A BeanSidhe's Library
Recommended books about Celtic goddesses
General Celtic Mythology and Paganism
Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. Speculative and disjointed, but fascinating. This is the source of some pagan ideas that are commonplace these days, such as the Oak and Holly Kings and the Maiden/Mother/Crone triplicity.
Grigsby, John. Warriors of the Wasteland. Investigates a possible mystery cult in the ancient Celtic lands, practicing Eleusis-like rebirth rites and the occasional human sacrifice. Riveting.
Kondriatev, Alexei. Celtic Rituals OR The Apple Branch. (They're the same book.) This just might be the all-time best book about the Celtic Wheel of the Year and the practices, old and new, that celebrate it.
Squire, Charles. Celtic Myth and Legend. A comprehensive collection of Irish, Welsh, and Arthurian myths. Take his "historical" information with a grain of salt, though. If the Celts had practiced as much human sacrifice as he thought they did, they would have gone extinct!
Tennyson, Lord Alfred. Idylls of the King. Beautifully written retelling of the Arthurian legend, but unfortunately somewhat sexist.
Celtic Goddesses and Heroines
Caldecott, Moyra. Women in Celtic Myth. Caldecott retells a collection of stories about strong Celtic women. She gets a little heavy-handed with her modern interpretations, but the storytelling is good.
Elsbeth, Marguerite, and Kenneth Johnson. The Silver Wheel. Uses the stories of Rhiannon, Ceridwen, Morgan, Arianrhod, Blodeuwedd, and others to explore the Jungian aspects of personal relationships.
Heath, Jennifer. On the Edge of Dream. Emotional, tearjerking retellings of Celtic goddess and heroine stories. A pleasure to read, and makes you think of the legends in a new way.
K, Amber, and Azrael Arynn K. Candlemas. You might mistake this for a simple seasonal book. It is that, yes, but it's also invaluable if you want to know more about the popular goddess Brigid.
Markale, Jean. Women of the Celts. Analysis of goddess stories and what they say about perceptions of women. While he is way too Freudian at times, his conclusions are interesting.
Matthews, Caitlin, and John Matthews. Ladies of the Lake. Seeks the Goddess archetypes behind nine prominent Arthurian women. Also check out Caitlin's Celtic Love, which is a book of retold Celtic love stories.
McCoy, Edain. Celtic Women's Spirituality. Thoroughly modern, Wicca-esque practices for women who want to connect with the Celtic goddesses.
Monaghan, Patricia. The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog, a beautiful mythological tour through Ireland, focusing on the Goddesses. Also check out The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines and Seasons of the Witch. The former is an encyclopedia of goddesses from around the world. The latter is a collection of Monaghan's goddess-related poetry, much of which is based on Celtic mythology.
Faery Lore
Briggs, Katharine. An Encyclopedia of Fairies, British Folk Tales, and anything else of hers that you can get your hands on.
Evans-Wentz, W.Y. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Includes tons of anecdotal stories of faery sightings. This text is online at this site
Franklin, Anna, and Paul Mason. The Fairy Ring. This is a beautiful oracle deck, made from computer-altered photos, which comes with an informative book about the faeries of Britain.
Kinsley, James (ed.). The Oxford Book of Ballads. Many British and Scottish traditional ballads were about encounters between the fae and mortals.
Matthews, Caitlin, and John Matthews. A Fairy Tale Reader. While this book is a little disjointed, do give it a look. It includes stories and articles collected from various sources. Especially useful is the article "The Ballad Fairy", which gathers information from the ballads of Britain and Scotland.
Purkiss, Diane. At the Bottom of the Garden. For a darker, more frightening look at faeries, check out this book. It compares the Celtic Fair Folk to the baby-stealing demons of ancient Mesopotamia, and the aliens of today's urban legends.
Rose, Carol. Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins. An encyclopedic resource listing faeries from around the world.
Fiction, of varying degrees of relevance
Banks, Lynne Reid. Melusine. Creepy gothic teen novel about a boy on vacation, a crumbling manor house, and a mysterious and troubled girl named Melusine--with the myth always lurking in the background.
Berry, Liz. The China Garden. Another teen novel; this one is about a young girl who is heiress to a mysterious estate and possibly the Holy Grail. Lots of stones and mazes and other British earth magic.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. The Arthurian legend as told by Morgaine, who is a pagan priestess trying to preserve her traditions in a rapidly Christianizing world.
Byatt, A.S. Possession. This romantic mystery about poets and academics is full of references to Celtic femmes fatales like Melusine and Dahut.
Carey, Lisa. In the Country of the Young. Sensual ghost story about a modern artist with a troubled past, the ghost of a girl who died on an Irish coffin ship, and the legend of Oisin and Niamh.
Garner, Alan. The Owl Service. A young-adult novel about three teenagers who accidentally invoke Blodeuwedd in modern Wales, and end up playing out her myth.
Jarman, Rosemary Hawley. The King's Grey Mare. Elizabeth Woodville, notorious queen of England, is presented in this book as a witch and a devotee of Melusine.
Karr, Phyllis Ann. Idylls of the Queen. This can best be described as an Arthurian murder mystery, laced with the sarcasm of a cynical Sir Kay.
Marillier, Juliet. Daughter of the Forest. A blending of the Irish "Children of Lir" story with the Germanic "The Wild Swans", set in pre-Christian Ireland. Tearjerking.
Pope, Elizabeth Marie. The Perilous Gard. This is a YA retelling of the ballad "Tam Lin", and is firmly rooted in Celtic tradition--wells, sacred kings, etc.
Roberson, Jennifer. Out of Avalon. Arthurian short stories, most of them from the feminine point of view.
Seton, Anya. Green Darkness. OK, so this one is mostly irrelevant, but it has stone circles and Melusine in it, so it makes the list. :)
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