http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog Bringing the Tales and Stories of the Ancient Celts to your Fireside Mon, 21 May 2012 21:46:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-earth-magic-by-lorna-drake/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-earth-magic-by-lorna-drake/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 21:43:50 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5731 The Celtic peoples believed that everything has an individual spirit, and is connected to everything else and this faith is fundamental to the systems of Celtic Earth Magic that I am going to introduce to you. Students of Celtic Earth Magic receive attunements - symbols placed into the aura - just as for traditional Reiki, by the Celtic Earth Reiki Master, and this system can be studied on different levels culminating in the Master level.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-earth-magic-by-lorna-drake/feed/ 1 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/arianhrhod-bad-mother-or-mythic-goddess-by-claire-hamilton/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/arianhrhod-bad-mother-or-mythic-goddess-by-claire-hamilton/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 12:00:14 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5701 Arianrhod, as we have noted, is a very powerful Goddess, guardian of the Seat of Poetic Inspiration and linked with the sea, the moon and the stars. She is also the prototype of the Virgin Mary. There are many depictions of the Virgin Mary with a wheel of stars about her head, and she is also often portrayed standing on a new moon, and at other times with the sea all around her. We are looking here at the ancient figure of Arianrhod, her feet on the new moon of Virginity; the wheel of stars, which is her name, circling her head; and the sea, which her tower commands, stretching away from her island castle.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/arianhrhod-bad-mother-or-mythic-goddess-by-claire-hamilton/feed/ 3 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/contriversal-book-claims-merlin-is-from-glasgow-not-camelot/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/contriversal-book-claims-merlin-is-from-glasgow-not-camelot/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:53:58 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=885 Legendary wizard Merlin lived in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, and not in Camelot, a new book has claimed.Tradition has it that King Arthur’s magician was either English or Welsh.  But Scots advocate Adam Ardrey, who spent six years researching Merlin, claims he actually lived in what is now Ardery Street with his wife [...]

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/contriversal-book-claims-merlin-is-from-glasgow-not-camelot/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/highland-folklore-the-secret-commonwealth-revisited-2/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/highland-folklore-the-secret-commonwealth-revisited-2/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:53:57 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5410 It is just over three hundred years since Robert Kirk, minister of Aberfoyle, died at the age of fifty two. But the question remains, did he really die or was he 'taken'? Taken, that is, by the Good People, the elusive folk who lived under the earth in the green hills.The youngest and seventh son of James Kirk, Robert studied theology at St. Andrews and took his master's degree at Edinburgh.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/highland-folklore-the-secret-commonwealth-revisited-2/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-triple-spiral-celtic-symbol/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-triple-spiral-celtic-symbol/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:11:42 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=2669 The triple spiral or triskele is a Celtic and pre-Celtic symbol found on a number of Irish Megalithic and Neolithic sites

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-triple-spiral-celtic-symbol/feed/ 2 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-on-the-spirit-of-albion-the-movie/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-on-the-spirit-of-albion-the-movie/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:11:41 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5223 As you probably know by now, we have been following the progress of the making of a new film called The Spirit Of Albion: the Movie. The name of the movie comes from the title of an Album and song by the Pagan Folk musican Damh The Bard. Filming started in April 2011 and final production of the film is taking place now ready for a Beltane release (May 1st 2012).

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-on-the-spirit-of-albion-the-movie/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/modern-druidry-a-new-series-with-our-first-druid-guest-author-elen-hawkeflick-merauld/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/modern-druidry-a-new-series-with-our-first-druid-guest-author-elen-hawkeflick-merauld/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:00:26 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5252 I’m a Druid, though Wicca has formed part of my Pagan journey and still underpins some of my ritual practice. I’m also the author of several books on witchcraft, writing under the name Elen Hawke and published by the American mind body and spirit publisher Llewellyn, and more recently of a novel, The Sacred Marriage, which is available from Amazon as an eBook.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/modern-druidry-a-new-series-with-our-first-druid-guest-author-elen-hawkeflick-merauld/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/mermaids-a-hybrid-creature-in-folklore-by-dr-juliette-wood/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/mermaids-a-hybrid-creature-in-folklore-by-dr-juliette-wood/#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:30:57 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5226 Mer-folk are rather like fairies in that they are supernatural, but not completely divine or immortal unlike, say angels. As such they live in an ‘in between’ world. Their lives and actions under the sea, an environment alien to humans, parallel the human world, and they often interact with their human counterparts. Mermaids are more popular in European folklore than mermen (the males are very popular in Eastern tales however). Marriages between a mer-creature and a human are the most common form of interaction in folktales. In Irish stories a fisherman will steal the mermaid’s salmon skin cap and the ‘merrow’ i.e. mermaid, will then marry the human. They have children and are happy together, but one day she findsher salmon skin cap and returns to her own world. Usually the children of these marriages have a special characteristic inherited from their non-human mother.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/mermaids-a-hybrid-creature-in-folklore-by-dr-juliette-wood/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/book-of-pottlerath-in-its-native-kilkenny-ireland/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/book-of-pottlerath-in-its-native-kilkenny-ireland/#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:46:47 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5214 This spring offers the first opportunity see a copy of a number of pages of the Book of Pottlerath, an illuminated manuscript which dates back to the 15th century, in its native Kilkenny. Although the book does not contain as many ornate illustrations as the Book of Kells, many of the letters are highly decorated. The original is now housed in the Bodleian library in Oxford, but it arrived there by a long, circuitous route.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/book-of-pottlerath-in-its-native-kilkenny-ireland/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/song-of-the-otherworld-is-heard-in-the-balance-of-spring-by-c-austin/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/song-of-the-otherworld-is-heard-in-the-balance-of-spring-by-c-austin/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:06:31 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5204 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. For the Celts, the solstice and equinox observations may have enjoyed less celebrity than the festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltine and Lughnasadh. However, the semi-annual equinox was carefully noted, as it also brought increased visitation from the Otherworld

