A Celtic Student's Required Reading List!

topic posted Sat, June 14, 2008 - 9:10 AM by  MacMorrighan
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Hey guys, here's most of the books (and even one site) that I thoroughly recommend to "Celtic" Pagans (this list was typed from memory, off the top'a my head, so some spellings and itles may be off):

* A History of Pagan Europe", by Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick
* "European Paganism", by Ken Dowden
* "The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British isles", by ROnald Hutton: Don't take this book very seriously, because it is HIGHLY flawed due to a flawed methodology and unacknowledged BIAS of the highest degree that get's in the way of what MAY have actually happened. In fact, there's so much wrong with his books, as a whole, that I could write an entire article about the problems in his material that is accepted, sadly, as "definative" by the corpus of contemporary Pagans! <sigh>
* "The Stations of the Sun", by Ronald Hutton: Ditto!!!!!!!!!
* "The Gods of the Celts", by Miranda Green
* " The Quest for the Shaman", by Miranda Green
* "The Concept of the Goddess", ed. by Miranda Green
* The Great Queens", by Rosalind Clark
* "Celtic Goddesses", by Miranda Green
* "Dictionary of Celtic Mythology", by Miranda Green
* "Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology", by James Mackillop
* "Celtic Mythology", by Proinsias Mac Cana
* "The Ancient Celts", by Barry Cunnlife
* "Pagan Celtic Ireland", by Barry Rafterie
* "Pagan Celtic Britain", by Anna Rosse
* "The Witch Figure", ed. by Venetia Newall
* "The Lore of Ireland", by Dathi O hOgain
* "Early Irish Myths and Saga", trans. by Jeffrey Gantz
* "The Tain", trans. and comp. by Thomas Kinsella
* "The Sacred Isle", by Dathi O hOgain
* "The Lady with the Mead Cup" (This is still a book on my "To Buy" List!!!)
* "Christianity: The Origins of a Pagan eligion", by Philipe Walter
* "The Celts", by John Collis
* "Celtic Heritage", by the Rees bros.
* "The Encyclopedia of Celtic Myth and Legend: A Source Book", by John & Caitlin Matthews
* "The Celtic Heroic Age", trans. and comp. by John Carey & John T. Koch
* "Cattle Lords and Clansmen", by Nerrys Patterson
* "Carmina Gadelica", by Alexander Carmichael
* "The Gaelic Otherworld: John Gregorson Campbell's 'Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland' and 'Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands'", ed. (with commentary) by Ronald Black
* "In Search of the Indo-European", by James P. Mallory
* Whence the Goddess: A Sourcebook", by Miriam RObbins Dexter
* "Indo-European Poetry & Myth", by M.L. West
* "The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World", by JP Mallory and DQ Adams
* "Inside the Neolithic Mind", by David Lewis-Williams
* "The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images", by Marija Gimbutas
* "The Living Goddesses", by Marija Gimbutas
* "The Druids", by Stuart Piggot

These are all that I can think of, right now... What else would YOU add in an academic vein?
posted by:
MacMorrighan
Iowa
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  • Re: A Celtic Student's Required Reading List!

    Sun, June 15, 2008 - 4:43 PM
    Thanks for the list. I am looking forward to reading them.
    • Re: A Celtic Student's Required Reading List!

      Wed, June 18, 2008 - 3:34 PM
      Great, I'm glad you enjoy them! I would recommend that you start with the books by: TGE Powells, Proinsias Mac Cana, Barry Cunnliffe, and Marie Louise-Sjoestedt. Sadly, most poeople (ie. Pagans) like to squeeze the Celtic deities into the fashion of a "Greco-Roman-type hierarchy"; but, these scholars throw down such a schema as illogical when applied to non-Classical deities.
      • Re: A Celtic Student's Required Reading List!

        Tue, June 24, 2008 - 11:24 AM
        I found a book by accident that is titled

        The Celtic World by Barry Cunliffe which is out of print but can be found on line. Gives history of the Celts and the migration path of the Celts over the centuries as well as contibutions to those areas they settled or moved through.


        I am reading a book titled Crossing the Circle at the Holy Wells of Ireland by Walter J. Brenneman Jr. and Mary G. Brenneman. This book is out of print also. Much on the mythology of the Irish and their Holy Wells. Also gives good understanding of how people still interact and relate to water spirits in their daily lives and worship.

        So many books to read and so little time.

        david

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