Pic: puritani35

Recent evidence that Druids possibly committed cannibalism and ritual human sacrifice—perhaps on a massive scale—add weight to ancient Roman accounts of Druidic savagery, archaeologists say. After a first century B.C. visit to Britain, the Romans came back with horrific stories about these high-ranking priests of the Celts, who had spread throughout much of Europe over a roughly 2,000-year period reports the National Geographic.

Recent gruesome finds appear to confirm the Romans’ accounts, according to Secrets of the Druids, a new documentary that aired on Saturday 28th March on the U.S. National Geographic Channel. Continue Reading »

Pic : Jim Frazier

In the County of Hereford was an old Custom at Funerals, to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the Sins of the party deceased… The manner was that when a Corpse was brought out of the house and laid on the Bier; a Loaf of bread was brought out and delivered to the Sin-eater over the corps, as also a Mazer-bowl full of beer, which he was to drink up, and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him all the Sins of the Defunct, and freed him (or her) from Walking after they were dead John Aubrey, Remains of Gentilism

When I was a child my family moved to the Herefordshire countryside, in the shadow of the Welsh Black Mountains and deep in the heart of Celtic mythology. At the edge of the village, alone and isolated from the rest of the scant community there was a small cottage, long fallen to disrepair; a place I was always warned to stay clear of. For in this cottage there lived a madman, who was somehow unclean and undesirable to the village… so they said. Inevitably I found my way to this place.

His cottage stood at a crossroads, just back from the road itself and surrounded by tall bushes and trees. It was a walk of about a mile from the village and there were no other houses anywhere near it. It felt somewhat like the fairytale cottage of a witch, a place you stumble upon in error, after which your life is never the same. As I stood looking at this mysterious cottage, whose lopsided architecture had begun to take on the form of the surrounding land, the door opened and its single inhabitant emerged. Continue Reading »

The Paganpoetrypages.com (The PPP) is proud to announce its latest poetry competition, to celebrate the launch of the first anthology of  The PPP on May 1st (Bealtine) 2009.

Pagan Paeans is a wonderful collection of poetry from the satirical and comic to the deeply spiritual.

How to enter:
On www.paganpoetrypages.com in the members forum, we’ve posted two images as inspiration – all you have to do is look and write a poem. The best , most original take on it wins! Just go to the section marked PPP competitions and follow the instructions on how to post an entry.

Pic: time.com

With March 20 marking the vernal equinox (one of two days during the year where day and night are the same length) attention turns again to one of the more persistent theories for Stonehenge’s origin, reports Time. In a 1965 book, “Stonehenge Decoded,” astronomer Gerald Hawkins offered the then-most comprehensive hypothesis to date of Stonehenge’s purpose. Hawkins saw the cluster of stones, constructed in phases from around 3100 B.C. through 1600 B.C., as an ancient astronomical calendar.

In a modern twist on Geoffrey’s account, some argue that space aliens, rather than Merlin, constructed Stonehenge. These theories feed off the fact that no one’s exactly sure how the rocks got to their present location — the origin of some were traced as far as a Welsh mountain range 137 miles away from the Stonehenge. Although modern tests employing only technology from the era have moved similar stones, there’s still no full explanation for how ancient people managed such a feat. Hence, aliens.

Read the other fascinating theories at the time.com website.

Pic: Telegraph

The Telegraph reports that schoolchildren will be taught about the “rise of atheism” in a new religious studies GCSE, it has been announced. Lessons will also focus on Druids and Rastafarianism as part of a syllabus designed to boost understanding of religious diversity around the world. Attitudes by different faiths towards same sex marriages, human rights, gender equality and even GM crops will be among the topics covered.

In one key area, lessons will focus on the influence of minority religious movements, such as Falun Gong, the banned Chinese spiritual group, and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, which believe in the spirituality of nature. As part of a topic on Rastafarianism, students are asked to look at the influence of Bob Marley in the 1970s.

Liam Gearon, professor of lifelong learning at Plymouth University, who supports the new course, said:

This is an intellectually exciting new GCSE which will challenge students to think about the role of religion in modern Britain and in the worldwide community. Encouraging the use of historical reflection as well as thought-provoking analysis of contemporary events, it will engage students of all abilities with the many issues that surround religion in the modern world.

