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THE GREATER CATECHISM

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY : ELEMENTS OF DRUIDIC THEOLOGY.

Volume II

Peter DeLaCrau considers himself as the editor or as the coordinator of these texts, and not as their author. It is in fact a collective work.

Works mentioned in bibliography are used without notes, and without footnotes, in order not to unnecessarily bother the reading of a book, intended for the broadest public, and not only university.

Although not being the author having written this book, Peter DeLaCrau agrees nevertheless to assume all its defects. Remarks and suggestions therefore may be sent to him.

This booklet aims to show with precision, the harmonious authenticity of will as well as knowledge, of the today's high-knowers. To show at which point their great current theses, have ancient roots, because Mythology is our Bible for us. The adaptations of this short account, required by differences of culture, of age, of spiritual maturity, of social status, and others, will be done by the concerned high-knowers (the veledae etc.).

Celts are indeed a community of nations intended to save the world, through the contamination of its example regarding ecology (Peter DeLaCrau. Paris. January 1993).

THE GREATER CATECHISM

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY : ELEMENTS OF DRUIDIC THEOLOGY.

Volume II

“The Celts are therefore a community of nations intended to save the world, through the contamination of its example regarding ecology “(Peter DeLaCrau. Paris. January 1993).

REVIVAL, REBIRTH AND RENAISSANCE, YES!

RESURRECTION LIKE BEFORE, NO!

"It’s by following the walking one that we find the way.”

Comparison is a fundamental mental process: grouping some facts together under common categories but also noticing differences. Such connections and relationships are the basis of thought and science. Otherwise, there are only isolated facts without links between them. It is therefore on the basis of comparison that generalizations, interpretations and theories are formed. Comparison creates new ways of viewing and organizing the world.

Comparative religion is therefore old as the hills. Herodotus was already doing it. As far as ancient religions are concerned, this intellectual approach has produced many books stored in the "comparative mythology" shelves since Max Muller (1823-1900).

As far as religions are concerned, it is quite different.

Each religion was, of course, compared to those with which it was competing but first to denigrate or affirm its superiority.

The first elements of a more objective beginning of comparative religion are currently scattered under the label of "religious dialog" and generally come from religions that define themselves as monotheistic because of their worldwide extension. The whole for an apologetic or missionary purpose, of course. Hence problems.

We also find useful reflections in circles more or less coming under atheism but they are

-either detailed but focused on a particular religion.

-or being more general but rather basic.

And, moreover, they also are most often found in the history of religions, but all in a non-religious perspective.

Great names punctuate this story from William Robertson Smith (religion of the Semites) to Mircea Eliade through Emile Durkheim.

Other authors have opened many insights in this field.

Our idea is TO LENGTHEN A CERTAIN NUMBER OF THEM BY GOING FURTHER IN THIS COMPARATIVE RELIGION (widening of the field of anthropological research, deepening of the psychological foundations, end of the overvaluation, decolonization, antiracism, new hypotheses ....) AND BY RESUMING THE INTERRUPTED THREAD OF THEIR FASCINATING QUEST FOR THE GRAIL BECAUSE ancient druidism is a little like the famous story of the grail of Perceval and Gawain.

It is an unfinished story, which stops abruptly after the first 9000 lines of verse. Our project is to write the rest of it. A continuation it was said at the time.

These small notebooks intended for future high-knowers, want to be both an imitation (a pastiche) and a parody. An imitation because they were composed in the manner of theologians (Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, etc.) at least in what they had, all, of better (elements in fact often of pagan origin). One of the functions of the imitation was always, indeed, in the popular oral literature, to answer the expectation of audiences, frustrated by the break of the original creation [in this case the druidic philosophy]. To this expectation, in the Middle Ages, the cyclic narrative technique of the epics singing the heroic deeds, or of the Romances of the Round Table, has responded.

The way of the pastiche is the one which consists in enriching the original by supplementing it with successive touches, by developing just outlined details, or by interpreting its shadows. And this, the thought of our ancestors needed well!

But the reasoned compilation, due to the hand of Peter DeLaCrau, also is in a way a parody, because it was never a question, nevertheless, for the project supervisor of this collective work, of supporting such as it was and unconditionally, the whole of these doctrines.

He wished on the contrary, by all sorts of literary means (reversal of arguments, opposing views, etc.) to bring out their often negative, harmful, alienating or obscurantist, aspects; and if this text can sometimes seem, to pay indirect homage to the capacity of reflection of the various current theological Schools, Christian, Muslim, Jewish or other, it is involuntary; because his purpose is well, to do everything, in order to wrest from their hands, the monopoly of discourses on the divinity (see on this subject the remarks of Albert Bayet), even if it means finishing discredit them definitively in the public eyes.

Except as regards the best ideas they have borrowed from paganism, of course, and which are enormous; because in this last case, it is, let us remember it once again, from the prospect supervisor

of this compilation, a readjustment to our world, of the thoughts of these theologians' apprentices ((the god of philosophers, the Ahura Mazda, the immortality of souls, the god-men, the sons of a god, the messiah Saoshyant, the Trinity, the tawaf, the sacrifices, the life after death, not to mention cherubim paradise, etc.).

In other words, not history, but historical fictions, according to the works of...see the bibliography at the end. In accordance with this, our "imitation” is only a return to our roots. In short a homage.

"Druidism" is an independent review (independent of any religious or political association) and which has only one purpose: theoretical or fundamental research about what is neo-paganism. The double question, to which this review of theoretical studies tries to answer, could be summarized as follows:

"What could be or what should be a current neo-druidism, modern and contemporary?”

"Druidism" is a neo-pagan review, strictly neo-pagan, and heir to all genuine (that is to say non-Christian) movements which have succeeded one another for 2000 years, the indirect heir, but the heir, nevertheless!

Regarding our reference tradition or our intellectual connection, let us underline that if the "poets" of Domnall mac Muirchertach Ua Néill still had imbas forosnai, teimn laegda and dichetal do chennaib 1) in their repertory (cf. the conclusion of the tale of the plunder of the castle of Maelmilscothach, of Urard Mac Coise, a poet who died in the 11th century), they may have been Christians for several generations. It is true that these practices (imbas forosnai, teimn ...) were formally forbidden by the Church, but who knows, there may have been accommodations similar to those of astrologers or alchemists in the Middle Ages.

Anyway our "Druidism" is also a will; the will to get closer, at the maximum, to ancient druidism, such as it was (scientifically speaking). The will also to modernize this druidism, a total return to ancient druidism being excluded (it would be anyway impossible).

Examples of modernization of this pagan druidism.

— Giving up to lay associations of the cultural side (medicine, poetry, mathematics, etc.). Principle of separation of Church and State.

— Specialization on the contrary, in Celtic, or pagan in general, spirituality history of religion, philosophy and metapsychics (known today as parapsychology).

— Use in some cases of the current vocabulary (Church, religion, baptism, and so on).

A golden mean, of course, is to be found between a total return to ancient druidism (fundamentalism) and a too revolutionary radical modernization (no longer sagum).

The Celtic PAA (pantheistic agnostic atheist) having agreed to sign jointly this small library *, of which he is only the collector, druid Hesunertus (Peter DeLaCrau), does not consider himself as the author of this collective work. But as the spokesperson for the team which composed it. For other sources of this essay on druidism, see the thanks in the bibliography.

* This little camminus is nevertheless important for young people ... from 7 to 77 years old! Mantalon siron esi.

1) Do ratath tra do Mael Milscothach iartain cech ni dobrethaigsid suide sin etir ecnaide 7 fileda 7 brithemna la taeb ogaisic a crech 7 is amlaidsin ro ordaigset do tabairt a cach ollamain ina einech 7 ina sa[ru]gad acht cotissad de imus forosnad [di]chetal do chollaib cend 7 tenm laida .i. comenclainn fri rig Temrach do acht co ti de intreide sin FINIT.

IMBAS FOROSNAI.

"In their language Hercules is called Ogma. The form in which they represent this god has something very strange. For them it is an old man... I will explain the enigma of this image that seems to trouble you so much. We Κελτοὶ do not think like you Greeks that Mercury is the god of eloquence. We attribute it to Hercules, who prevails over Mercury by the superiority of his forces. If we represent him in the form of an old man, do not be surprised. It is only in old age that...Τοσαῦτα μὲν ὁ Κελτός ."

Interpretatio is the search for equivalences between two gods from different traditions, a translation in fact, aiming to briefly define the general nature of a deity often unfamiliar to the audience by using the name of the Greek or Roman entity that shares the greatest number of points in common with it.

Indeed, man has always sought to understand the divine concepts of others in order to defend himself or use them. The tablets of Ras Sharma, the ancient Ugarit, contain lists of theonyms, perhaps listed for ritual purposes, and bring together the Akkadian, Ugaritic and Huritic gods on the basis of the resemblance of their fields of action. The example of the Mesopotamian oaths sealing political alliances also shows the importance of the phenomenon, some authors having even gone so far as to speak of an "international pantheon" in this regard.

In Egypt, as early as the Old Kingdom, for example, Baalat, the goddess of Byblos, and Hathor, will be put on an equal footing; in the New Kingdom, Astarte is close to Hathor, Isis and Sekhmet, and the Egyptian religion also makes her the daughter of Ptah. The Egyptian version of the agreement between Hattusili III and Rameses II also refers to "the Ra lord of the sky and the Ra of the city of Arinna, the Set lord of the sky and the Set of Hatti...". "Ra of the city of Arinna" and "Set of Hatti" are obviously designations of Near Eastern deities: the former seems to be associated with the solar goddess of the city of Arinna, and the latter with Teshub or Baal.

Herodotus in the 5th century Before Common Era will propose to his readers a series of equivalences between the Hellenic deities and a part of the Arab Assyrian and Scythian pantheons.

Religious "assimilation" often takes place in one main form: the pure and simple adoption of the name of the Greco-Roman deity, without any indigenous religious reference on the altars or inscriptions. But we also see an evolved form of syncretism when, for example, the name of the indigenous god remains linked to that of the Greek deity in the form of epiclesis.

The notion of epiclesis is borrowed from Pausanias Periægete, a second-century geographer who, in his Periægesis, or Description of Greece, uses the term to specify under which name a particular god is specifically honored in a particular place or under particular circumstances.

Epicleses are divided into two main categories: toponymic and functional. The third major category of epicleses is that coming under the first two.

A toponymic epiclesis is an adjective derived from a toponym. It is most often the adjective of the place of worship itself. But it can sometimes denote the spreading of worship or the transfer of a local cult from one place to another: the epiclesis Ephesia ("of Ephesus"), epiclesis of Artemis, indicates that the worship of the goddess spread from Ephesus.

A functional epiclesis evokes the domain in which the deity's help is expected.

However, there are many others.

The mythological epiclesis evokes one of the myths associated with the deity: thus Huakinthios, epiclesis of Apollo, who recalls that he killed his pupil and eromen Hyacinth.

The liturgical epiclesis relates to the course of the cult: for example Hekatombaios ("of the hecatombs"), epiclesis of Apollo.

The anthroponymic epiclesis is an epithet derived from an anthroponym, that of the founder of the worship and his descendants: thus Diomedonteios ("of Diomedon"), epiclesis of Heracles in Kos.

The exclusive epiclesis is an epiclesis which is not shared by any other deity: thus Pytheiè / Pythiè, epiclesis of Artemis in Miletus.

The distribution of epiclesis between the deities is not homogeneous. Some have many, like Zeus, Apollo, Artemis and Athena. Others, such as Ares, have very few. Some, such as Hephaestus, have none.

The question then arises to know to whom the dedicatos were really addressed to - a modern question that was probably not at all present in the minds of the inhabitants of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. Did they wish to receive the protection of the local Egyptian god, or did they turn to the Greek god in a place that seemed appropriate for them to hear him, namely, a temple of his Egyptian counterpart? Or were the two designations, Greek and Egyptian, merely a way of expressing two viewing of the same deity, or at least of the same entity capable of acting effectively in the specific context in which it is invoked. There would thus be two "true names," one in Greek, the other in Egyptian, both equally effective, used according to the linguistic context.

For example, is the Muslims' idea of God worshipped in Mecca the same idea of God as that of the children of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob? Our answer to us is no, but the question does not arise for pious Muslims, especially since their theology has found a very convenient explanation for cases where there is a discrepancy with the Koran: Jews and Christians have falsified the original Scriptures.

Coming back to our sheep, it is therefore difficult to classify the deities that have a so-called compound name, one of whose elements is Roman and the other indigenous, such as Hercules Magusanus, Mercury Gebrinnius and Mars Camulus in Lower Germania. What is certain in any case is that, as Ton Derks remarks, "the cult of gods with compound names could only have taken place after contact with the Romans."

The whole problem then is to define as well as possible the real or supposed influence of the Roman gods. Did they systematically replace the local gods, as well in the cities as in the countryside? Were they integrated in the local pantheons with the indigenous deities? To what extent can we speak of interpretatio romana, even gallica, hispanica?

What is meant by interpretatio anyway? This term seems to imply pure and simple assimilation. However, the phenomenon is actually more complex. Total assimilations are rare and the traditional gods, having received a Roman name, have for the most preserved part of their original nature and have remained Germanic, Celtic or Punic. The approach to the phenomenon of the interpretatio therefore requires a great deal of caution. It might be preferable to speak of acculturation, as this term is "more respectful of minority cultures.” Acculturation is defined as "the process by which two cultures that are in contact, but in an unequal position, change their structures in relation to each other.

Herodotus seems to have been the first to propose this type of equivalence by "translating" the name of a foreign deity into Greek. The mechanism consists in making identification between gods of different origin, on the basis of a comparison that is usually functional. The gods are viewed as being potentially present everywhere and identifiable. What changes from a people to another is the number of identified gods and the linguistic form of the denomination.

The same phenomenon of interpretatio also characterizes the Roman civilization. Tacitus used the expression interpretatio romana for the first time when he sought to identify a couple of Germanic gods with the Greco-Roman deities, Castor and Pollux. But this phenomenon was already known before. When Caesar speaks of the Celtic gods, he has no difficulty in giving them Roman names (Mercury, Mars, Apollo, Jupiter, etc.). He recognizes in these gods features that allow him to establish which are their equivalents in Rome.

It will be necessary to wait for the emergence of a certain form of (exclusive) monotheism to witness the demonization of the idea of divinity ... of others. See the appalling anti-idol polemics of the Bible or the Quran.

Until then, the flexibility of polytheism had made it possible to bring together conceptions of the divinity with names, appearances and rituals that were nevertheless particularly distant.

SO WAS IT BARBARISM, GALLICISM OR ATHEISM?

The intention presiding over the quantity that will follow of bringing together or comparing or putting on the same level religious notions belonging to different cultural and religious universes... will be in fact the same one that the druid met by Lucian of Samosata 1) in the region of Massilia in 158 had so brilliantly illustrated and that we make our own: humanism or integral anti-racism, the marriage of faith and reason!

1)Lucian of Samosata is one of the Greek authors who were rediscovered during the Renaissance by those men of letters passionate about antiquity called humanists. This text,

unknown in the Middle Ages, was a great success among them (in Germany Albrecht Dürer made a drawing based on this description) and they adopted Hercules as their patron; Erasmus refers to it and interprets the twelve works as works of the mind: Hercules, hero of philology! Alciat reproduces, in his Emblems, the figure of the Gallic Hercules, with this exergue: "Eloquentia fortitudine praestantior cedant arma togae."

THE VARIOUS DESIGNS OF THE PROCESS

HAVING AS A RESULT THAT MAN IS ANIMATED …

(or has a soul).

A) Preexistence.

Of all the theories on himself which were maintained by the Man, that of an entity soul, severed from the body and immortal, was most largely widespread; and among those who maintain the belief in such a soul, the majority of the level-headed people always also believed in its preexistence. Such is at least the opinion of the neo-druid Allan Kardec.

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NOTE OF PETER DELACRAU.

The preexistence not of the individual soul, but of the essence or of the “substance “of this soul. We specifically have the same soul at the beginning, but through our body and thanks to our qualities or to our respective faults, we become distinct individuals. And it is our body which makes that our soul is distinguished from the others. Whereas at the beginning, let us remember it once again, our soul is identical to that of the other human beings.

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The soul preexists in a former state and enters the human body at a certain point, during the first developments of the body. Plato, Philo and Origen, maintained this point of view. Plato taught it to explain that man has the ideas that he did not draw from his senses; Philo, to give an account of the imprisonment of the soul in the body; and Origen, to justify the disparity of the conditions in which men come into the world.

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NOTE OF PETER DELACRAU.

If we understand thus individual souls, quite distinct from each other, then it is a theory of which we find no trace in the accounts relating to the druidic beliefs.

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B) The creatianism is the thesis of those (among whom Saint Thomas) who teach that the immortal principle, the individual soul, is created directly by God and goes down from the heaven in the fetus, i.e., in the fertilized ovule. The individual soul is for each birth a direct creation of God. It enters the body at the time of the very first stages of the development of the body, probably with the conception. The body alone comes from past generations. It is the traditional Judeo-Islamic-Christian theory, and, there too, it is not druidic. For Augustine, unlike the Manicheans, the individual soul is not part of God, but a creature: it is not, from him, but made by him. Augustine therefore dissociates himself from Tertullian’s traducianism of which he denounces contradictions. For him, each man is born refurbished in his soul as in his body. As of the beginning of his life, man receives from God this single and original gift which constitutes him. In 498, Pope Anastasius II having definitively banished the Pelagian specter concerning creatianism, this one will become the official doctrines of the Church, without the hand-over of the original sin is called into question.

It is there, quite obviously, a theory of which no trace is found in the account relating to the druidic beliefs.

C)Traducianism. The embryo receives its individual soul from its parents, in the same way that it receives its body from them. The individual soul is begotten just like the bodies, by the sexual intercourse. The souls of the children are begotten by propagation rather than by direct creation (traducianism and not creatianism). The individual souls of the men are not created daily… but are propagated, per traducem, by their parents. Tertullian was a total advocate of it, unlike Origen. We know that Origen defended an assumption still close to Plato, i.e., the incorporeal preexistence of the souls before their incarnation in a body. Tertullian protested against this supposed tour of the soul coming to join the body as by accident. Drawing from the resources of the stoicism, he reminds that the vegetative soul is already present in the paternal seed. And fatally, he makes himself the agent of a certain traducianism, in which vital breath (anatlo) becomes a true human soul only with the birth. According to him, this presence of the soul in the seed becomes the decisive argument against every possibility of transmigration of the individual souls. In this conception of the things, the individual souls

do not come from a hypothetical elsewhere or before, they emerge from the body substrate, transmitted since the origins by the means of the seeds, in the same way as the bodies.

Gregory of Nyssa is himself very close to this prospect, while dissociating himself from Origenist preexistence. He intends to show the presence of the soul at the beginning of the life, and even before this one, presupposing even the presence of the soul in the seed!

What joins the classical definition of a certain stoic traducianism, the human soul holding the place of the vital breath here.

[Editor’s note. This idea is, of course, most natural of all. And even more naturalist. The soul is transmitted (traducere) in the act of the begetting. Some druidic Schools (more materialist ones) seem to have seen the things in this way.

D) Emanationism. There is no creating act. God does not draw the individual soul from nothing to breathe it in a body, the soul is part of God, a tear of divine fire built-in the embryo. As much to say that each soul is a piece of God, and that God is present therefore, in each one of us.

When it “is completed “ the soul is reinstated in the Divinity where it “Is “for eternity.

However, having only a limited “capital of spiritual energy “ the aforementioned soul“is burned “at the time of its final reintegration and comes back to undifferentiated spiritual energy. It is its spiritual death… After a certain time spent in a parallel universe of paradisiac nature, the human soul loses its individuality (its mind, its menman) then dissolves in the limbo of the Big Whole.

Let us suppose a bottle filled with water, and thrown in the Ocean, where it floats until it finds a reef against which it runs up and breaks. The container falls on the seabed, the contents are joined their whole, i.e., the water of the Ocean. Well, the liquor contained in this vase, it is the human soul, the shelf, it is the death, the vast Ocean, the last stages or levels of the heaven; because, let us remind it, the heaven is not a place but a state; the mixture of the liquor with sea water, the joining of the soul to the Big Whole.

As we could see it higher, the soul of the human beings therefore has five possible origins.

a) Preexistence. The souls exist independently of the bodies in a kind of cosmic huge tank and fit or are fit by an unspecified entity in any embryo newly formed.

b) Systematic reincarnation. The souls exist independently of the bodies, but pass through a whole series of various, human, animal, or plaant, lives. The reincarnation of Hindu type can be defined as being the fact that after death, there exists another life, and at the end of this one another, and so on. The present life having been preceded by several others. The name given to this cycle of birth and death is reincarnation. Even the animals are reincarnated in Hindu tradition, and a being can pass from a status (of a man to an animal, opposite being also possible) to another.

With regard druidism, the word rebirth is preferable to the word reincarnation, since reincarnation almost supposes an endless chain, determined by faults made in former lives, what is not druidic faith.

The reincarnation in this world is indeed unknown of authentic druidic tradition. There exist only cases of metamorphoses.

Besides to understand this druidic idea of reincarnation in a parallel next world of paradisiac nature, it is enough to accept the idea that human body is an exceptional machine. With this human body, with this human intelligence, if we make efforts, everything becomes possible or almost.

c) Direct creation and each time and ex nihilo, by a god or a creating demiurge. Archetypal Christian design (creatianism). God mechanically equips each embryo with a new soul as of the first second. Note: for the Christians, God seems forced to do it, because nobody could imagine a human being without a soul (case of in vitro fertilizations).

d) Hereditary transmission. The first men were endowed with a soul and, since, the parents hand down to their children as well some soul as some body.

e) The druidic design.There exists behind the physical universe an immense and infinite reservoir of undifferentiated (not individualized) soul called awenyddio. The life is a complex phenomenon which has as a characteristic to equip each new embryo with a little of this universal gigantic soul (awentia or awenyddia). A little as a plant extracting little by little from the ground what it needs to live. The soul needs to live an earthly experiment printing individuality to it, building to it personality (a mind).

What seems also acquired, it is the insoluble unit of the human being which is not only a body + a soul, but which is “body and soul “. There are nevertheless three quite different levels to distinguish in the human person, the body (kicos) the mind (menman) and the soul (anamone).

The lexicographical examination of the name of the “soul “(anamone, Irish: ainim, Breton: ene, but also anaon, souls of the departed) as well as that of the mind (menman); show that the high-knowers of Antiquity made such a distinction, in their vocabulary and their religious or metaphysical designs.

The kicos, the body, everybody knows what it is, we will therefore not insist more about it, if not to remind that it is mortal by definition.

The notion of soul, itself, refers generally to a “little something “ related to body, but not being able nevertheless to be itself completely comparable, a nonphysical entity livening up the existence of the human beings and surviving their death.

Between the two an intermediate stage, an interface, a neither white nor black but gray zone, with various names: mental , awareness , intelligence, in short the human mind with a first lower case letter: the menman. This mind is mobile and lasting. It is it which undergoes the various risks of existence. It is conditioned by the body and integrates feelings. The mind is therefore the force/desire of material feeling which forces the soul to remain incarnated even to reincarnate as long as it did not eliminate every trace of “ego “ as of “desire “. From where the druidic idea the earthly existence is not enough in reality to be identified with the divinity, and that another existence is necessary for that.

Some high-knowers maintain that individual soul but also mind/awareness, are a same thing, but having two parts or two different functions. The upper part of the soul would tend towards the divinity it reaches more or less according to its tendencies, and the lower part immersed in the body would be only an interface with the matter: it would form the human mindset (its menman).

What is certain, it is that there is an interaction between the soul and the physical body thanks to this interface which is the human mind. The anamone or soul is expressed through this mind and the body responds, through the result produced by this one on outside. When the body suffers (sentimentally, physically) the mind suffers, and, consequently, the soul also. Conversely , when the body has pleasure, the soul opens and its vital function may be exerted. We have a trace of this emotional level of the druidic conception of the soul/mind with the Breton anaon who;during All Souls' Day, the day after the All Saints' day matching the Samon of the former Westerner Gnostics; come back by following the roads which are familiar for them, to their former residence.

CIRCUIT OF THE SOULS OF THE UNIVERSAL PSYCHIC BIG RESERVOIR

BETWEEN NATURE AND SUPERNATURE, BETWEEN THE WORLD OF THE LIVING

AND THAT OF THE DEAD (OR OF THE NOT-YET-BORN).

What the contemporary druid Corin Braga calls the belief in an objectified (un6personalized) circuit of the souls, which implies no continuity of the personality between the reincarnations (unlike the Pythagorean transmigration to which the Graeco-Latin authors have compared it). This belief is communal to the paradigms of the hunting shamanism and to the breeding shamanism. Very resistant, it survived from the Paleolithic time until Christianity. It was strengthened by the arrival of the Indo-European cattle breeders.

It is not nor the happiness as that can be the case initially of the stay of the individual soul/mind in Mag Meld; neither a real advantage, nor the access to a higher world. It is an indescribable state marked by the progressive isolation of the soul, from the psychosomatic world.The scholiast of Lucan was not mistaken on this subject since he does not notice in connection with the line of verse 457 that according to druids the soul lives eternally in the other world after the death of the body but ALMOST ETERNALLY (quasi semper).

This doctrine was taught by certain druidic Schools, as accounts of the Greek and Latin classical authors about their Northern neighbors show it. It is possible that it was also shared by the peoples located East of the Celts, the Geto-Dacians (at least until the reform of Zalmoxis) and the Scythians.

The soul in the Greco-Roman antiquity.

Among Greeks, during the time of Iliad, the soul, psyche, means the breath exactly. The shadow, eidôlon, is strictly speaking an image. The mind lastly is designated by a word of the material register, phrenes, the diaphragm, seat of the thought as well as feelings, inseparable from a physiological support.

After death, there remain only shadows who live under ground a diminished vegetable life. These evanescent shadows will become later the Manes and the Lares among Romans. In the Tartar, they indefinitely repeat the most important act of their last life. Danaids fill without end their leaky barrel, Sisyphus rolls his rock and Tantalus the greedy one sees to approach him and to set out again, the most delicious dishes.

This kingdom of Hades and Persephone is a mud pit which freezes with horror the deities themselves. Happiest ones are in the Elysian Fields where they spend their time regretting the true life: that which is takes place on the surface of the ground. Homer witnesses about this subject in the Odyssey (book XI). Ulysses could visit them and he meets the valiant Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, become king of the dead. But when he says to him: “ You rule, a power, among the un-living. Do not grieve, then, Achilles, at your death “; Achilles answers him: “ Don’t try to reconcile me to my dying. I’d rather serve as another man’s laborer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead“.

Eric Robertson Dodds (1893-1979) in his very disputed book about the Greeks and the irrational , showed well that a new design of the soul emerged in Greece in the 7th century before our era. And that this new design was of hyperborean origin. The soul and the body are opposed, at least, according to him, and the man has an invisible oneself originating in the divine one.

This book was the subject of many criticisms, particularly from certain anthropologists. People reproached Dodds much for importing in this world tools for analysis adapted in fact to the Westerners of the 20th century. We find indeed, here and there, rather anachronistic psychoanalytical interpretations. This disadvantage overcome, the book of Dodds makes it possible to understand that the Greek thought cannot be reduced to the philosophical writings.

The Homeric poems, written in the 8th and 7th century centuries before our era, constitute the starting point of the analysis of Dodds. We find there many accounts of dreams in which a character called Oneiros, god-or-demon or mythical hero, enters the room of the sleeper and delivers a message. The

more important the man is, the more the message would be potentially oracle. In other accounts, the dream is a vision which requires an interpretation. As the majority of the other peoples, Greeks distinguish between the dreams which are veracious and pass by the “gates of horn “ and these which are misleading and pass by the “gates of ivory “.

Dodds grants a large part to dreams. The “travel “of the soul/mind leaving the body, particularly in the case of the dreams, is a recurrent theme of the druidism. During this trip, the soul/mind sees unreal landscapes, the soul/minds of dead, the demons of nature, other human beings living, however, very far, etc., etc.

N.B. The dream according to the druids has a special characteristic: it “is seen “ by a passive sleeper, whereas we, contemporary Westerners , we “have“ a dream. The Homeric dream is sent to the sleeper by a next world, quite as objective as that of the day before, that of the god-or-demons and of the great heroes; it is received as a “gift “and it is therefore in that sought-after.

Dodds shows the way well in which the attitude of the Greeks facing dream changes in the 7th century, under the influence mainly of the Scythians come from Central Asia. Their conviction develops little by little - because of the Shamanic culture that the Hyperborean ones (Scythians?) bring to Thrace - that the soul/mind is severable from the body at the time of the death and during the sleep. Its trips of then match the oneiric experience. The poems ascribed to the mythical Orpheus propagate this conviction in the 6th century, and mingle it with that, religious, of classical Greece. The dream becomes then a trip of the soul/mind towards the kingdom of the dead. These beliefs are at least as influential in ancient Greece as the rational attitude with regard to the dream, that of Aristotle for example, which makes prophetic dream a simple coincidence (symbolon) and appears in that almost too much “modern “.

But let us come back to the soul in the classical world. Under the influence of the philosophers, the Greeks then distinguished in the human soul parts, principles, powers or faculties. In Pythagoras, the psyche matched the vital force; the sensitivity (aisthesis) sensitive perception; the nous intellectual faculty, only specifically human principle. We know the famous parallelism developed by Plato (the Republic Book IV) between the parts of the soul and the social classes or functions. For Plato, the soul is fallen: it fell into the body, whereas it accompanied the god-or-demons in the ideal world.

It comprises several levels, only the last in fact, is immortal. In the Phaedo and the Republic, Plato develops the myth of the metempsychosis: the soul, after the death of the body, joined the world of the Ideas or another body.

Aristotle will distinguish in the nous the passive intellect from the active intellect, which will be, in the later speculations, identified with the Logos and God or the Demiurge. The notion of pneuma will intervene only later, in the literature with theological tendencies, as a soul/mind called to live in the society of the god-or-demons, a purely spiritual breath which approaches the celestial areas. Although it has its root in the thought of Plato, it develops six centuries later in Plotinus; it will give rise to a whole pneumatology only in the first centuries of the Christian era. Before opening out in the Gnosticism. Symbolic theology will not find to express what the soul/mind is a better image than that of the breath, which leaves the mouth of God-or-Devil.

For the Stoics , the soul takes part in ontogenesis: soul/mind of the fetus, soul/mind of the child, soul/mind of the teenager, soul/mind of the adult. There exists a real difference with Plato and Aristotle on the distinctions in the nature of the soul.

The pneuma is at the same time, the principle of the generation for the whole of the endowed with a soul beings, but also under its purely understandable and spiritual aspect, the principle of the human thought. The fire which takes part in the nature of the pneuma comes from the pure fire of ether, not from an earthly combustion; this origin establishes the relationship of the soul with the sky…

The notion of pneuma, mixture of air and vital heat, narrowly related even often identified with the pure fire of the ether, which is the soul of the world, seems to have its starting point in one of the first tracts by Aristotle; from where it passed to the Stoics. But the identification of the cosmos to a living being seems, as for it, from a Pythagorean origin; and it passed, through Plato, also into the stoics. The idea that the body paralyzes and dulls the soul, that it makes it at the same time prone to darkness and passions, that it locks up it in a kind of prison; spread itself since Plato in a whole line of thinkers, philosophers and religious people.

The Christian scholastic tradition, and particularly the Thomist thought, will distinguish three levels in the human soul: the vegetative soul which controls the elementary functions of nutrition and reproduction, of rough movement *; the sensitive soul which governs the organs of the senses; the reasonable soul, on which the higher operations of knowledge (intellectus) ** and love (appetitus), depends.What a muddle!!

* Anatlo in old Celtic according to the druids.

** Menman for former druids.

CONCLUSION.

The legend of the death has to help every departed person to travel in the hereafter. The post mortem ordeal carried out using the god-or-demons (viria or truth operation with a mirror) necessarily led to two different situations although non-opposite: the land of happiness of the Vindomagos , the more or less stay like a lost soul in the kingdom of Donn/Hornunnos called Donnotegia, which is a kind of anteroom of the Heaven. It is also with a same aim that Yama, the Indo-Buddhist sovereign of the kingdom of the dead , uses a mirror to make the selection. What indeed reflects the mirror held out by this god-or-demon? Truth, sincerity, the contents of the heart and of the conscientiousness.

The belief in the almost immortality of the soul among Celts lead certain researchers to see in the Vindomagos and in the related islands (Mag Meld etc.) a country of the dead, but who in this case had access there? All the deceased persons, some of them only, or the half? The belief in a hereafter after death is implanted in the minds as of the time of megaliths in Europe. The shamans and the chiefs will be the first to hope for this survival. But little by little all the other (prehistoric) men will agree with it. The sacredness indeed (the nemetos) it is the Man.

Because the higher Being, the Tokad or Bitos, cannot give up to the nothingness those who made it their grail. Even if in this case, to put them in a state of total union with it, an ultimate stage of purification is necessary, for the mortals who could not reach during their life the state of awenydd. Or ishraqi.The legend of the dead according to the druids has depicted to us this pure and luminous plain with many rather naive details, of course.

People call Vindomagos this ultimate stage before the melting in the Pariollon. Is this Vindomagos a state, a place, or a time?

The passing in the kingdom of the dead over which reigns Donn/Hornunnos, as a seibaros, is the logical result of the refusal by the soul/mind of the true divinity , of the calmed divinity. This refusal; which is a negation of the life and of the joy that gets the union, even partial and fugacious, of the individual anamone and of the true world; finishes accumulating on the shoulders of its carrier a heavy negative burden dooming him to the ategeneto (the bran). It finishes preventing him temporarily, staying in the Mag Meld or in the Vindomagos.

If the soul of a departed person is misled in the kingdom of the dead of Donn/Hornunnos (Donnotegia) instead of remaining in the large green and luminous plain of Vindomagos, it is because of its faults or its errors. A more or less long stay as a seibaros or lost soul , in the anteroom of the Heaven called Donnotegia, will enable it to make his soul at least worthy of Vindomagos, it will be for him as a first purification.

N.B. They are there realities witnessed by the experience, even if the former druidism translated them in a necessarily picturesque language. The expressions like Vindomagos, Aballomagos, later Mag Meld, Tir na mBéo, Tir na nOg, even House of Donn (Donnotegia) etc. nevertheless designate a world which is not exactly that of the god-or-demons at the beginning.

To pass in the Vindomagos, it is to go to join the god-or-demons in the Vindobitu, of course, but especially in order to be able to be thus allowed to the contemplation of the divine Grail ? on its scented gold rock. State of blessed meldos which is not yet nevertheless the melting with and in the Pariollon since individualities remain: the soul of X remaining still different from the soul of Y, as long as their individual mind or menman were not dissolved.

The stay in Vindomagos has not to be compared with the melting between individual anamone and awenyddia or universal soul, which takes place only later.

The Vindomagos is also the achievement of the life of the man who was a good briugu. For the ategnati, the druids, and the kingetes, it is not the same thing , as we could see it. The Vindomagos has neither druid nor warrior, except possibly in a temporary way (for 90 days?), at the time of certain initiatory voyages.

What is sure, it is the Vindomagos is not to be perceived as a punishment through which the Fate would be in a way avenged for our infidelities towards the god-or-demons its “children” *. It is only a transition stage, a space time on one side, and not a geographical place).

The neo-druidism takes over the ancient symbolic system of a place where dead expect. But it has to be clear also that, in this case, the dead become meldi have no longer with the beings and the things of our world the same relations than before.

The druidic tradition maintains that those who are in the Vindomagos, the blessed Meldi, remain sensitive to the prayers and supplications sent to them, and that they can thus intercede in favor of their human combennones remained here on earth in their hole (dumnon). Or on this side of the river

of the oblivion. A little like some bodhisattvas in a way. In the most genuine druidic tradition, these phenomena occur generally around the festival of Samon (ios).

The Beatifying view of the gold grail on which the god-or-demon sleeps; a view into which death introduced the men having followed the way of the god-or-demons (divodorum); make them still more painfully being aware , indeed, as Meldi, of our congenital weakness since Hornunnos (the famous sickness of the Ulaid). And thus of the need for the mortals for making themselves worthier of the total union with the Big Whole of the Pariollon.

The happiness of the luminous world that is the Mag Meld or Vindomagos is not an egoistic and solitary happiness, cut from the other men. Communion with the god-or-demons, it is also a look taken at all those who are still on this earth. This communion prefigures that which characterizes the supermankind, to come in the next cycle, after the parousy or disoccultation of the god-or-demons.

Let us repeat it once again! In the case of the men having crossed the divodorum or way god-or-demons, the dead is not completely destroyed and in one way or another remains, mysteriously, near the god-or-demons and not far from the grail of the gold rock of Plutarch. The union of those who are still en route on the path of the god-or-demons, called divodorum (combennones) with their brothers born again in this new and pure land of youth (the Meldi), remains too. It appears particularly the days of samon (ios). Because of the deceased person , there still remains something, at least through those who knew him during his life. To think of the departed, it is already to make him live again.

Because really die only those who are forgotten (it was besides the biggest of the fears of Cuchulainn in Ireland).

The former druidism had developed besides all kinds of techniques to question the soul/minds of the Meldi (the spirits of dead).

“ We are met with the objection that in visions of the night dead persons are not infrequently seen, and that for a set purpose. For instance, the Nasamones consult private oracles by frequent and lengthened visits to the sepulchers of their relatives, as one may find in Heraclides, or Nymphodorus, or Herodotus; and the Celts, for the same purpose, stay away all night at the tombs of their brave chieftains“.

We also find in the Bible, Book I by Samuel, in the chapter XXVIII, quite a strange story on the same subject.

But while receiving as they are worthy of it these gifts from the next world (which appears to us in mind), the druidicist does not forget, however, to also work in this world which goes, by the exercises and the rituals, the prayer and the engagement, the research of the beautiful and of the true one, by the research of the knowledge which explains us how to reach, sooner or later, the total contemplation of the next world of which they expect the return as watchers awaiting for the dawn. Its harbinger will be the parousy of the god-or-demons now concealed, the return of the god-or-demons, the new kingdom of the god-or-demons.

* Anthropomorphic image. The gods or demons are not children who would have been begotten by the Fate but some assistants of the aforementioned Fate, some secondary causations in a way.

IN SHORT.

“ To revere the gods, to abstain from wrongdoing and to be a man, a true one “.Lives and opinions of eminent philosophers. Book I, prologue 6 (Diogenes Laertius).

According to our brothers in paganism called Parsee or Parsis, Ahura Mazda too gave his Aryans the triple following instruction : “TO THINK WELL, TO DO WELL AND TO SPEAK WELL “.

Man must abstain from negative thoughts and from ill deeds in order to successfully perform his individual erdathe.

As that is hardly possible on the earth, a transitory state of being where to carry out such a life is therefore most of the time necessary. This stage in a very long life, the druids conceived it a parallel next world of paradisiac nature, where all is only youth happiness and happiness. This great idea of the druidism (the existence of a paradisiac hereafter where the man is reincarnated after death in a “stunning” (old Celtic bellissama bellissamos) body, had as consequence to make useless the systematic reincarnation which was the primitive idea of Aryans (see the notion of samsara). The soul will spend first in the other world its personality or its individuality (its mind) until exhausting it. The Judeo-Christian conception of the individual eschatology of the souls is ridiculous. Can we seriously

imagine really indeed only one moment the individual souls of X or Y neatly aligned in a row somewhere in Heaven (or in hell? No, in Hell “that moves ” a lot according to Christians : various tortures and so on…) FOR ETERNITY; but, in the absence of any flora, of any fauna and even of any metal, being satisfied only by the vision of God or of the Demiurge and their own aspect a little as in the island of Cronos described by Plutarch ?

Such an idea constitutes a challenge for the reason, even if this body is then endowed with what Zoroastrians called "xvarnah.” Heaven can be only a … provisional state of being, as various philosophies being developed at the other end of the Aryan world saw it very well.

N.B. The word ERDATHE (Irish airtach ) means regeneration (aredengto) literally. It is in fact the cessation of the process of individuality as for the being. It is from now on beyond time.

There exist two types of erdathe: the individual erdathe and the universal erdathe.

Once the individual erdathe reached, the individual gets by definition the peace of his mindset. The erdathe is liberation, release and cessation of difficulty in being. This Return to the Big Whole (Pariollon) can be obtained during the life of the subject (extremely rare cases). Or after death and a more or less long stay in Heaven to be purified (most frequent case).

What does it occur to the individual soul which reaches erdathe after having left the heaven? Nowadays many people accept Islamic-Christian theories maintaining the notion of conscious, immutable and immortal soul. However this state of the soul is only transitory.

As we already have had the opportunity to say it, but it is important to repeat it, the soul begins, of course, by being individual and continues to be so even beyond death in the other world; but its destiny is not to continue thus combined with a mind, eternally. Its destiny is rather comparable with that of the salt water drop having to tumble through the Ocean. That it thus contributes to enriching with the whole salt of the earth.

The individual soul (anamone) is, in its real essence, identical to the soul of the world. The human soul is only a spark of the universal soul, the awentia or awenyddia. However, having only a limited “capital of spiritual energy “ it “will be burned “at the time of its final reintegration , and will thus come back into undifferentiated spiritual energy (a spiritual death in a way but we may not speak about a final annihilation). Reintegration in the Big Whole is therefore the higher goal. When it “is completed “ the soul is reinstated in the Divinity where it “remains“ for eternity.

The identification of the individual soul (anamone) with the universal soul (awentia or awenyddia) led the individual to release himself from attachments, desires and ignorance.

For some people, salvation will be personal, whereas for the others, dead or alive, on earth or in heaven, the final liberation will be done by a general eschatology having as a term the end of our bitos or universe.

WORKING PAPER No. 3 : FROM NEWPORT TO CONANICUT.

One of the other best neo-druidic current texts on the relationship between the hereafter of the dead and the individual soul/minds (called anaon in Breton language) was published by the review, "Renaître 2000 “.

This approach of the things, this “I think therefore I am “ through its modernity, seeming much easier to understand than what remains us from the teaching of the druids of 2000 years ago, we will say of it also some words. But such an approach completely differs from the many details each more surprising than the next, given in the Spirit’s Book by Allan Kardec. It is up to our readers to see!

Our personalities are connected by their subconsciousnesses, as the islands of an archipelago are connected between them geologically by their underwater bases.

Alfred Tennyson frequently felt a kind of ecstasy in waking state, in which his individuality appeared to dissolve and disappear as in a feeling of unlimited knowledge. He thus described the phenomenon (I quote from memory): a state of consciousness which was not a confused state, but most clearly among clearest, more certain among more certain, on the other hand, literally indescribable. Thanks to it death appeared a ridiculous impossibility to it (editor’s note : death is only the middle of a long live).

Emile Boirac proposed in his work, “unknown psychology “the idea of a collective subconscious in which our spirits all would be plunged.

Bergson, in the conference which he made in front of the Society for psychic Research, in London, on May 28, 1913, brought some less literary and more concrete considerations.

Our bodies are external the ones to the others in space, and our awarenesses , as elements attached to these bodies, are separated by intervals. But if they adhere to the body only by part of themselves, it is allowed to conjecture, for the remainder, a reciprocal encroachment. Between the various awarenesses at every moment exchanges comparable with the phenomena of endosmosis may be achieved. If this intercommunication exists, nature took its precautions to make it inoffensive. And it is probable that some mechanisms are especially charged to reject into unconscious the images thus introduced, because they would be extremely embarrassing in everyday life. Such or such of them could, however, here still, pass as in smuggling, especially when the inhibitory mechanisms work badly.

The famous psychologist and specialist in metapsychic that was William James too, thought also, that we are as islands in the middle of the sea or trees in the forest. Maples and pine trees can communicate to themselves their murmurs with sheets, and Conanicut just like Newport can hear each one the warning horn of the other. But the trees also intermingle their roots in darkness of the ground, and the islands join through the ocean floor. In the same way, there exists a cosmic continuity of awareness against which our individuality raises only accidental barriers, and where our minds are plunged as in a mother water or a tank.

Besides we find the same thing in nature. The blade of grass is as well connected with the ground as with water, or the sun.

A whole part of the human experience, that which is called “mystical experiment “ goes in this direction. The “samadhi “ of Hindu, the “nirvana “of Buddhist, have the same characteristic: both feel an extraordinary widening of their awareness, which seems to be spread through all the universe and to have no longer a limit. The notions of time and space disappear, the ecstatic one has a feeling to embrace the whole universe at a glance.

According to Tennyson, such an extinction of the personality (if we may thus define this state) did not seem an extinction of the being, but the true one and single real existence.

This extraordinary widening is not a specifically religious experiment. Poets, writers, musicians, felt it and witnessed about it.

It is interesting to compare with these accounts of literary men and artists (awenyddion of Wales precisely) that of Vincent Turvey; who thought that we all more or less take part in an ocean of universal awareness; and that each “swirl “in this ocean where we all are immersed can sometimes, consciously or unconsciously,to come into contact or to even mix with the other “swirls “similar to it. In support of what he maintained , he stated to have had the proof of the reality of such a condition of the human being. He had lost any feeling of the individuality of his self, and not only felt to be a “swirl “in the Big ocean of the Universal Awareness; but still he felt that he was all the other different “swirls “ (or human individualities) past, present and future, having existed or still existing, in this psychic ocean.

By commenting on such phenomena (which we would call today “vortex “instead of “swirls “) Ernesto Bozzano; who quoted several of them in his study entitled “fenomeni metapsichi curiosi e interessanti

“; pointed out that they are not incompatible with the assertion of the psychic individuality. Just as the cells of our body preserve their individuality of alive and sensitive cells completely, within the organism they constitute jointly.

THE TRIAD BODY-SOUL-MIND.

Henry Lizeray, of course, looked into the Pharsalia by Lucan or more exactly on the comments brought to some lines of verse of the Pharsalia. In particular in the form of an imaginary dialog published in 1881 (in Paris, under the title love’s dialog).

We quote it for the record because let us not forget that it is a comment of comment. To therefore use with greatest caution. Sun and planets are only states of being . The only thing which seems checked it is that there is no hell.

MARCEL.

O Louise, we conceal in us a soul, captive of the body .....

LOUISE. ….

You did not accustom me to such a language: you claimed to be atheistic.

MARCEL.

Yes, I am atheistic, I do not believe in God. But there is a difference between accepting a being not proven and accepting the continuation of a recognized existence. Until now, I doubted the immortality of the soul, and….

Those who are afraid of death frighten of a vain phantom; because what is remains eternally and cannot perish. Man’s personality is immortal.

LOUISE.

But do the animals also have a soul?

...............

The earthly organism passed by all the forms of the alive series. The being was initially vegetable, then animal. This superb hair which crowns the head of the man is perhaps what remains to him of his vegetable life. There is therefore in the man some plant and some, but there is also another thing. All that is organic in him perishes, the intelligence, which is own for him, survives.

LOUISE.

From which therefore does the soul come and which is its destiny after death?

MARCEL.

When leaving the body, according to whether it were more or less purified, it approaches or moves away from the luminous center. The souls weighed down by avarice fall into Saturn; those cooled by hubris, into Jupiter; those hardened by anger, into Mars. Our earth seems to be the place of stay of the Labor. The souls heated up by love rise to Venus, those enlightened by science go up into Mercury. Lastly, the righteous persons reach the Sun, center of our world, where every truth is revealed to them.

Our comment. Our old teacher Henry Lizeray was wrong to want to popularize a little too much. The question is more complex. Here what we can say considering the average general evolution of the intellectual level of Mankind apart in lands of false Islam *, of course, because, as we will show it, this generalized Islamization in the bad sense of the term, of minds ** formed an undeniable regression for human species.

What passes in the next world after the death of the body and its resurrection in a parallel universe of heavenly type, it is not the soul but the complex “soul-mind “.

* An Islam which is not yours, of course, dear reader, but that of the set QUR.HAD.SIR. and SHAR.FIQ.MAD. I do not speak here about the civilization progress due to the increased and accelerated circulation of sciences and technology between the Far East and the fallen into barbarity Far West (Indian zero Chinese silk, paper, translation of the Greek authors and so on).

** We are in no way targeting here Mu’tazilism, Sufism or even sincere ijtihadism or other movements of this type.

Druidism has a design of the human being: the triad body soul mind.

The man (gdonios) is composed of three quite distinct elements.

Kicos (the body, the physical): the object of scientific studies.

Anamone (soul): out of reach of the scientific observation.

And an interface between both called menman (mind/awareness): an object of studies by social sciences.

We conventionally affix a label or a name on the combination of body soul and mind. We say: “This is a human being “ and we call this combination John, Peter, Irenaeus, Paul, Jack… or Muhammad.

If we wonder, “who am I? “ We can find an “I “separate of our body, of our brain. But if we look further into our research, we will not find independent, ultimate, identity. As one day a famous nutritionist said it (in fact a sociologist, Claude Fischler), we become what we eat. The narrow interdependence of body soul and mind is a fact recognized for a long time. Doesn't one speak about psychosomatic diseases?

This state of things is not just the nothingness. The things depend simply the ones on the others: there do not exist therefore, entities independent in oneself.

The phenomena exist well, unlike what Buddhism maintains. I am there, it is not a dream, it is not an illusion. It is something real. If I grip myself, I feel pain because there is a body, there are fingers and a thumb. It functions, it is a reality, a fact. Something exists. But we cannot isolate it within the framework of an ultimate analysis. IN A WAY, nothingness and interdependence of the things are the flip sides of the same coin.

Since there is a feeling, an experiment, since in reality there is a production of experiments, negative or positive, to this assembly of multiple factors, we give names.

But there is, beyond the field where the scientific investigations can penetrate, another field, infinitely wider, which is not accessible for us. We are condemned to be unaware scientifically speaking of the primary origin and of the ultimate destiny of the beings, the intimate nature of the soul of the universe, the essence of the first principle from which they emanate; it is ignorance to which the men never resigned themselves, and to which there is any appearance that they never resign themselves. To these questions the human mind is constrained to raise, druidic metaphysics provides answers.

Druidism is at the same time a religion and a philosophy, or a philosophy and a religion.

A science, which wants to be, another thing that a philosophical theory of the religion, that a rational explanation of the rise, in the human soul, of the feeling of the divine one, and of the faith in a generating principle of the universe and of the Man; as well as a critical examination of the objective value of this faith and of this feeling; is necessarily a philosophy or a theology.

It is difficult and delicate to have a coherent idea, complete, of Man, of mankind, of their advance and of what they approach, without a long reflection. It is the work of a whole life in the search of “the Truth, “ between Darkness, Shadow and Light…

Ignorance is the enemy, and it is not for nothing that ancient druids as emphasized the knowledge of the truths. The ignorance (which is a disturbing mental factor) and the illusions it causes, lead human beings to greed, to their desire to have more than others, to the attachment or to the hatred felt for others, even for one thing or another. The consequence is that the people of this world wich is yet ours, so blinded they are by their passions, make it a land filled with myriad ills , where possibly in fact, a large plain made of many delights (Mag Meld) could stretch . This plain joy is not a distant world, whether in space or time, it is a parallel universe at our fingertips, a fruit waiting to be picked (still this little side optimistic of the druidism) .

That is particularly true in policy. Ignorance, lack of reflection or of functioning of the intelligence, including and especially on behalf of men or women of which it is supposed being the trade, as well as selfishness, are the three main explanations of many votes. The incredible debate; dripping with thick hatred or with sordid selfishness, leant to a terrifying stupidity giving an idea of infinite (lack of hindsight, of profoundness, of general knowledge, of reflection, of relations between the things or on the contrary of relevance); caused by the reform of our health system is the proof of it. And yet nobody disputes it functions very badly! “Christ stopped at Eboli “ because apparently there are many baptized or churchy persons , of all genders, who never heard of the parable known as of the good Samaritan* , it did not arrive yet to their knowledge.

Frustrations and sufferings always leave this research of the pleasure at all costs, of the badly controlled desires and fears: as many sources which feed in their turn covetousness, jealousy, hatred and mistake. But from what this permanent dissatisfaction, characteristic of our species, always involves much agitation, the druidism does not conclude from it therefore, like Buddhism, it is necessary to stop every activity. We should not withdraw ourselves from the world but change the world! The true stop we must obtain, in order to put an end to this permanent dissatisfaction, is that of the formation of useless or parasite mental constructions encumbering our brains but which go back to another age, of fifty years ago. Of fifty years ago or more! Cf. the religious alienations that Judaism Christianity and Islam are** . It is not for nothing that McCarthyism was compared with a witch hunt. However in Salem, there was not innocent persons condemned with culprits, but only innocent ones executed.

Any act that adds to our fear, our vain mental constructions, should therefore be avoided. But the actions in themselves do not have to be systematically avoided, because it is possible to direct in the good sense the necessary or inevitable activity. In short, think positive is always needed in fact, and this favorable or beneficial orientation is obtained by the practice of certain virtues, it is true from now on completely unfamiliar to the modern political world, where the lie became like a second nature. Just like personal enrichment. The people in the Middle Ages had lords to feed, today we have our politickers in Washington London, Paris…. To be in politics became one of the last means of growing rich, with the high finance.

* Which is yet ontologically speaking (it is in the sacred texts of the Christians) that most differentiates Christianity from Islam. Its moral superiority somehow (with also the parable of the adulterous woman, morally unsurpassable!)

** About the perverse effect of organized crowds (the transmission from generation to generation of believers, of a religious ideology or hypersensitivity, conditioned like the famous Pavlov's dog, see the work of Gustave Le Bon. Individually, they are Muslim or Jewish or Christians, possibly fair men, fine and educated taken collectively and in communities united by religion, these individuals regress to the stage of the crudest of them.

CLARIFICATIONS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND

THE PREVIOUS DOCUMENT.

ANAMONE (Sanskrit atman, Latin anima).

Divine spark detached from the universal soul to move the gdonios. The anamone is the spiritual dimension of the gdonios. This soul of all the human beings is single, but comes from a kind of universal psychic reservoir called awenyddio. On each birth this universal soul is divided into a myriad of roots and sparks. The whole will come back ENRICHED to its source “in fine “.

MENMAN. Interface between the pure soul and the body, object of studies by social sciences. The individual mind or menman, is what structures and makes the world understandable. The notion of mind is rather to connect to that of awareness, or intellectual dimension, but also of emotional dimension.

ANAON. What survives after death, which passes in another world after death, it is not only the soul but the duo the couple or the team: “soul + mind “. The anaon, it is the soul and the mind, the anamone and the menman.

In the West the immortality or the almost immortality of the soul (absent from the Old Testament, evoked especially regarding the hell in the new one) is a druidic contribution.

We write almost immortality to mean that it survives the death of the body. But the soul/mind which is again embodied in the parallel other world of paradisiac nature, that our traditions evoke, will have too, a progressive end, in the course of their rise in the skies.

The soul/mind has various aspects which grow with the body, but the improvement of the soul does not take place only in this world. The soul can continue to be perfected after death, in a spiritual world released from suffering.

One of the first tasks of the former druids was to think of the relationship being able to exist between the individual souls and the hereafter. They taught many things on this subject.

According to certain Schools, there was a coincidence between the world of the soul/minds and that of the god-or-demons. The soul/mind of a deceased person can be compared with a kind of god-or-demon. According to the level reached by the departed in this world, his soul/mind reaches a more or less high category of the god-or-demons.

Other Schools thought more of a juxtaposition of the two worlds (that of the soul/minds and that of the god-or-demon) than of a coincidence.

As we could see it, the kingdom of the dead according to the druids; Mag Meld but also Tir na mBan, Tir Na mBéo, Tir Tairngiri, Tir na nOg, Magh Ionganaidh, Magh Ildathach, Magh Imchiunn, Magh Argetnel, Magh Findargat, Magh Aircthech, Sen Magh, Caer Wydion, Lly' s Don , Caer Arianrhod or Gwynfa (in Wales). Vindobitos or Vindomagos… although being never in any way strictly identical to that of the god-or-demons (sedodumnon), shared nevertheless with it many characteristics, since the kingdom of the dead and the kingdom of the god-or-demons was part of the same luminous world: Albiobitos.

It was a heaven conceived as an ultimate stage of purification of the soul in the joy and happiness before the big universal purification through fire and water. “The hearts and the universe are indestructible, but one day only fire and water will reign “Souls and also the universe, are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them “. (Strabo. Book IV, 4 to 6).

In the true druidism and unlike the remarks somewhat heretics of the neo-druid Allan Kardec, we believe in any way in a release of the Man from his corporeity, but in and with his [IDEALIZED] corporeity. For the druids the Man [the Gdonios] finds his achievement after death in a transformed corporeity, transfigured (bellissamos bellisama), but still very concrete. Very physical. Very bodily. From where Celtic descriptions of the joys of the Hereafter the Kingdom of the dead (of the Vindomagos): plenty of food, drinks, and women. It is not for nothing that the druidic hereafter was also sometimes called Tir na mBân [Land of the women, following the example of Dahud in the famous Armorican city of Ys for example] by the Irishmen.

“This Celtic heaven, which was Christianized but which is not Christian, is strangely similar to that of Islam “. We are there opposite Christian design of the Heaven. See the lugubrious descriptions of

Thomas Aquinas in the Supplementum of his Summa: the men do not drink nor do not eat. They are satisfied, in the absence of any flora, any fauna and even any metal, with the only vision of God or the Demiurge and their own aspect, glorious; it is true. The rebirth after death in this hereafter already named Vindomagos , makes the common man himself to get ready peacefully to his final return into the Pariollon, through metamorphic melting with it and in it. And therefore in the final analysis to vanish too in God also at the end of a time remaining to determine. At the end of a variable time and in final analysis, because before it will be necessary for him to pass through an intermediate metaphysical stage intended to complete the purification of his soul. A kind of purgatory, but of merry purgatory, called Mag Meld or Vindomagos. The druidic kingdom of the dead is indeed a land of happiness, peace, without fear, suffering, selfishness, passion; where the believers (because it is obviously at least necessary to believe in it to reach it) can complete purifying himself, without obstacles and freed from all karmic residual bran.

Druidism usually describes the joys of this Hereafter of the Kingdom of the dead or Vindomagos, in psychocorporeal words . The vision of the divine one constitutes there, of course, indeed the height of this achievement, but what waits there the believer is not only a beatific vision as in the case of the famous island described by Plutarch. Druidism never shared the Judeo-Islamic-Christian or Greek (Platonician) dualism opposing the soul to the body or the physical world. In druidism, people really don’t believe in a separation of the soul from the body in the strictest sense of the term, after death. Druidism does not believe in a soul completely independent of our body functions, which would be released, in death, from the prison of her body. Druidism is neither Platonic nor Neoplatonic. What it affirms only it is that the soul does not die with the body, but that it can on the contrary live much longer, much longer, in a Herefater the Death called Mag Meld, Vindomagos, etc. If Germanic Walhalla is especially a heaven of the warrior, the Celtic Kingdom of the Dead itself , is a haven of peace, delights and pleasure (Mag Meld) FOR EVERYBODY. And the soul/minds of one or others, whether they are warriors, but also druids or craftsmen, or others (see remark higher), enjoy there a state of almost eternal of heavenly joy and euphoria, before their melting in the end of this world. There is no longer class, therefore, nor warriors, except when they play, and naturally no longer druids, since all the inhabitants of this other world come to a very high level of wisdom. In fact, it is the third function which is glorified or which includes both others by exceeding them. There, to take over a poet’s expression , all is luxury , peace and even pleasure, because the erotic aspect is far from being missing in these evocations of the Celtic heaven. We may add abundance to it. The cauldron of Suqellus = Dagda = Gurgunt i.e., the Grail, is there the container of all the wealth, and the more we draw from it, the more it is full. This ultimate stage of the travel of the soul makes it possible to eliminate the last obstacles being on its way (the mind or menman), and therefore makes salvation also accessible to the great mass of the people; unable to put themselves, even somewhat, in sitting back and waiting as for the world, to devote themselves to the meditation or to the necessary psychosomatic exercises. This kingdom of the dead according to the druids, although being by no means identical to that of the god-or-demons, shared nevertheless with it many characteristics, since the kingdom of the dead and the kingdom of the god-or-demons were part of the same luminous world, Vindobitus; as we have just seen it.

Let us point out the main features besides that this Celtic kingdom of the dead (Vindomagos), shares the world of the god-or-demons.

- A marvelous music. - The absence of any function or any human hierarchical order. - The consumption of succulent and inexhaustible dishes. - The absorption of intoxicating drinks, ale, mead, wine. - The abolition of time and space. - The disappearance of any fault as well as any disease.

This participation of human beings in the immortal life of the god-or-demons does not appear, moreover, we repeat it once again, as the reward of an earthly life filled of good works.

The notion of a fault must be alien to Man. HE DID NOT COMMIT FAULT!

Man is guilty of nothing!

He does not need redemption!

He deserves the heaven whatever his function, i.e., if he has at least a soul and if he believes in it.

By prayer, people can nevertheless help the soul/mind of the deceased person so that he can put up his residence in the heaven (its different levels). Conversely, the soul/mind of the soul person can help the living in certain difficult circumstances, by advising him in a dream or a vision, for example. It is the principle of the worship of ancestors so well preserved in Black Africa that it became exemplary about this subject, and of the festival of Samon-ios.

Strangely enough, we also find this idea of the communion of the living and the dead kept in Buddhism. Particular in its design of buddhakshetra or land of the Buddha named Amitabha, described in some great sutras of the Mahayana. Best known example of a kind of Buddhist Mag Meld or Vindo Magos is Sukhavati; the “joyful land “or the “land of bliss “ located it is said to us , very far towards the west. The texts report that all is very beautiful there. We have of it long descriptions in certain texts. Without going into the details, Sukhavati, the joyful land, the land of the happiness, of the Buddha known under the name of Amitabha, is described especially in terms of light, flowers, music and perfume. We can find more details in the three sutras of the “pure land “. The Buddha Amitabha, surrounded by his two main Bodhisattvas, sitting on a splendid throne. The beings are born into Sukhavati - as in the other pure lands - through appearance, i.e., not as resulting from a sexual intercourse. There they discover the Buddha and his Bodhisattvas, Mahasthamaprapta and Avalokitesvara, in front of them; and they have nothing else to do only listen to the lesson of Amitabha, nothing else to do only growing, nothing else to do only developing.

In short, Pure Land; such as it is taught particularly by the Schools of Japanese Buddhism, it is a dimension of existence; where there is neither pain, neither suffering, neither misery, neither separation, neither mourning, nor loss of any kind. As would say Adamnan (in the end of the Fis Adamnain) it is a world where there is neither old age, neither disease, nor death. It is a universe of perfect peace where there is neither conflict, nor war, neither battles, nor even any lack of understanding (the perfection and happiness go there up to that point!) These great sutras of Mahayana also say to us that the Pure Land, or Land of joy, is a dimension where there is no distinction of gender, and where nobody needs to work. Food and clothing appear themselves, each time we need them.

By the way, let us note that the word for land of Buddha in Sanskrit is “Buddha-ksetra “; “ksetra “means field, like magos in Old Celtic language.

Finally, let us note that after death, what is again embodied in the Heaven in the case of the individual eschatology, it is the soul itself (anamone), but also the personalized mind (menman) which accompanies it; and that once arrived in this parallel next world, the soul gets rid little by little of its personalized mind (individual erdathe).

The reintegration into the Big Whole is the higher goal of the Gdonios (of the Man). The identification of the individual soul (anamone) with the universal psychic tank called awenyddio, has as a result to release the individual from the attachments and from the desires due to ignorance.

The Man who wants to come back into the Big Whole (symbolized by the magic cauldron called Pariollon) should not commit irrevocable acts and observe at the least ethics of “reda“ type.

“ Reverence the gods, to abstain from wrongdoing, and to be a man, a true one “. Lives and opinions of eminent philosophers. Book I, Prolog 6 (Diogenes Laertius).

No wrongdoing implies not to lie, not to refuse one’s hospitality to whom needs it, and so on (ethics of reda type).

That makes it possible to be again embodied in a status where it will be possible to complete purifying one’s soul.

To succeed in reintegrating the Big Whole; i.e.in the total blossoming of the soul which makes its erdathe (last form or phase of instantaneous blossoming called moksha or enlightening by a little deviating, Indo-Buddhists, druids); a normal life is therefore sufficient.

What is certain in any case it is that one of the Latin glosses brought to the line of verse 457 of the text of Lucan specifies that the life after death would be quasi semper (and not semper). Below the Latin text in question.

Supplementum adnotationum super lucanum. Line of verse 457. Si media mors longae vitae est cognita, ut vos canitis. Quia dicebant se postmortem alia membra sumpturos, quasi semper viverent et mors nihil aliud erat nisi quod ab una vita in alteram ducebat. Ideo ait: si verum dicitis, mors nihil aliud est nisi medium aliquid longae vitae.

anything else the fact of passing from a life in another. In other words, if what they say is true, death is nothing but the middle of a long life.

We can only draw from it the following conclusion: ancient druids believed neither in the existence of hell (disputant animas ad inferos non ire , sed in alio orbe nasci) nor even in eternity of the life of the soul/minds of the deceased persons after death, but only in an almost eternity or very long life (of the soul/minds of the deceased persons). Until the end of the cosmic cycle in progress therefore, and not for eternity. What is coherent with the belief in a cyclic and nonlinear history………….

ON INDIVIDUAL SOUL AND MIND.

(ANAMONE AND ANAON).

Former druidism uses the words anamone and anaon (neutral names to designate the element which survives the death of the body) and new druidism the word soul, since it was accepted by the modern use. It is therefore the INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SOUL (personified by the beautiful and unhappy Etanna/Etain, torn between the other world and this one, in Ireland: Altrom Tige Da Medar).

