(this is the handout for my class from Changing Times, Changing Worlds 2011 on healing magic in the Celtic tradition, with the emphasis on folk magic. In the next blog I will post the outline and shortened version of the class itself – and I feel that I should add that all classes from CTCW 2011 will be available in the next few weeks on CD, you can check the website for details)
From Irish Cures and Superstitions by Lady Wilde: …
(this is the hand out from my class on Celtic healing deities from Changing Times, Changing Worlds 2011. The beginning of the class we talked about how, IMO, instead of the common modern “cafateria” approach it is better to nurture a relationship with one or two specific deities associated with healing if a person is interested in being a healer or in having a healing-specific deity to call on. We talked about ways to do this including a client-type relationship, devotional work, offerings, setting …
Tomorrow I head out to the changing times changing worlds conference up at Amherst in Massachusetts, which runs from Friday through Sunday. This is the conference’s second year and I am excited to see how it has grown since last year. The main theme of this year is healing/wholing/holistic and the workshops cover a variety of topics under that theme. My own contribution is four workshops: healing magic and chronic illness, the …
Pixies, also called Pisgies, Piskies, or Pigseys, are native to the British Isles although they followed people emigrating out of the country and can now be found almost anywhere. Because of this all the old tales and stories about them are from England, Scotland and Ireland and most modern stories are from British settled countries like the U.S.. To this day they remain the type of faery that you are most likely to encounter since they are quite fond of playing jokes on people …
A Celtic View of Samhain (published last month on witchvox http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usct&c=holidays&id=14797 ) One of the most widely known pagan holidays is Samhain, a day that is celebrated by Wiccans, pagans, and Druids alike. The modern Samhain has its roots in the ancient Celtic fire …
I’m doing my weekly book review on Thursday this week…
I have a new book to add to my recommended reading for new heathens: Heathen Gods by Mark Ludwig Stinson. This book is a great way for anyone to get a feel for what heathenry is and not only learn the basics of it but get some good advice about starting out …
Aisling
By Morgan Daimler
The sun sinks slowly to her rest
As I go, shivering, to my own,
And even as her travels continue –
A dream of shadows
Broken by warm light –
So too does my spirit scorn sleep,
Racing across …
One thing that never changes about the larger pagan community is that there are awlays trends going around. This year I keep running across a poem written in 1999 by “Angel” that talks about witches being depicted with green faces as a result of torture ( Halloween Witch if you want to read it). It’s been going around for a while of course but this year it seems to have really gained …
I love this time of year. Halloween has been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember and when I became pagan I incorporated the practices that I loved about Halloween with the ones I learned went along with Samhain; luckily for me trick’or’treating and dressing up in costume are pretty strongly connected to the old Celtic custom of guising which have continued until today. In Ireland up until around a hundred years ago there was still a practice of a small parade led by …
In honor of our unusual October snow storm, arriving today, and Samhain:
Scél lemm dúib:
Dordaid dam,
Snigid gaim,
Ro-fáith sam;
Gáeth ard úar,
Ísel grían,
Gair a rith,
Ruirthech rían;
Ro-rúad rath
Ro-cleth cruth,
Ro-gab gnáth
Guigrann guth;<br …