Pic: Eco-Fairies

The Eco Faerie festival is a community celebration bringing music, art and environmental wellbeing together. We are turning environmental sustainability into positive action, bridging the community through celebration and taking faeries back to nature. This will be the 3rd annual faerie event at City Farm and it is set to be bigger, greener and more magical than ever.t

This years theme is ‘Trash to Treasure Recycle.’

What to expect:

All day music and dance entertainment by The Davs, Sambanistas, AKWAABA, The free spirit bellydance community and the Eco Faeries green faerie stage show for children.

And:-

free children’s activites
local artisan, fair trade and growers market
free workshops on composting, mulching, worm farming, raw food, sound healing and renewable resources
hulahooping and circus play
roving entertainment

entry is $5 with profits going to City Farm Project

Located at City Farm, East Perth off Lime Street, behind Claisbrook train station. City farm is a community garden oasis, education and training centre and farmers market. They are opening their doors to all magical creatures to come celebrate everything community and green. Dress your faerie best.

The Naked Club

We will be having a clothing exchange fiesta at the event. Bring 3 of your old favourites and exchange for 3 new loves. Men’s, Women’s and childrens clothing accepted. Left over clothing will be donated to an op shop.

Art Exhibition

Featuring local artists inspired by nature, community, spirit or the wild heart. If you would like to exhibit some of your work please contact me for details.

www.faeriecara.com

We are currently accepting applications for the artisans and farmer market holders, if you would like to be involved with the upcome event please contact Faerie Cara directly through mail@faeriecara.com

If you would like to be an Eco Faerie volunteer on the day please contact me as we’d love to play with you.

This is a City farm event by Faerie Cara proudly sponsored by the Department of Environment and Conservation Waste Authority Landfill Levy Fund.

Pic: Tattoo Design Shop

Tattoos are as popular today as they were in ancient times, but for different reasons. We wear them as decoration the ancients wore tattoos as permanent war paint. Their tattoos were designed with one thing in mind and that was to instil as much fear in their enemies as they possibly could. Wars were fought hand to hand and in battle warriors bared their chests in order to make sure that their tattoos were highly visible to the enemy. Tattoos indicated toughness and fearlessness when faced with danger. Tattoos were also designed as a method of identification, much like soldiers today wear ‘dog tags’.

Popular tattoo choices

Celts once covered a large area of Europe and had their own languages and culture, not to mention religion. The symbols they used in those days are incorporated into the highly popular Celtic tattoos used today.

The Celts worshipped gods and goddesses, animals and the land, and as they were exposed more and more to Christianity, their symbols and shapes started to change into crosses and stars. One of the reasons for this adaptation was to avoid conflict with Christian beliefs. But, these adapted elements are what remains and what is most seen in traditional tattoos.

Celtic Knot Patterns

Although many traditional Celtic designs are copied in tattoos, perhaps one of the most recognizable and coveted tattoo is the knot. Knots resemble interwoven vines and are arranged to form a particular shape, for example a heart, but their shape can be almost anything a person can think of, from circles to the more complex star shape.

A Celtic knot also carries with it the symbolism recognizable by anyone who has even a slight knowledge of Celtic art which is that it represents continuous life as well as the season’s cycles and the complexity of nature.

Animals were very important to the Celts, animals such as butterflies, dogs and geese. Butterflies were especially held in very high esteem by the Celts because of their beauty. Dogs symbolize loyalty and good luck while eagles are linked with death, so are ravens and other birds. Horses were sacred to the Celts and a tattoo depicting a horse is linked to mystery and magic. Power can be symbolized by a Celtic art tattoo of a bear while the dragon is associated with both power and magic. Sometimes an animal will be the main focus in a tattoo while others may form on a part of the background.

The number three, 3, has always featured highly in Celtic designs and is typically found somewhere in the design, at times even hidden deeply within it. It can be small or large.

