Celtic Rituals: A Guide to Ancient Celtic Spirituality

I can't even begin to explain how good this book is. It is, bar none, the best book about Celtic traditions I've seen yet, and I've read a lot of them--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Kondratiev is not afraid of controversy; he spends the beginning of the book expressing some strong opinions. A person wishing to use Celtic spirituality, he asserts, should become a defender of Celtic ways on the more mundane and political level as well. Most importantly, the Celtophile should learn one of the six Celtic languages, since they, along with the worldview they describe, are rapidly disappearing as people begin to speak only English or French in the Celtic nations. And he's probably right. One should embrace all of Celtic culture, not just the "fun stuff", if s/he wants to embrace the spirituality.The rest of the book is concerned with spiritual rituals for the major earth holidays of the Wheel of the Year, and rituals for the lunar cycles. Kondratiev gathers together huge amounts of information from both Pagan and Christian traditions. He examines the way the holidays are celebrated and were celebrated in the past, and draws parallels between the traditions and mythic stories that may be related. In this way, he gives each festival a "story" or two that illustrates its meaning. Then, he gives a sample ritual as performed by his circle, Celi De. The best way to describe it is that it's similar to the Farrars' _Eight Sabbats for Witches_, only better--both more scholarly and more emotional, two qualities often difficult to combine.This book is invaluable for anyone wishing to delve deeply into Celtic spirituality. It's out of print, but try to find it wherever you can. You won't regret it.