Mountain Magic : Celtic Shamanism in the Austrian Alps

by Christian Brunner

"Mountain Celtic Shamanism in the Austrian Alps" explores the traces the early Hallstatt Celts (and even older people) have left in lore and tradition in the Eastern Alps.
This is a leisurely stroll through the mountains, building bridges to and finding parallels with lore found on the British Isles, and giving the reader ideas on how to weave these old traditions into modern magical practice.

284 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2015

Reviews

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Researching this topic from a completely different angle, I can say that the author has good information. This is an encouraging book for those interested in their own culture's shamanism. I wish the author had listed sources, but his reasoning is sound and his message is encouraging and uplifting.

[Johno · Rating 1 out of 5]

pseudo history meets unsourced claims on etymology with some interesting fantasy elements

[David Sørensen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't remember why and when I bought this ebook, but I'm finished trying to finish books in my library. This book is, however, pretty bad. The argument seems to be that the Celtic had something comparable to modern Shamanism, as proven - among other things - by the authors personal experiences. I'm used to Neo-Pagan literature being badly researched - it is part of the charm in reading those kind of books -, but this is more wishful thinking than anything research-based. The author is driven by confirmation-bias where anything which can be taken as Pre-Christian and Pagan by definition has to be this - forgetting that correlation doesn't equals causation - and where the Christians had nothing better to do than fighting and destroying Pagan traditions. The author shows, sad to say, little knowledge of how either historical linguistics or medieval times work; what the author proposes would be utterly and completely impossible in pre-modern times. To give some examples.

------------------------------

The Irish People of the Dana, the Túatha Dé Danann, are named after her, and the Roman Goddess Diana as well, Diana meaning Dea Ana or Goddess Mother. (p 126)

I had a look in Michiel de Van: "Probably derived from dius 'godly'. Explained from *diwja-na by Solmsen, as 'the one who belongs to the moon goddess *Divia (the Shiner)'. Leumann 1977 explains the name as a derivation from sub dui 'in the open air'" (s.v. Diana). As far as I know "ana" neither means mother in Latin (I've no idea where this claim comes from)..

---------------

This is the explanation of how Anna ended up being the mother of Mary: "The lack of a motherly Goddess was thus one of the biggest barriers the Church faced in Europe, and she overcame that obstacle by elevating Jesus’s mother Mary to “Mother of God.” This was so much more palpable to the Celtic mind set, even more so when Anna was later implemented as Maria’s mother, Anna by no means coincidentally sharing the roots of her name with the ancient Celtic mother (D)ANA." (p 127).

Here the author completely forgets that the name Anna explicitly is mentioned in the New Testament (Luke 2). The gospel of James also explicitly claims that the mother of Mary was called Anna. The author does a common mistake found in both Western literature, i.e. forgetting that the Orthodox exist..

-----

Have you ever wondered why Christians - Catholics and Orthodox - have a pretty strict fast during lent season? Obviously because the European Pagans ate too much food during this period! "Despite this cunning word play, it is, in my humble opinion, almost reckless to have asked people to fast at a time when they have just emerged from a long period of low food intake due to the winter months. Now would be the time to regenerate, to spoil the body with whatever is available – in particular vegetables to give the immune system a boost. Instead, the Church gives somewhat unhealthy advice to abstain from food just because it did not approve that people acted out after gruesome months of cold, darkness, and hunger. (p 200)

Again the author forgets that Christianity originated in the middle east where you don't see these grusome months of cold and darkness. I've no idea why vegetables are mentioned here (these would have been recommended to eat, seeing they are not meat..); lent doesn't mean "not eating", but eating less. And again: this tradition is older than the mission to the Pagans in Europe

------------------------

In the myth above, the “Men from Venice” could very well be druid apprentices – after all, they knew more than other people – who were probably digging for gemstones. Schools of druidry were common in the ancient Celtic world. The most famous of them was on the island of Anglesey. In Welsh, the island is called “Ynys Môn”. The Romans called it “Mona”, from which the word monastery is derived, for Christian monasteries were initially organised like the druid school on that island. (p 299)

Is this guy for real? It is called monasticism because it is derived from Greek μονάζω 'living alone' and μόνος 'alone'. Brunner has clearly no idea where the monastic movement started, i.e. in the desert of Egypt and by monks living alone. What he is talking about is called cenobitic monasticism, where cenobitic again is derived from Greek..

------------------------

So again, this book is more wishfull thinking - fantasy - than anything real. The author wants to find pre-Christian Celtic traditions and therefore also finds this everywhere.