If Druids are to be true to both our (clearly the writer identifies themself as a Druid) highest calling as human beings and to the traditionally tolerant, inclusive and universalist Druid tradition, then we need to make ‘integration’ our watchword for the next century at least. A wholescale rejection of Christianity in favour of a reconstructed Paganism can only lead to more ignorance and fundamentalism. Hence my wish to write something about specifically Christian Druidry. What one might call ‘Christian Druidism’ is largely theologically incoherent. However, scholars much more able than I have offered some observations on the relationship of pre-Christian Druidic deities with Christian theology and some others, such as past Chiefs of the Ancient Druid Order and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, have attempted to give ceremonial expression to deeply felt theological convictions.
     As an example of orthodox Christology finding its way into Druidic ceremonial I would like to consider the benediction at the end of the traditional (O.B.O.D.) ritual for Imbolc; “May the blessing of the Uncreated One, of the Created Word and of the Spirit that is the Inspirer be always with us. May the world be filled with harmony and Light. ….” In this case, the writer (probably Chief Nuinn/Ross Nichols, Chief of the Order of Bard, Ovates and Druids and Celtic Orthodox Deacon) was obviously inspired by the opening verses of St John’s gospel. This in itself may be no accident given the popularly alleged association between a Gnostic Johannine tradition and Celtic Christianity. However, the writer may also have been influenced by a passage in “The Barddas of Iolo Morgannwg”, where God the Father is referred to as HEN DDIHENYDD, (meaning the Ancient or Unoriginated One). Iolo goes on to say that “God the Son is called IAU” (meaning Younger), “that is, God under a finite form and corporeity, …. And when he became man in this world, he was called Jesus Christ”. Iolo goes on to explain some of the epithets of Jesus. Two in particular are of interest; “and he also has other names, such as PERYDD, (Causer/ first cause), and God the NER, (Energy/ the Powerful).
The theological difficulty with the above is that Iolo appears at once to imply that Jesus Christ was himself both created and Creator. Such is the difficulty arising from the church’s teaching in the Nicene creed that Jesus was “begotten, not created”. It would appear, therefore, that Iolo’s Christology leans towards Arianism, though it doesn’t quite get there, and that Chief Nuinn’s Christology leans in the same direction. A more orthodox rendering of Chief Nuinn’s triadic formula might be “May the blessing of the Uncreated One, of the Creative Word and of the Spirit that is the Inspirer be always with us”. This, I believe, would not only be more truly in tune with the bardic experience, but would also resonate with the Om/Creation idea found in the Hindu tradition. As we envision Awen, the primordial sound, echoing out of the void, we connect with our own creative inspiration as part of that first creative Word, which is in Christian terms, at once Christ and his Spirit.
     In fact, our own potential divinity, a very orthodox idea, is affirmed by Iolo when he writes that “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from Gwynvyd to the Little World in the condition of man, in order to teach, warn, direct, and inform those who seek to be divine.” It is this urge towards personal transformation, and ultimately theosis or divinisation, that is at the very heart of both Christian mysticism and Christian Druidism, the allowing of Awen, the Creative Word, to do its transforming work in us. Looking at what one might call pre-figurings of the Trinity among the ancient Celts, one is immediately struck by the theological common ground shared by middle eastern mystery religions, among which I would count Christianity, and the mystery religions of Western Europe. These similarities and correspondences were perhaps understood and grasped most perfectly by Chief Nuinn/Ross Nichols and presented, posthumously, in his “Book of Druidry”.
     It is quite well known that ancient Druidism had, as Chief Nuinn wrote, “an essential spirit called Hesus or Esus, linked with the Oak tree, which seemed a plain anticipation of Jesus upon the tree of the cross.” Iolo Morgannwg goes so far as to identify Hu/Hesus/Esus with Jesus Christ: “Hu the Mighty, -Jesus the Son of God, the least in respect of His worldly greatness whilst in the flesh, and the greatest in heaven of all visible majesties.” The editor of Barddas, Revd J. Williams ab Ithel, helpfully goes on to explain that “the meaning of “Hu”, is that which is apt to pervade, or to spread over. It is used as an epithet of the deity, in reference to His omniscience, and is not unfrequently to be met with as such in the words of the Bards…..” Chief Nuinn links Esus in a triad of Gods with Teutates and Cernunnos, as their statues were discovered together in Paris, but perhaps more intriguingly, Hesus is also linked with Beli, the “Sun Disk”, and Taruos Trigaranus (the Bull God of three cranes) . Chief Nuinn notices what he calls a “unity of idea” within the Hesus/Beli/Taruos triad. Beli “the sun disk” can be identified with both the Aten of Akhenaten and Adon/Adonai of Moses, in both cases the (same) Father aspect of the divinity, but Beli can also be seen as the Solar Logos, the Creative Word or Son aspect. Hu can be seen as both emergent from the Oak tree – the Mabon/Christ child

Mabon (young god) In Celtic mythology, a Welsh sun god and hero, son of Ruien and Modron, brother of Owain, noted for his hunting, his hound, and his swift horse. (Mabon is associated with the STAT GOD/CERNUNOUS/THE HUNTER) Mabon alone is able to seize a razor from behind the ear of a boar. In later Arthurian legend Mabon is a mortal released from prison by King Arthur, who needed his help in the chase of the boar Twrch Trwyth.  Source

– and as the Origin, the Father of all . Taruos, as a bull God, parallels the Canaanite Baal and the Greek Zeus, both Father God types associated with bull cults, while the crane as the Celtic bird of Wisdom parallels Sophia, Holy Wisdom, most often symbolised by a dove.

CRANE – Wisdom comes with age and with wisdom comes esoteric knowledge. Crane, symbol of secret knowledge, was attributed supernatural qualities by the Celts. It was believed that through watching the bending of Crane’s legs, Celtic Ogma created ogham – the sacred alphabet of druidic tradition. Druidic teachings are often called “crane knowledge.” St Columba, a famous 6th century Irish monk whose early training was in Druidry was called a crane cleric.

