The Morrighan Pic: Esther Remmington

The Morrigan is best known as a goddess of battle. In Irish mythology if there is conflict and strife, chances are you’ll find the black-winged Morrigan there, too. But the Morrigan fills many roles and had many guises, all of which are discussed in detail in my book, Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan.While we think of her today as a queen of battle, she is more accurately the “Great Queen” and a goddess of sovereignty.Celtic mythology is filled with powerful, enigmatic queens, both mortal and divine. Some, like Maeve and Rhiannon, began as goddesses but were eventually demoted to mortal queens within their myths. While in most myths the Morrigan’s divine nature remains intact, in some cases, as when she appears in the guise of Macha, her statue is diminished as she appears as a mortal queen.

Regardless, the roles of these queens remained constant. They personify power, authority, and strength. They were goddesses of the land, and only through a union with them could kings win the right to rule. To modern seekers they offer the gift of empowerment and self-knowledge. They challenge us to reclaim sovereignty over our lives, and lead us towards wholeness.

But before we can examine what role the goddess of sovereignty can play in our lives today, it is important to understand who she was to those who worshiped her in the past, the Pagans. To the Celts sovereignty was not simply the right to rule over a clan or country; sovereignty was a divine power that was granted by the goddess of the land. The goddess and the land were one and the same, and thus sovereignty took on the guise of a mystical or divine woman. It was only through a union—either a marriage or sexual encounter—with her that the king could rule. By joining with the goddess of the land, he in turn became connected to the land and its people. It was believed that a blemish to a king would manifest in the land; if a king was disfigured in anyway, he could no longer remain king, lest he risk transferring his disfigurement to the land. Thus when the king of the Irish Gods, Nuada, lost his hand in battle he was forced to abdicate the throne.

Because kings had to enter into a symbolic marriage with the goddess of the land, there are many references to goddesses of sovereignty also being queens. The Morrigan is no exception; her name means “Great Queen,” inferring a connection to sovereignty, and as Macha (one of the three goddesses who form the Morrigan) she appeared as a mortal queen who goes to battle to retain the right to rule. Macha’s father had reigned along with two other kings, each taking turns to rule for a span of seven years. When her father died and his allotted time came to rule she demanded to take his place. The other kings refused, not wishing to rule alongside a woman. Macha swiftly went to war against them and won her crown on the battlefield. It is important to notes the other kings could not rule without her. When they reject her, they reject the power of sovereignty she holds. And as they find out on the battlefield, they can not hold onto power without the goddess’s consent.

Like other goddesses of sovereignty, the Morrigan has a strong connection to the land. While we think of her today as a goddess of battle, her name appears in connection to numerous earth works and features of the land, making her origins most likely that of an earth goddess. In County Meath there are a pair of hills called The Dá Chich na Morrigna (The Two Breasts of the Morrigan), in County Louth we find Gort na Morrigna (Morrigan’s Field), and in the Boyne Valley there is the earthwork Mur na Morrigna (Mound of the Morrigan). “The Bed of the Couple” is a depression along the river Unius that marking the spot where Morrigan mated with the god Dagda. The places she makes her home also point toward her connection to the land and sovereignty. Before she made her home in the Cave of Cruachan she was said to dwell at Tara, where Ireland’s high kings were inaugurated. The Cave of Cruachan, also said to be her home, stood not far away from Cruachan, the royal seat of power for the kings and queens of Connacht.

The gift of sovereignty was not shared; instead, it was conveyed from the goddess to the king, who acted as her representative. This relationship was not always permanent; if the king became too old to rule or was unjust the goddess could leave the union and replace him with a younger, more fitting ruler.We can find this theme in the stories of Maeve, Rhiannon, and Guinevere. Although demoted to a mortal queen, Maeve’s abilities and the impossible tasks she performs point to her divine origins. She takes many consorts, replacing them when she sees fit. Despite this Maeve always retains Queenship over Connacht, while the men in her life can only become kings through a union with her. Similarly, it is not until the Morrigan’s union with Dagda, one of the kings of the Túatha De Danann, that the Irish gods could defeat their enemies the Fir Bolg and take over rulership of Ireland.

Joanne Marriott as The Morrighan, in The Spirit of Albion Pic: Lusete

Like other kings, it is not until Dagda engaged in a sexual union or marriage with the goddess of the land that he (and the other Irish gods) could truly rule Ireland.

