Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Pagan Nun

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Confessions of a Pagan Nun is a thought-provoking and breath-taking book. Horsley's style is poetic and simple and both her story and her characters are engaging. She masterfully recreates a time when Paganism was the predominant religion and Christianity was struggling to gain acceptance.
Gwynneve, the narrator of the story, is a nun living in a monastery of Saint Brigit in Ireland during the sixth century. Along side her work transcribing the writings of Saint Patrick and Saint Augustine, Gwynneve tells the story of her Pagan childhood and her life in the monastery, where events are beginning to unfold that threaten Gwynneve and force her to define her beliefs.
The language of the novel is beautiful and filled with rich imagery. When recounting the death of her mother, Gwynneve says "Soon my mother began to shed blood through her mouth. Death was surely just outside our door, drawn by the smell of her blood."
The first-person narrative creates intimacy between Gwynneve and the reader, as Gwynneve discusses the power struggle between the Old Religion and the new. "Rather than seeing a contest between druid and Christian, I see a kinship between stone chapel and stone circle. One encloses and protects the spirit; the other exposes it and joins it with the elements." She goes on to address what she believes is an illogical desire of Christianity to denounce other religions. "Even now I do not understand a jealous God, for if He made all things, than any form of worship that protects His creations and is not destructive or cruel to them must please Him."
Gwynneve also recounts how the Christians stole and reshaped Pagan rituals and places of worship. "Now they make the ancient wells and standing stones into Christian relics, attributing their power to saints," says Gwynneve. "I do not quarrel with this practice, for I believe that which is sacred does not care by what name it is called. But I often wish that I did not know history so well so that I could believe in the Christian rendition of our landscape. Knowledge often spoils devotion."
Horsley's novel is a splendid mix of fiction, philosophy and history. Confessions is an enjoyable and an enlightening read.

This small book was a quick read, and gave an interesting look into what life might have been like in the times when druids and monks met on the same ground. I certainly enjoyed the perspective used by this author to bring the reader into the main character's descriptive memory.

The only reason I did not rate this book higher was due to it's predictable storyline. Everything that happens after one significant turning point with our heroine's mentor is obvious before it occurs. The ending is bittersweet, but again, unsurprising and blunt. The reader can wager a guess to the ending after the third or fourth chapter.

Still, all in all, a good book with heart. I'd recommend it, especially to anyone interested in the Celtic life of a woman in the early conversion times.

Spoiler alert: CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN is a brilliant novelette, guaranteed to break your heart! I have to warn you so that you can brace yourself to handle the inevitable, tragic ending. The author, however, does leave a miniscule possibility for us to imagine that Gwynneve, the gallant heroine, did not suffer all that much in the end; so feel free to augment the finale with your own imagination. Kate Horsley's writing is multi-faceted: lyrical yet often no-nonsense, albeit on occasion hard to read because of the bevy of Gaelic words and expressions, yet her knowledge of the era (6th Century)and locales and terrain (County Kildare, Ireland) is strong, and her insights into the character of Gwynneve, the Druid turned a nun, are illuminating. Once you enter Gwynneve's thoughts, you get to be part of her flesh, and page after page, you suffer from the cold and the dampness, shiver as goosebums appear along your arms, run down the back of your neck, your feet trouble you as if they were about to disintegrate into the mulchy earth full of rotting leaves, and your eyes... burn from the smoke of that one waxen candle lighting the parchment in front of you.

Thankfully, Gwynneve does experience moments of happiness. And of course, there are those short-lived Irish summers, "when the wind is green," and you, the reader, may feel as tempted as our heroine to pause in your work and "stand outside on the hill and see the valley and the waves of hills beyond."

Raised in a village of fishermen and pigkeepers during the time of Ireland's transition from Paganism to Christianity, she is blessed with the love of Murrynn, her wonderfully drawn, strong-hearted, vibrant mother (Murrynn deserves a novel of her own!), and later on with the love of handsome Giannon, her Druid teacher, reluctant lover, a very complex, tormented man who seems tempted by Christianity to foresake his druidic soul.

Gwynneve is deeply romantic yet level-headed, learns quickly, retains what she learns, suffers the tragic loss of her beloved mother, then gets separated from her equally beloved teacher, in time bridges the gap between Paganism and Christianity, and still manages to retain her remarkably clear sight of how things truly are: "... I wonder if she (Sister Ailenn) has taken her thoughts from St. Paul and St. Augustine, who connect self-disgust with righteousness. Self-hatred seems to me an evil thing in itself rather than an antidote to evil. If we practice self-hatred, then the sacrifice we make of ourselves and our lives is not sacred, for it is then a gift of something we hate rather than of something that he have nurtured and loved."

CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN, despite its brevity, shows well the clear-eyed observations of a young woman who, while caught in the relentless machinery of the fast-approaching dark era, continues to think independently, and of course, pays the price. "... I had thought that the love of Christ would make us kinder and less likely to smash skulls. But now I see that we will be asked to smash skulls for Christ."

This part from the Epilogue, written by "Giannon, the Mute," is still haunting me: "... I have news that should be known.... In her own death, Gwynneve was not false... and as she sat down on the stones around the well, she addressed the abbot gently, saying, "I wish I could live more."

I like to repeat that you should brace yourself before you read this novel; but when you finish it, offer a little prayer for Gwynneve's soul. Although she died fifteen centuries ago, she returns to life each time one of us reads her story, and thus her wish of being allowed to live, is granted. Slainte, Gwynneve!

Kate Horsley's incredible novel CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN is one of those truly rare books that succeeds on multiple levels -- it is enthralling and entertaining, believable and full of wisdom, poetry and finely crafted prose.

Simply read as an historical novel, it would be an accomplished work. The author has obviously taken great care to research and immerse herself in the world she depicts. Her descriptions of the events and lives drawn here are crystalline and coarse at the same time -- these people led lives of hardship and illiteracy, in a beautiful but unforgiving landscape. Survival was difficult, and was by necessity their primary concern, directing their lives with a firm hand. The customs and living conditions of the time are laid out before the reader in almost film-like tangibility -- Horsley's descriptions of the natural world are a well-woven tapestry before which the story is played out.

Telling the story of a 5th century Irish nun -- raised as a pagan and converted later in life to the 'new faith', Christianity -- the book is a moving personal history. The nun -- Gwynneve -- is a rarity among the people of her land. She has studied with a respected druid -- Giannon, her teacher and soul mate -- and is actually literate. She learns from him many other skills as well -- storytelling being one of the most impressive. From her mother Murrynn she has learned the gathering and use of sundry herbs and plants from the natural world, of their healing and other properties. Her amazement that such a thing as written language can exist, and the power that it can possess, is made clear in the author's vividly beautiful language. Gwynneve is thunderstruck by the implied power of such a gift -- and her view of words (along with justice and truth) as the ultimate tools of power will follow her throughout her life. She is also keenly aware of the relationship between justice and truth -- it is the power held by the druids whom she most admires, and she well recognizes its place in the world (from p.105): 'The truth will inevitably cause tremors in those who cling to power without honoring justice'.

Over the course of the book, the author alternates chapters containing Gwynneve's record of her own life and history with 'interruptions' detailing events occurring around her as she works in her beehive-shaped stone clochan. Gwynneve comes across as an intelligent, sensitive seeker, yearning for a way to deal with the pain and loss in her own life, and to ease the journey of those around her. She possesses the wisdom to see beyond the painful aspects of grief and loss, seeing it more deeply as an actual freeing agent that allows her to pass through trials and move beyond them.

The kindness she displays to the poor people she encounters in her journeys, and to those living near the nuns' compound, is sincere, generous and heartwarming -- but she is completely without conceit in her view of herself, a compelling and refreshing character. Gwynneve has much wisdom within her -- although her humble self-image doesn't allow her to see it as such. She sees the purveyors of Christianity attempting to wipe out all traces of the 'old ways' and she wonders -- with incredible honesty and acute insight -- why it can't be seen that the two could mutually, peacefully (and beneficially) co-exist. She sees a kinship not only between the goals of the two systems of thought, but in their rituals and visual aspects as well. She finds herself sympathetic to the Palagians -- an early Christian sect denounced by the Church of Rome as heretical, who see the sacred relationship between ALL aspects of God's creation -- and finds herself regretting that Patrick had come to drive them out of Ireland.

She is also intensely devoted to St. Brigid, who was herself raised by druids and converted late to Christianity. The cloister of nuns that Gwynneve has joined devotes themselves to maintaining an eternal flame to Brigid -- and it is believed that one night each month Brigid herself comes to guard her own flame.

Gwynneve's talents in reading and writing are soon put to use by her sisters. She is given the task of transcribing scriptures, as well as documents detailing the lives of Patric, Augustine and other saints. It is her steadfast -- and heartfelt -- refusl (or simply, perhaps, her inability) to renounce the teachings of her druidic past that makes her a perceived threat to some of her sisters, and to the abbot risen to power and position who oversees their group. She is intelligent, sensitive and strong-willed -- she will not be moved from the beliefs she holds sacred within her soul.

