The Pretani People: A Deeper Look at “Celtic” Spirituality
In the past couple of years, I have received the same questions over and over again: What do I practice? What traditions do I follow? I study mermaids, yes, but what else? And more recently, since people have realized that I have followed “Celtic” spiritual traditions for 14 years now, they want to know where they can start on that journey too. I hope this post enlightens and encourages my fellow seekers while clarifying where I stand. I am not going to include every tradition I follow or a super detailed roadmap for what I do on a daily basis… It would take too long. Looking at Welsh traditions alone would turn this blog page into a book! Instead, I’m going to offer my general approach to the spirituality of the British Isles and include some book recommendations for other seekers to enjoy if they want to.
Part I will be a brief synopsis of my personal path and outlook, since people want to know where I situate myself spiritually and culturally. (If you want to skip the part where I answer everyone’s questions about my genealogy, feel free. This portion is lengthy.) Part II will dive into some notes I have about the Pretani and “Celtic” cultural traditions! Otherwise, in terms of social topics, I am pro-science (but skeptical of how Westerners often define “progress” at the expense of the planet and Indigenous people), queer-affirming and queer myself, a leftist (not a liberal… a leftist lol), and will spend the next four years dealing with the toxic effects of our fascist government. I will be standing in allyship with the people who will be harmed by the choices the president and his followers will make. I hope that helps! Thank you for being my readers and always asking such wonderful questions. <3
Note: I am not going to italicize the titles of books that are recommended or mentioned below. I have some readers who are dyslexic, and italics make it harder for them to read what I am posting.
Part I:
I have walked the Druid path for over 10 years, and I identify as a Naturalist pagan. I have been part of OBOD for many years, and while I and other students have critiques of parts of the curriculum, the community itself has been lovely in helping me get back to my roots. I work very, very hard to understand the history and traditions of my ancestors (ancient and recent), but I ground everything I learn about in empirical data. There are some things that cannot be substantiated with evidence, so I take those things with a grain of salt and retain the humility to always say that I could be wrong about those things (Ex: The literal existence of fayeries). Do I position myself as someone who speaks to mermaids and spirits? Yes. However, I fully acknowledge that these entities may not be real at all and may just be archetypes or facets of my imagination. This is okay too, because exploring the many facets of oneself is one of the most powerful things anyone can do. I advocate for scientific research and for ideas to be presented with self-honest humility (“I’m not sure this is true”) or to be grounded in empirical data.
As a naturalist pagan, I strive to mimic many of the ways of my ancestors while acknowledging that I am working with those traditions from an atheist and humanistic perspective. I should also mention that my ancestry covers every country in the United Kingdom along with the Republic of Ireland. It also reaches back to Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, and Denmark). I do have other threads running through my ancestry, but those are the dominant ones. I particularly resonate with the Welsh and Irish aspects of my lineage.
Being an atheist means that I lack a belief in gods, goddesses, and deities, but this does not necessarily mean I deny the supernatural. I also do not firmly say things like, “There is no god.” Most atheists don’t say that, though there are exceptions. I am just unconvinced that anything in our universe deserves to be put on that kind of pedestal, and I honestly don’t care if there is a god (or deities) or not. It’s irrelevant to me and what I do here on the planet. I also want to note that I do not take an anti-Indigenous perspective of others or their beliefs through my atheism. I don’t believe that just because I lack a belief in deities, I am somehow more evolved than others. That is a silly belief. I will be the first to tell you that some belief systems are trash (ex: Christian fundamentalism… emphasis on the fundamentalism), but being an atheist does not make me more evolved than people who do believe in a god or in multiple deities of some kind. Spirituality is important to humans, and I fully acknowledge that while participating in certain precincts of it myself.
The humanistic label does not, for me, imply that humans are above any other entities in this world. Like my animist ancestors, I believe that all beings and parts of nature deserve to be deeply respected as equal beings at the very least, and that we can do so without anthropomorphizing them. Humanism to me means that humans are at the center of responsibility for what happens in this world. Gods and deities are not coming to save us… The aliens DID NOT… I repeat… DID NOT… build the pyramids. (Ancient people did that! So cool!) I also don’t subscribe to the far-right religious or toxic new age idea of “Luciferian agendas” (Satanic panic, etc.). If people want to believe in spiritual warfare in general, then fine? My view is that we need to be grounded whether we feel that way or not and solve our real-world problems with real-world solutions, not just prayers or rituals, though those things may have their places in our lives. We are responsible for our accomplishments and our failures, and it is our duty to create a world that is equitable, harmonious, and kind to all beings by acting in accordance with those virtues and ideals.
I walk the pagan, Druid, and animism paths in cultural ways, and I have been working for the past year to learn the basics of the Welsh language, which is beautiful but kinda complicated haha! As most people know, I am autistic, and even though I am good at mathematics and physics, I am more likely to stim by using words I like and “playing” with them. Welsh has so many beautiful words, and it has this deep connection to the fayerie world and the land embedded at the core of the language. I love it!
Apart from the pagan aspect, Druids can be theistic or non-theistic, and I appreciate the privilege of connecting with ancient teachings and traditions through the non-theistic lens. Do I think other spirits and entities could exist in the universe? Yes, of course. However, I do not make claims of absolute truth without absolute proof or significant evidence. With that in mind, I tend to work with archetypes and “spirits”, while acknowledging that my experiences with them may simply be projections of historical practices and my own imagination. Some words to describe me might be Naturalistic Pagan, Pagan Humanist, Druid Naturalist, or Atheist Pagan.
Takeaways: Atheist, naturalistic pagan, Druid, Humanist, Spiritual Ecology student, Ecofeminist and intersectional feminist (feminism should always be intersectional), Science-affirming = Elle’s path and outlook. I hope that helps answer some questions!
