the origins of the masons
NOTE: This essay appeared in New York, 1818, with an anonymous preface of which I quote the
opening paragraph: "This tract is a
chapter belonging to the Third Part of the "Age of Reason," as will be seen by the references made in it
to preceding articles, as forming
part of the same work. It was culled from the writings of Mr. Paine after his death, and published in a
mutilated state by Mrs. Bonneville,
his executrix. Passages having a reference to the Christian religion she erased, with a view no doubt of
accommodating the work to the
prejudices of bigotry. These, however, have been restored from the original manuscript, except a few
lines which were rendered illegible."
Madame Bonneville published this fragment in New York, 1810 (with the omissions I point out) as a
pamphlet. -- Dr. Robinet (Danton-
Emigre, p. 7) says erroneously that Paine was a Freemason; but an eminent member of that Fraternity in
London, Mr. George Briggs, after
reading this essay, which I submitted to him, tells me that "his general outline, remarks, and comments,
are fairly true." Paine's intimacy
in Paris with Nicolas de Bonneville and Charles Frangois Dupuis, whose writings are replete with masonic
speculations, sufficiently
explain his interest in the subject. -- Editor.]
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IT is always understood that Free-Masons have a secret which they carefully conceal; but from every
thing that can be collected from their
own accounts of Masonry, their real secret is no other than their origin, which but few of them
understand; and those who do, envelope it
in mystery
The Society of Masons are distinguished into three classes or degrees. 1st. The Entered Apprentice. 2d.
The Fellow Craft. 3d. The Master
Mason.
The Entered Apprentice knows but little more of Masonry than the use of signs and tokens, and certain
steps and words by which Masons
can recognize each other without being discovered by a person who is not a Mason. The Fellow Craft is
not much better instructed in
Masonry, than the Entered Apprentice. It is only in the Master Mason's Lodge, that whatever knowledge
remains of the origin of Masonry is
preserved and concealed.
In 1730, Samuel Pritchard, member of a constituted lodge in England, published a treatise entitled
Masonry Dissected; and made oath
before the Lord Mayor of London that it was a true copy. "Samuel Pritchard maketh oath that the copy
hereunto annexed is a true and
genuine copy in every particular." In his work he has given the catechism or examination, in question and
answer, of the Apprentices, the
Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason. There was no difficulty in doing this, as it is mere form.
In his introduction he says, "the original institution of Masonry consisted in the foundation of the liberal
arts and sciences, but more
especially in Geometry, for at the building of the tower of Babel, the art and mystery of Masonry was first
introduced, and from thence
handed down by Euclid, a worthy and excellent mathematician of the Egyptians; and he communicated it
to Hiram, the Master Mason
concerned in building Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem."
Besides the absurdity of deriving Masonry from the building of Babel, where, according to the story, the
confusion of languages prevented
the builders understanding each other, and consequently of communicating any knowledge they had,
there is a glaring contradiction in
point of chronology in the account he gives.
Solomon's Temple was built and dedicated 1004 years before the christian era; and Euclid, as may be
seen in the tables of chronology,
lived 277 before the same era. It was therefore impossible that Euclid could communicate any thing to
Hiram, since Euclid did not live till
700 years after the time of Hiram.
In 1783, Captain George Smith, inspector of the Royal Artillery Academy at Woolwich, in England, and
Provincial Grand Master of Masonry
for the county of Kent, published a treatise entitled, The Use and Abuse of Free-Masonry.
In his chapter of the antiquity of Masonry, he makes it to be coeval with creation, "when," says he, "the
sovereign architect raised on
Masonic principles the beauteous globe, and commanded the master science, Geometry, to lay the
planetary world, and to regulate by its
laws the whole stupendous system in just unerring proportion, rolling round the central sun."
"But," continues he, "I am not at liberty publicly to undraw the curtain, and openly to descant on this
head; it is sacred, and ever will remain
so; those who are honored with the trust will not reveal it, and those who are ignorant of it cannot betray
it." By this last part of the phrase,
Smith means the two inferior classes, the Fellow Craft and the Entered Apprentice, for he says in the
next page of his work, "It is not every
one that is barely initiated into Free-Masonry that is entrusted with all the mysteries thereto belonging;
they are not attainable as things of
course, nor by every capacity."
