Local pride in local culture, folklore and language developed, so that customs and folk-tales that had been dismissed as quaint or irrelevant now began to feed the newly developing national literatures of Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

And there are among them composers of verses whom they call Bards; these singing to instruments similar to a lyre, applaud some, while they vituperate others. (Diodorus Siculus, Histories, 8 BC)

This gives us a span of 800 years in which organised Druidry flourished. It seems reasonable to say that when Sotion was writing the Druids could well have been in existence for at least 200 years, which gives us a time span of a thousand years, from the fourth century BC to the sixth century AD.

All these similarities do not necessarily negate the power or value of Christianity, and it is important to distinguish between the teachings of Jesus and the institutions which have arisen to spread those teachings.

In megalithic times the early Druids were probably not distinctively classed into three branches of learning. The Druid shaman would probably have been the doctor and priest and repository of tribal lore all in one.

Love of Each Other Druidry fosters the magic of relationship, of community.

Despite this, in Germany and France the availability of the classical texts resulted in a vision of their pre-Roman past that was noble rather than savage.

Love of Truth Druid philosophy is a quest for wisdom.

For each of us those dreams will be different, and yet – deep down – I believe there is also a common dream, a hope shared by most of humanity, that our lives, and the lives of all beings, become filled with purpose and meaning, rich in experience and freedom, wisdom and creativity.