Inspired by a post in a general pagan sub, what differentiates the various celtic paganisms besides the languages and the specific gods worshiped? Like what distinguishes Irish practice from Scottish, Welsh, Brittonic, etc.?

Like so far for me, Gaulish paganism is primarily focused on cultivating the virtue of galâ (courage), sharing abundance (like the legend of Ambicatus), and building community (as Vercingetorix attempted, but fell short).

And for a Gallo-Roman or Romano-Brittonic practice involves practicing discipline, moderation, and the Roman ritual structures like veiling and the Janus-Vesta formula but with those mentioned Celtic syncretisms.

In the context of Scottish Gaelic polytheism, is it ok to include deities from Ireland or Wales into your practice?

Hi all,

I am looking for recommendations for good books on druidry, Celtic spirituality, British spirituality, and books about Brigantia or Brighid (worship, lore etc) as well as Celtic pagan practices.

I am half English (northern/yorkshire) and half Welsh (North Wales from mum's side, South Wales from fathers side) so I am looking to learn about spirituality and pre-christian practices, beliefs, deity, daily rituals, spiritual tools etc as well as more modern practice.

I understand a lot of this information was not written down and there can be a lot of misinformation.

If anyone has any recommendations for books, I would be grateful

So last week I wrote a blog post about the Morrígan and depicted it as a great black crow in irish mythology. I showed it to my Birder Dad and he has pointed out, usually when people see what they think is a crow, or a deep black crow, they are looking a a member of the Corvid family, not the carrion crow regularly assciated with being a crow. Can anyone confirm this? Is it extremely rare for the carrion crow to show up here?

I read in a comment under a post by community that there is a belief that the soul is in the head, Is this true? And if so, could you give me more information or a site where I can read about it, I can't find anything.

Tysm For future answers

I have been looking to shift my practice more toward Trad Craft. I have looked into the Red Thread Academy, and I do consider myself a folk practitioner. I want to add more structure to my practice while still keeping the folk aspects that are important to me. I do some ceremonial magick as well.

I’ve been reading Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways, The Bones Fall in a Spiral, and Curses and Blessings in Irish Folk Magic, and I’m really enjoying learning more about these traditions.

Does anyone have any good authentic Trad Craft courses they would recommend? Or does anyone have experience with the Red Thread Academy? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

So, I have some general ideas of what fills in the blanks in the myths of the Tuatha De Dannan that we don't have clear ideas on- the world rises from a cosmic void, the Formorians make the world, the Tuatha begin with a rebellion by a trio of male deities (Dagda, Ogma & Lugh) & a trio of female deities (Munan, Macha & Badb), Balor is killed & the Formorians pushed back, the Tuatha expand, Dagda makes men in his kettle as the Fianna, Ogma makes women, the two meet & the women civilized the men, at some point the Tuatha had discovered the Underworld (likely through death & reincarnation themselves) & go there, leaving the earth to men. But, there were several blanks, even in this, that I didn't quite know how to fill in, but I think I may have cracked it.

I assume several old stories that aren't directly referencing gods/ goddesses as the characters, but involve acts that seem to require Gods likely had their narratives lifted from the lore of the gods & goddesses, though the characters themselves are distinct people & are only mirroring the gods. So, I looked for stories that could link to stuff we know was about specific deities to see if I could reconstruct how & why the whole rebellion against Balor occurs & I think I mostly cracked it. I may not be 100% positive on all the details, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

So, Dagda, ​Ogma & Lugh all establish kingdoms on the surface of the earth & expand, but Balor is a cruel tyrant who can't stand the prosperity they found in that realm, so he begins demanding harsh tribute & lays down the law as the true king. This angers the three enough that they form a military alliance & declare war on the Formorians, but there is the matter of Balor & Beira's 3 daughters, Munan, Badb & Macha. They believe if they can turn them, they can create a cascade effect, which will erode Balor's power & leave him vulnerable to defeat in combat. Dagda ​tries & fails to seduce one of the 3, so he turns her into a deer in anger. She, in turn, is told to flee to Ogma's house, where she will be safe. He recognizes in his wisdom who & what she is & frees her from the spell, later taking her as his wife. This is why, in the forms of Ellen of the Ways & Cernunnos, the two have deer antlers & also explains their connection to hunting, in a way.

As the battle continues, Dagda is mortally wounded. He manages to hold on seemingly fine for several years, but does eventually succumb to the wound & dies at a sacred river. The daughter of Balor who killed him decides to claim his kingdom, but Ogma & Lugh object because she is a woman, which leads her to declare war on them herself to force them to view her as equal, also leading to the death of Ogma. In the end, Lugh decides to surrender & accept her as his equal, marrying her himself.

