""The Green Man"" - icon of the Celtic faith - is murdered. His daughter Morwenna asks Home Guard sergeant Ben Oakley, a retired detective, for help. Despite his being committed to organising a secret army in case of the anticipated German invasion, together they unmask the killers but in so doing, they discover a spy ring and Ben comes to realise that the idyllic Somerset village in which he lives is the epicentre of the secret Pagan world...

In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Brittany, seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where she learns that the god of Death has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny.

A Circle of Stones, originally published in 1995, offers a unique approach to meditation and Otherworld journeying in a Celtic Pagan context through the use of prayer beads as a focus for understanding early Gaelic cosmology and ways to journey through its three realms of land, sea, and sky. With chapters on ritual, altars, journeying, and communicating with deities, this short book has provided seekers with tools for their spiritual work for nearly twenty years. This new edition offers a much improved pronunciation guide for the Irish and Scots Gaelic in the text, and a new foreword that offers context for the book's historical place in the emergence of Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan spirituality.

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition. Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and archaeological evidence on the Celts. Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are — crucially — able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were 'Celtized', giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

"The scholarship in this book is superior, revealing a depth of insight and a scope of knowledge possible only from a scholar who has lived with the concerns of feminist theology for decades. Ruether is a gifted storyteller, and lucidly translates complex ideas and debates. This work is of the highest importance, and Ruether asks the right questions at the right time. The text is groundbreaking."—Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Saint Mary's College of California "Ruether has provided a valuable introduction to an important feminist topic: what can we know about sacred female imagery in Western culture? She guides us through contemporary feminist scholarship, providing engaging narrative, and venturing her own interpretations. Ruether calls for feminists to move beyond divisions created by our different interpretations of prehistory and work together towards our common project of a more peaceful, just, and ecological world."—Carol Hepokoski, Meadville Lombard Theological School

Publisher description: Sjoestedt's splendid gifts of interpretation and synthesis, together with her remarkably balanced judgements, are an essential contribution to understanding the unique balance of male and female power found in the Celtic mythology. Within her clear analysis of myth and tradition, the author explores the matriarchal world-view of early Celtic religion, as that religion was formed in careful companionship with the male-defined Heroic world of social and political order. This text is a vital part of the recovery of women's spiritual traditions, and a clear outline for future studies of Celtic mythology.

• Emphasizes how shadow work, integrating past wounds, and healing our ancestry allows us to facilitate the ecstatic transition into the next life • Offers exercises and visualizations to help us integrate emotions like anger and grief, which impact the soul’s readiness to leave the body when the time comes • Discusses what happens to our cells when we die with regard to the human energy field and explores the soul’s journey through the aítes or bardos In the Celtic tradition dying is considered an act of birthing, of our consciousness passing from this life to the next. Informed by an early near-death experience, spiritual midwife and former nun Phyllida Anam-Áire offers an intimate overview of the sacred stages of the dying process seen through the lens of her Celtic heritage. Compassionately describing the final dissolution of the elements, she emphasizes how important it is to resolve and integrate our psycho-spiritual shadows and wounds in this lifetime. What truly heals is our capacity for authentic compassionate love--in life, in death, and after. Healing our ancestry before leaving the body eases not only our transition but sets future generations free from old stories held in our family systems. Sharing her insights into God consciousness, our earth/ego mind, and the soul’s journey through the Aíte or bardos, Phyllida’s poetic words guide us toward the final ecstasy as the soul leaves its material form and enters the vast Universal Heart of cosmic energy. Providing a deep spiritual understanding of the mysteries of death and the afterlife, this courageous book combines Celtic and Christian wisdom to dispel the fear of dying and invites us to live consciously and with love to our very last breath.

The dictionary defines mythology as a collection of ancient tales handed down over millennia, mainly dealing with gods and goddesses, that explains the way the world works, from natural events to society at large. Many people think of the deities of Greece and Rome when they think of mythology, forgetting that almost every culture has its own set of myths to interpret and explain its distinct worldview, often showing striking and fascinating similarities to the classical myths most people are familiar with. The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythologyexplores the gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, monsters and angels of the myths from every corner of the globe - the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, Asia, and more. Additionally, it explores the parallels between every culture, including Greece and Rome - striking similarities in mythic figures and the structure, action, wording, and result of the stories themselves.

The gifted W.B. Yeats wrote of his own people “...even a newspaperman, if you entice him into a cemetery at midnight, will believe in phantoms, for everyone is a visionary if you scratch him deep enough. But the Celt, unlike any other, is a visionary without scratching.” This introduction to Celtic Mythology will serve the novice well – for it is a complicated history with the earliest written records destroyed by the marauding Vikings. Inside you will read about... ✓ The Arrival of the Tuatha dé Danann ✓ Hibernia ✓ The Main Gods of the Celtic Pantheon ✓ Celtic Life and Rituals ✓ Sources of Celtic Mythology ✓ The Effect of Christianity and Beliefs and Superstitions The oral tradition harks back to 4000BCE and is a compilation of myths and cultures of many different peoples including the Indo-Iranians, Slavs, Greeks, Germans, Austrians and finally, the Gauls, who washed up on the shores of the Emerald Isle. Whatever aspect of this rich, mystical and lavishly embellished heritage you would like to investigate further you will find the author has supplied a marker to guide you on your way.

In this first novel of the Incarnations of Immortality, Piers Anthony combines a gripping story of romance and conflicting loyalties with a deeply moving examination of the meaning of life and death. This is a novel that will long linger in the reader's mind. Shooting Death was a mistake, as Zane soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death was immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Thereafter, he must speed over the world, riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Zane was forced to accept his unwelcome task, despite the rules that seemed woefully unfair. But then he found himself being drawn into an evil plot of Satan. Already the prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved. He could see only one possible way to defeat the Father of Lies. It was unthinkable—but he had no other solution!