" 'My advice? Whatever you do don't lose your temper! It can lead to a heavy weight resting upon your conscience for the rest of your days. Aye, I wish somebody had told me that years ago, when I was young and hot-headed.' He bows his head in a moment of sorrow and reflection. You say nothing. You know of what he speaks, but you cannot help him. 'There is no changing the past,' he mumbles, 'only learning from it.' "
from The Good King meditation.
I have been so busy with my Oxford studies, plus my writing, and reviewing new books for publishers that I haven't yet had a chance to process the fact that my latest book was recently published! Allow me to introduce you to my new Celtic Magic, which is the Extended Collector's Edition from the Gilded Magic Series. It is the companion book to the Extended Norse Magic which was published last year in the same series and they make a stunning pair for any library.
This edition of Celtic Magic is just beautiful! It is hardcover and more than twice the length of the original that came out a few years ago. With its clothbound covers, picturesque end pages and gilded sprayed edges, this is a book to treasure. And just look at that Art Nouveau style Celtic lady on the cover! I love Art Nouveau so I am delighted that the design team have managed to give it a beautiful Celtic twist for the cover treatment. Both the Celtic Magic and Norse Magic books in this series really feel like me and I am so thrilled with how they have turned out. They are the kind of books I always dreamt of publishing, being elaborate and decorative hardback tomes suggestive of old libraries and magical bookshops.
I was writing this extended edition of Celtic Magic back in January last year, 2025, and it was a really fun writing experience. Of course, it was also super stressful because the deadlines and turnaround for projects with my current publisher is always so tight. I think I had about four weeks, from submitting the Anxiety Relief Card Deck at the end of December 2024, to write and submit Celtic Magic by the end of January 2025, so there was a bit of pressure. Needless to say, I worked right through Christmas and New Year 2024!
It was worth it though because it meant that I got to spend the colder, winter months tucked away writing some really fun projects. I was thrilled to be able to revisit the topic of Celtic magic and mythology once more. The mythology projects that I write are some of my favourites because they are just so joyful to create. I have always loved folklore, so to write books that are full of myths, legends, enchantment and folktales - and to get paid for doing it! - is such a dream come true for me.
Celtic and Norse mythologies are dearest to my heart and there is a slight overlap between the two, due to the Viking settlements in the UK and the blending of both Viking and Celtic cultures, including their storytelling traditions. For instance, Jormungandr, or the Midgard Serpent of Norse mythology is the forerunner of the Old Stoor Worm from Orcadian legend. Of course, the Orkneys were originally Nordic islands, given to Scotland as part of a marriage dowry in the 1400s and thus being absorbed into the UK as a result of the Act of Union in 1707 when England and Scotland united under one crown. It makes sense then that the Orcadian myths and fairytales would carry echoes of old Norse mythology and this is something I wanted to briefly highlight in the book. Because stories are never fixed. They grow and evolve and change in the telling. That very dynamism is what makes them so interesting and compelling. That is what gives them life and longevity.
In Celtic Magic I had a much bigger word count, so I have been able to recount classic myths and legends, retelling tales such as that of Geraint and Enid from the Mabinogion, and exploring folklore such as the Welsh Tylwyth Teg, the Scottish Spaewife, and the Fairy Knight of the Seelie Court. I have also included a few ghostly tales from battles lost and won, and the spectres that haunt the ancient stones of castle walls. In addition, there appears my own encounter with a group of ghost monks on the A616, which I transformed into ghostly Druid monks for the purposes of the book, but the original encounter was one that I had several years ago, in England, and it was both spooky and magical, so I wanted to write about it in the book.
As a part of the research for Celtic Magic I took a trip up to the Highlands, to Dunoon, in November 2024. I wanted to learn more about Clan Campbell and their somewhat shady past! The results of this research trip can be found in the pages of this book and Dunoon is a place I shall certainly return to because the history there is so rich. I was very keen to include snippets of Celtic history, as well as the mythology and magic, because without a grounding in the history of a place the mythology and magic doesn't make a lot of sense. History is what links magic, mythology and place together, it is the glue that binds it all into a cohesive whole. So you will find key historical characters such as King Robert the Bruce, his daughter Princess Marjorie Bruce, John Balliol the Tomb Tabard, Cartimandua, Boudicca, Rob Roy and of course, William Wallace, all represented here, as well as many Celtic deities.
One of the best aspects of writing these longer and more elaborate books is that I get to explore and share my own storytelling. I love fairytales, and I have dreamt of writing pagan fairytales, with a magical twist for many, many years. It is always a joy to me that I can now write my original phantasmagorical meditations for these bigger books, because I have a generous word count that can sustain them. This type of imaginative writing also suits the aesthetic style of these larger tomes - because when you open up the beautiful covers of a book like this one, you expect to find magical fairytales within!
Writing my pagan meditations began with The Book of Moon Magic a couple of years ago. They were very well received, both by my editors and by readers, so I was thrilled with the response and found it very encouraging. People have loved them and have commented on how beautiful they are, which is such a lovely compliment. In made sense then, that I would continue to write them wherever I had a word count to support them, because these fables do gobble up words! I have included lots of fantasy meditations in both the Celtic and Norse Gilded Magic books and they have been tremendous fun to write. It is so satisfying as an author that I get to write and publish fiction now too, dreaming upon the page and creating beautiful worlds for my readers to dive into and enjoy. I love the sheer escapism of it, both for readers and for myself as the author. Its such a pleasure to write.
In Celtic Magic you will find enchanting meditations where you meet key characters such as Boudicca, Cernnunos, The Good King, William Wallace, the Loch Ness Monster and your very own Anam Cara. There is also a meditation called A Winter Song of Snowflakes that is based upon the time I got lost on a mountain in Glencoe in the middle of a storm, which if you've been reading my blog for a while you probably remember. Yeah - its now in the book. My stupidity immortalised forever in print!
This is one of the things I love about being a writer. Everything is raw material. Every experience, be it good or bad, fun or scary, every friendship and relationship, every fight and disagreement, every trip and holiday, can all become the inspiration for a magical piece of writing. It is wonderful to now be in the position where I am able to transform these things into beautiful pagan fairytales and guided meditations, and to know that this is a relatively new aspect of my work that people really love and have taken to their hearts. That tells me that I am on the right track and heading in the right direction.
Celtic Magic was a joy to write. It draws heavily upon Scottish tradition and the magic is inspired by that region, with a touch of Welsh thrown in too - because frankly the Irish have had the monopoly on all things Celtic for long enough! This book came directly from my heart and from my love of Scotland and the Celtic culture that I adore. It includes a little bit of history, a dash of mythology, a sprinkling of magic and a few original fables as the cherry on top. I truly hope that you love reading it as much as I loved writing it for you.
And if you're one of my Scots boys - you're probably in the Acknowledgments, because a true Fellowship never dies. You were part of my Highland journey, so this book is as much yours as it is mine. I hope you like it. Love to you all.
Enjoy!
Serene Blessings
Marie x
AD: This post promotes my own work, featuring books that are published and out now, including Norse Magic and the Anxiety Relief Toolkit Book & Card Deck
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