The Spirit of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses: Their History, Magical Power, and Healing Energies

by Carl McColman, Kathryn Hinds, Courtney Weber (Foreword)

Brings the history of these gods and goddesses to life, along with visualizations, rituals, and exercises to help make them part of the reader’s spiritual practice.

Figures like Brigid, Cernunnos, Rhiannon, and the Morrigan are honored for their magic, their bravery, and their mythical deeds. Among pagans, the gods and goddesses of Gaul, Ireland, Wales, and the other Celtic lands rank with the most popular and influential of the Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian pantheons.

This book provides an accessible guide for readers to learn about and connect spiritually with the gods and goddesses of the Celtic lands:



Learn key features of each of the major Irish, Welsh, and continental Celtic deities
Discover the major myths and lore associated with each deity
Create rituals and magical work appropriate for each deity
Understand the psychological archetypes of each god and goddess
Forge true and meaningful relationships with the deities for our time
Relate the various gods and goddesses to the sabbats and holy days

Genres: Spirituality, Mythology, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Paganism, Magic, Magick

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

Carl McColman writes about the spiritual life, covering topics like mysticism (The Big Book of Christian Mysticism), contemplative prayer (Answering the Contemplative Call), monastic spirituality (Befriending Silence), Celtic traditions (An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom), Paganism (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism), and Wicca (When Someone You Love is Wiccan).

He is also a blogger (www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmccolman) and podcaster(www.encounteringsilence.com) .

Why did Carl McColman, a Catholic author, write books about Paganism? Read the answer here: www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmccolman/20...

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dove into “The Spirit of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses: Their History, Magical Power, and Healing Energies” this week. I have been seeking researched information on the Celtic religions and deities. This volume, by Carl McColman and Kathryn Hinds, definitely brings that to the table.
They approached the Celtic deities in both a historical aspect and their modern role in our lives. All of the deities were well-researched and their stories fleshed out as needed. They were also upfront about how much information has been lost over the years. Even with that, there is a lot of lore, far too much to fit into one volume efficiently.
The book is separated by Goddesses, Gods and Heroes. For each chapter, they included a wide range of stories to give the reader both the positive and negative traits of the deities. They made sure that you know the deities were not a single trait, but had both highs and lows in their stories. Another part of the chapters I appreciated was how to incorporate respect and prayers to each deity into our modern lives. For example, looking for poetry in everyday life and the connections to make stories is a way of honoring Taliesin, the poet.
This was a wonderful introduction to the Celtic deities and gave a good starting point for those looking into Celtic mythology. They also included a great list of other books to look up, as well as songs and stories to become familiar with. This book will definitely be sitting on my reference shelf as I move forward in my journey.

[Luminea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an enjoyable read! Several of the better known Celtic goddesses and gods are explored in this book with emphasis on their stories, rather than a long list of correspondences. I love how the authors give numerous suggestions for incorporating Celtic myths, deities, and beliefs into your own spiritual path. I felt very inspired while reading and am eager to put these ideas into practice.

[Abbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked more history, stories, and folk lore as opposed to an info dump of how to be (vaguely) devotional to these deities.

[⚫㊐✨Heather Mc Erlean❦㈦㊏ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Spirit of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses: Their History, Magical Power, and Healing Energies," by Carl McColman and Kathryn Hinds, is a breath of fresh Eire!

There are many books on Celtic pantheons and mysticism, but this book touched on many parts of the myths that people tend to overlook. For example, the evidence on the Maid, Mother, and Crone was exemplary. Celtic myth rarely showed them as varying ages. Most people viewed them as three separate ages and very distinctive, though that was far from the truth, as this book points out.

Another refreshing change of pace was coming at the mythology from a fictional perspective and still showing how you could honor the aspects of these Gods and Goddesses without telling you what to believe. There are no spells in this book. There are no correspondences in this book either. I love the retelling of stories of each of these Gods and Goddesses. I also love how the book defines magic and mysticism. Magic for what the spirits/gods can do for us. Mysticism is for what we can do for them in return. The strongest incorporate both, and I believe that to be true.

The authors expressed how pagans tend to be more positive, and affirming, and celebrate spiritual energy. Encouragement abounds in this book. We are all encouraged to live a more mystical and magical life. I received this book as a Christmas present. It is a splendid present! I highly recommend this book to anyone to learn more about the Celtic Gods and Goddesses without the Wiccan ties. This isn't a spellbook or a correspondence book. It is a book that expresses who each of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses is and how you can incorporate their strengths in your life to become your strengths to build you up spiritually.

[Elise Pape · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when reading about deities, it is difficult to translate the stories and to carry over what you've read into your practice. This book brings together most of the stories about particular God's and Goddesses, makes them easy to understand and then also gives you information on how to honor them, work with them and wear times are better associated with those deities.

I enjoyed all the info this book contains and I will definitely use it as a reference book for some of my practice. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Celtic traditional practices!

The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because although it has good info, I would often get bored reading it and would have to put it down and take a break.

[Nancy McQueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear and concise summary of the Celtic Gods. Good book for someone who wants a clear introduction.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well organized and informative. Aims to introduce to Celtic pagan spirituality, and it successfully does that.

Not a fan of what it proffers though. I'll stick with Jesus.

[Willow Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a wonderful overview of the path. I’ve dipped my toes into a few different branches but having a scot-Irish family I wanted to see if I felt more connected to the Celtic pantheon. Having read this, I feel I have a greater understanding of the Celtic spirit. I found the way the book was structured (god/goddess individual finished by some way to actual practice Celtic Neo-paganism). It is also not one of the books that gives you a list of attributes with no backing. If Taliesin is associated with poetry, why is that? This book gives you a nice background. It makes it clear it isn’t here to tell you EVERYTHING about everyone like an encyclopedia would but then again that isn’t the purpose of this book.

Lastly the book has an amazing reference list and directs you to so many other sources to help you in your Celtic paganism (or just scholarly) journey

[JunyBee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I was looking for more knowledge about a couple of Goddesses and received more stories about other known Gods and Goddesses. This is not a book on how to work with the Gods and Goddesses, but a book about their stories and legends. I love how the stories blend together like the birth of Lleu Llaw Gyffes and then his story as a man. I enjoyed the story of Bran the Guardian of the Land. Now I want to go to London, to the White Hill where Bran's head was once buried. That is where the Tower of London is and the Ravens of Bran are. The thought of standing there where the great leader was buried to watch over Brittan feels empowering. It is well worth the read if you are looking for stories of the Gods and Goddesses.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great introduction into the Celtic Deities. After the introduction, each chapter introduced a Goddess or God and explained some of their mythology as well as how to honor them in everyday life. I felt like the section on Goddesses was easier to understand, so I was more interested in that half of the book. Once it transitioned into the Gods, it was a little repetitive and I noticed it asked you to refer back to other chapters a lot. However, it gave enough information on the deities for you to see which ones resonated with you to research further.

[Pénélope · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book to begin to know about different gods, godesses and mythological figures of celtic mythology.
It does delve into neo-paganism and how to integrate those practices, linked to the mythology, in your life. So, in short, maybe a bit "woo-woo" 😅, but in a very up to you kind of way!

[Talia Franks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Thorough, informative, rigorous, and spiritual in one fell swoop. A quality text.

[Kayleigh Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book holds a lot of interesting information, but I was expecting it more in-depth

[Heather Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️