The disclosure comes days after another exam board – the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance – announced it would run a religious studies GCSE in which pupils answer questions about homosexuality, conservation, binge drinking and drugs in sport.

Read the full story on the Telegraph site.

Pic: Catherine Somerlot

We are very proud to announce the inclusion of an all-new gallery by the well-known and astounding, mythic artist Catherine Somerlot. Her work is an amazing blend of the ancient and the ultra-modern. She uses images and photographs, combined in powerful symbiosis to produce records of archetypes dwelling deep within our subconscious minds. One of her goals isto visit the Celtic lands, producing these wonderful mythic images of the ancient sites as a record for future generations. We would both like to wish her every success with this dream!

Catherine Somerlot is an artist with a flair for the romantic. This is reflected in her work as a photographer, digital artist, and designer. She is inspired by the beauty and mystery of nature, Art Nouveau, vivid life-like dreams, medieval literature and music, and Celtic myth & legend. Victorian, medieval, and Pre-Raphaelite art sparks something deep within the soul, taking her back to another time and place. This escape from reality feeds her creativity and aids her in her creative process.

Catherine’s dream is to one day travel through the Celtic nations to photographically document ancient Celtic landmarks in a mystically enchanting way. Then she would like to publish a book of photography with the myths and legends from these lands scattered throughout the pages.

We think she has come up with a wonderful way to help keep the archaeological and spiritual nature of our ancient Celtic ancestors alive not only for us, but for future generations! She says:

Listening to your podcast makes these legends come alive, and the fire within to one day complete this project is growing and growing!

Catherine has entered a photographic competition and put a proposal for her project on this website http://tinyurl.com/LandoftheCelts.

She needs as many votes as possible to have a chance of winning $50,000 to make her dream come true. So please help by voting for her

To vote you need to register with the website at
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/accounts/register/
Then go to http://tinyurl.com/LandoftheCelts
and click on the yellow square that says Pic IT at the top left of the page.

To see more of Catherine’s work please visit http://www.catherinesomerlot.com/

You can see her gallery or visit her Contributor page to find our more about Catherine.

We received this email this week and thought we would share it with you as there is some great videos on David Royal’s Blog and some super photos on flickr. Unfortunately People in the UK cannot view the video’s at the Smithsonian Channel website, but can view them at the BBC site

Hello Gary and Ruth,

I came across your post on the current Stonehenge excavation, “The Stonehenge dig it; follow it LIVE”, today while doing some research for my client the Smithsonian Channel. The Smithsonian Channel is partnering with the BBC to film the documentary of the excavation, and we’ve been promoting the dig online in a handful of venues. I see that you’re fascinated by Stonehenge (me too – I am hoping to visit soon) and I thought you might be interested to check out some of the content the Smithsonian Channel has from the dig. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2008-04-21 08:18:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: DesMoines Register

For most Americans, the word “pilgrim” conjures up images of a dour crowd with buckled hats filing out of the Mayflower. Or maybe John Wayne’s catchword for rookie cowboys, as in “Take ‘er easy there, pilgrim.” The A-students among us might even recall that rowdey olde bunche from “The Canterbury Tales.” But it’s harder to picture a modern-day pilgrimage, which is exactly what six Iowans will begin Thursday when they set off for Iona, a remote island off the windy west coast of Scotland, reports the Des Moines Register.

They’ll sleep in an old stone abbey, share simple meals and worship several times a day, just as the monastic community’s Irish founder did a century after St. Patrick stomped all the snakes out of Ireland. Continue Reading »

Pic: Reuters

New research suggests the Vikings were model immigrants who co-existed peacefully with the natives reports the Independent. It’s amazing how coincidences work, isn’t it? There we were innocently giving feedback from Kent in our latest show, the Spring Equinox 2009 Holiday Special, SP10, in which he wonders what the links were between the Celts and the Vikings, and here we are! New research has shown that there was a peaceful inter-mingling.

For centuries, they have been stereotyped as marauding barbarians arriving in their helmeted hordes to pillage their way across Britain. But now a group of academics believe they have uncovered new evidence that the Vikings were more cultured settlers who offered a “good historical model” of immigrant assimilation.