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/song-of-the-otherworld-is-heard-in-the-balance-of-spring-by-c-austin/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/191/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/191/#comments Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:26:04 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=191 As the sun set, the hilltops became alive with fire. The warm spring air filtered gently through the trees and caressed the lush green landscape as a blanket of night fell over the land. Happiness, hope and passion filled the night as the people danced and celebrated this sacred time, taking time to explore the [...]

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/191/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/finnegans-wake-whiskey-inspired-resurrection/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/finnegans-wake-whiskey-inspired-resurrection/#comments Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:56:27 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5193 Irish Music Forever.com tells us :Finnegan’s Wake is a raucous, irreverent song that tells the story of hod carrier Tim Finnegan who has a “love of the liquor”. So much so that to send him on his way each day he has a “drop of the craythur every morn”.This refers to whiskey, the drink that leads both to Finnegan’s downfall and his revival as we shall see.While working he falls from his ladder, breaks his skull and dies. True to Irish tradition there is a wake and, again true to Irish tradition, there is plenty of crying, drinking and eventually, fighting.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/finnegans-wake-whiskey-inspired-resurrection/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-folk-belief-the-otherworld/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-folk-belief-the-otherworld/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:11:57 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5182 As is well documented, all of the Celtic type peoples were ancestor worshippers. This is to say that the Deities were also the ancestors of the clan. Many early legends are primarily concerned with the explanation of how the ancestors made adventurous journeys into the Otherworld realms to claim a place in the great Duns of the pre-diluvian Goddess Cessair, and in so doing they became a guide and refuge in death for the future generations of this people. The Irish legend of Donn the first man to die in Ireland being deified as the god of death is an excellent example of this. It is very natural that then as now the mysteries of death were foremost in the minds of these people.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-folk-belief-the-otherworld/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-green-children-of-woolpit-by-dr-karl-p-n-shuker/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-green-children-of-woolpit-by-dr-karl-p-n-shuker/#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:51:53 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5156 The date was the 12th century a.d., but has been variously placed by chroniclers within the reign of King Stephen (1135-54) or King Henry II (1154-1189). The setting was the small Suffolk village of Woolpit, named after the deep trenches in which wolves were formerly capturedOne day, the villagers were amazed to see two very unusual children crawling out of one of these trenches. A girl and a slightly younger boy, they were both dressed in strange clothing and spoke an unintelligible language. But by far the most striking characteristic of these children was their skin--it was green.Unable to communicate with them, and thoroughly perplexed as to what should be done, the villagers took the girl and boy, who were weeping and very forlorn, to the home of Sir Richard de Calne, a local landowner. Here they remained, treated with great care and kindness by Sir Richard and his servants. But the boy fell ill, and in less than a year he had died. Happily, however, the girl survived, and as she grew older her skin’s green hue gradually disappeared. She eventually married a man from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, a senior ambassador of Henry II according to some sources, and became known as Agnes Barre.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-green-children-of-woolpit-by-dr-karl-p-n-shuker/feed/ 0 http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/paganism-in-british-folk-customs-by-bob-trubshaw/ http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/paganism-in-british-folk-customs-by-bob-trubshaw/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:06:11 +0000 Ruth http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/?p=5142 While modern day researchers find little of Frazer’s work holds up to scrutiny, his opinions were accepted almost without question for about 60 years. In the introduction to the abridged one volume edition of The Golden Bough, prepared some thirty years after the original research [2], Frazer wrote: ‘I have neither added new material nor altered the views expressed in the last edition; for the evidence which has come to my knowledge in the meantime has on the whole served either to confirm my former conclusions or to furnish fresh illustrations of old principles.’ Frazer’s objectives were straightforward: to demonstrate that Christianity derived from the same principles as so-called ‘primitive’ religions. Within the constraints of the then-active blasphemy laws Frazer strove to treat the Bible as another rich mythology - to be studied objectively, and with the same contempt for the beliefs as academics showed for non-christian faiths.

]]> http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/paganism-in-british-folk-customs-by-bob-trubshaw/feed/ 0