Every Earthly Blessing: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition

by Esther de Waal

A clear-eyed exploration of Celtic spirituality that enriches the Christian experience. Every Earthly Blessing delves into the rich, earthy Celtic heritage and traditions to bring lyricism and charm to Christian worship. It presents the reader with scholarly research and context, along with beautiful Celtic poetry and songs. The topics Esther de Waal explores include monasticism, pilgrimages, creation and healing, sin and sorrow, and salvation, in the previously mystical and romanticized backdrop of Celtic Christianity. “Esther de Waal writes with perceptive insight about the beauty and richness of the Celtic Christian world, especially its poetic tradition, but without romanticizing it. Every Earthly Blessing remains one of the best books in its field.”―Cintra Pemberton, O.S.H., author of Celtic Pilgrimages Then and Now

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Vainvt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended for a Celtic Pilgrimage, and as I was discovering Celtic spirituality, it helped to put it into the context of everyday life. One aspect I loved was the plethora of prayers Celts made each day as part of their lives. There were prayers for cutting fields, for weaving cloth, and for tending animals. There were more significant prayers for baptisms and for sending children into the world. Every action was sacred and God was ever present. A beautiful way to live life.

[Laura Kisthardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my pilgrimage to Iona. This book focuses more on Celtic Christians in Ireland, not Scotland. But I enjoyed reading the prayers. I did wish that the author had laid out her framework a little bit more in the beginning because I found the book hard to follow.

[Elijah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best of de Waal's Celtic Christianity books, this one repeats much of what is said in her Celtic Vision and The Way of Celtic Prayer. It was still worth the read, though.

[Nikki Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful little introduction to/overview of Celtic Christianity

[Beth Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

drawing from the early Celtic writings, this book shows an effortless reconciliation of the natural world with the introduction of Christianity in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

[Catherine Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read in the Month of the Irish!

[Dartist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several ancient Celtic Christians launched out on a peregrinatio, "a wandering form of exile or pilgrimage." (39) They left to find God, to wherever He might take them. Esther De Waal introduces her book, "Every Earthly Blessing: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition," stating her intent "that it will encourage others to discover for themselves some of the riches that [she herself] found in the Celtic tradition." (ix) With this aim as her target, the book is successful. I, however, somehow skimmed over that thought, and instead came to it with "spirituality," the rather vague, publisher-stamped genre categorization on the back cover in mind. I expected a suggested contemporary application of the Christian tradition once lived out by the ancient Celts of Ireland and the British Isles. Instead, I found only a general history of their spiritual practices (supplied mostly by her excellent primary sources of translated prayers, incantations, and legends of Celtic saints), and aside from her repeated vague calls for a return to a Celtic spiritual worldview, was left with very little direction as to how we could do so.

De Waal does offer a good introduction to Celtic Christianity: its abbots and hermits; its tribal and yet somewhat egalitarian organization; anamchairdeas--"soul friends"; exilic pilgrimages, prayers and stories of their saints, highlighting their emphasis on nature and the Trinity; private penance, martyrdom categories, and "high crosses." One aspect I was surprised to see missing (especially coming from a female author) was the comparatively important clerical role women played in the Celtic church. As far as adding to the discussion, De Wall offers some excellent insight into the interactions of Irish monks with the Coptic church in Egypt, and presents a good argument that the Celtic Christian tradition was a sort of hybrid between Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and pagan Celtic beliefs and practices. For my taste as a fairly conservative Evangelical, I felt a little awkward around her comfort level with the magical elements of pre-Christian Celtic religion and its carry-overs by Christian converts, but I admire her (and their) emphasis on the imminence of God, His "common revelation" through creation, and the importance of not only "seeing" but inviting the Trinity's presence and help, even in common tasks.

Again, De Waal's primary source material is wonderful and this would be a great book for anyone wanting a good introduction to Celtic Christian prayers and worldview, but do be aware that despite her frequent criticism of the practice of "sentimentalization," and contrary to good historiography, De Waal frequently interjects motives and emotions in her subjects, people who lived over a millennium ago in a culture very different than our own. "For the men and women who recited them, prayer was not a formal exercise; it was a state of mind." (3) Keeping these tendencies in mind, if you are looking for a short book to launch you into a deeper discovery of the Celtic Christian world and worldview, "Every Earthly Blessing" is not a bad place to start.

(reprinted from my Amazon.com review)

[Willa Guadalupe Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must confess that I do not enjoy reading DeWaal's writing, I can't tell you why but I don't. On the other hand, I LOVE the information I find in her books & this one is no exception. If you are looking to be more informed & bring Celtic Christian spirituality into your life this is a very good book. In my own spiritual life, I have found that the Celtic outlook & practice has allowed me to stay the course through my difficulties with my Church & enjoy what I find there by adding Celtic prayers & belief in the goodness of the physical world & belief that enjoying & caring for the earth and the work I do is a way of praising God & recognising God in those works.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celtic spirituality is about the wholeness of life, human life, the life of the earth and its creatures. We are all interconnected. They found God in the daily, mundane tasks of life: making a fire, preparing food, spinning and weaving, minding the herds. They also saw that light and dark are part of the whole self. One cannot exist without the other. This means acknowledging the darkness within ourselves as well as the light, knowing we are capable of horrible things as well as great and good things, but also knowing that we may start anew every day.
"Religion both permeated and informed the whole of life, so there was no formal distinction between the sacred and secular, the material and spiritual....Here was a religion which did not call men and women out of their environment, but redeemed them within it."

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using Celtic prayers as her architecture, Esther introduces concepts of Celtic Christianity to a general audience. Scholarly yet accessible to most readers, this is a clear-eyed view of an overly-romanticized period in Christian history.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome view of the celtic monastic history. de Waal carefully and tactfully wove in poems and stories that reflect the change and culture of life at the time monasticism came to be in Ireland.
Excellent read.

[Marilyn McEntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to Celtic Christianity, which offers some reminders about dimensions of our own spiritual legacy that might bear retrieving.

[Wes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition from one of the most revered Celtic Christian Authors.

[Karen Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing journey through the history and traditions of Celtic spirituality.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I recommend it to everyone!