The evidence is set to be unveiled at a three-day Cambridge University conference starting today, when more than 20 studies will reveal how the Vikings shared technology, swapped ideas and often lived side-by-side in relative harmony with their Anglo-Saxon and Celtic contemporaries. Some may have come, plundered and left, but those Vikings who decided to settle rather than return to Scandinavia learnt the language, inter-married, converted to Christianity and even had “praise poetry” written about them by the Brits, according to the experts. Continue Reading »

Pic: Avalonia

In our last Show, the Spring Equinox 2009 Holiday Special we brought you an abridged version of the Sorita D’Este section entitled The Witch God Cernunnos from the book Horns of Power. This book is packed full of articles about the different forms of the old Celtic Horned God and is well worth a read and discussing here further. Not only are there essays on most of the Horned mythological survivals (including some female ones!) but there are also some modern experiences recorded with these Gods. The book is published by Avalonia books – so lets’s find out what they can tell us about it.

The raw, ancient and primordial force symbolised by horns has long had associations with mystery, magick and power. Our ancestors often envisaged their gods as anthropomorphic beings who encapsulated this wild essence. Today the gods of the bull, the ram, goat and stag still hold tremendous power and are invoked at rituals by a new priesthood who continue to seek the wildness of nature and the inspiration that it holds. These deities transcend the safe and known boundaries of human structure, sometimes even luring us across the threshold of the known into the unknown worlds.

This unique anthology brings together the work of more than twenty dedicated scholars with that of modern day mystics. Through their written and artistic contributions they illustrate some of the many manifestations of the Horned God.

A true cornucopia of both insightful and well researched essays takes us from the well known Celtic Cernunnos and the legend of Herne the Hunter, to the goat-footed Greek Pan, the lesser known Slavic Veles and Egyptian Khnum. Horned serpents, unicorns, the tale of the Battle of the Bulls in the Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Welsh Gwyn Ap Nudd and the faery Puck are all also considered.

Then a wild hunt as we journey with the mystics who share their own experiences of the gods of the wildwood and untamed beasts. Each story is as different as the person who experienced it – and each illustrating in its own unique way a Horned God who is wild, unpredictable, loving – and at heart a trickster. For those who wish to dare a bit more than others, visionary meditation journeys to explore the mysteries of Cernunnos and Gwyn Ap Nudd are included.

Horns of power would of course be nothing without the horns of beauty of the feminine divine, and in the final section of this anthology the reader is presented with essays exploring horned goddesses.

Whether through the mysteries of their existence, the vast scope of their influence or the endurance of their survival through to the modern day, each contributor provides a window into the wonders and magick of the enduring Horned God.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CORNUCOPIA: HISTORY & MYTH
The Witch God Cernunnos By Sorita d’Este
Herne: The Royal Hunter By Hortus St Michael
Hero Lord of Annwfn By Gareth Gerrard
Pan: The Hidden All By David Rankine
Veles in Slavic Myth By Kim Huggens
Romano-Celtic Horns By Zachary Yardley
The Horned Serpent By Frater Nechesh
Battle of the Bulls By Dafydd ap Bran
Puck: Forgotten Devil God? By Beth Raven
The Potter from the Nile By Sorita d’Este
Horns From Egypt By Phil Lightwood-Jones
Horn of the Unicorn By Janet Nancy James
Stag & Unicorn (From the Book of Lambspring)

WILD HUNT: RITES & EXPERIENCES
Horn at Dawn By Rhys Chisnall
The Song of Amergin (Irish Poem)
Light in the Earth By John Canard
The Horned One Rises By Peter J. Jaynes
My Bearded Man By Thea Faye
A Small Mouse By Magin
Encounters In the Woods By Harry Barron
A Quest For Horns By Stephen Blake
Dancing with Bulls By Zagreus
Journey With Gwynn ap Nudd By Gareth Gerrard
Hymn to Amen-Ra (Ancient Egyptian Hymn)
Journey to the Mound By Giulia Liani
The Fire Horns By Lupus

HORNS OF BEAUTY: HORNED GODDESSES
Luna’s Shining Horns By Giulia Laini
Ode to the Horned Goddess By Nina Falaise
Goddess Horns in the PGM (Greek Magical Papyri) By Sorita d’Este
In Pursuit of the Horned Goddess Elen By Jenny Sumaya

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