“The woman to whom thou speakest,” said the man, “is Faebor-begbeoil-cuimdiuir-folt-scenbgairit-sceo-uath.”
“Do ye make a fool of me?” cried Cuchulain…”
– Tain Bo Regamna

This scene occurs in the Tain Bo Regamna after Cu Chulain confronts a woman whom he believes is stealing a cow from Ulster – she isn’t, as it happens, but he doesn’t know that, nor does he realize she is the Morrigan until much later in their conversation. He comes upon her, a fierce looking woman dressed in red with red hair riding in a chariot pulled by a one legged horse hitched by a pole that passes through it’s body. She is leading a cow and accompanied by a man who speaks for her initially as she speaks for him, much to Cu Chulain’s consternation. In the versions I have seen the names of the man and woman are not translated but are given in the Irish, however I was recently asked to translate them and found the experience quite enlightening so I decided to share what I found here.

Continue reading…

I attended my first Pantheacon this year, so here is the obligatory re-cap of my experience:
Day one – travel. Who’d have thought I actually enjoy airplanes? Airports however are a form of elaborate torture. I arrived in California and was hit with immediate culture shock – you can get alcohol everywhere and it feels like early summer, and this is so not Connecticut. It was great to travel with a good friend and reconnect with other friends I had made at the Morrigan Retreat last June. I also had fun setting up a communal altar in the hotel room I was sharing with these three friends.

Continue reading…

I read a blog the other day about the Morrigan and not proselytizing which I agree with, and there’s really no need to re-hash here. But I mention it because a line in that blog stuck out to me: “spirituality is not a one size fits all concept.”

Continue reading…

Every cultural type of paganism has its own unique little issues, things that go around within that particular community. Usually these are not things based in facts, but are a kind of urban legend, a statement made at a some point that was then repeated and taken as fact and slowly takes on a life of its own until it gains a kind of truth of its own, no matter how disconnected it may be from the actual root culture, historic fact, or myth. In Heathenry you see this with the idea people constantly repeat that only those who die in battle go to Valhalla* or that Valhalla is a universal goal, a kind of heaven, while Hel is a terrible place to be avoided. In Celtic paganism, or I should say Irish paganism specifically, what I see going around fairly often is the assertion that the Irish Gods were not, in fact, Gods at all.

Continue reading…

Of the four Irish fire festivals Imbolc is the most family oriented, although it does also have wider community aspects. Celebrating Imbolc as a modern Irish polytheist, or indeed any Celtic polytheist drawn to this holiday, is an opportunity to involve the entire family, especially children, in the traditions. While we don’t have any surviving information about the ancient ways that this day was celebrated we do have a plethora of native traditions to draw on, with the role of saint Brigit and the pagan Goddess Brighid often blurred and easily shifted fully into paganism. With some slight alteration all of these traditions can be celebrated by any pagan family to honor Imbolc and the holiday’s main deity, Brighid.

Continue reading…

“Fo-ceird Cú Chuluinn bedg ina charpat feissin íarum. Naicc ní i nneoch íarum in mnaí nach in carpat nach in n-ech nach in fer nach in mbuin ocus co n-faco-sium íarum ba hén-si dub forsin chroíb ina farrud.”

Continue reading…

[Out of respect to the author, no snippet will be provided. Please click through to the original post to view the uncut prayer.]

Continue reading…

I’m sure many of you would rather see more translation here, and don’t worry I’ll get some more done soon. I’m working on a new manuscript at the moment which is taking up some time, but hopefully next week I’ll get to some of the other fun untranslated bits of the Cath Maige Tuired…

Continue reading…

So a common question in relation to upg* is how to know if the gnosis you get is good or not. A basic rule of thumb is to take the information you get and double check it, whether that’s checking it against mythology or other types of fact checking.

Continue reading…

Today I want to take a look at the second half of the Morrigan’s prophecy after the battle of Moytirra, which Gray does offer a translation for, but with significant sections excluded:Boí-si íarum oc taircetul deridh an betha ann beus ocus oc tairngire cech uilc nobíad ann, ocus cech teadma ocus gach díglau; conid ann rocachain an laíd-se sís:

Continue reading…