Anamone and anaon were nevertheless two words not refering completely the same reality. The anaon it was more precisely the team of the soul (anamone) and of the mind (menman). Our time confuses everything!

All the anamones proceed from the awenyddia or universal soul, and are as many and varied as are the bodies in which they are embodied.

An individual soul considered as being emanated from the Divine Big Whole, and intended to be there reabsorbed after one or more “lives “ primarily in the next world, very exceptionally again on the earth.

The individual soul (anamone) is, in its essence, identical to the soul of the world. The individual human soul is only a tear of fire from the universal soul, a detached piece of the big reserve of soul that of some people call the psychic pleroma (the awenyddio). But the anamone is only the limited reflection of it, because taking as support the body and the mind. The anamone, as for its base, is connected to a body and to a certain psychic equipment.

It is therefore necessary to grant to the soul, according to the high-knowers, a certain reality, independent of the body and of the mind (of the awareness and of the intelligence). But which reality in this case?

And besides what do we understand precisely by “individual soul “? The respiratory breath, the vital principle which may reincarnate in another support after bodily death? Anatla (plural anatlai) is the (female) name given by the Celts to the vital breath called prana in Sanskrit. Until the Middle Ages often represented by a bird (a lark or a dove leaving the mouth of the dying people). Or then a piece of a creative divine breath? May we define the ontological truth of the embryo and to know, with certainty, when a human person appears? Such are the “inescapable “ fundamental questions, which are in the middle of the present debate and of our view even of the human being. To these interrogations, the answers provided by the religions prove to be often different from the medical conceptions; that they are oldest, these of Indian medicine or of the treatises on the embryo in the Hippocratic Collection; or the most recent research like these of Jung. Because what tells us Jung about the soul?

The ethnological and historical conceptions of the soul show clearly that it is initially a content pertaining to the subject, but also to the world of the spirits, the unconscious. This is why the soul always has something of earthly and supernatural at the same time (Psychological Types). The soul is a traveler between two worlds: the subject but also the world of the spirits, the earthly one and the supernatural one, the ego and the Self… The soul, for Jung, rests in the female one of the being. Let the man integrate his anima, and his soul gradually appears. Let the woman - thanks to the integration of her animus - recognize the inner female one of which she is the agent in her depths, and her soul takes shape… In a way , the soul is the female face of God… Because the soul is female as each one knows or at least would have to know it, especially since the famous memoirs by Hadrian of Marguerite Yourcenar (vagula blandula Anima).

The least we can say is that various theses clash on this subject.

We may, first of all, obviously think that the soul does not exist! For the atheistic materialists, there exists only the very complex phenomenon of the awareness and of the mental one. This thesis should not be lightly dismissed, but since it was not the thesis of the majority of the ancient druidic Schools, apparently, we will therefore detail rather the opposite principle: soul exists.

Two alternatives arise then at once.

The first alternative: the soul is only a pure non-matter, neutral and impersonal or it is only subjective and individual awareness (in other words an “I “or an “ego “). In short a mind.

The second alternative: the soul is mortal or it is immortal, in the strict sense of the word (it has an origin, but it will not have an end).

As of the conception of a human being, the cosmos as a whole produces or reacts to the vital energy which livens up the new being, because all is “tied“, physical world and spiritual world. The soul is the spiritual entity (the knot of waves…) which underlies this new living matter. It is a spiritual manifestation made autonomous in the tangible world through its incarnation, it is carrying a tear of fire resulting from the Divine one. It traverses the matter, thanks to the physical body, which brings back it “in fine “to the Divine one, after having made the concrete and total experiment of the perceptible world.

In Ireland, as we could see it, the anaon or team of the human soul and mind was symbolized, even personified, by the entity called in the legends, Etanna or Etain. But on the continent this myth of the human soul torn between the world of the god-or-demons and that of the men was especially associated with amber.

As of Antiquity, some electric phenomena had indeed intrigued the former druids. By rubbing a piece of amber, people were then able to draw bird feathers and as amber seems to preserve within it plants as well as animals, it had been combined by the druids with eternal youth. The interpretation of this phenomenon by the druids, of course, today is a complete old hat.

The position of true druids was always nuanced or reflective, as their myth in connection with the origins of the soul proves it.

The soul (anamone or anaon in Breton language ) was for them simply the divine spark or the share of divinity (tears of the sun) which resides in each being populating the earth, and maintains it in life. Every living being was endowed with a soul/mind, it belongs to the mineral kingdom (a mountain, a river, a plain, a farmed or not, place, an ocean) vegetable (a forest, a tree; a flower), animal, or human. As regards the vegetable or animal kingdom, it was perhaps to be a deduction drawn from the fact that amber often contains, in a fossil state, vegetable remains, even whole insects.

This important druidic religious concept left traces in the Greek writers.

Diodorus of Sicily. Library of History. Book V, XXIII. “ But as regards the tin of Britain we shall rest content with what has been said, and we shall now discuss the electron, as it is called [amber]. Directly opposite the part of Scythia which lies above Galatia there is an island out in the open sea which is called Basileia (Abalus in Pytheas). On this island the waves of the sea cast up great quantities of what is known as amber (glaeson in Celtic language), which is to be seen nowhere else in the inhabited world; and about it many of the ancient writers have composed fanciful tales, such as are altogether difficult to credit and have been refuted by later events. For many poets and historians give the story that Phaëthon, the son of Helius, while yet a youth, persuaded his father to retire in his favor from his four-horse chariot for a single day; and when Helius yielded to the request Phaëthon, as he drove the chariot, was unable to keep control of the reins, and the horses, making light of the youth, left their accustomed course; and first they turned aside to traverse the heavens, setting it afire and creating what is now called the Milky Way, and after that they brought the scorching rays to many parts of the inhabited earth and burnt up not a little land. Consequently Zeus, being indignant because of what had happened, smote Phaëthon with a thunderbolt and brought back the sun to its accustomed course. And Phaëthon fell to the earth at the mouths of the river which is now known as the Padus [Po], but in ancient times was called the Eridanus, and his sisters vied with each other in bewailing his death and by reason of their exceeding grief underwent a metamorphosis of their nature, becoming poplar trees. And these poplars, at the same season each year, drip tears, and these, when they harden, form what men call amber, which in brilliance excels all else of the same nature and is commonly used in connection with the mourning attending the death of the young. But since the creators of this fictitious tale have one and all erred, and have been refuted by what has transpired at later times, we must give ear to the accounts which are truthful; for the fact is that amber is gathered on the island we have mentioned and is brought by the natives to the opposite continent, and that it is conveyed through the continent to the regions known to us, as we have stated “.

The remark of Diodorus of Sicily: “which is commonly used in connection with the mourning attending the death of the young “is interesting and can put to us on the trail. It indeed shows us an amber solar symbol, incontestably related to the beginning of the soul/mind towards other worlds after death, and combining the soul/mind of the deceased persons with the sun. As for the Heliades or daughters of the sun, it has to be undoubtedly guardian of sacred fires vestals, dependent on an unspecified solar worship (a little like in the case of saint Brigit). Or then of a lack of understanding on behalf of the Greeks about the Celtic notion of fairies of the trees (Matronae dervonae for example).

In other words, the soul, since it is of divine origin and nature, will tend to recover the divinity which is latent in it during its earthly stay. The tears symbolize this nostalgia and the subtle chain which still links it to the next world.

Amber therefore always represented the psychic thread connecting individual energy to cosmic energy, the individual soul to the universal soul. It symbolizes the solar, spiritual and divine attraction.

This druidic symbol was intended to make comprehensible for the people the true nature of the souls coming to be incarnated on earth. Starting from a former state that the druids brought closer to the phenomenon of the atmospheric or static electricity; since the Greek word therefore meaning amber (elektron) ultimately refers us to this characteristic (rubbed one against the other, the pieces of amber produce electricity indeed).

N.B. Other ancient authors also evoked these legends concerning the glaeson (amber).

Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautika IV, 611.

“ And far on sped Argo under sail, and entered deep into the stream of Eridanus; where once, smitten on the breast by the blazing bolt, Phaethon half-consumed fell from the chariot of Helios into the opening of that deep lake; and even now it belches up heavy steam clouds from the smoldering wound. And no bird spreading its light wings can cross that water; but in mid-course it plunges into the flame, fluttering. And all around the maidens, the daughters of the sun 1), enclosed in tall poplars, wretchedly wail a piteous plaint; and from their eyes they shed on the ground bright drops of amber. These are dried by the sun upon the sand; but whenever the waters of the dark lake flow over the strand before the blast of the wailing wind, then they roll on in a mass into Eridanus with swelling tide. No desire for food or drink seized the heroes nor were their thoughts turned to joy. But they were sorely afflicted all day, heavy and faint at heart, with the noisome stench, hard to endure, which the streams of Eridanus sent forth from Phaethon still burning; and at night they heard the piercing lament of the daughters of the sun, wailing with shrill voice; and, as they lamented, their tears were borne on the water like drops of oil. Thence they entered the deep stream of Rhodanus which flows into Eridanus; and where they meet there is a roar of mingling waters. Now that river, rising from the ends of the earth, where the portals and mansions of Night are, on one side bursts forth upon the beach of Ocean, at another pours into the Ionian sea, and on the third through seven mouths sends its stream to the Sardinian sea 2 ) and its limitless bay. And from Rhodanus they entered stormy lakes, which spread throughout the Celtic mainland of wondrous size; and there they would have met with an inglorious calamity; for a certain branch of the river was bearing them towards a gulf of Ocean which in ignorance they were about to enter, and never would they have returned from there in safety. But Juno leaping forth from heaven pealed her cry from the Hercynian rock 3); and all together were shaken with fear of her cry; for terribly crashed the mighty firmament. And backward they turned by reason of the goddess, and noted the path by which their return was ordained. And after a long while, they came to the beach of the surging sea by the devising of Hera, passing unharmed through countless tribes of the Celts and Ligyans. For round them the goddess poured a dread mist day by day as they fared on. And so, sailing through the midmost mouth, they reached the Stoechades islands in safety by the aid of the Dioscuri; wherefore altars and sacred rites are established in their honor for ever; and not that seafaring alone did they attend to succor but Zeus granted to them the ships of future sailors too“.

Scholia on a manuscript of Appolonius Rhodius, Argonautika IV 611.

The Celts have attached this story to them that these are the tears of Apollo, being in wrath concerning the death his son Asclepius whom the nymph Coronis bare in Larissa 4) at the mouth of Amyrus when he came to the sacred race of the Hyperboreans 5) and left Olympus at the chiding of his father.

Scymnus of Chios (or another Greek author).

The Eriadnus, which carries the most beautiful amber, which they say is petrified tears, the translucent weeping of black poplars. For they say that it was there that Phaeton was struck down by the thunderbolt. For this reason, the entire multitude of the inhabitants is clad in black and wears the garb of mourning.

Dionysius Periegetes . Description of the inhabited world. Lines of verses 288-301 (in connection with Eridan River). On its banks formerly, lonesome in the night, the Heliads by crying deplored the death of Phaeton; here children of the Celts, in the shade of the poplars,collect the amber tears whose glare is similar to that of gold.

Commentary by Eustathius on the lines of verses 288-301. “This sentence of Dionysius Periegetes means that they collect the amber… which, because of its golden glare, is considered to be tears of the Heliads, because gold is the metal devoted to the Sun“.

The mythological and unhistorical character of all these accounts is obvious. What Lucian of Samosata says about them proves it (swans and amber).

You have no doubt a proper faith in the amber legend — how it is the tears shed by poplars on the Eridanus for Phaethon, the said poplars being his sisters, who were changed to trees in the course of their mourning, and continue to distill their lacrimal amber.

Sure enough, I found myself there not long ago upon another errand, and had occasion to go up the Eridanus; but, though I was all eyes, I saw neither poplars nor amber, and the natives had not so much as heard of Phaethon. I started my inquiries by asking when we should come to the amber poplars; the boatmen only laughed….

‘What liar took you in like that, sir?’ they said; ‘we never saw a coachman spilt; and where are the poplars? Why, do you suppose, if it was true, we would row or tow upstream for sixpences? We should only have to collect poplar tears to be rich men.’

This truth impressed me a good deal; I said no more, and was painfully conscious of my childishness in trusting the poets; they deal in such extravagant fictions, they come to scorn sober fact. Here was one hope gone; I had set my heart upon it, and was as much chagrined as if I had dropped the amber out of my hands; I had had all my plans ready for the various uses to which it was to be put.

However, there was one thing I still thought I really should find there, and that was flocks of swans singing on the banks. We were still on the way up, and I applied to the boatmen again: ‘About what time do the swans take post for their famous musical entertainment?— Apollo’s fellow craftsmen, you know, who were changed here from men to birds, and still sing in memory of their ancient art.’

But they only jeered at me: ‘Are you going to lie all day about our country and our river, pray? We are always on the water; we have worked all our lives on the Eridanus; well, we do see a swan now and again in the marshes; and a harsh feeble croak their note is; crows or jackdaws are sirens to them; as for sweet singing such as you tell of, not a ghost of it. We cannot make out where you folk get all these tales about us.’

Once again, let us repeat it: they are druidic myths spread then distorted by the Greek travelers. The ones about the birds of the next world (swans) which, indeed, in the Celtic tradition, are always presented as having a captivating and melodious song, the others about nature or origin of the soul (amber).

As Strabo himself saw it very well (Geography. Book V, I, 9) we must disregard most of the mythical or false stories, as, for example, the stories of Phaethon, and of the Heliades that were changed into poplar trees near the Eridanus (the Eridanus that exists nowhere on earth, although it is spoken of as near the Padus), and of the Electrides Islands that lie off the Padus, and of the guinea fowls on them….FOR NOT ONE OF THESES THINGS IS IN THAT REGION, EITHER.

There exists nothing like that (poplars giving amber, etc.) in the plain of the Padus River, and Phaethon was never crushed with his chariot at this place. It can be consequently only a Celtic myth worked out in the producing areas of glaeson (of amber), the Electrides islands precisely, and in particular the island located in the north of Europe called Basileia (or Abalus); in order to develop this

product to the foreigners; then arrived to the plain of the Po River. Come then to the knowledge of the Greeks with the aforementioned amber called elektron, in a form especially worked out for them or the other foreigners potential buyers, by the druids.

But the remark of Diodorus of Sicily: “ which is commonly used in connection with the mourning attending the death of the young “ is nevertheless very clear in this respect. As we said it, it shows us an amber (solar symbol) combined with the departure of the soul/mind towards other worlds after death, and connecting the soul/mind of the departed with the sun. Amber is the subtle bond existing between the individual soul and the universal soul, materializing thus in a way, the solar, spiritual and divine attraction. For the Phoenicians and the Etruscans (funerary rites with amber), it was also a symbol of eternal strength and life.

This “Éridan “ of the poets is perhaps the Elbe or the Oder River , because the myth in question is almost textually (with the exception of the proper names) identical to the Germanic myth of the glaesir plain; these amber banks where the recovery of this product amounted to several tens of tons per annum.

And the Apollo in question, it is, of course, the Celtic Abellio ruling over Abalus Island, Phaethon being the Greek name of his son. The image is clear. The tears of Abellio are changed into amber pearls, in other words, the sorrows and the sufferings of divine origin are changed into jewels for men.

1. Cf. inscriptions as Fatis or Matribus dervonibus [or caxsanibus] and the druidic notion of tree fairies.

2. The gulf of Lions. Apollonius considers here the Rhine, the Rhone and the Po, like three branches of the same river.

3. Black Forest?

4. Town of Thessaly, in Magnesia.

5. Jupiter having struck down the aforementioned Asclepius, which had found the secret to give back life to the dead, Apollo in angry killed the cyclops who had manufactured the lightning. Jupiter, to punish him, exiled him from Olympus during some time.

THE BRAN.

The interpretation of the notion of bran varies (in the strict sense of the term residue of cereals, in the figurative sense slag or overweight of the soul) according to the druidic Schools which use it.

A current meaning is fault or fate. But this meaning of the word is erroneous, because no situation is inescapable, and new causes can always modify the consequences of our last acts. To translate by “poetic justice “would be adapted more.

For certain Schools, only the intention is important. The bran we cause by acting, whether it is by the body, the word or the mind, is essentially favorable or unfavorable, positive or negative, according to the frame of mind which underlies the action. It is the only criterion. For example, if we give something to somebody in a selfless way, we cause positive bran. It is not the case, on the other hand, if we give because we expect for something in turn. The bran thus created can have consequences, in this world as in the other.

For other druidic Schools, the action is the only criterion to be taken into account, and the frame of mind underlying it does not come into play.

For others still, the actions involve consequences on the bran according to the intention or to the frame of mind in which the aforementioned actions are achieved, as in the first case. But we may, however, say that they have consequences only on the future life either in the other world, or exceptionally again in this world (after reincarnation for expiating one’s faults).

The word bran designates consequently the residue resulting from the action of cleaning, superior by definition, which is death. But it also designates obviously, and to begin with, well before this stage as we could see it, the psychic consequences of an act or of an absence of acts, regrettable.

It is also spoken about collective bran (of a group, of a nation): the future of this group depends on the last acts of its members.

For the druids the notion of bran means that any action (through body, word and mind, i.e., any act, any word and any thought), has a whole of causes and consequences. Nothing is due randomly or to a divine intervention, but to the interaction of multiple causes or factors, which most of the time escape to us. That is, of course, only valid in our usual world of here below. And the great soul/minds like the anatiomaroi or semnothei who went beyond the duality may take steps which are no longer subjected to the weight of this bran.

In short, the notion of “bran “insists on our responsibility, at any moment, and with regard to our acts, thoughts, words. We cause ourselves the causes of all what happens. Each act, thought or word, has a consequence. A positive act has positive consequences. A negative act generates negative consequences (even suffering).

*Some druidic Schools also insist on the fault which consists in acting unintelligently, without thinking of the foreseeable consequences of one’s actions. Case of much of the pseudo-intellectuals of this country and particularly of the media people or the politickers (it is the same social milieu besides). To act in an unwise way or stupidly, of the kind to give a fish instead of learning how to fish, weighs down of as much our soul of which the rocket will have thus more difficulty to reach the escape speed (it is a metaphor of course).

Let us approach now and in a few words, the case of those who,in a way, fail their individual erdathe (their return to the Big Whole through the various levels of the paradisiac parallel next world called Mag Meld). Because if everyone or almost is again embodied after death, in Mag Meld, there exists a negligible minority of individuals * for whom this process fails.

There is not, in the druidism, strictly speaking, remuneration of the acts, because there is no external distributive justice punishing the sins or rewarding the virtue. Therefore there would not be judgment there, because it is a metaphysical impossibility. Nature or God may not morally judge their children.

On the other hand, the acts respond to an ideation which leaves a trace in the psychic phenomena, which in their turn are a part of the composition of the core of a being. The traces of this kind form psychic constructions. These keep from their origin, i.e., from the acts, a power of activity which will become exhausted only through a slow process of purification.

The individual souls/consciences (anaon), overloaded with bran, do not go into the Heaven, but go into the non-world of the andumnon or anderodubnon. Or more exactly in one of the anterooms of the Heaven staged by various popular legends.

It is a state of the being and not a place. Or more exactly a state of the being used as provisional passage, and by no means eternal, for the souls having a little too overloaded themselves with carmic bran, during their earthly life of before. The personality (the mind) of the individual anamone, not representing a “self “with eternal existence, since it is intended to die out little by little in the hereafter , there would not be here eternal Heaven or Hell, for it.

In any event, druidism does not believe in the eternity of the individual souls. The human soul is only a tear of divine fire, resulting from the universal soul, awentia or awenyddia. What has a personality, although endowed with a shorter longevity, it is the mind and not the soul.

The bad luck which seems to weigh on certain people, as a punishment, is remained an enigma a long time. The primordial druids had therefore established the link between the ategeneto due to the bran accumulated at the time of a past life, and all these lacks of chance. This bad luck was then seen as the consequence of the bran accumulated in past lives. But the word bran designates in fact simply the psychic consequences of a regrettable act or absence of acts. The individual soul/minds or anaon, overloaded with bran, do not go to be again embodied in the paradisiac next world called Mag Meld, Vindo Magos or differently; but go in the non-world of the andumnon or anderodubnon (Donno Tegia or Tech Duinn, Annwn or Annwfn, etc.) And as nothing is eternal, this Hell itself is only a hard time …same thing besides among Hindus with their kingdom of Yama.

These soul/minds reincarnate after, on earth , in bacuceos or seibaros. But extremely rare * are the unhappy ones enough mentally ill persons or enough freak of nature to be pushed back here on earth , tormented in this antechamber of the heaven, before being subjected to the forgetfulness of their past life and rejected into new bodies. The amnesia of the original status of the soul/mind is a specifically druidic image in this field. By returning towards the Matter, the soul of the bacuceus forgets its previous identity. It is the spiritual death.

These souls too will escape nevertheless one day or the other their plight, either by succeeding in their individual erdathe at the time of a forthcoming death, or by taking advantage of a more general eschatology at the time of the end of this world. “The souls are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them“(Strabo IV, 4).

What is certain it is that one of the Latin glosses brought to the line of verse 457 of the text by Lucan specifies that the life after death would be quasi semper (and not semper). Below the Latin text in question.

If it is true that death is the middle of a long life, according to what you sing. Because they said that after death they would seize other members, that they would live almost eternally, and that death was anything else the fact of passing from a life in another. In other words, if what they say is true, death is nothing but the middle of a long life.

Our Buddhist friends think this reincarnation of the soul/minds can be done in one of the six following states: deity (deva), lower deity (asura), human, animal, greedy spirit, tormented spirits (in hell therefore) . Druidism itself considers only the case of the human reincarnations (moreover extremely rare and even exceptional) *.

Druidism is the means par excellence of releasing oneself from the need for reincarnating in bacuceos, but in the case of the bacuceos, it is not the pure soul which transmigrates from a body into a body, but let us say rather a continuum of awareness. A progressive process of training and individual achievement, in other words, the couple soul + mind (anamone + menman).

The term BACUCEOS, BACUCEA (reincarnated) was quoted in a Latinized form, in the plural accusative, by John Cassian (Conferences, 7,32,2) in the beginning of the 5th century.

Quos etiam Bacuceos vulgus appellat, ut semetipsos ultra proceritatem corporis erigentes, nunc quidem in quosdam fastus gestusque sustollerent, nunc velut acclines ad quemdam se tranquillitatis and affabilitatis statum communes blandosque submitterent, seseque velut illustres et circumspectabiles omnibus aestimantes, nunc quidem adorare se potestates sublimiores corporis inflexione monstrarent nunc vero ab aliis crederent adorari, et omnes motus quibus vera officia aut superbe aut humiliter peraguntur, explerent.

“ These are commonly called Bacucei so that they stretch themselves up beyond their proper height and at one time puff themselves up with arrogance and pomposity, and at another time condescend in an ordinary and bland manner, to a state of calmness and affability: and as they fancy that they are great people and the wonder of everybody, at one time show by bowing their body that they are worshipping higher powers, while at another time they think that they are worshipped by others, and so go through all those movements which express true service either proudly or humbly “.

The remarks of Cassien are rather vague, or rather they are very precise, but contradictory. Because if we understand them well, the bacuceos, that can be a little everything and anything (nice or full with arrogance, prostrate or excited, worshipper or worshipped, etc.).

We already have had the opportunity to say it, but considering the importance of the thing, it is not misplaced to repeat it.

The bacucei are like the prisoners or the possessed by a supra human entity remaining to be defined, inescapable consequence of the time and of the life which distributes, divides, or allocates (the soul/minds?)

The disorders and the behavioral problems described by Cassian, are the sign of the adjustment difficulties of the soul/minds to its new body, even fifteen years after (too small or too big body, etc.).

Some pseudo-druids, as there are some so much today, alas, being based on this account of Cassian (nostalgia of the fall, etc.) maintain it would be possible to remember one’s pas lives. But the isolated cases advanced to support this thesis always pose the problem of the checking.

Transmigration is not a punishment, but an occasion offered. Either to redeem oneself, by reincarnating as much time it is necessary, or to help weakest or most impregnated by the forces of the evil, to rise through the study and the prayer.

In fact, from a scientific point of view, it is as if the patient had a second personality.

Specialists define the disorder known as “of multiple personality “by the coexistence, in the same individual, of two or several states of distinct personalities. That they have their own memory, specific behavioral methods and their own way of social relation, or that they share part of these various behaviors. The two awarenesses fight the one against the other in the same field which is the body, and the soul is like divided. This type of disorder starts to settle as of childhood, but, generally, is noticed by the clinicians, only much later; they are besides almost always girls (60 to 90%).

The passage of a personality to another is generally abrupt (a few minutes). The transition is under the dependence of the relational context. The transitions can also occur when there is a conflict between the various personalities, or when these latter worked out a common plan. The personalities can be diametrically opposite in their characteristics, and be different even as for the psychological or physiological tests: they can require for example different corrective lenses, respond in a different way to the same treatment, and to have different intelligence quotients. Schizophrenia too can obviously lead to the same symptoms.

* Nebuchadnezzar, Hitler, Stalin, and some others. Although for certain thinkers of the Buddhist School of the pure land as Shiran (1173 – 1262), even the men as them can reincarnate in the next

world of paradisiac type, in order to finally take there and in the best conditions the lesson of the Buddha of the western pure land (zettai tariki et akunin shoki sets).

THE ANAMONE OR INDIVIDUAL SOUL.

To somewhat paraphrase the worthy mother of noibo Symphorian of Autun, we will say in Old Celtic: Nate, nate, mento beto ton anamon. My son, my son, do not forget your soul.

Let us begin, first of all, by reminding , as we already saw it higher, that, very often, the traditional thought, to think the being of the man, preferred, to the dyad body/soul, the triad body/mind/soul. The logic of three-in-one is indeed much more exhaustive than that of the duality.

The body, the mind, the soul. Physical, not physical, metaphysical. To do, think, create. Vital, mental, supermental. Subconscious, conscious, superconscious. The vital man, the mental man, the spiritual man. Bodily experiments,experiments of the mind, experiments of the soul. Desires of the body, desires of the mind, desires of the soul. Time of Nature, psychological time, timeless time.

The distinction between the matter and the soul was with great difficulty worked out by Greek philosophy. It was then incorporated in the Christian thought by St. Augustine, and the Greek Fathers. Then consecrated by the tradition, at the same time in Christian theology and philosophy.

Some philosophical traditions believe in the soul, but not really in the body: they see the soul as imprisoned in the body. Other traditions believe in the body, but not really in the soul. Among them, the hard-line materialism, the moderate materialists as well as the functionalist ones.

The hard-line materialism proclaims that the properties related to the soul can be explained in a physical way. Others prefer to retain a traditional view of the pure soul compared to the matter, but do not succeed, in their design of the union of the soul and of the body, to a perfect unity of both. And always finish on the idea of the body “in which “there is a soul.

As opposed to what think and say ( falsely?) many Christians, including French bishops (I still recently read it under the hand of His Eminence Di Falco), the soul is not a reality discovered by Christendom. Christianity based as far as possible its discourse , on pagan metaphysics, and natural philosophy.

We are individually distinct from each other, and yet we are all the same ones from the point of view of the species.

We specifically have the same soul at the beginning, but through our body and thanks to our respective qualities or faults, we become distinct individuals. It is the body, which makes that our soul/mind is distinguished from the others, whereas specifically at the beginning our soul is identical to that of the others since it belongs to the human species.

The French Descartes considers Man as at the same time a body and a soul, but, in accordance with his dualism, he confuses the soul with the intellect, and seems to find in the soul only the activity of the thought. How can we, without excessive reducing, both distinguish but also connect the body, the mind and the soul? The soul could not be confused with the physical structure of the body, not more it can be identified with the inner procession of our thoughts usually called: the mind. If the body is the physical one, the mind the not physical, the word which is appropriate for the soul is it the metaphysical one.

LET US COME NOW TO THE STUDY

OF THE LOWER PART OF THE SOUL: THE MENMAN (Latin mens, Sanskrit manas, English mind, French mental, etc.)

At the junction between universal soul and universal matter, the mind (the universal mind) appears. It is the most important spiritual concentration being able to currently exist in the universe or bitos. The mind or menman has a very particular importance, because it establishes the link between the concept and its materialization. It is the impulse which decides what has to occur, what will be created according to its will.

It is obvious that on the coarsest level of the anamon, the “mind “ or “consciousness “ is closely related to the physiological states of the body. In fact, it depends on them. However, it must exist a base, an energy, a source, which makes the mind, in its interaction with the material particles, to produce within the universe aware living beings. Just like, on the material level, this base is also, undoubtedly, in continuity with the past. If we go back to the origin of our current mind, of our present awareness, we let us see that, just as for the origin of the material universe, we go up then at the same time to an unlimited dimension. It is well necessary the awareness is somewhere, in a latent state, and this, right from the start precisely.

Teilhard de Chardin supposed an elementary awareness, existing in a “diluted “ way in any matter, the small “bricks of awareness “being added to give an increasingly reflexive thought. We therefore joined through there a form of monism: awareness and matter are not distinguished. The life and the intelligence express and develop what was already contained implicitly in the matter. There is nothing new, it is only a passage from the potential to the current one. The theory according to which awareness exists in an elementary state in the least “matter “piece, gives an account of many facts: tendency to self-organization of the matter, persistence of the thoughts during all the coma stages.

This theory of the elementary awareness therefore constitutes a plausible answer to a recurring problem of the materialism: the problem of the appearance of the conscience precisely. It is not easily comprehensible indeed that a sum of microscopic mechanical movements may produce the awareness. Or still, that the assembly of not yet living particles ends up giving the life itself. There is an unexplainable qualitative jump!

Q: What is there at the beginning of each world?

A: Fire. This Fire, which is very different from the fire as an element which is only a symbol, has a mysterious nature: Intelligence and Sensitivity, Power and Action, Idea but also Word. The Mind is the inner manifestation of this primeval fire.

Q: What is matter?

A: It is all that is not this primordial fire, but it is also in a way the external manifestation of this primeval fire.

Q: What may we conclude from that?

A: That this fire, eternal cause, develops through emanations, that it is in eternal future.

But, while developing, it is stable, it is permanent, it remains. It is That which was or will be, which is, Immutable, Infinite, Absolute, Immanent and Essential.

Q: Why does it develop itself thus?

A: Although immutable, it is not inert; the Infinite one can act, because it is Intelligence and Reason; because Higher being passes from the Power to the Action.

D: Develop this evolution.

A: The Fate has an expression which is the Verb, the Labarum. Thus, Intelligence names itself, and by being named it acts, evolves, emanates, becomes. By pronouncing a thought, this Intelligence units the moments of its thought; it links its thoughts the ones to the others through Reason. Like one become Two through an emanation, the fire emanates in pairs, couples, syzygies. These couples form an uninterrupted chain between the World and the higher being. They constitute the framework of the Mind and of the Awareness, and the Law which directs them and binds them is the Fate or Tokad.

Cosmos and Man are entirely composed of the three fundamental beings or results of the process of being, which are soul and fire, matter and water (symbolized or personified by the Cosmic Mother Great goddess-or-demoness); and finally the intermediary or mixed zone between both, resulting from them: their mutual interface (the cosmic energy and the mindset or awareness in Mankind for example). Personification: Taran/Toran/Tuireann because the divinity, it is the absolute immanent intimate and in unthinkable forms, union, of the soul and of the matter.

In the Schools closer to the metaphysical explanation, the higher including unit is that of the Fate, of which the three divine forms are only manifestations on the level of the relative one; but the worship of the Fate as such practically exists no longer today . As Strabo said it: “ Some say the Galicians have no god, but the Celtiberians and their neighbors on the north offer sacrifices to a nameless god at the seasons of the full moon, by night, in front of the doors of their houses, and whole households dance in chorus and keep it up all night “ (Strabo, Book III, chapter IV, 16).

On the other hand, some 80% of the Celtizers of the time worship Taran/Toran/Tuireann and 20% the Cosmic Mother great Goddess-or-demoness, not forgetting nevertheless that all had also had recourse to other god-or-demons, goddess-or-demonesses, or fairies if you prefer, at certain times of their life.

In the backgrounds where the tendencies to devotion prevail , these three divine figures dominated by an implacable cosmic law (the Fate) are replaced by a Single and Higher Person, Taran/Toran/Tuireann precisely. Mankind needs a personalized figure to comprehend the bitos or universe.

Taran/Toran/Tuireann represents or symbolizes the Mind, the aware higher Principle. The character Taran/Toran/Tuireann is extremely complex: he falls under a whole series of divinities overhanging the original primordial clearing. Its dominant image is that of a driving force which supports or keeps the world alive , or anihilates it by leaving free rein to destroying forces (under their Sheela na Gig or Catubodua aspect). Taran/Toran/Tuireann is in the beginning a god deprived of precise shapes and he is generally evoked by various symbols as wheel, S scroll, triskelion or swastika. Except in the Roman iconography where he is often represented in the shape of a wheeled great god-or-demon riding in the sky, even of a rider flooring gigantic anguipedic monsters. He has all the attributes and all qualities of a powerful, creating, preserving, or destroying, of the world, god-or-demon, a personal god-or-demon likely to be used as a base for a religion. To protect the cosmic and moral order when it is in danger, he goes down sometimes on earth in a suitable form. Most famous of his descents on earth (avatars) are those of Belenos Barinthus or Manannan Mac Lir in the Isle of Man, even Camulos the father of Finn in Ireland.

THE INDIVIDUAL MENMAN.

Instead of living in its ivory tower (in fact in the field of the anthropology of the sacredness), it is necessary to look at sciences which are interested in the mind. And to see whether they can bring elements of an answer to us. It comes that among these sciences, neurobiology is a great help to us.

The human drama of the illnesses, real mental illness (split personality, hallucinations, schizophrenia) is there to show us the importance IN CONTRAST if it was needed, of this peculiarity of human beings.

The mind depends on particular forms of biological organization of the matter. It is during the evolution that the bodies came from there to have minds. That the mind was shaped, that it became incarnate at a given time of the evolution. The existence and the functioning of this mind depend on an awareness appeared at the conclusion of a natural selection.

The stages which led, and always lead, to a morphology able to embody the mind, are found at the phylogenetic and ontogenetic level. During the evolution of the Hominids, the getting of the bipedalism had caused modifications on the general look of the body, the anatomy and especially on the level of the base of the cranium. There was an appearance of particular areas of the brain, dependent on language, appearance of conceptual capacities, of the spoken language… During this evolution, there

were an increase and a morphological modification of the brain. They are these new morphologies of the body and of the brain which made the incarnation of the mind possible. The Man, by the morphology of his body and his brain, is the only being endowed with a mind capable of specific and higher operations.

On the ontogenetic level, the installation of the morphology of the brain and of the body, is outlined as of the embryonic stage, by the meeting of a spermatozoon and of an ovule, and also thanks mainly to genetic factors. The formation of the brain is done through cell movements which divide, migrates, dies and adheres the ones to the others. The neurobiologists attach great importance to the connectivity of the neuronal systems, because it is through it they give an account of the existence of the mind. But it is not because we have a body and a brain morphologically human, that we can claim to profit obligatorily from the operations of the mind. The conscious human self builds itself through the sociocultural interactions.

What arises it is that on the ontogenetic level, the incarnation of the mind starts at the embryological stage through the installation of a necessary morphology; and continues after the birth with the completion of the brain, with the anatomical growth to maturity, as through sociocultural interactions.

One of the variants of the mistake of the great French philosopher that Descartes was is not to see that human mind is incorporated in an organism biologically complex, but single in its kind, finite and fragile; it therefore prevents from seeing the tragedy which the awareness of this fragility represents, this finitude and this unicity. However when the human beings are unable to see the fundamental tragedy of the conscious existence, they are less prone to seek to soften it, and may so to have less respect for the value of the life.

To give an account of this link body-mind, the professor (of psychology, neuroscience) Antonio Rosa Damasio (Descartes’s error, etc.) states from the point of view of neurobiology, a deep interaction between mind and body; where the change of the one would involve necessarily the change of the other. There would also be and especially precedence of the body over the mental phenomena: it is through the body that is made the interaction between an organism and the background.

To secure the best possible the survival of its body , brain had as a solution, each time there is an interaction with background, to mentally represent this occasional environment by changing the fundamental representations of the body. From the point of view of the anatomy, this representation is depending on the somatosensory, and especially somatic motor, system, and it is founded on the building of a body diagram comprising head, trunk, members, internal organs, skin. This activity of connection is due to neural circuits which work out a representation of the organism permanently, reflecting its disturbance caused by the perception of stimuli resulting from the physical background and from the sociocultural milieu; but also a representation of the organism based on its action on this environment. It is to say that during an interaction between an organism and an environment, there is information exchange from the environment to the body, from the body to the brain, and from the brain again towards the body. Through these exchanges, the body is constrained to change actively so that the interaction with the background can take place under the best possible conditions. This interaction makes it possible the organism to keep its homeostasis, its state of functional balance.

Neolithic Homo religiosus was not therefore mistaken! It is obvious that the Ancients had understood well that it is a biologically complex body like that of the human being which generates the mind.

By working out cosmogonic myths where the accession to a new way of life passed through a dismemberment, a reorganization of the body, the Neolithic eras registered there the account of their knowledge of the link body-spirit; in the sense that to cause a birth to the mind mode , then it is necessary to act on the body.

These changes of the mind and of the body surely have as a seat, among others, an extraordinary neural and chemical activity, which can be subjected to a systematic study.

Druidism always postulated the existence of an individual awareness not easily definable, but nevertheless existing well, and this, in an individualized way; a little like the Buddhist Vatsiputriyas too, who either, never claimed the self did not exist, but always said only that it was “indefinable “. The mind is the “interpreter of the soul “in the body. The individual mind is the interface between the body and the soul. The mind has a immanent and horizontal aspect: in its including aspect, it also appears

in the nature of everything and makes it possible the communication between the men. The individual mind or menman, is what structures and makes the things understandable. The notion of mind is rather to attach to that of awareness, or of intellectual dimensions, but also of emotional dimensions.

It is in general admitted that the higher mammals have some awareness of the world, even if their self-awareness is much less developed than at the human being. The perceptive awareness exists in all the animals, including insects. An ant perceives its environment. But why allocate a certain awareness only to animals? Starting from what criterion we will maintain: this being feels pleasure and pain, and this other is only a machine which seems to feel, but has no inner life? At an end, we find the Frenchman Descartes, who regarded any animal as a machine; beat your dog, he will seem to have a pain, but he does not feel more things than a stone! He gives mechanical signs that you, you interpret as suffering, but which are only used to indicate the state of his organism. To the other extreme, some people go so far as to think that even the plants “feel “ emotions! (Music vibrations, for example. See our friends of Findhorn and their tree devas).

During the sleep, there exists a form of thought: when you awake subjects whatever phase of the sleep that it is, even deepest, they can immediately remember that they had a mental activity. Images, fragmentary thoughts … existed.

It seems that the same remark applies with regards to the coma, an even more,“sleeping “ state by definition. As opposed to what people believe naively, the awareness is therefore not stopped by the sleep; most of the time, we do not remember our dreams, but nevertheless, they are well there! The thought either never stops completely. Current research in neurology indicates the awareness is not localized in a specific area of the brain. It would overall present, as “ dispersed “ in the whole brain, as total effect of neuronal feedback. Thus, the awareness remains, at all the cerebral stages, a little as if it were independent of the neuronal exchanges.

Existential questions of the kind: “Does the universe have a sense ? “ “From where does Man come? “ “What is its destiny? “… go hand in hand with the self-awareness.

Just as we see in a mirror only a part of the stars which cover all, the soul, however, everywhere presents can be seen only partly in the mirror of the mind.

The function of the sensory awareness is simply to perceive the objects which match them - visual forms, sounds, smells, and so on - without adding something. But then the mind works out, starting from these perceptions, thoughts such as “that is beautiful… that is ugly… that could harm to me, that will be quite pleasant for me… “. They are never the external shape of the object, neither the eye, nor the visual awareness, which produce these subjective developments; it is the mind. A beautiful object has no beneficial intrinsic quality in itself for the mind, and an ugly object does not have in it the power to harm. Beautiful and ugly are simple projections of the mind. The capacity to cause happiness or suffering is not a property of the object itself; thus the view of the same man by two different people can make one happy, and the other unhappy one. It is the mind which allocates such or such quality to the perceived object.

Mind is sometimes defined as the capacity to be felt, to be moved, it is therefore a characteristic specific to the Man, and it can be personified (cf. the mind of the psychologists). Symmetrically with the outside world, made up of tangible objects on which the experimentation can have taken, the psychologist considers an inner world where memories, desires, mental images, pain, mental suffering and dreams, have their sphere of activity.

The various units which can constitute the personality of a mind are perpetually changing, the personalization of the mind is therefore a concept or a notion indicating only a phenomenal continuity in the changing elements; a particular grouping of phenomena giving the appearance of a particular person, without need for an immutable personal entity incorporated in the aforementioned grouping of phenomena.

It is obvious that we have something like a “mind “or an “awareness “: our experience witnesses it. It is also manifest what we call thus is prone to change when it is exposed to certain conditions and circumstances. It is a proof of its variable nature any from tome to time, or of its predisposition to be changed.

It is obvious that at the coarsest level the menman, “mind “ or “awareness “ is closely related to the physiological states of the body; in fact, it depends on them.

Druidism hardly believes in the existence in mankind of any absolute, except the small tear of divine fire which is its soul. Because the mind is only a sequence of momentary phenomena, which are followed while conditioning narrowly themselves one after the others. The thoughts, the desires, everything is relative.

The self is undoubtedly the most transitory part and surface of our being. The immortal author of the sacred hill (Sion) did not write one day: the intelligence, what small thing on our surface… We are not the masters of the thoughts which are born in us. They do not come from our intelligence; they are ways of reacting where very old physiological provisions express. According to the background where we are plunged, we work out judgments and reasoning. The human reason is enthralled so that we all go back the way our predecessors came. There are no personal ideas; rarest ideas even, even most abstracted judgments, sophisms of most conceited metaphysics; are general ways of feeling, and are found in all the beings of the same organism besieged by the same images… We are the continuity of our parents. That is true anatomically. They think and they speak in us. All the continuation of the descendants makes only a same being. Undoubtedly, under the action of surrounding life, a greater complexity will be able to appear there, but which will not denature it. It is as an architectural order which is improved: it is always the same order. It is as a house in which another layout is introduced; not only it rests on same bases, but still it is made with the same cinderblocks : it is always the same house. That who is let penetrate by this certainty gives up the claim to better think, to better feel, to better want, than his fathers and mothers, he says to himself: “I am them “.

The self is this part of us that death reached and dissolves, but also that which prevents us from living fully in the rhythm of Cosmos, in the Big Whole. Because it raises a barrier between Cosmos and us and, within our being, between the Cosmos which lives in us and itself.

The mind is the seat of powerful magnetic fields, balancing and combining their tension fields to constitute the image of all fibers and all the organs of the physical body; that it will have to form or vitalize while selecting and while arranging according to their own destiny - not cells directly - but while taking possession of the cellular spirits which animate them and which have their individual life. We can feel certain difficulties imagine a whole of tension fields realizing some shapes; the arrangement of the ice crystals on a pane, iron filings under the influence of the magnet, are simple examples.

The mind takes advantage from the work of purification and development of the Gdonios or Human being; it preserves the quintessence of its earthly experiments in the form of analysis, judgment, feelings, intelligence, knowledge, spirituality, love; it is its imperishable luggage the body will have gotten to him by the recording and the handing down of its feelings and reactions, which are transformed into automatisms.

The thoughts, the actions, contribute to weaving, to providing the thread of which the mind is made up, to purifying it or to weighing down. The mind accumulates in its subconscious memory a crowd of memories of which only these which are recorded in the waking state are restored to the brain, in the form of "radioactive" photographs.

According to certain accounts, it is nevertheless possible to reach, during his life even, in a higher state of awareness. But the access to the next world sought by each and everyone can be reached only if the mind does to us the honor of it. To speak about this inspiration (auentia) without having made the experiment oneself of it, it is a littlelike to speak about an electric shock to people who do not know electricity. From where the astonished reactions of the monk Gerald of Wales in connection with the Welsh awenyddion of the 12th century. True druids insist on the fact that we can finally know the inspiration only by making the experiment of it… However, if the mind has many ways of appearing, he is the only master of them: its characteristic is to overwhelm the individual who had been locked up in mental reference marks to surprise him where he does not expect it. Mind time cannot be reduced to more or less extraordinary events, as visions, ecstasies. It implies much more: the emergence of a new state of awareness, as if we saw the world for the very first time. It is very difficult to speak about the realization of an inspiration ( in the kind of Welsh awenyddion for example) , because it is an experiment which is well beyond the words and the descriptive concepts that an external person may provide. In this state, we can only note the things, without being able nor wanting to call them. The marvelous effervescence of energy should be disturbed by no prejudice, and the books are useless with whom does not know it yet the goddess-or-demoness, or the fairy if you prefer, but useless also with whom knows it already. All these aspects of the inspiration of type Welsh awenydd or Persian ishraqi are complementary: the mind includes all realities and all the abstractions. At the same time

power and awareness, force and sense which direct this force, it is a go-between, a relay between the body and the universal mind (awenyddio), between the Man and the Divine one. The universal mind can govern the body only with the assistance of the individual mind (menman), which can set in motion and the body and the anamone or individual soul.

Another account, that Plutarch reports to us.

“…Among the islands lying near Great] Britain were many isolated, having few or no inhabitants. Some of which bore the names of genies even of god-or-demons . He himself, by the emperor's order, had made a voyage for inquiry and observation to the nearest of these islands which had only a few inhabitants, holy men who were all held inviolate by the [Great] British. Shortly after his arrival there occurred a great tumult in the air, and many portents; violent winds suddenly swept down and lightning flashes darted to earth. When these abated, the people of the island said that the passing of someone of the mightier soul/minds had befallen. "For," said they, "as a lamp when it is being lighted has no terrors, but when it goes out is distressing to many, so the great souls/minds [Greek megalai psychai] have a kindling into life that is gentle and inoffensive, but their passing and dissolution often, as at the present moment, fosters tempests and storms, and often infects the air with pestilential properties." (Plutarch. On the failure, ceasing, or obsolescence, of oracles).

Editor’s Note. Our text calls genies or great soul/minds this kind of higher state, reached during the life even of the subject. This type of alive released person is called semnothei in other texts.

Semnotheos, in fact, is a sage having embodied God or the Demiurge (perfect and metamorphic union of the soul and of the matter); a wise man arrived at the knowledge of its own divinity as to the identity of her individual soul (anamone) with the universal soul (the psychic reservoir called awenyddio). In other words, a great rishi in Hinduism - maharishi - or a Buddha.

Each mind develops according to causes and conditions. These causes and these conditions have themselves causes and immediate or remote conditions. In other words, direct and indirect causes and conditions.

The mind which perceives a flower depends for example on many conditions, among which the organ which is the eye itself intervenes. Without this one, even if there is an awareness there, even if the flower is there, the perception is not possible. In the same way, if the eye is damaged, the visual awareness will not be able to develop correctly. If there is the mind as well as the eye, but not the flower, the visual awareness of the flower cannot develop. In another case, if there is a flower, an eye in perfect state, but no brain, this awareness cannot develop either, it is not possible without a fundamental human mind.

This is why there are many causes and external as well as internal, conditions. The awareness or the mind has no physical shape, nor smell , and we cannot touch them. It is only a kind of very subtle energy in which everything can be reflected, of which own nature is something purely luminous. This awareness has the potential to know the things. Therefore in addition to the human brain, there are conditions, deeper subtle causes, to this human awareness; without which a human mind cannot develop.

The best piece of evidence is that, when we use sense organs fully, their level is very coarse. But when we dream, certain functions of organs are not active or are reduced, whereas the mental one, itself, functions on a deeper level.

Besides there exists a means of exploring the capacity as well as the potentiality of the mind of somebody: dreams.

According to Tertullian , the druids knew it since earliest antiquity.

“ The Nasamones consult private oracles by frequent and lengthened visits to the sepulchers of their relatives, as one may find in Heraclides, or Nymphodorus, or Herodotus; and the Celts, for the same purpose, stay away all night at the tombs of their brave chieftains, as Nicander affirms.”

Another example, the little ominous dream of the Irish king Muirchertach son of Erc.

Aided Muirchertaig meic Erca.

“ Then he went into his bed and asked the damsel for a drink, and she cast a sleeping charm upon that deceptive wine, so that when he drank a draft of it, it made him drunk and feeble, without sap or strength. Then he slept heavily and he saw a vision, to wit, that he went in a ship to sea, and his ship foundered, and a taloned griffin 1) came to him and carried him into her nest, and then he and the nest were burnt, and the griffin fell with him.

The king awaked and ordered his vision to be taken to his foster-brother Dub Da Rinn son of the druid Saignen, and Dub Da Rinn gave him the meaning of it thus: “This is the ship wherein you have been, to wit, the ship of thy princedom on the sea of life, and thou steering it. This is the ship that foundered, and your life is to come to an end. This is the taloned griffin that has carried you into her nest, to wit, the woman that is in your company, to make you intoxicated, and to bring you with her into her bed, and to detain you in the house of Cletech so that it will burn over you. Now the griffin 1) that fell with you is the woman who will die by reason of you. This then is the significance of that vision 2).”

We may doubt the objectivity and the selflessness of the explanation of this dream. Apparently, this high-knower hardly loved the new wife of the king (he compares her with a dragon) and he urges his master to break up with her.

The fact is the dream brings us into contact with another world, and even with an infinity of next worlds, we will say.

One of the worlds with which dreams bring up into contact is besides very logically that of the god-or-demons. Is it possible to foresee the future? We strongly doubt it, but what is undeniable it is that the dreams teach us many things about ourselves.

* This is a real tragedy!

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Various authors think today that some of the god-or-demons of ancient paganism, matched (even still match ) what psychology calls some archetypes . i.e., organizers of the personality (as well as the genetic program, contained in the DNA, constitutes the organizer of our cells), placed in the human unconscious.

The archetypes constitute a pillar of the theory of the human being in Jung. He largely studied the operating process and the role of them, in the psychic life of the subjects. Let us quote among most fundamental: the persona (the self), the shadow (personal unconscious), the anima (the female side in the man), the animus (the male side in the woman).

In his essay about the subject, Margot Adler writes that most of the modern defense of polytheism comes from the Jungian psychologists; who stated a long time that the god-or-demons, and goddess-or-demonesses, of the myths, legends and fairy tales, represent archetypes, powers and potentialities, deeply rooted in our psyche.

The archetype is a symbol which we find in all the human races, and represents, “an instinctive tendency “. It is as an instinct communal to the species, remaining in time and space.

The Greek Pantheon as a personification of Jungian archetypes was magnificently studied by Jean Shinoda Bolen, a Jungian psychiatrist.

According to Bolen, these powerful inner diagrams, or archetypes, can explain the major differences observed in the behaviors. Various archetypes are active in each woman at some point. The stereotypes associated with the women are based on archetypes. Persephone the young girl, Hera the jealous wife, Aphrodite, the temptress, etc. the god-or-demons and the goddess-or-demonesses, or fairies if it is preferred, represent the numerous qualities of the human psyche that can be expressed by an individual, without considering gender.

During her work, Bolen also met men identifying a share of themselves with a particular goddess-or-demoness, or fairy. Conversely, there are also god-or-demons in each woman.

NB. The immediate corollary of this Jungian approach of the god-or-demons is oneirology, because the god-or-demons can appear in dreams it is known from immemorial time.

And to analyze a dream, it is essential to understand the disassociation, in the man known as “civilized “ of the conscious and unconscious one.

The archetypes represent topics, myths, symbolic images or dreams of Mankind, even some models of instinctive behavior.

We agree, on the principle, but let us recognize all the same in this case, that Jung was particularly badly inspired in the choice of the names of his prototypes.

On this account, Mabon/Maponos/Oengus could be the god-or-demon of eternal youth, ecstasy (many high-speed motorboats or celebrities incarnated this prototype perfectly, with sometimes a tragic exit besides…)

When we speak about the spirit, some persons sometimes feel it is an independent entity, something separated from the body. However such a spirit does not exist. We cannot find one “I “independent apart from the body, this is why true druids do not accept the idea of individual spirit eternal.

There is, however, another reason: like the spirit, in general, depends on this body, it is well thanks to this human body that we can speak about the human spirit. If there was an independent spirit, having nothing to do with this body, then how could one make the distinction between the spirit of an animal and the spirit of human?

Because the spirit depends on this body and this human brain, we can distinguish the human spirit from the spirit of an animal. As a long time as the human brain functions correctly, the human spirit functions suitably. As soon as the human brain ceases functioning, there is no more human spirit with the terrestrial direction of the term, it continues only one certain time its existence in beyond, in narrow partnership with the heart impersonal divine spark (anamone).

Ultimately, the fundamental nature of the spirit is neutral. It can be influenced by negative or positive emotions. Let us take the case of people who are easily irritable. If the negative emotion were in the nature of our spirit, then as a long time as the spirit functions, this anger should remain. However, it is not the case. In the same way, the positive emotions are not either in the nature of the spirit. The spirit is something of neutral, reflecting all kinds of experiments or different things. And besides, which would be the line of demarcation between the negative and positive emotions?

Let us have nevertheless faith in the power of the Spirit which can guide us individually or collectively in our walk towards the ideal. The knowledge of God is the knowledge of oneself, this one leading to the realization of the divinity. As Spinoza in his Ethics says it: “we feel and we know that we are eternal “. To know is to know God, it is to become aware of the divinity of self.

1) A dragon today would be said.

2) Muirchertach son of Erc is a king of Ireland whose destiny, tragic besides, was to undergo a sacrificial triple death, killed by a blow of lance, drowned in a wine tank, and burnt in the fire of his palace. This death was the consequence of the intrigues of a woman of the Other World, Sin, which succeeds in getting around and tempting the king, in spite of the efforts of saint Cairnech, one of the successors of Patrick. The account of the death of Muirchertach (Aided Muirchertaig meic Erca) is also interesting in what it shows the beginning of the process of degradation of druidic mythology, in a Christianized folklore.

SOUL AND MIND AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY.

“The first act of the biological being, counterpart of the universe, is to enclose itself. After being itself separate from the Whole, it takes cognizance of it, becomes a thinking being, an aware self. Then, meditating on itself, it becomes psychologist, and the first use of its reason is to wonder whether the personality survives death “(Henry Lizeray. The S.D.D.)

When an individual dies, nobody knows very precisely what happends to him. His body remains, inert and lifeless, in the material world. Some morsels of the living individual remain (or appear).

In the same way, the spiritual part can also disappear (either it remained in the material world or it found refuge in the divine dimensions).

As we saw it higher, the Greeks with Aristotle, and the Jews with the Bible, thought that the human souls are mortal.

Ecclesiastes 3,20. “ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return,“.

Ecclesiastes 9,5. “ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing“.

Ezekiel 18,4. “ Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die “ (the exact term used in fact is “nephesh “).

Such was besides the doctrines of the Sadduceans, who did not believe in the immortality of the soul.

The Aryan notion of immortality of the soul appeared only tardily in the biblical message, perhaps via Persia (after the Babylonian exile).

The anamone (the individual soul) is also awareness, by the means of its spirit (menman). As we said it, the soul in which the druids believe; and which appears in the ancient debates about the origins of philosophy; has the primary characteristic to be an individual soul which feeds on the experience of the life, and of which destiny depends on the virtues of the individual. European peoples have always been fond of their ego or mind and it is not the lesser speculations which separate them in an irreconcilable way from the Eastern peoples. The druids therefore reject the idea of immediate destruction of the awareness with death. But at the end of a more or less long process (purification in another world, etc.) the individual soul nevertheless returns to the Big Whole (Pariollon) from which it is resulting!

God being an immanent-absolute confused with the world, there is no individual soul really separated from the universal soul or awenyddia, therefore no post mortem “Judgment “. The druids believe in any way in the notion of last Judgment of the souls taken one by one, or collectively, the judgment of the soul being its history. The one who believes in this Amidist concept before it is invented, of the Pure Land (of the Vindomagos) is not judged. The one who doesn’t believe has already judged himself.

Bernese scholia commenting on the Pharsalia by Lucan.

Hermann Usener. Scholia in Lucani bellum civile/Commenta Bernensia. Liber I (1869).

451. “ Druids deny that souls can die [Driadae negant interire animas]

OR GO TO HELL

[aut contagione inferorum adfici] and

454.“They do not say that the manes exist “ (manes esse, non dicunt).

The point No. 25 of the small list annexed to the council of Leptines in 743, under the Latin title of indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum (of course, it is a question of condemning or of disparaging this idea), goes besides also very clearly in this direction. It evokes the fact of imagining that every deceased person is a saint.

And in 851, John Scottus Eriugena also noted in his “ On divine predestination “: God envisaged neither punishment nor sins: they are fictions. For Eriugena also, consequently, hell does not exist, or then he calls it remorse.

Repetere = ars docendi.

The druidism as a religious and metaphysical system guarantees to everybody a post mortem life identical, in another ideal (bellissama bellissamos) body where the ego is kept a certain time.

Let us note by the way that the topic of the death was never very developed in the druidism; because this one did not make a real difference between life and death, which meant only a change of state, not the radical solution of continuity or break that Judeo-Islamic-Christianity considers. Let us say that the two states were hardly distinguished, the living being able constantly to request the dead in order to have information, for example, or in order to make him favorable; the dead coming back - in the literal sense of this term - at will, to visit the living, for all kinds of purposes, from pure information to reprimand. It is remarkable,besides, that the people of the anaon are also present in the Breton legends. That the strangeness of this representation called, as by definition, an upheaval of the grammatical categories male/female, can be considered as normal, in a way, because life for the druids takes no heed of these distinctions. It includes everything, it transcends the visions, whatever their origins, it is grammatically neutral, i.e., metaphysically total.

The Gnostic people of the West believed that the soul and the mind ultimately, rested in the head, and not in the area of the heart, as it is believed generally today. From there the importance of the rites and practices which concerned the skull in their tradition. See the true worship which surrounded the cut off heads among the Celts, for example in Roquepertuse. Likewise in Ireland. Conchobar preserved the head of one of his enemies at Emain Macha, but this head was caught then used as a projectile against him, which will result in his death. Same thing in the Welsh Mabinogi, where the head of King Bran will protect London against any enemy invasion for eighty years.

“ Shortly after his arrival there occurred a great tumult in the air, and many portents; violent winds suddenly swept down and lightning flashes darted to earth. When these abated, the people of the island said that the passing of someone of the mightier soul/minds [in Greek megalai psychai] had befallen. "For," said they, "as a lamp when it is being lighted has no terrors, but when it goes out is distressing to many, so the great souls/minds [Greek megalai psychai] have a kindling into life that is gentle and inoffensive, but their passing and dissolution often, as at the present moment, fosters tempests and storms, and often infects the air with pestilential properties " (Plutarch. De Defectu oraculorum 18).

The image of the flame which dies out is in itself meaningful. See the Brahmanic design of the fire which is not destroyed when it dies out, but which becomes simply imperceptible while going up to the sky in the form of smoke.

The image of the lamp flame which dies out was used by the druids to make us understand that the mode of being of the one who is arrived through death at the final release is an unfathomable state, imperceptible. Even if we may call it nevertheless meldus (happy to live or to seek).

This account of Plutarch is interesting for more than one reason, because it is very revealing of the various druidic conceptions about the real metaphysical nature of the Hereafter.

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Now let us briefly review the various accounts speaking about immortality, or more exactly about the almost immortality of the soul or of the mind. Because as surprising as that may appear, druids never taught that the individual soul, they called anamone or anaon, was immortal, in a strict sense of the term (an origin, a birth, but no end). They always maintained it perished by no means with the body. What is not at all the same thing!

Valerius Maximus, Memorable deeds and sayings, II, 6,10 and 11. “ Tradition has it that they will lend you money, but you will have to pay back the loan in the Otherworld. They do this because they are convinced that human soul/minds are immortal [.....]

[So the philosophy] of the Cimbrians and Celtiberians is lively and brave. They jump for joy when they are at war, because they will leave this life in a glorious and happy way, but they lament them when they are sick, because they will die in a disgusting and miserable way. The Celtiberians even think it is a disgrace to survive a battle when their leader dies since they promised to protect him with their lives. You would have to praise the resoluteness of both these peoples, because the Cimbrians and Celtiberians believe that they must bravely uphold the security of their country and the spirit of loyalty among follow soldiers“.

N.B. Valerius Maximus affirms in this same passage that they are the Celts who learned to the Greeks in Marseilles the belief in the immortality of the soul/mind. “ I would call them fools, if these men in their breeches did not have the same belief as Pythagoras in his Greek cloak “.

Iamblichus, On the Pythagorean Way of Life, 30. “ All the Galatians and Triballians [or Trallians], and many others of the Barbarians, persuade their children that the soul/mind [psyche in Greek] cannot be destroyed, but survives death, so that the latter is not to be feared, so that (ordinary) danger is to be met with a firm and manly mind “.

Pomponius Mela, Chorographia III, 2,18 to 19. “ Therefore they cremate and bury with the dead things that are suitable for the living. And long ago traders’ accounts and debts registers also accompanied the dead, in order to be balanced or honored in the other world and some individuals happily threw themselves onto the pyres of their loved ones as if they were going to live with them! “.

Other quotations showing, in spite of the inaccuracy of the vocabulary or the mistranslations, that the druids did not await the Jews or the Christians to wholeheartedly believe in the almost immortality of the soul (at least the time of a cycle).

Pomponius Mela II, 2. “ One of the precepts they teach has leaked into common knowledge, namely, that souls/minds are immortal and that there exists another life at the dead “.

Julius Caesar, B.G. VI, 14. “ They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets: that souls or spirits do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another; and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valor, the fear of death being disregarded “.

Lucan too (Pharsalia I, 453-465) does not speak about immortality of the soul/mind.

“ According to your masters, the shades of dead men seek not the quiet homes of Erebus or death's pale kingdoms but the same soul/mind governs the limbs in another world. And the death is only the middle of a long live; If you know well what you sing. Happy the peoples beneath the Great Bear thanks to their error; because they do not know this supreme fear which frightens all others: Hence the spirit inclined to throw itself on iron, the strength of character able to face death, and this lack of care put to save a life which must be given back to you “.

Bernese scholia commenting on the Pharsalia by Lucan, I, 454-458. “ Druids deny that souls can die [Driadae negant interire animas] or go to hell or be affected by it [aut contagione inferorum adfici] ;they burn with the dead horses, servants, and part of his furniture so that he can use it. Therefore, they boldly go into battle and don’t save their life as if they would recover it in another part of the universe [qui enim defunctis equos servosque et multam suppellectilem comburant quibus uti possint, inde animosi in proelia exeunt ne vitae suae parcunt, tamquam eandem reperituri in alio naturae secessu] “.

"My son, my son, Symphorian, do not lose sight of the god * for whom you die, have him always in your mind. My dear son, take courage, death is not to be feared when it does only that to lead us to life. Look at the Heaven, and that your eyes follow your heart, throw them on him who reigns in heaven. Today man doesn’t take away your life, man only exchanges it for a better one to you. Today, my son, by a happy change, you'll go to the heavenly life " (Acts of Saint Symphorian of Autun).

* “Nate, nate, Synforiane, memento beto to divo” or “Nati, nati, Synforiane, mentem obeto dotiuo “according to certain variants of the acts of the martyrdom of saint Symphorian (cf. for example the Turin codex).

The druidic doctrines of the almost immortality of the soul/mind has in no way to be confused with these of the metempsychosis, of the reincarnation or of the metamorphoses, even with that of the multiple states of the being.

These individual anamones or anaon in Breton language migrate by no means after the death of the body, from a kingdom or from an individual to another, but after the demise will feed into the Big Whole of the Pariollon. After being passed more or less a long time through an intermediate stage of the being, that which is called Vindobitus, and which borders on that of the kingdom of the god-or-demons within Albiobitos.

When Caesar writes , in connection with the druidism (B.G. VI, 14), that the soul/minds do not perish, “but pass after death from one body to another “; when Diodorus of Sicily V, 28, in the same way writes in connection with the teaching of the druids “ that the souls of men are immortal and that after a prescribed number of years they commence upon a new life, the soul entering into another body“; that means in no way that there is a reincarnation on the earth, but that the human being revives BODY AND SOUL after death, IN ANOTHER WORLD. A hereafter very different, much more fleshly and physical than that of the Greeks and Romans.

Caesar, B.G. VI, 19. “ Their funerals, considering the state of civilization among the Celts, are magnificent and costly; and they cast into the fire all things, including living creatures, which they suppose to have been dear to them when alive; and a little before this period, slaves and dependents,

who were ascertained to have been beloved by them, after the regular funeral rites were completed, were burnt together with them“.

We find the same idea in connection with the burials, as at the same time archeology and linguistics prove it, example the verb “arecomregin “ which means “[to put] beside the king “in the event of collective burial.

What misleads the today ignoramuses who claim to be druids; it is, of course, in addition to their lack of intelligence, instruction, and general knowledge; the fact that the ancient druids had about the destiny of the soul/minds after the death (of the body) a much more physical or corporeal design than that of the Graeco-Romans or Christians after them.

For the former druids indeed, even after death, there is always a body, a body, of course, rather different from that of before (see the Zoroastrian notion of xvarnah, bellisamos bellissama in Old Celtic) , but a body still. Whereas for the Greeks the Romans or the first Christians, they were not any more but shadows or spirits, disembodied even ethereal.

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Just as the perception of a flower is accompanied by the perception of its perfume, the knowledge of the universal soul is inseparable from the knowledge of human soul. The identity of the anamone or individual soul and of the awenyddia or universal soul inevitably incites to think that the melting of the first, in the second, is the purpose of any human existence.