Crane was sacred to early Celts. Albeit most associated with women and goddesses, Annwn, King of the Celtic Underworld, could shape-shift into Crane – three cranes guarded the entrance to his Underworld.

Though the Celts often associated Crane with treachery, war and evil women, Celtic mythology places Crane as guardian of Otherworld secrets.  Source
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Hence we see that Hesus/Hu and Beli both contain Father and Son aspects while Taruos contains Father and Spirit aspects of the Christian Trinity. Perhaps there is indeed a “unity of idea” here. In practical terms and from a monotheistic Druidic perspective, there is one obvious flaw in the triadic formulas of the past and that is their seeming maleness and consequent reinforcement of patriarchy. (And here we go, they want to make out that Christianity and Druidism are one in the same, however, they want to throw out the Patriarchy established by GOD and bring in the CRONE/GODDESS of every Paganism and most primarily WITCHCRAFT which the Christian/Hebrew GOD of the bible absolutely forbids!) The Maiden/Mother/Crone model favoured by Wiccans is a modern invention, though of course the triple Matronae and the three battle Goddesses of Ireland are very ancient. I would wish, however, to make room for the feminine aspect of Divinity in a more orthodox model. Chief Nuinn writes that “Teut, Hu and Bel may be reckoned a trinity of shapes of the One; but there is always the fourth, the feminine balance, the all-mother Ana” . Ana/Anu/Dana/Danu is the mother of all the Gods of the ancient Irish, the Tuatha De Danann, the people of Danu. Interestingly, a Hindu Goddess shares the same name. To call Ana, the Grandmother of the Gods would not, in fact, be incongruous. To Gnostic ears too, this would not sound strange, as one neo-gnostic “Ave” petition reads, “Holy Sophia, Mother all the Gods, pray for us now and at the hour of our death”. If Mary is Theokotos, the Mother of God, then her mother, St. Anne/Anna could be called Grandmother of God. Popularly, though it has never been defined satisfactorily, Mary is not only the Mother of Christ and Mother of God, she is also called, in the Litany of Loreto, “Mother of the Creator”. We are used to the image of Mary as mother of Jesus, but have we really considered her as Mother of the Creator. Preceding even the utterance of the creative Word, She was, as Sophia, the breath – that is the life – of God hovering over the waters . Though the historical Mary is hardly an empowering archetype, nevertheless, I believe that a proper mystical understanding of, and devotion to, the Mother of God, the “Cosmic Mary”, if you will, is a viable alternative to Celtic pagan Goddess reconstruction, beautifully creative though that can be. In the 4th century St Augustine declared, “That which is called the Christian Religion existed among the Ancients, and never did not exist, from the beginning of the Human Race until Christ came in the flesh, at which time true religion, which already existed began to be called Christianity”.  (Once again the enemy takes a sliver of truth to drown you in his huge lie)

Two Points 
1. From the beginning God promised the Messiah/Savior would come from a virgin.
2. The Devil has known even more about the plan of GOD and the ways of GOD because he was the covering over God’s thrown and the Chief Angel in heaven before his fall.  He knew the plan, He knew the TRINITY, he is the creator of all false religions.  He developed these before Christ’s arrival on earth, and pretends that he had the true religion all along. 
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That the religion of our most ancient ancestors is in essence very similar to that of our more recent ancestors is the conviction that keeps some of us simultaneously both Druid and Christian. (If they knew the TRUTH of the WORD of GOD, they would not hold on to PAGAN gods and PAGAN ways.)  Bibliography: The Barddas of Iolo Morgannwg – J. Williams ab Ithel, ed., 1862 – Weiser (2004). The Book of Druidry – Ross Nichols – Thorsons 1990.

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added 7/26/22

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“Saint” COLUMBA was originally a trained DRUID Bard, once he came to recognize Christianity as the one True Religion, he was unfortunately  under the influence of the ROMAN CHURCH.  The Roman Catholic Church was filled with Pagans who were not sincerely Born of the Spirit of the Creator God. The Roman Church was more concerned with making everyone of ONE Religion.  Just like the current New World Order. 
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SAINT COLUMBA

St Columba lived from 7 December 521 to 9 June 597. The name he is known by today is the Latin version of his given name Colum, though he came to be known as Colum-cille, or “dove of the church” by most people in his own day. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Columba was born at Garten, County Donegal, Ireland. He was a member of the Clan O’Donnell, and was of royal descent. His father was Fedhlimdh and his mother Eithne. On his father’s side he was great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king of the fifth century. Much of what we know about him comes from a Life of Columba  written by his successor Abbot Adomnán of Iona who lived a century later.

Columba was educated at the monastic school of Moville under St Finnian, who had himself studied at St Ninian’s “Magnum Monasterium” on the shores of Galloway. In 560 a dispute arose over a copy Columba had made of St. Finnian’s book of psalms. The result was Columba’s instigation of a rebellion by the Clan Neill against King Diarmait of Ireland. This culminated in the Battle of Cooldrevny in 561, at which three thousand men were killed.

Following the battle, Columba’s confessor, St Molaise, set him the penance of leaving Ireland and preaching the Gospel in order to convert as many to Christianity as had been killed at Cooldrevny: and never again to look upon his native land.

In 563 Columba and 12 companions left Ireland, arriving first at what is today Southend, on the southern tip of Kintyre. This, though, was still within sight of Ireland, so they travelled further north, landing on Iona on 12 May 563. The island was granted to Columba for the establishment of a monastery by King Conall of a distant relative. His contemporary, St Moluag, had established a church on the Isle of Lismore the previous year.

