Popularity of Celtic Spirituality

Celts are an ancient tribe that inhabited most partaround it. The isolation of Ireland didn't allow
of the Northern Europe between 800 BCE andspreading Roman authority on it. Monasteries
400 CE. Their unique culture has always attractedwere the places of holly atmosphere and looked
attention of people. Especially interesting andjust like big tribal villages inhabited by all people:
popular is Celtic diversity - Celtic spirituality. Celticmonks, slaves, freemen, usual men and women
religion is appreciated and honoured by alland priesthood. These people used to be
Christians: Catholic and Protestant. They arerepresentatives from the one clan of relatives.
interested in different sides of this religion but itSome monasteries were situated in isolated places
goes without saying that Celtic culture should beand others were just the crossroads of main
observed and analysed.Celtic spirituality has sometowns.Celts also made invaluable deposit in the
distinguishing features, one of them is its diversity:development and making of the educational
it combines polytheistic and monotheistic features,system. They took part in the spreading of the
earthy rituals and transcendental mysticism. Theliteracy among Ireland and other Celtic lands and
appearance of Celtic spirituality is dated back toreservation of dogmas of learning during "dark
first mythological mentions. Second feature ofages".Celtic liturgy started its existence in ancient
Celtic spirituality is its natural character, ties withtimes and included components that are eternal
earth. The Celtic spirituality is contained in sky,and won't lose its actuality with the further
earth, sun, and sea - in all nature. Celts believed indevelopment of the society. Their main themes
sanctity of nature and tried to take care of it.are monasticism, closeness between God and
The third thing is mystical and relational directivity.nature, importance of the family and kinship,
Celtic diversity comes more from experiencestorytelling, love and respect of the Mother of the
than from theological dogmas. Celts are lookinggod, peace and justice, hospitality and education.
for the religious origins in their hearts and souls;Irish monks are still famous for their inestimable
they don't accept philosophical substantiation ofwork as educators of Europe.Many modern
the belief.Celts see the necessity of collaborationseasonal festivals have Celtic origin. From a lot of
between people and the earth, people and thesources we can find information about assemblies
spirits of nature and the Holy Spirit that is theof Druids but exact dates are not given. The
head of all living creatures and is beyond all names.building of the Imperial temple at Lugdunum was
Celts believe in existence of many gods andprobably dedicated to the feast of Lugh. The lack
angels and image them as living beings, not justof dates makes it difficult to determine the origin
abstract creations. According to the Celticof some traditions and feats that are rooted in
understanding of the world, these divine beingsthe Celtic culture.The invention of the Coligny
can communicate with people in their ownCalendar is the oldest inscription in Celtic language
mystical way.Another interesting thing about theand gives us the flavour of the development of
Celts is their love to poetry, beauty and creativity.Celtic civilisation. It was invented between first
Celtic diversity, which combines mysticism, love ofcentury BCE and first century CE and contains
nature and comes from the relational spirituality, isreconciliation between two years. According to
in natural harmony with beauty and poetry. Thethis calendar the year is divided in 12 months with
development of Celtic culture is the way of29-30 days each. Every two years the 13th
unique, rich culture. Every religious and philosophicalmonth has to be added. By this calendar ancient
doctrine can find familiar features just to itself butCelts hold their feasts and every five years had a
the understanding of Celtic culture needs neutralitygreat sacrifice. It was the first attempt to lock in
and objective sensation. Celtic culture can bethe changes of constant motion of nature and so
compared with a magnificent tree with a lot ofof time. This calendar became the foundation of
branches. These branches got their furtherthe modern one.Votive offerings are a kind of
development and now have become commonCeltic worshipping that helps us to dive deeper in
values.The pre-Christian world was the world ofCeltic outlook and understand reasons and
Celts, who worshiped nature. To the Celticmotives of these ceremonies. Workers and
outlook, the land was the main goddess, theartificers were fastened to big temples and
rivers were her helpers and they enriched theproduced special holy souvenirs and
earth. Celts used to live in forests, where theymass-produced offerings. They were usually
were close to the nature and could learn themade from wood, later from clay and metal. The
language of trees and wisdom of animals. Withmost popular and common offerings were coins.
the appearance of Christianity ancient Celts didn'tSpecial tiny coins were invented that could be
disturb their close ties with nature, theyused just for offerings. For example, there were
connected their love to nature with the maincoins devoted to the Goddess and were her
principles of Christianity. Celtic monks lived in deepproperties. The number of these coins is high and
forests and wrote their religious works for thethey can be find practically in every Celtic temple
gifts of nature. The most important thing was toduring diggings. The next votive offerings were
understand the divine origin of all things and god'spersonal jewellery, such as rings, bracelets,
existence in nature. Celts saw life as a constantlyearrings, pins, and necklaces. Sometimes special
changing circulation of life and death. Everythingrites of "killing" the personal spirit of these things
moved in a spiral and nature's observation gave awere hold before the sacred deposition. Even now
possibility to find mechanism of development ofwe don't know the exact purposes of this
the world. Nowadays we have practicallyrite.Another type of offerings was creation of
completely lost the awareness of spiralanatomical models and representation of diseases
development and it's difficult to gain anon the statues of ancient Celtic gods. For
understanding of the world.Life of Celts is anexample, Seguana, Goddess of the River Seine
integration of spirit, community and nature, andwas depicted with models of eyes, limbs, heads
these concepts were a single whole and couldn'tand internal organs. Sometimes particular diseases
exist separately that can be scarcely imagined inthat had pilgrims were reflected on the statues
our modern society. The returning to these Celticthese pilgrims worshiped.