My Ancestry
Overseas
Note: Before I continue, so many lovely people have messaged me asking which Scottish or Irish-Scottish clans my ancestry is connected to, I figured I could offer a little insight here! I love how excited you all get about ancestry, and I really appreciate your interest! There are two clans that I belong to as a member and that I am ancestrally related to with absolute certainty. Those are: Clan Hamilton and Clan MacTavish (MacTavish through the Thompson surname). Not every Thompson/Thomson has a relation to the MacTavish heritage, so you have to do your homework! My mother’s maiden name was Hamilton. You will find that long line of Anglicized Thom(P)sons (previously Thomsons) on my maternal side as well, which trail right back up to Ireland and Scotland in terms of immigration history. Other clans besides those listed above are infused throughout my ancestry, but those two are the most immediate based on what I know now. Anyone who can prove descent through their maternal line is recognized as part of the Hamilton family clan. My third great-grandmother was a Mehaffey/Mahaffey, with ancestry reaching back to Donegal and Strathclyde, and I’m pressuring one of my friends with the same surname to find out if we are long-lost cousins! Clan affiliation is a popular way for Americans to reconnect with their Scottish heritage.
I am also the direct descendant of late-1700s Irish immigrants (to Virginia, South Carolina, and Alabama) on my paternal side and mid-1700s immigrants (to South Carolina and Tennessee) on my maternal side. I have a theme of Antrim, Ireland, ancestral history from my maternal AND paternal family trees, whether they are Irish or Scots-Irish. One of my family tree threads (maternal) spent several generations in Antrim, specifically in Broughshane, one of the “Gateways” to the Nine Glens of Antrim. Others are from Belfast, Donegal, and Carrickfergus.
I recently discovered that I am a descendant of King James II of Scotland (1430-1460) through my Hamilton line. His daughter, Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran (1453-1488), married my Hamilton ancestor through my maternal line, James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton. They had a child named James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, whose descendants can be traced down to my maternal grandfather, Edward Hamilton. My Hamilton ancestors floated around among Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire (Glasgow comes up a lot), Edinburgh, and Argyll. Another Hamilton ancestor of mine fought in the Battle of Homildon Hill, which is a battle referenced in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I.
I have several family threads through Hamilton marriages that are centered in Orkney, Norway, and Iceland. Those genealogies become very difficult to follow after a few generations, but I'm working on it! It's cool to know that they exist, even if I am not able to uncover more details. Since so many people have asked, and as I mentioned earlier, I have Danish and Swedish ancestry too, the books I recommend when one is exploring Norse paganism are The Way of Fire and Ice: The Living Traditions of Norse Paganism and Spinning Wyrd, both by Ryan Smith. Spinning Wyrd builds on the information in The Way of Fire and Ice, so that one should be read second. I recommend these books as starting points for new Norse pagans/heathens because they are founded on an anti-racist and inclusive approach. It’s very easy to fall down alt-right pipelines when you start exploring Scandinavian/Norse/Viking spirituality. These books will help you stay on the right path. If you really want to kick your heels up, you can get an Old Norse language book!
If you’re related to the Hamiltons, there’s an excellent chance you also have plenty of Stewarts in your family tree as well. Through my maternal line that includes Robert III and King Robert Stewart II (my 18th-great grandfather), Robert the Bruce is my 20th great-grandfather. However, Robert Stewart II is also my 21st great grandfather through my father’s side of the family- not my Hamilton (maternal) side! Subsequently, King Robert the Bruce (Robert I) is my 23rd great-grandfather on this side of the family. So yay! A Scottish national hero who fought against England. And I’m related to him twice! However, through one of the marriages ALSO on my Hamilton line, “Good Sir” James Douglas (The Black Douglas) is my 19th great-grandfather, and he served under Robert the Bruce as one of his right-hand men!
Malcom III Canmore is my 29th great-grandfather on my maternal side and my 25th on my paternal side. (He is also my great-grandfather through my maternal and paternal connections to Robert the Bruce-his 5th great-grandson- which makes him my 27th great-grandfather on this maternal strand and 30th paternal.) (King David I is Robert the Bruce’s 4th great-grandfather!) Malcom III is credited as the founder of the dynasty that united royal power in the Scottish kingdom. His father, Duncan I was the inspiration for “King Duncan” in the MacBeth play by Shakespeare. Follow the line through Malcom’s wife, Margaret Queen of Scotland, back far enough and you’ll find a bunch of kings leading back to Alfred the Great, my 36th maternal great-grandfather and 32nd paternal. Matilda of Flanders (William the Conqueror’s wife) is also a descendant King Alfred. Through her line, King Alfred is, again, my 36th great maternal grandfather and 32nd great paternal. Malcom III and William the Conqueror were the great grandfathers of Henry II. Keep reading for my more recent connections to the Plantaganet kings below.
King Henry II, the first Plantaganet king (married to Eleanor of Aquitaine), and his son, King John of England (brother of King Richard the Lionheart, who is my great uncle), his son, Henry III King of England, and King Edward I “Longshanks” of England are all my great 26th, 25th, 24th, and 23rd grandfathers respectively on my maternal “Mills” side. Click on the links for books about these monarchs. What’s funnier is that King Henry II and King John (Lackland) are also my great-grandfathers from a completely different side of my family, paternal, through another son of King John, Richard of Cornwall. On the paternal side, King Henry II is my 22nd great grandfather and King John is my 21st! And if you remembered that William I King of England (William the Conqueror) was my 29th great grandfather through my mother and my 25th through my father, you are a true history buff! William’s 9th great grandfather was Charlemagne, so he is my 40th maternal great grandfather and 36th paternal.
To make things even more complex, I am related to King Edward I “Longshanks” of England on ANOTHER side of my paternal family through the Rylands I have been able to trace. Through this line, King Edward III, King Edward II, and King Edward I are my 21st, 22nd, and 23rd great-grandfathers respectively! (Edward III and II were not included in my other ancestral lines.) And of course that reconnects me to all of the other people I’ve already discussed above, (King Alfred the Great/Charlemagne/William I, etc.) yet again. So, on my paternal side, William the Conqueror is my 29th great-grandfather. I think my ancestors took “keep it in the family” literally. I’m related to them all through another strand as well, but I think everyone gets the point! Several historians and genealogists I have worked with have said that this is normal (the multiple family connections) for people with royal family backgrounds, since many of these families intermarried over and over.
And yes, I am related to the Tudors as well! My 16th great-grandparents (paternal) are Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. This is through their daughter, Mary Tudor, (sister of infamous Henry VIII) my 15th great-grandmother. The connection point is a marriage through my O’Riley family line further down the tree. Elizabeth’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville and her mother (Jacquetta) were perpetually accused of witchcraft. In short, one side of my family (English) oppressed the other side (Irish) and eventually drove them from their homelands. And yup, this family line goes back up to Henry III. Again. Twice, since two of the people up the tree have Edward III as an ancestor. If you have British ancestry, best of luck to you in understanding it lol! These English ancestral lines were far easier to trace than pan-Celtic ones, thanks to their heavily researched academic nature, but they still had their challenges.
