Old Religion

> The Old Religion is the magic of the Earth itself. It is the essence which binds all things together. It will last long beyond the time of men.
>
> Kilgharrah

The **Old Religion** is a term for people who practiced polytheism or ethnic religions other than Judaism or Christianity. The Old Religion over time became a word to refer just to non-Christian religions.

The New Religion in turn, is all types of Christianity.

The Old Religion in the context of magic is a term used to describe the formerly pervasive customs and practices of Albion. The Old Religion is a form of extremely powerful magic notably followed by the Druids. This page is talking about this type of Old Religion, rather than any others or other types of Paganism/Polytheism.

## Beliefs

The Old Religion describes the customs and way of life belonging to the magic users of the kingdom. It is based on the philosophy of a sacred balance between all people, creatures, and elements of the universe which must be eternally preserved. At the heart of the religion is the balance between life and death itself.

The structure of the Old Religion remains unknown, but brief revelations indicate that it was lead by the High Priests and High Priestesses, who were among the most talented and dedicated practitioners of magic. Of great significance to the Old Religion is the Isle of the Blessed, a place at which numerous feats of magic occurred. The Old Religion is structured and remains unknown.

## History and Practices

In the times of the Old Religion the High Priestesses would gather on Samhain Eve on the Isle of the Blessed where they could sacrifice a living human being to tear the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead. They also used dark magic to summon from the depths of the Underworld the Fomorroh, a creature they revered which would allow them to take over the minds of their enemies, binding them to their will.

During their war with ancient kings, the High Priestesses of the Old Religion took the blood of a serving girl and mixed it with the blood of a snake, thereby creating powerful monsters that wrought destruction upon male enemies. However, the Lamia proved to be more dangerous than their creators imagined; the High Priestesses lost control of them and the Lamia continued to kill, unwilling and unable to stop.

Following the practice of the Old Religion, in the event of an unjust death being brought to one of their own, the Druids would construct shrines to appease and bring rest to restless and tormented spirits, but if this shrine were to be disturbed, the troubled spirit would possess the individual who did so and seek revenge for their death.

The probably once peaceful but later corrupted existence of the Old Religion in Camelot changed following the death of King Uther Pendragon's wife, Ygraine Pendragon, in childbirth after he asked Nimueh, a High Priestess of the Old Religion, of a favour to use magic to give his barren wife a son, Arthur. Nimueh claimed that the death of someone in exchange for creating a life was necessary to protect the balance of life and death in accordance with the ways of the Old Religion. Uther therefore blamed all magic for his wife's death and carried out a terrible retribution against its practitioners. While some followers gave up using magic or pretended to have given up using magic, such as Gaius, others refused to convert. This led to the execution of probably thousands of followers of the old ways.

Following the Great Purge Uther banned all forms of magic in Camelot. Some other kings of other kingdoms followed through the same practices.

## Known High Priests and High Priestesses

* Nimueh - a very powerful witch.
* Morgause - a sorceress smuggled to the Priestesses as an infant.
* The Disir - The highest and most sacred court of the Old Religion.
* Alator - a Catha warrior and High Priest of the Old Religion.
* Niede - Member of The court of Disir.
* Atorloppe - Member of The court of Disir.
* Befelen - Member of The court of Disir.
* Iseldir - A Druid chieftain.
* Aglain - A Druid chieftain.

## Significant Entities

The Cailleach - the gatekeeper to the Spirit World - is an immortal being who appeared after Morgana sacrificed Morgause on the Isle of the Blessed, thus tearing the Veil between the living world and the Spirit world. The Cailleach appeared to take no side, simply demanding payment where it was due and revealing prophetic information to both Morgana and Merlin.

Triple Goddess - is one of the main deities of the Old Religion.

Horned God - is one of the main deities of the Old Religion.

## Followers

> The Old Religion? Is that something you were taught?"
> "It's not something you can learn. Either it's a part of you or it isn't.
>
> Merlin and Balinor, The Last Dragonlord

Despite the ban of magic in Camelot, followers of the Old Religion still existed. A significant minority of these people appeared to use dark magic with the intent in acting revenge on the king due to the loss of loved ones during the Great Purge. These are known as Renegades.

Other notable followers were Gaius, though he relinquished the practices of the Old Religion while still maintaining a great respect and knowledge of it. The Great Dragon and other surviving sentient magical creatures are examples of creatures who continue to sustain the Old Religion.

## Historicity

The route of "Old Religion" is not specifically mentioned in either the show or the legends. Historically, the Old Religion appears to be a reference to the Celtic religion that existed in Britain prior to the Roman invasion during the 1st century AD. Like the Old Religion in the series, it had a complex system of gods, mythology and religious leaders, who appear to have been the druids. The religion more or less died out after the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire. Subsequently the British developed their own version - Celtic Christianity. This may be the "new religion" within Albion.

## Other Main Old Religions

Other religions that also count as apart of the Old Religions include:

* Celtic Paganism
* Anglo-Saxon Paganism
* Gaelic Paganism/Polytheism
* Roman Polytheism
* Pictish Polytheism

## Tivia

* Old Religion refers to all Pagan religions in the Brettanic Isles.