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Anam Cara is the Irish Gaelic word for "Soul Friend".  I am relatively lazy and I don't like to be long winded, so I will just explain a bit to you and then give you a wonderful book reference if you are interested in this subject further. It is an explaination of the makeup of the Druid philosophy so that you might understand the concept better.

The book that I would recommend is called Anam Cara; A Book Of Celtic Wisdom; by John O'Donohue. It explains what concept the belief of Druidry is based on as well as what Celtic people have been taught to believe throughout the ages, and it is still imbedded in the Catholic Churches of Ireland which I will explain briefly in the paragraph preceeding WitchVox.

 If you get bored, here is a widget you can add to your own google site page or facebook. It is an organization that I sponser named Witchvox. Buying a membership is not necessary, but it will keep you in the present with anything wiccan or pagan. They are very highly recommended by me to everyone.

Basically, the Druids and Celtic peoples believe that you have De ja Vue, because you actually have met peoples before and that your blood's memory is acknowledging this relationship by giving you a memory jog.

  It is very believable if you think about it for a moment.

Do you have one or two very good friends in your life that you consider family? One clue would be that you proceed through life maybe not contacting eachother for years, but when you finally do contact eachother, it is if you have never been apart. You just sort of pick up the conversation where you left off? That person never really gets mad that you haven't contacted them for several years, and the relationship just falls back into it's natural place without akward moments?

Another Clue...The person that you are friends with can share periods of silence in the same room without feeling akward because there is no conversation? Most of the time you think similarly and you don't ever really step on eachother's toes in the sense of giving advise that is opposition to this person?

Usually it is someone that you meet in childhood, but that is not always the case. It could also be someone of the opposite sex that you have a friendship with...no more, and no less. You instinctively don't think about it sexually,  as if it is a sister or brother.

Well, the Celts believe that there are people whom you chose to travel with as you reincarnate from this life to the next. These people they call soul friends, or mates. They are the ones who are assisting you to enlightenment and you are assisting them as well.

They are your travel companions throughout eternity so to speak. You chose them, and they chose you. Many times it is a parent, a sister or brother, or a close friend. Sometimes it is a spouse. Depending on what your memory retains, depends upon whether you know who this person is or not. Generally speaking, you will not recongnize who they are unless you have trained to retrieve your memory after you have died and have gone before god.

Even in the Christian faith; there are books in the clerical studies which tell you basically the same thing occurs after death. Your soul must go before god, but you need to go through a shedding period where you leave behind memories of earthly life, before you are fit for the journey.

For example, you need to be free of the desire to eat, have sex, sleep etc. If you ask a Catholic priest, he will inform you that this is part of the process to shall we say; "process your soul for admittance". There is a rigid series of steps that must occur before you go to see God. This is the same in every religion, so I am sure that it is one of the truths of life and death. Usually we do not agree between faiths, but in this instance there is an exception.

So, the Ancient Celtic belief which is still active in parts of Ireland and Great Britain; is that your friends are there for a process called "soul leading".

This is the part that I told you is still practiced in the church, and the priest will actually step aside to let the Anam Cara perform this ritual of spiritual magick during the funeral. Sometimes he may even assist the Anam Cara with the ritual.

The ritual is a Map of a Spritual Journey that the soul undertakes within a specified period after leaving the body. During the Soul Leading, the Anam Cara of the departed will direct him with voice, gesture and will to follow the map to the destinations that he or she must journey. This is crucial as you must remember, we are all to meet eachother eventually on the next precipe of life. This is something that I recently did for one of our own members who I cannot bear to remove from the membership. Her name is Patti Rabbit, and her Celtic blood spoke to her with urgency. She knew she was dieing, and sought me out. First to ensure that she would meet her son on the other side and also to use crystal magick to direct her to a soul mate that she never encountered in this life. There are specific ways to do this, as it is sometimes hard to recognise who our Soul-mate is. We find solice in certain memories of that person if another has certain characteristics that are similar. Sometimes a relationship is based souly on a laugh, or a look...we have no clue; but we find familiarity in a particular aspect of someones personality, and we assume that this is "The One"; yet later on we feel alone in spirit and sometimes realize we were mistaken.

Well, it was a pleasure and a terrible grief to lose this woman, but death was inevitable, and she knew it. So I was honored to do what she could not expect from her Anam Cara after she died. There was noone to point her soul in the right direction, so she made sure that I would do this for her. A solemn duty for a druid priestess to perform.

Anyway, the book Anam Cara, by John O'Donohue is very knowledgable; as well as The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom. Or, if you happen to know an Irish Priest, he may grace you with his knowledge on the matter.