I am also related, through my paternal grandmother, to several kings/princes (lords) of what was once known as Breifne (Ireland). It has taken me years to dig up this information, validate it, confirm it with genealogists and historians, and make sure that the research is sound. I am descended from the O’Reilly clan/family that once ruled East Breifne, and many of my living relatives carry the “Riley” namesake, whether it is a last name, middle name, or first name. Perhaps the burning of the oaks in what is now County Cavan (Breifne) by Queen Elizabeth I (and her military) is related to some ancestral trauma I carry. Maybe this is why I have been such a tree-hugger all my life, but who knows? Read here for a brief understanding of the O’Reilly lineage and their resistance to British rule: https://royalcourtofbreifne.org/breifne/. Also on my father’s side (up through my great-grandmother), I have traced my ancestry back to several of the High Kings of Tara. Many of my ancestors on this branch occupied County Meath and County Kildare. Yet another branch has a ton of my ancestors hanging out around Dublin, and another thread leads me back to County Clare. These lines gave me major difficulties, but because one of my Riley ancestors had so many records that he brought over to the U.S. with him, things were slightly easier once we found him.
Most of my Welsh relatives are from Gwynnedd or Carmarthenshire (village of Rhos/Red Roses) on my paternal side. On my maternal side, many of them straddled the line (and hopped back and forth a little) between Powys, Wales (Llanfrynach), and Shropshire, England, though some of them were in Rhos as well. Most of them were in Wales for at least 600+ years, which I’ve been able to trace, though it probably dates much further back. (Also, don’t trust FamilySearch to fill things in for you. You have to do the research and confirmation work yourself. It’s not reliable at all.) My 6th great-grandmother Lydia Rhys (Rhys surname through her father and Rosser surname through her mother) was Welsh, and both of her parents were from Llangyfelach, Swansea, Wales (Glamorgan).
Another Welsh ancestor of mine is the grandfather of Henry VII, Owen Tudor, who was a Welsh man born in Anglesey. His family is so fun to explore! Even though this is the stuff of myth and legend, and we may never know the true history, Owen Tudor claimed direct descent from the mythological King Arthur through one of his ancestors. Welsh ancestry is exceedingly hard to trace (like Irish), and the further back you go, the more dicey it gets.
My Cornish ancestors went back and forth a little bit between Cornwall and Devon, but most of them stayed near St. Enoder. Some were in St. Mawgan. A recent family line are my maternal “Arundell” ancestors who settled in Lanherne (St. Mawgan again). Another maternal thread lived in Boscastle, which is 5 miles from the world-famous Tintagel. There is Cornish ancestry on maternal and paternal sides, but a bit more on the maternal. Plymouth, Devon, where most of my Devon ancestors lived for centuries (and there are several long threads from both sides of my family here), is only 38 miles from modern day Cornwall. (All hail the clotted cream!) In older times, the two areas would have been even more cohesive in terms of culture. Check out the Dumnonii tribal region here. Devon’s Brixham Pirate Festival is really cool because you get to hear a ton of sea shanties and folk-based music! I do not mean to imply that even though Cornwall and Devon have some shared history, they are identical. They are distinct genetically and culturally! Many Cornish people do not consider themselves English either. Cornwall is a Celtic nation that happens to be in England, though it holds the ceremonial status of an English county. I am one of the people petitioning Duolingo to develop a Cornish language curriculum. Cornish was once considered extinct, but UNESCO has reclassified it as a severely endangered language.
My English ancestral migratory patterns (maternal and paternal) center me heavily around Cornwall, Devon (Plymouth, Winkleigh & Huntsam), Dorset, and Somerset in the south, Shropshire, as mentioned, on the western side near Wales, and feature a long family line in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the north. (A lot of my ancestors from the last two married Irish people for some reason.) These cultures are deep and fascinating, and I love diving into them, though I do study Cornwall, Devon, and Yorkshire the most. Most of these places have micro-cultures as most counties and parish areas do, so studying them makes it necessary for me to pinpoint which villages, towns, or cities my ancestors hovered around. This can be challenging! Sir John Hussey 1st Baron of Sleaford is one of my great (etc.) grandfathers. He served King Henry VII and King Henry VIII (and his children) before being executed for treason. So yeah, one of my ancestors served in the court of another of my ancestors lol (Henry VII).
I also study what little we know about Anglo-Saxon paganism and spiritual traditions. There are too many books to list here, but if you have ancestry in the British Isles, you might want to look into some of those resources! We know far more about Norse spirituality than we do about Anglo-Saxon traditions, but I recommend looking into Old English/Anglo-Saxon poetry and language books if you have the time! One of the first books I read on the topic of Anglo-Saxon spirituality was Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited edited by Carver, Sanmark, and Semple.
I have a line of French and pre-French family members through my father, which is to be expected given my ethnic background. Modern-day France is right next door to the UK, so some of my ancestors went back and forth and mixed and intermingled throughout history.
Several fairly recent German and Swiss-German grandparents married into my Scottish Hamilton line, so I have that as well, and I think German-Appalachian baking is some of the best in the world.
I am a member of several historical societies centered around Breifne, County Cavan, Antrim, and other places in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England (Cornwall). (The Ulster Historical Foundation has been key to uncovering my Irish ancestry.) I contribute research to some of them, but mostly I try to be a “lore-keeper” of the cultures and places my ancestors once inhabited. I do not pretend to be a native Irish/Scottish/pan-Celtic person (I was born in the U.S.), but with the permission of native Irish (etc.) people, I have researched the lore of County Cavan and County Antrim (Ex: the Glens) more than anything else and retain those histories as valuable oral literature(s) that can be passed on. (I want to get to Fermanagh next!) As a lifetime lover of folklore, mythology, and ethnographic research, my goals for the future are to delineate folktales that have not been published in a book (especially from Antrim) and to do everything I can to protect the cultural history of my ancestors (and modern-day natives)! This will likely take a long time. Not every story is mine to tell, but with the consent and cooperation of native Irish people and the inclusion of their input, I have already been working on the beginnings of a collection.
