Celtic Shaman's Pack

[Martin]

Hello Hermit,

Your opinions are interesting but there are a couple of points about your critique. The main problem is inherent in the following statement:

"There is no evidence that Irish religious figures ever had "crane bags," and the symbol is not found in any other Celtic tradition."

Shamanism is a living discipline, not a dogma, and so what is wrong with adaptation? What Matthews puts foward are ideas based upon Celtic tradition. In the particular example you use (and this is where the problem of basing opinions of books soley upon what someone else has said) he refers to the crane bag that appears in stories of Fionn mac Cumhail (who obtains the bag from his father). The idea of the crane bag carrying sacred items occurs alson in the Dunaire Fionn. And so you see it is not unheard of in celtic tradition after all.

It is also worth pointing out that what we know of celtic tradition is nearly 99% speculation, and so it is not possible to say "the celts didn't do x", especially considering celt is such a broad term.

Martin

 

[Kyrielle]

Missing Manawyddan

My copy of the Celtic Shaman's Pack arrived today with still-wrapped cards. The thing is, this copy has two Lady of the Ways cards and is missing the Lord of the Sea card. If this set is indeed out of print, would I still be able to get a copy of the missing card sent to me if I contact the publisher?

And it is a lovely deck, with really good quality cardstock.

-- Kyrielle

 

[faunabay]

Re: Missing Manawyddan

My copy of the Celtic Shaman's Pack arrived today with still-wrapped cards. The thing is, this copy has two Lady of the Ways cards and is missing the Lord of the Sea card. If this set is indeed out of print, would I still be able to get a copy of the missing card sent to me if I contact the publisher?

And it is a lovely deck, with really good quality cardstock.

-- Kyrielle

I would definitely still try. Alot of times they have some extras stuck back.

 

[Angel Star]

Ok I want this deck the 4 pictures I saw are gorgeous I will be looking it up on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation. I have been looking to buy a new tarot deck or something I have not seen yet and here it is. Thanks

 

[rostie]

they are beautifull!!!

here a few pictures more:

http://www.chesca.demon.co.uk/

click on artwork and you will find a picture from the greenwood and a picture from celtic shaman's pack...click on this one and you will find 10 pictures...


sara.

 

[the hermit]

Hello Hermit,

Your opinions are interesting but there are a couple of points about your critique. The main problem is inherent in the following statement:

"There is no evidence that Irish religious figures ever had "crane bags," and the symbol is not found in any other Celtic tradition."

Shamanism is a living discipline, not a dogma, and so what is wrong with adaptation? What Matthews puts foward are ideas based upon Celtic tradition. In the particular example you use (and this is where the problem of basing opinions of books soley upon what someone else has said) he refers to the crane bag that appears in stories of Fionn mac Cumhail (who obtains the bag from his father). The idea of the crane bag carrying sacred items occurs alson in the Dunaire Fionn. And so you see it is not unheard of in celtic tradition after all.

It is also worth pointing out that what we know of celtic tradition is nearly 99% speculation, and so it is not possible to say "the Celts didn't do x", especially considering celt is such a broad term.

Martin

You need to not jump to conclusions so quickly.
I did read the book, by the way, in spite of your implications. Which is why I made my statements. And I quoted the portion of another’s review because I agree with it and wanted to show it wasn’t just an individual opinion.

As for your citing of Dunaire Fionn there is disagreement about the translation that names it a "crane bag" and I didn't say it's "unheard of in Celtic tradition"
i said as you can see in your own quote that it's not found in "any other Celtic tradition".

And your final statement applies to druidic tradition NOT Celtic tradition. Quite a bit is know about the Celts throughout Europe, Ireland, Scotland and Wales via the wonderful finds and studies done by anthropologists and archaeologists. most of what is known about the druids comes from a very few pre-christian sources and then the christianized Irish, Scottish and welsh themselves and can't be totally trusted do to that very christian influence.

Back to mr Matthews and his work. I agree completely that shamanism is a "living discipline". But Matthews presents his work as fact, not speculation, not adaptation... and it isn't. I stand by my statement that one would be better served to read Michael Harner's "The Way of the Shaman". Which was, by the by, the whole point of my original post.

 

[ladycj]

This is exactly why I love this site. No one takes stuff on blind faith. We all question and study and learn. Yeah us!

 

[WolfSpirit]

O, I'm lost I just totally looove Chesca Potter's artwork. I also love the Greenwood, but it has more muted colours. I really love this as well cheerful bright colours.
Can I resist this ? Did I just read it's out of print ? How much more can my credit card take ? *sigh*

 

[WolfSpirit]

Just got this deck

I got it by mail today. Yes I had vowed not to buy any more decks but this green creature kept bugging me saying: don't you know it's oop, you'll never get it so easy or cheap. So I caved in and bought it from an amazon marketplace seller who sent it by airmail
Those of you who have it: have you done anything with it yet, and how do you like it ? looks like a deck I could use for reading, I like the art work (lovely colours !) but I'm a bit disappointed there is so much white on the cards. Still glad I got it though.

 

[Angel Star]

I have studied some shaminism and I agree about adaptation as who knows with all the history holes what actually was practiced or not. It is a fascinating subject and anyone who is intersted should read what is easy to understand as not all shamism is practiced the same way. I own Way of the Shaman plus some other by D.J. Conway and they all say different things one is Celtice the other is more based on Native and other types of Shaminism of other people. All subjects share a great deal of information. I need to see more pics of this deck so I am going back to a post to check it out. Take care all.