Ireland Pagan

Eochaidh Eochaidh Capal Black and Blue

2011-06-04T20:59:00.003+01:00

Horsey Horsey Capal,
Black and Blue,
Open the Gates,
And let me through!

I loved that game when I was a kid and I love playing it with kids now. It guarantees giggles. Ive been sprawling out on the grass in the sun while it lasts and oddly I found myself thinking about Horses and that old rhyme and even though Ive never been on a horse in my life I felt the lack of them today. It was odd... but thinking about it I associate warm sun and soft grass with horses because my sunny days were spent in the phenix park as a kid. Horses go by regularly on the trails there. Thinking about it now what the horse means to me leads me to think about what the horse meant to people traditionally and what a horse association in myth might imply about a deity. There might be a problem in that area... my oddball association with the sun and the horse is genuine James madness but is the horse association in myth representative of a genuine belief that we neopagans could look at to gain an understanding of a deity or are horse associations when they appear a literary invention?

1. Here Begins the Wooing of Etain
There was a famous king of Ireland of the race of the Tuatha De, Eochaid Ollathair his name. He was also named the Dagda [i.e. good god], for it was he that used to work wonders for them and control the weather and the crops. Wherefore men said he was called the Dagda.

In Medieval literature the name Eochaidh (that might mean Horse Lord) is applied to a lot of kingly characters who dont seem to be fleshed out at all. They are usually a king or more appropriately a father of a prince who is the main character in the story. As far as meanings for associations go that makes the horse association a hard one to penetrate. While the name Eochaidh might have had its origins in a totemistic role for horses by the time we see it in the medieval it might just be a metaphor for kingship or kingly ancestors. Even the Dagda, a significant deity, is only around in the narrative as a kingly ancestor for Aongus in the story above. Its hard to say that it implies a genuine totemistic association when the Eochaidhs seem to exist only to serve a literary function and the name instead of describing the person with the name only exists to flesh out the character of his son or daughter.

... and that makes it hard to say what Eochaidh imparted when the horse was a totem animal...

The Wooing of Emer.
A foal was cooked for us on it. A foal is the ruin of a chariot to the end of three weeks [...] and there is a gess on a chariot to the end of three weeks for any man to enter it after having last eaten horse-flesh. For it is the horse that sustains the chariot.’

What did the horse mean for people, was it just a means of transport? It was that but it was more then that because the tabu above may represent a genuine belief. All animals occupy a space in the spiritual life of a traditional peoples but the horse being a creature that was both domestic and wild may have been extraordinary enough to be a totem animal for one or more peoples or type of person. The volumes of Irish myth dont open the gates of understanding wide enough for me to get through with the same rush I felt going through adults legs as a giggling little kid. But I suppose there are other sources of information and importantly other options for us as neopagans. Personal meditation and understanding can sometimes provide a leg up over the gate if it wont open up...

And theres always the wonder of wondering sprawled out on the grass if the doors never open up.

The Cursed Steersmans Cargo

2011-05-21T22:26:00.001+01:00

The omnipresent death barge called to me,
In a funeral dirge whipped on winds across a vast sea,
The redhead eldest dead stood at the helm,
Dearg his ship danced across the swells.
He carried a heavy cargo through torch lit twilight,
The spray of waves creating stars without the need for night,
Because of a goddess’ offense he’s cursed for eternity,
A man without land or people he suffers this duty.

I wrote that on a blustery winter night when I was considering how a traditional Irish death deity might have been expressed in imagery. I like it because the poem might fluidly combine my own conception of a death deity with the three recurring motifs in medieval Irish literature that may be stereotypical of death deities. An association with the sea, firstness in age, occasion or primacy and a curse from or a significant offense given to a goddess. Donn for example in the Book of Invasions is the oldest of the sons of Mil who offends the goddess Eriu and is cursed; as a consequence he is washed out to sea where he is the first to drown. The motifs might be specific to death deities because in the medieval place name stories we are openly and unusually told about a belief in all souls visiting Donn’s house off the coast of Kerry before they go on to the afterlife. If we believe the report we might look at the motifs associated with him in medieval literature as good indicators that a certain character might be indicated as a death deity. I personally believe that rather than one island-wide pantheon of deities that deities varied with the larger territories being influenced by politics and the difference in geography. And when I see a character with one or more of the motifs I consider whether or not that character might be indicated as a regional expression of a death deity.

My family is from the province of Leinster in Ireland and my family name is one of many traditional Irish names that can trace descent through medieval genealogies to the Lagin peoples; the politically dominant tribe in early Ireland who also gave the province its name. Over the space of more than a millennium many tribes, septs and family names splintered from the Lagin peoples and those that were politically powerful are recorded in the medieval genealogies, it’s in a poem from one of those genealogical tracts that I think a strong candidate for a regional Death deity might appear. The Testament of Cathair Mar, is a poem where a revered ancestor posthumously bequeaths lands and titles to certain of his sons reflecting the status quo in the region at the time of the poem’s composition.

‘Honoured is the unique youngest son
Fiacha, a man in many hundreds,
Lucky offspring of ardent Berba!
His brethren will serve him.
He will seize the pleasant Aileann.
He will hold famous Carman.
He will rule venerable Almain.
He will strengthen Naas with splendour.
Ladru the steersman with plenteous cargo
Splendid salmon over Airgetros,
He will seize Maistiu of the Kings.’
- The Testament of Caithir Mar

The extract of the poem here has a few things that might be interesting to neopagans. It mentions a number of goddesses and ritual sites associated with the geography in Leinster. But the mention of Ladru the steersman and his unidentified cargo interests me the most because he is a figure from the Cessarian invasion in The Book of Invasions. His name might mean ‘Robber’, he is the pilot of the ship that brings Cessair to Ireland and he is the first man to be buried in Ireland. He ticks the boxes for the three motifs attached to Donn that might indicate he is a similar type of deity and the testament of Cathair Mar goes on to mention the conquering of the politically charged inaugural sites of the major kingdoms of the time and that Cathair Mar’s sons will slaughter as many kings ‘as the sands of the grey sea’. Consequently maybe the cargo Ladru is mentioned as carrying are the spirits of the dead.