I think it’s prudent to say here that if we all go back far enough, we’re related to someone royal or famous or historically pivotal. Most of my ancestors were not royal, but instead, were farmers, miners, fishers, bakers, textile craftspeople, academics, reverends, and other members of the working class. Many of my royal ancestors did terrible things. I have Norwegian royal ancestors, and they were the “roughhousing” types to say the least. None of the royal connections make me special or more important than anyone else. It’s just really awesome to know something about some of your academically-researched ancestors so that you can connect to them more intentionally and learn from their mistakes. My failures and accomplishments are my own, and I do not get to lay claim to my ancestor’s victories. I wasn’t there! Even if we do need to make reparations for our ancestors, we are not our ancestors, and we should not act as if any good things they did somehow make us better. Their wrongdoings are not our fault either, but we need to become aware of those if we can, and not conflate royalty with goodness. These [ancestral connections] are just cool genealogy facts to me- Not ego boosters.
American
*I am adding this in since so many people have asked! (My readers are the best. Y’all love genealogy and folk traditions as much as I do, and I love you for it!) As for the American culture I am most connected to, the answer would be Appalachian culture. Both of my parents were born in Appalachia, and the majority of my family on both sides live somewhere in Appalachia now. Just because you live near Appalachia does not mean that you are automatically culturally Appalachian, so keep that in mind if you are researching your family history in the area!
Cherokee (Aniwahya… Wolf Clan… ᎠᏂᏩᏯ)
I know every white person under the sun from the East Coast thinks they have Cherokee ancestry, but in my case, it has been confirmed multiple times over by different genealogists and an Appalachian historian. My most recent Cherokee ancestor (who I am aware of) was born in the mid-1600s, and she was married to one of my English ancestors. Her mother was a member of the Shawnee Tribe, and her father was Cherokee. Before I continue, I want to stress that I do not claim to be an Indigenous person. There is a huge difference between having Indigenous ancestry and being recognized as Indigenous by modern Indigenous people. These lovely people are my ancestors, and I honor them, but to pretend to be Cherokee myself at this point would be an act of colonization and would be completely inappropriate. However, I have sat at the feet of many Cherokee people and learned from them, and have been privileged enough to call many of them friends. They have generously shared pieces of wisdom and knowledge with me over the years and directed me to amazing resources that showcase their beautiful culture. I have become somewhat familiar with the Cherokee syllabary, and I participate in celebrating Cherokee culture where and when it is appropriate. I suspect that I have other Indigenous ancestors (who may or may not be Cherokee), but those other threads are uncertain right now.
Scots-Irish and Beyond
As we have covered, I am a descendant of Scottish, Irish, and Scots-Irish ancestors, and when they immigrated to the U.S., almost all of them settled in Appalachia. A lot of my Appalachian relatives hail from Ulster as many of the Scots-Irish people do. However, I’ve almost never referred to myself as Appalachian. I am connected to the people, place(s), food(s), art(s) (I love Appalachian quilting!), and musical traditions of the Scots-Irish (and Swiss-German) Appalachian people, but I was raised in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and much of my parents’ iteration of Christianity was all about erasing big elements of cultural influence. However, I spent holidays, birthdays, and summers in the Appalachian portions of Tennessee and Alabama while growing up, and the sociocultural spillover from both sides of my family deeply influenced and informed who I am. I was privy to some of the folklore and all of the other elements of the broad Scots-Irish Appalachian culture all throughout my upbringing. You don’t have to live in Appalachia your whole life to be Appalachian— But I’m a mixed bag of influences, so even though my family would consider me part of their culture, I’m not sure how everyone else might feel since I did spend most of my upbringing closer to the coastline.
My maternal grandmother’s side of the family settled in Sevier, Tennessee, in the late 1700s. They intermarried with a lot of people from Blount, Tennessee, and Burke, North Carolina, both of which are also Appalachian counties. She (my grandmother) married into the Hamilton line, but most of her ancestry is Scottish too with a bit of Welsh. My great-great-great grandfather on her side fought for the Union as a colonel in the 6th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry. My grandmother was born deep in the mountains in a log cabin in County Sevier! I was able to visit it as a teenager. Gradually, my maternal family moved into County Hamilton in Chattanooga and Hixson, where they still reside today. Most of my father’s side spent a couple generations in the counties of Pickens and Anderson in South Carolina. Then, they settled in Jefferson County, Alabama, by the early 1800s, though some of them were scattered farther north and straddled the Tennessee line.
I’m distant cousins with Judy Garland (that one is actually really close), Emily Dickinson (my muse), Lucille Ball (who lived in Sedona for a while), Susan B. Anthony, Adam West (Batman!), Queen Victoria, Rosa Parks, and Elvis Presley through my maternal family. King Charles I is my maternal 11th great grandfather (1600-1649). On my father’s side you’ll find cousin connections to Walt Disney, Empress Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Jane Austen, Winston Churchill, Harper Lee, Martha Custis Washington, and Betty White. I’m connected to several U.S. presidents, but they’ve all upset me in one way or another, so they are being left out lol! In the South, family is everything, no matter how distant the cousin or grouchy the great-aunt. This is funny in a lighthearted way, but it also contributes to significant generational trauma when people don’t know how to leave toxic family units or give themselves space to heal.
Even though my family (distant and immediate) and I don’t agree on religion at all and barely talk to each other, they consider me one of them culturally, and many of my cultural preferences stem from my Appalachian family roots and childhood experiences. I don’t usually describe myself as Appalachian, but it’s undeniable that Appalachian culture was infused into my upbringing and IS the cultural backbone of my parents and the people who came before them. The Blue Ridge Mountains were my first deep exposure to nature, and my partner and I honeymooned in them in 2012! Before that, I attended university at an establishment I didn’t like, but the one awesome thing about it was that it was nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I was able to explore them even more deeply than I did in childhood for an entire semester! It was a great opportunity to ground myself even more deeply into my family’s American cultural landspace while learning from Appalachian folklorists and storytellers. And yes, I always left a little buttermilk, cornbread, and the best of my sorghum molasses for Mothman. =)
The truth is that I wish I lived in Appalachia (specifically in eastern Tennessee), but unfortunately, due to the political landscape of the state, it isn’t safe for a woman-presenting person of child-bearing age to live there, especially with some of the health challenges I have. I wouldn’t feel safe in terms of access to healthcare, and state policies are just getting worse and worse. I absolutely love Sedona and am privileged to live here, but if the political climate in the southern Appalachain region ever shifts, my partner and I will become interested in going back. Appalachia is one of the most folkloristically rich places in the United States, and I spend a lot of time studying its regional history, social patterns, foodways, art(s), folklore, and other cultural elements. Irish, Scottish, and Appalachian studies are some of my special interests that have been with me since high school, and they all meld and flow together into a beautiful tapestry of ancestral (and cultural) memory for me. I was given some heirloom seeds for a few Appalachian plants years ago, and I still have their descendants (in pots and other movable beds) today! My maternal grandfather and both of my grandmothers taught me a lot about southern-Appalachian culture through food and plant knowledge, and it’s something I really appreciate about all of them. (My mother tells a funny story about how her grandmother, my great-grandmother, wouldn’t take communion at church because she was slightly into moonshine lol. It always gives me a giggle.)
