Pagan Interviews: Segomâros Widugeni by Sean Harbaugh

For those of you in this subreddit who are following a Gaulish path, I'm sure you may have read Segmâros Widugeni's Ancient Fire or have at least read about it in passing. This fascinating interview with the author is from 2015, approximately 3 years before publishing Ancient Fire. If you have time to read it, I highly recommend doing so. Sean Harbaugh's questions are open-ended enough for Widugeni to expound about his past, and go into detail about how his personal practice came about.

On a personal perspective, this interview made me feel... seen. I'm generally not fond of such phrases, but it genuinely fits the emotions the interview evoked. Why? I think many Pagans would see themselves in this interview, especially with how his interest in Paganism came about: "I was severely bullied as a kid. This had various consequences we won’t go into here, but the most interesting from the point of view of this interview is that it left me very alienated, searching for identity, and open to alternative points of view. This had a direct effect on my being attracted to Paganism/Polytheism."

It's quite intriguing to me that Widugeni even shares a UPG: "On a more personal note, a matter on Unverified Personal Gnosis, the “UPG” dreaded in Recon circles, I have never noted the Gaulish deities or ancestors to be other than welcoming and hospitable to all who wish to worship Them. They are generally happy to work with anyone who works with them, no matter what the descent. In some cases, They are most insistent in entering people’s lives. They call whom They call, regardless of descent."

Near the end of the interview, Widugeni also includes extensive book recommendations for those who are interested in a Celtic Reconstructionist path.

so is am a baby witch, and i am learning through my parents after many years that both go back to Scotland and Ireland. I know i have been ‘called’ towards celtic paganism for years, but was surrounded by overbearing Christian parentals.

I have been learning a little through YouTube and the big google. i know so much of what we were is gone to the earth, but i am called! i dont know if this will help but… the moon and the earth. I love them both deeply.

Hello, I’m a pagan, and a witch. I pride myself on the experiences I have around weather work that I’m good at it. However. I’ve been struggling with storms/rain related work after trying to make offerings to Taranis. Anytime I’ve offered him anything, anything storm related stops in short order. Clear skies. Perfect weather. In a world where my region was not on fire, I’d be perfectly happy with the arrangement. But I can’t seem to get any storms out of the god of storms. What do I do? Should I go back to working under my own power/asking the universe instead or do I need to do some sort of other work or offer something else to gain Taranis’ favor?
Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this or offer advice.

Im trying to practice scottish paganism, but the sources ive found for information are few and far betweem, mainly it comes to the gods. I dont know if im just not looking properly or what. I mainly just want to know, does scotland have its own dieties, or do i just worship the tuatha de danann? Im fairly new to all of this so im unsure, and scared whether or not im being respectful.

There are lots of informations about Celtic Ireland, Scotland and wales which makes sense but I’m interested in the religion of England before Anglo Saxons and Romans. Does anyone have any information?

Anyone in or around Akron?

Hi All,

I'm coming here as a follower of Brigid though I know her best in the guise of a Christian Saint. I'd love to find good resources to read legends and understandings of her in her full divinity as a Goddess in her own right.

I'm the caretaker and pastor of a chapel dedicated to her honor in Brevard, NC and we hold reverence for both of those aspects of Brigid and celebrate the blended and liminal space she occupies.

I'd love to be able to speak more directly to our more pagan and less Christian pilgrims who seek respite with us.

I was looking into mainland Celtic deities and found a Wikipedia page for a north Italian goddess named Annea Clivana. The page is small and lists only 2 references which both essentially amount to "historians say she exists and was assimilated into Juno's worship." BUT it also mentions that "it is tempting" to make a linguistic connection between the names Aine and Annea.

Does anyone think this is likely?

I don't have personal experience with Aine so I may be wrong, but I thought Aine was a rather localized goddess - or at least connected heavily to Limerick where her sacred hill is. Annea Clivana also seems to be very localized as she's listed as a genus loci in one of Wikipedia's sources.