At this point Columba was 42 years old. He started his evangelising amongst the Scots of Dalriada, but then turned to the more testing task of converting the northern Picts of Caledonia. The corner was turned when, together with St Comgall and St Kenneth, Columba called on Pictish King Brude at his fortress overlooking what is now Inverness. Brude refused to allow the missionaries into the fortress, but – it is said – at the sign of the cross being made by Columba the barred gates of the fortress simply opened. The story goes on to record that the King, overawed by this miracle, was converted on the spot, with the rest of the Picts not long after him.

Another story relates how on one of his journeys, St Columba encountered several Picts who were burying the body of a man who had been killed by an aquatic monster which lived in the River Nesa: a story that has often since been intepreted as the first written reference to the Loch Ness Monster. It goes on to say that Columba then saved another man from the monster by ordering the beast to retreat, which it did.

St Columba died in the monastery he has build on Iona, in 597. The island became a place of pilgrimage, and has remained so ever since despite St Columba’s own remains being removed in 849. They were apparently divided between the Scots and the Irish, with half being sent by King Kenneth I for safekeeping to Dunkeld. The other half was taken to the Church of Downpatrick.

St Columba’s feast day is celebrated on June 9. Despite his obvious candidacy for the role, St Columba was supplanted by St Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland.

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Saint Columba Facts

The Irish monk St. Columba (ca. 521-597) was a powerful preacher and leader of men. He founded monasteries in Ireland and Scotland, which were influential missionary centers.

The son of a tribal chieftain, Columba was given the name Crimthann when he was baptized shortly after his birth in Gartan, County Donegal. When he was a boy, he was so often found praying in the town church that his friends called him Colm Cille (Dove of the Church), and it was as Colm, or its Latin form Columba, that he was known for the rest of his life.

In his early 20s Columba was strongly influenced by one of his teachers, Finian of Clonard, and asked to be ordained a priest. When a prince cousin gave him some land at Derry, he decided to start a monastery. Because of his love of nature Columba refused to build the church facing east, as was the custom; he wanted to spare the lives of as many oak trees as he could. His foundation of another monastery at Durrow 7 years later was the beginning of an extraordinary decade during which he traveled through northern Ireland teaching about Christianity and inspiring many people by his personal holiness. He founded some 30 monasteries in those 10 years.

Columba’s strong personality and forceful preaching aroused considerable antagonism. He was accused in 563 of starting a war between two Irish tribes and was sentenced by the high king never to see Ireland again, to spend the rest of his life in exile. With 12 companions he sailed from the shores he loved, and settled on a bleak island called Iona off the coast of Scotland. The monks made occasional visits to the Scottish mainland, where they preached their kind of Christianity. Soon their community had 150 members.

In 575 Columba was persuaded to visit Ireland to mediate a dispute between the high king and the league of poets. Insisting on remaining faithful to the terms of his exile, that he never see Ireland again, he traveled blindfolded. Although his sympathies were with the poets, his reputation was respected by everyone. He spoke to the assembled nobles and clergy with such force and authority that the king was persuaded to reverse his original decree, and the hostility between the two parties was calmed.

Columba spent the rest of his life on Iona, praying, fasting, and teaching his monks to read and copy the Scriptures. He provided inspiration for their missionary efforts and was influential for a time in the politics of Scotland. Long before his death in 597 he was regarded as a saint by his fellow monks and is today a beloved figure in Irish tradition.

As we look deeper into these “SAINTS” you will see that they were high born DRUIDs, trained in DRUID MAGIC, and though they were converted to “ROMAN CATHOLOCISIM” they did not give up their DRUID beliefs.  The monasteries (we will look into monasteries in another post) and churches they planted were built on sites that are sacred to DRUIDS.  These sites are soaked with the blood of countless human sacrifices and therefore very powerful strongholds of the powers of Darkness.  The reason they were so successful at “converting” the CELTS is because they demonstrated to the CELTS the commonality of the ROMAN CATHOLIC rituals and beliefs and assured them they were not giving up anything.  They could continue to practice their faith as always.  THEREFORE… they were NOT CONVERTED AT ALL! They merely acquiesed to be called by the ROMAN terminology for the “peace” and unity of the EMPIRE.

THE STORY OF COLMCILLE

St. Colmcille’s story begins in Gartan, Co Donegal, where he is born into the northern branch of the O’Neills in 521. His mother, Eithne, is a princess from Leinster, and his father, Fedelmidh, is the great grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the pagan king who brought Saint Patrick to bondage in Ireland. Colmcille bridges two worlds.

The Oak and Serpent

By Gary B. O’sullivan, M.d., MD Facog Facs Gary B. O’Sullivan

The History of Ireland (Author: Geoffrey Keating)

On the manners and customs of the ancient Irish, lects., ed. with …, Volume 2 By Eugene O’Curry

He is originally christened Crimhthann (meaning ‘Fox‘), and baptised at Templedouglas in Donegal. As with other princes, he is sent for fosterage in his youth, and spends some years at the house of Cruithnechan, a holy man.

Kids: The nobles sent their kids off at quite an early age to live with another clan for training and education. Training could take years. This was one way the ancient Celts developed close ties between various clans. It was called fostering. Sometimes kids were sent away to their mother’s clan, but they could be sent to any clan. Some kids became more loyal to their foster clan than they were to their blood clan. After all, they grew up there. Still, in times of war, if things went wrong, kids could be held by their foster clan for ransom. The foster clan might even threaten to kill the kids in their care unless they got their way. It was an odd system, but it was the system of the ancient Celts.   Source

Crimhthann converts to Christianity and the prince spends many  hours in prayer and meditation and from this time onwards he is known as Colmcille ‘Dove of the Church’.

Colmcille’s education is an odyssey, beginning in Movilla on Strangford Lough, under the tutelage of a Saint Finnian, he then moves to Leinster, where he studies under the bard, Gemman. From here, Colmcille journeys to Clonard monastery in Co Meath, under the famous Saint Finnian. The final stop in Colmcille’s education is at Saint Mobhí’s school in Glasnevin.

