Magic
The druids had the reputation of being great magicians and in some of the old historical romances we find the issues of battles sometimes determined not so much by the valour of the combatants as by magical powers of the druids attached to the armies.
Perhaps the most dreaded of all the necromantic powers attributed to the druids was that of producing madness. In the pagan ages, and down far into Christian times, madness was believed to be often brought on by malignant magical agency, usually the work of some druid. For this purpose the druid prepared a "madman's wisp" that is a little wisp of straw or grass, into witch he pronounced some horrible incantations and, watching his opportunity, flung it into the face of his victim, who at once became insane or idiotic.
Madness was often produced by the rage of battle, for during a bloody battle it sometimes happened that an excitable combatant ran mad with fury and horror. Occurrences of this kind are recorded in the romantic accounts of nearly all the great battles fought in Ireland. There was a most curious belief that during the paroxysm a madman's body became light as air, so that as he ran distractedly on with a sort of fluttery motion.
There is a valley in Kerry called Glannagalt "the glen of the galts or lunatics" and it was believed that all lunatics, if left to themselves, would find their way to it, no matter from what part of Ireland. When they have lived in its solitude for a time, drinking the water of Tobernagalt "the lunatics well" and eating of the cresses that grow along the little stream, the poor wanderers get restored to sanity. And at the entrance to Lough Foyle, on the strand near Inishowen head in Donegal, there is a well called Stroove Bran, witch was said to possess the same virtue as Toberngalt and to which all the deranged people in the surrounding district were sent to resort.
It was believed that the druids could pronounce a malign incantation, not only on an individual but also on a whole army, so as to produce a withering or enervating effect on the men, as they were sometimes employed to maledict a hostile army. They could give a drink of forgetfulness, so as to efface the memory of any particular event.
The druids were the intermediaries with the fairies, and with the invisible world in general, which they asserted they could influence for good or evil. And they could protect people from malice of evil, disposed spirits of any kind, which explains much of their influence with people. They could, as the legends tell, bring on snowstorms, or showers of fire or blood, and cover the land with blinding clouds and mists. They were also fortunetellers and could forecast future events, such as important affairs or military expeditions. The druids forecasted by observation of natural objects or occurrences, and also by certain artificial rites.