In Rhiannon’s story we find her willfully leaving an engagement and seeking out a worthier mate, prince Pwyll, who eventually ruled as a just king with Rhiannon at his side. It is also interesting to note that like the Morrigan, Rhiannon’s name also translates to “Great Queen” from a similar root, “rigani,” meaning “queen.” Similarly, in the love triangle between Guinevere, Arthur, and Lancelot we find the sovereign figure (here represented by the mortal queen Guinevere) seeking out a mate more to her liking. Their story is most likely a distorted version of the sovereign goddess’s myth. As a mortal woman she is reduced to a lustful, cheating wife, but when we return her to her original form, seeing her instead as the goddess of sovereignty, she is maintaining her right to choose her lovers and confer sovereignty to a younger, worthier mate. She acts in the best interest of the land, giving the power to rule to someone she feels is better suited to its prosperity and protection.

This same theme is mirrored in the interactions between Morgan Le Fay and her sometimes-lover brother, when she attempts to have her young lover Accolon replace Arthur as king. It is debatable if Morgan Le Fay and the Morrigan are the same, but they share many traits. The character of Morgan Le Fay is derived from the goddess Modron, who is the Morrigan’s Welsh equivalent, suggesting a connection between the two. Certainly they share similar roles as sovereignty figures within Celtic lore.

The goddess of sovereignty, like the Morrigan, was somewhat of a shape-shifter; she could take the form of a young beautiful woman or a monstrous hag. When she appears as the hag it is usually to test the king or to remove him from his position, while as the maiden she grants him her loving support and gifts. At times the two themes are combined and the king must face the hag in order for her to transform into the lovely maiden.

The sovereign-hag usually appears in a story when the king has broken his vows to the goddess in some way. Usually this is after he has violated a taboo, or geis. Kings and heroes often had several geis placed upon them by a goddess or Otherworldly female. Breaking a geis brought bad luck and in most cases caused the hero or king’s death. When the king broke one of his geis, the sovereign-hag would appear, tempting him to break his remaining taboos. This functioned as a sort of divine checks and balances system. If he broke his taboo, he was unworthy and the goddess relinquished the power of sovereignty, which he had abused.

We often find the Morrigan filling the role of the sovereign-hag who brings unworthy kings low. In the The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel the Morrigan (here in her guise as Badb) appeared at king Conaire’s door after he had broken several of his taboos. Disguised as a hideous hag she tricked him into breaking his final geis, to never admit a single female into his house after dark, and by the morning Conaire was dead. Conaire could have chosen to not break his taboo, but he willing does so, failing the goddess’s test.

The Morrigan is best known as a goddess of battle. In Irish mythology if there is conflict and strife, chances are you’ll find the black-winged Morrigan there, too. But the Morrigan fills many roles and had many guises, all of which are discussed in detail in my book, Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan. While we think of her today as a queen of battle, she is more accurately the “Great Queen” and a goddess of sovereignty. The Morrigan’s interactions with Cúchulain follows a similar pattern, except Cúchulain, unlike Dagda, refuses to acknowledge the goddess’s power. Cúchulain may not have been a king, instead being the champion of Ulster, but by protecting and defending the land against Maeve’s army he acts in much the same way as a king would.

The Morrighan Artist unknown Pic: Akem’s Revenge

The Morrigan, charmed by his prowess in battle, appears to him as a beautiful maiden. She offers him her love, but he rudely turns down her offer. By refusing the goddess’s offer of a sexual union, he in turn is refusing her offer of conferred sovereignty, and fails to acknowledge the power of the goddess who personifies the land. When she offers to aid him in battle instead, he again insults her. Fueled by his ego he believes he does not need her aid to win his battles. Like other kings who the sovereign goddess tests and find unworthy, the Morrigan takes actions against him. She attacks him in the form of a heifer, an eel, and a wolf, hindering him in battle.

Like her interaction with Conaire, she attempts to make the hero break his geis. Before Cúchulain’s final battle she appears as a hag alongside the road cooking dog flesh. She offers him some of the meat, which puts him in a precarious situation. Cúchulain had two taboos, to never eat the flesh of his name sake the dog, and to never refuse food offered to him. No matter what he does, refuse the food or eat it, he will break a geis. He eats the food, and like Conaire, dies shortly after.

