The Spirit of Albion The Movie  Pic: By Gary Andrews

Author Clare Hamilton raises some excellent points about the story of Arianrhod from the Welsh Mabinogi tales in this wonderful article from The Goddess Alive Ezine. Arianrhod was a Welsh Goddess who lived on an island off the west coast of Wales. At the centre of her castle was a turning glass tower, which contained the mystical Seat of Poetic Inspiration. Her name Arianrhod means ‘starry wheel’.

She is obviously a very powerful Celtic Goddess even though she apparently completely disgraces herself as a mother within her story.

Let us go to the bones of the story. A virgin births a child, apparently miraculously. The child grows up, is betrayed, killed, hangs on a tree in agony, then is resurrected by his uncle/father’s magic.

Sounds vaguely familiar? Here we have the prototype of  the central Christian story, the story of the Virgin Mary and the boy Jesus. And of course  behind that story lies the Mother/Son duo, the Mother Goddess and the King  Child, most  anciently  portrayed of course by Isis and   Horus.  So it seems we are dealing here with far more than would at first appear. For  here we have the heart of the great mystical Mother/Son relationship. This  should certainly give us pause for thought and make us look closely at the  apparent strange behaviour of Arianrhod.

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.

So why does she Deny her Son his Rights?

So let’s look at some of the  difficult questions arising out of her story.   If  Arianrhod  really is the great mother of the Sacred King child, then why does she seem so  vindictive? What are these so-called curses about? Why does she seem to be  denying her son his rights?

And why  is she so powerful that Gwydion has to work so hard to outwit her?

In addressing these questions, we  should first bear in mind the strong  possibility  that by the time her tale was written down by the Welsh monks, they had spotted  her  pagan  power and  decided  to deliberately slander her name. There are three injunctions that she  pronounces, a mystical number, and they represent her power over her son. They therefore have all the hallmarks of magic about them.

The first thing to notice is that  her pronouncements  are not curses at all. What she actually says (translated from the Welsh) is:

“I swear a fate, a destiny, upon the boy”.

This is very suggestive,  very magical, and her words in themselves are not even particularly contentious  – it is only the reaction of Gwydion that makes them appear so. In the first  injunction, on discovering that her boy hasn’t yet been named, she says that

 he  will have no name until she gives him one, not that she is denying him a  name.

In ancient  times, a name was a very magical  thing, and in native American cultures names are often not given until the  inner nature of the child is understood. Arianrhod sees him hit a wren with  extreme accuracy with his sling, and then names him ‘Lleu of the Skilful Hand’  He grows up to become the Welsh sun-God, counterpart of the Irish Lugh. He has  killed a wren, in ancient Welsh tradition  the King of the Birds, triumphing over the Eagle, so this is an act of  sacrificial kingship. We have here on Arianrhod’s  part not an act of wilful withholding  but the vestiges of an ancient  female rite of Naming.    To read more of this fascinating article  visit  Goddess Alive Magazine

Claire Hamilton’s  Amazing book  Maiden, Mother, Crone is  available  at either Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com

We also recommend  another book by Claire Called   Tales of the Celtic Bards available at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

You can subscribe to Goddess Alive ezine at http://www.goddessalive.co.uk/subs_info.html

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Dug out Pic: The Observer

An archaeological dig that took place back in December 2011, revealed many buried treasures from the edges of the Flag Fen Bronze Age site reported the Observer. They revealed that six boats hollowed out of oak tree trunks are among hundreds of intact artefacts from 3,000 years ago that have been discovered in the Cambridgeshire fens.

The scale, quality and condition of the objects, the largest bronze age collection ever found in one place in Britain, have astonished archaeologists – and barely a fraction of the site has been excavated.

Textiles and… Nettle Stew

Unique textile fragments, wicker baskets and wooden sword handles have survived. There are even containers of food, including a bowl with a wooden spoon still wedged into the contents, now analysed as nettle stew, which may have been a favourite dish in 1000BC. The boats – two of which bear unusual decoration – are in such good condition that the wood grain and colour can be seen clearly, as can signs of repairs by their owners.

David Gibson, head of Cambridge University’s archaeological unit, said the discoveries were internationally important. He said:

One canoe would be great. Two, exceptional. Six almost feels greedy.