The learned, but unfortunate Doctor Dodd, Grand Chaplain of Masonry, in his oration at the dedication
of Free-Mason's Hall, London,
traces Masonry through a variety of stages. Masons, says he, are well informed from their own private
and interior records that the building
of Solomon's Temple is an important era, from whence they derive many mysteries of their art. "Now
(says he,) be it remembered that this
great event took place above 1000 years before the Christian era, and consequently more than a
century before Homer, the first of the
Grecian Poets, wrote; and above five centuries before Pythagoras brought from the east his sublime
system of truly masonic instruction to
illuminate. our western world. But, remote as this period is, we date not from thence the commencement
of our art. For though it might
owe to the wise and glorious King of Israel some of its many mystic forms and hieroglyphic ceremonies,
yet certainly the art itself is
coeval with man, the great subject of it. "We trace," continues he, "its footsteps in the most distant, the
most remote ages and nations of
the world. We find it among the first and most celebrated civilizers of the East. We deduce it regularly
from the first astronomers on the
plains of Chaldea, to the wise and mystic kings and priests of Egypt, the sages of Greece, and the
philosophers of Rome."
From these reports and declarations of Masons of the highest order in the institution, we see that
Masonry, without publicly declaring so,
lays claim to some divine communication from the creator, in a manner different from, and unconnected
with, the book which the
christians call the bible; and the natural result from this is, that Masonry is derived from some very
ancient religion, wholly independent of
and unconnected with that book.
To come then at once to the point, Masonry (as I shall show from the customs, ceremonies,
hieroglyphics, and chronology of Masonry) is
derived and is the remains of the religion of the ancient Druids; who, like the Magi of Persia and the
Priests of Heliopolis in Egypt, were
Priests of the Sun. They paid worship to this great luminary, as the great visible agent of a great invisible
first cause whom they styled "
Time without limits." [NOTE: Zarvan-Akarana. This personification of Boundless Time, though a part of
Parsee Theology, seems to be a
later monotheistic dogma, based on perversions of the Zendavesta. See Haug's "Religion of the
Parsees." -- Editor.]
The christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: both are derived from the
worship of the Sun. The difference
between their origin is, that the christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put
a man whom they call Christ, in
the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun, as I have
shown in the chapter on the origin of
the Christian religion. [NOTE: Referring to an unpublished portion of the work of which this chapter forms
a part. -- American Editor, 1819
[This paragraph is omitted from the pamphlet copyrighted by Madame Bonneville in 1810, as also is the
last sentence of the next
paragraph. -- Editor.]
In Masonry many of the ceremonies of the Druids are preserved in their original state, at least without
any parody. With them the Sun is
still the Sun; and his image, in the form of the sun is the great emblematical ornament of Masonic Lodges
and Masonic dresses. It is the
central figure on their aprons, and they wear it also pendant on the breast in their lodges, and in their
processions. It has the figure of a
man, as at the head of the sun, as Christ is always represented.
At what period of antiquity, or in what nation, this religion was first established, is lost in the labyrinth of
unrecorded time. It is generally
ascribed to the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians and Chaldeans, and reduced afterwards to a system
regulated by the apparent
progress of the sun through the twelve signs of Zodiac by Zoroaster the law giver of Persia, from whence
Pythagoras brought it into
Greece. It is to these matters Dr. Dodd refers in the passage already quoted from his oration.
The worship of the Sun as the great visible agent of a great invisible first cause, "Time without limits,"
spread itself over a considerable
part of Asia and Africa, from thence to Greece and Rome, through all ancient Gaul, and into Britain and
Ireland.
Smith, in his chapter on the antiquity of Masonry in Britain, says, that "notwithstanding the obscurity
which envelopes Masonic history in
that country, various circumstances contribute to prove that Free-Masonry was introduced into Britain
about 1030 Years before Christ." It
cannot be Masonry in its present state that Smith here alludes to. The Druids flourished in Britain at the
period he speaks of, and it is from
them that Masonry is descended. Smith has put the child in the place of the parent.
