I am currently working on an article for a new anthology through my publisher and during the process have been reflecting about the times I have felt the presence of the Gods around me. It is always hard to describe the numinous and so often after such an experience we find ourselves questioning and rationalizing away what we felt. This makes sharing these moments far more difficult, but there have also been times when the presence of the Gods created noticeable, tangible effects that were witnessed by many people and these are harder to rationalize away.
Category Archives: By Land Sea and Sky
Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015
Last year was a very busy one for me.
Oiche Sidhe – a poem
[Out of respect to the author, no mangling excerpt of the post will be made. Please click through to the author’s site to view the entire post as intended.]
Yule 2014
I’ve mentioned before in other December blogs that I celebrate Yule as a Heathen holiday with 12 days of celebration. This year is proving quite challenging and hectic, but since editing the new novel has my blogging limited I thought I’d touch on how yule is going.
Fairy Horses
Fairy horses are well known in Ireland and Scotland, where there are two main kinds of fairy horses seen in stories: the Kelpie and the Water Horse. The Water Horse is also called Aughisky and Each Uisce (Irish Gaelic for water horse). In Orkney, they are called Nuggles, in Wales Ceffyl Dwr. In Shetland, they are Coofiltees, and on the Isle of Man they are called Cabbyl Ushtey or the Glashtin. Water Horses and Kelpies are seen in all parts of the Celtic world under these different names and also in parts of the Norse world. In Scandinavian folklore they are called Bäckahästen or “Brook horses,” ; in Norway they are Nokken and in Iceland they are called Nykur. It is likely that that Water Horses and Kelpies, like other European fairies, have followed the people who believed in them to new countries so that they can be found all over the world now.
Translating the untranslated part 4 – Lugh’s battle incitement
This is my fourth installment of translating often untranslated material from the Cath Maige Tuired and I’d like to start with a little more background on the CMT itself. I recently read the transcript of an utterly fascinating lecture by John Carey called “A London Library, An Irish Manuscript, A British Myth? The Wanderings of ‘The Battle of Moytirra'” in which Carey traces the history of the only extant manuscript containing this vital Irish myth. One of the most important points in Carey’s lecture for the purposes of my translation project is that the manuscript for the CMT is believed by scholars to have been written by a younger scribe and one who was fond of intentionally obscuring his writing with:
Lives Matter
There has been a trend in American society that is sending a message – a disturbing message – that some lives are more valuable than others. That some people matter more. I could point to specific cases but really there are so many examples its hard to choose which ones to include and which ones to ignore. And I don’t want this to become a debate about the details, the minutia, of one example. Because I’m not talking about just one thing here. I’m talking about all of it.
Offerings and "Elves"
Last month I taught several classes about the Daoine Maith (Good People) at the Changing Times, Changing Worlds conference and one of the most common questions I was asked was about offerings. I thought it might be helpful here to blog a bit about the most common traditional offerings and the way they have been historically understood. Probably the most common offering is …
Book Giveaway – Pagan Portals the Morrigan
Happy thanksgiving everyone. I’m doing a book giveaway for a signed copy of my new book Pagan Portals: the Morrigan when it’s released next month. If you are interested you can enter here:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Pagan Portals the Morrigan
by Morgan Daimler
Giveaway ends December 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
more NaNo
I am once again doing National Novel Writing Month this year and attempting to write the third novel in my trilogy. I may have been a smidge ambitious this time since I only just finished the second one and am, in all honesty, a bit burned out. However I’m soldiering on to get the first draft done. In the 25 days of NaNo I’ve written a bit over 54,000 words towards what I expect to be between 100 – 120,000 when its done. So I’m about halfway there. It’s been taking a lot of my attention though and as with last November the blog is suffering a bit.