Celtic Source
Episodes
78. The Oldest Welsh Fairytale Explained: Elidyr and the Fairy Realm
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get the short guide 'The 5 Keys of Celtic Myth' here: https://celticsource.online/the-5-keys-of-celtic-myth/The story of Elidyr and the Tylwyt...
77. The Physicians of Myddfai - An Interpretation
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get the short guide 'The 5 Keys of Celtic Myth' here: https://celticsource.online/the-5-keys-of-celtic-myth/How can a simple Welsh folktale ab...
76. The Welsh Myths of Calan Mai
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get the short guide 'The 5 Keys of Celtic Myth' here: https://celticsource.online/the-5-keys-of-celticmyth/Calan Mai (Beltane) is a time of flowers, b...
75. Celtic Wisdom Traditions
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get the short guide 'The 5 Keys of Celtic Myth' here: https://celticsource.online/the-5-keys-of-celtic-myth/If you're interested in following the Mabi...
74. Battle Scars and Sacred Stars - The Story of the Picts
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two thousand years ago, an unstoppable empire met an immovable people. Rome’s mighty legions had conquered most of Celtic Britain . . . except for t...
73. The Integrity of Celtic Myths
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sign up for the Mabinogi course here: https://celticsource.online/courses/the-four-branches-of-the-mabinogi/How do we preserve the integrity of Celtic...
72. The Imbolc Mystery - What Ancient Irish Sources Really Tell Us.mp3
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Saint or goddess? Christian feast or pagan festival? The story of Saint Brigid and Imbolc has puzzled scholars for quite some time now. So what do the...
71. The Celtic Equinoxes?
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Wheel of the Year was a concept invented in the mid-20th century to describe a cycle of 8 seasonal pagan festivals, many of which were taken from ...
70. The Celtic Rites and Sacred Time
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Wheel of the Year, the cycle of seasonal festivals that have been observed across the world, is one of the key features of historical Celtic cultu...
69. Disagreeing about Religion and Geoffrey of Monmouth
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
History books on Witchcraft:Owen Davies, Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History, (2003); Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon (1999); Emma W...
68. Arthur's Myth: Death, Cauldrons and The Holy Grail
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The older Welsh myth of Arthur is often overshadowed, both by the obsession with the chivalric Arthur of medieval Europe, and then more recently by th...
67. What is a Bard? Old and New Traditions
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A wide rangeing conversation with singer Genevieve Andersen about the role of the bard in Welsh culture, past and present, and the ethics of being ins...
66. Reimagining the mysteries of Tam Lin - A conversation with Charlotte Hussey
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In her most recent collection of poems, Charlotte Hussey has drawn on the fairytale of Tam Lin as found in a 16th century ballad from the Scottish Bor...
65. Taliesin in Modern Poetry
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many modern poets have found the awen in Taliesin's myth, not just in Wales but also beyond. Simon Lilly and Chris Martin are two such wordsmiths ...
64. What the Welsh story Triads can tell us
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Trioedd Ynys Prydein, the medieval Welsh storytriads, can tell us a few different things about other sources of Welsh myth, particularly the Mabinogi....
63. The Ancient Celtic Horse Goddess?
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do we mean when we say that Celtic goddesses like Rhiannon and Macha are medieval variations of an older, original horse goddess? What are we mis...
62. The Blessings of the Táin
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Táin Bó Cuailnge, often simply called the Táin, is one of the most important Irish myths, and perhaps even one of the most important in Europe,...
61. Taliesin the Guide.
30 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why is Taliesin a suitable guide to the world of Welsh myth? Here's a few reasons why.
60. Myth Mountain: Why Myth and Why Mountain?
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is a new podcast my wife and I will be making over the next few months. If you want to hear more, please search for the Myth Mountain podcast on ...
59. Danu and Dôn
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There have been several decades of speculation about the relationship between these two mysterious mythic mothers who both founded divine lineages in ...
58. Eternally Fruitful Questions
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What questions should we ask when investigating Celtic myths? There are plenty we could ask, but I've tried to hone it down to three eternally fru...
57. Taliesin Origins - An Introduction
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There's not many folks who end up in my line of work, and I often reflect on how I've ended up here, why I'm still following the path of C...
56. Modern Paganism's Translation Problem?
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do books on modern paganism have a translation problem when it comes to Celtic sources? A discussion with Kris Hughes on an important subject. Course...
55. Thanks, Rest and Next . . .
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Courses on Celtic myth and folklore: https://celticsource.online/courses-page
54. A 5th Branch? From the live lecture archive.
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What would a 5th branch of the Mabinogi look like? By following the recurring themes of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, is there a way of guessing ...