‘He shall make noble Ailech red with blood.
Some time he shall march against Emain.
He shall overthrow the princes of Tara.
He shall augment the Fair of Tailtiu.
He shall lead the Lagin on an expedition overseas.
He shall seize Inber nEtair.
Stout spear-points shall be scattered
against the kings of the splendid provinces
by thy fair bright children of equal rank
till their tombs be as many
in mounds over the plains
of the province of triumphant Cathair,
as the sands of the grey sea.’

Because when Ireland was home to pagan belief it was an insular and tribal place, and in some ways I suppose it still is, I prefer to see regional pantheons that vary with geographical and political boundaries rather then one over all ‘Celtic’ pantheon to cover Europe. It is my view of my home, which to me does not contradict other beliefs but to me a number of regional death deities might be a necessity in that extremely regional Ireland. Death is such a significant part of life that their lack of presence in the medieval literature that we use as a window on the culture of that time would be damning for a tribal culture. With the three motifs as an indicator that there may be a number of deities like Ladru that qualify as being representative of a regional belief in a death deity I’d also highlight the examples of Manannan and Tethra as possible Celtic death Gods that may be present in medieval literature. There are many concepts of death deities but those for me strike me as the most likely form for traditional Irish Death Gods.

A Ritual at Dawn

2011-05-21T21:59:00.001+01:00

It’s dark, so dark that those gathered aren’t able to see each other. With the breaking of the dawn on the winter solstice, light creeps up the celestially aligned passageway to illuminate the shivering celebrants in the heart of the mound. As the ritual climaxes the chamber deep beneath tonnes of stone and soil is bathed in light and then, as the sun rises higher in the morning sky, the light retreats and the celebrants are left in darkness again.

It’s a ritual that can be experienced today in Newgrange, County Meath in Ireland, one of my personal favourite sacred sites, and it was first observed in that spot in Ireland’s Stone Age. A lot of visitors to Ireland miss the tours of Newgrange and similar sites because access is by guided tour only and only at set times of the year. The site is so special I would say missing the chance to experience the place for yourself is only short of a tragedy for a neopagan visiting Ireland. Particularly because it illustrates a possible Irish tradition of observing rituals beneath the early morning sun rather then the more common observances that take place under the moon at midnight.

The tradition might expand deep into Irish culture, beyond neopaganism, though Newgrange is a Mecca for Irish neopagans who visit the site throughout the year and arrive in large numbers to stand outside the mound to celebrate the winter solstice. Today’s celebrants inside the passage tombs are the elite of the Irish culture: the President, the Taoiseach, the Tainiste, honoured guests and in our modern democracy the average joe winners of a state lottery. With such a cross section present in robes, suits, jeans and shirts all shivering in the wind, the dawn ritual seems to me to have a broad cultural appeal.

The sacred sites like Newgrange and the others of its type in Ireland that involve the morning sun at the solstices and equinoxes might hint at the modern neopagan observance of the dawn ritual having an earlier significance. Millennia of prehistory lies between us and the early Irish people who constructed sites like Newgrange so we can only speculate what winter solstice light travelling up a passage tomb to illuminate an inner chamber meant originally. In the medieval period Newgrange is the subject of different Myths that Irish people are raised with as bed time stories and entertainments and the associations they attach to the site might resonate because of that to give the dawn ritual a particularly Traditional Irish flavour. For example Newgrange is central to the love story ‘The Wooing of Étáin’ where the God Aengus is conceived and a goddess Étáin passes through seasons and reincarnations while she passes from the Gods Midir and Eochaid, both a seasonal and a fertility motif might exist in that myth. Newgrange is also the place where Ireland’s greatest hero is begotten in the medieval ‘Conception of Cu Chulainn’ when his mother Deichtine sleeps with the God Lugh possibly illustrating a consistent association with fertility in Ireland’s indigenous tradition over centuries. What the dawn sunlight meant in the stone age is open to interpretation… Personally given that the mound was dark and it’s a place of fertility I’d speculate that Boann might have been imagined as a prude and that one week of the year was when the Dagda and Nuadu got to do it with the lights on!

To paraphrase a great Irish writer Oscar Wilde ‘we are all living in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’ those people whose minds aren’t in the gutter with mine sometimes place a greater significance on the celestial alignments at Newgrange and speculate that the cycle of the year represents a cycle in the sky and that stargazing proto-Druids or a similar priestly order were involved there. So the lunar ritual is still very significant even for a purist.

What I can say for certain is the rituals may have their inspiration if not direct ancestor in the stone age sites like Newgrange and when a ritual at dawn is held today it has an Irish flavour and an emotional sense of continuity exists. It is as if normal time stops and another sort of time exists and you can almost reach out and touch gods, ancestors and all the people who observed the ritual at that time in that place throughout history. In neopaganism the practice may be considered traditional, how ancient it is I’m not sure, but the ritual at dawn is considered as much an Irish tradition today as it may have been for a thousand years and I’d say that if for no other reason that makes it special and well worth observing as a Celtic Neopagan.

Brigit and the Naughty Tour Guide

2011-01-11T04:32:00.000Z

When on holiday in China it might be common enough to encounter the odd fake Rolex, Prada clutch or D&G sunglasses. While counterfeiting labeled products is illegal and morally dubious it’s a cultural issue in China and tourists there aren’t breaking any laws. They may come away with a lighter wallet and a low grade copy but also with a sense of being naughty rarely achieved in adult life. All in all it’s not a bad experience to have. A similar practice exists in Ireland and as famous as ‘Irish Hospitality’ is abroad it can leave tourists to the Island feeling less then satisfied with the time and money they spent in the long run. In Ireland we tend to counterfeit Irish culture for the pleasure of tourists. And as all concerned come away happy, at least initially, it might be considered no worse then buying a dodgy Rolex for a 10^th of the price of a real Rolex. One major difference though might be that the tour guide gets the cheeky thrill and the money while the tourists can be unaware of the game being played. One of the more popular Irish tours and one that draws in a lot of neopagans is the Saint Brigit of Kildare tour run by lots of different tour companies.

