Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

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66 Irish Drtiids.
man, 300 as a deer, 300 as a boar, 300 as a bird, and 300
as a salmon ;
the other was, that he was 100 years a
man, 20 a hog, 30 a stag, 100 an eagle, and 30 a fish. To
this day butterflies are spoken of as souls of some deceased
persons.
Dr. A. G. Richey, O. C, when quoting from pre-Christian
MSS., is careful to intimate that they were "not more
historically credible or useful than the Hellenic—the Tai7i
Bo than the Iliad!' He gives the wonderful adventures of
Fintan, who passed through many lives on earth, and
appeared to St. Patrick. He was for a year beneath the
waters of the Deluge, but in a fast sleep. A couple of
verses of the poem will suffice.
" I was then in Ireland,
Pleasant was my condition
When Partholon arrived
From the Grecian country in the East.
After that the Tuatha De arrived,
Concealed in their dark clouds ;
I ate my food with them,
Although at such a remote period."
Dr. H. Waddell, dealing with the Druids, points out
*'
Purification by fire for body and soul, and assimilation
thereby to the purest essence of the universe, were the
fundamental ideas of their creed—the infallible means of
the highest and most acceptable apotheosis." Rhys
remarks— " That they believed in a dominant faith and
transmigration is pretty certain."
" Irish transmigration," remarks O'Beirne Crowe, " means
the soul's passing from man into other animals—man and
all subordinate animals included. This is Irish transmigration,
called by the Greeks, transformation of one body
into another, while the Gaulish is transmigration of a soul
into the body of another human being." He adds— " But
is this transformation a Druidic doctrine } Most certainly