Any other Celtic Recons?

[Dral]

Just wondering if there were any other Celtic Reconstructionists lurking around the forum

[cesara]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Not a 'recon' per se, but have done much study into the Celts of Gaul. Which sort of Celtic influence are you most interested in? As you know the word 'Celt' covers a lot of ground.

[Zephyranth]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

I'm very interested in learning more, but I don't believe I'm knowledgeable enough to call myself a Reconstructionist :P

[Jembru]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Celtic (Brythonic): yes. Recon: no.

I do read articles from recons and I find a lot of their patchwork extrapolation of fact inspiring and often borrow things from them into my own practice. Yet there is very little I have read, to convince me that the information is any more than theory. Well researched and planned out theory, but theory nontheless. That led me to believe any attempt to reconstruct ancient Celtic practices, is likely to create a slug-like creature not unlike the first attempt to reconstruct an iguanodon.. you know, with its thumb claw on its nose!! Then again, by my own argument, had that first attempt at reconstructing an iguanodon never happened, would we have the vast knowledge of dinosaur physiology we have today? So.. I'm not exactly AGAINST recon.. I admire their work, I just need a system that works NOW, and I think my gods are adaptable enough to be incorportated into the modern world, with our modern concerns. It seems to me that when a religion remains unchanged, it can become stagnant and alienate members: *cough*Catholic church*cough*

[Dral]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Not a 'recon' per se, but have done much study into the Celts of Gaul. Which sort of Celtic influence are you most interested in? As you know the word 'Celt' covers a lot of ground.

Me personally, when I say Celt I mean Irish Celtic, specifically my patrons are the Morrigan and Lugh, though I work with Brighid and Nemeain.

What study have you done into the Gauls?

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Celtic (Brythonic): yes. Recon: no.

I do read articles from recons and I find a lot of their patchwork extrapolation of fact inspiring and often borrow things from them into my own practice. Yet there is very little I have read, to convince me that the information is any more than theory. Well researched and planned out theory, but theory nontheless. That led me to believe any attempt to reconstruct ancient Celtic practices, is likely to create a slug-like creature not unlike the first attempt to reconstruct an iguanodon.. you know, with its thumb claw on its nose!! Then again, by my own argument, had that first attempt at reconstructing an iguanodon never happened, would we have the vast knowledge of dinosaur physiology we have today? So.. I'm not exactly AGAINST recon.. I admire their work, I just need a system that works NOW, and I think my gods are adaptable enough to be incorportated into the modern world, with our modern concerns. It seems to me that when a religion remains unchanged, it can become stagnant and alienate members: *cough*Catholic church*cough*

Well fair enough but we do our best lolol.

[cesara]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Me personally, when I say Celt I mean Irish Celtic, specifically my patrons are the Morrigan and Lugh, though I work with Brighid and Nemeain.

Okay. I always ask because most people infer Irish when they say 'Celtic' and, I think this is unfortunate, and also inaccurate because Celtic culture spread through most parts of western Europe, and, further, its origins are generally accepted as being continental, out of Northern Spain/France.

What study have you done into the Gauls?

Historical and cultural, mostly. I enjoy researching the origins and movement of the culture. I am also very interested in Druidism and its cultural implications both within the Celtic culture and in relation to other cultures of the time. Language is also a big interest though I have spent very little time on it to this point, so my knowledge is rather limited.

[Jembru]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

See, I like to be specific when telling people my deities are Celtic. The Brythons get forgotten about quite often. That, and I noticed in almost every single thread on any forum about Celtic paganism, someone somewhere will point out, 'but 'celtic' covers a wide range of societies...' So I just like to get in there before someone gets the chance... ^^

Another reason I'd make a rubbish recon, is that I get quickly bored by Arthurian myth. A few folk have suggested this is a good place to find inspiration and understand my gods better, but it is just soooo booooriiing. I never managed to get into roleplay either, and most the recons I know are quite passionately involved in reinactment and suchlike.

I'd still be very interested to keep an eye on this thread. Like I said, I appreciate the effort the recons put in. They do the hard work so I don't need to!

