There’s a new round of blogs and online commentary about how ‘real witches don’t hex’ going around, spurred it appears by the recent call to hex a public figure and the support and backlash that garnered. The public call for mass hexwork got a lot of attention and the response across social media has been strong – not only about the subject of the hex and whether its appropriate to hex a…
Category Archives: By Land Sea and Sky
Pantheacon 2017
If I had to guess I’d say the biggest pagan conference in America is probably Pantheacon, an event that happens each February in San Jose California. I had attended my first Pantheacon in 2015 and honestly didn’t think I’d go to another since traveling to California is a bit of a challenge for me, logistically and financially, but somehow I found myself back there again this year. It will be my…
Practicing Safe Hex
Hexing is one of those things that some people feel comfortable doing and others disagree with. This post isn’t about the ethics pro or con, but purely offering some safety tips for people who may feel motivated to hex and who are not well versed in the practice. Like any other magical specialty it is a niche practice that requires its own study – in my opinion – to do well. And like most magical…
Translating Corpre's Satire on Bres
This is a shorter piece from the Cath Maige Tuired, but it’s one of my favorites. In it the half-Fomorian, half-Tuatha Dé Danann Eochaid Bres has been named king after Nuada lost his arm in the battle with the Fir Bolg, and Bres is proving to be a poor king. As the text says ‘ar nibtar beoluide a scenai uatha. Cid menic notistais niptar cormaide a n-anaulai’ [because their knives were not greasy….
shapeshifting witches
One of the things that witches in Ireland and Scotland were known for was shapeshifting, particularly into the form of hares, although some other shapes were noted in folklore as well including weasels. From a modern perspective there is a tendency to interpret these stories literally, and indeed some of them clearly indicate a literal transformation, such as we see in the ‘Witch and Hare’….
Athirne ocus Amairgen mac Ecet Salach
This story is listed in the Ulster cycle, although it does not directly tie into any of the other stories there. I wanted to translate it here because I find it an intriguing piece and really enjoy the amount of description it includes. I have kept to more literal translations here to give the reader a feel for what older Irish language idioms are like and more generally what the flow of the…
Looking forward at 2017
“Ata la i ndegaid aloile” [A day follows another] – Etain, Tochmarc Etaine2016 was in many ways a pivotal year for me, and I think at least some of that was reflected in the content of my blog. I can honestly say that nothing went exactly as I expected it to, and some things happened that I very much didn’t expect, but overall I am glad for the place I am in now both with my writing and my…
Imbolc – Divination practices
Hawthorn berries under snow, Imbolc 2016
Divination
practices are found during all of the significant Irish celebrations and Imbolc
is no exception. Particularly the period immediately after the feasting portion
of the celebration was often used for divination (Estyn Evans, 1957). In some
specific cases relating to the casting of lots for fisherman or the reading of
the marks in the ashes…
Fairies and the Dead – An Excerpt from my W.I.P
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book ‘Fairies: A Guidebook to the Good People’Fairies and the DeadThe relationship and connection between the fairies and the dead is a complex one, and likely always has been. The human dead aren’t fairies, except when they are. Fairies aren’t the human dead, except when they might be. The places of the dead belong to the dead, except when those…
Spirituality – Why I Don't Believe in Easy
 The other day I was talking to a friend and I happened to mention that when it comes to spirituality I no longer believe in the concept of easy. Simple, yes, because there are aspects of spirituality and spiritual practice that can be simple. But easy, oh no, easy is one of those things that will trap you into laziness and inattention. More often than not the simplest things are actually the…