Describing sacred waters and their associated traditions in over thirty countries and across multiple time periods, this book identifies patterns in panhuman hydrolatry. The work combines perspectives from anthropology, religious studies, sociology, geography, archaeology, history and folklore.

Sacred Wells is an in depth study of springs, wells and waters that have been venerated from California to Cornwall, Russia to Australia. Tales of faeries, black hounds, hauntings and miraculous cures are explored. Many of these sites are still locations for religious festivals and ritual, unchanging for hundreds of years. The book is illustrated with photos taken by the author.

A simple job turns deadly when Mary Wandwalker, novice detective, is hired to chaperone a young American, Rhiannon, to the Oxford University Summer School on the ancient Celts. Worried by a rhetoric of blood sacrifice, Mary and her operatives, Caroline, and Anna, attend a sacrifice at a sacred well. They discover that those who fail to individuate their gods become possessed by them. For the so-called Reborn Celts, who run the summer school, have been infiltrated by white supremacists. Could their immersion in myth be less a symbol for psychic wholeness and more a clue of their intent to engage in terrorist violence? Who better to penetrate their secret rites than an apparently harmless woman of a certain age? Mary agrees to spy on the Reborn Celts, then learns, to her horror, of Anna’s passionate affair with the chief suspect, Joe Griffith. With Griffith also the object of Rhiannon’s obsession, Mary realizes too late that that these 21st century Celts mean murder. The Reborn Celts draw Mary and her friends into three rites to summon their gods: at an Oxford sacred well, by the Thames on the way to London, and in Celtic London, where bloodshed will restore one of the Thames’ ‘lost rivers.’ Before the fatal night of the summer solstice, Caroline and Anna race to London seeking Mary, who has been kidnapped. Will she end as the crone sacrifice? Or will the three women re-make their detecting family, so re-constituting a pattern of archetypal feminine compassion?

Describing sacred waters and their associated traditions in over thirty countries and across multiple time periods, this book identifies patterns in panhuman hydrolatry. Supplying life’s most basic daily need, freshwater sources were likely the earliest sacred sites, and the first protected and contested resource. Guarded by taboos, rites and supermundane forces, freshwater sources have also been considered thresholds to otherworlds. Often associated also with venerated stones, trees and healing flora, sacred water sources are sites of biocultural diversity. Addressing themes that will shape future water research, this volume examines cultural perceptions of water’s sacrality that can be employed to foster resilient human–environmental relationships in the growing water crises of the twenty-first century. The work combines perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, classics, folklore, geography, geology, history, literature and religious studies.

Sacred Fire, Holy Well is an approach to a modern practice of Celtic Paganism and magical arts. Centered in the lore of the Gaelic Celts it offers a simple summary of Irish mythic lore, and ritual patterns for individual and group worship. It also provides complete instruction in a system of Druidic magical work, trance vision, spellbinding and work with spirits.

Finding Wholeness through Tears, Joys, and the Everyday From the woman fighting cancer to the man who has lost his child to the girl sinking into depression, so many of us are engaged in daily battles as we long for healing. When he walked the earth, Jesus said to an unwell man, "Do you want to be made well?" His invitation stretched beyond physical healing--he sought to restore the soul. The same invitation stands for us today. For anyone struggling on the journey toward wholeness, singer/songwriter Jenny Simmons offers a resting place and a friend along the way. With personal insight into emotional pain, she invites readers to encounter a God who is working out their restoration--often in surprising "half-baked" ways. Her humorous and inspirational prose lights a path toward wholeness. Anyone trying to find their way to spiritual, mental, and emotional healing will benefit from Jenny's vulnerable and compassionate stories of being made well in the midst of a messy life.

The storied landscapes of Ireland are dotted with holy wells—hallowed springs, pools, ponds, and lakes credited with curative powers and often associated with Catholic and indigenous saints. While many of these sites have been recently lost to development, others are visited daily for devotions and remain the focus of annual community gatherings. Encouraging both their use and protection, Holy Wells of Ireland delves into these irreplaceable resources of spiritual, archaeological, and historical significance. Reserves of localized spiritual practices, holy wells are also ecosystems in themselves and provide habitats for rare and culturally meaningful flora and fauna. The shift toward a "post-Catholic" Ireland has prompted renewed interest in holy wells as popular domains with organic faith traditions. Of the roughly 3,000 holy wells documented across Ireland, some attract international pilgrims and others are stewarded by a single family. Featuring 140 color images, this remarkable volume shares the transdisciplinary work of contributors who study these wells through the overlapping lenses of anthropology, archaeology, art history, biomedicine, folklore, geography, history, and hydrology. Braiding community perspectives with those of scholars across academia, Holy Wells of Ireland considers Irish holy wells as a resilient feature of ever-evolving Irish Christianity, as inspiration to other faith traditions, as places of pilgrimage and healing, and as threatened biocultural resources.