The guides are such fonts of patter and wisdom that they might have walked with the saint themselves before they took the job. Winks and nods are passed around the groups as the guide informs the tourists about a game that’s been played for centuries. The game involves a secret that many Irish saints are Pagan deities with only a thin veneer of Christianity lightly dabbed on by we cheeky Irish people to keep them respectable, saint Brigit being the most famous among all saints of the secret Pagan type and aren’t you lucky to be on the tour. It’s arguable that the modern saint is related to a deity from Irish myth and prehistory but the rules of the game aren’t explained to the tourist and while they are told the joke is on the church, it’s often the tourists who are the butt of the joke with the tour guide laughing behind their hand the entire trip.

“Has everyone heard of Brigit of Kildare? Of course you have, she’s a patron saint of Ireland and one of the most famous figures in Irish literature. Monks have been writing about Saint Brigit since the 8^th Century…” On the patter goes deftly sidestepping the places the tour won’t go to. Like Faughart near Dundalk in County Louth, earlier the territory of the Fothairta peoples and likely the place genuinely associated with a pagan Brigid if not the first Brigidine monastery. But on with the ‘gift of the gab’.

The tour guide unerringly mentions the same two lies about every site, virtuously omitting the facts in the spirit of giving holiday-makers a good time. The two lies are particularly untrue at Saint Brigit’s Cathedral which is a stop on any Brigit tour. The first is that the site is built on an older pagan site and the second that there was a sacred fire present. Kildare Cathedral, to give it its more common name, was constructed by Anglo Norman Knights in the 12^th century on the instructions of Pope Adrian IV, a time far too late for the church to have been built on anything Pagan, and it was built with the explicit purpose of removing the Celtic Christianity that its supposed to be an example of. The Cathedral itself boasts a number of strikingly Anglo Norman military features that show its original intent but as if inspired by Saint Brigit herself to distract you the tour guide imparts the location of a secret place that in folklore is considered sacred to the saint and might have been a fire temple!

The tour guide studiously ignores that a lot of Irish saints have fire cults including Saint Patrick and another Leinster Saint, Saint Kevin, again a virtue of omission to please the tourist. He also omits that while the site may have been the subject of a traditional pattern day, and that pattern days are considered to be the highest expression of Christianity and in no way involved fire or Paganism. The act of devotion at a pattern day usually involved people walking around the ruins on their knees while saying the rosary and the same thing happens at sites that do not predate Christianity like graveyards and crosses. If you have any questions to ask you’ll hear the guide shouting over his shoulder as he walks back to the coach “Remember everyone back on board the bus by 12 O’Clock! We’ve got more places to see!”

Cultural counterfeiting may only be as morally dubious as counterfeiting watches and it is ‘a bit of fun’ for your average tourist. But this semi anonymous typer would advise any neopagans visiting Ireland to stay away from tour guides who seem to walk hand in hand with Saint Brigit. It’s likely that if we observed the scene the saint wouldn’t have the time of day for tour guide and he’d be trying to sell her a dodgy Rolex to fix the deficiency. My advice would be when visiting Ireland to rent a car, get one of the reasonably priced guide books from one of the many well maintained heritage centres built around the sacred sites and find your own way. There is usually an official tourist information site in all reasonably sized towns and people in the area do know as much if not more than tour guides. Most importantly because they don’t make money from you, if you stop to ask, you get a genuine answer and through local people you might find places that even the guide book doesn’t know about.

Milk and Water - What’s in a Name?

2011-01-11T04:24:00.002Z

My name is James. It’s a family name passed down through generations but like a lot of names it’s not a personal name in origin even if it has become that today. James, in its original Hebrew Jacob, is a title meaning ‘One who supplants’. The name’s origin is biblical and Jacob is a name that gives away the character’s function in the story to anyone who speaks Hebrew. The defining event in Jacob’s life is when he takes the place of his older brother as third ruler of the Jewish people.

Like Jacob deity names in Irish culture are frequently just an explanation of the deity’s function, either in mythological narrative or in the world view of the people imparted through the native language. For example the goddess Boann: what does Boann mean? It doesn’t stand out as a title in mythology like ‘The Dagda’ or ‘The Morrigan’ does. Boann means White/Brilliant Cow but what does that really say to us as a title? The tendency in modern neopaganism is to compare early Irish religion with that of organised religion in India but in my opinion a much simpler explanation of the name Boann might be possible if we look at the relationship between cows and humans in Ireland, the nature of rivers and their associated iconography and how that may lead to a deified river spirit being symbolised as a cow. It might also lead a neopagan to consider early Irish religion less as an organised pre-Christian religion and more simply animistic.

The cow was and is an extremely significant animal in Irish culture. In the past it was the unit of trade and the measure of a man’s wealth. The main export, source of food and clothing, and because of that the main focus of farming. Its life cycle and the needs of the animal shaped how people in farming communities lived. For example at Bealtaine the cattle would give birth and a head count would be taken for the year; the cattle would then be taken up to the higher fields for the new grazing. In a practice known as booleying, an Irish expression of transhumance, the young males would travel with the cattle up the mountain to live in temporary shelters and keep their own society.

The significance of that relationship might have gone further then the mundane. In neopaganism it’s common to say that Irish culture doesn’t have a creation myth, but while its true there isn’t one for the whole Island we do have lots of creation myths for geographical features. Place names in Irish tradition might reflect that when they tell us that features in our landscape may have been shaped by great animals. For example ‘the black pig’s dyke’ is a series of huge ditches that border the old kingdom of Ulaid and could conceivably have been made by a boar scraping up the land looking for food. Lugnaquillia, one of the largest mountains in Ireland which borders on my families traditional territory in Co Wicklow, may translate as Lug na gCoilleach – the mountain of the grouse. The mountain itself was eroded by a glacier giving a deep dip in the centre like the nest a grouse digs for itself. Animals shaping the landscape isn’t just limited to place names, it’s also present in folklore. For example when the Glas Ghoibhneann, a magical cow, is milked into a sieve the vast amount of milk she gives creates a lake and it’s in that particular piece of iconography, the cow and the waters, that I think might suggest a meaning for An Bhoinn’s name.

Inland waters in our world (as opposed to the otherworld where things are often inverted) might be considered to embody a feminine energy and rivers and lakes that provide fertile flood plains and food might accordingly attract the divine feminine symbols of fertility and plenty in the culture. The most important point to my argument being milk as a symbol of plenty. As a source of fertility and plenty the river Boyne/ An Bhoinn/ The White/ Brilliant Cow might have attracted the comparison with milk and in turn when a spirit or deity of the river was imagined as manifesting in our world it may have been imagined as that most significant of animals in the Irish culture, the cow.

