Ornithomancy, or taking omens from birds, has long been practiced by many cultures including the Celts. The lore and meanings associated with these omens have survived in modern cultural folklore surrounding birds, although it should be noted that such folklore is a living(…)
Author Archives: Lairbhan
book review – The Nature of Asatru
Time for another book review. This time I decided to update and share a review I did 5 years ago in the journal Idunna for a book by Mark Puryear called “The Nature of Asatru”. If you have read and liked this book don’t even bother reading this review, because I can summarize(…)
Pregnancy folklore and traditions – Irish
I decided it’s time to blog about folklore and traditions relating to pregnancy, partially because I haven’t had much luck finding any info online myself and I think it should be out there and partially because its an interesting topic. There is a plethora of available(…)
Book Review: The World of the Druids
I haven’t done a book review since last month so I thought it was about time to do another. This review will look at Miranda Green’s book The World of the Druids, which was published in 1997. The book is ided into 10 sections that cover everything from what we(…)
A children’s prayer before sleep
There’s a children’s bedtime prayer making the facebook rounds and I liked it, but wanted to adapt it to better fit my own recon-ish approach. So here are several alternate versions….<br(…)
Thoughts on the Colloquy of the Two Sages
One of the most important texts for modern druids to study may be the Colloquy of the Two Sages, the tale of a confrontation between the esteemed Druid Ferchertne and the recently graduated student Nede. The tale, on its surface, is a simple(…)
Modern Ethics for a Modern Druid
Recently the discussion had been brought up about modern Druidic ethics and how – or even if – the concept of “harm none” fits in to a Druid’s ethics. Some people feel strongly that a modern Druid should adhere to an ethical view that avoids any harm to others, although(…)
Thoughts on the article "the Excellence of Ancient Word"
The Excellence of Ancient Word by Sean Tuathail is a work which should be essential reading for any Druid or anyone studying Druidism. This work is essential on several levels: it gives us a description of a Druid based on Irish sources,(…)
A Modern Lughnasa Prayer
This is a version of a prayer taken from volume one of the Carmina Gadelica, modernized in language and content and made pagan. I have modefied this one more than I usually do to make it applicable to anyone in an urban or suburban setting (as opposed to the normal agricultural(…)
Manannán mac Lir
One of the deities that can be found in the mythology of several different Celtic nations is Manannán; called Manannán mac Lir (son of the sea) in Ireland, and Manawydan to the Welsh. His home was said to be the Isle of Man, called Manaw in Welsh and(…)