Introduction

• Introduction

So What is Celtic Reconstructionism (CR)?

• What is Celtic Reconstructionism (CR)?
• What do you mean by “Celtic”?
• What do you mean by “Reconstruction"?
• Is it a new or old tradition?
• How and when did CR start?
• Who’s the leader of CR?
• How do I join CR?
• How can you recreate a culture that's dead?
• Is this a religion, or a culture?
• But, what do you mean by “The living Celtic cultures”?
• So, everyone in this community calls themselves Celtic Reconstructionists?

Basic Questions

• Don’t you have to be Irish/Scottish/Welsh to be a Celtic Reconstructionist?
• How can you claim to be a Celtic tradition if you’re not immersed in the Culture?
• Do you have a Celtic holy book like the Bible? If there’s no central text, how do you know what to believe?
• If they didn’t write anything down, how do you know what they believed?
• How do you pick which authors to believe?
• Is there a certain era that you focus on reconstructing? Why, and what defines that era?
• Do I have to live in the country to be a CR?
• Do you work in groups or are you solitary?
• What do you call your groups?
• Do CRs have a distinction between clergy and laypeople?
• Are CRs autonomous or is there some sort of governing body?
• How do you determine who your spiritual elders are when you don’t always have an ordered hierarchy?
• Are there any CR organizations? Websites? Books?
• What do CRs eat?

Intermediate Questions

• What is the Celtic lore, and where can I find it?
• Do you have to speak a Celtic language (Gaelic/Welsh/etc.) to be CR? How important is language? Are you all fluent in a Celtic language?
• What’s the difference between a warrior path and a poet’s path? Are there other options within CR?
• I’ve read about Cú Chulainn’s training with Scáthach. What is this “Salmon Leap” or the “sword feat”? Is there a Celtic Martial Art form?
• Can women be warriors too?
• What is this UPG thing I keep hearing about?
• How much UPG is acceptable in CR? How do you know?
• In regards to relating to a deity, how much should one be in concordance with the myths? With history?
• How do you decide what aspects of Celtic culture to keep and what to discard?
• Do you borrow from other cultures to “fill in the gaps?”
• Does CR include syncretisms?
• Can I be CR and still worship non-Celtic deities?
• What is this Ogham stuff you keep mentioning?
• Is it Samhain, Samhuinn or Samain? Why all these different spellings?
• This all sounds like a lot of work. Why would anyone want to work that hard when they could just join an established religion?

Misconceptions

• Why are you racist?
• What makes your ancestors any better than my ancestors?
• That’s not how my (insert family member here) taught me to honor (insert figure of choice here)!
• Don’t you all just read books and argue rather than practice real spirituality?
• So, you’re like Eclectic Neopagans or something like that?
• I hear this is a religion, not a culture.
• I hear you’re just a political movement.
• Aren’t you Pan-Celtic?
• Isn’t everyone who incorporates some degree of Celtic Research CR?
• How can any of you claim to have started CR?
• I want to call myself CR and you can’t stop me.
• Now that I’m a Celt, shall I pick a tartan for my group to wear?
• Do you guys paint yourselves with woad?
• Why would anyone want to try to bring back the Iron Age?
• How can you practice a religion and still claim to believe in science?
• Who can initiate me into your super-duper secret tradition handed down from the early mists of time? You are the “hidden children of the Goddess,” right?
• Do you use the Celtic Tree Calendar and Celtic Astrology?
• Aren’t there oghams in America too?
• What about the Four Treasures and Four Cities, don’t they go in the cardinal directions?
• Aren’t you CRs in North America stealing cultural elements from Native Americans/the First Nations?
• So isn’t CR just cultural theft from the Celtic cultures?
• Why do CRs hate Wicca and Wiccans?
• Do CRs believe all Celtic traditions should be “modernized”?
• So all CRs worship the same way?
• I’ve heard that you are mean to people who have questions. Why is that? *

Theology

• Do you worship The Goddess?
• Which Gods do you worship?
• So you worship all the Celtic Deities?
• So should I just pick a Matron or Patron from a list of Deities and swear oaths to Them?
• I want to do a ritual, which Deity should I use?
• What about this ancestor reverence and land spirit stuff?
• So where do the fairies and sídhe fit into this?
• What do you think happens when you die?
• What do you mean when you say that it’s not a dualistic religion?
• You talk a lot about the role of the Outsiders. What do you mean by that?

Ritual

• How do you create sacred space?
• What holidays do you celebrate? Don’t you do the eightfold wheel of the year?
• What kinds of rituals do you have?
• Do you have to be a priest or a priestess to do a ritual?
• What do you do for Samhain?
• What do you do for Imbolc?
• What do you do for Bealtaine?
• What do you do for Lúnasa?
• You talk a lot about these “practices”, but can you describe them in more detail?
• Offerings seem to be a really important part of all those rituals. How do I make offerings?

Ethics

• What is the ethical basis of CR?
• Do you sacrifice animals? If so, why?
• The Celts were headhunters and performed human sacrifices. Why would anyone want to go back to that?
• You say CR is “pro-queer”, but is this traditional?
• Do you do magic? If so, what kind and why?

About Druids and Druidry

• Are you a Druid?
• Aren’t all Druids men?
• Since the Druids didn’t write anything down, how do you know what you believe is accurate, and isn’t just guessing?
• Weren’t the Druids the Celtic Shamans?
• Did the Celts really call their priests “Druids”?
• Do you separate people into Bards, Ovates and Druids?
• Can you be a Druid even if you are not Irish/Welsh/etc.?
• Aren’t Druids sun worshippers, like Wiccans are moon worshippers?
• A lady druid is a “dryad”, right?

How is CR different from Wicca, Celtic Shamanism, etc?

• Are you guys like the SCA?
• So you’re a Satanist?
• So you’re Wiccan?
• If there’s no Rede you must not have any ethics.
• So you worship the Triple Goddess, the Maiden/Mother/Crone?
• So you don’t worship the Lord and Lady?
• So you think God is a woman then? Isn’t that what all that mumbo jumbo feminist witchcraft crap is about?
• Do you cast the circle and call quarters in your rituals?
• Why don’t you want me waving my knife at the spirits?
• What is the difference between CR and Celtic Neopaganism?
• Is Celtic Christianity a part of CR?
• Do you practice Celtic shamanism?
• Who do I pay to be initiated into Celtic Shamanism?
• Are you Gaelic Traditionalists? What is the difference between Traditionalism and Reconstructionism?

So you want to be CR...

• What can I do to get started?
• I have kids. How can I include them in all this?
• I’m told that I should practice hospitality. What does that mean?
• If I’m going to be CR, how should I wear my hair?

The Ever-Popular Reading List Section

• Which books for someone totally new to CR?
• I want one or two books to follow to understand CR and I’m overwhelmed by big and conflicting reading lists. Which three books are most important?
• Which books do you recommend? (The Big Book List)
• Which books for kids?
• There are so many translations, which ones do you recommend?
• Which authors/publishers should I absolutely, without doubt, avoid like plague fleas?
• Which authors/publishers are, with few exceptions, very reliable sources?
• So how do I find this stuff?

Copyrights, Credits and Acknowledgements

• Copyrights, Credits and Acknowledgements

Copyright ©2006 NicDhàna, Laurie, Vermeers and ní Dhoireann.
All copyrights are retained by the individual authors.

Complete credits and statement on reproducing this text