In mythology the goddess of sovereignty is a mighty queen; she dispenses justice and aids the worthy, all in service to the land and its people. But how does this figure of the divine queen translate in today’s spirituality? The Great Queen, in all her forms, may not be testing kings in today’s world; instead she offers us a different challenge. As the goddess of sovereignty, the Morrigan challenges us to champion ourselves, to claim the sovereignty of self.

Too often in life we forget to recognize our own power, our right to steer the directions of our lives. Sometimes we hand our power over to others; perhaps we have been learned to rely on other people and not ourselves, or we are afraid to take control of our lives, or maybe we have handed our power over to another out of love. Perhaps we feel too shy to speak our true feelings, or feel like the course of our lives is out of our control. Whether we have relinquished our personal power within a relationship, in our careers, or just in life in general, the Great Queen calls to us to reclaim our sovereignty.

Beverly Moon and Elisabeth Benard relate the world “sovereign” to the Sanskrit sva-raj, which means “self-rule” or “self-ruler.” Another meaning of raj is “luminous” or “radiance,” thus there is a connotation that sovereignty is not only ruling over one’s self but being in the state of “self-luminescence” or letting our inner radiance shine through. When we self-rule our lives we do not leave our fates up to others. Empowered by this aspect of the goddess we can bravely reshape ourselves and our lives into what we desire.

As the sovereign-hag she appears to us when we need to break down the barriers that hold us back in life. She tests our strength, and teaches us to rely on the power within. As the queen she teaches us the necessity of action. If we wish to bring change into our lives, then at times, like Macha, we must go to battle and stand up for what we believe in. When we have learned to call upon our inner strength, she appears as the beautiful maiden, offering us the wealth of the land and the fruits of our hard earned labors.

While the great queens of mythology are often cast as villains, they teach us a vital truth. When we embrace the mysteries of the sovereign queen we embrace our own inner power, letting it shine radiantly into all aspects of our lives. The ancient queens of myth and legend took power into their own hands, and fought fiercely to maintain it. No matter the situations they remained resolutely true to themselves. Through self-rule they shaped the course of their stories, just as we can re-shape our own.

About the Author

Stephanie Woodfield (Brookfield, CT) has been a practicing Witch for over fourteen years and a Priestess for ten years. Her lifelong love of Irish mythology led to a close study of Celtic Witchcraft. A natural clairvoyant and empath, she has worked as a tarot card reader and is ordained as a minister with the Universal Life Church.

The original article can be found in the Llewellyn Journal.

Article Copyright 2012 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. All rights reserved.

Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess

Invoking the Morrighan Pic: Llewellyn Books

Invoke the Morrigan—the Celtic embodiment of the victory, strength, and power of the Divine Feminine—and be transformed by her fierce and magnificent energy.In this comprehensive, hands-on guide to Celtic Witchcraft, Stephanie Woodfield invites you to explore the Morrigan’s rich history and origins, mythology, and magic. Discover the hidden lessons and spiritual mysteries of the Dark Goddess as you perform guided pathworkings, rituals, and spells compatible with any magical path. Draw on the unique energies of the Morrigan’s many expressions — her three main aspects of Macha, Anu, and Badb; the legendary Morgan Le Fay; and her other powerful guises.

From shapeshifting and faery magic to summoning a lover and creating an Ogham oracle, the dynamic and multifaceted Dark Goddess will bring empowering wisdom and enchantment to your life and spiritual practice.

Stepahnie’s book is available from Llewellyn.

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An image of Lugh/Lugus, from the website Pic: http://users.frii.com/asacat/dr.htm

[Originally published in An Tríbhís Mhór: The IMBAS Journal of Celtic Reconstructionism #1, Lúnasa 1997.] Copyright © 1997 Alexei Kondratiev. All Rights Reserved. May be reposted as long as the above attribution and copyright notice are retained. Of all the divinities known to have been worshipped in the Celtic world, the god whom the Continental Celts called Lugus and the Irish called Lúgh is one of the best documented and best understood. The sheer volume and widespread range of evidence related to him testifies to the importance of this god in Celtic tradition.

The evidence includes: iconography from the pre-Roman period; toponymy; iconography and epigraphy from the period of Roman occupation; testimony of Greek and Roman writers; literary traditions of the Insular Celts in the Middle Ages; modern folk narratives in Celtic languages; and ritual practices of conservative rural Celtic-speaking communities.

Each of these bodies of evidence provides only fragmentary information; yet when all are taken together and interpreted in the light each can shed on the other, a detailed and consistent picture emerges, which can direct us with a high degree of certainty to an understanding of what the worship of Lugus/Lúgh entails.

