SOURCE: Gods and Heroes of the Celts, translated by Myles Dillon, Turtle Island Foundation, 1982, pp. 11-36.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1949, Sjoestedt recounts the events of the "mythological period" of Irish prehistory as outlined in the Lebor Gabála and describes the characteristics of the continental Celtic gods in ancient Gaul.

A discussion of the mythological world of the Celts encounters at once a peculiar difficulty, namely, that when seeking to approach it you find that you are already within. We are accustomed to distinguish the supernatural from the natural. The barrier between the two domains is not, indeed, always impenetrable: the Homeric gods sometimes fight in the ranks of human armies, and a hero may force the gates of Hades and visit the empire of the dead. But the chasm is there nonetheless, and we are made aware of it by the feeling of wonder...