The Celtic calendar divided the year into two halves, the "dark" half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation), and the "light half", beginning with the Giamonios (the April/May lunation). The entire year appears to have been considered as beginning with the "dark" half, so that the beginning of Samonios may be considered the Celtic New Year's day. All months began at full moon, and the celebration of New Year took place during the "three nights of Samonios" (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]), the full moon of ...

See also:

Samhain, Samhain - Etymology, Samhain - Ancient Celts, Samhain - Celtic folklore, Samhain - Neo-Paganism, Samhain - Pop culture references

Read more here: » Samhain: Encyclopedia II - Samhain - Ancient Celts

Celtic Marriage

This article is not just for those interested in the traditions of Celtic Marriage, it is also a look into the complex body of law that governed the ancient Celts.

For the ancient Celts, marriage was a very different thing than what we conceive of as "marriage" today. For them, marriage or handfasting as some know it was a form of contract that had several purposes. These included the protection of property rights, the care of progeny (children), and the rights of the individuals involved in the relationships themselves.

Read more here: » Ancient Celts: Celtic Marriage

The first time I noticed conflicting ritual elements was when I was invited as a guest to attend another Coven's esbat celebration. When the time came to 'invoke the Watchtowers' (a ritual salutation to the four directions), I was amazed to learn that this group associated the element of Earth with the North. My own Coven equated North with Air. How odd, I thought. Where'd they get that? The High Priestess told me it had been copied out of a number of published sources. Further, she said she had never seen it listed any other way. I raced home and began tearing books from my own library shelves. And sure enough! Practically every book I consulted gave the following assoications as standard: North = Earth, East = Air, South = Fire, West = Water.

Then where the heck did I get the idea that Air belonged in the North?

Read more here: » Paganism: RE-THINKING THE WATCHTOWERS or 13 Reasons Air Should Be In The North

Why Wicca is Not Celtic Paganism

There are many out there who believe that Wicca and its related forms of NeoPagism are a type of Celtic Paganism (and vice versa),  but this is simply not true. The following article is meant to be a comparison of Wicca and Celtic Paganism in order to demonstrate this, and to educate the public about Celtic Paganism. While Wicca certainly contains elements of Celtic mythology, folk magic and religious belief, its basic tenets and beliefs are radically different from those of Celtic Pagans.

Read more here: » Wicca and Celtic Paganism: Why Wicca is Not Celtic Paganism

Beltane is celebrated on May 1st and is one of the original Celtic festivals.

7 recipies for Beltane including MEADE, FARLS, BELTANE CREAM PIE, OATCAKES - IRISH, OATCAKES - SCOTS, IRISH SODA BREAD, SAND TARTS (OLD GERMAN STYLE)

Read more here: » Beltane: Beltane - May Day Recipes

Beltane is celebrated on May 1st and is one of the original Celtic festivals. Beltane or May Day is also known as the Lover's holiday. Beltane is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals, and is probably the second most important festival next to Samhain. Beltane is primarily a sun festival and was performed during the day. The most important part of Beltane was the kindling of the fires. The Irish Celts would extinguish their fires the night before and would eat a cold meal to insure that all fires were out. Then they would attend the ceremony, returning with an ember to once more start their fires.

Read more here: » Beltane: Beltane - May 1 or May Day

Creating Sacred Space In Your Home

Many modern Celtic pagans today are faced with a difficult question: how can I bring my religion into my home? Whether we live in a dormitory, an apartment, a duplex or a mansion, most of us like to have our homes reflect our personalities and the things we are interested in, and that includes our spiritual practices, but many of us don't have back yards in which to practice and set up more permanent shrines, or 24/7 access to our favorite places in nature. For some, just setting up an altar somewhere in the home is either undesirable, unachievable or just not enough.

Read more here: » SacredSpace: Creating Sacred Space In Your Home

Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow's Eve. Hallow E'en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane's dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A "spirit night," as they say in Wales.

