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Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful approach with questionable sources.
Review: After reading this book, I came to realize that the approach the John and Caitlin Matthews is using expresses the spirit of Celtic Spirituality as it presented in sources such as Celtic Heritage by Alwyn and Brinley Rees and The Gods of the Celts by Miranda Green. However, It would have been nice if John and Caitlin Matthews would have used these text as sources for their work. Much of the text expresses what is apparent in ancient Celtic religion while other aspects are off into left field. The only reason for this that I can think of is that the translations that are being used are out dated (some seem to be from the 1900s) as well as looking at late middle ages sources and saying that they come from ancient Celtic sources, which would be impossible to tell. Even with all the problems that arise with the text, it is a wonderful approach and much of what John and Caitlin Matthews express, from what I can tell, is consistent with other academic text about Celtic spirituality and religion.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a book beyond most others in the field.
Review: If you never again by any books on this subject you must have this book. Reliable source document translations that are accessible to the average reader are thin on the ground and this is one of the very best. BUY THIS BOOK! I refer to it repeatedly and it never lets me down. An excellent book and an excellent value.
Rating:
Summary: This is a book beyond most others in the field.
Review: If you never again by any books on this subject you must have this book. Reliable source document translations that are accessible to the average reader are thin on the ground and this is one of the very best. BUY THIS BOOK! I refer to it repeatedly and it never lets me down. An excellent book and an excellent value.
Rating:
Summary: As of 1/6/01, One of the Top Three Books on Celtic Tradition
Review: The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom is, hands down, required reading for anyone interested in the primal Celtic traditions, especially of the Irish and Scottish traditions. Where John Matthews' Taliesin and the Shamanic Mysteries of Britian addresses largely a Cymric (Welsh) and British leaning, The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom is, largely, rooted in the Irish, with some exploration of folk Scots beliefs and expressions of the shamanic (as in the case of the late and well-loved Scottish seer, Eliadh Watt). As of January 2002 I consider this book to be one of the top three books on Celtic tradition, especially the visionary tradition of primal Celtic spirituality and the field of contemporary Celtic spirituality. It is a priceless addition to one's library, along with Tom Cowan's Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit, Mara Freeman's Kindling the Celtic Spirit. For a more classical exploration of these same themes I recommend The Silver Bough, by F. Marian McNeill.
Rating: 
Summary: A useful reference resource
Review: This compilation affords readers without access to major Celtic Studies collections at universities the opportunity to examine translations of many Celtic stories of mythic importance.
That said, there is one section that I must discuss.
The materials relating to the Cauldron of Poesy found in this book are very close to those that my wife, Erynn Laurie and I published in 1992, including the diagrams. While I am not asserting plagarism, let me note that John Matthews did meet us in 1993, and we discussed this material for some time, and presented him with a copy of our book "The Cauldron of Poesy Lectures" and a copy of an earlier version of Circle of Stones. I know that Caitlin Matthews read the Cauldron of Poesy lectures, because she sent us a thank you note. Despite this, we are not listed in the source bibliography at the end of the book.
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