From the editor: 'Our God is the God of Heaven and Earth, of sea and river, of sun and moon and stars, of the lofty mountain and lowly valley.' These words of St Patrick have been seen as an epitome of the Celtic monk's holy embrace of nature, his sense of 'ecology'. Everywhere in Celtic Ireland, on rocky promontories and lonely hillsides, in hermitages and monasteries, we find a holy intimacy of human, natural and divine.

In this anthology the stories of the Celtic saints are interspersed with verses, prayers and sayings attributed to those ancient sages, from Patrick and Brigit, through Brendan and Columba, to Aidan and Cuthbert.

We do not know when or how Christianity first arrived at those westernmost reaches. It always seems to have been there. Legend tells us that Irish bards attended the events on Golgotha 'in the spirit'. There is in the Celtic tradition a continuity in cosmic process. For the Celt, Christ's death and resurrection was a healing that made possible a reconciliation of humanity and nature in God. In this sense Christianity was always in Ireland and we seek its historical beginnings in vain.

If the Celtic Church had survived, it is possible that the fissure between Christianity and nature, widening through the centuries, would not have cracked the unity of western man's attitude to the universe.

Pages: 143
Special Interest: Celtic, Christendom, Druids, Shaman, Occult, Magick, Advanced Studies & Application, Ritual.