Wyldwood Radio

It Doesn’t Have to be Ancient to be Authentic

Grimoire

Published by Herne on September 6, 2024

Something that has been bugging me for a long time is the trend of calling certain things ancient in order to qualify them as an authentic spiritual practice.

I want to preface this with a sad reminder: The Celtic peoples have lost most of their culture, whether by force from Roman or Germanic aggression, or by being assimilated, most often willingly, into other cultures and religions. It is important to remember that by the time the Roman empire left the British Isles, the Britons of what is now England, most of Wales and most of Scotland, were happily practicing Christianity. Any traces of pre-Christian Celtic religion are heavily Christianised and have been so beautifully assimilated into modern English, Irish, Welsh, Breton, Manx and Scottish culture, that we wouldn’t necessarily pick them out as being Celtic. Not to mention that pre-Christian Germanic religions, and to a certain extent pre-Christian Slavic religions would have likely been so similar, that it may be impossible to tell them apart without at least a little Academic knowledge on the subject.

Whilst there are many of us who love the idea of practicing an unbroken tradition of Celtic Paganism, the simple fact is that nobody does, and nobody can. It was removed almost entirely from history.

And yet, we yearn for it. Not only the inhabitants of the British Isles and other current and former Celtic territories, but people in the US, in Australia, in New Zealand, in South America, South Africa, in fact anywhere where someone has heard about the Celts in movies or books; the culture sings to people.

So it is unsurprising that people create practices and spiritual tools around the Ogham, and I truly hope that it continues. But, we need to be more realistic about these practices. One of the worst thing one can do to a lost or extremely damaged society, is to create fantasies around it and pass them off as ancient. Let the past be the past.

Spirituality is not religion; it is mutable, it is not set into books that cannot be questioned, and this may be why the Druids forbade the writing down of their spiritual practices. Spirituality should be two things to each person:

Personal, as in it must reflect one’s own relationship with the sacred
Continually evolving, in that it must be in line with modern research as well as one’s continually growing and changing experience

My view of the Gods, of the cosmos, of divinatory practices etc. are personal to me because I allow my personal experience to inform them. I am inspired by the Celtic cultures, particularly that of the Bronze and Iron age and of more modern Wales. But I am not going to claim that my practices are ancient, only some of the words I use in those practices. I cannot know how to properly worship Taranis for instance, because the only reference we have for this is a bunch of bullshit written by Lucan in order to create revulsion toward Celtic people by the Roman citizens.

I worship Taranis in simple acts of using his name, by being outside in a storm, by wearing votive wheel around my neck and having one tattooed on my chest and one on my wrist. I worship Cernunnos by tending plants, spending time in the forest and supporting wildlife charities and the Woodland Trust. I worship Sulis with gratitude when I bathe or use water. And so on, and so forth. None of these are ancient practices as far as I know.

So why do people make up so many fantastical things and label them as ancient? I believe that people feel the need to justify authenticity without just accepting that authentic in the case of spirituality simply means that it works for that person.

The Truth about the Ogham

As an example, I will use Ogham and the trope of supposedly ancient “Celtic Tree” things which have been attributed to it. Now the Ogham is undoubtedly ancient. We have evidence of the Ogham being used to mark graves and to leave small inscriptions, however, to-date there have been no long texts discovered, no books, no scrolls, and no details about the spiritual beliefs of the Celts. For the latter we are still reliant on scant details left by Classical writers from Greece and Rome; sadly, for the most part as anti-Celtic propaganda.

The Ogham began to be popular in the Neo-pagan and reconstructionist movements sometime in the 1980s; alongside the rise in popularity of the Runes. Perhaps this was a way of adding a Celtic stamp to the Neo-Pagan movement, which had been predominantly focused on paths like Wicca, modern Druidry and Core Shamanism.

However there is no evidence whatsoever for the use of the Ogham in divination, or in any other practice beyond grave markings and inscriptions. There is also (and this will draw a lot of hate toward me I am sure), no evidence beyond medieval texts for their association with Trees. A few of the Ogham are indeed tree names. In reality, only eight of them are actually trees. The translations of the names according to Old Irish are as follows:

Uath, Old Irish Úath means “horror” or “fear”
Dair, Old Irish Dair means “oak”
Tinne, Old Irish Tinne means “ingot”
Coll, Old Irish Coll means “hazel”
Ceirt, Old Irish Cert means “bush”
Muin, Old Irish Muin could mean either “neck”, “wile”, “love” or “esteem”
Gort, Old Irish Gort means “field”
nGéadal, Old Irish Gétal means “killing”
Straif, Old Irish Straiph means “sulphur”
Ruis, Old Irish Ruis means “red”
Ailm, Old Irish Ailm could mean either “pine” or “fir”
Onn, Old Irish Onn means “ash-tree”
Úr, Old Irish Úr means “soil”
Eadhadh, Old Irish Edad has no known meaning
Iodhadh, Old Irish Idad has an uncertain meaning, it could potentially mean “yew” as in the arboreal tradition, but this is not definite
Eabhadh, Old Irish Ebhadh means “aspen”
Ór, no clear Old Irish translation, means “gold”
Uilleann, Old Irish Uilleand means “elbow”
Iphin, Old Irish Iphin means “Gooseberry” or “thorn”
Emancholl, no clear Old Irish translation, means “twin of hazel”

The use of the Ogham as trees has a name, the **Arboreal tradition. It is by no means ancient, but is it authentic? This is a question that only the individual practitioner can answer. If it works for you then does it matter? Does it need to be authentically Celtic? Or is it ok to be inspired by Celtic practices and beliefs? What’s wrong with it just being inspired by? After all, isn’t the key word in modern Druidry “*Awen*” which we take to mean “flowing inspiration”? Are not two of the greatest tales of Celtic heroes, Taliesin and Fionn McCumhail about being inspired and about finding that inspiration without a teacher or a source other than the divine itself?