Cross

The Celtic cross is without doubt perhaps the most recognisable of all Celtic designs and is a very popular tattoo subject. They are highly religious in their nature and quite often Celts will wear the design as a proclamation of their ethnic roots.

The Celtic tree of life is quite self-explanatory, it follows the same style as the knot and the cross but it is composed of interweaving lines which form branches around a tree trunk. It represents the beginning and end of life and also the eternal nature of the world we live in.

Claddagh

A Claddagh, though maybe not as well known is popular and is perhaps more recognizable to those of Celtic and Irish heritage. Consisting of two hands clasping a heart covered by a crown. When represented graphically in the form of a tattoo, it stands for everlasting love and loyalty.

The beauty of body art

Celtic designs are beautiful when incorporated into a tattoo and there are a host of different choices suited to both male and female. Almost every tattoo studio will offer a wide variety of Celtic tattoo designs.

Celtic art in the form of tattoos is very often seen as bands around the arms or on the wrist. More recently Celtic designs are being tattooed on the lower back. Celtic art is usually always done with black ink and the lines can be a combination of thick and very thick. Celtic tattoo designs have their origin dating back several thousand years and their aesthetic value has grown ever more popular since then as they are beautiful abstract works of art.

About the Author:

Tim Lazaro is a Celtic Symbol enthusiast. Visit All About Celtic Symbols for more expert advice on Celtic tattoo designs, understanding Celtic symbols, tree astrology, and other topics you can use right now if you wish to gain a better appreciation of symbols in Celtic society.

Author: Tim Lazaro
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Pic: Roujo

We are extremely privileged to have famed Occult author, David Rankine prepare this amazing post for us explaining many of the similarities between Fairies, Demons, Angels and Elementals and how the ceremonial magican treats them. Over to David:

It is a little known fact that the magicians of the Renaissance who are best known for conjuring angels or demons were equally at home conjuring fairies and elementals. From the material in the grimoires it seems clear that spiritual creatures were not divided into such hard and fast categories as are often seen today. One thing that united the different types of spiritual creatures in the eyes of magicians was treasure!

The British monarchy was well known for its interest in treasure, as seen by the licensing of explorers and buccaneers, but the royal interest in magic was discrete and largely unknown. When magic and treasure met, the crown became extremely interested. For centuries the reigning monarchs granted licences to nobles and well-to-do figures to search for treasure trove, in return for a percentage of the findings. In the period from 1237-1621 authorizations were given for treasure seeking in a number of counties, particularly those in the southern parts of England like Cornwall, Devon and Dorset.

For example, in 1521, King Henry VIII granted a licence to Sir Edward Belknap, John Hertford and John Jonys (a goldsmith) to dig in Cornwall and Devon for treasure. [1]  As well as magicians and cunning-folk, priests were frequently called upon by treasure-seekers to raise spirits, being the types of people considered capable of dealing with the spiritual creatures that guarded the treasures. It was believed that such treasures were rarely unguarded. It is amusing to note that records show that the fairy king Oberion refused to talk to priests who conjured him, though he was more loquacious with magicians! [2]

In a time before the stability of the banking system, people often buried their money, and had done for centuries since before the Romans. As a result of this the quest for treasure was a common one, and this made the ruins of fine buildings, such as castles, monasteries and stately homes particularly obvious targets. Likewise old burial mounds and sites were considered prime candidates for buried treasure. The digging up of such sites for treasure was a common occurrence, to the extent that the term ‘hill-digger’ was used for a person on the make.

Another instance from the reign of King Henry VIII was recorded by the monk William Stapleton in 1528, where in the pursuit of treasure “one Denys of Hofton did bring me a book called Thesaurus Spirituum [1] and, after that, another called Secreta Secretorum, [2] a little ring, a plate, a circle, and also a sword for the art of digging.” [3]

The reference to plates is interesting, as these were often used in such conjurations as part of the equipment. William Stapleton mentioned a plate made for the calling of Oberion, and it is also significant that Stapleton explained how after obtaining a license to seek treasure, he spoke again to Denys, who informed him he would bring him two cunning-men.

