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Sources for Celtic History and Paganism!

So today I was reading Ancient Fire: An Introduction to Gaulish Celtic Polytheism by Segomâros Widugeni when it struck me just how many of the sources were the type of thing that wouldn't necessarily come up on a regular search, particularly some out-of-print books, a lot of which are actually available on the Internet Archive! I took some time to take note of each listed source, and tried to see if I could find the right place to request them from (in the case of a handful of articles and theses), find PDF links where they did already exist, basically whatever I could! Some books are available to buy, most secondhand, and while most are available on Amazon, I won't be linking those here. I'd encourage anyone shopping to consider an alternative option if they can! Now, I haven't read through all of these, but the moment I found at least one of them seems to be impossible to find, I was reminded of the dangers of dying media. So I wanted to put these together so anyone could use them. Not every resource listed is in English. Anyway, on to the list~

Cernunnos: Looking a Different Way

By Ceisiwr Serith

https://ceisiwrserith.com/therest/Cernunnos/cernunnospaper.htm

Cernunnos Origin and Transformation of A Celtic Divinity

By Phyllis Fray Bober

https://www.scribd.com/document/460345187/cernunnos-origin-and-transformation-of-a-celtic-divinity-phyllis-fray-bober

Basic Celtic Deity Types

by Alexei Kondratiev

https://naomh-na-tursan.livejournal.com/5752.html

Deep Ancestors: Practicing the Religion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans

Book by Ceisiwr Serith

https://www.scribd.com/document/362472999/Deep-Ancestors-Practicing-the-Religion-of-the-Proto-Indo-Europeans

The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans

Book by Garrett S. Olmsted

https://www.academia.edu/38135817/The_Gods_of_the_Celts_and_the_Indo_Europeans_revised_2019_

Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend

Book by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/dictionary-of-celtic-myth-and-legend_miranda-aldhouse-green/543335/#edition=5215209&idiq=16154030

The Book of The Great Queen: The Many Faces of the Morrigan from Ancient Legends to Modern Devotions

Book by Morpheus Ravenna Further

to tongu do dia toinges mo thuath [“Mi a dyngaf dynged it”], &c.

By John Koch

https://www.academia.edu/7242277/Further_to_tongu_do_dia_toinges_mo_thuath_Mi_a_dyngaf_dynged_it_and_c

Goddesses in Celtic Religion Cult and Mythology: A Comparative Study of Ancient Ireland, Britain and Gaul

By Noémie Beck

http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2009/beck_n#p=0&a=title

The Integration of Mercury and Lugus: Myth and History in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Gaul

By Krista Ovist

https://archives.library.wales/index.php/integration-of-mercury-and-lugus

Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy, and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tène to the Viking Age

Book by Michael J. Enright

How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics

Book by Calvert Watkins

https://ia801404.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/7/items/twain-mark-a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court/1-ptry.zip&file=How%20to%20Kill%20a%20Dragon%20-%20Aspects%20of%20Indo%20European%20Poetics.pdf

The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries

Book by Jean-Louis Brunaux

The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual

Book by Alexei Kondratiev

https://archive.org/details/applebranchpatht0000kond

Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology

Book by James Mackillop

https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcelt0000mack

The female deities of the Celtic religion: worship and mythology: a comparative study of ancient Ireland, Great Britain and Gaul

By Noémie Beck

https://theses.fr/2009LYO20084

Celtic Curses

Book by Bernard Mees

https://www.academia.edu/1012094/Celtic_Curses_Woodbridge_Boydell_2009

Guide to Irish Mythology

Book by Daragh Smyth

https://archive.org/details/guidetoirishmyth00smyt

The Sacred Isle

Book by Dáithí Ó hÓgáin

https://archive.org/details/sacredislebelief0000ohog

The Matronae and Matres: Breathing New Life into an Old Religion

By River Devora

http://polytheist.com/the-web-of-blessings/2015/08/12/the-matronae-and-matres-breathing-new-life-into-an-old-religion/

Interpretatio Romana and Matronae Iconography

By River Devora

http://polytheist.com/the-web-of-blessings/2015/08/31/interpretatio-romana-and-matronae-iconography/#:~:text=The%20overlay%20of%20interpretatio%20Romana,and%20plaques%20and%20glean%20valuable

Celtic chiefdom, Celtic state: the evolution of complex social systems in prehistoric Europe

By Arnold, Bettina and Gibson, D. Blair

https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3086499

*butacos, *wossos, *geistlos, *ambactos. Celtic Socioeconomic Organisation in the European Iron Age. Studia Celtica 40, 2006: 23-41