53. Celtic Gods in Medieval Wales
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many of the characters in Welsh and Irish myths are believed to be medieval versions of earlier Celtic gods. But did medieval audiences and readers se...
52. The Life of Stories (Part 6)
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this addendum to our long rangeing conversation about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, poet and storyteller Tom Hirons talks about what brings some...
51. Sir Gawain and Men's Mysteries (Part 5)
30 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight isn't just an old poem about chivalry and codes of honour, it also appears to be a meditation upon different types...
50. Sir Gawain and the Pagan Goddess
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird and Tom Hirons venture into the pagan wilds of the English classic, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Many scholars have commente...
49. Sir Gawain, Woman and Wild God
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird and Tom Hirons talk through a poem by Hirons, 'Sometimes a Wild God', and some of it's connections to the Green Knig...
48. Sir Gawain, Desire and Death
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this second part of the conversation between the poet Tom Hirons and myself we explore the different tensions in Sir Gawain, initially between desi...
47. Sir Gawain and the Mabinogi (Part 1)
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird and Tom Hirons discuss the Middle English classic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The first part in an extensive conversation e...
46. The Story of the Story
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Mabinogi contain many influences and draw on many sources. In this last talk on Rhiannon's Mabinogi, we look at W.J. Gruffydd's conclusions about ...
45. The Goddess' Stolen Child
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are several stories in the Welsh tradition and beyond about stolen children and their mothers, but what do they mean? Part 6 of Rhiannon's Mabin...
44. Who is Manawydan?
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Manawydan in Welsh myth and Manannán in Irish myth are often considered variations on the same mythological figure. But is this true? And if so what ...
43. Ceridwen's Mabinogi?
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An interlude from Rhiannon's Mabinogi series: To really understand a myth we need to understand the tradition in which it arises. So what is the broad...
42. A Queen Betrayed (Rhiannon's Mabinogi part 4)
17 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Both Rhiannon's and Branwen's stories in the Mabinogi express some of the most tragic themes in Celtic myth. They are also very similar to later folkt...
41. The Celtic Wonder-child Myth (Rhiannon's Mabinogi part 3)
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Myths about immortal fathers and miraculous births are found in many cultures across the world, including the stories of the Welsh and the Irish. What...
40. How can we understand the Mabinogi? (Rhiannon's Mabinogi part 2)
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this second video on W.J.Gruffydd's classic of Celtic scholarship, Rhiannon we explore his comparison of the Irish story the Conception of Mongán ...
39. Rhiannon's Mabinogi part 1
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Rhiannon is found in the first and third branches of the Mabinogi. One of the most important books written on the subject is Rhiannon by ...
38. Was witchcraft a religion in medieval Wales?
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Clearly, witchcraft — as part of the broader set of beliefs we call paganism — was an aspect of a nature religion in the folk culture of medieval ...
37. The Mabinogi Challenge: Day 1 Recording
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A recording of the first day of the Mabinogi Challenge. Over the course of 5 days we're working through a simple process by which you can begin...
36. The Dark Side of the hero Myth pt 2
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this second talk on Canu Llywarch Hen, the 9th century Welsh poems that tell the story of Llywarch the Old and his 24 sons, we talk through Llywarc...
35. The Dark Side of the Hero Myth pt 1
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Canu Llywarch Hen, the sequence of 9th century Welsh poems about the tragedy of Llywarch the Old and his 24 sons, is one of the most important works i...
34. The Song of Heledd pt 2
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this second video on Canu Heledd ('The Song of Heledd') we look at what could have led to such a tragedy. There are suggestions in the poems that H...
33. The Song of Heledd pt 1
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Canu Heledd ('The Song of Heledd') is a sequence of 9th century Welsh poems commemorating the loss of territory to Saxons when they invaded the kingdo...
32. Did a woman write the Mabinogi?
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who wrote The Four Branches of the Mabinogi? That's a question numerous Celtic scholars have attempted to answer over the years, but none have been ab...
31. 'The Battle of the Trees' and The White Goddess
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Graves' White Goddess is one of the most popular books ever written on modern Celtic mysticism, but as well as entrancing countless modern read...
30. Ritual Masks and Channeling
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What can the almost universal practice of ritual mask wearing tell us about the Welsh bardic tradition? As far as we know, the medieval Welsh bards di...
29. Why interpret myths?
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In answer to a question that comes up every now and again: Why focus on interpretation? Shouldn’t we just cover the historical facts and let people ...