Finian founded Movilla Abbey, a monastery, on a hill overlooking Strangford Lough about a mile North-East of present-day Newtownards town centre. “Movilla” (Magh Bhile) means “the plain of the sacred tree,” in Irish, which suggests that the land had previously been a sacred pagan site. a blog about Animation and Ideas by Tim Wilson Link: https://animate-tim.com/2017/07/31/st-finnian/ St. Finnian While he is celebrated as one of the founders of Irish Catholicism, and while he was born in Ulster, St Finian actually owes more to Wales, where he was educated by St David. He does not seem to have been a very placid man, getting into a quarrel with St Columna over a copy of St Jerome’s Psalter which Columba eventually had to surrender. The problem is that there are two St Finnians of which Cluain Erairdat /Clonard is the primary! The second one, whose feast is on 10th September and who comes from county Donegal,  seems to have been educated partly in Rome and brought back a copy of the Vulgate with him to Ireland. He set up a school, Druim Fionn, on a sacred pagan site in Movilla at Maigh Bhile.

Were there two St Finnia? Really? Well, maybe not! There are simply many legends. Two many for one individual. Unless he be a shape-shifter and of great age, which was exactly the type of man St Finnian Two met on his travels around Ireland.Death and Rebirth 
Most Druids adopt the belief of their ancient forebears that the soul undergoes a process of successive reincarnations – either always in human form, or in a variety of forms that might include trees and even rocks as well as animals.Many Druids share the view reported by Philostratus of Tyana in the second century that the Celts believed that to be born in this world, we have to die in the Otherworld, and conversely, that when we die here, we are born into the Otherworld. For this reason, Druid funerals try to focus on the idea that the soul is experiencing a time of birth, even though we are experiencing that as their death to us.   Source

Definition of metamorphosis
1a: change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural meansthe metamorphosis of humans into animals

b: a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances

The belief in metamorphosis continues because of the deception of the dark forces.  The people see evidence of their heroes, rulers, or magi appearing in different forms over long periods of time, hundreds even thousands of years.  However, these are not the souls/spirits of the humans these are the demonic spirits that were possessing the humans.  The humans these people knew are long dead.  It is the demonic spirits that they worship that continue to return in various forms.

The Celts were so convinced of their beliefs in reincarnation and metamorphosis that they did not fear death. They saw death as just a new birth.  They fully expected to come back in one form or another, that they were willing to be sacrificed, if called upon to do so.  They faced battle ferociously, unafraid. 

Ovid introduced the idea of metamorphosis and, of course, Disney does it best in the alcoholic dream of Dumbo, with all those pink elephants, but metamorphosis was also alive and well in Celtic Ireland! Túan Mac Cairill is one of the first men ever to come to Ireland. He is one of the early heroes ranking with Cu Chulainn and Fionn Mac Cumhaill. In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora

Túan Mac Cairill’s family and tribe die from various plagues and yet he survives. At various times over the next two thousand years, consumed with loneliness, he changes into a deer called Nemed, a wild boar and later a hawk and a salmon until he is eventually caught and eaten by the wife of Cairell, the king of Ulster; over time, he sees new groups invade and settle in Ireland. Finally, he is reborn as a baby again, the son of Cairell (a result of her eating the fish!) as a human and meets Finnian to tell him his story from start to finish.

Colmcille is granted a portion of land in a place called Daire Calgach, on the west bank of the Foyle. He builds a church here called Dubh Regles or the ‘Black Abbey  (Literally means BLACK FATHER) or church’. The island of ‘Daire’ is the old Irish word for oak grove (Oak Groves are the most ritually sacred place where DRUIDs worship), which eventually lends its name to the city of Derry. Although Derry is the place most associated with Colmcille in Ireland, he travels far and wide in Ireland, founding monasteries and churches, travelling to such areas as Moone in South Kildare, Swords in Dublin and the Burren in County Clare.

Leaving Derry is a painful leave-taking for Colmcille, and the night before departure is spent lying on Leac na Cumha (the flagstone of loneliness) in his birthplace of Gartan.

Leac na Cumha or the Stone of Sorrow is stone set into a large  oval-shaped mound with a U-shaped setting of stones that opens to the north. It is here on this stone that the saint is said to have been born.

The Leac na Cumha is located along the south-eastern edge of the mound. It is a flat slab of stone and its surface is covered in prehistoric rock art. The art  consists of cup-marks c. 0.1m in diameter.  (could those cup-marks represent celestial bodies?)

Colmcille arrives in Argyll, where he makes contact with king Conall MacComhgall of Dal Riada, a territory incorporating southwest Scotland and northeast of Ireland. Although he doe not convert him to Christianity King Conall grants him the island of Iona in the Western isles of Scotland, on which to found his monastery. From here Colmcille spreads the word of Christianity in Scotland, Northern England and also in to Europe.

Although living in Scotland, he makes occasional journeys home, taking part in a convention of kings at Drum Ceat near Limavady, Co Derry, in 574, and founding a monastery at Durrow, Co Offaly in 585. Rest, when it comes, is of the permanent kind. Just after Easter in 597, in his 76th year, Colmcille dies at his monastery in Iona. His monks buried him in the grounds of his monastery on Iona and many years later his bones were disinterred and are thought to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, with St. Patrick and St. Brigid.

https://www.stolenhistory.org/threads/assistance-with-the-etymology-of-columbia.2416/

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Etymology

The English words magic, mage and magician come from the Latin magus, through the Greek μάγος, which is from the Old Persian maguš. (𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁, magician).^[11] The Old Persian magu- is derived from the Proto-Indo-European *magh (be able). The Persian term may have led to the Old Sinitic *Mᵞag (mage or shaman).^[12] The Old Persian form seems to have permeated ancient Semitic languages as the Talmudic Hebrew magosh, the Aramaic amgusha (“magician”), and the Chaldean maghdim (“wisdom and philosophy”); from the first century BCE onwards, Syrian magusai gained notoriety as magicians and soothsayers.^[13]

