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Stones, sites and trees
The Bones of Eriu: Stones I Have Known
Ireland, Scotland and Britain are strewn with relics of societies long passed....more
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Stones, sites and trees
The Wisdom of Trees in the Celtic Landscape
"The Fairie folk live in the oaks, and the acorn will bring you good luck" Nature was the earliest companion of primitive mankind.....more
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Stones, sites and trees
Old Ways Return Again in Place Names of the Celtic World
The association of mythological figures and energies with the physical landscape is common in the Celtic world....more
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Stones, sites and trees
The Natural World of the Celts Calls to Her Children
Pray to the moon when she is round Luck with you will then abound What you seek for shall be found
On the sea or on the ground -Old prayer to the Moon ...more
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Stones, sites and trees
Celtic Year Spirals into Autumn
The energy of the solar year slowly unwinds as the season turns to autumn. So too, our own vigor is paired with the motion of Nature, spiraling toward the dark half of the year like the twining of ivy on the oak.....more
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Stones, sites and trees
Turning of Time Seen in Arrival of Spring
A few years ago, a dear friend brought me a gift on her return from Ireland. It is a small silver pendant with a Celtic figure inscribed on both the front and back.....more
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Stones, sites and trees
A Walk in a Neolithic Landscape
On November 28, 1986 the areas and monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, England, were added to the World Heritage Site (WHS) List....more
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Stones, sites and trees
Seasons of Life found in Sacred Geography at Avebury
There was an old woman Lived under a hill And if she's not gone She's living there still. --nursery rhyme....more
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Stones, sites and trees
Lughnasadh Celebrated throughout Seasons of Life
The forest clings closely as you walk. A heavy canopy of hazel, hawthorn, oak and ash blanket the woodland path that you and your party are walking...more
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Otherworldly beings
A Guide to Fairyspotting
Some people spend their time avoiding the wee folk, others pursue the fairy gentry in search of fortune. Lore tells us the "fairy folk live in the oaks,".....more
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Otherworldly beings
The Banshee, Celtic Death Messenger
As we move into the darkest months of the year, it seems appropriate to visit a a spectre as ancient as life itself - the death messenger or Banshee....more
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Otherworldly beings
The Walk of the Otherworld
November Eve begets the chaotic time of Samhain, the season of death revels. The incantory narrative of Celtic storytelling took place.....more
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Otherworldly beings
Spirits Abound in the Dark Season of Samhain
We are well within the province of Samhain and it seems only proper to give a bit of ink to those bogeys and goblins that give the season its spunk....more
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Otherworldly beings
World of Spirits Found in Balance of Autumnal Equinox
It is September. Colourful leaves and straggling bees remind us the year is turning inward. On September 22, at 9:30 am PDT, the length of day and night will be equal....more
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Otherworldly beings
November Wind Blows In Hungry Ghosts
The sun is shining and the clouds rove the sky with a vigor that speaks little of summer's long gone pleasantries. Sunny in this moment, cloudy the next....more
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Otherworldly beings
Gift of the Heart Found in the World's Illusion
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep. --John Milton, Paradise Lost ....more
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Otherworldly beings
Divine Message Found in Otherworldly Songs
Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?
