The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual

by Alexei Kondratiev

Certain cultures in different parts of the world have maintained a respectful and balanced relationship with their natural environment, and some people today, especially those in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806525029
• ISBN13: 9780806525020
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A rare treasure for seekers on a Celtic path

As I read this book, I felt I had found a rare treasure I had been seeking for a very long time. Alexei Kondratiev has created a textbook of Celtic spirituality and ritual that rings with authenticity and meaning.It begins with a clear and fascinating description of what is known of the history of the early Celts, including their class of priests and bards, the Druids, and what is understood of their culture. The author makes plain how much is not known about these people, who, until long after the early flowering of their culture, left almost no written records; yet, based on later writings, archaological evidence, and a deep study of the six surviving Celtic languages and the people who speak them, he manages to elucidate much about the world view of this ancient culture, focused on the connection and tension between Tribe and Land, the oscillation of all existence between polar opposites, and the Otherworldly influences that shape this world.Then he lays out an exciting and beautiful pattern of ritual for use by anyone who feels the powerful pull of these ideas; our connection with the natural world, and an affinity for the mystical and enchanting spirituality that still haunts the Celtic psyche in the world today. These rituals, based on the ancient seasonal festivals, the cycles of the natural and agricultural year, and the waxing and waning of the moon, Mr. Kondratiev invests with a depth of meaning, connectedness, and purpose that surpasses anything else I've found.One thing I love about this book is the very high quality of Mr. Kondratiev's writing, in a field where good writing is amazingly rare. With great clarity and beauty, he reveals his own deep and passionate identification with the Celtic spiritual world, and he lights up an inviting path for seekers who wish to penetrate more deeply into that world.

Celtic Reconstructionism explained and reborn

This book's opening chapter, with its history of the Celts, I found to be invigorating in a way that more academic and popular histories both lack. It makes you see the West from the Celtic perspective, with an almost "what if?" tone. The remainder focuses upon the author's attempts to rebuild from what we know of the historical record, folkloric practice, and modern re-creation what can be taken from the past and made relevant for modern seekers of Celtic wisdom, morality, and spirituality. As with Caitlin Matthews' daily handbook of prayer and ritual, "Celtic Devotional," this book responds to a need for a less romanticized, more practically oriented approach to a way of living that concentrates upon one's interpersonal relations as well as one's orientation with the natural and supernatural realms. I applaud the author's insistence that Celtic languages be a part of the revival process within the learner. His own struggles to reimagine and reinvigorate ancient learning and mix it into ethical practice deserve wide attention and I commend this book to any of you curious to get beyond "new age" facades and delve into a truer, and less superficial, way to understanding. It's not always a quick read, but better taken in smaller amounts, to be pondered and integrated, before continuing. It's a book probably also best read with others and talked about--I wish I could've known people I could've shared it with! While Caitlin Matthews' devotional suits the solo reader, this book benefits from a group, preferably led by one more adept than first-time seekers, at least from my impressions.This book exists as "The Apple Branch" and as "Celtic Wisdom," but it's the same contents. Not easy to find, but, fittingly, worth the quest. as is much beyond our impulsively mall-bound, chain-store, one-click grasp!

An Essential Book On Celtic Religion

There are very few books like The Apple Branch- the scholarship is impeccable and the author's knowledge of and passion for Celtic culture shines through on every page. This is the one book which everyone involved in Celtic spirituality must read. The underlying logic of Celtic religion is laid out in a clear and understandable way, but no easy short cuts are offered. Instead, Kondratiev stresses the need to learn a Celtic language and be involved in Celtic culture. This book would be useful to Celtic Christians as much as to Celtic Pagans, for the author makes no strict division between the two. This is a book to be read and re-read; an ongoing source of both insight and inspiration.

The Best!

This book is the best book of Celtic history and ritual that I have ever read. Alexei's scholarship is incredible, and while most such books are dull, he presents the information in a very interesting way. He does not handfeed you pre-written ritual, but gives you the framework for you to customize and research. This book is for Pagans as well as open minded Christians, which makes the book countlessly usefull. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in true Celtic heritage.

An excellent antidote

Kondratiev's name may be Russian, but his heart is Celtic for sure based on this text. It's a wonderful antidote to the nonsense being perpetuated by poseurs such as McCoy, Stepanich, and Monroe. He encourages the reader to actually understand the Celts as they were and are as part of their spiritual and cultural growth, and his research and clarity of understanding shines through on every page. It's useable by Pagans and Christians alike, making it even stronger. This may be the first book targeting Celtic Pagans that I've seen which has a recommend from a professor of Irish folklore (Daithi O hOgain at University College Dublin), and it's well-deserved.