The Golden Sickle: An Introduction to Contemporary Druidry - Adam Anczyk

In the ancient sources, Druids are presented both as philosophers and sages who “likewise discuss and impart to the youth many things respecting the stars and their motion, respecting the extent of the world and of our earth, respecting the nature of things, respecting the power and the majesty of the immortal gods.” (Caesar, De bel. Gal., VI, 14), and on the other hand, as blood sacrifcers of a religion in which „to murder a man was to do an act of the greatest devoutness, and to eat his flesh was to secure the highest blessings of health.” (Plinius Secundus, Nat. Hist., XXX, 4). Throughout its history, the Druid myth has undergone many transformations; the information on the alleged blood sacrifices passed by the ancients authors with time became forgotten, and the image of a Druid as a philosopher and expert on nature and its secrets stepped to the foreground.