Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Iiish Magic and
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TuatJia dc Dauaaus. lo-
Tuatha are to be seen near the Boyne, and at Dro^c;hcda,
Dowtli, Knowth, &c.
According to tradition, this people brought into Ireland
the magic glaive from Gorias, the magic cauldron from
Murias, the magic spear from Finias, and the magic Lia
Fail or talking coronation stone from Falias ; though
the
last is, also, said to have been introduced by the Milesians
when they came with Pharaoh's daughter.
Enthusiastic Freemasons believe the Tuatha were
members of the mystic body, their supposed magic being
but the superior learning they imported from the ]^ast.
not spiritualists in the modern sense of that term, they
may have been skilled in Hypnotism, inducing others to
see or hear w^hat their masters wished them to see or hear.
When the Tuatha were contending with the h^irbolgs,
the Druids on both sides prepared to exercise their enchantments.
Being a fair match in magical powers, the
warriors concluded not to employ them at all, but have a
fair fight between themselves. This is, however, but one
of the tales of poetic chronicles ; of whom Kennedy's
IrisJi Fiction reports— " The minstrels were plain, pious,
and very ignorant Christians, who believed in nothing worse
than a little magic and witchcraft."
It was surely a comfort to Christians that magic-working
Druids were often checkmated by the Saints. When St.
Columba, in answer to an inquiry by Brochan the magician,
said he should be sailing away in three days, the other
replied that he would not be able to do so, as a contrary
wind and a dark mist should be raised to i)revcnt the
departure. Yet the Culdee ventured forth in the teeth of
the opposing breeze, sailing against it and the mist. In
like manner Druid often counteracted Druid. Thus, three
Tuatha Druidessess,—Bodhbh, Macha, and Mor Kcgan,—
brought down darkness and showers of blood and fire upon
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