memory and influences of that Brythonic civilization which had formerly flourished there. The etymology bywhi.dl his sobriquet of "True Thomas" is explained as "Tlruid' Thomas may seem Ear-fetched enough, but has authority behind it at [east equal in .alue to the evidence afforded by

or: prophecy,

1.30 The

Mysteries

of Bri t a in

The

A rca n e 'I'r a.d it.i o n

131

that tradition of prophetic practice which is said to have given him. the tide, But even more valuable as a clue to the Keltic character of Thornas'slegend is that portion of it which records his durance run a subterranean environnsent vwhich recalls the underground dun o~ the sidhe or fairies of Scotland" Ireland, and Brittany. Not: only is .it the veritable Queen of Faerie herself who spirits Thomas away, bUI: the description afforded of her and the i'nise ,e'n scene of her domain" no ~ess than certain happenings therein, prove her to be of Keltic provenance.. She is attired in a manner which corresponds closely with the descriptions we have of the sidhe of Ireland, and is accompanied by the inevitable greyhounds so dear to these picturesque mound-dwellers. Like the Loathly Lady of Arthurian story, she assumes a hag-bke aspect on being kissed. Once beneath Eildon Hill, Thomas beholds the orchard so characI:eristic of the Keltic. Otherworld, but is warned that he must not partake of its fruit, a certainproof that this is no other than the food of the dead, of which if a. man eat he may give up all hope ofrega~ning upper earah, He hears, too, the rushing of the great waters which separate the Keltic Otherworld from
the land of the quidc

It is also noticeable that the names alluded to in the prophecies of Thomas are almost exclusively those of Keltic mages and scribes, Merlin and Gildas being chiefly quoted, and the legends relating to the first-mentioned being freely drawn upon, The Arthmian character of many of the prophecies is" indeed, too marked to be ignored, and Scott, duly impressed by this, gave it as his opinion in his introduction to Sir T:ristra,t:l1,. that Thomas had. collected his material from among the floating

[11'llditiomJS the British 01" Welsh-speaking people of ul Stm-athc1yde, which still lingered in the southern l'lluuties duri.ng the fou.rteenth century. ow it is apparent, although it has not SOl far been ..rllncled to in any study oE the subject, that Thomas's II'g't'nd has many points oE resemb]a~ce w~th that of MC'l"lin himself, especially as detailed 1D Breton li'Jlklore. Like Thomas, Merlin was a soothsayer who Iell a victim to thewi~es of a fairy enchantress" \ ivi.en, whom, accordiog' to one Breton form of the II"I'{ nd, he met in the glades of Brocel~and~, He d~v-lt with her iu Joyous Garden, but 10 this case il was the man and not the "gay ladye" who ,'xhibruted signs DE age once the troth was plighted. " I L was foreseen long ago,,'" says Merlin, "that a Iol(ly :should lead. me captive." and that 1 should hn.orne her prisoner for all time," F or a season Iw leaves JOoYousGarden, as Thomas and ,T.a~nh;im,er leave their places of durance. But VIVIen 11'.11'115 from him an enchantment which ""iU keep him wirh hem- or ever, and employs it to retain him in her f li1uw,el·" Wav.ing her cloak round his head, s~e 1,I,unges him. into a deep slumber, and tran~ports him '~nr' more to JOoyous Garden, where he 1.5 doomed IIII r main <!IS the prisoner of love for ever. Bul the important thing lor us is that Thomas's III 'I h relates the adventures of a man, and a man \\Ihn once actually exjsted, in search o~ initiation in lit!' lJllder'lvorld. Here we have a Scotsman of the Ihirl.!eenl:h ceruury experiencing practicaUy the same Mllvt'Htures in the Underworld, or astral plane, as ,Iitl Arlrhur and his companions. hlld this is only one of a number DE accounts in \ ~Iich living men aee said to have probed the secrets If the supernatJUr:a] wodell and penetrated to some 1[11 t!-"Irlianean sphere in search of hidden. know ledge

132

The

Mysterie:s

o( Britain

Tbe
""'Ining

Arcane

T'radliition

133

-su.re evidence that the Cult o~ Druidic initiation survived weU into modern times. h will be germane to the argument if 'lie examine one or two of the more modern of these explorations. Let us turn to r.~e Secret Common'weaUh oj Elves, F am1-S, an~. F atn.es,. written in 169 I by the Rev. Robert. KI.Flit" i\~.A., Minister of Aberfoyle in Scotland, and edited by the late Andrew Lang in 1893The MS .. DE the book seems to have been in the. possession of Colin Kirk,. Writer to the Signet, Edillbllll"gh, ~nd does not appear to have been printed befor.; the issue of li8I5 hy Messrs. Longman, Scott s s~aternent to the eo~tr.~ry. notwithstanding. The_CIrcU!mst3nces of KIFk s life are well enough authenttcated: H.e was a student of theology at St. Andrews University, but took his Master of Arts degree at Edinburgh. He was the seven.th and youf1lig,es~son of James Kirk, who had also held the cbarg~ of Aberfoyle and he originally minisaered at B~lqUl!dder. A Keltic scholar ,he translated the BIble and Psalter int~. Gaelic, publishing the latter in 1684. He "vas twice manried, first to Isobel daughter of ,Sir Colin Campbell of Moehesrer, secondly to the daughter of Campbell of Forda .L, '. d h' . y. wno survive un , 1 mention these facts merely to show that he was not apo~hryphal. He died in ] 69 2, at th~ age of 5 I, and hIS tomb is inscribed ,. Rohertus Kirk, ,b···· .., Linoure Hiberuise Lumen ." "I n H.M 5 cou:.s time,' .,. says Lang "the tomb was to be seen III the east end of the Churchyard oEAbetfo de' but the ashes of Me.. Kirk .aTe ,~ot tl1.ere. )Hi~ suoce:'sor, the Rev. Dr .. Cochrane, in his Sketcl1"es of. PZCbtTesqne . Scen.ery, informs us that, as 1'\1r. KIrk was walkmg on a .dunshi or fal~·ry-h· .. iL· ',11 . hhourhooc ,. , In [JIS ne]g . ourhood, he sunk down in at swoon, which was taken for death .." •., After the ceremony of a
I

and

funeral," writes Scott, e e the forI_l1of the I{(,v , Robert Kirk appeared to a. relation, aDd 1I!II111lancled him to go to Grahame oi Duchray. '. -ay to Duchray ,who is my cousin as well as your ~wn, that 1 am not dead, bu~ a captive in Fairyland; ,1IdI.d only one chance remains for my liberation .. Wh n the posthumous child,. of whru.ch my wife has IIi"t"u deliver.edI since my disappearrance, shall be Imllwht to baptism, I win appear in the room, wh '1~, if Duchray shall throw over my head the knife 'II" dirk which he holds in his band, I may be II t'~,l red to society; but if this is neglected" I am ~ost [r rr ever'. True to his tryst, Mr. Kirk did appear ,II the christening and 'was vi5ib~y seen'; but Dllduaywas so astonished that he did not thw'iiv.his dirk over the head of the app'earance, and to sOCiety Mr _ Kirk has not yet been restored." It is still Iln.licved in the rneighbourhood that Kirk was spirilDed ,Iway by [he fairies. ... . Kirk, as l.ang.points out, treated the wO:fld. of f' I:I~ as .. a mere tact In nature, " hi P res'b y tenal11S~n 'ry IS !luI withstanding. He did not believe the dwellers In 1~lirlaLld t~be thedeacl, but aery spirits, "an ,lh.-lrut>e people," the forerunners oE our more '.ull~wntial race. Indeed, he speaks of the Elves as I hll<ll~loru he were describing the deni.zens of the Astral I'lanr , and their Kingdom as. that plane itself. ~ut \\<1' lI'0int ~or us is that &.n rder to get into commumon o w'ilill these beings it was essential for a man ItounderJ:'I .l partic1Ular ceremony ot initiation into "the • i··fulll 1 S· h.t.. " . 19 .
TIII::rrc be mid. Solemnities at investing a Man with the 1"1 i.vikllges of the whole Mister), oE this Sec~nd Si:!?ht I wrill's Kirk]. He mllsE.ml1.a T.eclde~ of .Halr (wh1c:h ""'IIIH'I ;1 Corps to me Bier) 10 a l;lehK (?) about his If,hill', frolln End to End; then bow ~HS Head dow.n·wards,

134

T'.he

it

l "'( ysteries

o I Britain
,42, an look ad

as did Elij'al1
his L " , egs untr

I2. 4. who got such a n· "anc ~ul rn z nd Corinth,. , ' ' ,< \/ISIGI1 and Sirrht .' I ,I nor could not he told, A 1::>'. ,15 S lOIJ ( not. m1!.agaIII,~hat Men of the Second Sight (bC]Llgdcsi Il~d to. secret E~gy~s) MllrJP'aSS tl~ ordin~~\f,e w:~~.nLng.s ,ag,ainst Men, which IS a native H I:d,· - J V rsion of other tllei, An.cesto'f'S ~ ,d' .,a ,LI til some, descended from ., aua.cqmre( as an if ..I' ment of their na tural Sigh-· tl .'c artr ciau Imp".ovc_ Kd "'. " 111 I) iers : resernbjin . IJ· o~vn .... y~ the Illsuall artiJi,eialJ Hel s' f .. g In u err Prospechves Te'lescopes I 0 optic Glasses. (as hi .. I" , W.ICOI asctiti,ous Aids til, 911lC lvlJcrosco) pes, wit I M' .. sour perceive I.'hin<>"s that fOI.oSt,ej .. ' .cSrl~~r. e treated of .do. ~S '" , reir m<uliless S·L. ,.,' ana ecrecy are iml'~si1b-le t tl ' "" or 'QJuh~ItYI with them. 'the h,·· 0 0 1,ers, tho ld!ayJy conversant , ,. yavmg such a Beam co. ti llf b t.1Cn1 as that of the Sun which 11 ~ '. ~ rnua ; ie a out lets common Eyes see Atom~"'e? It s!nn~s clear o~ly, o~t those Rayes they could []~ted·i.~~ ~h~ All:, Iha.t withtbis Second Sight: transmitted F~c(,llll, fOI· Some .have . . J.om at Ie.!'" to Sone thorow

cross two Marches. 01. I '.;. " . vance u. the People " I, . I.. . '. '. ook thus back '1hOliOllgh a H I w 1,~rc t"e~e was a Knot of Fir. But jf I. ,';' , ..ore POints. 'w'll!le the Hair Tedder j -.. , t I 11C ~rlIild charnge Peril of his L f T~ er IS ty d about him, he is in .. ..' y.e, "e usewall M th d f ,. Person to get a transient Sr, ht, .~. 0 .o~ a ..cu.r!;11.J!5 Crew of S bt .. . ' .. g., of this otilcn'>'ls,e II1vls.'ble.' .u '.el raneans \ If 1Il1JPotently d I sough!:) is to put his (meO Fo t . d J an ,. over r~slJy FOOl, and the Seer's H ·d'. 0 lin er llC. \lVlz.al·d's nght) 'I . all IS put 011 the inquire r" H d IS .~~ 1.:: over tile Wizard's right shoL~ld~r s (w~~ I' ~es alile .. I ppea:rance, as if by this Ceremony a[l~ i 'riC, I der were made of all b r ..•·.. urren ' .".. mp ICJt and his Hanel ere tl . P . e wrxt the '''lizard s Foot , .: ,Ie. erson cau he adrnitt d ,.'. to the AII;-tl, tl ·'1 I . 1.I.e. a jJllVado . ~~[l Wile see . 1'1. c .. " ,"hardle Mell ftockin a Mu'tiLude . ~ f \;\. Ig ht ' s, ,I. ce rurious I' It Q.ual"ters 'as thick A' .1':" to urn .halShlv .from atl ,< . C as '.toms III Hw A·· 11·"1 Nonentities or Phantasms C; , ',. . II;. '\~" lC 1 arc no ,affrighted An rehen '.. -', eatures p:mceldll1g from ane R ,.... ...p. .sioue, confused or IT;JiZcd S,' b ea. Itles, appea.n:ng to ,3 stab] M', " Ie. ense, lit add ' . e an HI us awaking Se n ell urmg a rationall Tj alll f I ' ',. I nse, tlt.·orow Fa' ick '-" ,'. 0'. l1.clr Hem 0'" "foes st:IC"", 1.IIIIiITl breatbless and s;pcech'I'?s.' ;r'I" , W·.'. d 'dc"fr endmg tzars e tl L fI ~ .,. ,ie such Horror and te f aw ulI?ess of" his Skill, forbids Za.dlarias '~S' IJc'l'n- co;m °krts ..his NOVIce by tullinr- of , ',«,., . b 5 crIlC· speechl . ' ,t> tions , Luke I .' 20,. '1• 1len I"1C , furthe ess a~ seemg Appar:i11' 1 . . ..., by voucbil1g' E}", I . t ..... .., r mamtmns hiS A·ir.t ", ' ..115 ra a nave had the same a d' di 1 ., ~i. toms unto his. Servan t·, r·' ,n' . ISC os'd blinded the Syri an 5 , ">n('I'"1 I,nt .2" 'i..,I,!1gS, 6,. J7, \!,I.hen. lJe ~ ,:' ,,~ Jf e er 111 Act ~ ('" . Death of Sapl-w·.. by " .;). 9,lo.rsemg Ule ' perceavlIl<r as It were h W'·· I· I Sleet about ftCI: beforePland" '" .I·P' ." er . lnung-

·il.· S,le a Funerajl ' he

~ Kings

18

. d'

'T he Arcan.e
tln: first Acq~:irer.

