THE LEDI LOGO 

LEDI has chosen as its logo the Celtic dragon, a legendary symbol of wisdom and strength. In Celtic mythology, the dragon himself symbolizes "the circle of infinity and eternity, representing cyclical evolution", certainly the essence of what is happening with electronic documents in our profession today.  In addition, the presence of a dragon traditionally indicates a gathering spot for knowledge and a confluence of positive energy that influences all around it, the goals LEDI hopes to accomplish in this field.

(LEDI would like to thank Lisa Travillian for her generous donation of time and effort for the LEDI logo. She is available to assist you with all your graphic design work. She can be reached at dazine@comcast.net.) 

CELTIC DRAGONS

Dragons are widely accepted as a part of Irish folklore and were an important part of Celtic mythology. In the world of Celtic chiefs and warriors, dragons were symbols of the power of the chief and indeed the Celtic word for "chief" is “pendragon” or Head Dragon, a name immortalized in fiction by Uther, the father of King Arthur.

But in the esoteric world of Celtic mythology, there is no more powerful symbol than dragons.  The Celts believed dragons actually influenced the land and areas frequented by dragons were believed to possess special power. Regular dragon paths could become ley lines and to the ancient Celts, the "ley of the land" was a term describing how cosmic forces flowed through and influenced the area, as well as how the area itself affected those forces and dragons were thought to have a tremendous influence on the "ley of the land", hence the term "dragon lines".

The ancient Druids believed the Earth itself was like the body of a dragon, and they built their sacred stone circles, such as Stonehenge, upon the "Power Nodes" of this body. They believed dragons connected them with the Earth's magnetism and healing waters. For as well as the earth, Celtic dragons were strongly associated with water. Many Celtic dragons are forms of sea serpents and often pictured with their tails in their mouths, similar to the Norse Jormungandr or the African Amphisbaena, a circular symbolism believed to represent the cyclic nature of the world and immortality. 

In this respect, Celtic dragons differ dramatically from their Chinese counterparts. The Chinese dragon represents "yang", the masculine, solar force while to  the notoriously egalitarian Celts (see Short History of the Celts below) they  are one of the oldest symbols of female power, since both seemed to embody the power of life. The serpent is the symbol of re-birth, shedding its old skin and re-emerging in the spring from the winter's hibernation seeming to be immortal.  The coiled serpent with its tail in it's mouth is a circle of infinity and eternity, representing cyclical evolution and re-incarnation.

Unfortunately most of these ancient meanings were affected by the arrival of Christianity.  The dragon became a symbol of evil and the devil and Irish dragons were almost universally portrayed as evil satanic beasts.  Indeed the legend of Saint Patrick holds that when he had finished ridding the country of snakes he went on to imprisoning the serpents and dragons.

DRAGONS

Dragons are a virtually universal ancient motif and are found in the early literature and art of cultures from ancient Babylonia, Egypt and China to more modern Greco-Roman, Celtic and Scandinavian people as well as indigenous societies as diverse as Polynesia and Native Americans. The Egyptians wrote of the dragon Apophis, enemy of the sun god Re. The Babylonians recorded their belief in the monster Tiamat. The Norse people wrote of Lindwurm, guardian of the treasure of Rheingold, who was killed by the hero Siegfried and the Scandanavian hero Beowulf also fought dragons. The Aztecs' plumed serpent represented a hybrid in their thought between a dragon and another creature and the priests of Quetzalcoatl referred to themselves as of the race of the Dragon. The pottery of ancient Nazca culture of Peru shows a cannibal monster much like a dragon. 

Dragons are among the ghost-gods of the ancient Hawaiians. Known as mo-o and kupuas, they live in pools or lakes and could appear as animals or human beings according to their wish. The indigenous Maori people of New Zealand believe that dragons, including the legendary Taniwha, hide in deep pools, rivers and lakes, acting  as environmental guardians which appear when sites are threatened by modern development.  Even the Aborigines of Australia have stories of creatures like dragons. 

