The Irish Celtic Magical Tradition

by Steve Blamires

The Irish Celtic Magical Tradition explores the wealth of spiritual philosophy locked into Celtic legend in The Battle of Moytura (Cath Maige Tuired), a historical-mythological account of the conflict, both physical and Otherworldly, between the Fomoire and the Tuatha De Danann. This legend contains within it the essence of the Celtic spiritual and magical system, from Creation Myth to practical instruction and information. Alongside a translation of The Battle of Moytura, Steve Blamires provides a series of keys to facilitate understanding of the legend and sets out an effective magical system based upon it, including interpretations of the symbolism, meditation exercises and suggestions for its practical use. The book offers a powerful and illuminating method of working with ancient Celtic legendary material in the context of modern magic.
Originally published in 1992, the text has been revised, updated and expanded to incorporate two decades of new insights and suggestions.

Steve Blamires is a well-known authority on Celtic traditions and founder of the Celtic Research and Folklore Society in Scotland. He is also an authority on the work of William Sharp and Fiona Macleod, and has written a biography of Sharp, The Little Book of the Great Enchantment.

Genres: Magic, Paganism, Witchcraft, Mythology, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Folklore

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Steve Blamires was born in the West of Scotland where the Celtic culture and the Gaelic language are both still strong. He now lives in New York State but prior to emigrating to the States he lived on the Isle of Arran, Scotland, a place considered by the ancient Gaelic Celts as the mystical Otherworld. He has taken a passionate interest in his indigenous Celtic culture since his early teens. Steve has published several books to much critical acclaim on Celtic mythology and belief. His most recent book is a biography of the Scottish writer William Sharp (1855-1905) who also wrote under the name Fiona Macleod. He has made numerous radio and TV appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, gives regular presentations and workshops throughout the US and UK on all aspects of Celtic culture and tradition. When he is not enjoying his home in the Hudson Valley he travels the world as a historian, presenter and tour-guide on National Geographic expedition ships. "

Reviews

[Steve Cran]

Much of what was Celtic life and Druidic wisdom has been lost to us. The Battle of Moytura has been save and translated in this wonderful book. I say wonderful because not only does the author do a great job translating the story but he also gives a great commentary that is truly magickal and he also give practical exercises for the beginning student of magic.
Among the exercises are meditation involving the the cities of origin where the Tuthaa De Dannan learned their magic. There is is also meeting with Deities, setting up your magical space and consecrating your magical weapons. The four weapon of magic are the sword, wand, chalice and the stone. This magical system is easy to comprehend and follow. Thumbs up.
The Fir Bolg were the original inhabitants of Ireland according to myth. The Tuatha De Dannan came over on boats along with the Fomerians conquered Ireland and ended up blending with the Fir Bolg population. In mystical philosophy there are three realms; spiritual,mental and physical. Tuatha De Dannan were spiritual and the Fomerians were mental while the Fir Bolg were physical.
As the Tuatha De Dannan came over they burned their boats leaving no way for them to flee. The Battle was intense the King Nuando lost his hand and had it replaced with a silver hand. What remained of the Fir Bolg united with the Tuatha De Dannan and the Fomerians. However not all of the Fir Bolg remained on Ireland. Several managed to flee to surrounding islands. There were also Fomerians on these islands as well. As a result of being injured Nuando had to step down because an injured or flawed king could not rule the land lest it bring bad luck to the land. The Celtic kings were not absolute rulers the people chose their king and by common consent could have the king step down. Nuando had a silver hand affixed to his wounded arm.
Later in time a Fomerian king would swim across the ocean in silver form and mate with a Tuaatha De Dannan princess. The result would be Bres who would eventually lead the Tuatha De Danaan. He did a bad job as a leader and the people of Ireland had to pay tribute to the Fomerians. Eventually he was asked to step down and Lugh took his place. Bres traveled to the outlying island and got help from the other Fomerians. This would spark Fomerian invasion against Ireland.
The Tuatha De Dannaan fight a pitched and bloody battle aided by strong magic. They were aided by Dagda and his cauldron, the war Goddess Morrigan and Lugh's strong magic.













Later





The

[Lilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of weird interpretations and ceremonial magic. A book that Celtic Wiccans would love, but definitely not one for serious Celtic followers.

[Ashtore Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a line by line examination of the first Battle of Moytura,and piecing together of an irish magical tradition based on this examination. All and all it is a very thorough examination with lots of commentary by the author about what it all means. Its very easy to read with practical exercises for each section including trance/meditation journeys for the reader to use for their own edification.
It can be very dense at times with all the information but overall is a really easy to get through book and would be easy to read again for more information.
I agree with most of the commentary by blamires though I will say that it has a slightly wiccan slant that I can find a little off putting but overall the tone is friendly an the information easy to understand and follow.
The main parts I disagreed with were the interpretations of the story of Dian Cecht and his son Miach. It came as a surprise when his interpretation went no deeper than the murder for jealousy that is obvious on the surface, when so much of the book was looking into so much deeper detail.nAnother interpretation from morgan daimler actually is that the father killed the son because his actions caused conflict in the choice of king. Which I think is a more apt lesson.
Another red flag that showed up was that there are no citations throughout the work and getting to the end there was no bibliography at all.
Without a source for his ideas or beliefs about symbolism, I cannot with a clear conscience say that this is worth keeping on the bookshelf. Only if you want someone's opinion would I keep this. Its truly sad to say because it was interesting to read an I would love to see where he gets some of his ideas.

[The Warped One · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the premise of this book, however I find some of the interpretations a bit dubious. One specific example was when the author described a mythological passage that was in a rhythm of three- they point this out to you- then went on to contort it into a ritual divided by four. There are also surprising omissions- at several points chants are mentioned but removed from the text and so not interpreted. That seems important. There are also sections where the author throws up their hands and says things like, “we have no idea what this means,” and yet we actually do. It seems to me they ran with the premise, which I think is really important, but didn’t quite cross all their Ts or dot all their Is.

[Deanne Quarrie]

Steve Blamires work is excellent

[Rua Brithem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Changed my life.