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Comment by ShadowMoon Walker on November 9, 2012 at 8:23am

Hello everyone. My name is ShadowMoon I'm 23 married and I have three little girls. I find myself drawn to Celtic paganism and my husban is a Druid. Can't wait to have dicussions with my fellow pagans! Merry meet and blessed be )o(

Comment by Nikki Rippey on January 4, 2012 at 9:48am

Hello everyone
I am new and looking forward to making some great friends and learning more about the Celtic Goddess and God.

Comment by Megan Ingram on May 28, 2011 at 2:20am

Greetings , am here to learn as much as possible am totally interested in celtic paganism. Blessed Be Megan Angel Rock

Comment by Joshua on November 10, 2010 at 3:31pm

Their is one thing i learnt from other religions and cultures, letting thing unfold and that there are signs and signal(omens) that can open one up to pathways or worlds, i think intuitively one can come to druidry, paganism or whatever through learning about these things. and sometimes books can be usefull depending on how conditioned the persons mind is, how much karma they have created for them-selves and how strong their society is in a multicultural sense.

Comment by Joshua on November 10, 2010 at 3:20pm

i think druidry is a something that can be experimented with, but better experimented with intuitively, i know that some Neo-Pagans believe that many other indiginous cultures around the world are pagan also, i am doing OBOD Bardic Gwesu, and Philip recommends in it to, be intuitive with what one wants to experiment with, and not to take it seriosly. i think it has shamanic roots and we can learn alot from other shamanic cultures. although some of these group seem like they are doing things recognition.

Comment by Dolmanstone on January 23, 2010 at 11:55pm

Hello to all agus Failte go leir,
I am sorry I have not been in conatc for a while but things will improve from now on.
Thank you for all those that joined the list and i hope to chat to you as individuals or a s a group.
Life as we know sends us down weird and wonderful paths. And once again I head off to Ireland this August to visit my family and see some more sites.
However before that i will be in New Zealand for my birthday on the 13th. I plan to do some touring but first I will Attend the New Zealand Pagan Festival at Morrisville see the link http://www.naturesmagick.co.nz/festival/festival_index.asp
I will fiole a report on the festival on my return.
Also watch out for a book list and other stuff.
Regards and Slan
Dolmanstone

Comment by Dolmanstone on December 22, 2008 at 5:07pm

400 people gathered at the 5,000-year-old passage tomb of Newgrange in the Bend of the Boyne, Co. Meath, for the annual Winter Solstice sunrise phenomenon. Tens of thousands more logged onto a special OPW website to see the event broadcast live across the web. But there was just one problem, a typically Irish one - cloud! It was cloudy from horizon to horizon, marring the spectacle for all those who had waited for the special day to arrive.

But seven miles downstream from Newgrange, at the mouth of the Boyne, 20 people gathered at the ancient standing stones at Baltray and were lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunrise. The sky was 98% covered with cloud, but by a lucky chance, the 2% patch of clear sky lay precisely in the direction of the sunrise towards the southeast.

At 8.38am, the sun peeped up from the Irish Sea and lit up the grey sky, turning the murky cloud into a belly of firelit orange as the Winter Solstice dawn broke spectacularly at the mouth of Ireland's foremost ancient valley. We who gathered there, including writers, poets, artists, photographers and archaeologists, enjoyed a spectacle which warmed our souls. We were witnessing an event which had been marked out up to 5,000 years ago by ancient farmers who were well practiced in astronomical study. The Baltray standing stones constitute a simplistic expression of cosmic ideals displayed with such grandeur at the gigantic Newgrange. But despite their apparent insignificance, the Baltray standing stones are very important. They are the first ancient site in the Boyne Valley, overlooking the Irish Sea and the Boyne Estuary. And they have a Winter Solstice sunrise alignment, just like Newgrange.

