What is a druid? And what is some good material to read if you are researching the practice?

Question

Specifically, Celtic Druidism, or Celtic Shamanism.

Answer 1

There are many different orders of Druids with varying belief systems. Here are some links that will answer your questions:
For an overview:
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/drud.html
This site lists many different Druidic orders and gives descriptions of each:
http://www.geocities.com/mikerdna/drulinks.html
This has some good essays on beliefs:
http://www.wildideas.net/cathbad/druid.html
A good article about what information we have and do not have about ancient Celtic Religion:
http://draeconin.com/database/celtreli.htm
An article that talks about what we don't know about the ancient Celts:
http://www.conjure.com/whocelts.html
Personally, these are my favorite two Druidic groups. I have known members from both, but have never been a member myself:
http://www.adf.org/core/index.html ADF
http://www.keltria.org/ Keltria
Very good articles:
http://www.imbas.org/imbas/index.html

Some good recommended reading lists:
http://paganachd.com/faq/readinglist.html
http://www.imbas.org/imbas/readlist.html
http://www.adf.org/training/resources/reading.html


Authors NOT recommended because they write more fantasy than truth:
http://www.cyberwitch.com/wychwood/Library/whenIsACeltNotACelt.htm
http://saille333.home.mindspring.com/21Lessons.htm

A closely related path to Druidism is Celtic Reconstructionism. For a description:
http://paganachd.com/faq/index.html

Answer 2

To piggyback on Witchy's excellent post, Celtic "shamanism", per se, didn't *really* exist, at least not in the time of the Druids. There were *some* shamanic elements (such as vision-questing, dealing with spirits, etc), but it's uncertain how integral those elements were.

The best bet would be to look up things like imbas, magical poetry, and the stories about shapeshifting. Overall, I'd recommend caution with any book talking about Celtic shamanism because, frankly, there's a lot of people out there trying to sell books that have little relation to fact.

Answer 3

Druids were a class of people in Celtic societies who acted as priests, philosophers, historians, arbiters, etc. The Romans killed off most of them in the British Isles, and the early Christians finished the job.

Answer 4

DJ Conway has a book on celtic Shaminism, called; By Oak, Ash, and Thorn., she also has some another Celtic book called; Celtic Magic. you can find many books here:
http://www.llewellyn.com/

Answer 5

I'm not sure but I think a druid was that small creature in star wars that tried to kill luke.

Answer 6

Go to crystal links.com then go to alphabet files, there you will find info and much more links.

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