Mabh Savage - Pagan Portals--Celtic Witchcraft: Modern Witchcraft Meets Celtic Ways

As a witch who adores ancient Irish mythology, I love this book by Mabh Savage. Pagan Portals Celtic Witchcraft offers a fascinating glimpse into the magic of nature, the gods and goddesses, and the beliefs of the past. It shows how we can adapt the wisdom of the Celts to practise witchcraft in the modern world. It is well researched, beautifully written and highly inspiring.

Lucya Starza, author of A Bad Witchs Blog

A clear and informative introduction for the Celtic witch. Wisdom shines through on every page to encourage and lead the reader down a magical path firmly grounded in practical experience.

Beautifully written to inspire anyone who resonates with the Celtic tradition to delve deeper into the craft and understand its magic on every level.

Sheena Cundy, author of The Madness and the Magic, Moon Books

Mabh Savages Pagan Portals Celtic Witchcraft is an inspired look at how to incorporate older Celtic beliefs into modern witchcraft practice. This short text deftly weaves together personal experience, myth, magic, and actual practice into a seamless whole that resonates with poetry and spirit. A truly unique look at how the old ways and folk beliefs can and do exist today in the hearts of modern witches just as powerfully as they always have.

Morgan Daimler, author of Fairy Witchcraft and Pagan Portals The Morrigan, Moon Books

A beautifully written book looking into the myths and legends that support the modern day practice of Celtic Witchcraft drawing on Mabhs personal experiences of walking this pathway and the wisdom of the Tuatha De Danann.

Rachel Patterson, author of Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch, Moon Books

First published by Moon Books, 2016

Moon Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach,

Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.moon-books.net

For distributor details and how to order please visit the Ordering section on our website.

Text copyright: Mabh Savage 2015

Cover image copyright: Kirsten Savage 2015

ISBN: 978 1 78535 314 7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952169

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Mabh Savage as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY, UK

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Dedicated to Emma, for believing in me; and in fairies.

I started writing this book in the hope that my experiences might help others find a foothold on a magical path. I was born into a world of mystery, a lucky child of parents who lived lives of seasonal sorcery. I know not everyone is lucky enough to find their inner spark so early in life though, and this book is for anyone looking to bring some magic into their lives.

The Celts are a fascinating, mysterious and oddly diverse race of people. They had gods that walked the earth as mortal and immortal heroes, and strange creatures from other realms. I mostly reach out to my own Irish ancestors, but the Celts spread themselves far and wide across the world, so the chances are most of us have some Celtic ancestry deep within our genome. Even if not, the inspiration and wonder that the Celtic legends bring has universal appeal. To be inspired by the Celts is as powerful a motivator as to be descended from them, and with witchcraft, motivation and intention is everything.

Everyone walks their own path, but that doesnt mean they have to walk alone. Witchcraft is about power that comes from within, and those who wield that power do have a tendency to attract others of the same ilk.

I have been lucky enough to cross paths with people of varying religions and beliefs, who have been wise, kind and patient enough to let me pick their brains and work with them; sometimes in ritual, sometimes in practical magic and sometimes in everyday hard graft.

Whatever kind of witch you decide to be, never take the people around you for granted, and always be thankful for the smallest kindness.

This book introduces you to one way of making magic; a natural way, influenced by the remnants of Celtic culture and lore that we know of. If something in this book inspires you to find your own path, then I have been successful. If you are already walking your own path, you may find in these pages a fresh perspective; a new connection to the world.

Thank you to all those who have stepped in time beside me on my path; my fellow witches, priests and priestesses, magicians and custodians of nature. To them, and to you, dear reader, I say this: may your own path rise smoothly to meet your feet.

Celtic Triad: Three things to be avoided by the Wise: expecting the impossible, grieving over the irretrievable, fearing the inevitable.

Witchcraft is often described as a new age religion, especially with the emergence of Wicca, the religious practice strongly associated with modern witchcraft, in the 20th century. However, you only need to look as far as the nearest fairy tale anthology to realise the term witch has been with us for millennia, in many different forms. The Old English words wicce and wicca were used for female and male magical practitioners as far back as 890 CE. This shows us that witchcraft is extremely old age indeed! Throughout the generations the term witch has moved from meaning wise person (usually a woman) to feared crone or hilarious hermit. As with all things that are not understood by the majority, respect gives way to fear, and fear to anger and ridicule, and as we have seen through the centuries, hatred and murder.

Reassuringly, at least one ancient culture has inspired multiple stories of prophets, prophetesses, druids, poets, bards, satirists, shape-shifters, gods, goddesses and more who are not only respected but accepted as a part of day-to-day life. Im speaking of the Celts, who adored and accepted what we now refer to as the supernatural. They accepted that gods and goddesses walked among us, and that animals held spirits and voices of their own. They knew of the power of trees, and the binding ways of words. They were held by geas, or taboo, which could not be broken. They made heroes of warriors and the wise alike. They believed in sacred objects, and great quests to find such. They stood face to face and toe to toe with the fae, those unearthly being from under the hills or beyond a spiritual veil.

It is no wonder then, that modern day Paganism retains so much of their influence. This includes, as you probably know, festival dates, deities and places of worship or respect. The biggest example is the Wheel of the Year, the seasonal structure for many Pagan paths. This is based on the festivals we believe the Celts celebrated, the four primary ones being Imbolc (or Imbolg), Beltane (or Beltain), Lughnasadh (not Lammas; Lammas is an Anglo Saxon celebration although probably has similar roots who doesnt want to celebrate at the height of summer!) and Samhain.