I love the Ogham. I learned it in the Arboreal tradition, I am inspired by it and I wouldn’t change it, I would never insist that it is wrong, or that it should be revised to match the ancient, because it wouldn’t work for me. Long may the Arboreal tradition continue. My inspiration from the Ogham has led me to write this entire article.

The Celtic Tree Calendar & Celtic Tree Zodiac

I remember being introduced to Sun Bear’s Medicine wheel back in the 1990s. It was also sold as authentic and ancient. It was the work of Sun Bear himself as a way to reconcile Western Astrology with a rising interest in Native American beliefs. Was it wrong to create the wheel? Absolutely not, it’s a beautiful piece of work and it has inspired so many people in their spiritual practice. However, was it wrong to claim it as ancient? Yes. And this is an issue we find again and again, just as with the works Eliphas Levi, or of Iolo Morganwgg (Edward Williams) who’s work is well known to be predominantly forgery. The works are magnificent, especially in the case of Iolo Morganwgg, they have been incredibly influential in the revival of Celtic culture in Wales. The works are not harmful, they are inspirational, they are powerful, but they are not ancient.

Ostara, Mabon, Litha and the Wheel of the Year

The modern Pagan system of eight festivals throughout the year comes from Wicca, it isn’t ancient, but it is good. It helps so many people to balance their lives with the changing of the seasons and it brings a harmony with the natural world into the lives of people living in an increasingly industrialised world.

It is not the ancient Celtic wheel of the year, in fact it is not the wheel of the year of any known pre-Christian culture and only five of the names in use for the festivals are ancient: Samhain (Irish from an earlier Celtic festival), Yule (Scandinavian), Imbolc (Scottish), Beltane (Irish from an earlier Celtic festival), and Lughnasadh (Irish). Among the pre-Christian Celtic peoples there is no known evidence for ceremonial significance for the solstices and equinoxes. Yule was significant among certain Germanic groups.

The names Litha, Ostara and Mabon were introduced to the wheel of the year by prominent American Wiccan, Aidan Kelly, in 1974. This may be done in part to give names to these festivals which are more important to us in modern times than they were to our ancestors. It has been unquestioningly accepted as ancient by a great many people.

My argument around Litha would be that there was no ancient festival of Litha, it is merely the name for a time within a season. It could well be etymologically linked to лeто (Leto – the Russian word for Summer, літо (Lito) in Ukrainian). There isn’t a pre-existing name known for the summer solstice among the Germanic or Celtic speaking peoples, but there is in Slavic. Why not then use Купала (Kupala) which is an ongoing Summer solstice celebration almost throughout the Slavic world?

Ostara is not an ancient name either. Ostara was first coined in 1835 by Jacob Grimm. It has been attributed to the dubious Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre, who herself may have been created by Bede, a firmly anti-Pagan, Christian monk.

Mabon ap Modron, from whom the name Mabon is taken, has absolutely no ties to the Autumnal equinox. I can find no reason whatsoever for its use beyond Aidan Kelly’s own words in a 2017 interview: “The mundane name “Autumn Equinox” offended my sensibilities”.

These things create confusion. However, once again, if they work for you, that’s great! Keep doing it for you, but please acknowledge that you are doing it, knowing full well that it isn’t ancient, and that it doesn’t have to be; your power is here and now.

What’s the Point I am Trying to Make?

It does not have to be ancient in order to be authentic. Spirituality is meant to be a tool in order to foster personal growth. Leaning back on the crutch of an ancient culture as a means to justify your spiritual practice, does not foster your personal growth, it takes away your right to say “It’s authentic, because it works for me” and hands over that power to gatekeepers. It allows others to tell you what is and is not authentic and gives them the power to tell you that you are wrong.

Fantasies make real research into ancient cultures harder. They muddy the water in an already cloudy pool and for those people who might want to learn about the actual historical origins and uses of the Ogham, their first thousand search results will be on Tree Alphabets, Tree Calendars, Tree Zodiacs, how to name your baby with the Ogham or whatever else.

Be inspired by the ancient, love the ancient, celebrate it, but don’t mistake your personal gnosis or fantasy as ancient. You are not ancient, you are here and now. The Celts of the Iron age are not walking around today (they certainly wouldn’t put up with 90% of the political bullshit we have these days), they are gone. But they have left us as their legacy. I would hope that, as any good parent would, they would want us, their descendants to learn more than they could, know more, experience more, be more inspired, to be more in tune.

If it works for you, it’s authentic. It’s as simple as that.

Bright Blessings,

Herne