What can be done directly by the awakening or the enlightening, in the case of the death of a semnotheos or of the anatiomaroi, or indirectly through the stage which is the reincarnation in another paradisiac world.

The salvation remains possible in each person. Through enlightening and knowledge, salvation can reach the individual soul. Each “cosmic event “of knowledge of oneself affects the entire bitos or universe, and thus contributes to the completion of this cycle.

The obstacle with the union of the soul with the higher Principle is quite simply the life in the sense we currently understand it. The goal of everybody has to be therefore the delivery of its divine piece, kept warm in the womb of matter. And its climb up towards the celestial spheres, while starting with that which awaits us just after death, and where we may reincarnate in a purification purpose.

This delivery passes by the knowledge of the nature of the mind, of the structures of the universe and of its past and future history. The first aspect of this knowledge relates to the origins of the material world and of the man, the second aspect relates to the destiny of Mankind or Cosmos, The evaporation of the soul/mind thus sublimated in the big whole and its return to the primeval fire.

Man can return to the Big Whole only while reaching a higher wisdom at the conclusion of a long training. To acquire this liberating knowledge, it is to have the vision of the true immortality. The goal of the Man is to pass in the next world for better preparing himself to its returning to the Big Whole.

In spite of its earthly process(es), and after its possible passage through the various antechambers of Heaven, the andumnon (the non-world) or Donno tegia, the soul/mind remains intended to stay close to the throne of the god-or-demon, in Mag Meld. While expecting for the end of this world, the end of time, and the new world of the new cycle, all the soul/minds will enjoy the spectacle of this divine splendor.

“ The nature of the island is marvelous as is the softness of the circumambient air. Some when they intend to sail away are even hindered by the deity which presents itself to them as to intimates and friends and not in dreams only or by means of omens, but many also come upon the visions and the voices of demons manifest. For Cronos himself [ Buddha Amithabha ? The grail? The fate] sleeps confined in a deep cave of rock that shines like gold — the sleep that Zeus [Taran/Toran/Tuireann?] has contrived like a bond for him —, and birds flying in over the summit of the rock bring ambrosia to him, all the island is suffused with fragrance scattered from the rock as from a fountain; and those

demons mentioned before tend and serve the god, having been his comrades what time he ruled as king over gods and men. Many things they do foretell of themselves, for they are oracular; but the prophecies that are greatest and of the greatest matters, they come down and report as dreams of Cronos“ (Plutarch. De facie in orbe Lunae , 26).

AsTeilhard de Chardin wrote it very well [Works, Volume I, “the Human Phenomenon “], it is not in their germs that the beings show themselves, but in their blossoming. Taken at their spring, the largest rivers are only thin brooks. The beings show themselves and are really understood only in their blossoming. Well, it is exactly the same thing for the human soul. It shows itself and is really understood only in its blossoming (Hindus call moksha and Buddhists enlightening , this blossoming of the soul).

THE SEIBAROS (Middle Irish siabraid, Irish siabhradh).

THE PERISPRIT IN THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE NEO-DRUID ALLAN KARDEC.

The druidic menman is also a spiritual principle which can temporarily leave the body and appear in other places of this world, or of another one, before coming back in it.

Anamone and menman, or the soul and the mind, are joined with the physical body, or kicos, through a fluidic body called seibaros, which takes at the same time after the soul and the body, the mind and the flesh. Every soul has a material cover, ethereal body or seibaros, which is its vehicle, and which makes that we can sometimes come into contact with it. Or more exactly the soul and the mind are surrounded by a very subtle cover, of a hybrid nature, semi-material and semi-soulish.

This seibaros appears therefore as a double of the physical body. It can become visible in certain cases, and even appear tangible (phantom), while leaving traces or while moving objects. It is it which makes the disembodied deceased persons able to materialize, i.e., to appear to the alive ones, even to speak to them, during the spiritistic meetings, for example.

The seibaros is supposed to link the body and the soul by penetrating them both, so as to make them able to penetrate mutually. The seibaros communicates with the soul by magnetic currents, and with the body by the means of the vital fluid of the nervous system, which is used to it as a transmitter.

It is difficult to foresee what can be a thing which takes part at the same time in the matter and in the universal mind, in order to be able to ensure the bond between the body and the soul. The use of the term “peris-spirit “by the neo-druid Allan Kardec, is very criticizable besides: how a fluidic body can circumscribe the soul, which by definition does not pertain space-time? All in all, the old Celtic word seibaros is still preferable.

“ The bards of the green Erin were one day called together by Senchan Torpeist, to know if they remembered the cattle raid of Cooley in full. They said that they knew of it but fragments only. Senchan then spoke to his pupils to know which of them would go into the country of Letha to learn the story of the driving-off which the sage had taken eastwards in exchange of the Cuilmenn (the large parchment). Emine, Ninene's grandson, set out for the east with Senchan's son Muirgen. It happened that the grave of Fergus mac Roich was on their way at Enloch in Connacht. Muirgen sat down at the gravestone of this hero, and the others went to look for a shelter for the night. Muirgen chanted an incantation to the gravestone as though it were Fergus himself then a great mist suddenly formed around him - for the space of three days and nights he could not be found. Fergus appeared to him put on with magnificent clothes, in a green cloak and a red-embroidered hooded tunic, with a gold-hilted sword and bronze sandals, as well as a head of brown hair. And he recited him the whole story of the cattle raid of Cooley, such as it had been originally composed, from the beginning to the end. “

The seibaros is the bond which links the soul/mind with the matter of the body; it is drawn from the surrounding background, in the universal fluid; it takes at the same time after electricity, magnetic fluid and, up to a certain point, inert matter. We could say that it is the quintessence of the matter; it is the principle of the organic life, but it is not that of intellectual life. Intellectual life is in the mind. It is, moreover, the agent of the external feelings. In the body, these feelings are located by the organs which are used as channels to them. It is necessary, besides, to take care not to confuse the feelings of the seibaros, made independent, with these of the body: we can take these last ones only as an element of comparison, and not as an analogy.

Experiences teaches us that at the time of the death, the seibaros is released from the body more or less slowly. During the life, the body receives the external impressions and transmits them to the mind through the seibaros which form, probably, what we call nervous fluid. The body having died feels no longer something, because there is no longer in it neither mind nor seibaros. The seibaros, released from the body, feels; but as it comes no longer to it through a limited channel, in this case it is general. However, as it is in reality only an agent of transmission, since it is the mind which supports awareness; it results from that it if it could exist a seibaros without mind, then it would not feel more

things than the body when it died; just as if the mind has no seibaros, it would be unapproachable to any painful feeling.

Concerning the part of the seibaros, it would be summary to stick to that of a passive interpreter or simple cover of the mind and of the soul, even of a framework of the physical body; the human seibaros takes after both the mind and the matter, it records everything , even the unimportant gestures, in an indelible way.

Under various names, this important relation between the soul/mind and the physical body, were always more or less well known since Antiquity; it is the phantom, specter, or revenant, of the religions. (See the episode of the phantom of Samuel appearing to the pythoness or witch of Endor. I Samuel, 28,3-25).

Currently, it seems vaguely designated in the public under the names of astral, ethereal, vital, spiritual, body, sensitive soul, psyche. Some people, attached to the materialist conceptions, see even this spiritual body being born at the same time as is formed the physical body during pregnancy ; or, see it related to the components of the cell, the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acids) as well as of the genes and chromosomes of the genetic code.

Allan Kardec writes, "The link, or perispirit, which unites the body and the spirit, is a sort of semi-material cover. Death is the destruction of the material body, which is the grossest of man's two covers; but the spirit preserves his other envelope, namely, the perispirit, which constitutes for him an ethereal body…. A mind, therefore, is not an abstract, undefined being, only to be conceived of by our thought; it is a real, circumscribed being “(the Spirits’ Book. Introduction. VI). Is the mind, properly so-called, without a covering, or is it, as some declare, surrounded by a vaporous substance?

"The mind is enveloped in a substance which would appear to you as mere vapor, but which, nevertheless, appears very gross to us, though it is sufficiently vaporous to make the mind able to float in the atmosphere, and to transport himself through space at pleasure. As the germ of a fruit is surrounded by the perisperm so the mind, properly so-called, is surrounded by a cover which, by analogy, may be designated as the perispirit.”

But as opposed to what Allan Kardec thought (Book II chapter I, 93), this perispirit is a field of energy or an aura surrounding not only the spirit, but also the heart, and being used to it as a vehicle.

The word “perispirit “has nevertheless the virtue to give a general idea of its function; it covers the mind [and the soul] and enables them to be embodied by taking a shape, this is why we will keep it to translate the notion of seibaros (Middle-Irish siabraid, Irish siabhradh).

Does the semi-material cover of the soul/mind assume determined forms or can it become perceptible?

"Yes; and it is thus that it is able sometimes to make himself visible to you, whether in dreams or in your waking state, and can take a form that may be visible, and even palpable."

What the neo-druid Allan Kardec designates as perispirit, and that the former druids, themselves, called seibaros, can be only a subtle physical energy, just like the matter can be described like a condensed or crystallized energy. Divine Energy is diffused in a spectrum of energies of various frequencies, which radiate with their source to their ultimate crystallization in the matter. The perispirit or seibaros and the soul are two intermediate energy levels, distributed according to their level of subtlety: the perispirit, denser than the soul, but more subtle than the matter; and the soul, more subtle than the perispirit.

According to Kardec, the spiritual soul would take part in divine nature, while belonging as we have just seen it, to physical nature. What amounts saying that all the manifested in this case, emanates from a single divine Energy, without there being ontological distinction on some level that it is.

N. B. Allan Kardec still uses the concept of “creating God “ (demiurge) in his whole work, because of his Christian origins.

ON THE UTILITY OF THE PRAYERS FOR THE GREAT ANCESTORS.

The absolutely insoluble bond between forebears and descendants is the Life through its transmission. It is understood then why the bond between forebears and descendants, in the worship of the ancestors, is so important. To die without posterity is the biggest of all misfortunes for an alive human being… Because it is there, in the eyes of a man, the absolute failure! The irrevocable disaster, which condemns; not only the one who dies thus without a child always in life, but also all the ancestors of his race, who preceded him in this world; to see himself for eternity frustrated of what the very reason of their existence was. To survive while reproducing, to remain during times through the chain of the living who are created the ones the others.

The reflection of the Neolithic Homo religiosus was of a theoretical and practical range very important. While understanding, wrongly or rightly, that what he regarded as the life, had a heavenly origin, was widespread in the universe, and that it emanated from something single; he thus realized his heavenly origin, his membership and his structural participation in the unity of the cosmos. He was formed of the same essence as the rest of the universe, essence which was present in the primordial germ. The Homo religiosus of the Neolithic era grasped at the same time the effect of his presence as a being living in the world, because there were responsibility to take. If the Life had a heavenly origin, was descended on earth, had had as a vehicle the mineral , vegetable and animal, matter, it had not succeeded up to that point through its various supports, in becoming aware of itself.

By realizing what the Life is from his point of view, by also realizing that he, the Man, not more than the mineral, vegetable and animal matter, was not the Life but its container; the witness of its manifestation, the Man concentrated his reflections on this subject. It was no longer necessary this one evolves randomly. It had to be controlled. It must continue, to be maintained, to carry on from generation to generation.

It is here that the two axes of the worship of the ancestors are justified. The need for biologically perpetuating the species and the management of the vital force released by death, the second aspect being unable to exist without the first, both take part in the maintenance, or in the perpetuity of the life.

It is obvious that the plenary participation in certain life levels of reality, particularly that which falls into the field of our immediate perception, requires a material support. And that ancestrality, apart from the rites, supposes, not only a life lived in a material support, but also the maturity of a mind generated by a biologically complex body. Is this for this reason that, in Antiquity, we find very few children burials? Is this for the same reason that, in the traditional societies, the children do not profit from the totality of the rites, particularly of the mourning rites? Then is imposed on the reflection the precariousness of the life, the importance of the body, biologically complex, fragile, and which, however, generates the conscious life.

The worship of ancestors is the concrete expression of the religious design which states that life is stronger than nothingness. The worship of ancestors pertains to a global and philosophical design of the Life, its meaning and the responsibilities to be taken, as a being living in the world. Through the veneration of the ancestors, the goal for the alive one is to recognize themselves as a continuity of the ancestor. And as bearers or supports of the same essence as the ancestor responsible for the line, the clan, the ethnic group, the race, the species. The worship of ancestors, it is the worship of the Life which triumphs over death, it is this flame which is handed down from generation to generation, and which the last ones must perpetuate.

The worship of ancestors appears to be also the glorification of the force a dead can generate. It is still an apology for the life always triumphing.

On the strictly religious level, ancestors have functions clearly different from one culture to another, according to the place which is allocated to them in the hierarchical order of the spiritual beings. The community of the ancestors seems a kind of transcended, hypostasized, collective awareness ; it forms the invisible universe of the community of the living. Bound to the earth by the grave as by an umbilical cord, the dead have a capacity on the fruitfulness of the ground; animals and men.

Here still what wrote the French Fustel de Coulanges on this subject (the ancient Aryan city).

“The belief relative to the dead, and to the worship that was due to them, founded the ancient family, and gave it the greater part of its rules. We have seen above that man, after death, was reputed a

happy and divine being, but on the condition that the living continued to offer him the funeral repasts. If these offerings ceased, the dead ancestor fell to the rank of an unhappy and malevolent demon. For when these ancient generations began to picture a future life to themselves, they had not dreamed of rewards and punishments; they imagined that the happiness of the dead depended not upon the life led in this state of existence, but upon the way in which their descendants treated them. Every father, therefore, expected of his posterity that series of funeral repasts which was to assure to his manes repose and happiness. From it followed, in the first place, this rule, that every family must perpetuate itself forever. It was necessary to the dead that the descendants should not die out. In the tomb where they lived this was the only inquietude which they experienced. Their only thought, their only interest, was, that there should be a man of their blood to carry them offerings at the tomb. The Hindu, too, believed that the dead continually repeated, “May there be born in our line sons who shall bring us rice, milk, and honey.” The Hindu also had this saying: “The extinction of a family causes the ruin of the religion of this family; the ancestors, deprived of the offering of cakes, fall into the abode of the unhappy.”

The men of Italy and Greece long held to the same notions. If they have not left us in their writing an opinion so clearly expressed as in the old books of the East, their laws, at least, remain to attest their ancient opinions. At Athens the law made it the duty of the first magistrate of the city to see that no family should become extinct.

In the same way, the Roman law made provision that no family should fail and become extinct.

We read in the discourse of an Athenian orator, “There is no man who, knowing that he must die, is so careless about himself as to wish to leave his family without descendants: for then there would be no one to render him that worship that is due to the dead.”

Everyone, therefore, had an interest in leaving a son after him, convinced that his immortal happiness depended upon it. It was even a duty towards those ancestors whose happiness could last no longer than the family lasted. The Laws of Manu call the oldest son, “the one who is begotten for the accomplishment of a duty.”

EDITOR’S NOTE. It goes without saying such sexism is unacceptable today. The girls are, as much as the boys, ready to perpetuate the duty to remember towards the departed ancestors. End of Editor’s note.

Here we touch upon one of the most remarkable characteristics of the ancient family. The religion that had founded it required that it should never perish. When a family becomes extinct, a cult dies out. We must take these families at a time before the belief had yet been altered. Each one of them possessed a religion and god-or-demons, a precious trust, over which it was required to watch. The greatest misfortune that its piety had to fear was that its line of descendants might cease and come to an end; because then its religion would disappear from the earth, its fire would be extinguished, and the whole series of its dead would fall into oblivion and eternal misery. The great interest of human life was to continue the descent, in order to continue the worship.

In view of these opinions, celibacy was a grave impiety and a misfortune; an impiety, because one who did not marry put the happiness of the manes of the family in peril; a misfortune, because he himself would receive no worship after his death and could not know “what the manes enjoyed.” Both for himself and for his ancestors it was a sort of damnation.

We can easily believe that in the absence of laws such a belief would long be sufficient to prevent celibacy. But it appears, moreover, that, as soon as there were laws, they pronounced celibacy to be wrong, and a punishable offense. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who had searched the ancient annals of Rome, asserts that he had seen an old law which required young people to marry.

Cicero's treatise on the laws —a treatise which almost always reproduces, under a philosophic form, the ancient laws of Rome — contains a law which forbids celibacy.

At Sparta, the legislation of Lycurgus deprived the man who did not marry of all the rights of citizenship.

We know from many anecdotes, that when celibacy ceased to be forbidden by laws, usage still forbade it. Finally, it appears from a passage of Pollux that in many Greek cities the law punished celibacy as a crime.

This was in accordance with the ancient belief: man did not belong to himself; he belonged to the family. He was one member in a series, and the series must not stop with him.

EDITOR’S NOTE. It goes without saying this judgment of the celibacy is completely unfamiliar to our mentality of today, the only thing which is important is the transmission of the life, the only thing which counts is the transmission of the torch of the life. End of the editor’s note.

The birth of a daughter did not fulfill the object of the marriage; indeed, the daughter could not continue the worship, for the reason that on the day of her marriage she renounced the family and worship of her father, and belonged to the family and religion of her husband. The family, like the worship, was continued only by the males — a capital fact, the consequences of which we shall see farther on.

But to beget a son is not sufficient. The son who is to perpetuate the domestic religion must be the fruit of a religious marriage. The bastard, the natural son, he whom the Greeks called nothos, and the Romans spurius , could not perform the part which religion assigned to the son. In fact, the tie of blood did not of itself alone constitute the family; the tie of a common worship had to be added. Now, the son born of a woman who had not been associated in the worship of the husband by the ceremony of marriage could not himself take any part in the worship.

He had no right to offer the funeral repast, and the family was not perpetuated for him. We shall see, farther on, that for the same reason he did not have the right of inheritance.

Marriage, then, was obligatory. Its aim was not pleasure; its principal object was not the union of two beings who were pleased with each other, and who wished to go united through the pleasures and the trials of life. The effect of marriage, in the eyes of religion and of the laws, was the union of two beings in the same domestic worship, in order to produce from them a third who would be qualified to continue the worship.

This marriage having been contracted only to perpetuate the family, it seemed just that it should be broken if the wife was sterile. The right of divorce, in this case, always existed among the ancients; it is even possible that divorce was an obligation. In India religion proscribed that the sterile woman should be replaced by another at the end of eight years.

That the duty was the same in Greece and Rome, there is no formal text to prove. Still Herodotus mentions two kings of Sparta who were constrained to repudiate their wives on account of sterility. As to Rome, everyone knows the history of Carvilius Ruga, whose divorce is the first of which the Roman annals make mention. “Carvilius Ruga,” says Aulus Gellius, “a man of rank, separated from his wife by divorce because he could not have children by her. He loved her tenderly, and had no reason to complain of her conduct; but he sacrificed his love to the sanctity of his oath, because he had sworn (in the formula of marriage) that he took her to wife in order to have children.”

Religion demanded that the family should never become extinct; all affection and all natural law had to give way before this absolute rule. If the sterility of a marriage was due to the husband, it was no less necessary that the family should be continued. In that case, a brother or some other relative of the husband had to be substituted in his place. The child born of such a connection was held to be the son of the husband, and continued his worship. Such were the rules among the ancient Hindus. We find them again in the laws of Athens, and in those of Sparta.

So powerful was the empire of this religion! So much did the religious duty surpass all others!

For a still stronger reason, ancient laws prescribed the marriage of the widow, when she had had no children, with the nearest relative of her husband. The son born of such a union was reputed to be the son of the deceased.

It was, therefore, the son who was looked for, and who was necessary; he it was whom the family, the ancestors, and the sacred fire demanded. “Through him,” according to the old laws of the Hindus, “a father pays the debt due to the manes of his ancestors, and assures immortality to himself.” This son was not less precious in the eyes of the Greeks; for later he was to perform the sacrifices, offer the funeral repast, and preserve by his worship the domestic religion. In accordance with this idea, old Aeschylus calls the son the savior of the paternal hearth.”

EDITOR’S NOTE. These observations of Fustel de Coulanges on the ancient Aryan city express especially the Indo-European point of view on the question. But the Indo-Europeans being established little by little in Western Europe moderated this patriarchate in contact with the people they met. From where druidism !

Let us repeat it, what is really important it is the memory! Because die only the one who are forgotten, as expressed it very well in his way the Hesus Cuchulainn hardly seven years old in order to answer a warning statement of the druid named Catubatuos/Cathbad. “ Little care I, nor though I were hut one day or one night in being, so long as after me the history of myself and doings may endure.” Yes, only those who are forgotten die truly!

It is good tone currently to make fun with euhemerism. From Euhemerus, a Greek author of the 3rd century before our era, which made the report that certain god-or-demons of the Greek polytheism are probably simple mortals divinized after their death by the gratitude, admiration or fear, of their contemporaries. And the myths would be the account of their earthly, developed or embellished, adventures. Such idolatry is indeed exaggerated, but let us honor and respect all our ancestors, either they are bodily or spiritual only.

The first, and most important point, consists in granting attention and respect to your family, your close relations and even to your distant ancestors. You are the result of the unions of your ancestors, and they deserve all this acknowledgement even your respect.

It may be that you come from a very complex interbreeding, and so?? Each one of them contributed to that you are today, not only on the genetic level, but even on the psychic or cultural level. Which of these family lines should you dishonor by regarding it as less important than the others? Black people because they were enslaved or colonized?? White people because they temporarily did triumph before being ousted from these countries by the multiculturalism (Zimbabwe, South Africa)?? None! To disavow one of them is to disavow oneself.

The man who writes to you these some words across the centuries (since he is of the 20th century) is for example himself resulting from an old Celtic core enslaved by the Romans then crossbred with a little Germanic Frank or other, blood, what some people call stock or assimilated French while denying their existence even the possibility that it can exist even theoretically, and so??

If your family is like mine, you will also discover that some of your ancestors were, according to your choice ; hijackers of mail (a man by the name of Malclerc on behalf of the cardinal de Retz for example) ironmasters (Nicholas Le Camus at Laneuville Saint-Joire in 1560) rich plowmen, simple farm laborers; iron miners (as regards my grandmother, the she goose keeper , she cooker of the “castle “ in Cirey) even distinguished Hellenists (cf, the Elements of Greek grammar, by Father Laurent) and a simple priest (Sebastian, priest of Removille in 1651 - let everyone is reassured, I do not descend from him, the honor of the Catholic church remains safe) - or some counts (of Saint-Maixent. Branch extinct in the 19th century). Including the inexpressible “gangster “Nicholas Delacro.

Let us pass on the discrete xenophobia of the anti-mafioso kind of the author of the study concerning the doctor of the Duke Antony in the 16th century: Bartolomeo Castel San-Nazar lord of Morley!

“The passion of this Italian for his country and the care which he took to preserve at his name a foreign termination makes us able to say… Let God want henceforth to preserve our good land from such a nettle “.

Rather let us keep this astonishing maxim which fits like a glove to us today in this country.

Nothing is worse than local tyranny; nobody can escape it, because each one is known by the master. If the character of the lord is vitiated by idleness, cupidity or ignorance [You would think we were today] if his temperament is violent, the “villeins“suffer from him at every moment. Bartolomeo was this covetous and malicious lord, this disreputable character it was said at the time, this… we would say today. The usurpation of the village communal rights by the lords was indeed frequent at that time “.

Yes, good, very well, you will retort me, but what relationship with my ancestors? Well, the relationship with my ancestors is here!

One of my ancestors, and if it is not him it is a cousin to him, had nevertheless the cheek to come to witness in favor of this lord “gangster “ before the word is invented, for whom he worked apparently.

A named Nicholas Delacro appears indeed in the records of an appeal to the Parliament, brought against the Bartolomeo in question, about 1570 in Paris, in connection with his domain of Morley, with various ex-convicts. One “had many times beaten and insulted his mother while threatening to burn her “; one who was “only a murderer and a highway man accustomed to await people on the main roads… blasphemer striking constantly “. This Nicholas Delacro himself was accused of “approving the promiscuity of his wife… We are intentionally taking over the expressive terms of the official report and the facts that it notices as charges against the spouses Delacro “.

Here are indeed singular witnesses for the defense! At the same time as this interesting debate went to court, the Parliament in Paris also had to consider another lawsuit always implicating the old Italian. National library. Collection of the manuscripts from Lorraine. Volume 154. Folios 39 and 40.

And what do I still know? This is normal.

Do like the great president that was Barack Obama in the 20th century. Accept your origin and learn from it . Remember that the fact of having an ancestor who is, for example, European, Indian or

African, or Chinese does not make you pure European, Indian, African, or Chinese. You are probably the result of a single mixture of several peoples and cultures, just like me.

What I really discovered about my ancestors, it is that I descend from them, good or bad guys. What they did or what they have been, makes no difference; they are my ancestors. These are the soul/minds that I can call most easily, because they are my parents. They are the soul/minds most likely to help me when I need that. They are also most likely to stand in my way if I am disrespectful to them. It is wise to respect one’s ancestors, even those who committed ill deeds, if not they object to help you.

But to respect and honor one’s ancestors, do not mean, however, that you must endeavor to follow all the customs of your forebears, in an over-literal way. Many of these habits (as the headhunt and the public sexual intercourse practiced by some of our Celtic ancestors) would not be, for example, permissible in the modern society. I say simply that you must respect the fact of their presence in your line. Look at you and accept you for what you are, whoever you may be.

Apply the same principles to examine your culture, even the undercultures in which you grew. Apparent or not, the influences your country, your region, your town, your vicinity, your family, have had, have all contributed to making you the person you are today. Each one of your various cultures was seasoned by many influences. You have them all mixed, you were in harmony with some of them, and made them appear on the surface. You disavowed or repudiated others of them. At all events, in one way or another, they influenced yourself and your personal attitude facing the life. Although you can consider some of these cultural attitudes as inadequate in what concerns you, they influenced you more or less, and to deny it constitutes in itself a source of inner conflicts. To refuse an influence, it is besides still to let oneself being influenced by it.

Our conviction to us it is that the druidism is neither Buddhist neither Hindu nor Christian, but the two or three simultaneously, since for it after death there is…

- RESURRECTION of the flesh (the deceased person reincarnates in the next world with an ideal or dream body of xvarnah type –glorious, Christians say, bellisama or bellissamos former druids said-compared to that of before).

- PARTICIPATION in the divine life. Participation which lets remaining the personality of the late one, who is able to see the divine one or the god-or-demons “face to face “(beatific Vision of the Graal in the way of Plutarch and of his mysterious islands).

- But also COMPLETION OF THE PURIFICATION, and after a certain time radical melting “of the individual human soul in the Divinity. “Confusion “even since the two substances, human and divine, will merge. The two entities are regarded as being based one in the other quite naturally, since the human soul is a detached piece of the Divinity. After death, it returns to its origin while passing through a more or less long stay in the kingdom come and by a process in conformity with its nature. It is an ABSOLUTE IDENTIFICATION, i.e., a radical immersion of the soul in the Divinity with loss of personality. The universal including (or higher Principle) transcends all: matter and soul , good and evil, duality as also the unity.

In what relates to them, for the high-knower of the druidiaction or druidecht, death is only the middle of a long life, and after death, the soul/minds are reincarnated in a parallel other world… let us say better.

Twenty centuries of Christianity (with its idea of Hell) had as a result we know no longer “the art of dying well “to which our ancestors were trained, as of childhood.

Contemporary Mankind, at least that of the pagan societies become Christian, therefore maintains a rather ambiguous relationship with death. This one is at the same time driven back, retracted, but present everywhere, even invading. That is due to internal contradictions of the Christian message and in particular to its worrying notion of eternal hell or damnation. Our ancestors considered death with much more serenity, because they had understood, themselves, that hell does not exist in the other world. If there exists, it is in this world. And generally besides, the hell, they are the others.

Dying are therefore kept at bay in services created especially, by the Christians, for that (hospital, old people's homes, etc.). It is made so that the children do not see them and the corpses are buried behind the church (the pagan ones would have rather buried them IN FRONT), or even further still.

These Christian attempts at suppression of death made that it became an obsession. Media and literature show it achieving its work on the politicians, the stars, on those who were thought being favored people. The media speak and speak again of the threats which hang today over Mankind: nuclear accident, chemical and biological weapons, but also, in spite of the progress of medicine, the new diseases which come to be added to the others (cancer, aids , and so on). At the same time as we avoid thinking of death because of the possibility of this eternal damnation; there will be many people called , but few are chosen , maintain the Christian religion, and even the Jews will not form inevitably part of it in spite of their unbearable racism on this subject *; in other words, all opposite of druidism where 99,9% perhaps of the mortals can become meldi in the other world and not “bacucei “or “seibari “ sentenced to a new incarnation or a new life on Earth.

* The druidic notion of chosen people is very different since it is not a question to be chosen by the only single father god of all the men, but to be chosen….by his own gods. What is a not easily contestable tautology and which amounts saying while following the example of my old master Peter Lance : “Like all the men Celts have gods who match inevitably their collective mentality, Jews have for example a jealous and chief of the armies god (Sabaoth); Celts have gods of war but also more peaceful gods like St. Brigit, goddess of arts and humanities. And who are in perfect line with their psychism since speaking the same language.

Diodorus of Sicily: men who are experienced in the nature of the divine, and who speak, as it were, the language of the gods [who are homophonon in Greek],

The Celts therefore do not form a chosen people BUT HAVE A LANGUAGE CHOSEN ...... BY THEIR OWN GODS. WHAT IS ALMOST A TAUTOLOGY.

It is therefore time for our society to be cured of Christianity and to rediscover the truth covered by its set language. Because the truth it is here, and this message is a formidable good news (Irish suscetla): there is no hell! No fire gehenna! Death is only the middle of a long life! What we call “death” is only a change of vital energy! In fact, death does not exist! To die, it is initially to live again in another world which is said traditionally better and in a dream or ideal body (xvarnah our Zoroastrian friends would say, bellissamos bellissama our old druids would say) then by mixing with cosmic energy.

Man consists of four elements.

- The soul, principle of non-matter, eternal (anamone).

- The mind, lower part of the soul (menman).

- The body, destructible material cover (kicos).

- The perispirit, complete fluidic body (seibaros). The perispirit or seibaros is the true body which, contrary to the material body, which changes through age, does not change materially. It is the spiritual aspect of the being , the permanent principle of our personal identity.

Anaon, it is the soul and the mind, the anamone and the menman. What survives after death, what passes in another world after death, it is not only the soul, but the pair, the couple or the team: “Soul + mind “. What reincarnates into the Heaven after death, it is therefore…

- The impersonal individual soul called anamone.

- But also the personalized mind called menman.

- The whole included in a psychopomp vehicle. What the druid Alan Kardec calls the perispirit, but the former Gnostic ones in the West called more probably seibaros. Druidism teaches to us also indeed that soul and mind are joined with the body by an intermediate element, which takes at the same time after the body and after the soul/mind, the seibaros; semi-material cover, subtle body, fluidic body, surrounding the physical body as the perisperm surrounds the fruit.

The druid Allan Kardec and after him his School think not only that it survives the death, but that it is previous even to the life. But nobody is forced to follow him on this point!

With the death, the kicos (flesh, the body) is dispersed in a way or another here on earth; whereas the binomial pair soul/mind (anamone/menman) passes in the other for reincarnating there in a body very close to the first, we have said.

Of course, nobody has been able to observe this phenomenon, but our ancestors imagined various scenarios to give themselves an idea of the process.

Let us remind, first of all, that druidism well distinguishes the land of the middle and the divine, heavenly, lands, pure or almost. The land of the middle is that where we find the different mineral, vegetable, animal,etc. kingdoms of the tangible existence.

On these “impure “ lands of the middle, it is difficult to get clothing and food. It is difficult to follow one’s destiny, difficult to meet the god-or-demons and the anatiomaroi or semnothei. In short, this land of the middle is a land where the conditions, as a whole, are hardly favorable to the spiritual development; and in which it is difficult to evolve; in which it is difficult to follow the way towards the blossoming of one’s soul.

The divine, heavenly, pure land or almost, which awaits us after death, is, of course, completely contrary to the latter; except the anatiomaroi or semnothees, it contains only god-or-demons or men, and food and clothing appear spontaneously, without anyone having to work to produce them. It is very easy there to follow its Destiny, very easy to meet there the god-or-demons and the anatiomaroi or semnothees. In short this divine, heavenly and pure land is by definition that where the conditions are much more favorable to the spiritual development; and where it is easy for the human beings to evolve/move, easy to follow the way towards the return to the Big Whole, and so on.

This pure Land such as it is described particularly by the various Schools of druidism is a world, a dimension of existence, where there is neither pain, neither suffering, neither misery, neither separation, neither mourning, nor loss. It is a world or a state of existence where there is neither old age, neither disease, nor death. It is a state of perfect peace, where there is neither conflict, neither war, neither battles or then movie fights without death nor serious injury for those who dream only about that: perfection and happiness go there up to that point!

* Noibo Adamnan goes even so far as to say about it that it is a land without hubris, or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretense, or blushing, or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold. A noble, admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom, and radiance, and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein the enjoyment of every excellence is.

!----------- ---------------- -------------------------- !

The important thing is to get well ready , during one’s life, to death, in order to reappear there as the sun after the night. To know by heart or closely and in advance, what will occur after death from the body, is enough to preserve the deceased person from the infernal cycle of the endless reincarnations, into bacuceos or seibaros, of our Hindu friends (samsara). The legend of the death according to the high-knowers, described consequently the various phases of which preliminary knowledge has the power to release from the fate of the rebirth here on earth.

The passage of Lucan (Civil war, I, 448-450): “ And you, vates, whose martial lays formerly made immortal the powerful souls/minds [Latin animas] of those who died in the war... ” is rather strange. It seems to indicate that there exists a technique making it possible to make the individual soul/minds of warriors passing in the parallel next world of heavenly nature. And to thus avoid the rebirth on earth in the shape of bacuceos or of seibaros after passing in Annwn or Donno Tegia. A combination perhaps of songs or recitations, implemented by the vates, and of which key words were to be: serenity, simplicity, naturalness… even letting go.

According to the majority of the traditions, there exists a certain number of prayers and exhortations which we may recite or read during the death throes or immediately after the death of the deceased person (cf. Hadoxt nask II). To direct one spirit in the hereafter to thus help it to be freed from the hellish cycle of the reincarnations into bacuceos (samsara it is said in the Far East) or half-reincarnation into seibaros.

This technique of the vates to lead the soul/minds to immortality, of course, does not help the druidicists having already reached high levels of awareness; it is especially intended to ordinary individuals, in order to help them to overcome anguish and uncertainties.

It is not easy to make the moments described by the legend of the dead according to the druids, coinciding with these of the near-death experience. It is nevertheless possible consider that the near-death experience occurs in this period in between, of the first stages or second phases evoked above.

When the conscious-principle leaves the body, it wonders: did I die or not? It cannot determine it. The deceased person can hear the tears and the moanings of his friends, of his parents; especially he can see them, hear their call, but as they cannot know that he answers them, he goes away, dissatisfied. At this time, sounds, lights, rays, appear to him.

Among the various states mentioned by our accounts, we find unstable and fugacious states, comparable with the mirages in the desert; an impression of liquid engulfing and some feelings of flashover; perceptions of smoke or of light curls; the experiment of the luminous points, similar to fireflies; the existence of three successive lights: the white luminosity, comparable with lunar clearness, then the experiment of the red luminosity, similar the light of the Sun, and lastly the experiment of the black luminosity. These primeval lights are defined by certain today druidic Schools as being the spread of our own nature, and its perception would thus match o our awakening or our appearance in the next world.

“ And you, vates, whose martial lays formerly made immortal the powerful souls/minds [in Latin animas] of those who died in the war, and you, bards, you start again to pour forth in safety more abundant song. While you, druids, returned to sinister mysteries and barbarian rites some time ago abolished by the weapons. To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers, to know or not to know. According to your masters, the shades of dead men seek not the quiet homes of Erebus or death's pale kingdoms; but the same soul/mind [Latin idem spiritus] governs the limbs in another world [Latin orbe alio] and the death is only the middle of a long live; if you know well what you sing. Happy the peoples beneath the Great Bear thanks to their error; because they do not know this supreme fear which frightens all others: Hence the spirit [Latin mens] inclined to throw itself on iron, the strength of character [Latin anima] able to face death, and this lack of care put to save a life which must be given back to you “ (Lucan, Civil war, I, 448-465).

“ One of the precepts they teach—obviously to make them better for war—has leaked into common knowledge, namely, that souls/minds [Latin animas] are immortal and that there exists another life at the Manes. Therefore they cremate and bury with the dead things that are suitable for the living. And long ago traders’ accounts and debts registers also accompanied the dead, in order to be balanced or honored in the other world; and some individuals happily threw themselves onto the pyres of their loved ones as if they were going to live with them“ (Pomponius Mela, Chorographia III, 2,18).

“ Old custom of the Celts. Tradition has it that the Celts will lend you money, but you will have to pay back the loan in the Otherworld. They do this because they are convinced that human souls are immortal. I would call them fools, if these men in their breeches did not have the same belief as Pythagoras in his Greek cloak. The philosophy.... of the Cimbrians and Celtiberians is lively and brave. They jump for joy when they are at war, because they will leave this life in a glorious and happy way, but they lament them when they are sick, because they will die in a disgusting and miserable way. The Celtiberians even think it is a disgrace to survive a battle when their leader dies since they promised to protect him with their lives “ (Valerius Maximus, memorable deeds and sayings, II, 6,10-11).

“ Even at present... all the.Barbarians, persuade their children that the soul/mind cannot be destroyed, but survives death, so that the latter is not to be feared, so that (ordinary) danger is to be met with a firm and manly mind. “(Iamblichus, Pythagorean life, 30).

“ They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets: that souls/minds do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another; and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valor, the fear of death being disregarded “ (Caesar. B.G. VI, 13-14).

“ They invite strangers to their feasts, and do not inquire until after the meal who they are and of what things they stand in need. It is their custom, even during the course of the meal, to seize upon any trivial matter as an occasion for keen disputations and then to challenge one another to single combat, without any regard for their lives; for the belief of Pythagoras prevails among them that the soul/minds of men are immortal and that after a prescribed number of years they commence upon a new life, the soul entering into another body. Consequently, we are told, at the funerals of their dead, some cast

letters upon the pyre which they have written to their deceased kinsmen, as if the dead would be able to read these letters “ (Diodorus of Sicily, the library of history , V, 28).

If we are convinced that the near-death experiences express an essential dimension of the human being, which needs to be expressed thus, and of which the effects are beneficial; it is therefore important to again root modern Mankind in this dimension of the sacred. These near-death experiences show us that each and everyone can be initiated, provided that a myth underlies this step, and that a skilled instructor to accompany it exists.

The short reminder which follows is not a Celtic-Druidic guide of the Good Death in the way of Suqellus or a book of the dead, but a reminder of some pieces of advice to guide the soul/mind of the deceased person in his efforts to be reborn in the hereafter . Probably inspired by the known near-death experience of the former druids. The one who well studied the legend of the death according to the Gnostic ones in the West , or the one who is well pervaded by these great principles, then feels no fear at the time to die. If you are already a familiar of it, then you approach this ultimate test with confidence and cheerfulness.

Let us remind, first of all, that druidism excludes nobody from the access to the heaven a priori; whereas Buddhism itself, excludes from from it and from the start the men having made the following faults: to have killed his father, or his mother, a Buddhist saint, to have wounded a Buddha, or to have divided one’s community. See some versions of the larger sutra of the land of bliss (sukhavativyuha). Of the Plain of Joy Irishmen would say.

However such an exclusion contradicts the druidic principle expounded by these some anonymous commentaries on the work of Lucan, and that we have the pleasure of reminding hereafter.

Bernese scholia commenting on the Pharsalia by Lucan.

Hermann Usener. Scholia in Lucani bellum civile/Commenta Bernensia. Liber I (1869).

451. “ Druids deny that souls can die [Driadae negant interire animas]

OR GO TO HELL [aut contagione inferorum adfici] and

454.“They do not say that the manes exist “

(manes esse, non dicunt ).

On the matter druidism has therefore nothing to see with Buddhism, and it is there still one of the innumerable points which separate us from our friends of the Far East.

It is necessary to distinguish two different parts well, two high levels or two different large states of the being , in the Next-World or the druidic Hereafter.

The world of the god-or-demons and the world of the dead.

The world of the god-or-demons is called Sedodumnon.

The worlds of the dead have several names: Vindomagos, Mag Meld, but also Donnotegia/Tech Duinn, Andumno/Annwn, the kingdom of Tethra and so on.

And these various names probably match various degrees or layers of this heaven or of this world of dead.

No barrier exists nevertheless between these two parts of the Next World or Hereafter, and they interpenetrate largely within a common unit: the Albiobitos.

The vast majority of the living beings (100% of minerals, plants, animals and 99,99% or 99,90% of the human beings) reappear after their death in another luminous world; where they can, in the company of the god-or-demons who are their grail, to complete in better conditions, the purification which has to reinstate them in the Big Whole of the Pariollon.

Some ones nevertheless do not go further than the anteroom of the Heaven and reappear here on earth (bacuceos or seibaros) considering the crimes they committed, in order to have a second chance. Because each healthy-minded human being is nevertheless more or less responsible for his acts, despite everything it is possible to find to him as mitigating circumstances (fate, destiny, and so on). He can therefore only undergo the consequences of them.

In a more detailed way here what the near-death experiences have inspired as deduction to former druids.

Before reaching the white light of the Vindomagos, the soul/minds were subjected to all kinds of extraordinary post-mortem ordeals. Post-mortem ordeal is the application to justice, in the last resort and apart from any human intervention, of the techniques of checking of the innocence or of the culpability of a defendant; of checking of the validity or accuracy of the decision being to affect him. What excludes any mistake and therefore still any chance, since the destiny of the men relates initially to the god-or-demons. They are these post mortem legal ordeals badly understood by the first Christians (their intellectual level was very low) which gave rise to the Christian imagery concerning the hell, the damnation and its torments.

On this subject, let us remind it once again, our neo-druidism can only protest with strength and vigor against the pseudo-celticist theses of the vision of Tundale, Adamnan and other untrue texts of this kind. This monstrous universe does not come under genuine Irish Celtic mythology, but under personal Christian sadomasochistic phantasms of Marcus (their author), a Cistercian monk close to the Irish St. Malachy: they are only phantasms style “purgatory of St Patrick “.

Former druidism used for this weighing-sorting-distribution, of the soul/minds, the word “viria “ truth, from where Gaelic “fir.“ The notion in question was that of the truth or of the falsehood, the right or the wrong (it is not exaggerated to say that former druidism was obsessed by the need for fair judgments, in line with the law). The current word, ordeal, expresses only very imperfectly this notion of weighing-sorting-distribution.

At the time of death, the existence of each man, who did not already reach the stage of awenydd, is therefore placed under the light of the amarcolitani god-or-demons, i.e., sharp-eyed; like Tethra, Donn, Epona or Belenos Barinthus Manannan. This great light falls over all that was lived by him. THE JUDGMENT OF THE SOUL, IT IS ITS HISTORY. ITS TRUTH IT IS WHAT IT SEES IN THE MIRROR HELD OUT TO IT BY THE WRATHFUL OR CALMING (PSYCHOMPOMPOUS) DEITIES THAT ARE EPONA TETHRA DONN OR BELENOS.

This moment of truth (it relates to each one at the time of one’s death) or of “virion “ does not wait for the end of the cycle in progress; the day when the truth will be made on the life and the History, no longer of the individual anamones, but of the whole Mankind. It determines the intermediate situation in which the deceased persons who did not become awenyddion will find themselves.

Each of the departed is put opposite his truth (viria, in old Celtic language), as in a mirror, whence also the name mirror of the soul/minds , which is given to this process of automatic sorting of the souls. And it is perhaps besides a fragment of this druidic legend of the death, we can find in the text of the pseudo-Plautus entitled Querolus or Aulularia.

THE LAR: Here men live while following the natural law; here there is not impostures: the sentences to death are delivered at the foot of the oak and are written on bones.“

It is therefore in the presence of Tethra, of Belenos Barinthus Mananann, Epona, Donn or Hornunnos our distant ancestor, sitting beneath his oak to do justice here that this hour of truth of the soul will take place. According to what each one will have done or omitted to do, during the first half of its life, on earth.

A rather benevolent distribution (virotutis iovantucarus anextlomarus etc.) and in any case equitable, of which are witnesses all these psychopomp deities, for those and the ones who will have acted well throughout their earthly life; and who will not have thus accumulated too much bran (karma among Hindus and Buddhists), because of their breaches or of their faults. Anyway nothing to prevent the interstellar rocket of their soul to reach its escape speed.

Distribution of elud, (Irish elutach elodach) i.e., reincarnation sentences for those who will have accumulated too much bran; not while having multiplied the faults, the breaches and the errors, what can happen for the majority of us, but while having committed exceptional crimes. The interstellar rocket of their soul will never reach its escape speed.

As comparison in Amidist Buddhism of the Pure Land, and for the record, from Mag Meld the men having made the hereafter faults are excluded. To have killed his father, or his mother, a Buddhist saint, to have wounded a Buddha or to have divided one’s community.

These realities of the human destiny thus underline the serious one that any man must grant to the fundamental options which lead its existence in this world, and which must always result in positively concrete actions.

The very anthropomorphic characteristic of this image of the mirror (of the judgment of the soul/mind BY ITSELF) should not nevertheless mislead us. In fact, there are not judgment of the soul/mind in a strict sense of the term. Weighing of the soul/minds would be already a righter term but it is not even that of which it is a question either.

The anamones (souls) which have a mind or menman too burdened with bran, fall down on earth through themselves as a rocket which would have missed its take-off for the stars (planets one of the scholiasts of Lucan says, the sun for Henry Lizeray), in order to be again embodied in bacuceos, or in seibaros, that’s all.

Let us take a more modern image: they are rockets which did not succeed to , in a way, reach their escape speed. There is therefore here purely mechanical application of a cosmic law, that of the poetic justice.

The symbol of the weighing of the soul/minds (carried out in the presence of the psychopompous god-or-demons) is not that of a judgment with all that can imply as severity or permissiveness, in short as subjectivity (injustice?) in spite of the allusion of the pseudo-Plautus on this subject (repetere = ars docendi) “ Here men live while following the natural law; here there is not impostures: the sentences to death are delivered at the foot of the oak and are written on bones.“

The gods or demons like Tethra, Gwynn, Epona or Belenos Barinthus Manannan, Donn, even Hornunnos, are restricted to confirm a fact which in any event had itself its own inexorable, automatic, consequences.

To cut short any ambiguity, the former druids hardly used besides this notion of weighing of the soul/minds, and they referred another symbolism, that of the mirror (made of bronze of course).

Every individual is responsible for his destiny. Good deeds make the anamone more subtle, more conscious. On the other hand, each act or each omission resulting from ignorance, idleness, selfishness, covetousness… has an inner result on the soul (the anamone), through its mind or menman, in addition to its external result. Each one of these acts causes a psychic change of the human anamone, and leaves a print which will determine its following life: that which will continue in the next world, or very exceptionally again on Earth. Because our actions always follow us, they are not consumed nor ever become exhausted. Nothing is lost, nothing is created, all is changed. Such is the great law of conservation of energy in the Universe. Neither in the sky, neither in the middle of the seas, nor in the caves or the mountains, exists a place where the man can release himself from the consequences for himself of an ill deed he committed; IF IT IS REALLY SERIOUS. Acts have effects determining each human destiny in its present life, but also in a possible other life on earth . Man’s responsibility for his acts is consequently real, there can be no question of a determinism of the human acting of divine diabolical or satanic origin (with the exception of cases of the abolition of discernment due to mental illness totally independent of the will or of too young age). Man is not an instrument without will in the hands of an arbitrary supernatural entity. Man determines himself, through his decisions, the nature of his destiny (reincarnation in a paradisiac next world of the Vindomagos type) or the new chance that will be granted to him (ategeneto and reincarnation in bacuceos or seibaros). Because there always has to be some place for a reparation (see the natural law and the Irish penitentials) in druidic tradition. All these actions being caused by the ignorance or the human weakness, who, as each one knows, affects even the best and in the worst moment (cf . the Ulaid and their quite strange annual disease) ;in order to escape from it, it is necessary to learn how to know oneself and from the inner, what of which we were a cause by our acts but which we did not experiment ourselves. By therefore passing to some extent in turn on the other side of the fence. A possible rebirth here on earth thus leads us to situations which make it possible to live these experiments “on the other side “. Each one can then taste the results of one’s acts and reap what he has sown.

N.B. For an anamone, to live goodly or to live badly depended very closely on the duties of its state. People don’t expect the same things from a Judge or from a Soldier, from a Farmer or from a King. Former druidic ethics was based on the Aryan tripartition of society, evolved into a quadripartition of society (kings were not warriors truly like the others) or even in a quintipartition (they did not expect much from the atectoi, these members of the Atectai or defeated peoples similar to the dhimmis in

lands of Islam or to the Hindu Shudras). Druidic ethics were consequently differentiated and had at least two levels, the kission-level, a more demanding ethical code and the reda-level a more lenient ethical code. The druidic ethical code was therefore not single as in the case of Christianity, true Procrustean bed cutting all wat exceeds.

A normal conduct makes it possible to reappear in the next world of the Mag Meld, of the Vindomagos, an exceptionally negative attitude leads to wait in the antechamber of the heaven, even to the rebirth on earth. The one who does good , does it also for him (for the big benefit of his anamone); the one who does evil makes it against himself (it forces himself to a reincarnation on earth into bacuceos or seibaros). There is besides here a major difference between druidism and Hinduism. In Hinduism, even the good weight of bran involves a reincarnation, whereas in the druidism, only an exceptional “ bad “ weight of bran tips the balance towards the side of the reincarnation. It is not even completely right besides of speaking about good or bad bran. Druidism considers more simply than there was in fact accumulation of bran due to facts or breaches contrary with ethics, of an exceptional seriousness (then generating ategeneto, beyond a certain limit) or on the contrary very few bran. In other words, not an equal-arm “balance “with two pans dividing itself in this case between good and evil, but an unequal-arm “balance “ with a limit of dangerous overload for the soul/mind (anaon). There is a weight of bran if there were reprehensible acts or breaches, at an extraordinary point; if not, all occurs as if there were absence of weight (absence of bran).

The oldest Celtic accounts, themselves, give a report on four places of possible reincarnation: the Vindomagos of the kingdom come, the Sedodumnon or world of the god-or-demons, the human world (Mediomagos) and the different worlds lying on different levels below, the Andumno.

Our Buddhist or Hindu friends also admit the possibility of a reincarnation in the animal world.

N.B. As we already have had the opportunity to say it, the biggest caution is nevertheless necessary in connection with the possibility or not of remembering the past lives. The isolated cases put forward in order to corroborate this thesis arouse all the problem of the checking. There can very well be indeed… reincarnation in bacuceos without memory.

* In the Hindu tradition the main quality of Shudra is "devotion.”

THE ETERNAL COMMUNION OF THE LIVING AND OF THE DEAD.

In the actual position of our knowledge, every other reinstatement of the worship of the ancestors may be only provisional. It goes without saying that the one we propose here by drawing our inspiration from Black Africa is incomplete. But it has the merit to stick to the facts, what the whole subject of our intention is. Because instead of calling as usual each time, on the scarecrow on duty which is the irrationality, people would do better, in such cases, to ask the true questions, and to try to answer it.

The Man is initially or then a body (kicos) involved in the material world.

He has two souls or at least a soul made up of two parts, unlike what Allan Kardec thinks.

- The individual soul (anamone) which is a piece of the purely spiritual world, and which is the true immortal and immutable being of Man. This soul is directly linked to the universal spiritual source, it generates the mind which supports in turn the physical body, and receives the “prints “of his various sensory experiments. This soul therefore perceives the “ essence “of the mind. It is, of course, what we call today soul [Editor’s note . i.e., a piece of the divine mind] but it is also at the same time a germ of the individual awareness of being .

- The mind or awareness (menman) which belongs to the intermediate world. The soul and the mind being closely dependent, the druidic anamone is therefore most of the time a soul/mind. This design differs, of course, excessively from these of Christianity or Islam, for which the soul was created by God or the Demiurge for the exclusive use of each individual. Even if this creatianism was long in imposing (see the Augustinian waverings) because it was initially professed by opponents to the dogma of the original sin. The pope Anastasius II (in 498) will raise this doctrinal “mortgage “ by declaring compatible the immediate creation of each human soul and the transmission of the original sin, this one not being ascribable to the Creator (Demiurge). In druidism the universal soul, the essence of everything, the awenyddia or cosmic soul, transcends all the forms of existence and, when it resides in an individual, takes the name of anamone. All the anamones proceed of the awenyddia or universal soul, and are as many and varied as are the bodies in which they are incarnated.

When the universal soul is involved in the lifetime of a human existence, it becomes an individual soul or anamone. The human soul or anamone is nothing else only the individualized or conditioned universal soul, embodied in an individual. From where its almost immortality.

But if the anamone is eternal, indestructible, where is it before the birth of the individual? Where does it go after its death?

Every soul is a divine emanation, a tear of fire torn off from the Blaze of the Being-One, captive of the illusion of the plurality.

The human soul, which is a piece of the spiritual world directly emanated from God, contains a fragment of the spiritual substance of God, a divine germ. Each soul is an emanation of the Whole in the process of involution/evolution, a divine tear of fire immersed in the matter and in search of its origin, going up towards its Source like the salmon in a river, in a continuous progression. This divine germ tends, quite naturally, to reintegrate its source in order to take again there the place it had in the beginning.

The nature identity of the individual soul (anamone) and of the universal soul (awentia or awenyddia) is fundamental, but the universal soul is not aware of this identity. The whole effort of the anamone must consist in one by one removing patiently the barriers raised on its passage by the material world: ignorance, error, passions, and so on.

The Cosmos as Bitos is an organic Whole, moved by a divine Energy, to which any Celtic minded person has to be identified in order to carry out his own ultimate nature. The knowledge or recognition of this identity does not lead really to the liberation, it is itself liberation and term of the cycle of embodiments (reincarnation in the other world of the god-or-demons, reincarnation on earth in bacuceos, etc.). Salvation therefore begins with the recognition due to the fact that the soul is

embodied or captive in the matter, combined with a mind, and continues with the practice of the paths which will force the blossoming of this anamone.

The concretization of any spiritual life worthy of the name is to follow one or more of these ways, able to make the anamone or individual soul able to melt itself in the Pariollon (the Big Whole) while getting rid of its mind.

From the point of view of ethics, morals, or deontology; this identity implies that all the individual “anamones “ beyond the borders and the races, the religions and the beliefs, so different they are, are all the reflections of the same universal sol (awentia or awenyddia); thus making all the beings present and to come, brothers in the most fraternal sense of the term. As noted it very well Leon Denis, this communion of the living and of the dead is a basis for the most advanced social morals, and which is the opposite even of the Jewish law (of retaliation or the difference between chosen people and goyim).

“ Socrates: Then we must do no wrong?

Crito: Of course not.

Socrates: Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to anyone, whatever evil we may have suffered from him“.

These words by Plato take a particular depth, since they highlight the primordial unit, by eliminating any distinction between the others and the “self “. Really and intrinsically, we all are brothers, and that without a stylistic device. The one who sees in each being the spiritual spark, a tear of divine fire, a soul, an anamone, which takes part in the essence of the divinity; knows the true nature of the things. Illusions and anguish control him no longer. “Happy the peoples beneath the Great Bear thanks to their error; because they do not know this supreme fear which frightens all others“.

And since the universal including of the Pariollon is at the same time liberation, we feel and know that we are eternal (Spinoza. Ethics). Even if the majority of the men are not aware of it. It is enough to adopt another spiritual attitude (to open one’s third eye in order to find blossoming). The one who understood his own weak and limited anamone is also identified, actually, with the absolute immanent one of the awentia or awenyddia, that one, the risks of the existence reaches him no longer. As semnotheos or anatiomaros who triumphed over the world, he advances in the freedom as well as in the inner serenity, and this, as of now.

IN SHORT.

Mankind is, of course, prone to attribute a soul/mind to what changes and what evolves with a certain autonomy, and by extension, to any natural elements, for example a mountain.

They will therefore call anamone the small “something “ which does not die with the body; and which forms in a way the true individual, its essence, its greatest part, the only worthy of the attention of the religions since tens of millennia (at least since the Neandertal) and which comes more or less under something which is not the matter (a divine spark?? A tear of divine fire??)

The soul is at the Source of the mind, of its highest inspiration and its highest intelligence. The soul is the vital principle of any entity endowed with life, in so far as this principle can be distinguished from life itself, just as its central spiritual principle… Contrary what Buddhists think the soul is not the continual procession of the thoughts of the mind, nor even the mind which thinks the thoughts. However, without the mind , the soul could not be thought in time, or try to find itself by forcing its way in the bulky forest of ignorance.

Souls are not preexistent, what preexists it is a kind of psychic electricity everywhere present in the Universe. The bringing soul to a new human being, animal or plant, takes place by giving out of a certain portion of this substance (to which the symbol of the amber pearls refers ultimately). The soul of the animals does not survive individually, but comes back after death to a kind of indistinct state constituting the psyche tank of this species. It is not the same thing for Mankind. With some exceptions, the human souls, themselves, come back after death to be melted in this universal psychic electricity, but more personalized as before. These souls are indeed always the result of a meeting, a biography or a history, starting with their entering the world, and even before in certain (exceptional) cases *.

One of the principles which moved the thought of the druids was indeed that of the personalization of the souls. The soul enters the world to have experiments, to grow, evolve until it can bring back the Divine one in the matter, or the opposite.

Only the upper part of the soul knows at which time it will be ready to drop the animal instincts which program the defenses of its earthly part (the body). The human anamone is divided into two. The lower part deals with managing the rational and animal aspect of the being , in the form of considered thought. It is called mind or awareness (menman). This ego cannot function alone. Either it is supported by the animal instinct to defend its survival, or it is supported by the upper part of its soul, and then the being enters its full creative value. It suffers no longer human misery, but it always profits from his sensitivity.

The upper part of the anamone connects the being to the universal soul, and therefore grants the individual the capacity to generate creative thoughts. It gives us the intuition of our cosmic origins.

The soul in which the druids believe, and which appears in the ancient debates on the origins of philosophy; has therefore the primary characteristic to be an individual soul which feeds on the experience of the life, and whose destiny depends on the virtues of the individual. Therefore a soul/mind.

From where all the nuances of the symbol of the Celtic Heaven.

The hearts enjoy there an almost eternal state of heavenly joy and intoxication, before their melting in the end of the world. But in a personalized way (the soul of X remains always quite distinct from that of Y, itself different from that of Z, and so on). European peoples have always been fond of their ego or mind and it is not the lesser speculations which separate them in an irreconcilable way from the Eastern peoples. The druidism as a religious and metaphysical system therefore ensured to everybody a postmortem life , in another ideal body (bellissamos bellissama, thanks to a kind of xvarnah) where the soul/mind was kept.

The soul or anamone is more than a “breath “which keeps alive ** and maintains the cohesion of the various principles of the man, i.e., his thought, his desires or his body. But the individual soul is only a

divine spark escaped from the big blaze. The individual soul (anamone) and the cosmic soul (awentia or awenyddia) are in fact only a same Reality. The difference, if difference there is, can be only a difference of level and not of nature.

The human soul is a piece of this soul generated by the Fate or verb of God (labarum) or Demiurge. As much to say that each soul is a piece of God, that God is therefore present in each one of us (panentheism). But this involutive process or descent of the divine tears in the matter (“dark face “ of the primordial divine being ) generates the individualization and the illusion of plurality. The universal soul is multiplied in the individual souls (those of men, animals and plants). And by definition (it is even a truism), the multiplicity is born from the fall in individuality.

From this point of view, the soul remains, however, still distinct from God and never equals him, because if it has his attributes, it is in negligible quantity only. It forms the marginal energy of God, because it can lean either towards material energy, or towards spiritual energy.

In Hinduism the soul is called atma, jivatma, anu-atma, or vijnana. The soul is defined there as a negligible piece of energy, an integral part of God or of the Demiurge.

In the Hebraic Bible, soul is the translation of the Hebrew word nephesh. The Greek equivalent in the Septuagint and the New Testament is psyche. The word nephesh can be translated in several other ways. It represents the life combined with any flesh, sometimes compared with the blood, of which God prohibits the consumption to Noah. In the Bible, Deuteronomy 12,23, the soul is the blood, from where the prohibition, still respected by certain religious currents, particularly the Jews and the Muslims, to eat an animal with its blood (see also Acts XV, 28-29).

The council of Nicaea distinguished between male soul and female soul. The female soul was not of nature as divine as the male soul. The same council fixed the moment of the going of the male soul in the fetus at the 40e day of pregnancy, but at the 80e only if it were a girl. Moreover, this female soul was soiled each month by menstruation, so much so that the council, to keep the purity of the consecrated places, believed essential to prohibit to women the entry into the churches during their rules.

The 11th canon of the council in Constantinople, in 869, declared, moreover, cursed whoever maintained there are two souls in Man, i.e., a soul and a mind. We are therefore passed from a balanced view of Mankind (the mind balances and harmonizes the conflict between the body and the soul) to a dualistic view (the body is opposed to the soul). The Roman catechism of 1992 specifies besides still “Man is made of body and soul “.

* The bacucei. 4 or 5 really disconcerting cases per century.

** In old Celtic language the breath which keeps alive is called anatla.

ELEMENTS OF ESCHATOLOGY.

INDIVIDUAL ESCHATOLOGY.

AND IF FINALLY JEWS AND WITNESSES OF JEHOVAH WERE RIGHT?

(Soul is neither eternal nor immortal.)

One of the Latin glosses brought to the line of verse 457 of the text of Lucan specifies indeed that life after death would be almost semper (and not semper).

D’Arbois de Jubainville is right therefore to underline that the first Greek authors mistook on the druidic conception of the almost immortality of the soul.

Regarding the Celtic belief in the immortality of soul, the ancient texts are categorical. The first Greek scientist who studied the manners of the Celts believed, on this point, to recognize among them a Greek doctrines, the metempsychosis of Pythagoras; according to Pythagoras, the souls, after death, are judged, and, when they are recognized unworthy to come back into the heaven , they must be incarnated again in this world, either in the body of a man, or in that of an animal, according to their moral state or their level of perfection. Pythagoras, people say, claimed to remember having lived four lives in this world, and on these four lives there were three of them in which he had been a historical character. He would have lived for the fifth time, when, in the sixth century before our era, he founded the philosophy designated by his name, Pythagorean.

Posidonius, who visited Celtica one about the year 100 before our era, therefore thought to find the doctrines of Pythagoras there. Alexander Polyhistor, contemporary of Sylla who died in the year 78 before our era, had, undoubtedly, the book by Posidonius in front of him while putting Galatians in the row of the followers of Pythagoras.

Diodorus of Sicily, in his Library written in Greek, about the year 40 before our era, also repeats, according to Posidonius, this flattering assumption for the self-esteem of the Greeks: “The Celts,” he says, “attach no importance to the end of a lifetime, because among them the teaching of Pythagoras is admitted, namely that the souls are immortal, and that after a given number of years they live again while entering a new body.”

We have probably there a shortened reproduction of a passage of the book of Poseidonius.

Caesar, a few years before, had given, of the text by Posidonius, a Latin adaptation , which ascribed to the druids the honor to have introduced among Celts the belief in the immortality of the soul.

“The druids,” he says, “ wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets: that souls or spirits do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another; and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valor, the fear of death being disregarded.”

Timagenes, who wrote in Rome, in the reign of Augustus, a little before Livy, also links to Pythagoras the druidic doctrines of the almost immortality of the soul. The same mistake is found is, in the reign of Tiberius, in Valerius Maximus.

But the teaching of the druids in reality was very appreciably different from that of Pythagoras; it was not in this world, it was in another world that the soul of the dead found, according to them, a new body and a second life. It was understood, in Rome, about the middle of the first century of our era. In the reign of Claudius , around the year 44, Pomponius Mela wrote in his Chorography: “ One of the precepts the druids teach,” he says, “ obviously to make them better for war, has leaked into common knowledge, namely, that souls are immortal, they affirm, and that there exists another life at the Manes .”

“At the manes” is still a not very clear expression. Some years later, in the reign of Neron, Lucan, died in year 65, speaks more categorically. In the Pharsalia, by finishing the painting of the overcome Celtica, he speaks to the druids: “According to you,” he exclaims, “ the shades of dead men seek not the quiet homes of Erebus or death's pale kingdoms but the same soul governs the limbs in another world [Latin orbe alio] and the death is only the middle of a long life.”

In another world, orbe alio, the dead lives again. This second life is not exactly that Hesiodic theology allocates to the heroes of the Greek epic. Nothing similar among Celts. The future life is similar to this one. There does not exist more in one than in the other a supreme power punishing the villain and rewarding the virtuous man. The dead finds in the next world a double of his body and objects which were familiar for him.

For this reason his parents bury him with his weapons, with his completely harnessed war chariot, with the client who must assist him in the fights of the other life, as they did in this one. Sometimes the parents of the dead provided that, in the fights of the other life, the cooperation of the clients buried with him would not be enough to ensure the victory to him, then the most devoted people made them killed at the edge of the grave, and they were joined together with him in the same tomb to ensure to him the support of their weapons in the battles that the dead fight in their mysterious sojourn, where the sun sets beyond the Ocean.

An attentive study of the various Irish legends on the hereafter shows us nevertheless that d’Arbois de Jubainville was coarsely mistaken on its nature a little too similar to that of our world, according to him.

The body of the deceased person is, of course, that he had in this world, but in a way regenerated, transfigured (bellissamos bellissama), by the luan laith or hero light (Avestan xvarnah), glorious Christians would say (Jews not going up to that point and showing themselves much less wordy than the Celts about the lot of the soul after death).

