Why is this author bad to follow?

[John32241]

The Anna books describe how Jesus was a Druid priest. He studied many things from different regions of the known world.

I find it amazing that a 10 year old child has the inner wisdom to know these things and the more educated do not. The established Christian church did everything it could to direct its followers away from the healing energy work promoted by Jesus and his family. I suspect that this was done because Jesus honored the ways of women.

Since our documented history has always been written by the winners of, shall we say, diverse points of view, there is frequently only 1 history book. Those Anna books attempt to shed some light on those contrasting Christian teachings.

I am fond of those who seek self empowerment in any form. I encourage it. However in that process, we frequently need to adjust our perceptions and trust our inner guidance. That is why I am so impressed with this wise young one.

Amazing!!
John

[norseman]

Hi John ! I turned up a reference by D. A. Mackenzie in his work "Buddhism in Pre-Christian Britain" which maintains that an Indian King, Ashok, sent Buddhist Missionaries to learn "the mysteries of the Far North from the Cimmorians [?]" but they got lost and ended up in Wales and were taught the Celtic Mysteries by the Welsh Cunning Folk. So, the original Druids were not racially Celtic if this is true.
Incidently, there is another link in this regarding the early settlers of Ireland. They also travelled to the "Far North" to be taught "wizardry and druidry" before returning to Ireland as the Tuatha de Danaan.

[John32241]

Originally Posted by norseman

Hi John ! I turned up a reference by D. A. Mackenzie in his work "Buddhism in Pre-Christian Britain" which maintains that an Indian King, Ashok, sent Buddhist Missionaries to learn "the mysteries of the Far North from the Cimmorians [?]" but they got lost and ended up in Wales and were taught the Celtic Mysteries by the Welsh Cunning Folk. So, the original Druids were not racially Celtic if this is true.
Incidently, there is another link in this regarding the early settlers of Ireland. They also travelled to the "Far North" to be taught "wizardry and druidry" before returning to Ireland as the Tuatha de Danaan.

Hi,

We can learn a lot from history if we take the time to evaluate it.

I have started to look at the Wicca section because I am interested in learning more about these teachings. I am not fond of the word religion because it implies dogma and not open minded thinking. Most of us need to cling to a "structure of though" by following its prescribed rituals. I am interested in appreciating all forms of benevolent energy work.

Having said that, may I ask if there is a book which you could recommend for me so that I could read information which would assist me in understanding the pagan ways?

Thanks,
John

Originally Posted by norseman

I would just like to point out that Witchcraft is a religion in it's own right. The original religion of the British Isles and pre-christian by a long way. Christian Witch is an oxymoron ! Where people get confused is in the craft aspect. Witchcraft should actually be written Witch Craft i.e. the Craft of the Witch - the working tools if you wish. However, much of the Craft involves invoking deities or nature spirits which brings me back to my original statement.

Witchcraft is a irreligious activity. It's not necessarily connected to any deities or spirits. Technically one can be an atheist witch (even though that tends to raise some eyebrows).

Many traditions associated with witchcraft and magical acts tend be entwined with low mythology and folkloric remnants of pre-Christian religion - such as the huldrafolk in Iceland, which are obviously a leftover from Christianization but, are at the same time something different; but once the mythos and religious traditions are broken or fragmented to such a degree that they are no longer a threat to the new religion, then it's no longer a religion in a usual definition (which is rather vague, I'll admit, because religion is a tricky term), instead it's a flavored form of the new one with it's own traditions that resemble pagan religious activity, but have lost the underlying meaning in terms of why they are done for the most part.

Originally Posted by norseman

Hi John ! I turned up a reference by D. A. Mackenzie in his work "Buddhism in Pre-Christian Britain" which maintains that an Indian King, Ashok, sent Buddhist Missionaries to learn "the mysteries of the Far North from the Cimmorians [?]" but they got lost and ended up in Wales and were taught the Celtic Mysteries by the Welsh Cunning Folk. So, the original Druids were not racially Celtic if this is true.
Incidently, there is another link in this regarding the early settlers of Ireland. They also travelled to the "Far North" to be taught "wizardry and druidry" before returning to Ireland as the Tuatha de Danaan.

That sounds really, really creative.

The La Tene culture (which is generally accepted as the culture[s] that gave birth to the Celts) pre-date Buddhism, which means that such an institution as the druids, which were closely entwined within many Celtic cultures, would be extremely unlikely to have been a foreign priesthood. Not to mention the fact that... I think it was Julius Caesar who mentioned that the Gauls send their druids to Britan for education.

It took until the 2nd and 1st century BCE for Buddhism to make a stable appearance in the Bactrian kingdoms, where it took up root and created it's own forms of art, but even then never achieved much influence in the more western parts of the Greek speaking lands, to my knowledge.

I think it's an interesting proposition, but one that's really unlikely to have actually occurred; at least until the appearance of some lost Roman commentaries on how the druids spoke Sanskrit lol; or better yet, a Celtic altar dedicated to a Bodhisattva.

[norseman]

"Witchcraft is a irreligious activity."

I suppose it depends on how you define religion. There is ample evidence of worship of The Great Mother all over Europe at the time of the last Ice Age, and even figurines of this potent fertility symbol being dredged off the floor of the North Sea which flooded around 5/6000 BC. In Britain there were Death Cults in the meso and neo-lithic [underground tombs and the like] so realms were recognised. Shaman would invoke Nature Spirits [ the Green Spirits of the Forest, etc]. Twenty miles from me is a henge dated about 4000 BC [Thornborough] which was a centre of spiritual activity in the Neolithic and in the time of the Celts - still used today. "Worship" of trees, springs, rock formations, other generally natural features in the landscape.
Maybe not formal religions but certainly articles of faith of some sort.

[norseman]

John, a serious book for a serious man !

The Triumph of the Moon - Prof. Ronald Hutton, University of Bristol

I am also very partial to

Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits - Emma Wilby, Fellow, University of Exeter

These are both academic books.