Academic (Pagan Related) Religious Resources:

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/jewish-worship-pagan-symbols/

Updated 03052017

While most if not all are way way beyond any modest to megier studies budget.
I felt having a reference list still would be useful for all of us.

I have also added some Research sharing sites that may be of use and some that I also use or follow.

GK/TDK

A::Academia.edu: (social networking website)
is a social networking website for academics. It was launched in September 2008^[3] and had over 21 million registered users as of April 2015.^[4] The platform can be used to share papers, monitor their impact, and follow the research in a particular field. Academia.edu was founded by Richard Price, who raised $600,000 from Spark Ventures, Brent Hoberman, and others.

https://www.academia.edu/about

Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

 http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/

The Chronicle of Higher Education:

 Is the No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators.
https://chronicle.com/section/About-the-Chronicle/83

B::


Balkancelts: 
Journal of Celtic Studies in Eastern Europe and Asia-Minor.
This is a great resource with a great number of historical facts and images in each article.
https://balkancelts.wordpress.com

BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/history/spiritualhistory_1.shtml

C::

Cambrindge University  Press    
The Antiquaries Journal  

ww.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquaries-journal

D::

DMOZ : (not sure really where DMOZ fits as I have left out the well known collections of Pagan primary and secondary literature and translations but as it has a Druid section I have added it here)

DMOZ s the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a passionate, global community of volunteers editors. It was historically known as the Open Directory Project (ODP).

http://www.dmoz.org/docs/en/about.html

H::

The Heroic Age, a Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe

http://www.heroicage.org/

The Heroic Age is a fully peer-reviewed academic journal.

The Heroic Age focuses on Northwestern Europe during the early medieval period (from the early 4ththrough 13th centuries).  We seek to foster dialogue between all scholars of this period across ethnic and disciplinary boundaries, including—but not limited to—history, archaeology, and literature pertaining to the period.

The Heroic Age publishes issues within the broad context of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe.  Each issue has a "general" section and a "themed" section.  Please consult the Call for Papers for information about upcoming themed sections.  For any questions about the suitability of topics, please contact Larry Swain, Editor-in-Chief

International Journal of Hindu Studies

http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/religious+studies/journal/11407

I:

J:

JSTOR: (great resource often free)

Journals, primary sources, and now BOOKS
http://www.jstor.org/

M::

Mendeley:  (social networking website)

;Is a free reference manager and academic social network. Make your own fully-searchable library in seconds, cite as you write, and read and annotate your PDFs on any device. Showcase your work on your profile and assess the impact of your research.

https://www.mendeley.com/

UW-Milwaukee Center for Celtic StudiesThe Center for Celtic Studies at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee publishes the electronic journal e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies. The journal is an integral part of the Center's mission to promote and disseminate research and communication related to Celtic cultures, past and present, in the academic arena as well as for the general public. Web resources on Celtic Culture that are content-rich, reliable and current are rare, and are very much in demand. The journal provides free access to cutting-edge, peer-reviewed articles solicited to address specific themes from a range of cross-disciplinary and international perspectives. The goal is to make full use of the electronic medium in a way that cannot be equalled by print journals due to cost or formatting constraints: numerous full-color images per article; video and audio clips; links to other sites embedded in the text; etc. The Celtic world is an especially rich source of graphic images, material culture, and oral as well as performative traditions, all of which can be presented especially effectively in an electronic format. www.graduateschool.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/

Religion and Menstruation:

http://www.mum.org/religmen.htm

Project Muse:

Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social science content for the scholarly community.  Since 1995 the MUSE journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. MUSE is the trusted source of complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies, with over 120 publishers currently participating. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE, launched in January 2012, offer top quality book-length scholarship, fully integrated with MUSE's scholarly journal content. 

https://muse.jhu.edu/about/index.html

N::

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions:

http://nr.ucpress.edu/

P::

Patheos:

http://www.patheos.com/Library/Pagan

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/religious+studies/journal/11153


PhilPapers: (social networking website)
 Is a comprehensive index and bibliography of philosophy maintained by the community of philosophers. Using advanced trawling techniques and large scale crowdsourcing, we monitor all sources of research content in philosophy, including journals, books, open access archives, and personal pages maintained by academics. We also host the largest open access archive in philosophy. PhilPapers has over 100,000 registered users.
http://philpapers.org/

PIA:
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (PIA) is a peer reviewed, open access journal that publishes research on all aspects of archaeology, museum studies, cultural heritage and conservation. We publish research papers and short reports. We also welcome reviews of conferences, exhibitions and books. We accept online submissions via the journal website. See author guidelines for further information or contact the editorial team.
http://www.pia-journal.co.uk/

Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies

http://equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/pom

R::

ReligiousTolerance.org (another useful site that does not quite fit or title)

This web site has over 6,000 essays!

http://www.religioustolerance.org/

Researchgate:  (social networking website)

ResearchGate was built by scientists, for scientists.

