Celtic Mythology: A Captivating Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs

by Matt Clayton, Captivating History

A Captivating Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs The Celts were a people who lived throughout central Europe from about the 500s BC to the AD 700s. In this book, you will discover the various aspects of Celtic beliefs, gods, and sagas gaining a general overall picture of their culture. Their stories will be brought to life so all the details are more than merely a bunch of dry facts. We will enter their world and recreate it in as much detail as possible, from the little bit we know for certain, combined with ancillary facts from the various sciences. With each chapter, you will get a fanciful glimpse into the very personal world of the Celts. Each narrative is there to help you understand the Celtic viewpoint and why their beliefs held such powerful relevance in their society. Just some of the questions and topics covered in this book include Celtic AnimismUniversal Celtic GodsLocal Irish Celt GodsLocal Gallic Celt GodsCeltic The CyclesCeltic Animal and Human SacrificeThe Wicker ManCeltic ReincarnationCeltic MatriarchyAnd much more!Download the book now and learn more about Celtic mythology

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction

73 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2017

Reviews

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kindle Unlimited but got it on a freebie day. Yes, I read all of these one way or another. I liked the mythology series, 3 books {4 if you count the one with all 3 together}, but this would have to be my overall favorite though hard to actually pick just one. List of books out {and that I've read, so all.}

The Celts were a people who lived throughout central Europe from about the 500s BC to the AD 700s. In this book, you will discover the various aspects of Celtic beliefs, gods, and sagas gaining a general overall picture of their culture. Their stories will be brought to life so all the details are more than merely a bunch of dry facts. We will enter their world and recreate it in as much detail as possible, from the little bit we know for certain, combined with ancillary facts from the various sciences.With each chapter, you will get a fanciful glimpse into the very personal world of the Celts. Each narrative is there to help you understand the Celtic viewpoint and why their beliefs held such powerful relevance in their society.
Just some of the questions and topics covered in this book include
Celtic Animism, Universal Celtic Gods, Local Irish Celt Gods, Local Gallic Celt Gods, Celtic Sagas: The Cycles, Celtic Beliefs: Animal and Human Sacrifice, The Wicker Man, Celtic Beliefs: Reincarnation, Celtic Beliefs: MatriarchyAnd much more!

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[Charl (thinkingbookishthoughts) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of the 5 book (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...) set by Matt Clayton available on Kindle Unlimited. I really wanted to enjoy this book. I tried my absolute best with it, but I just couldn’t. I don’t know whether it is the fault of the book or my own fault but I just couldn’t get into it.

I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing at all about Celtic mythology. Being British, namely English, I thought I really should know at least something about my neighbour’s ancestor’s gods and mythology. Now although I wasn’t really taken with the book, it was interesting. I found the stories to be short enough that I could pay attention and still find them interesting, however I found it near impossible to retain any of the information. I found myself reading and rereading parts over and over again. I don’t want to blame the author for this but it definitely did impact my enjoyment of this book. This is especially true since I have read three of his other ‘Captivating Guide to Mythology’ books where this has not been the case.

The book contains a lot of information, not only about the Celtic gods and mythology but about Celtic beliefs such as reincarnation, animal and human sacrifice and how they were unlike their foes in that they did not look down on women, instead realising they could also be fearless rulers. As this is the fourth (out of five) book in the set of Clayton’s I am reading currently, I am looking forward to reading the final one in the set. They have been very hit and miss so far but on a whole I would positively recommend this, and any of the others I have read so far, to anyone interested in learning the basics of other culture’s mythology.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a major problem with Celtic mythology and it's the fact that much of their mythos stories were done away with when Christianity spread through the area. Mythos that survived tended to be given a pro-Christian spin so it's very hard to figure out what their earliest beliefs and stories actually were.

For example, there was a Celtic Arthur but he got changed into the common Christian-oriented Arthur. There's also giants again, a not uncommon part of various myths.

There's also a very extreme church view where a Bishop basically says any people who do not firmly believe in Christianity are evil. Such views were also anti-female and anti-sex. There is a Romeo and Juliet type of story, though.

The book also has a pronunciation guide and a list of people and places. It's a shame that much of their culture ended up altered or destroyed.

[Janhmmn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Various Green Men and traditional beliefs have cropped up in my reading recently so I wanted a bit more background. The trouble with unwritten history that is such a long time ago is that writers can either extrapolate inaccurately or estimate vaguely. This was mostly the latter (which is certainly preferable), with some imagined vignettes illustrating how the belief system may have influenced behaviour, which I quite liked. So I did feel that I didn't finish the book having a much clearer idea than I started with. Maybe what I need is a longer and more learned book, but I'm not sure I have the patience for that...

[Adam Traum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Matt Clayton's Celtic Mythology. At times I found it to be a little bit academic but it was an instructive book that gave a lot context for modern Celtic culture. I particularly found the discussions of animism and matriarchal rule to be very interesting. The descriptions of the territorial conflicts give a sense of how empire's borders shifted during this period of history and impacted our modern culture. Overall I would say this is a good read that is well thought out and informative.

[Sahil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mess of a book.

No concept of structure, attributions, or even connecting the details reasonably.

There are some decent stories thrown into it, but the amount of loosely structured, documentation-style information with lack of any sort of depth or even direction doesn't redeem it by much.

I might recall some names/details when going through better texts/resources later, perhaps, and that might be a good refresher of sorts. But I'm glad I got this for free.

[Lanea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Each chapter has poorly written fantasy-inspired stories--I found them infuriating.

[Martin Zorde · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit Short but a nice taste of Celtic myths.