Some Irish legends refer to a possible last judgment. The Gaelic term employed means simply judgment (bratha) but the chances are high indeed that that it is the typically Judeo-Islamic-Christian notion of doomsday.

As if God could judge his children! As we saw it, the high-knowers of Celtic people knew the notion of the end of the world (or more exactly of a cosmic, cycle) but they imagined by no means a postmortem Manichean last judgment distributing at the end the souls or minds of the deceased persons in two camps, the happy few intended to live a heavenly existence for ever, and the damned persons intended to undergo the torments of hell for eternity. For the ancient Celts indeed everyone went to the Heaven. Even the Hitler or the Stalin? For Hitler or Stalin, the high-knowers of ancient druidiaction had thought of an intermediate solution: reincarnation ON EARTH after a passing in a kind of anteroom of Heaven (or of an anteroom of Hell in the Islamic-Christian perspective ). Anteroom of Heaven or of Hell having a name different according to the countries and the level of Christianization: Andumno= Annwvyn or Annwfn, sometimes Annwn, the kingdom or the house of Donn the dark (Tech Duinn) etc.

And now why you will say to me therefore, so many different names or images to designate the same state of being of the soul/mind of some deceased persons, between their death and their reincarnation, ON EARTH ? Because what was most important for the high-knowers of the ancient druidiaction; it was less to know precisely where the soul/minds went after death to live there “definitively” (let us say until the end of this cosmic cycle); because for them it was to be the same place for everybody (in fact a state of being); than to have a little understanding of the place into which they precisely therefore, and in a by definition located way, shall reappear on Earth (it is we uns with our modern mentality who take the problem backwards). Clearly for the soul/minds of the deceased persons there is only one focal point after death, but a several even infinity of dispersion points in the (extremely rare) cases of return to earth.

The language of the former druidism is thus sometimes colored, as we can note it, poetic even!

The neo-druidism maintains as for it simply that those who will have lived in this world while avoiding accumulating too much bran; i.e., which will have lived while avoiding multiplying errors and faults, and especially unforgivable faults or crimes with exceptional horror; will have in heritage the pure land which awaits for them since the birth of the world. So that they can there be trained to the melting in the core of the fantastic spiritual “thermonuclear “power station which will close this cycle.

The druidic doctrine of the Vindomagos brings the only possible answer to the doubts and interrogations we can have. Men and women who could not succeed in arriving at the state of awenydd; but who nevertheless at least succeeded in not accumulating too much bran ( ill deeds); reappear after their death in another world of inexpressible peace and of light. Called Vindomagos but also Abelliomagos, Aballacon (Avalon or Tir na Ablach), Plain of Joy (Mag Meld), Land of Youth (Tir na Og), etc. Where they can get ready in complete peace to be able to, one day, to become awenydd in turn *.

The Vindomagos, whatever its name, which varies according to the nations and the traditions (it is called for example Pure Land or Sukhavati in the Far East), is a world of happiness and peace, without suffering nor passion. Where the blessed Meldi (the believers admitted in this “place”) can mature without obstacles, released from the generating of ategeneto burden: the bran. Before reaching too, the higher enlightening and being able to melt with the Big Whole of Pariollon.

The intermediate stage which this world of Vindomagos constitutes; also called Abelliomagos, Aballacon, Avalon or Tir na Ablach, land of the living , Land of women, and others; make the combennones who proved to be unable, because of their human weakness (type sickness of the Ulaid) , to follow the path of the druids or of the kingetes (best routes of the fighters against oneself) to succeed too, so that their soul opens out finally.

The relation with the deity cannot be really destroyed for the combennones who were good briugu. i.e., who went as far as doing many efforts to follow the path of the gods (the reda), by going sometimes as far as sacrificing their life for that.

The druidic doctrines of the preliminary passage in an anteroom of the Celtic heaven, to experiment there some time the destiny of a lost soul (seibaros), do nothing but note reality, in certain cases, of a temporary incapacity for the happiness of the life in a better next world; after death, through reincarnation of the soul in the Vindomagos or Mag Meld. This short stay in the anteroom of the heaven, according to the druids, thus makes it possible to the deceased persons to better get ready at the following stage of the travel of his soul to him: the Plain of Joy (Mag Meld), the Land of Youth (Tir na n’Og), or another one, because it does not matter the name provided that we have its exhilaration.

The druidic doctrines of the reincarnation do nothing but note the reality in certain cases (extremely rare) of a new life on earth; after death, through reincarnation of the soul in other bodies, if there were accumulation of too much too much bran before, by the departed person. This reincarnation thus makes it possible to the deceased person to be purified, by accumulating no longer new cause of ategeneto.

Reincarnation in another body, but in the next world; by no means excludes the possibility of a resurrection of the bodies, of a resurrection of the flesh, of those who will be still in life on earth when the time of the great regeneration of the universe erdathe or airtach in the Irish texts, arrives on earth. The reassuring example of Setanta, so mythified is it, is to be meditated on this subject. Having, in previous embodiments, faced himself the hellish cycle of the ategenetones, the hesus Setanta Cuchulainn left there victorious through his ascension into heaven . Thus witnessed according to the Tradition: “ The Soul of the Hesus Cuchulainn appeared there to the thrice fifty queens who had loved him, they saw him floating in his phantom chariot over Emain Macha, and they heard him singing though dead:

Emain O Emain !

Powerful realm ! “

* Here how Noibo Adamnan following Plutarch describes the Vindomagos which awaits for the men and women rather of first function type and even more precisely of “contemplative” type, and not of warlike type basking in the brawl.

A Kingdom without hubris, or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretense, or blushing, or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold. A noble, admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom, and radiance, and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein the enjoyment of every excellence is (end of the Fis Adomnain).

REMINDER ABOUT THE SIDH OR NEXT WORLD OF THE GODS AND OF THE DEAD

ACCORDING TO FORMER DRUIDS.

They went past the plain of the racing (Mag Luada), past the sacred tree with trophies ??? (Bilé Buada), past the place where is held Emain’s fair , to the place where occurs the fair in the wood ( Fidga) ???

The lay that we have just tried to translate is rather obscure. It was perhaps already so for those who copied it. The story seems at times to stammer besides. But here the comments which we can make.

Saint Brendan coarsely deceived himself by seeking these next-worlds of paradisiac type, physically or materially somewhere in the west of Ireland. It goes without saying one could not locate them so narrowly. The places mentioned in this poem, Mag Luada, Buada Bile, Fidga, seem all close to Emain the historical capital of Ultonians, but the other world of the gods or of the souls/minds of late, in fact, is everywhere, under a winter leaf, behind a door which slams or in the darkness of a moonless night in the forest. We bathe literally inside it. At most there are periods or places favored to come into contact with it but these contacts can also take place everywhere and in all times.

A Sid is in fact only one of the entrances or exits of the next world of, warlike or not, male or female, Buddhas,and of the Bodhisattvas, of ancient Celtic-druidism.

N.B. Buddhas = gods of the druidism like Hornunnos etc. Bodhisattvas = souls/minds of the late ones.

There are of them several tens very known in Ireland but it goes without saying there exists also many others, some thousands even, on the surface of the planet (see Delphi but also the tales and legends of the ancestors among the Amerindians, the myths Chinese or Japanese, southern American, Dogon, and so on; we are not racist and we do not limit revelations, we uns, only to Hebrew or Arabic people; because it is false to say God appeared to the men in Palestine or in Arabia; and it is righter to say than the design of Divinity that the Jews or the Arabs of Mecca even of elsewhere in Arabia, made for themselves, imposed themselves on the World following accidents of History which we will reconsider: the policy option of the Roman Emperor Constantine, the policy of conquest through weapons carried out by a by the name Amine (known as Muhammad) … Because it is heathenry which is really by definition universal since it is all that is neither Jewish neither Christian nor Muslim and this according to those most directly concerned: they are the Jews which have the first made a distinction between them and the goyim or the nations, they are the Christians who called “pagani” to ridicule them people in the countryside not sharing their hatred of all that was (their expectation of the end of the world, of the imminent return of Christ to punish those who did not follow his precepts and so on…). Only Muslims had the good idea to wonder about Sabians even Mazdeans or Parsis, but that does not go far very much and if there were not a verse of Quran to say good about them , they would be too undoubtedly doomed to Gehenna.

"Those who believe [true Muslims], those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), the Sabians *, Christians, Magians **, and Pagans, God will judge between them on the Day of Judgment for God is witness of all things". (Holy Quran , chapter 22, verse 17.) “Grant to the Magians same treatment as that which is reserved for People of the Book” (hadith).

* Sabians. Religious stream difficult to identify.

** Magians. It is without any doubt Mazdean or Zoroastrian religion, therefore for example our Parsi brothers, who are very lucky to be tolerated in Islamic land on condition of cringing.

Evidence that we are not systematically critical or negative towards Islam it is that we recognize well readily here that as regards women paradise or another paradisiac world according to the former druids resembles much that of Islam that is to say it is very sexist, very male chauvinist (ouch !) Let us specify nevertheless immediately that according to certain more recent interpretations of Quran (cf.

Christoph Luxenberg) houri would not be a word designating virgins with large eyes but white raisins (Syriac language hur). What changes all, of course!

Christophe Luxenberg also affirms that the passage of the chapter 33 verse 40 of the Holy Quran : Khatam Al-Nabiyyin, that one usually translates by “seal of the prophets” in reality means only “witness of the prophets.”

It stands out from this text that this next world of the dead and of the gods is not uniform but that it is on the contrary multiple. We already evoked the fact that it was composed of several circles, some rather reserved for the souls/minds of late (Bodhisattvas in the far east) others to the gods of the druidism (Buddhas in the far east) . It is advisable on this subject to note that apparently the other world of the gods is not ruled by only one of them but by several. There are several sovereign gods in the next world of our legends just like there are several Buddhas and fields of Buddhas (buddhakshetras) according to sutras.

Political life of ancient Celts accustomed us besides to this kind of situation: united reigns, alternated in turn reigns, division of the territory, extreme case being Galatia, ruled by twelve tetrarchs. And well as regards the other kingdom come of the Sid or more exactly of the Sids, it was to be the same, this text mentions us for example at least 7 of its sovereigns. Aed Abrat, Labraid, his three rivals, Failbe Find, Belin/Belin/Barinthus the Mannish, son of Ler (Manannan in Gaelic) etc.

In fact, each god or at least each of the twelve great divine tetrarchs must therefore have his favorite field or Sid. Druidic next world is in fact only a republic federating various “States”: the republic of the Sids. A little as in Buddhism besides where there can be various buddhakshetras, each Buddha having his:

Two words in connection with a concept very close to the druidic conception of the Celtic kingdom come to begin, that of Buddha-fields.

To return to buddhakshetras themselves, let us note that Pure Land is the name which designates the Western universe of the Bliss (Sanskrit Sukhâvatî “Happy Land”). Pure land Buddhism is primarily based on the faith, the devotion and the practice of the recitation of the name of the Amitâbha Buddha, with for objective reaching after this life the field of the Buddha (buddhakshetra) of Amitabha, where the light, longevity and happiness are all infinite. Pure Land School , incorrectly known as Amidism, is a very important stream of Mahâyâna Buddhism.

Traditional Indian Buddhism sees space as being infinite, and it sees this infinite space occupied by worlds, systems of infinite worlds, each system having four continents surrounded by a circle of iron mountains (do not take that too literally, we can say they are poetic images). Each system of worlds also comprises three levels: a level of sensual desire, a level of pure form, and a level without form. Thus each system of worlds is multidimensional. A thousand of these systems of worlds constitute a small universe. A thousand small universes constitute a medium-sized universe and a thousand medium-sized universes constitute a big universe. A field of Buddha matches a big universe or one of its multiples, i.e., that matches a big universe but that ca also be bigger. And it is called “field of Buddha” because it represents the spiritual sphere of influence of a particular Buddha; this Buddha is responsible for the spiritual development of all the living beings of all the systems of worlds contained in this - or these – big universes. Buddhism just like former druidism therefore postulates there exists not only an infinity of worlds, but also an infinity of Buddhas or at least a considerable plurality of Buddhas (of gods, in ancient druidism).

Mahayana tradition makes a distinction between the sphere of knowledge of a Buddha and his sphere of influence. The sphere of knowledge of a Buddha coincides with all the conditioned existence, but his sphere of influence is limited, to speak thus, to a big universe or more. With regard to his supreme wakening, however, a Buddha does not differ from another Buddha. In a way therefore, all the Buddha fields form only one field of Buddha.

By the way, let us note that the word for field of Buddha in Sanskrit is “Buddha-kshetra”; “kshetra” means field, and a field, of course, is something which is farmed, something in which seeds are planted. And the use of the word “ksetra” - or field - in this context suggests that the tangible beings, the inhabitants of the “Buddha-ksetra”, are like plants, and the Buddha, so to speak, the great cosmic

gardener. In fact, the Mahayana texts often describe Buddhas and Bodhisattvas like “bringing to maturity” or “making the beings « maturing »- in other words, leading them gradually, step by step, to spiritual perfection.

We are there opposite of the conception “Walhalla” of the next world. In Scandinavian mythology, Valhöll (or Walhalla), are the place where the valorous warriors are brought. It is the Viking Heaven within the kingdom of the Gods, “the fortress of Ásgard” where Odin reign. It is on the battle fields that warlike virgins or Valkyries (for the Germanic people), seek and lead bravest and most valorous men in order to bring them in Ásgard, where Odin awaits them to prepare them for the final battle, Ragnarök.

In Valhöll (the Palace of Odin which has 640 doors, beams made of lances and tiles made of shields), warriors then named Einherjar are happy: the day, they fight, kill themselves, come back to life for again slaying themselves. Then at night they drink milk (Mead) coming from the goat named Heidrun, eat the meat of the wild boar called Sæhrímnir and have fun. They are served by the Valkyries and youngest of the Norns. Are also present Odin, who does nothing but drink, giving his food to his wolves, and Loki. All wait the day when outgoing of the six hundred and forty doors of Valhöll in eight hundred ranks, they will fight in a last war against Loki, Fenrir the wolf, and many other enemies, at the time of Ragnarök.

NB 1. Contrary to the generally accepted ideas, Scandinavian mythology is far from being oldest or freest of Christian influences, in European mythologies. It was there too, as in Ireland, written down by Christian scholars or well-read men (except for Tacitus obviously). Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) was, of course, Christian and even more precisely Catholic, and the poetic Edda dates from the 13th century, therefore as in Ireland this collection was inevitably compiled by a Christian well-read man (considering the dates).

As for Saxo Grammaticus , in his Gesta Danorum he does some Christiana, Græca or Latina interpretatio of good old myths he understands generally no longer. Ragnarök resembles Christian Revelation, the Valkyries, the angels, Odin, Mercury, Balder,Baal, the wolf Fenrir, Cerberus, and so on.

NB 2. In fact, the druidic design of the Celtic other world seems to have been between the two or seems to have taken part in both because certain texts of Plutarch evoke a conception of the next world clearly less interested in action and much more in reflection. Therefore very Buddhist of spirit. Buddhism before it is known in our latitudes therefore, in a way.

Far-East theology distinguishes pure field of Buddha and impure field of Buddha . Impure field of Buddha is that where one finds all the six kingdoms of the sensitive existence. i.e., the kingdom of the gods, the kingdom of the men, the kingdom of Asuras or anti-gods (of the gigantic anguipedic wyverns it would be said in Paris , of Fomorians it would be said in Ireland) , the kingdom of the starving ghosts ? The kingdom of the tormented beings ? And the kingdom of animals. In the impure fields of Buddha, it is difficult to get clothing and food. It is difficult to understand one’s dharma (one’s destiny) , difficult to meet there Buddhas. In short the impure field of Buddha is a land where the conditions, as a whole, are not favorable to the spiritual development, in which it is difficult for the beings to evolve, it is difficult for them to follow the way towards the awakening.

A pure field of Buddha like that of Amida (in Japanese language) or of Amitabha (in Sanskrit language) is, of course, completely opposite, apart from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it contains only gods and men, food and clothing appear spontaneously, without anyone having to work to produce them. It is very easy to understand one’s dharma, very easy there to meet Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in short a pure field of Buddha is that in which conditions are largely favorable to spiritual developments, where it is easy for beings to evolve, easy to follow the way towards the wakening.

Like we have already seen it, best known example of a pure field of Buddha is, of course, Sukhavati - the “happy land” or the “land of the happiness,” which is the field of the Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of the infinite light, located it is told us, towards the west. It is said to us that all is very beautiful there, one finds long descriptions of it in some texts, certain sutras. Without going into the

details, Sukhavati, the happy land, the land of the happiness (a kind of Mag Mell ?) of the Amitabha Buddha is described like abounding in sparkling jewels, light, flowers, music and perfume. One can find more details in the three sutras of the “pure land. ” Amitabha Buddha, of gilded color, surrounded by his two main Bodhisattvas, sat on a splendid throne in the middle of Sukhavati. Beings are born in Sukhavati - like in the other pure fields – through appearance, i.e., not as the result of a sexual union. Having appeared, they see Amitabha Buddha and his Bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta *, in front of them, and they have anything else to do but only listen to the lesson of Amitabha, anything else to do but to grow, anything else to do but to develop.

* Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta are therefore in this case, if one wants to continue the parallel, the equivalents of the men endowed with an exceptional soul/mind of our first text, or of the spirits and demons of the Celto-druidic god about whom Plutarch speaks in the second one. But let us leave all these splitting hairs because in what concerns us they would be rather Buddhas of the warlike type like the monk named Bodidharma monk inventor of martial arts but lastly there also existed buddhakshetras matching individuals of more “druidic” type or nature if one believes Plutarch on the subject.

Moral Writings (Moralia).

Volume V. 29. On the failure, ceasing, or obsolescence, of oracles.

“…Demetrius said that among the islands lying near Great] Britain were many isolated, having few or no inhabitants. Some of which bore the names of deities or heroes. He himself, by the emperor's order, had made a voyage for inquiry and observation to the nearest of these islands which had only a few inhabitants, holy men who were all held inviolate by the [Great] British. Shortly after his arrival there occurred a great tumult in the air, and many portents; violent winds suddenly swept down and lightning flashes darted to earth. When these abated, the people of the island said that the passing of someone of the mightier soul/minds [in Greek megalai psychai] had befallen. "For," said they, "as a lamp when it is being lighted has no terrors, but when it goes out is distressing to many, so the great souls/minds [Greek megalai psychai] have a kindling into life that is gentle and inoffensive, but their passing and dissolution often, as at the present moment, fosters tempests and storms, and often infects the air with pestilential properties." Moreover, they said that in this part of the world there is one island where Cronus is confined, guarded while he sleeps by Briareus; for his sleep has been devised as bondage for him, and round about him are many daemons as attendants and servants…”

VOLUME XII.

63. On the face which appears in the orb of the Moon.

“A run of five days off from [Great] Britain as you sail westward there is also an island. And three other islands equally distant from it and from one another lie out from it in the direction of the summer sunset. In one of these, according to the tale told by the barbarians of the country, Cronos has been confined by Zeus, but that he, having a son [Briareus?] for jailer, is left sovereign lord of those islands and of the sea, which they call the Gulf of Cronos.... Those who have served the god together for the stint of thirty years are allowed to sail off home, but most of them usually choose to settle in the spot, some out of habit, others because without toil or trouble they have all things in abundance while they constantly employ their time in sacrifices and celebrations or with various discourse and philosophy; for the nature of the island is marvelous as is the softness of the circumambient air. Some when they intend to sail away are even hindered by the deity who presents itself to them as to intimates and friends and not in dreams only or by means of omens, but many also come upon the visions and the voices of spirits [ or daemons in Greek] manifest. For Cronos himself sleeps confined in a deep cave of rock that shines like gold — the sleep that Zeus has contrived like a bond for him —, and birds flying in over the summit of the rock bring ambrosia to him, all the island is suffused with fragrance scattered from the rock as from a fountain; and those spirits [or daemons in Greek] mentioned before tend and serve Cronos, having been his comrades [hetaerous in Greek] what time he ruled as king over gods and men. Many things they do foretell of themselves, for they are oracular; but the prophecies that are greatest and of the greatest matters, they come down and report as dreams of Cronos, for all that Zeus premeditates, Cronos sees in his dreams. The titanic affections and motions of his soul make

him rigidly tense, until sleep restores his repose once more and the royal and divine element is all by itself, pure and unalloyed. Here then the stranger of whom I received the story was conveyed, and while he served the god became at his leisure acquainted with astronomy, in which he made as much progress as one can by practicing geometry, and with the physics, by dealing with so much of it as is possible for the natural philosopher. ... When I expressed surprise at this and asked for a clearer account, he said: 'Many assertions about the gods, Sulla, are current among the Greeks, but not all are well told….”

This Celtic other world seems to match the wishes of the individuals of “druid” and not “warrior” type, like the Hesus Cuchulainn but, what to say about next world intended for the individuals of “producer” nature?

We will reconsider the problem posed by the apparent absence of paradisiac hereafter of “third function" type.

Former druidism too, designs space as being infinite, and it sees this infinite space occupied by worlds, systems of infinite worlds. Do not take that too literally, we may say they are poetic images. Each system of worlds is multidimensional. A thousand of these systems of worlds form a small universe. A thousand small universes form an average universe and a thousand average universes form a large universe (setlocenia ?) A next world of the dead or of the gods matches a large universe or one of its multiples, i.e., that corresponds to a large universe or that can also be larger. And it is called sidh or “land of such god” because it represents the spiritual sphere of influence of a particular god (Hornunos, Donn the dark , Belin/Belen/Belenos/Barinthus = Manannan in Ireland for example) ; and this god-or-demon is responsible for the development towards the final blossoming of the souls, of all the living beings in his world or big sidh. Former druidism therefore teaches not only it exists an infinity of sidhs (worlds), but also an infinity of gods or at least if that seems too outrageous, a plurality, a very considerable plurality, of gods (or demons, according to the points of view).

As regards his intrinsic nature, a god is not different from another god. In a certain sense therefore, all these sidhs or land of a god are one sidh or one land of gods. By the way , let us note that the word for land of gods in old Celtic is “sedos”; “sedos” means a headquarter, throne, but also has the connotation of “peace.”

The use of the word “sidh” - or peace - in this context suggests that the wars that are described to us sometimes, are only fictitious and are there to only match the temperament of the third function, that of the individuals with warlike nature.

There too, a distinction was perhaps made between pure land of gods pure and impure land of gods.

The impure land of gods is that on which we live, in other words, the world of under-gods or anti-gods (the gigantic anguipedic wyverns) of men, of animals. In the impure land of gods, it is difficult to get clothing and food. It is difficult to hear the voice of the gods there, difficult to meet the gods. In short the impure land of gods is a land where the conditions, as a whole, are not favorable to the spiritual development, in which it is difficult for the beings to evolve, to follow the way towards the wakening, to blossom.

(By progressive extinction of the individual mind or of the individual awareness to begin, of the soul lastly , by opening towards the Big Whole : the Pariollon.)

A sidh or pure land of gods is, of course, all the opposite, it bears only gods and men, food and clothing appear spontaneously, without anyone having to work to produce them. It is very easy to hear the voice of gods here, to meet gods, in short the pure land of the gods or sidh is that in which conditions very favorable to spiritual development prevail, where it is easy for beings to evolve, easy to follow the way towards the rise in stars, the way towards infinity. Even if the scholiast of Lucan obviously did not understand very well t this typically druidic concept.

The best known example of sidhs or pure land of gods is, of course, Mag Mell (cf Sankrit Sukhavati) the “land of joy” or the “land of bliss,” Tibetan Dewachen, located it is said to us, towards west. It is said to us also that everything is very beautiful in it, we find long descriptions of it in certain texts… Without going into the details this sidh or Celtic-druidic next world is shown to us (the human nature being what it is, i.e., enough down-to-earth ) as a land in which richnesses , sparkling jewels, light, music, perfume, abound. We can find more details in the texts by Plutarch, the god is lengthened on a splendid pageantry bed.

N.B. And in the former druidism also the human or not, beings, are born in such worlds through appearance, i.e., not as result of a sexual union. Having appeared in the sidhs, they see there the gods of their eyes and have anything else to make only to bloom out there. BUT LET US NOT FORGET NEVERTHELESS IT IS IN REALITY A FEELING, A STATE OF BEING, AND NOT A PLACE.

THE MYTH OR THE DREAM OF SUPERHEROES.

In Old Celtic, the name of the goddess Bellissama (the corresponding masculine adjective was to be bellissamos) means something like "radiant, brilliant, magical, luminous, perfect.” But this idea of gods with a dream body, certainly matching the idea of xvarnah probably, at the other end of the Aryan world, is not the only divine characteristic in our stories and legend; there is also the notion of "power.”

Cumachta is a Gaelic word designating the magic or simply preternatural, powers, of the gods or demons; according to the electronic dictionary of the Irish language. The word preternatural is very specialized. For our readers who would not know it, it is a term of Christian theology designating the powers of the original human being, before Adam is deprived of them. What is funny enough therefore it is the Edil thus makes the god or demon Medros/Midir an entity having all the powers Adam had before the original sin. They are therefore natural powers, not supernatural, but that we are no longer able to explain today.

Below the definition of the word preternatural found on the web site “second Exodus” led by Martin K. Barrack.

Above the order of human nature.

The angels, both holy and fallen, have preternatural powers. Their intellect, speed, etc., are far greater than the corresponding human powers, but they are finite.

Adam and Eve originally received the preternatural gifts of immortality, impassibility, freedom from concupiscence, ignorance, and sin, and lordship over the earth. If Adam had not sinned, we all would have inherited these preternatural gifts, together with the supernatural gift of sanctifying grace (typically Catholic jargon). The souls in heaven will recover these gifts at the end of time.

N.B. All the theologists don’t agree, of course, on the list of the aforesaid supernatural powers.

And of course, we should not confuse the unexplained natural phenomena with divine or supernatural manifestations.

Quite a simple example, what happened in the county of Gevaudan (Lozere) in March 2012.

Electric bulbs which burst, pieces of furniture which fall and many other very strange manifestations in a house at La Roche hustled the reason of policemen, firemen and villagers before the discovery of a scientific explanation.

According to the mayor of this small hamlet of Albaret-Saint-Mary, Michel Therond, an expert highlighted “a very major telluric fault at the origin of a powerful electric field.” And driven out the spirit rappers or other ghosts who had begun to replace the famous Beast.

According to a report of the loal rural police, who looked into the affair for ten days, the phenomena began on March 10, 2013, in an old stone barn restored : a small cat died. Then 21 bulbs in the housing exploded almost simultaneously on March 12th. The following day, the pieces of furniture started to fall and birds died.

According to the same source, a storm seemed to have struck the places. Everything seemed to be thrown on the ground. Into the kitchen, the refrigerator had fallen while making a spin to end up with its feet back to front. Just like the heavy library reversed, but of which the books still furnished the shelves!

However, the inhabitants of the house, a couple with a boy, had felt no tremor. Not more than their neighbors of the joint dwelling.

“No visible crack on the level of the building. No sign of break-in,” noted the local rural policemen, for whom “no rational explanation could be given.”

The afternoon of March 13th, the phenomenon had broken out. The knives of the dresser had strangely left their arrangements and strewed the ground. The doors of the wall cupboards had opened in an unexpected way and in certain rooms , the pieces of furniture lay in incongruous heaps.

Whereas the village began to speak about “the affair of La Roche,” truth finally came from science. The local council , in search of rationality, made a specialist in the electromagnetic phenomena come, who highlighted the existence of a telluric fault passing under the house and the joint dwelling. Although deeply hidden, it would be at the origin of a powerful electric rather than magnetic, field.

The explanation therefore falls well under the field of men or rather… of ohms. Some tests carried out on the level of the switches revealed the existence of an electrical elements 10 to 12 times higher than the standard: “Where we should have been lower than 50 ohms, the expert measured more 600 ohms,” the very modern druid Mr. Therond notes.

“When it was noticed that all the pieces of furniture having fallen were placed either in front of an outlet, or near a switch, it was not necessary to be a genius to deduce a causal relationship. Electromotive force, it is the name of the phenomenon,” the mayor summarizes ….

As Lucan said it already of the druids of his time indeed : “To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers to know or not to know; great trees of remote groves are your dwelling place, etc. ”

Medros/Midir flew away then with hem through the opening of the roof….

It is fashionable today, after two thousand years of conquering Judeo-Christianity, to make fun with all these ideas the druids had about the visible or invisible world.

Let us say to simplify that the druidic gods or demons have a little the same powers as the fallen or not angels besides of Judeo-Islamic-Christianity but that, instead of obeying God, they are subordinated to the fate called Tocad (or Tocade if you want to feminize the word).

As we already have had the opportunity to see it, for the electronic dictionary of the Irish language, the powers of the gods (cumachta) are simply preternatural powers, i.e., the powers Man had before his fall and his expulsion of the Garden of Eden. What, of course, could not be, since mankind was not created by God unlikely what the monolatries which are Judaism Christianity and Islam, repeat to us.

But in connection with these powers we therefore find here two others of them: the power to fly in the airs and the capacity to change oneself in a bird *. Let us add there for Medros/Midir, of course, a not very common strength and for Etanna a gift to serve the drinks (this gift which rather makes us think of a heroine of the television series hero corp… is undoubtedly an old metaphor of which the meaning was lost).

No detailed study of what the Gaelic word cumachta covers having been tried until today; nevertheless let us attempt to say a word of it.

In the “polytheistic” religions, the gods or demons have between them communal features which make them at the same time very close but also very above men.

The body of the gods has qualities definitely higher than that of the men: radiance, youth, perfect outline and so on. What ancient Iranians called xvarnah, former Irishmen Luan laith, and Christians “glory.”

The powers allocated to the gods, who are not more all-knowing nor omnipotent than the angels, are simply superhuman (speed, strength, invisibility, capacity to fly), like their size and their radiance are when they appear physically.

They created neither the universe (that they only contributed to organizing or making leaving chaos) nor the men , we have said, but like the latter, they are born, they have a birth, a beginning **, at least according to the myths. They have a proper noun, own attributes, a characteristic physical appearance and attitudes, a personal history with a civil status and adventures. They received, moreover, a multitude of pertaining to worship epithets which are called epiclesis in Greek language, varying according to the place of the worship and the particular aspect of the god who is called upon.

These epicleses therefore informs about the very diverse functions a deity can assume (iovantucarus = who likes youth for example, virotutis = who protects men, anextlomarus = helpful, etc.).

But this multiplicity of aspects does not exclude a principle of unity; each god has indeed, his mode of specific action, his type of power , his reserved domains, in the large spheres of activity where men request their assistance; if various gods take part in the same sphere of activity, their actions then are not mixed but are complementary.

Concurrently to these common features, the gods have each one distinctive and individualized features which make their recognition possible.

This variety is found in the way in which former druids represented their gods. They knew all the forms of figuration: rough stones, stone pillars or wood totems, masks, animal figures, human representations, and this, in extremely various materials: wood, stone, terra cotta, bronze… These forms are not the mark of a chronological evolution but coexisted and are treated with the same regards.

Let us mention by the way the big pertaining to worship statue representing Lug (Mercury in Roman interpretation) whose resemblance to man was corrected by its dimension quite higher than the human size. It was erected by a Greek sculptor named Zenodorus who lived in the time of Nero (ten years of work, price 4 million sesterces.

The preternatural powers of angels and of men we have said. It is fashionable today, after two thousand years of conquering Judeo-Christianity, to make fun of all these ideas that the druids had about the visible or invisible world.

But the powers of the superheroes of our very modern comic books are the proof that of such dreams of supermankind always have a great power of seduction on the minds…. even at our time and they constitute an excellent point of comparison.

In the works of science fiction, a superpower is an extraordinary superhuman capacity.

The superpowers can be bodily or mental. They can be gotten by the heroes in an innate way or be gotten in a fortuitous way even at the end of a long quest. We find heroes having a single power, others having a multitude of them.

The types of most recurrent powers are, control of elements, of magnetic fields, telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis… and some others of the same kind.

The diversity of the powers is therefore large and also depends on the kinds as on the civilizations of which the heroes who are endowed with them are members. That can be, for example, a phenomenal luck, a superhuman strength, a high speed, a gift of teleportation, a gift of telepathy, the capacity to see during the night, to control various elements (water, earth, fire, wind, lightning…), to fly, to become a phantom. We can also quote a huge intelligence, an “animal” instinct, the power to multiply oneself, that to be able to send back the blows, to travel in time, the power to regenerate or to take another shape.

Certain powers got by the superheroes can sometimes be apparently ridiculous: the fact of releasing a repelling odor, of being endowed with a very small size or of being able to swallow anything.

The disproportionate physical strength compared to an ordinary human being is a superpower frequently met.

It is not rare to see, in cartoons, some heroes carrying important loads (cars, standing stones, etc.) or breaking particularly resistant objects (armor-plated doors, strong-boxes , walls, etc.). This capacity is often accompanied by a strong resistance to bare-handed, even with firearms, body attacks. It is to be noticed that certain heroes have a superhuman resistance without that is extended to their clothing, which sometimes leads Colossus to finish a fight victorious and unscathed but almost naked.

Certain fictional characters can move very quickly. Flash is able to move at a speed out of the common run; Steve Austin, the six-million-dollar man , has also this faculty thanks to electronic prostheses.

There exists heroes able to cross objects; Cyclops and Superman can as for them cast an energy ray through their eyes.

The gift of teleportation including through walls is sometimes bestowed upon certain heroes. A character who has this gift generally can teleport himself from a place to another, but it is not the only form of this power we meet. The teleportation in question can apply to someone else.

A power often combined with the “villains” is the power to regenerate oneself quickly.

Another recurrent gift is that of metamorphosis, namely that to change one’s aspect, that is to take one or more different appearances.

The Animorphs can acquire the DNA of a living being by physical contact, what then enables them to take the shape of this living being for a two-hour length. Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask can at will change his clothing and his outline while keeping his green face.

There exist more complicated powers: Magneto can control the electromagnetic fields (what enables him as well to deviate the bullets as to threaten to remove the magnetosphere). Sebastian Shaw, still in X-Men, absorbs the energy of the blows that people deal to him in order to become stronger. Doomsday, if he is killed, comes back to life while being impossible to kill in the same way. Will Stanton, the hero of the Seeker/The Dark Is Rising , can move in time. William Dunbar (Code Lyoko) can change temporarily into clouds of flying and very rapid black smoke.

The mental powers too are generally allocated to having no extraordinary build character.

Wonder Woman has various magic objects, of which a gold lasso forcing all those it locks to tell the truth and indestructible bracelets, just like the shield of Captain America.

Stanley Ipkiss/The mask draws all his powers from a magic mask of Viking origin which, when he wears it, changes him into a green and burlesque character having almost limitless powers, whereas it is only an ordinary human being under normal circumstances.

Length and accessibility of the powers

The super capacities of our heroes are not inevitably always the same ones. They can evolve in time, and sometimes according to other factors.

Thus, Bruce Banner is transformed into Hulk, an animal endowed with a great physical strength, under the effect of anger or stress. The stress increases his capacities besides.

Weaknesses and limitations.

To balance the characters, the heroes often have a weak point. The kryptonite and the prolonged exposure to red light make Superman vulnerable; Cyclops cannot do without his special glasses in ruby quartz; Benoit Brisefer loses his powers when he has a cold; the Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian are pyrophobic, and lose their power if they are exposed to fire; Iron Man is forced to permanently have an electromagnet to survive because of a piece of shrapnel wedged in his chest.

In a more general way, the weaknesses of a superhero can lie in his character, his personality. A weakness of Wolverine is to want to act alone, to refuse the external assistance. Storm is as for her claustrophobic.

* FOREWORD: WE DO NOT SPEAK HERE ABOUT THE METAMORPHOSES A HUMAN BEING, FOR EXAMPLE INTO WOLF, BUT WELL ABOUT THE SHAPES THAT CAN TAKE IN THE EYES OF MEN, ENTITIES COME from ANOTHER WORLD THAT THEIRS IN ORDER TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM.

An angel is a heavenly creature in many traditions, in particular in Avesta and the three mass religions that are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This word designates an envoy from the Higher being , i.e., an intermediary between the higher Being kind Ahura Mazda and men. Sometimes he sends a divine message, sometimes he acts himself but always according to the will of the Ahura Mazda or higher being who needs intermediaries.

As we said it, therefore, Zoroastrianism admits the higher being that is Ahura Mazda is accompanied by the Amesha Spentas, Yazatas and Fravashis.

The Yazatas are the “Angels,” some spiritual Beings honored by Persians, they personify the abstract ideas and virtues guardians of human morals. They protect us from the evil.

In the Zoroastrian angelology lastly, the fravashi or fravasi is the guardian angel of an individual, who sends the urvan (generally translated by “soul”) in the material world in order to take part in the battle of the good against the evil. The morning of the fourth day after death, the urvan comes back to its fravashi, who collects its experiments in the material world.

Jews Christians and Muslims too, also believe in angels (Muslims, moreover, believe in jinns what is perhaps not the best proof of their collective intelligence but all right).

Here some of their characteristics, according to them.

The seraphs have six wings.

Cherubs have a sword equipped with a flaming blade (with which they keep the Garden of Eden).

They can fight against human beings, example Jacob (Genesis 32,22-32).

Lastly, and not of the least ones, they can have children by the daughters of humans (Genesis 6,1-8).

* Unless these jinns are the equivalent of the elementals or egregores (teutates) in druidism.

Why now you will tell me not to imagine that the envoys of God can appear in the eyes of the human beings in the shape of flying snakes or slugs??? Why not indeed ? Snakes (according to certain Gnostic people the snake in the Garden of Eden who tempted Eve was a spirit who wished some good to men , as for him), some aliens endowed with twisted shapes . ..... This was already tried. Particularly in the movies! And by Irishmen with their legends about the anguipedic wyverns called Fomorians.Nothing more beautiful than a toad for a she-toad said already Voltaire.

Let us admit nevertheless that it is logical to think that in the eyes of a human being there is nothing more beautiful than human shape, and even, I do not know why, I leave to the specialists the care to find, than a woman body. Perhaps that I also am myself a member of the race of poets, so denigrated by certain theologists (like Varro Tertullian etc…)

It was besides here already, one of the big arguments of the pagan intellectuals during Antiquity since we find it in the Natura Deorum by Cicero.

NB. We do not speak here of the higher being by definition, kind Ahura Mazda, but of the intermediate beings between the men and him. With regard to the higher being it is obvious we can design him differently than in a human form: a circle a point an equation or so forth. But there we speak about the intermediate beings particularly in their relationship with men.

Cicero, of the nature of the gods, book I.

His tactics are the same with regard to the divine nature; in the effort to avoid an accretion of indivisible particles, for fear it should be overtaken by dispersion and decay, he asserts that the gods have nota body, but an almost body, and no blood, but quasi-blood.

XXVI.

It seems marvelous that one soothsayer should not laugh at the sight of another, but it is more marvelous that you Epicureans should be able to keep from laughter among yourselves. “Not body, but quasi-body.” I should understand what this meant if it were applied to figures of wax or clay, but I cannot understand the meaning of quasi-body and quasi-blood as applied to God…

XXVII.

I see that your contention is that the gods possess a kind of form which has no compactness, solidity, relief, or prominence, but is without admixture, and volatile, and transparent. Well, we will say of it what we say of the Venus of Cos. That figure is not a body, but resembles a body, that diffused glow intermingled with white is not blood, but a certain semblance of blood, and similarly we will say that in the god of Epicurus there is nothing real, but only the semblance of reality. Suppose me to be convinced of that which cannot even be understood, and acquaint me next with the forms and features of your shadowy deities.

On this question there is not wanting an abundance of arguments by means of which you would be glad to prove that the gods are of human form; firstly, because our minds have formed an idea and preconception of them which makes the human form suggest itself to a man when he thinks of God; secondly, because the divine nature, since it excels in all respects, ought also to possess the most beautiful kind of form, and there is no form more beautiful than man’s; and thirdly, you bring forward the following argument—because no other figure can be the abiding place of mind. Now I will ask you to consider the nature of each of these arguments in turn, for you seem to me to be arrogating to yourselves, as though in the exercise of a right that you possessed, an assumption that cannot by any means be allowed. Was there ever any one at all who looked upon the world with so blind an eye as not to see that these human figures of yours were attributed to the gods either designedly by wise men, in order that they might the more easily wean uninstructed minds from a degraded mode of life to the worship of the gods, or else in consequence of a superstitious desire for images, in paying homage to which men might believe that they were approaching the gods themselves? This same tendency, moreover, has been increased by the poets, painters, and workers in art, for it was not easy, in imitating other forms, to preserve the appearance of action and effort on the part of the gods. Perhaps, too, the feeling to which you referred contributed its share, man’s belief, I mean, in the superior beauty of man. But do you not see, my good natural philosopher, what an insinuating go-between, and, so to speak, pander to herself dame nature is? Or do you suppose that there is any creature in land or sea that is not most pleased by a creature of its own kind? If that were not the case, why should not a bull take pleasure in union with a mare, or a horse with a cow? Do you believe that an eagle, or lion, or dolphin prefers any shape to its own? And if in the same way nature has enjoined upon man that he should think nothing more beautiful than man, is it at all strange that this feeling should be the cause of our thinking the gods to be like men? Do you not believe that, if animals possessed reason, each species would have assigned pre-eminence to itself?

XXVIII.

Yet really, if I am to express my own sentiments, though not devoid of self-complacency, I do not for all that venture to affirm that I am more beautiful than the bull that carried Europa; for we are considering at this moment outline and form, and not intelligence, or the human faculty of speech. And if it were our pleasure to invent and combine forms for ourselves, should you object to being like the Triton of the deep, who is depicted as riding upon swimming sea creatures that are attached to a human body? I am touching on difficult ground, for the force of nature is so great that no one who is a man wishes to be like anything but a man—no, nor an ant, I presume, like anything but an ant! Still, like what kind of man? For it is only a few who are beautiful; when I was at Athens scarcely one would be found in each division of the ephebi.1 I understand why you smile, but nevertheless the fact is so. Besides, those of us who take pleasure, as the ancient philosophers allow us to do, in the society of youths, often find even their imperfections charming. “A mole on a boy’s finger delights Alcæus.” Yet it is a bodily defect. To Alcæus, however, it seemed an ornament. Quintus Catulus, the father of the Quintus Catulus who is our contemporary, and my friend and colleague,2 had a fondness for your fellow-townsman Roscius,3 to whom he also addressed the following verses:—

I chanced to have stood doing reverence to the rising dawn, when suddenly Roscius rises on my left. Powers of heaven, with your leave may I say it, the mortal seemed to be fairer than the god.

Fairer, that is, to him, though Roscius had, as he has today, a most pronounced squint. However, what did that matter, if his admirer found the squint itself attractive and becoming? But I return to the consideration of the gods.

And let us return to our angels as intermediate beings between the men and the higher god.

The druids themselves were nevertheless more logical than the authors of the Bible and of the Quran , they too had difficulties to imagine man’s bodies really provided with wings, two wings of four wings and therefore in a way as mixed or hybrid as the horrible tritons mentioned above by the character staged by Cicero.

They found simpler to think than the beings come from the next world f in order to communicate with the men

PUT ON ENTIRELY, AS REGARDS THE OUTSIDE, THE SHAPE, BUT TEMPORARILY, THE BODY OF A BIRD THAT EVERYONE AGREED THEN TO FIND SPLENDID, BEFORE COMPLETELY TAKING AGAIN A HUMAN APPEARANCE AT THE TIME TO ENGAGE IN THE DIALOG. A “STRONG-ARM” DIALOG BESIDES.

What could be more natural indeed?

See winged men coming in the sky and to land on the ground to speak to you in the best case, even to fight against you as in the case of Jacob’s fight against the angel?

to see birds being out of the ordinary in the sky and, a few minutes later to see unknown persons like come out of the blue to move in your direction to make contact with you?

You I do not know but the second scenario would seem to me less contrary to the natural laws than the first one.

In any event the druids having composed this account were cautious to the extent of making so that it is an appearance in dreams. IT IS A DREAM!

One of the second characteristics.

If in the Bible and the Quran angels are primarily of absolutely undeniable male gender (since they are able to have children with the daughters of humans , unless, of course, it is only a nth stupidity of these sacred books which hurt so much Mankind) among Celts they are very predominantly of the female gender. That’s how it is, it is possible that women more readily than men search others and foreigners, or men are more home-loving, who knows?

We will not dwell, on the other hand, on the little sadomasochistic streak of this “dialog” between the angels and the Hesus Cuchulainn. It is true that this story of strokes of riding crop is at the very least strange but it is one of the consequences perhaps there of the fact the text was shortened or attached rather artificially to another.

And then in any case all that occurs….in dreams.

* * On the other hand, they do not die (except in the documents influenced by Christianity) if it is not for coming back to live at once. Their true disappearance will be done only at the time of the general aredengto of the universe (its end and its regeneration at the end of a cosmic cycle of an immense length….The estimate of which made at the time by the druids seemed ridiculous in the eyes of Greeks Romans and Jews.

In the Book of Lismore (fo.151, b 2) we indeed find the following passage.

“Three years for the field (three-field system ?)

Three lifetimes of the field for the hound.

Three lifetimes of the hound for the horse.

Three lifetimes of the horse for the human being.

Three lifetimes of the human being for the stag.

Three lifetimes of the stag for the blackbird

Three lifetimes of the blackbird for the eagle.

Three lifetimes of the eagle for the salmon.

Three lifetimes of the salmon for the yew.

Three lifetimes of the yew for the world from its beginning to its end.”

That our favorite author [[Eleanor Hull, “The Hawk of Achill or the legend of the oldest animals in the world,” Folklore, Vol. 43, No. 4 (1932): pp. 376–409] comments in this way.

“We arrive thus at 59,050 years,i.e., two multiples of three more than the Westminster calculation, which made 6561 years ; i.e., down to the salmon in the Irish list.”

THE LIGHT OF HERO

(Irish en blaith, lon gaile, lon laith, luan laith, Avestan xvarnah)

The a little despairing streak of all the gessas framing the life of our heroes does not therefore have to overpower us with pessimism. The gessas have their counterpart, the budisms, which are the gifts or the charismas that any individual has as of his birth and that the Vikings called gaefa. Because everyone has at least a gift. It is simply necessary to discover it. Such is besides all the problems of the television series “hero corp” devoted to superheroes.

In Ireland our texts often mention a mysterious light coming out from the head of the great heroes. It is there just like with the Gaelic word erdathe the rest of a fundamental druidic concept . This lon laith is an energy working in the universe since the initial moment of the procreation of this world and which will last until its ultimate transfiguration : erdathe.

This important druidic notion postulates anthropology according to which in addition to its material body, each also has a body of light or an ideal (bellissamos bellissama) body which is its spiritual individuality intended to survive its bodily death. And which can spout out from it like from a pierced barrel during his life even, in certain circumstances. Each man consequently has to manufacture for himself , during his earthly existence a subtle or ethereal body in which he will revive at once after his death.

The luan laith is therefore a luminous principle accompanying the beings during their earthly existence and enabling them to rise towards higher spiritual worlds in certain quite precise circumstances (a in general heroic surpassing oneself).

As regards druidic anthropology we have said this lon laith is an emanation of its subtle body forever inseparable from the soul, because constituting its spiritual individuality. The immediate corollary of this notion is therefore that the soul preserves after death an ideal body, a spiritual flesh, a body in a way risen from the dead.

N.B. This idea of mankind ideally clothed with a dress of light is very old since we also find it in ancient Persia under the name of xvarnah, therefore also among Christians of Syria, and St. Ephrem, in the 4th century, often evokes this parallel clothing of the man. Apocryphal writings , as the Ascension of Isaiah, also refer to it.

This notion also exists in Neoplatonism, in Proclus, who speaks about the higher okhêma, a luminous element which is the body in which the demiurge placed the soul originally and that it will preserve beyond death, contrary to the lower okhêma, or pneuma, the pneumatic vehicle, which disappears shortly after death.

We lastly find it also in the writings of the great Iranian mystic Suhrawardi, who regards it as a light wrapping the body of the mortals.

BUT THE SPIRIT IS WILLING AND THE FLESH IS WEAK.

ON THE STRANGE WEAKNESS OF THE MAN AND EVEN OF THE BEST ONES AMONG THEM (The Ulaid).

The discovery in 1897 of the Coligny calendar showed that the notions of lucky or unlucky, favorable or unfavorable and so on… were not unknown by the high-knowers or gnostic sages in the West.

The calendar is composed in Celtic language, but is engraved in Roman letters and numerals. It is laid out in 16 columns, which comprised more than 2000 words, what constitutes the longest inscription known to date.

In this calendar, the ordinary auspicious months are marked mat. The inauspicious months are marked anmat.

The auspicious (mati) months were these for which human activities were allowed on the mystical level, while they were not so during the unlucky days (anmati). Especially public activities like the court sessions or the assemblies, which were possible only during the auspicious months.

In the druidism, an action is neither good nor bad in itself, but it is favorable or unfavorable depending on the motivation and the frame of mind which underlie it. But it is true that certain bad acts can also appear sometimes very useful. This is why there exist god-or-demons of anger, war, etc.

There are indeed two kinds of actions, the actions “mat “i.e., healthy, skillful, favorable, positive, and the actions “anmat “in other words unhealthy, clumsy, unfavorable, negative.

Ill-starred actions are these which are based on the first of all the human weaknesses or insufficiencies, the ignorance of ins and outs. They tend to cause bad consequences for ourselves or the others. The lucky actions are these which are free from greed, hatred, confusion of the values and which, instead of that, are justified by honor, generosity, hospitality. They tend to generate positive consequences for us and the others.

In any event, unlike Judeo-Islamic-Christianity of the religions of the Book, of the religions of the single Book, and not of 12 or 33, druidism never developed as much summary Manicheism between good and evil. In druidism, there is only good and less good. The “demons “symbolized by the gigantic anguipedic wyverns never played a determining part in the druidic thought; since the high-knowers very quickly understood that good and evil, pleasant and painful one, comes ultimately from the same source. Positive current and negative current are elements of the same energy, electricity.

The forces and the impulses which are in Man, just like the powers which are working in the cosmos, are in reality ambivalent, their effects can be positive or negative. The god-or-demon of the sun, for example, is a guard and a friend of the men. Light makes it possible to separate the day from the night and puts time in order. And, however, the action of the sun is not always positive. It can also torment the ground of its burning rays. Heat becomes unbearable then. The plants can be even desiccated, the animals die of thirst. Conversely, the rains which refresh the parched ground, can be changed into destroying storms , tearing off everything in its path. To give life and to destroy it, are inextricably bound, they are there only the two parts of the same whole.

It is therefore the balance between these negative or positive forces, being neutralized mutually or being supplemented mutually, which is important. But this order has nothing static, and all these forces of nature have a disturbing action, when one of them starts to prevail over the others or to reign alone .

In the same way, the actions of the body, of the word and of the mind, have consequences for ourselves, and for what surrounds us, the other persons as well as our environment. But there is no higher God punishing the evil and the sin. The Higher being does not distinguish them. He is above all that.

The Fate or the Poetic Justice is limited, in fact, to attach certain consequences to the actions which are freely chosen by the human beings.

As Scottus Eriugena saw it very well, the evil does not exist in oneself nor even in an autonomous way. It is only a lack of good, it is only the incompleteness of a being which is not perfect, it is only a shade, an absence of light. And the purgatory does not exist either, because it must be understood in the figurative sense, and exists only in imagination: it means remorse. On this point, our Far-Eastern counterparts are right with their concept of nirmana ksetra or of illusory buddhaksetra, only caused as transient means in order to purify human beings.

The primordial high-knower of the druidiaction (druidecht) therefore never opposed it in a Manichean way to the Good; but only endeavored to determine the forces we could rationally regard as positive for Mankind (god-or-demons) and these which we could not so clearly consider thus (with between the two many nuances).

Considering the multiplicity of the situations, there were therefore many scenarios, and the high-knowers never clearly opposed in a Manichean way the gods, and what the other cultures of their time called “the demons “.

The absence of good is represented in the druidism in this form only because the high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) took over the traditional imagery of the Neolithic shamanist peoples to speak about it.

The gigantic anguipedic wyverns are personifications of this absence of good in us and around us, but are in reality only aspects of the matter.

What characterizes, moreover, this absence of good in druidic metaphysics, it is its multiplicity. The host of the absences of good is infinitely more numerous than the army of the goods. Good is single, the absence of Good is multiple, could we say in a way in order to simplify. But those who want to make these gigantic anguipedic wyverns (called Andernas on the Continent, Fomore in Ireland) single persons in charge of their misfortunes, seek to escape their own responsibility. The Man is able of greatest crimes without the Devil having to even stir a finger.

The inner Man is reason, intelligence, reflection, able to distinguish the life and the truth… But if the Gdonios (the Man, literally the chthonian, Greek khthônios) from the bottom of his hole is often driven by the desire to reach the highest, to do better,he does not always succeed in this way. He does not always have the strength of the god-or-demons. What is within the reach of everybody, on the other hand, it is the mediocrity, the stupidity. Each one of us can take pleasure in it without problems, considering this congenital weakness of the human being, highlighted well by the Irish legend of the nine days affliction of the Ulaid.

Man wants the best, the true one, what is right, the good, etc., but without being able to carry them out, because he does not have a body, he is also a body… And if the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.

This perpetual tension is there in the center of the human drama, from where its greatness. The purpose of the six divine gates ( divodora) of the ancient druidiactio, was only to make Man escape this original weakness; with some exceptions, see the famous nine days fever of the Ulaid; which prevents him from taking part fully in the sovereign absolute power (each one in his field) of the god-or-demons.

The human incapacity to pass from the wanting (the truth, the best, etc. ) to the “doing “ led the former high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) to imagine explanations for this situation. Explanations, of course, naive and approximate, but which at least exist; of which we find trace in Ireland in the famous myth of these mysterious nine days of the Ulaid.

The origin of this mysterious weakness still affecting their ability, just as it should not (for instance during the Tain Bo Cualnge, Judeo-Islamic-Christians prefer to speak in this case of an intervention of the Devil)) because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, including the master race the Ulaid) was the subject of a detailed narrative (Version Harleian 5280 in the British Museum).

Crunchu, an ultonian farmer (or a briugu according to the versions) had many sons. His wife died, but he did not marry again.

One day, a mysterious young woman entered his home and, without saying a word, started at once to deal with his household. After the evening meal, she came to lie down at his sides. She remained with him, made the happiness of the household, then found herself pregnant.

However it was right at the time of the great annual festival of the Ulaid, and the race of chariots which was organized this year, saw the crew king Conchobar triumphing.

Crunchu could not be prevented from telling everywhere that his new partner ran more quickly.

The king threatened to make him executed if his wife did not agree to come to prove that at once, by tackling with his horses. As she was about to give birth, she asked a time.

The Ulaid refused, and King Conchobar asked her who she was to dare thus defying them.

My name is Macha (the Plain, the Field) daughter of Sainrith (different race) daughter of Imbath (Ocean’s vastness), she answered.

This Goddess-or-demoness-mare thus took part in the race wanted by the Ulaid. She arrived the first while beating the horses of the king by a short neck. She was delivered then of two twins (some dioscuri, emni in Celtic language, a boy and a girl) while giving out a great cry.

All the men of the race of the master race fell ill then and the fairy announced to them that it would be thus from now on, each time they would have a corner difficult to turn, for example in the event of war or of invasion of the land…

The ill would last five days and four nights and the Ulaid would not have more strength than a woman in labor during all this time.

On this, Macha died, and escaped her curse only the children, the women, and the hesus Cuchulainn , because, as the text of the version harleian 5280 of the British Museum specifies it well, “he was not one of the Ulaid “.

NEO-DRUIDIC COMMENT.

The two twins in question symbolize, of course, in a colored way, the auspicious and the ill-starred, the white and the black, the positive one and the negative one, and so on.

The name of this fairy or woman from the next world is rather curious.

Macha (the Plain, the Field) daughter of Sainrith (different Race) daughter of Imbath (Ocean’s vastness) in other words “Sacred plain born from a different course of Vastness “.

There exists another Macha, wife of the Nemet (Hornunnos) or of one of his sons, but it is perhaps only a variant of the same mythical character ultimately.

The mythic diagram is rather antiquated. It is attached to the question of the origins, and was undoubtedly applied only very tardily to the only inhabitants of Ulster in the time of Conchobar, i.e., of approximately 2000 years ago.

The refusal of Conchobar puts him among the bad kings, counterpart or parallel of the demanding druid, feared and hated, who does not respect the women in labor, who uses and who misuses his authority as the powers it confers. Without knowing it , he did harm the dignity of the wife of one of his men, but he also wounded the majesty of a fairy, of a goddess, or a warrior queen.

With this curse of Macha , we leave the level of the producing function to go back to these, higher, of the magic and of the war. The cry is that of the Bodb or of the Morrigan and it has the same paralyzing effect.

The text of the Ces Noinden Ulad specifies us that the aforementioned curse was to affect only nine generations, but it is, of course, here, a symbolic number synonymous with innumerable or very many. The curse cry let out by Macha just before her death will have durable and systematic consequences.

More curious is its territorial or ethnic limitation: it would concern only Ulster 2000 years ago and more. It has to be a mistake in the comprehension of this very antiquated druidic symbol, due to the fact that it survived only within the framework of the Ulster’s cycle. For the inhabitants of this area indeed, not very united with what happened elsewhere in the island, “the best ones “that could be only them. Therefore they shamelessly ascribed themselves this hubristic name. Which was at the beginning only a common noun and in any way a proper noun.

What the high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) having worked out this narrative, probably wanted to say, it is that this weakness was to relate only to the master race (i.e., the even non-

Ulsterman Ulaid), the other men being already? And permanently? Affected by it, by definition. This quite mysterious disease of the Ulaid is finally only the human weakness itself. Right revenge of the god-or-demons after their defeat in the terrible battle fought against the men, for the control of the Talantio (Tailtiu: goddess-or-demoness, or fairy if it is preferred, matching, on the Continent, Rosemartha) as well as in Druim Lighean and Loch Foyle.

Strangely enough, and for this version of the story at least, this human weakness (original since going back to hyperborean times of the Nemet Hornunnos ?) concerns neither the children nor the women. Druidism is not misogynistic.

If the children are not concerned, but only the adults, that means perhaps that, in the mind of the ancient high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht), this weakness was especially cultural, social, and not racial genetic or congenital.

The symbolism of this curse striking the master race is indeed extremely clear. Each time it would be necessary to show strength of character (each time it is necessary, for example, to see clearly and far or to well reason, or in any other difficult moment) well, man cannot step up.

For the rest, it is easy to understand this curse can relate by definition only with the best and strongest ones among us.

But if the master race itself (the Ulaid) needed this lesson, what to say about average men then?

Many authors were lost in conjecture about the meaning of this Ces Noinden Ulad or nine days fever of the Ulaid. Let us say immediately that in what concerns us, we are resolutely against the bringing together with the habit known as couvade. What this myth means is clear, and can be expressed as follows: human nature, without being entirely corrupted by definition, nevertheless is subjected to ignorance, suffering, and death, in short handicapped in its natural forces. The Ces Ulad, or original weakness, with which are born all the men, is the natural state of non-heroism in which all the human beings stew. Because nobody is born hero, one becomes such.

As the word “Ulaid “means “masters, sovereigns, princes “ the Ulaid are in a way the master race. But he who can do more can do less. What affects the master race may affect any human being also a fortiori, including most modest ones like us.

The Ces Ulad is a (congenital) birth condition and not a personal act. Because of the natural unity of mankind (no superior race, neither inferior besides, no true or super or under men, not really and fully human, nor chosen people except by their own god); this Ces Ulad or original weakness is handed down with the human nature itself.

FROM DETERMINATION TO AUTONOMY.

Had the former high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) turned chance “sic “ into God or Demiurge? Saint Columba of Iona precisely claiming and expressly not to worship it in one of his loricae, entitled M'Oenuran. “ I do not reverence the voices of birds….Nor a child nor the fate, nor a woman. Na mac, na mana, na mnan. My druid is the Son of God, etc.“.

The evocation of the voice of the birds is undoubtedly an allusion to the divinatory practices of certain druids of the Irish decline. They would have practiced a particular mode of ornithomancy which consisted in predicting, not through the flight of birds, but through their song. The wren was especially used for these omen consultations.

Let us be monganianall the way through and let us not hesitate longer to say it! These Christians, of course, understood nothing to the way in which the former high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) designed the Fate or Tokade (Middle Welsh tynghed, Breton tonket, intended, old Irish tocad, fate, toicthech “fortunatus “ tonquedec in Breton language. The labarum is its messenger).

It was an inexorable in the long run, but flexible, divination, safeguarding essentials of human autonomy as regards the details, in short or medium term.

Diodorus of Sicily. The Library of History. Book V, XXXI, evokes “the men who speak, as it were, the language of the gods“ (homophonon in Greek language), but, Lucan specifies (Pharsalia, I 444-451): “ To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers, to know OR not to know “

There is in this “or “ of Lucan all the difference which there can be between the answers of the type: “You will overcome because such is the will of the gods or demons “(prediction); and the answers of the type: “You will overcome because you are strongest “(forecast of rational type where the divinity has no longer much thing to do).

Crucial distinction confirmed by the remarks of the Aeduan druid Divitiacus himself, who said to envisage the future, on the one hand, by the omens, on the other hand, by the conjectures (Cicero. De Divinatione I, 41,90).

In short, the framework in which ours (very relative) freedom is spread, is given to us beforehand, it belongs to the data. The human destiny is determined by the total destiny of our universe, and by the sum of the various human or social destinies such that they are presented personally to us, on earth.

The collective destiny depends obviously on the sense of the duties and responsibility we can have towards our country, our community, or our family.

To fulfill the share of collective destiny which falls to us, it is enough to fulfill our duties towards, community, family, colleagues, and friends. The Druidicist who respects his social destiny obeys the laws of his country and of the community where he has his roots. And he does not think of living according to self-centered principles. He tries to satisfy his divine gessa by respecting the human laws, in every country where he can be. He can find his right place among his human brothers, his compatriots, the members of his community, his family. And he always endeavors to surpass himself in all his undertakings, as to perfectly carry out his destiny in all the aspects of his life.

The melting of these various elements, the cosmic destiny and the various collective destinies on which we depend, produces an individual destiny (svadharma among Hindus), an ideal way to follow, which is ours. But how to make it known?

Each human being has his individual and personal destiny, called gaefa (nothing to do with Irish gaesa) at Cimbri and Teutons according to the French historian Regis Boyer and his essay on the religions of Northern Europe. It is not useless to point out it here. The higher fundamental value, beyond any deity anthropomorphized by the men following the example of the Jesus of the Christians, was the Fate with its innumerable faces. This Fate appeared in each individual through the share of chance which had been given to him at the time of his coming into the world, and which formed his honor. In a way the sacred deposit through which he knew the Powers had been interested in him as of his birth, and it was necessary for him to accept, to recognize in the personal colorings it had taken for him, and to assume. But this analysis is simplistic. In fact, the individual exists only according to his family or to his clan, and his gifts fall under a vaster prospect, deeper also, which embraces all this family. This capacity to succeed belongs to a whole family and it is transmittable from one generation to the next.

The particular form of this fate applied to our particular existence, in other words, our destiny, rises from two elements.

1. Of the three levels of the Fate or Tokade- universal, human, and social - such as they appear to us personally in our life here on earth. Our educational level, our trade, or our gender (male or female) even our age.

The individual destiny, it is the natural development of the soul, of the mind, and of the physical body, during the six periods of the human life: known as colomna ais in Gaelic language. As colomna is a Latin loan word, we can imagine that was to match, in Old Celtic, something like * stoloi aiuiti: the columns of age.

There were six “stoloi “or “columns “.

N.B. Below, between brackets, the form in Gaelic language. And of course, formerly, the majority of these figures tended to be lower than these which follow below.

1.* Noidenotaxeto (Nàidendacht): infancy of the baby (from 0 to 1 year).

2.* Mapotaxeto (Macdacht): childhood itself (from 1 to 11 years).

3.* Geistlaxeto (Gillacht): adolescence (from 12 to 18 years).

4.* Ogiolagiato (Hoclachus): youth (the young adulthood, from 18 to 50 years).

5.* Senodageto (Sendacht): mature age (from 50 to 65 years).

6.* Diexbliniceto (Diblidecht): old age (+ 65 years).

It is while passing through these six ages or columns of the life, that we fulfill our destiny, naturally and quite simply. Dawn, morning, midday, afternoon,evening, twilight, and night.

Once finished childhood and once we received our primary formation, we enter the third time of the life. For this period which ranges from 12 to 18 years old, even a little more now, because of the length of the studies, we develop our personal features, and learn the trade which will be useful to us later.

While marrying or while setting up home, we enter the 4th time of life. The spouses collaborate, between twenty and forty years old (more or less) to bring their children, accumulate the goods they will need, continue to learn in order to achieve their career, take part in social works; and provide for the needs for those who live other periods of their existence (the retired persons for example).

Once family is brought up, people withdraw from businesses, and enter a 5th period ranging from 50 to 65 years old. Our main is then to share our experience with younger people, to guide them, to advise them.

It is therefore ONLY after this period, when you are + 65 years old, that you enter the sixth and last time of life. As our bodily strength decreases, we are detached little by little from the concern of the world, and we may devote ourselves to meditation or reflection.

During these six stages of our destiny consequently, we wake up first of all, we become aware of what the life requires of us (morning). Then we give full and whole expression to what we learned (midday), then we reflect on what we achieved and we share the wisdom we possibly could acquire (afternoon). Lastly, we withdraw from the world (evening).

