How Much Do We Really Know About the Mysterious World of the Druids
“Protect me from the spells of women, blacksmiths, and Druids”
Of all the things associated with the Celts, nothing arouses a sense of magic and intrigue more than the Druids. Over the years people have conjured up images of men with long beards and white robes casting mystical spells and reciting cryptic incantations.
However, what we really know about them is pretty limited. Historical facts are few, and tangible evidence scant. Most of our information comes from a small pool of classical writers and medieval Irish literature.
Unfortunately, the quality and accuracy of this information varies. First of all, the Druids themselves didn’t keep any written records, which is highly unfortunate for us.
Our sources, therefore, are mostly writers who had never even seen a Druid and were just passing down second-hand information. In fact, Julius Caesar was probably the only one who spent any time among them at all, thanks to his conquest of Gaul.
Yet even Caesar's words can’t be taken as gospel since he had his own agenda for the reputation of the Druids. So with that in mind, let's look at some things historians mostly agree on for this mysterious class of people.
