Celts
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Celts. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) Magic among the Celtic peoples in ancient times was so closely identified with Druidism that its origin may be said to have been Druidic. That Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question upon which much discussion has been lavished, some authorities, among them Rhys, believing it to have been of non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin. This is to say that the earliest non-Aryan or socalled "Iberian" or Megalithic people of Britain introduced the immigrant Celts to the Druidic religion. An argument in favour of this theory is that the continental Celts sent their neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a special training at the hands of the Druids there, and there is little doubt that this island was regarded as the headquarters of the cult. The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for instance, had no Druidic priesthood. (See Rice Holmes' , Cæsar's Conquest, pp. 532-536). Cæsar has told us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous and that in them severe study and discipline were entailed upon the neophytes, the principal business of whom was to commit to memory countless verses enshrining Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this instruction was astrological and magical we have the fullest proof, and it is with these aspects of the Celtic religion alone that we have to deal in this place. The Druids were magi as they were hierophants in the same sense that the American-Indian medicine-man is both magus and priest. That is, they were medicine-men on a higher-scale, and possessed a larger share of transcendental knowledge than the shamans of more barbarous races. Thus they may be said to be a link between the shaman and the magus of mediæval times. Many of their practices were purely shamanistic, whilst others were more closely connected with mediæval magical rite. But they were not the only magicians among the Celts, for we find that magic power is frequently the possession of women and the poetic craft. The art magic of Druidism had many points of comparison with most magical systems, and may be said to have approximated more to that black magic which desires power for the sake of power alone, than to any more transcendental type. Thus it included the power to render oneself invisible, to change the bodily shape, to produce an enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and the utterance of spells and charms which caused death. Power over the elements was also claimed, as in the case of Broichan, a Caledonian Druid who opposed Saint Columbia, as we read in Adamnan's Life of that saint as follows: " Broichan, speaking one day to the holy man, says: 'Tell me, Columba, at what time dost thou propose to sail forth?"On the third day,' says the Saint, 'God willing and life remaining, we propose to begin our voyage.' 6 Thou wilt not be able to do so,' says Broichan in reply, 'for I can make the wind contrary for thee, and bring dark clouds upon thee.' The Saint says: 'The omnipotence of God rules over all things, in Whose Name all our movements, He Himself governing them, are directed.' What more need be said? On the same day as he had purposed in his heart the Saint came to the long lake of the river Ness, a great crowd following. But the Druids then began to rejoice when they saw a great darkness coming over, and a contrary wind with a tempest. Nor should it be wondered at that these things can be done by the art of demons, God permitting it, so that even winds and waters are roused to fury. " For it was thus that legions of devils once met the holy bishop Germanus in mid-ocean, what time he was sailing from the Gallican Gulf (the British Channel) to Britain in the cause of man's salvation, and stirred up dangerous storms and spread darkness over the sky and obscured daylight. All which storms, however, were stilled at the prayer of St. Germanus, and, quicker than said, ceased, and the darkness was swept away. " Our Columba, therefore, seeing the furious elements stirred up against him, calls upon Christ the Lord, and entering the boat while the sailors are hesitating, he with all the more confidence, orders the sail to be rigged against the wind. Which being done, the whole crowd looking on meanwhile, the boat is borne along against the contrary winds with amazing velocity. And after no great interval, the adverse winds veer round to the advantage of the voyage amid the astonishment of all. And thus, throughout that whole day, the blessed man's boat was driven along by gentle favouring breezes, and reached the desired haven. Let the reader, therefore, consider how great and saintly was that venerable man through whom Al- Ceremonial Magic mighty God manifested His glorious Name by such miraculous powers as have just been described in the presence of a heathen people." The art of rain-making, bringing down fire from the sky, and causing mists, snow-storms and floods was also claimed by the Druids. Many of the spells probably in use among the Druids survived until a comparatively late period, and are still in use in some remote Celtic localities-the names of Saints being substituted for those of Celtic deities, -as in Well-worship (q.v.) a possibly Druidic cultus, and certain ritual practices which are still carried out in the vicinity of megalithic structures. In pronouncing incantations, the usual method employed was to stand upon one leg, to point to the person or object on which the spell was to be laid with the fore-finger, at the same time closing an eye, as if to concentrate the force of the entire person ality upon that which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript preserved in the