--Leonardo DaVinci. At twilight not long ago I watched a flock of birds take wing against a brilliant scarlet sky as the sun was setting ....more
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The Center
Autumn Blows Away in the Winds of Samhain
Though the sun remains bright, the wind is picking up. The season, time itself, blows likes leaves through our hands.....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
Storyteller Illuminates the Dark Season of Samhain
Samhain has arrived, bringing with it the Celtic winter. For our ancestors, the great gods and heroes of Celtic mythology were summoned most often by the storyteller....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
TThe Storyteller's Gift: The Coming of the Tuatha de Danann to Ireland
(Adapted from Lady Gregory's 1904 collection Gods and Fighting Men) It was on Beltaine, the first day of May, that the Tuatha de Danann....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
The Storyteller's Gift: St. Patrick and The Reek
Long ago, when Ireland was the land of Druids, there was a great Bishop, Patrick by name, who came to teach the word of god throughout the country....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
The Storyteller’s Gift: The Coming of Lugh
(Adapted from Lady Gregory’s 1904 collection Gods and Fighting Men and Charles Squire’s Celtic Myth and Legend. Nuada, King of the Tuatha de Danaan, held a great feast at Teamhair....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
Storytelling Tradition Lives in the Fairy Stories of Ireland
In 1999, storyteller Eddie Lenihan made international headlines for his protest over the removal of a whitethorn bush in Latoon, County Clare, Ireland.....more
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Mythology - Lore and myth
The Mask -- a Disguise of a Lifetime
The echoes of "Trick or Treat" have faded. The costumes that ushered in the season of Samhain have been packed away.....more
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Mythology - Elements and symbols
Spirit of the Growing Year Goes to Ground
It starts in August, sometimes late July. Something in the atmosphere changes and you comment to the store clerk "It felt like Fall today." ....more
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Mythology - Elements and symbols
Veneration of Water Reflects Celtic Soul
I was sitting in a surgical centre the other day, waiting for word on a loved one.....more
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Mythology - Elements and symbols
Fire Burns at the Heart of Beltaine Festival
The countryside awoke a few weeks ago. No longer desiccated, the fragrant landscape now erupts with life.....more
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Mythology - Elements and symbols
Inspiration Found on a Summer Breeze
Taiowa is the breath, humankind is the mouthpiece to carry the sounds of creation to the far reaches of eternity.
-- Hopi Creation Myth.....more
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Mythology - Voyages
Compass of the Soul Found in Tales of Wonder and Peril
Oh build your ship of death. Oh build it! For you will need it. For the voyage of oblivion awaits you. --D. H. Lawrence ....more
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Mythology - Voyages
Celtic Spirit of Discovery Reawakens in Spring
On the surface of another world, two robotic rovers roam a dusty red planet named for the Roman god of war.....more
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Folklore
Finding Protection in the Year's Darkest Season
Do you wonder why you got that flat tire today? Or why that favorite heirloom plate managed to slip through your fingers and smash to bits at the family dinner?....more
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Folklore
Birds of the Celtic World Traverse Worlds in a Bird Song
Without fail each year, the sound of the robin's singing in spring stirs my heart, the familiar song gives hint of the coming season as well as bittersweet evidence of the passing of mortal time....more
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Folklore
The Pre-Celtic Traditions of Holed Stones
The wheel of the Celtic year has turned from Spring to Summer. The time of one season has passed to another, with the great festival of Beltaine on May 1 to mark the threshold.....more
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Hogmany
Hogmanay Alive and Well
Throughout Scotland, the ancient festival of Hogmanay,is alive and well. The Scots are renowned the world over for the manner in which they celebrate the coming of a new year...more
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Samhain
Every Heart Responsible for Zeitgeist of Chaos
Around us our world is dissolving - our communities, the environment, the roads, the financial markets of the world - our sanity....more
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Samhain
Autumn Blows Away in the Winds of Samhain
Though the sun remains bright, the wind is picking up. The season, time itself, blows likes leaves through our hands....more
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Samhain
Lines of Everyday Life Dissolve in the Season of Samhain
It occurs to me that a scream is an echo, a sliver from the abyss. Its sound fractures lines into thin air.....more
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Samhain
Ancient Samhain Festival Burns Brightly at Halloween
Spent sunflowers rustle in unison with the bleached cornstalks outside my window. Their bony stems and withered leaves mimic the stark silhouettes....more
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Samhain
Pumpkin Logic
Samhain (Halloween) is the Celtic New Year’s Eve and November 1 is the first day of the Celtic New Year.....more
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Samhain
Chaos Awaits in the Dark Season of Samhain
Quick on the heels of the falling leaves comes the great Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced "sow-in") on October 31....more
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Samhain
The Celebration of Life and Death at Samhain
The worn wooden cross reads only "Ben." Alongside this winding country road a human life ended....more
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Samhain
Incantations of Samhain: The Year Passes to Rebirth
November Eve embodies a Province of Time which pulls in its wake the death of the year, disintegration into winter and the unyielding promise of life reborn....more
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Samhain
A Child's Halloween
Out from the trees Leaves are flying about Waiting for Goblins and bats to come out....more
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Samhain
Jack of the Lantern
Once in the land of Eire, there lived a blacksmith by the name of Jack. Quick to the drink but short on paying for it, Jack had few friends and was known to curse a lovely day as often as a miserable one....more
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Samhain
Halloween
Is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aerial people, the fairies,...more
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Samhain
Seasonal Passage Illuminates the Underworld Promise of Samhain
A sudden chill swirls by; an inaudible whisper murmurs a forgotten warning and is gone. Beneath a blanket of bright leaves, decaying vegetation and harvested fields....more
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Samhain
Celtic New Year Arrives in Shadows of Samhain Firelight
Everything is in constant flux and movement. Nothing is abiding. Therefore we cannot step twice in the same river.....more
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Samhain
Chaos of Samhain Transforms the Celtic Soul
You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.
