On Jul 18, 11:32Â pm, Archdruid Michael McGrath of Ireland
gmail.com> wrote:> On Jul 18, 11:06Â pm, Archdruid Michael McGrath of Ireland
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gmail.com> wrote:>> On Jul 18, 10:43Â pm, Archdruid Michael McGrath of Ireland
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>>> On Jul 18, 9:16Â pm, "Ruiseart agus Ceit"
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>>>
btinternet.com> wrote:>>>> "Searles O'Dubhain" wrote:
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>>>>>In these cultures, Druidry survived within the schools and functions of the
>>>>>Filidh (among the Gael) and the Bards (in Britain and Wales).
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>>>> Just as a matter of interest, the word "BÃ rd" (Bard) is GÃ idhlig (Scottish
>>>> Gaelic) for "Poet" :)
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>>>> Le beannachdan,
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>>> Yes, Ruiseart, similarly as in Ireland among us Gael.
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>>> "Gaeil iad fein,
>>> Ni Gaill na Spainnigh
>>> Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh !
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>>> Chorus:
>>> - "Oro se do bheath abhaile
>>> Â From "Grainne Mhaol" - as you heartily can sing it !
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>>> The native Irish always referred to themselves as Gael,
>>> and to the Gauls as Gaill, singular "Gall"
>>> the word Gall later became to identify all foreugners
>>> in the Irish Language.
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>>> Then we had the Galloglaigh who we brought over from Scotland,
>>> Scottish Gaelic mercenararies, greatly feared warriors,
>>> and though they were Gaelic in origin
>>> they were still called "Galloglaigh"
>>> The Galloglasses, or "foreign soldiers". -
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>>> Gall, Oglaigh = Foreign, Soldiers.
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>>> By this time Ireland and Scotland
>>> were beginning to grow separately
>>> as distinct nations.
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>>> But a Scottish Druid
>>> had exactly similar rights and privileges
>>> among his counterparts
>>> in Ireland - similarly with an Irish Druid in Scotland.
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>>> And of course, Mann, The Isle of Man,
>>> of Mananan MacLir,
>>> Gaelic as well,
>>> to such an extent
>>> that their accents
>>> are reminiscent of the Dublin accent.
>>> This is probably due to the fact
>>> that after the Battle of Contarf in 1014 AD
>>> The same Vikings settled down in Dublin
>>> and on Man,
>>> and in the case of Ireland
>>> contributed so hugely as Members
>>> of the Irish Nation today,
>>> as did the Normans,
>>> and even the English and Welsh,
>>> so that today there is hardly anybody left
>>> of the pure old Gaelic blood
>>> except in the Gaeltacht Irish-Speaking areas
>>> that my own Clanna Bui,
>>> in our case, the Rinn Gaeltacht of Portlairge
>>> (Waterford)
>>> and the majestic Comeragh mountains.
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>>> Bard, an Irish Gaelic word too,
>>> that led to the name down trhough millenia -
>>> MacAnBhaird = Ward, in English, today.
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>>> Chief of our Clanna Bui today,
>>> in the Rinn Gaeltacht,
>>> An-t-uasal, An t-Ard Drui Seamus MacCraith,
>>> Septuagenarian now,
>>> places our origin as far back
>>> as the most fabulous Druid opf all the Eireannaigh,
>>> Mogroith of Valentia Island, off County Kerry -
>>> Next stop, America !
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>>> Seamus was Leas Oide (Vice Principal)
>>> of Augustine's College in nearby Dungarvan,
>>> virtually an all-Irish College.
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>>> He is still recognised throughout Ireland
>>> as one of the foremost scholars and apeakers
>>> of the Irish Language today.
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>>> He is one of the founders
>>> of our Order of Druids in Ireland, ODI,
>>> pictured on Irish TV news,
>>> standing in circle with us on the Hill of Tara
>>> in suit, collar and tie !!!
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>>> In such an Irish Druid Elder
>>> you will find the Irish Druid Oral Tradition,
>>> Today, Not in books,
>>> though he always reads -
>>> Peter Berresford Ellis,
>>> and nobody else,
>>> with relish
>>> himself !- Hide quoted text -
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>>> - Show quoted text -
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>> The word in the Irish Language for Magic is: Draoiacht.
>> The ancient Irish Druids called themselves: "Drui" singular, "Druid",
>> plural.
>> Then the monks came and sarcastically dubbed them,
>> as part of the process to deprive them
>> of their Stately functions : "Draoi" - Magicians,
>> in the Church Latin, Magus, Magi.
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>> Lesser Druids probably performed magic,
>> oerhaps the Faidh (Ovates is the nearest word in English,
>> but it does not perfectly describe an Irish Faidh (or 'Faith'),
>> pronounced "fawee".
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>> A senior Irish Druid
>> would have considered it beneath his status
>> to perform magic -
>> though he could well work it,
>> but mostly by means of sciences,
>> crystal-working etc.
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>> The word 'Druidry' , invented among the English Druids,
>> probably some OBOD Druid, I think,
>> does describe ancient Druidry better than the word 'Druidism',
>> For 'Druidry' corresponds better
>> to the ancient Irish word 'Druideacht or Druidecht.
>> All the "isms" being of much more recent vintage
>> in the English language.