By Raimund Karl

https://www.academia.edu/245239/_butacos_wossos_geistlos_ambactos_Celtic_Socioeconomic_Organisation_in_the_European_Iron_Age_Studia_Celtica_40_2006_23_41

The Ancient Celts

Book by Barry Cunliffe

https://archive.org/details/ancientcelts00cunl_0

Sengoidelc: Old Irish for Beginners

Book by David Stifter

https://archive.org/details/sengoidelcoldiri0000stif

Greek Kελτóς and Γαλάτης, Latin Gallus ‘Gaul’

By Kim McCone

https://spr.harrassowitz-library.com/article/spr/2006/1/6

Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales

Book by Alwyn and Brinley Rees

https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.36494

Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism

By Erynn Rowan Laurie, Kathryn Price NicDhàna, Aedh Rua Ó Mórríghan, Kym Lambert ní Dhoireann and John Machate, ed. by Erynn Rowan Laurie

https://web.archive.org/web/20080418025755/http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=trads&id=6645

Which witch is which? : a concise guide to Wiccan and Neo-Pagan paths and traditions

Book Compiled and Edited by Patricia Telesco

Sources for the Three Realms

By Annie Loughlin - original source link is dead, need help to locate!

Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise

Book by Xavier Delmarre

https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedelal00dela (referred to as “Essential for Gaulish Language study)

The Settling of the Manor of Tara

By R.I. Best

https://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/rib.eriu.4.001.t.text.html

The court of law in Iron Age ‚Celtic’ societies. In R. Karl & J. Leskovar (eds.), Interpretierte Eisenzeiten 3. Fallstudien, Methoden, Theorie. Tagungsbeiträge der 3. Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte von Oberösterreich Folge 22, Linz: Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum 2009: 135-60.

By Raimund Karl

https://www.academia.edu/245221/The_court_of_law_in_Iron_Age_Celtic_societies_In_R_Karl_and_J_Leskovar_eds_Interpretierte_Eisenzeiten_3_Fallstudien_Methoden_Theorie_Tagungsbeitr%C3%A4ge_der_3_Linzer_Gespr%C3%A4che_zur_interpretativen_Eisenzeitarch%C3%A4ologie_Studien_zur_Kulturgeschichte_von_Ober%C3%B6sterreich_Folge_22_Linz_Ober%C3%B6sterreichisches_Landesmuseum_2009_135_60

Matasović Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic

By Ranko Matasović

https://archive.org/details/matasovic-etymological-dictionary-of-proto-celtic

Hammer of the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times Second Edition

Book by Swain Wodening

https://archive.org/details/hammerofgodsangl0000swai

Various Works by Christopher Scott Thompson - recommended re: honor in Gaulish society

https://cateransociety.wordpress.com/books/

A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World

Book by Michael Newton and Michael Steven Newton

Celtic Values

By Alexei Kondratiev

http://dagdacelt.freehostia.com/values.html

European paganism : the realities of cult from antiquity to the Middle Ages

By Ken Dowden

https://archive.org/details/europeanpaganism0000dowd

A Definitive Reconstructed Text of the Coligny Calendar

By Garrett Olmsted

https://www.academia.edu/62011364/A_Definitive_Reconstructed_Text_of_the_Coligny_Calendar

New Calendar of Gaulish Polytheism

By Jess via Nemeton Nigromanitcos

https://thebloodybones.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/new-calendar-of-gaulish-polytheism/#more-265

Calendar of Feast-Days of Deities

Via the blog Deo Mercutio

https://deomercurio.wordpress.com/calendar-of-feast-days-of-deities/

Altkeltische Sozialstrukturen

By Raimund Karl

https://homepage.univie.ac.at/Raimund.Karl/Sozialstrukturen.pdf

La Langue Gauloise

Book by Pierre-Yves Lambert

https://www.scribd.com/document/782869557/Lambert-1994-La-langue-gauloise-description-linguistique-commentaire-d-inscriptions-choisies

Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology & Practice

Book by Bruce Lincoln

The Gods of the Celts

Book by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

https://archive.org/details/godsofceltsar00mira

War Goddess The Morrigan And Her Germano Celtic Counterparts

Book by Angelique Gulermovich Epstein

https://archive.org/details/WarGoddessTheMorriganAndHerGermanoCelticCounterparts

Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby

- Database of “almost all inscriptions ever recorded”

https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/hinweise/hinweis-en.html

A website on Gallo-Roman religion:

http://www.deomercurio.be/en/

A scholarly website with information on Epona:

https://epona.net/

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before you ask "are the gods mad at me?" THINK:

have you...

