The room makes one deep sound
like curraghs swaying together.
The man at the table is speaking - he speaks
but the ocean comes to my ears.
- Leanne O'Sullivan, 'Big House'
Books about Modern Druidry
People often ask where to start reading about modern druidry. I would suggest reading a mix of (recent) history (for the literal truth), mythology (for the mythic truth), and personal stories of people's own modern druidry. Here are a few books to start with.
- Ronald Hutton: Blood and Mistletoe. The book that destroys any illusions that modern druidry is an ancient religion, and instead tells its real story. Which I find much more inspiring than the fictional one!
- Nimue Brown: Druidry and the Ancestors. A wonderful approach to finding our place in history and the modern world. A book that people from all Pagan traditions will appreciate, druid or not.
- Emma Restall Orr: Living Druidry. A vivid story of the writer's personal druidry and sources of inspiration.
- Cat Treadwell: A Druid's Tale. Another personal approach, with short reflections on the writer's own journey.
Books about An Chailleach Bhéarra and the Beara Peninsula
The Cailleach Bhéarra of the Beara Peninsula is much misunderstood by many modern Pagans. Pagan books tend to conflate her with other Cailleachean and repeat odd ideas about her (for example, the idea that she is a triple goddess - which is not really reflected in the folklore of the area she is from). Here are some books to start with, about the Cailleach Bhéarra and West Cork/the peninsula. (This list is a work in progress!)
- Leanne O'Sullivan - Cailleach: The Hag of Beara. Beautiful poetry that re-tells local stories, from Beara's marriage to Manannan mac Lir, to her many lives in which she emerges from stone and returns to it.
- Gearóid Ó Crualaoich: The Book of the Cailleach: Stories of the Wise Woman Healer. An exploration of the Cailleach figures of Ireland.
- Jo Kerrigan and Richard Mills - West Cork: A Place Apart. A nice introduction to the landscape of the area.
Sources on Irish Polytheism
Myths and Folklore
- Ronald Black: The Gaelic Otherworld
- W.Y. Evans-Wentz: The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
- Kevin Danaher: The Year in Ireland
- Kevin Danaher: Irish Customs and Beliefs
- Mary Jones' Celtic Literature Collective
- Proinsias Mac Cana: Celtic Mythology
- H.R. Ellis Davidson: Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe
- Lora O'Brien: Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch
- Shae Clancy & Francine Nicholson (eds.): Land, Sea and Sky (online)
- Erynn Rowan Laurie: A Circle of Stones
- Alexei Kondratiev: Celtic Rituals (also titled 'The Apple Branch')