2. The particular form of our fate applied to our particular existence, in other words, our destiny, also rises from all the good or bad bran, we accumulated during our hic et nunc existence, during our existence in progress ( poetic justice) even during a past life in the case (extremely rare *) of the bacuceos or seibaros (Irish siabraid/siabhradh = phantom); and that we carry in us like seeds not having yet germinated or not having yet borne their fruits.

The tripartition of the society.

In the bodies in the formation process, after the fecundation of an ovule by a spermatozoon, also goes down, through an emanation, an embryo of soul; but the inertia force of evil, also insinuates in the fetus a kind of ponderousness, resulting in opposing the natural and innate impulses upwards, of Man.

The mixture of all these factors involves extremely different levels of perfection which explain the three major categorizations of Mankind, because there always existed three types of quite different human beings.

Those who feel (therefore, know) endowed with an innate perfection from divine origin, of which nature is spirit 1). In short those who have soul and mind: the priestly first function (the pneumatic ones or spiritual ones in the gnosis of Iranian origin). No idea of caste or master race in that. The high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) dispensed their knowledge to all those who had the material means not to be forced to work as of their younger age. And if it is quite obvious that the son of a druid or of a lord was more likely to become druid himself, considering the duration and the length of studies; nevertheless the high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht) were open to everybody, poured out their science to all those who were presented, gifted with some quality. For them the blossoming passed through the knowledge of nature, of the nature of the mind, of the structures of the universe and of its history, past or to come. In short some republican elitism before the word was invented, even if that led in general to the first of all the functions, the sacerdotal one.

Those who have one soul and no mind at the beginning, but to whom the salvation can be brought through education: those who practice the military and warlike function (the psychic ones in the gnosis according to Saint Irenaeus).

Lastly, the ignoramuses having a soul, of course, but very little mind, and therefore especially concerned by their body or almost. The producing third function mainly made up of bodily elements doomed to destruction. This third and last human category gathers those who still have a soul, but no mind or so little and of whom only their productive function (good works, gift, generosity, simplicity…) will save. No true equivalent at the Gnostic sages in the East. The Greek sarkikoi comes from the word sarx and has no link with the Celt kicos = flesh. And the notion of hylic or somatic in the gnosis differs of it notably.

The first ones are those who have the particles of light and have to only be awaked to inherit their destiny; higher minds having understood, these men follow the lights of the science and of the knowledge; because knowledge has a saving effect.

The second ones, a spiritual notch below, are those who must work for their salvation, whatever the form that this one takes. The twelve books among the Fenians, for example. They hesitate or fluctuate between light and darkness. Because knowledge has an effect pertaining the soteriology, once again let us repeat it, but this knowledge can be reached only through training to spirituality or meditation. The help and the assistance of a druid are often necessary though nonessential.

Divine knowledge or knowledge of God has here no connotation of intellectualism, it is not comparable with that which is acquired by the studies, but rather with that which is obtained by an assiduous frequentation. Type “to know a childhood friend “and not type “to know the theory of the prime numbers “.

The third will owe their salvation only to a systematic reincarnation in another better world (Mag Meld, Vindomagos and so on…) which will make them able to complete their purification there.

In the worst case, their redemption would be done through a general eschatology taking the shape of a destruction of the material universe (erdathe).

Because a question arises to the men since always. Is it possible that before this end of the world or erdathe (followed by a rebirth), programmed, there is a glorious period ago giving thus in a way to good will men a first impression of the Celtic heaven? A little as a remission before death?

In Iran this period of remission before the erdathe or end of the world having to last thousand years, was combined with the come back of the Saoshyant. Saoshyant is indeed the name of the Messiah or supreme savior in ancient Persian mythology. His advent will mark the arrival of the last days and of the Frashokereti (the ultimate revival). It is sometimes said that the Saoshyant will be born from a virgin who will be impregnated with the seed of Zarathustra while she will bathe in a lake.

He will come to renew the world and bring back the dead to life. During this ultimate revival, Mankind will be subjected to a burning torrent, which will clean it from its faults or from its defects, and will make it able to live in the company of Ahura Mazda. For all those who will have lived a life without reproach, this burning torrent will not have more effect than some “lukewarm milk “. The Saoshyant will sacrifice a bull and will mix its grease with some magic elixir, the haoma, to create a beverage of immortality he will then give to each member of mankind.

At the junction of the policy and of the religious , and because of a distant Indo-European influence, we discover the same idea in the Shiite world. The Shiites wait for the come back of the Mahdi, i.e., of the hidden Imam.

For other peoples, this period of remission before Erdathe or end of the world having to last thousand years, was combined with the come back of the god-or-demons, and therefore implied that the whole Mankind becomes… like god-or-demons. See the myths surrounding the dormition of Arthur in Avalon (Arthur = the Celtic Saoshyant ?)

1). It is perhaps in this direction that it is necessary to seek, to understand these strange words of Spinoza in his Ethics: “ We feel and know that we are eternal “. Certain specialists acknowledged themselves their perplexity in front of such an assertion! However, the text is rather clear, on the condition of finding the pantheist feeling which is inherent in it. Spinoza presents the ultimate Reality under the name of Substance, from which he makes the attributes of the extent (matter) and of the thought (the mind) coming. From the attributes specific modes rise , and Man takes part in it through his body as through his mind , in a necessary way. If the Substance which is God, or Nature, wraps the totality of what is, it wraps at the same time the duration, by remaining itself on this side of the time. Through his body, the Man is seized in the duration. Through his thought the Man rises to the order of the essences which lie in the Thought of God or of the Demiurge, which means that the Man, in his meeting with the truth of what is, knows the eternal order of the things. It is in the nature even of the reason to know from the standpoint of the aiu (of the eternity), because to know, it is to know what is, such as it is, from time immemorial. For example, of the essence of the circle and of its properties. Our mind, by knowing in the eternal order, experiments, in its rise above time, its participation in the aiu (in the eternity). We “feel and know that we are eternal “ each time that by giving up to itself the flight of time, we rise to the immortal truth of the things. We feel then we take part in this aiu (in this eternity which is open for us) because we are not only a perishable body, but also an essence, in the infinite understanding of the divine substance.

* Most serious assessments are of 4 or 5 cases proven per century.

ON AUTONOMY OR FREEDOM THEREFORE IN THE DAILY MADE CHOICES.

Cultivate a sense of the fault directly resulting from the Sumerian myth of Eve and Adam is useless even harmful, because such an attitude is not a remedy against Evil. But this damned legend of the Heaven on earth marked whole generations (and besides, we did not leave yet there) as Gustave Le Bon in his book on the psychology of crowds saw it very well.

Short reminder of the Sumerian myth in question.

Here is indeed a man and a woman fulfilled by the life and happy-go-lucky. They never think of praying neither God nor Devil. One day, they are confronted with the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God, capricious character representing the Good, demand them not to touch it. The Devil, a character representing the Evil, invites them to be fed with it by telling them that after that, they will be like God, able to see the Good and the Evil. God wants they remain carefree and happy. The Devil wants they are aware and informed. Eve and Adam choose to eat the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. As a result, the Heaven on earth disappears, to give the way to a hostile earth where it is necessary to struggle in order to survive. Both God and Devil were right, but the human being made his choice. He may always choose, still today besides, between the frivolity to think that God deals with everything (Matthew 6:25-26. Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Matthew 10 :30. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered), and the anxiety of unceasingly having to be concerned with the following day. But can we truly speak about choice when we are subjected quite as much as free? We are free because we can do and think what we choose, but we are constrained with the risks of the life. Here is the human condition.

The men are in addition unaware of the chthonian impulses which occupy them, which haunt them, because they do not choose much with complete freedom, including their main basic orientations (sexual, social and therefore political, religious or others).

To become aware of the forces which preoccupy us can help us in better controlling them, as we can see it with the technique the Christians, following Saint Patrick, had the intelligence and the good idea to recover, that of the lorica.

“ God's shield to protect me, God's host to secure me: against snares of devils, against temptations of vices, against inclinations of nature, against everyone who shall wish me ill, anear and afar, alone and in a crowd. I summon today all these powers between me and all these evils: against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul, Christ to protect me today against poison, against burning etc.etc.“

The devils, the vices, the inclinations of nature, and the poisons, are the harmful and negative ideas which often haunt our unconscious. And by explicitly formulating them (as the example of the ancient high-knowers of the druidiaction suggests that we do it) in other words by making them pass from unconscious to conscious, we are likely to succeed in freeing ourselves from them. From where the famous gnothi seauton of the Greek philosophers, successors perhaps of the hyperborean shamans in Delphi like Abarix and Olenus.

The determination, that exists ( Man is not completely free at the starting), but we can be freed of it gradually and thus rise from the determining to freedom, through autonomy. Because the freedom of Mankind exists well, in the usual senses of the term even if it is always transitory. It is especially matter of choice. But the man has always only the possibility of choosing between several solutions, he never has the possibility of being located out of these dilemmas or out of these alternatives. It is therefore in a way a freedom step by step. Man is free only since he is confronted with a choice. The

man has especially the power to choose his own death, voluntarily or in a way by default, and suicide was even always a duty for the high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht). IN CERTAIN CASES.

The freedom of daily reality is relative because it is caused, produced, and that it disappears very quickly. It lasts only the time of a flash, it exists only the length of a time atom.

Freedom cannot therefore have, let us repeat it once again, a proper nature, because it is caused by something other,originates somewhere, and therefore remains fated to die or at least to disappear, in order to re-appear somewhere, in other circumstances. It is besides because it does not have a proper nature it is precisely transitory, it can, of course, emerge, but also disappear; therefore we cannot say of it that it really exists. To say of human freedom that it is the absence of obstacles does not mean, on behalf of the druids, to dispute or deny its reality, but only to relativize it, because we cannot say of it either that it does not exist.

The absolute and immanent sovereignty of the Destiny or Tokade (Middle Welsh tynghed, Breton tonket, intended, old Irish tocad, fate, toicthech “fortunatus “ tonquedec in Breton. The labarum is its messenger) does not deny the relative freedom of Mankind. It allows him contrary to being expressed, and even consolidates it: especially when the infinite one is not the limit of the finite, but what makes possible the finite and achieves it.

The Man, the Gdonios, is the only being in the world who can say no, even to the god-or-demons (see the book of Conquests of Ireland and the final victory won by the Men… OVER THE GOD-OR-DEMONS).

The god-or-demons therefore let the human beings revolt then to rush into History to practice their freedom there. But for what reasons? For what future?

Even the high-knowers don’t know it very well in reality, who were already divided about the question of the god-or-demons.

“ To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers, to know OR NOT TO KNOW “(Lucan, Pharsalia, I, 444-462).

Since human being is as a god-or-demon on earth (the last one living on its surface besides), but his mental force reduced to nothing (the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak - Mt. 26,41. Damn, for once!) makes him an almost slave.

The earth which quakes, which is split, which swallows the man and his work; the water which raises and floods or drowns everything, the storm which carries everything in front of itself ! Here are the “diseases “that for a long time we know to be due to the attacks of other living beings, and finally the painful enigma of death, of the death to which no remedy was discovered up to now, and will never be perhaps. With these forces, nature rises against us, sublime, cruel, inexorable, it points out to us our weakness, our distress, which we hoped to escape thanks to the labor of our civilization (Freud. The future of an illusion). This congenital human weakness is, as we saw it, symbolized, in a rather picturesque way, it is true, by this legend of the debility of the Ulaid.

The absolute free will is only an illusion or a well-practical lie from Judeo-Islamic-Christian monolatrous people . What exists for the Man, it is not the absolute free will, but a more or less great autonomy of the individual; UNITED WITH THE ILLUSION TO HAVE A TOTAL FREE WILL; and coming from the two poles (purely theoretical and by no means Manichean) which are the Soul and the Matter. The objects which appear in front of us exist well, but through our senses. They have no absolute existence in themselves, but in ordinary reality (that of our mental), they exist well. SUCH is also the case of the human free will.

“Find a way therefore with that and try to be happy. Know that there are always two aspects for things: one that you will like, the other that you will hate. God does not distinguish them. He is above all that, he is all. He is. But if you need for comfort and consolation, you may always speak to the innumerable more or less specialized divine entities, that every religion proposes to support you. You can even simply speak to a friend while imagining it is God who inspires him. “

As for the non-Good, the deity is innocent of it. And it does not come either from any devilish entity, whatever its name (great or little Satan, Lugifer, Iblis, etc.). It is exclusively the work of the Man. God is an impersonal being (although being able to be personally felt by each and everyone) and we do not therefore have to judge if it does Good or Evil. Evil and sin are besides in reality an illusion, separating us from our own inner divinity.

Because if God wants the good, and that he is almighty , how comes that he does not destroy the evil to eliminate it forever? Isn't the evil a specifically personal point of view? If we observe the flip sides of

the same coin, we can also think that what is seen as “evil “ by one, may (always) be also regarded as positive by another. A volcano which has just erupted brings chaos and destruction, but after this disaster, the fertile magma will bear better harvests. War destroys lives and cities, it also makes it possible to rebuild more functional new cities. It is often also an opportunity to share techniques or products. The Arab Muslims brought back the paper to the Battle of Talas in 751, and the Crusaders brought back from the East fig, pomegranate, apricot, mulberry, cotton, sugar cane, indigo, rice , saffron, etc. (let us not talk even about the tobacco brought from America.) Like what the globalization of which the beautiful minds revel in is not new, what is relatively new it is the MASS GLOBALIZATION ALMOST INSTANTANEOUS OF EVERYTHING AND OF ITS CONTRARY DUE TO PROGRESS OF THE MEANS OF TRANSPORT.

Of course, to be able to consider these advantages of the “Evil “ an impersonal prospect should be adopted. Because from a personal point of view, nothing will be able to make us accept that destruction and death, are aspects quite as enviable as the good, the festival and the revival. But this value judgment between what is desirable or not is specifically human. The impersonal God is above all that, as we have already underlined it on several occasions; he is the good and the evil at the same time. He is the being, he is all, and it is only our strictly human point of view which makes us considering the things positively or not.

As everything is tied in nature, there is mutual interdependence of all the phenomena. The Man being also a chthonian animal (Old Celtic gdonios ) he is determined at the beginning, and his absolute free will never exists, apart from in the head of certain keen Manicheans. Human freedom is a product of innumerable relations, conditioned from all quarters and from all sides, in the unit of Life and Cosmos (Bitos). Human freedom is taken in a constant flow of interactions of various factors (emotional, physical, mental, etc.). It is therefore relative. It is born, grows, and passes.

REMINDER ON THE TRAVEL OF SOUL AFTER DEATH.

Any existence here eon earth tends to its final dissolution in the Pariollon (the Big Whole). It is the universal negentropy. Such is the main characteristic of any life on earth and therefore of that of the man. Each one arrives there differently and according to one’s nature.

It seems necessary in all the cases to well distinguish the abode of the dead from the abode of the god-or-demons. Even if both are very close, even contiguous, and are elements of the same subset called Vindomagos, itself an integral part of the Albiobitos.

The pace of stay of the god-or-demons is not really specified or located in our myths. There is some of them under ground, but there are also some of them in the airs or water. In short a little everywhere!

As regards the field of the dead , it is not the same thing.

With some exceptions, any man needs an intermediate phase after death to arrive there: the rebirth in another world where he can get ready to this ultimate travel in the middle of the stars. This next world is not single and is staged on different levels; so that several states of the being can co-exist there (kingdom of the dead, kingdom of the god-or-demons - as many sidhs as god-or-demons - or ultimate stage before the final dissolution in the Big Whole, etc.).

Certain people can reach during their life even the lower levels of this next world, where they can live a time thus, in the company of the god-or-demons, while expecting their metamorphic melting in the Big Whole.

The culprits of exceptional crimes must, before arriving at this stage (embodiment in another world of heavenly nature); in a way to start from scratch and to start again from the square one as in the famous snakes and ladders. They are reincarnated here below on earth (bacuceos).

The majority of the deceased persons, not to say totality, complete their purification in the various paradisiac purgatories of the underground or celestial spaces; sometimes going up from one sphere to another at the proper time (another image to try to make us grasp what is truly inexpressible). But this participation of human beings in the almost immortal life of the god-or-demons does not appear, moreover, we repeat it once again, as the reward of an earthly life filled with good works.

Some individuals quite as exceptional, but in the good sense of the term (semnothei or great soul/minds) can reach directly after their death the Pariollon (return to the big Whole strictly speaking).

The druidic legend of the death can help every departed person to travel, while following towards west the sun beyond the Gates of the Death (Letavia, another name of the intermediate land, located between the world of the men Dumnon, and the Vindomagos, which constitutes in a way the entrance of the world of the dead); then on the Dead Sea or Sea of the Dead (Morimarusa) which reigns in the West or the north of the World.

After the death of the body, the soul/mind is accompanied by various psychopompous entities, the first being calming and gracious deities like Epona or Belenos Barinthus Manannan, the second ones some repelling deities like Tethra the prince of the gigantic anguipedic wyverns, Arawn or Gwynn in the Welsh tradition, the Catubodua or Sheela na gig and even the Ankou (in the West of France).

The reincarnation in the parallel next world of heavenly nature called Mag Meld, Vindomagos, Tir na n’Og, Ttir na mBan or differently, takes place little time after the death. At least according to the general popular belief on the subject.

We can also reappear in the world of the god-or-demons, since they are mortal although endowed with life having a length infinitely longer than that of the human beings.

But the disembodied persons can also remain a certain time in the non-world where Donn, Tethra, Arawn, Gwynn…rule. The soul/mind of the deceased person in this case is accompanied by various psychopomp entities definitely less pleasant than our gracious Epona or than Belenos Barinthus Manannan leading the souls to the residence of Hornunnos the western Buddha.

Certain soul/minds remain then without a (bellissamos bellissama) body of xvarnah type and will remain with various other entities commonly called demons, in a transitory crossing point (in fact a state of being) BEFORE BEING REINCARNATED IN CERTAIN CASES on earth in bacuceos.

But once again, let us repeat it, extremely rare are the unhappy ones repelled towards the bottom, and tormented in the anteroom of the Heaven, before being subjected to the lapse of memory of their preceding life then rejected into new bodies on this earth. While turning to the matter, the soul of the bacuceos forgets its own identity. It is a spiritual second death. The amnesia of the original condition of the soul is besides a need in this case. This is why it is impossible to remember one’s past lives.

HEAVEN, HELL, AND PURGATORY ?

According to the Canadian web site “Jesus or the 7th Gospel “.

Heaven is not a place. Nor purgatory! They are rather states of mind or qualms, different, some ways of being in oneself and with respect to the others. Whether it is here below , or elsewhere in the other life. Each one of us comes into the world with his heaven and his hell: one and the other wrapped in a rather mysterious way in the hereditary legacy of our parents. In the heritage that also leaves to us the whole Mankind through them. Some people call that the original sin. In fact, there is no sin in that. It is rather the original legacy, both with its good and its evil: all that together.

Heaven and hell are above all in our thought, marvelously complex result from our brain… that life animates. More our thought to us is infinite and serene, more our life is likely to be a heaven. A vast and serene sky.

On the other hand, more our thought will be narrow and morose, more our life is likely to be hell. The hell is narrow and morose. It is in our thought that we are initially great or small, strong or weak, powerful or powerless, happy or unhappy, in heaven or in hell!

When we leave this Earth, we will carry necessarily this thought such as we received it at birth. Then, such as we cultivated it or forged it during our life. We are responsible for our life… at least, up to a certain degree.

There are those who will blame all their life during, the others (parents, society…) for being what they are. And those who believe being the craftsmen of their own happiness or misfortune.

Our mental health is fragile, and the balance of our brain, delicate.

In fact, we all are prisoners of our heredity: like it or not! Whether it is believed or not!

It is illusory to think that each one of us has the complete control of his acting, and the absolute control of his thought. Illusion largely maintained - unfortunately - by some happy traders of insipidness who sell to naive people the illusion of a total control of their freedom: We are the craftsmen of our own happiness or our own misfortune! They like to repeat to all and sundry.

Yes and not…

There is truth in that ! But does everyone have the potential or the physical and psychological means to take charge of their own lives? To be the craftsmen of his own happiness?

I doubt it!

To build one’s happiness, it is necessary to have materials in hand. Do we have them always ?

We are, in a certain way, rather enthralled to that we are… to what the others are compared to us, to the hazards of the life and of our destiny. And it is false to believe that everyone can break these chains!

Therefore ask for example to an unhappy galley slave, chained down in the repugnant hold of a boat, to change life as he pleases and to become, overnight, the thriving and fortunate senior executive beneficiary of a golden parachute.

Or, still, persuade therefore, if you can , a leper, rejected from the society of the human beings, and whose flesh break up like litter, that he is beautiful and useful to his community?

It is too easy, when you are young, beautiful, wealthy and in good health - or having left the hole into which you were fallen - to preach… patience to rebels, optimism to pessimists, peace to bellicose people, temperance to excessive persons, and so on.

I know well that thought can cure. That faith may save. That hope can go a long way.

But still it is necessary that this thought, this faith, and this hope, are alive and vivifying in us! But I ask you, what control we have exactly on… our passions, our prejudices, our religious and family education, the social pressures, the unavoidable things and the risks of the life?

Does somebody believe really here that it makes, each day, only what it wants? And as he wants it?

Personally, each day, I do sometimes the evil that I would not like to do and I do not always the good I would like. Each one of us can say as much about that if he is lucid with himself.

I also know that to live is a difficult fight which more often than we would like leads us… into hell… rather than into heaven.

Heaven is to be earned each day, but it should be well admitted that it does not let get easily.

[Arrian. Hunting. XXXIV. This Celtic law I follow with my fellows, because I declare no human undertaking to have a prosperous issue without the interposition of the gods…].

Heaven helps those who help themselves ! Of course!

But, up to which point can I help myself or help the others?

Once again, be wary of the traders of insipidnesses and illusions who want to persuade you that it is easy. That all is in the will! That it is enough to want it! And that they have in their sleeve a lot of tricks to offer you.

Me, I say to you: the life, it is to fight constantly to be in the Heaven. To be in 7th one, if possible!

Saint-Claude. Ottawa - February 13, 1996.

This author did a major cleanup in evangelical writing. The apologetic remarks and the doubtful or distorted facts had been systematically dismissed or reduced to the dimensions of the probability. Fanatics of revealed truths, sacred texts or pages of Gospel marked with the seal of the orthodoxy of Churches, please refrain you from.

THE DRUIDIC ANSWER : NEITHER HELL NOR PURGATORY !

NO JUDGMENT IN THE NEXT WORLD ! DOWN WITH MANICHEISM!

The Judeo-Christians and the atheists have much disparaged the deeply immoral or amoral nature of the druidic paganism. Specialists in the study of religions like Judaism Christianity Zoroastrianism or Islam….deduced that its gods or goddesses were ambivalent, at the same time angels and demons. In any case beyond the simplistic and childish Manicheism opposing the good to the evil.

The political and religious designs of the peoples are always interdependent from each other. In the old primitive societies, people were unaware of the notion of State sentencing to death and making the murderer of a citizen being executed, or forcing the thief to restore what he has stolen ; people therefore did not conceive gods punishing in another life the man who in this world was guilty of a crime against his fellow (Hitler Stalin Pol Pot Gilles de Rais), nor rewarding in this other life the good and generous or hospitable man towards his neighbor (Joan of Arc). It was necessary to await for Judeo-Islamic-Christianity for that.

The Celts and their druids were more optimistic and believed in the poetic justice. In any case they had, moreover, the certainty that in the other world, all, lords or farmers, high druids or simple bards, men women or children, would enjoy a dream (bellissamos bellissama) body being resplendent with the inner light called in Gaelic luan laith, or light of the heroes (xvarnah in the Zoroastrianism of our Parsis brothers).

In the former druidism, the belief in immortality or almost of the soul had a force which gripped the mind of the Romans highly, but this certainty was not, as among Christians or Moslems, combined with the theological doctrines of the heaven and hell. The dead, i twas thought quite simply, found in the next world a life roughly speaking similar to this one *, and where, as in this one, every divine distribution between hell purgatory or heaven or every justice of the type “strict enforcement of a meticulous divine law” was absent. The future life is similar to this one. There does not exist more in one than in the other a supreme power punishing the bad one and rewarding the virtuous man. The dead finds in the next world a double of his body sublimated by the inner light of the luan laith and the objects which were familiar for him. For this reason his parents bury him with his weapons, his war chariot , his jewels, his toys.

The primitive gods (of before even the former druidism) are therefore indifferent to the justice or the injustice of human acts. Such is the basic concept of the primitive religion of before the druidic reform having taken place somewhere in Central Europe 1000 or 2000 years before our era.

But the primordial druids found an intellectually satisfactory mean (an easy way its Manichean detractors will say) to cure this prospect, a little despairing it is true. The gods remain still indifferent to the justice or the injustice of human acts... but not to their honor. Or to their word or to their reputation.

The former druids therefore supposed men could place their contracts under the protection of such or such god. The one who after having concluded a contract on oath does not fulfill this contract, insults

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by there way the gods who will be avenged, not by love of justice, but in order to make them respected .

This design of divine justice or the role of the gods is the expression of an intermediate frame of mind between the primitive theological design and the Egyptian design, which is that also Christians: the oath is a process with the help of which one forces the gods to leave their natural indifference for the human things and to becoming the defenders of the right.

This conception of the poetic justice which is the expression of the naturalist ideas of the druids on the matter is met in an Irish document remained famous.

This document contains the account:

1° of the events which have, it is said, justified the establishment of the tax called Boroma;

2° of the later facts which were the consequence of the collection of this tax owed to the emperor ( king of kings) in Ireland by the inhabitants of Leinster.

One day Lóegaire committed to no longer require the Boroma, the tax taken over the atectai (over the dhimmi Muslim theologists would say). He gave as guarantors of his word all the elements: sun and moon, water and air, day and night, sea and land. According to our ancient legends, he violated this oath and underwent the following disastrous consequences: the earth engulfed him, the sun burned him, the wind refused respirable air to him; the perjury of King Lóegaire was therefore punished with more atrocious of deaths.

N.B. The legendary text which reports to us these wonders does not explain them yet by the divine justice, of which the notion had not penetrated yet in the lay literature of Ireland when this account was written for the first time. It presents the punishment of Lóegaire as the result of the direct action of the forces of nature the perjurer king had called upon by an oath solemnly sworn initially, then finally violated.

As regards the life after death, any hell nor purgatory was necessary.

N.B. The primitive gods (of before even the former druidism) are indifferent to justice or to injustice of the human acts we have said.

The fact remains that we have at least in this field an example of druidic god more sensitive to the thoughts as well to the actions, than to the commercial value of their sacrifices or of their offerings, of the believers of his worship, it is the god Grannos of the temple of Grand ( Upper Germania, or Belgium, for the Romans).

According to Dio Cassius indeed (Book LXXVIII chapter XV) speaking about the Roman Emperor Caracalla.

“ This showed most clearly that they regarded, not his votive offerings or his sacrifices, but only his purposes and his deeds. He received no help from Apollo Grannus, nor yet from Aesculapius or Serapis, in spite of his many supplications and his unwearying persistence. For even while abroad he sent to them prayers, sacrifices and votive offerings, and many couriers ran hither and thither every day carrying something of this kind; he also went to them himself, hoping to prevail by appearing in person, and did all that devotees are wont to do but he obtained nothing that contributed to health .”

The indifference of the druidic gods therefore had limits apparently: the tyranny of monarchs.

* But sublimated, in dream bodies, completely haloed with the hero’s light (luan laith) what our Parsi or Zoroastrian brothers call xvarnah, Old Celtic bellissama belissamos.

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ONCE AGAIN ON THE UTILITY OF THE LEGEND OF THE DEATH.

Let us return now to our post mortem initiatory “voyage” and to its many visual “islands” or “stages.” Let us suppose that the soul/mind of the deceased person , frightened by the spectacle of these rather worrying divinities, very far from being as psychopomp as Belin/Belen/Barinthus/Manannan coming to his meeting on a flowered chariot (for example Tethra, Arawn, Gwynn, Donn the dark one…) could reincarnate elsewhere than in these doubtful or second-class other worlds…

Let us insist well then on the fact that we do not receive a new soul with the regeneration which follows the accession to the Celtic heaven of Mag Meld or Vindomagos, but well a new ideal, idealized, stunning, body… This body is spiritual, more subtle than the air, similar to the rays of the sun, as different from the old body as the resplendent sun can be from the moon. Endowed with what our Zoroastrian friends call“xvarnah.” A mental or glorious (bellissama bellissamos) body equipped with the six senses; it can see its family, circulate in the world by crossing obstacles…

According to one of the scholiasts of Lucan, it would seem then that a by-stage progression occurs towards less and less material spaces, where the border between pure thought and matter becomes fuzzier. Each level could be at the same time autonomous, equipped with particular rules of operation, and in a state of continuity/discontinuity with these which are next to it. The progression would thus be made carried out towards worlds (planets the scholiast of Lucan says) where the thought becomes increasingly immanent-transcendent and universal, and less and less conceivable for us. To each space a different quality of light would correspond. The confrontation of the accounts shows various states or stages of light, which could match these progressive and “ of dematerialization “ state of awareness, of the perceptions concerning these states.

The increasing virtuality of the passage structures could make them less and less perceptible, and some losses of awareness could occur at these times.

Of course, we are located here in a model postulating the “real “out of the body of a substrate which becomes autonomous and moves “far “from this body. It is, indeed, the simplest assumption to report the distance objective and precise observations, out of reach of the known physical senses.

But this assumption can still come under a binary reductionism. The notion of a top and of a bottom are conditioned by our gravitational awareness, and we let us conclude from it that what light is rises or that what heavy is falls. It could occur only a uprooting and a re-localization of our awareness, making our system of perception and of analysis able to function differently.

It should, consequently, by no means dismiss the assumption that only inner space is explored; what anticipates in no way of anything the universe which can open to our perception, in this infinitely small . Always remain the paradoxical questions: where is inside, where is outside? How are the infinitely great and the infinitely small encased?

All occurs as if there were, in the space of the body, but on a more subtle level, an intermediate space which would be connected with a third space, that of the light. We can wonder about the continuity or the discontinuity of these spaces. It is not sure that these concepts are well adapted, the typically druidic image (as regards the death middle of a long life in any case) of a Moebius strip or of a Klein bottle would be perhaps more relevant. As if we were on the backside or the outside of a same structure, the center being located just on the torsion surface of the strip.

Those who do not act too badly in the life, and in accordance with the duties of their trade (in other words, who do not accumulate too much bran likely to make the takeoff towards stars of the rocket of their soul ; collapsing) can, after their death, reach an area of the Vindobitus which is no longer subjected to the reincarnation; the Vindomagos. According to Plutarch, thanks to the Vindobitus

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(Vindomagos, Mag Meld etc.) even the common run of people can therefore see a day, in turn, this brilliant rock like gold face to face, and such as it is, for lack of being able to melt oneself immediately in the Big Whole.

Because of its transcendence, this gold mountain cannot be seen such as it is, that when it opens itself its mystery with the immediate contemplation of the Man and that it gives him the capacity of it. This contemplation of the gold rock of Plutarch in its whole celestial glory is the Grail or the Heaven in other traditions. Within the eternal light, Meldi will enjoy a new long life there. There is no longer for them either death or suffering. Everything becomes harmonious music there. Mead runs from the rocks, spring of ale and milk spout out of inexhaustible gigantic cauldrons, and the animals of the forest are no longer wild … (in short, see the descriptions of the Insula Pomorum of the vita Merlini: Avalon). The perfect or dreamed life in the company of the trinities of god-or-demons or in communion with them, with Epona, Hornunnos Belin/Belen/Belenos and all the others, it is that Vindomagos.

Ultimate echo of the descriptions of this state of being , working out by the former druids for the men or of the women having a temperament coming under the first and not the second or third function (in the hand of Noibo Adamnan): It is a land without hubris, or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretense, or blushing, or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold. A noble, admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom, and radiance, and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein the enjoyment of every excellence is.

To have an almost eternal residence in this sky may be therefore the major aspiration, even of the common run of people. To live in Vindobitus, it is to be with the god-or-demons while temporarily keeping one’s identity and one’s name. This mystery of communion with the god-or-demons within this piece of Vindobitus, exceeds, of course, every comprehension and every representation. The Celtic tradition speaks to us about it in words of light, peace, feast, music, and so on. Because all the fruits of nature or all the happy results human industry are also found there, but as enlightened or transfigured from the inside.

Too much bran led on the contrary to a fall of the vibratory level, a dive or a descent even major in the world and the matter. Whereas the non-accumulation of bran results in escaping the vicious and infernal circle of the endless reincarnations , into bacuceos or seibaros.

The discovery of this great metaphysical law, by the druids, made it possible, while continuing to take account of the reality of certain extremely rare cases, to need no longer a Devil or a Great Satan to explain it. It is automatic, mechanical although exceptional (four or five cases per century).

The mortals could thus at the same time, to find reasons there to hope, as well as reasons to force themselves to surpass themselves.

The Judeo-Islamic-Christian monolatrous ones, who are men only of one god-or-demon and one book, whatever its name, Great spell book, Necronomicon, Testament, Quran, know only a single life in which everything is decided for eternity, the eternal….. salvation or damnation.This Christian or Muslim idea of the judgment of souls is particularly absurd, and proceeds from an obvious lack of reflection of these religions. Because if the soul is a gift or a part of God, to take over their own vocabulary, such a judgment could be only a self-sentencing of God releasing oneself from his own errors on a scapegoat (Satan, Devil, etc.). Such a judgment would be, moreover, useless and superfluous!

Our hero to uns, the hesus Cuchulainn, established himself for the mortals that we are, the standards of behavior, but he knew very well that Mankind often breaks these standards. The Fate therefore took care that these trespasses find in themselves their own sanction (poetic justice of which gods are only assistants). It is the iron law of ategeneto. These rebirths in bacuceos or seibaros, do not form a punishment strictly speaking, because the sacredness it is the Man (nemetos). The reincarnation into bacuceos or seibaros is only the self-experiment of the state where the man puts himself because of his own (former) actions.

The higher Being has therefore nothing to d with the part of judge that Christianity wants to ascribe to him. The judgment of the soul/mind it is its own history, its destiny. The experiments made during the various stages of this initiatory tour (death being higher initiation by definition), of course, are conditioned by the mental practices of the departed person, developed during his life and his last thoughts. In the same way that our dreams are also conditioned by our psychic state and our actions.

By the automatic cut from the body cover, death gives us an exceptional opportunity to release us from the influence of our most gloomy animal instincts, and to emerge in the light of a better world.

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The soul/mind released from the body finds itself free and equipped with ubiquity. If it thinks of a place or a state, it is there instantaneously.

It is consequently a question of exceeding death, while changing its process in an act of freeing, or releasing, from the endless cycle of the reincarnations into bacuceos (ategeneto) or seibaros. This is why it is important to remind to everyone the principal stages which mark out this route (cf. the legend of the death).

The knowledge of this route and of its many traps is essential to the one who is getting rid of one’s embodiment here on earth. A knowledge which, if we did not reach it during our life, remains nevertheless possible until the moment even of the great departure.

Our bodily existence is supported by various internal elements (flesh, bodily fluids, body heat, breathing and body constitution). Each stage of disintegration therefore will have physical and psychological repercussions, appearing through physical external signs, and through inner signs felt by the dying person. Nevertheless, in certain cases, an accidental death for example, the processes of disintegration can be so fast that it is not possible to become aware of it.

Each time one of these energy centers ceases functioning, it appears to the mind l to the binomial pair soul + mind or anamone + menman) in the shape of one entity which looks calming (Epona, Belin/Belen/Barithus/Manannan…), or on the contrary wrathful, according to the ideas of the deceased person(Tethra, Gwynn…). The druids of today speak about psychopomp gods, our Tibetan friends of peaceful deities. Let us try a little to clearly see there, it is the case to say, because the attitude of the mind at this precise time decides the later destiny of the soul.

If we know to keep our mind in the clearness of the straight and narrow path in the way of a sun that no cloud darkens, by controlling our fears and our visions; we are then capable of controlling the separation of our soul/mind and of our body and the orientation of our beyond-the-death.

This training of the soul/minds is a little like an insurance policy. If we do not manage ourselves to force the blossoming of our soul during our life, we are guaranteed to succeed in that after our death in this other world. It is the most direct

and fastest way being able to lead to it. It is not necessary in this case to practice asceticism or meditation during hours. And fortunately, because the majority of us do not have the possibility of practicing with excess the meditation as a recluse or the mortification. We therefore need a simpler way, more direct, for in a way clearing the passage. The life is very short and can end suddenly, or without warning, as opposed to what the Breton Anatole Braz seems to think on the subject: “The people who deny the portents have some of them as much as those who have most. They deny them only because they know neither see them nor hear them; perhaps also because they fear, and that they want nothing to hear, nor anything to see, about the other life… Nobody dies, without somebody of his close relations, his friends or his neighbors, being warned of it by a portent. “

In what concerns us, we maintain that Ankou (death) can strike down without preventing. And when death occurs, we have no possibility of escaping from it: neither our accumulated wealth, nor our fame, nothing can help us except the few considerations which follow.

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COLLECTIVE ESCHATOLOGY.

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WORKING PAPER No. 2 (THE PROPHECY OF THE GREAT QUEEN).

The last two paragraphs of the Second Battle of the Mounds Plain (Cath Maighe Tuireadh).

Now after the battle was won and the corpses cleared away, the Mara Rigu/Morrigu/ Morgan Le Fay daughter of Ernomos proceeded to proclaim that battle and the mighty victory which had taken place, to the royal heights of Green Erin to the hosts of the sidh and its chief waters and its river mouths. And hence it is that Bodua also describes high deeds.

‘Have you any tale?’ said everyone to her then. And the Bodua said:

‘Peace up to heaven,

Heaven down-to-earth,

Earth under heaven,

Strength in everyone, etc. ’

Then, moreover, she was prophesying the end of the world, and foretelling every evil that would be therein, and every disease and every vengeance. Wherefore then she sang this lay below:

‘I shall not see a world that will be dear to me.

Summer without flowers,

Kine will be without milk,

Women without modesty,

Men without valor,

Captures without a king.

………. ?.............

Woods without mast,

Sea without produce,

……….. ?...............

……………………

…………………..

Wrong judgments of old men,

False precedents of judges,

Every man a betrayer,

Every boy a robber.

Son will enter his father's bed,

Father will enter his son's bed,

Cliamain cach a bratar,

Everyone will be his brother's brother-in-law or father-in law????

…….. ?............

An evil time!

Son will deceive his father,

Daughter will deceive her mother “.

And after all that only fire and water (cf. Strabo IV, 4) will prevail.

This end of a cycle (or end of a world??? Druids always saw further their historical time, the text in any case speaks to us about the last world); will be the result of an inexpiable war between opposed forces (and therefore

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god-or-demons).

“There are three periods at which the world is worthless ; the time of a plague ; the time of a general war ; the dissolution of contracts “(Senchus Mor, or “Great Ancient “: Dublin, 1865-1901, Vol. III, 1873, p. 12).

The same topic is dealt with in a much longer and detailed way by the velede Ferchertne in the Colloquy of the Two Sages (Imacallam in da thuarad, Lebor Laignech ).

In spite of its obvious Christianization, this text remains an invaluable account about the ethics and the values of the druidism. The notion of judgment, included at the end, is not necessarily Christian. In any event, the rest is marked with manifest prechristian conceptions. Even if it is difficult to understand each one of the lays composing this long poem, it comes out from it the impression of a gigantic conflict opposing all kinds of antagonistic values, and even some enemies in the flesh . We find there indeed at the beginning (in the part which precedes the prophecy itself) some allusions to the three god-or-demons of Danu (bia), but also to Lug, Noadatus/Nuada/Nodons/Llud, Mabon/Maponos/Oengus; as to the White Lady called Damona Vinda on the continent, or Bo Enda in the Netherlands (Borvoboenda) even Bo Vinda in Ireland.

As reminds it to us with relevance the great Breton celtologist Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h in his book devoted to this subject: “One day only fire and water will prevail “(Strabo IV, 4).

Then everything will start again, and from this fire and this water will reappear a new world as well as a new earth, even bluer and greener than the previous one. At least can we hope for it following the example of the druids who illustrated the Unelli or Veliocasses coins (a monstrous wolf devouring the moon or a solar chariot and throwing back behind it, after, some greenery) or of the writers of the Germanic Ragnarök *.

* We warn nevertheless our Odinist brethren against these texts which are filled with Judeo-Christian influences, or with reminiscences of the Graeco-Latin classical culture.

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WORKING PAPER No. 3 : THE DIALOG OF THE TWO SAGES

(Imacallam in da thuarad).

Sections 195 to 310.

“ I have indeed: tidings terrible evil the time which will always be: wherein chiefs will be many (elected officials of the political system supported by the taxes from the taxpayer??), wherein honors will be few: the living will quash fair judgments.The cattle will be barren. Men will cast off modesty. Men will be bad: good kings will be few: usurpers will be many. The disgraces will be crowds: every man will be blemished. Chariots will perish along the race course. Foes will consume Niall's plains. Truth will not safeguard excellence. Every art will be buffoonery. Every falsehood will be chosen. Everyone will pass out of his proper state through hubris and arrogance, so that neither rank nor (old) age, nor honor, nor dignity, nor art, nor instruction will be served. Every skillful person will be broken. Every noble will be contemned: every baseborn will be set up.

Lawful princes will perish before usurpers by oppressions of the men of the black spears. Belief will be destroyed. Offerings will be disturbed. Niggardly storerooms will be laid waste. Inhospitality will destroy flowers. Though false judgments fruits will fall. Straight and narrow path will perish for everyone. Hounds will inflict conflicts on bodies…so that everyone will injure his following through darkness and grudge and niggardliness. At the end of the final world (there will be) a refuge to poverty and stinginess and grudging. Many controversies (will there be) with artists. Everyone will buy a lampooner to lampoon on his behalf. Everyone will impose a limit on another. On every hilltop treachery will adventure, so that neither bed nor oath will protect. Everyone will hurt his neighbor: so that every brother will betray another. Everyone will slay his companion at drinking together and eating together, so that there will be neither truth nor honor nor soul there. The niggards will shrivel one another for their number. Usurpers will satirize one another with storm of every darkness. Ranks will be spilt: clericisms will be forgotten: sages will be despised. Music will turn into boors. Wisdom will be turned into false judgments. Evil will pass into the points of croziers. Every sexual connection will turn into adultery. Great hubris and great freewill will turn into the sons of peasants and churls. Great niggardliness and great inhospitality and great penuriousness will turn into landholders. Great skill in embroidery will pass to fools and harlots, so that garments will be expected without colors. Wrong judgments will pass intho the powers that be, into kings and lords. The undutifulness and anger will pass into everyone's mind, so that neither kings nor lords will hear the prayers of their tribes or their judgments; so that the managers of church lands [erenaghs] will not listen to their tenants and their communities; so that pupils will not rise up (respectfully) before their teachers.

Everyone will turn his art into false teaching and false intelligence, so that the junior may like to be seated while his senior is above his head (standing),so that there will be no shame with a farmer who is eating after closing his house against the artist who sells his honor and his soul for a cloak and for food; so that greed will fill every human being: so that the proud man will sell his honor and his soul for the price of one scruple*.

Modesty will be cast off: folks will be contemned: letters will be forgotten: poets will not be produced. Righteousness will be removed: false judgments will be manifested by the usurpers of the final world: fruits after appearing will be burnt up by a flood of outlanders and rabble. On every territory will be an excessive number. Roads will be extended into uplands. Every forest will become a great plain: every great plain will become a forest. Everyone will be slave with all his family. Thereafter will come many hurtful diseases: sudden awful tempests: lightning with cries of trees (struck by thunderbolts). Winter leafy, summer gloomy, autumn without crops, spring without flowers

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Mortality with famine. Diseases on cattle: vertigo, consumption, dropsy, plague, puffiness, fever ??

Strays without profit: hiding places without treasures: great goods without men to consume them. Extinction of the championship. Failure on cornfields.Perjurers. Judgments with anger. A death of three days and three nights on two thirds of human beings. A third of those plagues on beasts of sea and forest.

Then will come seven years after lamentations. Flowers will perish. In every house there will be wailing. Men will tend men. A conflict will go round Cnámchoill.

Fair stammerers ( ?) will be slain. Daughters will conceive to their fathers. Contests will be fought round famous places, there will be desolation round the heights of meadowy plains. The sea will break over every country at inhabiting the Land of Promise. Ireland will be left seven years before the Judgment. It will be mournful after slaughters. In every tribe monsters will be born. Stream pools will turn against streams. Horse dung (?) will turn into gold colors. Water will turn into taste wine. Mountains will turn into perfect plains. Bogs will turn into flowery clover.Swarms of bees will be burnt among uplands. The flood tides of the sea will delay from one day to another.Thereafter seven dark years will come. They will hide the lamps of heaven. At the perishing of the world, they will go into the presence of Judgment. It will be the Judgment, my son. Great tidings, awful tidings, an evil time!“ (Ferchertne. Primate of the druids in Ulster).

* A 24th of an ounce of silver : in other words a very small sum.

** MS Rawlinson B 502: Then the rowing wheel will proceed until it is in contact with Cnamchaill.

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REFLECTIONS ON THE DECLINE.

The topic of the decline was dealt with by Montesquieu , who enumerates seventeen causes of the fall of Rome. Some of them cross-check real problems of our today societies, for example the multiculturalism which had then extended on Rome and forced the authorities, before judging somebody, to ask him of which laws and of which god-or-demons, he claimed to be dependent . But also the economic crisis. Including the discredit of its laws which, accepted well at the beginning, because they brought Roman peace, were disputed or fought since they aimed only to tap the maximum of resources towards a social hierarchy become idle; without providing real service to the populations, on the other hand.

Another example, about which we have many documents, is that of the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed in 1918, but of which the first signs of decline had been observed as of the end of the 18th century. One of the creators of this decline of the Empire (in favor of the Egyptian nationalism) was besides Muhammad Ali, himself very inspired by the action of Napoleon Bonaparte against the Sublime Port (Ottoman Empire).

More mysterious is the case of the fall of Maya civilization. The decline of Maya civilization started in the 9th century, when - for reasons still largely unknown - the Mayas of the South gave up their cities. Maya civilization was a very advanced civilization. However, when the Spaniards landed , it had disappeared. The newcomers found only an almost deserted area, of which the technical knowledge of the natives did not explain the presence of these extraordinary City-States…

The two common points with the empires in decline seem to be as follows.

- A loss of the sense of reality, or of the common sense, in favor of an ideal or a phantasm (see the foolish reactions started by the will of Barack Obama in 2009, to finally radically improve the running of the social treatment of health), which ends up serving as new reality. Which ends up being disconnected from reality. To compare Barack Obama to the great Satan, the Antichrist, Hitler, Stalin…! Help!!

- Finally, a loss of the sense of the common wealth , in favor of the research of unrestrained pleasure or of an alarming selfishness.

We use to combine the decline with the degradation of manners. However it is never through abuses, vices, or crimes, which are of all time, that a civilization perishes.

The evils of which an empire or a civilization dies are more specific, more complex, slower, sometimes more difficult to discover or define.

The process of decline of the civilizations or of the great powers is of a great complexity, it is rooted in the most total darkness. Of course, we can find after the event multiple explanations and rationalizations, without succeeding for as much in dissipating the feeling of an irrationality acting in the very core of the process.

Behaviors which do not refer, seemingly, to a divinity, can (and even sometimes have to, sociologically and psychologically) be analyzed, nevertheless, as religious demonstrations of worship.

Several examples are obvious.

The passion that certain stars unleash can completely be comparable with some monolatry, some “fans “ vowing a true worship to their new “ prophet or messiah “.

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The great sporting or cultural events, with their stars, are comparable with religious services, the term of high mass is sometimes used besides to describe them. The without reflection Humanism generated the same type of speech : we should not seek to learn how to fish but give fish, the immigrant becoming in such an otherworldliness or irenicism a new god of whom the avatars should not be profaned.

These multiple practices have their “dogmas “ (obligations and prohibitions, morals, politically correct language, etc.), their “clergies “ their “high priests “(the media people for example), their “sacred books “ their “ceremonies “ and so on; their only common point is not to regard themselves as religions, and thus to avoid the question of the status of the object of all their attention.

Conversely, it will be noted that groups which claim for themselves a religious character, are left without the official title of religion in certain countries, which see in their practices only lay demonstrations.

People also speak, and not only in a metaphorical way, of money temples, of new god of the markets, particularly of the financial markets, and analyzed the financial affairs as sacrifices to this divinity. On the links between capitalism and religion (Judaism, Christianity, and in particular Calvinism… to see max Weber).

The State itself is sometimes called upon as a god (or a demon, what from the point of view of the deity does not change something), it has its ceremonies, its priests and believers (but also its non-believers).

Atheism being only a question of definition, many other practices can be called religions or sects.

In all cases the elites remain blind and deaf to the obviousness of the strong trends which sap the society in front of them. Worse even! These elites hammer home untruths having nothing especially true in the eyes of History, but which they chose besides (without having the frankness to acknowledge it to their audience) to make taken for obviousness; that only Stalinist or Nazi criminals, or some morons , can dispute. History of market economy, or of liberalism, or capitalism, which is right always (which is wanted by God or which is synonymous with absolute happiness-ecstasy) is one of them! In France in 2008, the staunch Republicans or Democrats usually presented as being rigorously synonymous: democracy, capitalism, and the treaty being constitution of the European Union (or the globalization). Whereas there were democratic societies without capitalism (the tribal democracy of the Iroquois Indians = Gayanashagowa, for example) and capitalist societies without democracy (Pinochet’s Chile, the China of the beginning of the 21st century).

As for our poor Obama, as we have had the opportunity to say it, he was usually compared to Hitler and called all the names under the sun (liar, etc.) in 2009, when he quite simply wanted to rationalize but also humanize the health system which needed well that indeed. Millions of poor people could not be looked after, the private insurance companies were shameless.

Barack Obama, who is an educated and well brought up man, used the concept of “silly thing “to characterize these reactions; but in his stead, I, I would have used much stronger terms, although eminently popular, to stigmatize this sordid selfishness combined with an abyssal… lack of culture or intelligence !

Where is for example intelligence and logic in the gigantic decolonization movement which shook the planet as from 1945, since now people swear only by the globalization and the abolition of the borders? Was it so judicious to cause so many new borders, to ask abolition of them fifty years later?

And with regard to globalization… wouldn't be simpler and more basic, less intellectual, but more eternal, to consider that, such as the tongue of Aesop, it can be the best or worst thing? There is much more truth or profundity in the description of the Lilliputians. Basic question indeed. When we will be all well mixed, standardized, and homogenized, speaking all officially the same language (and not Esperanto * but ours of course), on an earth devastated by the plundering and the profit making at all costs, even controlled by God and the women; will we be happier for as much? ? In any case the human biodiversity will have disappeared.

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The eye has what it is called a blind spot. It is the only point of the retina which does not see, because of the absence of photoreceivers. It matches the place where the optical nerve and the blood-vessels leave the eye. However everything occurs as if the great minds too, have also, like eyes, their Mariotte's spot or their blind spot. All occurs as if intelligence could survive only with, somewhere, a gigantic rift where it ceases existing to be replaced by a dominant ideology; of which the hammering home, developed in all the fields, in time and out time, serves as reflection. Another excellent example is the television program entitled in French “C’est dans l’air” (main presenter....) which, eight times out of ten, is only a collection of generally accepted ideas. Not generally accepted ideas of bar-room, generally accepted ideas of posh living room, but generally accepted ideas nevertheless! Finally, in short, hush, above all don’t say it , all these nice people believe to be uppermost intelligent whereas they are only educated and well brought up, they would be horribly offended.

As the ancient proverb says it, the god-or-demons make blind those of whom they want the downfall and make them mistake, media hammering home supporting, what only a freedom of Man is, for progress. We wonder well why, for example, our elites (journalists, religious persons, politicians, artists, attorneys, etc.) want at all costs to put mercenary crusaders of the armed radical political Islamism (in other words the Jihad and the sharia) at the head of Syria instead of Bashar Al Assad **; want at all cost Turkey in Europe, but not Russia. While campaigning at the same time for the immediate abolition of borders on the world level. We wonder well why, for example, our elites (journalists, religious people, politicians, artists, attorneys, etc.) want to legalize the sex-same parents adoption at all costs and the civil or religious homosexual wedding; but refuse to help the biological families in having children (for example by arranging the schedules, by firstly allotting to them ad hoc residences, etc.).

We wonder well why, for example, elites (journalists, religious men, politicians, artists, attorneys, etc.) want at all costs cultural enrichment all-out ; but at the same time do strictly nothing to defend the cultural richnesses of their own country in front of the road roller of the globalization. Do nothing against disappearance of the languages and nations or of the true differences of their nation, facing the road roller of the economic enrichment of (only) a few individuals and of the globalization of the worst as of the best. And even take part, through their personal behavior, in the increase of the effects of this road roller, especially in matters of language, by neglecting systematically certain languages however remarkable (Navajo, Spanish, Italian, German, Norwegian…)

The set language of the dominant ideology, repeated ad infinitum in the media by the media, is used as reflection. From where a paradoxical rallying in favor of antiracism: strictly parallel with the decline of the revolutionary will. In other words, charity but especially not justice! Tea but especially especially not the Revolution against the intolerable one! Especially not, the radical end of man's exploitation of man (of which children’s exploitation is only a version) ! Such is the watchword of the mass media today! So many saints on this earth and so few results! What does it occur???

* Esperanto has the virtue of being an international language

- neutral (i.e., favoring nobody and therefore not granting unfair advantage to anyone)

- easy to learn

- having no ambiguity (ideal for example for legislative texts).

But it is nevertheless less scientific than the Leibniz Universal Characteristic.

** Who is not a saint it is true, but are the Chinese authorities some angels ?

A thing is sure : a big shift between the mentalities of the actors, and the internal needs for development of a type of society, always accompanies the fall of a civilization. All occurs like if the knowledge and the science that a civilization does not cease accumulating could not be integrated in the deep ego of the elites, or the hierarchies, which prevail in this civilization.

As Le Bon saw it very well , the ideologies are used for three things: to help to interpret reality, to connect the ones who adopt them, and to be opposed to other groups. A dominant ideology is a more or less systematized association of ideas, although not having any logical between them, and influencing the individual or collective behaviors. Phenomena amplified by the opening of ideas to

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masses, to which the concentration of mass media ends up, in the hands of the social hierarchies (big fortunes, journalists, politicians).

Historically speaking, the term of ideology entered the social reflection with the Marxism, which gave it a critical meaning immediately, ideology being the opposite of science. Ideology is presented initially in the form of a view of the world, i.e., an intellectual construction which explains and justifies an existing social order, starting from natural or religious reasons. But this view is in reality only a veil intended to hide the seeking of egoistic material interests, while reinforcing or while extending the domination of a class of privileged people, in order to consolidate the organization of the established society. The ideologies of the dominant class are presented so that the interests of the aforesaid dominant class appear to be the interests of all. True revolutionaries of the 19th century did not speak about Antinationalism or Mother Theresa (even if we respect her action deeply) but about internationalism. In other words, not about forgetfulness , of fight or contempt, concerning cultural identities (like, however, the French president did in Quebec at the end of 2008, at the time of the 22nd summit of the French-speaking countries ) but a mutual aid or solidarity between nations. Preferably released from their man's exploitation of man.

The opening of the borders, on the other hand, it is in reality the possibility of having always, and in sufficient numbers, needies to collect garbage the night; or to accept all the chores that the children of the elites in question: pastors, priests, rabbis, journalists, attorneys, writers, stars of the show business, high-level sportsmen… want no longer to do. And the evening, they return in their ghetto. In other words, some immigrants, still some immigrants, but at the others, not at home!

Marx proposed to cease regarding the ideology as a neutral system, and gave a critical lighting on the original concept of ideology: this author sees the ideology as a system of opinions serving the interests of certain social classes. That of the journalists or of the politicians, for example. A definition derived from the ideology is that of political doctrines providing a single principle of explanation of reality, likely to inspire an action plan quickly, and constituting a coherent whole of ideas accepted without critical reflection. Ideology is a concept much broader than that of doctrines (which are the intellectual dimension of the ideology), because it calls upon the dimension of the “psychological behaviors “and falls under a very important collective process. The concept of ideology exists within the framework of a “society of masses “. Hannah Arendt, on her side, thinks that the ideology shows several inseparable characteristics. On the one hand, it forms a system of definitive interpretation of the world, and posts an omniscient or “omni-explanatory “ claim of this one, either they are the last or future events. In addition, it maintains its unimpeachable nature. It is never caught out and is emancipated from reality. Another characteristic of the ideology is its “logicism “ its aptitude to get an internal coherence. P.A. Taguieff and his essay about the force of prejudice also contributed much to clear up the question as regards racism.

This end of a cycle (or end of a world??? The high-knowers always saw further their historical time, the text in any case speaks to us about the last world) will be the result of a merciless war between opposite forces (and therefore god-or-demons). The last scenario in connection with the Mankind druidism proposes is consequently that of the fight. It will be THEREFORE at the same time the Apocalypse and the Late Empire.

Precisely note on the end of the Western Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon primarily ascribed it to a loss of civic virtue, combined with an unprecedented rise of Christianity. The work of Gibbon is remarkable for its overall notes and research. The only problem is that the Eastern Roman Empire TOO , which was well so Christian, and even much, survived thousand years.

Some authors, like the Czech philosopher Radovan Richta (1924 - 1983) give a report about a loss of technological superiority. But the thesis by Richta, making the technical invention the internal engine of History, and endeavoring to distinguish their principal tensions in the asymmetry of the technical singularities from a society to another; draw aside voluntarily some incidental parameters, as the deep transformation of manners in the Rome of the last centuries.

Others finally ascribe the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Barbarians, but it is inaccurate, however, to attribute the fall of the Empire to these only Barbarians. They were in fact a catalyst: the Roman State was “undermined “ from the inside.

It is righter to think than there was, alas, for the Romans, a mortal combination of several factors.

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- And, first of all, the development of the antisocial behavior. The refusal for the citizens to perform the military service. Barbarian mercenaries will then be recruited, what will cause the loss, for the Romans, of the control of their army. In 458, a law will have to even prohibit the population from demolishing the public buildings in order to recover materials of them.

- An economic crisis caused by the fact that the enrichment of the aristocracy came only from the conquests and colonies. The stop of these conquests will mark consequently the beginning of the decline, and the incomes of the trade will be in no way enough to finance the various sectors necessary to the good running of the society: the administration or the garrisons. The tax pressure will therefore become unbearable!

- The fossilization of an idle social hierarchy, only concerned to have fun or to defend its own interests (money and luxury). Too much wealth is devoted to unproductive expenditure (like the games, the spectacles, the chariot races, the fight of gladiators…)

-An ineffective political system. The Roman senators transform themselves each time into a body of pressure to block all very true reform which could harm their situation, even if the evolution suggested seems essential to the survival of the Empire; and prefer to support pseudo-reforms, reforms not dealing with the main thing, or some mini-reforms.

-An undeniable fall in the birth rate of the Roman populations facing the Barbarians, caused by the depravity of manners.

- And finally the paradoxical development within the Empire of a whole series of minorities recalcitrant towards their duties (civic: to pay the tax, to perform one’s military duties, to sacrifice to the emperor) but claiming of all kinds of privileges (respect of the Shabbat, etc.) and doing all the opposite of the famous word of Kennedy *, thus breaking ranks in a way, and subjectively or objectively accomplice of the external enemies. See for example the writings of the Jews or of the first Christians, even these by Salvian of Marseilles WHO OBVIOUSLY ADMIRES THE BARBARIANS.

* Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

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DECLINE AND END OF THE CYCLE ACCORDING TO DRUIDS.

Druidic cosmogony is based on the notion of a cyclic course of the history of the worlds, of cycles in and inside each world, followed by new formations of the world. Eternally for ever and ever, the worlds are formed, developed, decline, then perish (end of a cycle) to be reconstituted (beginning of another cycle). Birth, formation, and death, of these worlds, form a “long life “(bituitos).

The history of the Man and of the Cosmos or Bitos of this cycle is entirely directed towards its return at the origin according to Strabo: “both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them one day “ (Geography IV, 4 to 6).

This reintegration into the higher Being or apocatastasis, is guaranteed to everybody (including to worst of human beings). At least at the end of this world, and the Gdonios (the Man) in all that, will have a key role to play: he can accelerate or delay this process.

As we already have had the opportunity to say it, in the Middle Ages on the Continent, the men contemplating the horizon of the ocean thought that the Earth was flat 1). They therefore to only to judge according to the appearance of what they could observe. When a circumference is of a dimension as considerable as that of the Earth, the human observer has the feeling w it is flat. The same type of argument applies to time. The line of time, from the point of view of our human concerns, is taken for . With a broader prospect, like that of the druidic tradition, we could perceive that in reality the time line is a segment of a curve. The linear representation of time is a short-sighted view, a vision at very short sight.

In this design of time, progress remains nevertheless always perfectly thinkable. There is not true contradiction. The cyclic representation of time has nothing of a free speculation. It opens only prospects radically different from the linear representation of time. It is deeply meaningful. It has nothing absurd, primitive, antiquated or childish. It belongs to an unmemorable heritage of Mankind, it is present in all civilizations 2). It covers a sense of the sacred which precisely is missing in the linear representation of historical time. But for the druids, the various particular cycles forming a long life (complete major cycle, from the birth to the end of a world) were in reality gradually ascending helical spirals; and not exact and eternal occurrence on oneself as in Plato, Marcus Aurelius or Nietzsche.

This cyclic design of History does not ignore the crises and the ruptures possibly being able to affect the cycles internal to this long life, the disasters and the wars, necessarily. The nostalgia of hyperborean times does not prevent the taking into account, by the druids, of each moment of the history of this cycle, as such. Nor the taking into account of the irreplaceable responsibility of the individual for the completion of this cycle. What implies like in the case of the Hesus = Cuchulainn, the fight for justice and freedom, against the powers of the injustice, oppression or death; symbolized by Queen Medb in the account of her aggression against the race of the best ones (Ulaid. See the cattle raid of Cooley).

We should not confuse the end of the world and the end of a cycle. Nature functions with cycles: reproduction cycles, cycles biological, climatic cycles, and so on. A cycle supposes a circular and not linear evolution. It is this representation of time which prevails in the traditional cultures. Time does not function while following a line but in a circle.

1) Whereas the scientists of Ireland, themselves, knew already, or still , the notion of crundnios or cruinne, i.e., of a globe, and the Greek had invented the Antikythera mechanism.

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2) The question thus arises of knowing why the linear representation of time was imposed in the West (is the analogy of the line relevant?)

END OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE FORMER DRUIDS.

An ancient Gaelic legend headed Oided Mac nUsnech (the tragic death of the sons of Uisnig: manuscript of Glenmasan preserved by the national library of Scotland) evokes a possible end of the world. Until the end of the world ..... (he says).

We can, of course, think here of a coarse intervention in our text of a Christian copyist monk, similar to the mention of Adam some lines higher. But nothing proves it. High-knowers of the druidiaction, ancient, knew also the notion of the end of the world, or more exactly of a cosmic,cycle. And in a way as spectacular as the apocalypse of Christians, but with a fundamental difference. For the high-knowers of the druidiaction, ancient, it was not a definitive end of the world because this process was to be followed by the birth of a new world that their bards described perhaps a little naively as being a new and green earth under new heavens. In support of this assumption, we have two ancient witnesses and some coins (particularly one of the 2nd century ascribed to the Unelli) representing a she-wolf eating the sun (represented by a wheel with 4 spokes) accompanied by a crescent of the moon, but also expelling of her hindquarters some vegetation (apparently). On this coin an eagle is also reproduced with outstretched wings as well as a snake which tops it (the message was to be clear and luminous for our ancestors).

There exist two ancient parallels very instructive in this respect.

In Egypt the goddess of the sky, Nut, who swallows the sun every night.

Among the Germanic people the legends on the end of the world like the Ragnarök or some lines of verse of the Muspilli quoted by Jullian.

The mountains will burn, no tree will stand, not any on earth, water dries up, sea is swallowed, flaming burn the heavens, moon falls, the middle enclosure (the Earth) burns...

But all these texts including those of the Ragnarök have a drawback, they were composed by Christian authors. As in Ireland.

We will return on the subject.

In the meantime, here the ancient testimonies.

“The answer of the Celts turned out quite contrary to his expectation; for, as they dwelt so far away from Alexander, inhabiting districts difficult of access, and as they saw he was about to set out in another direction, they said they were afraid that the sky would some time or other fall down upon them” (Arrian, the Anabasis or the campaigns of Alexander, book I, section 4).

“The druids, but others as well, say that men's souls, and also the universe, are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them” (Strabo, book IV, chapter IV, 4).

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DEATH AND END OF THE WORLD. OR MORE EXACTLY

OF THIS WORLD, OF THIS CYCLE ?

The word eschatology is a word derived from the Greek word eschatos meaning the last. The eschatology (Speech on the End of time) concerns theology and philosophy having ties with the last times, the last events of the history of the world or the ultimate destiny of mankind, usually called the “end of the world “. In many religions, the end of the world is a future event prophesied in the sacred texts or the folklore. More largely, eschatology can also embrace concepts which are linked such as that of Messiah or Messianic times, the afterlife and the soul.

The eschatology as a study of the end of the world attempts to study how and when our world will re turn to nothingness for the ones, will evolve into a new world for the others.

They are studies centered over last times, the last days before disappearance, i.e., the border between the existence and the after-existence. The eschatological studies thus bring some people to work on the causes and the manifestations which will reduce our world, our universe, our bitos, to nothing (at least according to the Judeo-Islamic-Christians). That amounts to studying the mechanisms having for result generating a moment of reduction to nothingness if nothingness can exist.