*Did you know that the Appalachian mountains and Scottish Highlands were once part of the same mountain range? (Central Pangean Mountains) I love the deep land connection Appalachia has to other parts of my family history. Also, even though my ancestry is mostly Scottish/Irish and rooted in pan-Celtic countries, I do not mean to imply that Appalachian people are all Scots-Irish. Native American and Black/African American Appalachian people are constantly erased from Appalachian cultural history, and that is not okay! Appalachian culture is a collection of several ethnicities and many different cultures. Hispanic, German, Polish, Portuguese, French, and Jewish people from all over the world have contributed to Appalachia’s fascinating heritage, alongside others. All of them deserve to be recognized and honored. I highly recommend bell hooks’s book, Appalachian Elegy, for a poetic exploration of Black people’s experiences in Appalachia (Kentucky). And for anyone who read the atrocity that was J.D. Vance’s horrible take on Appalachian culture, I would suggest reading What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte.
Part II: My Spiritual and Cultural Pathways
The Problem with “Celtic” Spirituality
Pretani defined: The Pretani (also called Pritani) are the people who were indigenous to the British Isles in pre-Roman history during the Bronze Age. (Their name may have meant “the painted people.”) Though some people believe that “Pretani” was a label used by non-Pretani people to describe a collection of Celtic and Iron Age tribes in the British Isles, academics, such as Professor Barry Cunliffe, now think that the name was of native origin. Furthermore, this is important because the Pretani people, in referring to themselves by that label, would also have referred to their ancestors similarly and called upon them by that name. This is key when thinking about integrating the practices of ancient people into your own studies. How do we call out to our ancient ancestors? Does using this label make it easier to connect with a more ancient culture? When I talk to elementals, they just show up, and they don’t need any kind of introduction or label, but ancestors can be very different. Either way, as Sam MacLaren, a scholar of Celtic spirituality says, the Pretani people lived in the British Isles long before the Roman conquest of Britain, and although the Celtic people did not arrive in one singular wave but rather showed up over time and integrated with Druids and other entities, it is clear the Pretani and the Celts were distinct groups.
This is a very large topic, but I will try to keep it concise! The problem with labeling “Celtic” Spirituality as such is that:
1. Many practices that I and other “Celtic” pagans look back to precede Celtic influence and would be better characterized as the traditions of the Pretani people… Aka the people from the Iron Age who inhabited what is now known as the British Isles. These early people (Britons) were inhabitants of Britain… They were not Celts, and they also preceded the Roman occupation. They were tribal people with significant variance among/across the tribes regarding traditions, rituals, and practices. I try to delve into these practices by studying academic literature and pursuing historical knowledge that is often distorted within new age spirituality.
2. “Celtic” spirituality, even when the label better suits the time period you are researching, implies an overarching term that makes the experiences of Celtic spiritual people homogeneous. Nothing could be further from the truth. Welsh practices from place to place will be quite different from Irish practices. Irish and Celtic are not interchangeable terms. There is no singular, unified form of Celtic spirituality, even within a given country. (And the people of the British Isles wouldn’t have even referred to themselves as Celtic prior to the 1700s.)
The Celts came to Britain later, after the Pretani, and their culture is a part of history for people who have ancestors in the United Kingdom (and Republic of Ireland). However, as mentioned, the practices from place to place, county to county, and tribe to tribe were all distinct from each other, so it would be odd to group “Celtic” people as a collective of a homogeneous beings. The Welsh beliefs and stories may overlap in some ways with other traditions (ex: Irish), but they are not identical by any means.
As Jon O’Sullivan at the Irish Pagan school reminds us, “Celtic” or “Celtic Nations” are mostly academic terms meant to explain similarities among tribes via language, art, stories, and/or culture etc. There is no Celtic race or bloodline. “Celtic” is a description of shared cultural elements among a tribal collective, not a genetic heritage.
In the United States, there is some logical reasoning behind why someone would pursue “Celtic” spirituality. Many of us hail from multiple Celtic and pre-Celtic societies, so we utilize the verbiage as an umbrella term to describe to other Americans the general direction of our spiritual or cultural paths. Still, the information I shared above should be talked about far more than it is, and we need to recognize that when we describe Celtic spirituality as such, we are often appropriating traditions that don’t belong to us and/or that don’t necessarily belong together. In this sense, I practice “Celtic” spirituality, but I more specifically practice some ancient and modern ancient cultural traditions of Wales and Ireland and Cornwall. I do have ancestors from other places (besides Cornwall) in England— and Scotland as well—but I tend to focus on the other three places I just mentioned more often. From a larger perspective, I practice different types of naturalistic paganism and animism associated with Celtic, pre-Celtic, and Norse traditions.
The key is to source your information and practices from the native people to whom those traditions (modern or not) belong. So, if you're going to get into Irish Celtic Paganism, for example, you have to base your practice on the teachings, knowledge, and wisdom of those people and give them source credit for what you are doing. “The Other Crowd” is going to be different in Ireland than the “fairies” in the lowlands of Scotland, who occupy Seelie and Unseelie courts. (The Irish Sidhe do not.) Paganism has some fluidity to it, but you must connect with the Irish land, ancestors, and native folk customs in some way to practice without being appropriative.
A map of the tribes of the Iron Age British Isles from the time of Julius Caesar.