dogmas can help us understand who we are.CelticCeltic spirituality is not just a form of ancient
Christians strongly believed in Holy Trinity. By thereligion, even now it has a lot of followers and is
Celtic outlook the world is created by the mainvery popular. The number of sources, which refer
god who surrounds the entire world with his twoto Celtic civilisation is great and you can find
arms of love: the left arm is the spirit and thepractically everything you want to know. The
right one is Christ. Christ is the supreme examplerebirth of Celtic culture is growing stronger and
of human life. Being close to the Christ means thethere are a lot of groups practising Celtic religion.
understanding and getting of supreme and eternalOne of the most popular religious groups,
love and wisdom. Early Celtic Christians didn't goNeo-Pagan Druids of Ar n'Draiocht Fein takes the
to church they preferred worshipping in smallbasis of the Celtic religion and combines them with
communities and sharing their food, money, workmain features of Indo-European cultures. Another
with the representatives of this small group. Theygroups such as "Celtic Wicca", "Celtic Magic" and
saw Christ in their neighbour and sharedothers try to render Celtic culture. Such popularity
everything with him.Celts had a lot of traditionsis explained by relevant and eternal principles of
and cults that were directly connected withthis religion.Sometimes modern follows can have
nature, animals and different gods and spirits.nothing familiar with Celtic spirituality except of
Every family had special rites aimed to protect allnames of the gods. The best method of finding
the members of the family from evil spirits.your place among numerous religions is to follow
Feasts and banquets were one of thethe summons of your voice. You choice can be
components of ritual including special food andbased on knowledge about different religions and
atmosphere. During a feast a minstrel usually sangbut it's important to make own you conscious
songs about deeds of famous warriors. After thechoice. Just basis on your own experience can
minstrel's songs his listeners began to boast oflead you to all mysteries and wonders of religious
their own brave deeds. As they all had drunk tooworld. Following ancient kind of religion, for
much, they began quarreling and fighting and evenexample Celtic one, is a very important and
some men could be killed.meaningful choice. You should research and
Early Celtic spirituality is characterised by animalunderstand Celtic worldview.All the religions are
divinity. Even now we can find statues of horses,good and unique. I think that religion is very
bears, birds created by the Celts. Only later withpersonal choice and it should be made individually.
the influence of Mediterranean culture it tookThe religious freedom is guaranteed by the
anthropomorphic element. Not all animals wereConstitutional law and can't be limited or neglected.
thought sacred and this explains specific sensitiveThe main aim of the Church is to unite people, to
attitude to horses and cattle.Celtic hierarchy ofbring peace to the earth. It's very painful for me
Gods combined Christianity and Greek religion andthat sometimes exactly religion is the reason of
at the same time developed its own peculiarities.wars and conflicts. I have a strong determination
Cernunnos is the god that is responsible forthat religion mustn't judge the representatives of
money and grain and is correlated with variety ofother confessions.Celtic religion gained its popularity
both domestic and wild animals. There are alsoamong people because of its generality and
such Celtic gods as Jupiter Taranis, Sulis Minerva,eternity. It advocates main principles of humanity:
Lenus Mars, Rosmerta, Mercury, Epona and other.love and respect for family and kin; love of
Celts were polytheistic, so believed in many gods.nature, poetry and other kinds of art. Celtic
They thought gods to be inhabitants of thespirituality assumes communication with god and
thickest and darkest parts of the forest. Suchspirits that are closely connected with nature. It
plants as mistletoe and oak-tree were consideredcombines natural and supernatural and pictures the
sacred. There is a big group of historians thatgod as a supreme human being with perfect
think that the Celts were headed by a class ofintelligence and power.The esoteric traditions of
priests called Druids. Stonehenge was the templeCeltic spirituality allow us develop our inner
of Druids. Druids' way of worshiping was rathercapacities and contact many resources for healing
cruel and proposed sacrifices of human beings toand wisdom. We may develop a relationship with
get god's pardon. The Druids put the men in hugeBrigit, who used to be a goddess of the abundant
baskets and burned them in the presence ofearth and life-giving sun, later a Christian saint; or
people. But this historical opinion isn't still improvedMorgan of the Isle of Avalon, known for her skills
or disapproved.So, to sum up, Celtic spirituality isin herbal medicine. Celtic spirituality is the way to
characterised by love of nature, art and poetry;open supernatural powers for those who believe
relationship between saints and gods; respect forin this.
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Celtic historical motherland is Ireland and territories