Or I could have titled this one ‘teaching my kids about the Good Neighbors in a post modern world’ but that wouldn’t have been any shorter, would it?
So, as I’ve mentioned, probably ad nauseum at this point the main focus of my actual day to day, rubber-hits-the-road spirituality is the Otherworldly spirits and land spirits. I also, as I am sure I’ve not often mentioned but you may have caught…
Anyone who’s been in the modern pagan or polytheist community for more than, say, 5 minutes will probably have noticed that we’re a pretty contentious bunch. We are, in point of fact, usually much better at splitting hairs than at building bridges, something that I’ve written about more than once. You see I’m of the opinion that we should worry less about whether or not the person next to us…
And now, as they say, for something completely different….
I thought it would be fun to switch things up a little bit and do something for people who enjoy my fiction. For those unfamiliar I have a four book series called ‘Between the Worlds’ which is something between an urban fantasy and paranormal romance with a lot of Celtic mythology and folklore thrown into an alternate reality mix. Its…
One
of the most well known of the Irish Gods is Lugh, Lug in Old Irish, who is given
several epithets including Lamhfada [long arm], Ildanach [many skilled], and
Samildanach [many joined skills]. He is also sometimes called either Mac Céin,
son of Cian, or Mac Ethlenn, son of Eithne (MacKillop, 1998). One of the epithets applied to him in the Lebor Gabala Erenn is ‘rind-agach’ which Macalister…
There’s a fascinating bit of text called ‘Fiachairecht ocus Dreanacht’ or, roughly ‘Raven Augury and Wren Augury’ that outlines in detail what exactly omens with these birds mean based on where they are when the omen is received. I’ve decided to do my own translation of this work by dividing it up into sections, starting with ‘Fiachairecht’ (Raven Augury). As usual I’ll give the original Irish…
Generally speaking when you start to look for books on paganism one of the first pieces of advice you might get is to avoid things published prior to and during the Victorian era*, or books that rely too much on these as sources. Generally speaking this is good advice as this period was a time when scholarship was heavy on unsupported supposition and opinion and short on factual evidence. There…
I won’t lie – I’m no fan of Robert Graves and I doubt you’ll find many Reconstructionists who are. Writing in the 1940’s Graves still had the Victorian mentality that said it was perfectly fine to invent history if the story you were spinning seemed logical to you. And in fairness Graves was no scholar but rather a poet and his work is the work of a poet. There is an excellent book by Mark…
Of all the beings in Irish – and more generally Celtic – folklore one of the most interesting may be the Leannán Sí. The name literally means ‘fairy lover’* and we see two distinct pictures emerge in mythology and folklore of this type of being, very different in nature although both perhaps equally hazardous in various ways.
‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Waterhouse
The most well…
I know you have loved mesince before I was worth lovingA shadow in dreams, a glimpseof a fair form in daylight.You who are part of a worldnot my own, yet somehowbelong to me as much as Ibelong to you, inexplicably.A constant presence in my lifeA guardian, a guide, a lover,Never more than a thought away.Perhaps my heart was alwaysyours before it was even my ownAnd so I will send my heart to youas…
"Being associated with a ceann féile (cheif festival), May Eve and May Day were supposed to be times of greater than usual activity among supernatural beings, Every lios ("fairy fort") in Ireland was said to be opened that night, and their inhabitants moved abroad in great numbers, often changing residence at that time." – Seán Ó Súilleabháin, ‘Nósanna agua Piseoga na nGael’
Hawthorn in the…