From "Celtic Heritage" by Alwyn & Brinley Rees;
Storytelling was "...regular activity of the winter season..." "Reports concerning peoples from parts of native America, Europe, Africa, & Asia show them to be almost unanimous in prohibiting the telling of sacred stories in summer or in daylight, except on certain special occasions." "...a wedding-night, the 'warming' of a new house, the eve of battle, the bringing out of ale, feasts, and the taking over of inheritance were some of the occasions when tales were traditionally told...they were also told before setting out on a voyage & before going to a court of law or to a hunt...storytelling was a feature of the celebration of seasonal festivals, while it has been the custom at wakes for the dead..." "Under the spell of the storyteller's art, the range of what is possible in this world is transcended..." "Pride of place was given to the hero-tales & wonder-tales, many of which would take an hour to deliver...It was not considered proper for a woman to tell the stories of traditional heros. Furthermore, no man would tell a story in the presence of his father or an elder brother, & it was young men in particular who on winter nights regularly frequented the houses where such stories were told."
"...Epona, whose name occurs in more inscriptions of the Roman period, and with a wider distribution, than any other Celtic name of god or goddess. Epona is sometimes styled Regina, and she is the only Celtic goddess known to have been honoured in Rome itself."
"...night is the propitious time for divination, witchcraft, wakes for the dead, and the telling of supernatural tales."
"...sunrise and...sunset...were moments of danger..."
"...morning dew & morning water had a particular virtue, and cures could be affected by remedies sought at sunset."
"Hazel-nuts & apples, the fruits of two trees with rich otherworld associations, figured prominantly in many of the divinatory pastimes."
"...the main divisions of the Celtic year were related to the annual round of agricultural life rather than to the movements of the sun..."
"...it is unlucky to 'straddle' the beginning of a quarter..."
"...in metaphysical formulation a 'crossing of water' always implies change of state & status."
"Professor Georges Dumezil has related the three free classes in Celtic society with the brahman (priest,) the ksatriya (warrior, royal) and the vaisya (farmer) castes in Indian society." "These 'functions' he describes as: I The Sacred. The relations of men with the sacred and with one another under the surveillance and protection of the gods--on the one hand, cult, magic, and on the other, law, government; also the sovereign power exercised by the king or his deputies in accordance with the will or the favour of the gods, and again, more generally, knowledge and intelligence, here inseperable from the manipulation of sacred things. II Physical Force. The use of main force, primarily though not solely in war. [Also the executive aspects of kingship & government.] III Fertility. This covers a wide range of related qualities in which the unifying principle is less apparent. It includes fruitfulness in human beings, animals & plants, but also food, wealth, health, peace & the fruits of peace, as well as voluptuousness and beauty. There is also the important idea of 'large number,' applied not only to goods (abundance) but also to the men who compose the social body (mass.)"
"...the most reprehensible sin of each class is to indulge in the foibles of the next class below it."
"Flies are believed to be embodiments of demons, witches, or the souls of the dead by many peoples..."
"It is a universal belief that words have a creative power..."
"There is a widespread belief that the victims of miserable & violent deaths are restless in their graves, and the corpses & graves of women who have died in childbirth are particularly feared in many parts of the world. That this fear existed among the Celts is indicated by the fact that such women were not permitted to be buried in graveyards founded by some of the Celtic saints. These considerations gave the places we are discussing a proximity to the supernatural which hallowed them & enhanced the significance of words uttered, and actions performed, upon them."
"The number nine figures so prominantly in Celtic tradition..." "Rhys and others long ago drew the conclusion that the Celts had a nine-day week, or rather a nine-night week..."
"Almost as common as nine in Celtic tradition is twenty-seven, frequently expressed as 'three nines.' Three times nine plus a leader, making twenty-eight in all, seems to have been a numerical arrangement of considerable significance." "The unit which transforms an even number into an odd number is more than a quantitative addition...it is the centre or leader, the unifying principle."
"The inferiority of even numbers is suggested..."
"...four rows of three, forming the...pattern of a centre and three in each direction."
"...fifty...was a unit of considerable significance...among the Celts."
Regarding mythology, "...the pattern of the hero's life...correspond(s) with the ritual life-cycle."
"...typical initiation motifs--separation from motherly care, the new name, the acquisition of arms, and victory over a wild beast." "Initiation involves both a humiliation and an elevation to a higher plane of being...During the course of initiation, the noviciate learns that many of the frightening trials to which he is subjected are really hoaxes, & that his formidible initiators are really his elders disguised as ghosts & other supernatural beings. These secrets must not be disclosed to women & non-initiates generally; on the contrary, the latter are often regaled with deliberately exaggerated reports of cruelty of the ordeal & the heroism of the noviciates."
"...the Celtic warrior had no fear of death, for 'death...is but the centre of a long life.'" "...mythologically speaking no death is natural, nothing is ever premature & there is no such thing as accident." "However 'sudden' the death, there will have been omens."
"Whereas the union of two opposites is symbolized by the line along which they impinge upon one another, the reconciliation of three or more independent entities involves the discovery of the point at which they coincide."
From "The Druids, Celtic Priests of Nature" by Jean Markale;
"...the appearance of Celtic society is quite recognizable sometime around the fifth century B.C...on the isle of England it endured until sometime in the sixth century A.D...Celtic society has even managed to survive to the present day, to a degree, in the country of Wales...In Ireland...it has never ceased to exist..."
"...the megalithic monuments in the West can be dated from the fourth to second millennium B.C., whereas the Celts didn't appear until the end of the Bronze Age (900-700 B.C.,) and that their existence is only historically verified from the year 500 B.C."
"Celtic civilization endured from the fifth century B.C. to the twelfth century A.D. in territories that did not all evolve in the same way."
"...there exists an undeniable connection in the Celtic languages between the word signifying science and that signifying tree..."
"The fundamental myth about the Tree of Knowledge imbues the traditions of every people."
"Since all that is above is as below, and vice versa, as is said in the famous Emerald Tablet of the Hermetists--interestingly the social structure of the Celts was built on this affermation..."
"...one of the characteristics of Celtic tradition: the importance of the number three & of trebling."
"...the Celts cut off the heads of their enemies..."
"Countless examples of swan-women exist in Celtic tradition..."
"In Celtic tradition the solar role is not held by a man but by a woman. The moon is masculine in Celtic (& Germanic) languages, & the sun is feminine." "...neither among the Germans nor the Celts is there a solar god or sun represented under the form of a god. To the contrary, the image of an ancient female solar deity persists, even in historicized form, in epic tales."
"...they measure the duration of time, not according to the number of days, but according to those of nights."
"...the act of writing a curse on wood or stone...was a very serious thing." "To write a curse against someone on a branch of yew or hazel constituted an extremely serious act that was, in short, quite irreversible."
"Epona...seems to have the same nature or origin as Rhiannon & Macha, although it is possible that she may not be Celtic."
"...the triskellion...not of Celtic origin..."
"...the Celtic legends (Ireland & Britain taken together,) can be divided into three categories, each marked by an essential activity. The first...is represented mainly by the Ulster Cycle; the protagonists are part of a society of cattle raisers. All these epic tales revolve around ruthless raids on cows & bulls, & the domestic animal used to guard the herds seems to have been the dog...The second category contains the Welsh Mabinogion (especially the first & fourth branches,) & the Arthurian Cycle in which the protagonists belong to a society of boar hunters & pig breeders...The third category includes the Leinster Cycle, which deals with a society of deer hunters. Of the three, this one is most likely the oldest...could date as far back as the prehistoric times of the reindeer hunters."
"...the Celts were a people of hunters & cattle breeders..."
"...the Celts...ignored the sea, & in fact, contrary to popular opinion, all the Celtic peoples except for the Veneti were land dwellers who either scorned the sea or feared it." "There is little evidence of any cultural practices concerning the sea."
"...before being conquered by the Romans or assimilated by the Greeks, the Celts never built temples." "The Celts were of the opinion that it was vain to enclose the area in which the gods resided." "...wells, & the area that surrounds them...were also privileged sites, since in addition to the communication of Earth with heaven (nem,) contact with the vital & fecund powers that surge up mysteriously from the center of the Earth could be made there." "Every nemeton is the center of the world. The idea of omphallos (the navel of the world)...the deity is a circle whose center is everywhere & whose circumference is nowhere." "The nemeton is never chosen by chance." "...the place of foundation is sacred..."
"Even today...the desert designates any abandoned location in which uncontrolled vegetation has gained the upper hand." "...there he meets the great All who is the deity, whoever it may be & whatever name it is given."
"...the Celts oriented themselves facing the rising sun..."
"The oak...to the Celts--is a symbol of science & power."
"...the apple tree...'of the science of good & evil'..." "...apple is the fruit of immortality, knowledge & wisdom."
"...all Celtic societies were originally pastoral & not agrarian. The society is nomadic..."
"...that the Celts are Atlanteans & that druidism is the legacy of the ancient religion of Atlantis...is an absolute untruth." "History, archaology, & mythology clearly show that Celtic civilization is articulated on basic Indo-European structures..."
"Fire seems to have been particularly favored among the Celts...fire seems to have been understood as the true sign of the transformation of cosmic energy."
"Among the Celts, sacrifices consisted of various offerings: vegetables, best yields of the harvest, tree branches, & flowers...also...bulls--mainly rams, but always or almost always, young males...dogs were also sacrificed." "...it is necessary to express some reservations concerning the human sacrifices attributed to the Celts..."
"...the Celts amassed treasures, principally of gold, that were deposited in sacred lakes or ponds."
"A sacrilege cannot be committed with impunity, & the Celts were particularly sensitive to this notion..."
"The Celtic calendar is a lunar one..." "Built upon a lunar calendar with a leap month every five years, the Celtic year was clearly divided into the two seasons of winter & summer, making its principal axis one that extends from November 1 to May 1." "...summer was not propitious for long festivals & even less so for endless feasts. It was the time of intensive labor..." "...the Celtic festival calendar was structured around four specific time periods, two of which are particularly important: Samhain & Beltane." "The festivals, like the rites, were everybody's business."
"...oral tradition is a living tradition that, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly modifying itself & evolving according to what is freshly experienced...writing...congeals things & sets them in an immutable fashion."
"To the Celtic way of thinking were are neither the living nor the dead, no more than there are either gods or humans. There was everything."
"The shamanic tree of the world is most often the silver birch..."
"...the wheel, a substitute for thunder..."
"...the Celts had a reputation...for being impassioned amateurs of fermented beverages."
"This use of the spiral, concentric circles, & triskelion motifs by Celtic artists is not gratuitous--every ancient tradition integrates art, daily life, & religion in the same sacred crucible." "The spiral is the most clear-cut emblem of the Celtic metaphysic."
"...numerous kinds of behavior imputed to the Celts: the scorn of death, the lust for life, a certain cheekiness, a constant state of communion with nature (an idea Christianity has almost suffocated by making man the king of creation,) a serene amorality, a metaphysical serenity, a blind confidence in human freedom, as well as an obvious refusal to consider the real as an absolute."
"Though (the Celts) expected neither punishment nor reward in the Otherworld, each individual did assume...the responsibility of his actions & accepted the consequences. The same was true on the judicial plane. The law of compensations was not a punishment, but rather a just contribution toward the reestablishment of social--thus universal--equilibrium..."
"There is nothing in Celtic tradition that closely, or remotely resembles the Hindu & Buddhist doctrines concerning cycles of reincarnation."
"Being Celtic was a way of life, characterized by the practice of livestock breeding & accompanied by a very competitive system of agriculture, thanks to perfectly forged iron tools (the Celts were excellent metal workers.) Celtic was also a language of Indo-European origin, a single tongue in the beginning that soon divided into two branches, Gaelic & Britannic (Gallic, Breton, Cornish, Welsh.) And finally, before Christianization, Celtic was also a philosophical, judicial, metaphysical, & religious system common to all Celts, without exception."
"The Celts...possessed great confidence in omens & undertook no enterprise without first consulting the oracles."
"We can assume with some confidence that they (the Celts,) used certain mushrooms such as Amanita muscaria...and hemp..."
