User Profile

Kathryn here: EcoFeminist, Gaelic polytheist, ban-sagart na Brìghde and spiritista at large. Co-founder of Nigheanan nan Cailleachan agus Pàganachd Bhandia. Practical Mystic. Writer, researcher, artist. Feral satirist. Occasional musician. Dedicated dog-wrangler.

I'm living in the mountains with my pack of dogs and humans, spending time preserving and re-establishing the Gaelic spiritual traditions of my ancestors, and doing what I can to help out with various struggles for language and cultural preservation and the protection of sacred sites. My rate of success at these endeavours has varied wildly over the years, with the usual expected and unexpected breakthroughs, revelations, pitfalls and pratfalls.

I have articles, essays, poetry, satire, songs, visual art, comix and reviews scattered about the Alternative and Underground press. I even pop up here and there on some tapes and CDs, drumming, singing and sometimes songwriting.

An intuitive mystic and spirit-listener since my creepy childhood (it runs in my family), I've been working with others in spiritual groups since 1980, and am one of the people to blame for the founding of CR in the mid '80s (if we include the "proto-CR" years). I seem to have been the first to use the umbrella term "Celtic Reconstructionism" for the diverse traditions that were being revived or put together at that time, though if I'd known it would come to be a "tradition" name, I would have suggested something far more poetic!

But it wasn't up to me what terms others adopted. And hey, I was trying to be inclusive, and trying to build bridges across a variety of approaches... even if that largely turned out to be a mistake.

And even if my practice was always centered on matters Gaelic, not fantasies of a misty, "Celtique" past, and even thou I had no idea that "gaps" in some of the older source material meant some people would rather invent things rather than look to the living cultures for our practices. *shrugs* Sometimes my desire for peace and harmony has caused problems in the long run. I'm trying to rectify that now.

As our foundation work in those proto-CR years became more widely discussed, some people started referring to it as "Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism." In my initial usage, I did not include "Pagan" as part of it, but others who felt more affinity with the Neopagan community tacked it on, usually when writing for a Neopagan audience, and at the time I didn't object. I was trying to be tolerant and inclusive. By the technical definition CR is a form of Paganism, as it draws on pre-Christian and earth-based mythologies, but it seems my friends and family and I really have very little in common with much of the Pagan (or, Neopagan) community these days. In the 1980s I was very involved in the Neopagan communities, but am not now; I feel they have become overrun with Newage and racist appropriators. These days I have far more in common with my relatives and allies in traditional religious communities (of a variety of ethnicities and origins). I am comfortable with those who still respect the spiritual traditions of our ancestors, the role of the elders, and the will of the people. I am not comfortable allying myself with anyone who supports racist appropriators or liars. I will not participate in anything with people who sell ceremony, who pose as something they are not, or who presume to lead ceremonies they have not been traditionally authorized to lead.

At this point I am in a tenuous relationship with many of the people who have adopted the term CR. I am horrified to find that some eclectics, racists and appropriators have adopted the term. It can be hard to know what to do about this. I wrote about it more extensively here: Turning Point : Third Point : Gateway (April 30, 2008)



Oh yeah, Buy the Book while you're at it.
Or just Read more about it. And btw, just because I collaborated on that project with the other contributors doesn't mean I endorse their work now. The FAQ almost wasn't finished due to some creepy revelations. I am close with some of the contributors, but others I don't speak to anymore due to their violation of core principles we agreed on in the FAQ (see above rant about cultural appropriation, for one).