It started when two researchers discovered first-hand that collaborating with a friend or colleague on the other side of the world was no easy task.

Founded in 2008 by physicians Dr. Ijad Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher, ResearchGate today has more than 7 million members. We strive to help them make progress happen faster.

Our mission is to connect researchers and make it easy for them to share and access scientific output, knowledge, and expertise. On ResearchGate they find what they need to advance their research.

http://www.researchgate.net/

S::

Social Networking and Research Websites (FYI)
https://chronicle.com/article/Social-Networks-for-Academics/131726/

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion:

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (J Sci Study Relig, also sometimes abbreviated as JSSR) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell

http://www.sssrweb.org/

Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions

http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/religious+studies/journal/11841

   

Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

In line with the commitment of Cambridge University Press to advance learning, knowledge and research worldwide, the Press currently publishes over 300 peer-reviewed academic journals for the global market. Containing the latest research from a broad sweep of subject areas, Cambridge journals are accessible worldwide in print and online.

The continued expansion of our journals list is being mirrored by a programme of long-term investment in our journals business so that our continued commitment to the academic community, and in particular our society partners and customers, can be fulfilled both now and into the foreseeable future. As well as those journals owned by the Press itself, we publish on behalf of over 100 learned and professional societies and we work closely with our partners to ensure the optimum success of each journal.

Delivery of journal content via the internet has led to new markets opening up across the world. These include libraries operating together as consortia, and institutions in the developing world becoming able to access journals for the first time. Cambridge is active in all these markets and works with many organizations to bring journals to research institutions across the globe. From North America to Sub-Saharan Africa, the dedication of Cambridge University Press to advancing knowledge is visible within our journals, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7618800&fileId=S0038713400078374

(Chain Symbolism in Pagan Celtic Religion)



U::
Welcome to the Unisa Institutional Repository (UnisaIR), an open digital archive of scholarly intellectual and research outputs of the University of South Africa. The UnisaIR contains and preserves theses and dissertations, research articles, conference papers, rare and special materials and many other digital assets.
http://uir.unisa.ac.za/

Z::

Zotero:

(social networking website)
 Is the only research tool that automatically senses content in your web browser, allowing you to add it to your personal library with a single click. Whether you're searching for a preprint on arXiv.org, a journal article from JSTOR, a news story from the New York Times, or a book from your university library catalog, Zotero has you covered with support for thousands of sites.
https://www.zotero.org/

The Barddars and other Meso Druid works of Edward Willams

Edward Williams aka Iolo Morganwg

 (A work in progress 22-03-2015)

This Druid Elders Council Positions Paper ask:

The Barddas and works of dear Edward Williams 1747-1826. Iolo of Glamorgan. 

A recommed read for all Druids by me. He was a Stonemason, self educated polymath, Welsh antiquarian and accused Literary Forger. To me perhaps the most influential person in Meso-Druidry with roots running deep in Neo-Druidry still. 

What are your views. Do you accept any, most, none of his views and works on Druidism once you know he is the source?

Replies:

Some views of those in the "Druid Elders Council (Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/DruidEldersCouncil/ ) and other groups and people.

 Druii Searles O'Dubhain reprinted with permission.

>>

Searles O'Dubhain This is what I teach about Iolo:

Copyright Searles O'Dubhain

Iolo Morgannwg (1747 – 1826) is considered by some to be a fraud and by others to be a direct source to ancient Welsh Bardism and Druidry. His birth name was Edward Williams and his profession was that of a stonemason. His avocation and love was poetry and Welsh traditions. His addiction was to the drug laudanum which is mainly opium. His character was at once inspired and compromised. 

During his life, Iolo had access to many ancient documents that have not survived to the modern day. He translated these and offered them as a modern guide to the ancient ways of Druidry. Unfortunately, he was also known to pass off his own works as such. His contributions to the Druid Revival are a look into how one person attempted to reconstruct modern Druidry and the Gorsedd of the Bards of Britain that he founded. One could perhaps see a structure in his effort that is useful while avoiding the pitfalls of thinking that one's own personal gnosis is an imbas from the gods.

Iolo's approach (and others like Robert Graves) is reminiscent of an encounter that was related to me of a Native American lady who was asked by an anthropologist what her people would do if they lost all their traditions and cultural practices. She looked at him and said:

"We'd find them again in the same way that we found them the first time."