One of the most important politicians of the late seventeenth century was Goodwin Wharton (1653-1704) who may be seen as the Indiana Jones of his time, and who rose to become Lord Admiral of the British Fleet. Wharton was aided for many years by the ex-leveller John Wildman and a spirit (of an executed criminal) called George, and went on various treasure quests including one for the legendary Urim and Thummim, the twin jewels from the High Priest’s Breastplate described in the Bible. Keith Thomas described Wharton as spending the last twenty-five years of the seventeenth century being “almost continuously engaged in a treasure quest for which he enlisted spirits, fairies and the latest resources of contemporary technology”. [1]

He even invented diving gear, allegedly with the aid of angels, in order to try and raise sunken treasure from a Spanish galleon off the north coast of Scotland. One of Wharton’s exploits was said to be the discovery of a fairy gate, to the fairy realms. Unfortunately when the document describing this resurfaced in the twentieth century the location had been built over. The building which now sits in the location of the fairy gate – Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport! (So now you know where the missing luggage goes!)

(drawn from material in The Book of Treasure Spirits, David Rankine, 2009, Avalonia – see www.avaloniabooks.co.uk for more details of this and other works on related topics)

The Book of Treasure Spirits

Conjurations of Goetic spirits, old gods, demons and fairies are all part of a rich heritage of the magical search for treasure trove. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance the British Monarchy gave out licenses to people seeking treasure in an effort to control such practices, and this is one reason why so many grimoires are full of conjurations and charms to help the magician find treasure.

Published here for the first time, from a long-ignored mid-seventeenth century manuscript in the British Library (Sloane MS 3824), is the conjuration said to have been performed at the request of King Edward IV, with other rites to reveal treasure, to have treasure brought from the sea, and to cause thieves to bring back stolen goods. Conjurations to call any type of spirit are also included, recorded by the noted alchemist and collector Elias Ashmole, as is an extract on conjuration practices from the Heptameron, transcribed into English for practical use by a working group of magicians, before its first English publication by Robert Turner in 1655.

These conjurations demonstrate the influence of earlier classic grimoires and sources, with components drawn from the Goetia, the Heptameron, and Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft. The material includes spirit contracts for the fallen angels Agares and Vassago, and the demon Padiel, as well as techniques like lead plates for binding, and summoning into a glass of water, which hark back to the defixiones of Hellenistic Greece and the demonic magic of the Biblical world.

This material forms part of a corpus of conjurations all written in the same hand and style of evocation, linking Goetic spirits and treasure spirits with the archangels and planetary intelligences (Sloane MS 3825), and demon kings and Enochian hierarchies (Sloane MS 3821), making it a unique bridge of style and content between what are often falsely seen as diverse threads of Renaissance magic.

You can get David’s fascinating book from Avalonia Books.

Pic: Sacred Texts

The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Táin is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage Ulster hero Cúchulainn. The 1904 translation is now freely available to readers on the Sacred Texts website.

The Táin Bó Cúailnge has survived in two main recensions. The first consists of a partial text in the Lebor na hUidre (the “Book of the Dun Cow“), a late 11th/early 12th century manuscript compiled in the monastery at Clonmacnoise, and another partial text of the same version in the 14th century manuscript called the Yellow Book of Lecan. These two sources overlap, and a complete text can be reconstructed by combining them. This recension is a compilation of two or more earlier versions, indicated by the number of duplicated episodes and references to “other versions” in the text. Many of the episodes are superb, written in the characteristic terse prose of the best Old Irish literature, but others are cryptic summaries, and the whole is rather disjointed. Parts of this recension can be dated from linguistic evidence to the 8th century, and some of the verse passages may be even older. [Wiki]

Sacred Texts also carry two other translations: the Lady Gregory Cuchulain of Muirthemne and the Joseph Dunn version The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge). We will try to work from all versions when we present the Ulster Cycle for you.

