When Druids Meet

(originally posted years ago to alt.religion.druid and now edited for this blog)

When Druids meet, how do they recognize one another?  

The answer to this question has many answers because there are many ways that a person can be a Druid.  In one of the few references available to us on this subject from antiquity, _The Colloquy of the Two Sages_, we can discover that some of these many ways are as follows:

1. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by detailing the truth of the inner *nature* that caused them to seek to become Druids.
2. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by providing the *traditions* of the studies that formed them into Druids.
3. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by describing their *rank* of attainment in their chosen specialties of Draíocht.
4. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by itemizing the *skills* in the art of Druids that they practice as Druids.
5.Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by outlining the *goals* that they've set for themselves as Druids.
6. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by detailing their *accomplishments* in their life as Druids.
7. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by tracing the Druidic *lineage* of their teachers.
8. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by performing *prophecy* that is inspired through imbas.
9. Druids recognize one another through inquiry and by *acknowledging truth* when they see it..

These nine points of being a Druid are clearly provided to us from the Druids of the past. I think they ably provide us with three questions that we each need to answer:

1. Can we ignore these nine points of being a Druid when we seek to be Druids ourselves?
2. Can we afford to ignore discovering them in others who say they are Druids?
3. Can we demonstrate them to the world through the truth of our own actions?

When we look for Druids among us or within ourselves, will we find the requisite nature, tradition, rank, skill, goals, accomplishments, lineage, prophecy and truth that is the mark of a Druid?  Will we be able to ask and answer the three questions of seeking, discovering and demonstrating? When Druids meet, the knowledge of tradition, experience and inquiry are each validated through the harmony of respect, openness and imbas.

(the following in answer to questions about the above lists; mainly from Erynn Laurie)

1. One would assume from this that they trade life stories?

I think what is meant here is that Druids tell one another what it was that set them on the Druid Way and describe this epiphany of choice in such a way that other Druids can identify and synchronize with it.

2. IE Talking about what they learned?

This is basically the curricula of the Druidic schools in which they've studied.

3. This strikes me as bragging.

Wouldn't you want to know the degrees that a person has as well as their experience if they were going to be your doctor or discuss other professional matters with you in a professional specialty.  Wouldn't you want to know the qualifications of your lawyer, your clergy or your doctor?

4. More bragging, but it can be done with some humility.

This might be considered itemizing their areas of specialty or it could be just an understanding of the techniques or systems that they use. In medicine, this might be reflected in asking a person if they specialized in surgery before you contracted with them for an operation.  You might want to know if your doctor practices holistic medicine vs. heavy use of drug therapies, etc.

5. Okay, this one I can see. It's like what clergy do when they get together.

I think everyone shares such goals and dreams with other people with whom they think they might like to establish a professional relationship. It's a matter of getting together with like minds who share a common dream and pulling together in the same direction.

6. Strikes me as bragging again. But once again, it can be done with some humility.

I see this more as stating the details of one's resume to fill out the overall picture and credibility of one's experience.

7. Too much like the Wiccan "you aren't a *real* Wiccan because you weren't initiated by so-and-so".

Actually, this list and process is very useful in evaluating where a person is coming from. If the teacher, school or group is already well known, the evaluation of the individual's practice as a Druid might be better understood against that background. Knowing a person is a member of Keltria, ADF or OBOD might suggest something about their overall belief structure and practice.

1. It makes me wonder if some of these nine can be used in this day and age. I can trace my Druidic lineage through about 5 people, but not any further. And what is to say that the first Druid I can trace my lineage back to was any more qualified to be called a Druid than I am? I think some intelligence needs to be exercised in using these as 'measuring sticks' for themselves and others.

If I already know the Druids of a person's lineage, I have a pretty good idea about whether or not they have credibility as a Druid through their connection to them (or to their path, group or school).

It is my hope that Druids everywhere consider intelligence to be a great measuring
stick, along with truth, intuition and awareness. Credentials are important.

