Druid
/ˈdruːɪd
/noun
1A priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion.Knocking on wood is meant to bring good luck by enlisting the support of spirits who according to the ancient pagans Druids, lived in trees....
- Indeed there are various stories and legends, which convey a sense of peace and harmony between the first Christian settlers in Britain and the Druids, the Celtic priesthood.
- The Druids would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing.
1.1A member of a present-day group claiming to represent or be derived from this religion.The god of this world is worshipped by many Wiccans, Witches, Druids, other Neo-Pagans, and even theistic and spiritual Satanists....
- No wonder they are highly thought of by Druids and Pagans.
- As Wiccans, Druids, conscious Pagans and Medicine Women we're each and every one of us teachers, intentionally setting examples and sharing the lessons and insights of our lives.
Derivatives
Druidic
/ adjective ...- Hence the Celtic designs on Irish crosses that closely resembled Druidic glyphs or Haitian Voodoo rituals that fuse the worship of Catholic saints with that of African Loas.
- Captain Britain wasn't an ersatz copy of an American hero any more; the authors interpolated him into a more densely-realised realm of Druidic myths.
- Mistletoe, however, was not tolerated by the church, for it was long associated with Druidic pagan rites, including links to human sacrifice.
Druidical
/ adjective ...- On one of the hills on the estate is a monolith known as St Augustine's stone, which is said to have been in some way connected with Druidical worship, while Drewton itself is a corruption of the name ‘Drewid's Town’.
- My paternal Grandfather was a follower of Druidism, in fact, highly placed in Druidical circles in the last century.
- I felt as if I had stumbled back several millennia into some distant Druidical ritual.
Druidism
/ noun ...- Actually there was a body of popular superstitions and observances which came from a deeper and older source than Druidism, and was destined to long outlive it.
- If Druidism winds up being the true faith I don't want to have to explain why I ever kicked a tree.
- As I have pointed out, such a philosophy - animism - is not dissimilar to the beliefs of Druidism, which is a set of religious beliefs from Western Europe and Britain around the time of the life of Christ.
Origin
From Latin druidae, druides (plural), from Gaulish; related to Irish draoidh 'magician, sorcerer'.