Tva di ri

135

back thorou h ·11 g

III'~ whole Family, willtOlif their own Consent or others ro'a ·hing., proceeding only from a Bounty of Providence II seems, or' by Ccmpacr, or by a complexional! Quality of

'

rIO

1°0

p:.

the

r-.

. ow this, I suggest, is an account not of something IInaKinary, but of the long-p,re:served ritual of a h,('I"cdi,tary cult whose members actually or professedly \Ill 'Ire able to communicate with and enter some other iI,bllt: resembling that Annwn of which Taliesin"s In stical poem speaks, a long descended Keltic rite Ir occult potency, recognized as. practicable by men. lj,ving only 137 years ago. r have foMowed Kirk so long because 1 desired to i urlicate the presence and survival of what I believe 10 have been a definite tradition of contactwith .mOII~er plane, through the medium of a certain cult 1111 descent from the ancient Brrutish mystics, But Iwfnreleaving him, there are one or two points which I shouldlike to al:llllde to more particularly although II shall later return to the whole question of the <urvival of the ancient cults in Britain. He tells us 11.;11 "iJ inv.ited and earnestly requieed, these (;'1 unpanions make themselves known and bm~liar to Illn'-'Il; otherwise, being in a di~erent State and ~':I{ ment, they neither can nor 1,\,iI1easily converse with them." This reveals I:he£act that a certain I irual oE invocation was employed to get eu mpp'.od \V ish the "fairy"worId. Again, it is stated that: men «rrasicnally employ stratagems '" for procuring a 1':l'i\'OIcy to. a.ny of these Mysteries." This seems to. Indicate that mysteries were held" that these were in I,juli(' of descent from the ancient British, mysteries" .!l1! I tJnat. they were frequented and continued by I'wuple who actually were, or believed themselves tn Ill' , initiates. Such a condition of broken-down ul"~I's~i,cism, r mysticism emp~oyed for evil purposes, o
!
I

ys te ri es 0 E Britain was undeniably in use in connection with the cldt ,of witchcraft, as we shall see later. Finally, as regards the places in which these rites and mysteries may have been held, certain writers believe them to have been the ." Fairy Hills' Jr "bowes'" in various parts of Scotland. Indeed t:h ,. la~e Mr. David MacRitchie in his Testi:mO'lzy oj T mdition. put forward the theory that the Picaswer . a dwarfish race dweUing ill such hills and earth -houses and were mistaken for fairies or brownies by Kmrk and others. Referring to the Fairy Hill at AberIoyle, where Kirk lived, Mr. Mac Ritchie writes : " How much of this 'howe' is artificiaf, or whether any of it is, remains to be discovered.'" It is much larger than most artificial tumuli, and Like most of such mounds, is probably sepulchral. Tales and legen,ds of the entrance o~ humans into "fairy' , mounds where they were instructed in supernatural secrets are so numerous as to defy description. To return to Arthurian literature. Its more moder:nphase, the Ang[o-Norman,. holds a very considerable amount of prool o~ the survival ol a bdieE in early British. mysticism, hut that pan of it which has an arcane s.ignifican e is contained in til, legends of the Holy Gra iiI,, with "."hich I shall deal in the foHowi ng chapter.
DIU-IIHC
j

136

'T heM

j]'.WEL
.. .

1111_

t'

II. I~' iilllll~ (I..'PIPl'

"

Ij"~n"u\.\t' ·11 K in~.st(}ll H~.rh;-.nl Downs, "'lUq~l~ ~ht::' :-:1·Ij.·cr:ulrttrtl~::; r..rr pl.anr·:;
.• :--.'

near Cnmerbury. II.. ,... ) o. ":'\:L ~("nl ..

I

I See also his 1:111011:: The ,Edrul!lbu.rgh, m8c;l2.

Utlderg,,'ou,tld

Life, privately

printed,

CHAPTER
THE
SOME

VI

MYSTERY OF THB GRAIL

\1\1 eston, who speaks wi til authority, have given it as

their opinion that the legend of the Holy Grail, although of British origin, has certainly been sophisticated bJ Oriental or alien ideas. That may be so, so far as jts later elements .am-eoncerned, bum: c in its early form it is, demonstrably of British provenance, as I hope to prove in this chapter. ] also wish to demonstrate that the legend is in direct association with the secret :mystical tradition of our island" of the existence OE which I have already afforded considerableproof ; that it has indeed a unity with and was drawn from that venerable body of occult belief ..,!lich 1 believe is capable of rescue Eor , the use of B:r.itishmystics. As I have ShOl.VlU, the poem of Taliesin on "The Spoils of AmTW1l." described the descent oE a hodly o initiates or mystics into the lowest plane or circle, Eor the express purpose of recovering therefrom the cauldron of Pwyll, the Lord of A·U1IiW1f... In that poem .Pwyll and Pryderi, his son, are associated together by name" and the cauldron is found at a place caned Caer Sidi or Caer Pedryvan, the F ourcornered Castle" in the Isle of the Active Door. Now in Norman Grail romances the Graili:s said to be in the keeping of Pelles or Peleur merely Norma[lized forms of Pwyfl, in the Castle 0.( Carbonek, which is merely Caer Bannauc, the
II

recent writers, among them Miss Jessie L.

[l1 to

138
I"

The

Mysteri,es

of' Britain
reference to
1111

The
:speaking

Mystery

of

the

Grail

k, , pea,'~ d" or ,"lL nornec 1" cast Ie, having (he pomts or corners of Caer Sidi.'

1.39

The vesselwh,ich Arthur and his companions recover from Al'tUwU ~isdescribed in the 'Taliesin poem as_ a cauldron, t~e nm of which is set with pearls. The fil~ebeneath 1tW<lS kindled by the breath of nine maidens, oracular speech emanated hom it, and it. w~u~d not cook .th~ food of a coward. Compare this with the description of the Gram~ in the Norman romances.\;o;rhere Felles and his brother are mentioned. The G:ail, when it appears, supplies them at the table with whatever kind of food each desir~s, but ~he unworthy were [lot permitted to remain near It or to appmach it without hurt to. t~emsel\'es. Those who. worship a~ the Grail Chapel of Peleur remain young, and to them the !1assage of time signifies nothing. The Grail, too, heals the SIck and wounded . It is thus obvious enoug~ that the Grail\illaS nothtng more nor less than the magi,c cauldron of PwyII given a later Christian. interpretation. The Grail is said to have been brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea,\illho collected the blood of Christ in the vessel and conveyed it to the \~est or gave it to one Bmn or Brons to convey thith,er. Broils. it is. clear, is merely Bran the Blessed of \~ellsh literature. Brons, sailing fro~ Palestine. is said to have floated across on a shirt taken from Joseph's Son, But this is nothing but a later "re-hash" of the voyage of Bran to Ireland, to which he is said to have beenwafted. Bran, too" or rather his my:stica~ head I~vhic~ in his legend takes the place of. the Gra~l. provides In Welsh myth banquet and, mirth for el.ght years to his funeral bearers, RhYs.
• Some allthorities; ,>o\·er,eign chair". ghre the derivation as Ccr-arbeaig,

"fhe

of the soundness of the comparison, have iu reality to go further: it is ~I(lt a case of similarity so milch as of idel1ltity.. The vuyage of Bran is but a Christian version of the voyage of Bran, and one cannot be surprised to find nne of the romances of the Quest of ~he Holy Grail stating that the vessel was in the keeping of Bron, represented as dwelling 'in these isles, of Ireland"." In the Mabi1togion story of Kulhwch and o lwen , Kulhwch is commanded by the giant Y spydaden to procure for him thei\!'wys, or dish of Gwyddno (Jaranhir. This trencher or platter was capable of reedi.ll,g all the world, nine at a ~i.me, and it was ~hought to have disappeared with Merlin anongw.ith rhe (lither treasures of Britain • 'when he entered the Glass H ouse in Bardsey." But I wish to make it dear that I am here concerned with the Gra.il romances only in so far as they reveal evidences of the survival of native Brmtish mystical tradition. That the Grail tradition was divetted to Christian purposes and therefore penetrated and sophisticatedhy Christian and Oriental influence is admitted" but with this side of the inquiry I have logi.cally no 'concern, even with the theory that the Keltic Church in 'Wales employed the Grail legend to combat the pretensions of the Roman pontiff to. British ecclesiastical hegemony. \iVhat I look for is evidence of the survival of the .original native occult tradition associated with the Grail in its form of a cauldron of inspiration situated on another plane, eo reach which initiation into a mystical OF Druidicbrntherhood was essential, Vve have seen that there is actually traditional contjnuity between the Taliesin poem of "The Spoils of Annwn" and the Grail legends" that the one arose out of the other, that the Grail was in the first place
l'I~lllarks: ," We

"' the cauldron of inspiration of a Druidic. cult before .it was thought of as the dish which held the: blood or the Redeemer. I none oE the later romances it is described as a salver containing a head, in another as a reliquary" again as a "dish" or cup. It matters not in what form it may appear in Christian symbolism, as it stiU indubitably retains them-einthe eucharistic character of .its new forms nocwithstanding the clearest evidences of its "pagan" or Druidic origins as the Keltic cauldron of inspiration and plenty, the cauldron of the Oagda, of Keridwen, of Pwyll. Even its Anglo-Norman name, Graal, a dish made of costly materials used for purposes of festival, is merdy a translation of the Keltic word
1·'l,O'll!l],S ·OJ"

140

The

l\'lvsterj,es

of

Britain

The

Mystery
there

of t he Grail
were professors

141

IIIn" fC!IIIrth century

at Bo[dea~x.whOo. 11.1.( nnce at least been Druids, and. for the do:ctnll,es of il.ll'ii lnter reception the heart of their :?ld .expenence may ·. St •. 'BCI. 111.0 In his last.• 'moments 1,11{" <> .," ,.... . . d I. I]('cn also an alembic i 1'I'.l'ordcd to have 'xdaimed: " I see t~]e rnmty an.

I'0'1"'1·

and Paul, and the Druids. and

tine.

S.a~ntsI

w\

u..il ,II:, the rec.og1!liti'On. of: whjch would, IE kl~own,. hav~ Hlilln.rill< id his cal~onisaLlon" !;uppOSllng tha~ ItS: pi ~c~ss II... I heen planned m Rome. At a rnt1~h late. _pe~lOd., e\ e~ II . twelfth OCl1tUI,)' we have still the 11l(ilcatlOn of III u; \\ . . I d: . doubt that the I'n'qu.llJuted mysterres, an tnere IS no 1!1.li .. f illl these was promOoted ge[1~ral!lyby the bards. ~~e I II centurv saw also the beglnnmg of a great rev~'I.a.1 01 lill:ralurc il; '''''ales. There are certa~n. folo manlllscnpts ~-M,'I!. arc late and of doubtful. aut]lenbclty" but acoeptmg rlu-ir ~'vidence under all necessary reserves, they refer the . I· tic t 0 Rhvs ap Twdur who'. assumed .. the U·\'II~·:q III ques. aon . rr: . '. ;" .: I . f S on 1 W·: les • 'i-.·ma]fi'"!> WIth him utl a t1C !lwr:rO:lgnly O. .~ u .'''' • v- l.-rn of the Round Table, as it :is w.~th regard to Ol'IU0 •

"--:-.3 chou'

w,.ln

'In~as.