2. Like I say, we need to exercise common sense. I don't object to this being used, but sense needs to be exercised.

I think that using the various ways that I've listed of evaluating anyone's claims are sensible.  What we are talking about here are credentials that are similar to what would be on any resume.

3. We probably could, but I don't think it would matter to a majority of humanity. Some of the populace would be in(t)eres(t)ed in how *real* we are, if we are ordained, and so on, but most I don't think would care. It could be demonstrated, but once again, we would look like Catholic Priests who are more concerned with proving ourselves to each other, and society, to be concerned with taking care of our "flocks". I would actually like to see some kind of measuring stick for Druids and Wiccans as well as Witches to denote who is serious about their path, and who is qualified to teach and preach, and to separate the fluff-bunnies out, but as long as there is no central authority to any of our paths, this may be a pipe dream.

It is a major focus of my work as a Druid to effectively establish credentials and other clear-cut ways of defining who and what we are as Druids. It's my great hope that much of the confusion and hoopla associated with the many who *claim* to be Druids (but who are actually something else) can be eliminated through these (and similar) efforts. That's why some of us in The Summerlands are working toward the establishment of a Druid Seminary. I suspect that is also why OBOD, Keltria and ADF have improved (and continue to improve) their training courses.  I also think that's why the Druid College of Avalon is being established. I think that we can establish centers of credibility and authority without having to have one central authority.  If we do this, I think we will be emulating the ways that the ancient Druids also established and maintained their own centers of learning and authority.

When we look at the Druid traditions, I don't think one can be too far apart from others. We can differ in terms of what we embrace in the tradition in regard to degree and point of focus.  Regarding centers of credibility and authority, anything can be misused or become off-centered.  That is why most workable systems and groups have some form of checks and balances as well as some way of self-evaluating and regulating.  How this can or is being done is worthy of another thread and further discussion. I hope that some of the more successful Druids, groups or schools out there will share what their experiences have been?

The idea behind having certification is to provide an easy means of determining credentials and capability, even relative authority.  They are not the "be all and end all" of Druidic society.  They are ways for the general public to get a grasp on what we are all about in a fairly uniform and consistent manner however. A feature of such groups should be their ability to recognize individuals who have obtained the necessary standards of excellence on their own as well as through divine inspiration.  Here (and also in the case of those who attend regular schools and training) there should be a criteria that establishes what a Druid (no matter the specialty) actually is.  That same yardstick can measure the conventional as well as the unique.  In fact, that is one reason I started this thread (to attempt to place some marks of reference on that stick). The Inis Glas Hedge School that Erynn and Lorax established and taught is an excellent example of a knowledge base that would serve as such a yardstick for traditional knowledge and some of the experiential knowledge that a Druid should be expected to have.

In ancient Ireland, an ollamh was established and recognized through a process of education, examination and installation involving other sages and ollamhs, as well as kings and chieftains. I see no reason  why we should not expect our own efforts at education and achievement to measured and established by a similar process with schools, boards and governmental recognition today.  That is how the university system works in much of the world. That's the way that I think it should work among us as well. Perhaps the members of any such board should come from the schools, the leadership of government and from those who are independently acknowledge experts in the field on some rotating basis? That way, we might minimize any one group gaining a control over the process in a restrictive manner?  How to do this in balance and fairness is a discussion and an outcome that I eagerly await.

I generally agree that there should be a list of general warning signs (about cults and false traditions) but do reserve the right to find wisdom in even the most unusual and controversial of places. This does not mean that I endorse the unusual or the controversial (or even the outright wrong) but it does mean that I think such sources can inspire us to go beyond them into realms of truth that would otherwise be ignored. Every knowledge must be evaluated and substantiated through careful research and thorough investigation.  Wisdom is found almost as often from failure as it is through success. Perhaps we should attempt to refine the list of warnings while we are also attempting to develop and produce a list of affirmations for Druids and their like?

Searles

Telgud Noe - Man-throwing

"Man-throwing" (telgud noe) in its simplest definition is the adding of the suffix "tot" to a word in Old Irish.