From "A Brief History of the Druids" by P.B. Ellis;
"...the first references to the Celtic people generally began to appear in Greek sources from the sixth & fifth centuries..."
"...Goidelic was the earliest form of Celtic spoken..."
"The modern day survivors of the ancient Celtic languages are Irish, Manx & Scottish Gaelic or Goidelic & Welsh, Cornish & Breton."
"The earliest textual evidence of Continental Celts dates from the third & second centuries BC..." "Hecateus of Miletus (c.500-476 BC) & Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.490-425 BC) were the first to record the existence of 'Keltoi.' Their 'place of origin' was identified at the headwaters of the Danube, the Rhine & the Rhone..."
"...the Rhine...who's Celtic name meant 'the sea.'"
"...the Celts...had highly advanced weaponry, having learnt the art of smelting iron. Formidable axes, billhooks & other tools allowed the Celts to open up roadways through previously impenetrable north European forests."
For a while the Celts were "...militarily superior to most of their neighbors." "...about 390/387 BC...the Celtic army poured into Rome itself & the Romans were forced to pay a large ransom to persuade the Celts to withdraw." "...the Celts...excelled as a cavalry..."
"...the Celts produced a warrior class or caste with their own rituals..."
"...the Celtic Gaestae fought naked because they believed this would release their karma to its fullest potential, enhancing their prowess &, if killed, speeding them to their incarnation in the Otherworld."
"...four main classes had developed...the intelligensia, the warriors, the producers of goods & the menials or manual workers." "By the time the Irish law system was codified, five basic classes had emerged...kings & chieftains, the intelligensia or professionals, the officials & magistrates, the clansmen that worked the land & formed the army...and those who forfeited their civil rights, sometimes wrongly called slaves. This last group consisted of criminals undergoing punishment, prisoners of war & hostages."
"The last record of Celts in Egypt had occurred in 186/185 BC."
"Only Ireland & northern Britain were to remain generally pagan, until the early fifth century AD."
"Only in Wales, Scotland & Cornwall have the Celts survived in Britain until modern times."
"...the Celts emerged primarily as an agricultural & pastoral people, as farmers cultivating their lands & living within a well structured tribal society. They were not nomadic, as some have argued, but once they developed ironworking among their other metalwork skills, with the start of the Hallstatt period in the eighth century BC, they were able to become mobile & surplus populations began to move with impunity in many directions."
"One of the great skills developed by the Celts was their roadbuilding ability..."
"Archaology has also demonstrated the prosperity of ancient Celtic farming communities as well as their sophistication in art, in pottery making, jewelry making, enamelwork, as well as advanced metalwork..." "During the first century BC...British woolen goods were eagerly sought in Rome, especially woolen cloaks (sagi)..."
"The Celts usually used local materials with which to build. This was mostly wood but in some places they used stone, showing great architectural knowledge & skill."
"The Celtic law systems, handed down orally, were highly cultivated & show fascinating parallels to the Hindu law systems..." "...one particular unique point of Celtic law, that of the provision of curative medical treatment, sick maintenance, & the establishment of hospitals. Under this law system...there was no such concept as absolute private property nor inheritance by primogeniture. All officials in Celtic society were elected, albeit often from the same family groups."
"...early Europeans observed that the oak was the most venerable tree of the forest, the hardiest & most useful."
"...Celtic religion was not originally the masculine concept into which it later developed & which was then made into a more patriarchal system by Christianity." "...the Celts were developing into a patriarchal society, even before Christianity produced the final changes."
"Drunemeton is Celtic for 'oak sanctuary.'"
"...the Celts had a priesthood referred to as gutuatri, meaning 'speakers (to the gods)'..."
"Strabo's Geographia was a pointed attack on the Celts which was written as a justification for Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul & the subsequent attempts to suppress the Celtic intelligentsia & their centres of learning."
"Celtic deities carry eggs..."
"The Celts were fastidious in personal appearance...soap (sopa) was a Celtic innovaton & word."
"Veneration of Bel was widespread in the Celtic world, cognate with Belenus, Beli & Bile..."
"...the mysticism of the Threefold Death...emerges in Celtic mythology."
"The pagan Celts venerated the heads of their enemies, the place where they believed the soul reposed."
"The rights & position of Celtic women far exceed those of Greece or Rome." "Celtic women were often appointed ambassadors." "...women took part in the Celtic assemblies, frequently smoothing quarrels with their careful diplomacy." "...the Celts had no objection to being led by women..." "...notable courage of Celtic women..."
"...the banks of a river, always a significant site in Celtic tradition."
"The introduction of Christianity...gave the last kick to...the equality of male & female in Celtic society. The uniqueness of ancient Celtic society lay in the fact that such concepts had lasted so long."
"(The) 'neither nor' motif is a favorite recurring theme in Celtic mythology."
"...typical Celtic motif of three sorceresses who prophesy..."
"...many Celtic divinities were at first female & served by women, who were possessed of the tribal lore. Later, men assumed their functions..."
"Celtic gods & heros are often called after their mothers, not their fathers..."
"...one has to acknowledge not only the importance of the role of women but, indeed, the very centrality of their position enshrined as the supreme 'mother goddess,' the symbol of knowledge & freedom, & as the moral pivot of Celtic society."
"...the Picts, are said to have had a matrilinial succession of kingship."
"...the Celts were not inclined to abrogate their will to anyone but themselves."
"...there are extant some 374 names of Celtic gods & goddesses throughout the vast area once inhabited by the Celts in Europe...305 occur only once...twenty names occur with great frequency...I would go so far as to argue that the main Celtic pantheon of gods numbered thirty-three."
"Hundreds of skulls from the Celtic period have been discovered in the Thames, around London..."
"...the ancient Celts believed that the soul reposed in the head..."
"...the Celts...saw homo sapiens as body, soul & spirit; the world they inhabited as earth, sea & air; the divisions of nature as animal, vegetable & mineral; the cardinal colors as red, yellow & blue & so forth. Three was the number of all things. Most of their gods were three personalities in one. Combinations of the figure three occur in Celtic tales such as nine (three times three) & thirty three."
"Mother symbols were also worshipped in triple form..."
"...the land in which the Celts are recognized to have originated; the headwaters of the Danube, the Rhine & the Rhone."
"A raven, the Celtic symbol of death & battle..."
"The Celts had a tendency to natural anarchy."
"The geis was primarily a prohibition placed on a particular person & since it influenced the whole fate of that person it was not imposed lightly. Anyone transgressing a geis was exposed to the rejection of his society & placed outside the social order. Transgression could bring shame & outlawry & it could also bring a painful death. The power of the geis was above human & divine juristiction & brushed aside all previous rulings, establishing a new order through the wishes of the person controlling it."
"Another method of exerting authority, available to all members of Celtic society, was the ritual fast...if the one fasted against ignores the person fasting then they would suffer fearful supernatural penalties...the person wishing to compel justice had to notify the person they were complaining against & then would sit before their door & remain without food until the wrongdoer accepted the administration or arbitration of justice...(it) was never entered into lightly & always with full knowledge of the seriousness of the final intent...in ancient times was the effective means of someone of lesser social position compelling justice from someone of higher social position."
"...primogeniture, which stresses the importance of the first-born male, or, indeed, female, was lacking in the Celtic social order."
"...Celtic law systems are opposed to capital punishment & to slavery in the form understood by Greece & Rome."
"...the idea of widespread human sacrifice among the Celts was mere Roman propaganda...we have more evidence of human sacrifice occurring widely both in Greek & Roman civilizations."
"...the Continental Celts--were using Greek letters...they used Etruscan & Latin letters as well."
"...many Celts started to write in the language of the conqueror."
"...in many Celtic myths the idea of some retribution for the person not speaking the truth. Usually, blemishes would appear."
"For the ancient Celts...the world was created by the Word, from the process of the development of language."
"...the Celts evolved a doctrine of immortality of the soul & were one of the first European peoples to do so."
"Sotion, writing in the second century BC, is...the earliest surviving authority on the idea that the ancient Greeks took their doctrine of immortality of the soul from the Celts."
"...the Celts celebrated birth with mourning for the death in the Otherworld, & regarded death with joy for the birth in the Otherworld...Pre-Christian Celtic graves, throughout the Celtic world, are filled with personal belongings, weapons, food & drink & other items to give the departed a good start in the Otherworld...the Celts believed that life in the Otherworld was essentially the same as life in this world...the Celts believed that their souls remained in control of their bodies in the Otherworld."
"Puns & riddles were much in evidence in the Insular Celtic literatures..."
"...while the ancient Celts certainly had a word for culpability or responsibility they did not seem to have a clear concept of the Christian idea of sin."
"...in early Celtic Christian society, the position of soul-friend was filled by women."
"...the Celts were renowned for their auguries..."
"A comparison of (the Irish Brehon Law & the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda,) indicates a common Celtic law at some period..."
"...Timagenes...collected many traditions relating to the Celts..."
"Classical writers noted the Celtic use of lyres, drums, pipes & other instruments...Trumpets were also in evidence."
"...vocal music was highly popular, as well as dancing."
"...the insular Celts held regular contests in music & poetry..."
"One of the most ancient forms of Celtic music...is the 'death song,' sometimes called the (keening.)"
"...in the sagas we find both male & female physicians."
"In pre-Christian times in most European societies...little provision was made for the treatment of the ailing poor. The sick, feeble & elderly were often put to death as the ultimate remedy for their ills."
"...bird augury was widely used...The croaking of the raven was deemed as a bad augury."
"The bull was especially venerated by the ancient Celts, presumably because of its strength, virility & belligerent qualities...The cult of the bull was widespread in the Celtic world..."
"...the ancient Celts had developed several board games apart from games involving dice & counters..."
"By the second century AD the British Celts, at least, knew the zodiac as we would recognise it today."
"...men living in harmony with nature within a divine scheme of things, & showing a deep sympathy for all living things & insisting that mankind must cooperate with nature. These concepts are all associated with Celtic religious perceptions..."
"The ancient Celts...seemed to see astrology as just another natural influence or tool by which people could understand themselves & their place in the universe."
From "Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom; A Celtic Shaman's Sourcebook" by Caitlin & John Matthews;
"In Celtic tradition, the land is characterized by spiritual manifestations of its power: by the Goddess of the Land, by the appearance of warring dragons, by the flowing of rivers of mystical properties."
"...Celtic poets, whose skill is to bring the soul to the point of vision, rest & stillness."
"...walking, 'against the sun,' rather than deosil, 'towards the sun' (clockwise) is a foolhardy or malicious act in Celtic lore, contradicting the natural order & courting misfortune."
"The classical poet, Nicander of Colophon (c. second century AD,) writes of the Celtic custom of oracular incubation by spending a night beside the ashes of the dead in order to discover the future."
"To sit or stand upon...a (fairy) mound is a foolhardy deed, one which is repeated frequently in Celtic story, invariably provoking upheaval."
"Archaeologists frequently find skulls from the Celtic era in or near wells."
"The main purposes of shapeshifting in Celtic tradition may be outlined as follows: 1. to learn from animal guises, to find information & things 2. to stalk a lover or enemy 3. to hide from someone or become 'invisible' 4. to survive in times & places when being human is dangerous 5. the become, or be enchanted into being, an otherworldly guardian."
"Inspiration...was the supreme preoccupation of Celtic poets..."
"...the myths which accompany the sources of Celtic inspiration are nearly all to do with cauldrons & watercourses, wells, springs & spas--all the natural containers & features which hold or receive water."
"...within Celtic tradition, vision poets were vessels of prophecy & inspiration, able to answer questions & transmit knowledge."
"The major Celtic means of providing otherworldly information may be outlined as follows: 1. the second sight 2. dreams (involutionary or ritually incubated) 3. studying divinatory patterns (birdsong, Ogham, stones, etc.) 4. ritual augury (the frith) 5. prophecy by psychometry, trance-song or ritual meal"
"The custom of climbing sacred hills occurs frequently in Celtic story & is pivotal to subsequent encounters with the Goddess of the Land."
"Whenever we encounter shrieking stones in Celtic story, we may be sure that we are hearing the voice of the land, calling out in primal response."
