Books accurately record and reflect the words that are within them, yet those words are not accurately retained within most modern minds. We have to constantly search our references to recall data and facts simply because we have not kept our memory skills intact. This causes difficulties and impediments to creativity when our books are far away and not immediately accessible. Our minds rely on the external memory of books and notes. They do not possess the memories of the ancients to inspire us. There is no instant or ready reference to information. If we seek examples of courage or techniques of skill, we must take the time to look them up. After that, we can try to reconnect to the thoughts, images and words of our creative moments. Without a large amount of current, accurate information within our own minds we are “stifled” and “held back” in our abilities to become inspired and creative. This “looking it up in a book” technique is at the root of a loss of efficiency in our creative abilities. The use of book references and written notes to maintain accuracy can sometimes impede us in our quest for wisdom. Such was not the case with the ancients.

The ancient Druids practiced, learned, taught and lived within an oral tradition. They took the basic memories, skills and abilities that each person naturally possesses and they enhanced them by using certain basic techniques. These techniques were sound, music, taste, color, texture, flow and structure (I’m certain there were others but these come readily to mind). Sometimes these techniques and attributes were referenced as the “senses”. Repetition and recital further enhanced the impact of each of these qualities within a “teaching” that was to be orally retained. The fact is that repetition is essential to correctly storing and remembering information within the human mind. Impact is another essential attribute to determining the type and form that our memory takes. Impact causes us to remember an event or a story much longer than would have been the case if the item to be remembered had only been encountered while “passing”. Our “passing” memory is the “… in one ear and out the other memory”. Impact is our “…I can close my eyes and see it like it was happening right now…” type of memory.

A great example of this might be the moment that we graduated from a school, gave birth, won a prize or received a promotion. Such events impact upon our minds and are indelibly stored within our long-term memories. Repetition is a technique that also allows our minds to allocate information that has been stored within our “passing” memory, to our larger, more permanent long-term memory. When vivid, “impacting” events are systematically and culturally stored within our long-term memories, they are called an oral tradition. The problem with long-term memory is that it stores a lot of information which then requires “associations” to be formed which are used to key the retrieval of their interlocked, vivid and accurate contents. Hypnosis is one such retrieval technique. Meditation, ecstasy and trance are other such techniques. How many other such techniques could we name that are esoteric or mundane in nature?

The Druids were considered to be the “Masters of Memory” by the Classical historians and by Julius Caesar (quoted here in _De Bello Gallico, VI, 13-18):

“There they are said to learn thoroughly a great number of verses. On that account, some continue at their education for twenty years. Nor do they deem it lawful to commit those things to writing; though generally and in their public and private accounts they use Greek letters. They appear to me to have established this custom for two reasons; because they would not have their tenants published, and because they would not have those, ho learn them… neglect the exercise of memory.”

It is my firm opinion that the Druids “keyed” their memories to the Ogham, to its poetic structure and information, and to its fundamental association to their language. This keying and memorization was just as true for esoteric as it was for mundane information. The Ogham were perfect for this use, since they possessed an inherent numerical as well as structural order. They could also easily be tied to the harp strings of wisdom possessed by each Filidh (but that is defiantly another story). Each Filidh was required by his/her education to first master hundreds of Ogham and Ogham lists, then they were required to completely and to accurately memorize hundreds of tales and traditions during their twelve years of training. I further believe that their staffs (which they each carried) and other objects (such as wands, jewels, clothing adornments, etc.) were carved with Ogham symbols to serve as guides for the retrieval of lore. Such carved staffs were the mark of the ancient Druids and Filidh. It’s also possible that Ogham carved poles were placed at the centers of the ancient Nemetons. Only a symbol or two upon their surfaces would have been necessary to open the proper part of memory and start the “flows” of memory to appear. A Druidic memory would have been as at home in the sanctuary as it would have also been among the trees.

The use of “keyed” staffs and Ogham is similar to another process: the “prompts” that may be required by modern performers in plays or other dramatic productions (to remember their lines). Such keys are like note cards during a presentation. Once an Ogham key had been used by a Druid, Bard or Filidh, then the doorway to long term memory would have been opened for them. The rivers of knowledge would then have flowed forth as surely as the waters of Segais followed Bóann. Since the poetic structure of Draíocht and Filidecht was interlinked through techniques such as alliteration, assonance and rhyme (all invented by the Druids and the Filidh), the ending or content of one line or stanza would then have become the parent of the next. The Druids, Bards, Filidh and Priests of the Celts would periodically meet in convocation at their sacred centers to hear, refresh and increase their storehouses of knowledge and memory.