“Goibniu who was not impotent in smelting,” – Lebor Gabala Erenn
Goibniu, or Goibhniu is the Irish God of smithcraft equated to the Welsh Gafannon. His name is derived from the word for smith; Old Irish gobha, Modern Irish gabha (O hOgain, 2006). It is said that…
Continuing with invocations…
Invocation to an Dagda
…
Continue reading…
I’ll be honest with you all; when I invoke* deities in ritual or devotional offerings I almost always use extemporaneous invocations. However I’ve been told that invocations are challenging for many people, so I thought I’d offer a selection of different ones here for a variety of the deities I honor. You’ll see pretty quickly the basic pattern I tend to use, and my approach to invocations. I’ll include a half dozen here and more next time. Feel free to leave a request for a specific deity in the comments if you’d like to see an invocation for one.
I remember the days, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, when spiritual devotion was an easy, flowing thing. If I wanted to stop and pray, or make an offering, or meditate on something I had the flexibility to do so. If I wanted to spontaneously drive out to a state park or to the ocean, I got in my car and went. If I was invited to attend an event or a group celebration I went. the only limitation I had was my work schedule. My focus when I prayed or conducted a ritual was to make it as perfect as possible. I had scripts to follow and high expectations.
Irish Druid’s reading list:
Continue reading…
This year’s Imbolc was a special one for me, celebrating with the children, for two reasons. Firstly, because my oldest daughter, who is 10, has taken an active interest in participating over the past year. Secondly because I spent last Imbolc in the hospital recovering from a near fatal postpartum complication. This Imbolc I am home with my family, healthy, and have my children fully joining in with what I am doing. Life is truly good.
This is another charm that’s been re-worked from the Carmina Gadelica. I’m including the original at the bottom* so you can see the changes that have been made. This one can be used for many things but I have previously used it for a military friend when he was being deployed overseas as it is particularly suited for soldiers. It would, however, work just as well in other less martial situations.
Sometimes I’m reminded of how very different my beliefs are from most mainstream pagans today, and it can be a bit depressing. I feel rather like a relic from some archeological dig on days like this. So to cheer myself up I was contemplating the Song of Amergin and how it could have been a song of power, where the speaker is claiming a connection to specific things to empower themselves and I ended up writing my own version. It’s inspired off of the Song of Amergin, clearly, and still a bit rough, but I like it enough to share it.
Looking at another pagan version of a Carmina Gadelica charm – this one focuses on an easy birth, and is one I have used during the birth of my own children. The imagery of the original focuses on an animal birthing but I find it very conducive to the idea of an easy human birth. The original is: