The Celts and Thrifted Tuesday
magikquilter July 2nd, 2008
I have a deep love for all things Celt. My personal library is full to bursting with books in the magic realism/historical fantasy/speculative fiction field. I think my love of these things is probably steeped in childhood memories of the church and our Irish priests and nuns brought a lot of the artwork with them here, illustrated gospels etc therefore seeds were sewn for my love of these forms of art in the future.
When we married in 1983 we went to Northumberland for our honeymoon and spent quite a few days exploring Lindisfarne, Holy Island. This is where the monks originally from Eireland first educated and then sent out missionaries into the then pagan Northumberland and where they translated the gospels into wonderful illustrated documents…the most well known being….The Lindisfarne Gospels which are currently housed in the British Library in London. Lindisfarne also suffered in AD793 the first Viking attack on British soil, an attack that many historians view as being the equivalent or worse than 9/11/2001.
Since discovering a form of fantasy that I could actually read and enjoy about ten years ago I have been a prodigious reader of all things to do or based in the times of the celts so I was really pleased to be able to buy these books recently. Some of the authors and books I have enjoyed immensely are Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Marillier…three part series…preferred the first as a one off and Black Trillium by Marion Bradley Julian May and Andre Norton then Blood Trillium and finally Sky Trillium by Julian May. These I read in old smelly softcovers from whatever source I could find …and I cannot abide smelly books!!! Then over the last few years I was fortunate when the three hardcovers, all in immaculate condition, came into our local charity shop. The books were less than $4 each and are my previous spectacular buy for this week!
My husband found me a few of these and I found the rest. I love the artworks and have a great love of celtish inspired jewellery. Which might be why I love this crucifix so much…it is not so much celtish as medieval I feel and is from Australian designer of fashion and now jewellery…Peter Lang. I am not a crucifix wearing person as such and especially do not like the way it has been glamorised as a fashion statement but this speaks to me of my time on Holy island …indeed I think one could imagine a nun or monk of the day wearing that as they went about their day of gruelling labour or penitence. The crucifix was $8 and I have seen his necklaces are $150 to $200 new. Heavenly….as Lindisfarne would be to visit for a retreat….check them out before you visit Europe. It would be an unforgettable experience.
Back to this topic! I wanted to let you know that I had not looked at my Celtic coloring books for a long, long time, and because of your post, I got out my pencils and started up again. It put me in a wonderful, calm, meditative state of mind I’d remembered consciously, but not the FEEL of it. There’s definitely something mystical going on there. And as for, um, Beltane, when I was 8 & 9 my school had a May Festival every year, and we did the Maypole dance. I was just a kid, but I knew there was much more to it than what we little pagans were told…
ha ha little pagans..I laughed out loud at that Muse! Wow the colouring Celtic books sound great…I was telling Daniel [Barmitzvah boy] about it the other day…he is hugely into these type of things and totally got it. I will tell him about this when he gets back from holiday in new Zealand with his dad. He will come back with crystals and a dragon or three!