My personal tradition, Nigheanan nan Cailleachan, Pàganachd Bhandia, is an EcoFeminist, Gaelic tradition focused on the worship of the Irish and Scottish Goddesses and the honoring of the Ancestors and Nature Spirits. Nigheanan nan Cailleachan, the founding hearth of PB, consists of my household, plus some of my closest friends and family members. Currently there aren't many of us practicing NNC/PB - it's basically just the above-mentioned, plus a handful of satellite members. I assume that as we get more material published, PB will become the larger, more public version, while NNC will remain more private and family-based (I include intentional family in that definition, by the way). Those of us using the Gaelic terms Pàganachd, Págánacht and Págántacht are generally the more culturally conservative variety of CRs - we are more concerned with issues of cultural appropriation and maintaining traditional Gaelic culture than some of the other participants in the CR community. I would say we're as "traditional" as it's possible to be without having an unbroken polytheistic religious tradition (and, sorry, even with the living practices some of us inherited, if you have to piece other parts of it together from folklore books and Old Irish manuscripts, as opposed to inheriting it as a living religious practice in your family and community, you're a reconstructionist, not a traditionalist. Even if "traditionalist" is a more appealing word. The mostly-secular (or Christianised) Gaelic cultural traditions (language, music, poetry, dance) survive unbroken, but the earth-based polytheistic religion was fragmented. As rooted as we may be in the secular cultural traditions, there is still work to be done to revive the religion. I go into this a bit more here).

Though our political values vary (many of us, myself included, are actually leftists, progressives and radicals), our approach to CR is more traditional than some other branches (though some would argue that some of those other branches aren't actually CR). In line with these principles, we have a couple of new-ish LJ communities focused on our Gaelic traditions, paganacht, and an even newer one, oenach.

Though my spiritual practice has been focused on matters Gaelic since the proto-CR years and some have been with me my whole life (through my Irish/Scottish family and community), I did spend my teens and early twenties as a rather stereotypical seeker, checking out the cultures and religions of all my friends and acquaintances who would have me. Like many Americans with ethnic identities, I needed to look around a lot before coming home, and I still have strong alliances with a diverse group of people. I have been a guest at ceremonies with many different sorts of people over the decades, including friends and family from a variety of traditional cultures.

I'm a veteran of radical feminist, anti-racist, anti-war, global justice and other radical/progressive actions, happenings, organizations and movements. I'm more reclusive these days, less of a street warrior, but I still do my best to live my politics and agitate-educate-organize.

I want a bigger community, and possibly a larger household (though we'd need an addition to the physical house at this point!), but can be rather particular about who I let into my life.

When not at the computer, chatting with friends or working on writing and music, I can usually be found in the woods by the river (or in the river), hanging out with the trees, listening to the Spirits, and writing some of it down.

Or drumming and flailing about to music that has screaming in it.

Or reading reading reading.

Or doing divination.

Or ceremony.

It's a quirky life. Not exactly what I planned for, but interesting, engaging, and full of plenty of challenges to keep me on my toes.

Beannachdan nam Bandia Leibh.

Wishlist: Though I prefer people to support their local independent booksellers, I do have a wish list on Amazon.com, for anyone desiring to bribe me or support my research habit (and Leos do love presents). However, in support of the First Nations Boycott of Amazon.com, I've mostly migrated it to Powells (type kathryn at bandia dot net (converted, of course, to the actual address) to reach my page). If not at Powells, the types of books I shop for are usually found cheaper (or even just found) at abebooks or Celtic Books for Scholars, but, alas, no wishlist functions there. For now I'm keeping the Amazon.com wishlist posted only as a reference for the books the others don't have in stock, but please avoid supporting Amazon.com.

CR: If you want to know more about this CR and Gaelic Polytheism thing we're always going on about, check out the above-mentioned, rather comprehensive, CR FAQ. Though some compromises were necessary to get something we could all live with, and I don't vouch for the other work of everyone else who contributed to the project, it's the best place to start for info on CR.