Monastery of St. Gall and dating from the eighth or ninth century, has preserved magical formulæ for the preservation of butter and the healing of certain diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht . These and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and Etruscan spells, and this goes to strengthen the hypothesis often put forward with more or less ability that Druidism had an eastern origin. All magical rites were accompanied by spells. Druids often accompanied an army to assist by their magical art in confounding the enemy. There is little doubt that the conception of a Druidic priesthood has descended down to our own time in a more or less debased condition in British Celtic areas. Thus the existence of guardians and keepers of wells said to possess magical properties, and the fact that certain familiar magical spells and formulæ are handed down from one gen ration to another, is a proof of the survival of Druidic tradition, however feeble. Females are generally the conservators of these mysteries, but that there were Druid priestesses is fairly certain. There are also indications that to some extent Scottish witchcraft was a survival of Celtic religio-magical practice. (See Witchcraft , Scottish in article Scotland .) 66 66 دو Amulets were extensively worn by the Celts, the principal forms in use being phallic (against the evil eye), coral, the serpent's egg "-some description of fossil. The person who passed a number of serpents together forming such an egg from their collected spume had to catch it in his cloak ere it fell to earth, and then make all speed over a running-stream where he was safe from the reptiles' vengeance. Totemic amulets were also common. (See Scotland and Ireland.) LITERATURE-H. d'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Druides et les dieux celtiques a forme d'animaux, Paris, 1906; Gomme Ethnology in Folklore, London 1892; T. R. Holmes, Cæsar's Conquest of Gaul, London 1899, Cæsar's Conquest of Britain, 1907; S. Reinach, Cultes, mythes et religions Paris, 1905; J. Rhys, Celtic Britain, London 1882; Celtic Heathendom, London 1888; C. Squire, Mythology of the ancient Britons, London, 1905.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the earliest Aryan settlers in Europe according to the common theory. to have been driven west- They appear Teutons ward by succeeding waves of , no Slavonians, and others, but there are which any means of fixing the periods at Herodoof these movements took place. the tus mentions them as mixing with dwelt round the river Ebro Iberians who in Spain. At the beginning of the hisant toric period they were the predominant ince , France, race in Great Britain, Ireland Belgium, Switzerland, northern Italy, The Romans Spain, and elsewhere. called them generally Galli, that is, appear to have Gauls or Gael. They in the reached the zenith of their power Some tribes 2d and 3d centuries B. C. of them, overrunning Greece, settled in the name a part of Asia Minor, to which finally went of Galatia was given. They power of down before the resistless with Rome, and either became absorbed cooped up the conquering races or were an in the extreme N. W. of Europe. At early date the Celts divided into two widely great branches, speaking dialects but doubtless differing from each other, One of belonging to the same stock. or Gaelic, these branches is the Gadhelic Scotrepresented by the Highlanders of the Manx; the land, the Celtic Irish, and by the other is the Cymric, represented Cornwall, and Welsh, the inhabitants of Cornish dialect those of Brittany. The is now extinct. The sun seems to have been the printhe Celts cipal object of worship among , the remarkable and groves of oak and "Druidcircles of stone commonly called worship ical Circles," their temples of . possessed All the old Celts seem to have Bards. a kind of literary order called al- The ancient Irish wrote in a rude phabet called the Ogham; later they , or the employed the Roman alphabet chief litera- Anglo-Saxon form of it. The ture existing consists of the hymns, marof Ireland tyrologies, annals, and laws , written from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The Scottish Gaelic literature extant includes a collection of manuscripts in the Advocates' Library, Edinfrom the 12th burgh, some of which date of Liscentury; the "Book of the Dean more," 16th century; a number of songs from the 17th century to the present day; and the so-called poems of Ossian. The Welsh literary remains date from ries, grammars, annals, genealogies, histales tales tories, poems, prose , etc.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
or Kelts, the earliest settlers of the white race in Europe. Before the dawn of history they appear to have been subdued, and incorporated or driven westward by succeeding waves of Germans and Slavonians. The Romans called them Gauls; they called themselves Celts. The French and Belgians are supposed to be largely of Celtic blood. At the present time, however, the term is restricted to the Scottish Highlanders, the Celtic Irish, the Manx of the Isle of Man , the Welsh, the Cornish, and the inhabitants of Brittany in northwestern France. The principal dialects are the Gaelic, the Erse, the Manx, and the Welsh. The Cornish dialect is now extinct. The inhabitants of Brittany speak a dialect very similar to that of the Welsh. The English language is indebted to the Celts for many words, as bard, basket, boisterous, brand, bugbear, pony, ribbon, tether, shamrock, flannel, mackintosh, ptarmigan, whiskey, Tory, spalpeen, brogue. The Celts are a highly imaginative people. Writers of Celtic blood have contributed largely to the bright imaginative portion of our literature. See Scotland ; Ireland ; Brittany ; Wales ; Arthur ; Boadicea ; Druids ; Barrows; Broch ; Cromlech