28. Bardic Craft and Animal Transformation
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This video is in answer to two questions sent in from The Taliesin Tradition course: - what is the bardic craft of classical Welsh poetry? ...
27. Who is the gatekeeper?
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Concluding this short series on Welsh Arthurian poems we take a look at the broader use of the 'enchanted fortress' motif and see how it's used to evo...
26. The Spoils of Annwfn
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing with this short series on Welsh Arthurian poems, this talk takes a look at Preideu Annwfyn (The Spoils of Annwfn), one of the better known ...
25. The Discourse of Arthur and the Eagle.
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
'The Discourse of Arthur and the Eagle' is a 12th century Welsh poem that was very popular in the Welsh oral and written tradition. Even though it's a...
24. A Welsh Cailleach?
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When we compare Welsh folktales about giant witches and their stone cairns to stories about the Cailleach of Ireland and Scotland, we find some very i...
23. Are Welsh scholars misrepresenting historical paganism?
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In recent decades, several authors on Celtic myth and spirituality have been accused of misrepresented the cultural history of Wales. But what o...
22. The Giant's Beard
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this last in the series on Welsh folklore, we look at the peculiar phenomena of the Giant's Beard and what it could have stood for in the ancient p...
21. Iolo Morganwg and Fake Myths
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A very frequently asked question amongst modern druids is what (if anything), can be taken from the work of Iolo Morganwg, the founding father of mode...
20. Barclodiad y Gawres (The Giantess' Apronful)
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This neolithic tomb on Ynys Môn isn't the only cairn to be named after a giant witch . . .
19. From Celtic Gods to Celtic Spirits
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What happened to the Celtic gods of Iron Age Europe? Where are they in later Celtic folklore?
18. Witches, Giants and Arthur
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Peniarth 118, a Welsh manuscript written in 1600, describes many of the traditional giants and witches of Wales. It also confirms that King Arthur and...
17. The Witch of Death
24 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Witch can often be a cartoonish character in folklore, not just in Wales but across the world. But there is also a mythological quality to the wit...
16. The Witch, the Hare and the Saint
10 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The witch transformed into a hare is an old folk tale found across many parts of Europe. In Wales, the story appears to have a connection to Saint Mel...
15. Were the Welsh bards shamans?
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a question that arises quite often on the courses, and in this last episode of Series 2 I've compiled two answers I gave recently to this quit...
14. A Celtic Wisdom Tradition?
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Celtic myths are symbolic, so we need to interpret them to draw out their wisdom. As a result, it's probably worth asking if interpretation was ever a...
13. The incarnations of Brigid
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Connecting the different incarnations of Brigid, from Iron Age goddess to early Christian saint.
12. Where did Ceridwen chase Gwion Bach?
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The different versions of Taliesin's folk tale give us clues as to where the animal-transformation chase scene may have taken place. Following some in...
11. Who wrote The Book of Taliesin?
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Book of Taliesin is one of the great treasures of Welsh culture, but who wrote it? In truth, it's an impossible question to answer, but there are ...
10. What is The Book of Taliesin
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Book of Taliesin is one of the primary medieval sources for the Taliesin myth. But what does it actually contain?
9. The Welsh bardic triads
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Welsh Bardic Triads ('Trioedd Ynys Prydein') provide an index to the oral storytelling tradition of medieval Wales. They were used by bards across...
8. Was Taliesin a druid?
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most Celtic scholars would rightly point out that the correct answer to this question is an emphatic no. Yet there is a more nuanced story that can be...
7. The bardic power of myth
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How did Taliesin transform his patron through the bardic power of myth?
6. Celtic Magical Elixirs
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are some distinct similarities between the Welsh Tale of Taliesin and the Irish story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, in particular the very ancient conc...
5. Awen, symbol and cauldron
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the Taliesin myth, awen plays a central role in creating symbolic reality. This leads naturally on to an outline of some of the symbolic mean...
4. The Celtic otherworld?
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'Otherworld' is probably a misleading term when thinking of the Irish sidh or Welsh Annwfn, as there is a subtle but important difference b...
3. The roots of Celtic myth
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tracing the Celtic myth of water, divine birth and inspiration back to its Indo-European roots.
2. Y Fari Lwyd - a Welsh winter custom
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An overview of the Mari Lwyd folk custom and a discussion of the meaning of some of the Welsh folk verses sung during the winter ritual.
1. Is Celtic spirituality cultural appropriation?
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is an old issue when it comes to Celtic culture and our historical source texts. In this episode Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird, a first-language Welsh sp...