Re: Druids and more ? ... TopazOwl Sun Jan 31 23:54:10 1999 Jehana wrote,*br*: I know that Druids and Bards were concerned with various *br*: matters of the spiritual nature, and in the search for their *br*: own types of knowledge. What about the Ovates (which I've *br*: seen spelled in various ways) -- what were they about? *br*: Fortunetelling and prophecy, yes, but was there more? *p* It is my understanding that the Irish had a special word for their Seers: fláith. I believe them to be a rough equivalent to the Latinized Continental Ovate. It is the Seer's responsibility to understand the mysteries of death and rebirth, to transcend time, to converse with the Ancestors who are the repository of tribal wisdom. It was the Seer that was most like the shaman in Druidic tradition, who consulted the Ancestors and travelled to the Otherworld for guidance on behalf of the people.*p* Strabo said that the Vate was concerned with divination and natural philosophy. *p* The early Druids were probably not so distinctly classified into these branches; rather, one Druid was probably also the Bard and Ovate. Even today you will see these specialties overlapping or present within the same Druid. There is also an overlap between the skills of the fláith and the fili (poet-seer) in the Irish tradition.*br*It seems that the filidh were more than bards. Concerning the differences between the fili and the fláith: I think the approach was different, but the results were often the same. It could perhaps merely be a difference in inborn talent that determined the path of training and resultant title.*p* I believe the Seer also is/was a healer, understanding as she does the relationships between life and death (natural law), the nature of time, and the ways of the Otherworld. Herbcraft and tree lore would be within her specialty, and this would coincide with Strabo's assertion about "natural philosophy." In this way she is closely tied to the Land and the Nature Spirits.*p*: And were there other categories of Celt who held and passed *br*: on knowledge to their students, to those who came after *br*: them? *p* That was generally the way most things were continued; almost everyone had an apprentice if they had a particular trade, and often the apprentice was a blood relative. Smiths, storytellers, brehons, craftspeople...most vocations of skill were hereditary. :-)*p*Leigh*p* Druids and more ? ... Jehana 350 Sun Jan 31 19:39:37 1999