Happy Beltaine! Have some music. Dance and be merry!

Blessed Beltaine, my friends!  Or Bealtaine in Irish.  I sometimes like to call it that because it just feels so good rolling off the tongue.  Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful day!  As has become tradition, I must post one of my favorite Jonathan Coulton songs.  FYI - it's NSFW.  ;)







What a great ditty. It always gets me happy and excited for Beltaine - in an immature, sexual kind of way. :P Truthfully, I'm already feeling the amorous energy associated with the day!


To get you up and moving around, here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, Omnia! I's called Tine Bealtaine. Nothing like a great, upbeat Neo-Medeival tune to get you in the mood for one of the most important holidays in modern Paganism!




Today the husband and I are going to celebrate with our grovies at Muin Mound after attending an Earth Day celebration at The Mustard Seed in Watertown. Whatever you're doing, be safe, have fun, and may the Kindreds bless!

Looking for a good book for your Pagan child?

I came across a childrens' book today and, after flipping through it, I couldn't pass it up for my growing collection of young Pagan literature.  Any parents/educators should be familiar with the hugely successful "Magic Tree House" books.  I see second and third graders reading them all the time.  This book, entitled Leprechauns and Irish Folklore, by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce, is "a nonfiction companion to" a fictional book they wrote called Leprechaun in Late Winter.  I read all 109 pages of the companion in an hour or so.

What's so impressive about this book is how open-minded and scholarly it is.  While the authors don't discuss the evolution of Lugh to leprechaun, they do briefly discuss the Tuatha De Danann.  There's a whole chapter devoted to the modern history of Irish folklore.  It features sections about Douglas Hyde and Lady Gregory, for example, and even introduces the subject of British occupation.

Different spirits are discussed, such as the trooping fairies, pookas, and clurichauns.  The authors give examples of how people have/can befriend the good folk, as well as how to defend against them.  All the examples are consistent with the lore and folklore studies I've been reading.  The selkies have a section too but are called merrows (or múir ógh for sea maiden).  Speaking of Gaelic, the Irish is pretty accurate as far as I can tell with my novice understanding.  Children reading will learn about the filí and raths for instance.  I love that the authors used actual Irish!

My only real complaint is that the Druids are presented only as "wise men" (73) rather than men and women.  The book sometimes relies too heavily on the more modern idea of diminutive winged fairies but makes up for it by explaining that they can appear however they want.  Otherwise I highly recommend it for Pagan parents, especially those with Irish hearth cultures.    It's very well written, contains beautiful illustrations and photographs, and even includes a section with further reading and research tips for youngsters to follow!  Rather than calling a belief in fairies nonsensical, the book leaves it up to the reader to decide for him or herself what to believe.  I really appreciated that bit of spiritual tolerance / allowance for magic.

The Game Plan

As you saw in my last post, I'm working diligently on the Artisan Guild study program.  I want to get into the Initiate Study Program as well and was suddenly feeling overwhelmed with the possibilities.  Kirk gave me some perspective that really helped.  I need to find a balance between the practical/experimental and the academic.  This goes for my art studies as well since I'm doing them at the same time.

I was thinking of doing Divination 1 for the ISP.  I may yet start the research components of it, but I don't want to start the journal until I've created a new set of ogham and I'm planning to do that as part of my Artisan Guild study program.  So here's what I'm thinking (bear with me if this seems complicated - it makes sense to me!):

1) Submit my working outlines to the Art Guild preceptor.
2) Use some online drawing tutorials to refamiliarize myself with perspective, scale, shading, etc...
3) Continue sketching and, eventually, create the necessary pieces for my portfolio.
4) By then I can start "Technical Competence" requirement 3 - "Single Ritual Piece," aka my new and improved ogham.
5) Then I can use the ogham to practice divination for Divination 1.

In the meantime!

1) Start Magic 1.  I just ordered a few books to help me complete this portion:

•  Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition
  Nigel Pennick
•  Irish Celtic Magical Tradition: Ancient Wisdom of the Battle of Moytura
  Steve Blamires
•  The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain  Lewis Spence

I'm really excited to dig into these!  

2) By the time I finish Magic 1, I'll be able to do Magic 2 and overlap the journaling with Trance 1.

3) Hopefully, after all the above work, I'll be able to start my divination journal at this time.  

4) Throughout all of this I'll be studying Irish, working towards the goals outlined in Indo-European Language 1.

So, yeah.  I have a *lot* of work ahead of me.  How exciting!  Seriously, I love this sort of stuff.  (Yes, I miss college already!)