Just before the sun made its appearance, Anthony Murphy, author of "Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers", gave a brief talk about the astronomical and mythological significance of the standing stones. He was followed by archaeologist Conor Brady of Dundalk Institute of Technology who gave a brief overview of the archaeological significance of Baltray and the Boyne Valley. Then land owner and poet Ann Hartigan read one of her poems about the standing stones. The event was co-ordinated by Aude Laffon, National Monuments Advisor at Louth County Council.

Afterwards, most of the party adjourned to the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre for breakfast, where they met many of those who had missed the event at Newgrange due to cloud and made them jealous with tales of a beautiful morning down at Baltray.

Photos of the event are available here:
http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/baltray/solstice-sunrise-2008.php

--

Kind regards,
Anthony Murphy
____________________________

http://www.mythicalireland.com

Comment by Dolmanstone on December 21, 2008 at 7:44am

This is a must see folks log on
www.astronomy2009. ie .

Comment by Dolmanstone on December 21, 2008 at 7:28am

Sun Venus
Hello Sun Venus and thank you for you email information.
Firstly let me say that I added Celtic and Druidry together as some see them as such. I personally don’t as I feel that Druidry is older than Celtic belief system but finds a happy home within it.
You no doubt be aware that all over the world there were similar priestly grouping, in the Maya, Egyptions and Inca to name but a few. And although it would seem that Druids well Celtic I would like to the following.
Newgrange in County Meath Ireland was in operation almost 2000 years before the Celtic era. This beautiful and unique structure has the unusual feature box opening above the doorway. The light of the Sun passes through the box and into the back of the chamber. This amazing event accurs on the Winter Solstice three or four days each side of it. More of this in a later email.
No while I would like to attribute the mound and its Solstice light to the Druids I cant.
However it took great skill and knowledge to erect such a structure. No only did you have to be a master builder but an Astronomer as well. I feel the Druids had this knowledge and were involved with such building in the Boyne area.
And when the Celtic peoples came along they adopted such places for Worship. And thus both systems get mixed in.
As Druids we have adopted these as weel.
However the main thing is that our belief is following the cycle of the seasons, and observing nature. And celebrating the these events.
We can get too bogged down in history that we may not get out of bed to enjoy nature.
I feel when we get back to feeling and living with the nature then we are complete.
I am Irish and born in Ireland I carry the Genectic history within my soul its part of who I am. Its the way i choose to live and see the world.

As far as Druid Groups, The ADF system is a good one as Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD) Druidschool from Irelan and the British Druid Order. It is up to each person which path he or she goes as it it is in life.
I see merits and flaws in all of them. its my personal opinion.
However I would say the best system is to leave the books and go out and enjoy nature enjoy it, feel it, swim and wallow in it. Listen to song of the trees, the birds and the rivers. Touch the leaves of the tree, feel the Sun and wind on your face.
Embrace Gaia and the books will wait, to welcome you back broaden your knowledge and give ya insights. With out out doing reading is just that reading.
If we forget that we are water and clay,
If we forget we live in a world of beauty
Then do we forget who we were, are and will be.
We cherish the land, and it foloows we must cherish ourselves.
Be good to youself the worl and you deserveit.
Dolmanstone

Comment by SunVenus on December 10, 2008 at 8:48am

"So here is my question what do you believe CelticDruidic spirituality to be."

Well, that depends. ;-)

The way you ran those terms together leads me to believe you have a specific neo-pagan idea in mind. I am probably not familiar with it; I’ve not yet studied in depth each and every type of paganism under the umbrella label, but I’m working on it. ;-) But taken separately, one as “Celtic” spirituality and the other as “Druidic” spirituality, then yes, I have some very definite ideas.

Firstly, I look at time in reference to how you are defining these things. Are you speaking of “Celtic Spirituality” for today as we work it in our modern context, or as an historical concept? Because those will be separate issues, and may be entirely differing paradigms with only some loose ties between them.

