Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism – To Be or Not To Be (A Rant)

In the past couple of months I’ve been reminded in a painful way of why I was very hesitant to join any Celtic Reconstructionist oriented groups, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t one.  The arguments I’ve watched happening were not about history,  or cultural differences or even about the validity of one form of UPG or another but rather about the core values of what Celtic Reconstructionism is.

Let me first provide the full name for the movement, CELTIC RECONSTRUCTIONIST PAGANISM (CRP), and this brings us to the first argument,  taking the CRP movement OUT of the pagan community.  I understand why this is a tempting argument all things considered but it is not a feasible argument.  First of all most people who came to the CRP movement came from the larger pagan community, most of us from Wicca or Celtic polytheism.  The nature of CRP means that it is hard to find people of like mind close to us so seeking out the larger Pagan community is one way of interacting with people who might not be of the same mindset as ourselves but at least of the same wider spirituality.  Related to this argument is the need to take out Paganism and substitute Polytheism instead, but isn’t Polytheism also Paganism?  If the name change is aimed at being more specific then it would be fine (I call myself an Irish Reconstructionist Polytheist however, in mixed company I am CRP) but the change is really aimed at separating CRP from the Pagan community.

Now let me provide the definition for CRP, according to the CR FAQ: “Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism (CR) is a polytheistic, animistic, religious and cultural movement. It is an effort to reconstruct, within a modern Celtic cultural context, the aspects of ancient Celtic religions that were lost or subsumed by Christianity.” (1)  So the movement is meant to reconstruct aspects of the Celtic religions.  In other words religion is a big part of it.  And this takes me to the one argument that keeps cropping up over and over again, orthodoxy versus orthopraxy, or belief versus practice.  Some people would like to strip belief out of religion.  I’m really not sure how to do that and still have meaningful rituals.  Rituals to me are interactions between the deities/universe/energy (whatever you want to call it) and ourselves.  These experiences that happen around the rituals are not just limited to them but spill into the everyday actions in life.  How are you going to “notice” when a deity decides that they want to interact with you if you do not have a belief in them, and how are you going to do what is required for this interaction to be both meaningful and fulfilling for you in your life and learn from it if you do not believe that it will be so?

UPDATE:

A friend of mine has pointed out something that I obviously wasn’t clear on.   I’m not advocating for orthodoxy.  The arguments on the threads were not clear for everyone.  So let me give an example of what I think of as a mix of belief and practice.  I have three altars in my home.  One is dedicated to the gods, one to the land spirits and another to my ancestors. I make offerings daily to my gods which is appropriate behavior for them, and in accordance with my formal patron-cliente contract that I have with them.  I take care of these altars daily and care for them.  This is what I mean when I say that my actions are supplemented by my beliefs and vice versa.  And this is what Orthopraxy means.  Orthopraxy does NOT means that you can go through the motions without having some sort of meaning behind the practice.  

Another argument that has gone round and round is the need for a CRP community either face to face or online.  I’ve noticed that there is a huge resistance against having this happen even though I’ve seen new people to the path beg for it repeatedly.  The most interesting answers were that they should look for cultural groups rather than religious ones or to look for a group that is there for study only but not exclusively for CRPs because that is too close to what monotheists do (exclusivist). It is human nature to want to be with people like you spiritually as well as culturally.  And while going to cultural events and groups is fulfilling in one aspect it is not fulfilling the need which I see in most people who come to CRP groups and ask that question.

Conclusion:

The jury is still out.  I do enjoy the arguments on theology, history and culture a lot on those groups when they happen.  Unfortunately lately I haven’t seen much of that going on.  The smallest post will make the old arguments come crashing through and at this point I just want to go back under my rock, studying and worshiping on my own. I’m still CRP but whether I will participate with the current online groups is a whole different matter…

Endnotes:

(1) http://www.paganachd.com/faq/whatiscr.html#whatiscr

 

Ireland and the Classical World By Philip Freeman

Author: Philip Freeman

Publisher: The University of Texas Press

Copyright: 2001

Pages: 148

Synopsis: On the boundary of what the ancient Greeks and Romans considered the habitable world, Ireland was a land of myth and mystery in classical times. Classical authors frequently portrayed its people as savages-even as cannibals and devotees of incest-and evinced occasional uncertainty as to the island’s shape, size, and actual location. Unlike neighboring Britain, Ireland never knew Roman occupation, yet literary and archaeological evidence prove that Iuverna was more than simply terra incognita in classical antiquity.