It sometimes happens, as well in writing as in conversation, that a person lets slip an expression that
serves to unravel what he intends
to conceal, and this is the case with Smith, for in the same chapter he says, "The Druids, when they
committed any thing to writing, used
the Greek alphabet, and I am bold to assert that the most perfect remains of the Druids' rites and
ceremonies are preserved in the
customs and ceremonies of the Masons that are to be found existing among mankind." "My brethren"
says he, "may be able to trace them
with greater exactness than I am at liberty to explain to the public."
This is a confession from a Master Mason, without intending it to be so understood by the public, that
Masonry is the remains of the
religion of the Druids; the reasons for the Masons keeping this a secret I shall explain in the course of
this work.
As the study and contemplation of the Creator [is] in the works of the creation, the Sun, as the great
visible agent of that Being, was the
visible object of the adoration of Druids; all their religious rites and ceremonies had reference to the
apparent progress of the Sun through
the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and his influence upon the earth. The Masons adopt the same practices.
The roof of their Temples or
Lodges is ornamented with a Sun, and the floor is a representation of the variegated face of the earth
either by carpeting or Mosaic work.
Free Masons Hall, in Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, is a magnificent building, and
cost upwards of 12,000 pounds
sterling. Smith, in speaking of this building, says (page 152,) "The roof of this magnificent Hall is in all
probability the highest piece of
finished architecture in Europe. In the center of this roof, a most resplendent Sun is represented in
burnished gold, surrounded with the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, with their respective characters;
Aries Libra
Taurus Scorpio
Gemini Sagittarius
Cancer Capricorns
Leo Aquarius
Virgo Pisces
After giving this description, he says, "The emblematical meaning of the Sun is well known to the
enlightened and inquisitive Free-Mason;
and as the real Sun is situated in the center of the universe, so the emblematical Sun is the center of
real Masonry. We all know
(continues he) that the Sun is the fountain of light, the source of the seasons, the cause of the
vicissitudes of day and night, the parent of
vegetation, the friend of man; hence the scientific Free-Mason only knows the reason why the Sun is
placed in the center of this beautiful
hall."
The Masons, in order to protect themselves from the persecution of the christian church, have always
spoken in a mystical manner of the
figure of the Sun in their Lodges, or, like the astronomer Lalande, who is a Mason, been silent upon the
subject. It is their secret,
especially in Catholic countries, because the figure of the Sun is the expressive criterion that denotes
they are descended from the
Druids, and that wise, elegant, philosophical religion, was the faith opposite to the faith of the gloomy
Christian church. [NOTE: This
sentence is omitted in Madame Bonneville's publication. -- Editor.]
The Lodges of the Masons, if built for the purpose, are constructed in a manner to correspond with the
apparent motion of the Sun. They
are situated East and West. [NOTE: The Freemason's Hall in London, which Paine has correctly
described, is situated North and South,
the exigencies of the space having been too strong for Masonic orthodoxy. Though nominally eastward
the Master stands at the South. --
Editor.] The master's place is always in the East. In the examination of an Entered Apprentice, the
Master, among many other questions,
asks him,
Q: How is the lodge situated?
A: East and West.
Q: Why so?
A: Because all churches and chapels are, or ought to be so."
This answer, which is mere catechismal form, is not an answer to the question. It does no more than
remove the question a point further,
which is, why ought all churches and chapels to be so? But as the Entered Apprentice is not initiated into
the druidical mysteries of
Masonry, he is not asked any questions a direct answer to which would lead thereto.
Q: Where stands your Master?
A: In the East.
Q: Why so?
A: As the Sun rises in the East and opens the day, so the Master stands in the East, (with his right hand
upon his left breast, being a sign,
and the square about his neck,) to open the Lodge, and set his men at work.
Q: Where stand your Wardens?
A: In the West.
Q: What is their business?
A: As the Sun sets in the West to close the day, so the Wardens stand in the West, (with their right
hands upon their left breasts, being a
sign, and the level and plumb rule about their necks,) to close the Lodge, and dismiss the men from
labor, paying them their wages."
Here the name of the Sun is mentioned, but it is proper to observe that in this place it has reference only
to labor or to the time of labor,
and not to any religious druidical rite or ceremony, as it would have with respect to the situation of
Lodges East and West. I have already
observed in the chapter on the origin of the christian religion, that the situation of churches East and
West is taken from the worship of the
Sun, which rises in the east, and has not the least reference to the person called Jesus Christ. The
christians never bury their dead on the
North side of a church; [NOTE: In many parts of Northern Europe the North was supposed to be the
region of demons. Executed criminals
were buried on the north side of churches. -- Editor.] and a Mason's Lodge always has, or is supposed to
have, three windows which are
called fixed lights, to distinguish them from the moveable lights of the Sun and the Moon. The Master
asks the Entered Apprentice,
Q: How are they (the fixed lights) situated?
A: East, West, and South.
Q: What are their uses?
A: To light the men to and from their work.
Q: Why are there no lights in the North?
A: Because the Sun darts no rays from thence."
This, among numerous other instances, shows that the christian religion and Masonry have one and the
same common origin, the
ancient worship of the Sun.
The high festival of the Masons is on the day they call St. John's day; but every enlightened Mason must
know that holding their festival on
this day has no reference to the person called St. John, and that it is only to disguise the true cause of
holding it on this day, that they call
the day by that name. As there were Masons, or at least Druids, many centuries before the time of St.
John, if such person ever existed,
the holding their festival on this day must refer to some cause totally unconnected with John.
The case is, that the day called St. John's day, is the 24th of June, and is what is called Midsummer-day.
The sun is then arrived at the
summer solstice; and, with respect to his meridional altitude, or height at high noon, appears for some
days to be of the same height.
The astronomical longest day, like the shortest day, is not every year, on account of leap year, on the
same numerical day, and therefore
the 24th of June is always taken for Midsummer-day; and it is in honor of the sun, which has then arrived
at his greatest height in our
hemisphere, and not any thing with respect to St. John, that this annual festival of the Masons, taken
from the Druids, is celebrated on
Midsummer-day.
Customs will often outlive the remembrance of their origin, and this is the case with respect to a custom
still practiced in Ireland, where
the Druids flourished at the time they flourished in Britain. On the eve of Saint John's day, that is, on the
eve of Midsummer-day, the Irish
light fires on the tops of the hills. This can have no reference to St. John; but it has emblematical
reference to the sun, which on that day is
at his highest summer elevation, and might in common language be said to have arrived at the top of the
hill.
As to what Masons, and books of Masonry, tell us of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, it is no wise
improbable that some Masonic
ceremonies may have been derived from the building of that temple, for the worship of the Sun was in
practice many centuries before the
Temple existed, or before the Israelites came out of Egypt. And we learn from the history of the Jewish
Kings, 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. that the
worship of the Sun was performed by the Jews in that Temple. It is, however, much to be doubted if it was
done with the same scientific
purity and religious morality with which it was performed by the Druids, who, by all accounts that
historically remain of them, were a wise,
learned, and moral class of men. The Jews, on the contrary, were ignorant of astronomy, and of science
in general, and if a religion
founded upon astronomy fell into their hands, it is almost certain it would be corrupted. We do not read in
the history of the Jews, whether
in the Bible or elsewhere, that they were the inventors or the improvers of any one art or science. Even
in the building of this temple, the
Jews did not know how to square and frame the timber for beginning and carrying on the work, and
Solomon was obliged to send to
Hiram, King of Tyre (Zidon) to procure workmen; "for thou knowest, (says Solomon to Hiram, i Kings v. 6.)
that there is not among us any
that can skill to hew timber like unto the Zidonians." This temple was more properly Hiram's Temple than
Solomon's, and if the Masons
derive any thing from the building of it, they owe it to the Zidonians and not to the Jews. -- But to return to
the worship of the Sun in this
Temple.
It is said, 2 Kings xxiii. 5, "And [king Josiah] put down all the idolatrous priests ... that burned incense unto
... the sun, the moon, the
planets, and all the host of heaven." And it is said at the 11th verse: "And he took away the horses that
the kings of Judah had given to the
Sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, ... and burned the chariots of the Sun with fire"; verse
13, "And the high places that were
before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of
Israel had builded for Ashtoreth, the
abomination of the Zidonians" (the very people that built the temple) "did the king defile."
