Celtic Heathenry?

[chris_pagan]

Hello friends! Chris here, and I've got some questions about a seemingly obscure path.

Celtic Heathenry, sometimes called Gaelic Heathenry, is a syncretic religion that draws upon Norse Paganism and Celtic Paganism. It's no secret that the Celtic and the Nordic peoples traded and mingled in history, so the basis of the religion is that their belief systems naturally became mixed as well. It's important to note that this is a syncretic path, not an eclectic one, and may possible have an actual historical bases, even if it's one where there's not much information.

Unfortunately, I've found very little on Celtic Heathenry as far as reading goes. Does anyone know where I may go to find some reading on the concept of Celtic Heathenry? Or does anyone follow this path who can point me in the right direction?

And just for fun- in your opinion, do you think there is a historical basis for Celtic Heathenry? I think it's extremely likely that Norse and Celtic practices were blended by some who inter-married between cultures, though it would be extremely difficult to reconstruct it going on historical documentation, seeing as there's probably very little. Your thoughts though?

Thank you all! Please remember to be respectful, but you're all good people who I'm sure would be anyway

[Rae'ya]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

For me, it depends on how you are trying to mix the belief systems.

Yes, I think that there is a certain level of historic precedent, in that the Viking Age Northerners migrated... they took their faith elsewhere, taught the locals, learned from the locals, and continued honoring the gods of their ancestors, hence Anglo Saxon Heathenry. BUT... I do have a problem with 'Celtic Heathenry'. For several reasons.

1) The assumption that 'Celtic' is a historic religious 'thing'. It's not. There was no Celtic religion or Celtic pantheon. There were a number of religions and pantheons that were practiced and worshipped by a wide range of peoples who we now call 'Celtic speaking peoples'. The modern 'Celtic pantheon' is an amalgamation of deities from different geographical and cultural regions that were never actually worshipped together.

2) The assupmtion that 'Heathenry' is a historic religious 'thing'. Again, it's not. Heathenry is a collection of paths that aim to reconstruct the religions of Viking Age Northern Europe. Of which there were several. Some consider non-recon paths to still be 'Heathen' but that's debatable. Either way... Heathenry never existed in Viking Age Europe.

3) What is Celtic Heathenry supposed to be? Modern Heathenry has several key elements of everyday practice, and once you remove those elements you are no longer practicing Heathenry. So where does the 'Celtic' part come in?

4) Syncretic paths... there's a way to do it right, and a way to do it wrong, in my opinion. Mingling religions and pantheons is theoretically historically accurate, but there was cultural and geographical context to it. Someone living in Scandinavia didn't hear about an Irish deity and think 'I like the sound of that, I'm going to start worshipping that deity also'. That's not really how it worked. But that's how modern syncretists try to do it. Which is fine. But I think that we should be careful about appropriating labels that aren't truly deserved in this case. And I think that when searching for historical precedent, it's important to consider the geographical and cultural context of the mingling. The Romans mingled quite differently to the Viking Age Northerners. The Christians mingled quite differently again. Mingling happened... but it wasn't in an amorphous, pick and chose, this sounds nice, everyone wins sort of way.

[chris_pagan]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

There's definitely a lot of good points here. I wish I knew how to reply to a lot of them, but again, I'm finding little to no information on it. There seems to be a number of people who do practice the faith, thought what exactly they're doing isn't exactly put into terms. The closest thing I can find to anyone who actually says anything about what they're doing is that they're using Norse practices, the Blot being one for example, but with added Celtic deities, imagery, and some CR practices added in.

I certainly think it's interesting. I'd like to look more into it not just from a historical standpoint, but from the standpoint of someone who actually practices it as well. I just have no idea where to start, considering that it's something that's historically accurate from a theoretical standpoint, you'd basically be reconstructing a theory. It almost seems like it'd be a shot in the dark if you wanted to use any historical context with it.

Also, some questions I have- exactly how would you go about doing a syncretic path in a way that is respectful and within some sort of historical context (Or the "right" way to do it in your opinion)? And what would be the chances of someone who chooses to do this being accepted into a kindred or being accepted by the wider Heathen community?

Sorry if I'm bombarding everyone with stuff here! I'm a curious guy, and I just like hearing what the more experienced have to say and partaking in some stimulating discussion

[Rae'ya]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

Also, some questions I have- exactly how would you go about doing a syncretic path in a way that is respectful and within some sort of historical context (Or the "right" way to do it in your opinion)? And what would be the chances of someone who chooses to do this being accepted into a kindred or being accepted by the wider Heathen community?

In my opinion, the 'right way' to do a syncretic path is via an organic synthesis of practices and beliefs that develops over a period of time. Picking and choosing things that sound good or that attract you is not really a respectful way to meld practices. It takes years to fully learn any given path, to immerse yourself in it's practices and truly understand it's beliefs. Blending two paths respectfully means doing this for both paths, then blending them together in a way that 'just happens', for the most part.