Magic is the practice of beliefs, rituals and/or actions which are said to control and manipulate, either natural or supernatural, beings and forces.^[1] Typically, magic is categorised as independent from both religion and science, due to its various beliefs and practices.^[1]

Individuals who engage in magical practices are referred to as either magicians or witches.^[2] Although, connotations have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history,^[3] magic “continues to have an important religious and medicinal role in many cultures today”.^[4]

Within Western culture, magic has been linked to ideas of the Other,^[5] foreignness,^[6] and primitivism;^[7] indicating that it is “a powerful marker of cultural difference”^[8] and likewise, a non-modern phenomenon.^[9] During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Western intellectuals perceived the practice of magic to be a sign of a primitive mentality and also commonly attributed it to marginalised groups of people.^[8]

In modern occultism and Neopagan religions, many self-described magicians and witches regularly practice ritual magic;^[10] defining magic as a technique for bringing about change in the physical world through the force of one’s will. This definition was popularised by Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), an influential British occultist, and since that time other religions (e.g. Wicca and LaVeyan Satanism) and magical systems (e.g. Chaos Magic) have adopted it.

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Birds: Messengers of the Otherworld – Their Celtic Symbolism

As I commented on previous posts, animal worship was very common amongst the ancient Celts.

According to their inward meaning, which may of course undergo transformations, they regarded animals as human souls or their embodiment, and also held totemistic and hunting cults.

This association of Spirit Animals or “Totems” is based upon the ancient Celtic belief that all life is related, the spirits of earth, water, air, and fire, the spirits of a place, the trees, the flora and the animals that they lived with side by side. Many ancient stories tell how the Druids could “shapeshift” into animal form even present on legends like the one of Ceridwen and Taliesin.

In the practice of their tribal religion Celts have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, which has special meaning to them. Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth.

The Celtic clans had banners on which were displayed the picture or symbol of their clan animal, as with the banners of the Fianna. Individual devices were painted on shields and sometimes tattooed on the body. This may well be the origin of the heraldic devices that became so popular in later times.

We may also consider certain shamanistic practice by druids for employing swan feathers to make the ritual cloak of the Bards probably considering the swan as  “assistant spirit,” or even“guardian spirit” , clear reference to the shamanic ability of flight.

This connection to the realm of spirits and the gods, undoubtedly led their path in search for secrets and wisdom.

Nearly all shamanic cultures believe in Animal Allies or helpers. These creatures have the appearance and many of the characteristics and behaviour patterns of ordinary animals, birds, and fish, but they can communicate with the shaman. Sometimes these animals become protectors and guides for the shaman, both while she/he is journeying in the Otherworlds and in the physical realm.

Other ways to enter the other world are by charm, like the song from magical birds (Ford, 71), or by spell, like the mist descending over land (Ford, 77). Wells, springs, rivers, and earthen mounds are some of the magical places that border with or co-exist in the other world. In these places, magic is much more prevalent and sometimes even time passes differently there.

Specific animals have specific associations depending on the characteristics of the type of animal. Birds, fish, serpents, deer, cattle, swine, and so on all tend to be used as symbols.

Animals in Celtic mythology are tied in with fertility and vitality, because they are living, moving, and growing. They also provide vitality and continued life for the tribes through their meat, skins, and bones. 

Celts have a particular connection with Birds, amongst other species. Birds are usually used to represent prophetic knowledge, bloodshed, and skill.  (Interesting that those are the things that The FALLEN ANGELS taught to humans.  Secret knowledge, the art of war, and crafts/skills.)

They (birds) play an enormous role in Celtic mythology, figuring as divine emblems and as messengers of the gods. Chief among the sacred birds of the Celts were the raven, the swan, and the crane, although numerous other birds including geese, ducks, and even owls were held sacred at various times. Many early images of Celtic deities depict them with birds in the place of hands, emphasizing the importance of the birds as divine servants.

In an omen, birds can be either the message or the messenger. For example, Morrígan came in the shape of a bird to warn the Brown Bull. The interpretation of their calls and movements can lead to knowledge of future events. Birds, especially ravens and crows, usually presage bloodshed and battle, when they are associated with it, sticking with the theme of prophesy. 

Birds can also be used to demonstrate a warrior’s prowess by their method of capture. Lleu Llaw Gyffes was so skilled he could hit birds with a stone without killing them outright. Cúchulainn demonstrated even more prowess capturing birds skillfully, but his son, Connla was still more skilled. He could not only stun them with a stone, but also with only his voice.

Exceptionally magic or ancient animals speak the language of humans and can pass on their wisdom through speech. (From this belief we get the old addage “a little birdy told me so.”) By and large birds are associated with speech. Branwen took an ordinary starling and taught it to understand enough speech to find her brother. Gwyrhyr & Arthur’s messengers conversed with an eagle, an owl, a stag, a blackbird, and a salmon to learn ancient knowledge from them. 

A special understanding of the speech of animals can yield a great advantage. Some heroes have gained knowledge of the speech of birds, enabling them to be warned of danger or told secrets by the birds. Davidson mentions a less mythical middle-Irish manuscript describing how to determine the approach of visitors through interpretation of bird calls.

Animals appear as an omen by their appearance and activity through a symbolic message. The type of animal and their activity is the substance of the message. On the eve of his battle with Sir Mordred, King Arthur dreamt of being devoured by serpents, dragons, and other water beasts. The serpents and dragons alone mean great troubles within the land. King Arthur was destroyed by this mass of troubles, because the next day, he was defeated in a battle during the civil war with Sir Mordred (Baines, 497-498). 

Another example of an omen is Deirdre’s dream of the three great birds. They arrived bearing honey and left with blood, symbolizing treachery on the part of king Conchobar (Pilkington, 177). Movements of smaller animals, such as birds and rabbits, have also been interpreted to divine the future (Davidson, 11, MacCulloch, 219, 247).

