Pagan Portals - Artio and Artaois: A Journey Towards the Celtic Bear Gods

This book is a delight for fans of the genus Ursidae. My own meeting with bears is fairly recent, when local Wildlife park (Wildwood, between Canterbury and Herne Bay) offered a home to two Brown Bears who had been rescued from a "canned hunting" outfit in Central Europe. Wildwood later offered a "Meet the Bears" experience and that's where I first met bears face to face. Because these bears had been malnourished for a long time they were never going to grow to their full size and so didn't look so fearsome. Since then Wildwood have taken on the homing of another pair of Brown Bears at their other site. This damnable tablet won't let me finish what I was going to write, but do read the book, it's great.

What I loved about this little book is that it was so comprehensive. There are many connections to the Celtic bear gods connected here and yet it stays concise. It's exactly what I wanted. Nothing more, nothing less.

Really well researched and readable with loads of ideas for deeper learning for the interested reader to pursue, be it rewilding,travel or art all in honour of the Bear Goddess.

Andrew Anderson writes beautifully and it was fascinating to follow his personal journey with these little know bear deities.

Firstly let me start by saying that this is one of the most important books written this year – and probably for quite a few years before. Why? Because there is hardly any written material about the Celtic bear gods, or bear worship (arctolatry} AT ALL. Therefore its importance as a written source cannot be overstated.Part of the Moon Books Pagan Portal series of short introductory works, this book fits neatly in the cannon. The author, Andrew Anderson has also written the excellent and very well received Ritual of Writing also available through Moon Books, and one of my ‘Go to’ books when I seek inspiration and journalling advice. When I heard he was writing a book about a subject very close to my heart, I was over the moon with anticipation and excitement. I was not disappointed!Using as much physical evidence as he could find, (ie not much,) Andrew takes us on a very personal pilgrimage of devotion to find the Celtic Bear Gods. I enjoyed his narrative on visiting Bern and seeing the only existing statue of Artio in the museum there, in addition his visits to see the captive bears also in Bern. Following this, Andrew takes the reader on an arctolatry world tour examining many cultures for evidence of bear love – from Finland and the Kalevala to Callisto and Artimis in Greek Mythology. I particularly liked the very interesting and eclectic sources used, including Disney films and star gazing. Throughout the book, Andrew interviews various guests, artists who feature bears in their work, including the Bear Tribe who are responsible for the resurgence of interest in the midwinter Bear Feast in the UK. The section on honouring Artio and Artaois includes information on creating your own rituals and bear feast to honour them, which is an invaluable resource.In conclusion, I being a bear worshipper, find this book both useful and engaging and would recommend everyone should feel the bear love by reading it.

What a wonderful book! I took this book out with me on my walk and couldn’t put it down. Whilst Anderson leads us through the ages we are always reminded of the pagan mantra ‘do no harm’. This is such an important, contemporary message. With Ecological study and real world perspectives the reader is touring through the pages with the string didactic voice that is Anderson’s.

This is a beautifully written and magical book; carefully researched and compulsively readable. You will be itching to follow in Andrews’ spiritual footsteps in no time! 🐻🐻

If there is an obscure or lesser known deity you have connected with and you want to learn more, chances are Moon Books have published a book about them. This was the case for me, when I first heard the author, Andrew Anderson, talking about Artio and Artaois at the online MoonCon last summer. His obvious passion and explanation of how he had connected with the spirit of Bear peaked my interest, so I decided to order his book to find out more for myself. What a journey the narrative takes you on! It begins from a very personal perspective with the author following very minimal historical clues to Bern, detailing his discoveries there, and then linking this to other references to Bears across Europe. The narrative hooks you in straight away so you feel like you are on the journey too. What I particularly loved about the book was the way the historical links and references are brought up to date and made relevant to today, by giving connections to Bears on screen, in books, online gaming and modern artwork. It includes interviews with others who have felt the same connection, giving the reader additional individual perspectives to draw on. There are also helpful and practical pointers for how to honour Artio and Artaois yourself, through creating an altar, personal devotion, celebrations and feasts. This book is such an engaging read! Although the author acknowledges his lack of academic expertise, the fact he is 'an enthusiastic devotee' makes this book so much more than any dusty academic tome and I would highly recommend it!

I loved this book. It is easy to read and has a lot of good information. My only wish is that it were longer. I was sad for it to end! I would highly recommend this for anyone looking for more information on the Celtic Bear deities.

Un testo piuttosto valido per iniziare a conoscere Artio e Artaois. Interessanti le riflessioni dell'autore, a mio parere un po' pesanti le pagine dedicate agli esempi di devozione moderna, ma forse possono essere utili a chi muove i primi passi nel paganesimo. In generale, e visto anche il costo più che contenuto, consigliato.

This is a really well written book, I recommend it to anyone interested in Roman or Celtic beliefs.

I was excited when I discovered this book as my husband has an affinity for bears. There's not a lot of documented evidence out there about Artio and other bear deities, so we were curious to see what the author had pulled up.The entirety of the book is based on the author's personal feelings and personal gnosis rather than historic evidence. It's essentially his own personal thoughts and feelings with these deities, not a book about the deities objectively. We did some side research into some of the little historical evidence the author based another alleged bear deity on and it didn't take long to see that the onions of historians on this evidence would not align and essentially debunks the claims.The author even goes into his personal affinity to bears and even brings and suggests that the LGBT bear sub-culture may be somehow subconsciously linked to bear gods, which was a bit strange and a bit of a stretch for us. There are a lot of pop culture references like that.We were pretty disappointed in this book, as we were hoping for something well researched and substantial in bear deities with some evidence or historical context. Sadly this is not it.If you want a book about bear deities based on little to no evidence and comprised of assumptions and the unverified personal gnosis and personal journey of the author, you might enjoy it. If you're looking for any solid tangible evidence regarding bear gods and cults, pass on this one, it will not help you.