Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Iinsh Alagic, and Tuatha dc Dana a us. I I I
procuring answers to questions. Ciothruadh, Druid to
Cormac, of Cashel, sought information concerning a foe
after making a Druidical fire of the m}'stical mountain ash.
But he was beaten in his enchantments by IMogh Ruith, the
King of Munster's Druid, who even transformed, b\' a breath,
the three wise men of Cashel into stones, which may be
seen to this day. That he accomphshed with charms and a
fire of the rowan tree. The virtues of rowan W(K)d are
appreciated to this day in Munster, where provident wives
secure better butter by putting a hoop of it round their
churns.
Tuaths had a reputation for their abihty in the interpretation
of dreams and omens, and their skill in auguries.
Some Druids, like Mogh Ruith, could fly b\' the aid of
magical wings. It was, however, no Irishman, but ^lath,
the divine Druid, who brought his magic to Gwsdron ah
Dom, and was clever enough to form a woman out of
flowers, deemed by poetic natures a more romantic origin
than from the rib of a man. Manannan, son of a Tuath
chieftain, he who gave name to the Isle of Man, rolled
on three legs, as a wheel, through a Druidic mist. He
subsequently became King of the Fairies.
Professor Rhys speaks of the Tuatha as Tribes of the
goddess Danu ;
though the term, he says, '' is somewhat
vague, as are also others of the same import, such as
7 luU/i
Dea, the Tribes of the goddess—and Fir Dea, the men of
the goddess." He further remarks— " The Tuatha dc
Danann contain among them light and dark divnntics.
and those standing sometimes in the relation of parents antl
offspring to one another."
Massey has the following philological argument for the
Tuatha, saying :—" The Tiiaiit (Fgy.), founded (mi the
underworld, denotes the gate of worshi}). adoration ;
the
worshippers, Tiuuii ta taiian, would signif\- the place of