There are several colors which have come to be strongly associated with the Good Neighbors over time and today I want to discuss them. Generally they are related to us through descriptions of clothing and of animals, although by far the most detail can be gleaned by looking at clothing descriptions. The clothing itself when described in stories is usually similar to that of the people living in…
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Slánugud na Mórrigna – the Healing of the Morrigan
Slánugud na Mórrigna
And-sin tánic in Mórrígu ingen Ernmais a Sídib irricht sentainne, corrabi ic blegun bó trí sine na fiadnaisse. Is immi tanic-si (mar) sin, ar bith a forithen do Choinchulaind. Dáig ni gonad Cuchulaind nech ar a térnád, co m-beth cuit dó féin na legis
Conattech Cuchulaind blegon furri, iarna dechrad d’íttaid. Dobretha-si blegon sini dó. Rop slán aneim dam-sa so. Ba slán a…
Álfablot – Honoring the Álfar
"It appears even that to these black elves in particular, i.e., mountain spirits, who in various ways came into contact with man, a distinct reverence was paid, a species of worship, traces of which lasted down to recent times. The clearest evidence of this is found in the Kormakssaga p. 216-8. The hill of the elves, like the altar of a god, is to be reddened with the blood of a slaughtered bull,…
Morgan's Re-telling of the Morrigan's Interactions with Cu Chulainn part 3
Rounding out our modern re-tellings of the Morrigan’s interactions with Cu Chulainn we have what may be called the final chapter of the Ulster Cycle, the Death of Cu Chulainn. I will say this, there is some disagreement about some of the details here, specifically in some places who was doing what, and there are also more than one version of this story. I am giving a re-telling which I feel is…
Morgan's Re-telling of the Morrigan's Interactions with Cu Chulainn part 2
Part 2 – the Tain Bo Cuiligne
So the big cattle raid that the Morrigan predicted in the Tain Bo Regamna, which we re-told in part 1, has now come to pass. In this part we are going to look only at the actions of the Morrigan in dealing with Cu Chulainn – keep in mind though this is not her only appearances in this story, nor even her most important ones in my opinion.
We begin with the story of…
Morgan's Retelling of the Morrigan's Interactions with Cu Chulainn part 1
So, for those who haven’t read the Ulster Cycle consider this a slightly abridged re-telling of the Morrigan’s interactions with Cu Chulainn, beginning with the encounter that sets up their encounters in the Tain Bo Cuiligne
In the Tain Bo Regamna….
Cu Chulainn wakes up to the sound of a cow bellowing. Leaping out of bed naked he runs outside with his wife Emer chasing him carrying his…
Colors and the Morrigan
Its an interesting thing that many of us who follow, work with, honor, or are otherwise connected to the Morrigan tend to associate her with the colors red, white, and black. At first one may wonder why, as there isn’t any straightforward text or piece of evidence that says ‘the Morrigan’s colors are such and such’. However, if we look at the total of the evidence, that is all the textual…
Odras
ODRAS
Odras, úais ind ingen,fris’ indlem laíd lúaidme,Odornatan airmemeic Laidne meic Lúaidre.
Ban-briugaid ba brígachin gnímach glan gúasach,céile cáem co cruthachtdo Buchatt balcc búasach.
Bóaire cáid Cormaicco roblait in Buchatt,dúiscid búar co m-blaitnecach maitne for muchacht.
Fechtus luid dia éssea ben glésse gasta,Odras rúad co romét,do chomét búar m-blasta.
Moch dia m-boí ‘na…
What Do Fairies Eat?
My oldest daughter asked me today, what do fairies eat?
Like everything else to do with Themselves there’s actually no one simple answer and it depends a lot on what sort of fairy we’re talking about. There’s also been a lot of speculation, even going back to the 17th century and the writings of rev. Kirk, that fairies may not eat our solid food at all, but rather absorb the essence of the…
Alfar, Huldufolk, and Elves
Ängsälvor by Nils Blommér (1805)
One of the challenges in understanding the Norse and Germanic material is that many different Otherworldly beings are translated into English as "elves", just as many different Irish beings are called fairies. The Norse word Alfar appears in German as Alp or Elb, and English as Elf, while in modern Icelandic they are known as both alfar and Huldufolk (hidden…