The eschatologist is an explorer or a researcher at the door of the “nothingness “which attempts to try to determine a phase of the dynamics of this “nothingness “.

The high knowers of Antiquity were very clear on this subject. (Strabo. Book IV, 4 to 6): “ They say the souls are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them“.

We cannot question this information (the Strabo draws from Posidonius). i.e., that of the determination by the high-knowers of primary elements making up matter and returning to a pure state at the time of the final blazing fire of the universe or Bitos. We can only put it besides in context with the Indo-Iranian notion of Apam Napat. Apam Napat is a name at the same time Vedic and Avestan. It means literally, the “Son of the waters “(of space, i.e., of Ether), because in the Avesta of the Parsis, Apam Napat stands between the fire yazatas and the water yazatas.

Both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them …

Such a formula will astonish only those who do not know the theories of the Ionian physiologists or these of the former stoicism.

Water and fire were indeed, for them too, the primary elements used in the composition of the universe.

The destruction of this one therefore has to result in a reappearance of these primary elements. Such a conception of the universe known as bitos and of its end, therefore leads naturally to a cyclic and perpetual system.

In other words.

- The matter (universe) is eternal.

- And the souls also, just like god-or-demons.

- But one day all this will be reabsorbed in a gigantic implosion.

This cosmic disaster will not be synonymous with annihilation, destruction, or return to the nothingness. It will involve only the breakdown of the universe in its fundamental forces (soul and matter, fire and water), in a gigantic black hole of space.

Souls and Matter could not be lost, since they are indestructible, but they can, on the other hand, be changed radically. Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is changed (Lavoisier).

“Divinis humana licet componere. We may compare human things with divine “ (Ausonius, eclogue on the word libra).

It is the destiny of the world like that of the soul. Its death is only one of the points of an infinite life line, having billions and billions of them.

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If it dies, it is to reappear and to be reincarnated , it does not matter that this reincarnation follows immediately or not its exit of the black hole in question.

As we already have had the opportunity to say it, the mechanism of the appearances and disappearances of the world or of the universe, is clarified in none account in our possession, except that of the general of Alexander the Great called Ptolemy . “ They said they were afraid that the sky would some time or other fall down upon them.… hoti oudena, plen ei ara me ho ouranos autois epipesoi “. Arrian (Anabasis or the campaigns of Alexander. Book I, chapter I).

Strabo, however, kept to us another fragment of it, the notion of universal resorption through fire and water (“They say that men's souls and also the universe, are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them “. Geography. Book IV, 4 to 6).

But that we have already mentioned it above. It was only important to underline it.

From where perhaps the terror of Brennos and of his dreadful warriors in Delphi during a storm, a few decades later, in 279 before our era (Trogue-Pompey, philippic histories , XXIV, 4-8, Pausanias, Description of Greece IV, 1-4).

But the fragment of Strabo kept for us the essence of it, the idea of universal resorption through fire and water, matching what is called pralaya in Hindu cosmogony.

The things, whatever they are, follow an eternal cycle, whirling and repeated ad infinitum. They pass from a state of before existence into a state of existence then into a state of after existence, which itself passes into a state of before existence, etc. Lucan. De Bello Civili I, 454-462. “ Death is only the middle of a long life if you know well what you sing. “

The nature of non-being is temporal and moving, it is cyclic i.e., the things are of a nature which alternates between non-existence and existence. The existence of all things depending on our senses, the length even of these existences depends directly on our perceptions. So, the planet Earth exists since a few billion years. Because our knowledge and the perception that they get to us, enable us to date, with relatively negligible margins of error, its age, i.e., its lifespan until our days. In the same way, we know to date, with, of course, less precision, the age of certain stars or galaxies and, by comparison with the age of our planet, we realize that our solar system is very young. That tends to prove that the nature of non-existence is majority in the duration or, if we want, that the nature of existence is, itself, minority. Even what we imagine to have always existed is finally only a substitute for existence compared to the infinity of the nothingness. Of the nothingness conceived as a non-existence and not as a vacuum or nothing.

The Greek word aion means “age “; certain translations can be understood as an end of the age or of the cycle, instead of an end of the world. The distinction has also a theological meaning , because the times of the end, in many religions, may include the destruction of the planet (or of all the living beings); but with the survival of mankind, in a new form, or partially (the chosen people) thus putting an end to the current age, and by starting a new one.

Egyptian religion.

For the Egyptians, in a very distant future (some million years), when the men have achieved their destiny on earth, the Demiurge will destroy the Creation (whether they are the men or the god-or-demons). But what was not created cannot be destroyed; therefore it will remain the not created (Noun and the Demiurge will find themselves and will merge again). Then the cycle will begin again. Editor’s note. This design of the world therefore implies that men, the living or the dead , and the god-or-demons also, have a limited lifespan.

Hinduism. Hindu traditional prophecies, as described in the Puranas and in many other texts, say to us that the world will fall into chaos and degradation. There will be a fast rise of perversity, greed, conflicts, a state of affairs called Kali Yuga. When the falseness of the fraud, lethargy, drowsiness, violence, discouragement, anger, illusion, fear, and poverty prevail [ about the druidic Kali Yuga, see higher the dialog of the ancients - Acallam na Senorach - and the prophecy of the great queen Morgan at the end of the second battle of Magos Turation…] when the men, filled with a sufficiency, regard themselves as equal the Brahmans; then will have come the time of the Kali Yuga. But this end of a cycle will be followed by the appearance of a divine incarnation: The Lord will appear as an avatar of Kalki […] He will restore uprightness on the earth , and the minds of the men will become as pure as the crystal […] the Sat or Krita Yuga (in other words the golden age) will be restored.

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Judaism. The end of days described in the book of Daniel, called Aharit HaYamim, of which the most important stage, at the point to be often mixed up with the total process, is called Yemot Hamashiach (the Messianic Times). This belief is far from being additional. It appears in the thirteen principles of Maimonides. And this one writes in his commentary on the Mishna (tractate Sanhedrin); where these ideas are expounded for the first time; that those who do not believe in it do not form part of the people of Israel, and will not get therefore their share in the world to come(still this wretched racist idea of chosen people!)

The End of the world according to the Judaism is divided into a certain number of successive times.

a) Hevlei haMashiach and Ikveta De'Meshicha (Messianic harbingers). It is an era of world sufferings, in which in particular the war of Gog and Magog fits, i.e., Israel against the nations, prophesied by Ezekiel and Zachary. This apocalyptic confrontation is also known under the name of Armageddon.

b) Then return of the prophet Elijah, who brings back the Messiah, and beginning of Messianic Times themselves.

c) Techiyat HaMetim (Resurrection of the dead).

d) Yom HaDin (the Day of judgment).

e) And finally establishment of the Olam Habah (world to come) for eternity.

EDITOR’S NOTE.

Our name is not Moses Maimonides but we will allow ourselves nevertheless to make also some commentaries about the subject from a druidic point of view, because this Jewish eschatology was mainly taken over by Christianity, as far as its racist claim to reserve a happy hereafter to the only members of its community by excluding of it the pagans (the famous “ outside the Church no salvation !”

a) The harbingers of the end of this world ..... the usual vaticinations on the matter. The Germanic people also had their (the Ragnarök) druids also cf. Strabo) the Irish bards (prophecy of the great queen Morgan and dialog of the ancients on the subject). In fact, nobody knows precisely how it will happen!

b) Return of Elijah with the Messiah who will have to be genetically a descendant of King David … on our premises we have the come back of Arthur and the return of the gods, parousy of the gods, disoccultation of the gods.

c) Resurrection of dead… No! Transformation of the bodies of those who will be still alive at this time…. into ideal or dream bodies (bellissama bellissamos, endowed with xvarnah our Zoroastrian friends would say) THOSE WHo ALREADY DIED BEING ALREADY ENDOWED WITH THEM.

d) Judgment of the dead. Non-existent stage in druidism because THE JUDGMENT OF THE SOUL IS ITS OWN HISTORY, ITS DESTINY.

e) The world to come….This ideal world equipped with xvarnah lasts only one moment in druidism.

This reign of the gods also. IN ORDER TO BE USED AS MODEL, AS REFERENCE Then everything disappears to start over again from (almost) zero.

Christians of the 1st century of our era were therefore stupidly convinced that the end of the world would occur during their life. The hero of their novel (Jesus), in the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 13, verse 8, indeed compared in it the end of the world with the pangs of childbirth of a mother. The image thus implies that the world is already “pregnant “ with its own destruction, but that nobody apart from (or the Devil), can know the moment in which that will occur.

The doubt started nevertheless to bore in the befuddled darkness of their mind when, over the years, the Christians realized that what they believed imminent did not happen. Around 190, Justin declared that God delayed the end of the world because he wanted that Christianity becomes before a world religion.

At the end of the 2nd century, the majority of the Christians from now on were convinced that the End of the world was beyond their generation; and the hero of their metaphysical novel will denounce in it the attempts to engage in speculations on the future, to know “time and due course “.

Such attempts to predict the future were discouraged, though a date was fixed for this End of the world, using the Jewish traditions. While using this system, this End was thus fixed at the year 202, but when it had passed without anything like that occurs , it was fixed at year 500. After 500, as still nothing had happened , this notion ends up losing its importance in the Christian religion.

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The last attempt was that of the Irish archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656), Professor at the Trinity College in Dublin. He wrote that the creation of the world having taken place in - 4004, on October 23rd at midday, the apocalypse was to therefore occur on October 23, 1997, at midday.

The Christian then Muslim idea, of the last Judgment, of the Judgment of the souls, is in reality particularly absurd and proceeds of an incredible lack of reflection of these religions. Because if the soul is part of God, to take over their own ideas, such a judgment could not be then only a self-judgment of God, discharging himself from his own errors on a scapegoat in fact (Satan, the Devil, etc.). Such a judgment would be, moreover, useless and superfluous.

Muslim Eschatology.

Drawn from Quran and hadiths, the book of Mohammed Ali Ibn Zubair Ali entitled “Signs of Qiyamah “ deals with the arrival of this enlightened (the Mahdi). The historical origin of the Islamic eschatology is similar to the Christian eschatology, the Islam being built starting from Judaism and Christianity. The day of the judgment or Yawm Al-Qiyamah (Resurrectin Day), Allah (God or the Demiurge according to the points of view) will raise the dead, then will send the believers to the Heaven. And miscreants, unbelievers, non-repentant people, evildoers, criminals, corrupted people, druidicists, pagans, in Hell. Muhammad having spoken of that with his companions, some of them thought that the end of the world would arrive with their own death.

Antichrist will emerge from a road located in an area between the Sham (current Syria-Lebanon-Palestine) and Iraq, and will begin to invite the people to come in order to worship him. He will cause big troubles or temptations (fitna). Most to follow him will be the Jews, the women and the Bedouins. Seventy thousand Jews from Ispahan (in current Iran) will follow him in the whole world, just as the wind scatters rain in all the directions. Except for Mecca and Medina, because it will be forbidden to the Antichrist to enter there….

The majority of the monolatrous mass religions therefore have doctrines which maintain that “chosen “members “preferred “or “worthy “of the only true belief, “will be saved “or “will be released “ from the judgment and from the anger of God or of the Demiurge, to come; and that they will be sent in the heaven, before, at the same time, or after the latter, according to the scenario of the end of time that they keep.

Today ignorance having decreased, their beliefs are generally limited in the existence of a hereafter and in an explanation of the origin of the world.

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REBIRTH AND REINCARNATION OF THE WORLD.

Here in which terms Irish king Loghaire refused to convert to Christianity.

“My father Níall did not allow me to accept the faith* , but bade me to be buried on the ridges of Tara. In the manner of men at war, for the pagans, armed in their tombs, have their weapons ready, until the day of erdathe, that is, the day of the Lord's Judgment according to druids “ (Memoir of St. Patrick by Tirechan).

* In anything ?

The pre-Christian notion of erdathe in reality has absolutely nothing to do with a story of judgment, last or not, of the souls. As we already have had the opportunity to say it, the only possible judgment of the soul it is its history, its destiny.

The individual soul (anamone) is, in its essence, identical to the soul of the world (in other words to what mass religions like Christianity and Islam call “God”). The human soul is only a fire tear from the universal soul, the awentia or awenyddia. Reintegration into the Big Whole is the higher goal. The identification of the individual soul (anamone) with the universal soul (awentia or awenyddia) led the individual in freeing himself from the attachments, desires and ignorance.

For some people, salvation will be personal, whereas for the others, dead or alive, on earth or in heaven, the final liberation is done by a general eschatology having as term the end of our bitos or universe 1).

Millenium and Millenarism or Reenchantment of the world (on the disenchantment of the world see the Protestant ethics and the spirit of the capitalism by Max Weber).

What does believe people indeed, in druidism, about those who will be still in this world when Aredengto, Erdathe, paired with a parousy of the gods, occurs?

The faith in a possibility of transfiguration/resurrection of the flesh of the Zoroastrian type *, like every last stage of a more or less long and repeated cycle, of births, was born from a rather logical reasoning of the primordial druids, at least considering the knowledge of the time. The true good news of the druidism indeed (its suscetla) it is that even those who will have remained far behind, through reincarnation here on earth, following their accumulation of bran; or because they are still normally alive quite simply, then will also be saved. But at the end of the cycle only. This in a way final liberation by force of circumstances (a cycle end) is then called Aredengto, Erdathe, in the ancient druidism. There will be thus resurrection of the bodies * and even those who will still at the stage of the reincarnations, because of their burden of bran, or the still alive ones in the usual meaning of the term, will be able themselves to also be melted in the Big Whole of the Pariollon.

There is not in the druidism a last Judgment strictly speaking, since the destiny of the soul is its own judgment. It is rather a provisional regeneration (for thousand years ?) of the life of the world (a new world under new skies) matching the Frashokereti or Frashegird of the Zoroastrianism.

* In other words, for the soul the fact to be endowed with an ideal or dream (bellissamos bellissama) body. If the world regenerated for thousand years by the aredengto (Gaelic erdathe) ends or starts up not being more subjected to the usual categories of perception of space and time; the description of any eternal life or damnation, in the Islamic-Christian way , to characterize it, is completely deprived of

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meaning then. We cannot speak of supreme bliss or hell in this case to only suggest, in a colored way, what escapes description.

End and destruction of the world.

End of the world according to the druids not being a definitive return to nothingness, and not having to be understood as a total destruction of any matter; a total extinction or destruction, but rather as a universal release of all energies, we may not therefore say that at the end of the erdathe, reality or bitos exists no longer.

We still have to consider it as existing, but no longer in the usual meaning of the term. The reality or bitos continues to exist or to have some being (some result of the verb to be) , but this reality has no longer specific nature. The fundamental meaning of the druidic notion of erdathe is rather that of a final or initial state (as you will want) of each cycle, without death, suffering, covetousness, hatred nor blindness. A state where the forms of representation and of thought of our existence are no longer applicable, not more than the alternative of the existence or non-existence. It is a state we are unable to conceive according to our categories of usual thought or description.

In any event, the assertions of the druidism on the erdathe could only be images to circumscribe what cannot be shown in a form or the inexpressible one, the individual but also individual nature of this initial (or final) state of every cycle.

All that we can say about it, it is that the world of the ends or beginnings of a cycle, beyond space and time, still escapes all the limitations of the finite.

At the beginning of a cycle, which is also a return to the Tokad (to the original law of causality called Tynghed in Welsh language, Tonkadur or Tonket in Breton language) exist neither will, neither desire, nor feeling… The preparation of this new start of the world rather points out the Buddhist Nirvana and in particular a text of the Pali canon which says approximately what follows.

“It is a field where neither solidity, neither fluidity, neither heat neither the movement, neither this world neither the other, neither the sun nor the moon, have their place. That, O monks, I invite it neither to come neither to leave, neither to remain, neither dead upright, nor birth. There is neither base neither development nor not support “(Udana VIII, 3).

NB. One cannot help but make the bringing together with the vision of Noïbo Adamnan. “ It is a land without hubris, or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretense, or blushing, or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold. A noble, admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom, and radiance, and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein the enjoyment of every excellence is.”

The position of the true druidism was to range between the two, even rather side with the end of the vision of Adamnan.

The new world under new skies that the end of the erdathe implies, brings us ultimately back to the very first fractions of a second of the beginning of the current universe. i.e., with a reality challenging all the laws of usual physics, since Times and Causality are transcended there.

This end/beginning of a world or more exactly of a cycle, that the high-knowers called aredengto (erdathe in later Old Irish language) seems empty only in the eyes of those who do not know. For those who know, and therefore for the authentic druids, this erdathe, by sorting and selection, for regeneration, does not necessarily mean absence of any pleasant feeling. Because it is nevertheless the return in this world of the divine reality which penetrates and invigorates everything, therefore of the most real reality: the being which lives our individual being, and which constitutes finally any result of the action to be.

The word apocatastasis appears in the Bible, in the Acts of the Apostles, where we can read: “ He shall send him who hath been preached unto you, Jesus Christ, whom heaven indeed must receive, until the times of the apokatastasis panton, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets “(Acts of the Apostles, 3,21).

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In the translation of it that the Jerusalem Bible gives, the two Greek words apokatastasis panton are translated by restitution of all things. This choice of translation erases, alas! the nuances of meaning of the Greek language under an all-embracing terminology.

The word pantôn can be compared with a cosmological “Whole “with a capital letter. The word apokatastasis can be translated either into restoration, or still in establishment or re-establishment. So that the sentence could be translated either by: “until the time of the re-establishment of the Whole, about which God spoke “.

This translation thus induced a cyclic movement of what must be carried out, what was having to be finally again. The word apokatastasis calls for this notion of a cycle, of a return to normal, of a re-establishment, because in Greek language the word in question indeed designates the re-establishment of the patient, the return of the hostages in their home city, the alignment of the stars on their starting position. As for the range of the recapitulation of the cycle, the addition of the word “Whole“implies obviously that this re-establishment of the “Whole “must be a universal restoration. Thus everything having been created good by God, everything at the end of times will become again … good.

Either we know or not from where is resulting the word “apocatastasis “ the concept it expresses imposes as a prospect of the hereafter overall shared by very many people and we can summarize as follows: “We will go all to Heaven “.

For a clear comprehension of what is in question in the apocatastasis, it appears essential to distinguish in it two principal forms. There is indeed in the apocatastasis two apocatastases distinct as for their subjects: there is the apocatastasis of the men, and the apocatastasis of the god-or-demons.

1. The apocatastasis of men. This restoration implies that no man can finally lose himself and that all will thus be saved. The damnation is denied, therefore, extremely logically, and according to what was just said, hell does not exist. If we were to give a general title to this apocatastasis No. 1, it would be: “ The negation of the perpetuity of hell “.

2. The apocatastasis of the god-or-demons. The restoration is universal, what means that everything, every creature, returns to God. The devil himself, though traditionally presented as the most relentless enemy of the reign of God, would return to the Heaven to welcome the forgiveness of his Creator. The word panton, universal, implies that all the creatures are saved; consequently, such a vision also includes the devil. If we were to give a title to this apocatastasis No. 2, it would be: “The forgiveness of the devil and of his demons “.

The whole question, to summarize, will be to know if the notion of apocatastasis is true. True for the men, and true for the god-or-demons?

Apocatastasis is therefore the Greek word used by Origen (185-253), to develop this notion of a final restoration of all the things in their absolute immanent unity with God. The apocatastasis represents the redemption and the final salvation of all the beings, including those who live the hell. It is therefore an event later to the Apocalypse even.

The apocatastasis would synthesize the power of the Logos or Word made flesh, i.e., Christ himself, as redeemer and savior power who would have no limit.

The theory of the apocatastasis raises a whole series of interesting questions for Christianity. Initially, it results in supposing there is not one world created - that which starts with the Genesis and ends in the Apocalypse - as the Bible suggests it. On the contrary, in his creating activity, which supposes that God or the Demiurge creates an infinite succession of worlds.

Secondly, this theory seems to make it possible to establish a distinction between the Logos, or Word, and its incarnation as Christ. Since Christ is a historical incarnation in this world in particular, the possibility of a new incarnation of the Logos, or Word would thus remain open. Several centuries after the death of Origen, in the 2nd council of Constantinople, the aspects of his doctrines which made it possible to subordinate the figure of Christ to the Logos and the Father, also breaking with the dogma of the Trinity, were regarded as heretics or heterodox. Since that, the majority of the Christian confessions refer to the Apocalypse, but no longer to the Apocatastasis.

1) The reincarnation of the individual in unceasingly renewed forms of existence is therefore far from being indefinite. A final ultimate exit of the cycle of the ategeneto always exists with the possibility of

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coming back finally in the absolute immanent of the Big Whole, and this dissolution in the divine origin is ensured to all the beings, at the latest at the end of the cycle in progress. Every being without exception will therefore experiment one day the liberation. Let us remind nevertheless that the one who wants no longer to await for the end of this cycle and the erdathe, can slip as of this lowly world from this ategeneto and from its iron law. It is necessary for that not to accumulate too much bran, or to practice various spiritual exercises: Celtic martial arts, meditation, etc.

THE COME BACK OF THE GODS (THEIR PAROUSY ?) AND THE REENCHANTEMENT OF THE WORLD.

The world is a necessary emanation of God, running from this source and coming back to it. Man lives in a cycle. He cannot represent to himself more what is out of time than a child in the womb of his mother can imagine the face of this one. It is therefore very difficult to know exactly what these Long Lives (these cycles) are in which our ancestors believed AND HOW THEY FINISH.

To speak about the destiny which awaits for the Man, beyond all that he can design, former druidism spoke about deification or self-deification. This one will reach its achievement when God is everything and in everything. Then the glory (luan laith) of the Grail will radiate in all the visible and invisible universe (Bitos), returned to its primary splendor. The kingdom of Cuchulainn, reign of light, truth, justice and peace, the kingdom which he could not formerly establish on earth. At least according to the Irish tradition, which is categorical on this subject (his kingdom was not intended to be of this world Cuchulainn was not intended to be a king instead the king, and besides he was not even of the Ulaid). The return of the gods (the reenchantement of the world) will satisfy and transfigure all the hopes and all the desires hidden in us, even most mad. The night will no longer exist, there will need no longer the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Grail on its golden rock will illuminate everything .

The peace with the god-or-demons, negotiated at the moment of the end of the Hyperborean time, and sealed in the blood with the birth and the death of the Hesus Setanta, called “the Hound of Culann “ will find its full achievement in this contemplation on the closest level, of the divine, by the men.

We find the idea of renewal/restoration/reorganization/return of the kingdom of the god-or-demons (erdathe) in the Hindu eschatology which postulates for example that a savior called Kalkin, tenth avatar of Vishnu, will occur in extremis, at the time when all will seem lost. He will triumph over corrupted persons in a big eschatological battle at the evening of which the right order (dharma) will have been restored and the conditions of a new golden age joined together.

Such a prospect is not inevitably incompatible with the Aryan eschatology of Zoroaster , developed under the Persian name for frashkart, which means in the Persian tradition “restoration or universal transfiguration “.

But that we have already said it.

Is the History according to Zoroaster really linear, or is it not rather stakeholder of an immense cycle in the way of the Indian days of Brahma?

According to the Mazdean religion , after the end of time, i.e., probably at the end of the cycle in progress, a redeemer and liberator hero called Saoshyant by the Zend-Avesta, will bring back the “Grail“ on earth. A little like in the Welsh poem of the 10th century entitled “the spoils abyss “(Preiddeu Annwn) where it is Arthur who plays this part instead of the Hesus Cuchulainn.

The title of Saoshyant or Sosiosh means “Savior or Redeemer “(good doer, the one who brings assistance or help).

According to Otto Gunther von Wesendonk, it is an Aryan traditional naming implicitly to the notion of “incarnate Truth “or “personified Justice “.

The purpose of this ultimate heir to Zoroaster will be to restore the bliss of the world after the dramatic end of its cycle, in short to proceed to the frashkart, i.e., to the great restoration or universal transfiguration.

According to Wesendonk still , the Persian term means exactly “change of the full of slag world into luminous reality “.

With this return of the frashkart , creation will be resplendent in a glorious new order of the world, in which will shine the higher light.

What the triumphal and luminous empire of the Saoshyant will bring, it is not only the resurrection of the mankind (by rescuing it from the status of death and decline in which it currently lives); but also and at the same time the revitalization and restoration of everything. The whole human life will be

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renovated in its very roots will become almost immortal, radiating with beauty, overflowing with eternal youth, every germ of decomposition and corruption will disappear.

As we can see it, this Parsi frashkart or Zoroastrian frashkart matches exactly what the ancient druids called Aredengto, in Gaelic language erdathe (the parousy or return of the god-or-demons in a new world under new skies with a new earth) and the Germanic godis “return of Balder after Ragnarok “. Of what the Welshmen of the Middle Ages lost sight in their poem of the 10th century staging Arthur trying to bring back on earth the cauldron of plenty (the spoils of annwn). In short the change and the regeneration of the world: the wheel of fortune turns.

The druidic notion of erdathe does not imply a releasing from their corporeity of the men who will be then still alive, but a release in and with their corporeity. In a way a new procreation. The change of Mankind with the whole history of its life, not the same molecules, but the same person through the regenerating radiation of the divine one.

Mankind will find its achievement in corporeity changed , transfigured, spiritualized, in another dimension, the dimension of the god-or-demons beyond the space and time of this cycle.

This Erdathe will change the world and the Universal Soul then will rest there among the men, in peace and harmony. God will be everything in everything. With this true resurrection of the bodies, of the dead as of the living, Man will thus pass from the state of living-dead or almost to another life beyond time and space.

The body of the Man will be filled by the whole power of an exceptional soul (luan laith) and it will take part consequently in the divine life. Through this “resurrection“ men will be definitively made gods with all the power that implies.

We are consequently very far from the stories of the Judeo-Islamic- Christianity in connection with the resurrection of the dead, even many centuries after, whereas their body already largely fell into dust.

Druidism itself is satisfied with considering a new man, a new earth, new skies. This mysterious restoration that our Odinist brothers call new skies and new land (after their Ragnarok) is at the same time the end and the beginning of a new long life; Erdathe being the hinge or the transition between the former cycle and the new one, between the former world and the new one. In short an achievement which will be at the same time radical transfiguration (one of the key points of Druidism is its belief in a periodical destruction of the world through fire and water) and preservation of main things.

We are unaware of the date of the completion of this Earth and of this Mankind (the biblical millenarianisms of the type Witnesses of Jehovah, of Yahweh or of the God-demiurge of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, are so ridiculous…). Because we do not know almost anything of the mode of transformation of the cosmos. Without wanting to prophesy on the end of this cycle, of which exact date remains the secret of the god-or-demons assistants of the fate; what we can say, on the other hand, it is that Tokad or supreme Fate prepares for us a new residence and a new earth, where harmony will reign again ; and of which the bliss (bliss (isn’t it the pure land of Cronos, or at least of the Celtic god which is dissimulated behind this Greek name, a land of happiness?) will fulfill and exceed all the desires of peace being able to go up from the heart of Mankind.

Under what conditions will occur consequently this Aredengto (Erdathe) for the human beings ? Because there will be some of them who will be still entering the course of an earthly life, others much more numerous, already passed “elsewhere “. Either in the bliss of a parallel next world of heavenly nature: Vindomagos or Sedodumnon, or in the frozen insulation of the Andumnon.

The only thing that we know it is that one day a new sky and a new earth will appear. An earth where there will exist a perpetual mystical almost union between the self of the individual anamones: the menman (in other words the spirits/consciousnesses) and the universal everything including.

This expected achievement will be the work of the reconciliation (between the human and the divine one) that the god-or-demons like Lug have always performed through the hesus Cuchulainn.

The druidic knowledge transcends therefore the hopes of the men, because it has as an aim their eternal life in union with the multiplied power of the Big Whole of the Pariollon. In each one of us (xvarnah in Avestan, luan laith in Gaelic language). And there will be no longer then, as before the birth of the Earth or of this world of here below, only the Holy-Poly-Unity of the divine pleroma of the god-or-demons (Albiobitos); with whom the luan laith was as of the beginning, and which will always be with them for ever and ever.

But the god-or-demons who will return in their luan laith or xvarnah will be, however, those who do not cease occurring in our memories (memorials Catholic liturgy says), particularly through the druidic

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rituals, which are like as many bridges built in their direction. Our druidism therefore proposes to foresee in this notion of transfiguration/resurrection the key point of the future of the world.

We have, however, neither to imagine nor to program this erdathe of which the day and the hour belong only to the Fate and to its assistants, and are therefore unknown for us.

On several occasions pseudo-druids developed various speculations in connection with the precise date and hour of this erdathe (aredengto) or of the restoration on this earth of the new reign of the god-or-demons (parousy) of whom they implied they were the emissaries or the proxies (I am in contact with such and such a god, such or such spirit, trust me, it will cost 200 dollars 200 euros or 200 yen). True druids categorically refuse this kind of charlatanry of fraud or speculation. The Wise man is always ready. It is enough for the simple mortals that we are to get ready, in all honesty, for the advent of this day when; after having destroyed all the remaining forms of slavery, including that of the reincarnation; the Destiny of our Mankind will be made public.

Let us remind that the future on which the druidic knowledge opens up and that it makes us foresee as in a mirror is not therefore completely without reference mark. The god-or-demons first : a brief glimpse of them was already caught on this earth when they landed from Hyperborea or from the islands north of the world at the time of the enchantment of the world. Their existence was again highlighted by the rise in the heaven, body and soul, of our hesus Setanta, the one the Irishmen nicknamed dog of Culann.

What the druids of today proclaim, following the former ones, it is that the restoration of this Golden age is possible. The reign of the god-or-demons knows already besides a beginning of realization in the communion which exists between the god-or-demons and the men, Hesus being used as a bridge between them.

The return, let us remind it, final and complete, of the god-or-demons, on this earth (erdathe) will become, however, effective only at the end of this cycle, with the coming of the Superman, Son of man nevertheless. i.e., with the appearance of a New and Superior man . Made with the best of the former one. With the appearance of the Supermankind of our dreams.

The great rabbi Yehoshua bar Yosef of Nazareth (sic) said to his: “Truly I tell you, this generation will, of course, not pass away until all these things have happened “(Mark 13,30).

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16,28).

A little initiated better, or a little wiser than this Jesus of Nazareth and his sect of Nazoreans (Acts of the Apostles, 24, 5 ), the druids are satisfied to say; “the return of the god-or-demons is near, of course, but cosmically , on the scale of the figures which measure the length of this cycle “.

The reign of the god-or-demons comes and the day of its complete erdathe approaches… We would say today: this cycle approaches ineluctably, and each day a little more, its end.

To speak to the men about this slow increase in power of the reign of the god-or-demons and about the reenchantement of the world, the former druidism used images borrowed from the life of nature. It compared for example its return to the corn grain starting to grow in the ground, under snow.

The uncertainty on the even approximate date of this erdathe (the various calculations used in the past by the Christians or the Biblists to determine within few hours the day of this restoration, all failed ); constrained us to greatest vigilance but also to greatest patience in this field.

Such was the aim also of the miracles which accompanied the activity of primordial druids, or the druidiactio of former druidism. These miracles were signs. They were samples of the reign of the god-or-demons to come, some foretastes paid in advance, a piece of evidence of their psychosomatic power on the disease, the suffering and the death. At the same time, of course, that a proof of the authenticity of the druidic knowledge.

The today druids have still the role of announcing the return of the god-or-demons and of starting to prepare it in the middle of all the Celtic minded even other *, nations, by digging its foundations, in the depths of the soul/minds, with the assistance of Taran/Toran/Tuireann, a personification of the sudden illuminations and of the spiritual loves at first sight.

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This druidic knowledge encourages working for the extension of the reign of the god-or-demons in the middle of the world, by fighting all what stands in its the way. While also reinforcing, at the same time, the faith in the Man; since while relying on the Fate, able of resurrecting the bodies by equipping them with luan laith; the druidism avoids wanting one day to sacrifice the bodies to a moral order wanted by we do not know what obscure tribal god-or-demiurge, as that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was. The druidic spirituality keeps all the futures, even that of the body, open.

The druidic knowledge discovered the greatness of Mankind as well in its intellectual, moral, social and religious, as physical, life. Since it is the whole reality which is concerned by the work of reconciliation started by the god-or-demons (who were wise enough to withdraw themselves from this world) in our hearts and in our minds, before being continued tirelessly by the druids. In the education of its youth, the druidic knowledge therefore does not exclude nor lock any door on the face of it.

It is perhaps necessary here to remind of what Jean Jaures wrote January 15, 1888. "You hold in your hands the minds and souls of the children; you are responsible for the homeland. The children entrusted to you will not only have to write and decipher a letter, read a sign on a street corner, add and multiply. They are [put here the appropriate ethnonym] and they must know their country, its geography and its history: its body and soul. They will be citizens and they must know what a free democracy is, what rights they have, what duties are imposed on them by the sovereignty of the nation. Finally, they will be men, and they must have an idea of man, they must know what is the root of all our woes: selfishness in its many forms; what is the principle of our greatness: pride united with tenderness. They must be able to imagine the human race as a whole, taming little by little the brutalities of nature and the brutalities of instinct, and they must unravel the main elements of this extraordinary work called civilization. We must show them the greatness of thought; we must teach them respect and worship for the soul by awakening in them the feeling of the infinity which is our joy, and also our strength, for it is through it that we will triumph over evil, darkness and death... What a thing! All this to children! -Yes, all this, if you don't want to make them just spelling machines. I know what the difficulties of the task are....First of all, you have to teach children to read with absolute ease, so that they will never forget it in life and that in any book their eye will not stop at any obstacle. Knowing how to read really without hesitation, as you and I read, is the key to everything. ...Knowing how to read, the schoolchild, who is very curious, would very quickly, with seven or eight books chosen, have an idea, very general, it is true, but very high of the history of the human species, of the structure of the world, of the proper history of the earth in the world, of the proper role of their nation in humanity. It is not necessary for the teacher to say much, to give long lessons; it is enough that all the details he will give them clearly contribute to the overall picture. From what we know of primitive man to the man of today, what a prodigious change and how easy it is for the teacher, in a few outlines, to make the child feel the unheard-of effort of human thought! Only, for this, the teacher himself must be fully imbibed by what he teaches. He must not recite in the evening what he has learned in the morning; he must, for example, have had a clear idea of the sky, of the movement of the stars; he must have marveled at the human spirit, which, deceived by the eyes, first of all took the sky for a solid and low vault, then guessed the infinity of space and followed in this infinity the precise path of the planets and the suns; then, and only then, when, through solitary reading and meditation, he will be full of a great idea and all enlightened inside, he will communicate without difficulty to children, at the first opportunity, the light and emotion of his mind.... In every intelligence there will be a summit, and on that day, many things will change" (Jean Jaures. The Dispatch of Tolosa, January 15, 1888).

The return of the god-or-demons on this earth will be at the same time the end of a world and the beginning of another one, the end of a cycle and the emergence of a new one.

While waiting for being able to contemplate or to plunge in it and with it, to be joined to it, we believe we hope and we work for its advent, because hope makes the men live. Men don’t live on bread alone, they live on hope also.

To be able to foresee what we hope for, it is not yet to do only to hope, because what we can see, how can we still await for it? Our rituals are heralding signs of this reenchantement of the world. Memorials of the epic of the god-or-demons and carrying the divine sovereignty, they prefigure the new skies and the new earth, programmed to appear just after the end of this cycle. They therefore

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pre-empt reality of the luan laith or xvarnah to come, particularly in the case of the druidic service of each fortnight.

Conclusion.

At the end of this process the Mankind and the whole world will be able to then fully open out, and thus God will be everything and in everything. It will be therefore in a way the advent of a kind of Golden age… Except that it would not be a question of a final, eternal, completion. Even if a Golden age opens again in our eyes, it would end up at the end of a certain time in succumbing itself to its own perfection. “The souls are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them“(Strabo IV, 4).

Food for eschatological conjectures nevertheless that all that, because we can affirm nothing, but only to reflect and speculate on, for lack of “Revelation “in druidism.

* After all, even the Jew formerly were pagan. A little philosophical and considered paganism would not dot harm them.

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REFLECTION ABOUT THE S SCROLL OR DOUBLE SPIRAL.

By druid Leonorios.

The whorls, frequent in Celtic art, represent what into what the higher Being that is the Bitos breaks up. The “one “can be conceived only in opposition to the “two “. The separative dyad, through a first operation on the numbers themselves, divides them into odd and even.

Two opposite movements take place. The cycles can either be spread starting from the internal original point towards the external surface of the sphere, or to contract from the external surface to the internal center or original point. The two movements reflect the two aspects of a single force related to the Being.

The cosmological point of view or the exit from the no manifested world towards the manifested world, which matches a corporification of the Soul.

The metaphysical point of view of the return of the manifested world towards the not manifested world, which expresses a spiritualization of the body.

This reciprocating motion of the death of a world and of the rebirth of another, in the very broad senses of the terms, matches the operation of coagulation dissolution specific to the alchemical tradition.

“We may compare human things with divine “ Ausonius wrote one day (see his small poem on the use of the word libra).

Such a force can be compared, on the level of the individual, with the two phases of breathing (breathing out breathing in) or of cardiac pulsations (diastole systole). On the level of the cosmic world, the couples evolution/involution and development or envelopment, have the same senses. Indeed, the macrocosm and the microcosm reflect one the other and all that is in the bitos or universe is found in the human being according to a suitable analogy.

The double spiral provides a representation of the single cosmic force, acting in opposed directions on the two poles. All that is in close relationship with the two directions of rotation of the swastika which shows the same revolution seen from the celestial or terrestrial pole. As the combined influence of the Sky and of the Earth is exerted on opposite directions; each operation of dissipation or dissolution at one of the poles is combined with an operation of condensation or coagulation at the other pole, in order to keep overall balance.

The double influence of the Sky and of the Earth conveys anything else only the complementarity combined with the downward and upward phases. It is easy to see that the double spiral matches the boundary between the clear and dark zones. Moreover, the black spot in the white part, as well as the white point in the black part, represent the two poles.

The order of the two phases depends on the state taken into account as a starting point.

When the human being returns towards the non-manifested , it already in reality reached the center of its cycle of manifestation and it moves then along the vertical axis. That explains why the pole inside the dark part of the symbol is represented by a white point…

THE S SCROLL

(Subtitle from the editor.)

The small mysteries consist of a psychic regeneration producing a centered individual. As it always belongs to the temporal order, this initiation can be combined only with the horizontal double spiral.

The great mysteries give access to the spiritual world, field of the supra-individual possibilities. Implying no return towards the human state, this initiation can be related only to the vertical double spiral.

In the druidic tradition, the two currents of the cosmic force are represented by the double power of the mallet of Suqellus or of the bludgeon of Dagda. As a symbol of the lightning, it has a power under the two opposite or rather complementary aspects of generation and destruction. Generation of a new cycle or life; destruction of a previous or dead cycle.

To add examples would bring nothing more to the deep sense of the double spiral.

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The double spiral symbolizes the polarity but also the balance of the two reverse currents of the same cosmic force. Acting at the two poles of the two halves of the World Egg, they are connected to the two opposite directions of the swastika. As such, they take the appearance of two alternative opposite movements.

A movement of exit from the Center or from the Principle towards the manifested world, matching a cosmological point of view. Combined with the terrestrial influence, it basically means the death of the Soul and the birth of the Body.

A movement of return of the manifested world towards the Center or the Principle in line with a metaphysical point of view. Subject to heavenly influence expresses the death of the body in a symbolic meaning and the rebirth of the Soul through the initiation giving access to the supratangible world.

The double spiral can with difficulty be better figured than by the boundary line between the parts [of an encircled S scroll]. It is the same thing as two currents of a single cosmic force, taking various forms in various traditions.

If death points towards what has to disappear within the inevitable evolution of the earthy or manifested world, it also leads to the immutable specific to the celestial or not manifested world. Death shows an apparent ambivalence as a sign to the revelation. All the initiatory rites comprise a phase of death prior to that of a new life. The death of a cycle is the essential condition to the birth of a new one. To live this tension between compensatory aspects of the same cosmic force is the only means of dying to our actual state and of reappearing in a higher state.

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WORKING PAPER No. 6.

The neo-druid Allan Kardec in his work entitled “ THE SPIRITS’ BOOK CONTAINING THE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITIST DOCTRINE ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL: THE NATURE OF SPIRITS AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH MEN ,COLLECTED AND SET IN ORDER“ noted some of his reflections about what he calls “the spirits “. To only see, we have, in his text, replaced the notion of individual spirit by that of soul. And the result was very surprising (but interesting and to meditate) in spite of the obviousness of the Judeo-Christian influence on his remarks. Particularly in connection with the free will which is only relative! Or his confusion between the upper part of the individual human soul, the anamone, which should be, in theory, above all; and the lower part of this individual human soul, the mind or menman, which, itself, indeed, is in a way still very human, too human even!

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“ There is a word of which it is also necessary to define the meaning, because it is the keystone of every system of moral doctrine, and also because, owing to the lack of a precise definition, it has been made the subject of innumerable controversies; I refer to the word soul. The difference of opinion concerning the nature of the soul is a result of the variety of meanings attached to this word. A perfect language [like Esperanto] , in which every idea had its own special term, would save a vast deal of discussion; for, in that case, misunderstanding would be impossible.

Some writers define the soul as being the principle of organic life, having no existence of its own, and ceasing with the life of the body : it is materialism. In this meaning, and by comparison, they say of an out of tune instrument which emits no longer music that it it gives up the ghost.According to this opinion therefore, the soul is an effect, and not a cause.

Others consider the soul as being the principle of intelligence, the universal agent, of which each being absorbs a portion. According to them, there is, in the entire universe, only one soul, which distributes sparks of itself among all intelligent beings during their life ; each spark, after the death, returning to the communal source, and blending again with the whole, as brooks and rivers return to the ocean from which they were produced. This opinion differs from the preceding one, inasmuch as, according to the latter hypothesis, there is in us something more than matter, something that remains in existence after our death; but, practically, it is much as if nothing remained of us, since, no longer possessing individuality, we should retain no consciousness of our identity. According to this opinion , the universal soul is God, and each being is a portion of the Divinity. It is a species of Pantheism.

According to others, again, the soul is a being, distinct, independent of matter, and preserving its individuality after death.

Without discussing the value of these opinions, and considering the subject merely under its philological aspect, we say that these three applications of the word soul constitute three distinct ideas, each of which demands a different term. "Soul" has, therefore, a triple meaning, and each one is right from one’s point of view, in the definition that he gives of it; the wrong of the language which we use is to have only one word for three ideas. In order to avoid the confusion naturally resulting from the use of the same word to express three different ideas, it would be necessary to confine the word to one of these three ideas; it would not matter to which, provided the choice is clearly understood.

According to some, the vital principle is a property of matter; an effect produced wherever matter is found under certain given conditions [vitalism]; while, in the opinion of the greater number of thinkers, it resides in a special fluid, universally diffused, and of which each being absorbs and assimilates a portion during life, as inert bodies absorb light; the vital principle being identical with the vital fluid, which is generally regarded as being the same as the animalized electric fluid, also designated as the magnetic fluid, the nervous fluid, etc.

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However this may be, one fact is certain, for it is proved by observation, viz., that organic beings possess in themselves an intimate force which, so long as it exists, produces the phenomena of life ; that physical life is communal to all organic beings, and is independent of intelligence and thought; that intelligence and thought are faculties peculiar to certain organic species; and, lastly, that, among the organic species endowed with intelligence and thought, there is one which is endowed with a special moral sense that gives it an incontestable superiority over the others, viz., human species.

It is evident that, being used according to various acceptations, the term soul does not exclude either Materialism or Pantheism. Spiritualists themselves understand the term soul according to one or other of the first two definitions, without denying the distinct immaterial being, to which, in that case they would give some other name. This word, therefore, is not the representative of an opinion; it is a Protean term, defined by each one after his own fashion, and thus giving rise to interminable disputes.

15. What is to be thought of the opinion according to which all natural bodies, all the beings, all the globes of the universe are parts of the Divinity, and therefore constitute in their totality the Divinity itself; in other words, the Pantheistic theory?

16. Those who hold this theory maintain to find in it the demonstration of some of the attributes of God or of the Demiurge. The worlds of the universe being infinite, God or the Demiurge is thus seen to be infinite; vacuum, or nothingness, being nowhere, God or the Demiurge is everywhere: God or the Demiurge being everywhere, since everything is an integral part of God or of the Demiurge, he is thus seen to be the intelligent cause of all the phenomena in nature . What can we oppose to this argument?

114. Are soul/minds good or bad by nature, or are they the same soul/minds made better through their own efforts?

"The same soul/minds made better through their own efforts. In growing better they pass from a lower to a higher order."

116. Do any soul/mind remain for ever in the lower ranks?

"No; all become perfect. They change in course of time, however, long may be the process."

117. Does it depend on the soul/minds to hasten their progress towards perfection?

"Of course !"

118. Can soul/minds degenerate?

"No; in proportion as they advance, they understand what separated them from the perfection. When a soul/mind has finished with any given ordeal, it has learned the lesson of that ordeal, and never forgets it. It may remain stationary but it never degenerates."

120. Do all soul/minds go the road of evil to arrive at good?

"Not the road of evil, but that of ignorance."

121. How is it that some soul/minds have followed the road of good, and others the road of evil?

"Free will is developed in proportion as the soul/mind acquires the awareness of itself. Freedom would not exist for the soul/mind if its choice were solicited by a cause independent of its will. The cause which determines its choice is not in it, but is exterior to it, in the influences to which it voluntarily yields in virtue of the freedom of its will. "

- Whence come the influences that act upon it?

"From the imperfect soul/minds , who seek to take possession of it and to dominate it, and who are happy to see it giving way. It is this temptation that is allegorically pictured as Satan."

- Does this influence act upon a soul/mind only at its origin?

"It follows it through all the phases of its existence as a soul/mind, until it has acquired such thorough self-command that evil soul/minds renounce the attempt to obsess it."

124. Since there are soul/minds who, from the beginning, follow unswervingly the right path, and others who wander into the lowest depths of evil, there are perhaps, many degrees between these two extremes?

"Yes, of course, and these degrees constitute the paths of the great majority of soul/minds."

125. Will the soul/minds who have chosen the wrong road to be able to reach the same degree of elevation as the others?

"Yes but the eternities will be longer in their case."

This expression, "the eternities," has to be understood as referring to the belief of soul/minds of inferior degree in the perpetuity of their sufferings, resulting from the fact that it is not given to them to foresee the termination of those sufferings, and that this idea is renewed after every new ordeal to which they have given way .

127. Are all soul/minds created equal in point of intellectual capacity ?

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"They are all created equal, but not knowing from whence they come; for their free will must have its course. They progress more or less rapidly in intelligence as in morality."

The soul/minds who, from the beginning, follow the right road, are not thereby perfect, although they are free from evil tendencies, they have none the less to acquire the experience and the knowledge required to their perfection. They may be compared to children who, however good their natural instincts is, need to be developed and enlightened, and therefore who cannot arrive to maturity without transition. But, just as some men are good and others bad from their infancy, in the same way some soul/minds are good and others bad from their beginning; with this radical difference, however, that the child possesses instincts already formed, whereas the soul/mind, at his formation, is neither bad nor good, but possesses all possible tendencies, and follows its path, in the direction of good or evil through the action of its own free will.

128. Do the beings whom we call superior soul/minds form a special category of a nature different from that of other soul/minds?

"No; the soul/minds who have purified themselves from all imperfection, have reached the highest degree of the scale of progress, and united in themselves all species of perfection."

129. Have these soul/minds passed up through all the degrees of progress?

"They have passed up through all those degrees, but with the difference which we have already mentioned. Some of them, accepting their mission without murmuring, have reached the goal more quickly; others have been longer in reaching the same goal,perfection.”

135. Is there in man anything else than a soul/mind and a body?'

"There is the link which unites the soul/mind and the body."

- What is the nature of that link?

"It is semi-material-that is to say, of a nature intermediate between soul/mind and body, as it must necessarily be in order that they may be enabled to communicate with each other. It is by means of this link that the soul/mind acts upon matter, and that matter acts reciprocally upon the soul/mind."

Man is thus formed of three essential elements or parts: -

1st. The body, or material being, analogous to the animals, and animated by the same vital principle.

2d. The incarnated soul/mind, of which the body is the habitation.

3d. The intermediary principle or perispirit; a semi-material substance, which constitutes the innermost cover of the soul/mind, and unites the soul/mind with the body. This triplicity is analogous to that of the fruit, which consists of the germ, the perisperm, and the rind or shell.

136. Can a body exist without a soul/mind?'

"Yes; but it is only when the body ceases to live that the soul/mind quits it, Previous to birth, the union between the soul and the body is not complete; but when this union is definitively established, the death of the body severs the bonds that unite it to the soul/mind, and thus the soul/mind leaves it. Organic life may move a body without a soul/mind, but the soul/mind cannot inhabit a body deprived of organic life."

- What would our body be if it had no soul/mind?'

"A mass of flesh without intelligence; anything you choose to call it, excepting a man."

138. What is to be thought of the opinion of those who regard the soul/mind as being the principle of material life?'

"That is a question of definition; we attach but slight importance to mere words. You should begin by agreeing among yourselves as to the exact meaning of the expressions you use."

139. Some soul/minds, and certain philosophers before them, have defined the soul/mind as "a soulish spark that has emanated from the Big Whole"; why this contradiction?'

"There is nothing contradictory in such a definition. Everything depends on the meaning you attribute to the words you use. Why have you not a word for each thing?"

The word soul is used to express very different things. Sometimes it is used to designate the principle of life and in this sense it is correct to say, figuratively, that the soul is a soulish spark that has emanated from the Big Whole. These latter words designate the universal source of the vital principle, of which each being absorbs a portion, that returns to the general mass after its death. This idea does not exclude that of a moral being, a distinct personality, independent of matter, and preserving its own individuality. It is this being which at other times, is called the soul, and it is in this sense that we speak of the soul as an embodied principle.

144. What is to be understood by the soul of the world?

"The universal principle of life and intelligence from which individualities are produced. But, very often, they who use these terms do not understand themselves. The word soul is so elastic that everyone interprets it according to his own imagination. Some persons have also attributed a soul to the earth."

—What is to be thought of the opinion of those who place the soul in a center of the organic life?

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"The soul/mind may be said to inhabit more especially such a part of your organism, because it is to such a part that all the sensations converge; but those who place it in what they consider to be the center of vitality confound it with the vital fluid or principle. Nevertheless, it may be said that the soul/mind is more especially present in the organs which serve for the manifestation of the intellectual and moral qualities."

150. Does the soul/mind, after death, preserve its individuality?'

"Yes, it never loses its individuality. What would the soul/mind be if it did not preserve it?"

- How does the soul/mind preserve the awareness of its individuality, since it no longer has its material body?'

"It still has a fluid peculiar to itself, which it draws from the atmosphere of its planet, and which represents the appearance of its last incarnation-its perispirit."

Editor’s note. It is obvious there that Allan Kardec a little too much read the scholia on Lucan commenting on the “orbe alio” of this author (Fuit enim sentencia, animas in comparibus stellis positas. Et descensus per cancrum. In planetis vero pro diversitate eorum hauriebant diversa. In corporibus tandem pro merito quedam cicius celum petebant, quedam of corpore in corpus transeunt, donec firmamento consecuti resipiscant).

- Does the soul/mind take nothing of this life away with it?

"Nothing but the remembrance of that life and the desire to go to a better world. This remembrance is full of sweetness or of bitterness according to the way it used the earthly life it has left. The more advanced is the degree of its purification, the more clearly does it perceive the futility of all that it has left behind it upon the earth."

151. What is to be thought of the opinion that the soul/mind after death returns to the universal whole?

"Does not the mass of soul/minds, considered in its totality, constitute a whole? Does it not constitute a world? When you are in an assembly, you form an integral part of that assembly, and yet you have still your individuality."

152. What proof can we have of the individuality of the soul/mind after death?

"Those who think that the soul/mind returns after death into the universal whole are in error if they imagine that it loses its Individuality, like a drop of water that falls into the ocean, they are right if they mean by the universal whole the totality of incorporeal beings, of which each soul or mind is an element.’

If soul/minds were blended together into a mass, they would possess only the qualities communal to the totality of

the mass, there would be nothing to distinguish them from one another, and they would have no special, intellectual, or moral qualities of their own. But the communications we obtain from soul/minds give abundant evidence of the possession by each soul/mind of the awareness of the self, and of a distinct will, the infinite diversity of characteristics of all kinds shown by them in all respects is the consequence even of their individuality. If, after death, there were nothing but what is called the "Big Whole," absorbing all individualities, this whole would be uniform in its characteristics and, in that case, all the communications received from the invisible world would be identical. But as among the denizens of that other world we meet some who are good and some who are bad, some who are learned and some who are ignorant, some who are happy and some who are unhappy, and as they appear to us with every shade of character, some being frivolous and other serious, etc., it is evident that they are individualities, perfectly distinct from one another. This individuality becomes still more evident when they are able to prove their identity by unmistakable tokens, by personal details relating to their earthly life, and susceptible of being verified and it cannot be a matter of doubt when they manifest themselves in our eyes under the form of apparitions. The individuality of the soul/mind has been taught theoretically as an article of faith; Spiritualism makes it patent, and, so to say, material fact.

160. Does the soul/mind itself at once in company with those whom it knew upon the earth, and who died before it?

"Yes; and more or less promptly according to the degree of its affection for them and of theirs for it. They often come to meet it on his return to the world of the soul/minds of the dead, and help to free it from the bonds of matter. Others whom it formerly knew, but whom it had lost sight of during its stay on the earth, also come to meet it ."

On this point the neo-druid Allan Kardec is still in full agreement with the ancient legend of death.

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" Along the coast of the ocean which lies opposite the island of [Great] Britain there are numerous villages. These are inhabited by men who fish with nets or till the soil or carry on a sea trade with this island, being in other respects subject to the Franks, but never making them any payment of tribute, that burden having been remitted to them from ancient times on account, as they say, of a certain service, which will here be described by me. The men of this place say that the conduct of soul-spirits [Greek psyche] is laid upon them in turn. So the men, who on the following night must go to do this work relieving others in the service, as soon as darkness comes on, retire to their own houses and sleep, awaiting him who is to assemble them for the enterprise. And at a late hour of the night they are conscious of a knocking at their doors and hear an indistinct voice calling them together for their task. And they with no hesitation rise from their beds and walk to the shore, not understanding what necessity leads them to do this, but compelled nevertheless. There they see skiffs in readiness with no man at all in them, not their own skiffs, however, but a different kind, in which they embark and lay hold of the oars. And they are aware that the boats are burdened with a large number of passengers and are wet by the waves to the edge of the gunwale and the oarlocks, having not so much as one finger's breadth above the water ; they themselves, however, see no one, but after rowing a single hour they put in at [Great] Britain. And yet when they make the voyage in their own skiffs, not using sails but rowing, they with difficulty make this passage in a night and a day.

Then when they have reached the island and have been relieved of the weight of their invisible passengers, they depart with all speed, their boats now becoming suddenly light and rising above the waves, for they sink no further in the water than the keel itself.

For their part, they neither see any man either sitting in the boat with them or departing from the boat, but they say that they hear a kind of voice from the island which seems to make announcement to those who take the soul-spirits [Greek psyche] in charge as each name is called of the passengers who have come over with them, telling over the positions of honor which they formerly held and calling out their fathers' names with their own. And if women also happen to be among those who have been ferried over, they utter the names of the men to whom they were married in life" (Procopius. De Bello Gothico IV, 20).

165. At the moment of death, everything appears confused. The soul/mind takes some time to recover its self-awareness, for it is like stunned, and in a state similar to that of a man waking out of a deep sleep, and trying to understand his own situation. It gradually regains clearness of thought and the memory of the past in proportion to the weakening of the influence of the material cover from which it has just freed itself, and the clearing away of the sort of fog that obscured its awareness.

The length of the state of confusion that follows death varies greatly in different cases. It may be only of a few hours, and it may be of several months, or even years. Those with whom it lasts the least are they who, during the earthly life, have identified themselves most closely with their future state, because they are soonest able to understand their new situation.

This state of confusion shows special aspects according to characterial peculiarities, and also according to different sorts of death. In all cases of violent or sudden death, by suicide, by capital punishment, accident, apoplexy, etc., the soul/mind is therefore surprised, astounded, and does not believe itself being dead. Nevertheless it sees its own body, it knows it is own, and it cannot make out how it should be separated from it. It goes about among the persons with whom it is united by the ties of affection, speaks to them, and cannot conceive why they do not hear it.

Then the sou/mind recognizes itself then understands it no longer forms part of the world of the living. This phenomenon is easily explained. Death having come upon him by surprise, the soul/mind is stunned by the suddenness of the change that has taken place in it. For it, death is still synonymous with destruction, annihilation and as it thinks, sees, hears, it seems to it that it cannot be dead. And this illusion is still further strengthened by the fact that it sees itself with a body similar in form to the one it has left but it does not at first perceive its ethereal nature, therefore it supposes it to be solid and compact like the other before and when its attention has been called to this point, it is astonished at finding that it cannot feel itself. This phenomenon is analogous to that which occurs in the case of the new somnambulists, who cannot believe that they are not awake. Sleep, according to their idea of it, is

synonymous with the adjournment of the perceptive faculties; and as they think freely, and see, they appear to themselves they are not sleeping.

In the mental confusion which follows death, there is nothing painful for him who has lived an upright life. He is calm, and his perceptions are those of a peaceful awaking out of sleep. But for him whose conscience is not clean, it is full of anxiety and anguish that become more and more poignant in proportion as he recognizes himself.

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In cases of collective death, it has been observed that those who perish at the same time do not always see one another immediately afterwards. In the state of confusion which follows death, each one goes his own way, or concerns himself only with those in whom he takes an interest.

166. How can the soul/mind that has not reached perfection during the corporeal life complete the work of its purification?

"By undergoing the ordeal of a new existence."

- How does the soul/mind accomplish this new existence? Is it through its transformation as a spirit?

"The soul/mind, in purifying itself, undoubtedly undergoes a transformation; but, in order to effect this transformation, it needs the ordeal of another corporeal life.”

In proportion as a soul/mind becomes purified, the ethereal body with which it clothes itself also approaches more

nearly to the spiritualist nature. The matter is less dense. A soul/mind enjoys a greater degree of freedom, and possesses, in regard to objects at a distance, orders of perception of a nature unknown to us; it sees with its eyes what we see only in thought.

The purification of soul/minds determines the moral excellence of the corporeal beings in whom they are incarnated. The animal passions become weaker, and selfishness leaves room to the feeling of fraternity. Thus, in worlds of higher degree than our earth, wars are unknown, because no one thinks of doing harm to his fellow-beings, and there is consequently no motive for hatred or discord. The foresight of their future, which is intuitive in the people of those worlds, and the sense of security resulting from a conscience void of remorse, cause them to look forward to death without fear, as being simply a process of transformation.

284. How can soul/minds, who have no longer a body, establish their individuality, and cause it to be distinguishable from that of the other spiritual beings by whom they are surrounded?

"Their individuality is established by their perispirit, which makes of each soul/mind a separate personality, distinct from all others, as the body does among men."

289. Do our relatives and friends sometimes come to meet us when we are leaving the earth?

"Yes, they come to meet the soul/mind of those they love; they felicitate it as one who has returned from a journey if it have escaped the dangers of the road, and they aid it in freeing itself from the bonds of the flesh. To be met thus by those they have loved is a favor granted to the soul/minds of the upright; while the soul/mind of the wicked is punished by being left alone, or is only surrounded by soul/minds like itself."

298. Is it true that the soul/minds of those who will eventually be united in affection are predestined to this union from their beginning, and that each of us has thus, in some part of the universe, his other half, to whom he will some day be necessarily reunited?

"No, there is no such thing as any special and fated union between any two soul/minds. Union exists between all soul/minds, but in different degrees, according to the rank they occupy-that is to say, according to the degree of perfection they have acquired; and the greater their perfection is, the more united they are. It is discord that produces all the desperate situations of human life. The happiness is the result of concord."

305. Does the remembrance of its corporeal existence present itself to a soul/mind, complete, and spontaneously, immediately after his death?

"No; it comes back to him little by little, in proportion as it fixes its attention upon it, as objects gradually become visible out of a fog."

306. Does a soul/mind remember the details of all the events of its life? Does it take in the whole of its life at a single retrospective glance?

"It remembers the things, according to the influence they have exercised on its frame of mind ; but you can easily understand that there are many things in its life to which it attaches no importance, and which it does not even seek to remember."

- Could it remember them if it wished to do so?

"It has the power of recalling the most minute details of every incident of its life, and even of his thoughts; but when no useful purpose would be served by exerting this power, it does not exert it."

- Does it foresee the goal of the earthly life compared to the future life?

“Undoubtedly it sees it and understands it well better than in the lifetime of its body; it understands the need for purification to arrive to the infinite, and it knows that with each existence, it leaves some impurities.”

307. In what way does its past life present itself to a soul/mind’s memory? Is it through an effort of its imagination, or is it like a picture displayed before its eyes?

"It comes back to it in both ways. All the actions which it has an interest in remembering appear to it as if they were present; the others are seen by it more or less vaguely in its thought, or are entirely forgotten. The more dematerialized it is, the less importance does it attach to material things. But you

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always find that it perfectly remembers the main facts of its life which have led to its intellectual and moral progress."

309. How does a soul/mind regard the body it has just left?

"As an uncomfortable garment that hampered it, and that it is delighted to be rid of."

- What feeling is produced in it by seeing the decomposition of its body?

" Almost always that of indifference; as something about which it no longer cares."

310. After a time, does a soul/mind recognize the mortal remains, or other objects, that once belonged to it?

"Sometimes it does so but this depends on the more or less elevated point of view from which it regards earthly things."

311. Is a soul/mind's attention attracted to the material relics of itself by the respect entertained for those objects by his survivors, and does it see this respect with pleasure?

"A soul/mind is always gratified at being held in kindly remembrance by those it has left. The objects thus preserved in remembrance of it serve to recall it to the memory of those by whom they are preserved; but it is the action of their thought which attracts it, and not those objects."

312. Do soul/minds keep the remembrance of the sufferings endured by them in their last corporeal existence?

"They frequently do so and this remembrance makes them realize all the more vividly the worth of the felicity they enjoy as soul/mind ."

313. Does he who has been happy down here regret his earthly enjoyments on leaving the earth?

"Only soul/minds of inferior degree can regret material satisfactions in harmony with impurity of their nature, and which are expiated by suffering. For soul/minds of higher degrees of elevation, the eternal happiness is immeasurably preferable to the ephemeral pleasures of the earthly life."

As the adult despises watch constituted the delights of is infancy.

314. When a man, who has started a series of important labors in view of some useful end, has seen these labors interrupted by death, does he, in the other world, feel regret at having had to leave them unfinished?

"No, because he sees that others are destined to complete them. On the contrary, he endeavors to act upon the minds of other human beings, so as to lead them to carry on what he had begun. His aim while upon the earth was to be useful to Mankind: his aim is the same in the world of the soul/minds."

315. When a man has left behind him works of art or of literature, does he preserve for them in the other life the interest he took in them when he was living upon the earth?

"He judges them from another point of view, according to his elevation, and he often blames what he formerly admired."

316. Does a soul/mind still take an interest in the labors which are going on upon the earth, in the progress of the arts and sciences?

"That depends on its degree of elevation, and on the mission it may have to fulfill. What appears magnificent to you often appears a very small matter to certain soul/minds, if they take an interest in it, it is only as a man of learning takes an interest in the work of a schoolboy. They examine whatever indicates the elevation of embodied soul/minds and marks the degree of their progress."

317. Do soul/minds, after death, keep love for their native country?

"For soul/minds of elevated degree, their country is the universe; in regard to the earth, their only preference is for the place in which there is the greatest number of persons with whom they are in sympathy."

The situation of soul/minds, and their way of looking at things, are infinitely varied, according to their various degrees of moral and intellectual development. Soul/minds of a high order generally make but short stays upon the earth. All that goes on here is so paltry in comparison with the grandeurs of infinity, the matters to which men attribute most importance appear to them so puerile that the things of this earth have very little interest for them, unless they have been sent to it for the purpose of quickening the progress of Mankind. The common ruck of soul/minds may be said to be sedentary among us in a way, they constitute the great mass of the ambient population of the invisible world. They kept more or less the same ideas, tastes, and tendencies which they had when they were clothed with their corporeal cover, and mix themselves up with our gatherings, our occupation, our amusements in all of which they take a part more or less active according to their nature. Being no longer able to satisfy their material passions, they take delight in witnessing the excesses of those who give in to these passions, and excite them to do that. Among their number are some who are better disposed, and who see and observe in order to acquire knowledge and to advance.

318. Do soul/minds modify their ideas in their state of soul/mind ?

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"Very considerably. Soul/mind's ideas undergo very great modifications in proportion as it becomes dematerialized, it may sometimes keep the same ideas for a long period, but little by little the influence of matter diminishes, and it sees more clearly. It is then that it seeks for the means of advancing."

321. Are soul/minds specially attracted towards their friends upon the earth by the return of the day (on November 1st) which, in some countries, is consecrated to the memory of those who have quit this life? Do they make it a point to meet those who, on that day, go to pray beside the graves where their mortal remains are buried?

"Soul/minds answer to the call of remembrance on that day as they do on any other day."

- Do they, on that day, go specially to the burial place of their corporeal body?

"They go to the cemeteries in greater numbers on that day, because called thither by the thoughts of a greater number of persons, but each soul/mind goes only for his own friends, and not for the crowd of those who care nothing about it."

- In what form do they come to these places, and what would be their appearance if they could make themselves visible to us?

