Druidism

Having been a practicing pagan for several years, and a practicing druid for about three years, I decided to take this course for three reasons, none of which were to actually learn anything new. I took it to see what kind of courses and what quality of courses ULC Seminary offered, to reaffirm the ideals and beliefs that I had already had and ultimately as a step towards completing the ULC Seminary Program. Having taken the course I can honestly say I learned some new things that I had not originally thought I would.

The course in general was a good introduction to Druidism and its beliefs. I felt that some of the things covered were historically inaccurate, especially parts the involved roman writings. As we know much of what was written by the Romans was done so to either convince the Roman populous that that war was worth fighting because the Celts we barbarous heathens or was written by early Catholics as a way to demonize and eliminate the pagan religion that was competing with them for followers. The parts of the course that analyzed Celtic society were exceptionally useful in that they give you and idea of what the druids may have been like and may have done. Although this is also no proof that any of it is true because almost everything we know about the druids is tainted by outside sources. The few things we know about them that aren’t directly tainted by outside sources are found in their legends which are of course inflated truths of imaginative writers and have been translated several times by people with little or no actual knowledge of Celtic society or of the druids which in turn leads to a misinterpretation of the text. Another modern misconception is that all Druids were male and that there could never be a female druid. The Tain Bo Cullainge, a text quoted in the discourse and frequently used in place of historical fact, for example, contradicts this by talking about a female druidess who teaches the young Cúchulainn about the magic and fighting. 

Rev. Justin M. Oles

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.