Continuity of Indo-European Heritage

Beginning around 500 BCE, and following on the sudden expansion of both wealth and territory it had experienced in the Early Iron Age, the Celtic world entered into a period of comfort and self-confidence where it took great interest in the cultures and artistic expressions of its neighbours and borrowed freely from them, yet always adapted such borrowings to native Celtic tastes and values. This blend of innovation and tradition gave rise to the unique La Tène style of Celtic art, and doubtless had repercussions at all levels of Celtic culture, particularly in the realm of religion. A whole vocabulary of religious symbols of Oriental origin began to be depicted on art objects during this period, suggesting a renewed interest in religious ideas as a result of exposure to foreign traditions, although there does not seem to have been any break with the fundamental Indo-European heritage.

Many of these imported symbols, as well as some other new ones of native origin, are found in association with one particular god whose sudden and widespread rise to prominence must have been one of the most important events in La Tène religion. This god is shown together with birds; horses; the Oriental Tree of Life motif; dogs or wolves; and twin serpents. But the imagery most intimately connected to him is the mistletoe leaf or berry. Most often the mistletoe leaves are shown at either side of his head, like horns or ears; but sometimes the symbolism is reversed, and the god’s head appears as the berry of a mistletoe plant. During the 300′s the mistletoe-leaf motif combines with that of the twin serpents (portrayed as facing S’s) into a new motif archaeologists call the “palmette”. This shape, crowning the god’s head or attached to some animal figure, is common (especially on coins) until ca. 200 BCE. Thereafter the twin serpents appear alone in what is still clearly a glyph representing this particular divinity. The fact that representations of the god and of his symbols appear most frequently on objects related to formal aristocratic banquets (such as the famous wine flagons from the Basse-Yutz burial in the Rhineland) strongly suggests that he was in some way associated with sacral kingship.[1]

Lugh, the Roman Mercury?

Because the Iron Age Celts did not use writing in religious contexts, we have no direct evidence of this god’s name. Toponymy, however, gives us a very strong clue. The name Lugudunon was given to a very large number of sites (Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Liegnitz, probably Leiden, etc.) from the later Iron Age. In Old Celtic dunon means “fort” (the word has modern cognates in Irish dún “fort” and Welsh din(as) “city”), but the Lugu- element can only be explained by a proper name. We have no dedications to a god by that name at those sites, yet the existence of mythological figures named Lúgh and Lleu in the later literary tradition of the Insular Celts makes it clear that a similar figure bearing the name Lugus must have existed in the Iron Age. In fact, a famous dedication to the Lugoues by the shoemakers’ guild of Uxama (Osma) in Spain; another inscription mentioning the Lugoues from Avenches in Switzerland;[2] and dedications to Lugubus Arquienobus from Orense and Lugo in Galicia (northwest Spain)[3] all indicate that the name Lugus was indeed known. Interestingly, in all these cases the name is given in the plural, as though it referred to a group of divinities rather than to a single god. We shall have some suggestions later as to why this may have been the case.

Why, if Lugus had played such an important role in Iron Age Celtic religion, was his name so little used in the period of Roman occupation that followed? Most scholars agree that it was the result of a successful interpretatio Romana, an identification of the Celtic god with a figure from the official Roman cult. In De Bello Gallico, VI, 17, Julius Caesar, commenting on Celtic society and culture even as he was crushing the life out of it, stated that “Mercury” was the most popular Celtic god, the creator of all arts and crafts, the protector of travelers, and a great patron of trade and wealth.

He was following the common Roman practice of forcing foreign religions into the categories and terminology of Roman state religion (in the same passage he uses the name “Minerva” to refer to a goddess obviously related to Irish Brigit, and known independently by native Celtic names), and in this case the identification certainly struck a chord in the conquered Celtic population, as dedications and representations of “Mercury” began to proliferate in the Romanized Celtic world and retained their preeminence right to the period of Christianization. Well over 400 dedications to “Mercury” or one of his common native titles have been found: his importance in Gaul and Britain far exceeded anything that the role of Mercury in Roman religion could have warranted. Clearly “Mercury” was the new, “modern” disguise of Lugus, and because the two names were seen to be precisely equivalent the native one was virtually never used in the Latin of official inscriptions.

