The Myth of the Year: Returning to the Origin of the Druid Calendar - Paperback

by Helen Benigni (Author), Barbara Carter (Author), Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn (Author)

The Myth of the Year reveals the astronomy underlying Celtic and Greek mythology using the calendar of the Druids discovered in Coligny, France and the Sacred Calendar of Eleusis of ancient Greece. The myths of the ancients follow the seasons through the constellations illuminating the path of knowledge our ancestors lived throughout their year. To fully explain the meaning of these seasonal myths, the origin of the goddesses and the gods are traced to their Neolithic roots using Marija Gimbutas' archetypes of the Neolithic Pantheon. Indo-European adaptations made to some of the major deities are also discussed providing a profile of the evolution of the ancient goddesses and gods from Neolithic times to their present representations in the night sky. Besides linking astronomy to mythology, The Myth of the Year presents an effective and carefully researched path of ancient knowledge viable as a source of patterns of the sky, the earth, the moon, and the sun, meticulously plotted through eons of ancient knowledge.

Author Biography

Helen Benigni is Associate Professor of English at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia.