Postscript to Ellen Evert Hopman’s The Druid Isle, otherwise known as:

by Shambhala Nath (Donald Michael Kraig)

In the novel you have just enjoyed, beginning in chapter twenty-nine, Bébinn begins instructing Aífe in ecnae nathairech, or serpent wisdom. For those who have studied even a little bit of spiritual lore, it is obvious that this wisdom is very similar to the Eastern concepts of kundalini and the chakras. While some might condemn this as a form of questionable or even illegitimate cross-cultural contamination of dubious historicity, wondering what’s that doing in there, I’m not so sure. To understand why, I’d like to take you back several thousand years.

The word Hindu is not based on anything religious, it is simply based on location. Specifically, it is derived from the Sanskrit word sindhu, meaning “river,” and it specifically refers to the Indus River, a geological divide at the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. It was first used to refer to India as a subcontinent in the mid-seventeenth century. It wasn’t used to represent the religions of India until 1829. The actual name for the religion we call “Hinduism” today is Sanatana Dharma, a Sanskrit phrase meaning “the eternal law.”

As you may know, the holy river of Hinduism is the Ganga (Ganges). What you may not know is that before the Ganga became such a focus, there was another river in the area, the Saraswati, which was considered the sacred river. And around it was an entire culture, the Harappan culture, which predated the India of today. At its height, one of the cities of this culture, Mohenjo-daro, had a population that was larger than the combined population of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Egypt. It was a highly advanced country, with trade going all over and living in peace. So why don’t you know about it?

There are a couple of reasons. First, many of the archeological sites are in Kashmir, and that land, unfortunately, is a hotbed of violence, making excavations difficult. The second major reason is one man, Max Müller (1823–1900).

Müller was a linguist working in India and sponsored by the British. He noticed something that others had noticed but that really bothered him. Sanskrit, the language of ancient India, had many words that were similar to much later words found in European languages. Since Sanskrit came earlier, it must be assumed that those Sanskrit words were the source of the European words. But Sanskrit was the language of the dark-skinned people of India. How could they have produced an advanced culture? Unfortunately, Müller was a racist. And he had a solution.

Without any training or physical research in archeology, Müller formulated the theory that a light-skinned race of people known as the “Aryans” from Europe invaded India, bringing civilization. He even gave a date for this “invasion.” He claimed it happened around 1500 bce. It must have happened around then, according to him, because he also happened to believe in the religious teachings of archbishop James Ussher, who came to the conclusion that God created the world on the night before October 23, 4004 bce, and around 2448 bce was the date of Noah’s ark. So this invasion, now known as the Aryan invasion, must have occurred later.

Unfortunately, there are some major problems with this theory. There’s no archeological evidence that such an invasion ever occurred. There’s no literature from these “advanced” Aryans, while there is lots of literature from the supposedly unadvanced dark-skinned Indians. Modern DNA research shows there was never such an invasion. Even the Sanskrit word Aryan only means “noble” or “honorable,” and referred to a class of people, not some mythical “race.”

And yet, the idea of an Aryan invasion was accepted. There were a few reasons for that. First, the British liked the idea of telling a people they subjugated that, historically, a foreign, light-skinned race had brought civilization to India. They felt it would make the local population easier to control, so they supported the idea. Some German theologians and mystics liked the idea also, because they didn’t want to trace Western civilization back to the Middle East and especially to Jewish culture. There is even a belief that the mythical Aryan race came from Atlantis. Thus, in support of politics, religion, mysticism, racism, and anti-Semitism, a theory was created that is still taught in many schools today.

Actual history and archeology shows an advanced local culture. So what happened to the Harappans? The Saraswati River, upon which they depended, dried up. I am told there is a myth about this. The goddess Saraswati was being too noisy, so she was told to be quiet. She did so by vanishing underground. By around 2000 bce, with the river that had been its focus gone, the mighty Harappan culture vanished.

Where did they go? Evidence seems to indicate that many slowly moved from northwest of India into the subcontinent. Others moved northeast to Tibet and China. However, others moved further west, all the way to Europe.

Is there any evidence to support this? Besides the language, there is a very famous item found in Denmark in 1891 that dates from the first or second century bce known as the Gundestrup Cauldron. On it are figures that clearly are derived from India and show Indian deities and elephants. One of the most interesting figures is that of a man wearing horns and sitting in a cross-legged position. At a Mohenjo-daro excavation, a seal was found showing a form of the deity Shiva, Pashupati, the Lord of Animals. It is virtually the same as that on the Gundestrup Cauldron. Both look remarkably like descriptions of Cernnunos.

So there is both linguistic evidence and archeological evidence of a connection between that ancient people of India and the Celts. There is also some remarkable evidence in what we know of the Druids, the spiritual leaders of the Celtic people, that links them to ancient India. According to some authorities, the Druids claimed to be descended from the original children or tribe of Danu, the Tuatha de Danaan. The worship of the goddess Danu seems to have existed all over the ancient Celtic world, as evidenced in the names of rivers such as the Danube River in Germany, the Don and Dneiper Rivers in Russia, etc. Well, it so happens that Danu is also an early Hindu goddess, physically of the primeval waters and astrologically of the Milky Way. In what many consider to be the oldest Sanskrit text, the Rig Veda, she is clearly called the mother of a tribe known as the Danavas, or children of Danu. The Druidic teachings on reincarnation, justice, consciousness, and an inner spiritual light are amazingly similar to ancient Indic beliefs. It is certainly possible that all of these similarities are nothing more than coincidence, but with so many links I find it highly unlikely.

But what about the ancient beliefs from India as they relate to the book you have just read? To truly understand what the power centers are from an ancient viewpoint, we need to look at the way the mind works and its interrelationship with the body.

Of course, we have physical bodies, but that’s obvious. What is it that animates the body? That must be some sort of energy. What controls the body and the energy? The mind. What makes a superior mind? Knowledge and wisdom. And what do you get from knowledge and wisdom? Pure spiritual bliss. Now, if we have a physical body, couldn’t we conceive of these other qualities as non-physical bodies? Indeed, that’s exactly what is done. And these five bodies, or sheaths (Sanskrit: koshas), make up the totality of who we are.

Within those sheaths are pathways of energy. There are literally dozens of such pathways. The concept of these energy pathways is at the root of ancient Indian medical practices (Ayurveda) and was carried into China, where they are now known as meridians. Where the paths cross are centers of power, often seen as spinning disks by people with spiritual vision. They are known as chakras (the “ch” is pronounced hard, as in “chalk,” or even like a hard “k,” but never soft, as if it were spelled “shakras”). There are literally hundreds of them throughout our bodies. (No, they are not the basis of the acupuncture points. Those are based on the crossings of three energy paths, and the points are called marmas.)

Of course, some chakras are more important than others. According to the earliest descriptions, there were only three that were important: one associated with the genitals, one with the heart, and one at the crown of the head. The chakras allow for a flow of energy between the sheaths of our bodies. In a sense, they are spiritual counterparts to the neurotransmitters that send information from neurons to each cell of the body. Each chakra is a vortex that allows information and energy to flow between the sheaths and outside. Each has its own functions such as are described in the novel.

Today, the most common description of the major chakras is that there are seven. Although they are not physical themselves, they are associated with the tip of the tailbone, the sexual organs, the solar plexus, the heart, the throat, the brow, and the top of the head. Some people don’t count the uppermost chakra, as its functions are so completely different than the lower six, so they describe only six major chakras.

Other schools describe different numbers of chakras. For example, what is arguably the most sacred symbol in India is the Sri Yantra. It is composed of nine intersecting triangles surrounded by rings of circles, metaphoric lotus petals, and an outer “square” which has outcroppings on each side. For those of you who are familiar with it, the Sri Yantra has some similarities to the Kabalistic Tree of Life. However, it is far more, with some people who study the knowledge of the Sri Yantra (Sri Vidya) actually worshipping the diagram. Some followers of Sri Vidya work with a nine-chakra system. The last two are more ethereal than the usual seven. They are found within the head and are sometimes said to be two parts of one chakra.

The serpent energy described in this novel matches the concept of the ancient Indian energy known as the kundalini, which is described as a serpent. The pathways for this energy in early illustrations show it merely going up the sides and center of the major chakras. Later, although the central path of the energy remains straight, the paths on the side (related to solar and lunar currents of energy) are shown to move from one side of the central path to the other, transitioning at the chakras.

Thus, the chakras are not only centers of moving energy (through the sheaths or bodies of the individual), but if they are blocked by excess or too little energy (or from problems with each of the sheaths—for example, with restricting thoughts in the mental sheath), the kundalini energy is blocked.

Through training and using various techniques ranging from visualization and breathwork to some of the sexual practices of Tantrics, the blockages can be freed, allowing the energy to flow. When all of the chakras are open and the energy flows freely, a person achieves a state of enlightenment.

Unlike just feeling good or feeling at one with the universe, this ancient freeing of personal and universal power is not simply a mental attitude. Since all of the sheaths are involved, the result trickles to all of the bodies, including the physical. Although some of the results are supposed powers, or siddhis (which may be metaphorical), there is one way to be sure you have achieved a state of enlightenment. When everything is working properly, the crown chakra inverts and pours a substance over the body known as amrita.[1] Amrita has an oily feel to it, so it is as if someone is pouring a pleasant, warm oil over your body. The body responds by actually changing the chemical structure of your liquid secretions. All of them, if tasted, become sweet to the taste. Even the saltiness of tears and perspiration become sweet. It is an amazing experience.

It would be impossible to describe all of the aspects of the chakras, koshas, kundalini, and more in just a brief postscript to this novel. What I want to point out is that finding descriptions of the chakras and kundalini among the Druids is neither surprising nor out of place. Nor is finding systems of chakras with more or less than seven unusual. I would hope that this novel has done more than entertain. I hope that it also inspires you to seek even more information.

I would like to end this with the ancient word of greeting and parting that is still used in India today: Namaste! (That which is of the gods in me recognizes and acknowledges that which is of the gods in you.)

Some Sources:

Feuerstein, Georg, Subhash Kak, and David Frawley. In Search of the Cradle of Civilization. Wheaton, IL: The Theosophical Publishing House, 2001.

Rajaram, N. S. Sarasvati River and the Vedic Civilization. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2006.

Venugopalan, R. Soul Searchers: The Hidden Mysteries of Kundalini. New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers, 2002.

[1] Today, there is group of people that identifies amrita with female sexual ejaculation. This is a new definition and does not equate with the traditional concept. That doesn’t make it wrong, just different.