Roman Classical Attributes

While Romano-Celtic images of “Mercury” often depicted him with his well-known Classical attributes — the winged cap (reminiscent of the earlier mistletoe crown), the caduceus (echoing the ubiquitous Iron Age twin serpents), the bag of money, the cockerel, the ram, the tortoise shell, etc. — many representations of him diverged considerably from Graeco-Roman canons. Some statues (e.g. the one from Lezoux) show him not as the usual clean-shaven ephebos but as a bearded old man wrapped in a Celtic shawl.[4] We will, however, single out three of these purely native traits as particularly important: his association with heights; his tendency to have multiple (usually triple) forms; and his role as sovereign protector, with warrior attributes.

Celtic “Mercury” is unambiguously linked with the high places of each tribal territory in which he was worshipped. Montmartre in Paris, the Puy-de-Dôme in the Auvergne, the Mont de Sène in the land of the Ædui — to name just a few out of scores of possible examples — were all originally Mercurii montes. Shrines crowned these heights, and one conventional depiction of “Mercury” was to have him sitting on a mountain.[5] The Aruerni commissioned (for a fabulous price) the Greek sculptor Xenodorus to make a gigantic statue of “Mercury” seated atop their sacred mountain, the Puy-de-Dôme: it was one of the famous sights of Roman Gaul.[6] Clearly the location of a temple to “Mercury” on a high place was of theological importance.

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The Olympic Torch Pic: Meath Chronicle

The Meath Chronicle reports that a call for the Olympic torch to stop in Meath on its visit to Ireland has been made by Meath County Council and the Kells and District Tourism Forum.The Kells forum is to make a bid to have the Olympic Torch visit Teltown, outside Kells, on its way from Newry to Dublin in advance of the London Games in 2012.

Teltown is the home of the ancient Tailteann Games, which date back over 4,000 years to 1829BC, and pre-date the ancient Greek Olympic Games.

The possibility of having the Olympic torch stopping in Meath was also raised by Cllr Noel Leonard at a special pre-budget meeting of Meath County Council this week.

Cllr Leonard asked the county manager to contact Pat Hickey of the Olympic Council of Ireland “as soon as possible” with a view to getting the torch to stop at a location in Meath. He said the famous Tailteann Games in Meath pre-dated the Olympic Games by 1,800 years and a stopover by the torch-bearers would showcase Meath to millions of TV viewers throughout the world.

According to Kells Tourism Forum secretary, Lucy O’Reilly, the hill of Tailtiu (modern Teltown) is one of the most important ritual landscapes in Ireland, for it was here that the celebrated Aonach Tailteann, the Lughnasa Festival, was first held.

The Games and the Festival of Lughnasa were initiated by Lugh of the Long Arm in memory of his foster mother, Tailtiu.

We know that Greek traders featured at the Tailteann Games, and that the Tailteann Games predated the ancient Olympic Games by about 500 years. Ptolemy charted the course of the Boyne River in the second century BC – showing the familiarity that the Greeks and other travelers had with the area at that time.

There are clear similarities between the ancient Greek Olympics and the Tailteann Games – and we would even suggest that, in the ancient world, games such as the Greek Olympics originated here in this area in Ireland.

Ms O’Reilly said it was brilliant that the Olympic Council of Ireland had fought for the torch to come to Ireland.

We suggest that it would be entirely appropriate for the torch to visit the site of the ancient Games at Tailteann on its way from Newry to Dublin. It would be a marriage of legends – the torch coming back to its possible ancestral home before moving on to London.

Read more at the Meath Chronicle.

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We found a short film by Mairéid Sullivan about the importance of the Hill of Tara on You Tube. She writes:

Over the past decade there has been considerable controversy regarding construction of the M3 Motorway through the Tara Valley, especially in light of the discoveries at Roestown and more recently Lismullin. While those finds are extremely significant, they pale in comparison to a more recent discovery at Tara.

This short film by the award winning documentary filmmaker and musician, Mairéid Sullivan, shows that the complexity and importance of The Hill of Tara goes well beyond what we’ve known about the site for the past few millennia.

Support the Anam Cara for Tara Arts Action Campaign
[Source]
(Anam Cara means “Soul Friend” in Irish Gaelic) an initiative of the http://GlobalArtsCollective.org

Originally posted 2009-04-12 08:52:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tara Grave Pic: Causes.com

A new cause has been started on causes.com to petition the Irish Government to re-bury the bodies dug up in constructing the M3 motorway through the Tara monuments in accordance with the World Archaeological Congress’s guidelines.   During excavations for the M3 Motorway which desecrated the Irish Valley of the High Kings at Tara, a large number of ancestral remains were removed from their Sacred Burial Grounds. Just one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland.

