druids' knowledge of astronomy?

[David Dalton]

What is known of the ancient druids' knowledge of
astronomy? And that of the peoples that preceded
them in the British Isles, e.g. those responsible
for Stonehenge and other stone circles?

And do modern druid organizations require their
members to have some degree of astronomical knowledge?

--
David Dalton dal...@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/nf.html Newfoundland&Labrador Travel & Music
http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
"Here I go again...back into the flame" (Sarah McLachlan)

[oriel36]

On Feb 11, 6:46 am, David Dalton <dal...@nfld.com> wrote:
> What is known of the ancient druids' knowledge of
> astronomy?   And that of the peoples that preceded
> them in the British Isles, e.g. those responsible
> for Stonehenge and other stone circles?
>
> And do modern druid organizations require their
> members to have some degree of astronomical knowledge?
>
> --

> David Dalton  dal...@nfld.com  http://www.nfld.com/~dalton(home page)http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/nf.htmlNewfoundland&Labrador Travel & Musichttp://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.htmlSalmon on the Thorns (mystic page)

>    "Here I go again...back into the flame" (Sarah McLachlan)

Like most other ancient terms that find themselves in modern usage,the
idea of a druid is now diluted down so much that it is effectively
meaningless or even damaging to the original status.

http://www.libraryireland.com/Brehon-Laws/Druids.php

As a Christian,the division between science and religion via mutual
consent is catastrophic as science is a facet within faith just like
every other productive and creative endeavor is ,men may wish it
otherwise but as the wider world has already seen,this artificial
division is extremely corrosive to the fabric of a civilization.The
word practical doesn't often get associated with this class of
individual yet whether it be the Neolithic astronomers or the ancient
Egyptians,they always kept the link open between the individual and
the Universal as opposed to the current bunch who want to speak for
the Universe on their own terms.

[Lord Androcles, Zeroth Earl of Medway]

"David Dalton" wrote in message
news:dalton-96E0F6....@mx05.eternal-september.org...

What is known of the ancient druids' knowledge of
astronomy? And that of the peoples that preceded
them in the British Isles, e.g. those responsible
for Stonehenge and other stone circles?

========================================================
Stonehenge was constructed 2000 years before the druids ran for the hills
from the advancing Roman army that invaded Britain in 43 AD.
Some modern hippies that dress up in robes and fancy themselves as druids
didn't build stone circles either.

And do modern druid organizations require their
members to have some degree of astronomical knowledge?

=====================================================
About as much as Facebook and Twitter organisations do of
software engineering.

-- This message is brought to you from the keyboard of
Lord Androcles, Zeroth Earl of Medway.
When the fools chicken farmer Wilson and Van de faggot present an argument I
cannot laugh at I'll retire from usenet.

[Martin Brown]

On 11/02/2013 05:46, David Dalton wrote:
> What is known of the ancient druids' knowledge of
> astronomy? And that of the peoples that preceded
> them in the British Isles, e.g. those responsible
> for Stonehenge and other stone circles?

They were pretty well clued up with empirical observational knowledge of
the position of sunrise and lunar months and clearly a had a working
understanding of the calendar in relation to these observed phenomena.
Probably still the best book on the subject although in parts
speculative and now dated is Stonehenge Decoded by Gerald S Hawkins.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stonehenge-Decoded-Gerald-S-Hawkins/dp/0880291478

The alignments at the solstices are a clear demonstration that they
really knew what they were doing and the post holes are suggestive of a
means of doing other computations and tracking calendar date.

Certainly stonehenge can be used to compute eclipses and track the Saros
but deciding whether or not the druids did this is hampered by the fact
that they did not leave us any written records.

The Babylonians did and so get the credit for discovering prominent
eclipse cycles (which were later named Saros by Halley)

Woodhenge is much less famous but probably more useful if you want to
play about making astronomical observations with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodhenge

Stonehenge is a heavily policed tourist trap next to a huge car park. It
may be a world heritage site but it isn't all that nice to visit.

>
> And do modern druid organizations require their
> members to have some degree of astronomical knowledge?
>

Most of them don't even know which way is up.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

[oriel36]

On Feb 11, 10:22 am, Martin Brown <|||newspam...@nezumi.demon.co.uk>
wrote:

>
>
> > And do modern druid organizations require their
> > members to have some degree of astronomical knowledge?
>
> Most of them don't even know which way is up.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Martin Brown

Spoken like a true homocentrist - there is no 'up',there is,however,a
celestial arena out there in which all motions and the relationship of
bodies to each other are interpreted.Of course the idea of 'out there'
is alien to you and the mathematical modelers although the
geocentrists knew this perspective along with the original Western
astronomers who first understood the reasons why the Earth moves
through watching the behavior of planets.

The druids were a class of people which are almost closer to our era
than they were to the neolithic monument builders of Stonehenge or
Newgrange but empiricists have no respect for history or more like a
dysfunctional regard for the development of human achievements.

Remember Brown,there is no celestial sphere and no 'up'.

[Martin Nicholson]

Notice how carefully Oriel, over a period of some years, has avoided
explaining exactly where his views and the views of other members of
this group differ. He writes whole paragraphs - sometimes nultiple
paragraphs - hundreds of times a year but refuses to explain something
as basic as this.

He also refuses to answer any questions designed to identify what the
difference might be.


As an example - Oriel, if you look due south at midnight on July 1st
and again at midnight on January 1st of the next year will you see the
same stars in the same places.


Yes or no?

[Quadibloc]

On Feb 10, 11:02 pm, oriel36 <kelleher.ger...@gmail.com> wrote:

> As a Christian,the division between science and religion via mutual
> consent is catastrophic as science is a facet within faith just like
> every other productive and creative endeavor is ,men may wish it
> otherwise but as the wider world has already seen,this artificial
> division is extremely corrosive to the fabric of a civilization.

Wow!

I had suspected this sort of thing was an element in your thinking
from previous posts; but you don't realize just how dangerous this
notion is to the continued existence of effective scientific research.

Empiricism allows scientific ideas to be tested against reality, and
quickly discarded if they are wrong. You would replace science with
empty speculation, hobbled by imperfect human religious understanding
which by its very nature is impossible to test. Science and astronomy
would run around endlessly in circles, instead of building solidly on
the progress of the past.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

On Feb 11, 3:06 am, oriel36 <kelleher.ger...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Remember Brown,there is no  celestial sphere and no 'up'.

Whether or not there is a celestial sphere, at each point on the
Earth's surface there is a (local) up. When one is standing up, it
usually is approximated by the direction from one's feet to one's
head.

As I suspect both you and nearly all pretending Druids know - except
for the ones temporarily stoned out of their minds.

John Savard