(Part 2) Top products from r/druidism

> I would like to find something with mythology of the gods and goddesses

If you would like a modern rendition of the Irish and Welsh tales, then Peter Berresford Ellis' Celtic Myths and Legends is a good choice.

If you are interested in delving into the lore directly, check out Táin Bó Cúailnge and other tales from Ireland's mythological cycles, or The Mabinogion for Welsh myths and legends. These are also available for free online, but I recommend buying the books if you can swing it because they tend to have higher quality translations and copious foot/endnotes that help put the stories in context and explain things to the modern reader.
> nothing goes into enough detail to connect dieties, or tell their stories, just general "this is the god of this, that and the other"

There are a lot of deities who we have only sparse information about. The majority of Celtic deities were local gods and goddesses, which gives us very few sources of detailed information. However, there are a good number of more widely-worshiped deities about which we know more. The myths and legends I mentioned above are the biggest sources of information about these figures, though we learn a lot of important info from the archaeological record as well.

You can check out http://www.maryjones.us/index.html which we link to in our sidebar. It has some decent articles and sources for many different Celtic figures and gods. If you would like a book that gives good info about archaeology and how it connects to the myths, check out Proinsias McCana's Celtic Mythology.

Wikipedia's Celtic and pagan projects have grown quite a bit, so you can even find some informative articles there with reference lists that can point you to more sources. For that, start with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_deities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Celtic_deities

Alright, hold onto your seat, there are quite a few haha

Some ecology books, good for your approach to nature itself

• Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth
  
  
• Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing
  
  
• Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth: An Introduction to Spiritual Ecology
  
  These are more Druid-centric books
  
  
• The Path of Druidry: Walking the Ancient Green Way
  
  
• Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism
  
  
• The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth
  
  
• The Solitary Druid: Walking the Path of Wisdom and Spirit
  
  These are more historical and culture books about the ancient Celtics, very good for context. Anything by Ronald Hutton I'm going to suggest, though he does tend to have a very dry, academic style. Reading his stuff is more like reading a text book than anything else. So if you do get any of these, pace yourself. I would still suggest getting and reading one Celtic historical book, it's important to know the history.
  
  
• The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy
  
  
• Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain
  
  
• Pagan Celtic Britain
  
  
• Celtic Heritage
  
  
• Celtic Myth and Religion: A Study of Traditional Belief, with Newly Translated Prayers, Poems and Songs
  
  As you go, you'll figure out what works for you and what doesn't, you might end up mixing in shamanism or witchcraft, even wicca, or buddhism, druidry works with a number of other approaches. Keep an open mind, try things, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Paganism in general can be pretty overwhelming, and Druidry has even fewer guidelines than most. Good luck with your coursework!

Some recommendations:

Gods and Fighting Men. This covers a lot of the Irish myths.

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. This covers a great deal of the Welsh myths.

Celtic Gods and Heroes. This is a brief but decent overview of Gods and Goddesses of Irish, British and Gaulish origin.

The Isles of the Many Gods. I have not yet read this one, but it's on my wish list and sounds about right for you.

Celtic Myths and Legends. This covers it all, but perhaps not as directly focused on the gods as you would like. Its a decent read though.




There are some great online sources for the Welsh and Irish myths. If finances are an issue try them out. Good luck!

The two obvious sites that have plenty of useful stuff

• https://www.adf.org/
  
  
• http://www.druidry.org/
  
  OBOD's podcast is a good monthly listen, some have poor audio quality in parts when he's recording some public presentation but still worth listening to them all in my opinion http://www.druidry.org/druid-way/resources/druidcast-obod-podcast
  
  
  
  >I would also appreciate any other book recommendations any of you have.
  
  
  OBOD has book reviews and books by category over here http://www.druidry.org/library , if something catches your eye see if it has any goodreads or amazon reviews.
  
  ADF has a recommended reading list too https://www.adf.org/training/resources/reading.html
  
  
  
  --------------
  
  Now, my personal recommendations that would be western-European specific taken from another thread recently:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Myths-Legends-British-Richard-Barber/dp/1843830396/
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Early-Irish-Myths-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140443975
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Myths-Legends-Peter-Berresford/dp/0786711078
  
  And then I'll throw in the rest just because it's nice having a good knowledge of the myths and legends of Europe in general.
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Edda-Lee-M-Hollander/dp/0292764995
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Edda-Everymans-Library-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/0460876163
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Bulfinchs-Mythology-Legends-Charlemagne-Chivalry/dp/0440308453
  
  
• The Iliad and the Odyssey, just search Amazon for a copies with reviews that speak to you
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Greek-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/0440406943
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Pushkins-Fairy-Tales-A-Pushkin/dp/5938934176
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Folktales-Collection-Afanasyev-Dual-Language/dp/048649392X
  
  
  

You may want to read some literature by Maria Kvilhaug or Ronald Hutton. Both authors have been instrumental in helping me construct a coherent notion of what ancient practices may have looked like and how they would have evolved considering the introduction and spread of Christianity. Specific books to consider would be Triumph of the Moon and Seed of Yggdrasil both are fantastic books from legitimate historians. As far as trying to piece together a pure and historically accurate representation goes though, I wouldn't beat yourself up over the details without considering the proper context. Times have changed and so has our understanding of morality. I feel fairly certain that society today, would generally frown upon the sacrificing of virgins to appease the God's :-)

DruidCraft Tarot. This is what I own and recommend; the presentation style is much more nature focused with iconography relevant to those walking the Druid or Wiccan paths. I highly recommend this one for someone in this sub looking for a deck. It comes with a walkthrough explaining the history and use of Tarot and includes a large manual explaining each card within the major and minor arcana as well as making sense of the suits.

Ronald Hutton's Blood and Mistletoe

Really anything by Philip Carr-Gomm

A often-overlooked author, John Matthews. He has lots of books on Celtic shamanism and Druidry. A Celtic Reader, Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom, The Bardic Source Book, The Druid Source Book, and The Song of Taliesin: Stories and Poems from the Book of Broceliande just to name a few.

Also, if you haven't, you should read The Mabinogion for it's worth of Welsh mythology. I like the Jeffrey Gantz translation, but it's missing what I consider a crucial story prevalent to modern Druidry, the story of Ceridwen and Taliesin. You can find it in Lady Charlotte Guest's translation though, which is the original translation from Welsh to English.

Oh, and Joanna van der Hoeven's The Awen Alone. and I haven't read this one yet, but I read the author's other book, Zen Druidry. Both are short books packed with a ton of information, and the former is about practicing Druidry solitarily, something with which many of us here (and maybe especially you at the moment) can connect.

Ronald Hutton is always a good bet http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stations-Of-The-Sun-History/dp/0192854488

Caesar had motive to defame the druids. I suggest you start by looking into the archeological findings of Ancient Gaul.


The Ancient Celts is a good place to start.