Mark Knight, the unit’s senior project officer, added:

We talk about bronze age landscapes and it always feels as if we’re looking through a very narrow window, with the curtains partly drawn or slightly misted over. Now it’s as though someone’s opened the windows and we’re seeing so much more.

The artefacts survived because they were immersed in deep layers of peat and silt. When those layers are lifted off, Knight said:

the objects are so pristine, it’s as if 3,000 years never happened. The softest, wettest deposits ensured that past activity has been cosseted.

Water Level slowly rising in the Fens

The artefacts were submerged under an ancient watercourse along the southern edge of the Flag Fen Basin, land altered over millennia by rising sea levels. In the 17th century the Dutch showed how to drain waterlogged land, and today the site east of Peterborough is accessible. Knight said:

In our [bronze age] landscape… you could have walked along the bottom of the fenland basin and to the bottom of the North Sea hunting for deer. By the Roman period, you were perched up at Peterborough, looking out over a huge wet expanse of peat and reed swamp.

At ground level, there had been no clue to the artefacts’ existence because they were so deep – four metres below ground – and would not have been picked up by aerial, radar, or other exploratory surveys.

Excavation down to Jurassic Levels

The excavation, which is likely to continue for years, has been made possible thanks to Hanson, a bricks and cement supplier. Under planning regulations, the company is obliged to fund archaeological digs, but it has been especially helpful, say the archaeologists. Crucially, and unusually, they were able to excavate down to unprecedented depths since Hanson’s need for clay for bricks requires extraction at Jurassic age levels. Knight said:

So we get to see entire buried landscapes. Some of our colleagues try to find ways of getting to the bottom of the North Sea… [while] we get an early view of the same submerged space, but via the humble brick.

Along the 150-metre stretch of a bronze age river channel, they have found the best preserved example of prehistoric river life. There are weirs and fish traps in the form of big woven willow baskets, plus fragments of garments with ornamental hems made from fibrous bark and jewellery, including green and blue beads. Extensive finds of metalwork include bronze swords and spears, some apparently tossed into the river in perfect condition, possibly as votive offerings. One of the boats is 8.3 metres long.

It feels as if you could get the whole family – granny, grandad, a couple of goats and everything – in there,

said Knight. The smallest boat is just over four metres long.

The finds reveal how, with the rise in water levels in the bronze age, people adapted to a wetland environment, using rivers for transport, living off pike, perch, carp and eel. How far they could travel in the log boats is unclear. Although the boats were unlikely to have been used at sea, one of the bronze age swords is of a type normally found in northern Spain.

Conservation of Finds

Once removed from the fenland, the artefacts must be conserved before eventual public display. Knight said:

Often at an excavation, it takes much imagination for it to become apparent. This site doesn’t need that. It’s intact. It feels as if we’ve actually caught up the [bronze age] people. It feels like we’re there.

Read the original article on the Observer site.

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The CMP Logo

This episode is the second episode in our Welsh Mythology series and continues with the story of Pwyll, the Prince of Dyfed.In the last episode, Pwyll had gone hunting in the Woods of Glyn Cuch and had been beaten to the kill by a stranger pack comprising even stranger dogs. Having decided that the kill was rightfully his, he had driven off the other pack and set his own dogs upon the prey. It was at that moment that a stranger, the Shadowed Hunter, has appeared and was even now turning his dread gaze upon Pwyll.

We’d also like to introduce our Special Surprise Guest Actor, Damh the Bard, who plays an important role in this show!

How to Listen

The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Hope you enjoy it,

Gary & Ruthie x x x

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
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Pic: adactio

Plato observed that the advent of an alphabet making writing efficient for average people actually lead to less knowledge or disciplined communication. We need not blame the Phoenicians for this because people really could benefit from writing.   John Locke and many other scientists during the time when man thought there was some reality in prejudices like The Scale of Nature observed that language was a pre-requisite for consciousness. Although there is some truth in his observations which include the Tabula Rasa, this is pure hogwash and perhaps even worse than that. He may well have sought to make people feel inferior just as that Scale of Nature was designed to do to so many non-Europeans.!