In a striking passage on the folklore antecedents o~ the Grail, Mr. A. E. Waite writes :'
of

lfhe antecedents of folklore passed into the literature the Graal undergoing great transmutations, .and so also did certain elements of old Druidism merg,e into Christianity j Rite and Myth and Doctrine were tinged by Tradition and Doctrine and Rite 1'0;- th;ngs which co-exist tend to dovetail, at least by their ouser edge,s.; and there are traces, I think, of a time wben the priest: who said mass at. the attar was not only a Druid at heart. but in his iheart saw no reason also for the Druid to be priest any less, Long alter the conversion of the Celt, enigmatical fables and mystical Rites lingered in Gaul and Britain, and if one could say that the Caukiron of Ceridwen was a vessel of pagan doctrine, then in am equal symbolical sense it became a vessel of hotch-potch under the strange regis of the Celtic Church. There were masters of mysteries and secret science, whose knowledge, it is claimed, was perpetuated tinder the shadow of tlIaC Church and even within the pale thereof. The Bardie Sanctuary, by the evidence of some who claimed to speak in its name, opposed no precious concealed mysteries, and perhaps on its own part the Church received into its convert it 'therein and tum
alembic much that was not of it its
011.1"

.And when the time came for: the Latin Rites. for .dlC m!I!'p"lldcnc~ of the. BI"~t1'Sh Church, oJ can. weU~ bebeve 1:1•• 1,1 aU which remained, under all t!ransforlmatl,?os" of 1iI1.111 old mixer] wisdom of the West was 03i~so fi~httn;g for II" lir,l.:. '\i\fbell pseudo-Taliesi~ propheSied t~e retllr.n aladr I ('. .~(IW,. .I who bad passed mto the umnarufest" h rlike " J \111'1111'., and, like Arthur, was d~slined to retum,.. e_lev.~ II"u thsrt this allegory of rd)lrth or resurrectroo, :d .It Ii! "'I~fI!d 00[1 one .side to the aspirations of .the Ce!tlc ,I IIlr.d. did 110t 'less embody 'On anot!1er the. des.l:red nonen ".1 .1 second spring for the i11ysterJes1.~!:lIchOlle;e dwelt II \,V;lh's, whlch even after many centuries were intemed
In~1 ·struggle between t~e. Celticalld.
1 . . .'

lu'ls and bards".

1,11111'1'

than

dead.

II~

matter"

in a new form.

expecting

1m

to

, The' 1I1:a'del~ Chru·clt of tbe HQi:)!'Grai.!, pp, [76 IT.

11 tn the tales themselves. 1111 The \N'elsh Per,ceval II', ·... ·tlur gives the fus:t form of the Gr~l legend. , •• ,ll'l. lIoll here concerned with the story itself, b~t Illl~ ~ j'l h those details in it which illustrate our thesis ,I 11~ii' ,,. rvival o~ the British tradition. . I h,' mother oi Peredur , we are told, .ha'~ two ... 101 r"", I', .les and Pdeur ,. as they are called 1Il the . ,!I .1II " S 'in!: Greaffi.' These are merely the Pw_yU I PI' (1eri oE the old tradition, as has been said, 1',1 ~II 11ur t1 :stroys 8! monster known as lI.he Addanc or nn or the Lake. This was a mIghty beaver,
I

142
which in another Welsh tale was said to have he n drawn from the waters of ies .Iake by the god or her H u. Now in an ancient Welsh poem,' 'Cadair Ceridwen'", or "The Chair of Keridwen" ,,' tho goddess mentions this animal as follows ::
day of the Sun" at the hour of dawn, between the ~inJ:!<,
I saw a lIerce conflict in ~hc vale of Beaeer, on ~hL"

The
I,I
\'I
I·..

Mystlery

of the

Graa

143

o! Wrath and Cwydion, On the day. of jove, [hey (dll" birds of Wrath) securely went to Mona. to demand :. sudden shower of the. sorcerers j: but the goddess of dim silver wheel," of auspicious mien, the dawn of serenity. the g~eat,es,t restrainer of sadness, in behalf of the Britons, speedily throws !fOund his. hall the stream of the Raiubow, ,3 stream which scares away violence from the earth, ami causes the bane of its [orlner state, round the circle of the world, to, subside, The books or the Ruler of the

Mount record no falsehood. The Chair of the Preserver remains here ; and tjll the doom, shall it continue iin Europe ..

cauldron,

goddess of the whole passag unquestionably relates to a part of the ceremony of initiation into the rites of Keridwen, goddess of the cauldron of inspiration, a passage referring 1:0 the strife between 5111.1 and storm, order and chaos" and one which could be equated horn theriruals of more than one secret tradition. N ext the castle visited by Pereder, and which is, obviously the Castle of the Grail and the Fisher King (for the Welsh version islater and probably borrowed much of its "machinery" from Norman sources') is merely the Palace of Caer Sidi or Caer B.ailll1i3liJC .. th . royal. seat 01 Annwn" the centre of the mysteries of the Astral Plane, where the cauldron of inspiration (or Grail) was 'kepL Here he meets the owner of the Castle, his uncle (the" Fisher King" of the Grail versions] who was watching his men fishirng in the
are associated. and the
l'

Thus the Avanc and Keridwen,

He tells Peredur, in the true accents of one knowledge to conceal. that whatever ~1.lng· things he may see ill the castle, he must 11111 speak of. The late Mr. Alfred Nutt believed I:hal: in the I dll luin~LI Keltic tradition the surname of ~he Fisher ling had a significance now lost.' Now the brother II' 'this Fisher King is called in the Norman-French l'I.lil romances Goon Desert" Gornumant, and t ~OIl1i 'mans, which, as Rhys has shown," are merdy ,"uuptions of the name of Gwyn, son of Nudd, Ki~g ". the demons of the Otherworld. Now Gwyn, 111 'W ·Ish myth, has a brother or companion Gwydl1o, 'whose name seems 1:0 have meaet "'Tall Crane"., or alki ng Person", and he was famous as the owner Ii !'I a weir :in which fish to the value of a hundred 1I,!,"nds were caught on the eve of the First o£ May , ,1I·h year.. Connected with this story was the legend i ,I l he finding of the babe T aliesin in this weir, as u-rorded beforehand, that Taliesin, indeed, who was ihi" son o( Keridwen, born 1:0 her after she had I~\ .illowed Gwion, the watcher of her caaldron, that \IN Taliesin who was the "official" hard of the 11III1~.'leries of Caer Sidi or Ann1N1i~, and who boasts 111.1 t he was present with Arthurwhen he stole the ,I,lIllduroll of inspiration therefrom, whose '''rebirt'h''. ••. 'iUlonMacCuUoch acutely observes, "is conII .,It,d with his acquiring of inspiration' ,.J '11 i.; thus dear enough that the whole Grail myth j I'nunded in the central idea of the cauldron of Iii .pll"fttion ill An;li~wn, the rnystica] plane, that this is, illIll,!.ql" the hub from which an the spokes of the. ~ 1111' .1radiate. Tk,e Red B,ook 10J Het"gest, of which lin' \/IJe'lsh .', Peredur" or'" Perceval" is a. part, is
II ! has arcane

'" ""I

~ 1'1,.1'1" GIr(lil,

p. rz j.
;>

•. W,el'sh

ArdileoloK:l'.

p. 66.

" Arianrhod ..

• ,.ll'lhll·ria,~ Legelld, op. crt, p. ! (s.

'pp. J 15-L6.

