Now a little about the people who were a major source of magickal tradition of Welsh Faerie Witchcraft - The Picts.

It is clear from Irish sources that the Picts were known to the non-Roman world by another name..."Cruithni or Cruithnigh." When we consider that (1) the Pictones were ancient friends of Rome during the reign of Julius Caesar, (2) broch people were called Cruithni in Galloway and Argyll, (3) Cruithni is the native Celtic name for Pict, and (4) the broch culture slowly entered Scotland completely vanishing from its former existence in the west and north, then it appears logical to equate the mysterious broch culture with the Picts. If this theory is correct, many difficulties are erased. The Pictish language is not a mystery. It was a form of Gaelic and surviving Welsh. The desertion of the brochs is explained by the Picts moving south into the devastated, although richer, lands of eastern Scotland when the Roman armies withdrew to Hadrian's Wall. This moved the Pict central kingdom into the richest district of Scotland. The Picts fought Rome for the first time in many generations. At the outcome, all people who raided the British provinces in the late years of the Roman Occupation became known as Picts.

The first writing to refer to the Picts as "Picts" was in 297 A.D. by Eumenius, in his praises of Constantius. Following this writing, the Picts are mentioned quite frequently. The two most complete native traditions were set forth in books written by Gildas and Nennius. Gildas' writings took place in the sixth or seventh century, and paints the Picts as a people being hairy and unclothed, traveling in curraghs (skin boats) from the north across the sea. Nennius' writings in 800 A.D. portrays the Picts as living first in the Orkneys and then moving south to conquer one-third of Britain in which they resided during his lifetime. Both accounts place the Picts in the Orkneys and northern-most Scotland.

It is possible, of course, to argue that there were no such people called Picts. Pict was merely a Roman soldier's nickname for all Britons. However, this was not the belief of their Celtic contemporaries. According to the Celts, the Picts were also the Cruithni who came from the north and conquered one-third of Britain. It seems to be an inevitable conclusion that they came from the brochs of the Orkneys and Shetlands and that one-third of their land included the former territory of the Macatae in Strathmore where the later Pict kingdom was centralized. This is a drastic suggestion, and it is necessary for me to discuss this in detail. The late Professor H. M. Chadwick believed the Picts were the people of the Gallic-Wall forts at the time of Agricola, approximately 300 years before his time. The Caledonii are shown in Ptolemy's geography as holding the central mountain mass of the Scottish Highlands. The Maeatae were believed to be the people living in Mag More (Great Plain), which is Strathmore today. It is said that the Cruithni took the Mag More by the sword.

If all the above is correct, the Picts were the same people known as Caesar's allies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. They had moved into the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands following the defeat of the Veneti in 56 B.C. They expanded at the expense of the older Celtic tribes into the lands of Sutherland, Caithness, Ross and Cromarty. If Severus had pursued his advance as far as the scanty records of his campaigns indicated, he probably had contact with the Broch men ...Picts ...Cruithni. Although this is speculation, it appears that the Broch Men must have always been in opposition with the Gallic Wall tribes. Why else were the brochs constructed? Rome was too far south to be dangerous. The brochs possibly were built in anticipation of a lengthy counter attack. History sets forth the premise that for generations the Romans and Broch Men hunted in pairs.

Where is all this historical stuff leading to? First, remember that in antiquity, a tribe was known by the name of its leading family. It is their history that is recorded in the tales of the bards and seannachies. The tribe contained families of many other tribes whose names are never recorded. It is quite clear that the tribesmen known as Picts in 100 A.D. differ greatly from the Picts in 600 A.D. The Picts were a much larger force by the sixth century, due in part, to their matrilineal and exogomatic (look up the word) marriage system whereby the ruling Pict families became masters of many new tribal families. Marriages in Celtic lands had an effect on the composition of a tribe or clan which is seldom recorded. As one example, it is recorded that an Irish lady married into the MacDonells of Keppoch in the 16th Century. She brought families named Boyles, Burkes and Kelly with her.

Some of these took the name MacDonell while others chose to retain their name. Fifty years later, the MacDonell chieftain married a Stewart of Appin. It is easy to see that using this process for several hundred years lead to noted changes in the clan and tribe distinction. It acted as a natural protection against inbreeding and added virility to the Celtic people. On the other hand, anthropologists consider such a system as a nightmare in determining predominant racial types. Using this marriage system as a base, this Celtic "mixture" accounts for 2,000 years' population extending across Europe from the Black Sea to the Butt of Lewis.

The Cruithni seem to have been the original Pict tribe. Before the Picts became an important people, however, they mingled with the De Danann and the Fir Bolg. The De Danann were known as Sith meaning "fairie." The Fir Bolg ("men of the bags") were the earliest of three tribes. They ruled Ireland until the De Danann came driving them from the land.

The De Danann are said to have come from Lochlin to Scotland to Ireland. When in Scotland, they lived at Dobhar and Iardobhar, the River Dobhain in Argyll near Dun Add and west from there. The Cruithni are said to have come from Thrace through France to Ireland.

Here they were given land by the King of Leinster on the promise that they rid the land of the Tuatha Fidhbe (or Fir Bolg). In battle, the Cruithni were driven from Ireland and, in turn, conquered one-third of Scotland (from Cath [Caithness] to Forchu).