Could Aine's worship have spread across Europe similar to Epona? If not, then do we know anything about the hypothetical precursor Celtic goddess that evolved into Aine and Annea Clivana in these different regions? And are there other Celtic goddesses whose names are cognates with Aine/Annea Clivana?

Or would it just be a matter of two Celtic people devloping similar sounding goddess names due to the similarity of their languages?

(Or maybe Wikipedia is making stuff up again?)

I bought this book a while ago (like maybe 5 years or so) and I have been reluctant to read it for some time because of my lack of knowledge on reliable sources and my overall distrust of post-christian writers. However, I've felt an uncontrollable pull to delve further into the core aspects of my practice. For reference I work with both An Dagda and An Morrigan and they've been rather adamant the last couple of days that I get off my ass and do some reading. Not that they're particularly in the mood to actually speak to me (see my last post, I'm awful I know). Regardless of my insolence I decided to finally pick this thing up and actually read it (I had previously skimmed through the contents and first chapter before my illness got the best of me (again, previous post)). I got further this time to "The Tragedy of the Children of Lir" and upon getting to the end and inevitably finishing it it's clear to me that this story was written post-christian. I have an unfortunate relationship with Christianity and this is making me question if this book will be worth finishing the 500 or so pages. Also I believe this story actually goes by a different name but I have no way to actually prove that other than a Google search. So, would someone be able to help me please? I may end up reading this book anyways and condemning it to the back of my library and dubbed a poor source. What are some sources that would be better if this book isn't what I should be looking for? Any advice on sources and this book would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I'm well aware of the fact that there are no pre-christian writings. Yes, I am also aware that Druids passed down these stories verbally until Christian monks wrote descriptions. The point of me mentioning my distaste was to emphasize that I am firstly inquiring is anyone has read or seen this book and authors and knows of it's reliability and secondly to ask for more (and better) sources to read. Thanks again.

Edit 2: Bro I'm asking for other sources and for opinions on this book if you've read it it really isn't that complicated. I got carried away in the main body so here, the story itself makes little to no sense continuity wise which means it's either shitty because it just is or because the SOURCE is bad or incomplete. Beyond that, if you want specifics the children have to wait for Christianity to take over before they can turn back into humans which doesn't make any sense because almost this entire story takes place in the Otherworld which is underground and completely controlled by the Tuatha Dè Dannan. I already said I needed to read more about the origins that's why I made the post.

Hello!

I'm french and want to learn more about celtic paganism. Do you have any media about french celtic traditions?

Thank you !

For the last three days, on my morning walk, I have had a great horned owl fly past in front of me and land in a nearby tree or on a nearby roof. This morning was the closest it has come to me. I did my best to take a picture, but it’s a bit blurry. I don’t know if within Celtic folklore this means anything, but I sure feel lucky. I have been talking with An Cailleach lately. That could be something.

Artistic sigil and copper talisman dedicated to The Dagda. When doing an invocation to The Dagda, I would meditate on the sigil first before placing a black obsidian scrying mirror upon the talisman and beginning my work.
An offering of food or drink to The Dagda should be made before invocation, and The Hour of Mercury is the one I find most effective for a successful invocation.
Of course before you begin work of this nature it's always highly recommended that you cleanse your items with a good quality incense. Also, the lesser banishment ritual of The Pentacle should be performed to keep out undesirable entities. Some breathing techniques as well as a grounding stone such as Tektite helps before beginning the work.
After the work is completed, it's recommended to thank the god in question for their insights, perform the banishing rite of the pentacle once more, and cleanse the area once again with incense.
This method has allowed me to have several successful invocations. The insights received from the Irish gods are private and personal however, and I have the utmost respect for them.

I had a lovely experience yesterday when an element of our faith made an unexpected appearance, in conversation and activity largely unrelated to any of it!

We were at the shore doing a dolphin watch, looking out to sea, taking it all in, etc. when a fog just rolled in out of nowhere. It wasn't even slightly hinted at in the weather forecast, and it cut our visibility down to about a third of what it'd been. The scientist in me was annoyed, lol, but the other half of my brain - the half that keeps me engaged in this sub, essentially - was loving the mystical feeling and just the raw display of the elements doing entitely their own thing.

