Full Title: The Great Queens – Irish Goddesses from the Morrígan to Cathleen ní Houlihan
Series: Irish Literary Studies 34
Review: The Introduction discussed the background of the Irish language and the stories the author is talking about the rest of the book. Part One, which is made up of two chapters, discusses … Continue reading…
Q & A With My Fiction
I’m still working on the next book in my fiction series, progress being slowed by several other contracted projects that have deadlines. But I thought it would be fun here to do a question and answer on social media for my fiction, to tackle any and all question people might have about my ‘Between the Worlds’ series.
The following may contain spoilers for those who haven’t read the books or have…
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The Gods that never were
Because all spiritual systems and religions are defined in large part by the perception of Deity within them, any misinterpretation of the nature of that deity will have a major impact on the validity of the world view of that system. If the world view is invalid, then so too is the spiritual system/religion itself. Continue reading →
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Gablánach in Scélaigecht
Full Title: Gablánach in Scélaigecht – Celtic Studies in Honor of Ann Dooley
Editors: Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon and Westley Follet
Synopsis: This book celebrates the career of Ann Dooley, one of Canada’s most eminent Celtic medievalists. Dooley’s colleagues at the University of Toronto, her former doctoral students, and some of the most prominent scholars in medieval Celtic studies honor her work with Continue reading…
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Ireland and the Grail
Full Title: Ireland and the Grail
Author: John Carey
Synopsis: This is the first book-length study of the origins of the Grail legend to have been undertaken by a specialist in medieval Irish literature. Drawing on a detailed reexamination of the relevant texts in Irish, Welsh, Latin and French, extensive sections of which are presented in new translations, the author argues that the roots of the Grail legend are to be sought in the lost Old Irish manuscript known as the Book of Druimm Snechtai.
Review: So this book has been staring me in the face and on my To Be Read list since October 2012. Yep it has been waiting its turn patiently since then and the main reason for that is that Continue reading…
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Cautions For Pagans Who Want to Honour the Fae Folk
My friend Seo Helrune has recently been blogging about ancestor cultus and I recommend checking out the series of posts they have out so far. Reading the series and especially their take on the pitfalls of ancestor veneration has inspired me to write my own post here about the problems that can come up for pagans incorporating the Fair Folk into their practices or who are trying to set up the…
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The Conjunction of the Pleiades: The Darkening
We are moving forward in the year and I am continuing to frame out a series of rituals for the cycle of the Pleiades. We have arrived at the next one, the conjunction with the sun which occurs around old Bealtaine (mid-May) – this year on May 14th. I have roughed out a ritual that people can use if they’d like. I’d recommend doing it during the day, when the sun is up as this is also when the…
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Priesthood in Service to the Other – Part 3: the trouble with terms
I began this series inspired by conversations I was seeing in the wider pagan community about clergy. I felt that it would be good to add my voice into this as someone who serves a different role but one which has been identified as a ‘priestess’ and willingly took on that word and its associations. This has opened a fascinating dialogue on social media that has given me a lot of insight about…
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Priesthood in Service to the Other – Part 2
So having written more abstractly about what I think being clergy to the Others is like in contrast to being clergy to the human community I felt like maybe I should follow that up with a bit of a more personal take on it. A discussion of what being that sort of clergy actually means in my life.
Again this is reflective of my own personal experiences and may not apply over to other people….
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Priesthood in Service to the Other
Recently I’ve seen a lot of discussion about what exactly pagan priesthood is and should be, which is a good thing. This is a topic that needs to be discussed more often and more thoroughly in a community where many people clamour for the title but fewer are perhaps willing or equipped to do the actual work. John Beckett has written about pagan priesthood in several blogs including ‘Preparing for…