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FOREWORD

‘A People of the Sea’

There has always been a strange mystique surrounding the Celts, regarding the origins of their race. The ancient Egyptians had referred to them as Kheftiu, ‘a people of the sea’, and they were identified with a confederacy of Cretan mariners-turned-pirates long before ancient Crete’s Minoan Empire was finally destroyed in about 1100 BC. This confederacy, or alliance, included the kinsfolk of the peoples who overran this ancient Bronze Age civilization; among them were the fierce Shardana and Danauna – the reputed ancestors of the Celts. They were later employed as mercenaries in the Pharaoh’s army and had no scruples about fighting their own Aegean kinsmen, who called them the ‘Keltoi’.

This name is believed to be the same title that the Celts used to refer to themselves in order to distinguish one another from the many thousands of displaced peoples seeking new homes in the Aegean, Asia Minor, Phoenicia and Egypt due to the ongoing invasions from Syria. This was a time when a great intermingling of bloodlines and different religious beliefs and cultures took place. Though the Celtic languages belong to a branch of the Indo-European languages, there is a North African origin found in the surviving Celtic languages preserved in their syntax or grammatical arrangement of words. There are four groups of North African languages: Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic and Chadic, with the Celtic syntax being especially related to the Egyptian. While this confirms a cultural link between the ancient Celts and Egyptians there could be another explanation.

According to Robert Graves, a Greek scholar, the Celts’ ancestors were Pelasgian, a pre-Hellenic matriarchal people who occupied mainland Greece and the Aegean isles long before the patriarchal tribes, known as the Achaeans, invaded Greece from the northern region. Pelasgian is a term used by historians when referring to all pre-Hellenic Neolithic people who came originally from Libya by way of Palestine in about 3500 BC. These people were believed to have founded Athens and Delos, and the Crete Minoan Empire, but they adopted the name Danaans after founding Argos in around 1750 BC. A few centuries later the Egyptians referred to them as the Danuana. Both names, meaning ‘the children of Dana or Danu’, came about because they worshipped a great Mother goddess called Dana.

The Greek connection is further amplified in the writings of the sixth-century Greek historian, Hecateus, who was apparently fascinated by the Celts and wrote about them in some detail. He also referred to them as the Keltoi and said they were a people who occupied the lands north of Massilia (southern France) and along the Danube and the furthermost Western Isles across the sea from Gaul beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). While naming the northern European Celtic tribes such as the Galatians and Helvetii who occupied France and Switzerland, he referred to the Celts who lived in the Western Isles as Hyperboreans, for they occupied a land where the North Wind resided, the name being synonymous.

The land of the Hyperboreans was the reputed birth place of Apollo’s mother, Leda, who became immortalized in Greek myth as ‘The Cygnus’ or the White Swan constellation. More importantly, he mentions that these people had an ancient kinship with the Athenians and Delian (Delos) Greeks. This Greek connection reveals an ancient kinship with the Celts and endorses the astrological link associated with Greek and Celtic archetypal gods, who also represented astronomical principles.

This factor may explain the Celtic alliance with Alexander when he pursued his dreams of conquest into Persia and Egypt. They held his western borders against the Etruscans and Phoenicians who were ancient enemies of the Greeks and Celts.

The migration of the Celts from the ancient world had obviously taken many different routes over a long period of time. The Hallstatt period, which derives its name from a burial site in Austria dated 770 BC, is a geographical checkpoint in the history of Celtic culture. A Celtic warrior was found there, buried in a Chinese silk tunic and adorned with a flower garland. From his remains he was over six feet tall and of strong build; his warrior status was reflected in the rich burial finery, which included a fine iron sword with a gold hilt and superb bronze horse bridle. The decorations, while reminiscent of Mycenaean and Persian art, were early examples of skilled Celtic smiths, whose designs were less formal and epitomized the free spirit of the Celts and their affinity with nature.