-- Nietzsche. With November come the shadows. From October's eroding edge....more
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Winter Solstice
Time Passes from Darkness into Light
Time turns and history is made. In the turning and the making is "chronos," the basis of our word for "time."....more
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Winter Solstice
Finding Light in a Season of Darkness
On a recent evening I watched the moon. It was beautiful- clear and full and fast against the mountainous clouds of night. It was younger than me then, but the cycle of time will see its brightness wane....more
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Winter Solstice
Solstice Arrives Amid Ever Changing Conditions of Life
There is a certain reverie to the blending of seasons. Though our calendar points to June 21 as the official beginning of summer...more
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Winter Solstice
Soul's Quest Found in the Light of Winter Solstice
Uncle, what ails thee? -- Parzival to the Grail King, Anfortas. From the darkest of days comes a dawn. With the winter solstice at 4:23 PM PST on December 21,...more
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Winter Solstice
The Greenman Heralds the Light of Solstice
As the sun travels to the southernmost point of its voyage, we enter the season of the Winter solstice.....more
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Winter Solstice
Darkness flees before the Light of the Winter Solstice
The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,on St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze;....more
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Winter Solstice
Solstice Symbols Illuminate Season of Rebirth
It is nature's promise that the darkest days always beget light. So it will be when the winter solstice, which will occur on December 21 at 19:23 UT....more
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Winter Solstice
Spiritual Rebirth Illuminated at Winter Solstice
At winter solstice, the sun will momentarily hang at the southernmost point of its annual voyage and then turn again northward....more
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Winter Solstice
Solstice Season Illuminates Mystery of Life
A growing shadow is creeping across the face of humanity--a darkness unconfined by season, undeterred by reason....more
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Winter Solstice
Midwinter Duel Transformed by Light of Solstice
Almost too soon the winter festival season is upon us. On December 21 at 1:19 PM PST, the sun will reach its southernmost observable limit in our earth’s annual orbit of that great star.....more
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Imbolg
Imbolg Heralds the Springtime of the Heart
Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.
- Rainer Maria Rilke....more
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Imbolg
Light of Imbolg Rekindles Human Spirit
Winter's light is fleeting on the gale scoured earth. Beating rain, rain to snow, nothing grows. A dreary sky reflects a bleak landscape -- and it is here that we find our Selves....more
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Imbolg
Light of Prehistoric Promise Burns Brightly at Imbolg
Vocatus atque non vocatus deus aderit "Bidden or not bidden the gods are present"
The sun set brilliantly this evening. As high cirrus clouds of purple, bronze and magenta....more
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Imbolg
The Seeds of Spring Stir in the the Winter Landscape
Above and below, time is turning. The Celtic spring begins on February 1, on the festival known by names such as Imbolg, Oimelic, Candlemas and St. Brigid's Day....more
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Imbolg
Turning of Time Seen in Arrival of Spring
A few years ago, a dear friend brought me a gift on her return from Ireland. It is a small silver pendant with a Celtic figure inscribed on both the front and back....more
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Imbolg
Celtic Spring Stirs in the Ashes of Time
Out my window I see white. A wintry white sky fuses with the pallid earth in the field beyond my home.....more
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Imbolg
Creation Found in the Winds of Spring
February has arrived and with it the Celtic spring on Imbolg, February 1. Winter is not quite so bitter,....more
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Vernal Equinox
Indomitable Spirit of Irish People Reflected in Landscape
There is no day in the year that more purely represents the Irish to the world than St. Patrick's Day on March 17....more
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Vernal Equinox
St. Patrick: The man and the myth
Patrick, sometimes reviled, often revered, was a man who became a saint and in the process lost his identity as a man....more
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Vernal Equinox
Song of the Otherworld is Heard In the Balance of Spring
Marking the dawn of the Celtic pastoral year, the vernal equinox celebrates the Otherworld in the moment of balance which occurs as the sun crosses the celestial equator....more
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Vernal Equinox
The Festivals of Spring Herald Rebirth
Our long, uncertain winter that began prematurely last September 11 is at its end. At 11:17 PST, the vernal equinox will signal a balance of days and the arrival of a spring long awaited....more
