THE MAKING OF A DRUID: Hidden Teachings from the Colloquy of Two Sages

Reveals the actual teaching methods of the druids.

• Provides new insights into the vast store of knowledge every druid was expected to know--knowledge that took fifteen to twenty years of rigorous study to acquire.

• Translation of the classic Celtic text, Imcallam in da Thuarad, generally translated as The Colloquy of Two Sages.

• By eminent Celtic scholar Christian J. Guyonvarc'h, author of Magic, medecine et divination chez les Celtes (Magic, Medicine, and Divination among the Celts).

Because ancient druidic knowledge was transmitted orally, most of what has been represented as the teachings of the druids has been conjecture or fantasy. Now eminent Celtic scholar Christian J. Guyonvarc'h tears away the obscurity surrounding what the druids taught and how they taught it with his magisterial examination of the little-known Celtic text, Imcallam in da Thuarad, generally translated as The Colloquy of Two Sages.

Up to now, this text has been regarded as merely an elaborate battle of wits between two bards, a dispute centered on a younger bard's attempt to unseat an older bard's position in the court of Conchobar. Thanks to the present translation and its accompanying commentary, we now can see that this text depicts the examination by a teacher of a druidic candidate. Consequently, the reader gains valuable insight into the actual nature of druidic science and the vast store of knowledge--acquired over an arduous fifteen- to twenty-year period--necessary to become a druid. Both modern druids and Celtic aficionados alike will find The Making of a Druid a fascinating storehouse of forgotten wisdom.

Christian J. Guyonvarc'h was a professor of Celtic studies at the University of Rennes before becoming a specialist in Irish Medieval texts. He is also the author of a number of important books on druids and Celtic magic, divination, and healing. He lives in France.