Historically, any synthesis is likely to have happened strictly within the context of geographical and cultural mixing. Hypothetically, a Viking Age person who worships Thorr and practices the things that modern Heathens are reconstructing would have migrated over to say... Wessex. He finds himself a wife and carves himself out a piece of the land and starts having a family. As far as he's concerned, he continues worshiping Thorr and Odhinn and Freyr as per his old practices. He revers his ancestors. He makes offerings to the local landvaettir and to his house vaettir. Then his wife teaches him about her god (who at that point was probably God) and so he decides that he'll include a toast to God at the next Sumble, because that's the respectful thing to do. Then he learns about the spirits that the locals believe live in the woods, and the spirits that supposedly would have moved into his barn... spirits which don't live in Scandinavia but which are specifically a part of the local folklore. So he starts making offerings to them too, because they live on his property and it's important to respect the landvaettir and local wights so that his crops and livestock will thrive. He's a farmer, and after his first year in Wessex he discovers that farming is a bit different here than it was back home, so now he has to propitiate Freyr a little differently, because the old rites just don't quite line up with this new land and fertility cycle. Then the King dies and the new one is more devout that the last, so the nearby town gets a Church and some priests start converting everyone. If he doesn't convert then he'll be killed and his wife and children wont have anyone to support them... so he changes his practices and 'converts' to Christianity. But he continues to quietly work with the landvaettir, the local wights and his ancestors. What he is practicing now is quite different to his old faith and practices, and it is a synthesis of the old and the new. It happened organically over a number of years, because of his move, his changing circumstances and the cultural climate of the new area.

That process is very different to someone who say... lives in the US and is attracted to the faiths of his ancestors. So he Googles Heathenry and decides that he's a Heathen. He buys a Mjollnir pendant and tattoos a Valknut on his shoulder and proudly holds a private little Sumble and toasts the gods. Maybe he doesn't realise that a large part of Heathenry is about the ancestors and the landvaettir. He lives in a city and doesn't think that honoring the landvaettir is relevant because he doesn't do any farming, so he wont worry about those. He didn't get along with his grandfather and why does it even matter if he respects his ancestors because they're dead anyway. Then he reads about some Celtic deities and thinks they sound neat, so now he's going to worship those deities too, because the Celts and the Vikings intermarried anyway, right? He's pagan so he has a little altar in his room and puts on there pictures of Othinn and Tyr and Manannan Mac Lir and Brigit and Epona. He buys a book by DJ Conway and likes what she says about Celtic Shamanism so now he's also going to be a shaman. And then he reads about the Celtic Runes on a forum, and they're much cooler than the Norse runes, so he buys him a set and starts doing divinations with this cool Celtic Cross spread that he saw in a tarot book. So now he's a Celtic Heathen Shaman who does Celtic Rune readings and uses four coloured horses as the guardians of the quarters when he casts Circle and worships Othinn and Brigit as his patron god and goddess. And all this in less than six months.

See the difference?

And what would be the chances of someone who chooses to do this being accepted into a kindred or being accepted by the wider Heathen community?

In the recon Heathen community? Probably very little. The recon Heathen community doesn't tend to be very open minded about these things... and especially something like 'Celtic Heathenry' because lets face it, the chances of finding actual historical and anthropological evidence to back up the practices are fairly slim.

The non-recon Heathen community? Well they are not always accepted by the 'wider Heathen community' themselves. Modern Heathenry is... a disparate group of peoples.

[Rick]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

I'll second everything Rae'ya has said. You won't find historical confirmation, because if it ever existed it was on the isolated farmstead here or there. You don't need others to validate your faith; practice what you will, as you will.

[chris_pagan]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

Thanks for the encouragement, Rick!

Regardless of what I ever choose to believe, I will always 110% back up what Rae'ya says. Education always has been, and always will be, the key to good faith in good spirit. I don't care whether you're Pagan or Christian or Muslim or what have you, it is almost of the upmost importance to be educated before you act. And that's the phase I am in right now- educating myself. Whether it's through the opinions of others, reading books and articles, or just from personal experience, education will always be the most important thing to me. And while education is my main focus in the phase I'm in now, I know that wherever I end up, that keeping myself educated on what I am practicing is a task that will always be prevalent and will likely never end.

Thank you all for the wise words!

[Rae'ya]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

I guess what it boils down to is that if your learning and practice organically take you in that direction then go for it. But be wary of jumping into someone else's arbitrarily prescribed mish mash.

[chris_pagan]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

I suppose then my only concern in the long run would be finding a group to practice with... I'm fine with being solitary right now, but I know in the future that actually being part of a group may be something I'm interested in. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it I suppose.

[chris_pagan]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

I've stumbled upon something interesting- turns out there was an entire group of people in Ireland and the Isle of Mann who have shown evidence of living in a Norse-Gaelic syncretic society. The group is referred to as the Norse-Gaels. As for what evidence there is and what historical records there are of their lives and beliefs, I'm uncertain. It's a recent discovery for me that I'm still looking into and learning about. Just thought it may be an interesting bit of information

[Rowan Wulfram]

Re: Celtic Heathenry?

Before I decided to really get into Heathenry, I considered myself a Germanic recon, but was (and still am) a member of an ADF druid group. ADF isn't your typical "druidry", they're actually reconstruction-only and encourage people to have one (or sometimes two) Indo-European "hearth cultures" to focus on. My local ADF group is actually Celtic/Norse, though it wasn't syncretic, rather, half the members have one focus and half have the other. Still, both groups of focus got along very well and alternated the rituals between the two cultures.

They have their own style of ritual, but maybe ADF would be your speed? It might be worth checking out, at least. In the long run, I shifted away from ADF in my own focus, but I still think they have merit and I still enjoy hanging out with my local group.

As a side note, the group in the Isle of Mann is interesting! That sounds like it would definitely be something cool to research.