As for animal sacrifice, well, that\’s another story. There are traditions around the world today that still practice this. It just depends on what brand of Pagan or magickal practitioner you are (if you\’re Wiccan obviously you wouldn\’t do it but if you practiced Santeria you might). Those that do it don\’t devalue life (a misconception among many Pagans) but they have a different view of the process. There are practitioners who raise their own animals, use then in sacrificial capacities and then use all of the animal afterwards (meat for food, fur/feathers for clothing, etc) as a way of honoring its sacrifice.

I like the comment about doing the research; we could all take away something from that idea.

The truth is that human sacrifice was not something unknown or uncommon to the pre-Christian world, nor was it seen as abhorrently to them as we see it today. The idea that the Druids would have unequivocally been above these practices is unrealistic. Their value of life and the reasons why they would have done such sacrifices, to me, seem connected and not opposed. The sacrifices were believed to have been part of rites to ensure health, safety, and the overall well being of the tribes through appeasing the Gods and that it would have been a great honor for someone to give their lives knowing that it would (in their minds) be the thing that would ensure the lives of everyone else would be prosperous.

In the end it all boils down to opposing possible views of history with evidence to support both theories. It has to come down to "what is more likely than not" and many scholars actually do leave the door open for the possibility of human sacrifice in some form or another.

I liked one thing that I heard someone say years ago when this was a debate at a Pagan gathering I was at where the subject of sacrifice came up. They basically said that we are living and practicing today in a different world, a different culture, and with a different understanding of the past. Does it really matter if they did perform human sacrifice? And if they really did (and this person, a modern Druid, did believe that the Druids of the past did) was it so wrong? In their world at 2,000 years ago it made sense to them and it would have been nothing out of the ordinary. Today it would be a whole different story and religious autonomy wouldn't save you from the certain punishment that would come. Today we aren't striving to reenact the practices of the Pagans of antiquity but we are striving to understand them, know why they did what they did, and then use that to deeper our understanding and practice today. It doesn't mean you have to go out and reenact human sacrifice because that's what they did in the past, but it does give us cause to stop and contemplate the importance of sacrifice as a whole in our lives and the need to give something of value to the Gods to show our dedication and desires.

A few bits and pieces of information that might be helpful… http://druidnetwork.org/es/node/1002692 http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/faqs/sacrific.h… http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/d/drui… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGtXW22RhRA (a video piece about the Lindow Man from National Geographic)

Personally, I like what Brandan Cathbad Myers says about human sacrifice in his book “The Mysteries of Druidry”. “For those who want to believe the answer is yes, there is plenty of literary and archaeological evidence to justify that belief. For those who want to believe the answer is no, there are plenty of other ways to interpret the evidence.” He presents some excellent arguments for both sides of the coin in his book.

The fact is that much of the history of the Druids is speculative. Much is either flat out assumption or based on archeological evidence that is then often looked at with at least a little bit of our modern day understanding. Many bodies have been found throughout Celtic Europe and the British Isles over the years that have suggested human sacrifice as a cause of death. The 1984 discovery of Lindow Man, the body of a 20-something from the 1st century discovered at the Lindow Moss peat bogs in Cheshire in the North West region of England, is one of the big compelling cases for possible Druid human sacrifice. And, like all such finds, the actual cause of death has been debated greatly; it's possible that he could have been killed by anyone for any reason, but there are many ideas that lend to the fact that was a ritual style killing and that there are virtually no signs that he struggled for his life and instead accepted it and was a quite possibly a willing victim.

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People were probably never burned in wicker men either. I (and most Celtic pagans actually) believe that the works of Julius Ceasar on the Druids was largely exaggerated and demonized.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rowan Pendragon: It’s Samhain! http://bit.ly/2jO6fm #witch #wicca #pagan #Samhain #halloween…