so advanced in the practical phases of occultism that
they gave every condemned criminal a respite of five years, after
sentence of death, before execution, in order that he might prepare
himself for a future state by meditation, instruction and other
preparation; and also to prevent ushering an unprepared and guilty soul
into the plane of the departed--the advantages of which plan is apparent
to every student of occultism who accepts the teaching regarding the
astral planes.

The reader will understand, of course, that the degree of advancement in
spiritual and philosophical matters evidenced by the Gauls was due not
to the fact that these people were generally so far advanced beyond
their neighbors, but rather to the fact that they had been instructed by
the Druid priests among them. Tradition has it that the original Druidic
priests came to Gaul and other countries from some far-off land,
probably from Egypt or Greece. We have spoken of the connection between
their teachings and that of the Pythagoreans, and there was undoubtedly
a strong bond of relationship between these priests and the occultists
of other lands. The Druidic priests were well versed in astronomy and
astrology, and the planets had an important part in the teachings. A
portion of their ritual is said to have correspondences with the early
Jewish rites and worship. Their favorite symbol--the mistletoe--was used
as indicating re-birth, the mistletoe being the new life springing forth
from the old one, typified by the oak. The Druids traveled into Ancient
Britain and Ireland, and many traces of their religious rites may still
be found there, not only in the shape of the stone places-of-worship,
but also in many curious local customs among the peasantry. Many a bit
of English folk-lore--many an odd Irish fancy concerning fairies and the
like; symbols of good-luck; banshees and "the little-folk"--came
honestly to these people from the days of the Druids. And from the same
source came the many whispered tales among both races regarding the
birth of children who seemed to have remembrances of former lives on
earth, which memory faded away as they grew older. Among these people
there is always an undercurrent of mystic ideas about souls "coming
back" in some mysterious way not fully understood. It is the inheritance
from the Druids.

CHAPTER III.

THE ROMANS AND GREEKS.

One unfamiliar with the subject would naturally expect to find the
Ancient