• Crane (Corr):  

 At one time the crane was a common animal in the British Isles. One late Celtic tradition, apparently originated after the arrival of Christianity, is that cranes are people who are paying a penance for wrong-doing. The crane is associated with the Cailleach and Manannan mac Lir, who made his crane bag from its skin. The crane, with its colors of black, white, and red, was a Moon bird, sacred to the Triple Goddess. Magic, shamanic travel, learning and keeping secrets, reaching deeper mysteries and truths

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COLUMBA : There are several accounts of Columba’s life, all attesting to the miraculous signs which preceded his birth at Gartan, Co. Donegal, in 521.  Saint Buite, the dying abbot of Monasterboice in Co. Louth, is said to have foretold the birth of “a child illustrious before God and men”. Columba was of royal blood. His father Phelim was of the Uí Néill clan and descended from the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages, while his mother Eithne was descended from a king of Leinster.

It was the custom for the children of ruling families to be fostered, but unusually Columba was put into the care of a priest. The boy’s daily practice of reading the psalms led his young contemporaries to call him Columcille (Colum of the church) and he is more usually known by that name in Ireland. He went on to study under Saint Finnian of Moville, Co. Down, where his prayers are said to have turned spring water into communion wine. He later became a pupil of Saint Finnian of Clonard and was destined to become the most famous of the latter’s “twelve apostles of Ireland”. Columba also spent time with a Leinster bard named Gemman, in whose company he witnessed the murder of a young girl and vowed that as the girl’s soul went to Heaven the murderer’s soul would go to Hell. When the murderer immediately died, Columba’s reputation spread rapidly.

Columba established his first monastery at Derry in 548. Others followed, notably Durrow in Co. Offaly, which became famous for the Celtic artistry of its illuminated manuscripts. In 563 Columba sailed with twelve followers to found a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona, which was part of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada, ruled by his cousin Conaill.

Legend has it that Columba’s exile was an act of penance, and that he deliberately chose an island out of sight of his beloved Ireland. During a visit to Moville, Columba is said to have secretly copied a book of psalms. When Finnian discovered this, he insisted on having the copy. Columba refused to hand it over, and their dispute was referred to the high king, Diarmuid, who ruled: “To every cow her calf, and to every book its copy”. Columba already resented Diarmuid for slaying a youth to whom the saint had given sanctuary and he persuaded his kinsmen to wage war. Diarmuid was defeated at Cuildreimhne, Co. Sligo and Columba was blamed for the hundreds of dead. When a synod called on him to make amends by converting an equal number of pagans, he opted to work among the Picts of Scotland.

The extent of Columba’s missionary work has probably been exaggerated by his early biographers, but there is no doubting the profound influence of Iona on the Celtic Church as a whole, and on the spread of Christianity in Scotland and northern England. Columba was also a political figure of consequence. His early conversion of Brude, king of the Picts, reduced the threat of attacks on Christian Dalriada. In 575, returning to Ulster for a convention held at Drum Ceatt, he negotiated the Scottish kingdom’s independence from the Irish Dalriada. At the same convention he persuaded King Aedh to preserve the bards of Ireland, whose satires had made them unpopular.

Columba died on Iona in 597. Chronicles of his life appeared in the following century, most notably from Saint Adomnán, who attributed to him many prophecies, visions and miracles, not least of which was warding off the Loch Ness monster with the sign of the cross.      Source

From the Appletree Press title: A Little Book of Celtic Saints.

St Columba and the Isle of Iona

by Ben Johnson

Colum History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Colum is one of the names derived from the families of the ancient Dalriadan clans of Scotland. It is derived from the Scottish name MacCallum, which means “the son of the gillie of Callum.” However, the full form of the name was used until the 17th century. The Callums were an import branch of the Clan McLeod of Raasay.

Early Origins of the Colum family

The surname Colum was first found in Argyllshire (Gaelic erra Ghaidheal), the region of western Scotland corresponding roughly with the ancient Kingdom of Dál Riata, in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, now part of the Council Area of Argyll and Bute, where they held a family seat from very early times.

Early History of the Colum family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Colum research. Another 126 words (9 lines of text) covering the year 1636 is included under the topic Early Colum History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Colum Spelling Variations

Spelling in the medieval era was a highly imprecise process. Translation, particularly from Gaelic to English, was little better. For these reasons, early Scottish names are rife with spelling variations. In various documents Colum has been spelled Callum, MacColum, MacCallum, Colum, Callam, Callem, Calam and many more.

Migration of the Colum family

The hardy Scots who made the crossing settled all along the east coast of North America and in the great west that was just then opening up. At the time of the American War of Independence, many United Empire Loyalists moved north from the American colonies to Canada. Scottish national heritage became better known in North America in the 20th century through highland games and other patriotic events. An examination of immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Colum arrived in North America very early: Patrick Callum who settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1868.

Columbia

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/c/stcolumba.html

Millions of Irish Americans, especially those in New York, might be directly descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, the most prolific warrior in Irish history.

A team of geneticists at Trinity College Dublin led by Professor Dan Bradley discovered that as many as 3 million men worldwide may be descendants of the Irish warlord, who was the Irish “High King” at Tara, the ancient center of Ireland from A.D. 379 to A.D. 405.

Read More: Celebrating the O’Neills! Everything you need to know about the Irish family name

The legend of Niall of the Nine Hostages

The story of Niall of the Nine Hostages is already the stuff of legend, passed on to countless Irish schoolchildren over the years.

The supposedly fearless leader battled the English, the Scots, the French, and even the Romans, and struck fear into the heart of his enemies. His dynasty lasted for centuries, continuing up until the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland at the end of the 16th century.

Legend has it that it was Niall of the Nine Hostages who, on a raid in Wales, captured a young slave and brought him to Ireland. That slave would later escape and go to become Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick.

But one story not told to most Irish elementary schoolchildren was Niall’s prolificacy.

When it came to the bedroom, it seems that Niall of the Nine Hostages was even more fearless and energetic than he was on the battlefield.