In this book, Philip Freeman explores the relations between ancient Ireland and the classical world through a comprehensive survey of all Greek and Latin literary sources that mention Ireland. He analyzes passages (given in both the original language and English) from over thirty authors, including Julius Caesar, Strabo, Tacitus, Ptolemy, and St. Jerome. To amplify the literary sources, he also briefly reviews the archaeological and linguistic evidence for contact between Ireland and the Mediterranean world.

Freeman’s analysis of all these sources reveals that Ireland was known to the Greeks and Romans for hundreds of years and that Mediterranean goods and even travelers found their way to Ireland, while the Irish at least occasionally visited, traded, and raided in Roman lands. Everyone interested in ancient Irish history or Classics, whether scholar or enthusiast, will learn much from this pioneering book.

Philip Freeman is Assistant Professor of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Review: It is hard to say anything more than was already said in the synopsis, except that I really enjoyed reading it. It’s like reading The Heroic Age by John T. Koch but specifically for Ireland. Anyone interested in the history of Ireland and its association with the classical world would find this book useful.

Another useful feature of the book is the second appendix which gives you a list of all the classical mentions of Ireland. It is very handy if you know what the mention is but don’t know when it was mentioned and where.

 

The Making of Scotland Series (Books)

This review is going to be a little different since I’m reviewing 12 books in one go.

The Making of Scotland is a series published by Birlinn LTD and Historic Scotland.  It covers a very long stretch of Scottish history from the first settlers to the clearances.  As I said before the series has 12 books each one is under 100 pages long and it looks to be aimed at teenagers though adults like myself who are interested in a simple history outline of Scotland will find these books VERY useful.  The books are very well done, lots of pictures and maps to illustrate points.  The end of each book has a list of sites that you may visit and books that you may read to get more information.  This is a bite sized history of Scotland up to the Clearances that helps you pinpoint which part of Scottish history you want to read more about.  Or if you just want to give your kids a history of Scotland that is easy enough to understand and short enough so as not to bore them too much.

The books in order are:

1. Wild Harvesters: The First People of Scotland by Bill Finlayson

2. Farmers, Temples and Tombs: Scotland in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age by Gordon Barclay

3.Settlement and Sacrifice: The Later Prehistoric People of Scotland by Richard Hingley

4. A Gathering of Eagles: Scenes from Roman Scotland by Gordon Maxwell

5. Surviving in Symbols: A Visit to the Pictish NationBy Martin Carver

6. Saints and Sea-Kings: The First Kingdom of the Scots by Ewan Campbell

7. Angels, Fools and Tyrants: Britons and Anglo – Saxons in Southern Scotland by Chris Lowe

8. The Sea Road: A Viking Voyage Through Scotland by Olwyn Owen

9. Alba: The Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland AD 800-1124 by Stephen T. Driscoll

10. Burgess, Merchant and Priest: The Medieval Scottish Town by Derek Hall

11. Puir Labourers and Busy Husbandmen: The Medieval Countryside of Scotland 100-1600 by Piers Dixon

12. Age of the Clans: The Highlands from Somerled to the Clearances by Robert Dogshon

Highly recommended.

 

New Page on Celtic Scholar’s World

I added a new page to my website entitled “A Basic Timeline of irish Prehistory“

 

The Quest for the Shaman

Author: Miranda and Stephan Aldhouse-Green
Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Published: 2005
ISBN-13: 978-0-500-05134-4

Synopsis: An informative and readable exploration of shamanism and ritual behavior in ancient Europe.

Review: What can I say about this book? The name itself bothers me, now-a-days shamanism/shaman has turned into a buzz word for a lot of people, and in this book it is used to mean people all over Europe (from prehistory into history) who fulfill the role of seers, priests, and ritualists…Why couldn’t she say that instead of using the word “Shaman”?