More power to the Sacred Texts elbow!

Pic: Wikipedia

This fabulous lecture about the Wild Hunt brings up some interesting points. Although it is mainly Scandinavian countries that are referenced rather than Celtic. There seem to be some similarities in Celtic folklore.

For instance is The Wild Hunt the same as a Faerie Raid?  The Lord of The Wildwood or Cernunnos is seen a leading the Wild Hunt, but this lecture suggests that in some countries The Wild Hunt is lead by a female.

One wonders at the suggestion that the Wild hunt may have been medieval descriptions of a ritual folk-procession !

(First presented as a lecture to the Cambridge Folklore Society at the house of Dr. H.R. Ellis-Davidson)

The Leader of the Wild Hunt

The woman is variously a wood-wife (Germany or Switzerland), a mermaid (W. Jutland), one of the “hulder-folk” (Sweden), or an elf (Denmark). The hunter chasing the woman always appears as a solitary figure. The theme of this supernatural hunt seems to have little connection with the damned lord leading a group of hunters. The red hair and beard of the Swedish “Oden” seem more typical for the Old Norse Thorr (though Odinn is also called Raudhgrani, “Redbeard”).

Celander suggests that this is an independent tradition, with “Oden’s” hunt of the wood-wife taken over from Thorr’s troll-hunt. Thorr is in fact particularly noted for killing giant-women. In “Hárbarzljodh 23,” he says

“Mighty would be the race of etins, if they all lived; there would be no men in Midhgardhr,”

and Thorbjörn Disarskald credits Thorr with more female than male trophies.

Thor Pic: David Maybury

Though there is probably insufficient evidence to make more than a tentative association between Thorr’s pursuit of giantesses and the later hunter’s pursuit of supernatural women, especially given the wide spread of the latter, Celander’s suggestion that this version of the Wild Hunt legend may be an independent tradition is entirely plausible. If the hunt for the wood-wife or mermaid is indeed derived from a wholly different source than the large-scale hunt of the dead, which is clearly a later version of the original procession of the dead, then the association with Oden may be a simple product of a natural confusion between the two types of supernatural hunts.

Different Places – Different Names

The identity of the leader of the host varies from place to place. Often the horde of spirits is identified with an historical or legendary-historical figure. Gervasius von Tillbury describes King Arthur as the leader of the Wild Hunt (1211). In Lausitz and Orlagau, it is Dietrich von Bern — Theoderic the Great in Germanic legend.

Around the Hessian Odenberg, Charlemagne; in France, Charles the Fifth (folk etymology making ”Charles quint” into “Hellekin,” as in the 14th-century “Exposition de la doctrine chretienne”); in Dartmoor, Sir Francis Drake; in Sealand, King Valdemar; in Jutland, Christian the Second; in Norway, the oskorei is led by Sigurd Svein and Guro Rysserova (“Gudrun Horse-tail“) — the Sigurdhr Fáfnisbani and Gudhrun Gjúkadottir of the Eddic lays. In Middle and Upper Germany, the man who goes before the host was called “der trewe Eckhardt.”

Grimm identifies this figure as Eckhardt, Kriemhild’s chamberer in Nibelungenlied (III, p. 935), and in the Heldenbuch, he is said to sit outside the Venusberg to warn people, much as he does in the accounts of the furious host. By 1534, Eckhart had passed into a proverb.

Odin and the Wild Hunt

Some of the names appear only in Wild Hunt legend, as Ritter Alke of Greifenhagen, Graf von Ebernburg of Zabelsdorf, and Hans von Hackelnberg/Hackelberend of Westphalia. The most common names, however, are derivations from the *wodh- root: in Schwabia, the army is “Wuotes Here” (Zimmerische Chronik); the hunter is “der Wode” in Rügen; the Middle German names “Wutan” and corresponding “wutanes her” have already been mentioned.

