Celtic Wisdom: Seasonal Rituals and Festivals, Vivianne Crowley

This book has beautiful photographs, illustrations, poetry and blessings to inspire your Celtic imagination.

The reader will find information on the major Celtic Festivals with suggestions on how to create rituals and celebrate in the tradition of the Celts.

The Summer Solstice:
Celebrating the Journey of the
Sun from May Day to Harvest

This book help readers celebrate in connection with the natural world throughout the year, not just at Christmas, and reclaim ancient traditions for modern usage.

John Matthews has been a professional writer since 1980 and has produced over forty books on the Arthurian legends, esoteric wisdom, and the Grail, as well as numerous short stories and a volume of poetry. He and his wife Caitlin co-authored a pioneering study of the western mystery tradition, which has revolutionized contemporary approaches to the ancient British Mystreres. Together, they created the best selling arthurian tarot, which has been translated into several languages. John also advises on film projects. Between 1989 and 1992 he co-organised the Merlin Conference. He is much in demand as a speaker in Europe and America

The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas

Brimming with stories, activities, folklore, and recipes, this popular holiday gift book traces the history behind many sacred traditions of the season and provides practical suggestions for celebrating the Winter Solstice as a joyous, life-affirming festival.

This beautiful illustrated book by Celtic and Arthurian folklorist John Matthews (Classic Celtic Fairy Tales, LJ 1/98) presents the history of modern Christmas rituals. Trying to combat the commercialization of Christmas, Matthews explains how the solstice is celebrated around the world and how the dates of Christmas are different in different cultures.

Irish Fairy Cards:
For Inspiration & Guidance

The Irish Fairy Cards are loaded with heart warming fairy messages and wisdom from the ages. Jaya Moran’s colorful art and inspiring fairies are great for your inner child, and the messages are wise, serious and yet light hearted.

A welcome change of pace in the serious world of divination and magic!

The Magickal Year by Diana Ferguson

This is one of the best books about the wheel of the year. I would recommend this to some one who is converting from Christianity to some sort of pagan religion.

This book explains the pagan influences in the Christian year, mostly Catholic, in a clear informative way. This is also a great book to read if you are just plan interested in pagan customs. Now this doesn’t give any rituals this is purely a scholarly work, but well worth the read. Blessed Be!

ANAM CARA: Wisdom from the Celtic World by John O’Donohue

Actually, I could just write “read and listen to anything and everything by John O’Donohue you can get your hands on.” John O’Donohue is an Irish Catholic priest whose work gets categorized under “New Age” at the bookstore—I suppose they don’t know what else to do with him.  He is from western Ireland where the old ways are still alive and his stories, poems and perspectives will bring the Otherworld so close that you might just feel one of the Fairie Folk breath upon your skin.  You read this book every day and still get something new each time.

Whenever I sit down and take the time to listen to John O’Donohue or read his books, I am mesmerized.  I swear, I could teach a whole class on most of his paragraphs. Also see O’Donohue’s audio selections on this site—his voice is so rich and pure—it brings the words alive.  I could listen to him all day.  KVS

Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings
by Caitlin Matthews

Mirroring the ancient formulaic prayers to the elements found in the Celtic tradition, along with the wondrous invocations and declarations of the bards of the Scottish, Irish and Welsh traditions, Celtic Devotional provides a mystical doorway through which the modern person can re-invest their life with meaning within the twilight times of dusk and dawn. Celtic spirituality emphasizes the appreciation of nature and all forms of life–a popular and universally appealing philosophy that, along with other related pagan traditions, is having a renaissance. Beautifully illustrated and designed, this book will appeal to readers searching for ways to practice spirituality, offering blessings, prayers and devotions.

Kindling the Celtic Spirit: Ancient Traditions to Illumine Your Life Through the Seasons by Mara Freeman

For over 2,000 years, oppressors and natural disasters have worked against the Celts, threatening to obliterate the ancient tribe’s language, traditions, and spirituality. “Yet in the past 30 years or so, many willing minds and hands have undertaken the task of rekindling the guttering flame of the Celtic spirit,” writes author Mara Freeman in Kindling the Celtic Spirit. Freeman is, in fact, one of those maintaining the fire, having spent 35 years studying Celtic traditions and assembling this well-written and organized tribute. Following the format of the Celtic calendar, Freeman shares the stories, recipes, spells, and Gaelic expressions that go with each of the monthly festivals and celebrations.

