In this work, MacCulloch attempts to rebuild Celtic paganism and to guess at its inner spirit. He portrays the Celt as a seeker after God, linking himself by strong ties to the unseen and eager to conquer the unknown by religious rite and magic art. The earliest aspect of his religion was the cult of nature spirits and of life manifested in nature.

    Examining cat mythology and folklore from around the world and sprinkled with enchanting cat quotes from famous feline admirers throughout the ages, The Enchanted Cat is a must-read for any magickal cat fancier.Witches, Pagans, and other magick-minded folks will love the dozens of charms, spells, and meditations included for working with feline power. A naming ceremony, lists of magickal cat names and correspondences, and spells and charms for your cat's collar are just a sampling of the feline-friendly magick inside. Cat astrology, tarot, and even a discussion of feline feng shui make The Enchanted Cat a uniquely magickal exploration of our enduring fascination with the feline mystique.Winner of the 2007 Coalition of Visionary Resources Award for Best Magick/Shamanism Book

    The Way of Four helps you determine which of the four elements are prominent and which are lacking in your world using a variety of custom-made quizzes. It includes a multitude of methods to incorporate and balance the elements in your environment, wardrobe, and even your perfume. This is a fun and valuable sourcebook for anyone seeking balance and beauty in a hectic world.

    But the Native American and African peoples were not the only cultures to traditionally practice shamanism. For centuries, shamanism was practiced by the Europeans, as well - including the Celts.

    With this second edition bringing the books completely up to date with analysis of recent work in the area, A History of Pagan Europe is the first comprehensive study of its kind, and establishes Paganism as a persistent force in European history with a profound influence on modern thinking.From the serpent goddesses of ancient Crete to modern nature-worship and the restoration of the indigenous religions of Eastern Europe, this wide-ranging book offered a rewarding - often provocative - new perspective on European history.This second edition includes:expanded discussion of the significance of the Olympian pantheon and the interrelationship of Greece and the Near East, and of the synthesis of paganism and Christianity new analysis of twentieth-century paganism and the coherence of paganism across time a new glossary and chronology.A History of Pagan Europe is essential for all readers interested in the development of religions across the centuries and around the globe.

    The ancient prayers and stories, along with step-by-step guides to making use of them today, offer powerful proof of the spiritual value of these ancient rites.

    The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs and early medieval historical traditions. While some details may hark back to older Iron Age traditions, each of the tales is the product of a developed medieval Welsh narrative tradition, both oral and written.Lady Charlotte Guest in the mid 19th century was the first to publish English translations of the collection, popularising the name "Mabinogion". The stories appear in either or both of two medieval Welsh manuscripts, the White Book of Rhydderch or Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch, written c.1350, and the Red Book of Hergest or Llyfr Coch Hergest, written c.1382 – 1410, tho texts or fragments of some of the tales have been preserved in earlier 13th century and later mss.Scholars agree that the tales are older than the existing mss, but disagree over just how much older. The different texts originated at different times. Debate has focused on the dating of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. Sir Ifor Williams offered a date prior to 1100, based on linguistic and historical arguments, while later Saunders Lewis set forth a number of arguments for a date between 1170 and 1190; Th Charles-Edwards, in a paper published in 1970, discussed both viewpoints, and while critical of the arguments of both scholars, noted that the language of the stories fits the 11th century. More recently, Patrick Sims-Williams argued for a plausible range of about 1060 to 1200, the current scholarly consensus.

    Because of the oral nature of Celtic civilization our understanding of its spiritual truths and rituals is necessarily incomplete. Yet evidence exists that can provide the modern reader with a better understanding of the doctrine that took druidic apprentices 20 years to learn in the remote forests of the British Isles and Gaul. Using the descriptions of the druids and their beliefs provided by the historians and chroniclers of classic antiquity--as well as those recorded by the insular Celts themselves when compelled, under Christianity's influence, to utilize writing to preserve their ancestral traditions--Jean Markale painstakingly pieces together all that is known for certain about them. The druids were more than simply the priests of the Celtic people; their influence extended to all aspects of Celtic life. The Druids covers everything concerning the Celtic religious domain, intellectual speculations, cultural or magical practices, various beliefs, and the so-called profane sciences that have come down from the Celtic priesthood.