144

The

i\tysteries

o.I Britain

The

M.ystery

of the

Grail

145

a Chnstlan III terpretation . T?e Conte del Graal of Robert de Bor.ron and his contInuators, commenced about the thi.rd"quarteli of I:?e t~ellth (:entll'? is "a. composition", says Rhys, . which cannotjldp striking a student of Welsh IIter.ature and my~holo~y ~s one of the oldest in point of time and allusion within the whole cycle of Grail. romance." [r says of the Rich Fisher: "much knew he of black art, more than an hundred times. ch.anged he his semblance?",
With
l

~~~nd in, a Wdsh manuscript of the end of th thrnrteenth cen.tu.r~, so that at that relatively late dare we find the untianon story of the A ~1.1twn Plane s~mewhat ~I~ble~. perhaps., but still flourishing, if

1~llIsJ d lcrmiry.
I

and even the mediaeval Satan show IJwyU, 0lJ" the Fisher King, is, IUd, 'cd ahe g:rand black magician of the U nderworld, wliu, 51!:1.1I,11<01.s the means of fertility" inspiration and u·g~·nerat.ion in his mys~i.calcauldron ..
The three properties of the cauldron-c-inexhaustibslity, inspiration, and regeneration-may be summed up ill one word, Iertihty ; and it is signi ficant that the (Irish l god 'with whom such <ill cauldron was associated, Dagda, was a god of fertility. But \VC have just seen it associated" dir :ctly 01" indirectly, with goddesseserridwen,
tim women (rom the Jake-and perhaps this to an earljer 'cult of goddesse:; of fertility" later lu·a!I,lsferred to gods. In this ligllt the cauldrora's I~O'wer u~ res boring [0 life is signi:ficanl" since il1J early belief life is associated with l.\fI:Jat is Feminine. • • . Agai.n,
II.!I('

\V"'vland Smith

l+ranwen, m;gy point

Now th~ whole ~uming-point and key of the Conte del Gmal is ~onllected with the mystic 'question which
~efceval hads to put to the Fisher King, the suppressed word"', as Mr .. Waite calls it. "'In the Conte del G.l'£ul,l, '" he writes," " the law and order ot the Quest is that ~ercevai sha~l ask the meaning of these wonders which he sees 111 the pageant at the Castle of the Quest.' The prime question be should have put to she sick Fisher King was :: "Unto whom orne serveth of the Grail?" and this query
I

.. s an invariable JHU·t or the furniture of every Celtic II HI c. The quantities OF meat which they contained may have sUlg'gested inexhaustibifiry to people. to whom IIH~ cauldron was already a. symbol of ferrility. Thus the svmbolic cauldron of a fertility cult was merged with the '·~I!lldroll used in the religious slaughter and cooking' .of slaughtered human .lillcditwitb their blood.
i 'imri

slaughter and cooking of animals was usually H'l,'an:ledas a sacred act in primitive life, Tile animals were cooked in enormous cauldrons, which were found

animal food.

The. cauldron was also liSCO in ritual. victims over a cauldron

The and

would have released the King from his mystical ~umbne.ss and have permitted him to pass on the translation of the Secret Words" the keys ot the mystery he conserved, and have dispelled the Enchantment of Britain. Because he did not ask the
Perceval was assailed with reproaches .. U we look. a lil:tle more dosely in~o the Sil:ory d the Lame FIsher King and his brother we nnd plenty o[ evidence that they are I:hepeople of the Underworld well defim-ruedinmyth.. In the first place the ruler of Hades is frequently lame, and V~lcan:
, op. cit, p, 117.
., op .. ,cit..P'.l.5J.

'l.r the gods,

O!l earth,

Like the food of men, which was regarded as tile food the. cauldron of this. world became tile marvellous cauldron of the Otherworld, and as it then became nece, sary to expiain the of'igin IQf such cauldrons
myths arose, tclJ]ng how th y had been stolen

question

from the divine laud by adventurous heroes, Cuchnlainu, Arthur, etc, In other instances, tile cauldron is repla zed II)' a magic vessel 01· cup stolen from supcrnajural beings ,,~ the Fionn aga or of .HUI,7chell,. Here , too" it may be
nnt -d that the (;mal of Arthurian with the. Celtic cauldron. product rnnriner.j made mystic and romance has affinities

Thus in lite Graal n. 're was a fusion of the magie cauldron of Celtic paganis!!'1 and the Sacred Chalice of Christianity, with tile
glorio'lls, in
<I

most

wonderful

, MacCullo~h. op. cit. pp. 382.3.

I{

146· The Mysteries of Britain 111 fact the whole myth explains the bringlng of
the mystical tradition" the Essence of Divine Life, and all that it implied from another plane, just as. domestic animals such as the pig, ,the dog, and the deer were also brought £rom that plane, or as fire was thought of as having been brought (rom heaven by Prometheus, or cattle (rom ' s Fairyland' , . 'Long afterwards, as folk-tale assures us, the notion lingered that all good gifts emanated from the Underworld, and many are the stories told of men and women who penetrated the fairy-hill to gain either hidden lore or magical objects, as we shal] see when we come tocoosider the subject in its folklore aspect. In numerous instances these had first to lose their senses "to become unconscious or fall asleep before admittance to the [airy realm. The Grail ~egends are merely Christianized versions of this theme, glorified and sanctified to fit them ito the more exalted aim. They enshrine !the remains of an ancient British code of initiation deflected to the uses. of Christianity . W,e have seen that in some versions or the Grail legend Peredur or Perceval is told by the Fisher King that he must 'Wt ask the reason of anything he beholds, whereas in ~he others he rus blamed for' refraining from putting the question. The second is manifestly a perversion oEthe first, obviously designed for later religious reasons, To ask the reason of any mystery in the Land of Enchantment or to put questions to any enchanted peDiSO]] is speedily to meet with disaster. It is a relic of an ancient system of taboos. Peredur must not interrogate the King of Annum on matters relating to the mysteries or the Underworld, simply because the replies to these would instantly have placed that ruler's oecult power .in the bands of another.

T'b e Mystery
1'111.

oi' the

Gra i]

147

The Grail as a cauldron may for a moment attract attention. The cauldron is a symbol of the magic.al brew, and as such has its later oounl:~rpart

in! the witches' cauldron. Now hom one ~omt of vir-w the cauldron is obviously, besides being the "V mbo] of inspiration, plenty, and fer til~ty,t.h~ .: rnhol of A Jl11-'W1! itself" the region or plane In which III lower life which. was sooner or later to overflow into A b1"ed, the earth-plane, seethed and bub~led. 1m is the symb.olof life, ps),cni,cal as well as phYSical, . .. . I· ,,,. ver gennmatmg an dI evoivmg. u·~oreo ,I. the myth of .' Arthur's journey to A.fI:n:wn .~s. n. a\1e~ory of .the ~ a:c.ent from Ant1-W1~, through rmuauon, into Ab1e~. The "life" which seethes in the cauldron ol Pwyl1 ~.5 I" -moved by the initiates to at ~igher plane. It. I.S nllviOouslv a myth of the evolutlol1 of life and Spirit r 110ma Iower to a more exalted sphere. It fonows Ihat there was. probably a similar story, now lost, oE Ill' evolution, of soul-life forom A b1·ed to. G'wyn'l)~'.d, she sphere of immortal beings, the whole composIng :l1li allegory of the sours journey.

The
1

Sec.ret

T'r a d it io n

149

CHAPTER
THE

VB

SECRET TRADITION IN R1TE AND LEGEND

THiI~ ancient secret tradition of Britain. survives in a fragmentary manner .in numerous legends, local. customs and festivals, in curious rites connected with s.uch localities as holy wells and in other manifestations. 11": is, of course, questionable how far some of these are associated with. the ancient occult tradition of t~e ,isla,nd, and many '0.£ them. ?la:y be merely survivals of the popular beliefs which constituted its baser s~de, he~ring. indee~, the same relationship to the philosophical part of It, the official cult- so to speak, as do the rites of the Sudra caste of india to Brahminism. For what was preserved by popular favour .alone co~]d scarely have been of much mystical valu.e in the lllgher sense, or have enjoyed much o_fficIalcount~nance" At the same time, popular ntes and festivals may have conserved certain ideas capable of throwing livht 011 the Secret Tradition esr.ecial1y in so~ar as they may be of iberian oJiigin: WIth those which have no bearino on the Secret Tradition we are, or course, not concerned. In the first place, it is notable that the idea of Annwn, the mystic plane to which Arthur and his companions were thought to have penetrated, stiill survives as a part of modern Welsh folklore. The late SiI" ~~11 RI,ys, in his C eUic Folklore, provides many rraditions o~ Annwn, how the "Plan!: Annwu' or. denizens of thaI: realm, were wont to penetr~te t~, this upper world, hunting the souls of doomed men

hlG! had died without baptism or penance with their hili-hounds. Indeed, they carne into such close ! til uact with the sons oE men that the .~atter were .ldlla!1y able to capture aile of their rnilk-whire kine! Strangely enough we do not fmd any reminiscences, ill modem Keltic folklore of the other planes in the Ill} sue circle, but that merely implies that: the circle ,II IJ nnwn was believed to lie much nearer that of I/n·ed,. the dwdling-place of man, than the others" .ll1lll that therefore communication with it was much
I'lllIre common.

N ow there is some evidence that Arthur" in his mvthologieal aspect, superseded, or was a "surroI-'..,II~·" oE a certain Bu Gadarn"who, we win I -mcmber. was responsible for ~:lrl'"lgging the Avatl:'lC "II' monster of the lake hom his watery abyss by II wails of large horned oxen. It seems, indeed, that .11 one time a complete saga must have existed of the 'Il:'rrying of HeU by this Hu, of which the capture of lilt' vane and tine raid for the Cauldron were '"lIk;iciiary parts; that. the manner in which. the secrets ,I I he mystical plane of Am~'11)l'1. had been recovered by the brotherhood of an occult priesthood had been di~t"sted into writing or into these mnemonic poems "f which the British Druids were wont ~o make use. 1111 hi~ Celtic Fo!klon~ Sir John Rhys makes it plain 1111.11 modern vVelsh peasants believe Arshur to have I ,.-,'Il the h 1"0 oil the Avanc exploit rather than Hu 1111'milghty. It would seem, therefore, that Arthur '11,1' taken over many of Hu's attributes. and iii !,,,. -nru res. Ilut that the ri tes of H u Gadarn or Arthur-for ,II" I \'V~,I are, as we shall. see, one and the same~ ,lUvj".·d u nil the midd.le o[ the sixteenth century at II '·'.1 is I)iain [rom several passages in English and W,+;h lit rature. One of the objects of pilgrimage
I
j

l~,6

1150 The

l'lysteries

o[ Britain

in the Principality prior to the Reformation was the image of Darvell Gadam in the Diocese of St. Asaph. In a letter hmn Ems Price to Cromwell, Secretary to Henry VI I I., dated Apl'i~ 6th, rSJ,8:, the image is described as follows:
There ys an Image of Darvellg'adarn vwithits- the said diocese, in whome the people have so grea.te confidence, ~ope, and truste., that they curnrne dayty a, pillgra.mage unto hym, sornrne 'with kyne, other with oxen or horsis, and the reste wi the money ;in so much that there \V,a.!; fyve 0. syxe hundrethe pi'l!grilmcsto a mans estimaeion, that offered to the said image the fifte daie of this presente rnonethe of Aprill. The innocents people hath ben sore aluryd and ent is,crl toworship the saide image .. in 50 nwdl that rhere is ,3 conunyn ~aJ'iDIJge s yet amougst them that a who so ever will orler an:i thing,e 1:0 the saide I'mage o.F Darvellgadern, he hathe power to fatche hyrn or them tffi:Jat o offers oute of Hell when they be dampned, s

N ow this idol was taken to Smithfield in the same year and burned. It is obvious, of course, that Darvell Gadam and Hu Gad.arn are one and the same. Besides, it was pecuharly the province oE Hu Cadarn to draw souls out of A ,,''n'ltln , or "Hen". He was the supreme deity, who by the strength of his emanations (hms so~ar oxen) drew the Ava:nc or beaver (the sun) out of. the lake, an aUegory of his ability to rescue life from the darkness of the abyss, Now all this points to the existence and Functioning of the ancient Drilish Tradition in the sixteenth century at least, for the worship of a deity l~ke Darvell Gadarn could not have existed in Wales. unless it were associated with a mystic brotherhood or priesthood, without whom it would have had no sanction or status, 110 binding force. And this is rather borne out by the fact that when the idol was taken 1:0 Smithfield there was taken with it a "friar" who bore t.he sa:m,euame ,as itself .. and who was also committed ItO the flames. Had he been a friar in H o.l.y

TH F.

HE.\.[

OF

Il1UN

The

Secret

T'r a dit i.on

151

• lrders such a fate would certainly not have been met d out to him, nor could he have borne such a n~lI1l'le, and it therefore appears ,@!S if he must have ht-en IlO~ only the living representative of the god, IllIt the conservator of his mysteries and the ancient

Briti.sh Secret

Tradition,

visited by hundreds

of

I'iilgrims, who worshipped the idol as a quite familiar deiry.'

his also to be noticed that oxen were offered up this image. This not only makes it plain that i[ represented the Hu Gadarn o~ Vvelsh myth; but that it was identified with the sacred solar ox or bull
10

symbolic of that deity, and which we have seenwas

referred to in moce than one of the British mystical

