by Searles O'Dubhain

Lead tablets thrown into sacred springs and rivers were among the most direct forms of communication with the divine in ancient Gaul. The Chamalieres tablet, discovered near Clermont-Ferrand in France and dated to the first century BCE or CE, is written in Gaulish and addresses the god Maponos — the "Divine Youth" — invoking the magic of the underworld gods to bring transformation and sight. In this December 2005 post to alt.religion.druid, Searles O'Dubhain shares Dr. Philip Freeman's translation of the tablet and situates it within the wider archaeology of Gaulish votive practice: tablets at Chamalières and Bath, offerings at Gournay-sur-Aronde, and the named gods Lugus, Eniorosis, and Adsagsona. The post offers practitioners a window into documented Gaulish religious practice beyond the Classical literary sources.

The Chamalieres tablet is a prayer by a group of Gaulish men to the gods of the underworld (translation by Dr. Philip Freeman):

"I invoke the god Maponos arueriitis. Through the magic of the underworld gods.

The oath they will swear — the small shall become great, the crooked become straight, and, though blind, I will see. With this tablet of incantation this will be ...

luge dessummiiis luge dessumiis luge dessumiiis luxe."

It is clear that the Gauls invoked the gods to work their magic from this and other lead tablets that were votively offered to wells, rivers and springs, which was a favored method to communicate with the gods of the underworld.

Other gods who are mentioned in such tablets are Lugus, Eniorosis, and the goddess Adsagsona (among others).

It appears that one of the primary ways to contact the gods was through flows of water and through fires, though the evidence from Gournay-sur-Aronde clearly demonstrates that offerings were also made into pits and trenches. It is possible that these offerings were to the air (through carrion birds).

Colophon

Written by Searles O'Dubhain and posted to alt.religion.druid in December 2005. The Chamalieres tablet (discovered at Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, France) is written in Gaulish using the Latin alphabet and is one of the longest surviving Gaulish texts; the translation cited is by Dr. Philip Freeman, Celtic scholar. Maponos ("the Divine Son/Youth") is a Celtic deity attested in Gaul and Britain, associated with Apollo in interpretatio romana. The site at Gournay-sur-Aronde is an iron age Gaulish sanctuary in northern France where large-scale animal sacrifice and weapon offerings were documented archaeologically.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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