Common sense is a most uncommon thing it appears. We still have many people living under the pall of the Bible Narrative and other absolute religions (Fukayama and social engineers know how to use) which have whole histories of deceit woven into their dogma and the laws that form the structure of our society. I am all for the Kat-ma concept of Karma which would have these social engineers meet their maker and put an end to that Dog-ma. It is unfortunate that scholars who are interested in making a living often have to go along with things they know are only half true at best. It is more unfortunate that good money can be made debunking real scholarship and exploration by the likes of Barraclough Fell and other Epigraphists. Please take a look into Rob Gombach of Utah State University as he says Fell was only a hobbyist.

The treatment of the concept of OM by the Catholic Encyclopedia is a fine example of what is wrong with our society I think. Here is a little of what they say to start our voyage beyond conventional thinking. Om is the sacred syllable of Hinduism used by all schools in their meditation system. It expresses the ‘world-soul’ concept of Brahman. It is pronounced at the beginning of the recitation of the ‘mantras’. In practice, this concept is expressed in Hindu teaching as:

All humanity converging at the foot of that sacred place where is set the symbol that is no symbol, the name that is beyond all sound. In the system of practices that make up Hinduism, there is the possibility of introducing this concept through an intensified psychic response or through practices that are diabolic {What?! This is certainly a great expression of the Pope’s ecumenical interests. This mentions nothing about it being like the Holy Spirit or what physicists say which I relate to the Logos. It is racial in the level of its prejudice and it is the kind of thing one should expect from ‘Crusaders’ with no soul.}. Here there is real danger, for this concept permits one to enter into a simple, self-delusive attitude {Rather than one created by the priests of this group of ‘churchians’ who do not follow the ‘living father within’ that Jesus taught.} that misleads while at the same time acts to shut out all other avenues of Christian response. Its danger is in the blandishment whereby a Universal Religion (the core of Karma or the at-onement of divine assumption of all into one) precludes sin since there is no one to sin against. Thus it has often been cryptically likened to the evolutionary religious concepts advanced by Teilhard de Chardin {Who almost was ex-communicated and is a great ecumenicist.}, namely, the ‘omega’ concept: The revealed Christ is identical with omega. This christology of Chardin, an evolutionary complex, is stated in like manner: Man bears along with him the world of beings inferior to God. (Letter 8/7/23 in ‘Letters to Leontine Zanta.’) (See Omega Point: Teilhardism.) (1)

The Homeric scholars have found some things to prove the myth was not all mere fiction and this continues to the present in even more fascinating ways due to satellite technology as well as a weakening grip of Biblical intrigues or religious suppression. In the final analysis it is my sincere hope that people will become more spiritual and able to appreciate their religious icons were far more than the interpreters who used their image and good works. I am of the belief that when Homer wrote about the underworld he was writing about North America and I know for certain that these people knew the earth was a sphere and had means to map and travel throughout the whole world since long before Homer. Much of knowledge started with observing the stars in world adventures or travels and man has always been adventurous. Here is the other Om written as Ogham or Ogam.

While some marks may be related to Ogam, we are skeptical of translations because the perception of the marks on the rock, often worn or damaged, is subject to considerable variability from one observer to the next.

No nation has a monopoly on illegibility, and the authors could profitably have consulted any edition of any ancient work, at the bottom of any page (where the variant readings are listed); there they would find subjectivity galore, and accepted as a matter of course. In any case, they should keep mum; some people have the same complaints about standing stones and alignments. (2)

The cover-up of Ogham and all of its branches of knowledge may have started before Rome and there certainly was a lot of plagiarization or Hellenizing going on as new leaders usurped the history, technology and science of the Kelts or keltoi and Ogygia, as the Greek (Danaus) called them. Ogygia in itself means ancient ones and Plutarch has a map identifying Iceland as Ogygia but that does not mean it was anything more than an ancient Thulean outpost.

Not long ago the Catholic Church had a fit of honesty and considered removing St. Patrick as a Saint. They knew all along that it was a near total fiction replete with removing snakes that had never been there in recorded or remembered history. They knew he had been sent there to make deals and re-write Scriptures or destroy things which would show the real roots of their faith and culture. He personally destroyed over 150 hand drawn books and we have proof of his editing of the Senchus Mor which had been a fantastic book with numerous volumes of law and culture. There are only a few glosses with obvious re-writes remaining. But the enslaved people of Ireland who have had their true history destroyed or hidden from them were all upset to find their Patron Saint might be a saint no more.