l)Oems .. I T1 the superstition concerning changelings we also Iind a very distinct trace of a; belief in the return of th soul to the dreary region of A nnwn. The superstition ran rhar the fairies frequently exchanged their offspring for that of human beings, leaving ~! .hind a withered and often half-idiot elf in place oE the robust human babe which they had spirited away .. As we have already seen, the belief in fairies probably orioiaated from the Cult of the Dead. That is ~hey were supposed to be the (evil.?} dead waiting for re-birth, and that they were also associated with A":1/.'wn 'is positive. Tbechangding Was. thus a soul f:rom A nn:!Jem, strugg~ing to get a hold on A bred" the (·arth-plane"whereas the belief that it was possible for the fairies to spirit children .away seems to have
I
I

~llrisen [rom

«arth-journey Irli se into the depths of Ann.wn.

the idea ~hat the human soul, if its were not satisfactory, might once more about charrugel.ingsis

In a word, the superstition

I

Th ,. worship of Hu Gadarn in 'Vales at such a late, date' as !ill! su ffice5, t~ q:uasb:~t1erly. the ar~umen.ts of" the opponents 1 111m theory that Druidism collapsed In Roman times,

152

The

.Mys t e r ie s of

Britain

undoubt~dly a memory of a cult which believed in tile pro,gressJOn or relrogressmon of sou~s rather than in t.heu tra.nsmigratiornll. For after aU, there is very ~lttle evidence that. t,:ansmigration in its usually accepted ~orm. was believed ill by our forefathers, whereas there IS abundant proof that a zreat scheme of psychic e:oiaHioll underlay their theology. A cer:m~ny which has also obvious relationships to the b:lJ~f 111 the plan:: of A 'nn'llJ1l" and wllich, indeed, dJsplays the remains of mystic rites associated with ~!:heancient brotherhood who presided over its ritual, IS that of HaIlow-e'en . of the Bards O"'i7en tells LIS that in North Wales the firsr da; of November Was attended by mallY, ce,-emonies, such as lightrung a larg'e fire and runm~g through it, "nUlI1ing away eo escape from the black short-tailed S.oW", and so forth. He says:
"Amongst the I'irst aberrations lTlay be traced that of the. knowledge of the great Huon Or the Supr,cme iBeiuO" \~,IHd~ was obscu;l!'edby the hieroglyphics or emblems IllS dJ~e~ent attributes,. so that the g:mveIlillg mimlds of

'The Secret

Tradition

153

.I 11 his account

~f

the multitude

ojft~1l

sought

not

.beyond those reprcsenta,

COlllp,l.ctlo,n 0,( harvest

and the: appearanae

nons for U~e objects of worshjp andadoraliOIl. This opened an Inl,e:~ for numeTOUS errors more minute; and m~lly ~l~perstlhons became attached to their periodical so[em~ltl,es and more ,p'al·trclJla~ly t? thei~ Irejoieillg Iires

of vegetation
in
,aUhUDHl."

IJ1

sprmg and of the

.

HuoH is, of course the same as HlI Gadatrn, :50 tha~ here once more we find him associated with a rite of the UlI1,derwodd, for the Hallow-e'ellfire was nothing more or less than a symbol of tha~ of A~m7Jlm, as is easm~y proved by the reference to the ' 'black short-tailed sow' ". The reader will remember that the pig was one of the "Spoils of An1~"~1l" given to the earth by PwyH. Theminister '. of Klrikmu::hae1in Perthshir,e, writing in the Statistical

,\n'llunt, says: " Formerly the Hallow E ven~ire, '" u-lic of Druidism, was kindled in Buchan, varIOUS 11I.1,g-i!: eremonies were then celebrated to counteract Ih.· influences of witches and demons. .., . 'l1\'ieties were. formed, either by pique or humour I! I scatter certain bres, and the attack and defence More often conducred with art and fury ."'. It is ',lIrdy dear enough. that this rite, totally unlike the UII II' innocent amusements associated with Hallow" 'en in more modern timesvwas the memorial of a \I('I'Y ancient [myth interpreted by dramatie action, descriptive of the attack on the fiery underw~rtd J rlane by a society or broth.erhood of. mystl~s,' I Irrunas of the kind were invariably associated With 11m Mysteries of the ancient world, in G~eece and Egyp~ especially. And that these cdebrat~ons w~re pupulady believed to have descended f~,om ~lheDruids I'~ not only stated by the minister DE Kirkrnichael, but IIIV the minister of Callander, who in the same Aocount .t.rtes that: "'The people received the consecrated JI"',· [rom the Druid! priests next moming, the virtues "I which were supposed to continue for a year," . It is by 110 means a simple task ~o trace the eroded i:lullille of the mystical tradition of Britail1l in Eo!kJ,..\ito[ and legend, ;:tndinmany. iinstances tile 1"1:'01' ssional exponents of FolklO1'e,ha~e ,made ll~e 1;lhk aU the more difficult by their msrstence In Il'g~lg:ding all ancient beliefs as having a bearing on v«'gdation or other rites, neglecting altogether ih ,t I~""p r significance which lies beneath these tales. In Hrdcl' to prove that a. recognized 'caste of ce1~brants Ili'll actually exist within living ,memory, I .w'ltnow Iurn to various evidences of their presence In \i\r ales 1,1 least, Ililt Lewis's Topograph.ic(tl Dict.£ona1'y of Wail'S we read that the Wen of Fyrmon Elian " Ev'en in the present age is frequently visited by tlle
I
I

154
sup,erst:itious "1 . bv : .".'" rne 'ceremomes performed y the applicant stand in' .. . tIll .. 1'1 h .. g upon a eel.tarn spot near .te we w 1.1 e L 'e 0'111 ner of it . d c. the _ d S' '. rea Sat tew passCiiaes of ue sacre cnptures d 1.. ,. . b . .'. . '. ,.' an rnen takino- a s. II' glJlai]t~ty of water gives .it to the forme"" t d ~ak'. rhro1 id . r ..o rm .vIng tne ,. resl.ue over his head " wmcr h is r . 1..' .' 1.. • . IS repeated tWl.rce tunes. Foulkes in h E.;'·o . C'ymnol, ._ bli 1 "> _, .DS moogu»: pu ..1S led In 1870 ~.sa.ys "hat rl Iast pe.rs.on to have . .' . •c ne . c h.arac 0 tI w][ .. .. 0 1... re e was a cer,tamll John Evans, Before .tllm. . a woman had_ ofhcl~a·ted ther e an.d many • . . .. <' .el amusing tales of her shre 'dr , .. S"'; w ness were recounted ays Rhy:s 111 his Celtic FolHore : .
O 0

The
111,1 III~' I!r

S'e cr et Tradition

15.5

'

.,.

'.

A series of articles ou the lifjfell a dO .. _ we~e ,aJt'ervli'ards published I 3' 1, 'ISPearc I~I !S613.l1d which I have noi s .J m o. ',usa shlilmg book . . _,... with I1n. I:".. . ' ~eef] •.and the)· deal t "vII'I' ~l'll i.e SuperStitIOn .., . ,. •. e 1,llslOly of JolIn Evans alld! itl I ,. . ., and con1)ersiOMs' I J' . , '\V.I. I .IIS (:'Onfessionf> .. "'. I lave searcj d ,. ' .. accounts in\Velsh of the rilu I [leI 11 In. vam for any ',Vhen .Mrs SI'!val" , .E' Va IlS _"" al ti1 ,I'" 0. owed a.t the Well. . . .. .' V1SltC(1 .. chal'O"Cof tl . \¥ II C pace t•• person 1:0 e ... ' >:> Ie e was a woman and Peter R h .' ' •• IS C(Hu{rrilln Popula At-" .'10 ,c c,r 0 erts 1.11 in 18~S, alludes ~o' IIITel' 11 .l(11<1·16S , puhli hed. in Lond.on I . or at preo cessor of I .,' } f o II . .owmg terrns : f,' Ne ,tl" ." ...... -"0 ralllOUS wretch wIar . , fl"" well Iresided .." SOm e'CIS 1.11 tne ze t"-t 3.llu In " .. . WOF , .• ess TIl . I '' 10 0 rcrarec as priestess " . ,ere. IS., think, verv litl'le '1 II· gm!n-l~.an of tl:1c\i\.fcll - ..' (011 l[ th a t the Owner or . was, so to sal' [he ,enres ·t . o f.. an ancrenr priesthood C tl W Jt' ,. en auve d ate d Its on r .... probably . On i ,: '. se iestl m .' . . '. That· priest 100d. ." church was '"'buiil! l1~a; jJ;lunf.,celnl tUl"les !Jefo~e:a Cluis.tia.:[1 I. tr _. ie ", 'C, ::md COIl1J[]O" do .1 CJI' lll'l1es. \'II' have f' I .'" WI) to show hOW' the ri::"l~t ~II] ort ~lI.lal~)' no sufficient data to whether by inl •.. ,0 such priesthood was acquired, .Iel I ance Or otllerW1Sc' b t ". I. a:WOmal1 might hav ,eh'f . , ..~ ~ve .... ow tnat n argc 0.. st. Ehan's 'Veil.
i '.

when Sir John made inquiries as to whether any ceremony must be perlorrned in order to derive Ii,! Iwlil [rom the water he was told that the water 11111'.1 he lifted out of the well and g-ivcn to the patient I'll drink by somebody born U;e I1djoin,i'ng honse, j'jj'/e'rab!y OJI Ow h..e:tr. The water , it appears" was ih.rwn from the ,"veil in a skull. which was said tobe 1'1111' skull of St. 1 cilo, and, indeed, he was shown the -, IIIIL Sir J hu learned later that this well ]s known ,I' !h Oxen's Well, and that the family owning and ''''I'UI, ying the adjoining farmhouse ha.d been tl:i.e1'e for II·II/uries. Their name was Melchior, by no means .1 romrnon onein the Principality, and having a sound ·.I,nIT!r:iently priestl y, in all conscience. There was ,d~,o current <L legend relatil1lg to the manner in which
I

i,~.

,<,

'

"

"

en
0 ,

't

parti ular instance," says 5i r J aim Rhys, " we II; ve a succession which seems to point unmistakeably i"I' an ancient priesthood of a sacred spring," ow mark that this well was known as the ".oxen's \IVel I" ,. that is, it was associated in some manner with the cult of [-I lJl Gadanl, the mystic deity •If the Brvthoni ' race who with his sacred oxen was ,.IJPI'lo:sed' to have overcome the powers of evil. Ilcrewe have a case, as RhYs., a very sound .unhority, was convinced, oJ tf~e s1t1'1,1ival 01 a /wreditary fniesU;£oorl in Wales lro'Dt pre-Ch,:ristian
I his

Ihe

skull came to be used as a drinking vessel.

"In

J imcs

wdil the beginning 0,1 lite t7.lJ'e1:ttietlll, century!

,.

a l'cmbrok shire, m:heChur.chofSt T '1<' _fh_e blUldlllg h I: JI' .. ,. " . euo. e e SUS, 15 III rums, bU1!: the churchyardis still used and contains t1.VO of tit '. post R . e most anclelllC . .-om01I]l mscnpnons in the Princi·paFt., This well was thought to b or1 f" ,,' _I y. IS . e bOOC 01 the w!looplllg-cough ~mll ar ~It:
I' : " ."

,,~:ir. John also left behind him dar a regarurng "r I. . '.") e
lJ1

0,

_.,

I'

, haJks mine,-LS.

'VV seem tohave clear evidence not only that such a ,"u'llt actually existed, but that it was in some way :Issociated ,~ith the mystic ox and thus with the occult Ilrfllherhood who 'i\ler~ led hy Arthur into the gloomy 1I11,rS5 of A1tn'l!nJ; .. "Elsewhere on British soil there are evidences of dw existence of persilns who appear to have been inculcated iULO a mysterious and magical society

156, T.he Mysteries

whosewritillgs

ol Britain
.. 1 L ·'0 L

they ac uaHy preserved. A woman attainted by the Presbytery of Perth for sorcery in [626 slated that she had a book containing magical knowledge which was .her' 'Goodsire's, her Grandsire's, and was a thousand years old." Her SOh, Adam Bell, read it to her. Again there are many proofs, 3.<; we shall see when we come to deal with the cult of witchcraft, of persons being initiated into the ritual of that cult either by their relatives or by friends. say a word here regarding • rthur's glass-ship, alluded to in the legend of the desfcntinto A11n7t1'I'~. This vessel has been COlU6i!:rued by various authoritjes as a div.ing-bell, and so Earth, and has been equated with the boat of glass in Irish myth in\~ ..hich Condla the Red was spirited away to the Land of the Everlivillg by a fairy princess. But I think: it is obvious that the vessel has more a spiritual than a material significance, that, indeed, it more nearly resembles the ship of the Egyptian Osiris, which was supposed to navigate the dark waters of Arnenti. the Egyptian Underworld. The two Iny ths are, indeed, one, and obviously emanate from a common source. This crab is, indeed, the ship of SOIJ~S, just as is the balrque of Osiris" and in this connection we may recall the myth cited by th late Greek writer Procopius, quoted at the commencement of this volume, in which he describes the passage of the dead souls by ship to. the shores: of Britain. This proves that a v,ery ancient myth actually existed relative to the bearing of the souls of the departed into the land of darkness by means of a magical vessel. This magic1~ vessel "\;1jI':lS, indeed, the vehicle by which the astral shape was transported into its appropriate plane, and, in th case of AuhUlr and his comrades, it was obviously
:1:0

The
.,

Secret

Tradition

157

1'·1

II. transport also the astral shapes of the Li.'ing \ h an extra-terrestrial sphere. What was the nature 11'~ I his vessel? That this s~)ip had a solar signih:-31'l,ee"ve may.he ~on~U.y certain. The similar ~gyptlan b~.rque which lu,IIIDI1bed the depths of .Amel:tl ~I\fas certainly oE solar 'lI"igin, and its symbolical s~gmficance. seems to be Illat of light invading: darkness, the ship of the SU[~ ~ml penetrating the g~oom of the 'World of Death 01 non-being. . .. E P erhaps the derivation of Caer SId., a", p~rt 0 .<IIIIJ."!llI, is, as Rhy:> thought, Caer Shee, CIty of IIII' Fairies' •. II: is notable that four .organs pl~y .rrnund its fire. This instrument has a lo~g assocl,atinn with mysteries, from those of Byzantium to the 111·,~s.en1i: day, as in Masonry, . earehing through the de~r.'tus of Folklore for --virlences of the Secret Tradition, w~ ~ave to. n msider what precisely were its assccianons, 1£ :any, wit h the cult known as witchcraft. vVh~t exac~1y was. witchcraft, and was it intimately. a~soc,aled WIth l'lw ancient Secret Tradition of Bnttam? We ~re ware that witchcraft was by no "means a. 1!h~.lg ni 1\,17a,.·", .. . . h ! ,r hallucination, that it di.d not ongmate In t e . ... ·J'·sgt·uI1·tled Research ulIl1ag-ma1ttons..o f Ul. . .. . ·1 old women. . lias "made it abundantly clear tha~1 as. known in th~ ,,,j,!{1 enth and seventeenth centuries? It was the I l?st .. f ra.. ornent of a very ancient clllltJ,~vh]ch n ·mmmng .... '. .,'" ... 1 I Its Ofl,am In prehistoric nrnes. IDrooa b 1y had ,. b..·... f !11·lieve it to have had Its begmnlllg~ In a caste o. "volnen associatedU with horse-breeding ~ or cattle'- c.. . h . '.. ..both as the entire folklore of the cult .as I:usmg, O[ IJ. ,. ·····'...cl ...h . .. nces '0·( ~ 111:1. :I"'lIlllms'ce. . association with the horse an . w. h .. .. . i II nnestic cattle. Some such caste, I thInk., as t at Ilif Ihe -Amazons of classical lore may possIbly. have I,··n the prototype of the witch cult. The tendency

J t will be necessary

n.0w

C'

The