Problems I Have with Mislabeled “Celtic” Teachings
Many teachings that fall under the Celtic label are just flat-out inaccurate. I think one of the disservices that new age spirituality has done to a variety of traditions is extracting pieces from each one and smashing them up together in a way where they are taken out of context, not credited to the people who created and practiced them or are rooted in historical inaccuracy. This is how colonialism works. Mind you, I do not have a problem with traditions that fall under the Celtic label, but rather teachings that are labeled as “Celtic” that have been distorted under the new age umbrella and been misrepresented as one cohesive culture or practice.
Now, for my next trick, I shall lose the friendship/allyship of people who have bought into some falsehoods about ancient Irish, Welsh, and Pretani people! =)
First, many books and “spiritual” resources lead people to believe that the Irish Ogham was an ancient divination system. This is not true. It was a system of writing, and it didn’t exactly correlate to the modern Druid trees in the ways a lot of spiritualists think it did. (I know, I know… It’s not what we were taught). For more information about this, I highly recommend looking into the work of Damian McManus who is a professor of Early Irish at Trinity College. He debunks a lot of false ideas surrounding the Ogham and explains the function of the ancient language. (Some people disagree and still feel that the Ogham is a more tree-ish alphabet than McManus thinks, but it seems like most of us do conclude that it was not used for divination by our ancestors.)
Please note that I am not contesting that the Ogham is now used as a system of divination. This is a valid and respected system by modern Druids and other practitioners. I am merely pointing out that the Ogham was not originally used this way.
Next, a lot of books about “Celtic” spirituality frame ancient Welsh figures (and the fayerie faith across cultures) as deities and gods and goddesses. Ancient Welsh people would not have interfaced with deity the way we do today or understood their Pretani ancestors as “gods” and “goddesses” by our current cultural definitions. My advice is to proceed carefully and do proper historical and cultural research when you are looking to “belong” to your ancient cultures. Each one is unique.
In Irish lore, archetypes such as the Morrigan and Brigid are also represented as triple goddesses in modern “Celtic” teachings, but this is due to a wide-spread misunderstanding. Maiden, mother, crone frameworks do not fit on top of a lot of Irish (and Welsh) entities, because those entities were never meant to operate within those frameworks in the first place. A lot of misconceptions about women, female archetypes, and even the “four elements” came out of Robert Graves’s work, especially within his book: The White Goddess. The maiden, mother, crone framework that he created has led to a deep misunderstanding of many ancient figures and the objectification of women (via the maiden archetype) through a confused masculine lens.
The truth is that the pagan and Druid revivals of recent decades were led by white men and male scholars who often distorted or misunderstood history and anthropology and misguided a lot of people. I can feel my academic friends with anthropology degrees nodding along emphatically haha! Intuitively, I never felt that The Morrigan fit within the maiden/mother/crone framework, because even though she fulfilled many roles, she never had the innocent sexual objectification energy of the maiden, and she constantly bounced between roles in the domestic and the martial realms. (Even though some may argue that the maiden is more than a sexually objectified girl, I would argue that through the original lens from Graves, it was a sexually objectified archetype, and even if you’ve found something enriching in it that shifts away from that lens, it just doesn’t work well when forced onto most ancient figures.) I am not suggesting that Robert Graves or his contemporaries even meant to oppress women… They were, as most men are, only capable of looking through their own worldview when they don’t receive guidance or community input. Relegating women to the simple and linear precincts of “maiden, mother, crone” positioned women as entities that were only validated through their relationships to men and children. (Like, thanks dude. You came up with a triple goddess framework and everyone thought it was ancient wisdom. ’ppreciate you.)
Essentially, there is no uniform triple goddess archetype that is supported by academic sources or historical knowledge. Recent interpretations of major Irish and Pretani figures project gender roles onto these female archetypes that just are not rooted in fact. I’m not going to get into where the triple goddess does and doesn’t apply, if it does at all, but what I want to do is encourage people to pursue academic literature and accurate historical understanding of their traditions, and specifically in my case, “Celtic” (Irish/Welsh, Scottish, Cornish, Manx, Briton..etc.) traditions. Be skeptical of the interpretations of male anthropologists and spiritual leaders and, instead, dive into the “whys” of why they say one figure means one thing and another means another. Even if they don’t mean harm, men don’t share women’s lived experiences, and most of the time, they have no idea what they are talking about. A lot of stupid ideas about women and feminine beings came out of male-dominated Western spirituality in the 18th and 19th (and 20th) centuries. Discernment and proper research are essential to avoiding these misogynistic perspectives. (I'm not dismissing men's contributions to spirituality or saying that they're wrong about everything. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don't come for me lol.)
Most of the “truths” we’ve been handed were filtered through (an often unintentional) misogynistic lens, and we have all kinds of problems with women trying to pull from so-called “ancient wisdom” while living lives that aren’t actually good for them. (Don’t even get me started on the divine feminine mess we have in Sedona.)
Lastly, it is a common misconception that the “four elements” has firm footing in Welsh traditions. I clearly explore spirituality through four main elements (water, earth, fire, air) on my website because I think it benefits Western seekers based on our current understanding of the elements. However, the Welsh writing, The Book of Taliesin, contains a story called “The Battle of the Trees.” What we see here, that is reflected in many other ancient traditions, is that it is 9 elements that are being recognized by Welsh ancestors and writers, not 4. This is corroborated across other sources and is regularly cited in academic literature. If you want to explore the four elements, go for it! Just be aware that our ancestors, if we share the same ancestral Welsh background (or you are practicing respectfully), were aware of far more than the condensed 4 we are familiar with.
My Challenges with My Lineage
Not everyone has the privilege of knowing everything about their lineage, ancient tribes, or the ways of their ancestors. I have had the privilege of uncovering some forgotten knowledge, but there are times when I hit major roadblocks. I have an entire “Ryland” line (separate from Riley) that I am researching, and I have hit a major “brick wall.” I am certain that I am practicing many of the ancient (and fairly recent) traditions of my Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and Cornish ancestors, but there are some things I am not sure about right now. Researching one’s genealogy can be time-consuming and difficult. If you’re facing some of the same difficulties, work with what you know and keep exploring! A lot of information has been lost due to the disconnected nature of American life, colonialism, and confusion about which traditions come from which people. Parts of my ancestry just seem to drop off the face of the earth at certain points, but there are so many other threads to follow, I usually find something amazing every few months. I want to encourage other researchers and family tree builders to keep up the good work and appreciate what you do know! Every piece of knowledge you find is a privilege and a thing worth celebrating!