Uncial and Insular are languages that were developed in Irish language centers for writing the Scriptures (Uncial) and what later became English (Insular). Ogham was around a long time before these more sophisticated alphabets as any person with no grasp of linguistics can easily see and yet Britannica and others maintain the cover up to this day. Here is a little confirmation that St. Patrick was part of a major effort to bring certain people into the fold and develop schools to teach what the Druids like Columcille (later St. Columba) had learned at real centers of learning like the Isle of Druids or Iona. This is taken from the Annals of Ulster. This is a record of just one source in just one year (439). Bishops gathering in one place like this is not common as I understand it but I may be wrong.

Secundinus, Auxilius and Isserninus, themselves also bishops, are sent to Ireland to assist Patrick. And there is also an entry that has Patrick being confirmed as a bishop a couple of years later. So he clearly was not the top person or grand Pooh-Bah of the hegemony that was there in the first place. Rome was always looking to get more local fronts for their deals so that the average person would not clue in to what was really going on. Here is that entry from year 441. Bishop Patrick was approved in the Catholic faith. Of course I could be cute and suggest he had not even been Catholic before this but I frankly dont think that would be unusual either. Augustine is a study in greed and need for power too.

In the apologetic words of the current Pope whose heritage includes the ‘Holy’ (?) Emperors of this heinous group of ‘churchians’ he asks for ‘forgiveness and renewal’ as he admits to dastardly deeds of the Crusades, Flagellants, and Inquisitors. But is there a day care center in the Vatican? How about a female priest or God forbid, a Bishop? Most of humanity doesn’t even know what a Druid or ‘proto-Celt’ is or was. There is an old saying ‘if you want to know what a Druid knows, ask a wild bee.’ The bee was important to the Phocaeans, Napoleon and now the Mormons. Symbols (like the bee) communicate, letters are symbols, language or communication is more than the intellectual sum of its letters or words. The heart and soul make the beauty of true wisdom comprehensible to far greater depths than the intellect can imagine.

How did we sink so low as to barter the lives of our mothers and ‘sisters’?

Why have those who arranged these horrors tried to blame the Jews (and in an indirect manner, all ‘sinners’) for the death of Jesus? He did not claim to be a co-equal member of the Holy Trinity. It wasn’t the Jews who ‘killed our Saviour’. John Ralston Saul says this about the whole matter

"HOLY TRINITY-CHRISTIAN A pre-alchemist alchemist concept developed by early Christian administrators to soften the hard-edged simplicity of straight monotheism.

The three-in-one/one-in-three mystery of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost {That the beatniks called ‘Laddio, Daddio and Spook’.} made tritheism official. The subsequent almost-deification of the Virgin Mary made it quatrotheism {And raised un-natural ‘virginity’ or possible non-sense such as immaculate conceptions, which fathers must have loved and priests certainly benefit from, to heights of increasing obscenity!}. Twelve Disciples as semi-deities then made it sextusdecitheism. Finally, cart-loads of saints raised to quarter-deification turned Christianity into plain, old-fashioned polytheism. By the time of the Crusades, it was the most polytheistic religion ever to have existed, with the possible exception of Hinduism. This untenable contradiction between the assertion of monotheism and the reality of polytheism was dealt with {And this is the MOST important observation of a technique known in psychology as ‘projection of a pluperfect paranoid’ or the ‘BIG LIE’ of alphabet soup agencies and ‘black ops’; the less organized criminals like the Mafia call it a ‘frame-up’.} by accusing other religions of the Christian fault. The Church – Catholic and later Protestant – turned aggressively on the two most clearly monotheistic religions in view {Also they began at least 700 years of war, A CRUSADE! against the remnants of the Kelts in Ireland.) – Judaism and Islam – and persecuted them as heathen or pagan. ..These pagans must therefore be converted, conquered {ego ‘Manifest Destiny’} and/or killed for their own good in order that they may benefit from the singularity of the Holy Trinity, plus appendages.