Read more here: » Halloween: All Hallow's Eve

For many thousands of years our ancestors have been visiting and venerating the power places of Europe. One culture after another has often frequented the same power sites and the story of how these magical places were discovered and used is filled with fairies and nature spirits, sages and astronomers, and enigmatic myths of world destroying cataclysms.

Read more here: » Sacred Sites: Pilgrimage in Ancient Europe - Megalithic and Celtic Sacred Space

A Celebration of MAY DAY

There are four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year and the modern Witch's calendar as well. The two greatest of these are Halloween (the beginning of winter) and May Day (the beginning of summer). Being opposite each other on the wheel of the year, they separate the year into halves. Halloween (also called Samhain) is the Celtic New Year and is generally considered the more important of the two, though May Day runs a close second. Indeed, in some areas -- notably Wales -- it is considered the great holiday.

Read more here: » May Day: A Celebration of MAY DAY

Druid

(Celtic, "true seer") A member of the priestly and intellectual elite of the Celts.

Druids were the religious and legal authorities in Gaul before its conquest by the Romans (51 BC) and were celebrated for their esoteric knowledge. The druid survived as a stock figure in medieval Irish literature. A priestly caste of the ancient Celtic people of France and the British Isles. They were the keepers of oral history and law, and officiates of religious practices.

Modern Druids are various new religious traditions that attempt to incorporate the insights of ancient Druidism, Celtic history and lore, and romanticized notions of the ancient Druids formed in the eighteenth century. In England today, there are the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and the Ancient Order of Druids, among others.

While there is no scholarly connection between the Druids and Stonehenge, the Ancient Order of Druids used Stonehenge for their rituals until instances of vandalism by the curious closed the ancient site.

In the United States, the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) began in 1963 as a satirical protest against required attendance at chapel at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. The RDNA developed rituals and lore from Celtic history, poetry, and anthropology, and the movement continued and became more serious, even after the chapel attendance requirement was dropped. The RDNA considered Druidism a philosophy of life, not a religion.

In 1966 the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA) reformed Druidism as a Neo- Pagan religion. A few chapters of both groups still exist. Other current American Druidic groups include Ar nDraiocht Fein ("Our Own Druidism"), founded by Isaac Bonewits in 1983. Currently the largest American revivalist Druid organization, it sees itself as a Neo-Pagan religion based on the beliefs and practices of the ancient Indo-Europeans but adapted to modern needs and sensibilities, such as the preservation of the earth and excellence in arts and scholarship.

(See also: Druid , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Celts Dictionary

Afterife - Life After Death

An encyclopedia of different cultures mythology  around afterlife, including : Adiri, Ama-No-Hashidate: , Asamando, Asgard, Astral Plane, Avalon, Bralgu, Chalmecacivati, Ching Tu, Chinvato Peretav, Dilum, Djanna, Elysium, Fortunate Isle, Gwenved, Happy Hunting Ground, Hawaiki, Inkolwe, Isle of the Blest, Kevala, Khun-Lun, Ki-Agpga-Pod, Kotluwalawa, Land of the Moon, Lewu Liau, Limbo, Mizumu, Moksha, Mormon Heaven, Mount Kailasa, Mount Meru , New Age Afterlife, New Jerusalem, Nirvana, Otherworld, Sheol, Summerland, Tain, Tamoanchan, The Pole Star, Tlalocan, Tum and Valhalla.

Read more here: » Afterlife: Encyclopedia of Afterlife Mythology in Different Cultures

Since prehistoric times sacred places have exerted a mysterious attraction on billions of people around the world. Ancient legends and modern day reports tell of extraordinary things that have happened to people while visiting these places. Different sacred sites have the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity, develop psychic abilities, and awaken the soul to a knowing of its true purpose in life.