[MaskedOne]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

It seems to me that when a religion remains unchanged, it can become stagnant and alienate members: *cough*Catholic church*cough*

*cough*1.18 BILLION Catholics worldwide as of 2009 *cough*

Might want to use a sect that is not large enough to stand without the rest of Christianity as one of the five largest religions on the planet when making this type of comment. Making any sort of comment about the Catholic Church's ability to retain members when they number over a billion and Neo-Paganism has not yet (to my knowledge) demonstrated a membership of fifty million just comes across as infinitely entertaining. Sort of like watching a toy poodle puppy yipping at an adult St. Bernard.

[Dral]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Okay. I always ask because most people infer Irish when they say 'Celtic' and, I think this is unfortunate, and also inaccurate because Celtic culture spread through most parts of western Europe, and, further, its origins are generally accepted as being continental, out of Northern Spain/France.


Historical and cultural, mostly. I enjoy researching the origins and movement of the culture. I am also very interested in Druidism and its cultural implications both within the Celtic culture and in relation to other cultures of the time. Language is also a big interest though I have spent very little time on it to this point, so my knowledge is rather limited.

Yes it is a misnomer, when most people think of celts they rarely imagine the celts of Asia Minor or northern Italy etc.


Druidism is a whole other can of worms itself lolol. I've dabbled into druidism myself but ultimately the lack of historicalness (new word.) drew me away from it but thus I'm a celtic recon.

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See, I like to be specific when telling people my deities are Celtic. The Brythons get forgotten about quite often. That, and I noticed in almost every single thread on any forum about Celtic paganism, someone somewhere will point out, 'but 'celtic' covers a wide range of societies...' So I just like to get in there before someone gets the chance... ^^

Another reason I'd make a rubbish recon, is that I get quickly bored by Arthurian myth. A few folk have suggested this is a good place to find inspiration and understand my gods better, but it is just soooo booooriiing. I never managed to get into roleplay either, and most the recons I know are quite passionately involved in reinactment and suchlike.

I'd still be very interested to keep an eye on this thread. Like I said, I appreciate the effort the recons put in. They do the hard work so I don't need to!

Yes I do LARP

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*cough*1.18 BILLION Catholics worldwide as of 2009 *cough*

Might want to use a sect that is not large enough to stand without the rest of Christianity as one of the five largest religions on the planet when making this type of comment. Making any sort of comment about the Catholic Church's ability to retain members when they number over a billion and Neo-Paganism has not yet (to my knowledge) demonstrated a membership of fifty million just comes across as infinitely entertaining. Sort of like watching a toy poodle puppy yipping at an adult St. Bernard.

I think some pagan in Rome was thinking that while watching a few Catholics being fed to the lions.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Interesting choice of parallels.

That said the process took a couple centuries and the conversion of the emperor. Contemporary Paganism might manage a similar feat....

I just don't expect to be alive by the time it happens.

[cesara]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

Druidism is a whole other can of worms itself lolol. I've dabbled into druidism myself but ultimately the lack of historicalness (new word.) drew me away from it but thus I'm a celtic recon.

I felt the same way for a very long time. Then I started doing a fair bit of research on them, and it's still a work in progress. However, I am finding there is a lot more reliable information out there than I had previously imagined, although, of course, much of it coming from the Romans etc. as the Druids didn't write much down. I try to stick to academic writings mostly, and that is starting to paint a very interesting picture of the Druids both within the Celtic culture and their interaction with other cultures.

Do you have any decent/reliable sources on druidry you think I'd be interested in reading? Am always looking for more!

[DrStrange]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

*cough*1.18 BILLION Catholics worldwide as of 2009 *cough*

Might want to use a sect that is not large enough to stand without the rest of Christianity as one of the five largest religions on the planet when making this type of comment. Making any sort of comment about the Catholic Church's ability to retain members when they number over a billion and Neo-Paganism has not yet (to my knowledge) demonstrated a membership of fifty million just comes across as infinitely entertaining. Sort of like watching a toy poodle puppy yipping at an adult St. Bernard.

Almost as entertaining as watching Catholics claim some kind of moral authority in spite of the Church of Rome throughout it's history being directly or indirectly responsible for rape, torture, child abuse, murder, attempted genocide, financial and political corruption and religious persecution on a mind-boggling scale.