I don’t want to be dogmatic in my religious beliefs and I’m not arguing any belief is wrong. Religion is too subject to personal interpretation for that. I personally value the view that Boann may be a similar expression of divinity as Bovina and that Boann as the name of a single individual deity adds a personal element to relationship with deity that I like. My view is only that if we consider the native world view as expressed in the language and symbolism in early vernacular literature we may gain an extra understanding of the meaning behind deity names like Boann. We could look at any deity in that way, after all the Dagda is a horse, the Morrigan is a raven and Aengus is a Swan. I’d suggest an exploration of all those things in a similar way would be a good way to spend time. It may be a good way to show your devotion to a deity.

The Bile: A Celtic Family Tree?

2010-11-06T06:12:00.000Z

The Bile: A Celtic Family Tree?

The term family tree might be particularly apt in traditional Irish culture where sacred trees have been a symbol of social integrity for large family groups since before the written word arrived on the island. Thats illustrated by the practice of rival groups destroying the heart of their enemies by attacking the physical trees themselves. Cases of that happening were so shocking to Irish people that they are remembered as great crimes in poetry and historical annals. I'd say theres an argument in there for sacred tree's in Irish culture being something other then a generic indo-european world tree or a natural symbol for a qabalistic microcosm and a specifically Irish take on sacred tree's might be possible.

Today the traditional territories of the large family groups are gone for the most part having been diminished by the politics of colonialism and modernity but in some places the sacred trees survive in good numbers. For example my family name is Byrne its a name that decends from the politically dominant 8th century Ui Dunlaing family group. Through reading history books, I found the original O’Byrne territory might have been in County Kildare and that the traditional inaugural site of the Ui Dunlaing kings was nearby on at Lyons Hill/Liamhan – Elm Tree Hill and the elms are still around in Lyons village. The elms there might be a symbol of the centuries of strength that members of my family showed in defending their territory, actually being one of the last families to keep their territories in colonial Ireland. Before I knew that, my name was only a little more then just a name to me, now it’s a constant source of strength in hard times and I walk on Lyons hill with a sense of pride and belonging that I would probably never otherwise have experienced. Simple bits of genealogy like that have the potential to change the way we view ourselves and as an expression of historical interest in traditional Irish culture it might have influenced how people perceive Irish families for a long time.

Apart from the concerns of sacred sites and trees that really are only accessible to people in Ireland, Irish family names can be of interest to the neopagan outside Ireland; from the late medieval on they can give us ancestral deities through the veneration of the founding member, in my families case Bran Mac Mael Morda and even more interesting are the otherworld ancestors in early Irish genealogies where it was believed that deities founded the greatest of family lines. The Bile tree itself might be linked to those types ancestral deities in early Literature; in the life of Patrick the saint curses a Bile tree and the families’ ancestral deity is sucked into hell. Thats a fairly interesting link there and we might also speculate that the Bile symbols used in the ritual inauguration was to test the kings’ divine descent through the otherworld ancestor. If we take that as the case the trees which vary in species might be symbolic of a regional deity and a sacred tree, a Bile tree might in the truest sense be a family tree.

Through understanding who our ancestors were, who our ancestral deity and our otherworld ancestors might have been we as neopagans can furnish ourselves with a tree totem linking us to our ancestors, both mortal and divine and the essential masculine energy that kept our people alive long enough to conceive our great great great great great grandparents. And as it might do the same for us maybe it could also continue to function as the secular symbol of familial integrity that it might have been for millennia past. If we decide we want it to.

If the wolf still howls in Celtic Hearts

2010-11-02T15:14:00.001Z

If the wolf still howls in Celtic Hearts

In my experience and in a neopagan context Celtic mythology as a cultures earliest written record of itself might be useful to us as a record of a society with close links to Celtic beliefs. One significant part of that society to modern neopaganism has been the mannerbund and its associated wolf cult. The wolf is extinct in many European countries today and in Ireland it has been centuries since the howl of a pack of wolves has been heard in the romantic setting of a misty moonlit night. Despite that, the sound of a wolf howling evokes strong feelings in some people that might have been shared by some of our ancestors, and with that feeling comes the possibility that an ancestral wolf cult that once might have existed could still be relevant to neopaganism today.

The strongest evidence for a Celtic wolf cult might be found in the possible existence of a Celtic Mannerbund. Paraphrasing Kim McCone from NUI Maynooth a Mannerbund is generally a group of warriors who might function as a standing army but haven’t made the right of passage into manhood through inheritance or marriage. So in social terms they are essentially still perceived as children despite their age because they have no land or family responsibilities. Without land to provide for themselves or family to provide for them they live on the fringes of society in the forests are reliant on raiding rivals for food for most of the year. It’s a lifestyle that might have begun their general association with wolves given the similar places and ways they lived.

That wolf association might be a defining trait of a mannerbund and it might be broadly European. In Roman myth we might see Romulus’ war band the Luperci or the rogue descendants of King Lycan in Greek myth as types of Mannerbund remembered in literature. We might see the Norse Ulfhednar as a mannerbund, Odins chosen warriors. The Ulfhednar are particularly cool because their name might translate as wolf skin wearer and they were the famous Norse Berserk’s who channeled the wolf to enter a battle frenzy.

Thereupon contortions took hold of him. Thou wouldst have weened it was a hammering wherewith each hair was hammered into his head, with such an uprising it rose. Thou wouldst have weened it was a spark of fire that was on every single hair there. He closed one of his eyes so that it was no wider than the eye of a needle. He opened the other wide so that it was as big as the mouth of a mead-cup. He stretched his mouth from his jaw-bones to his ears; he opened his mouth wide to his jaw so that his gullet was seen. The champion's light rose up from his crown.