0$ Britain of the witch to hespell cattle, her obvious power over Hocks and herds, and her traditional aspect as a horse-using sorceress has Tedme to believe that somewhere in North-West Africa a female religion arose out of the usages of such a body of women as I describe, which later lost its significance with respect to pastoral affairs" and became purely and simply magical and occult. That it was thus of "Iberian" origin is also high[y probable, and thus ret was bound to have been connected with that general aboriginal body of faith and superstition on which Druidism was founded, that indeed, it represented the lower C1tUt4-S in Britain and elsewhere, an aboriginal faith. Although we do not hear a great deal about it in I:kil:ish history, there is no doubt that witchcraft, as a more or less sec:ret cult, persisted in Britain throughout the ages, but [ do not believe it to have been part of Druiolism or of the Secret Tradition. Rather was it a debased remnant of that still older Iberian magic which to some extent Druidism embraced, but which it also superseded and perhaps tried to weed out. As, Sir James Frazer has shown in his Golden Bo·ugJ~,. the Druids seem to have burned animals whom they believed to 'be witches illl disguise, and ,a jm"tim·:i, it seems probable that they also burned sorcerers, mal.e or female, on occasion. The Druidic priestesses of whom we read, those for example of the Island of Sena, or of Anglesey" although perhaps actmng as a separate female caste, do not appear to have been of the character of witches. There is, however" one connection between the nine muse-like maidens who kept the Cauldron of Keridwen warm, and who have been identified with the priestesses o] Sena, and the cult of more modernwitcheraft, and that is the Cauldron itseU, Bul: was the wim:eh'scauldron of tradition the sam

Secr,et

'Tr'adition

159'

158

T'he

l\tysteries

.1',

that of Keridwen? The Cauldron oE Keridwen W;I: obviously a vessel of inspiration" wher,eas~he I .mldrun of the witches was a vessel for the brewmg I!f poisonous concoctions. We .. wil~ , remember, 'llwcvel· that the conl:ents o[ Keridwen s Cauldron l" , . fb WITC of a poisonous nature with the, ex,eeptlo:n Q. u e II sr three drops which sprang from It, and this .would ',!~I:m to link it with the magical vessel of the witchesI do not believe, however, that this. ca~ldron \~laS omriginally part and par~d of t~e WItch s magical .1 pparatus. I rather incline to. thiuk, as the evidence n-nds to show, that it had been adopted by the members of the witch-cult from that which conserved the Secret Tradition. . For these and other reasons I do not thmk that .the wi~ch-Icull had any connection, officia~ or o~h~rWlse, ·1,·11 that of Druidism or the Secret Tradition. I W.I •.1 h .. i.uher believe, as 1 have already said, (I at It arose I ,'Ill of the ancient aboriginal or Iberian body of gr~ss :,U~) -rstition once existing in Britain, Gaul and Spau~. ~,ut it seems to me extremely probable th~~ rut I,oni'owed much [rom the cult of the Secret Tradition, 1'~peciaUy as regards some of its~itua~ pracnces, 'vIIi h rut would debase and tum to ev~~ use~. IIany of the magical acts of the WItches ,~re id,,'ntical with those which are alluded1!:oas having I)! 'en practised by the Druids, such as levitation, ~he II.lising of storms, the use of herbs, .trans£or,matIOI1 1'1110 animal shapes and so fortb, and It .may be that l'h!' l.owel' castes oE official Druidism actually employed .1ralagems of the kind which they had b?r~rowed ~Jom till' practitioners of the aborigina~ relIgIon Eor~he Jmrpose oE overawing I:h~ ~eople, Just as the earliest (,~hri~tian disciples in Britain and elsewhere seem t. o hnve used a certain amount of low-caste black magic hl'I' i~ similar pm-pose.

160

The

MysteiF~es

of

Britain

which makes plafn that a strong leaven of the old Druidic cult, the vehicle of the Secret Tradition, sUirvived until what may be called comparatively recent times in Scotland. As late as r64-9 to 1678, according to the f"ecords of the Presbytery of Dingwall, bulls were sacrificed in the parish of airloch in Ross-shin:! and oblations of milk poured on ~hehiHs. minister of Slains. ilJ his in IS?!, provides the foUowing valuable evidence of the survival of Dru:idi:c belief ill eighteenth century Scotland.,' The Rev. James Rust,

'We now come to evidence

.t

T he

Secret

T'r a d itj.oa
As~embly" .. Amoo,g their attention, ~ere the fires of Beltane,

shall make report to the ned G;eneral other matters, to which they directed

Dmid£sm Exhm'l.1ed, published

As !lie,'~ .'\'<"<l~ in Ihe: seven tcenth cem.ury a number of sllpefStl'~IOllS pccv,alcnt in .scothUild, as well as jro England, which had'ol~le into l'eing in Popish times, as. well as a number which hac! had an existence before Popish '~i~le:<;, helongi~g to tile c;o!dier system of religion, the Drmdlcal, and which had been tolerated, conrnived at, o!,' at ,Iea~l not ,eX,lJrpated" the General A semb!y of the Church of Scotla~d resolved t.o.take action against them. As th~ most of these super, trtions, they said, pu:oceeded from Ig:noralilce they I'csolved that the most strenuous eA'orts. should he .nade tl:J"ougholit Scotland for bringing education LoO the doo~'s o( all, even of the poorest" by the er'c~!ion and : xtension of ParoChial Schools, and by urgmg t~la~ Bibles should be possess ed ill every family, and the nnmates taught read them, But besides this, they appoint~d a COlnmis.joll. 'rhe General Assembly of I~-t9 appn~vmg of a I"ccommendation of fhe .A semlbly 104'7. appomt:ed a large Commission of their OW;[1 number'. Alollg with the ,Ministe:rs appointed, tfuen~ were Si.W" ~r~h~~a1d JO:l1[1. .ton of~ya.[risto~m, "Creifk Register" i j\h_ [,~lOma.~ Nicholson" HIS l\.'~a~esty's Advocate"; Mr. Alexander P1CrS0I1, one of tbe ordinary' 'Lords of Scssiorr' I'

the Druidical customs observeda~ IVliidsummrer, Halloweven, and Y~I1. Ml these customs and fires were ordered. to be abo lislied. Tiley succeeded outwardly among the old, although the youth of the country still enjoy mn mallY places some of these s~me customs and fires, although they have forgotl:en.~he <;>bJcct I :' lllS~1 ", o E then..' '. titution , and of course'. th.,e sunerstrnon Itself.I .. 'r . -dThey directed their attention to the Remains of Druidica Superstition and Sorcery practised at ehe old place:s. OIf worship dedicated not only to the gr'eat.er,~u~ .to the .. lesser g~ds, the familiar spirits, the household divinities or demigods of the ancients, who, .as,. v:'as supposed, could he consulted, and 'could grant chal"lll~:ng powers, ..to their votaries, at those pieces of gn;>und\vlllch t~e Druids had consecrated to ~hcm, and which had continued for thousands of years untilled. These were o.l"~ered to,. be, cultivated under severe church censu~res and ~IVII penalties. church and state then acting hand n~, ~nd m the matter, h A·s one of the results of this C?mm]Ssl.on, we .lind some most important minutes. in t!l~ ~Irk Session R~gJster n?O~~ of Slains, stating' thaI. mqursrtron ,,"vas n1ad~ by the ml~lster and Elders of Slia,ins,-as must have b~e~ done by other Ministers and Sessions>-~l1t?, old Dru(~lcal superwithin Sruams. therie , different pieces of land dedicated to the dcnll-~odis were . 1 'I" k of tile Druids, those imps who 'became the .: ,ttIe eI" t ru:. y nn semidernons of the Christians; and that these placeswere called after those fancied creatures by\vords ?oth of Lowland Scots and Higbland Gaelic,as, I:h~"Gtlldl!1.aJu!s fl~l,ld, and. Gndet, 01." Garleacbd" connected wrl.b Garlaoch, An Elf.
stitious practices and from that inquisition, places within we I.e.arnt;hat t~e parrish: And

,0

Sir lewis Stewart, Mr. Alexander "olvill" and Mr. Ja.me~ Rober~~oDrI .. '''J us.tiot! Dep~l~e.s"; Jl,Ilessl'. Rodger lVlowet.. J?hn Gllmolr, ~llJd John Nisbet, "Lawyers."; with Doctors Sibbald, Cunnlnghanrlc, and Pm:vcs, '" Ph\'.sjcial~s' And they did"or~ain the sai? bl"CtJi"lI"eo(0 ma:ke report of the result of their- oonsultatlons <lind conr:erenc-cs Jrorn time to 6m~, .~s they ma~'e amy: cOI,;siderable progrc.ss, to tim COllums won f01" public affairs. And the said Commissiolil
I.

I.

pp. 38 ff.

From entries in the Kirk Session Register Book of the Parish of Slains we find that several persons were' 'delay tit" or summoned before it for practising pagan rites in con~rectiotlJ ~i~ hallow fires. and. u'dusing to till the ancieut Druidical ~e1ds. Here then 'liVehave the General Assembly or the Church of Scotland only 280 years ago, or but four "life~irnes" since, fully jlersuaded that Drui?is.m was being practised aU over Scotland and takin~. steps ~o put it down, How those steps were received by
L

162
their

The

r\'lystel-ies

o.i

Bri.tain

The
:lllfldp~l.ed

Se c r et TraditiJon163

h. Wood.

,congregations is probably well il1ustra~ed by' John Buchan's most interesting novel WitdJ,

.dthou h we might upon. the that haL prevaIled, did so origi.nally In the other,

v:

0,

sma:llest ..rcne~tion h~ve ,cxLsl.cd 11\ the one place, was associated
5,0

In writing further OF the antiquities of his parish, Mr. Rust deals with the belief that the spirits of the Keltic past were vwont to manifest themselves on occasion to the people in old times ,who were not infrequently decoyed into the recesses of the earth. There was at least three places within the Parish of Slains dedicated to the ., Good People " ,. and these remained uncultivated in the midst of cultivated ground until the beginning of the nineteenth century ..

So the Cauldron

ok Keridwen

with

·. _··.····1 I I1(" :5111fVIVa

•1"

of Drul'dic belief in Scotland ..

lal. ely .

" It continued also to be employed for generations

for magical superstitious pm-poses, after the other Elfin places had been destroyed, desecrated, or cultivated byauehority . Lknew the woman, Mary Findlay, who died a few years ago at a great age, who was the Iast person laid down in infancy at the Cairn, because she was supposed to be an Elfin Changeling ..' , But let us examine what he says rega.rding the Lykar Cairn ::
Cairn .Iay eight hUlld:re:d yards N.N.IE. of the Parish Church in the south ang le formed by the Castle Road., where it diverges from the Turn-the-neuk Road, in a. small valley surrounded by natural eminences or knolls, the most striking of which" and to the base ol which It was nearest, is Moidsemaaighe, which means "The knoU of the very great caldron". rut comes from Maidse, fem.. "A knoll, lump, or hillock';": and ma, a comparative with a superlative meaning, of ItlQY, great, and aighe, a genitive of agh(.l-rm, fern. a caldron. This will turn ou~·, as we ~hall ..find, to .have the same meaning as Bennachie, and it will contribute to make a most il1iteresting disclosure of the Druidical religious system. We shall therefore reserve the I'Llrther consideration of this till we come to consider under a. distinct branch, and in a subsequent part, the Utensil 01" Structure called •'The Caldr,on", so milch celebrated irnl \!Velsh ·Mythology, but of which no notice has been taken run Scotland, Lykar

the dose of the seventeenth century! ~r. - Rust h . t.: , 'the Cauldron IS eonpuints out ~.at ~JlIS name _'. . .' . I,' • 'ted with numeroUS ~ocahtles In Scotland, at . L,ierdeen (Kettle-hinor Ca,dhal,. a cau1dr~~), where" :In'ordino- to local. tradition, the cauldron was ~~de IIY the Picts". and was used by large cro:vds .~o~ "I'· .- purposes Place-names" wo.' •. In whIch 1"('·U(l"I.OUS. . . • .. ' o . . . E·d· or Edln, .. as m .uter the word A,den, en , ·1··b . h . .. " I~.IIIlU lll'g ..•, '\'If.ere , thought Rust .'.' connected . WIth the nllt. o'r the eauldran, hom the Gaelic Aldheanll, a
c;LUlclroli1, kettle,

et . . " The drinking at the water of thIs. cauldron, '~;Iys Mr. Rust, •·w~s one DE ~e. ntes . of .. - te"s Initi.... uion into the Drmdlcal mvstenes . .a..·· ' NIUVIUa. .1 ft after rwentv vears of hard study. It was .hlll era" .. -. ·ld d '. hard studv and not the ca . .ron neeocIh e prevIouS. . J'.. .' th I ion, which made him so great an adept I~ t e I h~idical art .a:nd science and opened up rutllrl:I:Y. to 'The N·ovitiate promised to <the admitting I· .. . '11nl·~ vle~. t . and· h1"s· ·tLree accompanying Druids, , I.eropnan .' II .. . .. " .... ' tl .. dark hours of night. , that he would -Ful be lllllng]e r. .. f rai.th'Eul to the Druidical caste. And the most eal. U oaths were un d erta k en by hi m , and as dreadtul orgies 1 -. ,
or go"
I ,.

hi .,.

t?C

gUile throug'

., In Bsrmachie, a DrUidical ~ocahty,. says Rust, ... .Il.. " Maiden Casav' or Mha-adhanll-casadn, 15 tHe .. . . J', T'h M' d 'The Great Cauldron Ascent'" and . e .. amen -, Mha-adhanli1i-lia, 'The Very Great Stene. 01:" hb Cnul.d.ron Stolle', the Cauldron on which as een removed, probably when th~ mo.d~rn. road was [ormed," But upon the stone itself lsmcIsed a figure
0 i,

·hby hi .,' .... 1m.

'.

,,

1,64 T he Mysteries .

or

Britain

The

Secret

Tradition

1.65

,which Rus!!:,. believed to be a representati.on of the ~auldro.~ irself, "The Structure'·' he ' . according t0 ~he fi, ..]1 a owed the Hames to says" .' . . ... . ..gure, Ila be~O\~.and. "arOl~nd the C~ldron, which was al!a/s seet.hmg with rts myseenous and wonder IOr mg el-\,i rki conte.nts, It ms,'" savs Rust «th h·,· C Id·' .. th C Idr .. ""'." e .o.y a .. ron " .ea· on of k~owledge and initiation, for jtha~. [he Zfigure passmg through it. This Z figure has been erroneous~y, styled sometimes the Broken Spear, aLl~ sometnnes the Broken Sceptre, and becau.~e.neither of these was satisfactory mt has been sometimes called by others J'ust the Z c:.·ou" IlL "bI . UbI e, lUecause l~.resemes ,that letter of the alphabet; and they could not thmk. Of anything else upon which the r could agree . "" r . . ,. .. ". B,ut tlrat F"igure is Just the zigzag} ,ghtrnng of Heaven, drawn down by the Druids wh. 0. pretended to be posslessed of th: d,',. ." ',. B bi .. . IS. rvine power. fi y t I]S, ,they alleged, they produced the real celestial , re which they sold to their votaries for domestic purposes at so dear a rate, hut, aocording to th ", aooo,unts .a. belief ,.. so worthy of t·he' pnoe. The~ nd .Dr . '. . . '[S b elief In the Heaven-produced fi· .. ..rm ..!I ..lre was fi rr lJIeep an d universaL
