Ancient Pagan Paradigm

Druid Culture has certain similarities with other ancient Pagan cultures close in time and space.

Quotations from Vero are now found in: The Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum is maintained by David Camden as part of the larger Forum Romanum resource. Online at: http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/index.html

Quote in Roman Author Cicero on Diana and Juno

... people regard Diana and the moon as one and the same. ... the moon (luna) is so called from the verb to shine (lucere). Lucina is identified with it, which is why in our country they invoke Juno Lucina in childbirth, just as the Greeks call on Diana the Light-bearer. Diana also has the name Omnivaga ("wandering everywhere"), not because of her hunting but because she is numbered as one of the seven planets; her name Diana derives from the fact that she turns darkness into daylight (dies). She is invoked at childbirth because children are born occasionally after seven, or usually after nine, lunar revolutions ...
(Quintus Lucilius Balbus as recorded by Marcus Tullius Cicero and translated by P.G. Walsh. De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), Book II, Part ii, Section c)

Early Roman Historian, Marcus Vero's (116-27 BCE) Deity List Allows Identification of Druid and Indo-European Deities

(May 3, 2024, updated February 13, 2025) Marcus Varro (116-27 BCE) has an important deity list in his book entitled Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Histories of Human and Divine Things). He was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) in Lazio, Italy into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He ended up owning a large farm in the Reatine plain which was reported to be near Lago di Ripasottile.

Unfortunately, his book did not survive but it was quoted by many including Saint Augustine (354–430 CE) in his De civitate Dei Contra Paganos (City of God Against the Pagans) which was widely distributed after 426 CE. Additionally his quotes have been found in other surviving texts including Pliny (1st c.), Gellius (2nd c.), Censorinus (3rd c.), Servius (4th/5th c.), Nonius (4th/5th c.), Macrobius (5th c.), Priscian (5th/6th c.) etc..

His important passage about early Roman deities is quoted by Augustine in "de ciu. Dei, VII, 2." This is the earliest complete list that we have on the main Roman deities:

"Varro compiled the chosen gods in the last volume: and there are twenty: twelve males, eight females: Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, Genius, Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Vulcan, Neptune, Sun, Orcus, Liber, Terra, Ceres, Juno, Luna , Diana, Minerva, Venus, Vesta."

Roman Deities From Indo-European Culture - The Planetary Motion Powers of Fate

Planets are ordered from fastest to slowest. Being fate powers they affect life powers.

Mercury (Greek Hermes)- childhood energy, travel (fastest planet)
Venus (Greek Aphrodite) - young love
Mars (Greek Ares) - youthful strength and aggression
Jupiter (Greek Zeus) - middle aged wisdom and rule
Saturn (Greek Kronos) - old age death (slowest planet)

Roman Deities From Indo-European Culture - The Elemental Powers

Vulcan (Greek Hephaistos) - god of fire
Neptune (Greek Poseidon) - god of water of all kinds
Terra (Greek Gaia) - goddess of the earth and ground
Liber (Greek Pneuma) - goddess of air, breath, liberty, freedom

References

Verro., Marcus Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Histories of Human and Divine Things).Online at: http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/antiquitates.html

Imagine these dots represent emotional/spiritual experiences. Many ways exist to cluster them together into various powers classes or deities. The colored separation shown represents just one model. The Druid pantheon is at the core of all later European pantheons (along with Indo-European contributions of the planetary deities and the elementary deities)

Druid Motion Deities With Their Roman Equivalents

Su (Roman Orcus/Orkus) (Greek Hades, ᾍδης) - The dark moon god Su and the source of astrological motion powers. Orkus is Akkadian AR.KS meaning "Controller of coldness. He came to rule the cold places. The Greek AD.NṢ means "Instigator of astrological-coercion" where "Instigator" is an epithet for Su in Druid Akkadian texts.
Selu/Selene (Roman Vesta) (Greek Selene/Selu) - Celestial light source goddess and goddess of the hearth. In Rome, her main priestesses were the state sponsored Vestal Virgins. Being virgins they had nothing to do with fertility and life powers. Instead they were guardians of fates and fortunes. Hearth goddesses protected the family against the ill effects of fate. Vesta is the Akkadian phrase US.T meaning "Binders of Astrology-magic." This word is similar to ancient Greek ἑστία (Estia) which is the Akkadian phrase meaning ES.T meaning "Spiritual-fluids of astrology magic." Spiritual fluids were thought to be the gaseous emanations (not expulsions) of stars and fires.
Thu (Roman Minerva) (Greek Athena)- The mixed gender hermaphrodite deity associated with emotional energy and sex. Minerva is Akkadian MN.RW meaning "supporter of the shepherds" who are emotion magic and astrology magic crafters. These are the original bards whose stories raised various emotions. "Athena" means "those Thu powers" and is often shown cross-dressed with a beardless feminine face in warrior armor. Greek culture (on old pots) shows men wearing beards. The beardless style came about under Etruscan and Roman influences.
Thesu (Roman Genius) - The inner spark deity. Genius is Akkadian G.N.IS meaning "The energy revealed by women." This is the inner spark of all living things. In time, this role was taken over by Vesta (Selu/Selene) whose inner spark is also the celestial light of the stars. Consequently, this deity is not often mentioned.

Perceptheism Can Divide Up Spiritual Powers/Energies in Many Ways

(March 4, 2025) Ancient Druid culture was perceptheistic. No separation was made between spirits and deities. Perceived spiritual powers observed in nature can be divided up many different ways depending on the goals of the people involved. The Druid pantheon was a classification system which worked best for early agricultural cultures. It was gender balanced with the power clusters (deities) representing observed changes on earth. These were divided into 2 large classes of 3 layers each (source of the sacred number 3)consisting of the life power class and the motion/emotion power class. This scheme is called the Ancient Pagan Paradigm.