World Archeological Congress  2008 (22/07)

The Vermillion Accord on Human Remains
Adopted in 1989 at WAC Inter-Congress, South Dakota, USA.

1. Respect for the mortal remains of the dead shall be accorded to all, irrespective of origin, race, religion, nationality, custom and tradition.

2. Respect for the wishes of the dead concerning disposition shall be accorded whenever possible, reasonable and lawful, when they are known or can be reasonably inferred. …

[source]

This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeir…

1. www.taraskryne.com

Tara Skryne Preservation Group

About TSPG:
We are an allied group of stakeholders, campaigners and concerned citizens who wish to improve the Tara Skryne Landscape after the destruction wrought by the M3 Motorway through the most Sacred, Mythical, and Historical Valley of Ireland.

We are a volunteer, non politically affiliated organisation comprised of members of various groups who stood against the route of the M3 Motorway through the Tara Skryne Valley. Now that the Motorway has opened we stand together to demand the preservation of what remains of the Tara Skryne Valley ie. its protection against further inapproriate development as well as greater protection for our National Monuments and sacred places countrywide.

Read more about us, our aims and objectives and why we formed at www.taraskryne.comJust one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland. This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeire/petition.html

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You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
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THE World Archaeological Congress has urged the Government to ensure that no large commercial or residential development is allowed along the route of the controversial M3 motorway. And the forum, made up of practising archaeologists, has said that excavations carried out along the motorway route in Co Meath — which runs near the hill of Tara — were performed to the “highest professional standards”.

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Originally posted 2008-07-30 01:38:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Hill of Tara Pic: Irish Central

The Hill of Tara (Irish Temair na Rí, “Hill of the Kings”), located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland. It contains a number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of Árd Rí na hÉireann, or the High King of Ireland. Recent scholarship claims that despite the rich narratives derived from mythologies, Tara was not so much a true seat of kingship, but a sacral site associated with kingship rituals. Other historians have argued that the concept itself is mostly mythical. [Wiki]

The Destruction caused by the Motorway

The M3 motorway, which opened in June 2010, passes through the Tara-Skryne Valley – as does the existing N3 road. Protesters argue that since the Tara Discovery Programme started in 1992, there is an appreciation that the Hill of Tara is just the central complex of a wider landscape. The distance between the motorway and the exact site of the Hill is 2.2 km (1.37 miles) – it intersects the old N3 at the Blundelstown interchange between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skyrne.

The presence of this interchange situated in the valley has led to allegations that further development is planned near Tara. An alternative route approximately 6 km west of the Hill of Tara is claimed to be a straighter, cheaper and less destructive alternative. On Sunday 23 September 2007 over 1500 people met on the hill of Tara to take part in a human sculpture representing a harp and spelling out the words “SAVE TARA VALLEY” as a call for the rerouting of the M3 motorway away from Tara valley. Actors Stuart Townsend and Jonathan Rhys Meyers attended this event.

The Hill of Tara was included in the World Monuments Fund’s 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. It was included, in 2009, in the 15 must-see endangered cultural treasures in the world by the Smithsonian Institution.

The Curse of Tara and its Fairy Forts

Irish Central reports that Activists claim desecration of Tara for highway sparked ancient curse.

An ancient curse of Tara has been unleashed in Ireland by the destruction of the Fairy Forts. That’s according to anti-highway activist Carmel Divine who says a “modern day Curse of Tara” has been unleashed on Ireland by the “destruction and desecration of the M3 Motorway.” She said that Seannachaí Eddie Lennihan warned the Irish Government in early 2007 against destroying the Fairy Forts in Ireland’s historic Tara Skryne Valley. She said the Seannachaí warned the Irish Government that they would be cursed. At the time, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority, mocked the Seannachaí and said they weren’t concerned. Diviney says all of Ireland’s woes date back to July 2007 when work began on the new M3 motorway. She lists the following incidents as evidence of the Fairy Fort curse.

Wakeman Plan of the Tara Complex Pic: Wiki

The Fey in Action

In June 2007 Minister for the Environment Dick Roche signed an order destroying the Lismullin Henge. Lismullin Henge was a 4,000 year old astronomical observatory and place of worship and hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds of the century.

