The Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditations

The idea of this book is to provide the reader with points of meditation and inspiration based on the seasons of the year and Celtic sources. The author takes the viewpoint that the Celts lived in harmony with the seasons and the cycles of the year and uses literature and writings to provide brief vignettes for the reader to focus on. This book is a lovely presentation. A small, hard covered book, the dust jacket is a colorful Celtic knot work, but if you remove the dust jacket, the hard cover is embossed with the title and more Celtic knot work. Each page is graced with a Celtic knot "watermark" in light grey that is not distracting but repeats the Celtic theme on every page. A very lovely presentation overall. The book is pocket sized, making it easy to take along. And the meditation pieces mostly cover one page, sometimes two at most. This allows for brief meditations if the time is limited, say at lunch time or early morning. The mediations are mostly derived from myths and legends of the Celtic people. The author is well qualified in this area, as she is a Celtic scholar with several books published on this topic, founding member of a theater group specializing in presentations of Celtic myths, and an accomplished harpist who has a number of recording of Celtic music to her name. Some of the material may have a lead-in to the meditative passages. Shapeshifting, for example, is basically outlined, and then a poem on shapeshifting is offered for meditation. I found this to be a nice addition to the material. The meditations are grouped according to their content, focusing on the four seasons. As the Celts were very seasonally focused in their practices, the material presented is well placed for the associations. Each section is introduced with some background, a basic overview of the holidays associated with the season, and some facts that explain why some material is included in the section. Material is taken from a variety of sources, and while some are easily recognized, others will be new to you and are just as delightful. From the story of Finn mac Cumhail to poetry that the author reworked from some ancient Celtic poems, the material presented is varied and does offer points for meditative contemplation and some personal soul searching. There are meditations on some plights of various heroes and heroines, Celtic symbols, various Deities of the Celts and their stories and deeds, stories of the fairies, seasonal holidays and some delightful short poems. An example, which I found very appropriate for its ability to invoke meditation on several levels, comes from the "Autumn" section: "After the delight of summer in each field and hollow comes the weeping of the leaves, the long sorrow." A beautiful passage, and very much one to invoke much contemplation, not only about the season, but also on life itself. The conclusions you draw on this material will be your own. The author does not suggest any kind of "right