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>> Thus, in Irish today, Draoi (pronounced "Dree")
>> still means Magician.
>> But the word Drui (pronounced Drewee)
>> means Druid
>> (Druid, which in the ancient Irish Gaelic was actually the plural
>> meaning - Druids ! ).
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>> Hope you get your heads and your mouths
>> around all of that !
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>> Cheers,
>> Michael.- Hide quoted text -
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>> - Show quoted text -
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> The word 'Druidry' could have been coined by Philip Carr-Gomm of OBOD,
> or John Matthews, the Druid writer and member of OBOD,
> or even by the two of them,
> and they did us all a good service by coining this word,
> to divorce us from the 18th century Masonic Druid Revival in England
> (note: This revival never took place in Ireland, and I don't think it
> extended to Scotland, or even Wales either -Iolo Morganyg brought
> about a much different revival to the Freemason one, much nearer to
> the ancient Welsh Druidry).
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> All that said and differentiated, Druidry owes them all a debt -
> even the Masons, except here in Ireland, where Druidry was on its own
> separate path down through certain of the Fili (not all of them, the
> O'Daly or Daly are famous in the service of the Irish Catholic Church,
> for instance).
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> My own Clanna Bui of the MacCraith survived as actual Druids in their
> Comeragh Mountain fastness, defiant of the Catholic and all Churches.
> Some did , however, make money from the Anglican Church of Ireland as
> Church Proctors gathering in the Church tithes enforced on the people
> until the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, in or around
> 1860's.
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> Around this time a favourite son of one MacCraith Clan Chieftain
> became a Catholic priest and many then at last recognised the Catholic
> Church, only then after ignoring and fighting it since the sixth
> century !. Basically the Clanna Bui were great businessmen, wheelers
> and dealers, also brigands and Rapparees, and that is how they
> survived all down the Great Famine in Waterford, the worst- hit County
> of all in famine-stricken Ireland - and that's how I exist today to
> tell the tale !
>
> Peter Berresford Ellis' ancestors were granted much of our lands as
> planters - but we don't hold that against Peter today - he is of
> Landed Gentry Anglo-Irish nobility, and knows us, the Clanna Bui of
> the MacCraith, only too well !!! He is one of the few writing books
> today on Druidry worth reading at all.
>
> Michael.- Hide quoted text -
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> - Show quoted text -
When we were on our last legs, and failing fast, in the 16th century,
a Great Rescuer came to our aid - the most powerful man in Ireland of
histime, Archbishop Myler McGrath on the old Druid Rock of Cashel.
Myler came from the powerful Northern Irish McGraths of counties
Fermanagh and Tyrone. He became a Franciscan monk and worked his way
up to being appointed Catholic Archbishop of Cashel. He came to the
notice of Elizabeth the Great and she summoned him to her court in
London several times a year for her pleasure. Thus he switched over,
appointed by Elizabeth, to be Protestant Archbishop of Cashel. He is
the only man in history to be Catholic and Protestant Archbishop at
the same time. With the Elizabethan Continental wars, his resignation
took several years to reach Rome and he took full advantage of this.
He fell in with the Clanna Bui, being Clan cousins, and led them in
rampage and plunder throughout Munster, stopped functioning as any
sort of an Archbishop and reverted to "the native Druid" in them all !
He had a score of women and lived to be 99, drinking a quart of
whiskey a day, often while in the thick of battle. Not one Lord of the
realm dared even whisper against the Bold Myler McGrath, Elizabeth
loved him that much ! When he ran out of sons for parish priests, he
made parish priests out of his daughters ! Fifty years ago the
Reverend Bishop Wyse Jackson of Cork wrote a small book about Myler,
titled, "The Scoundrel of Cashel" - he is my direct ancestor. Sean
O'Faolain wrote about him as "a gentleman and scholar - and one of the
finest swordsmen in the Europe of his day ! "
He restored the fortunes of the Clanna Bui, becoming their Chief, gave
them lands all over Waterford, Tipperary, Cork and throughout Munster,
as they conquered the province together. Some of them may have
believed in God, but that was the limit of any beliefs they had,
Druids-gone-wild as they were by now ! But it was all blood and
battle for them, day in, day out, for years under Myler who brought in
his own ferocious clan from the North (they in turn have all served
admirably, with distinction, in the British Army to this very day !,
though they also took part in the Irish War of Independence and the
Civil War, on all sides as usual, and to really bloody effect too.
Even those who joined the catholic Church still remained fiercely
independent of Rome. Life was short and hard and they grabbed what
they could, always bartering, wheeling and dealing. But the Druid
Spirit survived in them, and survives to this day.
Another wild ancestor of mine was the famous Filidh of Thomond
(Limerick), Andrias MacCraith, called An Sugain Mongaire (The Sweet
Pedlar), not usually 'claimed' by our Clan as he was too poor ! The
Canna Bui of the MacCraith were always a proud people, whatever else
may be said about us ! We have our own way, the world never understood
us, but we always understood the world well.
The name of our Clan comes from the fact that many of us down trhough
history were of sallow complexion, thus, the name, The Clanna Bui, The
Yellow Clan !
There are many McGraths today across Ireland, America and the world
who do not know of anything of this - tell them if you meet them,
thanks.
Ar aghaidh le Drui na h-Eireann !
Michael.