"The form and appearance by which they were known during their lifetime."

323. Does a visit made to its grave give more pleasure to a soul/mind than a prayer offered for it by friends in their own home?

"A visit made to its grave is a way of showing to a soul/mind that he is not forgotten; it is an image. As I have told you, it is the prayer that sanctifies the action of the memory; the place where it is offered is of little importance, if it comes from the heart."

324. When statues or other monuments are erected to persons who have left this life are the soul/minds of those persons present at their inauguration; and do they witness such ceremonies with pleasure?

"Soul/minds often attend on such occasions, when able to do so but they attach less importance to the honors paid to them than to the remembrance in which they are held."

- Is it futile to bring together the mortal remains of all the members of a family in the same burial place?

"Such reunion is of little importance to soul/minds ; but it is useful to men, whose remembrance of those who have gone before them is thus strengthened and made more serious.”

326. When the soul/mind has returned into spiritual life, is it gratified by the honors paid to its mortal remains?

"When a soul/mind has reached a certain degree of advancement, it is purified from earthly vanities, for it comprehends their futility. But there are many soul/minds who, in the early period of their material death , take great pleasure in the honors paid to their memory, or are much disturbed at finding themselves forgotten; for they still keep retain some of the false ideas, they held during their earthly life."

327. Do soul/mind ever attend their own funeral?

"Soul/minds very often do so; but, in many cases, without understanding what is going on, being still in the state of confusion that usually follows death."

- Do they feel flattered by the number or the quality of those who follow its funeral procession?

"More or less so, according to the feeling which has brought them together."

328. Is a soul/mind ever present at the meetings of his heirs?

"Almost always. The deceased is thus enabled to judge of the worth of the avowals of affection addressed to it during its life and its disappointment on witnessing the rapacity of those who dispute the property he has left is often very great. But the punishment of greedy heirs will come in due time."

329. Is the respect which mankind, in all ages and among all peoples, has always instinctively shown to the dead, to be attributed to an intuitive belief in a future state of existence?

"The one is the natural consequence of the other; were it not for that belief, such respect would have neither object nor meaning."

367. Does a soul in uniting itself with a body, identify itself with matter?

"Matter is only the cover of the soul, as clothing is the cover of the body. A soul, in uniting itself with a body, keep the attributes of its spiritual nature."

368. Does a soul exercise its faculties in full freedom after its union with a body?

"The exercise of faculties depends on the organs which serve them for instruments. Their exercise is weakened by the grossness of matter."

- It would appear, then, that the material cover is an obstacle to the free manifestation of a soul's faculties, as the opacity of a glass is an obstacle to the free passage of light?

"Yes, an obstacle which is exceedingly opaque."

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The action exercised upon a soul by the gross matter of his body may also be compared to that of muddy water, impeding the movements of the objects plunged into it.

369. Is the free exercise of a soul's faculties subordinated, during its incarnation, to the development of his corporeal organs?

"Organs are the soul/minds' instruments for the manifestation of its faculties; that manifestation is, therefore, necessarily subordinated to the degree of development and perfection of those organs, as the perfection of a piece of manual work depends on the goodness of the tool used."

371. Is there any basis for the common belief that the souls of the persons with Down’s syndrome or the autistic persons are of a nature inferior to those of others?

"No; they have a human soul, which is often more intelligent than you suppose, and which suffers acutely from the insufficiency of its means of communication, as the dumb man suffers from his inability to speak."

372. What is the aim of the universal Fate in causing beings so ill-treated by nature as the persons with Down’s syndrome and the autistic persons?

"Persons with Down’s syndrome and autistic persons are incarnations of soul/minds who are undergoing punishment, and who suffer from the constraint they experience, and from their inability to manifest themselves by means of organs which are undeveloped, or out of order."

- Then it is not correct to say that organs are without influence upon faculties?

"We have never said that organs are without influence. They have very great influence on the manifestation of faculties, but they do not give faculties; there is just the difference. A skillful player will not make good music with a bad instrument, but that will not prevent him being a good player."

It is necessary to distinguish between the normal state from the pathologic state. In the normal state, the mindset overcomes the obstacles which are placed in its way by matter but there are cases in which matter opposes resistance so powerful that the manifestations are hindered or distorted , like in idiocy and madness. These cases are pathologic and as the soul, in such states, is not in the enjoyment of its full liberty, human law itself exempts such persons from the responsibility of their actions.

373. What merit can there be in the existence of beings who, like persons with Down’s syndrome and autistic persons, can do neither good nor evil, and therefore cannot progress ?

"Such an existence is imposed as an expiation of the abuse which a soul/mind has committed of certain faculties; it constitutes a pause in his career.'

Intellectual superiority is not always accompanied by an equal degree of moral superiority, and the greatest geniuses may have much to expiate. For this reason, they often have to undergo an existence inferior to the one they have previously lived, which is a cause of suffering for them, the hindrances to the manifestation of its faculties thus imposed upon a soul/mind being like chains that fetter the movements of a vigorous man. The person with Down’s syndrome or the autistic person may be said to be crippled in their brain, as the lame is crippled in his legs, and the blind, in his eyes.

374. Is the person with Down’s syndrome or the autistic person, in the state of soul/mind, aware of his mental condition ?

"Yes; very often. He comprehends that the chains which hinder his action are a ordeal and an expiation."

375. When a man is mad, what is the state of his soul/mind?

"A soul/mind, in the state of freedom, receives his impressions directly, and exerts his action directly upon matter; but when incarnated, it is in very different conditions, and compelled to act only through the instrumentality of special organs. If some or all of those organs are injured, its actions or its impressions, as far as those organs are concerned, are interrupted. If it loses its eyes, it becomes blind; if it loses its hearing, it becomes deaf; and so on. Suppose that the organ which presides over the manifestations of intelligence and of will is partially or entirely weakened or modified in its action, and you will easily understand that the soul/mind, having at his service only organs that are incomplete or denatured , must experience a functional perturbation of which it is perfectly aware, but is not able to stop the course.

- It is then always the body, and not the soul/mind, that is disorganized?

"Yes; but you must not forget that, just as a soul/mind acts upon matter, matter, to a certain extent, reacts upon it; and that it may therefore find itself, momentarily, impressed by the deterioration of the organs through which it appears and receives its impressions. And it may happen in the long run, when this madness has continued for a long time, that the repetition of the same actions may exercise upon a soul/mind an influence from which it is only delivered after its complete separation from all material impressions."

376. How is it that madness sometimes leads to suicide?

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"In such cases, the soul/mind suffers from the constraint which it feels, and from its inability to manifest itself freely; and therefore it seeks death as a means of breaking its chains."

377. Does the soul/mind of a madman continue to feel, after death, the derangement of its faculties?

"It may continue to feel it for some time after death until it is completely released from matter; just like a man, on waking, continues to feel, for some little time, the confusion in which he has been plunged by sleep."

378. How can brain-disease act upon a soul/mind after his death?

"It is an effect of remembrance, which weighs like a burden upon the soul/mind; and as it was not aware of all that took place during its madness, it always needs a certain amount of time for keeping oneself again informed . It is for this reason that the continuance of its uneasiness after death is always proportioned to the longer or shorter continuance of the insanity it has previously suffered during its life.”

Editor’s note. This whole passage by Allan Kardec is an astonishing development of the druidic notion of bacuceos (possessed person).

380. During the infancy of his body, and without reference to the obstacle opposed to its free manifestation by the imperfection of its organs, does a soul/mind thinks as a child, or as an adult?

"While it remains a child, it is natural that its organs of thought, not being developed, cannot give it all the intuition of an adult; its range of intellect is therefore only narrow, until increasing age has ripened its reason. The confusion which accompanies embodiment does not cease, all at once, at the moment of the birth; it its only dissipated gradually with the development of the organs."

The observation of a fact of human life furnishes us with a confirmation of the preceding reply-viz., that the dreams of childhood do not have the characteristics of those of adult age. Their object is almost always childish, a characteristic indication of the nature of a soul/mind's thoughts during the infancy of its organs.

381. At the death of a child, does its soul/mind at once regain his former vigor?

"It should do so, since it is freed from its fleshly cover; but, yet, it only regains its former lucidity when the separation is complete - that is to say, when there is no longer connection between the soul/mind and the body."

383. What is the use, for a soul/mind, of passing through the state of infancy?

"The aim of the incarnation is the improvement of the soul subjected to it; and a soul is more accessible during childhood to the impressions it receives, and which may help its advancement-the purpose to which all those who are entrusted with its education should contribute."

385. Whence comes the change which occurs in the nature of the young on the approach of manhood: is it the soul/mind that becomes modified?

"The soul/mind, regaining possession of itself, shows itself such as it was before its embodiment. Childhood possesses yet another utility. Soul/minds enter corporeal life only in order to effect their improvement, their self-amelioration. The weakness of youth makes them more pliable, more amenable to the counsels of those whose experience should aid their progress. It is thus that faulty characters are gradually reformed and that evil tendencies are repressed. Childhood is not only useful, necessary, indispensable, but it is, moreover, the natural result of the laws which govern the universe.

394. In worlds more advanced than ours, where the human race is not a prey to our physical needs and infirmities, do men understand that they are better off than we are? Happiness is usually relative; it is felt to be such by comparison with a state that is less happy. As some of those worlds, though better than ours, have not reached perfection, the men by whom they are inhabited must have their own troubles and annoyances. Among us, the rich man, although he does not have to endure the physical privations that torture the poor, is none the less a prey to tribulations of other kinds that embitter his life. What I ask is whether the inhabitants of those worlds do not consider themselves to be just as unhappy, according to their standard of happiness, as we consider ourselves to be according to ours; and whether they do not, like us, complain of their fate, not having the remembrance of an inferior existence to serve them as a standard of comparison ?

"To this question two different answers must be given. Three are some worlds among those of which you speak the inhabitants of which have a very clear and exact remembrance of their past existences, and therefore can and do appreciate the happiness which the Fate permits them to enjoy. But there are others, of which the inhabitants, though placed, as you say, in better conditions than yours, are, nevertheless, subject to great annoyances, and even to much

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unhappiness, and who do not appreciate the more favorable conditions of their life, because they have no remembrance of a state still more unhappy. But if they do not rightly appreciate those conditions as men, they appreciate them more justly on their return to the world of the soul/minds. "

396. Some persons believe themselves to have a vague remembrance of an unknown past, which comes before them as the fugitive image of a dream that one vainly endeavors to recall. Is this belief only an illusion?

"It is often an illusion to be warned against; for it may be merely the effect of an excited imagination."

400. Does the embodied soul reside willingly in his corporeal cover ?

"You might as well ask whether a prisoner willingly remains locked up in prison. The incarnated soul aspires incessantly after his deliverance; and the grosser its cover is, the more desirous is he to be rid of it."

401. Does the soul/mind take rest, like the body, during sleep?

"No; a soul/mind is never inactive. The bonds which unite it to the body are relaxed during sleep; and as the body does not then need its presence, it travels through space, and comes into more direct relation with other soul/minds.”

402. How can we ascertain soul/min's liberty during sleep?

"Through dreams. Be very sure that, when its body is asleep, a soul/mind enjoys faculties of which he it is unaware while its body is awake. It remembers the past, and sometimes foresees the future: it acquires more power, and is able to come into communication with other soul/minds, either in this world or in some other.

"You often say, 'I have had a strange dream, a frightful dream, without any likeness to reality.” You are mistaken in thinking it to be so; for it is often a reminiscence of places and things which you have seen in the past, or a foresight of those which you will see in another existence, or in this one at some future time. The body being torpid, the soul/mind tries to break its chain, and seeks, in the past or in the future, for the means of doing so.

"Poor human beings! how little do you know of the commonest phenomena of your life! You fancy yourselves to be very learned, and you are puzzled by the most ordinary things. To questions that any child might ask, 'What do we do when we are asleep?' 'What are dreams?' you are unable of answering .

Sleep effects a partial freeing of the soul/mind from the body. When you sleep, your soul/mind is, for the time being, in the state in which you will be after your death. The soul/minds who at death are promptly released from matter are those who, during their life, have had what may be called intelligent sleep. Such persons, when they sleep, regain the society of other superior beings. They go about with them, conversing with them, and gaining instruction from them; they even undertake works which, on dying, they find already begun or completed. From this you see how little death should be dreaded, since you 'die daily.'

What we have just stated refers to soul/minds of an elevated degree of advancement. As for those of the common mass of men, who, after their death, remain for long hours in the state of confusion and uncertainty of which you have been told by such, they go, during sleep, into worlds of lower rank than the earth *, to which they are drawn back by old affections, or by the attraction of pleasures still baser than those to which they are addicted in your world; visits in which they gather ideas still viler, ignobler, and more mischievous than those which they had professed during their waking hours *. And that which causes sympathy in the earthly life is nothing else than the fact that you feel yourselves, on waking, affectionately attracted towards those with whom you have spent eight or nine hours of happiness or pleasure. On the other hand, the explanation of the indifference you sometimes feel for certain persons is also to be found in the fact we hardly make a point of making new friends, when we know that we have others who love and cherish us. In a word, sleep has more influence than you think upon your life. Through the effects of sleep, embodied soul/minds are always in connection with the world of the soul/minds; and it is in consideration of this fact that soul/minds of a higher order consent, without much repugnance, to reincarnate themselves among you.

* There Allan Kardec undoubtedly refers to the anterooms of the Celtic Heaven known under the name of Anderodubno (Annwn) or Donnotegia (Tech Duinn) of which existence is questionable. Which concern in any case and in the worst case only a negligible minority of individuals (exceptions that prove the rule):, king David and prophet Elijah massacring their enemies [at least according to the Bible : 1 Samuel 18, 25-27 ; 2 kings 1,10-15 ], Nebuchadnezzar , Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot…

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"Dreams are the remembrance of what your soul/mind has seen during sleep; but you must remark that you do not always dream, because you do not always remember what you have seen, or all that you have heard. Your dreams do not always reflect the action of your soul/mind in its full development; for they are often only the reflex of the confusion that accompanies your departure or your return, mingled with the vague remembrance of what you have done, or of what has occupied your thoughts, in your waking state. In what other way can you explain the absurd dreams which are dreamed by the wisest as by the silliest of mankind ? Bad spirits,also, make use of dreams to torment weak and timid soul/minds.

"You will see, ere long, the development of another kind of dream, a kind which is as ancient as the one you know, but of which you are unaware. This dream is the remembrance of the soul/mind's experiences while entirely released from the body, the remembrance of the second life, of which I spoke just now.

"You should carefully endeavor to distinguish these two kinds of dreams among those which you are able to recall: unless you do this, you will be in danger of falling into contradictions and mistakes that would be prejudicial."

Dreams are a product of the emancipation of the soul/mind, made more active by the adjournment of the active life , and enjoying a sort of indefinite clairvoyance which extends to places at a great distance from us, or that we have never seen, or even to other worlds. To this state of emancipation is also due the remembrance which retraces to our memory the events that have occurred in our present existence or in preceding existences the strangeness of the images of what takes place or has taken place in worlds unknown to us, mixed up with the things of the present world, producing the confused and whimsical medleys that seem to be equally devoid of connection and of meaning.

The incoherence of dreams is still farther explained by the gaps resulting from the incompleteness of our remembrance of what has appeared to us in our nightly visions - an incompleteness similar to that of a narrative from which whole sentences, or parts of sentences, have been omitted by chance, and whose remaining fragments, having been thrown together again at random, have lost all intelligible meaning.

404. What is to be thought of the signification attributed to dreams ?

"Dreams are not really indications in the sense attributed to them by fortune-tellers; for it is absurd to believe that a certain kind of dream announces the happening of a certain kind of event. But they are indications in this sense-viz., that they present images which are real for the mind, though they may have nothing to do with what takes place in the present corporeal life. Dreams are also, in many cases, as we have said, a remembrance; they may also sometimes be a presentiment of the future. Have you not many instances proving that persons may appear to their relatives and friends in dreams, and give them notice of what is happening to them? What are apparitions, if not the soul or mind of persons which comes to communicate with you ? When you acquire the certainty that what you saw has really taken place, is it not a proof that it was no freak of your imagination, especially if what you saw were something which you had not thought of when you were awake?"

406. When, in a dream, we see persons who are well known to us doing things which they are not in any way thinking of, is it not a mere effect of the imagination?

"Of which they are not thinking? How do you know that it is so? Their mind may come to visit yours, as yours may go to visit theirs; and you do not always know, in your waking state,what they may be thinking of. And besides, you often, in your dreams, apply to persons whom you know, and according to your own desires, reminiscences of what took place, or is taking place, in other existences."

413. The emancipation of the soul/mind during sleep would seem to indicate that we live simultaneously two lives; the life of the body, which gives to us exterior relation, and the life of the soul/mind, which gives to us invisible life-is this so?

"During the emancipation of the soul/mind, the life of the latter takes precedence of the life of the body; this, however, does not, strictly speaking, constitute two lives, but rather two phases of the same life, for a man does not live a double life."

414 Can two persons, who are acquainted with each other, visit one another in sleep?

"Yes; and many others, who, in their waking state, do not know that they are acquainted, meet and converse together. You may, without suspecting it, have friends in another country. The fact of going, during sleep, to visit friends, relatives, acquaintances, persons who can be useful to you, is extremely frequent; and yourselves you accomplish these visits almost every night."

415. What can be the use of these nocturnal meetings, since we do not remember them?

"The intuition of them generally remains with you in your waking state, and is often the origin of ideas which afterwards occur to you, as it were, spontaneously, without you being able to account for them, but which are really those you had obtained in the spiritual interviews carried on by you during your sleep."

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419. Whence comes it that the same idea-that of a discovery, for instance- is so often suggested at the same time to several persons, although they may be at a distance from one another?

“We have already said that, during sleep, minds communicate with one another; well, when its body awakes, a mind remembers what he has learned, and the man thinks he has invented it. Thus several persons may find out the same thing at the same time. When you say that an idea is 'in the air,' you employ a figure of speech that is much nearer the truth than you suppose. Everyone helps unconsciously to propagate it."

In this way, our mind often reveals to other minds, without our being aware of it, that which formed the object of our meditations before we went to sleep.

420. Can soul/minds communicate between themselves when the body is awake?

"A soul/mind is not enclosed in its body as in a box, but radiates around it in every direction. It can, therefore, hold communication with other soul/minds even in the waking state, although it does so with more difficulty."

423. Can a soul/mind, in a state of coma, separate himself entirely from his body, so as to give to the latter all the appearances of death, and afterwards come back in it?

"In coma, the body is not dead, for it still accomplishes some of its functions. Its vitality is latent, as in the chrysalis but is not annihilated and a soul/mind is united to its body as long as it remains alive. Once the links which keep them together are broken by the death and desegregation of the bodily organs, the separation is complete, and the soul/mind never again comes back into its body. When a man who is apparently dead comes to life again, it is because the process of death was not entirely consummated." [Editor’s note : the neo-druid Allan Kardec denies consequently the possibility that there can be miraculous resurrection in a strict sense of the word AND HE IS RIGHT!]

Lethargy and catalepsy proceed from the same cause, viz., the temporary loss of sensibility and power of motion, from some as yet unexplained physiological condition. They differ in this respect, viz., that, in lethargy, the suppression of the vital force is general and gives to the body all the appearances of death, whereas, in catalepsy, that suppression is localized, and may affect a more or less extensive portion of the body, while leaving the intelligence free to manifest itself, a fact which does not make possible to confound it with death. Lethargy is always natural catalepsy is sometimes spontaneous, but it may be produced and dissipated artificially by mesmeric action.

425. Is there any connection between natural somnambulism and dreaming? How it can be explained ?

"In somnambulism the independence of the soul/mind is more complete, and its functions are more developed, than in dreaming, and it has faculties that it has not in dreaming, which is an imperfect somnambulism."

428. What is the nature of somnambulic clairvoyance?

"We have told you that it is soul/mind sight."

429. How can the somnambulist see through opaque bodies?

"It is only to your gross organs that bodies are opaque. Have we not told you that matter is not an obstacle for a soul/mind, since it passes freely through it ? It often tells you that it sees through its forehead, its knee, etc., because you, being plunged in matter, do not understand that it can see without the help of organs. It itself, influenced by your ideas, believes that it needs those organs; but, if you left it free, it would understand that it sees through every part of its body, or rather, that it sees independently of its body."

430. Since the clairvoyance of the somnambulist is that of his soul or of his mind, why does it not see everything, and why does it so often make mistakes?

"First , imperfect soul/minds do not see and comprehend everything, for, as you know, they still share your mistakes and your prejudices; then, as long as they remain more or less attached to matter, they don’t enjoy of all their mind faculties.

592. If we compare man with animals in reference to intelligence, it seems difficult to draw a line of demarcation between them; for some animals are, in this respect, notoriously superior to some men. Is it possible to establish such a line of demarcation with any precision?

"Your philosophers are far from agreeing upon this point. Some of them will have it that man is an animal; others are equally sure that the animal is a man. They are all wrong. Man is a being apart, who sometimes sinks himself very low, or who may raise himself very high. As regards his physical nature, man is like the animals, and less well provided for than many of them; for nature has given to them all that man is obliged to invent with the help of his intelligence for his needs and his preservation. His body is subject to destruction, like that of the animals; but his mind has a destiny that he alone can understand, because he alone is completely free [Let us say more exactly than he is endowed with a conscience the animal does not have].Poor human beings who debase yourselves below the brutes! do you not know how to distinguish yourselves from them ?"

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593. Can the animals be said to act only from instinct?

"That, again, is a theory. It is very true that instinct predominates in the greater number of animals; but do you not see some of them act with a determinate will ? This is intelligence; but of a narrow range."

It is impossible to deny that some animals give evidence of possessing, besides instinct, the power of performing compound acts which denote the will to act in a determinate direction, and according to circumstances. Consequently, there is in them a sort of intelligence, but the exercise of which is mainly concentrated on the means of satisfying their physical needs, and providing for their own preservation.

There is, among them, no progress, no amelioration, what may be the art that we admire in their labors, what they formerly did, that they do today neither better nor worse, according to constant forms and unvarying proportions. The young bird isolated from the rest of its species builds nevertheless its nest on the same model, without having been taught. If some of the animals are susceptible of a certain amount of education, their intellectual development, always restricted within narrow limits, is due to the action of man upon a flexible nature, because it is no progress which is own to them , that development is ephemeral and purely individual, for the animal, when left again to itself, speedily returns within the limits traced out for it by nature.

594. Have animals a language?

"If you mean a language formed of words and syllables, no; but if you mean a method of communication among themselves, yes. They say much more to one another than you suppose; but their language is limited, like their ideas, to their bodily wants."

597. Since animals have an intelligence which gives them a certain degree of freedom of action, is there, in them, a principle independent of matter?

"Yes and that survives their body."

-Is this principle a soul, like that of man?

"It is a soul, if you like to call it so; that depends on the meaning you attach to this word. But it is inferior to that of man. There is, between the soul of the animals and that of man, as great a difference as there is between the soul of man and God or the Demiurge."

598. Does the soul of the animals preserve, after death, its individuality and its self-awareness?

"It preserves its individuality, but not the awareness of its self. The life of intelligence remains latent in them."

600. As the soul of the animal survives its body, is it, after death, in a state of erraticity, like that of man?

"It is in a sort of erraticity, because it is not united to a body but it is not an errant spirit. The errant spirit is a being who thinks and acts through his own free will; but that of the animal does not have the same faculty, for it is self-awareness which is the principal attribute of the mind. The mind of the animal is classed after its death, by the spirits charged with that work, and almost immediately used; it does not have the leisure to come into connection with other alive beings."

603. Have the animals, in the higher worlds, a knowledge of God or of the Demiurge?

"No; man is a god-or-demon for them, as spirits were formerly gods for men."

605. If we consider all the points of contact that exist between man and animals, does it not seem as though man possessed two souls-viz., an animal soul and a spiritual soul, and that, if he had not the latter, he might still live, but as a brute; in other words, that the animal is a being similar to man, minus the spiritual soul? From which it would follow that the good and bad instincts of man result from the predominance of one or other of these two souls.

"No; man has not two souls but the body has its instincts resulting from the sensation of its organs. There is in him only a double nature-the animal nature and the spiritual nature. Through his body he participates in the nature of the animals and their instincts; through his soul he participates in the nature of spirits."

- Thus, besides his own imperfection, which he has to get rid of, a soul/mind also has to struggle against the influence of matter?

"Yes, the lower a soul/mind's degree of advancement, the closer are the bonds which united it with matter. Do you not see that it must necessarily be so? No; man has not two souls: the soul is always one in a single being. The soul of the animal and that of man are distinct from one another, so that the soul of the one cannot animate the body made for the other. But if man have not an animal soul, placing him, through its passions, on a level with the animals, he has his body, which often drags him down to them; for his body is a being that is endowed with vitality, and that has its instincts, but unintelligent, and limited to the care of its own preservation."

A soul/mind by incarnating itself in a human body, brings to it the intellectual and moral principle that makes it superior to the animals. The two natures in man constitute for him two distinct sources of passions; one set of passions springing from the instincts of his animal nature, and the other set being due to the impurities of the soul/mind of which he is the incarnation, and which are in sympathy with

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the grossness of the animal appetites. A soul/mind as he becomes purified, frees itself gradually from the influence of matter. While under that influence, it approaches the nature of the brutes when released from that influence, it rises towards its true destiny.

606. Whence do the animals derive the intelligent principle that constitutes the particular kind of soul with which they are endowed?

"From the universal intelligent element."

- The intelligence of man and of animals emanates, then, from the same principle?

"Undoubtedly; but, in man, it has received a development which raises it above that which moves the brute.”

612. Can a soul/mind which has moved a human body be incarnated in an animal?

"No; for such an incarnation would be a downgrading and a soul/mind can never be downgraded. The river does not flow back to its spring ."

613. However erroneous, may be the idea attached to the doctrine of the metempsychosis, may not that doctrine be a result of an intuitive reminiscence of the different existences of man?

"That intuitive reminiscence is found in this belief as in many others; but, like the greater part of his intuitive ideas, man has perverted it."

The doctrine of the metempsychosis is false when understood as meaning that any animal can transmigrate directly into a man, and a man into an animal, which would imply the idea of a downgrading or of a melting. The fact that melting is not possible between corporeal beings of two different species is an indication they are at non-assimilable levels, and that it has to be the same thing as regards the souls which move them.

If the same soul could move them alternately, it would imply the existence, between them of an identity that would manifest itself by the possibility of corporeal reproduction.

It is thus, for example, that all do not think alike in reference to the relations which exist between man and animals. According to some people, mind arrives at the human period only after having been worked out and individualized in the different degrees of the lower beings. According to others, the mind of man has always belonged to the human race, without passing through the ascensional degrees of the animal world. The first of these theories has the advantage of giving an aim to the future of animals, which are thus seen to form the earliest links in the chain of thinking beings ; the second theory is more consonant with the dignity of man, and may be summed up as follows:

The different species of animals do not proceed intellectually from one another progressively.

Thus the mind of the oyster does not become successively that of fish, bird, quadruped, and quadrumanous monkey. Each species is a fixed type, physically and morally, each individual of which draws, from the universal source, the sum of the intelligent principle which is necessary to it according to the nature of its organs and the work it has to accomplish in the phenomena of nature, and which it restores to the general mass of that principle at its death. Those of worlds more advanced than ours are also distinct races that are fitted to the needs of those worlds, and to the degree of advancement of the men of whom they are the auxiliaries, but that do not derive spiritually, from those of the earth. It is not the same with man. It is evident that, biologically, he forms a link in the chain of living beings; but there is, morally, a gap between the animals and him; for man alone possesses the soul, or mind , the divine spark, which gives him the moral sense and the intellectual range which are missing in the animals; it is in him the main being, which preexists and survives the body by preserving its individuality. What is the origin of the mind? What its starting point? Is it formed from the individualized intelligent principle? This is a mystery which it would be useless to attempt to penetrate, and in regard to which, as we have said, we can do no more than build up theories. What is certain, what is indicated alike by reason and by experience, is the survival of each soul/mind and the persistence of its individuality after death, its faculty of progressing, the happiness or unhappiness of its next state of being, according to his advancement in the path of purification, and all the moral truths which flow from this certainty, as for the mysterious kinship which exists between man and animals, that is there, we repeat it , a mystery, like many other matters the knowledge of which, at this time, is of little importance to our advancement, and upon which it would be useless to insist [end of the adaptation of the text of the neo-druid Allan Kardec].

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COMMENTARIES ON THE DISSENTING POINT OF VIEW

OF THE NEO DRUID ALLAN KARDEC.

BY THE DRUID LEONORIOS.

“What will occur in the world before the end of time?

Just as science will have found the means of subjecting to it all natural forces, in the same way it will find the means of giving to the body of Man new properties.

Will be then our relations with the invisible world increased?

Our relations with the invisible world will then be increased through that and we will be able to communicate with it in several ways.

What will be the relationships of Mankind with the world of the spirits?

Materializations or appearances of spirits will be made increasingly frequent and will persist, so that among alive ones, we will see a large number of dead.

Will the men who will live then… die?

No, they will have found the means of changing death into a simple metamorphosis “.

Let us resort now to a language which is more familiar to us, that of the mythology of our time, science fiction.

What is sure, it is that there will also be in a way immediate reincarnation in the parallel next world which we generally regard as being of heavenly nature, of the soul/minds of the last human beings still alive at that time and who will not have died before……

SINCE THIS OTHER WORLD WILL INCLUDE THEM WILL CONTAIN THEM , WHILE CHANGING THEIR BODIES WHICH WILL BECOME TOO DREAM BODIES, STUNNING BODIES.

THEY WILL TURN AT ONCE INTO THIS PARALLEL UNIVERSE OF HEAVENLY NATURE, THEY WILL BE CAUGHT UP BY IT AS WE CAN BE CAUGHT UP BY THE WAVES FROM THE OCEAN ON THE BEACH. THEY WILL FIND THEMSELVES AT ONCE PLUNGED INSIDE.

The soul/minds of these late of the last hour will then join these of all those who will have preceded them on this earth. What the upholders of the Abrahamic religions improperly call a resurrection of the dead.

Then there will be in no way a last or final judgment, because it is a metaphysical impossibility. God could not judge his own children. The creator (demiurge or great architect) may not judge his own creatures. He may at most find them missed overrun….. but he is not well founded to put forth a moral judgment against them, since he is the single person in charge of their lack of perfections. Let us repeat it, there is no last or final judgment in the druidism, but only various stages of spiritual evolution.

The Bernese scholia commenting on the book by Lucan entitled “the civil war “are extremely clear besides on this subject.

One of them, commenting on the line of verse 454 of the first book, is stated as follows:

“They [druids] do not say that the manes exist “ ( manes esse, non dicunt ).

Another, commenting on the lines 454 to 458, specifies: “ Druids deny that souls can die [Driadae negant interire animas] OR GO TO HELL [aut contagione inferorum adfici] ; they burn with the dead horses, servants, and part of his furniture so that he can use it ; therefore, they boldly go into battle and don’t save their life as if they would recover it in another part of the universe “. The point No. 25 of the small list annexed to the council of Leptines in 743, under the Latin title of indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum (of course, it is a question of condemning or of disparaging this idea), goes besides also very clearly in this direction. It evokes the fact of imagining that every deceased person is a saint.

For the human beings who will be then still alive this end of the world or erdathe will be the radical means of a COLLECTIVE redemption (Apocatastasis). And it is therefore while taking account of this metaphysical impossibility of the existence of hell in the Islamic-Christian meaning of the term; that it is necessary to interpret the answer made by King Loeghaire facing the insistence of St. Patrick on this subject.

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“My father Níall did not allow me to accept the faith* , but bade me to be buried on the ridges of Tara. In the manner of men at war, for the pagans, armed in their tombs, have their weapons ready, until the day of erdathe, that is, the day of the Lord's judgment according to druids” (Memoir of St. Patrick by Tirechan)

* In anything ?

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There exist two types of erdathe: the individual erdathe and the universal erdathe.

What will occur with the individual soul which reaches the erdathe after having left the heaven? We may not speak about final annihilation. Nowadays many people admit the Islamic Christian hare-brained ideas maintaining the notion of conscious, immutable and immortal souls wisely sitting in a row around their creator for all eternity. But such a state of the soul can be only transitory. The soul starts, of course, by being individual and continues to be thus even beyond its death in the next world, but its destiny is not to continue thus eternally. Its destiny is rather comparable with that of the water drop having to enter the sea.

For the druids, it is the central being of man (his soul) which has to return the Big Whole, not the external personality, which is only a mold.

The Big Whole is therefore rather paradoxically (it is an oxymoron) the peak of these druidic doctrines. In view of this world controlled by causality, above even the heaven, is precisely the kingdom over which causality does not reign. The Big Whole is not a heaven. The heave is indeed the result of a merit, even negligible, the Big Whole itself, supposes the complete absence of merit and demerit (apocatastase). It is not as St. Adamnan says at the end of his Vision simply a world….

without hubris, or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretense, or blushing, or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold. A noble, admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom, and radiance, and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein the enjoyment of every excellence is.

It is even better, even more extremely, even more radical. A field where neither solidity, neither fluidity, neither heat neither the movement, neither this world neither the other, neither the sun nor the moon, have their place. That, O monks, I invite it neither to come neither to leave, neither to remain, neither dead upright, nor birth. There is neither base neither development nor not support.

In this ogham point of the time space ** only “water and fire” prevail, in other words, the matter and the soul. This catchphrase has at least the virtue to be less negative than the notion of pari-nirvana in Buddhism, what makes it possible the process starting again, therefore a new universe or a bitos appearing. The fact has nothing of a ex nihilo creation, but occurs through stages, starting from a primeval principle set in motion by an immutable cosmic law or any other primary cause.

* A drop of water which, while passing, let us remind it, was charged up with a part of the salt of the earth.

** An eabadh letter designated in Welsh language by the expression lle bo cydbwys pob gwrth.

Will come finally, and there the druidic schools differ in front of the alternative…

- Either the advent of a new world, of a new universe, of a new bitos. The mankind and our world will perish to make it possible the future of a new universe. Like our bodies are naturally recycled in the lives of many plants, insects and animals; our souls and our mind can also become elements of other different beings, at the end of a certain time, by the time that the Gap itself reabsorbs the mother earth and that everything reappears of the ogham point of the space-time (see the shape of the letter eabadh of the oghamic alphabet, lle bo cydbwys pob gwrth in Welsh language) . Even our present individual awareness can become the individual awareness of many other beings… After its almost metamorphic melting in the Big Whole (erdathe) and the birth of another bitos or universe.

The reincarnation OF THE GODS-OR-DEMONS, whose principle is admitted by any authentic druidism, unlike that of the reincarnation OF THE HUMAN BEINGS, it is not the idea of a recurrence, a repetition, a perpetual and continuous reiteration of the events. II is a cosmic mechanism. The god-or-

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demons die indeed at each end of the cycle, but to reappear at once under another name, even in a more or less different shape in the new universe, in the new bitos. The idea of reincarnation in the authentic druidism therefore applies more to the god-or-demons, that to the men.

The god-or-demons too, disappear indeed during these “druidic “ pralaya called erdathe; but with the resurgence of the bitos or universe, they reappear in a way in their capacity. We find each time a god-or-demon of youth, a deity of the war… but with different names and representations. Change of holder therefore each time for the divine functions; the previous one having reintegrated the Big Whole to be dissolved there like a water drop in the sea.

And thus, just as there was no beginning, it will be no end, each bitos or universe appearing with the death of the previous one and dying thereafter while giving rise to the following one. The cause of this perpetual change is the cyclic emergence starting from water and fire (from soul and matter).

Small question now. The world regenerated by this aredengto or erdathe (the end of the world come to an end having been in a way a gigantic purification through fire and water of all that it could comprise, according to the text of Strabo) the world regenerated by this erdathe therefore we say, does remain still the same one, or does it become another universe, completely different?

One of the images commonly used by the druids in connection with the higher beings (Plutarh. De defectu oraculorum 18) was to compare them with the flame of a lamp. A flame undergoing an eclipse at the time of the death, but likely to return one day on earth to shine with all its radiance, at least if we understand well the meaning of this word (eclipse).

Cosmos or Bitos too being also a result of the being, and even a higher or almost result of the action to be, we could consequently very well use of the same image about it since, according to Ausonius (eclogue on the use of the word libra: “Divinis Humana licet componere. We may compare human things with divine “. The end of the world is therefore only a temporary eclipse of this result of the higher process of being that is the Bitos or Universe.

A frightening and disastrous eclipse nevertheless, of course, because a lamp which we light does not represent anything annoying, but if it is extinguished, it is always causes of sorrow or disasters for many people.

Then does remain the world regenerated by this aredengto (erdathe) still the same one, or does it become another universe, completely different?

Well, to this question the former druids perhaps still answered while using the image of the lamp with the flame eclipsed by the light of the day (which is not finished yet or which starts).

Let us suppose a lamp, lighted as of the end of the day, and whereas the night is not yet completely fallen. The flame of this lamp will appear, of course, different from that which will light up the pitch-dark night then later. And this flame of midnight too will seem very different from that which we will be able to observe still after that, just before the rising of the sun. At the moment when the day starts to come up and to eclipse it again with its whole radiance.

But can we say they are different flames or that it is always the same?

The chain of the realities of existence is thus made and this sequence will never have an end. So is this neither the same world nor a different world.

- Either, second term of the alternative: nothing at all and the final return to absolute nothingness. End of the being, of every being. Let us say the final dissolution of the matter, the release of the soul, and the return to the perfect timeless unit of the God (or Demiurge? ?) of Abraham Isaac and Jacob or of Muhammad.

All that can seem quite nebulous! And as it is difficult to understand, we may, of course, think that has nothing to do with reality, truth or most authentic science. However let us not forget that certain statements of current physics, about the beginnings of the universe, escape comprehension of the normal categories of thought. As it was besides already the case of the general theory of relativity, therefore these statements themselves are perhaps of provisional nature.

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RELIGIOUS PRACTICE.

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THE GREAT PRINCIPLES OF THE DRUIDIC RELIGION.

The personal search (for the grail?) Quran chapter 2 lines of verse 256: “no compulsion in religion” *

Such is to tell the truth i.e., without any takkiya the great guiding principle of druidic religion.

* Well, at least according to the translation we could consult of this verse of the Quran. A Quran by definition being intended to men [John Toland could have said] it is well necessary the men understand it, No ??? Or then that implies

a) that God speaks neither Celtic nor Breton nor Hebrew, etc. but Arabic, and this from immemorial time. It is in a way his native language (dogma of the uncreated Quran).

b) that the very whole mankind , throughout the centuries that it remains to it to live on this earth, will stay dependent on the many pseudo-sheikhs or rare objective specialists in written Arabic of the 7th century after Jesus Christ. And nevertheless, if God speaks to men, it is well to be understood by them, no??? What is missing in Islam it is the Holy Spirit. Because what imports it is not the quotations even carefully selected of any eternal holy or cursed book (with quotations people can make a saint being damned or the devil discharged ) but (in general) the dominant themes, which can be defined only after having been aware OF THE TOTALITY (of the work, of the message).

Then……a page is missing apparently.

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NOTES ON MONISM AND RELATIVISM.

Monism: the omnipresence of the cosmic deity we don’t name (cf. El Elyon in the Bible) is multiplied , IN US LIKE AROUND US (panentheism).

Relativism: without causing damage to the scientific nature of any research worthy of the name, the personal search can pursue the blossoming of the soul through all the psychological or of investigation means, possible: introspection, trances, and others.

This blossoming depending on the capacities of personal perception or assimilation, it can therefore be done very well while resorting to the myth. This one then becomes a tool of awareness and teaching, in the form of symbols and/or of parables like that of the Celtic Hercules in Lucian of Samosata.

It is not necessary nevertheless the letter of the sacred texts becomes dogma, because it is their spirit it is necessary to make felt . In other words, “It is by following the walking one that the path is found “.

The whole difference between the prevalent practices of the current religious thought, and these of the ancient druidism, is there.

The totalitarian thought more or less communal to all the Judeo-Islamic-Christian clergies changed the mythological part of the Hebraic Torah (and particularly Genesis) into “words of God “. Process extended to all the rest of the Bible, become by the way intangible dogma.

The height of this aberration being the attitude of the Muslim or Christian “creationists “ who endeavor to make paleontology banished from school programs, because of its evolutionary conclusions, and of its datings, which contradict the biblical theories on the creation date.

Letter kills, spirit…

The druids could keep themselves of this danger, and Celtic mythology therefore remained oral, what prevented it from becoming dogma.

“Nor do they regard it lawful to commit this to writing, though in almost all other matters, in their public and private transactions, they use Greek characters. That practice they seem to me to have adopted for two reasons, because....nor those who learn among them, to devote themselves the less to the efforts of memory, relying on writing; since it generally occurs to most men, that, in their dependence on writing, they relax their diligence in learning thoroughly, and their employment of the memory“.

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REMINDER ABOUT SPIRIT AND LETTER, ABOUT ORAL ONE AND WRITING

AT THE DRUIDS.

The eulogist of the fight against Pelagianism and of the anti-Donatist suppression (and the god-or-demons know that it was wild, because their only wrong was to have been perhaps too sincere Christians), Saint Augustine, in the 5th century, in his City of God (or of Devil?) nevertheless arranged the druids among the precursors of the monotheism, among others it is true:

“ Whatever philosophers, therefore, thought concerning the true God, that he is [......] Celts, Spaniards, or of other nations; we prefer these to all other philosophers, and confess that they approach nearest to us “ (De Civitate Dei VIII, 9).

It was in reality on behalf of the druids, not a monotheism of origin, or of postulate (therefore dogmatic, like that of St. Augustine), but a monotheism of result. And even more exactly a tendency to the monotheism of result (therefore tolerant).

Spirit of the druidism 1. Metaphysical aspect.

The monism is essentially primarily the refusal of the dualisms of any nature, the refusal of the antinomy resulting from more or less arbitrary simplifications.

The first of these dichotomies thus refused it is the opposition between “Spirit “and “Matter “; consequently, the refusal of the conflict between “Fire” and “Water,” “Spiritualism “and “Materialism “ considered respectively as exclusive one of the other. In this respect, the druidism appears to us singularly more compatible with most modern thought, which considers these antagonisms as outdated. All things considered, it is discovered as an anticipation of what we could call with Jean Guitton and the brothers Bogdanov “metarealism “. As Pearce says it, "the human spirit reflects the human spirit. Consequently, one cannot simply say that spirit and matter coexist: they exist one through the other. In a way, through us, the universe is therefore dreaming of itself: metarealism begins at the very moment when the dreamer becomes aware of himself and his dream .”

Spirit of the druidism 2. Cosmological aspect.

Design of parallel universes and interpenetrating with different spatiotemporal parameters. There too, it is an idea, put forward within the framework of the Relativity, by certain current thinkers… but it always comes within the field of the pure speculation.

Idea also of a cyclic bitos or universe, resulting from the cosmic egg, a bitos or universe which, at the end of a certain length of time, will have an end then, perhaps, a restarting: involution, explosion/hatching, expansion, resorption through a disaster, new concentration and so on. Here we find ourselves in an anticipation of what the great modern druid Carl Sagan describes as fundamental paradigm of contemporary Cosmology“… and what the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso also accepts.

Thus considered, the Bitos or Universe is an alive whole, made up of alive elements. The planet Earth, following the example of the other elements in Cosmos is regarded as an alive entity, resulting from the cosmic matter of the primeval snake’s egg. There, it is an anticipation of the assumption of Lovelock, which incorporates the notion of biomass, controlled as by a mysterious intelligence. Corollary: the awareness of the infinitesimal human dimension in the Universe brings the concept of RELATIVISM, practicable to everything that falls under the human scale: here we perceive the precursory reasoning of that which leads to the notion of “Cultural Relativism “ (which is not multiculturalism).

Spirit of the druidism 3. Theological aspect.

This alive and organized universe (Bitos) is the piece of evidence of the existence of a higher “Result of the process of being“ the soul of the Cosmos, the awentia or awenyddia, so incommensurably higher than the human intelligence that it is more than a DEITY. This monist view of Universe leads to regard it as at the same time transcendent and immanent: everywhere presents and not at all anthropomorphic. It is a cosmic, monist deist notion! But not monotheism, insofar as it is understood

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through this word monotheism the belief in an isolated personal supreme deity, endowed with a proper noun, and considered as single, exclusive of any other; it is therefore at the tribal even ethnic level, or on a cosmic scale. In the druidic design of the things, it is this cosmic Deity who is at the origin of the souls in the human beings. And those, possibly after one or more embodiments in other “worlds “ will be reabsorbed in this Deity sooner or later, at the latest at the time of an “end of the world “.

It is besides, what also proposed the Celtic and druidicist Christian of the 9th century, Scotus Eriugena, and what Teilhard de Chardin designated as “Omega Point “. Both died in the doghouse of heresy in the eyes of the Roman Church, which, however, maintains that God is the “alpha and omega “of everything.

The ancient druids, whose sodality incorporated the Celtic-speaking intelligentsia, had a mission of maintenance and instruction of the Celtic society, and they took on its spiritual cohesion in the absence of political unity.

Consequently it was up to them to supervise Religion.

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Religious opinions meet two nearly independent needs.

For a minority, sufficiently armed intellectually to risk oneself there, it is a quest for the grail “ i.e., a personal reflection: the research of Truth by free inquiry and meditation.

“To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers to know or not to know “ (Lucan).

For the majority , it is the membership of a community where they feel good, like in communion of feelings. And where they find a certain mental safety (without asking themselves too much nagging questions), some directives of behavior, as well as a certain appeasing as for the life after death. We still have of it a very good example with the Jewish prayer of the18 or 19 blessings, or curses (Amidah) which helps its believers incontestably to live or survive in their giving in a repetitive way for better conditioning them in a somewhat Pavlovian way , all kinds of good reasons for that, from the most self-centered or ethnocentered to the most servile with respect to the supreme being, however, father of all the men.

It was therefore also the case of the large majority of the ancient Celts who were “extremely devoted to religious rites “according to Caesar (admodum dedita religionibus). A “worship“ and a profusion of beliefs (Celtic paganism) which may be reasonably described as “druidic religion “since the druids improved the intellectual level of it, by their doctrines, and a demanding ethical code.

Without giving up their monist philosophy, the ancient druids therefore invited their fellow countrymen, “to revere the god-or-demons “. Because many of them considered the popular deities thus: “some respectable expressions of a naive, but honest, perception, of phenomena being able to be envisaged as hypostases “ (vyuha in Hinduism).

The druidic thought seems to be able to be summarized by the triptych below.

- Cosmic and immanent Deity.

- Hypostases (= vyuha in Hinduism).

- Panth-eon or Pleroma, mythology (respectable folklore containing a valid symbolism).

In short, druidism was to Celtic paganism what Brahmanism was to Hinduism: a difference of a point of view within the framework of the humanistic relativism to which monist thought invites.

Let us add that these druids were very highly aware of their mission: they were some “semnotheoi “i.e., people “serious like gods “ as the Greeks called them.

Therefore they did not lend themselves to the incivilities going as far as the cynicism of their contemporaries the Greek philosophers, towards the beliefs of their compatriots.

Their thought appeared through nevertheless a little, as Lucan witnesses it “: “Et uos… druidae… solis nosse deos et caeli numina aut solis nescire datum “.

“And to you alone....druids.... it is given the gods and celestial powers to know or not to know “ (Pharsalia 450 to 453).

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The dogmatic thought has to be rejected or be changed so that spirituality comes back to life. The neo-druidism must have as a base to refuse the idolatry of any Writing, whatever it is, or of any other monument. The written texts and the sculptures should not be changed into a golden calf as among the ancestors of the Jews of the time of Moses.

The written text or the sculpture reassures and claims to deliver the divine one to us, this in what they mislead and disappoint, because they have only the appearance of the presence. And if we want to locate in Writing, a center or an origin of meanings , we can find there only in its spirit.

The idol text should be refused. For true druids, the literal meaning of this Panth-eon (Pleroma) or of these myths, is only the bark of the fruit, the clothing of a body housing a soul, which is the only important thing.

Providing for the absence of sacredness, the Writing makes divinity available, assumes it, and at the end denatures it.

Its completion completes at the same time the divine one mortally.

As we already have had many opportunities to notice it, according to Strabo, certain Celts, and particularly the Galicians in Spain, were atheistic. But is this possible or is it rather a lack of nuance of the thought of Strabo unable to understand subtleties of certain druidic schools. In any case here his quotation. “ Some say the Callaicans have no god, but the Celtiberians and their neighbors on the north offer sacrifices to a nameless god at the seasons of the full moon, by night, in front of the doors of their houses, and whole households dance in chorus and keep it up all night “. (Strabo, Geography III, 4,16.)

Because it does not have the courage to be atheistic, the monolatrous Jewish, Christian or Muslim, holds the divinity by the means of a Writing. But at the same time, he loses of it what he grasps: and there remain to him only empty or easy to manipulate at will, sentences.

The oral tradition and the exegesis, themselves, open a field of meaning of a much more extraordinary scope, they deploy multiple readings of the myth or of the statue, while remaining in a positive indetermination as for their final sense. The exegesis spatializes the myth or the statue, opens it in meaning volumes, releases them from their gravity and from their typographic petrification.

The exegesis of the mythological texts is creative as from the moment when they are read in an unceasingly renewed way. From between the lines of the myth thus questioned, in the course of a sentence, unexpected meanings can emerge.

Exegesis and oral tradition are permanent revolutions. They prevent the handing down of simplistic dogmas and images, and that of the stereotypes, conveyed by any Holy Scriptures (sic).

This power of the non-written tradition and of the exegesis is not revealed law, but divine power or non-created divine knowledge (what a beautiful definition of the druidism) previous to the world and its “creation “. From where the infinite nature of the meanings of the Panth-eon or the myth thus enlightened.

Exegesis and oral tradition are of an unlimited richness.

Insofar as an ultimate meaning the myth does not exist then, no reading or perfect and final interpretation, each one of their approaches reveals of it only a partial aspect; delimiting for a moment the infinite flow of the significances, which, far from being productions ontologically separated from their origin, are also emanations of the infinite substance. A phenomenon that Hindus call vyuha and Muslims, “shirk.”

Exegesis and oral tradition are therefore a perpetual cooperation with the Divine one which is in us. The exegesis of the Panth-eon or Pleroma and of the myths consequently has to be continuous, and thus to overcome the difficulties resulting from the occultation of the god-or-demons, our brothers (because descending too from the Nemet Hornunnos). In order to again attach us to what is divine, or to unite us together with it, by the means of its legends.

What is important it is not so much the truth that the search for the truth. The ancient druidism, of course, was sometimes unsophisticated , or wrong, but what is essential it is that, because of its errors precisely it got itself back on the straight and narrow path of truth.

In its vulgar form, the “monotheism “ itself, precisely falls into the idolatry it claims to flee.

The notion of creating divine hypostases (the god-or-demons) always prevented the druids, on the other hand, to fall into this shortcoming.

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There cannot be true philosophical and thought out monotheism without intermediary beings, “with human bodies around them “to take over the expression of Flann Mainistreach in the Lebor Na Gabala Erenn. Because, either God disappears in the Heaven, and therefore becomes unknowable, as a principle, and Mankind then inevitably forgets him; or we do like the Judeo-Islamic-Christians, and we confer an anthropomorphic figure to him, what makes us lose sight of immanent and transcendent unity, by idolizing human state.

Druidic theology expresses perfectly the metaphysical doctrines of the multiple states of the being we find in the various theogonies of Indo-European paganism. All these theogonies indeed propose fundamentally the same diagram of expansion of the divinity, the production of the multiplicity from the Unity and the presence of the One in the multiple one. The Divine one is reflected in a multitude of spiritual states, hierarchically connected and which result in an infinite number of manifestations. God-or-demons, older brothers of men (since resulting too, from the primordial Shaman called Nemet Hornunnos) precisely make it possible to leave this dilemma. The Fate or Tocade speaks to men through the god-or-demons. Divine powers or energies, they are the archetypal form or theophany. The god-or-demons are imagined in general in the place of the Tokad or of the Fate, because this one remains inaccessible to the common run of people who, without preparation, could be burnt to ashes by his vision.

The god-or-demons, in accordance with their state of emanations from the higher Being, are accessible to the men their brothers. This necessity inherent in the cosmic cauldron, to spread in mediatory powers, was perfectly known by the various Indo-European or Aryan paganisms. Hinduism is there to show that a joint conception of the Universal Including can be accompanied without least contradiction, with a multiplicity of divine manifestations. It was also the case in the Arctic shamanism or in the last draft of Neoplatonism. What the Hindus call vyuha and Muslims some shirk (to condemn it).

The god-or-demons prevent the philosophical and thought out monotheism from falling into the metaphysical idolatry, because they make it possible to design the expansion of the divine Being in the world, the spiritual world and its events (the phenomena of theophany in question precisely).

This design makes it possible to explain the direction of History. Supports of the attributes of the Fate, mirrors of the divine life, the gods or demons lead Man as close as possible to the mystery of the Ultimate Including, and drive him into the way of the deification. The god-or-demons, with this in mind, play a considerable role; they express the energy or the light of the cosmic Cauldron and are as many spiritual states on the way of the deification.

Being of light, favored theophanies, messengers connecting this world to the other, good fairies or prototype-spiritual masters, of the integral Man, higher sphere of the world, radiant energy of the cosmic cauldron, organizers and schedulings of the universe; the god-or-demons shine in druidic philosophy.

“The divine absconditum “ and the not easily lasting nature of the state of awenydd, explain this upholding of the role of the god-or-demons in the druidism. The god-or-demons fill the gap between the higher Being and the men, since those who were embodied are the older brothers (resulting too from the Nemet Hornunnos our primordial priest-king). They assert themselves as the agents of the will of the Fate of which they preserve the transcendence.

The druidism conceives the universe or bitos as a hierarchy of existence levels where all the beings have a communal origin.

The visible and invisible world is produced by a genitor principle, the cosmic cauldron, itself being the first emanation of the higher principle.

The manifestation therefore spreads gradually from the initial principle to the most basic forms. In short, as we said it, what Hindus call vyuha and Muslims shirk (to denounce it).

It should be reminded that many toponyms are also theonyms, in the pantheist universe of the druids. The spring, the river, the mountain, is at one with the god-or-demon who lives it.

On the Continent for example, Nemausus, Boruo, are at the same time names of spring, names of god-or-demons, and names of urban area (Nimes, Nemours, Bourbon, Bourbonne). In the invisible world are superimposed the soul/minds, the god-or-demons or the genies. Druidic theology therefore makes it possible to give an account of the manifestation of the unique Being in the multiplicity. The hierarchical order of the god-or-demons is the support of the names and attributes of the genuine cauldron of cosmic plenty and life the Grail will symbolize during the Middle Ages.

To know one of these attributes or one of these epithets, amounts knowing one of the god-or-demons.

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Celtic paganism is a philosophy released from any servitude towards the Law or the Letter, from any legalist obsession. It is a personal and personalizing religion, a true resurrection before the word is invented ; a second birth (ategeneto) making the spiritual meaning of the Celtic myths discovered and lived.

But in the case of Hesus as in the symmetrical case of Odin at the Germanic ones, Resurrectio non est factum historicum sed mysterium liturgicum (see the Havamal).

This anticipation of the eschatology to come had untold consequences among Celts.

At all the ranks of the hierarchies of the Sky and of the Earth, the same paradox is repeated. Whatever the limit reached there is always beyond another limit. From where the famous paradox of Zeno of Élea among the Greek philosophers of the 5th century before our era.

So small is a distance to be traversed, its path supposes that we exhaust the infinite one, if we do not take into account its continuous nature, since it is necessary to reach and cross an infinity of intermediary stages.

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CANTAMANTALOEDISM.

Druidic philosophy, as for it, far from opposing the sublunary world which is ours, to the Empyrean heaven of the Vindobitus or Albiobitus (and the four perishable elements to quintessence) affirms the unity of the Universe or Bitos and its continuous nature. The druidic polytheism is designed to link in the same metaphysical point of view, the various forms of knowledge, to connect the spiritual illuminations and the deepest scientific intuitions.

This polytheism breaks with the monotheist logic of the exclusion and of the simplification, with the logic of the excluded middle, and invites us to a metamorphosis of the world, a re-enchanting of which we will be ourselves the authors. Philosophy and religion, religion and science, can come together on the territory of the druidic polytheism. Druidic philosophy reconciles the multiplicity of the god-or-demons with the immanent and transcendent unity of the higher being.

The Greek philosophical analysis, as for it, on the other hand, disintegrates the higher deity it pluralizes, and therefore consequently disintegrates the human awareness which is no longer able to be formed in a true unit.

The druidism clarified prehistoric traditions, systematized representations, completed integrations, personalized functions. In short sought to safeguard at the same time the divine transcendence and the knowledge of Fate.

The Celtic society does not oppose the material and the spiritual one, the inert thing to the come to life thing. At the druids all that exists on earth is alive, i.e., is endowed with a soul or a mind, they are minerals, plants, animals or men. For the druids, once again, let us repeat it, all the beings and all the things have a soul. In monist language, the god-or-demons are only the manifestations of the multiple states of the being.

The druidic “polytheism “is the only structure making it possible to reconcile the divine transcendence and immanence, the link between all the states of the being. The druidic relativistic polytheism is the only religious philosophy being able to offer to us the conceptual frameworks and the terminology, likely to comprehend the unity of the Being.

This druidic or metarealistic “polytheism “ reveals to us of what the science has a presentiment today. The rational awareness is built starting from an infinitely vaster intellectuality, the human intellect is planted in the totality of the universe, considered under its potential aspect (Bitos): a similarity exists between all the levels of reality.

Today physics rediscover the notions of uncertainty and reversibility. It knows that the matter, at the same time wave and particle, is more subtle than we could imagine; that the scientific operator, far from being independent, is actively involved in his experimental operations that he can influence. Why not see in it (in this spirituality) the creating awareness “ sea of energy “ the physicist David Bohm suspects.

Among Celts, the vocation of the druid of the amarcolitanus type is divine, and that of the Fenian or Kinges finds its archetype in the fight of the god-or-demons against the dragons, the giants, the anguipedics, the wyverns, and other mythical symbolizations of the “negative forces “. The human being who deploys his creative activity and works the matter while making it thus transparent to the divine one, performs a work similar to that of the god-or-demons in the completion of the shapes in the world. The trades of the art and the craft industry have the divine activity for a prototype, because the beauty will always be one. Art makes mankind enter these bubblings of the cosmic cauldron; the light of the Grail is distributed in nature in harmonies of colors, sounds and odors.

The god-or-demons hand down to the worlds the divine energies of which they are bubbles. They are a particular activity of the cosmic cauldron of abundance, they are at one with it and can therefore take the various names of the Fate, of which as attributes they are the theophanies.

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From this sovereignty of the light of lights, the beings of light proceed,that druidism designate under the Indo-European name of “god “ (see the notion of amshapand in Zoroaster).

The light of a god-or-demon in the heart of a true dagolitos or believer is brighter than the sun which spreads the light of day. They are true figures of light.

The god-or-demons are figures of the Fate, some theophanies. They are the names or the labara of God or the Demiurge (labara is the plural of the Celtic word “labaron “Latinized in labarum and meaning “voices or word “of the fate, symbolized by St. Patrick’s cross in Ireland and St. Andrew’s cross in Scotland). The epithets or epicleses generally ascribed to the druidic god-or-demons (virotoutis belatucadros mopatis) are understood indeed only if we regard them as almost cosmic entities or forces.

The god-or-demons consequently thus have levels of meaning matching the respective aptitudes of each one. These relative beings that are the god-or-demons, are therefore the visible form of the Fate or Tocad.

To think the Tokad or Fate appears in the person of the god-or-demons does not mean therefore to identify those with the Fate and even less with the original principle; although endowed with a subtle or “incarnated“ body, the god-or-demons remain nevertheless fallible.

The god-or-demons therefore have a certain autonomy, but they always remain dependent on the Tokad (on the Fate).

Invisible beings by definition since their occultation, the god-or-demons can, however, again take a human appearance sometimes (and this, all the more easily as they are brothers of men); transfigured by a supernatural inner light whose light of heroes (Gaelic luan laith, Avestan xvarnah, what produces a bellissamos body) is only a very weak sample.

The body of the god-or-demons in this version of druidic philosophy is therefore not a body of flesh, made up like that of the human beings. This body results from a whole cosmic alchemy going down on earth from sky in sky. This design of the god-or-demons is, of course, also related to older druidic anthropology.

To say of the god-or-demons they are the men (the sons) of the fate, or Tocade, it is therefore to accept them as assistants or means of the druidic soteriology (they are anextiomaroi, virotutoi, iovantucaroi, etc.).

Judeo-Islamic-Christianity maintains that the basic difference between the Man and the god-or-demons (it calls angels) is not the spiritual one (both have it, in varying degrees ), but the bodily one.

According to it, its god-or-demons called angels would be completely incorporeal.

How to understand in this case their appearances, which put them in space and time?

At the time of their embodiments, the god-or-demons according to the druids, have a body, and that makes them well some brothers of the men, even if this body is not a body of ordinary mortal flesh.

It is a body of subtle or glorious flesh (light called xvarnah according to Zoroaster), very different from ours, although palpable.

The god-or-demons consequently, have a kind of corporeity making possible their artistic representation, what we call a subtle corporeity, more or less made of flesh according to the Schools (bellissamos bellissama in Old Celtic).

Flann Mainistrech as for him, in the Irish Book of Conquests, speaks about god-or-demons “with a human body around them “.

The expression of the supratangible figures in the language of tangible images is always possible, insofar as the god-or-demons, as emanated spirits, have a determined, therefore conceivable, shape.

Some god-or-demons impose on the top of the Celtic Pantheon, relegating the others to the rank of subordinate god-or-demons, simple avatars or epiphanies of their power. The Tokad or Fate is the great god-or-demon who occupies the higher heaven on his “throne of light “. But in reality, of course, he is present everywhere. He has in the lower heavens a whole of divine spirits who are in reality as many hypostases of the multiple states of his being (vyuha in Hinduism).

To these god-or-demons lastly comes down to personify the aspect also sometimes destroying of the Divinity, the famous edicts of the Fate.

Among them some appear, of course, as messengers of the Next World, in a strict sense of the term, causing aislingi (visions or prophecies: the god-or-demons know earthly history and may suggest of it, through inspiration, the outlines; or teach techniques (the god-or-demons are also the secondary causes of fate). The aislingi (visions) ascribe a human look to them (with a human body around them Flann Mainistreach says in the Lebor Gabala Erenn) or an animal look (in general some swans). These messengers of the next world are characterized lastly by a remarkable beauty or majesty.

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But other god-or-demons are responsible, as for them, for protecting the human beings. The god-or-demons then become heavenly beings in turn protective, producers of images in the human soul/mind, spiritual guides, and psychopomps.

The entire Celtic people lived formerly under the watchful of god-or-demons physically present or represented in the statues, the simulacra, the arcanes (Sanskrit offering) or the symbols. This is why the Celtic myths insist on the four possible ways to know the god-or-demons: the four-leaf clover of the druidism (for memory the shamrock of noibo Patrick had only three of them).

1. There is initially the knowing the god-or-demon which is recognition of his essence according to the immortal reality of his attributes, i.e., a knowledge which postulates that we transcend all the other modes of knowledge. It dazzles the soul/minds, and it is this knowing which is the privilege of awenyddion (or ishraqiun in Iran).

2. There is the knowledge which is awareness of one’s divinity. Take part in it all the dagolitoi (believers) through their naming ceremony (anmenacton) and, of course, the druids.

3. There is then the knowledge of the god-or-demon in his physical shape, with the more or less made of flesh body (subtle body of the ones, real or almost body of the others, the half-god-or-demon). A perception of which the animals themselves are able. Doesn't Flann Mainistreach says himself that the god-or-demons “are with human bodies around them“ in the Lebor na Gabala Erenn?

4. Lastly you can be informed also of his names and his genealogy. Such a (mythological) knowledge, is accessible to everybody , even to the atheists. According to Strabo some Celts and particularly the Galicians in Spain were atheistic besides…

The assertion of the divine unicity of the world is in the center of the philosophical and thought out monotheism of the druids (monism). To proclaim Unique this higher Being, it is to affirm that it IS, ABSOLUTELY, AND IN IMMANENT WAY ALSO.

But this uniqueness of the higher Being is a unity of communion. Unlike the Jewish, Christian or Muslim monolatry (you will not have another god-or-demon that me, you will not bow down in front of the images of the other god-or-demons to also venerate them, etc., etc.); the druidic monotheism, as for it, is principle of relativism, therefore of tolerance: druidism is cantamantaloedis.

In connection with the god-or-demons, spiritual creatures associated with the Tocade or Destiny in its work of life or rebirth (in the next world) two pitfalls are to be avoided.

In the interpretation of the Celtic myths, we must take into account purely literary factors and what can concern the general representations in the time.

We must not, even so, reduce everything to poetic symbols.

In the eyes of the druids, invisible realities are not less real than these which are visible.

If our senses cannot reach them, they don’t come even so under the simple imagination.

The Fate, nobody saw it . The god-or-demons who result from this higher Father are therefore the only and single means of imagining it, the only and single means of having an idea of it.

The ancient druids had realized that and called this paradox of one God-or-Devil in several persons : “poly-unity “.

One of the pillars of the pagan faith is this belief in the poly-unity. What are the relations which link the different persons composing all together this higher Being (symbolized by the dodecahedron ?) and what are their things in common with the men, their contact surfaces with Mankind?