"The utterance of the first word on a subject, whether it be about a legal precedent or a newly born child, was considered to be significant & binding."
"...injuries to the head, then as now, constituted a severe threat to life &, to the Celtic mind, to the soul."
"The heating of an iron house to destroy enemies within is a frequent feature of Celtic stories..."
"Celtic spiritual wholeness is defined by three conditions:...the trust of the soul, or devout observance;...the heart's consent, or belief;...the mind's pledge, or faith. When these three are as one, then there is true strength & power within the...soul-shrine, as the body is termed."
"I...contend that the Celtic definition of the soul comprises the trinity of soul or psyche, heart & mind within the soul-shrine of the body."
"...most instances of blood-drinking at death are performed by women in Celtic tradition."
"Faery alliances are commonplace in Celtic lore..."
"Rowan is the wood most commonly utilized in Celtic tradition to ward off evil from faery or otherworldly sources."
"...the Celtic rite of abandonment: put into a boat with a knife & water but without oars, sail or rudder, the subject was set adrift upon the mercy of the wave. Such exile was the normal punishment for incest, a crime which brought shame upon the whole tribe."
"Music plays the central role in Celtic soul-restoration, forming the most subtle net to help the soul-parts reassemble. There are numerous examples of the silver branch's ability to bring the sleep of vision or forgetfulness."
"The first principle of which we become aware when the subject of precognition among the Celts is studied, is the importance of dreams in which the subjects learn something of considerable import to their circumstances."
"The method of obtaining information from inner sources...most often attested to...is that of the incubatory sleep."
"Clearly water was seen as a conductor of healing or information from beneath the ground."
"For the Celtic peoples, the lands westward over the Atlantic have ever been the regions of the Blessed Isles, the happy otherworld from which faery visitants, empowering objects & supra-human wisdom derive."
"...a loss of sight is found in the legends of particularly ancient Celtic deities..."
"There is a strong belief in Celtic lore in zombies--reanimated bodies which are serviceable because their souls are bound."
From "Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend" by Miranda J. Green;
"The Celts...are the ancient peoples of pagan Celtic Europe, from about 700 BC to AD 400.
"An important feature of Celtic society was that, economically, it was capable of supporting non-food-producers..."
"...some religious themes which are shared; water ritual...head-hunting...Otherworld feasting & the champion's joint of pork...cauldrons & the sanctity of 'three'..."
"The free Celtic traditions of open-air worship & aniconic perceptions of the gods..."
From "The Practice of Celtic Wisdom; Druid Magic" by Maya Magee Sutton & Nicholas R. Mann;
"Celtic...knotwork...came from the post-Druidic Christian period."
"Celtic women were the administrators, whereas men were the defenders & workers."
From "The Book of Druidry" by Ross Nichols;
"In Celtdom a pair (of columns) was often given colours, the northern pillar green, the southern gold."
"Celtic culture is...musical & eloquent, values the individual more than the concerted achievement & personal adornment more than built-up walls. It has great abstract designs on its metal work & on some incised stones. Celtic buildings were purely temporary & utilitarian, clay & wattle, with thatched roofs."
From "The Literature of the Celts" by Magnus MacLean;
"So formidable, indeed, were the Celts during the period of their ascendency..."
"They feared no man. One thing only alarmed them...that was lest the heavens should one day fall & crush them."
"...the Celts claim Hercules as one of their own potentates."
"...their vast empire began to crumble...about 300 B.C."
(Details noted by various Greek & Roman authors include) "...the Celts' intellectual cleverness; their numbers & great size; the magnificence of their funerals, & their belief in the immortality of the soul. Their cities were forests, & though otherwise cleanly in their eating, lion-like, they were wont to take up huge joints & gnaw at them. Other features of striking peculiarity were their figurative, exaggerated language; the functions of bards & druids; their chariots & excellent horsemanship; the fierceness & noise of their first onset in battle; their readiness to be disheartened by reverse; their astounding clothes...Their chiefs generally appeared with a retinue of followers...The heads of their fallen enemies they cut off & hung to their horses' manes; they were warlike, passionate, & always ready for fighting; otherwise simple, frank, hospitable to strangers, but vain, quarrelsome, fickle & ever prone to waste their strength on personal feuds & factions."
"Celtic poets in the Columban period...taught Europe to rhyme."
"...with the growth of feudal law, & the change to the parochial system, the old Celtic regime was fast becoming a thing of the past..."
"...the old Celtic sword-dance in honour of the sun."
"Herein lies a strange trait of Celtic life, that the great literary revivals should be thus simultaneous, & common to all the sundered groups..."
"As we work out way back through history toward the origins of Celtic literature, we recognise two streams issuing from two very different sources. One has its rise in pre-Christian times, welling up from the pagan heart of the race from a remote antiquity. It is represented by the sagas & the poetry that is mingled with them. These sagas breathe the spirit of the Celtic people in the long past, & are the most characteristic of all their literary products. So old are they, that very few of them deal with events posterior to the eigthth century, & those that do are the less meritorious. In this respect if may be said that the Celts produced their best literature first."
"Anglo-Saxon or Old English came into contact with Celtic from the year 449 onwards."
From "Exploring Celtic Druidism; Ancient Magick & Rituals for Personal Empowerment" by Sirona Knight;
"Documented evidence suggests that the major body of Celts did not arrive in Britain until 900 to 700 B.C.E."
From "Celtic Britain" by Charles Thomas;
"...from about AD 100 to 500 a great many ordinary people in Britain did speak a simplified conversational Latin..."
"The oldest (?4th-century BC) name for Britain was Albion..."
"From the warrior caste the Celts chose their kings."
"In peace, the cement of early Celtic society was...'clientship', an intricate balance of rights and priviledges, duties and obligations, set in a pyramid from the ruler down to the least free and most humble tribesmen."
"There were pagan deities on a large scale. A Celtic European war-god Camulos...Maponus, a British 'Divine Youth' figure...and Sulis, a mysterious goddess presiding over the hot springs at Bath...During the 4th century, visitors to the wondrous hot springs and the temple of Sulis Minerva at...Bath, wrote (as was customary) various requests to the goddess on small, rolled-up, sheets of lead. Some were thrown into the magical waters."
"In pre-Roman days the average Briton was aware of the gods only as amorphous and dangerous forces, perhaps possessing gender and names but not otherwise defined. They required at all times to be placated through sacrifice and ritual, or propitiated lest frightful evils should befall. At a tribal level certain rivers...seem to have been personified as goddesses. Religious phenomenology suggests they would have been seasonal consorts for tribal kings."
"As for language...British...was not, on the whole, ever written."
"Celts customarily possessed a one-word name. This would be a simple and traditional one, or more impressive in the case of persons of rank."
"The native British were in the main farmers."
"...Britain's history between 400 and 800 can--loosely, but justifiably--be labelled sub-Roman."
"...Vortigern...passed into legend and the early history of Celtic Britain--the archetypal national mistake-maker, if not betrayer."
"A great many Britons continued to bear Roman names, including Imperial names, long after 400; and these Britons would be from families...which were the progenitors of princes and petty kings."
"Deira and Elmet...meaning 'Oak-Forest' and 'Elm-Forest,' respectively."
"...in the last century of Roman Britannia the Christian faith co-existed with vigorous paganism."
"...the Latin phrase (votum quod promisit) is also found in pagan transactions."
"...spoons...inscribed...with dedications to a pagan deity."
"...a well-supported cult of Faunus flourished at the very end of Roman Britain, and perhaps in East Anglia, a region where urban and rural Christianity was well represented."
"Various horned gods of the hunt, of stock-raising and aggresive fertility..."
"Britannia had a reputation as the source of certain products, some of them slightly rarified; high-quality woollen garments, and prized hunting-dogs...there had been...pewter-ware manufactories...pewter-making...may have occurred after 400 in Dumnonia...Wine was a conspicuous luxury, proper to sub-Roman rulers and war-leaders..."
(Linguistically speaking,) "...a hypothetical Common Celtic had emerged by 1000 BC from Indo-European..."
From "Druids" by Lewis Spence;
"Among the Celts the rowan and hazel were regarded as the bearers of celestial fruits, and their divine exemplars were supposed to be planted in the Celtic paradise. Hazel-nuts and rowan-berries were regarded as divine fruit, which yielded...poetic inspiration...and...a wine conducive to longevity...The rowan was (associated with)...mystery and magic. The hazel was indeed a god...the oak was regarded...as a sacred food-yielding tree. Trees, then, are regarded by uncultured peoples as 'the ancestors transformed.'"
"The oak was by no means the only tree adored by the Celtic peoples, and they appear to have adopted local tree-cults from some of their neighbors...they accepted the cult of the beech and the god of some coniferous tree from the Ligurians, while 'forests were also personified or ruled by a single goddess...'"
"...elements of Celtic mythology...the thunder-oak and the rain-making well..."
(According to Rice Holmes, the Celts') "...notion of a future life was a form of the 'Continuance Theory,' an existence in an Elysium of the West, where they lived much as they had done in the world, only without the drawbacks of human anxiety." "Transmigration" myths are the exception which prove the general Celtic rule that it was only individuals of divine or royal origin who underwent reincarnation." "...reincarnation came to be a later general belief among the Celts..." "...among the Celtic peoples it arose out of primitive notions concerning the secular return of the spirits formerly inhabiting human bodies into those of newly-born children..."
"...Divine Kingship was associated with...the...Celtic ideas of reincarnation as apart from the Pythagorean view." "The idea of the reincarnation of the Divine King can only have arisen by virtue of the tenet that he is the son of a solar deity, and it is thus manifestly due to the notion of the rebirth of a 'new sun,' projected from the 'old sun.'"
"...the Celtic year was...regulated by the solar round and not by a calendar-system composed by reference to the seasons...Rhys remarks, it was 'more thermometric than astronomical'..." "The calendar...seems to have been devised on a lunar basis, and time was measured by the moon. There were three outstanding festivals, Samhain...held on November 1st; Beallteinn, or Beltane, on May 1st, and Lughnassad, on August 1st. Midsummer day was also observed."
"The Celtic year began with Samhain, when 'the powers of blight were beginning their period of ascendency, yet the future triumph of the powers of growth were not forgotten.' Originally...a harvest festival, associated perhaps with threshing rather than the cutting of the grain." "The outstanding feature of Samhain was the burning of a great bonfire. The old fires were discarded with the old year, and the domestic hearth was replenished from the new sacred flame. But Samhain was also a festival of the dead, whose spirits at this season were thought of as scouring the countryside, causing dread to the folk at large. To expel them from the fields and...villages, lighted brands from the bonfire were carried round the district. Animals were slaughtered for winter consumption and their flesh 'salted down.'" "...at the beginning of November, festivals...being associated among the Celts with large fairs for the barter or exchange of goods." "Samhain...was the old winter festival...when divinations for the fate of the individual throughout the new year were engaged in."
"...Beallteinn, a name which...implies 'a goodly fire,' was intended to promote fertility...A fair for the barter of goods was held."
"...Lughnassad...held on August 1st...in honour of the sun-god Lugh...god of light and knowledge." "The festival is...closely associated with the cult of the dead, and of the 'dead' or 'dying' sun of summer, when magical devices were employed to ensure the sun-god's existence for another year." "...emanations of physical strength and effort put forth in...games...were regarded as giving new strength to the...(sun-god), enervated and weakened by his labours during the (past) year." "Marriages on a popular scale formed a special feature of the fair which followed the festival..." "...Lughnassad means 'the marriage of Lug'..."
"...the Celtic Midsummer festival had wheel ceremonies." "...'the sun at the solstice, so frequently represented by a moving wheel.'" "Rolling a blazing wheel down a hill-side seems a very natural imitation of the passage of the sun through the sky, especially appropriate to Midsummer day..."
"...people (wore) skins on ceremonial occassions." "...on the second week of the season of Yule the people dressed themselves in skins and masks to imitate various animals." "To attire onesself in an animal's skin...is to become the animal itself...and consequently to acquire any supernatural knowledge it may possess as a divinity."
"...roofed temples in stone which the Celts erected in the Roman period..."
"Nor may numerous Celtic 'Saints' be classed otherwise than as pagan deities with all the marks of their heathen origin vividly upon them."