There's of course more to it than that. "Tot" is defined and described as the sound that a wave makes or even the sound that a man's body makes when falling on water. This is specifically an onomatopoetic sound. Now before anyone gets too confused, here's a few things that one should also know
(from dantewoo.com):

--------------------------------------------------
onomatopoetic: strictly speaking, of or relating to the formation or use of words which imitate sounds, like whispering, clang, and sizzle, but the term is generally expanded to refer to any word whose sound is suggestive of its meaning.

a.. Sidelight: Because sound is an important part of poetry, the use of onomatopoeia is another subtle weapon in the poet's arsenal for the transfer of sense impressions through imagery.

b.. Sidelight: Though impossible to prove, some philologists (linguistic scientists) believe that all language originated through the onomatopoeic formation of words.
--------------------------------------------------

In Auraicept na n-Éces, the Ogham are said to be composed of "sound and matter." They are a tool for unlocking the ways that sound and form relate to thought and perception. What this is all about is that some words or sounds mimic one another. Irish and specifically Old Irish is considered to be a very onomatopoetic language. Its sounds are primal and more closely connected to the ways that the human psyche relates to existence and Nature. That's why the Celts and the Druids believed that words had a power to create, especially when they were *true* words that had the onomatopoetic attribute. Poetry and words are then "man-throwing" when the sounds within them strike into the psyche through their close connections to the processes and effects they are describing (or manipulating).

Here's how the Auraicept describes the process (in Calder's translation):

"Fertot, its telgud noe, its flinging of a man, for *nae* is man, ut est, if a man suffer on land, i.e. the man allows suffering on him, he goes afterwards to bathe himself in the water, he lets himself down the bank, into the water, *tot* saith the wave under him, i.e., *tot* was the name of the sound which the wave makes: *tott; tott*, then, is its onomatopoetic name or mixed name from sound, ut est, the *bu* of cows, the *go* of geese: or the heavy voice the man utters dropping himself on the water. From the sounds of birth have been named *go go* in sound, or *bu bó*, i.e., *tot*: or again the man takes his garment about him from some one else. What he then says is *fertom* (i.e. give ye to me, i.e.) it serves me, *feartot* it serves thee, quoth thy companion to thee, that is a passive verb, *feartot* quoth his companion to him, this is an active verb."

English being a more artificial language than Irish, I expect that many would be unfamiliar with the power and effect of onomatopoeia in words and expression. It is an essential of the Poet's art however and one that is still studied in schools of higher learning today.

Here's links to onomatopoeic words and usages in

Japanese:
http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~etshioda/onoma.html

Irish:
http://www.mcgovernonline.com/mcgop87.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/9261/noel.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/9261/

Even examples in English:
http://personal.netwrx.net/gk/poem01.html
http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/aromine/resource_kit/onomatopoeic.htm

The key to the use of onomatopoetic words is to select those that evoke a response from the hidden self, the natural self, the inner self that hears and tastes and feels the words. It's a trip into how illusions are made and realties are structured. To write powerful poetry and to see words have an effect on those around us, even our surroundings, we must dive into the wracking, whapping waves of onomatopoetic, totting tons of tonn, toit, tuigen and tongues.

Searles

Trefocal - Three Words

In Auraicept na n-Éces, there is a tract on Poetic methods and knowledge that says of Trefocul:

…for the limbs of science are equal to the limbs of man, for there are
365 limbs of a man, 365 measures of poetry, 365 days in the year, and 365 herbs through the earth, so that the protection of the Trefocul encompasses them…

This is reminiscent to me of the tale of Airmid and Miach and their knowledge of herbs and healing.

Additionally, there is part of a poem on Trefocul in the same tract. It is about the "Laws of Barddism" (Bairdne) or the "Laws of Poetry" (Filidecht), but I think it also gives us windows into the minds and ways of the filidh and through them to the Ways of Draíocht:

Trefocul

Trefocul which poets plead
To defend their lawlessness,
Is no more than a burden of a children's part
From something, I reckon, which they understand.

