In early Irish society there existed an honoured group of people called the "Filid." They preserved the native stories and they were learned in the magical arts. It is within this ancient tradition that Ella Young (1867-1956) lived her unique and creative life. In the late 1800s Ella began to gather the old tales that had been handed down from family to family for centuries. She lived among the rural folk in the West of Ireland and in the hills south of Dublin. As part of her devotion to Irish culture she learned Gaelic and, as a major contributor to the Celtic Revival, she taught classes in the language and the myths. Ella's spirituality reached deep into the land and into the heart of ancient Ireland. Others have called her a seeress, a druidess, or a witch - the magical name she gave herself was "Airmid" - the goddess of healing who drew her powers from the fertile green earth. She knew first-hand about the faery folk of Ireland - she heard their music and listened to their stories. Ella was truly blessed - for her life flowed in harmony with her beliefs, her nationalism, and her career as an author and lecturer. This new collection of her writings, edited and introduced by John Matthews and Denise Sallee, is a deeply magical and evocative tribute to Ella's many gifts, featuring some of the best of her poetry and mythical storytelling.

It was the Celtic bards who laid down the foundation of inner wisdom that has come down to us as Arthurian legend, passing their traditions to the Arthurian romancers of the 12th and 13th centuries. Thus the Celts provide an immediate bridge that leads to a very ancient world. Focusing on the Brythonic Celtic material and the "Taliesin" cult whose lineage preserved the mysteries through the Mabinogion and other texts, Awen: the Quest of the Celtic Mysteries reveals the sources of the British sacred tradition right back to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, and, as some believe, further back still to even more ancient sources. Awen is a Welsh word often translated as "inspiration". However, in its fullness it has a much deeper meaning, an irradiation of the soul from paradisal origins. In the context of the Celtic folk-soul it casts the paradisal pattern by which the people and the land were harmonised. Through the aligned symbolism of the goddess, the sacred king and the stars, a compelling picture is built of a thriving mystery tradition which marries the constellations to the landscape, exploring as an example the interwoven five-fold and seven-fold stellar geometry of Moel ty Uchaf stone circle in North Wales, and the stellar alignments on the landscape of Cadair Idris.

This book is a magical journey into the realms of the Sidhe, the graceful "People of Peace" who are the overlords of the Faery Kingdoms. With beautiful full-colored illustrations by Jeremy Berg and text by David Spangler, author of Apprenticed to Spirit and Subtle Worlds, this is a journey not only into a mystical realm but also into the potentials of the human spirit and the possibilities of a new consciousness within humanity. "This joyous and powerful story sits well amongst other tales of faery and brings its own enchantment. I really found myself carried off as I read, and emerged at the end with a feeling of having been a lot further than I thought. I'd put this right alongside Goethe's 'Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily' as of a kind that can only be written by a true initiate. And the pictures which accompany it carry their own power - drawing deep on the wells of lore and truth." - John Matthews, author of The Western Way and How To See Faeries.

PREFACE: This book is what its authors believes to be the only attempt yet made to put the English reader into possession, in clear, compact, and what it is hoped may prove agreeable, form, of the mythical, legendary, and poetic traditions of the early inhabitants of our islands who have left us written records - the Gaelic and the British Celts...... This early, illustrated works is a fascinating and detailed study of the subject and will appeal greatly to any historian or student. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

In the midst of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, a handful of British intellectuals turned their backs on the social and cultural trends of their time and set out to reinvent the spirituality of the ancient Druids. The movement that rose out of this effort played a central role in struggles for cultural identity in most of the Celtic nations of Europe, provided inspiration to such world-class creative talents as William Blake and Frank Lloyd Wright, and inspired an innovative tradition of Western nature spirituality that remains active to this day. The Druid Revival Reader provides the first collection of original writings from that movement. Its selections, beginning with William Stukeley's survey of Druid theology from 1743 and ending with Ross Nichols' 1947 essay "An Examination of Creative Myth," cover two centuries in the life of an evolving tradition. Edited and introduced by contemporary Druid John Michael Greer, The Druid Revival Reader is essential for understanding the sources of modern Druid and Pagan traditions, and offers a wealth of insights relevant to the ecological and spiritual crises of our own time.

Why do they still come? Fourteen hundred years after a handful of Celtic monks withdrew to tiny islands in the sea, and almost a thousand years after the last of them disappeared, a steady streams of modern men and women make the difficult trek to these isolated places. Why? What did the ancient monks know that we have forgotten, or remember only dimly? What are we looking for when we journey to such sacred places? We are looking, among other things, for wisdom-for clues about how to live in a frantic, materialistic, care-worn world that is, in many ways, hostile to life. And we sense that those who lived here so long ago, though they have left very little behind, have something to teach us. In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands is the story of a reluctant pilgrimage, taken by a man with no great faith in sacred places. He is a man filled with modern questions and suspicions, who nonetheless returns home from these thin places with a better understanding of how to live. This book interweaves spiritual quest, travel, memoir, history, theological reflection, cultural analysis, and personal introspection-all conveyed in an engaging, probing, and honest voice. It is a book for those on the hunt for meaning who share the hope that God has sown it throughout this world-perhaps more thickly in certain sacred places.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

THIS 34 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, by Albert Churchward. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564591050.

