Steve Blamires (born 1955) is a researcher and historian in the field of

Neopaganism Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various Paganism, historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of No ...

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic spirituality, and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, and the author of three books in these fields.

Early life

Born in

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, he studied the western mystery tradition for twelve years with

Gareth Knight Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother to ...

, then directed his studies to Celtic subjects. He and his now ex-wife Helen Star founded "Wandering Angus," a Celtic resource and educational center in Washington State. He now lives in

Beacon, New York Beacon is a city located in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The 2020 census placed the city total population at 13,769. Beacon is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area as we ...

Involvement in Celtic traditions and studies

Blamires is an authority on Celtic traditions, and represented the Celtic peoples at the Council for a

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

. In 1986 he founded the Celtic Research and Folklore Society in Scotland, and wrote and edited the CRFS journal ''Seanchas''. He has worked with

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...

to make

Holy Isle, Firth of Clyde The Holy Island or Holy Isle ( gd, Eilean MoLaise) is an island in the Firth of Clyde, off the west coast of central Scotland, inside Lamlash Bay on the larger Isle of Arran. The island is around long and around wide. Its highest point is the ...

, Scotland, a place of spiritual retreat for people of all beliefs. He is a member of the Company of Hawkwood and a co-founder of the Company of Avalon. He also teaches an overview of Celtic Culture through

Peninsula College Peninsula College is a public community college in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and offers a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree, tr ...

. He helped establish the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...

Memorial Fund in 1996, and has since helped facilitate events to generate funds to commemorate the tragedy of the Highland Clearances.

William Sharp / Fiona MacLeod

Blamires is an authority on the life and work of William Sharp, AKA the Scottish poet, writer and mystic Fiona MacLeod. He published a biography of William Sharp in 2008 entitled ''The Little Book of the Great Enchantment''.

Travels

He has traveled extensively on all seven continents, has circumnavigated the globe, and visited over fifty countries. He is an authority on the Celtic,

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

and

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

peoples, and has an extensive knowledge of the society, culture and history of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. He is a

Royal Yachting Association The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inl ...

licensed Zodiac driver, and has worked as an expedition leader for Lindblad Expeditions and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

since 2002.Linblad Expeditions Website
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Bibliography

* 1992 - ''The Irish Celtic Magical Tradition: Ancient Wisdom of the Battle of Moytura'' (Thorsons Pub) * 1994 - ''Glamoury: Magic of the Celtic Green World'' - (Llewellyn Publications) (reissued as ''Magic of the Celtic Otherworlds - Irish History, Lore & Rituals'') * 1995 - ''Celtic Tree Mysteries: Secrets of the Ogham'' (Llewellyn Publications) * 2008 - ''The Little Book of the Great Enchantment" A Biography of William Sharp'' (RJ Stewart Publications)

Reviews

Notes

Articles

* "The Five Invasions of Ireland" http://www.aislingmagazine.com/AislingMagazine/articles/TAM24/TheFive.html * "The Highland Clearances: An Introduction" http://www.rfs.scotshome.com/An_Introduction_to_the_highland_clearances.html * "Glastonbury Talk September 1st 2007" http://www.companyofavalon.net/steve_blamires%20address.htm * "Remembering Forgotten Simplicities" http://www.llewellynjournal.com/article/328

External links

* http://www.companyofavalon.net/people.htm * http://www.rjstewart.net/other-authors.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Blamires, Steve Living people 1955 births Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish occult writers 20th-century Scottish historians Historians of the British Isles 21st-century Scottish historians People from Ayr