Specifically in Celtic Myth if we look at one of Irelands most famous myths The Cattle Raid of Cooley or Táin Bó Cuailnge the greatest warriors have the wolf in their name. There’s Fer Chu – Wolf man, Cu Roi - Wolf of the battle field and also Mac Con – Wolfs son and Conchobar – Wolf lover. The main character is Cu Chulainn commonly translated as the hound of Cullen but despite that interpretation of Cu he is probably the strongest link to a mannerbund. He is paradoxically a perpetual youth despite having adult relationships and responsibilities, he is a one time member of a boy-troop, he is a warrior that patrols the territories and most significantly for me he famously enters a battle frenzy.

"Of a truth," spake Ailill, "I heard from ye of this little boy once on a time in Cruachan. What might be the age of this little boy now?" "It is by no means his age that is most formidable in him," answered Fergus. "Because, manful were his deeds, those of that lad, at a time when he was younger than he now is.

In his fifth year he went in quest of warlike deeds among the lads of Emain Macha. In his sixth a year he went to learn skill in arms and feats with Scathac, and he went to woo Emer; in his seventh year he took arms; in his seventeenth year he is at this time."

"How so!" exclaimed Medb. "Is there even now amongst the Ulstermen one his equal in age that is more redoubtable than he?" "We have not found there a man-at-arms that is harder, nor a point that is keener, more terrible nor quicker, nor a more bloodthirsty wolf, nor a raven more flesh-loving, nor a wilder warrior, nor a match of his age that would reach to a third or a fourth the likes of Cuchulain.

While Berserks are a thing of the past in our societies through mythology and I’m not advocating running around a forest in the nip, covered in twigs with a home made axe, through mythology we might find evidence for and most importantly for us neopagans the feeling behind a Celtic wolf cult. With that we can enhance the feeling we get when we hear a wolfs howl by considering how the members of a Celtic mannerbund treated the wolf maybe even to the extent of viewing it as a type of a totem animal or a deity form. Maybe through their channeling of the spirit of the wolf before entering battle we could come to perceive the wolf in spirit as a protector who can aid people in their personal battles.

Maybe as the raven has become a female battle totem the wolf could be its male counterpart. Again I’m not advocating sitting in a circle in the forest banging on bongo’s while complaining about life but anything is possible. Even if we’re in Europe and our forests seem empty at times there are possibilities so long as the wolf still howls in Celtic hearts and we are willing to honour the role that wolves played in our ancestors lives.

The Brigit Brand

2010-06-19T16:30:00.002+01:00

The Brigit Brand

Now after the spear had been given to him, Ruadan turned and wounded Goibniu.
But he plucked out the spear and cast it at Ruadan, so that it went through him, and he
died in the presence of his father in the assembly of the Fomorians. The Brig came and
bewailed her son. She shrieked at first, she cried at last.
So that then for the first time crying and shrieking were heard in Erin.

In the modern western world the majority of us live in consumer oriented societies where 'new' products are constantly appearing to enrich our lives and longstanding brands seem to change to suit 'new' markets. The common thatched cottages seen in often painted wind blasted landscapes of Ireland aside as a youth I inhabited a world shaped by markets and the 'latest' products. During my youth I noticed three defining brand changes, or changes that at least meant something to myjuvenile mind. 2 of those changes were the names of chocolate bars. Marathon took on the cool American name Snickers, Opal fruits, the multi coloured super sugared toffee textured fruity greatness became Starburst. Those two things basically remained the same
and regional marketing was changed to a more uniform brand model. The third thing that changed was something I considered far less important then chocolate, as I looked at spirituality for myself I noticed that something that to me had always been a boring bog standard Christian Saint all be it with some fun handicrafts associated with her becoming a cool pagan goddess.

When we as neopagans look to legitimise our beliefs we tends to look towards history from a time before our own. Maybe without considering it we hold a belief that older is more sacred, it is certainly a trait of 'Celtic' religion in Ireland where the sacred sites are usually antique farms. But in many ways times before our own may not be devoid of many of the things we associate with our modern era. Marketing for example, where the
pagan goddess and saint Brigit is concerned we may find that the Christian church of the early medieval employed very modern methods to win over our people towards a new religion.

When we look at the Saint and the famous Piseog Saint Brigit's Cross as a form of non christian secular or pagan belief that survived attached to Christianity it may be the case that the church took the pagan goddess and very loosely rebranded her as a christian to help convert people. Marketing there may not be the modern thing we imagine it to be.Marathon bars were mundane and local but when they were renamed Snickers they
became cool to a younger audience while keeping them to the same basic recipe kept the loyalty built up among older consumers. Maybe the Brig became Saint Brigit in the same way. A christian rebranding of a deity that kept some old traits so she would still be familiar enough to attract pagans.

Alternatively since marketing and consumer culture are modern things, are we projecting our modern lives onto the past in assuming that the Brig, a pagan deity, is cognate with the Christian intercessor, Saint Brigit? In that case we as Neopagans in modern consumer cultures would be rebranding the Saint using an understanding gained from life in our era. The Brigit's Cross is one sedate version of many Piseogs in Irish culture, certainly it has a non christian element to it but far less then a Piseog bag filled with carefully chosen
feathers, animal parts and stones that may be hung from a tree by someone wanting to curse you.
It may just be as common an expression of Irish culture as preventing bad luck by saying 'god bless the work' no more pagan then a hurling match or visiting a friend to play cards at night.If that is the case rather then Christians rebranding a pagan loosely it might be us who are rebranding a Christian as loosely Pagan and we who preserve christian traditions in our NeoPaganism.

Its been my experiance that a great portion of adopting a neopagan spirituality is educating ourselves so when we are faced with many choices we can make informed decisions. The issue of whether a saint is pagan or not is one of those times when we all have to choose for ourselves. For me regardless of what side of the fence I might fall off into I find it interesting that a pagan goddess, whether in the past or the modern world, became a popular brand name.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

2010-03-31T13:36:00.005+01:00

Parting is such Sweet Sorrow

Romeo and Juliet the famous Shakespearean play shows a pair of star crossed teenage lovers whose love is doomed to be their death. The concept of fatalism in the play relies on a belief in predetermination, that before the story had begun someone or something had signed a document sealing the characters fate. Without question from the start of the play we know the pie eyed pups are gonners and that its only a matter of watching the dramatic story play out in its tragic glory until they're scooped up squealing into a plastic bag and dumped in the canal.

