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62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Spirit, Some Inaccuracies, May 31, 2002
This review is from: Druid Magic: The Practice of Celtic Wisdom (Paperback)
Druid Magic is a book that is certainly an interesting look at the beliefs and worldview of neo-Pagan Druidry--the contemporary reconstructionist Druid philosophy that has largely been inspired by the English 17th century Romanticist movement of Edward Williams. However, I feel that it is important to make note that it cannot be taken as an accurate representation of the Druid tradition as a whole--the ancient religion of the various Celtic peoples. The book attempts too much, attempting to serve as an authoritative historical perspective (which it falls short of, including a couple of glaring inaccuracies), and an offering of the practices of modern Druidry (which it could have done more of). New students and seekers exploring these ways will certainly find some valuable basic material addressing certain components of orientation that one will find in both neo-Pagan Druidry and in Druidism (the ancient druidic religious stream, as opposed to the neo-Druidry of today, which does in fact survive today in certain practices that have their source with continuing rural Celtic folk faiths as opposed to neo-reconstructionism). However, unfortunately, many readers may be duped by DRUID MAGIC into taking their rendition of neo-Pagan Druidry to somehow be the full spectrum of the actual Druid tradition, and this is inaccurate. I have to agree with the reviewer from Boulder, Colorado (see below) on two points as well. There WERE in fact organized colleges or learning centers of Druidism, most especially in Ireland and Scotland, including the Isle of Iona and North Uist. The authors make a claim against such a phenomenon, yet even a scanty survey of druid history will suggest that many of the Celtic countries sent fledgling students to Scotland for tutelage. One of the most famous of the Draoi (druids) in Scotland was named Durach, who maintained a learning center on the Isle of Iona (known even today to some Scottish Highlanders as Isla na Druideach, Isle of the Druids) where he transmitted, essentially, the arts and skills of advanced psychic ability and extra-sensory perception ... Likewise, the evidence is also overwhelmingly clear that in parts of Scotland and Ireland certain families of Druidic origin (namely the O'Cassidys, the MacPhersons, the MacMillans, the Lamonts, the MacEwens, etc.) transitioned into either bardic roles or church ecclesiastical roles within the Celtic Church, or both. The authors make the classic mistake of neo-Pagan scholarship today (which almost always has an instant knee-jerk reaction to anything Christian without holding open the reality that there were very druidic-like versions of contemplative Christian practice) by suggesting that Druidism and the pre-Roman Celtic Christian contemplative and mystical traditions were somehow completely at odds, which they were not, historically, nor even theologically up to a certain point ("Christ the Word has always been among us. There has never been a time when the Druids of Britain did not know of the Word."--Taliesin) The authors do offer some interesting visualizations and meditations for the seeker and practitioner, to at least attune themselves to the spirit of certain druidic orientations and themes (the Otherworld, nature, etc.)--which might be helpful to some, but like so many of the Llewelyn books I was disappointed.
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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Druid Hokum, October 3, 2002
This review is from: Druid Magic: The Practice of Celtic Wisdom (Paperback)
As a practicing Druidic Neopagan and a teacher of the history of the Celtic nations and their spiritual traditions, I've been frankly astounded at some of the recommendations I've seen for this book. Serious-minded modern Druidic practitioners who have argued for years against claims for shamanic traditions among the ancient Druids seem to have laid down their arguments wholesale in the face of a book that does nothing more than relabel most of those practices as "Druid Magic", rather than "Celtic Shamanism". If one sets aside quibbles over labels like these, there are vastly better and more reliable works out there, such as THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CELTIC WISDOM. Setting aside the historical inaccuracies covered by others who have already reviewed this book, in general, this is an overinflated hodgepodge of a few quotes from primary source materials taken out of context and tarted up for inclusion in a sort of "DIY" modern Druid training scheme mixed with the New Agey men's group sexual agenda of co-author Mann--most of which has nothing whatsoever to do with the sexual politics of the ancient British Isles (for which readers would be better off starting with SEX AND MARRIAGE IN ANCIENT IRELAND). Though this book is nowhere near the level of idiocy to be found in books like THE 21 LESSONS OF MERLIN or WITTA, it is still rarely better than silly. ...And don't fall for the "Ph.D." after co-author Sutton's name...it apparently stands for her self-bestowed title, "Practicing Holistic Druid."
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52 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disney Land Druids, September 22, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Druid Magic: The Practice of Celtic Wisdom (Paperback)
I find it unfortunate that in an era where some incredible research is being released on the Druids in books such as The Druids, by Peter Berresford Ellis and The Druids: Celtic Nature Priests, by Jean Markele, that something like this would come out and make some of the outlandish claims that it does, e.g., there were never Druid colleges, or Druids never transitioned smoothly into Celtic Christianity. Where did you dredge this up? In the Scottish Highlands there is very good evidence that there were Druid colleges (see "Celtic Druidism: Early Colleges in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland", Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust journal DALRIADA, Bealtinne 2000 issue, written by an authentic living seannachie (bard) from the Isle of Skye named George MacPherson. We know very well from both oral tradition and recorded accounts within Highland and Irish culture that the Isle of Iona was the site of a college of Druidic training before the coming of Columkille. No, there were no people from southern England in attendance. It was a center of transmission to specifically Gaelic Druids. There is also an incredible wealth of information available now about the transition of Druids over into the pre-Roman Church of the Celts. (See Ellis' The Druids--a much better purchase for your pound). Certainly there was resistance in some cases and certainly there was resistance of Celtic missionaries to some of the indigenous Druidic religion as well, but the evidence of a synthesis at this point far outweighs the former. The problem with Celtic-fantasy books like Druid Magic is that it strives for a kind of mish-mash of Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Breton culture, without realizing that Celtic mysticism, religions, folk shamanism and Druidism was not some kind of homogenized tradition. There are drastic differences between the customs and languages (and therefore the thought processes) of people in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Ironic that in this book there is a desire to distance their "druidry" from anything that might involve the Celtic Christian tradition, and yet they actively cling to an archetype of the "Peregrine Druid." The 'peregrinatio' metaphor and mythos is actually part of the Desert monastic tradition of pre-Roman Christian mysticism of which the Celtic Church was a part before the Synod of Whitby. I cannot recommend this book. I think readers would be much more highly served by some of the more respected writers in the field, such as F. Marian McNeill's 'The Silver Bough', Elizabeth Sutherland's 'Ravens and Black Rain', Francis Thompson's 'The Supernatural Highlands', Anne Ross' 'Folklore of the Scottish Highlands' and the very excellent work of Jean Markele and Peter Berresford Ellis. For the experientially inclined I recommend Tom Cowan's Fire in the Head and similar writings. But, generally speaking--and I think my perception is shared by many of us in the Irish and Scottish community--if you pick up a book on Paganism, Druidism or Celtic matters and you see a little crescent moon on the binding of the book, place it carefully back upon the shelf and keep looking. The historical inaccuracies and fly-by-the-seat of our witchbrooms in these Celtic-fantasy works aren't even worth starting your Bealtinne fire with. Sorry to be so harsh, but come on. . . . . .
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