HOLY TRINITY – POST CHRISTIAN So far Nietzsche has been wrong about GOD. We have not managed to become Him in His place. Instead we have replaced God with a yet more abstract divinity based upon pure rational power… Organization or structure replaced the Father, TECHNOLOGY displaced the Son and the Holy Ghost gave way to information. The new priesthood was made up of technocrats. As the etymology of the word ‘technocrat’ indicates, from the beginning they were to be specialists in power… And they would stand guard over information." (3)

The fears and apathy of average people are as much to blame for this history of managed and ‘guarded information’ that records the acts of bad people. We are all our brothers keepers is not just an idle platitude. The Druidic concept called IESA or ‘The Brotherhood of Man’ apprehended the Cosmic Thought Field of Faraday and Tesla or the ‘Cosmic Soup’ of Deepak Chopra. NASA scientists have just announced that Life is Everywhere including microbes in outer space. They talk about cell membrane formation that makes we wonder if these are conscious connected ‘info packets’(Tesla) or ‘templates’ (Teilhard de Chardin) from which energy can create in a manner more akin to ancient creationist theories of the supposed pagans.

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Guest ‘expert’ at World-Mysteries.com

Author: Robert Baird
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

Originally posted 2009-09-05 07:55:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Flag Fen Museum Pic: Flag Fen Lives

As we reported in our earlier post, the immensely important Celtic site of Flag Fen is in serious danger of decaying within the next twenty years! Originally scheduled until the 1st May 2012, a unique opportunity will become available for  folks to contribute to the new Flag Fen Archaeological Dig! Watch the video above to learn how important the  Bronze Age site of Flag Fen is and how endangered it has become. But now some fantasic news is breaking!

Starting in July of 2012, as much archaeological work as can be done will be done to rescue, preserve and maintain the remains. The project has been taken over by DigVentures who want to involve us, in a variety of ways to help fund the project.

They have raised 67% of the £25,000 necessary to properly fund the event and desperately need the remainder before the end of May.

The Big News

Digventures have announced several amazing new developments in the project. They report:

The original end date of our funding window is fast approaching; but as you may have noticed, things have changed. Our partners, Vivacity, have got some great plans for involving local people in the project, so they have asked us to keep the funding open until the 30^th of May to enable them to reach as many people as possible.

They also told us that:

Vivacity will be sponsoring four bursaries for students from University Centre Peterborough’s Archaeology and Landscape History BA course to dig with us at Flag Fen. We’re thrilled to work with them, and look forward to welcoming students from other universities as well.

Vivacity is offering the bursaries for students on University Centre Peterborough’s Archaeology and Landscape History BA undergraduate course.

Those who successfully apply for them will receive funding for a week of archaeology training and hands-on digging at the Bronze Age site.Abi Hunt, course leader and lecturer, said: Our students will benefit hugely from this opportunity. Flag Fen is not only one of Peterborough’s most important assets – it is incredibly important world-wide. It is vital for our local students to gain in-depth knowledge of the site. The bursary scheme is part of Vivacity and Dig Ventures’ Flag Fen Lives project which will see the archaeological trenches open to the public from July 23 to August 12.

The Preserved Causeway Pic: Flag Fen Lives

The Project

DigVentures Ltd will be excavating the iconic Bronze Age site of Flag Fen, where extensive drainage and climate change threaten to destroy the world-renowned archaeology forever.

Our work will be an essential part of saving the archaeology and giving the site a future life, and all we need to do is to raise £25,000 to make this incredible project happen. You and your friends can be a part of it – by supporting us through buying benefits, and even joining us on site. The more you contribute, the more involved you can become – from being one of the first to receive the site report, to rolling up your sleeves and actually taking part.

As soon as you support the project at any level, you will receive access to the Site Hut, an online forum providing exclusive daily project updates, interviews, lectures with archaeological superstars, films, photos – or just pop in for a nice cup of tea! We’ll be filming on site every day, and posting all sorts of fabulous information to keep you up to date. If you can’t join us in the field, we’d love a crew of armchair archaeologists out there following our every move.

The field school at Flag Fen (for those who purchase a benefit at £125 and above) will be really exciting this year. We’ve put a lot of thinking into making this the best experience possible, whether you are digging for a day, a week, two weeks, or the whole project. There will be dedicated staff providing orientation, training and instruction, as well as evening lectures, fun outings and plenty of time for questions. And some surprises, of course!

Activities for Children

Starting on Monday the 23rd July and going on (Weekdays) to Friday 3rd August, Time Team star Raksha Dave will be hosting sessions at the Flag Fen site for children in the Flag Fen Summer School. The activities are designed for 8-12 year-olds and will allow kids to be archaeologists for the day. They can dig on the site, and record their finds. They tell us that Pre-booking is essential due to limited spaces.