The First Nations of North America also have legends of water dwelling dragons. Lake Sashwap in British Columbia is believed to be home to the dragon Ta Zam-A, and Lake Cowichan to Tshingquaw. In Ontario, Lake Meminisha is the reputed home of a fish-like serpent feared by the Cree Indians. Angoub is the legendary Huron dragon and Hiachuckaluck the dragon believed in by the Chinooks.  Among the U.S. Native Americans, legends of dragons flourished among the Algonquins, Onondagas, Crees, Ojibways, Hurons, Chinooks and Shoshones, as well as Alaskan Eskimos.

Dragons abound in African myth, from the two-headed Amphisbaena in Libya (which also appeared in Greek mythology) to the rainbow serpent Aido-Hwedo of the Dahomey in West Africa and the Bida of Wagadu   (now Ghana).  The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert painted animals that looked like dinosaurs on rocks while the natives of the Jiundu region of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) have legends of a strange flying creature called kongamato, the “overwhelmer of boats”.  And even Herodotus reported of dragon legends in Arabia and Egypt

Chinese dragons, perhaps the most famous of all, are also identified with water and royalty and are held to personify wisdom and power, often being depicted playing with a flaming pearl of wisdom which is reported to give the dragon these attributes.  The Chinese people sometimes refer to themselves as "Lung Tik Chuan Ren" or "descendants of the dragons”.

Like their Chinese counterparts, Japanese dragons, known collectively as "Tatsus”, are usually wise and beautiful. However some are indifferent or actually inimical to the affairs of humankind. The Japanese dragon is said to be constantly in conflict with the tiger, their arguments causing storms and earthquakes

And even the Christian Bible refers to dragon like creatures. The book of Job, one of the oldest in the Bible, describes Behemoth as a snake like creature with a tail as huge and powerful as a cedar tree and a similar creature called Leviathan with “terrible” teeth and a strong, protective covering of scales.

Are all these cultural myths simply similar primitive archetypical responses to the human condition? Some scientists hold that they might actually be the result of deeper genetic memories. This view was most notably advanced by Carl Sagan, the renowned astronomer, who claimed in his work The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, that some early “man-like” creatures may have encountered lingering species of dinosaurs. An outspoken evolutionist, Sagan was equally adamant in his book that somewhere early in human existence, our predecessors encountered some type of true reptilian giants.  "One way or another”, says Sagan, “there were dragons in Eden.".

Certainly the etymology of the word "dragon" is ancient.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word is derived from the Old French, which in turn was derived from the Latin “dracon” (serpent), which in turn was derived from the Greek “spakov” (serpent), from the Greek verb, “spakelv” (to see clearly). Spakelv in turn is derived from the Greek stem “spak” meaning strong. 

Usage of the word can be traced back to most early Indo-European tongues circa 2500BC. According to the OED, the word was first used in English about 1220 A.D. It was used in English versions of the Bible from 1340 on. It is related to many other ancient words related to sight, such as Sanskrit “darc” (see), Old Irish “derc” (eye), Old English and Saxon “torht” and Old High German “zoraht”, all meaning clear, or bright.
 

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CELTS

The Greek historian Herodotus is generally credited with coining the word "Keltoi", to represent a people living in the north and west of Greece who were thought to be barbarians.  It was an important distinction because the Greeks before Herodotus referred to ALL non-Greeks as “barboroi” or barbarians. The Latin dictionary also defined barbarians as  “barbarus: foreign, strange, opposed to Greek or Roman, strange in mind or character, uncultivated, ignorant, rude , wild, savage, cruel.”  But even the Romans used a separate word for these people: "Gallatae” (later “Galli") which in Latin had the same connotation as the Greek Keltoi.