Westphalia preserves the name Woenjäger beside the more difficult forms Hodenjäger and Bodenjäger; in the northern half of Jutland, we have Wojensjaeger, Uen, Uensjaeger. In Sweden, we have the Odensjakt, with Oden identified as an ancient king doomed to wander the world in punishment for his sins (in Varend), or as a sharpshooter who hunted on a Sunday.

The name Wodan or Wod does not appear in Normandy, England, or, surprisingly, Norway. However, Sigurd has undergone a curious change in the Norwegian folklore of the oskorei. While all the German and Norse legends in which Sigurd appear show him as a youthful hero, doomed to an untimely death. In fact, the depiction of this hero on the Hylestad stave-church portals shows him as beardless; if the Sigurd of the Ramsundberget rune stone is bearded at all, his beard is very short, in contrast to the long-bearded smith Reginn in the same carving. However, M.B. Landstad records that Sigurd Svein is terrifyingly old, and decrepit to the point of blindness, so that when he should see, his eyes need to be opened with a hook.

Odin Pic: Gone Fishin’

The old man with seeing difficulties is by no means similar to the young hero Sigurdhr Fafnisbani, though the ballad of Sigurd Svein is otherwise relatively faithful to Völsunga Saga: he is, however, remarkably similar to Sigurdhr’s godly patron and forefather, the aged Odinn who also goes by the names Bileygr (“Weak-Eyed“), Herbundi (“Army-Blind“), and Helblindi (“Death-Blind“), leading to the suspicion that Norwegian folk tradition might have replaced the name of the god with that of his hero.

The Female Guide of the Dead

A variant form of the legend is that associated with the female Perchte/Holda/Holle (in Germany) or Frien/Freki/Frik/Freja (Sweden, Northern Germany). Like the masculine figures discussed above, Perchte or Holda leads a train of souls. However, her followers are sometimes young children (Orla-gau); she also steals children. She also acts as an enforcer of female social norms: she punishes women who have not finished their spinning by the appointed night or who spin on the wrong day. She often gives gifts to children, as her masculine equivalents do not.

Freja Pic: PhotoBucket

Particularly in Austria and Scandinavia, the Yule-time female figure who can either be the kindly gift-giver or the fearsome demon is St. Lucia, who also is associated with animal-masking. In Austria, she is Spillalutsche, “Spindle-Lucia,” who punishes children and spinners with red-hot bobbins. In Schleswig-Holstein the Holda-figure is shown with a cow skin and horns, and a cow’s head or foot marks Lucy Day on some of the Scandinavian rune-stocks. This bears a certain similarity to the Norwegian image of Guro Rysserova, who appears as a woman in front, but has a horse’s tail.

The Wild Hunt or Furious Host appears at different times of the year, being frequently seen in spring and fall, but the most common and consistent period for its appearance overall is the Yule season. This fits in neatly with the Germanic tradition as a whole: Yule is the season in which hauntings and supernatural visitation of all sort are the most common.

The hauntings in Eyrbyggja saga take place at Yule, as does the death of Glam in Grettis saga. Folk tales of all the Scandinavian countries have trolls or elves making their appearance at Yule, particularly in Iceland, where a common theme is the supernatural visitor menacing the woman who must stay home to look after the house on Christmas Eve. Christopher Arnold, writing in 1674, mentions

neither good or evil spirits, which are particularly in the air around the holy birth-time of Christ; and are called “Juhlafolker,” that is, “Yule-folk” by (the Laplanders).

This name is suspiciously similar to the Old Norse “joln” for “gods” (in Eyvindr skaldaspillr’s “Haleygjatal“), which both Magnusson (p. 433) and Faulkes (Edda, p. 134) interpret as being derived from jól, “Yule.” The oskorei is also called julereien or juleskreien.

