Similar burial sites have been found in Denmark, Bohemia and across the Alpine countries to the Balkans. A large number are the graves of Celtic princesses who were buried with the same elaborate care and adorned with exquisite jewellery reflecting their equal status in Celtic society. The Hallstatt period marks the spread of Celtic settlements right across Europe and confirms their emergence as an embryonic nation whilst other races maintained tribal boundaries and alliances within their own countries. These Celts can claim to be the first Europeans. The Assyrians were known to have employed Celtic or Keltoi mercenaries in their armies and this factor may be related to the funerary relics found at Hallstatt. Assyria was an ancient kingdom in north Mesopotamia and had an empire stretching from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, reaching its greatest extent between 721 and 633 BC. While these Celts evolved their culture along the upper reaches of the River Danube, spreading into Europe over land, there were equally ancient Celtic settlements at Massilia, now the port of Marseilles.
A further migration route into Europe is marked by other Celts known as the Milesians who took the coastal route, stopping off in southern France and northern Spain before finally settling in Ireland in about 1000 BC and spreading into the British Isles. The Danaan people, their remote ancestors, had, however, preceded them in reaching the Western Isles between 1450 and 1500 BC, having stopped off in Denmark and founded settlements there. Both can also claim their more ancient title as ‘the people of the sea’.
Celtic place names and artefacts have been found as far away as India, Indo-China and Japan. The link with India and its ancient Vedic religion is particularly significant regarding the Celtic belief in reincarnation or the transference of the soul into another physical body. The Vedic religion was said to have been introduced into India by the Aryans who first settled in the Indus river tributaries of northern India. It is known that the Aryans were tall, fair-skinned blondes and their arrival from the west is dated between 1500 and 1000 BC, which corresponds with the dispersal of the Danaans and other Aegean people during the Syrian invasions. Other sources put it at an earlier date.
The Vedic religion greatly evolved during this period from a belief in nature gods to a belief in different manifestations of the ‘One’ who was finally called Brahman. As a religious belief system known as Brahmanism, its devotees could win a place in paradise by means of moral behaviour and offerings to their three male gods, Vishnu, Shiva and Krishna who each had their own female consort. The search for the highest knowledge was the knowledge of Brahman, which entailed many reincarnations of the soul. It closely resembles the same druidic belief that the soul journeyed through many different lifetimes seeking enlightenment so it could be finally released from its earthbound existence. Though there were cultural differences, the Celtic and the Brahman social structures both operated through a warrior-class aristocracy. There is also an interesting comparative note regarding the migration route of the Celts.
Vedic mystics believed that the Earth itself is surrounded by its own Prana which relates to the magnetic field, but also forms the etheric substance surrounding the Sun which relays it to Earth through rays of light as spiritual teachings. Ether is a hypothetical medium believed to fill all space and support the electromagnetic waves surrounding Earth. The Vedics believed that through this flowing and integrated substance all the planets move around the Sun. These channels of energy were known as ‘Tattvic Tides’ and are attributed to the axial movement of the Earth as it moves around the Sun causing currents to flow from east to west. The druids called them ‘Wouivres’ or invisible wandering dragon energies that flowed through the surface of the Earth and crossed at special places and formed map references for their migrations.
Today they are known as leylines and many books have been written on this subject. The Aboriginal people of Australia still walk their dream paths or ancient song-lines to honour the spirit of the land, a ritual originated by their nomad ancestors who trekked across vast deserts without the aid of a compass.
When the Celts migrated to Europe, they may have been following a similar map reference because they maintained a steady north-westerly direction towards the Western Isles which they believed was the home of their gods. They also retained this eastern philosophy and religion and it remained uniquely Celtic because it was never adopted by other early Europeans, including the Greeks and Romans.
The Vedic poems of Rama were collected by Valmiki, a figure almost as shadowy as Homer. One of the epic poems relating to the Goddess Sita during her years of lonely exile is not unlike Homer’s epic Iliad. Sita also resembles the Egyptian Isis and Vedic mythology has parallel versions in Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian myths – as well as Celtic.
The following introductory chapter reveals how the Celtic priests or druids absorbed a great deal of astronomical knowledge and religious belief during their many travels around the ancient world, upon which they founded their lunar zodiac and its eightfold calendar year.
Two Schools of Astronomy
EGYPTIAN AND MESOPOTAMIAN GODS
There were two schools of astronomy operating and evolving in ancient Egypt, which was really a battle for supremacy between a solar or lunar year calendar that synchronized with a star map or zodiac. This division of thought was basically an attempt at solving the mystery of whether life and natural phenomena had a male or female origin. It was also a fundamental issue regarding an accurate seasonal reference for agricultural purposes. Their astronomical observations later formed the basis of druidic starlore and its associated religious beliefs that centred upon the eight-fold druidic year and a thirteen-lunar-sign zodiac.
The early Egyptian astronomer priests had been integrating their astronomy and religious beliefs with a Mesopotamian source since around 5400 BC. Mesopotamia was a neighbouring region of south-west Asia centred on the middle reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and reckoned by archaeologists to be the site of several of the most ancient civilizations – the Sumerians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. Prior to this date, around 6400 BC, Egypt was invaded by a race of people coming from the south who were Moon and tree worshippers of Osiris, Thoth and Knonsu, with the exception of a Sun god called Chnemu. They found a population worshipping Ra and Atmu, who were Sun gods identified with the rising and setting Sun.
The southern invaders brought with them a lunar year of 360 days and, though Osiris remains a Moon god, the axis of their temples determined the Sun’s place at the Autumnal Equinox and the start of their New Year. This factor suggests the invading people from the south came from a country below the equator where the seasons are reversed – central or southern Africa. The Mesopotamian people who invaded Egypt in around 5400 BC came from the north-east, Red Sea area and founded temples at Redisieh and Denderah. Others appeared to have come over the land isthmus and founded temples at Annu and introduced the worship of Anu and the divine dynasty of Set.
Their temples were aligned with Draco, the Dragon constellation, and their religious beliefs were also associated with Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and the northern star Capella – all circumpolar stars. The Egyptians at that time believed that circumpolar stars represented the powers of darkness associated with the Underworld Kingdom of the Dead, for they were always visible at night and never appeared at sunrise. Astronomically speaking, circumpolar stars never rise and set, but can move around the celestial pole during the precession of the equinoxes, which is basically what the ancient Egyptians were observing at this time.
The evolving Osiris and Set myth corresponds with the displacement of Ursa Major by Draco, which the early Egyptians had always referred to as ‘the Mother of Time’ because it was their earliest observation of a group of stars that appeared to have a fixed position in the sky. Osiris therefore became displaced for a time,