Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm sylk. Graduate student in geology. Been slowly working on the development of my own path that's best described as eclectic Pagan and based to a very large extent on UPG for the past 3 years or so. I don't claim to understand things anywhere near as well as some of the people here, but I do try my best to stay out of fluffiness.

I normally lurk a fair bit and just enjoy the discussion, as it stimulates my thoughts. Additional resources are also always useful.

First, question. What does leathgael mean? I googled it and it only came up with one match, which wasn't very helpful in explaining it... the first thought I had was that it meant "non-Gael", but I'm not sure.

But no, I didn't say anywhere that just going to Ireland and participating in their traditions would suddenly make you a Gael. What I said was that you can't consider yourself part of the culture if you have the heredity and speak the language, but don't actually participate in the culture. I can't think why a person would learn Irish and then not become active in that culture in some way, it seems to go against common sense. But you never know.




Just because I don't fully grasp the idea of Fíreoin or everything that is discussed in Brehon doesn't mean that I don't at least have a vague idea on other aspects of Irish morality. When CuAnnan asked about cultural laws, I assumed it meant their sense of morality just as much as their system of justice. If he meant things applying to Ireland's modern government, I'm even less knowledgeable, but that's something I'm trying to learn more about before I go to Ireland. Forgive me if I misunderstood your intentions.

Just to clarify, you had leathgael conferred upon you.
You were entitled to it, in that your grandparents were of the Blood.



It's arguable, in this instance, they are one and the same. The Brehon law was a codified legal system that very well reflected our morality.


That's an excellent question and one which had not yet occured to me. I will actually add that to my repertoire if you don't mind.

I suppose "morality" was a bad word choice. I was thinking along the lines of cultural values, which would be slightly different, though still based on and including much of, Brehon Law. From what I've read about it, there are many things within it that aren't applicable to how we live today, such as slavery, some of the hereditary rights, and some of the ideas towards neme status and disabilities (to name a few), but it's still the best way to understand how they lived and to apply their cultural values to ourselves. Loyalty, hospitality, family values, honesty, the importance of oaths, charity and generosity are a lot of the values that I've gotten from what I've read of Brehon Law. I just haven't been able to find anything about Brehon Law that went beyond a summary of it - mostly because all I have to work with right now is the internet. I'm about to go search JSTOR for articles, but any suggestions on books I should look into when I get back to the States would be very helpful.

I've been suffering from brain fry lately so I've limited my presence here to lurking, for now, but I figured I should be polite and introduce myself.

Hi! I'm Max. I have been studying Wicca and Witchcraft off and on for about 30 years, got serious about it 10 years back, and have been a practicing Seax-Wican for about three years. Feel free to offer your input on where you think my trad stands in the grand scheme of all things pagan, 'cause apparently I don't have a clue. blaugh



I'm aware of the "Big 3". What are the other two?

Yeah, but with a slight hint of Theodish Belief (Theodism?).



Ah! Gotcha! I keep forgetting that many do not classify those two as Pagan, though I never understood why. Any chance you would point in the direction of accurate info so I can find out? smile

It really depends on which versions of those religions you're looking at. There are certain sects of Hinduism which are pretty hardcore polytheistic, but there are others that believe all the gods are simply representations of Brahma (I'm totally forgetting if I'm getting His name right at the moment, forgive me). This is especially true in Indonesia, where a religion must be monotheistic to be considered a national religion at all!

As for Buddhism, there are some places (like Tibet, for instance), where the teachings of Siddhartha have been mixed with folk religions, and have thus created a pagan religion. But there are other places where there are, in fact, no gods at all. The Buddhism I study here in Korea (Seon Buddhism), is a type of Zen Buddhism; there are no gods in Seon. And Buddhism is another of those Indonesian religions that has been modified to fit into their "monotheistic" structure.

As for my sources on this, it's a combination of knowledge I've gotten from 3 summers of studying with a sunim (Korean Buddhist nun/monk), and from my comparative religions class this past spring. I can't give specific textual sources for the latter at the moment, as I'm still in Korea and my books are on the other side of the world, but if you'd like to know, I'd be happy to tell you once I'm back (in a month...).