Since its origins in the early eighteenth century, Druidry-a modern movement of nature spirituality drawing much of its inspiration from Celtic tradition-has evolved a rich body of ceremonial and collective practice. Celebrated privately within groves this body of lore provides a ritual framework for the celebration of the seasonal cycle and the spiritual development of the individual.To this wealth of tradition, The Druid Grove Handbook is one of the few publicly available sources. Compiled from the records of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), and edited by the AODA's current Grand Archdruid, widely read author and environmental blogger John Michael Greer, it provides a detailed survey of the evolution of AODA's ceremonial traditions, and the complete rituals for opening and closing a Druid grove, initiating candidates for membership, and celebrating the solstices and equinoxes, the four primary holy days of the traditional Druid year.

THIS 46 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Druid Path, by Marah Ellis Ryan. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564596230.

This is a practical manual for divination using the ancient Celtic characters of ogham writing. However, it is much more than that as well. It opens the doors to the authentic understanding of ancient Celtic cosmology and psychology in ways that have never been done before. This, as much as the divinatory material, opens the reader to vistas as yet uncharted in the fields of Celtic studies.The book contains a complete system of oghamic divination, the lore of each of the 20 ogham characters, a Celtic psychology and Celtic cosmology as well as a complete suggested curriculum for training in Celtic spirituality based on the ogham system. One of the most important new features of this edition is the information demonstrating the fact that the ogham system was not originally a "tree alphabet." This book is a thorough and substantial rewriting of a book by Edred Thorsson by the same name published more than a decade ago. This new edition takes into account important new findings in the realm of ogham studies and must be read and studied by all those who first read the older edition in order that a deeper and more authentic understanding can be reached.

An astonishing true story about one woman's journey to Ireland where she lived in a cottage with leprechauns. These seldom-seen beings taught her about the evolution of elementals-the race to which leprechauns, faeries, elves, trolls belong. They explained the importance of humans and elementals working together for the betterment of both of their races and the Earth. "Tanis Helliwell is a spiritual evocateur and deep seer who opens us up to other voice...other realms..." Jean Houston, author Search for the Beloved "This delightful book is not only great fun to read, but makes most interesting and intelligent suggestions about the reality and work of this particular branch of the nature world. It can help us open our minds to fascinating dimensions that do exist on the planet." Dorothy MacLean, co-founder of Findhorn and author of To Hear the Angels Sing "Opening this book opens a door in the imagination. Whether you take it as fact or fiction, this book carries a message of planetary priorities." Julia Cameron, An Artist's Way Tanis Helliwell, M.Ed., is the founder of The International Institute for Transformation (IIT). She has experienced and later worked with elementals, angels, and master teachers on other planes since childhood. Living on the sea coast north of Vancouver, Canada, she is the author of Pilgrimage with the Leprechauns, Take Your Soul to Work, Embraced by Love, and Decoding Your Destiny: Keys to Humanity's Spiritual Evolution.

It has long been held by most theologians, anthropologists, and other academicians that the world has never known pure Goddess-worship. In particular they deny that it ever existed in the British Isles. In fact, the exact reverse is true. For the vast majority of the islands history, the veneration of a female Supreme Being (Mother-Goddess) was the only religion known. Indeed, until the Early Neolithic Age (4,500 BCE) the concept of a male deity (Father-God) did not even exist in Europe. As award-winning Tennessee author and Southern historian Lochlainn Seabrook readily shows in his important work, The Book of Kelle, proof of Anglo-Celtic Goddess-worship is overwhelming and plentiful. The nations of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland themselves, for example, were all named after goddesses, as were many of their rivers, islands, towns, hills, and mountains. Reinforcing this evidence is the fact that many surrounding countries and regions also take their names from female deities. Among these we have Italy, Holland, Denmark, Crete, Malta, Albania, and Scandinavia, just to name a few. Europe herself is named after a goddess, as is our planet, and even our universe. While Mr. Seabrook touches on these various topics, the final focus of the book is on the Goddess Kelle, who gave her name to her most ardent followers: the Kelts or Celts. Known by poets as the Blessed Lady of Ireland, Kelle s story is a rich and fascinating one; one that Seabrook traces back to early Asia, where she is still worshiped to this day as the Goddess Kali. Lochlainn Seabrook is the winner of the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal, awarded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Known as the American Robert Graves after his celebrated British cousin, Seabrook is a seventh-generation Kentuckian of Appalachian heritage, the sixth great-grandson of the Earl of Oxford, the twenty-first great-grandson of King Edward I, the fortieth great-grandson of British Queen Boudicca, and the author of over thirty popular books. A specialist in thealogy (Goddess-oriented religion), his works include: Britannia Rules: Goddess-Worship in Ancient Anglo-Celtic Society; Christmas Before Christianity: How the Birthday of the Sun Became the Birthday of the Son; The Goddess Dictionary of Words and Phrases; The Quotable Jefferson Davis; The Quotable Robert E. Lee; Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong, Ask a Southerner ; Abraham Lincoln: The Southern View; The Unquotable Abraham Lincoln: The President s Quotes They Don t Want You to Know ; A Rebel Born: A Defense of Nathan Bedford Forrest; The McGavocks of Carnton Plantation: A Southern History; Nathan Bedford Forrest: Southern Hero, American Patriot; Carnton Plantation Ghost Stories: True Tales of the Unexplained From Tennessee s Most Haunted Civil War House ; UFOs and Aliens: The Complete Guidebook; and The Blakeneys: An Etymological, Ethnological, and Genealogical Study.

