Twilight of the Celtic Gods: An Exploration of Britain's Hidden Pagan Traditions [Hardcover]

David Clarke (Author), Andy Roberts (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Blandford Pr (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713725222
• ISBN-13: 978-0713725223
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,347,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Broad Historical text, December 30, 2000

By 

Anita Holloway (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twilight of the Celtic Gods: An Exploration of Britain's Hidden Pagan Traditions (Hardcover)

This really is an exploration of the ground information of Celtic knowledge and history. It also includes informative descriptions of the traditional Celtic guardians and animals, and site-relevant histories. It includes black and white drawings, glossy colour prints and contact addresses. An excellent text.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Plain Truth, August 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Twilight of the Celtic Gods: An Exploration of Britain's Hidden Pagan Traditions (Hardcover)

This is a must-have for those who seek to follow a Celtic path of spirituality. It will not tell you how to be a neopagan-- it will show you how the remnants of ancient Celtic tradition are (or were, up until the 1970s) practised in rural parts of Great Britain-- and you can take it from there. It will give you insights into the essence of ancient Celtic spirituality as gleaned from living traditions, and a sprinkling of folklore, archeology, history and legend. This book will no doubt anger followers of "Celtic Wicca" and "Faery Wicca", as this book will disabuse its readers of any notion that these paths are in any way traditional Celtic paths.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have been so much more ..., June 17, 2008

By 

Foghorn (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twilight of the Celtic Gods: An Exploration of Britain's Hidden Pagan Traditions (Hardcover)

bought this book as it was considered the antithesis of all that Professor Ronald Hutton pronounced about there being no continuous survival of pagan traditions in the British Isles.

The authors rely on testimony from unnamed interviewees living in the Peak District, the Dales and parts of Scotland. I have to say as much as I can respect these witnesses wanting to remain anonymous, it does give the book an air of "a friend of a friend" type tales. It is even stranger that none of the practices to which the sources testify have ever been written down in this modern age, despite the authors' assertions that these areas remained isolated from the rest of Britain.

The book covers a number of different practices, such as veneration of stones, wells, rivers and trees. It also delves into local folklore and the strong links people in certain areas of Britain have with the celtic landscape, at least up until ten years ago, and it showed how, at times, incomers were rebuked for disturbing areas of importance.

I enjoyed the book and admired the authors attempts to offer proof of a continuous tradition of honouring the spirit of the land, but I had real difficulty in believing the proof being offered; I'd need more evidence to be convinced. What's more, I was not in this country at the time that various television programmes, mentioned several times in the book, were broadcast. I wanted to believe, but, for me, the links were tenuous at best.

The book was written in an easy and comfortable style, the photographs were good if a bit scarce.

"Twilight of the Celtic Gods" could have been so much more, but I think the authors approach from a folkloric, rather than purely academic approach may have hindered them. For those using Twilight of the Celtic Gods as a criticism of Prof. Ronald Hutton's work, its flimsy indeed.

I will keep the book for future reference, I am just not sure why.