The literal meaning of the word appears to have been “secret people” but the meaning in Herodotus was commonly translated as “fierce warlike barbarians” an obvious reference to the aggressive nature of the Celts.  And the somewhat contemporaneous Old Norse "Hildr" pronounced "Kildr", meant war, violence or disorder. Clearly the Celts were  associated with highly uncivilized behaviour and there is consensus from both Plato and Aristotle about some Celtic chraceristics -- their military prowess, lack of discipline and fearlessness; their tendency to decapitate enemies; their use of war-chariots and trumpets; homosexual activities by both sexes and their love of drink, noise and revelry

Greek and Latin physical descriptions of Celts were that they were relatively large, that many had red or light hair, that they wore gold neck- and arm rings and let their mustaches or beards grow.  A typical Roman comment was expressed by Ammianus Marcellinus:  “Nearly all of the Gauls are of a lofty stature, fair and of ruddy complexion. They are terrible from the sternness of their eyes, very quarrelsome, and of great pride and insolence.” And Caesar referred to them as "those trousered barbarians" referring to their well mannered dress. Other writers described the gracefulness of the female dress and the personal ornaments of both sexes. 

The outstanding bravery and courage of the Celts led to their reputation as fierce fighters. As Aristotle wrote: “We have no word for the man who is excessively fearless; perhaps one may call such a man mad or bereft of feeling, who fears nothing, neither earthquakes or waves, as they say of the Celts.”

Celtic women were as large, fierce and warlike as the men. Indeed the Roman legions were uniformly described as being hesitant to fight Celtic tribes led by queens who were noted by the legionaries as more ferocious in battle than their male counterparts.  Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that “A whole group of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Gaul if he called his wife to his assistance, who is usually very strong and with blue eyes; especially when, swelling her neck, gnashing her teeth, and brandishing her sallow arms of enormous size, she begins to strike blows mingled with kicks, as if they were so many missiles sent from the string of a catapult.”

Dio Cassius's portrait of Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribe of eastern Britain in the first century AD said “She was huge of frame, terrifying in aspect, and with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright red hair fell to her knees; she wore a great twisted golden torc, and a tunic of many colors over which was a thick mantle, fastened by a brooch. Now she grasped a spear, to strike fear into all who watched her.”

And this high social status of Celtic women is attested to not only by the Roman writers but also by archeological remains. Celtic burial sites routinely divulge the remains of women who was accorded all the honor of a chieftains burial and the legend of Maeve (Medb), the queen and ruler of ancient Connaught, whose consort Ailill played a subservient role to her, has been told by Irish as famous as W.B. Yeats.

But where did these contentious people originate?  As early as 1000BC a Proto-Celtic people called Urnfield. originally from Eastern Russia, took their culture & language (commonly referred to as “Old” Celtic) and  migrated throughout most of the Ukraine, the Baltic areas including Turkey, Northern & Central Europe, eventually dominating most of upper continental Europe.

During their history, these proto-Celts gathered many names from the other tribes and cultures in Europe and excavations show their settlements in Central Europe during the Late Bronze Age (1200-800 BC).  By the beginning of the Early Iron Age (800-500BC) they had spread out over Upper Austria and Bavaria, Bohemia and northern Asia as far as the frontiers of China.  The simultaneous appearance of the use of iron in both China and Central Europe give credence to this history.  

Their central location is believed to be the headwaters of the Danube, the Rhine and the Rhone, which archeological evidence confirms from excavations.  This was Halstatt phase, dating from the beginning of the seventh century and named for a site found in the Upper Danube region, was the first with an identifiable Celtic culture of people sharing a common language and customs. The Urnfield culture which preceded them may also have spoken a variety of Celtic, but they had not yet created the material culture that we identify with the Iron Age Celts. At the height of the Halstatt phase, (4th-3rd centuries BCE) Celtic communities spanned from the Paris basin to valley of Moravia in Eastern Europe and from the Alps to the north European plain.

But unstable political conditions in the Mediterranean and population growth among the Celtic tribes forced a collapse the Halstatt culture sometime around 400BC and another wave of Celtic migrations began. From the Danube region they eventually spread into the Iberian peninsula, the British Isles, all of France, western Germany, into Italy, Czechoslovakia, down into the Balkans, and back into Asia Minor and then Spain, Brittany, Wales, Scotland & Ireland.

Recent discoveries indicate a further difference in this latter migration. The earlier group of Celts was agrarian in nature and as they moved westward across Europe, founding lake dwellings in the Danube Valley, Switzerland and France, they mingled in relative peace with the previous occupants of these areas. These early Celts burned their dead rather than bury them. They were skilled metalworkers, using gold, tin and bronze with equal facility.

The second group of Celts was a military aristocracy, reputed to love fighting for the sheer joy of combat itself.  They had a very distinct caste system, with the warriors and priests (Druids) sharing the top level.  Renowned for their chivalry and dauntless bravery, these Celts balanced their martial traits with an unusual level of sensitivity to music, poetry and philosophy. According to St. Patrick, the Celts adhered closely to a code of conduct laid down by the Druids: "Truth in the heart, strength in the arm, honesty in speech."

These people buried their dead with elaborate ritual and rich grave furnishings, and they believed in an immortal soul -- a widely radical idea for the times, and one shared by the Brahmins of India, further indicating their ties to Asia Minor.  The warrior Celts (along with the Brahmins) also believed in reincarnation, a belief that gave them their fearless attitude in battle. These then were the Keltoi of Herodotus

There skill at warfare was legendary. Alexander the Great had to undertake campaigns in Bulgaria in 335 BC as the result of Celtic invasions and more than 20,000 immigrated back into Asia Minor at the invitation of the king of Bythnia to serve as mercenaries under his command.  A local king names Antigonus Gonatas also employed Celtic mercenaries in his army, although he was defeated in 277 BC by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus and later namesake of the Pyrrhic victory. And even Egyptian kings were recorded as hiring them to police outlying provinces of the Egyptian empire.

But in addition to being highly aggressive and fond of war, they were eloquent in speech, boastful, volatile and high-spirited. As noted above, they doted on their appearance and were fond of jewelry and brightly colored clothing. Some Celtic experts believe that writing was known to the Keltoi priest class of Druids as demonstrated by the bronze calendar of Coligny dating to the first century BC which depicts a five-year lunar cycle.   Although written in Roman letters it is entirely Celtic in concept and language.

The advanced oral methods of the Celts were well known to Roman historians. Cato in the second century BC was as much impressed with their eloquence as he was with their personal bravery at war. Diodorus Siculus in the following century commented on the advanced nature of their speech with the use of allusion, hyperbole and grandiloquent language. One Latin text of unknown source but addressed to Constantine, describes a prince of the Gallic tribe of Aedui pleading for his countrymen against the invader Ariovistus as "the Aeduan prince, haranguing the Senate, leaning on his shield."

The Romans actually employed Gallic tutors, acknowledging the formal courses of instruction used by the Druids in the training of their successors. Despite the lack of books, their instruction included the stars and the motion of the planets, the size of the universe and the earth, the nature and greatness of the earth, the power and majesty of the gods, and other subjects in natural and moral philosophy including the immortality of the soul.

Numerous Roman authors commented on this depth of learning. Pliny, in his Natural History of 77 AD, said that it "almost seems she (Britain) exported the (Druidic) cult to the Persians." John Chrysostum compared the Druids to the Brahmans of India and the Magi of Persia and St. Clement of Alexandria, circa 200 AD, stated that Pythagorus, the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher, was influenced by the Galatae and the Brahmans.

And the Keltoi were also adept politically. Inscriptions in Asia Minor show that they  met every five years in tribal assemblies at Ancyra where they settled tribal differences and elected leaders as well as held religious festivals together with gymnastics and sports. These traditions have come down to us through the Greek Olympics, although we no longer remember or recognize the religious ties. Their French kinsmen held yearly tribal meetings at Chartres where they also observed religious ceremonies together with amusements and games and had tribal differences were adjudicated by the Druid priests.

In Ireland the Celtic tribes assembled every three years at Tara, the traditional center of ancient Irish kingship. Their meetings were similar to those of the Galatae and the Gauls with tribal business, religious observance, games and amusements. This was a solemn assembly for the Irish Celts and during this period there was universal amnesty; all indebtedness was forgiven and all criminals were released from imprisonment.  These assemblies were held on a regular basis until the sixth century AD.