Celtic Mythology and Celtic Religion

[regnauld]

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How each of us connects with the divine is what I, personally, call spirituality.
The Irish were converted to Christianity without benefit of an army. They retained within their spirituality many of their pre-Christian traditions: a respect for woman, a love of nature, and an appreciation for the interconnected web of all life. They believed that life was about choice, and the consequences of these choices.
The pre-Christian educated class among the Celts was the Druids. They were the lawyers, doctors, scholars, clergy, and bards of their time. Mention of them comes down to us in the stories and sagas of the people.
Celtic is pronounced "keltic", not "seltic." . The slide into Christianity was a short trip from an Old Religion that provided many faces to the same deity and a tradition of sacrifice by male leaders. The Celtic Christian spiritual path, with its emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ present in daily life, became the bedrock of all English Spirituality.

[regnauld]

hamrock Symbol ( BOSTON CELTICS, NBA )

[regnauld]

A Spirituality for the Earth

The pre-Christian world of the Celts was animate and ensouled. The land was the Great Goddess, whose breasts flowed with the rivers that fertilized the Earth. The Celts dwelt in clearings in the forest, where they learned the secret language of the trees. They knew how to shape-shift into birds and animals in order to understand the wisdom and power of stag, boar, hawk and salmon.

At the coming of Christianity, the Celts continued to view the world with love and respect since it was a divine creation of God. The first monastery in Ireland resembled the old tribal villages: small farmsteads in forest clearings. Hermit and anchorite led ascetic lives in caves or even trees and wrote exquisite poems of praise for the gifts of Nature. It’s the real world – the one that’s all around us, yet so often lost sight of amid the concrete and asphalt that enclose most of our modern lives. When we return to the embrace of the natural world, this ancient and satisfying relationship with our original parent -- and with our brothers and sisters of the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms -- brings an end to loneliness and fosters a sense of inner peace.

[regnauld]

This prayer probably originated in the 8th or 9th century. This version is a 19th century translation reworked by Noel Dermot O'Donoghue, a modern celtic visionary and Irish priest who was the first Catholic to teach theology at the University of Edinburgh.

For my shield this day I call:
Heaven's might, Sun's brightness
Moon's whiteness, Fire's glory,
Lightning's swiftness, Wind's wildness,
Ocean's depth, Earth's solidity, Rock's immobility.

This day I call to me:
God's strength to direct me, God's power to sustain me
God's wisdom to guide me, God's vision to lighten me,
God's ear to my hearing, God's word to my speaking,
God's hand to uphold me, God's pathway before me,
God's shield to protect me, God's legions to save me:
from snares of the demons, from evil enticements,
from failings of nature, from one man or many,
that seek to destroy me, anear or far.

from Celtic Christianity by Timothy Joyce

[regnauld]

"The Way of Merlin can be defined and affirmed in one simple phrase : 'Your true self and the land are one.' All Merlin's adventures, trials, experiences, transformations and teachings lead to this realization."

R. J. Stewart - The Way of Merlin, pg. 13

[Red.Emano]

hamrock Symbol ( BOSTON CELTICS, NBA )

shamrock bei!otap!

[miyay]

enya...human offerings...stones

[regnauld]

enya...human offerings...stones

This is Celtic at its best!

[regnauld]

The power of Runes is also very interesting!

[miyay]

human offerings best? kakuyaw..but then man was more simplistic in the times of celt.

saw a book of runes at sm booksale, kinda interesting but i did not buy it coz i'm thinking that if its still there when i re-visit the store then its meant to be