A Modern Celt: Seeking the Ancestors

Mabh Savage

Sep 2013 · John Hunt Publishing

About this ebook

Celtic tradition is at the heart of many aspects of popular modern pagan paths, and this book brings those aspects together to explore the relevance of a 2000-year-old culture in modern-day society. A Modern Celt looks at the Tuatha de Danaan, who they were and their continuing relevance in the 21st century. It looks at several of the key figures and the legends surrounding them, and considers how they relate to real life, everyday events, and the power they can lend us to deal with our own problems. The wheel of the year brings Celtic festivals and a modern calendar together, and these corner posts of the year help us understand the world as something that existed long before humans arrived, and hopefully will continue to exist long after we are gone. A Modern Celt considers some of the things we do to try and preserve it, and how these can be inspired by our Celtic roots. With musings from members of Celtic paths about why they feel such a tie to their Celtic ancestry, A Modern Celt paints a picture of an ancient world, alive and thriving today.
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Ratings and reviews

There are good aspects to this book; for example, the author takes a folksy personal tone that makes could in theory draw the reader into the work. The issues, however, far outweigh any positives. This book is more a personal exploration than it is a general introduction, though it does make a half-hearted attempt at general introduction. For example, rather than generally introduce The Morrigan the author chooses instead to speak at length about what The Morrigan means to her personally. It apparently never occurs to her that she has given her reader only the slimmest of frameworks to appreciate the objective historical context of The Morrigan before plunging them into a personal interpretation. The rest of the chapters are similarly slim introductions followed by anecdotes and personal reflections. Finally, and sadly, it must be noted that in several places author's assertions in stark contradiction of the best modern scholarship, revealing a substantial lack of research. This book is over priced for the information that it does provide and of questionable value to either the secular student of Celtic mythology or Reconstructionists followers of a New Age tradition.

This book started out really good. I found the chapters on the gods really interesting. Their are some parts I do not agree with the author on. After the chapter dealing with the gods the book went down hill for me. I couldn't wait until was finished with it.

About the author

Mabh Savage lives in Yorkshire, England, and was raised by Wiccan parents who had a passion for Celtic history, both mythological and actual. She is now involved with several pagan groups and is exploring her heritage as a way to get closer to the world around her, and understand her ancestors more.
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