Celtic reconstructionism

The triple spiral is one of the main symbols of Celtic Reconstructionism

Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism (CR) is a polytheistic, animistic, religious and cultural movement. It is an effort to reconstruct, in a modern Celtic cultural context, an ancient Celtic religious tradition. Pagan reconstructionists have been around since the 1970s but little of it had been specifically Celtic.

Origins

Many of the people who went on to establish CR were involved in Pagan groups in the seventies and eighties. Often these groups contained many Celtic elements that eventually found their way into core CR practice. This period, and these groups, are often referred to in retrospect as "Proto-CR". Later, with the establishment of the Internet in the late eighties and early nineties, many of these Proto-CR, or early CR, groups and individuals came together online. This began a fruitful period of sharing of information and experiences, and led to a rapid growth of the movement.

Though some CRs do have cultural survivals in their families of origin, CR does not make any claim to being a linear or direct descendant of any intact, completely polytheistic, ancient Celtic religion. The polytheistic religions of the ancient Celts were lost or subsumed by Christianity. However, CRs believe there is much to be found in the living Celtic cultures, the archaeological record, and the early manuscripts. Many folkloric practices never completely died out, and all that is needed in some areas, such as community celebrations, is a bit of dusting off and "back-engineering". Other aspects of ancient Celtic religion are more difficult to reconstruct.

CRs openly acknowledge that some aspects of their religious practice are, by necessity, modern creations. However, they state that, as much as possible, these practices are based on and inspired by early Celtic beliefs found in early texts and the work of scholars and archaeologists, and are rooted in an understanding of, and participation in, the living Celtic cultures. Any innovations or elaborations are based upon sound historical precedents. Feedback from other scholars and experienced practitioners is sought before a new practice is accepted as part of the tradition.

CRs believe it is important to lay aside elements of some ancient Celtic cultures which would be clearly inappropriate practices for a modern society. Though there is ongoing debate about the accuracy of some of the historical records which were left by outsiders such as the Greeks and Romans, it is clear that some of those early Celtic societies may have practiced human sacrifice, slavery, and had strong patriarchal elements. However, the bulk of this information can be traced to a few prominent Roman politicians and historians, such as Julius Caesar and Pliny the Elder, who had their own political agendas and therefore may not be entirely reliable. CRs strive to find ethical ways of integrating their historical findings and research with their daily lives.

Practices

CR is not only about scholarly research. The founders and elders of CR believe that mystical, ecstatic practices are a necessary balance to scholarship, and that this balance is a vital component in determining whether a tradition is CR. They also believe that participation in, and respect for, the living Celtic cultures is a vital part of the tradition. Language study and preservation, and participation in other cultural activities such as Celtic music, dance and martial arts forms, are seen as a core part of the tradition.

Celtic Reconstructionists focus their religious reconstruction efforts on a particular Celtic culture, such as the Gaelic, Welsh or Gaulish. While they believe it is helpful to study a wide variety of Celtic cultures as an aid to religious reconstruction, and to have a broad understanding of religion in general, in practice these cultures are not lumped together.

Many CRs view each act of daily life as a form of ritual, accompanying daily acts of purification and protection with traditional, or slightly re-Paganized, prayers, chants and songs from sources such as the Scottish Gaelic Carmina Gadelica or manuscript collections of ancient Irish or Welsh poetry. Celebratory, community rituals are usually based on traditional community celebrations as recorded in folkloric collections by authors such as Marian McNeill, Kevin Danaher or Joseph Gregorson Campbell. These celebrations often involve bonfires, dances, songs, divination and children's games. More formal or mystical CR rituals are often based on traditional techniques of interacting with the Otherworld, such as the act of making offerings of food, drink and art to the spirits of the land, ancestral spirits, and the Celtic deities. CR ritual structures are based on the ancient Celtic cosmology of the "Three Realms" - Land, Sea and Sky - with the fire of inspiration seen as a central force that unites the realms. These more formal rituals may also involve traditional songs and prayers from the living Celtic cultures as well as ceremonies and visionary techniques reconstructed from older, Polytheistic sources. Mystical practices are usually reconstructions based on accounts in the older manuscripts. Many CRs maintain altars and shrines to their patron spirits and deities, often choosing to place them at outdoor, natural locations such as wells, streams, and special trees. Some CRs practice divination. Ogham is a favored method, as are folkloric customs such as the taking of omens from the shapes of clouds or the behaviour of birds and animals.

