‘Aed Abaid Essa Ruaid misi .i. dagdia druidechta Tuath De Danann ocus in Ruad Rofhessa Eochaid Ollathair mo tri hanmanna.’
“I am Aed Abaid Essa Ruaid that is the good god of sorcery of the Tuath De Danann and Ruad Rofhessa, Eochaid Ollathair are my three names*.”
Tuath De Danand na Set soim
Ceithri cathracha i r-robadar Tuatha De Danand ic foglaim fheasa ocus druidechta…
The Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Danann
The Tuatha De Danann were in four cities learning wisdom and Druidism…
An Dindshenchas de Emain Macha
Cid diatá Eomuin Machae? Ni hanse. …
The Story of the Name of Emain Macha
Why the name of Emhain Macha? Not difficult. …
Recently in a discussion the subject of laws against women using witchcraft to lure a man into marriage came up, and while it is an interesting topic it made me think that we tend to always look at love magic as something done by women to get a husband and not the other way around. In reality there is quite a bit of evidence in both Irish and Norse material to support men using magic to get a wife as well. So I thought, in the interest of fairness, it would be good to look at the other side of the love magic coin, that is men using magic against women in affairs of the heart. Continue reading…
My newest translation project, the text of the “Aislinge Oenguso”. This was a fun and interesting text to do, but a bit time consuming. I did make a few changes in the English, choosing to take a looser approach to the literal translations in order to preserve the flow of the story, and keeping all verbs in the past tense. You may also note that in the text the goddess Boínn is referred to with the definitive article as “the Boínn”; this reflects the Irish material where she, like the Dagda, is given the definitive “the” before her name. This convention seems to have been lost in English but is clearly present in the original Irish of the story.
I have just returned from the second annual Morrigan’s Call Retreat and once again find myself sitting here trying to put into words an experience that is really impossible to describe. Last year the Retreat was new and smaller, fewer people, a wild and otherworldly location, and the energy of the entire weekend was a challenge to step up and answer Her call. This year was very different: more people, a new location that had more of civilization to it, and an energy that was not about hearing Her call as much as about reclaiming ourselves and our own power in this world.
I’ve been thinking lately about stereotypes and the way that preconceived notions and expectations shape our larger pagan community. Pervasive buggers, you know, stereotypes creep in where we least expect them. Just when we think we’re in a safe place, a place free of preconceived judgments, bam! we run headfirst into one. We all experience this, I think, some of us to greater degrees than others, depending on who we are and what we identify as.
For fun and to show the difference that can occur between translations I wanted to expand on yesterday’s blog and offer the description of Fedelm from two recensions of the the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the first from the Book of the Dun Cow and the second from the Book of Leinster. You’ll see some similarities and also some significant differences between the two:
A bit of descriptive translation for today from the Táin Bó Cuiligne of Medb’s first view of the seeress Fedelm:
Impáis in t-ara in carpat ocus dothaét Medb for cúlu, co n-accai ní rap ingnad lé, .i. in n-aenmnái for fertais in charpait na farrad ina dochum. Is amlaid bói ind ingen: ic figi corrthairi ocus claideb findruini ina láim deiss cona secht n-aslib do dergór ina dessaib; bratt ballabrecc uani impi; bretnas torrach trencend sin brutt osa brunni; gnúis chorcra chrumainech lé; rosc glass gairectach le; beóil derga thanaide; dét niamda nemanda, andar let batar frossa findnémand erctais ina cend; cosmail do nuapartaing a beóil; binnidir téta mendchrot aca seinm allámaib sirshúad bindfogur a gotha ocus a cáinurlabra; gilidir snechta sniged fri oenaidchi taidlech a cniss ocus a colla sech a timthach sechtair; traigthi seta sithgela, ingni corcra córi cruindgéra lé; folt findbudi fata forórda furri; teora trillsi da fult imma cend, trilis aile co m-benad foscad fri colptha.
Irische Texte Mit Ubersetzungen, Windisch (1905.)
I’m going to start out by saying clearly, I don’t have any answers to this question and I don’t think there is an answer. It’s a question that inevitably leads to more questions. And I think that’s a good thing – we should question this, we should ask ourselves the hard things like this. Without the hard questions there will never be any real growth or deep theology.