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Vernal Equinox
Call to Life Heard in the Winds of Spring
Wind stirs the low dark clouds as sunlight pierces the grey. A shift is afoot. Seasonal change, like that of the vernal equinox on March 20 at 4:34 am PST, provides outward evidence of the pull of destiny on every living thing....more
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Vernal Equinox
Destiny Waits in the Wound of a Thorn
I like to garden. Many people like to garden. In fact, gardening is the fastest growing hobby in North America....more
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Vernal Equinox
The Meaning of the Green and Other Facts about St. Patrick's Day
What would St. Patrick's Day be without a crock a' gold or perhaps a wee leprechaun tugging at that frown on your face?...more
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Vernal Equinox
St. Patrick's Day Renews Spirit of Return
The tides of March are upon us once again. The vernal equinox will tilt our world toward spring at 11:50 PM PDT on March 19....more
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Vernal Equinox
Eternity Found In the Signs of the Times
Whence and wither, whence and whither... From where - toward where? As tidal as the seasons we flow like bits of sea glass and flotsam into a new season at 4:45 AM PDT on March 20....more
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Beltaine
May Day inaugurates Celtic Summer
May Day heralds the inauguration of the Celtic summer and the great festival of Beltaine, a celebration of fire, fertility and the sacred communication between mortal and divine....more
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Beltaine
Through the Fire Eyes of Beltaine: An imagining of Beltaine
The twilight whispered cooly in his ear as he arrived. At the foot of the pathway up the hill, the gathering shadows seemed welcoming....more
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Beltaine
Beltaine Bonfires Burn Brightly in Sacred Space
For those who walk a Celtic path, the advent of summer approaches....more
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Beltaine
Fire of Beltaine Season Found in the Heart
Curious warm breezes swirl around my garden, around my thoughts. Greenery emerges in the landscape and the days grow longer still.....more
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Beltaine
Triplism Fuels Turning of Celtic Wheel to Beltaine
And so I sit to tell a tale -- of three and three and three How above, below and in between Can come to mean just One....more
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Beltaine
Bright Festival of Beltaine Renews Hope for the World
The brightest festival of the Celtic year arrives on May eve. Beltaine (pronounced ("bel-ti-nuh") ushers in the fruitful half of the year as the Celtic season turns to summer....more
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Beltaine
Love Wins - the Soul Turns Home at Beltaine
My heart basks in the illumination of a new season. The shadowy, brittle grip of winter - a winter that seems to have lasted years - retreats before the brilliance of Beltaine....more
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Summer Solstice
Life Transformed in Light of the Summer Solstice
There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
-- Anais Nin....more
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Summer Solstice
Voice of the Otherworld Heard at Midsummer
The summer sun climbs the vault of the sky this morning. A cool, clean breeze sweeps away the clouds that dim the illumination of my thoughts.....more
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Summer Solstice
On Endings -- The Creative Nature of Death Awaits in the Midsummer Sun
Someone I did not know well died recently. Not so recently, but last February. It wasn't until May that I found out. A gregarious, hard-working fellow with a family whose grip on life seemed secure....more
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Summer Solstice
Thoughts of Midsummer Turn to Midlife
If you look far enough out, it seems that eventually you begin to see in. Out there, the year is turning to midlife, and we are turning with it....more
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Summer Solstice
Solstice Arrives Amid Ever Changing Conditions of Life
There is a certain reverie to the blending of seasons. Though our calendar points to June 21 as the official beginning of summer,....more
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Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice Illuminates Footpath of Life
Astronomical events are interesting. For one thing, humankind has marked celestial events, such as solstices, eclipses and the like, for millennia...more
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Lughansadh
Lughnasadh Shines with Symbolism
The harvest festival of Lughnasadh ("loo-nus-uh") shines with the symbolism of god and goddess, the waning season and the never ending interplay between the communal and ritual space which creates divine inspiration upon this mortal plane....more
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Lughansadh
Celtic Symbols Shine at Harvest Time
The symbolism of the celtic festival Lughnasadh heralds summer's end and reminds us of the rich symbolism to which we are heir. ....more