Shields and pure countenances
Ward off many blemishes
As perfect Adna has devised them,
It is no profit not to turn them.

Twelve "errors" it is clear to you,
The poets must know them;
Etain has found no profit in them,
She has woven the beauty of poetry.

Twelve shields and twelve countenances
She has appointed to guard oneself against them,
The blemishes without a weak bare rhyme,
They succor them with their number.

The countenances of defense which I shall mention,
"Hardening" and "singular" that are not unsharp,
Right "ennobling", "enslaving"
The "staves of words" for true measurement.

"Interloping syllable" entire.
"Theft of a long" it is true,
"Theft of a hard" it is not wrong,
"Change of initial" for its visitation.

"Apocope of initial" ,
"doubling of initial" in front,
"Mod speech" with its modes,
It is a twelfth dear countenance,
"Prefix of gender" for reckoning it.

The shields of defense throughout the world
Are "hyperbole" and "retarding"
Ancient poets have found out those
Two "metathesis" and "internal
division."

It's "full" is not full without foundation,
Its "reduplication," its "diminutive,"
A memory to each noble old bard
Its "exaltation," its "humiliation."

I reckon "man-throwing" with venom,
And "change of final,"
"Apocope of final," it is troublesome,
"Doubling of final" of a good word.

Those are the twelve shields,
The learned are in the habit of observing them,
And the twelve countenances which have been granted,
The four and twenty divisions.

The poets that do not know this,
No back to essay poetry is on them.
How can they conceal their wrongs?
How can they ward off "errors?"

Is it one countenance or one lofty shield
Which saves from blemish each full rough,
Or the twain that are thrown around every blemish?
Not thence, from considering it, will harm arise.

Whoever he be that sings
with his understanding;
Through his intellect rough and dangerous;
It is difficult and it is troublesome
To take account of the Trefocul.

Trefocul the three words
A knowledge of its secret is very hard,
Thirty-six up to this point
Are found through its specifics of Gaelic.

A study of these concepts and the people that are mentioned this tract on Trefocul would serve each of us well in our own efforts to travel the Druid Way.

What are the levels of meaning to be found here?

How were they applied?

How can we still use them today?

I'll probably include this article in my third book of the Ogham Keys to Wisdom series, The Song of the Forest. It was originally composed and copyrighted by me in 2003 on the alt.religion druid newsgroup of Usenet and in the Bards forum of the Summerlands.

Searles

Music, Sound and Form

The Ogham were said by some to have been formed by Sound and Form (as its parents). What better child of Sound and Form would there be but Music? It is a theory of Seán Ó Boyle that the Ogham represent the notes of a Celtic harp. My thoughts on Ogham go beyond this musical notation into realms of mantra and mantic states. In this, I do not think I am far from what Alain Danielou proposed when he said in Music and the Power of Sound:

"If we were able to reproduce the exact relations that constitute the natural names, we should recreate beings, things, and phenomena, because this is the very process of creation, explained by the Vedas and also indicated in Genesis, or in the Gospel of John when the 'creative Word' is spoken of. If, however, exact relations cannot be produced, approximate relations have a power, if not of creation, at least of evocation; sound 'works now in man's small magic, just as it first worked in the grand magical display of the World Creator.' 'The natural name of anything is the sound which is produced by the action of the moving forces which constitute it. He therefore, it is said, who mentally or vocally utters with creative force the natural name of anything brings into being the thing which bears that name.' By the artificial construction of harmony we can go beyond the phenomenon of sound vibrations and perceive not sounds but immaterial relations through which can be expressed realities of a spiritual nature. We can thus lift the veil by which matter hides from its all true realities"

It is my experience that the Ogham can be used in such a way to produce altered states of consciousness and to open the doors to levels of reality. In a true language (such as Ogamic Irish) with nature words and names, there is a power to the harmony of sounds and the letters that give them birth/form. Everything has a music that is natural amd uniquely characteristic of it alone. The fundamental sounds determine the "Music of the Spheres." Each of these "spheres" can be represented by an Ogham, a note and a sound as well as a quality, an essence and a level of awareness.

