“The common people believe these obelisks to be men, transformed into stones by the magic of the Druids. The erect stones of which we speak, are the monuments of dead persons, whose ashes or bones are often found near them; sometimes in urns, and sometimes in stone-coffins wherein scales, hammers, pieces of weapons and other things have been often found (likely to take with them to the Otherworld), some of them very finely gilt or polished. Dogs also have been found buried with their masters.”
John Toland, A Critical History of the Celtic Religion and Learning, (1670-1722)
Cover art is ‘Riders of the Sidhe’ by John Duncan
The various Celtic nations were widely known to practice polytheism and a degree of animism as well as a reverence of the natural world and liminality that went noticeably beyond that of their cultural neighbors, the Romans and Greeks. While the definitions of polytheism and animism of an incredibly nuanced belief system are modern, they now serve as a means of loose identification. Our evidence for polytheism comes from the sheer number of place names, sacred wells, lakes or rivers and the ritualistic offerings placed in them lending to their reverence as Gods and Goddesses or of them. Additionally, we have evidence from classical quotes and these character’s prominence in early Irish, Welsh and Scottish literature. The landscape was alive with spirit and these beings varied depending on locale although there are a few hypothetical loose overlapping Gods from a linguistic as well as symbolistic function such as Lugos/Lugh, Ogmios/Ogma, Brigantia/Brigid and Danu, an Irish deity with hypothetical similar representation or origination as the Danube River in Europe.
Subscribe to get access – $5 a month