Normally, when one thinks of such places, the mind imagines terrestrial locations, fixed and unmoving, such as mountains, lands and caves. But the planet is a water place too with more than 70% of the surface of the earth covered with water. Many sacred sites are connected to water.

Read more here: » Sacred Sites: Sacred waters around the World.

Can one overcome the limitations of the mind, and reach an insight that is not based on previous learning or that which one imagines, but which emerges from a fundamental and direct experience of consciousness and energy?

One of the most secret and advanced methods for such a transforming insight is called Kriya Yoga.

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: Kriya Yoga - A bridge between the inner and the outer world

Wicca and Witchcraft: General Practices in Wicca (Witchcraft)

The roots of the religion called Wicca, or Witchcraft, are very old, coming down to us through a variety of channels worldwide. Although any general statement about our practices will have exceptions, the following will attempt to present a basic foundation for understanding.

Some of the old practices were lost when indigenous religions encountered militant Christianity and were forced to go underground for survival. The ancient mystery religions were lost when the practice of the rites were stopped and the old verbal traditions were no longer available.

Read more here: » Wicca and Witchcraft: General Practices in Wicca

The Allure of Tantra

Perhaps nothing is more exotic, dramatic and sensational in IndiaÕs Yoga traditions than is the practice of Tantra. No other approach to Yoga has gained such a fascination for the modern mind and its seeking of the bizarre, the entertaining and the enigmatic.

Tantra appears to offer both spiritual and worldly success to a superlative degree. It covers not only internal yogic experiences of chakras, lokas and deities, but also has many important healing practices for body and mind. Most notably, it offers special means of heightening sexual pleasure, making money, gaining recognition and defeating oneÕs enemies - with Tantric methods available for achieving all human desires. There is in Tantra something for everyone, especially those who may be put off by ascetic or renunciate approaches to the spiritual life such as seem to dominate most of the rest of the Yoga tradition.

Read more here: » Tantra Yoga: The Allure of Tantra

A Welsh Myth Concordance

The following concordance is based on the four branches of the Welsh "Mabinogi", as retold in the four books by Evangeline Walton: "Prince of Annwn", "The Children of Llyr", "The Song of Rhiannon", and "The Island of the Mighty".

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Celts Dictionary

Wicca or Witchcraft: Definitions of terms in Witchcraft

Including: Occult, Earth, Pagan, Neo-Paganism, Witchcraft, The Craft, Coven, Witch, Magic, Sabbat, Esbat

Read more here: » Wicca or Witchcraft: Definitions of terms in Witchcraft

Paganism & Pornography

At times my political views seem to lead me into contradictions. Last month saw me writing a furious letter to Penthouse magazine concerning their misinformed story on Witchcraft. Within two weeks I was writing to the head of the QuickTrip Corporation protesting the removal of Penthouse from their stores. You'd think I would have been happy at a blow struck against a magazine that maligned my religion. Not so. At stake is the free expression of ideas. Misinformation and censorship are both threats to that freedom. Of the two, I judge censorship to be the greater threat. As long as publishing continues unimpeded, retraction of misinformation is possible. When publishing is censored, even that becomes impossible.

Read more here: » Paganism: Paganism Pornography

October 31 - November Eve - Samhain

Samhain means 'summer's end', for now nights lengthen, winter begins, and we work with the positive aspects of the dark tides. In the increasing starlight and moonlight, we hone our divinatory and psychic skills. Many Craft traditions, and the ancient Celts, consider this New Year's Eve. It is the one night when the veil that separates our world from the next is at its thinnest, allowing the dead to return to the world of the living, to be welcomed and feasted by their kin. The Christian religion adopted this theme as 'All Saints Day' or 'All Hallows Day' (Nov. 1), celebrating the eve as 'All Hallows Eve' or 'Halloween'. The alternative date of November 6 ('Martinmas' or 'Old Hallows') is sometimes employed by Covens.

Read more here: » Wiccan Holidays: October 31 - November Eve - Samhain