Druids and Their Connection with Nature

Reading my second novel for my research paper, I've found it much easier to narrow my focus more. My original topic was Celtic spirituality. Though from reading about the complicated structure of the Druid belief system I have found that Post-Christianity Celts interest me more. That being said, the ancient Celts had a much stronger understanding and respect for the natural world. This is evident in their use of trees, of which they believed there were two types, the natural and the artificial.

Their alphabet was based on multiple Oghams, but primarily the Tree Ogham, the artificial tree, named after Oghma who was the "strong man" of the gods and goddesses. Oghma is most credited to developing Ogham as a form of secret speech. Over time, it was interpreted into an alphabet that used the structure of the tree to build its meaning. Imagine Ogham as a tree, whose branches represent the the different categories of language. From each individual category, there are branches for the four primary groups (Group B, Group H, Group M, and Group A) that further break down the language. Within each group are five letters, which act as the leaves, that stand for specific trees. The magic of the language stems from the magic associated with the natural trees.

To better understand nature's role in the ancient Celtic belief system, it is important to look at what nature represents. This novel dives into the spiritual ability of specific trees, one of which is the birch tree. The name for the birch tree in the Tree Ogham is Beithe, which means "being" in the sense of the verb to be, and the noun, a being. The birch is a symbol for the ideal toward which you should be working toward. This means it is a symbol of being totally unselfish and caring for the needs of others. It is the tree that sets everything else into motion, so the next trees and the morals attached to them are built on that of the birch tree in the Tree Ogham.

This is all important information for when I narrow my focus because I want to have some more background on the ancient Celtic spirituality before I introduce the beliefs of the Christian-Celts. What I find to be interesting is that even though they are considered Christian, there are still strong influences of the ancient druid belief within the spiritual beliefs. For instance, where the Christian-Celts believed in God, they believed his presence was not through his word but the sun because the sun shines light and gives nourishment to the whole Earth. That is why there is a circle on the Celtic cross. The sun has been a holy symbol even before Christianity influenced the Celtic beliefs. But since there are still great aspects of Druidism in the Christian-Celtic belief, I think it is important to get a better understanding of what the ancient Celts believed in.