Later, by whatever means, Dagda & Ogma are revived from the dead & reunite with Lugh. (I still don't quite know how this part works) This drives the final sister, Munan, into insanity & she wanders into the wilderness for a time before she is found & finally pushed into marriage to Dagda. This final interconnection of the six brings many of the Formorians to turn against Balor & join the Tuatha De Danaan & Balor is finally killed by Dagda in battle. The remaining Formorians surrender &, in turn, Beira is allowed a place amongst the Tuatha & her son, Lir, becomes king of the sea in his father's absence. ​

Keep in mind with Ogma, I am under the current belief that Ogma is the same deity as Cernunnos, Sucellos & various vague Celtic mentions of both underworld gods & hunting gods & that the story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill has essentially lifted almost his entire role in Celtic mythology. I think he created women due to the women being found underground by men in both an Irish story & a Welsh one (ie, the Underworld) & the fact that he's treated as a god of wisdom & civilization & the women seem to civilized the men.

I also somewhat like that the three male gods & three female gods all have different aspects of peak masculinity & femininity. Dagda is the ruler, the father, the archetypal druid, etc. Ogma is wise & artistic. Lugh is passionate & a warrior. All 3 are needed in their own ways. Meanwhile, of the 3 women, one is timid, one is aggressive & untamable & one is possibly the archetypal female druidess, a carer & a mother figure.

I was unsure given the story I lifted some of this from whether the aggressive one was supposed to be with Lugh or Ogma. Does she go with the archetypal warrior, or the one wise enough to know what to do about her? But, I was already almost dead positive that the story from Fionn was supposed to be about how Ogma got his wife & it does make some general sense that a warrior making peace with a fellow warrior & then the two marrying makes just as much poetic sense here. In this case, she would possibly be the only woman he would ever consider his equal.

As to the part where they were sharing rule every seven years, I think it's possible that this was misplaced. We have enough info on druidic calendars to know that they had no special seven year period, but they did have a sacred five year period. Seven is a number sacred to Christians & Romans. I think it may have originally been every five years & had some sort of sacred intersection with that calendar & the Christian writing it down misinterpreted it & changed 5 to 7 so it made sense biblically.

I’m on a long touring holiday (6 months planned, possibly more), I’m half way thro and the number or breakdowns and vehicle issues is near biblical 😟 need some help!

Which Celtic deity would be best to request help from?

Transport in Celtic times would have been horses. I here’s I’m in a van… or maybe of travellers?

Any suggestions welcome!

Hey. Aspiring Irish Pagan and soon to be father.

My wife is going to be giving birth very soon.

I was wondering if there were any blessings I could give for my baby at or immediately after his birth? He's a boy, named Connor.

Since he's being born in August, my intention was to ask Lugh to favor the baby.

And my IDEAL would be to have the blessing in Irish. I'm trying to learn the language, but I'm only very early and don't have the confidence to be able to formulate anything myself.

I feel like all of that is a lot to ask for, but any help would be hugely appreciated.

Hello. I'm going to try and keep this short because it's really not a whole lot and I acknowledge to stay on topic. For context, I'm not new to Paganism. I've always been a Pagan in a way, I'm just new to this part of it! :)

For some time now, I've passively been considering doing a small dabble into the Celtic pantheon (?) because I'm an extremely social practictioner and love meeting and honouring new deities/gods and goddesses. But, I never went anywhere with it. Until now.

In the Present:

Maybe a few days ago, I was casually speaking to some friends about how I really want to get into this stuff but didn't know who I wanted to reach out to/worship first (of course with lots of research). No big deal, right? Just an average conversation because I'm open about my practices.

Shortly later, I suddenly encountered the name "Cernunnos". I knew of who he is because of the context I saw it in, but before that I have never heard of him nor his name — I didn't even know he exists. At first I brushed it off because it was just one instance, but ever since then even to now I keep having encounters of him in some way... One of them being deer, and elements of nature feeling more precious to me. Eventually (yesterday-today) I decided to confirm if it really is him, and got multiple "Yes". Through speaking to him and through tarot.

Moving Further:

I have done my research, the most I can manage and will continue to, but could someone please tell me more things about him that may be helpful for me? I want to stay very respectful, and he feels like a fatherly energy towards me. What's his general personality? What does he like? What does he dislike? Besides studying, how should I move further about this and with him? I'm very eager and in awe

I have been a pagan for 14 years, and following Celtic paganism, Druidry, and been a Devotee of Danú for 7 years. I know that she isn’t as well known because what history we have about her has been mostly lost to time and colonization, but during a deep dive meditation to “find my goddess”, she is the face that greeted me. I love her, worship her, and am devoted to her.

However, in all my years of practice and devotion, I know of exactly one person who knew of her before me, and she was a Celtic Avalonian Priestess. I have never met, or even heard of another Devotee. So please, if you’re out there, and you see this, I’d really appreciate a comment or a DM.

Was just listening to this story from Damien Dempsey about trying to write his father’s eulogy in a pub and a woman started singing the very song (Time to say goodbye) his dad had been listening to when he died the day before

What’s your experience of Irish magic, mysticism, or simply unexplainable phenomena?

I'm gutted that this is apparently his last. But I'll remain happy to re-watch these. If this is your first of his, please do yourself a favour, and search "Ronald Hutton Gresham Lecture" on YouTube - you'll find dozens of brilliant lectures relating to Celtic mythology!

Can celtic paganism in ireland/wales/scotland be practiced alongside anglo saxon paganism separately?