Go and visit the DigVentures site or go and get involved straightaway at the Sponsume donation portal.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Iron Age Furnace Pic: Zabanda

An ancient Iron Age settlement has been uncovered by archaeologists working for South West Water in Devon. It was found during an archaeological evaluation of the route of a new water mains between Beacon Hill reservoir, near Exeter, and the town of Cranbrook. Archaeologists were investigating a large prehistoric enclosure below the ground which was discovered by carrying out surveys from the air in 1996. Among the finds were shale bracelets and an iron-working furnace.

Excavations showed the enclosure would originally have had a massive bank inside a ditch.

‘Days before JCBs’

James Field, South West Water’s (SWW) ecologist and environmental planner, said it was an important settlement. He said:

Someone went to a lot of trouble to construct this ditch in the days before JCBs. In the lower layers of the ditch we have found a pile of broken bracelets made of shale – an oily, soft rock. Within the enclosure was an Iron Age iron-working furnace, which again is rare in the county. It is probable that the shale itself comes from as far as Kimmeridge in Dorset, which poses important questions about the significance and nature of this enclosure.

Devon County Council archaeologist Frances Griffith said:

It is of great interest to see this site partially excavated. The shale finds are an important discovery, as yet unparalleled in Devon.

The trenches will be refilled when the evaluation is complete and all finds analysed and archived.

[Source]

Furnace or Bloomery

A bloomery consists of a pit or chimney with heat-resistant walls made of earth, clay, or stone. Near the bottom, one or more pipes (made of clay or metal) enter through the side walls. These pipes, called tuyères, allow air to enter the furnace, either by natural draft, or forced with bellows or a trompe. An opening at the bottom of the bloomery may be used to remove the bloom, or the bloomery can be tipped over and the bloom removed from the top.

[Source]

Have at look at the experiments done at the Wareham Forge to see how this process would have worked.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Stonehenge Pic: Stonehenge News

There has been some controversy over the route of the Olympic Flame as  it wends its way during July 2012 to the Olympic Games which are currently being held in the UK. This is Bath reports that:Olympic torch relay organisers have reassured tourism bosses that the Olympic flame will visit the iconic backdrop of Stonehenge, after it was left off the official relay route through the West.

Instead of forming part of the public route through Wiltshire in July, the Olympic flame will be taken at dawn to the stones for a closed photo opportunity the morning after its overnight stop in nearby Salisbury.

The decision does mean, however, the public will not be able to descend on Stonehenge to see the once-in-a-lifetime moment it is carried around the Neolithic monument.

English Heritage, which manages the stones, and Olympic Torch Relay bosses confirmed the early morning visit after publishing a route which did not include Stonehenge or Avebury.

Western Daily Press reader Margaret Scott said:

Obviously Stonehenge is one of the major tourist attractions in Britain and it just seemed ridiculous if the torch relay is going to Amesbury but not going a mile to the west to be run around Stonehenge. They surely are not missing it out?

A spokesman for English Heritage said that they had been informed by the Olympic organisers that the torch would be driven to Stonehenge and back again early on July 12, before it is scheduled to leave Salisbury Cathedral, for a photocall.

Read the full story on the This is Bath website.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

From now until the 1st May 2012, a unique opportunity will become available for  folks to contribute to the new Flag Fen Archaeological Dig! Watch the video above to learn how important the  Bronze Age site of Flag Fen is and how endangered it has become. Starting in July of 2012, as much archaeological work as can be done will be done to rescue, preserve and maintain the remains. The project has been taken over by DigVentures who want to involve us, in a variety of ways to help fund the project.

We can help with donations as small as a tenner (£10), which will allow us backstage entry to a website (called the ‘Site Hut’) with diary entries, a PDF of the final report and an invite to the final end-of-dig Party all the way up to donations of £2,000 which can give you or your company amazing involvement int he project. Part of the rewards they are offering for funding involve evening lectures and training, one or two week courses, day courses, lapel pins, T-Shirts and so on, Check out the full range of funding rewards at the DigVentures site.

DigVentures

DigVentures Ltd will be excavating the iconic Bronze Age site of Flag Fen, where extensive drainage and climate change threaten to destroy the world-renowned archaeology forever.

The site hut. The hub of the whole operation. A place to grab a brew and pursue a two-day-old copy of the Sun Guardian, and put the world to rights while that shower passes over.