This warlord was responsible for the very common Irish surname “O’Neill” (“Ui Neill” in Gaelic), which literally means ‘descendant son of Niall.’

One in 12 men in Ireland

The researchers also found that as many as one in 12 men in Ireland have the same DNA as the Irish king and in Ireland’s northwest, that figure rises to one in five.

“We sampled 60 people with these names and found the strongest association was with them,” Bradley told the London Independent in 2006. “Before this, everything was mythology, but now there does seem to have been a single male ancestor of this group of powerful dynasties.“

“In many countries, powerful men historically have more children, and it’s not that hard to believe that it happened in Ireland too.

“We estimate there are maybe two to three million descendants in the modern age, with a concentration in Ireland, obviously. Then there are Scotland and New York  – you find the particular chromosome in reasonable frequency in New Yorkers of European descent.”

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Columba – Constellation

The Dove

The constellation Columba showing common points of interest below © Sea and Sky	Columba constellation map © Torsten Bronger CC BY-SA 3.0

Pronunciation:  (koh-LUM-buh) Abbreviation: Col   Genitive: Columbae Right Ascension: 6 hours

Declination: -35 degrees Area in Square Degrees: 270 Crosses Meridian: 9 PM, January 30 Visible Between Latitudes: 45 and -90 degrees

The constellation Columba, the dove, is located in the southern hemisphere of the sky. it is best seen in northern latitudes during February. It is visible at latitudes between 45 degrees and -90 degrees. It is a small constellation, covering an area of 270 square degrees. It is bordered by the constellations Caelum, Canis Major, Lepus, Pictor, and Puppis.

There is no mythology associated with Columba. It is one of 12 fairly recent constellations named by the Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius based on observations by Dutch navigators. Plancius included it on his celestial globe in 1592. Plancius originally named the constellation Columba Noachi, which means Noah’s dove. It refers to the dove that brought an olive branch to Noah to show that the great flood was receding. In some other interpretations, the dove represents the bird the Argonauts sent out ahead to help them navigate the narrow passage at the mouth of the Black Sea. The German astronomer Johann Bayer included this constellation in his star atlas in 1603 and the name was eventually shortened to Columba.

Columba consists of mainly dim stars. The brightest star is Phact, a double star with a combined visual magnitude of 2.64. It is located approximately 270 light years from Earth. The second brightest star is Wezn with a magnitude of 3.12. Wezn is an orange giant star located about 86 light years from our solar system. Ghusn al Zaitun is the third brightest star with a magnitude of 3.85. It is a yellow giant star that lies some 237 light years away.

Columba contains no Messier objects but it does have a few interesting deep-sky objects. NGC 1851 is a globular star cluster that contains thousands of individual stars. It is 35,000 light years away and can be seen in medium-sized telescopes. NGC 1782 is a spiral galaxy with a chaotic distribution of dark dust lanes. NGC 1808 is a Seyfert spiral galaxy located approximately 40 million light years from Earth. These dim galaxies can only be seen with large telescopes.

Columba (constellation)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Columba

Constellation
List of stars in Columba
Abbreviation	Col
Genitive	Columbae
Pronunciation	/kəˈlʌmbə/, genitive /kəˈlʌmbiː/
Symbolism	the dove
Right ascension	05h 03m 53.8665s– 06h 39m 36.9263s[1]
Declination	−27.0772038°–−43.1116486°[1]
Area	270 sq. deg. (54th)
Main stars	5
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	18
Stars with planets	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	1
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)	0
Brightest star	α Col (Phact) (2.65m)
Messier objects	0
Meteor showers	0
Bordering constellations	Lepus Caelum Pictor Puppis Canis Major
Visible at latitudes between +45° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of February.

Columba is a faint constellation created in the late sixteenth century, remaining in official use, with its rigid limits set in the 20th century. Its name is Latin for dove. It takes up 1.31% of the southern celestial hemisphere and is just south of Canis Major and Lepus.

Hopefully by now you are beginning to recognize all the connections to “THE HUNT”.  There is so much more.  I can’t tell you how much there is to cover on this topic.  I can’t put it all into one post.  MORE WILL FOLLOW.  Pay attention to references to hunting, and  naval references.

Canis Major  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Great Dog” redirects here. For other uses, see Great Dog (disambiguation).

Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy‘s 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for “greater dog” in contrast to Canis Minor, the “lesser dog”; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably M41.

Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the “dog star”. It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second-brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, blue-white supergiants Eta (Aludra) at 2.4 and Omicron² at 3.0, and white spectroscopic binary Zeta (Furud), also at 3.0. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km.spacer

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Lepus (constellation)  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with the constellation Lupus, the wolf.

Lepus (/ˈliːpəs/, colloquially /ˈlɛpəs/) is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. It is located below—immediately south—of Orion (the hunter), and is sometimes represented as a hare being chased by Orion or by Orion’s hunting dogs.^[1]

Although the hare does not represent any particular figure in Greek mythology, Lepus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

History

The constellation Columba as it can be seen by the naked eye.

• Early 3rd century BC: Aratus‘s astronomical poem Phainomena (lines 367–370 and 384–385) mentions faint stars where Columba is now but does not fit any name or figure to them.
• 2nd century AD: Ptolemy listed 48 constellations in the Almagest but did not mention Columba.
• c. 150–215 AD: Clement of Alexandria wrote in his Logos Paidogogos^[2]“Αἱ δὲ σφραγῖδες ἡμῖν ἔστων πελειὰς ἢ ἰχθὺς ἢ ναῦς οὐριοδρομοῦσα ἢ λύρα μουσική, ᾗ κέχρηται Πολυκράτης, ἢ ἄγκυρα ναυτική,” (= “[when recommending symbols for Christians to use], let our seals be a dove or a fish or a ship running in a good wind or a musical lyre … or a ship’s anchor …”), with no mention of stars or astronomy.
• 1592 AD: ^[3] Petrus Plancius first depicted Columba on the small celestial planispheres of his large wall map to differentiate the ‘unformed stars’ of the large constellation Canis Major.^[4] Columba is also shown on his smaller world map of 1594 and on early Dutch celestial globes. Plancius named the constellation Columba Noachi (“Noah‘s Dove”), referring to the dove that gave Noah the information that the Great Flood was receding. This name is found on early 17th-century celestial globes and star atlases.