The novel is not a lengthy one, at just under 200 pages -- but it is an incredibly rich one. It is a work of fiction, but it is presented as an ancient codex, dating from around 500 a.d., supposedly found at an excavation in County Kildare. The author -- in her 'translator's note' at the first of the book -- lays out her purposes in relating the story to the reader, as well as her reasoning in the use of Gaelic and Latin terms that appear in the text (a very helpful glossary of these is found at the end of the novel). The presentation is thus given a very authentic and natural feel -- this is a carefully constructed, shining work. It is moving and poetically charged, filled with wisdom, hope and insight -- it's an experience I know I will never forget, and I can give it my very highest recommendation.

In "Confessions Of A Pagan Nun", Kate Horsley ingeniously creates a fictional manuscript mired in historical fact, much like Umberto Eco's masterpiece, "The Name Of The Rose". The reader is drawn into Ireland, circa 500 AD. This is a beautiful tale about Gwenneve, who is on of nineteen women (nuns) who keep an eternal flame to Brigid, pagan goddess and Catholic saint.

As a child, her mother's stories shaped her young mind to explore ideas, and to use words that express intangibles in a brutal, feral world. Her mother's warning, though, to use her "cleverness [as a way to] be free from the obligations of a woman married to a [simple] man, or at least to keep secrets from him." This advice was not meant to encourage duplicity, but to allow Gwenneve to explore her psyche with a mental and spiritual freedom with Giannon, her Druid teacher, mentor, and partner.

The chapters are titled "Interruptions," but the true interruptions are when Horsley litters the passages with sagacious wit and profound thoughts both simple and complex though her character's eyes. These make the reader put the book down and pause to think critically:

-"For do we not all have reason to choose weakness, and is it most our duty to resist it, or the world would be full of mewling and burdensome souls?" (p.17) -(On contemplating the teaching of St. Paul and St. Augustine:) "If we practice self-hatred, then the sacrifice we make of ourselves and our lives is not sacred, for it then a gift of something we hate rather than of something we have nurtured and loved." (p.32)

A hearty "Brava!" for the author's research of how Christianity grew in Ireland. The trading of agricultural technology for professions of faith was one way that the new Church came to gain believers in this remote land. With these ideas, Gwenneve questions larger issues not confined to one period, institution, or belief system. Through vivid examples of the subjugation of a culture by a "divine" institution, the author brings to light the very personal journey of a woman whose land is in violent evolution. With this foundation, the story takes on what is like a dynamic framework for Margaret Atwood's previously published futuristic "Handmaid's Tale."

Gwenneve acted as one who thought most independently for herself in times where powerful people actively sought scapegoats for various reasons. She also never gave herself totally to the doctrines that were laid upon her. Gwenneve looks to Brigit as both Saint and Goddess, saying, "I believe that which is sacred does not care by what name it is called." Gwenneve says of herself that she was "not fully converted or truly baptized" and therefore was able to rationalize the use of Druidic practices (i.e. the effective use of medicinal plants).

Ultimately, Gwenneve could not bridge the gap between "old" and "new" religions as her life became analogous to the life and legend of Brigid. It is only when the monks come to actively oppress the nuns -- who keep the 20-day cycle of The Flame -- that seems to be the beginning of the end for our dear Gwenneve. She loathed the misuse of power, knew her own mind, and was brave enough to speak it, with sad consequences. As we are drawn into her world, we see the political side of the Church and its subjugation not only of a society but also of an individual's flame...and yet the light of eternal truths which cannot be extinguished.

I would give this book 10 stars out of five, too. My husband got this for me a couple of Christmases ago. I loved the cover (why he bought it for me: it looked like "me") and sure enough, the content did not let me down. I love Kate's lyrical writing and what she writes about. Years ago, I gave up attempting to be a Christian after reading "When God Was a Woman," mainly because I realized that Christianity hasn't been around that long and really qualifies as a testosterone-laced paternalistic cult (now look at how many women voted Bush into power!! Why?).
This book is a lyrical version of that thought. Many times in my life I have felt out of place like the main character in this book: like I don't belong. Gwynneve is my hero. I hope you will read this book and I wish every woman would read this book. I am sad for what happens to her but she is the true saint if there are saints. I love it, love it, love it. Thanks Kate Horsley.

"I am old today," Kate Horsley's 6th century Irish nun Gwynneve writes, chained in her stone cell at the monastery of Saint Brigit. "And I am just born. I am a bird, or a fox, or a bowl, or a knife . . . I can tell you that I have flown this night and seen the face of God and that it looked like the moon almost full. I can tell you that I have grown small as a piece of grain and fell through a tiny hole in a sieve and that a mouse will eat me soon" (p. 169). In the "Translator's Note" to her historical novel, Horsley tells us that Gwynneve's writings were discovered among other AD 500 artifacts in a well "used to hold human remains, agricultural offerings, and other religious items" (p. xi) near Kildare, Ireland. Transcribing the "scriptures, prayers, letters, and truths" (p. 169) of Augustine and Patrick, while also recording the memories of her Pagan youth, Gwynneve finds a "kinship" between Christian and pagan, "between stone chapel and stone circle. One encloses and protects the spirit; the other exposes it and joins it with the elements. In both of these places we conjure the powers that affect and transcend us. We remind ourselves, in both places, that we need oats and milk, but we also need what we cannot see or put in our food bowls" (p. 22). Gwynneve's writings illuminate her life in the Dark Ages, and reveal the love she felt for her druid teacher, Giannon.