For starters, the Ogham can and should be used as a means of transitioning between normal consciousness/reality and mystical/altered consciousness/reality in much the same way that Amergin does so in his poem that is sometimes known as the "Mystery." what Amergin did was to chant and to "become" a variety of mystical/magical symbols for states of being and reality in his poem of mastery over the cosmos. The Ogham characters each have at least three kenning-meanings associated with them from historical/traditional Druidic lists. These meanings can be used to form relationships to create transitions in states of being in a manner similar/parallel to the Tree of Life structure that is used in Cabala (after all, the Ogham are primordial sound/form; even trees in Druidic traditions).

The keys to doing all of this in a Druidic way are to thoroughly understand the traditions, tales and values/concepts associated with the Ogham symbols. This is really not much different from the analogous ways that other Magical systems work to establish esoteric hierarchies. Of course, some will say this is "smoke and mirrors" but to me those who say such things just display an ignorance or an avoidance of Celtic/Druidic ways when they don't put forth the work to actually understand such things. The Druidic Way is not for those who want easy/instant solutions.

Another parallel for this use of Ogham, tone and mantra/chant among Druids and the Filidh (their inheritors) is to be found in the use of Sanskrit letters, symbols, sounds and correspondences among the Brahmins and Yogis of India. In their system chant and mantra are the foundation of meditation and the pathways to enlightenment. Almost any Hindu or Vedic site on meditation or Yoga will give information similar to this found at Universal Mantra.
"The Yogis of the past, found that within our body and mind there is a vibrational activity, and this activity creates sounds. In their deep meditations they listened all this sounds and they cataloged them, they found fifty sounds, and now this sounds are the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. "

"In the tantric science of meditation this sounds are used to awaken higher stages of consciousness and they are combined together to create Mantras, special words based on this sounds."

Other sites for this sort of information can be found at: The River of Heaven which says:

"Hence the Yoga of sound is meant to take us back from our gross sounds to their idea content to the perception they represent and ultimately to the pure being behind that perception. It is not a process of merely saying sounds or thinking about words but tracing the origin of sound and meaning back to awareness itself by the power of meditation." Hence the Yoga of sound is meant to take us back from our gross sounds to their idea content to the perception they represent and ultimately to the pure being behind that perception. It is not a process of merely saying sounds or thinking about words but tracing the origin of sound and meaning back to awareness itself by the power of meditation."

Awen and Imbas

"This information could be almost anything: events from a person's past life, a detailed history of who and what had happened to an object or even how and why the subject was bespelled or enchanted. The examples that I've seen seem to suggest to me that a spontaneous flow of information and/or poetic verse might accompany the first contact that occurred between the seer and the object. This verse would then be interpreted based upon the vast storehouse of Druidic knowledge that had been accumulated through many years of study, experiment, observation and experience. It is this interpreting of the extemporaneous recital of verse that involves the act of 'cracking open the nuts of wisdom'."


Damh the Bard tells us:

"During a Druid ritual, the Awen can be intoned as a single monotone note using three syllables "Ah-oo-en" (some Druid Orders intone the three letters I. A. U. in a similar way). The power held within the Awen mantra can be used in many ways - from initiating poetic inspiration, to drawing down the blessing of the God and Goddess or evoking a change in the atmosphere of a ritual circle. It is truly a sacred word. "

So it also was and still is among Druids regarding chant and mantra for meditation. Rudimentary use of this was first attempted by Iolo Morganwyg in the Barddic Mysteries and the Barddas, when he suggested that the Awen was represented by three rays/sounds/letters (which are I A U as given above). These are the "fifth", "primary" and "third" elements in the Ogham vowel group or Ailm Aicme. In any esoteric alphabet, the letters represent primary states and tones. In the Ogham, each grouping can have a relationship to the elements/qualities as well as the directions and parts of being. A study of some of the Irish tales has suggested associations for these to me that mesh in a web of interlinking meanings as well as tonic qualities.