"The names Bladud and Apollo appear...to have been derived from the Celtic word for 'apple,' the divine solar fruit...as is also the name 'Avallon.'"
"...the double disc with sceptre...seem to depict the older and younger suns, the scepter perhaps being illustrative of lightning, which was believed by the Celts to be a spark from the sun."
"The Celts believed that the crow revealed where new settlements should be situated and that it was able to arbitrate in private negotiations."
"Among the Celts, the wren was a bird of augury and its chirpings were thought to be predictive of events to come."
From “The Apple Branch, A Path to Celtic Ritual” by Alexei Kondratiev;
(Regarding the early Celts) “In the last quarter of the second millenium B.C. these people made a sharp change in their burial practices. No longer were the dead placed under tumuli and surrounded by the treasures they had owned in life; instead, the bodies were cremated, and the ashes placed in urns that were buried together in cemetaries.” (With the advent of the iron age) “The dead--at least, the wealthy or well-born dead--were again placed, uncremated, with their most prized possessions in burial-chambers under
tumuli.”
“While the Celtic enthusiasm for going on raids and taking long voyages sporadically led to such violent confrontations with their neighbors, most Celtic communities were content to indulge in their old penchant for lucrative trade.”
“...foreign concepts, both technological and aesthetic, were adopted eagerly, they were recast in a uniquely Celtic synthesis.”
“...the Celts’ love of spectacle and excess...”
“...they refused to be ruled by objective records...”
“Throughout the history of the Free Celts basic notions concerning society, the land, and the Otherworld underwent little transformation. Always we see the threefold structure of the tribe that Georges Dumezil considered typical of the Indo-Europeans...”
“The most complete model of universal process was a triadic one...” “In the polarity between our world and the Otherworld, the disruptive element consisted in the conditional merging of the two, either at specific points in time or in specific places where the boundaries between worlds were thinner.”
“Although they deferred to the druids in matters of ultimate authority, the warrior-aristocracy were the core of the tribe’s life, its most visible agents, the main focus of its admiration, and setters of trends and fashions on a more superficial, worldly level. They asserted their kin-group’s right to the territory that incarnated the spirit of their Land-goddess, and kept out intruders by a show of bravery and determination. But theirs was not a tightly disciplined, militaristic organization, aiming at long-term gains through a planned strategy. They rarely sought territorial expansion through conquest, except in unusual periods of economic hardship. They had no real concept of war as it is now understood. Warriors pursued highly individualistic careers, and gained social standing by attracting attention to themselves in daring, small-scale expeditions in enemy territory, which would invite reprisals on a similar scale. Cattle constituted the primary wealth of each tribe, so cattle-raids were an especially popular form of mutual provocation.” “Competition was fierce for first place in the warriors’ hierarchy: the most highly regarded, most experienced warrior could claim the champion’s portion at feasts, and be shown other signs of deference.”
“...the free landholders, who functioned as farmers--did not invite celebration in song and story, but were vital to the life of the tribe...”
“At the height of their development, the Free Celts were prosperous and comfort-loving. They were as eclectic in matters of technology as they were in matters of art. Their achievements as cartwrights, masons, cheese-makers, preparers of smoked meats and sausages, to name a few diverse occupations, compared favorably with, and in some cases surpassed, anything to be found among their literate ‘civilized’ neighbors to the south.”
“The reliance on kingship rather than social institutions as a source of authority and the strong individualism encouraged by the warrior class made it impossible for the Free Celts to envisions anything like a centralized state. Indeed, the whole pattern of the Celtic way of life tended to be centrifugous.”
“Only in their southernmost territories did the Celts experiment (modestly) with urban living; elsewhere they preferred to settle in isolated farmsteads, each house separated from the others by stretches of field and pasture...”
“The range of power acquired by a chieftain with a forceful personality could shrink drastically in the hands of an unimpressive successor.”
“Even at the height of Celtic expansion, when they ranged from Ireland and Spain in the West to the Black Sea and Asia Minor in the East, and from northern Italy in the South to (probably) the banks of the Elbe in the North, the Celts owed their cultural cohesion to language and religion rather than to any central political institution. They never could have imagined forming an empire.”
“Celtic resistance was fierce and passionate, but the individualism of Celtic warriors and their reluctance to bow to any unconditional authority made it impossible for them to withstand the disciplined mechanism of the Roman army.”
“To destroy the spiritual cohesion of the Celtic world and deprive the Celtic identity of its source, the intertribal bardic order had to be destroyed, and for that, Britain had to be crushed.”
“...women in Celtic society could not become Land-rulers...(but)...there was no obstacle to their becoming charismatic leaders.”
“At odds with the power of the state--Roman or otherwise--Celts down the ages can echo with feeling Calgacus’ bitter reproach to Rome, ‘You make a wasteland, and call it peace!”
“...Ireland--and, despite its scars, northernmost Britain--remained as pockets where the Celtic tradition survived intact.”
“Rivers--the physical manifestation of the nourishing Goddess present in the Land...”
“It was easier for the Celts to relate to the principles of monasticism than to a hierarchal, institutionalized Church run by bishops. A monastery was like a newly-formed tribe, held together by kinship.”
“The Celtic cross--the symbol of the Sun and seasons...”
“At the Snyod of Kells in 1152 all vestiges of Celtic Christian nonconformism were officially abolished. With this event the Second Golden Age of the Celts came to a formal close.”
“Certainly the final war for Celtic survival would be, and still is, a war of the media and of myth.”
“Celtic music, which can provide a glimpse of the Celtic soul across the language barrier...”
“...the devil-may-care valor of the Celtic warrior.”
“Any Celtic-oriented movements that ignore its contemporary existence and limit their interest to past stages in its development have turned their backs on reality and cut themselves off from the very life-giving sources they profess to seek.”
“...there are some philosophies that are fundamentally anti-Celtic in their cultural impact (the more extreme expressions of Calvinism, for instance.)”
“Honoring one’s ancestors is indeed part of the Celtic ethos...”
“A circle affirming its link to the Celtic continuum...cannot evade the language issue.” “If most members of the circle are not Celtic-speakers, it should be a mark of their commitment that they make the effort to become reasonably acquainted with a Celtic language.”
“...it is this awareness of the indissoluble link between Tribe and Land that distinguishes the Celtic worldview from the mainstream from the mainstream Western worldview
today.”
“Mythological stories about a love-triangle in which two men compete for the favors of a woman are, of course, one of the most conspicuous elements in Celtic literary tradition.”
“Brigit...appears to be the Celtic ‘Minerva’...patroness of arts and crafts, consort not only of the King but also of every creative individual--Muse of all creative endeavor.” “Her name comes from a stem brig- meaning ‘height’...the range of meanings ‘force, power, meaning, invigorating essence...hill...fame, respect, value...raised up.’” “Like all Celtic divinities, Brigit...has a number of plant and animal attributes. She is accompanied by a white cow...Her flower is usually said to be the dandelion...at one time it may have been the coltsfoot...Her messenger bird is the oystercatcher...And the snake...is her divinatory animal...” “Brigit, whose season is the entire spring quarter.”
“...the traditional celebration of Samhain in the Celtic world may be analyzed by classifying its elements according to the ritual themes they are meant to express...Renewal...Hospitality for the Dead...Dissolution...Timelessness...Sacrifice...”
“During the last century the practice of lighting bonfires on Calan Gaeaf was still common in parts of Wales, though its connotations had more to do with protection than with
renewal.”
“Nine, in Celtic tradition, is a number of great power, being an extension of three, the number of dynamic efficiency and completion. Actions performed nine times, or objects occurring in groups of nine (triple triads,) have the magical ability to manifest Otherworld patterns in this world.”
“...southwest, the direction most propitious to Otherworld contact.”
“Eagle is...paired with wren, and oak with mistletoe, and both pairs correspond to each other...The entire symbolic comples seems to be associated with the God Lugh, the most powerfully realized divine figure in Celtic tradition, and the original Child of Light.”
“...holly...Like all evergreens...became a symbol of divine vitality, of immortality transcending the cycles of nature. And, like all creatures that display the three sacred colors--in this case, ‘black’ (i.e., dark green) leaves, white blossoms, and red berries--it was a special manifestation of divinity...holly is the divine sacrificer among trees...”
“According to some researchers, the dog is...associated with Lugh...”
“...one item in Celtic mythological literature...is directly related to...the lunar year...’The Song of Amergin’...”
“...the edge of the sea appealed powerfully to the Celtic imagination. It was the boundary between our world and the Otherworld...”
“...the Stag and the Boar: both are creatures of the Otherworld...and often serve as messengers or guides across those boundaries.”
“The Celts...flood myth...is...a disaster and a source of good things.”
“...a strong gust of wind, in the terms of Celtic myth, suggests an ensoulment, an infusion of creative potential.”
France/French
From "The Druids, Celtic Priests of Nature" by Jean Markale;
"...there were three classes in Gallic society, of which one, the plebeian, was insignificant. The other two were the equites, who were the warriors, and the druids."
"The famous Fountain of Barenton (Fountain of Youth,) in the forest of Paimpont-Broceliande, once bore the name Belenton, in which can be recognized a Bel-Nemeton..."
"The god with the mallet exists nowhere other than in Gallic territory. The inscriptions name him Sucellos, which literally means 'smack-hard' or 'he who strikes well'..."
From "A Brief History of the Druids" by P.B. Ellis;
"A large Celtic vocabulary survives in modern French."
"Strabo's Geographia was a pointed attack on the Celts which was written as a justification for Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul & the subsequent attempts to suppress the Celtic intelligentsia & their centres of learning."
"Caesar...says that there were three classes in Gaul--the intellectuals called Druids (Druides,) the military caste (Equites,) & the people (Plebs.)"
"...examples of Gaulish, written in Greek & sometimes Latin alphabets, survive in several areas & date back to the third & second centuries BC."
"Among the names of the Celtic gods which appear most frequently is that of...Lugus in Gaulish."
"Another god with a widespread following was the Gaulish Ogmios...Ogmios had his equivalents in Ireland (Ogma,) & Britain (Ogmia.)
From "Celtic Britain" by Charles Thomas;
"...Gaulish...(was) spoken over much of western Europe, including Spain and...north...Italy as well as France."
From "Druids" by Lewis Spence;
"In Brittany, Midsummer Day...was celebrated by the burning of Bel-fires round which the peasantry danced all night in their holiday attire..."
From "Celtic Sacred Landscapes," by Nigel Pennick;
"Arnemetia and Nemetona were the deities of the nemeton."
Wales/Welsh
From "Celtic Heritage" by Alwyn & Brinley Rees;
"...regions of north Britain...in the sixth century, were still Welsh."
"The fairies are known as 'The Mothers' or 'The Mothers' Blessing,' in parts of Wales..."
"...Pryderi, the only person who figures in all four branches (of the Mabinogion.)"
"pwyll; prudence, deliberation, wisdom."
"...Lludd the king of Britain, whose name is probably the equivalent of Nuadu..."
"...Math son of Mathonwy, Lord of Gwynedd...can live only if his feet are held in a maiden's lap, unless the turmoil of war should make this impossible." "Of Math it is said that whatever whispering, however low, that would be between men, if the wind met it, he would know it."
"...Gwydion, the counsellor & schemer in each section of this Branch (of the Mabinogion...)"
"Dyfrdonwy is certainly given as the name of one of 'the three wells of the ocean.' The other two wells are identified with the sea-flood and the fall of rain through the atmosphere, respectively..."
"dyfr-: 'water.'"
"...the Welsh word gwerin which is cognate with foirenn signifies a set of pieces, a complement, and also the people distinguished from the nobility. Another Welsh word used for commoners as a body of people is gwreng, and in medieval Welsh this compound of gwr ('man') and ieuang ('young') denotes young gentlemen training to bear arms."
"There is a correspondence between Finn's name and that of the Welsh Gwyn ap Nudd..."
"Medb's name is cognate with the Welsh meddw, 'drunk,' and related to the English word mead."
"Suibne Geilt...an Irish counterpart of the Welsh Myrddin Wyllt."
"Food, called bwyd cennad y meirw, was left out-of-doors to propitiate the wandering dead."