Besides these things, the description that Josephus gives of the decorations of this Temple, resembles
on a large scale those of a
Mason's Lodge. He says that the distribution of the several parts of the Temple of the Jews represented
all nature, particularly the parts
most apparent of it, as the sun, the moon, the planets, the zodiac, the earth, the elements; and that the
system of the world was retraced
there by numerous ingenious emblems. These, in all probability, are, what Josiah, in his ignorance, calls
the abominations of the
Zidonians. [NOTE by PAINE: Smith, in speaking of a Lodge, says, when the Lodge is revealed to an
entering Mason, it discovers to him a
representation of the World; in which, from the wonders of nature, we are led to contemplate her great
original, and worship him from his
mighty works; and we are thereby also moved to exercise those moral and social virtues which become
mankind as the servants of the
great Architect of the world. -- Author.] Every thing, however, drawn from this Temple [NOTE by PAINE: It
may not be improper here to
observe, that the law called the law of Moses could not have been in existence at the time of building this
Temple. Here is the likeness of
things in heaven above and in earth beneath. And we read in I Kings vi., vii., that Solomon made cherubs
and cherubims, that he carved
all the walls of the house round about with cherubims, and palm-trees, and open flowers, and that he
made a molten sea, placed on
twelve oxen, and the ledges of it were ornamented with lions, oxen, and cherubims: all this is contrary to
the law called the law of Moses.
-- Author.] and applied to Masonry, still refers to the worship of the Sun, however corrupted or
misunderstood by the Jews, and
consequently to the religion of the Druids.
Another circumstance, which shows that Masonry is derived from some ancient system, prior to and
unconnected with the christian
religion, is the chronology, or method of counting time, used by the Masons in the records of their
Lodges. They make no use of what is
called the christian era; and they reckon their months numerically, as the ancient Egyptians did, and as
the Quakers do now. I have by me,
a record of a French Lodge, at the time the late Duke of Orleans, then Duke de Chartres, was Grand
Master of Masonry in France. It
begins as follows: "Le trentieme jour du sixieme mois de l'an de la V.L. cinq mille sept cent soixante
treize;" that is, the thirteenth day of
the sixth month of the year of the Venerable Lodge, five thousand seven hundred and seventy-three. By
what I observe in English books of
Masonry, the English Masons use the initials A.L. and not V.L. By A.L. they mean in the year of Light, as
the Christians by A.D. mean in the
year of our Lord. But A.L. like V.L. refers to the same chronological era, that is, to the supposed time of
the creation. [NOTE: V.L. are the
initials of Vraie Lumiere, true light; and A.L. of Anne Lucis, in the year of light. This and the three
preceding sentences (of the text) are
suppressed in Madame Bonneville's pamphlet, 1810. -- Editor.] In the chapter on the origin of the
Christian religion, I have shown that the
Cosmogony, that is, the account of the creation with which the book of Genesis opens, has been taken
and mutilated from the
Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster, and was fixed as a preface to the Bible after the Jews returned from captivity
in Babylon, and that the Robbins of
the Jews do not hold their account in Genesis to be a fact, but mere allegory. The six thousand years in
the Zend-Avesta, is changed or
interpolated into six days in the account of Genesis. The Masons appear to have chosen the same
period, and perhaps to avoid the
suspicion and persecution of the Church, have adopted the era of the world, as the era of Masonry. The
V.L. of the French, and A.L. of the
English Mason, answer to the A.M. Anno Mundi, or year of the world.
Though the Masons have taken many of their ceremonies and hieroglyphics from the ancient Egyptians,
it is certain they have not taken
their chronology from thence. If they had, the church would soon have sent them to the stake; as the
chronology of the Egyptians, like that
of the Chinese, goes many thousand years beyond the Bible chronology.
The religion of the Druids, as before said, was the same as the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The
priests of Egypt were the professors
and teachers of science, and were styled priests of Heliopolis, that is, of the City of the Sun. The Druids
in Europe, who were the same
order of men, have their name from the Teutonic or ancient German language; the German being
anciently called Teutones. The word
Druid signifies a wise man. [NOTE: German drud, wizard. Cf. Milton's line: "The star-led wizards haste
with odours sweet." The word Druid
has also been derived from Greek ####;, an oak; Celtic 'deru,' an oak and 'ndd,' lord; British 'deruidhon,'
very wise men; Heb. 'derussim,'
contemplators; etc. -- Editor.] In Persia they were called Magi, which signifies the same thing.
Egypt," says Smith, "from whence we derive many of our mysteries, has always borne a distinguished
rank in history, and was once
celebrated above all others for its antiquities, learning, opulence, and fertility. In their system, their
principal hero- gods, Osiris and Isis,
theologically represented the Supreme Being and universal Nature; and physically the two great celestial
luminaries, the Sun and the
Moon, by whose influence all nature was actuated." "The experienced brethren of the society, [says
Smith in a note to this passage] are
well informed what affinity these symbols bear to Masonry, and why they are used in all Masonic
Lodges." In speaking of the apparel of
the Masons in their Lodges, part of which, as we see in their public processions, is a white leather apron,
he says, "the Druids were
apparelled in white at the time of their sacrifices and solemn offices. The Egyptian priests of Osiris wore
snow-white cotton. The Grecian
and most other priests wore white garments. As Masons, we regard the principles of those 'who were the
first worshipers of the true God,'
imitate their apparel, and assume the badge of innocence."
"The Egyptians," continues Smith, "in the earliest ages constituted a great number of Lodges, but with
assiduous care kept their secrets
of Masonry from all strangers. These secrets have been imperfectly handed down to us by oral tradition
only, and ought to be kept
undiscovered to the laborers, craftsmen, and apprentices, till by good behavior and long study they
become better acquainted in geometry
and the liberal arts, and thereby qualified for Masters and Wardens, which is seldom or never the case
with English Masons."
Under the head of Free-Masonry, written by the astronomer Lalande, in the French Encyclopedia, I
expected from his great knowledge in
astronomy, to have found much information on the origin of Masonry; for what connection can there be
between any institution and the Sun
and twelve signs of the Zodiac, if there be not something in that institution, or in its origin, that has
reference to astronomy? Every thing
used as an hieroglyphic has reference to the subject and purpose for which it is used; and we are not to
suppose the Free-Masons,
among whom are many very learned and scientific men, to be such idiots as to make use of astronomical
signs without some
astronomical purpose. But I was much disappointed in my expectation from Lalande. In speaking of the
origin of Masonry, he says,
"L'orgine de la maconnerie se Perd, comme tant d'autres, dans l'obscurite des termps;" That is, the
origin of Masonry, like many others,
loses itself in the obscurity of time. When I came to this expression, I supposed Lalande a Mason, and on
enquiry found he was. This
passing over saved him from the embarrassment which Masons are under respecting the disclosure of
their origin, and which they are
sworn to conceal. There is a society of Masons in Dublin who take the name of Druids; these Masons
must be supposed to have a
reason for taking that name.
I come now to speak of the cause of secrecy used by the Masons.
The natural source of secrecy is fear. When any new religion over-runs a former religion, the professors
of the new become the
persecutors of the old. We see this in all instances that history brings before us. When Hilkiah the priest
and Shaphan the scribe, in the
reign of King Josiah, found, or pretended to find, the law, called the law of Moses, a thousand years after
the time of Moses, (and it does
not appear from 2 Kings, xxii., xxiii., that such a law was ever practiced or known before the time of
Josiah), he established that law as a
national religion, and put all the priests of the Sun to death. When the christian religion over-ran the
Jewish religion, the Jews were the
continual subject of persecution in all christian countries. When the Protestant religion in England
over-ran the Roman Catholic religion, it
was made death for a Catholic priest to be found in England. As this has been the case in all the
instances we have any knowledge of, we
are obliged to admit it with respect to the case in question, and that when the christian religion over-ran
the religion of the Druids in Italy,
ancient Gaul, Britain, and Ireland, the Druids became the subject of persecution. This would naturally
and necessarily oblige such of them
as remained attached to their original religion to meet in secret, and under the strongest injunctions of
secrecy. Their safety depended
upon it. A false brother might expose the lives of many of them to destruction; and from the remains of
the religion of the Druids, thus
preserved, arose the institution which, to avoid the name of Druid, took that of Mason, and practiced
under this new name the rites and
ceremonies of Druids.