With all due respect, I prefer not to seek moral guidance from what is arguably the most corrupt, blood-soaked and morally bankrupt organisation in human history(which is really saying something!)

The Catholic Church is simply proof that over a Billion people CAN be wrong.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

All of the above being simultaneously irrelevant to my original point and attacking positions that I've not bothered to comment on. Congratulations. Any other statements, implications, references, etc that I haven't made on your target list?

My personal preference is that you start with attacking George Lucas because I'm too lazy to air my grievances with him.

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In the interest of being somewhat less snarky:

The Catholic Church doesn't need, often doesn't get and relatively often doesn't deserve a defense from me. However, there is an occasional tendency in the Pagan community to say "we don't like them, they're idiots and in decline". When applied to the Catholic Church, this trend is at best underestimating the scale of what you're talking about and at worst hopelessly optimistic to the point of willful self-delusion. Yes, Catholocism might be stagnant and declining. They've been both before and they are still around and still outnumber every other Christian sect AND those sects identifying themselves as Pagan COMBINED. Outside of World War 3, the annihilation of mankind by random deus ex machina, or very loud divine intervention, Catholocism has very good odds of outlasting everyone on this board, several religions represented on this board and a decent number of nations around the globe. They may be fun to joke about but they can literally populate multiple USAs. They aren't in any danger of destroying themselves any time soon. They were actually growing though not overly fast as of 09.

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Heh, using old numbers. Catholics outnumber the rest of Christianity. If Pagan numbers have increased quickly enough over the past ten years then Pagans + every other Christian sect (including Orthodox despite the stance of both Orthodox and the RC that Orthodox is a flavor of Catholic) might top them just barely.

[DrStrange]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

All of the above being simultaneously irrelevant to my original point and attacking positions that I've not bothered to comment on. Congratulations. Any other statements, implications, references, etc that I haven't made on your target list?

My personal preference is that you start with attacking George Lucas because I'm too lazy to air my grievances with him.

- - - Updated - - -

In the interest of being somewhat less snarky:

The Catholic Church doesn't need, often doesn't get and relatively often doesn't deserve a defense from me. However, there is an occasional tendency in the Pagan community to say "we don't like them, they're idiots and in decline". When applied to the Catholic Church, this trend is at best underestimating the scale of what you're talking about and at worst hopelessly optimistic to the point of willful self-delusion. Yes, Catholocism might be stagnant and declining. They've been both before and they are still around and still outnumber every other Christian sect AND those sects identifying themselves as Pagan COMBINED. Outside of World War 3, the annihilation of mankind by random deus ex machina, or very loud divine intervention, Catholocism has very good odds of outlasting everyone on this board, several religions represented on this board and a decent number of nations around the globe. They may be fun to joke about but they can literally populate multiple USAs. They aren't in any danger of destroying themselves any time soon. They were actually growing though not overly fast as of 09.

All of which simply proves that democracy is a bad idea because a significant percentage of the human race is so irredeemably stupid they should not, in an ideal world, even be allowed to procreate, never mind vote. In any case, last time I checked Islam was the fastest growing religion(which again rather proves my point about the average IQ of the human race).

Speaking of Islam, it's entirely possible that the Catholic Church as we know it would cease to exist should some gentlemen of the Jihadi persuasion get their hands on a few buckets of Instant Sunshine; rather hard to maintain one's faith when the Vatican has been transformed into a glow in the dark glass carpark...:devil:

[MaskedOne]

Re: Any other Celtic Recons?

I'll most of any topic regarding Islam to Dumuzi. I don't have the background knowledge to comment. They did overtake Catholocism in size sometime around 06 if memory serves. The commentary on human IQ, democracy, etc, I'll look at when I'm feeling more energetic. Detonating the Vatican, shrug, you have a burning desire to see World War 3? If that nuke affects Italy in any harmful way then it might just be interpreted as an act of war against a NATO member with nuclear weaponry. At which point, a number of entities with access to instant sunshine may stop being nice. There is no good end to that scenario for anyone.