This was most probably the original development approach for any tradition. Time then tested the theories, thoughts and conjectures of the people until the foundations of a culture and way of life were reestablished. In some traditions, it is the seers who go beyond to discover the secrets and mysteries that can be useful to the people. It is the experience and the history of the people that verify the truth or falsehood of such insights however. Time is the never ending test of anything. As people who are interested in following the Druid way we should also test gnosis and insight in our own practice with an objective eye for what actually works, and for that which is harmonious with what we already know. This is most probably why Druids studied the traditions for so many years. Traditions were the standards by which any new knowledge was judged on the Druid way and is still the standard today. 

Iolo’s research, actions and fabrications merged (some would say confused) tradition, experience and inspiration for Druids of today. His work in establishing the Gorsedd of the Bards in Wales and his writings, particularly Barddas, a complete system of Druidism from Iolo’s mind and imagination, have literally forged themselves onto the Druid way. What worked from all this has been retained by reputable modern Druid orders. That which was in error has slowly been eroded away by criticisms and new studies on the more traditional and true Druid way. 

The Druidry of today was shaped by Iolo as surely as a mason shapes a stone when constructing any monument or building. Druids today are discovering the old ways again in much the same way that they were first discovered in ancient times through inspiration, imagination and serendipity. What we know of the Druid way and tradition is still the standard that is being used to determine what is consistent with the past as well as the experiences and discoveries of the present. It is a building being constructed one discovery at a time, with some notable reworking for many false starts and shoddy workmanship. Scholarship is ongoing and the ways are improving.

<<

George King:

>>The Views of Druii Searles O'Dubhain match most of mine and also Druii Janice Scott-Reeder that she has shared with me in the past.

The Barddas and works of dear Edward Williams 1747-1826. Iolo of Glamorgan. (A recommend read for all Druids by me) He was a Stonemason, self educated polymath, Welsh antiquarian and accused Literary Forger. To me perhaps the most influential person in Meso-Druidry with roots running deep in Neo-Druidry still.

Of course one must arm with Awen when walking in the Leaves of Barddas. I do not pretend to have the skills to judge Dear Iolo Morganwy and his Barddas works. Yet many Druid Orders do, even as they still weave much of his concepts into their beliefs and writing.

 No matter what is the true history of his sources, Edward Williams was a Great Welsh antiquarian. And Neo-Druidry owes him a great deal of respect as he above all helped pave our revivals.

 Yet when using some of his work as a reference one can expect some biting by CR's and others also so be warned in advance.

TDK

<<

Should we be so blessed as to also get other Druid Elders views we will just keep adding them to this Positions Paper.

Some places to start your own research:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iolo_Morganwg

A most useful site:
http://www.iolomorganwg.wales.ac.uk/

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ub/v13n05p282_the-ancient-druids-their-history-and-religion.htm

http://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/bim1/index.htm

Our favorite definitions of term 'Druid Druidic Druidism Druidry'

Ok here is a start

D::

Druid /ˈdruːɪd /▸ noun a priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion. a member of a present-day group claiming to represent or be derived from this religion.

– DERIVATIVES Druidic adjective,Druidical adjective,Druidism noun.

– ORIGIN from Latin druidae, druides (plural), from Gaulish; related to Irish draoidh ‘magician, sorcerer’.

(Lisabeth Ryder) (References ?)

Druidism:

The Cultrural and Spiritual heritage of the Celtic Peoples, a polytheistic religion orginating in the archaic Proto-Indo-European past.

(Tadhg MacCrossan 1993)./ shared by tdk

Doire (IG) > The origin of the word ‘Druid’’ is unclear, but the most popular view is that it comes from ‘doire’, an Irish-Gaelic word for oak tree (often a symbol of knowledge), also meaning ‘wisdom’. Druids were concerned with the natural world and its powers, and considered trees sacred, particularly the oak.

Druidism can be described as a shamanic religion, as it relied on a combination of contact with the spirit world and holistic medicines to treat (and sometimes cause) illnesses. They were said to have induced insanity in people and been accurate fortune tellers. Some of their knowledge of the earth and space may have come from megalithic times. 

Ref. http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Druids/

I do like this discription. (Druidism can be described as a shamanic religion) TDK

M::

Masonic encyclopedia (view I ran into and as they had influence in Meso Druidry, I felt we should add it also. tdk)

>>

DRUIDICAL MYSTERIES

The Druids were a sacred order of priests who existed in Britain and Gaul, but whose mystical rites were practiced in most perfection in the former country, where the isle of Anglesea was considered as their principal seat. Godfrey Higgins thinks that they were also found in Germany, but against this opinion we have the positive statement of Caesar.