As we could see it, the druidic conception of the divinity remains rather paradoxical. There is one God , but in several persons, to which tradition gives different names. The cosmic mother great goddess-or-demoness, Taran/Toran/Tuireann, Lug, the great Hesus, master of the underground world of Uo-Alias (Thule) known through the name Morfessa in the Irish tradition, the triple mopatis Epona (theopompos and theokotos) and the others; all contributing to the blossoming and to the salvation of men in this formidable divine union. Each one of these divine persons falls under the primordial unity of the same nature “higher Being “and does not divide it.

Inside this druidic poly-unity a more precise whole of roles and action emerges. That of the Celtic Trinity consisted in addition to the Fate of Taran/Toran/Tuireann (the flashes of genius and the loves at first sight…. of the mind, always come from him) the cosmic great mother goddess-or-demoness, including the par-god with its cauldron inexhaustible source of life from which they result.

Such is the best rout. The higher Being generates sons, the god-or-demons, who by taking (subtle or ethereal) tangible forms from the cosmic cauldron, therefore have the possibility of adopting us we the men. Or more exactly to fraternize with us a little as some elder brothers.

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RETURN ONTO TERMINOLOGY!

BECAUSE OF CONFUSION EXISTING IN SOME LANGUAGES BETWEEN THE BODY THE MIND AND THE SOUL

Particularly since the French philosophers Descartes, Malebranche, Bergson…

WE WILL USE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THE CELTIC TERMS, IN ORDER TO BE CLEARER.

KICOS (the body).

Through his body man is (also) an animal but any organism is an entity bigger than the sum of its parts. Today, after 2000 years of Christianity, the “worship “of the body is present everywhere. But what does it represent? Can we truly to worship it ?

Our body is one of the pieces of obviousness of our existence: it is in and with our body that we were born, that we live, that we die; it is in and with our body that we build our relations with others… Our body is an “object “ but that does not imply necessarily that we regard it as an object among others, except considering the possibility of being freed from it.

The study of the accounts shows us the kicos is, for the pagans, a healthy and positive reality, shameless nor vice. Also, when the Christians wanted to speak about what they intended to oppose to the soul, they were forced to take to the Greeks the word sarx which designated the butcher's meat (from where the words sarcastic, sarcophagus, etc.) and translated it by Latin carnis (which produced carrion, carnage, carnivore and so on) in our language.

Under their hand sexuality will undergo the same treatment there, whereas it was to begin with, as simple and natural for mankind as fresh water or as the fact of precisely crunching an apple.

In all the animals, except for simplest (Sponges and Cnidarians), various tissues constitute, according to a precise organization, centers of specialized function called organs. Certain organs include several layers of tissues. The stomach, for example, has four principal tissue layers. The stomachic cavity is papered of a thick epithelium, which secretes mucus and gastric juices. Outside this layer is a conjunctive tissue zone, itself covered with a thick layer of smooth muscle. Lastly, the stomach is wrapped with another layer of conjunctive tissue. This stratification also characterizes the epidermis, the external part of the skin.

The Mammals have an upper thoracic cavity separate of the lower abdominal cavity by a muscular layer called diaphragm.

There exists a level of organization higher than that of the organs. At the Vertebrate ones but also at the majority of the invertebrates, the functions come under the various systems of organs of which each one comprises several organs. The digestive, circulatory, excretory and respiratory, systems, constitute some examples of them. Each one of these systems ensures specific functions, but all must function in a coordinated way so that the animal survives. The nutrients absorbed by the alimentary canal for example are distributed in the whole organism thanks to the circulatory system. But the heart which makes the blood circulating needs the nutrients absorbed by the alimentary canal as well as the oxygen conveyed by the respiratory system.

Our body is a physicochemical factory. It is cellular, molecular, atomic… It is complex… In the matter of our body, energy circulates, the atoms are combined, the molecules are tied, the cells build our organism. All is in perpetual change. Our body is a disorder which controls and organizes itself.

At the origin, at the time of our conception, the essence of ourselves lies in some molecules of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). They are the starting point of chemical information which circulates in our whole body. They control our development. They control the agitation of our interior milieu.

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To want to know and understand the whole of acquired knowledge today is an impossible bet. On the one hand, this knowledge fills huge libraries that a whole life of assiduous reading by no means would be enough to exhaust. In addition, they are not static: they evolve. What is true today could be thus no longer tomorrow, because the research tools were refined. Such theory can be re-examined or expressed in an entirely new way, because new facts were observed. Lastly, new data are added each day to an already imposing building of knowledge. Facing such an evolution of knowledge, a correct view is not built without a permanent recycling. So, we can only incite our regular (readers), to unceasingly keep them up to date on this subject, and this, elsewhere than in our publications. The high knowers of former druidism were, of course, specialists in this field, BUT SUCH IS NOT OUR CASE!

The body or kicos is therefore ephemeral and transitory, it is born, grows, ages, generates, feeds, the mind, acts, then disappears to be “recycled “. As regards the body, druids always had a presentiment the Man was also an animal (see their totemic reminiscences). The Judeo-Christian then Muslim reaction today was always marked with condescension, of contempt, even of hatred towards such totemism. Totemism was regarded as a hodgepodge of barbarian superstitions. There Churches drew excellent pretexts to the destruction or to the control of the peoples which claimed their connections with nature.

Those who laughed or still make fun with totemic taboos and fetishes, forget kneeling, prostration and veneration of the Christians in front of the cross, fetish too (cf. the sign of the cross); as well as the blind belief in the presence of their God or Demiurge in Lord’s supper. And isn't this pure magic only, however, to baptize a child in order to wash him from an alleged original sin? Not forgetting the miracles and the worship of the saints?

Those who laughed or still make fun with totemic taboo and fetishes, forget Muhammadian idolatry ( isma) as all the superstitions surrounding not the contents but the containing of the Qurans (in general some books i.e., an assembly of paper sheets covered with letters).

Such an attitude of refusal and mockery is all the more aberrant!

Nature is of primary importance for druidism, because Man is not made of nature, it is natural itself. Ancestor worship * and totemism are to be distinguished from the worship of the god-or-demons, they are solar, lunar, or pertaining to the earth: the totem animal or plant never acquires the status of a true deity. The totemism is only a whole of beliefs according to which a social group is united and related with an animal. Thus, many human populations say to be the descendants of a bull, wolf, bear, etc.

The wild animal inspires to men repulsion or dread, but also an unquestionable attraction, and a very deep respect sometimes. It is known that the first cultural and pertaining to worship events of the prehistoric Man were dedicated to the animal. Oldest burials, oldest rock paintings and pictograms, refer to the animals as sacred intermediaries between our world and the hereafter. The stag is for example a smuggler of soul/minds. It is a psychopomp, a mystical leader. A peaceful deity our Buddhist friends would say.

Admittedly, the stag impressed the naked men who were our ancestors, but at the same time, it symbolized so much harmony with nature… Why not make it a founding myth?

Celts worshipped nature and their ancestors, by observing a rest of totemism. Their myths and their rites were consolidated by their tribal cohesion, based itself on the individual and the family, the clan and the submission to the authority of the chief and of the sages. In short as in the Black Africa of last century (and this African wisdom modern Mankind would do well to find it again).

At the beginning, the totemism was a whole of food interdicts, relating to the animals and the plants. The clans could have different totems, to which they were identified fully, which complicated an already complex situation and sometimes led to the conflict the relations between tribes. A violated taboo could start a merciless war. Admittedly, the taboos also applied to the objects which became untouchable then, but it is without any doubt towards the animals that they were to be observed with the greatest strictness.

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Caesar. B.G. Book V, 12,6. “ They do not regard it lawful to eat the hare, and the cock, and the goose but they breed them for amusement and pleasure“.[The great Julius, of course, understood nothing with this ecology before the word was invented!]

The fetishism, which we meet in the clannish societies, sticks to the symbols (fetishes) supposed to represent the effective presence of the deities or the supernatural forces which create prohibitions and protections (like holy water the cross or consecrated hosts among Christians, for example. The bonds of a clan appear in the idea of a divine punishment which would strike those who would dare to face the prohibition of it.

The primordial prohibitions of totemism received only subsequently, their mystical loads.

According to L. and R. Makarius, it is not because they are totems these animals are saved, but because they are not eaten they become totems. It is because it is no longer known or that it was never known, why people must not eat it, that it becomes the feeder, friendly, protective or guard, animal.

The prohibitions like the interdiction to destroy or eat the totem plant or animal are strengthened by justification myths; the purpose of which are to integrate them into a tangible reality, like the invocations intended to get the assistance and the help of the ancestors.

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Repetere ars docendi.

Another structuring of human beings was always that which is established by the passing of time, that which is settled according to the ages.

1.* Noidenotaxeto > Nàidendacht Gaelic: infancy of the baby.

2.* Mapotaxeto > Macdacht: childhood itself.

3.* Geistlaxeto > Gillacht: adolescence.

4.* Ogiolagiato > Hoclachus: youth (young adulthood).

5.* Senodageto > Sendacht: the mature age.

6.* Diexbliniceto > Diblidecht: old age.

After death, the man leaves his earthly body (matter) to be covered with a bellissamos or bellissama body (Avestan xvarnah = divine) in another world, but with some exceptions, this glorious body he will receive will be in fact in the image of his earthly life.

The essential text in this field is that of Lucan (Pharsalia I, 454-458).

“Umbrae non tacitas Erebi sedes, Ditisque profundi pallida regna petunt: regit idem spiritus artus sphere alio ; longae (canitis si cognita) vitae mors media est “.

“ The shades of dead men seek not the quiet homes of Erebus or death's pale kingdoms; but the same soul/mind governs the limbs in another world [in Latin orbe alio] and the death is only the middle of a long live; if you know well what you sing.“

As we have had already the opportunity to say it, but repetere = ars docendi, the correct meaning of the word used by Lucan to evoke this next world (orbis, orbe alio) and the phenomenon in question (regit idem spiritus artus) absolutely excludes every notion of life only spiritual or completely disembodied, after death; like among Christians, for example.

The word orbis (orbe alio) in the Latin language of this time has a very earthly and even very material meaning. It is besides only, according to Salomon Reinach, “ a prolongation of the earthly and sublunary life in another part of the world “.

Conclusion. There is…

- Nor absence of body (no shade, nor pale kingdom of Dis, Lucan writes explicitly). “Regit idem spiritus artus“… We see badly how that would refer to an incorporeal existence. The spirit reappears, but always joined with a body.

- But nor body exactly identical to the late body either.

- Another body. Undoubtedly somewhat similar to that of the god-or-demons, endowed with immortality, eternal youth, etc. In short a become sublime body, a regenerated, glorious, luminous, body, but a body nevertheless!

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N.B. The idea that the immediate or eschatological spiritual realization implies, not the negation, but the resurrection of the flesh, is also shared, with various nuances, by the Zoroastrian tradition (cf. its notion of xvarnah).

* There are besides only our brothers in Black Africa to understand all the importance of it (the Fang reliquaries are even more logical than the reliquaries of Christian saints who in theory hardly had children)

EPILOG.

“This book contained the amount of humanity which the contemporary state of our civilization requires “(Henry Lizeray).

It is only a gathering a material besides awaiting the ad hoc architect or mason….

“ To you alone it is given the gods and celestial powers

To know OR NOT TO KNOW “ (Pharsalia, I, 444-462). From Mongan to John Toland, thousand years of elementary and gut antichristianism are besides there to prove it.

“Not to know the god-and demons and celestial powers … “. Let us say more exactly TO PUT THEM IN THEIR RIGHT PLACE “because no human undertaking has a prosperous issue without the interposition of the gods…“(Arrian. Hunting XXXIV).

Nothing’s perfect . The worst of temptations being able to exist on earth is that of opus perfectum. There exists no philosophic-religious system which can bring a completely satisfactory answer to our legitimate interrogations. There exist only imperfect systems, of which the answers rise other questions inevitably, or containing variable in number and in seriousness, contradictions, the problem is unsolvable.

Some men, through their beliefs, created during the centuries a concept to which they gave the name of God (or Devil). Belief in this concept became necessary to them facing the observation that life is made of an infinity of struggles, conflicts, torments, with an occasional spark of light, joy and beauty. This belief in a concept, a formula, an idea (one God, one Law, one people), became necessary to them, because life is deprived so much of apparent sense, that Man needs to find one for it.

Is there then a way to avoid the superimposition, i.e., to give of the Absolute of the beginnings, of the God or Devil (the demiurge for the Eastern gnostic persons) an anthropomorphic representation?

The question is difficult, but attempts in this direction it is important to know are not missing through history of the Philosophy, and druidism is one of them. Of course, in such a case, it is then necessary to understand, like Krishnamurti says it in his treatise about God or the Demiurge, that the true religious spirit is radically different from the belief (in God or in a religion). A deeply religious mind lives in the feeling of the presence of the Sacredness. He does not need the recourse to a “belief “. In other words, the one who believes in God of all his heart, has little use for a religion. The high-knowers of Antiquity did not have besides a narrower term to indicate what we call today religion (druidiactio designates more a praxis than a dogma).The truly religious mind is psychologically freed from the culture of the society which surrounds him.

The truly religious mind is very different from the reflex which stirs the supporters of an orthodoxy or a religious fundamentalism. The fundamentalist one is blind to beauty; the supporter of an orthodoxy is not aware of the universe in which he lives: of the beauty of the universe, of the beauty of our Earth, the beauty of a hill, of a tree, of the smile which lights up a harmonious face. The truly religious mind must on the contrary be aware of this extraordinary beauty. For the fundamentalist one or the supporter of any orthodoxy, beauty is only a temptation; the beauty, it is the woman he must avoid at all costs to find God. Such mind is not truly religious, because he is not sensitive to the world which surrounds him - with its beauty, as with its ugliness.

Because we cannot be sensitive only to beauty; it is also necessary to be sensitive to misery, dirtiness, faults of the human mind, to his heinous, bestial, gut, selfishness, to his thick and abysmal stupidity to be crossed to the knife (whatever his social class besides). The sensitivity supposes an overall approach, which does not have a single or exclusive orientation. Consequently, it becomes easy to

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understand that what some people disfigured in all the possible and conceivable ways in the concept (of God or of the Devil) is anything else only Life itself. Life is God manifested into a myriad of forms.

The Universal All Including is the receptacle of the Manifestation. God or the Demiurge is therefore a concept which designates the power which creates, supports, and reabsorbs every relative manifestation. Paradox of the paradoxes, the ultimate reality, the Universal Including, holds the opposites together: the always of the eternity of the absolute, and the change of the always changing of the relative one. The Including borders what thought can comprehend, because the intellect can understand the absolute and the relative one, are ultimately only the same thing.

Atheism some people will say ! “ Some say the Callaicans have no god, but the Celtiberians and their neighbors on the north offer sacrifices to a nameless god at the seasons of the full moon, by night, in front of the doors of their houses, and whole households dance in chorus and keep it up all night, etc. “ (Strabo, Book III, chapter IV, 16).

Well, a spark of free thought or of atheism is at times the service druidism can do, because it was well here the role of the ancient high-knowers of the druidiaction (druidecht), according to Lucan, no ?

As we have had already the opportunity to say it, but well, as Napoleon said it, repetition is strongest of the rhetorical figures (repetere = ars docendi)…

Atheism, tritheism, polytheism of the values, henotheism, pantheism,agnosticism ???

The important thing, the fundamental one, it is to admit unconditionally we must in any way impose one’s views on the others, they were your own children. It belongs to each one to join freely and in full knowledge of the facts, the conception or the non-conception of the world, matching best his expectations, and therefore being able to help him to live. The important thing then it is not the discovery or the proclamation of I do not know what Tables of divine law, but the personal quest.

The undecidability after all, is well also one of the forms of possible solution given to a problem.

Doubt art is the only possible process for healthy man, the rest is only poetry, but it is true that poetry, it is the life.

The starting mistake develops in a series of illusions which are characteristic of first type religions. To superimpose the human nature over the divine nature.

The Quran uses for example the word “kufr “ as well in connection with the fact of not recognizing the unicity of the higher Being, as in connection with the fact of recognizing its unicity, but not the prophetic nature of one of its envoys. See Quran 4/150-151, 3/32. Since the time of Mohammad therefore is considered as “a kafir “or “in the kufr “ every man who was informed of his message, but has chosen not to adhere to it (either because he was not convinced of his veracity, or because, although deep down convinced he has, for a reason or another, refused to recognize it or to adhere to it).

Things not being also simplistic, soon will be published a whole series of booklets dealing with in depth these first elements of druidic theology but the different presentation of this druidic knowledge will preserve the unit and the deep harmony between these various reports of a same philosophy.

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APPENDIX No. 1 : THE SOUL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE TORAH.

Does the Bible say clearly that the soul survives to the death of the body? The New Catholic Encyclopedia answers: “The notion of survival of the soul after death is not easily perceptible in the Bible. In O [ld] T [estament], the soul does not mean a part of man, but the whole man, man as a living being. Likewise , in the N [ew] T [estament], it designates the human life: the life of an individual “.

Oscar Culmann, professor at the faculty of theology of the University of Basle, in Switzerland, accounts for a radical difference between Christian expecting of the resurrection of the dead, and the belief in the immortality of the soul. And he extremely precisely notices that the link which later Christianity [has] established between the two beliefs; in reality is not a link, but a giving up of the one [the biblical doctrines of resurrection] for the other [the pagan belief in the immortality of the human soul].

The Bible affirms indeed that the human soul is not immortal, and for the true Jehovah’s witnesses, the soul dies besides always with the body.

“ The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing “ (Ecclesiastes 9,5).

The Bible also contains a strange warning statement: “ Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die“ (Ezekiel 18,4: the term used in the text is “nephesh“).

We find nowhere in the Bible a verse maintaining that the Man has an immortal soul right now. And the Bible too does not say that at once after death, we will live somewhere, elsewhere in this vast universe. Of course, the Bible speaks about a life after death, but it will be at the time of the resurrection of the dead, and not before.

The great rabbi Jesus himself, revealed in the Gospel according to Matthew chapter X, verse 28, that a soul could die by saying: “ Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell“. However, if a soul can die, that means by definition it is not immortal.

Ecclesiastes 9,5,10. “ The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing “. We have said.

Dead are therefore, in this case, very far from holding a higher science; they are unaware.

All that raises in reality the question of the Sheol.

For Professor Tabor, former Hebrews by no means imagined the idea of an immortal soul, living a full life after death, not more than an unspecified resurrection or a rising from the dead. The men, like the animals, came from dust, and returned to dust (Genesis 2,7; 3,19). The word nefesh, traditionally translated “alive soul “but meaning “living being“ rather, is the same word used for all the creatures and implies no idea of immortality… All the dead go in the Sheol, and they rest there together, good or evil, rich or poor, freemen or slaves (Job 3,11-19). It is described as a “dark and deep “area, “the Pit “ “the land of the oblivion “ cut from God and from every human life (Psalms 6,5; 88,3-12). Although in certain texts, the power of YHWH reaches the Sheol (Psalm 139,8), the dominant idea is that dead remain, forever abandoned. This concept of Sheol can look negative by contrast with the life which is spent “up there “ among the living , but there is no either a notion of judgment nor of remuneration. When you live a life of extreme sufferings and misery, as it was the case of Job, the Sheol may even seem a welcome relief to the pain, see Job chapter III.

Nevertheless, it is at the base of a kind of “nothingness “an existence which is hardly existence, in which a “shadow “or “nuance “of the former self survives (Psalm 88,10).

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Sheol is a not easily translatable Hebraic word (Hades?) designating the “abode of the dead “ the “ common grave of Mankind “ the pit, without really being able to state if it is or not a hereafter. The Hebraic Bible describes it as a place without comfort, where all, righteous and criminal people, kingS or slaveS, pious and irreligious persons meet after their death, to remain there in silence and to become again dust.

In some sources, for example Deuteronomy 32,22, the Sheol seems to be synonymous with “depths of the Earth “. People sometimes compare Sheol with the dark and gloomy underground world of the Hades or Tartar of Greek mythology.

However, in many occurrences, Sheol does not seem to be a destination or even a place, but simply “the grave “. In the Ecclesiastes, for example, “…. the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten“. In the same way, “ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the Sheol where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom “ (Ecclesiastes 9, 5-10).

Professor Harris makes the following remark: the concept of eternal punishment does not appear in the Hebraic Bible, which uses the word Sheol to designate an underground area where the dead, good as evil ones, remain only as powerless shadows. When the Hellenized Jewish scribes translated the Bible into Greek, they used the word Hades to convey Sheol, creating a completely new mythological association to the idea of posthumous existence. In the former Greek myths, the Hades, named according to the glaucous deity who reigned over it, was originally similar to the Sheol, a dark underground world where all the dead , without reference to individual merit, received an equal treatment.

Some people mention the book of 1 Samuel in chapter XXVIII, which refers to King Saul, to say it is possible to communicate with the dead or the phantoms of the dead. But did this ancient king really communicate with the deceased prophet Samuel?

Let us examine this fact, real or invented, mentioned in the Bible. Anxious because of his Philistine enemies, Saul, king of Israel, went to a female clairvoyant living in En-Dor. He asked her to come into contact with the late prophet Samuel . When the woman described to him an old man covered of a coat without handle, Saul supposed this appearance was Samuel. The message which was transmitted to him announced that Israel would fall between the hands of the Philistines, and that the following day Saul and his sons would join “Samuel “ in other words, that they would be killed in action (1 Samuel 28,4-19).

Let us note, first of all, that Saul saw nothing by himself, he contented himself to interpret the description of the witch of En-Dor.

Was the prediction checked? Not literally. Saul, of course, was seriously wounded during the battle against the Philistines, but his death was a suicide (Samuel 31,1-4). Moreover, his son Isch-Boscheth survived him, contrary to the prediction according to which all his sons would die with him.

Small question now: does the Bible let understand that such a behavior can be licit ?? No ! The Bible says: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to Yahweh […..] And even consulted a medium for guidance,“ (1 Chronicles 10,13).

What lesson can we learn from this account? This one! Saul died to have asked to a follower of the spiritualism to question the dead, and to have therefore violated the very explicit law which follows. “ Let no one be found among you who [……] practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to Yahweh “ (Deuteronomy 18,10-12).

In the Torah and to the last prophets, there is therefore no life after death. The body is buried then its elements leave in dust into the Sheol, spaces unknown, worrying, negative, but also “questioning “. The soul forms integral part of the body and disappears with it. It was given, breathed by God in the nostrils to move the body, to give him life. It has to therefore be to given back him and it is taken again at the end of each individual course on earth. The soul goes back thus to its origin and then ceases existing.

The verses of Ecclesiastes 12,7 and Job 7,7-9 summarize this point of view.

Ecclesiastes 12,7: “ The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the soul returns to God who gave it “.

Job 7,7-9: “ Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again….As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the Sheol does not return “.

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At that time, it was considered simply that God shortened or lengthened the life of an individual according to his acts.

There are only two exceptions to this Jewish design of the soul.

First exception: Enoch as Élijah (Elyahou), “carried “ into Heaven, prematurely, and who become angels.

Second possible exception: The Book of Job asks the question, “Why the Righteous one is punished? “

With therefore two insinuations.

First insinuation: “Who controls the universe, Satan or God? “

Second insinuation: “Since there is no justice here on earth, it must exist well somewhere and at a certain point “.

After the first disasters which were the loss of the kingdom of Samaria and the disappearance of the ten tribes of Israel, then the loss of Judaea with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the exile of the higher Jewish social classes in Babylon; under the influence of the Eastern, Chaldean and Persian, thoughts, the resurrection of the bodies and the idea of a punishment or a reward of the individuals in the hereafter, found their place in the writings of the Bible. With Daniel 12,1-2 especially, then with the vision of Ézechiel 37,11 to 14 and the remarks of Isaïe in 25,8 and 26,19.

Daniel 12,1 and 2: “… In this time… At that time ….. your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt “.

Ezekiel 37,11 to 14: Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it.’”

Isaiah 25,8: “ He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people, he will take away from all the earth“.

Isaiah 26,19: “ Your dead will live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead“.

But is it of a true resurrection or only an image suggesting the waking up of a chosen people, the relief of every suffering (for the aforementioned chosen people)?

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APPENDIX No. 2 : REFLECTION ABOUT SOUL BY SWAMI VIVEKANANDA.

(Indian Philosopher born in Calcutta, in 1863, under the name of Narendranath Datta, died in 1902.)

Of the many riddles that have perplexed the intellect of man in all climes and times, the most intricate is himself. Of the myriad mysteries that have called forth his energies to struggle for solution from the very dawn of history, the most mysterious is his own nature. It is at once the most insoluble enigma and the problem of all problems. As the starting point and the repository of all we know and feel and do, there never has been, nor will be, a time when man's own nature will cease to demand his best and foremost attention.

Taking a one-sided, cursory and prejudiced view of the surroundings and the unessential details, sometimes also disgusted with the vagueness of many schools and sects, and often, alas, driven to the opposite extreme by the violent superstitions of organized priestcraft — men have not been wanting, especially among advanced intellects, in either ancient or modern times, who not only gave up the search in despair, but declared it fruitless and useless. Philosophers might fret and sneer, and priests ply their trade even at the point of the sword, but truth comes to those alone who worship at her shrine for her sake only, without fear and without shopkeeping.

The philosophers show the volitional struggles of great minds; history reveals the silent process of permeation through which truth is absorbed by the masses……Light comes to individuals through the conscious efforts of their intellect; it comes, slowly though, to the whole race through unconscious percolations.

It required ages for the ancient races to arrive at any idea about a part, even of the body, surviving after death; it took ages more to come to any rational idea about this something which persists and lives apart from the body. It was only when the idea was reached of an entity whose connection with the body was only for a time, and only among those nations who arrived at such a conclusion, that the unavoidable question arose: Whither? Whence?

The ancient Hebrews never disturbed their equanimity by questioning themselves about the soul. With them death ended all. Though it is true that in the Old Testament, preceding the exile, the Hebrews distinguish a life-principle, different from the body, which is sometimes called 'Nephesh,' or 'Ruakh,' or 'Neshama,' yet all these words correspond rather to the idea of breath than to that of mind or soul. Also in the writings of the Palestinean Jews, after the exile, there is never made mention of an individual immortal soul, but always only of a life-breath emanating from God, which, after the body is dissolved, is reabsorbed into the Divine 'Ruakh.'"

Herein lies the key to a great secret — the fact that no race, whether Egyptian, Assyrian, or Babylonian, ever attained to the idea of the soul/mind as a separate entity which can live independent of the body, without the help of the Aryas [terminology of Swami Vivekananda].

The ancient Egyptians and the Chaldeans had peculiar beliefs of their own about the soul/mind; but their ideas about this living part after death must not be confused with those of the ancient Hindu, the Persian, the Greek, or any other Aryan race.

With the ancient Egyptians the soul was only a double, having no individuality of its own, and never able to break its connection with the body. It persists only so long as the body lasts; and if by chance the corpse is destroyed, the departed soul/mind must suffer a second death and annihilation.

Among the Chaldeans also, although they did not speculate so much as the Egyptians as to the condition of the soul/mind after death, the soul/mind is still a double and is bound to its sepulcher. They also could not conceive of a state without this physical body, and expected a resurrection of the corpse again to life; and though the goddess or demoness Ishtar, after great perils and adventures,

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procured the resurrection of her shepherd, husband, Dumuzi, the son of Ea and Damkina, the most pious votaries pleaded in rain from temple to temple, for the resurrection of their dead friends.

Thus we find that the ancient Egyptians or Chaldeans could never entirely dissociate the idea of the soul/mind from the corpse of the departed or the sepulcher. The state of earthly existence was best after all; and the departed are always longing to have a chance once more to renew it and the living are fervently hoping to help them in prolonging the existence of the miserable double and striving the best they can to help them.

This is not the soil out of which any higher knowledge of the soul or of the mind could spring. In the first place it is grossly materialistic, and even then it is one of terror and agony. Frightened by the almost innumerable powers of evil, and with hopeless, agonized efforts to avoid them, the soul/minds of the living, like their ideas of the soul/minds of the departed — wander all over the world though they might — could never get beyond the sepulcher and the crumbling corpse.

We must turn now for the source of the higher ideas of the soul to another race, whose God was an all-merciful, all-pervading Being manifesting Himself through various bright, benign, and helpful Devas [Editor’s note : Deuoi], the first of all the human race who addressed their God as Father with whom life was a hope and not a despair whose religion was not the intermittent groans escaping from the lips of an agonized man during the intervals of a life of mad excitement; but whose ideas come to us redolent with the aroma of the field and forest; whose songs of praise — spontaneous, free, joyful, like the songs which burst forth from the throats of the birds when they hail this beautiful world illuminated by the first rays of the lord of the day — come down to us even now through the vista of eighty centuries as fresh calls from heaven.

"Place me in that deathless, undecaying world where is the light of heaven, and everlasting luster shines."

"Make me immortal in that realm where is the secret shrine of heaven."

"Make me immortal in that realm where they move even as they list."

"In the third sphere of inmost heaven, where worlds are full of light, make me immortal in that realm of bliss."

These are the prayers of the Aryas in their oldest record, the Rig-Veda Samhitâ.

[This matches completely the druidic design of the life after death].

We find at once a whole world of difference between the mlechchha 1) [ ???] and the Aryan ideals.

To the one, this body and this world are all that are real, and all that are desirable. A little life-fluid which flies off from the body at death, to feel torture and agony at the loss of the enjoyments of the senses, can, they fondly hope, be brought back if the body is carefully preserved; and thus a corpse became more an object of care than the living man.

The other found out that, that which left the body was the real man; and when separated from the body, it enjoyed a state of bliss higher than it ever enjoyed when in the body.

Here we find the germ out of which a true idea of the soul could come. Here it was — where the real man was not the body, but the soul, where all ideas of an inseparable connection between the real man and the body were utterly absent — that a noble idea of the freedom of the soul could rise.

And it was when the Aryas penetrated even beyond the shining cloth of the body with which the departed soul was enveloped, and found its real nature of a formless, individual, unit principle, that the only worthy of the name question inevitably arose: Whence this unit principle?

The ideas of a soul and of its individuality among the Hebrews, evidently came through the higher mystical teachings of the Egyptians.

Later on, we find the Alexandrian Jews imbued with the doctrine of an individual soul, and the Pharisees of the time of Jesus, as already stated, not only had faith in an individual soul, but believed

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in its wandering through various bodies; and thus it is easy to find how the Nazarene Jesus was recognized as the incarnation of an older Prophet like Elias.

In short, the races who did not pay much attention to the analysis of their own nature, never went beyond the material body as their all in all, and even when driven by higher light to penetrate beyond, they only came to the conclusion that somehow or other, at some distant period of time, this body will become incorruptible.

On the other hand, that race which spent the best part of its energies in the inquiry into the nature of man as a thinking being — the Indo-Aryan — soon found out that beyond this body, beyond even the shining body which their forefathers longed after, is the real man, the principle 2).

Notes of Peter DeLaCrau.

1) If we understand Swami Vivekananda well, this term means approximately “non-Aryan “: the mlechchha is to Aryan what the goy is to the Jew.

2) Once again, let us repeat it, with some exceptions, the only reincarnation recognized by the former druids was the reincarnation… IN ANOTHER WORLD, AFTER DEATH, and not the return of the soul/mind in ton earth in another shape.

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APPENDIX No. 3 : NOTES ON THE BY CONTRAST ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF DESIRABLE REENCHANTMENT

OF THE WORLD.

The disenchantment of the world (in German Entzauberung der Welt) is initially a poetic expression of Schiller (literally meaning unbewitchment of the world, if I remember correctly, but it is true that my four years of German are far) taken over and developed by max Weber.

It evokes today a relation to the world resulting from the development of science and technique, ending in a loss of meaning and illusions, therefore to a growing disappointment.

It is fashionable today to want “to correct“ Weber. It seems to us, however, that there is not much to add to his analysis of the phenomenon.

Weber indeed sees in the Calvinism the final point (let us say the result) of a long process started with the ancient Judaism and relayed by the Greek thought, until the birth of capitalism. The cultural incredible feat of the Calvinists or other followers of the Reformation will have been to base their speech on human psychological features up to that point considered as vices or faults , for example the cupidity; thus becoming active agents of a kind of disenchantment of the World. This disenchantment of the world has therefore as effect an emptiness of sense: the fundamental meaning of the world, of the existence, disappeared for the modern mankind. The events are regarded as the only product of physical forces, of which the comprehension is, in theory, always accessible to the man. The world thus becomes from there to be regarded as deprived of sense, being a pure physical mechanism devoid of intention.

In short, in his analysis of the process of rationalization of the modern West, Weber insists on the fact that the transformation of the mental tendencies, or ethos, of the actors, played a crucial role. Scientism was born above all from the modification of the action principles ( particularly ethical) controlling the life conduct of men. Thus, in his analysis of the birth of capitalism, Weber grants little place to the modification of the means of production (which, on the other hand, forms the analysis of Marx, who is not always wrong nevertheless, quite the contrary, let us admit it). For Weber, capitalism is therefore mainly risen from the appearance of a new economic ethic, finding its origin in the Protestant mentality. In this new economic ethos, the life conduct of the actors is directed by the principle according to which the finality of the existence is work within the framework of a trade: work becomes an end in itself. In the emergence of this new economic morals, the religious beliefs (the reformed religion ) had, for Weber, a fundamental part. Weber thinks thus that the main causes of the emergence of capitalism are not technical or economic, but mainly ethical and psychological. If capitalism could develop, according to Weber, it is thanks to the work asceticism in the world which was in the center of the Calvinist , and more largely puritan, world. In this one indeed, work becomes there the highest task the man may achieve for the glory of God and, especially, the believer one can find in his professional success the confirmation of his status of chosen people of God. It is in the secularization of this asceticism, in specific affinities with the “spirit of capitalism “ that capitalism found the primary impulse to its expansion, while enabling it to overcome the “world of hostile forces “which was opposed to him.

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APPENDIX No. 4 : THE SECULAR VERSION OF THE COME BACK OF GOD OR OF THE GODS.

In Great Britain, the period of remission before the or end of the world having to last thousand years, was combined with the return of the king known under the name of Arthur. A king hidden or in dormition since the disastrous battle of Camlann. Arthur is the type even of the war leader, wise and especially chosen by the god-or-demons. His place of convalescence is the island of Fruits or fortunate isles (Insula Pomorum quae Fortunata vocatur). It is a kind of parallel next world of paradisiac nature, abode of fruitfulness but also of longevity, controlled by nine sisters, whose elder one, Queen Morgain or Morgan, is a magician who knows the secrets of the art to cure. The name of “island of Fruits “seems a translation of the of Celtic origin Avallach or Avalon which meant “apple orchard “. According to other traditions, Welsh, English and Italian also, the place of stay of Arthur would be a lost cave where he sleeps, surrounded by his last valiant knights, thus escaping attention of the living.

In Germany, this period of remission before Erdathe or end of the world having to last thousand years, was combined with the come back of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. From the 9th century to the 15th , and more particularly starting from the 12th century, indeed in Germany the legend of the sleeping emperor developed: Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa or Frederick II according to the time or the mood of the storytellers. And it was obviously a Germanic transposition of the myth of the lost king […] The emperor Frederick did not die. He sleeps in a cave of the mountains in Thuringia, sitting in front of a stone table, while his beard turned already several times around the leg of the table. Sometimes, he stands up to ask: “Do the ravens always fly around the mountain? “And the shepherd who takes care of him answers : “Yes, my Lord! “ sadly. The emperor resumes his ancient dream then, while waiting for the day when he will bring Germany to the head of the other peoples.

In Bohemia, in a cave […] King Wenceslas II rested, died in 1305, a wise and powerful prince who had joined together under his government Bohemia, Poland and Hungary. In a mountain of Montenegro, the king of Serbia Marko (1371-1394) waited who, although already subjected to the Othoman protection, represented for the following generations a vague memory of the medieval freedoms of yesteryear. The sword of King Marko was inserted to the hilt in a rock. This king of Serbia would come back when the rock would be so worn by time that the sword would be released from itself. Let us note the obvious similarities with Excalibur, the sword of Arthur.

In Portugal this period of remission before Erdathe or end of the world having to last thousand years, was associated with the come back of King Sebastian Ist (Dom Sebastião). He ascended the throne in 1568, when he was fourteen years old. The character is a little particular. According to the points of view, he is either admired, or hated; people see in him a Messiah, or a clumsy person (it is a euphemism). Not astonishing! We deal nevertheless, with him, with a very young adult, endowed with a frail health what is more.

Nobody knows with certainty what became his body, but what is certain it is people refused this disappearance.

He became then the stuff of legend and since has various nicknames: O Adormecido (sleeping one, king in dormition) or O Encoberto ( Hidden [ King]). Various legends show him to us, always waited, and imagine him coming back as leader of the nation, in order to give it again its glory and its power of formerly. Some texts even specify to us that will be done one day of fog.

Sebastianism is a messianic movement combining culture, history and spirituality. More precisely, the Sebastianism is the continuation of a Portuguese messianism which had existed already for several centuries; and located at the junction of three historical broad outlines: the borrowed from Persians Judeo-Christian Messianic tradition ; the millenarian theories of the Cistercian monk Joachim of Fiore; and lastly the knighthood narratives of the Celtic myths dealing with Breton King Arthur. In the Portuguese nobility (as in others besides), the tradition of the chivalry romances remained indeed a long time.

North of the Pyrenees , it is the great monarch. Prophecies about him start to spread roughly at the same time as that of the king of Britain called Arthur. The medieval time was indeed particularly fertile in false prophets of all kinds. In addition to the predictions ascribed to Merlin the wizard, there were also other false prophets, whose pompous predictions all went in the same direction; and announced the arrival of a Great Monarch of the messianic type, coming to save the world from destruction. The prophecy drawn from the Mirabilis Liber and ascribed to Cesaire, in agreement with the majority of

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the prophecies about the Great Monarch, announces for the end of time, the coming of the prince in question.

There exists little of commentators speaking clearly about the Great Monarch who, more than a character, is the incarnation of a superhuman eschatological function. Eric Muraise, however, ventures himself there, even if it means to give to his description a connotation worthy of the science fiction of futurism literature. The Great Monarch is a Capetian prince forgotten named Henry, born in Blois and alive since in Ireland (damn?) He appears at the time when Europe, shaken by very serious internal disorders, undergoes the simultaneous or concerted invasion of troops coming from east of Elba and North Africa. A true scenario of futuristic political fiction obviously and stupidly marked by an out of fashion “Cold war “. The Russians would be rather on the same boat as us with their Chechens, what Europeans still did not understand. See the stupidity of the reactions of the European intellectuals and media in August 2008 at the time of the conflict with Georgia. Difficult to be less clear-headed and less objective! Difficult to be more stupid ! It is to believe that European elites (politickers and their friends journalists) still live as in 1950.

Muraise extrapolates starting from a large number of known prophecies and predictions. For a historian, this French author affirms, the question is not to know if prophecies are believable, nor if the bringing together of these prophecies with realities are legitimate, but to consider their suggestive potential on the masses (Cf. Gustave Le Bon and his study on the psychology of the crowds).

Some authors think the “prophecy of the Great Monarch “ never existed. By introducing this topic into prophecy, people made the Great Monarch appear as a re-founder of the monarchy, which brings back his people to original youth, in illo tempore Mircea Eliade would say. But, surreptitiously, it is then proceeded to a shift of the topic of the lost king to that of the hidden immortal king.

Admittedly, the Great Monarch is not the unhappy Arthur transported by the fairies in the island of Avalon, nor Frederick Barbarossa sleeping under the mountain; staying awake through centuries waiting for the need for their people. This role is transposed to his concealed lineage. But what is certain, it is this prophetic thread is based on powerful mytheme; lost king, fortunate isle, the king of the world, the cataclysm followed by the return to the Golden age; present in the Westerner imagination for millennia.

Even the three founders of the first alliance of the original Swiss cantons in 1291 were considered to sleep under the meadow of Rütli *, where they had sworn their oath, on the bank of the Lake Lucerne.

We especially detect in all these legends the characteristic features of a true “Penelope complex“: the hope in the come back of a too early missing, beloved monarch, a preserving sleep onset, in a remote or protected place, an inevitable and definitive triumph. This political chiliasm seems to result from the secularization of a millenarianism of the parousy type, more especially as the legend assigns to the “sleeping savior“ that he will wake up when his country would need him. [Great] Britain, Bohemia, Serbia or Germany, endangered will call the missing king. These historical or archetypal sovereigns would escape death influence, either to come back one day in order witness for the edification of other generations, or for finally reaching the eternal life. Their sleep would be only a long protected phase, which would preserve their potentialities, which would reserve their merits for a greater achievement. They would thus wait a privileged moment of the future where their awakening would then come to enthrall, teach or help, the witnesses of this wonder.

Basically, the topic of the lost king or of the concealed king, as of the hidden imam, symbolizes the sacred essence of the royalty, as opposed to its temporal achievements. It ensures the archetypal regeneration of the royal function. Its temporary occultation withdraws it from wear, from the solvent forces which move away his lineage from the ideal model.

Among Celts this millenarian idea was preserved only by the Bretons and the Arthurian cycle.

Then is this a heresy, a local particularism, or the ultimate echo of an older panceltic druidic myth? A heresy or a reminiscence?? It belongs to each one to see.

* Perhaps a former Celtic sanctuary (nemeton).

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APPENDIX No. 5 : ROLE AND VOCATION OF MANKIND.

INDIVIDUAL OPINION OF THE DRUID JEAN-PIERRE MARTIN ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD.

The ascension to heaven of Hesus Cuchulainn after his death (his body being covered with the luan laith or xvarnah glory in spite of his beheading) proves the invincible force of the sovereignty of the Fate. Therefore if the Fate which raised Hesus from the dead, also lives in us, then it “will resurrect” us too, one day or the other, by giving again to our current mortals bodies the whole glory of its luan laith.

Former druidism referred to this at the same time personal and collective resurrection of the bodies (of the bodies and not of the dead) , by evoking this notion as a reorganization: aredengto, hence old Gaelic erdathe.

Since Man has imagined the god-or-demons in his own psychic and corporeal image, the druidism contains in itself this promise of a transfiguration/sublimation of the flesh. And while having recourse at the word of “flesh “to speak about him, we want only to evoke the Man in his condition of mortal affected by an original weakness. That’s all ! The expression “resurrection of the bodies “or “resurrection of the flesh “therefore in our mouth does not mean “resurrection of the corpses “! But means that the bodies still alive on earth, at the time of the erdathe, will be too, transfigured and changed into glorious or ethereal, immortal and incorruptible, bodies. The surviving combennones, the other remaining men, will be resurrected without passing through death, and this in their own flesh, but it will be a spiritualized, made sublime, ideal, stunning, flesh, similar to that of the god-or-demons (Zoroastrianism spoke about xvarnah in this case).

In the actual state of our knowledge, it is, of course, impossible for us to describe exactly what will be this change, this advent of the son of man (of the successor of Man, of the Superman). That would amount discussing the gender of the angels. It is true that for the druids, they were especially women, but well…

This resurrection of the bodies falls within the Millenium to come, completely work of the power of the Tokad (of the Fate) and similar to an extraordinary remission just before the end of this cycle. If this is not done yet, since the men die, always and still, and that their bodies always break up in the grave, that does not prove that all that is false.

The gods are the first-born ones of this supermankind , their example pulls us upwards and we share yet with them, after our death, the white world of Vindobitu.

Beyond the individual destiny of the men, the druidism thinks that there will also exist another ultimate achievement of Mankind. The advent of the Superman, son of the Mankind nevertheless, in a general and universal restoration (apocatastasis) expressing the collective and exhaustive dimension of the salvation (Aredengto, from where erdathe).

The question which arises then, considering the exhaustive nature of this awakening, is the following one: what will remain under these conditions of good and evil, facing this impossible to circumvent reality of the universal restoration of everything? The reality (to be come, it is true) of this general and universal restoration, restoring the lost sense of every caused reality, beyond Good and Evil, forces us to regard as very relative the moral judgments that the Man can enable of himself or of the others. For this reason the druids firmly recommend never to judge too quickly and to be very careful with the concepts of Good or Evil. Only the end of the cycle will reveal the actual and lasting value of all that was good and evil in the men and the world.

This end of the cycle, that we should not try to represent to us too precisely, with too many details childishly anthropomorphic, should not, however, be expected passively. This return of the god-or-demons in all their glory (luan laith) we must accelerate it by working to make the world increasingly in line with its destiny, increasingly in line with the universal cosmic laws, than the druidism made us discover.

The druids thought that one day or another the souls too would disappear, at the end of this cycle and at the time of the end of our world, in X billion years. But the final end of this cycle will be able to occur

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from it only when the awenyddio or the limbo (reservoir of souls) is emptied of its contents. From where the remark of Strabo IV, 4: “these druids and other people like them say the souls are indestructible, although both fire and water will at some time or other prevail over them“. The quotation of Strabon is very clear: the souls still live very long time after death, but absolutely not for eternity, because one day only fire and water will reign.

In accordance with the principle of liberty or of free thinking of druidism, here now some wording which we will touch on, a little like a challenge.

First druidic approaches of the personal Quest.

In order to purify the matter, the world is necessary, because only time can overcome the matter. Since the primeval cosmic Egg, the universe did not cease evolving, the Spirit was slowly released from the gangue which choked it, prevented it from reflecting, in other words, to act. It can arrive at the higher level and take part itself in the transformation of the universe. Because the responsibility of the Universe comes down to each being which composes it. In sociological language, we would translate that by the word self-management. But so that any self-management is effective, it is necessary that it is there initially awareness of the Unity of the Whole in its apparent diversities. Each breach, each weakness, each mistake, are as many delays to the universal evolutionary dash.

That supposes, of course, a notion to which people attach no longer great importance nowadays, that of individual responsibility. To be free supposes the full awareness of the causes and of the effects of one’s acts, and the total assumption of responsibility of them. That is valid on the moral level as in the field of the daily life, or on the metaphysical level.

It is what had understood the Western gnostics formerly. But while refusing any notion of sin, they therefore did not eliminate any idea of responsibility necessarily. If there is no punishment in the Next-World, each one, however, assumes one’s acts in one way or another, and undergoes oneself the consequences. Because the problem of the imperfection of the world remains. Placed facing higher realities which are over his head , the gdonios (the human being) does not always know how to act or react. He then does not take part fully in the universal acting. From where the metaphysical Evil.

Metaphysical and not having a reality in oneself, as in Judeo-Islamic-Christianity, because if all the beings knew, i.e., could, to use their thought at most, our cycle could be accomplished.

The druids never made Earth a paradise as in the biblical legends, moreover, mainly borrowed from the Mesopotamian or Iranian myths. Let us be a little monganian, what the devil, and let us call these old-testament accounts well by their name, they are myths!

But the world of this cycle is nevertheless necessary to the final victory of the Spirit or of the Soul, because this one could be done only through human beings.

The druidic attitude is not a passive attitude as that of Eastern people who are satisfied to denounce the Fata Morgana i.e., the illusion of the world (by preaching the renouncement as only source of harmony and joy).

By preaching the surpassing oneself as a source of harmony and joy, the druidic attitude is turned towards the action: each human being has a role to play to perfect the world, to complete it, but this completion could be gotten only by the individual action within a collective action.

As regards the body in any case, the druids, well before Darwin, had understood that it was of primarily of earthly nature as we could see it. Caesar VI, 16-18: “ They assert that they are descended from Dis Pater, and say that this tradition has been handed down by the druids“.

This short remark of Caesar gives a beginning of explanation to a whole missing part of the druidic doctrines, that of the cycle of the human body making matching the cycle of the souls. The impression emerges that inside the cosmic sphere, in which the souls took part, there was an earthly sphere driven by a cycle of the bodies, returning into earth, and giving rise to new beings. In a perpetual movement reproducing on a smaller scale that of the universe.

“Divinis humana licet componere “. “ We may compare human things with divine “(Ausonius, on the use of the word libra).

The lined with menman anamone, or inner man, is reason, intelligence, reflection, able to distinguish the life and the truth, the best and the good, etc. But if the Gdonios (the Man, literally the Chthonic, Greek Khthonios) is driven by the desire to better do, he does not always succeed in this way. He does not have the strength of the god-or-demons. What is within the reach of everybody, it is the

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mediocrity. Each one of us can wallow in it without a problem, considering this congenital weakness inherent in the human being (cf. the debility of the Ulaid).

The Man wants the best, the true one, the right, the good, and so on, but without being able to realize them, because he does not have a body, he is also a body, and the flesh is weak. This perpetual tension is in the core of the human drama, from where its tragic greatness. The purpose of the six divine gates ( divodora) of the ancient druidiactio, was only to make Man escape this original, mortal, weakness. Which prevents him from taking part in the absolute power of the Fate and of its assistants, the god-or-demons.

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AFTERWORD IN THE WAY OF JOHN TOLAND.

Pseudo-druids with fabulous initiatory derivation (the famous and indescribable or hilarious perennial tradition) having multiplied since some time; it appeared us necessary to put at the disposal of each and everyone, these few notes, hastily written, one evening of November, in order to give our readers the desire to know more about true druidism.

This work claims to be honest but in no way neutral. It was given itself for an aim to defend or clear the cluto (fame) of this admirable ancient religion.

Nothing replaces personal meditation, including about obscure or incomprehensible lays strewing these books, and which have been inserted intentionally, in order to force you to reflect, to find your own way. These books are not dogmas to be followed blindly and literally. As you know, we must beware as it was the plague, of the letter. The letter kills, only spirit vivifies.

Nothing replaces either personal experience, and it’s by following the way that we find the way. Therefore rely only on your own strength in this Search for the Grail. What matters is the attitude to be adopted in life and not the details of the dogma. Druidism is less important than druidiaction (John-P. MARTIN).

These few leaves scribbled in a hurry are nevertheless in no way THE BOOKS TO READ ON THIS MATTER, they are only a faint gleam of them.

The only druidic library worthy of the name is not in fact composed of only 12 (or 27) books, but of several hundred books.

The few booklets forming this mini-library are not themselves an increase of knowledge on the subject, and are only some handbooks intended for the schoolchildren of druidism.

These simplified summaries intended for the elementary courses of druidism will be replaced by courses of a somewhat higher level, for those who really want to study it in a more relevant way.

This small library is consequently a first attempt to adapt (intended for young adults) the various reflections about the druidic knowledge and truth, to which the last results of the new secularism, positive and open-minded, worldwide, being established, have led.

Unlike Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which swarm, concerning the higher Being, with childish anthropomorphism taken literally (fundamentalism known as integrism in the Catholic world); our druidism too, on the other hand, will use only very little of them, and will stick in this field, to the absolute minimum.

But in order to talk about God or the Devil we shall be quite also obliged to use a basic language, and therefore a more or less important amount of this anthropomorphism. Or then it would be necessary to completely give up discussing it.

This first shelf of our future library consecrated to the subject, aims to show precisely the harmonious authenticity of the neo-druidic will and knowledge. To show at which point its current major theses have deep roots because the reflection about Mythologies, it’s our Bible to us. The adaptations of this brief talk required by the differences of culture, age, spiritual maturity, social status, etc. will be to do with the concerned druids (veledae and others?)

Note, however. Important! What these few notes, hastily thrown on paper during a too short life, are not (higgledy-piggledy).

A divine revelation. A (still also divine) law. A (non-religious or secular) law. A (scientific) law. A dogma. An order.

What I search most to share is a state of mind, nothing more. As our old master had very well said one day : "OUR CIVILIZATION HAS NO CHOICE: IT WILL BE CELTISM OR IT WILL BE DEATH” (Peter Lance).

What these few notes, hastily thrown on paper during a too short life, are.

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Some dream. An adventure. A journey. An escape. A revolt cry against the moral and physical ugliness of this society. An attempt to reach the universal by starting from the individual. A challenge. An obstacle fecund to overcome . An incentive to think. A guide for action. A map. A plan. A compass. A pole star or morning star up there in the mountain. A fire overnight in a glade?

What the man who had collected the core of this library, Peter DeLaCrau, is not.

- A god.

- A half god.

- A quarter of God.

- A saint.

- A philosopher (recognized, official, and authorized or licensed, as those who talk a lot in television. Except, of course, by taking the word in its original meaning, which is that of amateur searching wisdom and knowledge.

What he is: a man, and nothing of what is human therefore is unknown to him. Peter DeLaCrau has no superhuman or exceptional power. Nothing of what he said wrote or did could have timeless value. At the best he hopes that his extreme clearness about our society and its dominant ideology (see its official philosophers, its journalists, its mass media and the politically correct of its right-thinking people, at least about what is considered to be the main thing); as well his non-conformism, and his outspokenness, combined with a solid contrariness (which also earned to him for that matter a lot of troubles or affronts); can be useful.

The present small library for beginners “contains the dose of humanity required by the current state of civilization” (Henry Lizeray). However it’s only a gathering of materials waiting for the ad hoc architect or mason.

A whole series of booklets increasing our knowledge of these basic elements will be published soon. This different presentation of the druidic knowledge will preserve nevertheless the unity as well as the harmony which can exist between these various statements of the same philosophical and well-considered paganism : spirituality worthy of our day, spirituality for our days.

Case of translations into foreign languages (Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, etc.)

The misspellings, the grammatical mistakes, the inadequacies of style, as well as in the writing of the proper nouns perhaps and, of course, the Gallicisms due to forty years of life in France, may be corrected. Any other improvement of the text may also be brought if necessary (by adding, deleting, or changing, details); Peter DeLaCrau having always regretted not being able to reach perfection in this field.

But on condition that neither alteration nor betrayal, in a way or another, is brought to the thought of the author of this reasoned compilation. Every illustration without a caption can be changed. New illustrations can be brought.

But illustrations having a caption must be only improved (by the substitution of a good photograph to a bad sketch, for example?)

It goes without saying that the coordinator of this rapid and summary reasoned compilation , Peter DeLaCrau, does not maintain to have invented (or discovered) himself, all what is previous; that he does not claim in any way that it is the result of his personal researches (on the ground or in libraries).

What s previous is indeed essentially resulting from the excellent works or websites referenced in bibliography and whose direct consultation is strongly recommended.

We will never insist enough on our will not be the men of one book (the Book), but from at least twelve, like Ireland’s Fenians, for obvious reasons of open-mindedness, truth being our only religion.

Once again, let us repeat; the coordinator of the writing down of these few notes hastily thrown on paper, by no means claims to have spent his life in the dust of libraries; or in the field, in the mud of the rescue archaeology excavations; in order to unearth unpublished pieces of evidence about the past of Ireland (or of Wales or of East Indies or of China).

THEREFORE PETER DELACRAU DOES NOT WANT TO BE CONSIDERED, IN ANY WAY, AS THE AUTHOR OF THE FOREGOING TEXTS.

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HE TRIES BY NO MEANS TO ASCRIBE HIMSELF THE CREDIT OF THEM. He is only the editor or the compiler of them. They are, for the most part, documents broadcast on the web, with a few exceptions.

ON THE OTHER HAND, HE DEMANDS ALL THEIR FAULTS AND ALL THEIR INSUFFICIENCIES.

Peter DeLaCrau claims only one thing, the mistakes, errors, or various imperfections, of this book. He alone is to be blamed in this case. But he trusts his contemporaries (human nature being what it is) for vigorously pointing out to him.

Note found by the heirs to Peter DeLaCrau and inserted by them into this place.

I immediately confess in order to make the work of my judges easier that men like me were Christian in Rome under Nero, pagan in Jerusalem, sorcerers in Salem, English heretics, Irish Catholics, and today racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, person, while waiting to be tomorrow kufar or again Christian the beastliest antichrist of all the apocalypses, etc. In short as you will have understood it, I am for nothingness death disease suffering …… By respect for Mankind , in order to save time, and not to make it waste time, I will make easier the work of those who make absolutely a point of being on the right side of the fence while fighting (heroically of course) in order to save the world of my claws (my ideas or my inclinations, my tendencies).

To these courageous and implacable detractors, of whom the profundity of reflection worthy of that of a marquis of Vauvenargues equals only the extent of the general knowledge, worthy of Pico della Mirandola I say…

Now take a sheet of paper, a word processing if you prefer, put by order of importance 20 characteristics which seem to you most serious, most odious, most hateful, in the history of Mankind, since the prehistoric men and Nebuchadnezzar, according to you….AND CONSIDER THAT I AM THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF YOU BECAUSE I HAVE THEM ALL!

Scapegoats are always needed! A heretic in the Middle Ages, a witch in Salem in the 17th century, a racist in the 20th century, an alien lizard in the 21st century, I am the man you will like to hate in order to feel a better person (a smart and nice person).

I am, as you will and in the order of importance you want: an atheist, a satanist, a stupid person, with Down’s syndrome, brutish, homosexual, deviant, homophobic, communist, Nazi, sexist, a philatelist, a pathological liar, robber, smug, psychopath, a falsely modest monster of hubris, and what do I still know, it is up to you to see according to the current fashion.

Here, I cannot better do (in helping you to save the world).

[Unlike my despisers who are all good persons, the salt of the earth, i.e., young or modern and dynamic, courageous, positive, kind, intelligent, educated, or at least who know; showing much hindsight in their thoroughgoing meditation on the trends of History; and on the moral or ethical level: generous, altruistic, but poor of course (it is their only vice) because giving all to others; moreover deeply respectful of the will of God and of the Constitution …

As for me I am a stiff old reactionary, sheepish, disconnected from his time, paranoid, schizophrenic, incoherent, capricious, never satisfied, a villain, stupid, having never studied or at least being unaware of everything about the subject in question; accustomed to rash judgments based on prejudices without any reflection; selfish and wealthy; a fiend of the Devil, inherently Nazi-Bolshevist or Stalinist-Hitlerian. Hitlerian Trotskyist they said when I was young. In short a psychopathic murderer as soon as the breakfast… what enables me therefore to think what I want, my critics also besides, and to try to make everybody know it even no-one in particular].

Signed: the coordinator of the works, Peter DeLaCrau known as Hesunertus, a researcher in druidism.

A man to whom nothing human was foreign. An unemployed worker, post office worker, divorcee, homeless person, vagrant, taxpayer, citizen, and a cuckolded elector... In short one of the 9 billion human beings having been in transit aboard this spaceship therefore. Born on planet Earth, January 13, 1952.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BROAD OUTLINES.

As regards the bibliography of details see appendix of the last lesson because, as Henry Lizeray says it so well, traditions that must be interpreted. It is there the whole difference which exists between former druidism and neo-druidism.

Lebar Gabala or The Book of Invasions. Paris 1884 (William O'Dwyer)

Base of the druidic Church. The restored druidism. Henry Lizeray, Paris, 1885.

National traditions rediscovered. Paris 1892.

Aesus or the secret doctrines of the druids. Paris 1902.

Ogmius or Orpheus. Paris 1903.

CONTENTS.

Ambas forosnai Page 005

The various conceptions of the process of animation (the fact of getting a soul) Page 008

Druidic doctrines of the circuit of the souls Page 011

Conclusion Page 013

WORKING PAPER N° 1: From Newport to Conanicut Page 016

The triad body-soul-mind. Page 018

Clarifications to understand the previous document. Page 021

Individual soul and mind Page 025

The bran Page 130

The anamon or individual soul Page 033

The menman Page 034

Soul and mind after the death of the body Page 042

The seibaros or perisprit Page 047

On the utility of the prayers for the great ancestors Page 049

The eternal communion of the living and dead Page 061

In short Page 063

ELEMENTS OF ESCHATOLOGY

INDIVIDUAL ESCHATOLOGY

And if finally Jews and witnesses of Jehovah were right? Page 067

Reminder on the sidh or next world of the gods and the dead according to the former druids Page 070

The myth or the dream of the superheroes Page 076

The light of the heroes Page 083

But the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak Page 084

From the determining to autonomy Page 088

On autonomy or freedom therefore in the daily made choices. Page 092

Reminder on the travel of the soul after death Page 095

Heaven Hell and Purgatory Page 097

The druidic answer: neither Hell nor Purgatory! Page 099

But once again: utility of the legend of death. Page 101

COLLECTIVE ESCHATOLOGY.

Working paper N° 2 Page 105

Working paper N° 3 Page 107

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Reflection on the decline Page 109

Decline and end of cycle according to the druids Page 114

Death and end of the world or more exactly of this world, this cycle? Page 116

Rebirth and reincarnation of the world Page 120

The come back of the gods or the re-enchantment of the world. Page 123

Reflection about the S scroll or double spiral Page 128

Working paper N° 4: the neo-druid Allan Kardec. Page 130

Commentaries on the dissenting point of view of the neo-druid Allan Kardec Page 145

RELIGIOUS PRACTICE.

Directing great principles. Page 149

Monism and relativism Page 150

Reminder on the spirit and the letter, the oral one and the writing. Page 151

Cantamantaloedism Page 156

Return onto the terminology Page 159

Epilog. Page 162

APPENDICES

Appendix No. 1: The Soul in the Old Testament Page 164

Appendix No. 2: Reflection of the swami Vivekananda about the soul Page 167

Appendix No. 3: By contrast notes on the origin of the idea

of desirable re-enchantment of the world Page 170

Appendix No. 4: The secular version of the come back of God or of the gods Page 171

Appendix No. 5 : Part and vocation of mankind. Page 173

Afterword in the manner of John Toland Page 176

Bibliography of the broad outlines. Page 179

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

1 Quotations from the ancient authors speaking about Celts or druids.

2. Various preliminary general information about Celts.

3. History of the pact with gods volume 1.

4. Druidism Bible: history of the pact with gods volume 2.

5. History of the peace with gods volume 3.

6. History of the peace with gods volume 4.

7. History of the peace with gods volume 5.

8. From Fenians to Culdees or “The Great Science which enlightens” volume 1.

9. Irish apocryphal texts.

10. From Fenians to Culdees or “The Great Science which enlightens” volume 2.

11. From Fenians to Culdees or “The Great Science which enlightens” volume 3.

12. The hundred paths of paganism. Science and philosophy volume 1 (druidic mythology).

13. The hundred paths of paganism. Science and philosophy volume 2 (druidic mythology).

14. The hundred ways of paganism. Science and philosophy volume 3 (druidic mythology).

15. The Greater Camminus: elements of druidic theology: volume 1.

16. The Greater Camminus: elements of druidic theology: volume 2.

17. The druidic pleroma: angels jinns or demons volume 1.

18. The druidic pleroma angels jinns or demons volume 2

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19. Mystagogy or sacred theater of ancients Celts.

20. Celtic poems.

21. The genius of the Celtic paganism volume 1.

22. The Roland’s complex .

23. At the base of the lantern of the dead.

24. The secrets of the old druid of the Menapian forest.

25. The genius of Celtic paganism volume 2 (liberty reciprocity simplicity).

26. Rhetoric : the treason of intellectuals.

27. Small dictionary of druidic theology volume 1.

28. From the ancient philosophers to the Irish druid.

29. Judaism Christianity and Islam: first part.

30. Judaism Christianity and Islam : second part volume 1.

31. Judaism Christianity and Islam : second part volume 2.

32. Judaism Christianity and Islam : second part volume 3.

33. Third part volume 1: what is Islam? Short historical review of the set QUR.HAD.SIR. and SHAR.FIQ.MAD.

34. Third part volume 2: What is Islam? First approaches to the set QUR.HAD.SIR. and SHAR.FIQ.MAD.

35. Third part volume 3: What is Islam? The true 5 pillars of the set QUR.HAD.SIR. and SHAR.FIQ.MAD.

36. Third part volume 4: What is Islam? Sounding the set QUR.HAD.SIR. and SHAR.FIQ.MAD.

37. Couiro anmenion or small dictionary of druidic theology volume 2.

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Peter DeLaCrau. Born on January 13rd, 1952, in St. Louis (Missouri) from a family of woodsmen or Canadian trappers who had left Prairie du Rocher (or Fort de Chartres in Illinois) in 1765. Peter DeLaCrau is thus born the same year as the Howard Hawks film entitled “the Big Sky”. Consequently father of French origin, mother of Irish origin: half Irish half French. Married to Mary-Helen ROBERTS on March 12th, 1988, in Paris-Aubervilliers (French department of Seine-Saint-Denis). Hence 3 children. John Wolf born May 11th, 1989. Alex born April 10th, 1990. Millicent born August 31st, 1993. Deceased on September 28th, 2012, in La Rochelle (France).

Peter DELACRAU is not a philosopher by profession, except taking this term in its original meaning of amateur searching wisdom and knowledge. And he is neither a god neither a demigod nor the messenger of any god or demigod (and of course not a messiah).

But he has become in a few years one of the most lucid and of the most critical observers of the French neo-druidic or neo-pagan world.

He was also some time assistant-treasurer of a rather traditionalist French druidic group of which he could get archives and texts or publications.

But his constant criticism both domestic and foreign French policy, and his political positions (on the end of his life he had become an admirer of Howard Zinn Paul Krugman Bernie Sanders and Michael Moore); had earned him moreover some vexations on behalf of the French authorities which did everything, including in his professional or private life, in the last years of his life, to silence him.

Peter DeLaCrau has apparently completely missed the return to the home country of his distant ancestors.

It is true unfortunately that France today is no longer the France of Louis XIV or of Lafayette or even of Napoleon (which has really been a great nation in those days).

Peter DeLaCrau having spent most of his life (the last one) in France, of which he became one of the best specialists,

even one of the rare thoroughgoing observers of the contemporary French society quite simply; his three children, John-Wolf, Alex and Millicent (of Cuers: French Riviera) pray his readers to excuse the countless misspellings or grammatical errors that pepper his writings. At the end of his life, Peter DeLaCrau mixed a little both languages (English but also French).

Those were therefore the notes found on the hard disk of the computer of our father, or in his papers.

Our father has of course left us a considerable work, nobody will say otherwise, but some of the words frequently coming from his pen, now and then are not always very clear. After many consultations between us, at any rate, above what we have been able to understand of them.

Signed: the three children of Peter DeLaCrau: John-Wolf, Alex and Millicent. Of Cuers.