A few misconceptions that I've found on the net about CR, but which have hopefully been cleared up in the FAQ:
1. The preservation of Celtic languages and participation in the living Celtic cultures is a core, essential part of CR. Language is the key to understanding a culture's mindset, and while fluency in a Celtic language is not a prerequisite to participation in the CR community, people serious about the tradition do almost always dedicate themselves to language study as part of their CR practice.
2. CR is not eclectic. When we speak of having studied comparative religion for ideas of how to elaborate on some of the polytheistic Celtic religious practices for which we have fragmented information, we are not advocating importing rituals, practices or beliefs from other traditions. What we are doing is using cross-cultural study - usually of closely-related Celtic or Indo-European cultures like the Welsh or Norse - as an aid to figuring out the way our ancestors may have done something. When in doubt, we don't elaborate on a traditional practice at all. We keep it simple and see what happens as it's utilized, as is, over the years and decades.

This is one of the places where CR is markedly different from so-called "Celtic Shamanism". Everyone that I am aware of who calls themselves a "Celtic Shaman" is simply ripping off First Nations practices (sometimes under the guise of cultural thief Michael Harner's "Core Shamanism") and sprucing them up with a smattering of Celtic terminology (and perhaps some Celtic Deities and myths taken out of context). It's coming from a different mindset than authentic Celtic traditions, is usually a display of cultural ignorance and/or laziness, and is offensive to both our Celtic ancestors, the living Celtic communities, and the First Nations folks who do not want their traditions ripped-off. The reason importing other cultures' practices and calling them Celtic is offensive to the Celtic ancestors is that, by doing this, we are neglecting the preservation and revitalization of what they actually believed and did. We're ignoring their work, their lives, and their values, and letting them die in favor of something that may seem easier and faster and, perhaps, more "exotic". If someone wants to be eclectic, or be accepted into a family from a non-Celtic culture, they should pursue that (and participate in that culture on the terms of that culture), and not call their eclecticism "Celtic" in hopes of disguising cultural theft.

I personally support Declaration of War Against
Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality, as well as the 2003 Statement on the Protection of Ceremonies. As CR was founded partially in reaction to the cultural appropriation in the Neoplaygan communities, I do not consider anyone who is ripping off Native American ceremonies to be CR. Racism is unacceptable, and cultural appropriation is a form of racism.

I began my CR practice because my Ancestors and Deities were asking that we practice something that is our own, that is culturally rich enough that we do not need to steal from anyone else's culture. Of course, as this involves a significant amount of reconstruction and revival, this is taking a lot of time, and a lot of work. It will be a long time before the Gaelic Polytheism, or Pàganachd agus Págánacht communities are that large and solid. But that is my goal and the goal of my nearest and dearest colleagues.

"Friend"ing: I'm most likely to "friend" people who post original content and use cut tags. If you friend me and don't do these things, I'm more likely to just bookmark your site and read it occasionally. I'll often read someone's journal for a while before I decide whether to friend them. Though some of the people on my "friends" list are real-life friends of mine (some very good friends or family, actually), in general, it would be more accurate to call it, "list of journals I read or, for whatever reasons, keep an eye on." Please don't assume that having someone's screen name on that list necessarily means anything more than I look over their journal sometimes. Some people are here because, well, someone has to keep tabs on them.

Politics/Principles: In case it's not obvious, the fact that I subscribe to some journals does not necessarily mean I agree with any of the things people post in those journals.

FEAR MY AWESOME MOD POWERS: I currently co-mod paganacht, cr_r, ne_cr, and brighidwomen. Doesn't mean I agree with what's posted there, either ;-)

Privacy: Since being indexed by some bloggers sites, this journal is now mostly friends-only, with the occasional public rant. I didn't initially intend it to be as well known as it now is, and had asked that it not be indexed. But I got over it. I have accepted that the public posts are very public and have adapted accordingly. I also have a more public blog: Pàganachd Bhandia, which is also syndicated on LJ here.

Unless otherwise indicated (such as in memes, responses from friends, or quotes from friends' previous comments) all content and images in this journal, or in responses I author in other LJ fora, are copyright ©2009 kpn/katharsis ink, all rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without written permission from the author.








I'm a hera for women everywhere - even if I'm a little scary.