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Post by adolphuscrowfeather on Jun 13, 2015 16:25:28 GMT -6
Hey guys. I just got Kindle Unlimited Free for a month (won't extend) and was wondering if the book The Ancient Wisdom of the Celts by Sarah Owen was a good book. It seems to mix and group the "Celts", Welsh, Gaul, Brythonic, Gaelic, but it does seem confusing. Does anyone have any idea on this book?
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Post by Allec on Jun 13, 2015 18:24:26 GMT -6
I can honestly say that I know nothing about that book or its author. It looks like it might be self-published? If you are getting it for free, might as well take a look at it! Check to see if the author has a bibliography and what sources they draw on (if none, be very wary!) If you do get a read of it, let us know how you like it and if you come across anything confusing. We'll help you best we can  |
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Ciar Lionheart
Junior Member
And I love you like a mountain.
Posts: 89
Pronouns: Ey/Em or He/Him
Religion: Irish Polytheist
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Post by Ciar Lionheart on Jun 14, 2015 17:53:16 GMT -6
I tend to be leery of anything that uses the phrase "ancient wisdom," but like Allec says, it may be worth investigating if it's free. If it contradicts anything you know to be historically true or conflates cultures you know to be separate, at least you gave it a shot and you can let the rest of us know if it's worth looking at!
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callisto
Junior Member
Posts: 54 
Religion: Dodekatheism
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Post by callisto on Jun 14, 2015 20:12:49 GMT -6
I just took a quick look on Amazon. There is one "5-star review" with no actual comments and the quick peek provided of its table of contents doesn't show any indication of there being a bibliography. I also did an internet search to see if there's any talk about it or the author herself on any forums and nothing came up.
I would say "caveat emptor".
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Post by adolphuscrowfeather on Jun 15, 2015 5:47:40 GMT -6
By what I see, (and sorry the forum name became the book, lol, I wanted this forum folder to possibly be a "book talk" area on books we'd like to share or question) it has that very... Pungent.... Smell of "Celtic".... Like a grouping standard. I haven't read much, but even the titles of chapters seems fishy. Sorry if this list is long.... But it really feels... New Age? I don't know but it feels wrong. Anyways, I am trying to find a good book fast so I can take notes on it in the 30 day time frame.
Chapter 1 Who were the Celts?
Archaeological evidence
Classical references
Mythical sources
Irish myths
Welsh myths
The Book of Invasions
CHAPTER 2 The Sacred Land
The Four Elements (....... Kind of a sign)
Earth
Air
Fire
Water
Life, death and legend
The Four Directions
The Five Provinces of Ireland
The Four Elements and the Magical Objects
The Stone of Destiny
The Spear of Lugh
The Sword of Nuada
The Cauldron of the Dagda
The Sense of Place
Exercise
Experiencing the elements
CHAPTER 3 Goddesses and gods
The land
Totem animals
The Goddess
Dark goddesses
Horse goddesses
The Bright Goddess
Celtic Gods
The Old Gods
The New God
The Young Son
Eloquence
The Sea God
Welsh Deities
The Cult of the Head
Exercise
Visualization
Chapter 4 –
The Hero Celtic Courage
The Character of the Hero
Geasa
Curses
Cu Chulainn A Model Hero
The Downfall of Cu Chulainn
Exercise
The Hero within
CHAPTER 5 – Appearance and Reality
Shape- shifting
The Tale of Blodeuwedd, the Flowerbride
Taliesin
Exercise
Discovering symbols
CHAPTER 6 –
The Wheel of The Year
A lunar calendar
Samhain
Imbolc
Beltain
Lughnasadh
Solar Festivals
Celtic Astrology and Tree Calendars (...... I already detest that from before discussion)
Exercise
Attuning to time cycles
CHAPTER 7 –
The Otherworld
Under earth,
over sea
Love between the worlds
Animus Anima and Soul Loss (Roman Hints, Latin, "The male spirit , The Female Spirit, I think it's a psychology thing after a quick search)
The Celts and reincarnation
Exercise
Love and the Otherworld
CHAPTER 8 – The Druids Bards
Ovates
The Ogham alphabet
Druids Brehons Beliefs
Ritual
Sacrinces
The Fall of The Druids
Exercise
Divination
CHAPTER 9 – Truth, Honour and Justice
The power of naming
The poet's power
Honour
Justice
The position of women
Exercise
Working with the word
CHAPTER 10 –
The Celtic Church
Pagan to Christian
St Columba
The Christianizing Of Myth
Loricas
Celtic Christianity versus Rome Pelagianism
Exercise
Illumination
Conclusion
Honestly, there could be good stuff, but it seems way off to myself.... It feels like a pungent feeling of "you shouldn't". I have nothing against New Age or Wiccan, but there seems to be a great hint here.
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Post by Allec on Jun 15, 2015 10:55:45 GMT -6
Yeah....The "Four Elements" is a big sign that they are New Age. "Tree Calendars" seems awful too.
Ugh. Yeah. This book doesn't seem that good at all >.< There might be something good in it, but you'd have to do a lot of digging and eye-rolling to get to it.
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callisto
Junior Member
Posts: 54
Religion: Dodekatheism
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Post by callisto on Jun 15, 2015 13:35:00 GMT -6
Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of quality control in books targeting Neopagans, even less so among those who are self-published. It's a vicious circle of failure because most have never heard of the very few peer reviewed journals that are out there. nor care so the seekers who are genuinely trying to learn are bombarded with a lot of misinformation. I'm not sure if it was here or on another forum but I'd commented before that until Pagans collectively expect and demand reliable releases, questionable books will continue to dominate and the damage will reach critical mass. I was just on another forum where someone got into a huff when called out for claiming "Frejas were elves" and linked to a couple of fluff sites to "research" further the rune supposedly associated with "them". <sarcasm>Really?</sarcasm>
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laurel
Newbie
Posts: 4
Pronouns: she/her
Religion: Gaelic Polytheist
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Post by laurel on Jun 17, 2015 13:55:30 GMT -6
Like others I have not heard of this book and I am pretty sure that I have never heard of the author either. Again as others have mentioned the whole "Ancient Wisdom" being married with the "Celtic Tree Astrology" raises a red flag. The fact that it was published this year and there has been so much debunking that has happened online over the last few years regarding this, I have to admit that I am a tad annoyed that there is further spreading of this steaming pile of road apples. I kinda hoped that we were passed the whole Llewellyn "Celtic" misinfo trend by now. Of course, maybe I am being hasty and the author is taking this on to show that the whole Celtic Astrology thing was a figment of Robert Graves' imagination.
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