On Jul 19, 12:14Â am, Archdruid Michael McGrath of Ireland
gmail.com> wrote:> 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
>
>>> On Jul 18, 10:43Â pm, Archdruid Michael McGrath of Ireland
>
>>>> On Jul 18, 9:16Â pm, "Ruiseart agus Ceit"
>
>>>>
btinternet.com> wrote:>>>>> "Searles O'Dubhain" wrote:
>
>>>>>
>
>>>>>>In these cultures, Druidry survived within the schools and functions of the
>>>>>>Filidh (among the Gael) and the Bards (in Britain and Wales).
>
>>>>> Just as a matter of interest, the word "BÃ rd" (Bard) is GÃ idhlig (Scottish
>>>>> Gaelic) for "Poet" :)
>
>>>>> Le beannachdan,
>
>
>
>>>> Yes, Ruiseart, similarly as in Ireland among us Gael.
>
>>>> "Gaeil iad fein,
>>>> Ni Gaill na Spainnigh
>>>> Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh !
>
>>>> Chorus:
>>>> - "Oro se do bheath abhaile
>>>> Â From "Grainne Mhaol" - as you heartily can sing it !
>
>>>> 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.
>
>>>> 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". -
>
>>>> Gall, Oglaigh = Foreign, Soldiers.
>
>>>> By this time Ireland and Scotland
>>>> were beginning to grow separately
>>>> as distinct nations.
>
>>>> But a Scottish Druid
>>>> had exactly similar rights and privileges
>>>> among his counterparts
>>>> in Ireland - similarly with an Irish Druid in Scotland.
>
>>>> 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.
>
>>>> Bard, an Irish Gaelic word too,
>>>> that led to the name down trhough millenia -
>>>> MacAnBhaird = Ward, in English, today.
>
>>>> 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 !
>
>>>> Seamus was Leas Oide (Vice Principal)
>>>> of Augustine's College in nearby Dungarvan,
>>>> virtually an all-Irish College.
>
>>>> He is still recognised throughout Ireland
>>>> as one of the foremost scholars and apeakers
>>>> of the Irish Language today.
>
>>>> 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 !!!
>
>>>> 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 -
>
>>>> - Show quoted text -
>
>>> 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.
>
>>> 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".
>
>>> 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.
>
>>> 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.
>
>>> 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 ! ).
>
>>> Hope you get your heads and your mouths
>>> around all of that !
>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Michael.- Hide quoted text -
>
>>> - Show quoted text -
>
>> 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).
>
>> 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).
>
>> 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.
>
>> 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 -
>
>> - 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 ! Â 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 ! Â 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.
And to make the Clanna Bui of the maccraith even more 'dangerous' we
have many cousin-clans among the Scottish Highlander McGrath, McGraw,
MacCrae, Rae, and Ray clans... here that, Ruiseart !