One practice that could come out of this use/cross-referencing of Ogham to sound, is that an entire symphony of meaning could be arranged in a melody of notes while colors, lists and other associations (like blossoms and smells) would also allow a multileveled matrix/field-like approach to any esoteric or mundane situation/ritual using the Ogham lists (which were a part of every File and Druid's education). What this means is that there is a ready sourcebook in Druidic memory and tradition for spellwork, medicine, poetry and ritual to be found in the Ogham as music, symbol, talisman and knowledge indices.

I could go on at length about this (and have in books, seminars and classes on the subject) but these few short remarks should point to the wealth of knowledge that awaits one who seeks the knowledge that is to be found along the Druid Way (and especially through the use of Sound and Form and their child which is the Ogham).

How Druids Created the World

Several years ago, I visited my imbas to see if there was a story of how the Druids created the world (as they claimed in the Senchus Mor).

Here I present a hypothetical discussion between a Druid and his student that is modeled after and based on other similar teachings regarding cosmic order and organization that exist in many Indo-European traditions. The 'Colloquy of the Two Sages' contains a similar form of esoteric questioning and answering through the art of Ogham kennings. So does the 'Cauldron of Poesy.' The model for the text of this conversation is directly based in large part on the sixth Brahmana of the Third Division of the Brhadara aranyaka Upanisad that is recorded between Gārgī Vācaknavī; (the student) and Yājñavalkya (the teacher or Sage) found at:

http://www.chibs.edu.tw/academic/projects/mukherjee-work/articles/html/1993b.htm

The following tale is what leaped out of the darkness at me:

How Druids Created the World

"Then the student asked him: 'My teacher', said she, 'since everything in Creation is woven, like warp and woof, on water (i.e. the flows of creation or the powers of the universe which are brí and bua), on what, please tell me, is water woven like warp and woof (amhail deilbh, amhail eanglaim)?'

The teacher answered, 'On the winds (gaoth), my student; on streams of water and whirlwinds (sruth bua: caise uisce, gaoth ghuairneáin).

'On what then, are the streams and winds woven?', asked the student.

'On the worlds of the open sea and the enclosed lands and the columns of the sky (an fharraige choimhthíoch is tír is Maige Tuired), my student.' answered the teacher.

'On what, then, pray, are the worlds of the open sea and the enclosed lands and the columns of the sky woven?' inquired the student.

'Not hard to say', answered the teacher, 'On the worlds of the spirits of the air, the forests, the depths and the mountains, my student. (the Sídhe)'

Next the student questioned, 'On what, then, please tell me, are the worlds of the spirits of the air, forests, the depths, and the mountains woven?'

'Easily answered, on the wheel of the Sun (Roth Grían), my student.' replied the teacher.

'On what, then, pray tell, is the wheel of the Sun woven?' was the next question put forward by the student to the teacher.

'This too is easily answered', he said, 'on the houses of the Moon (Tiath an Éasca).'

Then the student asked, 'On what, then, please tell me, are the houses of the Moon woven?'

'Ni hansa, on the plains of the Cattle of Tethra my student.' answered the teacher

'On what, then, pray, are the plains of the Cattle of Tethra woven?' inquired the student.

'On the lands of the gods (Maigh Mhór), my student?' said the teacher.

'On what, then, pray tell, are the lands of the gods woven?'

'On the Cró of Lugh, my student.', was the answer given.

'On what, then, please tell me; is the Cró of Lugh woven?'

'On the treasures of the cities of Findias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias, my student.' was the enlightened reply from the teacher.

'On what, then, pray tell, are the treasures of the cities of Findias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias woven?'

'On the powers and skills of Draíocht and the mastery of the Dagda, the God of Druids, my student.' was the steadfast answer given by the teacher.