Irish "...flaith is related to the Welsh gwlad 'country,' gwledig 'ruler,' and the German gewalt 'force,' 'violence.'"
"According to the Welsh laws, the right to enter & occupy land which one's father occupied until his death was the right to uncover the fire (datanhud.)"
"...eisteddfodau, 'gatherings of the clans'..."
"...Caerludd, a Welsh name for London, from the name of King Lludd who built the walls of the city."
"...'the three royal tribes of Wales.'...are the dynasties of Gwynedd & Powys in the North, and...Deheubarth, the one southern province."
"The Children of Llyr...are also located in Gwynedd in the (second Branch of the Mabinogion)...but modern place names seem to link them with Powys, which is also the province of the Llywarch Hen heroic poems."
"...northern families...stormy passions and violent deeds." "The southern family of the Mabinogi...has to counter with submission, self-restraint & patient persistence..."
"An undated poem...attributes to Gwynedd boastful words, timid (?) men, and great intentions, and to Anglesey high birth, wise men, and relics. To Powys are attributed brave men setting out for battle and also a welcome for minstrels; to Glamorgan, genial men, women in majesty, and churls (?) and rich men in market, while the people of two westernmost divisions of Dyfed are described as serfs." "A twelfth-century poem on the privileges of the men of Powys emphasizes their aristocratic & martial qualities." "...associated with Glamorgan are generosity, courtesy, & festivity."
"...evidence suggests that, in some sense, the southern half of the country may have been regarded as the female half, and this would be in accord with Irish tradition."
"The 'chief poet' (pencerdd)...was at least equal in honour to the highest court officers."
"When the bardd teulu took office he received from the king a harp, which he was never to part."
"Three duties are assigned to the teulewr: to gladden the company, the be generous (promote generosity,) and to make courteous supplication..."
"...Welsh tradition that a complete house should consist of nine component parts." "In the Welsh Laws, the ninth day of the month often marks the end or the beginning of a period, and a period of nine days or nine nights is certainly in evidence in the literature as a significant unit of time." "...the 'ninth generation'...marked the limits to which kin could properly be reckoned..."
"...Lleu, is born of a woman who has been deemed to be a virgin."
"...poems abound with lines associating the birch-tree with love."
"...in May, it was not the unmarried but the unloving that were ridiculed. Thus, in parts of Wales young men used to fix bunches of flowers tied with ribbons to the houses of the girls they loved, but to the door or the window of a prude or girl who had jilted her lover they fixed a horse's skull or the straw effigy of a man."
From "The Celts, Uncovering the Mythic & Historic Origins of Western Culture" by Jean Markale;
"...Modron is the equivalent of Morgan the Fee..."
“...Rhiannon is the same person as Epona....” “The mother-goddess is also personified under the name Rhiannon (Rigantona, meaning ‘Great Queen’)...identified with Epona, since she is linked with the myth of the Mare who loses her colt...She is the goddess who receives the dead into her bosom and who gives them immortality through the singing of her marvellous birds.”
“...we do have evidence of an agricultural god in Amaethon son of Don who appears in Culhwch and Olwen...He is also the hero of Taliesin’s Death Song for Aeddon, Aeddon being a contracted form of Amaethon. The early Arthur can also
be regarded as an agrarian god.”
“The Welsh legend most closely related to that of Ys is the tale of Gwyddno Garanhir...mythical king of Caernarvonshire, contained in the 12th century Black Book of Carmarthen. It is also mentioned in on of the Triads of Britain.”
(The Welsh equivalent of the ‘guardian of the spring’ myth) “...occurs in the Welsh tale of Owein or the Lady of the Fountain.”
“...around 530 BC, the lake villages were hastily abandoned by their occupants...these movements were echoed in the strange Welsh traditions which followed at a much later date. First there is the legend of Hu Gadarn...Then there
is the legend of the men of Galedin...”
“Somerset (The Land of Summer, or Kingdom of the Dead, in Welsh tradition)...”
“Arthur’s shield Prytwen [white shape] is also his boat.”
“Math is...(identified) with the Fisher King...”
“...the word for lake could be used to denote a lagoon, a swamp or an inland creek like the Welsh & Breton ebyr or aber...”
(Regarding the Maiden of the Grail) “The Welsh legend of Lake Tegid makes her Keridwen, a sorceress-cum-goddess who owns the cauldron of knowledge, & who cases her son Taliesin on the waves in a leather bag after his birth.”
“The word Cimbri may be related to Cymry, the name by which the Welsh called themselves at the time of the Saxon invasions...”
(The solar god) “...Beli in Welsh mythology.”
“Celtic literature survived in the Gaelic and British languages, because Ireland and Wales were never exposed to the aggressive push of Latin. But although the British and Gallic languages were closely related, extant Welsh works were actually written down in the Middle Ages and can therefore only be taken as a very distant echo of Gallic literature.”
“The Hephaistos-Vulcan figure of Mediterranean religion has a Welsh equivalent in the magic smith Govannon, son of Don, who is mentioned by the bard Taliesin and becomes involved in the exploits of the magician Manawyddan ab Llyr. Govannon also appears to be modelled on the Irish Goibnu...”
“...the Welsh brenin (from brenn, height) means ‘king of a tribe.’”
“The Welsh bard Aneurin’s poem the Gododin is the tale of a battle lost after too much drinking...”
“Of all the legends about protective birds...the strangest is undoubtedly contained in the Welsh Dream of Rhonabwy.”
“...the Gallic Maponus is comparable to the Welsh mythological figure of Mabon, son of Modron, who enters Arthurian legend on various occasions as a prisoner.” “Mabon (‘Son’)...a youthful sun held captive by the night. While he is still a prisoner the day cannot dawn and all life is halted in its tracks.”
“Apart from Mabon there are two other famous prisoners...One of them is the Gweir mentioned in Taliesin’s poem the Spoils of the Abyss.” “A heavy blue chain holds the brave lad...” “R.S. Loomis has identified Taliesin’s Gweir with Gwri Gwallt Euryn; and Gwri is Pryderi, son of Pwyll and Rhiannon, yet another version of the mother-goddess.”
“The theme of the prisoner or of the young man who is shackled in some way, material or spiritual, occurs in the mabinogi of Math. Here Arianrod, another face of the mother-goddess, has given birth to a son whom she refuses to
recognise.”
“...whether he be called Owein...Lleu or Pryderi, our hero has retired into the other world, like the youthful sun held captive by darkness. All these characters are in some sense prisoners of destiny...forced to wait for the day of his return in a dormant state. The role of the sleeping hero is also given to Arthur...It is possible that the name Arthur derives from an ancient Artaios or Artos...meaning ‘Bear,’ and as we know the bear is a hibernating animal.”
“The Myvyrian Anthology of Wales, a collection of ancient Welsh texts, claims that the battle of Goddeu celebrated by Taliesin, where the combatants were magically transformed into trees, was attended by ‘a man who could not be saluted unless his name were known, and on the other side a woman called Achren [trees] whose army could not be saluted unless her name were known.’ Taliesin himself does not name her, but describes her as ‘controlling the wold tumult at the head of the army.’ The fact that she has the qualities of ‘a shameless cow’ suggests that she went naked into battle. The battle of trees undoubtedly belongs to some very ancient and very complicated myth.” “The Myvyrian Anthology of Wales, however, has more to tell us about the battle of Goddeu. For
it is to the warrior whose name must be known that Gwyddyon the magician who turned the Britons into trees cries out, ‘The high branches of the alder-tree are in your hand; Bran you are by the branches you bear.’ This identification of Bran with the alder-tree is supported by Taliesin’s lines, ‘The alder-trees at the head of the troop form the advance guard,’ which would also suggest that the chief of Britons in the battle was Bran. In the Hostile Conjuration, another poem by Taliesin, the bard writes, ‘I know why the alder-tree is purple in color,’ presumably implying that the regal aspect of purple is associated with the alder and by implication with Bran. Aneurin also takes up the image in his Incantations for Tutvwlch, ‘The spear of alder wood is king. Around him are the horns and the bent swords.’ In the mabinogi of Branwen, Bran’s sister gives birth to a son named Gwern, ‘alder-tree,’ who is tragically burnt in a fire like a piece of wood.” “What is beginning to emerge...is the special quality of the system of symbols used by the Celts, a system based on analogy and on the ternary significance of
the ojbect. In fact, Gwern could mean either alder-tree, mast or marsh according to context. Having identified Bran as the alder-tree, we can use this principle of analogy to make him mast and marsh also. Indeed he is linked with both these ideas in...Branwen, first as the mast of a boat...the second as a marsh...The name Bran itself (together with its variants Bron and Bren,) has three different meanings: raven or crow, womb and height. He is a raven because he is a black god, the hero of the Other World. He is the womb because he owned the cauldron of abundance and rebirth. He is height because he was too tall to stand either in a house or a ship and was described in Branwen as ‘the mountain that was seen alongside the ships.’” “...Bran...(was) canonized as Saint Brendan.”
“...the fact that North West Wales was called Gwynned would seem to suggest that the Veneti had considerable influence there, if not an actual colony.”
“...Cassivellaunos, an energetic and enterprising chief later celebrated as a national hero by the Welsh bards under the name Casswallawn.”
(Regarding fosterage, oftentimes by one’s uncle,) “Welsh tales about Gwyddyon and Gilvaethwy, the sons of Don, being brought up by their uncle Math, and Lleu, son of Arianrod, being brought up by his uncle Gwyddyon, would certainly confirm that it was accepted practice.”
“In the early days Christian dogma was still too insecure to be able to countenance the existence of free spirits like the Celts. Only Wales escaped reform, though it fell prey to other kinds of subjugation.”
“The Welsh Marches were occupied by the Cornovii, North Wales by the Ordovices and South Wales by the Silures.”
“...King Cunobelinos whom Welsh tradition named Cynfelyn...one of the three valiant kings of the island of Britain.”
“...Caratacos...whom the Welsh called Caradawc...held firm against the Roman assault. But his forces...were ill-prepared.”
“Aregwydd appears to be the archetypal calculating harpy...”
“Breton saints are more often legendary than not.”
“Until Wales lost its independence, Aberffraw in the South of (Anglesey) was principal residence of the kings of Gwynedd.” “Maelgwyn is king of Gwynedd and of Mon, with his capital at Aberffraw.”
“According to Welsh tradition, it was British treason which enabled the Saxons to settle in Britain.”
“The place where the dragons are buried is named as Dinas Ffaraon in the Mountains of Eyri, which then becomes Dinas Emreis (the Rock of Ambrosius)...”
“Not all of the Arthurian cycle is myth, however. Some parts of the story are undoubtedly factual.” “All the names in Arthurian legend are clearly connected with people and places in Cornwall, Wales and the North.” “...the bravest knights...turn out on closer examination to be the gods and heroes of Irish and Welsh mythology.”
“Girflet is the same person as Gilvaethwy...”
“...Uryen whose totemic animal is the raven...” “Uryen was king of Rheged, a district in the North...He is married to Modron, daughter of Avallach (Avallon)...” “Arawn’s brother, the semi-historical Uryen...”
“Uryen’s son, Owein...appears to have been a real person.” “Wherever he goes with his flight of ravens, they are victorious.” “The constant companion of Yvain-Owein is a lion, and he is also said to be the son of Modron. The fact that Owein is never described as Mabon’s brother although they supposedly have the same mother, suggests that they are the same person.”
“In a number of texts Owein and Uryen are saved by the intervention of Modron’s ravens which can be compared to the birds of Rhiannon singing the song of immortality.”
“...Morvran, whose totemic animal appears to be the stag, a possible link with the Gallic god Cerunnos.”
“In the Welsh tradition where names are deliberately confused and one character may appear under two or three different names, Mordret-Meleagant becomes Gwynwas or Gwynn, son of Nudd...Gwynn...belongs to the earliest mythology of Wales...” “In the legend of Culhwch, Gwynn fights Gwythryr for Creiddylat, daughter of Ludd Silver Hand (a curious confusion with Nudd and Nuada.) Arthur restores order by arranging the Gwynn and Gwythryr fight for her every May Day until the Judgment. This legend would appear to be connected with the Celtic festival of Beltaine...”