Its probably not considered too often that the fatalism in Romeo and Juliet might represent a religious belief but the fatalistic belief that god 'has a plan layed out for everyone' may be a familiar mantra heard by a lot of people when we are going through hard times. Similar stories to Romeo and Juliet exist in Irish Mythology, the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne for example. The unborn Deirdre cries out in her mothers womb and instantly her destiny as one of Irelands tragic juliets is written. That raises a question for me do similar narratives in Irish myth that infer a sense of fatalism also indicate that a similar religious belief in a predetermined fate existed in Traditional Irish Religions?

...they asked him what special virtue lay in this day, he told them that the name of whatsoever youth should therein for the first time take arms, would top the fame of all other Erin's men, nor thereby should he suffer resulting disadvantage, save that his life must be fleeting, short...’

Fatalism to me seems to be more a tool of the author then a concept lauded in early culture. Heroes, Kings and Lovers, even when taboos are slowly broken one after the other inching them ever closer to their doom, work towards the goals they set themselves. And in the most part I would say that they are a resounding success. At the end of the Destruction of the Red Mans Hostel Conaire Mor is reduced to chunks of meat small enough for birds to carry away in their claws but his rule is so great it sets the standard for all other mythological Kings. Cu Chulainns career as a Hero, while tinged with tragedy, is also that of the greatest Hero in Irish mythology and the love of Diarmuid and Grainne resounds so strongly within its audience that their end is revised in retellings and the tragic Lovers are reunited after death.

Whether its Kings Heroes or Lovers they hardly notice the weight of the doom they carry, and never seem to directly struggle against it. That virtuous optimism enables them to live their dreams before their literary lives come to the inevitable end. And while Romeo and Juliet ends with tears in the high romance of tragedy and we recall that 'parting is such sweet sorrow' when the curtain of doom falls on the lives of Irish literary figures and the house lights come up or the last page of the book is turned, we might find ourselves in wonder at the way the archetypal king, warrior or lovers in Irish literature lived rather then dwelling on the tragedy of how they died.

Everyone's passing should be mourned but what greater compliment would we wish for at our own funerals then to hear our loved ones talking of how well we lived over the soft bubbling of laughter that wells up from memories of the good times we shared? Religion is a personal issue and whether you believe in fate or not I think a common lesson from early Irish culture is being handed down to us in our mythology. That even our last morning should be greeted with purpose and vigour in the knowledge that no matter how crappy a day we have ahead of us moments are precious and are better lived then squandered worrying about dooms we can't escape.

Mead: HomeBrew Booze of the Gods

2010-03-21T15:32:00.002Z

We see everyone on every side, and no one sees us.

It is the darkness of Adam's transgression that hath prevented us from being counted.

O woman, if thou come to my proud folk, a crown of gold shall be upon thy head honey, wine, ale, fresh milk, and drink, thou shalt have with me there, O Be Find.

If youre looking for a traditionally welcomed offering or a homebrew that will make you the most popular person on the road, in your apartment block or in your sewing circle then in my opinion Mead is your fellah. This is a record of my spring equinox mead 2010.

Ingredients: 3 jars of honey, 1 teasp of desert yeast, 2 teasp of Citric Acid, 2 Teasp of Yeast Nutriant and round about a Gallon of water. With a sterilizing agent that should cost you around a 10er from Tescos and the Limerick Homebrew Centre http://www.thehomebrewcentre.com/

The first trick I picked up is to heat your honey in the Jar before adding it to the simmering water. That liquifies the honey so it goes into the pot easier and dissolves faster. I keep the lot simmering for 20 mins stirring constantly so the honey doesnt stick to the pots and burn. The idea of the simmering is to pasturize the mix or 'the must' so its homogenous and the yeast gets to work evenly later on.

Once thats done I transfer the lot into one container to cool down for 2 hours before adding the yeast that'll turn the sugar into alcahol/booze of the gods. I mix the yeast, yeast nutrient and citric acid into a sterile container and give it a good shake for 2 mins to get the oxygen into the yeast. It stinks like a... well insert your own experiance of a yeasty smell. It stinks. That done I cover it up and leave the lot aside til the morning.

The next day I get some tubing and let gravity do its work to transfer the baby mead into a gallon jar. I went fancy pants and bought the jar and an airlock but a gallon jug of milk and a balloon will do the same job.

Heres the product of that effort. A cloudy mix that now lives in a black bag in my bedroom press til I clean out the stuff that accumulates in the bottm of the jar from the sugar to booze of the gods process in about 20 days.

Mead is an alechemy not a science so you can take liberties as you see fit. My advice if you want to make mead is just to cross your fingers and hope for the best, til you accumulate enough experiance to know what youre doing. Thats what I do.

Eddie & the Lonely Bush

2010-03-20T12:41:00.000Z

I came across a new post on youtube about Eddie Lenihan - a storyteller and Kerry man living in Clare today with a love for Irish Fairy Folklore. It seems to be a radio interview with the man himself about fairy folklore prior to the M3 being built. Its a rare piece of youtube gold if youre interested in the traditional beliefs in Ireland, it even includes some recordings of people Eddie Lenihan interviewed.

Along with the fairy bush it has stories involving the Banshee, the black dog, the dead hunt, the fairy forts

Part1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuTIFYUD6yE

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfOQtORZsAc
Part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8jeUULwqcc

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkE3yod7yR4
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9rqj0-BD8

What is best in life Conan?

2010-03-15T18:51:00.006Z

What is best in life Conan?

'To crush your enemies,
To see them driven before you,
And to hear the lamentation of their women'

The image of Arnold Swartzinegger as conan has been romanticised as the archetypal western warrior and it fits well into many peoples idea's of what a pagan god might look like. Arnolds physique is famously well balanced and body builders in Ireland adopt his fitness regimes today in the hopes of meeting the impossibly high standard he set. Even his political career aside that's a great achievement for a boy from rural Austria. He set a standard in body building that is still unsurpassed decades after he stopped competitive body building. Can you imagine a Culchie Conan though?

We all love a culchie in Ireland and one of the best things in life is snuggling up to a warm culchie on a cold night with a good fire. But our standards don’t quite mesh with those of American Cinema. We are a pale insular people from an Island battered on one side by the Atlantic ocean and hugged on the other by a neighbouring Island that we don’t get on with. We have our own standards that don't always mesh with those of people from other countries but what man doesn't love his own people at least as much as he loves another's? Patrick's day is tomorrow and its a time when you only have to look at the parade in your town to see that we really love the culchie in ourselves.

