The Mysteries of Druidry: Celtic Mysticism, Theory, & Practice

November 9, 2006

The Mysteries of Druidry: Celtic Mysticism, Theory, & Practice by Brendan Cathbad Myers

I was disappointed in this book. The promo material I received from the publisher has the lead line of ‘An ancient spirituality; a mystical order – crucial to healing the earth?,’ so I was expecting something along the same lines as Mr. Myers’ previous book. It just wasn’t so. Still, I suppose that’s the oversight of the promotions department at the publisher and not the author’s doing.

I found the author to be well versed and knowledgeable on his subject matter. The book is a well-done, scholarly accounting of Druidry, both historical and present day. The text is well annotated with footnotes to back up the author’s assertions and to help a reader place the many quotes from other scholars that frequent the pages. There are also many black and white photographs of places and architecture mentioned in the pages of the book.

There are many ritual enactments throughout the pages, allowing those who wish to delve into Druidic worship to jump right in. There are also retelling of classic Druid mythologies with thorough explanations of the whole cast of characters. If you ever wanted to know who’s who and what they did this is a good book to read.

Overall, as a relative neophyte when it comes to Druidry, (I have attended several workshop presented by Isaac Bonewits, who wrote the forward for this book) I found the book to be hard going and somewhat difficult to follow in places. I do not have any problems with the facts as presented, given the amount of research and experience the author has accumulated over the years spent in Ireland studying the Druidic culture and history, however the prose themselves are for the most part very dry reading. I feel a serious seeker of Druidic ways and knowledge will get a lot out of this book, but for someone like myself, with only a passing familiarity of Druidry, the book’s knowledge wasn’t as accessible as I would have liked.