The February chapter celebrates the Festival of Brigit (the goddess who represents the bride or young maiden). October pays tribute to the Festival of Samhain (the celebration that marks the beginning of winter and may have been the Celtic New Year). She recounts the origins of Samhain Eve, or “Mischief Night,” which Americans celebrate by trick-or-treating. She teaches magical spells, tells a spine-chilling spooky story, and shows readers how to carve turnip lanterns, using a large rutabaga.

Celtic Inspirations: Essential Meditations and Texts
by Lyn Webster Wilde

The Celts were a creative, mystical people, still revered today for their imaginative myth-making, brilliant designs, and profound sense of wonder and magic. This entry in the popular Inspirations series offers enticing summaries of key Celtic symbols, an introduction to the Celtic worldview, and enlightening short extracts from the great Celtic texts. Featuring 75 color photos and practical exercises that show readers how to apply ancient insights to their own lives, this elegant volume captures the spirit of the druids and storytellers in a series of poetic texts. The spiritual lessons cover such subjects as plant healing, spell casting, and traveling safely in the Otherworld, while a special section reveals the secrets of King Arthur’s knights and the Holy Grail.

The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom by Caitlin Matthews

In this stunning gift edition, Celtic experts Caitlin and John Matthews present inspirational primary material, rich in ancient wisdom, lore, and mythology. For readers who are fascinated by Celtic traditions, and spiritual heritage, this unique reference introduces several new translations of powerful Celtic literature, including stories, poems, and visionary writing-many dating from the 7th century.

The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit
by Patricia Monaghan

Ireland: land of rambles, burning peat, dark beer, misdirection, lilting speech, enchanting melodies, green hills, ruddy faces, and goddesses. Goddesses? In Ireland? Like many Irish Americans before her, Pat Monaghan traveled to Ireland for the first time as an adult, seeking her roots. What she found was much more than her physical ancestors. She found spiritual forebears in the legends and landmarks of spirited women: witches, hags, wanton girls, mothers. This book is the story of her journeys, and the story of the journeys the legends have made through time.

Song of the Irish Whistle

Joanie Madden Eileen Ivers is one of the guest musicians on this, the solo album from the tin whistle virtuoso of the all-female Irish American folk band Cherish the Ladies. Like Ivers, Madden is a Senior All-Ireland champion on her instrument and has modernized traditional tunes by adding synthesizers (courtesy of producer and new-age star Brian Keane) and electric bass.

On this all-instrumental album, Madden doesn’t pursue Ivers’ improvisational flights but rather an atmospheric lushness of sound. At times, the recording threatens to lapse into mood music, but the sturdiness of the traditional tunes and the piercing purity of Madden’s tone prevent that. Instead the pop touches merely provide an inviting setting for the lyrical whistle lines. –Geoffrey Himes

Loreena McKennitt’s 1994 album, The Mask and Mirror, is a continuing improvement in musical arrangements and choice of songs from her earlier albums – not that the previous albums were bad, but the combination of McKennitt’s beautiful voice and the songs on this album make this set a much stronger musical effort. Particularly impressive are “Night Market in Marrakesh” and “Santiago.”

Also, the bonus/enhanced CD is definitely a bonus, as much of it deals with the making of this album. Those two songs in particular have stories behind them, why they were selected for this album and giving a flavor to the land that they were based on.

In all, this is an excellent album.

And that secret would be Loreena’s beautiful voice and seemingly effortless singing on this album. This album has been her biggest commercial success, due to the song “Mummer’s Dance” which hit the charts in 1997, but the other songs more than carry their own weight. Meticulous research of her songs and a knowledge of people and history aid immensely in Loreena obtaining the right feel for a song.

Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya

New Age diva Enya first became widely known when her 1988 album Watermark sold 4 million copies and launched the single “Orinoco Flow.” Her follow-up,S hepherd Moons, was even more successful, selling over 10 million copies despite its slightly lower grade of ethereal enchantment.

In 1997 she released Paint the Sky with Stars, an assortment of her best work from these two early albums plus gems from 1995′s The Memory of Trees and the soundtrack to the BBC series The Celts.

10 year old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a selkie — a seal who can turn into a human.

Years earlier, her baby brother washed out to sea in a cradle, and some think that he is being raised by the seals. Then Fiona catches sight of a naked little boy on the abandoned isle of Roan Inish, and takes a more active role in uncovering the mysteries which abound.

When word reaches two elderly best friends that someone in their tiny Irish village has won the national lottery, they go to great lengths to find the winner so they can share the wealth.

When they discover the “lucky” winner, Ned Devine, they find he has died of shock upon discovering his win.

Not wanting the money to go to waste, the village enters a pact to pretend Ned is still alive by having another man pose as him, and then to divide the money between them.