The meanings given to the word have been very numerous, and most of them wholly untenable. The Romans, seeing that they worshiped in groves of oak, because that tree was peculiarly sacred among them, derived their name from the Greek word, apes, drus thus absurdly seeking the etymology of a word of an older language in one comparatively modern. Their derivation would have been more reasonable had they known that in Sanskrit druma is an oak, from dru, meaning wood. It has also been traced to the Hebrew with equal incorrectness, for the Druids were not of the Semitic race. Its derivation is rather to be sought in the Celtic language. The Gaelic word Druiah signifies a holy or wise man; in a bad sense a magician; and this we may readily trace to the Aryan druh, applied to the spirit of night or darkness, whence we have the Zend dru, a magician. Druidism was a mystical profession, and in the olden time mystery and magic were always confounded. Charles Vallencey (Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicus, iii 503) says: "Walsh, Drud, a Druid, that is the absolver or remitter of sins; so the Irish Drui, a Druid, most certainly is from the Persic duru, meaning a good and holy man"; and Ousely (Collectanea Oriental iv, 302) adds to this the Arabic dari, which means a wise man. Bosworth (Anglo-Saxon Dictionary) gives dry, pronounced dru, as the Anglo-Saxon for a magician, sorcerer, druid. Probably with the old Celts the Druids occupied the same place as the Magi did with the old Persians. Druidism was divided into three orders or Degrees, which were, beginning with the lowest the Bards, the Prophets, and the Druids. Godfrey Higgins thinks that the prophets were the lowest order, but he admits that it is not generally allowed. The constitution of the Order was in many respects like that of the Freemasons. In every country there was an Arch-Druid in whom all authority was placed. In Britain it is said that there were under him three arch-flamens or priests, and twenty-five flamens. There was an annual assembly for the administration of justice and the making of laws, and, besides, four quarterly meetings, which took place on the days when the sun reached his equinoctial and solstitial points. The latter two would very nearly correspond at this time with the festivals of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. It was not lawful to commit their ceremonies or doctrines to writing, and Caesar says (Commentarii de bello Gallico vi, 14) that they used the Greek letters, which was, of course, as a cipher; but Godfrey Higgins (page 90) says that one of the Irish Ogum alphabets, which Toland calls secret writing, "was the original, sacred, and secret character of the Druids."

The places of worship, which were also places of initiation, were of various forms: circular, because a circle was an emblem of the universe; or oval, in allusion to the mundane egg, from which, according to the Egyptians, our first parents issued; or serpentine, because a serpent was a symbol of Hu, the druidical Noah; or winged, to represent the motion of the Divine Spirit; or cruciform, because a cross was the emblem of regeneration.

Their only covering was the clouded canopy, because they deemed it absurd to confine the Omnipotent beneath a roof; and they were constructed of embankments of earth, and of unhewn stones, unpolluted with a metal tool. Nor was anyone permitted to enter their sacred retreats, unless he bore a chain.

The ceremony of initiation into the Druidical Mysteries required much preliminary mental preparation and physical purification. The aspirant was clothed with the three sacred colors, white, blue, and green; white as the symbol of Light, blue of Truth, and green of Hope. When the rites of initiation were passed, the tri-colored robe was changed for one of green; in the Second Degree, the candidate was clothed in blue; and having surmounted all the dangers of the Third, and arrived at the summit of perfection, he received the red tiara and flowing mantle of purest white. The ceremonies were numerous, the physical proofs painful, and the mental trials appalling. They commenced in the First Degree, with placing the aspirant in the pastes, bed or coffin, where his symbolical death was represented, and they terminated in the Third, by his regeneration or restoration to life from the womb of the giantess Ceridwin, and the committal of the body of the newly born to the waves in a small boat, symbolical of the ark. The result was, generally, that he succeeded in reaching the safe landing-place, but if his arm was weak, or his heart failed, death was the almost inevitable consequence. If he refused the trial through timidity, he was contemptuously rejected, and declared forever ineligible to participate in the sacred rites. But if he undertook it and succeeded, he was joyously invested with all the privileges of Druidism. The doctrines of the Druids were the same as those entertained by Pythagoras. They taught the existence of one Supreme Being; a future state of rewards and punishment; the immortality of the soul, and a metempsychosis; and the object of their mystic rites was to communicate these doctrines in symbolic language, an object and a method common alike to Druidism, to the Ancient Mysteries and to Modern Freemasonry (see also Druidism, Dudley Wright, London, 1924, containing a bibliography of the subject). <<
TDK

Some more recent work I have done. TDK
http://howtobeadruid.blogspot.com/2016/09/r-earliest-written-records-of-druids_19.html