    This wise and inspiring book will introduce you to all fifteen revered trees of the Celtic Tree Calendar and their unique gifts of healing, guidance, and higher consciousness.Progress through the calendar in sequence or choose a particular month to cultivate a relationship with these majestic spirits of nature. Perform guided meditations and go on journeys to discover the totems, guides, and deities corresponding to each species. Travel through the Wheel of the Year and learn about each tree's astrology, ruling planets, rune symbol, and ogham--its letter of the Celtic tree alphabet.The Healing Power of Trees is your guide to living the principles of the Celtic tradition--tuning in to the rhythms of nature, respecting the land, and fulfilling your role as a steward of the earth.Includes information on all 25 ogham letters, Celtic holidays, and how to conduct a tree-honoring ceremony.

    Earth, air, fire and water are the four elements worshiped in many indigenous cultures and celebrated in earth–based spiritualities such as Wicca. In The Earth Path, America's best–known witch offers readers a primer on how to open our eyes to the world around us, respect nature's delicate balance, and draw upon its tremendous powers.Filled with inspiring meditations, chants, and blessings, it offers healing for the spirit in a stressed world and helps readers find their own sources of strength and renewal.Will appeal to Starhawk's traditional Pagan, New Age, and feminist readership.Young women newly interested in magic and witchcraft.A new and growing generation of those involved in ecology

    Connect with the Goddesses of Avalon through guided journeys and powerful rituals. Explore Glastonbury's Sacred Landscape with eight pages of gorgeous color photographs. Develop legendary Avalonian skills--such as the Sight and the art of Glamour--to heal wounds of the soul and unlock the sacred wisdom at the core of your being.Drawing on Celtic mythology, Arthurian legend, and Druidic lore and exploring the way of the priestess as alluded to in Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, the Avalonian path empowers women everywhere to transform their lives by seeking the Goddess and the Sovereign self within.

    Perhaps no other religious philosophy is as simple and inclusive as pantheism. What is, right now, is divine; there is no god apart from the universe itself. In Standing in the Light, Russell explores the history of this tradition from the Stoic philosophers to the Transcendentalists while reflecting on her own life during a year spent in the mountains and desert of southwestern New Mexico. A season of banding birds, the migration of sandhill cranes, the panicked charge of a young javelina-nature provides the inspiration for meditations on subjects ranging from Buddhist thought to the death of her father, from the Quaker tradition to the sadness of children leaving home, from global warming to the ineffable loneliness of human experience. With a humane heart, an inquisitive mind, and luminescent prose, Sharman Apt Russell invites skeptics, scientists, and seekers everywhere to join her in her exploration of the soul of pantheism.

    This book by a well-known Celtic American shaman explores those interactions and interconnected pathways, looking at the interdependence of our material life with our inner life and that of nature. Each chapter is a small window into the mysteries of nature and soul as they infuse daily life. Cowan draws on the teachings of medieval mystics, fairy legends, Celtic songs, present-day poets and seekers, Native American stories, and other traditions. From these strands he weaves a Celtic knot of spirit that is both beautiful and strong.

    An orphan taken in by the chief druid of the Carnutes in Gaul, Ainvar possessed talents that would lead him to master the druid mysteries of thought, healing, magic, and battle— talents that would make him a soul friend to the Prince Vercingetorix . . . though the two youths were as different as fire and ice.Yet Ainvar’s destiny lay with Vercingetorix, the sun-bright warrior-king. Together they traveled through bitter winters and starlit summers in Gaul, rallying the splintered Celtic tribes against the encroaching might of Julius Caesar and the soulless legions of Rome. . . .From the Paperback edition.

    The traditions of Celtic-speaking communities in particular offer a highly effective method, expressed through mythology (as in the symbolic apple branch) and implemented through seasonal rituals.Alexi Kondratiev outlines rules for Celtic-circle membership and shows how to become conversant with Celtic culture and mythology, and at least one of the surviving Celtic languages. He also provides the actual formula of words given for each of the Celtic rituals and visualization sequences. These rituals are closely connected with the passage of time, especially the four seasons, as well as other feast days. In this book the ancient traditions of all six Celtic nations are brought to life. Alexi Kondratiev, who knows sixty-four languages well enough to teach them, conducts classes in a variety of Celtic subjects at the Irish Arts Center in New York City, and has been a contributor to a number of magazines and journals, including Keltoi, Carn, and Keltria.