The Lore of the Bard: A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries [Paperback]

Arthur Rowan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2003

The bards were lore-keepers, great magic workers, and soul singers of healing. They were highly esteemed and considered untouchable by Celtic nobles and otherworldly beings. This book fills an untended gap in the Celtic tradition. It lays down a philosophy for living in accordance with the Old Ways, with a complete magical practice combining the innate magical properties of objects, locations, and times with the passionately moving and enchanting forces of poetry and music.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur Rowan (Alaska) has followed the druidic-bardic path for many years.  He is a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, one of the oldest druidic groups surviving into the 21st century.  An accomplished harper and whistle player, he spends much of his time deep in the Alaskan wilderness, creating bardic music and poetry to the whims and cycles of nature.

Rowan spends much of his time researching his passions: folklore, folk music, and parapsychology, believing they are linked. “Folklore and folk music are the tales and the moods that speak to people’s innermost being across generations, and parapsychology is the study of that spiritual or psychic thread that binds us to all times and places.  Each is a different perspective on that which means the most to us.  They are the links that give life the meaning that most matters, the search for the mystery and the magic that transcends merely knowing.”

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (April 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738702854
• ISBN-13: 978-0738702858
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Druidism
  • #86 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Celtic

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very helpful, December 9, 2003

By 

Daphne (America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lore of the Bard: A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries (Paperback)

The effort Rowan put into this tome is apparent from page one. Masterfully combining art, history, and Celtic lore he clarifies one of the most beautiful and least understood paths of the druid traditon--the bard's way. I particularly like the way Rowan deviated from current tradition. I get the feeling he looked right into the old resources and used them to try to recreate the old bard's way from scratch. While this might rub some people wrong (it rubbed me wrong at first), it shows he dared do what has to be sometimes done to keep Pagan paths from devolving--he broke new tradition to re-assert old truths. Kudos, Rowan.

The only problem I had with it is his writing is a bit deep sometimes, but it is worth having to go over it twice. I learned a lot.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a Bard, not M. Sc. in Bardology, April 26, 2006

By 

The cLuMzter (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lore of the Bard: A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries (Paperback)

I've always wondered why someone who has been a druid or a bard for ten years is still buying books about it. The reason this puzzles me is that nature has many of the answers and whether you believe that or not isn't the problem... the problem is that you've made the choice to be a druid or a bard and thus this is what your belief set states. In other words, the adage would go, why read a book when you can get the answer from the source.

You might think that this little blurb has nothing to do with Rowan's book but in fact it has everything to do with it.

Because from reading his book you can be sure of one thing... he is a bard.

Now if you judge a bard by his scholarly insight of the occult and the names of various trees invented by another 'man' or by his knowledge into the intricate and utterly unreliable history of the druids, well then he might not make the grade... but I wouldn't know because I certaintly don't have that knowledge either.

But if you judge this book on its merits, which are... that when you read this book you smile, then this book passes with flying colors. You smile because you know what he means... you felt lost before... alone in the world of the hierarchial machine of the occult. And now finally someone went out and did it. He became a bard.

You can almost see him laughing while he recites the green man poem. It makes me smile every time I recite it as it should you because that's what being a bard is all about. But this book isn't at all new agey. A person can smile without assuming that everything is all peachy.

My only criticism with this book is that it doesn't have enough practical information in it and it jumps into some very powerful meditating waaay too early.

If you really are considering being a bard however(which I actually am working on... yes it's crazy but I am) then I really think you should have a look at this book.

Maybe he didn't dot his I's or cross his T's but this isn't a class in rhetoric nor is it a class in assumptive history. It's about being a bard and having fun doing it.

I only wrote this review because I was looking for something on the Internet and wondered if he had put out anything else. When I came across the book I noticed it wasn't even available anymore as a new book via Amazon only through the used books section.

If stuff like 'The Witches' Bible' or 'Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft' have you running nauseous to the toilet then for a breath of fresh air take a look at this. Of course playing a harp for a tree and some other foliage works as well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good place to start, November 10, 2005

By 

A. S. Collinson (North Wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lore of the Bard: A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries (Paperback)

Arthur Rowans book is an enjoyable and informative read giving a broad general insight into Bardic lore and practice. As commented in a couple of other reviews here, it does not have a particularly scholarly approach, which for me is a good thing, if it had I probably wouldn't have read it. Anyway, I would much rather listen to a man who has entwined fear and revelation in the wild, than to a bookish scholar who has no experience of the real thing.
When we consider that the 16th and17th century recreations of modern druidry were based on fact, forgery and wishful thinking, then we must allow a little leeway in our judgement of these things. Certainly I found the book useful, scholarly and wrong by degrees, but was none the less worthy for all that. And in the true bardic tradition; 'why let the facts get in the way of a good story'. Arthur Rowan tells the story well, and in some instances, music and poetry for instance, he tells it as well as any.
If this book were to be read in isolation from all others, then, perhaps the reader may be led astray here and there; but no-one does that. We all read this and that and choose the truth in each to be our guide. In my opinion, The Lore of the Bard is as good a place to start as any.