'On what, then, please tell me, are the powers and skills of Draíocht and the mastery of the Dagda, woven like warp and woof, like Land, Sea and Wind, like Sun and Moon, like the Cattle of Tethra and the worlds of the gods?', asked the student finally.

Then the teacher, instead of answering the question directly, warned the student 'not to ask too much about things that are not easily understood but which must be experienced and mastered through training.'

This is thought to mean that the teacher did not give the answer in plain words, but through the means of kennings or by having the student learn the ways through pathworking. It is clear from the Druid's statement, as well as from other passages in the ancient wisdom, that he had Tír na Bhithbheo (Annwn, Alltar, Tír na n'Óg, Tír Andomain), the eternal Otherworld, the unknowable, sacred reality, in mind within which everything else is based, and from which, everything is sourced and reborn. Here also is to be discovered and understood the fundamental relationship existing between the different components of the three worlds, as well as the balances existing between the deities/powers of Order (i.e. the Tuatha Dé Danann) and the deities/powers of Chaos (i.e. the Fomorii/ Tuatha Dé Domnann).

Searles O'Dubhain

What's in the Cauldron?

I've resisted blogging for many years now but have finally taken hand and knife to this one. Hopefully, I won't clutter the Internet with too much dross or drivel.

Here's links and an article to what it's all about:

What is an imbas experience?There seems to be some confusion about this topic among some frequent posters to this newsgroup. It's certainly not a way to self-aggrandizement. It is however a way that one connects to the gods.That means that it is a pathway of dedication. I apologize in advance to those of you who already know what an imbas experience is.Good historical and scholarly information about imbas can be found here:

http://www.fhaoil-choin.org/imbasforosnai.htm

A short description of my personal take on imbas can be found at this URL:

http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/library/awenimba.htm

This is a part of "The Celtic Workshops" a course I taught online forseveral years:

http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/black_cauldron/workshop.htm

The Celtic Workshop is a part of "O'Dubhain's Cauldron" a Pagan Bestof the Web website which is itself a part of the Summerlands Public Library and the Summerlands itself (the website that my wife Deborah,many talented others and myself created seven years ago):O'Dubhain's Cauldron:

http://www.summerlands.com/crossroad...n/coiredub.htm

The Summerlands:

http://www.summerlands.com/

But enough about all that for now! :-)

Imbas is an experience that has been described by Druids in the past. Amergin described it in the Cauldron of Poesy materials as translated by Erynn Laurie and found at:

http://www.seanet.com/~inisglas/cop1.html

Here is different version of part of this poem:

The Cauldron of Vocation

Ar-caun Coire
nÉrmai
intlechtaib raith
rethaib sofis
srethaib imbais,
indber
n-ecnai,
ellach súithi,
sru/aim n-ordan,
indocbáil doer,
domnad
insce,
intlecht ruirthech,
rómnae roiscni...

I acclaim the
Cauldron of Érmae
with understandings of grace
with accumulations of
knowledge
with strewings of imbas,
(which is) the estuary of wisdom
the
uniting of scholarship,
the streams of splendour,
the exalting of the
ignoble,
the mastering of language,
quick understanding,
the darkening
of speech...
Attributed to Nede mac Adne and translated by Liam Breatnach

I put together a version of these texts more in line with my own imbas that stands on the shoulders of previous translations and versions:

The Three Cauldrons

Trí coiri bit en cach dúini:
coire érma, coire goriath, coire áiged.

Three Cauldrons that exist within each person: the Cauldron of Formation, the Cauldron of Vocation, and the Cauldron of Celebration.

Amergin, White Knee and the Triads of Ireland

My own existence springs forth from the Cauldron of Formation,
Which was created by the gods from the dúile;
Enlightened is each inspiration
That streams forth in my speech and from my center of being.

I am Amergin White Knee,
Ancient in years and gray of hair.
My inspirations are found within
The many forms of poetry
That are born within my Cauldron of Wisdom.

