The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I have been reading a book entitled Celtic Myth and Religion by Sharon Paice Macleod. I find the book very interesting and presents Celtic beliefs in a interesting and organized way but want to make sure the information is reasonable. Has anyone else read the book and has comments about what she presents?

 
She's an academic, but this is not an academic book. I enjoyed it, but she extrapolates massively from myth and turns it into an organized religion, when we don't have nearly enough evidence to say that's what the Celtic tribes did. The book is an interesting way to turn myth into spirituality/religion, though, if you're looking for that.

1. Are there any parts of the book that are more accurate in terms of Celtic beliefs?
2. Is there a better book I can learn from that is more accurate about Celtic beliefs?

 
The book is completely accurate as far as it goes (Sharon's degree is from the Harvard Celtic Dept!). It's just that there's a lot of interpretation mixed in with the facts, which is inevitable. Any book on the topic would do the same, but no two interpretations will be identical.

Would you consider it a good book to start

Definitely yes... but don't take this or anything else as gospel. Also read Alexei Kondratiev, Jan Fries, Brian Walsh, C. Lee Vermeers, Erynn Rowan Laurie, Morpheus Ravenna (her blog is a must-read) and all sorts of academic stuff.

The personal impression I get is that the Tuatha De Danann where the people how may have made the burial mounds and structures that the last invading group who became the Irish of today were impressed by but still had to defeat.

Yes, the Dananns are associated with the mounds and could possibly be the spirits of the people who built them.... but DNA and archeological evidence does not support the idea of "invasions"- the population of Ireland was genetically pretty homogenous from the end of the last Ice Age till the Anglo-Norman invasion. The "Lebor Gabala" is a hodgepodge of different sources including the Bible, Irish myth and total fiction... it should not be taken as "pagan scripture" in any sense but just as one source among several.

In addition the Fomorians sound and appear like the Invading Norseman of both Norwegian and Danish descent.

 
The Fomorians are cthonic forces. The word means either "undersea people" or "monsters from below"- both of which are sort of equivalent in Celtic cosmology. The association with the Norse is much later. The Dananns, by comparison, are celestial forces.

This made me suspect the sidh is where the ancestors go along with spirits associated with the Land of Ireland.

Yes, IMO this is correct. But not everyone would agree.