The spells presented herein offer no
obstacles to their use in AD&D®
games.
They are demonstrations of the druid's
power over the natural environment, as
most of the druidic
spells in the PH are. However, in putting together
this list, it seemed wise to round out
the
druid's spell capabilities by also including
a
set of ceremonial spells, as Len Lakofka
did for the cloistered cleric NPC in <Nun/Friar>
DRAGON® issue #68 and for clerics
in <Ceremony>
general in DRAGON issue #58. Some
PCs <Ceremony>
are unlikely to be interested in such
things: Of what use are they in your basic
adventure? Yet the working druid in his
community would be expected to perform
such ceremonies every year.
Little is actually known of the ancient
Celtic
religion. The Celts flourished
around the second century B.C., and most
of the writers who commented on them
before their absorption into other cultures
were very prejudiced (Julius Caesar, for
example). What little we can pin down
comes primarily from Irish and Welsh
sources, and even they are not particularly
reliable. Then, too, there is a world of
difference even between the Irish and the
Welsh perspectives (just ask one of them),
and even on those points where they
agree, the insular Celts of the British
Isles
cannot be taken as exemplars of the great
Celtic civilization of the European mainland.
One is left to follow one's fancy as to
who is more representative or which
makes for a better fantasy model.
Even the facts that we have are sometimes
a bit awkward for building a druidic
sect within a fantasy setting. Legends
&
<DEITIES & DEMIGODS,
Celtic
Mythos>
Lore and the Encyclopedia
Britannica
offer the same list of four major Celtic
festivals and agree on their dates: Samain,
November 1; Imbalc, February 1; Beltane,
May 1; and, Lugnasad, August 1. It might
work better, however, to connect AD&D
game druids to a solar calendar, such as
the one used by the Neolithic culture that
built a number of prehistoric structures
like STONEHENGE.
In that case, the 4
main festivals should coincide with the
winter solstice,
vernal (spring) equinox,
summer solstice, and autumnal equinox.
Calendars change from culture to culture
and from age to age, but the dates given
for the Celtic festivals are a good month
away from the equinoxes and solstices.
They do not match the agricultural seasons
well, either.
Due to a lack of expertise upon which to
build a thoroughly authentic system, the
following changes to the information given
in Legends & Lore
are suggested. Imbalc, <DEITIES &
DEMIGODS, Celtic Mythos>
which seems to deal with the lambing
season (mid-winter), would be identified
with Yule Night itself (around December
22 or 23 on our calendar). Beltane is a
solar festival which belongs at the vernal
equinox (around March 22 or 23); it should
be placed there or at the first
full moon
following the equinox Lugnasad was the
time of the great Tailteen Fair, and its
garlands belong with Midsummer Night
(June 22 or 23). Samain was the end of
the
harvest, and would best be placed at the
time of the harvest
moon, which is the
moon nearest
to the autumnal equinox
(September 22 or 23); for consistency's
sake, this date could be placed at the
first
full moon
following that equinox. These
suggestions form the basis of most of what
is presented in the ceremonial spells.
Human..sacrifices
are not dealt with in
these spells. For the most part, the ceremonial
spells related to the seasons use
offerings of milk,
cattle and fire, garlands,
and 1st fruits and fire. It would be reasonable
to assume that animals would be
used in appropriate offerings at these
times and others. The subject of human
sacrifice, however, should be left up to
the
DM. If the DM's Celtic-style culture goes
for such things, that's fine. In my campaign,
only certain druids perform human
sacrifices, and only in the less civilized
realms of society. As noted in Legends
& <DEITIES & DEMIGODS,
Celtic
Mythos>
Lore, if human sacrifices
are performed,
condemned criminals will be used.
What follows is a list of 21 new druidic
spells, some of which are reversible.
Descriptions, areas of effect, and other
pertinent information are included in each
spell listing.
1st
Ferment +
Find Water
+
Hibernate +
Nectar +
2nd
Ceremony: Witness
+
3rd
Ceremony: Spring
+
Snapdragon
+
4th
Ceremony: Summer +
Decompose +
Effervescence +
Rainbow +
5th
Ceremony: Autumn +
Fertilize +
Geyser +
6th
Blossom +
Ceremony: Winter +
Control lycanthropes +
Decay +
Otherworld +
7th
Call Hunt +
Ceremony: Anoint +
| Spells | - | Dragon 122 | - | Dragon |