Celtic Books

If only one multi-volume set on Celtic culture were to be considered for a collection, whether it be a high school, college or public library holding, it should be the outstanding John T. Koch gathering CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. Entries hold far more than a paragraph or two of detail: they come packed with page after page of annotated articles referencing and using primary sources and exploring everything from early Celtic literature to early settlements, early arts, and key figures. With its depth and detail, CELTIC CULTURE does more than define: it provided plenty of information suitable for reports plus the references which lend to easy further research for those producing more in-depth research reports. A powerful, recommended reference acquisition for any collection needing to fill the gaps in Celtic history.

This book will prove valuable to all those who want to enrich their spiritual experience of God in a way that has something of the Celtic to it. Whether you are new to all things Celtic or have journeyed long along this particular road, you will find much that is helpful on your spiritual walk.

With his deep and insightful use of celtic poetry, texts and Scripture references, Ray Simpson helps us to experience a deeply personal refreshing of God's Holy Spirit. Get it now and read it. Using it will change your life!

When I ordered this book, I was afraid that a lot of the designs would be from the "Celtic animals" and "Celtic Iron on Transfers". Fortunately, they're all unique. They are all larger than the the designs in the other books.

I'm not really sure whether this book deserves 5 stars, and here's why: I believe it was written in a subpar manner, and could have been better compiled and presented, but the material of which Ulick O'Connor writes is so sublime in itself it takes the book along with it, to a higher plane. During the course of reading this book, and after it's completion, The Irish Literary Renaissance came to be a very interesting and worthwhile subject to me. This story is centered in Ireland, during one of her latest struggles for independence. The coupling of this daring time with the enduring personalities and geniuses of people such as Douglas Hyde, W.B. Yeats, George Moore, Edward Martyn, AE, James Joyce and Lady Gregory made for a very unique and captivating period of time. I came to understand not only these men and women's actions and acievements, and the noble motives behind them, but also their individual passions and goals.

O'Connor does digress and deviate regularly, and is a little scattered, but this story is well worth reading. This book takes you directly and personally to the heart of a wondrous and important time. 5 stars!

This edition of Aidan Meehan's Celtic art is actually three of his books under one cover: A BEGINNER'S MANUAL, KNOTWORK: THE SECRET METHOD OF THE SCRIBES and ILLUMINATED LETTERS. From a beginner's introduction to Celtic forms and geometric methods to a detailed in-depth review of knotwork and the history behind it, this comes from a long-time researcher in Celtic knot design who has produced an eight-volume series, and comes complete with full-page black and white design examples throughout. Any art library or any library with more than a casual interest in Celtic history and culture needs THE CELTIC DESIGN BOOK.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is an excellent book for those looking to create celtic designs.

This book teaches the primitive geometric pater, the origin of the maze pattern, the mammoth hunter's maze, the meaning of mazes, and the camonica valley maze. It then goes into drawing mazes freehand, and has a collection of maze patterns.

The book is best used when accompianied by Aidan's other Celtic Design books. I have 7 of the books in this series and love them all!

All in all this is a great book for someone looking to create celtic designs.

This book by David James can be used as a source of beautiful designs which can be adapted to many media - I have used them myself to make computer art and know of someone using his designs for quilting. There is no limit to their usefulness for those enthralled by the beauty and complexity of Celtic design.

First, the prospective reader should realize that there are two versions of Celtic Devotional in print. The one here reviewed (ISBN 1-84181-197-1) differs only in that the book is physically larger and contains more prayers, blessings, and other supplementary materials than the earlier release (ISBN 1-899434-06-2). If you can find the revised edition buy it. If not, the earlier one is certainly excellent as it stands.

To the best of my knowledge there is no book quite like Celtic Devotional. You can find books galore dealing with Druidism/Druidry and "Celtic" paganism, shamanism, and magic(k). Some of these are, to my taste, original and quite good. Others, unfortunately the majority, appear to be derivative or just plain junk. No matter the quality, however, none that I've found immerse the novice in Neoceltic spiritual practice as immediately and fruitfully as the Devotional. Without burdening the beginner with specifics, the Devotional gets right into the pattern of morning and evening devotions to the sacred however identified. And even if you don't know with whom you are having the pleasure, the Devotional will serve you until such time as the particulars of your practice become clearer. To help that come about I would supplement the Devotional with the author's excellent The Celtic Wisdom Tarot with Cards. Even if tarot or divination isn't your thing, meditating on the images of the Wisdom Tarot can help you find your soul's teacher or get an intuition of the guardians, soul protectors, and "holy ones" the Devotional refers to generically.

I've used the Devotional since it was published. I haven't tired of it, and it never ceases to inspire me.

I have settled into this routine: each morning, a cup of tea and a "day" from Miller's "Celtic Devotions." This ritual fills me, opens possibility, sometimes admonishes, always inspires.

A "day" from Miller's pages is arranged like this... an opening prayer or meditation, then Morning Reading, Morning Prayer, Evening Reading and Evening Prayer. I take the whole day at once, knowing myself; I rarely come back to things like this when night descends.

Miller's poetic reflections move me. Bits of Psalm 119, which provide the Morning Reading reorient me. The rhythms of Celtic life and thought and verse, oft quoted from the "Carmina Gadelica" (a collection of Gaelic songs) take me to another time then bring me home... longing, musing, praying, dreaming, hoping, resting.

So I take my tea, and I read.

A motley collection of characters adorn the pages of this wonderful book. Lawyers, nurses, doctors, farmers, pub owners, housewives, roving tinkers, soldiers and sailors, they are captured in these pages in what someone else once called, "the art of the glimpse."

Some of the tales are set in rural Ireland, others in Ireland's capital city of Dublin. They are stories of an Ireland that existed long before the advent of the "Celtic Tiger," which brought with it all the woes that modern industrialization has to offer. Whether Ireland is the better for this burgeoning economy is open for discussion, although she has not lost her generosity or sociability, always her greatest assset.

From the Easter Rising of 1916 to the late '70s, these are stories of simpler times from a land than can shake the heart: the storie's drama comes not from what these characters say, but from what they don't say, which is indeed characteristically Irish.

As noted in the book's preface, pubs, politics and the church are the perennial punctuations of Irish life. Few stories are told without them and all things are viewed through the lens of conversation. The Irish born Jordan's talent for bring characters to life through their conversations made me feel like an eavesdropper.

You don't have to be Irish to enjoy these yarns. You just need to enjoy a good read. Celtic Echoes is all of that.