In answer to a question that comes up every now and again: Why focus on interpretation? Shouldn’t we just cover the historical facts and let people decide for themselves what something means? Unfortunately, sometimes the facts just aren’t enough . . .
Category Archives: What is Celtic Mythology?
The Mythic Fortress
Concluding this short series on Welsh Arthurian poems we take a look at the broader use of the ‘enchanted fortress’ motif and see how it’s used to evoke several different themes, both sociological and mythological. I’ll be taking this week off from the Facebook live videos but will be returning the week after (2.11.21) withContinue reading “The Mythic Fortress”
Who Is The Gatekeeper?
Pa Gur is perhaps the oldest Welsh Arthurian poem preserved in manuscript. In it, the Welsh Arthur seeks entry for himself and his men into the fortress of Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr. But some allusions in the poem suggest that not all is as it seems, and there may be something else going on, something that evokesContinue reading “Who Is The Gatekeeper?”
The Spoils of Annwfn
Continuing with this short series on Welsh Arthurian poems, this talk takes a look at Preideu Annwfyn (The Spoils of Annwfn), one of the better known poems from the medieval Book of Taliesin. Like many other Taliesin poems from this period, it is a strange, ambiguous and multilayered text, and although many commentators have attemptedContinue reading “The Spoils of Annwfn”
King Arthur and the Eagle
‘The Discourse of Arthur and the Eagle’ is a 12th century Welsh poem that was very popular in the Welsh oral and written tradition. Even though it’s a poem about Christian learning, it also draws on a far more pagan mythology.
Are you using myths? Or are myths using you?
Following on from a question about patriarchy and The Three Romances of the Mabinogi, here’s an outline of an old problem that most of us will fall into at some point or another.
A Celtic Wisdom Tradition?
Celtic myths are symbolic, so we need to interpret them to draw out their wisdom. As a result, it’s probably worth asking if interpretation was ever a part of the Celtic storytelling tradition?
Mabinogi Riddles
What do riddles have to do with The Four Branches of the Mabinogi?
The Celtic ‘Otherworld’?
In this video I dive into why ’otherworld’ is probably a misleading term when thinking of the Irish sidh or Welsh Annwfn, and what the subtle difference between the Welsh and Irish concepts could be.
The Roots of Celtic Myth
A brief discussion on tracing the Celtic myth of water, divine birth and inspiration back to its Indo-European roots.