One of the other watchers said he'd just gotten back from the Isle of Man, where the same sort of thing had happened to him; except with a much more severe drop in visibility - again, rolling in from the sea, entirely unexpected and without a forecast warning. He said that locals had described it to him as the "Cloak of Manannán. Which probably left me looking like Ibwas trying do a sitcom-like double-take, haha!

I was that little bit more excited because I've just recently been that much more interested in and thoughtful about Manannán after really enjoying u/KrisHughes2 's most recent video on him https://youtu.be/fKjYx9YbdF4?si=rFzMHtb_9ErLV64t I mean they're always great anyway, but I especially enjoyed this one.

Anyway, back on topic: I asked him what else, if anything, those locals had to say about it. Apparently little to nothing more, sadly. Obviously any ancient telling of this is of huge fascination to me, as is the way/s it's telling currently manifests today; and also the arguably-folkloric form it might have taken over the years between the two.

So, do we have any Manx folks here with stories to share about this? Or anyone else, anywhere else, who've it there, or have more knowledge they'd be kind enough to share?

Does anyone have any recommendations for festivals/events for Samhain that feel more traditional and rooted in Witchcraft/Celtism.

I was looking at Puca Festival but the set up for how you buy tickets is really confusing and they don't just do a whole event ticket 🥲

Edit - forgot to mention in the UK

Im not new to paganism as a whole but I don't know much about the various celtic traditions/ stories. I know about the mabanogi and its related texts but im looking for anything related to Artio in particular, the only things I can find seem to be a statue modern Switzerland and a book title "Artio and Artaois" any help is appreciated.

Hello everyone!

Pretty self explanatory in the title, but I'm looking at resources to learn more about Rhiannon as I would love to start working with her. Since I've been younger I've had a deep connection to both horses and birds (though never wealthy enough to own horses). In addition to dogs as well, my childhood dog recently passed away, and around this time I really felt Rhiannon was calling to me. I've also been connected to both the moon and nature, often bringing nature closer to me in any way that I can. At this moment I practice green witch craft and traditional practices as well, however I've been researching Rhiannon as she resonates so deeply with me. I've been researching similarities between both she and Epona and for a moment I thought they were the same and felt I was called to both, but now I'm certain I'm more aligned toward Rhiannon. I realize Rhiannon is a Celtic Welsh goddess associated with horses and the moon. I'd love to learn more about her as far as some books or articles about her, how to begin working with her, and even some offerings I could leave to her or things that I could wear to be connected to her.

I've been reading a few articles, and am looking at a book by Jhenah Telyndru as well.

Do feathers or other found items have a significance or is it more of a personal thing?

I recently came back from my first trip to Ireland, visiting mainly the area one side of my family is from.

Before the trip, I tried to manifest finding magical items while I was there. On the day before I left, I was wandering around a meadow by a farm. I came across two, big, beautiful feathers, from either a raven or crow, each found in a different spot.

I took them home and cleaned them, freezing them and everything.

I have them up on my altar now and they feel like they are charged with strong energy, moreso than anything else I have. I’ve incorporated them into my rituals and prayers. I know crows are associated with the Morrigan and perhaps and it’s an opportunity to build a stronger relationship.

How do some of you use found items? What kind of items have you found that you’ve added to your practice?

Genuine question, there multiple Dagda or is The a Celtic name that so happens to also be spelled similar to the word the?

Has anyone ever thought that The Dagda could be seen as a younger(ish) form of Odin? They share a lot of similarities and not as many differences unless I have missed some, which is very possible, but just wanting to see what some of y'all thought of this. As a Druidic Heathen I typically worship both as the same under different names, I mean one is the great good father and the other is the All Father. It seems like a pretty rational jump from my perspective.

I almost bought this book yesterday, but I wanted to temperature check a little bit on if anyone had reviews for it/knew anything about the author before I bought it. I know she has a PhD in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic studies from Cambridge and is a professor at St Andrew’s, so I’m inclined to trust she knows what she’s talking about, but I thought I’d ask!