Like ourselves our deities have a regional virtue that isn’t always appreciated outside Ireland. We are a regional and insular people and the same possibly holds true for the majority of our deities, in that they don't seem to travel around the island or off the island very often or very well. Most deities seem to be restricted to a certain region or in cases certain families. Some are so strictly territorial that they are immanent in the regions geography, today that is most often seen in female folklore figures incarnate in corn crops who's stalks are worn by traditionally by Straw Boys and are woven into dolls and other folk crafts. But they might also be seen to exist traditionally in mountains, lakes and rivers and in that form may be remnants of an earlier mythical personality from that territory.

Hither came on a day white Boand
(her noble pride uplifted her),
to the never-failing well
to make trial of its power.
As thrice she walked round
about the well heedlessly,
three waves burst from it,
whence came the death of Boand.
They came each wave of them against a limb,
they disfigured the soft-blooming woman;
a wave against her foot, a wave against her perfect eye,
the third wave shatters one hand.
She rushed to the sea (it was better for her)
to escape her blemish,
so that none might see her mutilation;
on herself fell her reproach.
Every way the woman went
the cold white water followed
from the Sid to the sea (not weak it was),
so that thence it is called Boand.

The regional nature of deities like the nature of culchies isn't often appreciated outside the culture, but we shouldn't hide our inner culchie for fear of ridicule. Just because we arent Arnold Swartzinegger doesnt mean we should be ashamed of Pat Short ;)

The Urban Serpent and the Saint

2010-03-14T22:50:00.001Z

Underarm deodorant causes cancer.
Shaven rats are sold as Chihuahuas to tourists in Mexico.
You can get high on aspirin and coke.

They are Urban Legends generally held to be true and its their general nature that makes them easily identifiable as Urban Legends. Its getting close to Saint Patrick's day, the time of green hair, green hats and general glas in a glass silliness. That a Christian festival became an excuse for a booze up is a strange thing and the festival itself generates its fair share of Urban Legends among the sore heads the day after Saint Patrick's day. The painful head and the foggy memories aside I usually end up thinking about some other Urban Legends surrounding Saint Patrick's day that I think are just as widespread and just as weird and unlikely as someone confusing a shaved rat with a dog.

Saint Patrick is believed to have driven snakes from Ireland in Irish Tradition
The story reflects an historical expulsion or persecution of pagans.

Both of the ideas could be described as Urban Legends because they come from our modern era rather from an historical belief, the belief in them is really widespread enough to be general knowledge but they are fairly unfounded beliefs.

Some Background:

The life of saint Patrick written in the 7th century by a student of the person who wrote the life of Brigit and it contains large amounts of the same secular or non Christian folklore that Brigit's life is notorious for. But it contains no mention of snakes. It contains a scene where Saint Patrick expels demon birds from a sacred mountain on a festival day that was revised in the 12th century by Anglo Norman clerics who replaced the birds with snakes. Today linguists theorise the change was brought about by the name 'Padraig' the Irish for Patrick in Norse may have been interpreted as 'Pad-rkr' (toad expeller) due to the phonetical similarity.

But whatever the reason for the innovation of the story the intended meaning of the snakes is clear from accounts contemporary to its creation. The best authority available on the meaning of the snakes is an historical account by Gerald of Wales or Gerald Cambrensis from his 12th century 'Topography of Ireland':

'Of all kinds of reptiles only those that are not harmful are found in Ireland. It has no poisonous reptiles. It has no serpents or snakes, toads or frogs, tortoises or scorpions. It has no dragons. It has, however, spiders, leeches and lizards - but they are entirely harmless.

Some indulge in the pleasant conjecture that Saint Patrick and other saints of the land purged the island of all harmful animals. But it is more probable that from the earliest times, and long before the laying of the foundations of the faith, the island was naturally without these as well as other things'

Giraldus Cambrensis was an Anglo Norman and being both representative of the invading peoples and the Christian church its strange that he would attach no symbolism to the snake if the story was intended to be anything more then an explanation of a lack of snakes in Ireland. Gerald just thought it was remarkable that they were missing from the Island as did Bede, Isodorus and Solinus before him.

Who knows how Urban Legends get started. I'm sure someone studying marketing would have a theory and that marketing guru's apply the theory liberally to market things on Paddies day, how else would a day of austere commemoration on a small Island result in streets the world over being spackled with green vomit. lol

What really mystifies me is why theres always carrots in it?

The Irish Mammy and Danu

2010-03-11T14:09:00.000Z

In the film the Crow from the 1990's Brandon Lee has a line I really like: 'Mother is the word for God on the lips and hearts of children'. The meaning we give words is important and having a mother who's almost the archetypal Irish Mammy I can relate to that understanding of the word Mother. The impact our parents can have on us as children is huge and a mother, as a provider of emotional and physical support as well as guidance in the child's life, can be considered the ultimate source of authority in a world has not grown beyond the family home. In some cases the mother is so strong the archetypal Irish mammy can retain that status long after the child leaves home, sometimes becoming the dread Irish Mammy In-Law!

By way of comparison the Phrase Tuatha Dé Danann could indicate a mother figure named Danu existed in what might be as close to a universally accepted pantheon of deities in Ireland as has existed at any point in history. If an archetypal Irish Mammy is the symbol of the family could that understanding contribute to how we view our native deities? Specifically within the phrase Tuatha Dé Danann it could give us the guiding clip across the ear towards an emotional understanding of 'my mother my family and my mother goddess and my gods'. For me aknowledging that personal bias raised the question 'Is Danu *the* mother of all Gods?'