Roche was since held up by an armed gang in the Druids Glen Hotel and also lost his job and was then demoted.

Martin Cullen the then Minister for Transport nearly got sucked out of a helicopter when the door fell off on one of his extravagantly expensive trips.

The chief Health and Safety Officer was seriously injured by a falling tree when felling began at Rath Lugh in 2007.

A worker was killed when he became trapped at Fairyhouse where there have been many accidents on this stretch of road.

A human tooth was discovered in a digger which was used to destroy the famous ancient feasting grounds and gathering place of ancient Harpers at Baronstown. Shortly afterwards the stairs in the National Museum collapsed.

And finally, just last summer, several large wasp nests were found throughout the valley. In Celtic Lore the appearance of the wasp was associated with the anger of Mother Earth.

Diviney says that Ireland will continue to be cursed as long as it continues to meddle with sacred ground.

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Proposed Slane Bypass Pic: Save Newgrange

Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange tells us that the Irish Times has reported that new consultations are being ordered to discuss the Slane Bypass that is threatening the ancient home of Angus Og, the Brugh na Boyne – the monument that is now called Newgrange. Click on the image to the left to see the detail.

The Irish Times reports:

A NEW round of public consultations on controversial plans for a dual-carriageway bypass of Slane, Co Meath, has been ordered by An Bord Pleanála, with October 15th set as the closing date. A public notice advertising the new round of consultations was published recently in national newspapers. The original consultation period closed on February 25th last.

An Bord Pleanála had sought additional information from Meath County Council on the road scheme, including whether an alternative route running to the west of Slane had been examined. The current proposal, which is being advanced on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA), would run to the east of Slane, some 500 metres from the boundary of Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site.

The appeals board also sought alternative designs for a new bridge over the river Boyne, noting that the cable-stayed bridge originally proposed would be visible from the World Heritage Site. It also wanted the council to produce more detailed archaeological and geophysical reports on investigations of 44 archaeological sites that would be affected by the original scheme.

The information was sought “in order to clarify certain points in the environmental impact statement [EIS] and assist the board’s assessment of the likely effects on the environment” of the road. This followed complaints to An Bord Pleanála by the Save Newgrange group, former attorney general John Rogers SC and leading archaeologist Prof George Eogan that the EIS was flawed.

Save Newgrange spokesman Vincent Salafia said:

“We will be waging an international campaign over the next month, particularly in Northern Ireland, to get as many objections as possible filed with An Bord Pleanála.”

Save Newgrange

Irish Times

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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 Descripition Page.

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.

Pic: Derry Journal

The Derry Journal (an Irish Newspaper ) Tells us : A Derry based software company has teamed up with iconic Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick to bring the world of Celtic myth and legend into the 21st century.EyeSpyFX, a spin out company from the University of Ulster yesterday delivered ‘Ireland; Myths and Legends’, an application for the recently released iPad to the Dublin headquarters of computer giant Apple.

EyeSpyFX’s IPad App has been developed in close collaboration with one of Ireland’s most celebrated artists, Jim Fitzpatrick who is internationally renowned for his colourful and iconic decorative Celtic artwork.

Anthony Hutton, who founded EyeSpyFX in 2002, says the collaboration with Jim Fitzpatrick came about as a result of a chance conversation at an international trade show in Barcelona in February earlier this year.

“Our products were attracting a lot of interest from international buyers. They seemed surprised, not only that the company was based in Ireland, but also that it had no uniquely Irish content so we decided had to do something about this.

To Read more please visit  The Derry Journal

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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 our Descripition Page,

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.

Pic: My Guide Ireland   The sculpture photographed above is from a 1988 commission entitled Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne), a large bronze relief in Sligo.

Taken from the magical article by Brendan Patrick Keane on Irish Central. We would like to apologise to Brendan Patrick Keane and www.irishcentral.com for inadvertently breaching copyright and thank them for their understanding and patience in this matter. Ruth & Gary

"Marriage is not a love affair. A love affair is a totally different thing. A marriage is a commitment to that which you are. That person is literally your other half. And you and the other are one. A love affair isn’t that. That is a relationship of pleasure, and when it gets to be unpleasurable, it’s off. But a marriage is a life commitment, and a life commitment means the prime concern of your life. If marriage is not the prime concern, you are not married…..When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship."

[Read more of this magical article by Brendan Patrick Keane on Irish Central]