  • Petrus Plancius – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Born	Pieter Platevoet 1552 Dranouter
    Died	May 15, 1622 (aged 69–70)
    Nationality	Dutch
    Known for	One of the notable figures in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography
    Scientific career
    Fields	Astronomy, cartography, theology
    Institutions	Dutch Reformed Church

    

    Petrus Plancius (1552 – May 15, 1622) was a Dutch–Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.

    Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam to avoid religious prosecution by the Inquisition after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. In Amsterdam he became interested in navigation and cartography and, having access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on safe maritime routes to India and the nearby “spice islands”. This enabled colonies and port trade in both, including what would become the Dutch East Indies, named after the Dutch East India Company set up in 1602. He saw strong potential in the little-mapped Arctic Sea and strongly believed in the idea of a Northeast Passage until the failure of Willem Barentsz‘s third voyage in 1597 seemed to preclude its viability.

    For his pioneering contributions in the history of celestial cartography, Plancius is considered to be one of the notable figures in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography (c. 1570s–1670s).  Source

 

The constellation seen as “Columba Noachi” meaning “Noah’s dove,” after the biblical dove that informed Noah that the Great Flood was receding; in Urania’s Mirror (1825). 

The constellation contains the famous runaway star Mu Columbae, the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1808 and the globular cluster NGC 1851, among other objects.

“Columba represents Noah’s dove in the sky. Petrus Plancius created the constellation from the stars located behind Argo Navis, the constellation that represented the Argonauts’ ship and was later split into several smaller constellations. Plancius later renamed Argo Navis to “Noah’s Ark” on a celestial globe of 1613.

In the myth, Noah’s dove is sent from the Ark to see if there is any dry land left after the Great Flood. The bird returns holding an olive branch in its beak, signalling that the flood is receding. In some interpretations, Columba represents the dove sent by the Argonauts between the Clashing Rocks to ensure the Argonauts’ safe passage.”
Source

• 1592: Frederick de Houtman listed Columba as “De Duyve med den Olijftack” (= “the dove with the olive branch”)
• 1603: Bayer’s Uranometria was published. It includes Columba as Columba Noachi.^[5]
• 1624: Bartschius listed Columba in his Usus Astronomicus as “Columba Nohae”.
• 1662: Caesius published Coelum Astronomico-Poeticum, including an inaccurate Latin translation of the above text of Clement of Alexandria: it mistranslated “ναῦς οὐριοδρομοῦσα” as Latin “Navis coelestis cursu in coelum tendens” (“Ship of the sky following a course in the sky”), perhaps misunderstanding “οὐριο-” as “up in the air or sky” by analogy with οὐρανός = “sky”.
• 1679: Halley mentioned Columba in his work Catalogus Stellarum Australium from his observations on St. Helena.
• 1679: Augustin Royer published a star atlas that showed Columba as a constellation.
• c.1690: Hevelius‘s Prodromus Astronomiae showed Columba but did not list it as a constellation.
• 1712 (pirated) and 1725 (authorized): Flamsteed‘s work Historia Coelestis Britannica showed Columba but did not list it as a constellation.
• 1757 or 1763: Lacaille listed Columba as a constellation and catalogued its stars.
• 1889: Richard H. Allen,^[6] misled by Caesius’s mistranslation, wrote that the Columba asterism may have been invented in Roman/Greek times, but with a footnote saying that it may have been another star group.
• 2001: Ridpath and Tirion wrote that Columba may also represent the dove released by Jason and the Argonauts at the Black Sea‘s mouth; it helped them navigate the dangerous Symplegades.^[3]
• 2007: The author P.K. Chen wrote (his opinion) that, given the mythological linkage of a dove with Jason and the Argonauts, and the celestial location of Columba over Puppis (part of the old constellation Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts), Columba may have an ancient history although Ptolemy omits it.^[7][8]
• 2019–20: OSIRIS-REx students discovered a black hole in the constellation Columba, based on observing X-ray bursts.^[9]

In the Society Islands, Alpha Columbae (Phact) was called Ana-iva.^[10]

Features

Stars

See also: List of stars in Columba

Columba is rather inconspicuous, the brightest star, Alpha Columbae, being only of magnitude 2.7. This, a blue-white star, has a pre-Bayer, traditional, Arabic name Phact (meaning ring dove) and is 268 light-years from Earth. The only other named star is Beta Columbae, which has the alike-status name Wazn. It is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 3.1, 87 light-years away.^[11]

The constellation contains the runaway star μ Columbae, which was probably expelled from the ι Orionis system.

Exoplanet NGTS-1b and its star NGTS-1 are in Columba.

General radial velocity[edit]

Columba contains the solar antapex – noting the local spiral arm of the Milky Way itself is responsible for most of our change of position over time – the opposite to the net direction of the solar system.

antapex [ ant-ey-peks ] noun, plural ant·a·pex·es, ant·ap·i·ces  [ant-ap–uh-seez, –ey-puh-]. Astronomy. the point exactly opposite in direction to the solar apex; the point away from which the solar system is moving and toward which the stars appear to be converging, located in the constellation Columba.

Deep-sky objects[edit]

NGC 1851 a globular cluster in Columba appears at 7th magnitude in a far part of our galaxy as is 39,000 light-years away – it is resolvable south of at greatest latitude +40°N in medium-sized amateur telescopes (under good conditions).^[11]

• NGC 1792 is a spiral galaxy of magnitude 10.2.
• NGC 1808 is a Seyfert galaxy of magnitude 10.8.