Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism - Origins

Origins

As modern Paganism grew in scope and cultural visibility, some Americans of European heritage saw the pre-Christian religions of their ancestors as being worthy of revival, and the study of mythology and folklore as a way to accomplish this. While most Neodruid groups of the period were primarily interested in "revitalizing the spirit of what they believe was the religious practice of pre-Roman Britain", the Celtic Reconstructionists (CRs) focused on only "reconstructing what can be known from the extant historical record."

Many of the people who eventually established CR were involved in modern Pagan groups in the 1970s and 1980s. Much dialogue in the 1980s took place at workshops and discussions at Pagan festivals and gatherings, as well as in the pages of Pagan publications. This period, and these groups, are referred to in retrospect as "Proto-CR". Later, with the establishment of the Internet in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of these groups and individuals came together online. This began a period of increased communication, and led to the growth of the movement.

The first appearance in print of the term "Celtic Reconstructionist", used to describe a specific religious movement and not just a style of Celtic Studies, was by Kym Lambert ní Dhoireann in the Spring, 1992 issue of Harvest Magazine. Ní Dhoireann credits Kathryn Price NicDhàna with originating the term “Celtic Reconstructionist”; however, NicDhàna credits her early use of the term to a simple extrapolation of Margot Adler's use of the term "Pagan Reconstructionists" in the original, 1979 edition of Drawing Down the Moon. Though Adler devotes space to a handful of Reconstructionist traditions, none of those mentioned are specifically Celtic. In chapter eleven, while describing his Neo-druidic group, New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA), Isaac Bonewits uses the phrase "Eclectic Reconstructionist." Eventually, this pairing of terms became oxymoronic; in the Pagan/polytheist communities, "Reconstructionist" had now come to mean traditions that specifically exclude "Eclecticism".

With the growth of the Internet during the 1990s, hundreds of individuals and groups gradually joined the discussions online and in print, and the movement became more of an umbrella group, with a number of recognized sub-traditions.