Mother Goddesses are fairly common in Ireland, each political unit seems to have their own and in some cases multiple mother goddesses exist within a single political unit. What I find interesting is very few of them are named as Tuatha De Danann. For example where we find the Paps of Anu (Some linguists think the name Anu might be a variant of Danu) in Munster there are numerous mother goddesses present. The Eóganacht dynasties Origin Myth says they are descended from Conal Corc and Aímend, an otherworld woman who helps Conal on his adventure and later becomes his wife. In that story Aímend is portrayed as literally being the mother of all the Eóganacht people. The Eóganacht in Limerick though claim descent from Áine, they even chose to inaugurate their kings at a Knockaney a separate sacred site dedicated to their Mother Goddess. In Medieval Ireland we find the Cailleach Bérri in Munster who in her original incarnation was named Digde, Dige, Duineach or Bui/Boi and with her husband Coirpre Musc became the mother goddess of the Corcu Duibhne of the Beara peninsula. Not forgetting the most significant Goddess in Munster or Mumu, Mor Mumain who gives her name to the Province and is so long lived that she outlives her kingly husbands and each king of Caisel has to marry her to rule something symbolic of the historical relationship between the mother goddess and the cultic kings of Ireland.

Being honest, while I would prefer people to share my opinions, there are lots of ways of viewing deities, religion as a whole is very subjective. That in itself may be a natural thing and opens the door to greater possibilities. Brandon lee in the Crow mentioned 'Mother is the word for God on the lips and hearts of children', when I consider the question 'Is Danu *the* mother of all Gods?' I think about the relationship between our Irish Mammies and our Mother Goddesses and that despite how strongly archetypal Irish mammies vary from family to family they are still universally valued in Irish Culture as Irish Mammies. If not equally because of a natural personal bias, then we have respect for them because of an emotional sense that all Irish Mammies are related. So my answer to the question is yes but no. Danu is a mother goddess and at one point in history was placed at the head of an accepted pantheon of gods in medieval literature. But if we grow beyond the world of the family home and the comfortable medieval pantheon we are presented with, then Danu is a mother goddess, but she is only one of many traditional mother goddesses in Ireland. Like Irish Mammies, those mother goddesses all had an equally supreme status within their territories and while they may have been respected, they lack that same authority outside their specific group.

What that could imply for Celtic Paganism is if the Tuatha De Danann did not claim descent from *the* mother of all gods, just one mother of many mothers, then while they may be other things, they might not be ‘*the* Gods’ of Ireland. That still leaves the question of what are they if not *the* Gods. One of the beauty parts of not having a codified polytheist religion in Ireland is what they might or might not be is down to personal interpretation and as one door closes three more open to explore. The main rule of thumb for me is always wipe your feet before going in, there are loads of ways of looking at religion and you don't want to be tracking muck across other peoples clean floors or beliefs... just in case Irish Mammies or Mother Goddesses are watching.

Walking a Celtic Path with Two Broken Legs

2010-03-10T21:51:00.000Z

There are two crippling points for the average person walking a Celtic Pagan path imo, preconceptions and mistaken assumptions. They make it as difficult to walk a Celtic path as two broken legs make walking up the street. For example the average person interested in forms of Traditional Irish Religion really doesn't know much about them. He does not understand how groups are structured or how its propagated. That's ok any kind of Native Paganism is an obscure subject. We only hit the stumbling block when we don't recognise that lack of knowledge.

In most cases in my country, by dint of living in Ireland, are convinced that we do know quite a bit about the subject. Given that Traditional Irish Religion is a minority religion within Celtic Paganism, itself a minority religion in Ireland, never mind the scarcity of Traditional Irish Religion outside Ireland, most of the knowledge we acquire is almost never through personal exposure to actual native forms of paganism.

On top of books, films and other similar sources, we primarily base our knowledge about Traditional Irish Religion on what we already know from more popular forms of Celtic Paganism. From Celtic Wicca, Celtic Shamanism, Druidry etc.. We assume that people practicing Traditional Irish Religions are organised into similar groups to and are taught about it in the same way as in those popular forms of Celtic Paganism. We might be very disappointed when we see groups of people at sacred sites seemingly walking around instead of performing group rituals. We might suspect Traditional Irish Religions arent religions at all because no one is loudly invoking a deity. We are used to things from more popular forms of Celtic Paganism and can assume they are universal in Celtic Paganism. When Traditional Irish Religions do not meet our preconceived expectations rather then considering the possibility that those expectations might be misplaced or in error, we can become frustrated.

IME approaching any neopagan path with preconceptions is one of the greatest hobbling posts to neopagans today. Nearly as big a problem is the mistaken assumptions people have.

A while back on an internet poetry forum the subject of duotheism within Celtic Paganism came up. Specifically, someone wanted to know the names of 'the god and goddess' in the Irish Culture. When an elderly person, a man who's family may have practiced a form of Celtic Paganism in Ireland long before Gardiner made his efforts public, responded by saying the concept of a God and Goddess didn't exist in his tradition - the forum became a battle field. There was outrage, he was called so many big words by way of insults there must have been a sale on insult word a day toilet paper or something. The main gist of the complaints seemed to me to be that he was being insensitive in the format of his reply and he was behind the times. What's comment worthy in my opinion is not one of the critics had even a fraction of his experience and none of them bothered to ask why he didn't believe in duotheism.

Those people were incensed by a simple response in text on an internet forum because of the mistaken assumption that Traditional Irish Religions have to meet the same standard formula as popular forms of Celtic Paganism. That it had to be sensitive to individual tastes and needs and had to be democratic and fair. Whether or not I agree that duotheism is absent from Traditional Irish Religions, it is based on a cultural tradition, because of that, and maybe to its detriment in a modernist society its not something that can be altered to suit the situation. Its validated not by its mass appeal but by its relationship to our culture. Its not for everyone, its not even for everyone in Ireland. It wont suit everyone's tastes but instead of using the opportunity to ask why someone of such vast experience held a personal belief they hammered away at the hobbling post with their mistaken assumption.

No one enjoys being told that they don't know what they're talking about. Even if we suspect its true, we resent having it pushed in our face. Its even worse when we have devoted ourselves to reading and talking with other people about the subject at hand. We hate thinking that all that effort has gone to waste. If you have the inclination, this anonymous typer, has a piece of advice. When you're tempted to be angry at your preconceived notions or mistaken assumptions being held up to you, think less about the irritation of having your ideas attacked and more about the opportunity to expose yourself to new and wider experiences. It isn't always pleasant. It might even be something you don't want to hear but in my experience its easier to walk a Celtic Pagan path without the hindrance of two broken legs.