1. killed or maimed someone

2. killed or maimed an animal for purposes other than consuming/processing it

3. knowingly and purposefully hurled vile obscenities or insults at any god or gods

4. made it a life goal to be a terrible person

5. been a terf

IF YOU SAID NO TO ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS then girl you're fine go have a dr. pepper

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Twenty years in and guess what! That feeling doesn't go away!

Which is good. Gods forfend I ever think I know everything.

I've been practicing for 12 years and yet I feel like I've still only just begun my journey in paganism. I know so much yet feels like so little, its strange.

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I saw a post about working with nature spirits that got me thinking. It started off by saying that the local nature spirits don't like colonizers, but I'll be honest: I don't think nature spirits care about that.

Animals kill other animals. They fight over food and territory and mates. They come in and make drastic changes to the environment that are to the benefit of some species and the detriment of others (beavers, anyone?). While humans may do this on a different scale than other animals, we're still animals doing animal things in the end. I don't think a river is going to have deep opinions on people of different skin colors killing each other.

That's not to dismiss the horrors of colonization, but _what does a river care_? A mountain, a tree, a dandelion?

It also skirts dangerously close to the Noble Savage trope. The nature spirits are horrified that we drove off their friends, who lived with them in magical harmony!

I acknowledge the shameful things done by my ancestors. And the willow by the pond still greets me, and the swaying grasses know my name, and I am no more or less capable of connection, and of harm, than any other human of any skin color or origin.

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Aside from an occasional "do you have a message for me" or "is this offering accepted" I don't often try to directly interact with my deities, if that makes sense.

I make my prayers and offerings and leave it at that.

But I recently decided to ask some more specific things of a couple of them as I rethink some parts of my practice, and friends, Taranis is hilariously blunt.

I'm charmed, honestly.

Part of me would love to work more closely with him but he has made it clear that I have enough on my plate.

I feel like I do have room for more but Abnoba gave me a similar although less blunt reminder about balance. So I'll stick to my current "workload" with my creative writing and prayer writing (for Brigid) and my nature restoration work.

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An Invocation to Ogma

Ogma (OH-ma), sun-faced one, he who granted us the gift of Ogham,  I call to you. Shine upon us, silver tongued Lord,  Pour your inspiration over us, eloquent god,  Ignite the fires of inspiration in us, honey-mouthed champion, That you may light the way to brilliant words that stir hearts.  I give you this offering, clever one, in your honor and in hope of your blessing.

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Localise your practice. You don’t need to offer the things traditionally associated with your deity if you don’t have them. No wheat or barley to offer Renenutet? The dandelion in your garden will do just fine if that’s what fits your practice. No moonstone for Artemis? A pretty rock you picked from the forest will look amazing on her altar.

Our gods were worshipped around a wide geographical range, with diverse cultures, plants and animals. Don’t let the unavailability of certain resources stop you from worshipping in a way that is authentic to you.

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I have been really digging into research lately. I have been a pagan a long time, but for various reasons, didn't look super deep into the mythology.

Now that I am older and have the money to buy books and such, the more I look the more I think we need to change how we think about the Celtic pantheons.

Because it's not a pantheon like, say, the Roman pantheon. Especially when you are looking at the gods of the Gauls, because they were the gods of many tribes, not a united people.

They are the gods of a people that are gone, a language that is dead, and a place that--for most of us--we're nowhere near.

Now it's different when you get to the later (living!) Celtic cultures, but even then you get a lot of interesting overlap between deities. I feel as if that may well have evolved from the earlier tribes, and why the stories sometimes provide different names and different lineages for various deities, because you're not pulling from a singular source.

I'm not sure where I was going with this, exactly. It's just something I'm musing on while researching Abnoba, and figuring out how I want to worship her.

Because I do! But what does it mean to worship the goddess of the Black Forest over here in the Midwest?

I'm feeling that while yes, Abnoba is a huntress, it is...more than that. We know that part from her being linked to Diana, and the one statue we have of her with a hound and a quiver.

But Abnoba was also the name of the mountains, from which came the rivers. Perhaps she is really a deity of the entire bounty of that land, the land and the waters and yes, the forest. Another sovereignty goddess of that particular location, of which the early Celts had so many.

My great-grandmother came from there. Yes, this is my German heritage, not my Irish/Scottish side, but it's part of why I am drawn to Abnoba. If she is a goddess of a place, that place shaped some of my ancestors, and I am fascinated by all of it.

