A Little Celtia

Many years back I began studying Celtic spirituality. This interest was encouraged both by a boyfriend I was involved with at the time who found the "usual" religions to be distasteful at best and by the women's studies classes I was taking, which made me question the validity of patriarcal religions as a whole. Having grown up with both Christianity and Judaism (my Mom's side of the family is Catholic and my Father's Jewish, although my Dad's Mom was born Irish Catholic; she renounced the religion after an unfortunate incident with a perverted Catholic priest) I learned about both over the years of my childhood but always fluctuated back and forth between the two. It was only upon entering college and meeting A that I realized the broad reach of spirituality-that other pathways existed to God besides the two religions I'd been introduced to in my younger days. During those times when I wasn't sure what I actually beleived in-what was right and true for me- I always knew that I was Irish. That, at least, had been emphasized by my family while I was growing up; what they lacked in religious furvor they made up for in Irish pride. When I was eight months pregnant with Little R I completed a conversion to Judaism and immersed myself in the mikvah (ritual bath) to be ritually reborn into this new faith. It was a beautiful moment, aside from almost drowning due to the turbulent waters and rip currents created by a recent hurricane (who knew the ocean would be so violent that day???). Lately, I've been needing to connect more with my Celtic heritage and have been turning to my spirit guides and the wisdom of my ancestors to help me to do that. I'm currently reading a book called Kindling the Celtic Spirit, by Mara Freeman and am finding it very helpful as far as learning more about the history of Celtic spirituality and as a guide for some special rituals I can do to celebrate the movement of the Celtic year. Re-embarking on this path has added an extra sparkle to my day and I look forward to this journey. There truly are many paths to both the masculine and feminine aspects of God; may you be blessed with a wonderful spiritual journey yourself!