Old Ways, Old Secrets: Pagan Ireland: Myth * Landscape * Tradition

by Jo Kerrigan

In a land like ours, the old beliefs bring pleasure and wisdom…

Exploring the legends, special places and treasured practices of old, Jo Kerrigan reveals a rich world beneath Ireland’s modern layers.

So many of today’s Irish traditions reach back to our ancient past, to the natural world: climbing to the summit of a mountain at harvest time; circling a revered site three, seven or nine times in a sun-wise direction; hanging offerings on a thorn tree; bringing the ailing and infirm to a sacred well.

Old Ways, Old Secrets shows us how to uncover the wisdom of the past, as fresh as it is ancient.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ireland, Mythology, History, Witchcraft, Folklore, Paganism

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2015

Reviews

[NAT.orious reads ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. I loved this book. ignited my passion for Ireland.

[Christine S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I understand the critics of this book, for me this was just a fun and entertaining read.

[El · Rating 2 out of 5]

Earlier this spring visited the annual spring book sale at the library across the street from my current apartment. (I may or may not have moved here because of its proximity.) Like many of the other books in the huge stack I brought home, this wasn't something I was looking for. But because I go to Ireland for school next week (OMG NEXT WEEK NOW), I thought this would be a good time to check this out. Also, I like myths!

It was... okay. I don't really have much to say. I was excited to read it because it has the triskelion on the cover (which is my grad program's logo) and a dolmen and the subtitle is "Pagan Ireland: From Ancient Myth to Modern Tradition," all of which pointed to YES.

Unfortunately the material inside is all very superficial. It's probably fine for someone who doesn't know anything about Irish mythology or pagan Ireland, but for those of us who have heard at least about leprechauns, I wished the author had provided meatier details. There's a brief explanation about "thin places," something that has come up recently in regular conversation, and I was excited to learn more about that. But what I learned in this book was not more in-depth than what I had picked up in the casual conversation with a colleague.

Then other aspects of the book seemed to expect the reader to already know everything. Like the insert on one page about Ley Lines:

Monasteries are frequently found on sites where ley lines cross each other. This is probably because earlier pagan sites would naturally have made use of such power centres.
(p70)

And that's that. No other mention of ley lines within the text anywhere. Now, I happen to have watched a ridiculous amount of Ancient Aliens so I'm already familiar with ley lines, but I think for the more casual reader, they may be unfamiliar. The author seems to think that this is common knowledge, though, so perhaps it is. It's not just monasteries, though - some pretty impressive number of the world's landmarks fall on ley lines. So, just sayin'.

I wanted there to be more in this, not just about ley lines, but about the mythologies. The myths the author detailed were brief and, again, superficial, and not at all meaty enough for my taste. But it did pique my interest some more and I look forward to returning to Ireland next week, finding my own mythology, and having a little bit of an adventure. Maybe even catching a leprechaun.

(Just kidding, don't catch a leprechaun. They are mean and bad things happen.)

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of today's traditions with threads to years gone by. Kerrigan spends time clashing or goating after Christianity in the book, saying how the old ways were repackaged by new words but the practices remained the same (more or less).

I've wondered for years how certain traditions (mostly around Halloween) came to be. Kerrigan echoes what I've read before and here does a good weaving of many things into one book. I appreciated seeing it woven together, but wished she would have cited sources or given a bibliography so I could keep the pursuit going.

On the clash with Christianity, it would have made the book one step more enjoyable if Kerrigan wove the last patch on and talked how the old practices had meaning in times past and now similar practices have meaning today, sometimes similar, sometimes not. This could be done without diminishing the past or present and could encourage a present day enactment of meaningful tradition.

[Jackie Berke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poor history & a poor factual personal accounting if not only Irish old ways but other cultures also. Jo Kerrigan did a horrible job at attempting to explain the old ways.

The last straw was saying that Wicca was older then the ancient ways!

[Helena Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book, I read this on arrival to Ireland and found it fascinating. Very well-written, engaging, just absolutely lovely. I really recommend it for anyone interested in Ireland and that wishes to understand this beautiful country and its amazing history, traditions, and people

[maze · Rating 3 out of 5]

waaay too many random photos, some facts are absolutely incorrect and it pissed me off that the author presents them as fact but it’s a good introduction to celtic mythology IF you read more books about it

[Cayenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. It was so interesting to read such an in-depth telling of ancient Irish folklore.

[Paritosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a book full of old legends and folklore - that’s the interesting part. The author makes the superimposition of the Christian faith over the old pagan beliefs a constant theme - something universal when it comes to all major organised religions. What I liked less is the author’s bias towards the existence of a parallel supernatural world and the random quotes from ordinary folk to hammer home how widespread this belief or superstition exists. That’s not the approach I would take to get folks to respect Nature and it’s cycles and it makes the book a bit childish. Anyways - an entertaining read overall!

[Peter Metcalfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on Irish History . It convinces me of the link between Christianity and Pagan history and the interweaving that happened. Irish Christianity strikes me as being somewhat superstitious

[Dearbhla · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh.
http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2...

[Ondine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and light read.

[Samantha Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent mix of history and folk lore. Engaging and imaginative.

[Michael Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading about the old Celtic stories and how many Christian traditions were based on pagan rituals.

[Imogen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, highly recommend.

[Kevin O'Donoghue · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. Although lacking in details at times, it is a good starter book if you want to learn about Irish Mythology.

[Sarah Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this read! Loads of info on local knowledge and I learnt so much! Very digestible also which I appreciated because books on this type of topic can be quite heavy.

[Stephen Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was better than I expected. I found it to be very informative of Irish traditions and myths whilst not sounding too new age in approach.

[Danna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed this. It was not super deep but had great story telling.

[Sandra Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read with historical spin on Irish folklore, accompanied by some fantastic illustrations. I especially enjoyed the last three stories recounted.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous stories from Irelands Pagan past.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the fog rolls in, I am excited to say, “the druids are coming!”

[Valerie Biel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a thorough introduction to the mystical places and stories of Ireland. As a writer of novels that include Celtic mythology, I originally picked this book up to serve as part of my research library and was immediately drawn into reading the whole thing. Additionally, the books is incredibly beautiful--the formatting, photos, and even the attached ribbon bookmark were special touches. Wonderful addition to my library!!

[Lucila Quintana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book. Great for reference information.

[Nic]

Made me want to travel all over Ireland. Loved the illustrations and the detail and the fact that every chapter thought me something.

[Aoife Dalu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit all over the place and not very deep, but certainly interesting

[Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It brings you to a general topic of most known and some unknown stories of Ireland. I personally likes it because it motivated me enough to research them deeper on my own.
tip; read this book in a park on a warm day. it'll give away its charm especially.