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Celts
Group of peoples that occupied lands stretching from the
British Isles to
Galatia. They included the
Irish,
Manx,
Welsh,
Cornish,
Briton and
Scottish Gaelic and the people who speak these languages. The term was
formerly applied by the Greeks and Romans
to the peoples of western Europe in general. Legend goes that
Celtina,
daughter of
Britannus, had a son by Hercules,
who was named
Celtus and was the progenitor of the Celts.
The Celts originated circa 1500 BC in
southwestern Germany and spread (7th century BC) through
France to
northern Spain and the
British Isles. Successive Celtic invasions reached upper
Italy,
Bohemia,
Hungary,
Illyria (4th century BC) and
Asia Minor (3rd century BC). They were
conquered and absorbed by the Romans
and the
barbarians, until only
Brittany and
the west of the
British Isles remained Celtic.
According to
Lewis Spence,
magic among the Celtic peoples in ancient times was
so closely identified with Druidism that its
origin may be said to have been Druidic. Celtic origin and its relation to Druidism,
however, is a question upon which much discussion has been lavished. Some
authorities, including
Sir John Rhys, believe it to have been of
non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin; that is, the earliest non-Aryan or
so-called Iberian or Megalithic people of Britain introduced the immigrant Celts
to the Druidic religion.
Many of the ancient magical spells used among the
Druids survived until a comparatively late
period — the names of saints being substituted for those of Celtic
deities. In
pronouncing incantations, the usual method employed was to stand upon one leg
and point with the forefinger to the person or object on which the spell was to
be laid, at the same time closing an eye, as if to concentrate the force of the
entire personality upon that which was to be placed under the spell.
All magic rites were accompanied by spells, and
Druids often accompanied an army to assist by their
magic
in confounding the enemy.
A manuscript preserved in the
Monastery of St. Gall, dating from the
8th or
9th century, contains
magic formulas for preserving butter and healing certain
diseases in the name of the
Irish god of
medicine,
Diancecht. These bear a close resemblance
to Babylonian and
Etruscan spells, and this goes to strengthen the hypothesis
often put forward that
Druidism had an eastern origin.
See
Druidism,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1)
Shepard, Leslie (editor),
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology,
Thomson Gale; (2)
Dictionary of the
Occult, Caxton
Publishing; (3) Steiger, Brad and Sherry Hansen,
The Gale Encyclopedia of
the Unusual and Unexplained,
Thomson Gale.
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