“The fight between Arthur and Mordret is, therefore, a battle between Day and Night, Life and Death. Indeed, when Arthur pierces Mordret, Girflet sees ‘a shaft of sunlight enter the body at the same time as the spear’...The shaft of sunlight is actually the Light of the Hero, the manifestation of the divine soul of a dying champion.”
“They myth of Arthur is a symbol for the Celtic world as a whole.”
“There really was a Geraint, king of the Britons...(who) appears to have been king of Devon and Cornwall only...The bard Llywarch Hen composed his death song which has been preserved in the Black Book of Carmarthen...”
“...Gwendoleu’s bard was called Myrddin, and a fairly recent version of the Annals of Cambria says that after (the battle of Arderyd) Merlinus insanus effectus est (Merlin went mad.) Indeed, all the poems attributed to Myrddin-Merlin mention the battle of Arderyd, Rhydderch’s victory and the death of Gwendoleu.” “After this battle the insane Merlin wanders aimlessly in the forest of Kelyddon (Caledonia.)” “...Myrddin becomes a homo sylvester.”
“The death of Kyndylan has all the proportions of a national disaster, and the poem it inspired is one of the most powerful and evocative in all Welsh literature.”
“...Tewdur, son of Beli...”
“...the usurper Maximus (Macsen Wletic)...”
“...Llychlynn (Scandinavia or Scythia)...”
“...Gwasgwyn (Gascony).”
“The link between dumbness and the Other World can clearly be seen in the mabinogi of Branwen, where Bran says that the dead warriors brought back to life by his magic will not be able to speak.”
“In the Welsh texts, the word Llydaw could be used to denote not just Brittany but also the mythical, unearthly home of the Dead and the Fairy People.”
“...Loegr, the Welsh name for England...”
“An examination of the language used in these poems makes it clear that the verses attributed to Taliesin were written at widely differing periods, which suggests that none of them is authentic. In fact there is no strictly historical proof that a man named Taliesin ever existed.”
“...Fferyllt [Metal-Worker]...”
“Keridwen...is reminiscent of the Roman Ceres and Greek Kore. The name itself may come from ceres, meaning ‘head,’ or cerus, an ancient word meaning ‘god’ which would make Keridwen cerrita, the woman possessed by god. It is equally
possible that the name is linked with the Indo-European root KER meaning ‘to grow, to become powerful’ which has given us Cerunnos and crown.”
“Pwyll also bears all the features of Tuatates...the Father God, the Lord over Life and Death.”
“...the ram-headed snake...is a symbol of reproductive fertility.”
“Beli is the mythological ancestor of the Welsh, the son of Mynogan and father of Ludd and Casswallawn...The 10th century Welsh geneaologies...trace the forebears of two famous families back to a Beli who may well be the same man,
here shown as the husband to the goddess Ana...known to the Welsh as Don, mother of Gwyddyon.”
“...the broom in (the Cad Goddeu) is the Beli-Belinus of Welsh tradition.”
“The alder-tree is certainly Bran. He is the Fisher King, the Bron of 13th century French romance, also called Pelles from Pwyll Penn Annfwn, Master of the Abyss. He can be identified, too, as Uther Pendragon...He is...Teutates.”
“It is very likely that Pelles, the wealthy Fisher King, was based on Pwyll.”
“The aspen or poplar appears to have had some magical significance, for a literal translation of its Welsh name is ‘mistletoe-tree.’”
“...in the Cad Goddeu it is Gwyddyon the birch who plays the part of Teutates...”
“...Gwyddyon is definitely represented as the god of Life and Death throughout the story of Blodeuwedd...”
“Welsh literature suffered more from the effects of Romanization and Christianity, but certain passages of the oldest of those tales known as the mabinogion...as well as Culhwch and Olwen reflect extremely ancient traditions. The poetry of Wales also contains strange mixtures of tradition which are worthy of examination.”
(Regarding Esus) “His Welsh equivalent is Math son of Mathonwy...terrible master of magic and owner of the power-giving wand.” “Math probably means ‘terrible’...” “Math can also be compared with Wotan, which would give him
some connexion with the word for wood (Welsh wydd.)”
“In Wales Kaer Gwyddyon (the citadel of Gwyddyon) also means ‘the galaxy,’ suggesting some affinity with Uranus, though the Uranus aspect of his nature may well be inherited from his uncle Math. For the Celts practiced matrilinear descent and as the son of Math’s sister Don, Gwyddyon would be both his adoptive son and his heir. It is also quite possible that king Mark (Welsh March) of the Tristan legend is the same person as Math.”
“The idea of Balor’s eye opening only in battle is to a certain extent reiterated in the notion of Math being able to walk only in war-time.”
“Teutates...Welsh equivalents are Pwyll, Bran the Blessed, Maelwas, Medrawt, Evnyssen, Gwynn or Gwynwas.” “Pwyll...and Bran represent the beneficient side of the function. Teutates is a more alarming figure and the maleficent side
of the god...to be found in the more minor characters of Celtic...legend.”
“Gwynn, son of Nudd...was originally a Mithraic sun god...”
“Bran can be assimilated to Teutates in two respects, both as owner of a cauldron of rebirth and as divine patron of the tribe, or in Bran’s case of the nation.”
(Pwyll’s cauldron) “...is Peir Penn Annfwn (Cauldron of the Master of the Abyss.”
“...Rhiannon, an incarnation of the mother-goddess.”
“Bran guarded the countryside and the roads which led to it...In this he shares the same duties as the Roman Janus.”
“It is worth noting...that the Capitol (capit-uoli) is the site of a buried head. Bran is also the Blessed, the giver and the patron god of the gift.”
“...the land of summer denotes the kingdom of the dead...”
“...Kaer Loyw (Gloucester)...”
“The name Llew means ‘lion’ and is undoubtedly connected with the early practice of totemism.”
“The thunder clap could be a symbol for the volatilising effects of lightning.”
“The Welsh tale of the Countess of the Fountain...(may) contain some allusion to alchemy.”
“...Galahad is the ultimate but perfect incarnation of the Mabon-Baldr character. The name Galahad is obviously Hebraic...”
“Finn and Arthur may be huntsmen but they are huntsmen of a very particular kind. When they set out in pursuit of a boar, the animal is usually supernatural...and their activities are unlikely to be merely a sacred version of
ordinary, human hunting.”
“The Welsh equivalent for Mananann is Manawyddan, son of Llyr...Bran’s brother...(who) appears to be a lord of the sea.”
“Branwen’s role as a goddess of love has been amply demonstrated...”
“The character of Morgan la Fee offers a number of problems. She is not mentioned by name in any of the Welsh tales, except in a masculine form as Morgantut, Arthur’s doctor and magician who occurs in Culhwch and Olwen...her name actually means ‘born of the sea’...It is possible therefore that she is a water goddess. But she may also be a goddess of love, since the Round Table romances portray her imprisoning all those knights who have deceived their ladies...she appears to have the same nature as the Teutonic Freyja, a warrior, a witch and a passionate lover. Her position as mistress of the Isle of Avalon, however, would suggest an analogy with the warrior Nerthus...mentioned by Tacitus, who is a terra mater living in an oceanic land.” “Morgan is the dangerous, diabolical aspect of the divinity, relegated to the ranks of the fairies and ultimately to being a mere witch.” “Altogether, Morgan was a woman of mettle...she is the Sacred Prostitute...” “Morgan’s kingdom is the isle of Avalon, the mythical isle somewhere in the sea, the island in the middle of the world, a kind of navel but also a matrix, an inexhaustible store of energy.” “As mistress of Avallon, Morgan must be the Mother of Gods...”
“Possibly one of the most unusual practices...is the Gallic custom of numbering by ‘twenties’ which has also been preserved in Breton and Welsh.”
“The glories of Welsh and Breton languages are all that remain of the language which was once spoken over virtually the whole of Britain.” “...almost all the place names in Wales are Celtic in origin, since the Welsh language is still spoken there.”
“Taliesin can be taken as an image of the man who has successfully accomplished his return to the mother.”
“The Grail is a symbol of the abandoned and arid mother goddess who needs the Son, now gone from her in the catastrophe of birth. Her divinity withers, the world is falling to pieces. Only the son of woman can bring new life to the goddess by acting as husband to the mother. Freud’s discoveries concerning the Oedipus complex and sexuality is general are confirmed by legend.”
“Arianrod lives in a castle in the middle of the sea, another symbol for the womb, and this fortress Kaer Arianrod is traditionally used in Wales to denote the constellation of Coronae Borealis. We might therefore compare Arianrod with the Gallic goddess Sironna or Dironna in whose name we can identify the word ser meaning ‘star.’”
“The play on words between Modr, ‘the mother’ and Mor, ‘the sea,’ suggests that Dylan (Eil Mor) accomplishes his regressus ad uterum immediately, or that he is born dead.”
“The most likely incarnation of the Indo-European mother-goddess concept is...never the heroine of any story and appears only to give her children a name. This figure is the Welsh Don...”
From "The Druids, Celtic Priests of Nature" by Jean Markale;
"Celtic society has even managed to survive to the present day, to a degree, in the country of Wales..."
"...dryw, meaning "kinglet," in contemporary Welsh..."
"Odin-Wotan...is not without resemblance to Gwyddyon (Gwydion)..."
"...Peredur is the Welsh Perceval..."
"...Goibniu, and his Welsh equivalent Govannon or Gobannon."
"...Mabon...is recognizable in...(the Irish) Oengus, called the Mac Oc, (literally the 'Young Son')..."
"...Modron is the equivalent of Morgan the Fee..."
"...Mars...(was) Vellanus, 'the best,' in Wales."
"...Lludd Llaw Ereint (Lludd of the Silver Hand,)...is probably a distorted form of the older Nudd who corresponds to Nodens & to Nuada, at least if he isn't a distorted form of Lugh. But a Nudd also exists in this same Welsh tradition, a man who was the father of two sons."
"...Bran Vendigeit in the...Mabinogion offers certain similarities with the Dagda."
"Epona...seems to have the same nature or origin as Rhiannon & Macha, although it is possible that she may not be Celtic."
"...the name of King Math...comes from matu...one of the Celtic names for the bear..."
"...Amaethon...can be considered as an agrarian deity."
"Lir or Lyr means 'waves' or 'ocean,' but the name of Mananann-Manawyddon is linked to that of the Isle of Man, appropriately meaning the 'manx.'...it may be the isle that gave its name to the character & not vice versa."
"...Taliesin's Kat Goddeu, a text most likely composed of two or three different & earlier poems..."
"...it was those Britons, who for the most part came from the northern area of Wales, that emigrated during the sixth & seventh centuries to the ancient land of the Veneti & formed there the Browaroc'h, or the Vannetais." "The name of Finn & that of the Fiana are indeed from the same root as that of Gwynedd, Venedotia, & Veneti...Celtic vindo that has a meaning of 'white, handsome, blonde, sacred, of good race.'"
"...in the Welsh version of the Grail Quest...the Grail is neither a vase, nor a cauldron, but a severed head, bathed in blood & borne on a platter."
"...Bedwyr...is one-armed...but his sword is invincible."
From "A Brief History of the Druids" by P.B. Ellis;
"...brenin is still the Welsh word for a king..."
"Only in Wales, Scotland & Cornwall have the Celts survived in Britain until modern times."
"Female rulers appear in the Irish & Welsh texts as well as the ideal queens of the Otherworld..."
"The role of women in Celtic society had been drastically altered by the tenth century AD when the Welsh law system was codified in the reign of Hywel Dda. According to The Welsh Law of Women, edited by Dafydd Jenkins & Morfydd E. Owen (1980), 'Welsh law is considerably less generous to woman (than Irish law,) only allowing them such an equality of status while they remain indistinguishable from men.' This means until the girl reached the age of puberty at twelve years."
"...Welsh equivalent of Danu in the person of Don..."
"...Welsh sources do not have the creation myth traditions..."
"...Nuada...appears in Welsh myth as Nudd, which is also cognate with Lludd Llaw Ereint & is obviously also Nodens..."