Sub-traditions

Not all people who make use of Celtic reconstructionist techniques are entirely comfortable with using the terms "Celtic Reconstructionism" or "Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism" as a name for their religion, seeing the term as describing a methodology rather than a system of belief, or seeing the term as being incorrectly descriptive. Others feel comfortable with the term CR, but have decided to name their CR sub-traditions to distinguish their practices from other sub-groups and flavors of CR. Some other names that people involved in CR-style religion have chosen to use include:

• Amldduwiaeth ("Polytheism" in Welsh)
• Aurrad (possibly means "member of the tribe" in Old Irish)
• Celtic Restorationism
• Ildiachas ("Polytheism" in Irish Gaelic)
• Ioma-Dhiadhachd ("Polytheism" in Scots Gaelic)
• Liesdoueadegezh ("Polytheism" in Breton)
• Neo-Celtism
• Pàganachd ("Paganism, Heathenism" in Scots Gaelic)
• Págánacht ("Paganism, Heathenism" in Irish Gaelic)
• Págántacht (alternate Irish spelling of Págánacht)
• Senistrognata ("Ancestral Customs" in reconstructed Old Celtic)
• Yljeeaghys ("Polytheism" in Manx)

In addition, a variety of smaller CR sub-traditions further refine and modify these terms to describe the particular beliefs and practices of their groups.

First modern appearance of the term

An early, key event in laying the groundwork for much Proto-CR and CR practice was the Celtic workshops, discussions and rituals at the 1985 Pagan Spirit Gathering, in Wisconsin, USA. Participants at this gathering returned home and continued to develop the foundations of their CR sub-traditions, now incorporating some of the ideas they had shared in person. In later years some of them would re-meet online and once again collaborate.

The first appearance in print of the term "Celtic Reconstructionist", used to describe a specific religious movement and not just a style of Celtic Studies, was by Kym Lambert ní Dhoireann in the Spring, 1992 issue of Harvest Magazine. Ní Dhoireann credits Kathryn Price NicDhàna with originating the term “Celtic Reconstructionist”; however, NicDhàna credits her early use of the term to a simple extrapolation of Margot Adler's use of the term "Pagan Reconstructionists" in the original, 1979 edition of Drawing Down the Moon. Though Adler devotes space to a handful of Reconstructionist traditions, none of those mentioned are specifically Celtic. In chapter eleven, while describing his Neo-druidic group, NRDNA, Isaac Bonewits used the phrase "Eclectic Reconstructionist." However, by the time CR became a recognized tradition, this pairing of terms had become oxymoronic, as "Reconstructionism" in the Pagan/polytheist sense had now been defined specifically to exclude "Eclecticism".

NicDhàna and ní Dhoireann have stated that they coined the term "Celtic Reconstructionist / Celtic Reconstructionism (CR)" specifically to distinguish their practices and beliefs from those of eclectic traditions like Wicca and the Neo-Druidry of the time. With ní Dhoireann’s popularization of Celtic Reconstructionism in the Pagan press, and then the use of the term by these individuals and others on the internet, “Celtic Reconstructionism” began to be adopted as the name for this developing spiritual tradition.

Initially only a few dozen people were involved on the Proto-CR and CR listserves. These included the PODS:CELTIC Echo on PODnet (a FidoNet network "othernet"), the Celtic and Occult forums on networks like GEnie and CompuServe, and later Nemeton-L in 1994 (founded and initially moderated by Erynn Rowan Laurie). But over the 1990s many hundreds of individuals and groups gradually joined the discussions online and in print, and the movement became more of an umbrella group, with a number of recognized sub-traditions.

Celtic Reconstructionism and Neo-druidism

Though there has certainly been quite a bit of cross-pollination between Neo-druid and Celtic Reconstructionist groups, and there is significant crossover of membership between the two movements, the two have somewhat distinct methodologies and goals in their approach to Celtic religious forms. CR practitioners tend to look to the whole cultural matrix in which the religious ideas were formed, while Neo-druids tend to prefer to focus on the specifically druidic functions. Some Neo-druidic groups claim to be non-religious in nature, which is not the case with most CR groups. There are some CR philosophies which downplay the role of the druidic office specifically in preference to a more general view of Indo-European priesthood (making the argument that the druids may simply have been a very successful school of priest-craft, and possibly not even completely pan-Celtic), or to the successors of druids such as the filí and seanachies.

This is not to say that there is no connection between Neo-druid groups and CR. Some Neo-druid groups (notably, Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and Keltria) have similar methodologies of reconstruction, at least some of the time, or have taken up CR methodologies recently. ADF, in particular, has long used CR-type techniques, but many CRs criticize them for their pan-Indo-European focus, resulting in such oddities as "Vedic druids" and "Roman druids".

