Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Stone- H orsliip, 2 1
have been the place where angels were waiting for the
Saint's arrival in Erin. The tooth of the Saint was a
venerated
a tooth in shape ;
on Adam's Peak in
piece of sandstone, which somewhat resembled
possibly as much as Guatama's footstep
Ceylon.
St. Columba, likewise, among the Hebrides, had a
reputation for stones. There is his Red Stone, his Blue
Egg Stone in Skye, his Blue Stone of Glen Columkillo, his
stony beds of penitence, his Lingam Stones, which worked
miracles. He was born on a stone, he was sustained in
famine by sucking meal from the Holy Stone of MoclblatJia.
There are Pillar Stones, indicating Phallic origin. That
on Tara Hill was popularly known as Bod ThcargJiais,
with especial reference to generative force. Several of
them bore names connecting them with the Tuatha as
;
the Cairtedhe CatJia TJniatha de Danann, their pillar stone
of battle. The Ship Temple of Mayo was Lcahha 7ia
Fathac, the Gianfs Bed.
The Clochoer, or gold stone, at Oriel, Monaghan County,
spoke like an oracle. So did the Lia Fail, the Ophite
Stones of old, the anointed Betyles of Sanchoniathon. It
is even reported of Eusebius, that he carried such in his
bosom to get fresh oracles from them. Mousseaux calls
some mad stones, Pliny notices moving stones. The old
Irish had their rinnbling stones. The Celtic Clacha-brath,
or judgment stojtes, must have been gifted with sounding
power.
Yet La Vega has a simple way of accounting for
these reverential objects, as— "the demons worked on
them." One may credit priests with hypnotic power, or
we may think, with a writer, that without magic there
could have been no speaking stones.
Some holy stones had curious histories. The hallowed
pillow-stone of St. Bute had been flung into the brain of