THIS 34 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, by Albert Churchward. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564591050.

Tanis Helliwell 's newest book Pilgrimage with the Leprechauns: a true story of a mystical tour of Ireland is a romp to the sacred sites of Ireland accompanied by a leprechaun who is helping her and her thirty fellow pilgrims face their blind spots. They have a topsy-turvy encounter with the mischievous, wise humour that the Irish call "The Craic." In addition to being an amusing story, Helliwell's book is chock fun of information about nature spirits or elementals, as they like to call themselves. The trolls, elves, goblins, and brownies are as real for the reader as the various humans whom they partner. For anyone planning a trip to the sacred sites of Ireland, or to Ireland itself for that matter, this book abounds in nuggets as precious as the pot of gold that the Leprechaun holds at the end of the rainbow.

This is Volume 2 of a wonderful collection of Glasgow Celtic quotes, notes and anecdotes. A perfect gift to share with any of your friends, family or colleagues. Every Celtic supporter has a story to tell.

I returned to the village after a time away at university and, seeking out my old friend, I came instead upon a mystery: Adam's cottage, his garden, and Adam himself were nowhere to be found. The author and minister Frederick Buechner wrote that "in one way or another, man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage." And so it was for me. To find my friend, or at least solve the riddle of what had become of him, I embarked on a new journey of discovery. Filled with shamanistic insights and magical experiences, this spiritual memoir tells the true story of Ross Heaven's search for Adam Dilwyn Vaughan. The enigmatic Adam, who introduced Heaven to the lost art of sin eating and other Celtic traditions, left him a gift--his journal. As Heaven travels on the dragon path, he explores the mysteries of the Holy Grail, encounters spirit healers, and experiences an incredible vision of the earth oracle. His fascinating journey ultimately leads to powerful revelations of his life purpose and the fate of humankind. This guide includes a sin eater's workbook of simple Celtic divination, dreamwork, and intuitive practices.

"The story is beautifully told, characters vividly described, and for anyone vaguely interested in the way that dimensions intertwine, this book is fascinating." --KINDRED SPIRIT

Primal Ancient Egyptian Magic Restored From the dawn of Magic, there was a primal form of magic which was ancient before the Pyramids were born. But unlike many religions, where belief and worship of the forces of nature were persecuted until they died out, Egypt built its new religions upon them. It is possible to find a golden thread of shamanic practice that can be recreated and still remain relevant and useful today. Nick Farrell presents this system for the first time in his easy to approach and relaxed style. It is a complete system in which a practitioner can experiment with at their own pace.

"In our time when so much emphasis is on the quick and the facile, the glamorous and the trendy, John Matthews offers something deep and lasting. He bridges the ancient wisdoms of our past and the possibilities of our future. He calls himself a shaman, but I call him a sage. And as you read the treasures in this book, I believe you will as well." David Spangler

People of many denominations find spiritual meaning and inspiration in the wisdom of the Celtic tribes. The Celtic path of wisdom incorporates Druidism, early Christianity, and ancient Celtic myth and lore. This guide includes discussion of the following topics: The Divine Male and Female; Shamanism; Druidism; Celtic Christianity; Fairies and other creatures of nature; Celtic folklore; and more. This thoughtful look at Celtic spirituality includes Irish, Scottish, and Welsh traditions - both familiar and mysterious. With this invaluable guide, readers will walk the path to the Celtic Otherworld through traditional poetry, ritual, and prayer - on a never-ending journey of the soul.

A personal account of one mans journey through the dappled groves of culture and tradition, who explores Druidry through the eyes of a man in love with his heritage and land. Written with clarity, humour and pathos, this journey through tradition descends into the mysteries of Druidry and of its practice in the 21st century. fundamental principles of Druidry from ritual, connection, mythology, shamanism a personal ride through the Druid year Share in a world of wondrous beings, of sheer potentiality beyond comprehension, and the awe and childlike surrender one feels when confronted with the enchantment of Druidry.