... " ,;> .' .,

J;

", That pagan in Scotland were regarded as .comma? usage IS rendered clear enough. from a ~~.~sage In the, Ch:mnde oj Lallr.e1'cosi (Bk" n, eh, 11.1)" from which It appears that J ohm th .' ] p~lest o~ Inve:rkeithmng, in Fife, was cit~d b:fo~:r~si~ ?,LShopl,n 1282 fm",having celebrated Easter Week accordmg to the rrtes of P·r·,'·apus'·' y coeetlng the bv ·111'. ] ". .... maidens at the town and makt"l1Ig th em. d ance raul'!dI .' ... . fi t h e ..gure DE the phallic .l' .. ' ,. ... ." He .. ... '. WI rreny, smglng the while. .... p~~aded thec~mm,on usage of the <country" an II was allowed to retarn his benefice Tbis ! 'I what was d f .. . ,'IS IS precis y o .' one, so ar as ,the. date was concern l, y the prIest of DaFvd Gadam in Wales, who

f!!e:

r<-lebrated his highest rites on Ap,ril 5 th, Easter Day" There is 110 doubt that the stem battle of the early Keltic Church for a separate Easter arose out of r-specia] veneration for a Ke16c seasonal Iestival of ;,('reat antiquity, ~ cannot but be interesting t to us to examine. I,riefly such of the Druidic rites whose details are known ilm order to discover how much ligh~ these :,nay cast upon the Secret Tradition, The rite which N1crhaps has been described more frequently than any other was that of the ceremonial gathering of the mistletoe, From the accounts. of Pliny and Maxirnus of T yre we know that the oak tree was sacred to the Kelts" and it therefore follows ~hat the gathering of the mistletoe was definitely associated with the fundamentals of their faith" The Druidical groves. were composed of oak trees, and the sacred ceremonies of the Druids were invariably graced by 'he presence of oak branches. In short, the oak tree was in itself a deitv. The mistletoe is not:Erequently found on the oak, ~il more apt torwine parasitically on the poplar and is the willow, Its precise significance, I believe, has I.leen altogether missed by the majority oE those writers who have dealt with this aspect of it. It has been thought to be a sign of the especial favour of II he god, the symbol of immortality, of hghtning, and so forth'! But I believe rut to be the symbol. of the e-ssence o~ life, regarded by the ancients indeed as the protoplasrrric material of existence. It was. culled on the sixth day of the moon, Extraurdinary preparations for ~east and sacrifice were n lade beneath the tree which bore it, says Pliny , and Iwo white buns whose horns had never been bound were conveyed thither, A white-dad Druid climbed the tree and <cutthe mistletoe with a golden sickle ..

166

The

Mysteries

o]

Britain

As .iit fdl it was caught in a white cloth. The bulls were then sacrificed and prayers offered up' to the' god. Among the Kelts the mistletoe was 'known as an "aU-hear", and the liquor brewed from it was supposed to make barren animals fruitful. a Iact which buttresses my contention that it was regarded as the protoplasm of lile.. Canon MacCuUoch wise1,y sees in Pliny' 50 account the description of a rite which "'was all attenuated survival of something which had once been important, hut it is more ~ikely that Pliny gives only a few picturesque details, and passes by the rationale of the ritual, He does oat us who the 'god' of whom he speaks was, perhaps the sungod. or m:he god oE vegetation the oxen may have been incarnations of the god of veg,etatiou' . I believe the god of the mistletoe and the oak to have been that Hu of whom I have already spoken. N ow we will recall that the image of "b'arvd Gadarn'" which was burned at Smithfield in 1538 had oxen offered up to it. I believe this image ~o have been the oak tree in an anthropomorphicor man-like shape. It appears to. have been of wood and o~ course, we know that Darvel Gadarn was merely another name for Hu Cadarn the god o~ Plenty, invariably associated in Keltic Eo~kiore with the ox, indeed in his symbolized form the ox itself. I t seems probable that the mistletoe as the symbol at the essence of life was introduced into the ritual of .illitiation of the Secret T radition just as wheal was in that of the Eleusinian mysteries. \'We find it regarded as a cure for many kinds of disorders. It must indeed have been looked upon as the primordial agency of life itself. Were the "pearls' 011 the rim of the Cauldron of Inspiration mistleto berries? This may appear very far-fetched, but ~

~en

THE (From
il

BIRTH'

OF

T_\t,IL IS Churdl. Grc[,un}

"tone au

U.lIlgaI1HlWrC!

T.he Secret

Tra.dition

167

hr'li,r~veit to be not improbable. Di.d Hu or Arthur I!:r'~ngback [rom An'l1'w1!- not only tile Cauldron of 1IIIspirationbut the secret oE ~~Ees emblemed by [hoe a
nlis1!le~oe?

Mucb has been written regarding the human ',:-Jcrificeo[ the Druids. To which god or gods was Ihis sacrifice made? We are informed that huge i,nmges of wickerwork were erected, and that these w re filled with victims, either criminals or slaves. The only rrace of British gods designed in wickerwork which 1 can discover is that connected with ~'hellgures of Gog and Magog, the giants in the Guildhall. In a curious anonymous work el1ltided 'fhe Gia1ds it'], G1t:ildha:U. published in li74I" and now exceedingly scarce, it is. stated that the figures they "eplaced in 1708 were made of wickerwork. Let us ~ook for a moment into the genealogy of Gog and I\Ilagog. 1n weUnigh two thousand years of existence Imperial London has succeeded in retaining at wealth (If folklore and legend quite commensura~ewith her importance and celebrity- It is significant, however, to the student of her tradition that at 'neast eighty per cent. of it is Keltic and pre-Keltic" and of exceedingly venerable origin. Roman, Saxon, a:nd Norman oocupations have sc,uoely coloured London's pristine and native mytho~ogy, the associations, of ~.\'hich are as Brythonic every whit as those of the lolk-tales of Cambria. Indeed, London's very name seems to be referable to certain British deities, her tutdary patrons. netor Henry Bradley. a sound authority, has explained "London" as a possessive fOl'med from snme such appella,tion as. Londinos, derived hom (he old Kelttic adjective meaning "fierce"', and Mr. "ordon Home the recent historian o£ Roman
I

168

The: Mysteries

of Britain
nn-mory

Th,e Secret
of their

Tradition

London, gives it as his opinion that "the only conelusioa at which it ms possible to arrive is that the twinhills beside the Thames formed at some remote period the possession, and doubtless the stronghold, 0,[ a person or family bearing the name Londinos' . This is sound, and dear enough so Ear as it goes, but who were the "Fierce Ones" of the twin hills beside the Thames? If reference be made to the names of other British cities more or less coeval with, London, it will at oncebe seen that a very considerable proportion of them received their names from tutelary or guardian deities. Camulodunum, or Colchester, is merely the dun or hill of Camulus, the Keltic war-god, the name of Eboracum, or York, has been traced to the Iberian divinity Ipor or Hyperion, and Corinium, or Cirencester, was the city of Co rineus, an eponymous deity of the island. There are literally scores of examples. Thus it seems highly probable that London was named not after. any tribe or gens, but from a. sub-title Oif the gods who presided over the region. Nor are there lacking the tides and traditions o~ gods whose characteristics wen merit the Iormidahle description preserved in the place-name. From time immemorial, almost, the names of Gog and Magog have been associated with the site. Its legendary appe~Lation Cockaigne" as indigenous to it as Lyonesse to Cornwall or AJba to Scotland" has time and again been explained as "the Iand or region of Gog", ~he pleasant place O.1f paradise of the Keltic Ogmios. Indeed, there is no dubiety concerning the veridically British character of the twin titan-deities Gog and Magog. Their figures were formerly carved mnta the slope of Plymouth Hoe, the Gogmagog Hills in Cambridgeshire still embalm the

names, and the C31l:"vecl and painted -.1 ntues oti them whi,ch 100m up at the farther end of Ih,t: Guildhall are the successors of those once ca.;rrnecll Ilwough the streets of the capital on ,Michaelmas I hy, at the festival of the Lord Mayor 5 Show. In his New View oj Londo'n (17008), Hatton assures us that hackney coachmen in the City were 'wont to swear "by Gop-and Magog" ",and he further makes it dear that a v:ry vivid terror inspired certain Londoners, even at that late date" at the mere mention oE them. Some apprentices, he tells us, were as "Ern-ightedat the names of Gog and Magog as little children are at the terrible sound of Raw-head, . lid Bloody-bones". and evinced a liivdier fear of them than at the prospect of being haled before the r .ord Mayor or Chamberlain. Surely a terror so Inner-established could have survived only on 3I:ccount of ;n exceptionallypowerrul fo~k-memory of ancient sacrifices to the deities jn question" and the student nl tradition is prohably justified in equating ~he giants II[ London with Ogmios, the fierce Kelt~c god ?f t.loquence, who, garbed inlion-skin, and With dub in hal1d~ drew all men after him in chains and demanded more than occasional human holocausts. Magog, the ," Mother Gog", is evidendy his female counterI,art, and her replacement by. a .male fi~ure 01 Corineus.is evidently a late and bltermg acquiescence in the bowdlerized British mythology oE Geoffrey nf [\Inonmou~h and John Milton. Probably, too, ahe name Ocr" 01" Do-mias, became confused run later limes, and by the bsame "h" iorities "',"Wtt~'11 . t.hose 0.f 'aut =s and Magog, the Biblical mona:rchs of the ~and fir Bashan. On the whole, then" It appears h,.ghly probable that the twi~, hins 0111 either side. of tile Walhrook were reg'arded as the duns or mounts. of ()~:f and his, consort, just as the I:win rocks at the
b· ,0

170

The

l\1_ysteries

o l Br itai n
as their

The

Secret

Tradition

1,'11.

extremity citadels.

of Land's

End were once regarded

There can be no doubt that Gog and Magoo- 'were deities of fertility, but it is. also clear that G;g was one and the same with the Keltic Ogmios, the god of poetry and inspiration. n,'iagog, it may be inferred, was also associated with the inspirational faculty. Thiswould equate her with Keridwen, and indeed [ see 1110 reason to thi nk that she is not one and the same with that goddess, who in more than one place is described as "the old! giantess". But the important thing for us is that in the capital of England in pre-Roman times the rites of these monstrous deities were actually celebrated, and that the memory 'Of them, remained fOI" so IOlig. We are informed by more than one writer that the people of London in the eighteenth century almost worshipped them, and seemed in at sense 1:.0 regard them as the palladia of the nation . Even now, were these effigies to be removed from their ancient positions in the Guildhall one can envisage something of the anger which would ensue. Do we not take too much for granted that the passage of time utterly overwhelms ancient belief, and that during the past century we have made such strides in il:hough~and pmgress as entirely to. discount what we label the "~uperstitiolils'" of ·other ages? Tme, there may have been during the past sixty or seventy years a much more wholesale breakawav from old tradition than ever before, but it is certal;' that only a very few generations ago B,-itish peopl were much more closely in touch with the rernnarrts of the faith ancillary to the Secret Tradition than many moderns imagine. Festivals like Shrovetmd and Yule ale undoubtedly remnants of Druidic r:itua I, but it is egually dear that they enshrine man

·,tIIl"vivals from pre-Keltic practice. At Martinrnas . ',I.int Martin is said to have been cut up and eaten III the form of an ox. This is dear evidence that S!, Martin merely took. the place of the god Hu, whnwas symbolized by that animal. The Irish .l'ailteann Garrres still hold the memory of T ailtiu III. foster mother of Lug, who died in the Kalends !If August, and Lammas was the ancient Keltic feast !If Lug himself, Another ancient British rite in all. probability associated with the Secret T radition, survives in the annual celebration at Coventry of the II" stival of Godiva. Who and what precisely was I( ;odiva? Godiva's historical existence is by no means at ,.,ake. Her personal. reality is at once conceded. Sh was [he mother not only of the patriotic Saxon I,rinces Edwin and Morear, but also of a heroine wid, associations even more romantic than her O\VO, Edith Swan-neck, wife of that Harold who fell at S nlac or Hastings. But, this notwithstanding, the :lory of her noble sacrifice is demonstrably of the nature of legend. Roger of Wendcver , who first .llludes to. it,wlI"Otein the beginning o~ the thirteenth n·ntury, or about a hmulreda11ld fifty years after rh death of the central figure. No previous ,(·laronider makes mention ofher unselfish performuuce, and in the ·cyes of the folkloreist it embraces s~) many circumstances obviously connected with ancient British religious rite as makes it evident that il must have arisen therefrom. It is, indeed, quite unnecessary to prove, as has I)ccn done, that Coventry was, at the supposed date [If the Countess's famous ride, a village inhabited 11'·t some three hundred serfs dwelling in wooden IIHlt5, that it had 110 market-place, nor groaned under 1.11 'lolls and taxes alluded to in the legend. But it