Leaving that pet peeve behind here is another one, Miranda Green loves to make leaps of logic that make you go HUH?..but in this book she goes beyond that…WAY beyond that…You will see lots of “it is assumed, one can infer, this seems to suggest” and in almost every case I can give you an alternative explanation.

The writing style is different than her usual tone so I’m assuming it is her husband’s influence and surprisingly I liked that, it is one of its redeeming points. Another one is her survey of the archeological evidence. She catalogs quite a bit and mixes in some mythology and a dash of known history. I would have loved this book if she has stuck with that and not done her leaps of logic, or even kept it to the levels I am used to from her. Oh well, I’m going to file this one under “look at the survey and ignore all the assumptions made” category.

 

Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature

Author: Kim McCone
Series: Maynooth Monographs 03
Publisher:Maynooth Monographs
Copyright: 2000
ISBN: 1870684109
Pages: 277 (Paperback)

Synopsis: In this long and finely researched book, professor McCone looks into the influence of the bible on the Early Irish literature.

Review: To be honest I’m not sure how to review this, so let me start with what I thought was great about the book. I’m glad that such work is being done. Early Irish literature should be studied and all its evidence discovered. I wish more people would work on that translating manuscripts and putting them out there for people to read. The author also rejects the idea that the Ireland of that time was a backwater and puts across a picture of a very much in high demand scholastic tradition.

What I didn’t like about this book though is not the author’s point of view (to which he is entitled) but the way he presents it to the reader. This book, instead of looking at the evidence and trying to put the point of view of the author across, reads like a manifesto. The author doesn’t seem to care whether people agree with what he is saying, rather he is just telling them what he sees without any real effort to convince people with his evidence.

There is always, I think, going to be a debate on whether the Irish vernacular records were borrowed, native, monastic or traditional; whether they have elements of the Indo-European culture or not; or whether it is purely drawing on the bible. I think it is a combination of all, and trying to exclude one will just give us a picture that is incomplete. The author came across as very anti-nativist, he pretty much (from the way I understood the text) dismissed all thought that there are pagan elements in the myths.

I don’t know if I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t have a little more background into Early Irish literature and all the people who wrote about it. I would put this book in the advanced category rather than one for the beginner or even intermediate.

 

The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites, and Sanctuaries

Author: Jean Louis Brunaux (Translated by Daphne Nash)
Copyright: French 1987, English 1988
Publishers: French – Editions Errance, Paris. English – B.A. Seaby Ltd, Great Britain.
Pages: Including index 154
ISBN 1 85264 009 X

Synopsis: This fascinating account of the Celtic Gauls, their religion and rites of life and death, war and peace, brings alive these fearsome people, whose greatest honor was to die in battle and yet who produced some of the most sensitive and spectacular works of art in European history.

Review: I managed to finish the book in one sitting.  It was that enjoyable because it was very straight forward and simple.  And unlike the previous book by Jean Louis Brunaux, this translation was done so artfully that the text just seemed to flow.

The book itself is divided into twelve chapter discussing the territory that the Gauls occupied, their sacred spaces, how they perceived time, how their society was structured, their priests, their Gods, their rites and cults, their weapons and wars, and their public cults.

The book covers all the main things that you would want to know about a people and it explains it in a very simple way.  I’m not sure if that is due to the fact that not much is known about the Gauls or if this was the intent of the author.  The point is, when you are done reading this book you are left with a general idea of who the Gauls were, how their life was, how they worshiped, what they worshiped and how they were in both war and peace time.  A very enjoyable book.

 

Iron Age Communities in Britain: An Account of England, Scotland and Wales from the Seventh Century BC until the Roman Conquest

Author: Barry Cunliffe
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Inc.
Date Published: 1971 (First Edition), 1991, 2005 (Revised Fourth Edition)
ISBN13: 9780415562928

Synopsis:Since its first publication in 1971, Barry Cunliffe’s monumental survey has established itself as a classic of British archaeology. This fully revised fourth edition maintains the qualities of the earlier editions, whilst taking into account the significant developments that have moulded the discipline in recent years. Barry Cunliffe here incorporates new theoretical approaches, technological advances and a range of new sites and finds, ensuring that Iron Age Communities in Britain remains the definitive guide to the subject.