"Among the names of the Celtic gods which appear most frequently is that of...Llew in Welsh..."
"...Caer Sidi, a synonym for the Otherworld..."
"A comparison of (the Irish Brehon Law & the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda,) indicates a common Celtic law at some period..."
"It was...believed in Welsh folklore that 'descendants of a person who has eaten of the eagle's flesh shall be possessed of second sight to the ninth generation."
"In...Welsh myth & saga, the art of fortelling the future is an essential part of the story."
"'Astrology seem to have formed an important feature of later Cymric...Mysticism.'"
From "Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend" by Miranda J. Green;
"...vernacular sources of...Wales allude to the ideal of Celtic beauty as having a fair skin & (usually) fair hair..."
(In ogham,) "...the first inscription in Welsh appears on the early Christian monument known as St. Cadfan's stone...which dates from the 7th-9th c. AD...though Goidelic written in ogham occurs on several of the earlier 5th-7th c. AD monuments in Wales..."
From "The Book of Druidry" by Ross Nichols;
"...regard for craftmanship was always the essence of how poetry was judged in Wales."
"The word Feryllt comes from ffer, Cymric for 'that which is solid' i.e. metals, & it indicated workers with fire & metals."
From "The Literature of the Celts" by Magnus MacLean;
"While it is freely admitted by the best critics that many of the pieces traditionally attributed to Taliessin are not older than the twelfth century, no one now disputes that Aneurin, Taliessin, Llywarch Hen, & Myrddin were famous bards who lived & composed in the sixth century..."
"In (the Arthurian tales,) the principal part belongs to the women...Women figure as divine, the most charming creatures in the world, to protect whose honour & win whose love & esteem, danger & even death are freely braved."
From "Exploring Celtic Druidism; Ancient Magick & Rituals for Personal Empowerment" by Sirona Knight;
"...the Gwydion & Arthur myths are identical in everything but name."
"The swan is related to the family of Llyr..."
From "Celtic Britain" by Charles Thomas;
"...1980s Welsh, a complex written & spoken language, goes back directly to the British language spoke (though not written,) in the same region in the AD 80s."
From "Celtic Sacred Landscapes," by Nigel Pennick;
"With a few notable exceptions, the sacred places of England, Wales and Scotland were disempowered and often utterly destroyed."
"...cultures throughout the world assert that all existence is pervaded by a subtle 'cosmic breath' which animates all things and empowers their continued existence...The Welsh bardic tradition describes it as anal or anadyl."
"In a Welsh poem attributed to Amergin, the author boasts of his astronomical prowess...Welsh literature preserves lists of asterisms and constellations quite different from the Graeco-Arab ones used in modern astronomy. They are closer to the Norse tradition."
"In the Welsh tradition, the parts of the day are named: Dewaint (midnight); Pylgaint (dawn); Bore (morning); Anterth (vapourlessness); Nawn (noon); Echwydd (rest); Hwyr or Gwechwydd (evening); and Ucher (shadow)."
"...Nwyvre, the mythical dragon that snakes unseen through the earth."
"According to the bards, the nature of human beings can be understood by studying the relationship between the elements that compose the body and soul. 'There are eight parts in man,' The Book of Llanrwst tells us: 'The first is the earth, which is inert and heavy, and from it proceeds the flesh; the second are the stones, which are hard, and the substance of the bones; the third is water, which is moist and cold, and is the substance of the blood; the fourth is the salt, which is briny and sharp, and from it are our nerves, and the temperament of feeling, as regards bodily sense and faculty; the fifth is the firmament or whid, out of which proceeds the breathing; the sixth is the sun, which is clear and fair, and from it proceed the fire, or bodily heat, the light and colour; the seventh is the Holy Ghost, from whom issues the soul and life; and the eighth is Christ, that is, the intellect, wisdom and the light of soul and life.' Attributed to the bard Taliesin, this interpretation...is in accord with that of classical Pagan antiquity."
"In Wales...there are a number of notable trees that mark the graves of bards and heroes."
"In the Welsh language, many words for awareness, knowledge and writing are related to the word for wood, wydd."
"Wearyall Hill at Glastonbury bears a single thorn tree that is visible from great distances."
"Celtic traditions of festival trees are best recorded from Wales and its border with England."
"Until the middle of the last century, it was customary...to make crosses of birch and rowan twigs and to place them over doors on May Morn...these would be left in place until the next May Day. Seedbeds and pigsties were protected likewise...In south Wales this ceremony was called Codi'r Fedwen, 'raising the birch', and in the north Y Gangen Haf, 'the summer branch'; the tree was decorated with precious items...to represent the jewel-bearing tree. Y Fedwen Haf, 'the summer birch', was erected on...Midsummer."
"The majority of stone (Celtic) crosses that existed in...Wales were destroyed by Puritans for religious reasons or by treasure-hunters..."
"Although tradition tells of bardic gatherings since the earliest days of British Celtia, the assemblies of the bards of Wales are documented historically only from 1176...A temporary circle of stones was formed, surrounding an altar stone, the Maen Gorsedd. Although this was an innovation, the custom of setting up new stones for ritual purposes had never died out, and in 1819 a stone circle was erected at Carmarthen for the traditional eisteddfod."
"Medieval Irish & Welsh metaphysical traditions preserve the knowledge of esoteric systems of correspondences that can be projected back into the earliest Celtic period."
"...some healing lakes in Wales have the word ffynnon (fountain, holy well) in their name."
"Visitors to some Welsh holy wells practised incubation, an ancient technique of psychological transformation and healing through sleep. Just as the sun was believed to be regenerated through his nightly marriage with the waters of the underworld, so a sick person could be renewed by sleeping at a holy well. In the morning, as the sun rose, the patient would likewise experience a new awakening to a disease-free life."
"Wales has five holy mountains, the most important of which is Pumlumon, near to which rise the rivers Severn and Wye."
“In Wales, this was called a corf, a name applied to a boundary-wood planted on the steep bank of a stream. These woods marked the point of division between the upper & lower parts of a land-holding. Thus, the structure of a building that served as a microcosm of the country reflected the ideal layout of the land itself. The corf, as a sort of natural terrace across the land, resembles the artificial
terracinig of holy hills such as Glastonbury Tor.“
“In Welsh tradition, this was Caer Wydyr, the water-girdled fortress of crystal where nine maidens dwelt in an otherworldly place of seership.”
“Occasionally, there are evanescent visions of the phantom Western Land. From north Wales it can be seen over the Irish Sea in certain weather conditions, especially at sunset when it appears in the form of a dark silhouette on a second
horizon above the sea.” “A similar phantom land was known to the Welsh. In his Itinerarium Cambriae, Giraldus Cambrensis tells of the marvels of Llangorse Lake, especially the abundance of fish & the mysterious red & green oracular currents that flowed there. Iridescent patterns created by myriad water-beetles can still be seen in summertime. On occasion, he tells us, local people saw the lake covered with buildings, or adorned with gardens and orchards. Although these accounts have a mythical base, Giraldus was not writing about the otherworld, for the lake contains a remarkable crannog, a reed- and tree-covered artificial island which once bore a settlement...dated...to the late 9th or early 10th century.”
“Avalon is associated in the popular mind with Glastonbury, whose Celtic name, Ynyswitrin, means ‘The Isle of Glass,’ alluding to the crystalline otherworld. In Arthurian times, it was a real island surrounded by watery fenland. Arthur’s Avalon was the island of apples, where the fruit of regeneration and rebirth grew.”
“...Bardsey, whose kennings are Insula Sanctorum, the ‘Holy Island (of the Saints,)’ or ‘The Iona of Wales.’” “Bardsey is second only to St. David’s in Wales as a place of sanctity.”
“...the measure now called the natural foot was used in historical times in Wales...” “Until the year 1305, when King Edward I of England reorganized weights & measures, the Welsh foot was used by the Celts to measure the land.” “The Welsh foot was the shortest...The Welsh foot was related to the Saxon by a ration of 3:4.”
“Law & order were symbolized by a rectilinear grid, stylized as a gameboard. In the Celtic lands, the game called Tawlbwrdd in Wales and Brannumh or Fidcheall in Ireland was symbolic of that order...Fittingly, one of the emblems of the office of judge in ancient Wales was a Tawlbwrdd board.”
“In former times, almost every village in the Welsh borders possessed its own twmpath chwarae or ‘green,’ where the inhabitants assembled on the old festivals to celebrate with sports & dancing. The green was located on the top of a hill, or upon ground higher than the surroundings. It consisted of a levelled area, usually with a small mound at its centre (the twmpath itself) where musicians sat & played on festive occasions. Sometimes there was a stone instead of the mound. Whatever it was, this central point was decked with oak branches before the people danced around it in a circle.” “...the practice among Welsh shepherds of cutting labyrinths called Caerdroia, a name that has the bivalent meaning of ‘The City of Turnings’ and ‘The City of Troy.’ The latter interpretation reflects the traditional claim that the Welsh are descended from Brutus the Trojan.” “In Wales, the practice of making new labyrinths & maintaining old ones lapsed at the same time that Welsh village dancing was suppressed.”
“In the Welsh borderlands...the walker who uses (ancient Celtic trackways) is taken up the side of a ridge, over the top & down the other side into the next valley. The crossing-point at the top of the ridge is often marked by an artificial notch, a stopping-place visible from below only from a very narrow angle. To cross to the next valley, the wayfarer must climb straight up toward the notch that marks the easiest crossing point.” “Although most are now called by a generic name such as ‘the notch’ or ‘the crack,’ we may be assured that in former times each bore an individual name & was acknowledged by travellers’ offerings.”
“It is believed in Wales that when a light appears at a certain spot, especially repeatedly, it fortells a death that is destined to occur there, though it does not necessarily mean that the witness will die.”
“In Wales, the fairies, from whom inspired people gained esoteric knowledge, are still known by the same name, Y Mamau.”
“In Wales, the goddess of heaven or mother of all human beings was known as Brenhines-y-nef...”
From “The Apple Branch, A Path to Celtic Ritual” by Alexei Kondratiev;
“Dyfed in the southwest is where Otherworld influences have most often touched the Land...”
Ireland/Irish
From "Celtic Heritage" by Alwyn & Brinley Rees;
"King Conchobar is said to have reigned in Ulster at the beginning of the Christian era; Finn & this fiana served Cormac mac Airt who is believed to have been King of Ireland in the third century, A.D., while tales of the Historical Cycle are centered on kings who are ascribed dates ranging from the third century, B.C. to the eighth century, A.D."
"...the Book of the Dun Cow, written about 1100..."
"(Bres') answer...was...that their ploughing should be on a Tuesday, their sowing on a Tuesday, and their reaping on a Tuesday--a formula which recurs in modern folk charms used to ward off supernatural beings who would steal the produce of the farmer's labours."
Regarding stories; "Again & again the hero is confronted with a desperate choice between two courses, each of which is felt to be evil and each of which presents itself as a duty."
"There is a correspondence between Finn's name and that of the Welsh Gwyn ap Nudd..."
"...the three great Irish Cycles between them figure fourth the classic triad of faculties: thinking, willing, & feeling."
"Medb's name is cognate with the Welsh meddw, 'drunk,' and related to the English word mead."
"Suibne Geilt...an Irish counterpart of the Welsh Myrddin Wyllt."
"In Lebor Gabala care is taken to commemorate the occassions when things were done or experienced for the first time and to record the names of the persons concerned--the first to land, the first to die, the first to be king, the first to pass judgment, and so on. In this way the prototypes of existence in this world are established one after another."
"...the five invasions of Ireland...(1) Cessair, (2) Partholon, (3) Nemed, (4) Fir Bolg and (5) Tuatha De Danann." "Fir Bolg...instituted the political division of Ireland into five provinces, established the kingship, and first administered justice."
"...cailleach or hag who falls to the lot of the last to finish with the harvest..."
"...the social system of the Irish as it is known from the early laws & sagas, we find three types of freeman, namely, drui, 'druid' (or in later times fili, sage and poet,) flaith 'lord' or 'person exercising authority,' and bo-aire, 'freeman.' Drui is probably derived from a root meaning 'to know,' and flaith is related to the Welsh gwlad 'country,' gwledig 'ruler,' and the German gewalt 'force,' 'violence.'"