In case any fellow Northern NY Pagans didn't know...

North Country Goes Green” Irish Festival From March 11-14, Watertown plays host to their annual “North Country Goes Green” Irish Festival, at the State Office Building. The festival, promising three days of constant musical entertainment, supports Project Children, raising money to bring children from Northern Ireland to Northern New York for four weeks in the summer. This year’s festival features a lineup that includes the very popular Dublin City Ramblers, The Glengarry Bhoys, Cliudan, Searson, Tartan, Seanache and The Terry Mostyn Band. Admission to the festival is $6 per person, with children 12 and under admitted free if accompanied by a parent. For additional information, visit http://www.ncirishfest.com/

Sewing Projects

I recently posted about a doll I've been working on. I've decided that she is Sif of the golden hair - the wife of Thor from Norse mythology. While researching the linen dresses and apron skirts worn by Viking women, I started to wonder about the clothing of my own hearth culture. What did the ancient Celts wear?

One of my artistic goals for the year is to make myself an outfit to wear to rituals and festivals. I started to look through SCA resources and found some good sites with a lot of helpful information. I ordered some cream colored linen and some green flannel wool to make a léine and a brat respectively. I'm really excited about this project! It also gives me a good excuse to study embroidery to decorate the léine.


Eee! I can't wait until my fabric arrives!

ADF Chats and Strange Dreams

I found out that the CUUPs group in Watertown was having a meeting last night. At first I really wanted to try and make it but then I realized how last-minute it was and decided to stay home and relax with my husband. I ended up getting on the ADF chat towards the end of the night which was a lot of fun and helped to remind me that I'm not alone, even if I'm the only ADFer in Northern NY (which it sometimes seems is the case...) We talked about the nature of deity, specifically whether or not Zeus was the same as Jupiter and Tyr, etc. It was a fun intellectual exercise but one we all agreed wouldn't lead to any true conclusions. All the same, I believe that such discussions are important. They force us to contemplate our faith and even question it. This, I believe, helps to ward off stagnation and unflinching dogma.

Somehow, we ended up talking about the Fomoire, I admitted that I had an interest in them, in particular Bres. In much of the lore I've read, he is Brighid's husband. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a horrible king. Bres is part Fomoire and part Tuatha de Dannan. He decides to enslave the de Dannans and favor the Fomoire. He was also not very hospitable which, to the ancient Irish, was a big no-no. After a war, The Fomoire are defeated and Lugh gets the secrets of agriculture from former king Bres. It's a trade - Bres' life for, basically, the secrets of taming nature.

I explained to my fellow ADFers that, while I've not made tribute to him and do not worship him, I have an interest. Perhaps I can compare it to the interest people have in someone like Iago from Othello. He's the antagonist and I can't help but wonder at his motives. More importantly, I wonder at Brighid's relationship with him. Yes, in the myths, it was most probably symbolic of a political marriage and, perhaps, sovereignty. But, if the Gods have feelings like us, how did she feel? If it's all just a metaphor, what does it mean to people devoted to Brighid? What does it mean to a feminist to worship a Goddess who married an asshat? Was he always like that? We know she invented keening when their son was killed. But that's it. Brighid is such an important Goddess to me that I can't help but wonder at it all.

Anyway, shortly after the chat I went to bed and I had a horrible dream. In the dream, I became aware of a shadowy figure watching me through the windows at night. No matter where I went he (because I somehow knew it was male) knew and fallowed. At some points he was just a silhouette behind a blind. Other times I felt his presence. Then there were times when he seemed to be reaching through the windows from the darkness. It was very frightening. Finally, in an attempt to flee I got into a car with someone else (I can't remember who - my sister, maybe) and the person/thing chased after me. The car was going and I couldn't get the door closed. The thing was at the door, a shadow, reaching through the spaces. I woke up shortly after that.

At work I ended up daydreaming for a bit. I was thinking about the dream. I hardly ever seem to remember my dreams and I suddenly remembered the discussion on the Fomoire. Was it Bres? Or was my mind still thinking of the "Outsiders" ( the term we often use in ADF to describe the "powers of chaos" like the Fomoire or the Titans)? Did I get their attention? If so, and if I had a dream like that as a result, I don't think I'll ever want to think about making offerings to Bres.

Tonight, as it gets darker, I think of Brighid, my patroness, and I ask her, as I always ask her, to protect my home and me in it. I can't help but wonder what it means to ask the wife to keep the husband out?