The ancient Druid goddess triad (most popular goddesses) represented the powers of death and rebirth (underworld goddess Kate/Hekate), life guidance and wisdom (crescent moon goddess Ayu), and the inner emotional spark of life (celestial light goddess Selu/Selene).. In contrast the Druid god triad represented the powers of creation (god Alu), order and security (god Hu), and fate/time (dark new moon god Su).

Classical Equivalents to Druid Deities.

Marcus Varro (116-27 BCE) has an important deity list in his book entitled Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Histories of Human and Divine Things). He was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) in Lazio, Italy into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He ended up owning a large farm in the Reatine plain which was reported to be near Lago di Ripasottile.

His important passage about early Roman deities is quoted by Augustine in "de ciu. Dei, VII, 2." This is the earliest complete list that we have on the main Roman deities:

"Varro compiled the chosen gods in the last volume: and there are twenty: twelve males, eight females: Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, Genius, Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Vulcan, Neptune, Sun, Orcus, Liber, Terra, Ceres, Juno, Luna , Diana, Minerva, Venus, Vesta."

Druid Masculine Life-Growth Deities With Classical Equivalents

Alu (Roman Janus/Yanis) The life source god representing new beginnings. The Roman month of January (winter solstice) and June (summer solstice) are named for him as they begin the seasons. Janus is represented as 2-faced god to represent such transitions.
Hu (Roman Sol, Apollo) (Greek Helios, Apollo) The life connective god represented by the sun and rainstorms. He connects the divine and material realms. Apollo is likely Akkadian AP.L meaning “Veil eliminator."
Yahu (Roman Luna) (Greek Phanes, Φάνης) The life manifesting god represented by the full moon and eggs. Luna is the Akkadian LaNu meaning the visible "platonic" form. This power of life manifestations is represented by eggs and the full moon which makes visible the dark new moon. Phanes comes from the Greek Orphic hymn traditions and not the Homeric tradition. He is associated with white eggs which could be thought of as the full moon. This life manifesting egg connection might be the source of the Christian Easter Egg.

Druid Feminine Life/Fertility Deities With Classical Equivalents

Kate/Hekate (Roman Juno/Yuno) (Greek Eleuthyia) - The life-cycle underworld goddess. Yuno is Akkadian Y.N meaning "The one who is not revealed." She represents the storage of dead souls in the underworld waiting to be reborn. These souls were waiting to be reincarnated. Hence Juno was also associated with childbirth. She may be the goddess at the center of the Eleusian Mysteries.
Ayu (Roman Diana) (Greek Artemis) - The crescent moon life guidance goddess. Roman Diana is Akkadian D.IN meaning life-manifestation controller. In myth, the crescent moon became a bow and she became a hunter.
Asher (Roman Ceres/Keres) (Greek Demeter) - The earth mother and goddess of vegetation named after Akkadian words aṣu and ašu meaning "expelled/created things." Demeter's daughter, Persephone/Kore, is a representation of vegetation. Demeter and Persephone are sometimes mixed-up in ancient myths. Roman Kerus , Greek Kore is Akkadian K.R meaning the "one involved with the eagle-vultures which edit the life network. Ceres/Kerus was a deity of agriculture and was originally the central deity in Rome's plebeian Aventine Triad. Romans called Persephone Proserpina.

(September 16, 2023) The Neolithic Druid pantheon was gender balanced. It consisted of two classes of deities in three layers representing the stages of how divine powers reached to the earth. The classes were the life/fertility class of powers which governed the formation and growth of life and the motion class which caused all other changes on earth. The motion class was the "magical" class of powers and deities because its source was either conscious feelings of the movements of heavenly bodies.

European Druid culture split off from Mesopotamian culture when the Neolithic farmers started migrating into Europe around 8500 BCE.. Hence they share many similarities. Egyptian culture probably spilt off from Mesopotamian culture at about the same time.

This chart was initially hypothesized from information found in the oldest texts and from recent archaeological findings. These early texts are Sumerian texts (2300-2000 BCE), Alphabetic Akkadian Mediterranean texts (2000-400 BCE), and Egyptian Pyramid texts (2300-2100 BCE). Since then it has been refined with additional information from the Druid texts.

Biases in Archaeology and Overcoming Them

(September 16, 2023) While everyone knows that dry climates and wet peat bogs tend to preserve archaeological remains better than wet climates not everyone appreciates that social customs also bias the archaeological record. In the case of religious customs most items are found as grave goods so what is preserved there are items dealing with death or the causes of death. Significantly missing are religious items which deal with new life. Other than grave goods, occasionally religious items will be found scattered on the floor left by raiders, or found broken in garbage pits. Hence not much archaeological evidence exists for life manifestation deities.

The other bias problem in history is perceptual bias in which archaeological finds are interpreted in light of the prevailing theory of history. Today's theory of history assumes everything ancient is either Greek (Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, or Biblical). Theories of history are based on linguistic evidence and such evidence until now has not be put onto a scientific bases like archaeology. No standards of translation exists so all ancient translations prior to the advent of the scholar's standard used on this site have just been opinion pieces often conforming to the Biblical and Greek biases of today's prevailing theory of history. Hence most of today's ancient "translations" are fake history being mostly names strung together because names can string together almost any arbitrary sting of letters.

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