Other differences between CR groups and Neo-druid groups can include such elements as differing ideas on hierarchical structures and acceptance of Enlightenment-era druidic revivals. Some philosophical differences exist as well, especially in terms of what "druid" means. Some Neo-druidic groups call anyone with an interest in Celtic Spirituality a "druid", and refer to the practice of Celtic spirituality as "druidry", while CR groups usually use the older definition, seeing it as an office that requires decades of training and experience, which is only attained by a small number of practitioners, and which must be conferred and confirmed by the community the druid serves.

Despite these differences, there are generally good relations between Neo-druid and CR groups, with, as noted previously, a great deal of sharing of ideas and even memberships.

See also

• Celt
• Celtic mythology
• Celtic polytheism
• Modern Celts
• Polytheistic Reconstructionism

• Imbolc
• Beltane
• Lughnasadh
• Samhain

Further reading

• Briggs, Katherine (1978) The Vanishing People: Fairy Lore and Legends. New York, Pantheon
• Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) The Gaelic Otherworld. Edited by Ronald Black. Edinburgh, Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-207-7
• Carmichael, Alexander (1992) Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations (with illustrative notes on wards, rites, and customs dying and obsolete/ orally collected in the highlands and islands of Scotland by Alexander Carmichael). Hudson, NY, Lindisfarne. ISBN 0-940262-50-9
• Clark, Rosalind (1991) The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrigan to Cathleen ni Houlihan. Savage, MD, Barnes and Noble Books. ISBN 0-389-20928-7
• Danaher, Kevin (1972) The Year in Ireland. Dublin, Mercier. ISBN 1-85635-093-2
• Davidson, H.R. Ellis (1988) Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2441-7
• Dillon, Myles (1994) Early Irish Literature. Dublin, Four Courts Press. ISBN 1-85182-117-5
• Enright, Michael J. (c1996) Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy, and Lordship in the European Warband from LaTene to the Viking Age. Dublin, Four Courts Press
• Epstein, Angelique Gulermovich (1998) War Goddess: The Morrígan and Her Germano-Celtic Counterparts. Los Angeles, University of California
• Evans-Wentz, WY (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe Humanities Press ISBN 0-901072-51-6
• Fairgrove, Rowan (1994) What we don't know about the ancient Celts. Originally printed in The Pomegranate, 2. Now available online
• Gray, Elizabeth A (1982) Cath Maige Tuired: The 2^nd Battle of Mag Tuired. Dublin, Irish Texts Society
• Green, Miranda J. (1992) Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. New York, Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27975-6
• Kondratiev, Alexei (1998) The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual. San Francisco, Collins. ISBN 1-898256-42-X (1st edition), ISBN 0-806-52502-9 (2nd edition) [also reprinted without revision under the title Celtic Rituals]
• Lincoln, Bruce (1991) Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-48200-6
• Laurie, Erynn Rowan (1995) A Circle of Stones: Journeys and Meditations for Modern Celts. Chicago, Eschaton. ISBN 1-57353-106-5
• MacKillop, James (1998) A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280120-1
• McNeill, F. Marian (1959). The Silver Bough, Vol. 1-4. Glasgow, William MacLellan
• Monaghan, Patricia (2001) The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit. Novato, CA, New World Library
• Nagy, Joseph Falaky (1985) The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition. Berkely, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05284-6
• Ó Tuathail, Sean (1993) Foclóir Draíochta – Dictionary of Druidism
• Patterson, Nerys Thomas (1994) Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland. Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press (2nd edition) ISBN 0-268-00800-0
• Power, Patrick C. (1976) Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland. Dublin, Mercier
• Rees, Alwyn and Brinley (1961) Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales. New York, Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27039-2
• Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise (1982) Gods and Heroes of the Celts. Translated by Myles Dillon, Berkeley, CA, Turtle Island Foundation. ISBN 0-913666-52-1
• Smyth, Daragh (1988, 1996) A Guide to Irish Mythology. Dublin, Irish Academic Press
• Walsh, Brian (2002) The Secret Commonwealth and the Fairy Belief Complex. USA, Xlibris ISBN 1-4010-5545-1

External links

• Pàganachd / Págánacht: Home of the CR FAQ and other CR resources.
  • The CR FAQ - An Introduction to Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism: Written by a collective of long-term members of the CR community and representatives of diverse CR sub-traditions - including some of the founders of the tradition - the FAQ is only the second document to present a consensus view that speaks for more than one group's vision.
• Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism: The much-briefer consensus tradition statement from 2003. Contains unclear bits that were later cleared up in the FAQ, but a much quicker read than the FAQ.
• CAORANN: Celts Against Oppression, Racism and Neo-Nazism.
• Dùn Sgàthan: Scottish/Gaelic Reconstructionist Group.
• IMBAS: An organization that promotes the spiritual path of Senistrognata.
• Multicultural Polytheistic Hearth: Discussion board for Reconstructionists, with a large CR presence.