Takeaways: I hope that my explanation of Celtic spiritual problems here makes some sense and that it gives my lovely readers and supporters a sense of direction in terms of where I stand. Some of what we call “Celtic” is pre-Celtic, and what we are currently defining as “Celtic” is overly generalized and doesn’t do justice to the cultures it purports to encompass. “Celtic” spirituality includes Christian history as well, and many people are not going to resonate with Christian teachings or colonialism. (I am not saying Christianity cannot be extricated from colonialism, but it is a very tricky path to walk. You cannot have a conversation about Christianity without also discussing colonialism. I acknowledge that early Irish Chrisianity was very different from the Romanized type, so that is worth looking into as well.)
These are very complicated and deep topics about ancestry, history, anthropology, sociology, and spirituality, so my point is that I walk a path of ancient pre-Celtic and modern “Celtic” people, but dive deeply into Welsh, Irish, and Cornish traditions while rooting everything I can in academic and native-affirmed evidence. Druid studies are complex in and of themselves, and I do not have every little thing figured out. However, I do see the influences of Christianity, misogyny, and anti-woman teachings embedded in a lot of circles, so I do my best to reach for the ancient roots while understanding the many branches and offshoots of “Celtic” spirituality. There are a lot of things to deconstruct and change in terms of our modern understanding of these ancient traditions. It’s our responsibility to correct misinformation and disinformation and handle historical information responsibly while honoring the ways of our ancestors. Again, we have to listen to what native Irish people and other cultural/landkeepers have to say today as well.
Combating New Age Distortions
As I have said before on this site, not every person who feels they fall under the New Age label is being appropriative or harmful. The New Age Movement has borrowed (stolen… colonized) beliefs from many ancient cultures that are still practiced by those people who never bought into colonialist narratives. However, the New Age as a broader movement is notorious for overgeneralizing, oversimplifying, and commercializing information in a way that is usually geared toward financial gain for leaders… or the erasure of culture (whether by accident or on purpose). It is so important to turn back to one’s ancestral roots and really get to know what ancient teachings actually said, rather than running to fluffy new age books or “teachers” to guide us. This doesn’t mean that we cannot collectively agree (within our own cultures) to change small things about our traditions to suit our modern needs, but it means we all need to come with respect and make sure we know why we are doing those things.
There are a ton of misinformation threads, disinformation agendas, and conspiracy theories (that act as active threats to public health) in the New Age. I really enjoy listening to the Conspirituality Podcast with Matthew Remski, because it is a podcast that heavily peers into the “grifting game” and new-age lies that are being espoused as truth.
Many precincts of new-age thought will teach you to become culturally insensitive and irrational and actively encourage people to slip into spiritual psychosis. (Have you ever heard anyone say that they can practice any tradition they want because they are, “Unbound by space and time?” Yeah, that kind of colonialist thinking. I hear it on a regular basis in Sedona. It's totally okay to journey and play with the spaceless/timeless energies, but it isnt okay to use them to act like you have access to any culture or cultural resource you want.) People are told not to set house alarms because it might “invite a break-in” based on wild interpretations of the Law of Attraction. It’s an asinine approach to living human life.
This could easily comprise an entire blog post on its own, and I am not trying to hate on everyone who falls under the New Age label by their own perception. My point is that the New Age often leads people away from truth, even if there are some exceptions. My path is distinct from the New Age, even if I do still like crystals (please source them responsibly), because it is rooted in critical thought, academic literature, historical insight, ancestral study FROM the groups I belong to, and a practice rooted in accurate folk traditions. In other words, I have gone back to the sources of my interests and have pursued a spirituality that is rooted in ancestral connections and accurate research. (Though, much of my research is incomplete.) It does not mean that my ancestors were always right or that I do everything they did, but it means that I have a proper understanding of history and do not distort ancient practices by pretending they were things they were not.
It is detrimental to get caught up in Law of Attraction stuff (It’s just mostly grifters trying to get rich and not realizing that authentic LoA practices are meant to manifest abundance for communities.), anti-human ideas like ascension (instead of being grounded in your body), or conspiracy theory rhetoric (Ex: “Aliens built the pyramids.”). There are much richer traditions that connect to the land, its people, and its natural inhabitants (animals, plants, stones, etc.) that will be much more fulfilling, especially if you are connected to the culture(s) you are pursuing.
For people who do want to pursue the “feminine” or divine femininity in a way that isn’t rooted in transphobia or rigid roles, it is important to be discerning. Many of the silly ideas we get about the feminine are not rooted in anything feminine at all… But in the measurement of how obedient and accessible women are to men. This doesn’t have anything to do with how much or how little clothing a feminine person wears, but about how much they are socialized to pander to whatever men in the moment want from them. Being unable to call out a predator or harmful person, express anger clearly, or do things for yourself is not feminine. Giving up personal power, placing all the economic responsibility of the household onto a man, or being soft-spoken is not feminine.
The feminine is not intrinsically related to childbirth, motherhood, cooking, wearing makeup, not wearing makeup, having more empathy than others, or anything else. If there is any such thing as the feminine (and really this is just about being human) it is about being connected to the land, to natural cycles, and living in your own authenticity, whatever that looks like for you. “Being detached from space and time” is an anti-feminine and imbalanced idea that emerged from white supremacy and misogyny. Pushing women to just “let go” and disconnect from their analytical and mental faculties to be “feminine” is designed to make them weaker and more vulnerable to control and exploitation. I wrote an academic paper once about how men were the original submissives because they invented hierarchies and easily segued into them while women have had to be “trained” and regularly controlled to be submissive throughout history. I posited that submission was actually (in our world) a masculine-leaning trait, and it was well-received by academics and scholars. This isn’t a post just about the New Age, but about how we must heal from these ridiculous projections stemming from our social structures in order to get back to our roots. Most of what we think is “feminine” in the New Age is just linked to being an unhealthy person, no matter how you identify. (Also, I’m not talking about submission in a kink sense, though I think that deserves to be analyzed too.)
