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Post by littleraven on Oct 18, 2009 22:58:10 GMT -1
1. Gods with Thunderbolts by Guy de la Bedoyere 2. Trioedd ynys Prydein by Rachel Bromwich 3. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Rees and Rees 4. Ireland and the Grail by John Carey 5. Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin by Marged Haycock 6. The Mabinogion trans. Sioned Davies 7. 8. 9. 10.
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Post by littleraven on Oct 18, 2009 22:58:48 GMT -1
The essential books on matters 'Celtic' or spiritual to have in you collection.
If you want to place your own favorites, please compile a list of the 10 you feel you *must* have. If they have already been posted please post again, as this gives some idea of their popularity.
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Post by potia on Oct 20, 2009 8:06:44 GMT -1
Ok I'll have a stab at this and then you can all throw your hands up in horror at my list In order of what I remembered is on the shelf at home and heavy on the Scottish folklore/mythology side 1. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Rees and Rees 2. The Voice within the Wind - of becomming and the Druid way by Greywind 3. The Silver Bough: Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk-Belief by F Marion McNeill 4. Scottish Wonder Tales from Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie 5. Scottish folk-lore and folk life : studies in race, culture and tradition by Donald Alexander Mackenzie 6. The Mysteries of Druidry: Celtic Mysticism, Theory, and Practice by Brendan Cathbad Myers 7. Mabinogion (I have an illustrated copy of Charlotte Guest's translation which I understand is not the best but so far I haven't acquired another version.)I may add more later but to be honest my recommended reading would also include the following blogs: THE EXPVLSION OF THE BLATANT BEAST - private blog by invite only THE CANTOS OF MVTABILITIE ( mvtabilitie.blogspot.com/) - same author and open to public Aelwyd Fochon ( cylchriannon.blogspot.com/) GORSEDD ARBERTH ( gorsedd-arberth.blogspot.com/) I read other blogs too but these are my favourites and the ones that get me thinking the most (and all from members here).
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Post by littleraven on Oct 20, 2009 9:02:09 GMT -1
I read other blogs too but these are my favourites and the ones that get me thinking the most (and all from members here). I was going to start another thread specifically about blogs ;D
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Post by littleraven on Oct 20, 2009 11:28:50 GMT -1
I'm going to say
Mabingion trans. sioned Davies Gods with Thunderbolts by Guy de la Bedoyere Ireland and the Grail by John Carey Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin by Marged Haycock Trioedd Ynys Prydein trans. Rachel Bromwich
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Post by megli on Oct 20, 2009 12:22:16 GMT -1
those wd be among my choices too.
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Post by dreamguardian on Oct 20, 2009 13:26:49 GMT -1
1. Gods of the Celts M Green 2.Dying for the Gods M Greene 3.Dict of Celtic myth & legend M Green 4.Exploring the world of the celts Simon James 5.Iron age communities in britain B Cunliffe 6.Gods with thunderbolts G de la Bedoyere 7.Pagan celts Anne Ross 8.Myths & legends of the celts James Mackillop
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Post by Francis on Oct 20, 2009 15:47:04 GMT -1
In no particular order, and perhaps not at first glance fitting LR's "Celtic or Spiritual" requirement - but they do to me! ;
1. Consciousness Explained - Daniel C. Dennett 2. The Second Meadow - Archie Hill 3. The History of the Countryside / Ancient Woodland - Oliver Rackham 4. My first Summer in the Sierra - John Muir 5. Beside the Ocean of Time - George Mackay Brown 6. Astonishing the Gods - Ben Okri (yes I know...) 7. The Extended Phenotype - Dawkins 8. The Apple Branch - Alexi Kondratiev (in spite of all... ) 9. Endless Forms - Howard & Berlocher 10. From the Holy Mountain - Dalrymple
Okay probably not the expected, or usual suspects - but all have brought something significant, at least at one time, to my own neo-paganism. I've rarely found anything of value written with the primary intention of hawking it to those interested in things pagan...
I guess number 9 is the most doubtful one - but I'm biased as I have a chapter in it! (brag, brag, bore,bore... ) - perhaps a better source of that body of thought would be "Speciation and it's consequences" by Otte & Endler
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Post by Adam on Oct 20, 2009 17:00:04 GMT -1
I would probably add Harvey's Animism... though not what I would call inspiring writing and at times his arguments smack of "I'll include this because I like it", it struck several chords with me and gave muscle to some of my understanding of what I was experiencing.