Similar burial sites have been found in Denmark, Bohemia and across the Alpine countries to the Balkans. A large number are the graves of Celtic princesses who were buried with the same elaborate care and adorned with exquisite jewellery reflecting their equal status in Celtic society. The Hallstatt period marks the spread of Celtic settlements right across Europe and confirms their emergence as an embryonic nation whilst other races maintained tribal boundaries and alliances within their own countries. These Celts can claim to be the first Europeans. The Assyrians were known to have employed Celtic or Keltoi mercenaries in their armies and this factor may be related to the funerary relics found at Hallstatt. Assyria was an ancient kingdom in north Mesopotamia and had an empire stretching from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, reaching its greatest extent between 721 and 633 BC. While these Celts evolved their culture along the upper reaches of the River Danube, spreading into Europe over land, there were equally ancient Celtic settlements at Massilia, now the port of Marseilles.

A further migration route into Europe is marked by other Celts known as the Milesians who took the coastal route, stopping off in southern France and northern Spain before finally settling in Ireland in about 1000 BC and spreading into the British Isles. The Danaan people, their remote ancestors, had, however, preceded them in reaching the Western Isles between 1450 and 1500 BC, having stopped off in Denmark and founded settlements there. Both can also claim their more ancient title as ‘the people of the sea’.

Celtic place names and artefacts have been found as far away as India, Indo-China and Japan. The link with India and its ancient Vedic religion is particularly significant regarding the Celtic belief in reincarnation or the transference of the soul into another physical body. The Vedic religion was said to have been introduced into India by the Aryans who first settled in the Indus river tributaries of northern India. It is known that the Aryans were tall, fair-skinned blondes and their arrival from the west is dated between 1500 and 1000 BC, which corresponds with the dispersal of the Danaans and other Aegean people during the Syrian invasions. Other sources put it at an earlier date.

The Vedic religion greatly evolved during this period from a belief in nature gods to a belief in different manifestations of the ‘One’ who was finally called Brahman. As a religious belief system known as Brahmanism, its devotees could win a place in paradise by means of moral behaviour and offerings to their three male gods, Vishnu, Shiva and Krishna who each had their own female consort. The search for the highest knowledge was the knowledge of Brahman, which entailed many reincarnations of the soul. It closely resembles the same druidic belief that the soul journeyed through many different lifetimes seeking enlightenment so it could be finally released from its earthbound existence. Though there were cultural differences, the Celtic and the Brahman social structures both operated through a warrior-class aristocracy. There is also an interesting comparative note regarding the migration route of the Celts.

Vedic mystics believed that the Earth itself is surrounded by its own Prana which relates to the magnetic field, but also forms the etheric substance surrounding the Sun which relays it to Earth through rays of light as spiritual teachings. Ether is a hypothetical medium believed to fill all space and support the electromagnetic waves surrounding Earth. The Vedics believed that through this flowing and integrated substance all the planets move around the Sun. These channels of energy were known as ‘Tattvic Tides’ and are attributed to the axial movement of the Earth as it moves around the Sun causing currents to flow from east to west. The druids called them ‘Wouivres’ or invisible wandering dragon energies that flowed through the surface of the Earth and crossed at special places and formed map references for their migrations.

Today they are known as leylines and many books have been written on this subject. The Aboriginal people of Australia still walk their dream paths or ancient song-lines to honour the spirit of the land, a ritual originated by their nomad ancestors who trekked across vast deserts without the aid of a compass.

When the Celts migrated to Europe, they may have been following a similar map reference because they maintained a steady north-westerly direction towards the Western Isles which they believed was the home of their gods. They also retained this eastern philosophy and religion and it remained uniquely Celtic because it was never adopted by other early Europeans, including the Greeks and Romans.

The Vedic poems of Rama were collected by Valmiki, a figure almost as shadowy as Homer. One of the epic poems relating to the Goddess Sita during her years of lonely exile is not unlike Homer’s epic Iliad. Sita also resembles the Egyptian Isis and Vedic mythology has parallel versions in Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian myths – as well as Celtic.

The following introductory chapter reveals how the Celtic priests or druids absorbed a great deal of astronomical knowledge and religious belief during their many travels around the ancient world, upon which they founded their lunar zodiac and its eightfold calendar year.