Crofton Croker. From 1812 to 1816, he roamed southern Ireland, listening to his countrymen's stories of pixies, leprechauns, and other supernatural creatures. The result is one of the first collections of Irish fairy tales on record — and it's often considered the finest. Told in plain but colorful language with charming illustrations that capture the wonder of these tales, it became an overnight bestseller. An engaging mix of darkness and humor, the thirty-eight stories are filled to the brim with Irish wit and magic. In "The Haunted Cellar," you'll meet one of Ireland's oldest families, with blood as thick as buttermilk and a reputation for hospitality. But what is the secret in Justin Mac Carthy’s wine cellar that forces every butler to quit? In "The Changeling," a new mother finds a just solution when her infant is replaced by a mischievous fairy. "The Legend of Knockfierna" teaches fearless Carroll O'Daly a hard lesson about interfering with the "little people." And that's just a taste of the delights inside. A rich reflection of Celtic culture, Irish Fairy Legends will entertain you and your family for generations.

    She takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong’s characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense—and explains why if we dismiss it, we do so at our peril.

    The origins and legends of the Giants, the Ancient Britons, the Picts, the Scots and the English are all explained, in a work aimed at both the specialist and the casual reader. Organised into a simple system based on Robert Graves' classic Greek Myths, Ashe describes the myth or theme first followed by discussion or analysis.

    George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these myths did not begin as fiction.This absorbing book shows that myths originally transmitted real information about real events and observations, preserving the information sometimes for millennia within nonliterate societies. Geologists' interpretations of how a volcanic cataclysm long ago created Oregon's Crater Lake, for example, is echoed point for point in the local myth of its origin. The Klamath tribe saw it happen and passed down the story--for nearly 8,000 years.We, however, have been literate so long that we've forgotten how myths encode reality. Recent studies of how our brains work, applied to a wide range of data from the Pacific Northwest to ancient Egypt to modern stories reported in newspapers, have helped the Barbers deduce the characteristic principles by which such tales both develop and degrade through time. Myth is in fact a quite reasonable way to convey important messages orally over many generations--although reasoning back to the original events is possible only under rather specific conditions.Our oldest written records date to 5,200 years ago, but we have been speaking and mythmaking for perhaps 100,000. This groundbreaking book points the way to restoring some of that lost history and teaching us about human storytelling.

    Recognize themes that appear in the myths of other lands (such as the story of Tristan and Iseult), and find the amazing reasons behind the parallels.

    Here--culled from mythology, literature, and folk tales--is the mystical realm that has populated humanity's imagination for centuries. Over 400 entries, engagingly written and organized by type of entity, make this a complete source of information and a visual feast. Among the entries are: from "The Cosmos," Quetzalcoatl and Scorpio; from "The Ground and Underground," centaurs, elves, and unicorns; from "Wonderland," Atlantis and El Dorado; from "Magic, Science, and Invention," flying carpets and the Trojan horse; from "Water, Sky, and Air," Pegasus and Moby-Dick; and from "The Night," a host of shuddersome creatures from vampires to the golem. This is a wild and wondrous gift for any visionary.

    Human and divine energies complement each other; when joined, they become a potent catalyst for true magick and change. Celtic Myth & Magick describes the energies of over 300 cross-referenced Celtic deities and heroic figures so you can quickly determine which one can best help you in attaining specific goals through magick--such as greater prosperity (Cernunnos), glowing health (Airmid), or a soul partner (Aengus MacOg). This guidebook explains how to use creative Pagan ritual and pathworking to align yourself with the energy of these powerful archetypes. Undertake three magickal quests to the inner plane--where you'll join forces with Cuchulain, Queen Maeve, and Merlin the Magician to bring their energies directly into your life. This inspiring, well-researched book is written especially for solitary Pagans who seek to expand the boundaries of their practice to form working partnerships with the divine.

    Beginning at the time of Alexander the Great, the monsters come fast and furious--Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs oftomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring sources as diverse as philosophical treatises, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unravelstraditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated.

    A proud and independent nation developed from a number of smaller states; brilliant art and a unique way of life flourished, although the evidence of this, unfortunately, is often sketchy.A noted Celtic scholar, Nora Chadwick spent much of her life researching this field. Here she describes the rise and spread of the Celts and their arrival in the British Isles in about the eighth century BC. Chapters on their literature and art, their institutions and religion, punctuate the historical narrative and provide an illuminating insight into the Celtic way of life.

    As you’d expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People, it’s written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that’s easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths – more than any other book in the field – while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You’ll learn about the Vikings’ gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.

    Explore the mythologies of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Learn what makes these stories so important, distinctive, and able to withstand the test of time. Discover how, despite geographical implausibilities, many myths from across the oceans share themes, morals, and archetypes.Listening Length: 31 hours and 35 minutes

    It is the ideal reference tool for anyone with an interest in the Classics or those seeking to explore the many allusions to its mythology that abound in later literature.

    More than just stories, myths are a testament to the amazing creativity of humans striving to explain and make sense of the world around them. Here you will discover Zeus, god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods, and Loki, the cunning trickster with a knack for causing havoc, aided by his ability to change shape and gender. Beyond the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greek, Roman, and Norse myths, this book delves into the stories of the Australian aborigines, the Cherokee, and the Aztecs, each brimming with amazing characters and insights into human existence.This newest title in the bestselling Big Ideas series pairs engaging visual style with global coverage of world myths--profiling everything from the well-known tales of the Greeks, Norsemen, and Egyptians to the legends of the Caribbean, the Americas, Oceania, and East Asia--bringing the wisdom of the ages to life.

    Yeats wrote of his own people “...even a newspaperman, if you entice him into a cemetery at midnight, will believe in phantoms, for everyone is a visionary if you scratch him deep enough. But the Celt, unlike any other, is a visionary without scratching.” This introduction to Celtic Mythology will serve the novice well – for it is a complicated history with the earliest written records destroyed by the marauding Vikings. Inside you will read about... ✓ The Arrival of the Tuatha dé Danann ✓ Hibernia ✓ The Main Gods of the Celtic Pantheon ✓ Celtic Life and Rituals ✓ Sources of Celtic Mythology ✓ The Effect of Christianity and Beliefs and Superstitions The oral tradition harks back to 4000BCE and is a compilation of myths and cultures of many different peoples including the Indo-Iranians, Slavs, Greeks, Germans, Austrians and finally, the Gauls, who washed up on the shores of the Emerald Isle. Whatever aspect of this rich, mystical and lavishly embellished heritage you would like to investigate further you will find the author has supplied a marker to guide you on your way.

    It dramatizes a 13th century view of the past, from the pagan anarchy of the Viking age to the settlement of Iceland, the coming of Christianity and the beginnings of organized society.