I

172 The

Mysteries

o] Britain

The

Secret

Tradition.

173
oE

is of importance that GodgiEu or Godiva, and her husband Leofric, Ear] of Iercia, were the restorers" iE not the founders, of its monastery of 51. Osburg .. For, with the restoration of this rel~grous house, the prosperity of Coventry as a market-town commences. Godiva came to be regarded as a <Civic benefactress, consequently it is not surprising to find that her fame was confounded at a later date with the myth of the ancient Brrntish local goddess Br.igantia or Brigit" whose story, during the eady Christian centuries had itself grown drum and confused in the popular imagination. 111 the Keltic period, this divinity, or her human representative, rode through the village of Coventry at the period of the summer festival at the end of . IIay. But her feast and attributes were in the course of time confounded wjth and latterly absorbed by the legend of the fair-haired Saxon Countess. This is a process with which the mythofogist is well acquainted. The memory of a god 'wanes" and Ibis, Jegend is appropriated by a later' hero or saint, with modifications of time and place, Just as in Ireland the goddess Brigantia, with whom we have here to deal, became the Christian St. Bridgett there is no reason to doubt thaa in Coventry a similar pr.ocess took place, and that Brigantia or Brigmddu became confused with the saintly Go dg.iJu, the "G a-given ", . d-ci Fer our contentiort, she salient points of Godiva's ~egend are that she passed through Coventry innocent of any covering save that of her ahundant g.olden hair, and that in doing so, she was spied ue?n. There is good pmo~ that the ancient .Kel,t~c deity, or at woman representmg her, appeared 10 dU5 condition at her annual festival; and ~o spy upon godhead, or its representative. was, of course" n:h
I

ul1Ipc:u-donable sin, punished with the deprivation

'~ight. . . .,., That Coventry was anciently situated runa district in which Dmi.d1ica.1 rites were practised is generally ronceded. At the village of Southam. har 1 by, the ~iodiva procession wasfOlrmerly celebrated with a aithfuln~ss equal to that evinced ]0 the larger town~hip. But curious varia~~ns of the ceremony ~ ev:n nru(re eloquent of its DrUldmca~ ch~acter t~an the r~te !,btaining at Coventry, were celebrated there. "The pageant was headed by a personage known as. Old Brazen-Face", 'who wore a mask represenl:mg a hull's head, with horns complete. At certain festivals the hide and head of a sacrificedbull were worn by the Druidic officiants, so that "OM Brazen-Face' may well be regarded as the degenerate descend~nt !)f these. His name is, of course, an appellation 'u<[ the Keltic sun-god, whose burning vis<l!g~, surrounded bylambent rays" was frequently cast 1.0 brazen discs. The expression "Old'" is frequently I:refixed to the names of discredited. deities, as.,.. in , "Old Scrateh'", "Old Harry". Then came GodIVa in a lace mantle, followed by a second Godiva, who~e body was stail,zea IJ,lack. This, Pliny. teUs u~,. 1.5 precisely how the women of th~ ancient H!l~OnS II,-.corated themselves on nccastona of rebglous festival, smearing their bodies with woad, "so that they resembled the swarthy Ethiopians". ~t Fe~ny Compton, not far hom Sou~ham, where this God,~a rite is held, is Woad Farm, perhaps the very site where the plants [rom which the ,dye wa~ made ~~re fcurmedy obtained ... Tha_t a prepo~lde~~tmgly B~]tlsh element has survived in Warwl.cksmre hats been Inaintainedby generations of archeeologists, and. what more probable than th~t i~con~iI1l~e~ ~he py~c~lce of its ancient rites, placatmg later Chnsuan opmlOn by

174

The

Mysteries

of Britain

The
I

Secret

Tradition

175

their attribution to the saintly identity of a worthy d~ughter of Mother Church? Coventry was formerly situated nea.r the southern houndaries ofthe great British tribe of the Urigantes, the presiding deity of whom was the goddess Brigantia or Brigiddll., the same, as has been indicated, with the Irish Brigit, later Christianized into St. Bridget.. She was also known as Danu or Anu, and is undoubtedly identical wjth that "Black Annis" who was supposed to lurk in the Dane (or Danu] Hills in Leicestershire, and ~o carry off children and sheep to her cavern-a memorial of human and animal sacrificial offerings. She was 3.. divinity of the earth, a goddess. of fertility" worshipped almost exclusively by women. The name "Black Annis" obviously relates to her woad-stained appearance, and accounts For the "Black Godiva". Eut how to explain "Peeping Tom"'? The shrine o~ Brigiddu at Kildare, in Ireland, was enclosed by a renee which no man might pass or peep tk'1'01,tgn., nor was any man permitted to gaze upon the sacred virgins dedicated to the goddess. Thus when one or more of them rode through the streets of British Coventry at the time of rhe festival of the goddess, no "'Peeping Tom" dared offend" or the outraged deruty would summarily have deprived him o( sight. To such a custom then, we may trace the beginnings of the Godiva~egend. There can he little doubt that this rite has a certain bearing on the ritual of the Secret Tradition, Not only does it show its capacity :for survival, but 1 think it reveals part of the representation gone through in the initiatory ceremony, or at least that it is associated with the ritual. of the faith anciJlary to the Tradition itself. Bliiginda was a goddess of knowledge, she was worshipped by poets, and had
I

wn sisters of the same name connected with leech,'1.1 EL and smithwork. She "vas indeed a goddess of
r ,I

ulture and poetry, and is the equivalent of the ~aulish goddess Brigindo. The name seems to ,co~,e Irom the 'N elsh root ,"bri." , "honour" or ,,'renown ... I I.eI' cult unril lately was known in the H eb rides , where, on St. Hride's Dav, Candlemas Eve, wome~ .Iressed a sheaf of oats in female Clothes, and set It vith a dub in a basket called" Bride's Bed". to the accompaniment of the cry: "Bride is comel Bride a~welcome !' She was undoubtedly, as Canon hcCulloch says, "an early teacher of Icmv~~izi3l'ti?n~ inspirer of the artistic poetic, and mec~~mc;:1 faculties, as well as a goddess DEfire and fertlh~y .. I t seems to me that" like Keridwen she presided over the female department of the ancie~1: mysteries, as Hu presided over the male portion. W all n likelihood her wors hip btained more in the north ;uK!i 'central parts oE what is now England a~d Scotland and in Ireland. But the fad that she I.S associated with wells, with inspiration, and with agriwlture seems to equate her almost entjrely with Keridweu, the goddess of the Sacred Cauldron.
I

Tile Hi g he r Philosophy
1I1'1II11l0n that

177

CHAPTER
MYSTICISM

VIH
OF BRITISH

THE HIGHER PHILOSOPHY

I T is now necessary to turn to the higher aspects of the Secret Tradition of BI·itain as enunciated in its most distinguished document, that Barddas already described in a former chapter, only the superficial philosophy o~ which was touched upon. In the first place it will be necessary to satisfy ourselves regarding the notion of deity as there set lorth. God" we are told, is three things, and cannot be otherwise: coeval with an time ; co-entire with all essence; and co-local with all mental purpose.. He is inconceivable and incomprehensible, the greates't and. the most immeasurable of all that are together in place. But of what god are these statements made? h seems probable that the W elsh bards of later times recognized the God of Christianity as the supreme divinity, but there are not wanting allusions to a certain Hu whose nature has already been touched upon. Now concerning this H u there is at considerabl diversity of opinion. "The meaning of Hu," explains a note to Barddas, "is that which is apt to pervade" or to spread over. It is used as an epithet of the Deity, in reference ~o His omniscienc " and is not unfrequently to be met with as such in th works of the Bards." The bard Cyoddelw identiliies him with Jesus" and the annotator ventures th '"
~76

he was identical with the Heus' of I actantius and the Hesus of lucan, described as ;'1 god oEthe Gauls. Canon MacCuUoch' regards him as probably "an old culture-god o[ some tribes", and adds that the triads referring to him are O[ later date. R:hYS3 speaks of him as a "British Hercules" and thi.nkg that he was superseded by Artbur. In fact, very little notice has been taken ot him by the official 11Iythologists. But it is obvious from the con cant reference to him in the triads that he was at personage (I,f importance, a culture-god, skilled in the arts of husbandry, a. ia'iill-giver, probably of solar origilil. He is alluded to as the "supreme proprietor of the isle of Britain" .,.and as "a bull d.wel~ing in a sacred !->~<1Il", statement which seems to equate him wit'll a Osiris. Undoubtedly he :is the individual alluded [0 in the poem o~ "The Spoils of AU1<wn" as "the hrindled ox with the thick head-band, having sevenscore knobs in his collar".. That such an animal was kept by the Druids as a symbol of this deity in the same manner as the priests of Egypt kept the Apis bul:! as the representative of Osiris " is proved by a. passage in the same poem; "Tlneyknor'ili~ not what animal they (the Druids) keep of the SIlver head." The name of this bull or ox seems 1:0 have h en Elzen , judging from at poem by Merlin, and ruts slaughter by the pagan Saxons is deplored by that
I

~m. . . This not only equates Hu to, some extent with Osiris, but associates his worship with that oE Mithraism and the bull-cults of the Mediterranean area. Now the Garnish god EstIS, or HeslIs, mentioned previously and alluded IbO 'by Lucan, is
, Hu, in Welsh,
J'

is, pronounced

op. cit. p. 124. note,

H;e, or He. CeUic Fo:!hlorr,e, p. m4z•

178

The

MJ ste rie s ef Br it a in
;llId

The

Hi gh e r Philosophy

1.79

depicted on all altar found at Paris as a woodman cutting down a tree, and on the same altar a bull is represented. There is a similar altar at T reves, Pre-Roman bronze bulls, have been found at Hallstadt ill Austria, and all: La Tene." Nlany place-names in which the word taruos occurs, in Northern haly, the Pyrenees Scotland, Ir eland and elsewhere," says Canon MacCulloch, " sugges~ that the placesbearing these names were sites of a bull-cult." He adds that possibly the animal tended to become the symbol. of a god, a tendency perhaps aided by the spread of Miehraism, and states that "a later relic of the bull-cult may be ~ound in I:he carnival procession of the Bceuf Gras at Paris".' We will also recall the sacrjfice ofhulls at Gairloch and elsewhere in Britain in later times. That Hu was a culture-god symbolized by the bull (as was Osiris) .ms therefore clear enough" and that he had Cl. common origin with the Egyptian godmn North-West Africams also. extremely probable. Frazer, in a note to. the Golden Bongh, mentions the discovery of a Druidic grave in North Africa, complete with implements, and W,estermarck pro~· vides many evidences of the survival in Morooco of the rite of Bealrainn, a ceremony~or the annual purification of cattle by passing them through the sacred fire or smoke .. Now weare informed In Barddas that God alone can endure the eternities: of Ceugn1:tJ" and as we know the three circles of the Kdtic psychic progression to have been depicted in solar form, as shown on the early British coins, and" according to some, in the stone circles at Avebury and elsewhere, Ceugant,. ihe dwelling DE Most High H u, was probably regarded as the sun itself, Gwynvyd, the
1

h:ll py dwelling of immortal beings, as its outer r~m,

Abr,ed, as the outer darkness,

But the drawing

of the psychic scheme in Bm'ddas shows Ab,'ed as rhc central figure" GW'Ylt'V)'d as the outer" and C e'ltgant as corresponding to the rays of the luminary. 1r may thus be that A bcred or A 1'nnl!'1'~was

'!

me

, op.

cit.

p.. 209.

m'co-ardedas a fiery solar ahysswherein all things ~~e~minated, a torrid and burning alembic of life.. But as A bred is obviously the earth-plane, some confusion may have taken place between it and A nmtrn in the mind of the draughtsman. of this plan. I n all probability the three p:ychic .planes of man were A n.nwn, the place of germmal existence, A bl'ed" the earth-plane, and G·U:lJ':nvy.d, the plane of juseified spirits .. Ceug:(1,ut,. the plane oEGod, was unapproachable and reserved for deity alone. That some confusion certainly did exist is dear from two statements in the Book of DwyJyddiaetJ1, placed side by side, one o~ which bears. out that the three states of existence of living beings are "the state of Abred in A nnwn; the state of liberty in humanity, and the state of love, that is Gw)'nv"d in Heaven". While the other lays down as the three necessities of aU animated existence, "beginning ill Am1.wn; progression in A bred; and plenitude in G'i!lY1tvyd:' ". The three necessary obligations of man are set: forth as suffering change, and. choice, and his equiproportions as Abred and. Gwyn'Vyd, necessity and liberty, evil and good, to which he has the power of attaching himself as he pleases. This is no philosophy of fatalism, and as such is differen~iated from the Eastem systems and marks the growth and acceptance 01 the Western doctrine oE human freewill, which" indeed. is insisted on. Yet there ;al"e obvious associations with the doctrine of escape as observed in the Oriental systems, for we are told
1 1