Horsley's novel is powerful and poetic, filled with passages that will remained in my thoughts long after the book's final page. "I do not understand a man who does not want to know all that he can know," her wise protagonist reflects. "Why would anyone choose ignorance? If he chooses ignorance because he is lazy, then he is a fool, for the ignorant are put to hard labor digging and hauling stones for masters who tell them they need no knowledge. If a man must labor from dawn to dusk to avoid a blow on the head and to earn a cup of grain, he has no time to gain knowledge and remains a slave to masters. I think, therefore, that it is a worthy vocation to free a man enough that he can learn what he is and what he is capable of, where he came from and what philosophies steer his life" (p. 104). Trying to understand Jesus, she writes "I saw one night the eyes of Our Lord as they looked when He was bolted to the tree. His eyes were weary but made of compassion. I smelled his sweat and tasted the blood that fell down His face from the thorns. And He smiled at me, as though we shared an understanding that time passed and that one legend took the place of another as one chiefton dies and another slips onto his seat of power and marries the land" (p. 161). Horsley triumphs at creating a character so real in Gwynneve that it is hard to believe she is just a work of fiction. This compelling novel haunted me for days.

G. Merritt

'Confessions of a Pagan Nun' is a wonderful written book. It tells the life history of Gwynneve a woman born a Pagan and trying very hard to become a Christian later on in life. The story questions the truth behind Christian beliefs. For example she writes "But if suffering makes saints, then all the people of this land are saints". Writing about Saint Paul and Saint Augustine's connection of self-disgust with righteousness her thoughts are "Self-hatred seems to me an evil thing in itself rather than an antidote to evil. If we practice self-hatred, then the sacrifices we make of ourselves and our lives is not sacred, for it is then a gift of something we hate rather than of something that we have nurtured and loved." Readers will find that many of the thoughts and questions Gwynneve has are still accurate today.

This book was one of few that I literally couldn't put down. I was interested when looking at the cover, and even more compelled to read it once I saw the title. How can a book touch on both natural pagan ideals and forced christianity at the same time without turning a reader off. Well this one is now on my top 5 books to read! A must for every pagan to explain how it was so easy for the Celts to accept an alien religion. While showing you how quickly that religion twisted and fell upon them, suffocating every natural ideal they held dear. It is also a good wake up call for christians who deny that they still feel their DEEP pagan roots. The ending is MOST surprising, and not only left me in tears, but also applauding the strength of the main character in the face of adversity. Filled with such truth, and brutality, I'm sure you won't put it down either. Let your pagan blood flow free and follow it!

I enjoyed this short book for the unique voice it adds to the literature on the time period. However, it disappointed me in the end.

The prose, peppered with awkward metaphors and unnecessary Gaelic vocabulary, did not achieve its intended effect of immersing me into the setting. Rather, it distracted me with its talk of "the time of light green leaves" and sentences like this:

"I will advise Sister Ailenn to ... take some tanag from the im noin to keep in her clochan ..."

Tanag is cheese. Im noin is a meal. A clochan is a beehive cell. Horsley tells us in her playful preface that she preserves Gaelic vocabulary where no English words can capture their meaning. One wonders if she is instead having irresponsible fun with a Gaelic dictionary. (And that preface, which asks us to believe that what follows is a translation of actual writings from a medieval nun, is an authorial intrusion that reminds us exactly who is to blame for the excessive prose.)

More importantly, and damning from my point of view--I found these metaphors and vocabulary contributing to a narrative voice bordering on the sappy New Age drivel that all-too-often ruins serious investigation of this time and place. I suspect, and hope, that this was not Horsley's goal. This is the first time I've read her, though.

For that serious investigation, I'd recommend Geoffrey Moorhouse's SUN DANCING (another fictional imagining) or Cahill's HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION (not fiction--a very nationalistic but still admirable scholarly treatment). Or, go to some of the primary sources: THE LIFE OF ST. COLUMBA, etc. Then come back to CONFESSIONS. You'll be in a better mind to take what is valuable, and discard the rest.

What's valuable? CONFESSIONS is an admirable attempt at portraying the women of this period. Moorehouse, Adomnan of Iona, etc., haven't written much about them. Horsley gets three stars for giving us a character who conveys the conflicts of her times from a believable female point of view.

She'd have gotten five if she'd written it like Moorhouse.