Review: This is fast becoming one of my favorite books on the subject. It is a treasure, simply put. I’ve become very used to Barry Cunliffe’s writing style and the way he divides his books and this book is no different.

The book is divided into four parts each one shines the light on something different. Part I is the introduction where you are given a history of the study of the Iron Age. Part II talks about time and space. The author here describes (as he always does in his books) the parameters he will be using in the book. You are told the time period, and the places he will be discussing. You are also given a timeline of the history he is looking into. Part III discusses the themes, what they are, and the different settlements that can be found. Part IV discusses Iron Age society, social change and the models and systems involved. The book also has three Appendices; (A) discusses pottery, (B) is a note on radiocarbon dating, and (C) is a list of principle sites. The bibliography listed is a dream.

I read the book once through all together so that I know where everything is. Then I went back and re-read parts of it with concentration. This book should be read this way because there is just too much information there to do it justice by reading it once. It is best to pick a region in Britain and go through everything written about it in the book, digest the information then go back and pick another region and so on. This is a book that should be kept as a reference, and one I know I will be reading or looking through time and again.

 

War, Women, and Druids by Philip Freeman

Author: Philip Freeman

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Date Published: February 19th, 2002

ISBN13: 9780292718364

Synopsis: This book draws on the firsthand observations and early accounts of classical writers to piece together a detailed portrait of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe and the British Isles. Philip Freeman groups the selections (ranging from short statements to longer treatises) by themes–war, feasting, poetry, religion, women, and the Western Isles. He also presents inscriptions written by the ancient Celts themselves. This wealth of material, introduced and translated by Freeman to be especially accessible to students and general readers, makes this book essential reading for everyone fascinated by the ancient Celts.

Review: This is a very short book that puts together materials from classical writers and even eyewitness accounts about the Celts. The categories discussed in this book are war, feasting, poetry, religion, women and the western Isles as well as a final chapter that discusses inscriptions from the ancient Celts. It is also indexed and has a further reading and references section. The categories make it very easy for people to go directly to what they want or just read the whole book through. Although the book isn’t as extensive as the Heroic Age (which is similar but has WAY more material) it is still a good quick reference to have in your library.

 

A History of Gaul by Fr. Funck-Brentano

Full Title: A History of Gaul – Celtic, Roman and Frankish Rule (Original Title: The Earliest Times)

Author: Fr. Funck-Brentano and translated by E. F. Buckley

Publisher: This edition was published by Barnes and Noble (Original Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Son’s)

Year: This edition – 1993 (Originally published 1927)

Synopsis: Traces Gaul from its prehistoric beginnings to the founding of the Capetian ruling house in 987 A.D.

Review: As you can see this book is really old. Considering however, that we don’t really have a lot of books out there on Gaul (if someone knows of any history books on Gaul please let me know) I was very excited to get a copy of it from a seller on Amazon.

The book is divided into five chapters that follow the historical divisions of Gaul. The first chapter talks about the pre-historic period, the second one is about Celtic Gaul, the third is about Roman Gaul, the fourth about the Merovingians and the fifth is about the Carlovingians.

Each chapter is further divided into topics like the Druids or Feudalistic Gaul. Each chapter also ends with a bibliography, and the whole book is also indexed. This book is a translation so I’m not sure if the original book in French had the same tone as this one but it seems like the translator and maybe the author was telling a story to people who were reading the book. It took me back to the days when my grandfather would tell me the stories of the myths and the history of Ireland. The dates in the book were all very general, there was some archeology in there but mostly it seems like the author was recounting what other people had told him about the subject he was talking about or what the classical writers had said about it.

So what did I get from this book? Honestly, mostly broad strokes of history that need re-checking because there has been a lot of archeological finds since 1927. It is a great book to have so that you can see the progress of how things developed over the course of the years and a great way to get a broad outline of Gaulish history. It wasn’t specific enough for me, but it is a place to start my search.