Anyone who knows me knows that I also only use the terms “masculine” and “feminine” to explain what I am talking about to people who need that verbiage to understand these concepts. I do not believe any behavior or energy is inherently masculine or feminine… Or that the masculine/feminine dichotomy is a universal thing. There is no essentialism with gender or gender expression. My point is though, if you do want to align with a healthy version of femininity, do not look to men alone for that information. The feminine as it exists in our sphere should be centered around whatever we want to express in a healthy sense, without manipulation or control (from men or anyone else). Our authenticity is the paintbrush that gives our unique experience its beauty and power. Don’t let New Age or “red-pill”, male-centric teachings disguised as community-minded things pull you from your true center. That is happening far too often in “mentorship” circles and at so-called “feminine” retreats. We can do better.
The New Age tries to teach us not to “see” or speak problems into being. This is just meant to control people and keep them from using their brains to solve problems in the world. The New Age Movement tends to decrease people’s empathy for others and make them more sociopathic about dealing with problems. If we can’t see or discuss problems, we can’t solve them. Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that problems will go away if we ignore them is putting false teachings into practice. If this is working for you, it’s because you are an exceedingly privileged person who is not strategically oppressed in the ways that other people are.
Connecting to the land and learning from folklore should help us become more empathetic and engaged people in relation to the world around us. If your New Age philosophies or spiritual modalities are disconnecting you from mutual aid or keeping you from demonstrating empathy to your fellow humans, they are false teachings. I know we can heal from these anti-human ideas by getting back to our roots and learning to live properly in community with each other again. It will take time and effort, but it is possible if we work together to hold space for our differences while appreciating our common goals. Learning from ancient teachings doesn’t mean that every ancient social structure will work for us now or that our ancestors were perfect, but living with mutual support and showing respect for other cultures will help us set foot in the right direction. We have to start respecting ourselves by reconnecting to our culture(s) so that we stop colonizing ones that don't belong to us. If a practice is open or semi-open, we still need to come with respect.
What are some ways to get started in spirituality that relates to the traditions of Celtic or pre-Celtic people?
Seeking out good sources of information is vital. Be skeptical and question what is written in most modern “Celtic” books. Chances are, they are full of inaccuracies and may lead to you a misunderstanding of your ancestral roots. With that in mind, here are a few book recommendations that have helped me. There are paths besides the Druid path, Irish paganism path, and Welsh spirituality path, but perhaps these will help you get started as you find your footing in a nuanced and complex world of histories!
*Strive to learn the language(s) of the culture(s) you are participating in! Some cultures cannot be appropriately understood without learning the language.
*Talk to or seek out resources from people native to the culture(s) you are engaging with. Being 43% or 65% Irish (etc.) does not preclude us from this responsibility.
*Learn some of the musical traditions or instrumental ways of your forebears. I bought a chanter years ago when I was learning to play the bagpipes, and I have been learning the Sean-nós singing tradition for a couple of years now. I am a classically trained violinist, and I enjoy branching out to the folk music of my ancestors and learning everything from the Irish whistle to the bodhrán.
Go here for hundreds of texts and resources in pan-Celtic literature.
Go here, here, and here to explore the problematic idea of “Celtic Shamanism.” OBOD’s take is that there are “elements of shamanism” in Celtic cultures, but that we can’t say for sure whether our ancestors were shamans. Some of their historical information is sketchy, but at least several of their writers are skeptical of the concept.
The Mabinogion (Translated by Sioned Davies): This is the earliest collection of Welsh stories (medieval). If you are interested in Welsh people, stories, folk customs, or outlooks of Welsh ancestors, this book is essential reading.
The Book of Taliesin (or excerpts)
Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain by Ronald Hutton
Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)— This story is essential Irish reading
Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie
In Search of Ancient Ireland: The Origins of the Irish From Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English by Carmel Mccaffrey and Leo Eaton (Be aware that since this publication, evidence of Paleolithic activity in Ireland has been discovered. It’s outdated in this one way.)
The Peoples of Ireland: From Prehistory to Modern Times by Liam De Paor
Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-theistic Pagans by John Halstead
Fairy Faith in Ireland: History, Tradition, and Modern Pagan Practice by Lora O’Brien
World Druidry: A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality by Larisa A. White
An Carow Gwyn: Sorcery and Ancient Fayerie Faith by Robin Artisson
Pagan Portals: Aos Sidhe by Morgan Daimler
Hark! The Glad Sound of Cornish Carols by Hilary Coleman and Sally Burly (Make sure it comes with the CDs.)
From Granite to Sea: The Folklore of Bodmin Moor & East Cornwall by Alex Langstone
Welsh Witchcraft by Mhara Starling (Mhara Starling is a native Welsh woman on YouTube who writes books about her lovely culture!)
Kristoffer Hughes’s books are usually helpful for people on the Druid path
Academic articles that you will often have to go look for or deep dive for online
Reading traditional cookbooks by people in my ancestral areas has helped me a lot! Getting to know a people through their foodways is a wonderful way to explore culture. I’ve never enjoyed being in the kitchen very much, but I love reading about the sociology of food and the cultures that create(d) different cuisines!
*Note: For those who know, OBOD does assign mentors to students engaging with their curriculum. However, as I said above, I am not a fan of modern-day mentorship. The reason why OBOD’s mentor-based structure worked for me is because the mentors are just there to make sure you’re doing the work and that you’re ready to progress from level to level. They aren’t there to tell you what to think, dump their opinions on you, or even to “guide” you with Druid knowledge. My mentor wouldn’t even give me a book recommendation when I asked, because she felt uncomfortable with pushing me in any particular direction.
**Note: Keep in mind that paganism and animism are technically different things, but they can both be part of your personal practice. Some feel animism falls under the pagan umbrella, while others do not feel they automatically belong together.
***Note: It's no secret that I am not fan of Christianity, but there are huge differences between Celtic and Roman Christianity. Researching those histories and distinguishing traits will be well worth your time!
“Oak Folk”
Today we are journeying
But not too far
The stars don't need us
The planets are content alone
The Oak invites us home
Today,
I want to be the coin
In the fountain
The Cornish hen
In the nest
A sanctuary for leaves
The three shades of Twilight-
Nemetona at rest-
And I need nothing more
Than the passage of words
Before bed
And to be tucked in
Like a babe in the barrow,
An apostrophe on a pallet
Of swan feathers
And to be a therian hunter
On the wall
And the corona of ochre
Wreathed around your smile