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The Sacred Cauldron: Secrets of the Druids

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Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. A good, clean & sound copy.

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

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Maccrossan

1 book

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5 stars
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3 stars
11 (39%)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Teresa.
2 reviews
May 4, 2012
I am the author of this book. I wrote it over 20 years ago. Things have changed for me. I have however, revised it and it is going to be republished by Runa-Raven Press. I am a Celtic Recon and I have returned to the subject and am studying Gaulish, Celtic philology, Indo-European studies etc. So more is to come from me again. My biography now appears on Amazon.com. I am also working on a project that includes Stoicism as a Self-Help philosophy.
Profile Image for Adriano Silva.
12 reviews
March 4, 2023
The book starts beautifully creating connections to the Indo-European languages to clarify a number of blind spots around the Celtic culture that otherwise wouldn't have been possible to give a step further towards a better understanding of these peoples.
Unfortunately, he same can't be told about the next chapters. Calling the Celtic Cosmology chapter challenging and dense still seems an understatement, but I believe this is useful info to those like me want to dive deeper into the Celtic culture.
The remaining chapters are essentially if you wish to dive deeper into the Druidiactos doctrine the author is part of or even bring elements of it to your own daily pagan practices.
In general it was a nice read.
Profile Image for Mariah.
185 reviews10 followers
May 22, 2014
Sacred Cauldron is an excellent primer on Celtic Reconstructionist religion. (Regardless of whether the CR community thinks) Tadhg MacCrossan calls his tradition "Druidactos" focusing on Gaulish culture. There isn't much information on Gaulish polytheism, however so most of the book is based on Irish and Welsh mythology, history and folklore.
I can tell it is very well researched, using many reputable sources I am familiar with such as "Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland & Wales" by the Rees brothers and "Gods of the Celts" by Miranda Green.
On the down side- There were some assertions in the "Gods and Their Tales" chapter that I found questionable- so be a little careful with that. I thought his ritual set up (nemeton or grove) was overly complex- I think it is based on Vedic (Indian) ritual. He includes several useful appendices terms for ritual gear and other words in various languages including Proto-Indo-European. In general he is very big on comparing IE mythologies, but I think he tends to emphasize similarities over differences a little too much. We certainly can get many good ideas from other IE (and some non-IE) cultures, but we need to stay true to the Celtic spirit. Overall though, this is a well put together and very useful book for Celtic Pagans. I wish it would go back in print!





Though I have to say the marketing on the back is annoying "Secrets of the Druids Revealed!" That's typical Llewellyn, probably not the author's choice.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

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