Need info on Celtic Paganism!

[bambi180]

Hi, I'm interested in becoming Pagan, and Celtic Pagainism is the path that draws me most at the moment. But I don't know that much about it, apart from some stuff that I've found on various websited.
I know it's a lot of information, but I was wondering if anyone could just tell me some of the basics? Thanks!

[Nitefalle]

Hm....well, that's a REALLY broad subject, but I think the best place to start (IMO) would be to get to know the gods. If you are interested in a certain culture, you can start there, or you can just start with the most well known, such as Brigid, Cernunnos or Cerridwen, and see where that takes you.

[Faol-chù]

Hi, I'm interested in becoming Pagan, and Celtic Pagainism is the path that draws me most at the moment. But I don't know that much about it, apart from some stuff that I've found on various websited.
I know it's a lot of information, but I was wondering if anyone could just tell me some of the basics? Thanks!

The 'basics' can get pretty involved!

To start, you need to recognize that the Celts had (have) a conception of the cosmos very similar to that of Yggdrasil of the Norse. They imagin/ed the world as a tree...The roots are considered to be of the realm of 'sea' (muir in Gaelic), the trunk was in the realm of the living...where life plays out, land (or talamh in Gaelic), the upper branches and leaves are in the realm of sky (or neamh, in Gaelic). (Note, that the leaves fall off and come to rest around the roots periodically...making good fertilizer, among other things.)

If you really feel like getting your brain rattled, you might like to check out this article:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:MOIoOdCeTp0J:www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c23/c23-174.pdf+Celts%2BMuir%2BTalamh%2Bneamh&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1


Something else for you to check out, before delving directly into "the gods", because their context is everything and context is very often missed, or just glanced over in 'god lists' you will find on the internet...or, for that matter a lot of books you will read, even scholarly ones.
If this subject interests you, ask, and I can recommend some books on the topic.

http://www.imbas.org/articles/basic_celtic_deity_types.html


Check out this one, too...:)
Ancestor veneration was historically (and still is!) an integral part of Celtic tradition.
http://www.clannada.org/culture_ancestor.php



Further, you might check out the main sites the last two articles are linked to...:)

[ap Dafydd]

Start with some good books on the Celts themselves, just to give yourself a context. The Imbas site quoted above has a good bibliography which covers all sorts of areas.

Most Celtic Pagans are either reconstructionists (working to reconstruct as authentic as possible a practice based on what the original Celts did) or traditionalists (drawing from the traditions of the Celtic peoples as they have come down through history).

Both wings will give you excellent advice!

gwyn eich byd

Ffred

[bambi180]

Thank you everyone! That's very interesting about the tree, I didn't know that. I will read those articles as soon as I have time. :)

[Ælfred]

Here's another Celtic recon site for those interested:

Deiuokara (http://www.deiuokara.com/) (Reverence of the Divine)