The Site Hut will be open to supporters only, so head on over to our project page on Sponsume and sign up. We’ll throw the doors open on 1st May, 2012, at the end of our funding window!

Our work will be an essential part of the future sustainability of the site, and all we need to do is to raise the money to make this incredible project happen. You and your friends can be a part of it – by supporting us through buying benefits, and possibly even joining us on site.There are many different levels of support, each with different rewards.

Round House at Flag Fen Pic: DigVentures

The more you contribute, the more involved you can become – from being one of the first to receive the site report, to rolling up your sleeves and actually taking part. Join us from home, or join us on site and dig for a day, dig for a week, or dig for the whole project and become a trained member of the team. The choice is yours.

As soon as you support the project at any level, you will receive access to the Site Hut, an online forum providing exclusive daily project updates, DVIP lectures, films, and photos, or just pop in for a nice cup of tea! We’ll be filming on site every day, and posting all sorts of fabulous information to keep you up to date. If you can’t join us in the field, we’d love a crew of armchair archaeologists out there following our every move.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Sir Tristram Pic: explore-parliament.net

This is the fifth part in our new series of animated stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. In this piece, called Courtesy, we can see Sir Tristram here exemplifies the knightly virtue of Courtesy. Renowned for his skill in playing the harp, Tristram wins the love of the fair Isoud (or Isolde), daughter of the King of Ireland. He had come to Ireland so that she could heal him of a wound.

She was a noble surgeon, and she found in the bottom of his wound that therein was poison, and so she healed him. She was at that time the fairest maid and lady in the world. And there he learned her to harp, and she began to have a great fancy unto him.
- Malory

The painter, Dyce, was far from pleased at being required to fit into this narrow space such a scene as Malory describes.

I should say it was impossible to make a graceful composition of many figures in an upright space, unless the figures are so diminished as to render the picture an oblong.
- Dyce

He solved the problem by dividing the composition in half horizontally. The lower half – the foreground – holds the principal characters, while the background – the upper half – shows two young men hawking.

Sir Charles Eastlake, Secretary of the Fine Arts Commission, paid this painting a high compliment when he wrote to Cope, another artist who was at work on paintings for the Peers’ Corridor:

The best modern example of fresco that I know is Mr Dyce’s in the Queen’s Robing Room, next to the window. I speak of the economical use of darks and the clearness and brilliance which are the result.
- Sir Charles Eastlake

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

The above video is Part 1 of a presentation of the Celtic and Prehistoric museum collection by founder and owner Harris Moore. You can find Part 2 below. The Celtic and Prehistoric museum is on the Slea Head road west of Ventry, west of Dingle, Kerry. Kerry is as close as you’ll get to the mythical Ireland; that Celtic Kingdom of misty mountains promised by glossy brochures, Hollywood and our daydreams. Between the county’s snow-capped summits are medieval ruins, glacial lakes, coastal peninsulas, blustery beaches, deserted archipelagos, secluded hamlets, and larger towns where live music sparks up every night.

If you follow the YouTube link on the video, you’ll find that the video was uploaded by celticways. John of the wonderful tour company, Celtic Ways, does a great deal for the Celtic community – much more than ferry people around Ireland

Celtic Ways

Based in Co. Sligo, John of Celtic Ways says:

During the days we offer a variety of guided tours, adventures and experiences around local ancient sacred sites. Be surrounded by the mythology and spiritual stories of Brigid, Morrigan, Maeve, The Tuatha De Dannan, Lughad, Dagda and many more in places high enough to see up to a third of Ireland, around our many beautiful lakes and along our beautiful coastline.

Enjoy sharing some time discovering traditions that have been here since ancient times such as making Brigid crosses, walking our labyrinth garden, learning tree lore and ogham language, songs and music with harp, storytelling and lunches in our traditional restored thatched cottage.

A wonderful way to launch your vacation in Ireland, or stay here longer if you wish!

As far as I’m aware, the Museum does not have a website I can point you to, but you can find John on the Celtic Ways website. He has also started a Celtic story-telling podcast with wonderful music from his partner, Claire Roche called the Celtic Dreamtime Podscape but we’ll have more about that in the future.

Last Minute Updates

Thanks to John of Celtic Ways, we now have a link to the Celtic & Prehistoric Museum.

Originally posted 2010-01-26 07:59:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter