Hail!

In ancient Celtic society the Druids and Druidesses composed an intellectual elite, whose knowledge and training placed them as priests of the Celtic religion.  Their training normally lasted over twenty years and consisted of the memorization of literature, poetry, history, and Celtic law as well as astronomy.  The Druids mediated for their people, preformed sacrifices, interpreted omens, and presided over religious ceremonies.  They believed that the soul did not die with the body, but passed on to another. The mistletoe and the oak tree are great symbols for them.  In fact, the word Druid was derived from the word for oak, which in Gaelic is darach and in Greek drus.  The Druids held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bears it, always supposing that tree to be the oak.  They chose groves formed of oaks for the sake of the tree alone, and they never perform any of their rites except in the presence of a branch of it.

The first observations of the Celts by ancient sources do not speak of the presence of women as priestesses or seeresses.  The Druids and their associated male colleges, the Vates and the Bards, seem to have monopolized the field.  These Roman observers, products of a male dominated culture which may have marred their observations, may not have taken note of the Celtic females in roles of power. The Roman men thought of women as possessions so as a result the thought of women in public positions, such as ruler or chieftain, was preposterous to them.  Finally in the first century CE, Tacitus reported "that the Celts made no distinction between male and female rulers.

Since Druids committed very little to written forms until after the introduction of Christianity, there are few, if any, first-hand accounts by Celts themselves. 

Only the myths that have been transmitted through the accounts of the Romans and Christian monks have survived.  Legend has mystified many of the female rulers of ancient Celtic society; giving them mystical powers and making their lives seem too extraordinary to seem true.  As a result it is very difficult for people today to know if these women truly did have such powers or if they were indeed Druidesses.  Women such as Boudica, Onomaris, and other nameless rulers/Druidesses whose burial tombs were found at Vix and Reinhamshow that Celtic women, in some instances, may have wielded power as much as men, but the evidence remains difficult to decipher.

Adieu.