down by word of mouth. They taught the immortality of the soul, that it passed from one body to another at death.
And dwelt in darksome groves, there counselling with sprites,
When these our souls by death our bodies do forsake
They believed that on the last night of the old year (October 31st) the lord of death gathered together the souls of all those who had died in the passing year and had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals, to decree what forms they should inhabit for the next twelve months. He could be coaxed to give lighter sentences by gifts and prayers.
The badge of the initiated Druid was a glass ball reported to be made in summer of the spittle of snakes, and caught by the priests as the snakes tossed it into the air.