The Gods do not orient each person’s Cauldrons equally
Or fill them with the same talents and abilities:
Some are formed upside down, some tilted or upright.

Some are empty, while others are half full,
Some are filled with knowledge like Eber and Donn,
Capable of creating chants of life and death,
Through a skillful combination of words
In the power of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter,
And possessing the strength of three measures:
Double letters, long vowels and short vowels.

My Cauldron of Vocation is trained
Through a study of the arts of poetry
And sustains me through proper composition.

I sing also of the Cauldron of Knowledge
That allocates the gifts of wisdom
According to the laws of each art
And the work of each artist in general.[i]

Question: Is the root of poetical art found in a person’s body or within their soul?

Some say that it is found in the soul, since the body is brought to life by the soul. Others say that it is through the body that the skills of our ancestors are passed down to us, hence it is true to say that the source of poetical arts is within a person’s body; though in every second person it is not to be found at all.[ii]

Question: What is the root of poetical art and all knowledge?

Not hard to say. Every person is born with three cauldrons existing within them: The Cauldron of Formation, the Cauldron of Vocation and the Cauldron of Wisdom.

All people are born with their Cauldron of Formation upright, which promotes growth in the body and the learning of childhood.

Secondly, the Cauldron of Vocation is properly filled and oriented after each
person has done the work of turning it from its original position on its side.

Finally, the Cauldron of Wisdom is originally upside down in all people, and it
distributes the first gifts and aptitudes of art.

In unenlightened people, the Cauldron of Vocation is completely upside down; while it is on its side in people who practice the arts of Poetry and Barddism; for the skilled it is completely upright as is the case with the Ollúnaidh (Filidh or Doctors) and the
Draoithe (Druids). The position of the Cauldron of Vocation determines a person’s level of skill, and does not yield proficiency until it is turned by either an awareness of sorrow or the thrill of ecstasy.[iii]

Question: How many forms of sorrow will turn the Cauldron of Vocation?

Not hard to say. There are four forms of sorrow that occur within a person: longing, grief, jealousy, and a questing for the Gods; though the causes of each of these are sorrows found in the world. There are two forms of ecstasy that can turn the Cauldrons upright in a wise person: divine joy and human joy. Human joy has four forms: the union of marriage, the excellence of good health, the joy of graduation after long study in the poetical arts; joy in the experience of imbas granted by the nine hazels of wisdom of the Well of Segais, which flows in its excellence against mundane streams along the Boyne with the relentless determination like a wild boar in valor, or like a racehorse in the Sun’s splendor, at the Solstice during the
most perfect year of its endeavors. [iv]

When the Cauldron of Wisdom is turned by divine ecstasy, rather than by human joy alone, its special grace is a gift that transforms a person, who becomes both sacred and knowledgeable, so that their works include miracles, prophecies, judgments and precedents. It is these people who establish the wisdom that guides our knowledge and regulates the forms of our speech. though this knowledge comes from within a person, its truth and its power is from the Gods and originates from outside of a person.

[i] The text of the Cauldron of Poesy is all traditionally
attributed to Amergin. Several translations of the text have been done (to my
knowledge): one by P.L. Henry, one by Liam Breatnach, another by Caitlin
Matthews and still another by Erynn Laurie. Anne Power transcribed the original
text. I have studied materials from each of these translations and am offering a
combined version of them and their meanings in my own words.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid

I personally had this kind of experience after years of questing and months of sustained and dedicated meditation. It's what started me on the Druid way. It is what let me experience a connection to spirit and deity that gave me a direct personal experience of life beyond life and the reality that surrounds/touches the present reality.

Don't take my word for it or place me on a pedestal for having the experience. You can discover your own imbas that comes from the gods yet is found through an inner search. See for yourself as Cathbad told Cú Chulainn. Seeking truth and finding it for yourself is what the Druid way is allabout. That is the "Truth Against the World." That is an imbas experience. That is how you can know for yourself.

Searles O'Dubhain