I think almost all Celtic spirituality—both ancient and modern-- is a loose collection of practices, some that vary widely and some that share features in common. The areas where they differ in an historical sense would likely be along the lines where the language groupings split. It also depends on where & how one defines “pure Celt” versus how much syncretisation occurred between each Celtic “culture” (or language group) and the various other cultures that they came into contact with: i.e. The Saxons, the Greeks & other Mediterranean systems and cultures, the religions of what many call “the middle east”, etc, all of which have had an influence on Celts through the ages. Some more modern (i.e. the neo-paganisms of today) forms Celtic spirituality include a push towards a rational, balanced reconstruction which I deeply admire and support, and then there are other syncretisations that give a flowing Celtic bend to new age spirituality—for instance, I was quite taken with the system proposed by Alexei Kondratiev. (And I agree wholeheartedly with Kondratiev and other Celtic scholars that proper integration into Celtic studies requires and immersion into one or more of the languages. This seems to be true for most “culturally-based” religions and even for understanding people’s mindsets in any abstract platform; politics, religions, philosophy, etc.—there are nuances that are lost in translation. For instance, look at all those amazing German worlds for terms we don’t have in English: weltsmertz (world weary), or zeitgeist (spirit of an age). In order to understand a culture well, it helps immensely to be able to think in the language. Sorry, I digress.)

Druidry (that practiced by the originators of the term) and neo-druidry (that practiced in today’s context) are all likely a bit different from one another as well. I mean how much do we really know of actual historical Druidry? Look at all the myths and fallacies and questions that remain. We still have people nowadays that insist that Stonehenge was built by the Druids, or who think that the descriptions of the Druids by the invading Romans must be 100% accurate. (Maybe they were somewhat accurate; it is possible. But the study of history often shows that history is written the victors, and that the gods and heroes of the old spiritual paradigms are demonised in the lore of the new and conquering politics and spiritualities. Thus we can’t take anything as “set in stone” that Caesar’s accounts say.)

As for modern neo-druidry, there is a fine programme developed by ADF although I see that more as falling into a generic neo-paganism paradigm than being specifically Druid. (Although ADF is also a good starting point for reconstructive practices into Indo-European paganisms.) Not that there is anything wrong with generic neo-paganism, but I am not sure as a student of history and religious studies that “druid” is the right term to apply to it, exactly. But I think Bonewits’ choice of the term was somewhat poetic, and there can be some loose parallels drawn if we use the idea of a “druid as one who steadfastly seeks wisdom”, therefore putting the druid label into a scholar archetype rather than an office that was likely specifically defined in antiquity as something else. (I mean defined as something else by those originators of the terms back in antiquity, as compared to what the ADF is calling “druid” for their usage.) There are other modern Druid organizations as well, like the OBOD, and likely some others I’m not familiar with. Whether any of those are good bad or whatnot, I don’t know.

And naturally there are those that try (with varying degrees of success) to paint a purely Celtic wash onto what we know as the Wiccan/neo-wiccan/religious witchcraft framework. There’s nothing wrong with this except when those who do so wilfully deny the syncretised aspects of both “systems” and who are deliberately ignorant of history and insist that “Wicca” is 100% Celtic. Bad scholarship is limiting, and I maintain the modern paganisms and neo-paganisms are strong enough now to not have to cater to the conflated myths that flourished in the early days of the modern neo-pagan movement. (i.e. the Burning Times myths, mystical initiating grannies, etc.) But yes, I do think there can be successful forms of “Celtic neo-wicca”.

So I suppose my position is that as long as no one thinks Druidry is adequately or even correctly explainedby Douglas Monroe’s asinine 21 Lessons of Merlyn, or wrongfully insists that Wicca is “The Celtic Religion” handed do..., or that MZB’s The Mists of Avalon in any way, shape or from describes anything other than a mélange of neo-wicca, Fortunian Christian occultism and rehashed Arthurian lore, then we’re off to an okay start.

Dolmanstone, I look forward to seeing what you are going to present. :-)

Regards-
SunVenus

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