A very frequently asked question amongst modern druids is what (if anything), can be taken from the work of Iolo Morganwg, the founding father of modern druidry and notorious forger of ‘ancient’ texts? The answer may surprise you.
Category Archives: Culture Matters
From Celtic Gods to Celtic Spirits
What happened to the Celtic gods of Iron Age Europe? Where are they in later Celtic folklore?
Were the Welsh bards shamans?
A question that often arises on courses is whether or not the medieval Welsh bards — those that gave us the Taliesin myth as we understand it today — were shamans in any way? As always, the answer is more complex than a simple yes or no.
Celtic Spirituality and Cultural Appropriation
This is an old issue when it comes to Celtic culture and our historical source texts. In this video I try to unpick the position we’re currently in from the perspective of Welsh culture, and explain why I’m not necessarily taking the usual route with this field of study.
This Mythic Life
An interview I did in December 2019 with Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted, for her podcast This Mythic Life. We discuss the Welsh Bardic Tradition, how they used myth and how Taliesin is the embodiment of bardic myth making.
Celts: Art and Identity
This week I visited the British Museum in London to take a look at their exhibition ‘Celts: Art and Identity’. Having studied many of the artefacts that were on display, it was always going to be a real treat for me. I arrived in great anticipation: I was finally going to see the Gundestrup cauldron, TheContinue reading “Celts: Art and Identity”
Translation . . .
The vast majority of those with an interest in Celtic myth will only ever read source texts in translation and with no prior exposure to Celtic language or culture. This is important to keep in mind because on occasion the more subtle ideas contained in a text can be mangled beyond recognition by the translatingContinue reading “Translation . . .”
Iolo Morganwg and Welsh mythology.
Today, we have far more accurate editions of old Welsh poetry and prose than ever, largely due to the growth of Welsh language university departments, sometimes with whole teams of post-graduate editors and researchers devoted to editing and understanding medieval texts. Even greats such as Dafydd ap Gwilym have found themselves caught up in theContinue reading “Iolo Morganwg and Welsh mythology.”