In this class, solitary Celtic Traditionalist, Carly Dwyer, guides you through the practice, archaeology, and context of sacrificial practices in Celtic Traditionalism. While we often steer away from the sacrificial practices of the ancient Celts we are also avoiding powerful, beautiful and essential magic that completes a traditional Celtic practice. There won’t be, and never were, druids in white robes cutting mistletoe with golden sickles in this workshop. This class is about getting dirt under your fingernails, mud in your shoes and confronting the balance that comes when you give back what you get.

Historical and archaeological evidence of sacrificial practice and discuss academic theory surrounding it.

Interpretation from primary and academic texts concerning sacrificial practice and the essential questions: When do you need to offer a sacrifice? Why would you need to offer a sacrifice? Where does one offer a sacrifice? To whom do you offer it? And how does one make a sacrifice count?

Discuss how we can interpret this evidence into our personal practice by identifying places of power, messengers to the other world, and the meaning and intention behind sacrifice.

Give examples and practices for how you can incorporate sacrificial magic into your own practice.

Carly Dwyer has been a solitary practitioner of Celtic Traditionalism for 25 years. Born and raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts and a Salem resident for most of her adult life Carly has developed her personal practice in a rich and supportive community of witches and pagans. She received her BA, cum laude, from Harvard University where she directed her own major of folklore, anthropology, and performance focusing on Celtic and Nordic folklore and cultural recovery from catastrophe. She has a masters degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education in Art in Education and puts it to use running her company Intramersive Media where she designs larps and living games to teach people about history, humanity, and activism. She lives in Salem with her partner, her precocious daughter, and her lovingly spiteful cat.

On the Other Side of the Surface: Sacrificial Magic in Celtic Paganism with Carly Dwyer