"This third estate, we submit, is represented among the invaders by the people of Nemed..."
"'Instructions to a Prince' lay great emphasis on the power of Truth as a prerequisite for a successful reign."
"Whereas Tara is the seat of kingship, several considerations associate Uisnech with the druids."
"the mysterious Well of Segais, or Connla's Well...was the source of inspiration of knowledge. Over it grew the nine hazels of wisdom..."
"Emain Macha, capital of Ulster..."
"Samain was 'a day of peace & amity' between the men of Ireland..."
"...evidence suggests that, in some sense, the southern half of the country (Wales,) may have been regarded as the female half, and this would be in accord with Irish tradition."
"...Lug, like Lleu, is born of a woman who has been deemed to be a virgin."
"...'Trystan & Esyllt' is derived from Irish prototypes."
"...references in Irish texts show that setting adrift was a recognized method of punishment..."
"...it is of the nature of personal gessa...to trap their victims between themselves and the more general prohibitions of etiquette and propriety." Regarding CuChulainn, "No longer can he choose between right on the one hand & wrong on the other. He is already in a world where right hand & wrong have merged."
"The Death of Diarmait brings into prominence the fatal feast, the hero's last supper before his death, which has already appeared in a less pronounced manner in the stories of Cu-Chulainn and Conaire."
"Irish poets deemed that the brink of water was always a place where eisce--'wisdom,' 'poetry,' 'knowledge'--was revealed."
From "The Druids, Celtic Priests of Nature" by Jean Markale;
"In Ireland...(Celtic society) has never ceased to exist..."
"There is no doubt about the Nordic heritage, even if only symbolic, of the Tuatha de Danann."
"...crow is the symbolic animal of Lugh..."
"Lughnasad, 'the nuptials of Lugh'..."
"Lugh...has more affinity with the Greek Hermes..."
"In reality the sole Indo-European god with whom Lugh is most like is the Germanic Odin-Wotan. The two even have features in common..." "Lugh was born from both order (the Tuatha de Danann) and disorder (the Formor)..."
"...Goibniu, and his Welsh equivalent Govannon or Gobannon."
"...Mabon...is recognizable in...Oengus, called the Mac Oc, (literally the 'Young Son')..."
"Countless examples of swan-women exist in Celtic tradition, particularly the Irish, & notably it was a distinctive feature of the women of the sidhe, the goddesses of the Tuatha de Danann, to transform into swans."
"...Lludd Llaw Ereint (Lludd of the Silver Hand,)...is probably a distorted form of the older Nudd who corresponds to Nodens & to Nuada, at least if he isn't a distorted form of Lugh."
"...ogham...is in fact an adaptation of the Roman alphabet & can date back no earlier than the beginning of the Christian era."
"...the name of Ogimos is not Celtic at all, but derives from the Greek ogmos, meaning 'path.'"
"...the Dagda...holds the three Indo-European offices (druid, warrior & provider,) which places him above the other gods."
"...Bran Vendigeit in the...Mabinogion offers certain similarities with the Dagda."
"Mog Ruith is a kind of vaguely historicized doublet of the Dagda..."
"Brigit...can be recognized in Boinn, in Eithne, in Etaine, as well as in Bodbh & Morrigan, all of whom also are interchangeable triple goddesses."
"...banfile, which means 'woman-fili' or 'woman-poet,' or even 'woman-prophet.' Sometimes this word is improperly translated as 'druidess,' for it is the term banrui that literally means 'woman-druid.'"
"Epona...seems to have the same nature or origin as Rhiannon & Macha, although it is possible that she may not be Celtic."
"There is no corresponding figure for Cernunnos among the Tuatha de Danann."
"Nechtan, which is the Gaelic transposition of Neptunus..."
"...'mediator,' a role Mananann seems to play among the Tuatha de Danann."
"The name of Finn & that of the Fiana are indeed from the same root as that of Gwynedd, Venedotia, & Veneti...Celtic vindo that has a meaning of 'white, handsome, blonde, sacred, of good race.'"
"...ollamh (meaning very powerful, the highest rank in the fili.)"
"...the tenim laegda, the 'illumination of song.'"
"...the dichetal do chenmaid...was an incantation by fingertips..."
From "A Brief History of the Druids" by P.B. Ellis;
"...fianna is the modern Irish word for soldiers."
"Only Ireland & northern Britain were to remain generally pagan, until the early fifth century AD."
"...the 'Oak of Mughna'...was the earliest sacred tree in Ireland."
"Female rulers appear in the Irish & Welsh texts as well as the ideal queens of the Otherworld..."
"Goddesses...are associated with the Irish south-western province of Munster more than anywhere else."
"The position of women, as it emerges in the Brehon Law system of Ireland...was amazingly advanced. Women could be found in many professions, even as lawyers & judges...Women had the right to succession &...could emerge as a supreme authority...A woman could inherit property & remained the owner of any property she brought into a marriage. If the marriage broke up, then she not only took...her own property but any property...her husband had given her during the marriage. Divorce...was permitted & a woman could divorce her husband just as a husband could divorce his wife. If a man had...lost his civil rights or been outcast from society, it did not affect the position of his wife. A woman was responsible for her own debts & not those of her husband."
"...Teutonic is derived from the Celtic word for tribe, tuath in Irish."
"...in The Serpent & the Goddess: Women, Religion & Power in Celtic Ireland (1990): 'We can trace a gradual change of emphasis whereby what formerly was held as sacred became profane & the new expression of sacredness took on an increasingly male character.'"
"Irish mythology points to the early preeminence of goddesses."
"...women loom largely in the tales of Irish colonisation."
"...ancient Irish bards have deemed that the river's edge, the brink of water, was always that place where eicse, wisdom, knowledge & poetry was revealed. It was also a word that meant divination."
"...the Hill of Uisneach whose very name...is composed of the root word for water, uicse."
"The Dagda is...a triune divinity."
"The Dagda has also been equated with Cernunnos..."
"...Nuada...appears in Welsh myth as Nudd, which is also cognate with Lludd Llaw Ereint & is obviously also Nodens..."
"Among the names of the Celtic gods which appear most frequently is that of Lugh in Irish..."
"Among the pre-Christian burials in Ireland, a dead warrior of note, or a king, was buried standing upright with his weapons. Sometimes the body was placed in a sitting position but, more usually, the body was laid flat. Cremations have also been found. After Christianity only burial by...lying flat was approved of by the new religion."
"...the bulk of surviving Ogham inscriptions date from the Christian period...the fifth & sixth centuries AD. There are 369 inscriptions, the bulk in Ireland but many in Wales & Scotland, with a few in Cornwall & the Isle of Man & some in what is now England...The spread of these inscriptions, from a concentration in Munster (significantly the area of primal origin in Irish tradition)...Mention of the use of Ogham frequently occurs in the ancient Irish myths...Ogham was cut on bark or on wands of hazel & aspen...the Ogham inscriptions which did survive are shown to be an archaic form of 'literary Irish'; archaic even at the time that the inscriptions were made."
"...the Old Irish word for truth is also the basis for linguistic concepts of holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, for religion &, above all, for justice."
"A comparison of (the Irish Brehon Law & the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda,) indicates a common Celtic law at some period..."
"...the Irish...gave the word 'boycott' to the English language..."
"The Brehon Law system is unique & what makes it one of the most fascinating ancient law codes in world jurisprudence is that the basis of the system was compensation for the victim or victim's family, not merely vengeance on the perpetrator. Compensation was more important & the provision of compensation by the transgressor was seen as punishment enough. The culprit or his family had to contribute to the society they had wronged."
"Not only did the Brehon Law system insist that sick maintenance should be provided but that society should not let the dependants of a sick or injured man lack food or security until he recovered....the physician had to have time away from his practice to study new techniques & knowledge. The local clan had to make such provision for the physician that 'he might be preserved from being disturbed by the cares & anxieties of life & enabled to devote himself to the study & work of his profession.' Each territory had to maintain a hospital. The law is exact on this. It should have four doors, be placed by a stream or running water, & be maintained free of charge or taxation by the local assembly."
"Ireland...seems to have the oldest music records."
"In...Irish...myth & saga, the art of fortelling the future is an essential part of the story."
"There are several words for the moon in the Gaelic languages."
From "Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom; A Celtic Shaman's Sourcebook" by Caitlin & John Matthews;
"In the whole of Celtic literature, there are no better stalkers than (Morrighan,) the mistress of life & death."
"The Irish otherworld is most frequently entered by passage overseas or under the earth, by means of mound-entry."
"The Celtic otherworld is contiguous to ours, overlapping it..."
"...the ancient trees of Ireland were focal points of tribal meeting & were thought to possess memory & have the power of witness. Trees were central emblems of tribal continuity."
From "Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend" by Miranda J. Green;
"...vernacular sources of Ireland...allude to the ideal of Celtic beauty as having a fair skin & (usually) fair hair..."
From "The Literature of the Celts" by Magnus MacLean;
"...Finn (MacCumhail) is an undoubtedly historical personage..."
From "Exploring Celtic Druidism; Ancient Magick & Rituals for Personal Empowerment" by Sirona Knight;
"...the Fir Bolgs were reported to be 'dark Iberians'..."
"...Manannan's animal forms include the dolphin, falcon, panther, & wolf, among others."
(Ogham) "...was used by the Irish Druids between the first & third centuries C.E. Some scholars think the Ogham is much older, tracing similar inscriptions in Spain & Portugal from 500 B.C.E...Similar carvings were also found in...West Virginia in the United States, which raises the question whether the Celts came to the New World as early as 100 B.C.E."
From "Celtic Britain" by Charles Thomas;
"The Irish language...is...of enormous antiquity; both as a language and in respect of its early literature..."
"...enslavement of their...defeated enemies was an Irish practice."
"...Scotia, a general term for Ireland that...replaced the older Hibernia.
From "Druids" by Lewis Spence;
"Lughnassad...had a distinct bearing upon the yield of corn, fruit, milk and fish...and evil results would follow if its rites were neglected." "...'the Sovereignty of Erin...appears to have been ritually married to (Lugh) at...Lughnassad, the annual festival of the newly-risen sun."
From "Celtic Sacred Landscapes," by Nigel Pennick;
"'The very tendency to superstition, so marked in Irish nature,' wrote Lady Wilde...'arises from an instinctive dislike of the narrow limitations of common sense. It is characterized by a passionate yearning toward the vague, the mystic, the invisible and the boundless infinite of the realms of imagination.'"
"The sort of weather associated with wind-direction is an important factor that must be taken into account when one decides the placement of a farm or fane. Each airt (eighth of the horizon) has its own wind, each possessing its own virtue."
"In Pagan Ireland the two halves of the year were further subdivided by Imbolc...and Lughnasa..." "Lughnasa (Bron Trograin), was probably imported...at a later date, perhaps by continental devotees of the craftsman-god Lugh."
"'Druim Suithe', a medieval Irish poem about the yew tree of Ross, reveals the multivalent symbolism of the tree to Celtic sensibilities."
"According to Irish lore, a single thorn growing in the middle of a stony field or on a hillside is protected or inhabited by the fairies. It is especially sacred when it grows close to a large boulder or over a holy well. Also, thorn trees growing on a bank, especially when three or more wax together naturally to form an L- or V-shape, indicate a special place."
"In Ulster and the Western Isles, pebbles--often of quartz--and crystals called 'godstones' or 'adder-stones' are left on graves or tombs."
"Medieval Irish & Welsh metaphysical traditions preserve the knowledge of esoteric systems of correspondences that can be projected back into the earliest Celtic period."
"Ogham is a peculiarly Celtic form of inscription, being a cipher that uses a variety of the ancient Greek method of signalling at a distance with torches." "...ogham also reproduces a form of bodily sign language, being written across the edge of a stone with strokes that could signify fingers...ogham was far more than merely a system of writing. Each ogham character was assigned correspondences within the animal and plant kingdoms, with colours, and even with tones in harp tabulature. Certain famous Irish fortresses were known by its letters..."
"...the Boyne and Shannon...came into being when a goddess profaned a holy well..."