I'm currently reading The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram which is firing neurons... if it continues to do so at this rate it will be number one on the list by end of reading.
I'm not a historian and I struggle with most books that have a real history focus unless they can make something live for me, so most of my other contributions would be dangerously "lite" I suspect, or specifically related to myth and folktale
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Post by Heron on Oct 20, 2009 18:00:41 GMT -1
Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi ed Ifor Williams Culhwch ac Olwen ed Rachel Bromwich a Simon Evans
These two texts of the original mss with various translations: Sioned Davies as the most up to date and straight-forward rendering, Jones & Jones as a more poetic presentation and the one I used to really get to know these texts, Patrick Ford for his Introduction, John Bollard's for Anthony Griffith's photographs of places mentioned in the texts ...
Trioedd Ynys Prydain Rachel Bromwich (as much for all the extra explanatory material as for the triads themselves)
Legendary Poems from The Book of Taliesin Marged Haycock (also as much for the interpretation as the definitive texts and translations).
Dictionary of British Folk Tales Katherine Briggs (4 vols) I inherited these in someone's will and browse extensively in them from time to time.
The Tain Kinsellas translation
From there my list would spread out widely and include much literary stuff (Dafydd ap Gwilym for example but all sorts of poetry) and other things that are not so much to be 'recommended' but which i feel I needed to have read (eg Geoffrey of Monmouth, Gerald of Wales). I consider David Jones, at the modern end of the spectrum, essential for me but he would not be everyone's chalice of mead.
Others have mention John Carey's Ireland and the Grail which I'm reading at the moment and is better than I thought it would be for some reason (mindless prejudice!) Harvey's Animism, Adam, I thought was excellent in places but in some chapters he just seems to have emptied bits of his PhD thesis in there or indulged in academic posturing something and lost the focus a bit.
I could go on but might get increasingly peripheral to what was asked for ...
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Post by Adam on Oct 20, 2009 19:34:29 GMT -1
Harvey's Animism, Adam, I thought was excellent in places but in some chapters he just seems to have emptied bits of his PhD thesis in there or indulged in academic posturing something and lost the focus a bit. That's what I wanted to say... disjointed at that. But I would still recommend it :-)
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Post by megli on Oct 20, 2009 20:23:03 GMT -1
Others have mention John Carey's Ireland and the Grail which I'm reading at the moment and is better than I thought it would be for some reason (mindless prejudice!)
Told you!! ;D
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Post by Lee on Oct 20, 2009 21:08:00 GMT -1
M L West - Indo-European Poetry and Myth
bloody awesome
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Post by megli on Oct 20, 2009 21:33:51 GMT -1
Calvert Watkins, 'How to Kill a Dragon'---like West, but not so dumbed down for the popular market.
(Runs away snickering......)
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Post by megli on Oct 20, 2009 21:38:05 GMT -1
Pagan Past and Christian Present in early Irish Literature, Kim McCone.
Early Christian Ireland, Thomas Charles-Edwards.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2009 4:34:10 GMT -1
Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Rees and Rees Marie Trevelyan's Folklore of Wales The Mabinogion (of course, but Amazon is still providing me with a better translation and Marged Haycock's Taliesin translation you people are bad for my bank balance) I'm also fond of Robin Artisson's 'Flaming Circle'. It doesn't exactly bring out any new scholarly material but it is something that could be said to be 'Celtic' that has mystical techniques in it I've found very effective, which doesn't happen that often. Other than that... The Carmina Gadelica Trioedd Ynys Prydain by Rachel Bromwich
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Post by littleraven on Oct 21, 2009 8:14:56 GMT -1
eek, tricky, I'll be putting up books on the 10 best that get more than one mention
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Post by Lee on Oct 21, 2009 8:22:18 GMT -1
I'm also fond of Robin Artisson's 'Flaming Circle'. It doesn't exactly bring out any new scholarly material but it is something that could be said to be 'Celtic' that has mystical techniques in it I've found very effective, which doesn't happen that often. this is a weird one, it interesting and meshes together something slightly 'brythonic' with trad craft techniques. i have problems with the premise behind it - its bullshit - and the way he conflates irish and welsh deities so easily and with no ...skill.
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Post by littleraven on Oct 21, 2009 9:23:34 GMT -1
Aye, Robin Artisson is known to some of us of old. He is trad craft, from the American South East, and has a somewhat irritating habit of telling British people about Britain.
As an American Germanic trad crafter, he's probably the last person I would go to if I was wanting to relate to things specifically British.
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