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Lughansadh
Festival of Lughnasadh Illuminates Cycle of Life
Stealing invisibly forward, the Holly King vanquishes the waxing year. With a sigh and no further resistance, the growing year takes the path to ground....more
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Lughansadh
Lughnasadh Heralds Harvest of the Soul
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. - William Blake Throughout the seasons we ramble away....more
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Lughansadh
Summer Sun Illuminates the Abundance of Lughnasadh
The shimmering days of summer dance around us. The sky an endless blue, greenery and flowers are easy on the eyes....more
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Lughansadh
Seeds of the Future Found in Harvest Abundance
In silence is the seed of wisdom gained - unknown. It is late summer of a year, like every year, that is running fast....more
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Lughansadh
Truth Abounds in the Harvest of Lughnasadh
And July becomes August. Summer slips away with the twilight on Lughnasadh, the eve of August and the Celtic autumn. Summer meets its moment of truth - seed becomes fruit - and fruit becomes the harvest of Lughnasadh....more
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Autumnal Equinox
The Ins and Outs of In Between
Not now, not then, but before and surely after -- in between, yes, we are in between. The cycles of winter, summer, dark and light, bitter cold and life-giving warmth....more
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Autumnal Equinox
Ancient Observations Marked in Equinox Celebrations
On the autumnal equinox, the sun will slip over the earth's equator and the midpoint of the Celtic autumn will arrive....more
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Autumnal Equinox
The Tides of Summer Swirl into Autumn
Like many, I took a summer holiday at the beach. Suntans are fading even as scattered sand remains as a reminder....more
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Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Time Blow Gently in Autumnal Breeze
The billboard sign flashed by on the highway almost before I could read it. "Festival of the Turning Leaves" - a quaint, albeit descriptive, name...more
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Celtic Weddings
Celtic Wedding Traditions for Modern Lovers
It is the springtime of the year and thoughts turn to love. To the Celts, and surely to all people past and present, courtship leading to marriage is one of the great rites of passage in a human life....more
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History
The Druids--Walkers Between Worlds
The very word "druid" conjures an image of a people clad in mystery who practised human sacrifice and left behind monuments such as Stonehenge and Newgrange....more
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History
The Claddagh Ring
Sited on the western shore of where the Galway River enters the sea, there is a fishing-village, which may predate Galway (on the West Coast of Ireland)....more
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History
Brigit's Light Warms a Bitter Landscape
For those who follow the Celtic year, February 2 marks the beginning of spring and a lessening of winter's grip upon heart and land....more
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History
Celtic Spirit Found in the Path of History
The term "Celtic" conjures images of a fierce, nomadic people, nature-worshipping druids in groves of ancient oaks and eerie stone circles....more
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History
Hatak Topulli Nan Imokpulo: Friends Through Adversity
In this 150th year anniversary of the Great "Famine," it seems appropriate to look at the story and lore of a people who responded to the Irish in their time of great need....more
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The Grail
The Soul's Myth Guides Those Who Search
It is November, the first month of the Celtic year. Now deep into the season of Samhain we see the signposts of life as we knew them,...more
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The Grail
November Stirs Celtic Vessel of Change
The rain drums on a dull landscape under a low, leaden sky. It is November and Nature has exchanged her green livery for the dark cowl of the Cailleach...more
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Present Day
Nature of the Soul Reflected in the Eyes of the World
Do you ever look up? Not just a glance to decide about the umbrella, but a real look. What do you see? A treeline? Power lines, rooftops, birds, sun, sky?...more
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Present Day
Looking for Soul in a Peerless Summer Sky
On a glorious summer day, I recently had the opportunity to visit a sculpture park.....more
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Present Day
Divine Eyes Shine Through November Darkness
The sun shines through a partially overcast sky. As I glance up, I see the sun while simultaneously the middle of my chest ....more
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Present Day
Celtic Spirit Rides the Tide of the Universe
The construction crane towers past the 7th floor hospital room window from which I look.....more
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