> "Tom" comcast.net> wrote in message
>
> news:gv-dneMMHORypxrVnZ2dnUVZ_uLinZ2d@comcast.com...
>
>
>

>> "Searles O'Dubhain" wrote in message
>>news:W-KdnbeEbY-NjRrVnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d@comcast.com...

>

>>> Simply put; Druids teach that:

>

>>> One should honor the gods,

>

>> Which gods?  How are they honored?

>
> These gods:
>
> According to Raymund Karl:
>
> "THE NAMES OF THE CELTIC GODS
>
> Well, I already mentioned that we have over threehundred names for
> Celtic gods. Lugos, Toutatis, Taranis, Cernunnos, Esus, Sequana,
> Brigantia, Epona, Matrona, Noreia, Eriu, Govannon, Belenos, Mabon and
> so on. It has been, for a long time, considered that the Celtic
> pantheon was regionally split up, that Noreia was a tribal godess for
> the Norici, Sequana a tribal godess for the Sequani, Eriu a tribal
> godess for the Erenn. This also seems to be true, but only to a
> certain extent. As far as we can say by now, the Celtic gods had a
> lot of variants, the most we can find here are local but it is also
> possible that some were functional. This is nothing surprising in
> fact, if we look at other IE pantheons we find that most gods in most
> pantheons have numerous, local and functional, bynames and names. The
> Greek god Zeus had multiple names, as is true for all the other greek
> gods. Iuppiter is also known to us as Dispater, and under numerous
> other names. The Hindu gods all have multiple names. The same is true
> for the Germanic gods. And if we look at the gallo-roman inscription
> in which most of the Celtic god names have been brought down to us we
> find, not really surprising, that Mars is mentioned with over 50
> Celtic godnames, as Mars Toutatis, Mars Ambiorix and others, while
> Apollo is going along with Grannos, Belenos and others, while Taranis
> and others are atrributed to Iuppiter.
>
> Given this, it is most likely that the names of the Celtic gods that
> came down on us, are, for the most part, the local and/or functional
> bynames of gods whose "real" names probably were kept secret or which
> blend in with the bynames. Only two gods can be identified almost
> everywhere, being the god Lugos (Irish Lugh, Welsh Llew), whose name
> we find from Spain to Germany and probably even further east, and the
> mother godess (matrona), of which we know her functional name, i.e.
> mother, (old Gaulish matrona, Welsh Modron), and to which a number of
> the female names we have can be atrributed (Sequana, Noreia,
> Brigantia and probably as well Eriu and Boand, and additionally we
> have some "mother godesses of places" like the Matronae Lugdunensis or
> the Matronae Treverorum). "
>
> Alexei Kondratiev has a slightly different take on the gods:
>
> "The "intertribal" divinities are too numerous to discuss fully in this
> article but we can list the main ones. One can see them going in and out of
> "fashion" during the Iron Age, with some gaining in prominence while others
> fade away (exactly like what we see happening in Hinduism after the Vedic
> period). I'll use the names of the 'interpretatio Romana', not because I
> think the Romans had the right idea, but because they're consistent! ...
>
> The Celtic "Minerva". Because in Celtic thought goddesses are primarily seen
> as sources of energy (equivalent to the Hindu concept of 'shakti'), the
> distinctions between them tend to blur and to be less clear-cut than in the
> case of the gods, as many writers on the subject have remarked. But the one
> that represents all forms of energy and provides them not only to the growth
> functions in the Land but to all forms of human activity and creativity is
> usually well characterised. Her name usually contains the element 'brig'
> ("high, exalted, rising, energetic") although it can take other forms as
> well. Her animals are the cow and the oystercatcher (and by extension all
> things in nature that are black, white, and red). Her flower is the
> dandelion. Her experience with marriage and childbearing is usually unhappy
> (as with most Indo-European "culture goddesses"), so she is often portrayed
> as a "virgin". "
>

>>> Do no evil,

>

>> What is evil?

>
> Evil is anything that violates honor, breaks a law or is against the codes
> of living (usually expressed in the traditional tales though also codified
> in the Brehon Laws among the Irish). Evil is usually said or known as "not
> good" or "against good."  Turning left has taken on the attribute of "evil"
> at times since it is against "right."
>

>>> Act in a correct manner at all times.

>

>> What is the correct manner?

>
> The correct manner is exemplified in a body of over 350 tales and about 12
> volumes of law in the Irish traditions.
>

>>> They also acknowledge that truth is the central power behind everything.

>

>> What is this alleged central power which you claim as the truth?

>
> Truth is simply what is, what was and what can be (all without illusion and
> according to the sense, thought and a sense of being right).
>

>>> This is all summed up in the motto:

>

>>> "The Truth Against the World"

>

>> That sounds a lot more like truthiness than truth.  How can truth be
>> against the world?  A true belief is one that describes how things really
>> are. Shouldn't truth support the world rather than antagonize it?   On the
>> other hand, truthiness is a belief held in spite of evidence, not because
>> of it. So truthiness is often against the world.

>
> Truth is what is held in spite of the spin the world might attempt to place
> on a matter.
>
> How things really are is usually not as they seem. A favorite saying of mine
> is from a person in the tales who was buried for two weeks and then dug up.
> He was found to be alive. When asked about the afterlife, he said"It is not
> as we've been told it is." On hearing this, he was reburied for fear his
> knowledge would result in society being overturned. I say let it be as it is
> and live with it.
>
> Searles O'Dubhain