But again, what does it mean to worship the goddess of a place while in another place?

Back to Abnoba as a huntress. A wise hunter knows they have to take care of the environment if they want to have anything to hunt. So even if you don't actively hunt, land conservation is key.

Know your land. Take care of your land. Appreciate the bounty it gives you.

(Which is something you should do anyway but I digress.)

And as I hunt for neither sustenance or sport, I would also invoke Abnoba for metaphorical hunts. Hunting for a job, hunting for the perfect gift, etc (because why not? It can involve surprisingly similar skills of knowledge and observation).

Now, I started this post talking about the Celtic pantheons as a whole and I'd like to circle back to that. I kept looking for differences between deities, as if I could honor them all somehow if I just knew for what. But they don't work that way! The goddess of this healing spring over here is fundamentally the same as the goddess of that healing spring over there! Not that they are the same--I am a harder theist than that, but their purpose is so similar (from what information we have) as to nevermind. The fine details and differences of mythology are lost to us. If we're lucky, we have some statues with some different iconography as clues.

Even in the Irish set of deities, if you want A Healing Deity, well, you've got several!

There is nothing neat and defined about the pantheons, and I think people get frustrated and confused by that. Who do I pray to for X? Well, pick one! How do I pick one? Well, that depends!

Although I can think of say, several Roman deities who touch on healing to some degree, it's just not quite as tangled as the Celtic deities get.

I wonder if there is an easier way to present the many Celtic deities to people? Should we even?

Anyway, welcome to my winter wonderings.

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To Abnoba

I call to Abnoba of the wilderness, your bow at the ready, your well-honed shafts at hand; keen of eye you are, goddess, and fleet of foot, your nerve never falters, your aim never errs. Abnoba who we see in the shift of shadows, whose breath we feel on the back of the neck, we hear you in the cry of the hawk, the bay of the wolf, we know you in the tangled wood, the cold-water stream, the sweet scent of fallen leaves in decay. The madness of the hunt is yours, O goddess, the pounding heart of predator and prey; Abnoba of the shining eyes, I honor you.

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To Epona

Far-faring Epona whose goodness and grace are well known, whose name was called out in prayer across the broad lands of the old world, Epona of Gaul and of Rome, Epona of the mare and the foal, goddess enthroned, I pray to you. Epona, goddess wreathed in roses, bearer of fruit and golden grain, granter of blessings needful and dear: by your might, O Epona, wild horses grow gentle, barren fields become green, famine and drought submit to your will. Epona, goddess whose honor and renown yet grows, I offer you my praise and my devotion.

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Apparently sitting down to write prayers is how I make myself write everything else I've been putting off

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To the roadkill, Those animals on the road, The ones who once lived.

Deprived of life, Deprived of kindness, Deprived of purpose For all but the Vultures, Guardians of the dead.

May those who guide you onwards Be gentler than the things that killed you.

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Prayer to Epona

Hail Epona, Great Mare, I call unto you, for a steed has fallen. A steed worthy of all honor and love, who leaves wounded hearts behind him. Take him with you, Epona, That he may know peace and health, joy and rest, love and abundance. If there was aught he was missing in life, Let him have it unending amounts in Your care. Great Mare, Succor those who have been left behind. We wail and grieve, for who could not? The bond between horse and human is sacred. We love them despite knowing That our time together is too short.

Hail Epona...and thank you.

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Random Bit of Advice

If you look for signs, everything's a sign.

If you look for omens, everything's an omen.

That's it, that's the advice. Still got a bit of my sammich left but ye

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Occasionally it gets bumped and Taranis takes a header, but he doesn't mind. ADHD children are gonna ADHD.

I made the wooden peg dolls and the needle felt dolls because although I would love to drop 70 plus bucks on a nice big statue for everyone, my space and my wallet disagree.

I'm thinking about doing something along the lines of a general altar for deities that don't have their own space 🤔

Mostly because I'm running out of space in my room to build more specific altars but also because I'd still like to casually offer things to different deities and light candles for prayers even if I'm not a devotee of theirs.

The only problem now is figuring out what a general altar would look like ;-;

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I use a shelf like this for roughly that purpose. I artfully filled the empty nooks with random stuff but I have new deities to fill in here soon.

I'm thinking about doing something along the lines of a general altar for deities that don't have their own space 🤔

Mostly because I'm running out of space in my room to build more specific altars but also because I'd still like to casually offer things to different deities and light candles for prayers even if I'm not a devotee of theirs.

The only problem now is figuring out what a general altar would look like ;-;