The Living get carried away by the Hunt

Another theme which is common to the Wild Hunt/ Furious Host legend is that of the human being interacting with the hunt in some way. Involvement with the host of the dead can often be dangerous or fatal. In the Zimmerische Chronik, one man bandages a ghost and becomes ill, another man answers the hunt with the same result. In Pomerania and Westfalia, the Hunt chases travellers to death. M. Landstad cites a Telemark story of the ”Aasgaardsreid“ leaving a dead man hanging where they had drunken the Yule ale.

Sleipnir at full charge Pic: Orkneyjar

The motif of the living person who is picked up by the horde and carried somewhere else is particularly common in Germany and in Norway. A curious form of this theme which is unique to Norway has people undergoing a sort of involuntary separation from their bodies, which lie as if dead while their souls are faring with the oskorei, as Landstad describes:

“She fell backwards and lay the whole night as if she were dead. It was of no profit to shake her, for the Asgardsreid had made off with her.”

The woman then awakes to tell how she had ridden with the host

“so that fire spurted under horse-hooves” (p. 15).

In Pomerania, doors are closed against the Hunter to keep children from being carried off; in Bohuslän, it was said that

“Oden fares from up in the air and takes creatures and children with him.”

A number of the tales of the Wild Hunt describe the punishment of someone who mocks at the hunt, as in Neuvorpommern, where

“A miller’s boy stood before the mill, when the Wild Hunt went over him. ‘Take me with!’ the youth cried. ‘Half part!’ Wode said, and as he came back, cast a human leg before the mill, crying, ‘Häst du wullt jagen / Kannst ok mit gnagen!’ — If you wanted to hunt, you can also eat. The boy tried to get rid of the leg in all possible ways, but nothing worked” (Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rugen, pp. 7-8).

Variants of this story are repeated a number of times in Northern Germany.

The Helpers of the Hunt are often rewarded

Those who help the Hunter or members of his train, however, are often rewarded with gifts. In the Strassburger Chronicle’s example of the Freiburg woman who bandaged her dead husband, the woman was given

“a great golden head, from which she should drink … the woman held the head in her hand, and nothing happened to her. It was found afterwards, that the golden head was good, and had been no betrayal. The devil had certainly stolen it somewhere.”

Those who hold the hounds of the Danish Wolmar are given apparently worthless trifles which later turn into gold. In the North German stories, similarly, the foam which a hound-holder wipes from the Hunter’s horse turns into gold pieces (Jahn, p. 12), and a man of Boeck who fixed Frau Gauden’s carriage wheels was given the dung of her hounds, which afterwards became gold (Grimm, III, p. 926). A combination of both themes appears in another North German tale in Jahn’s collection, where the man who calls to the Hunt is given a horse-leg with the words,

“There have you also something for your hunting,”

but the next day the horse-leg has become gold (p. 30).

Odin’s Hunt in Sweden Pic: Wiki

While it takes a foolhardy person to interfere with the Hunt, only the courageous survive when the Hunt accosts them. In “Local Traditions of the Quantocks” (Folklore XIX, 1908, p. 42), C.W. Whistler reports that a man “dared to cross the path in the dark, and was overtaken by the Wild Hunt as it passed overhead. And when he looked up, there was the devil himself following the hounds and riding on a great pig. What was worse, the devil pulled up and spoke to him. ‘Good fellow,’ he called, ‘how ambles my sow?’ The man was most terrible feared, but he knew that he must make some answer, so he replied, ‘Eh, by the Lord, her ambles well enough!’ And that saved him, for the devil could not abide the name of the Lord, so that he and his dogs vanished in a flash of fire!”

Another well-known Mecklenburg legend has Wod engaging in a tug-o-war with a peasant whom he meets on the way, but the man is clever enough to tie the chain to an oak, so that Wod cannot pull him up into the air.

“‘Well pulled!’ said the hunter, ‘many’s the man I’ve made mine, you are the first that ever held out against me, you shall have your reward.’” The peasant is then given some blood and a hindquarter from Wod’s stag, which have turned into gold and silver by the time he has reached his cottage.

The Hunt as Natural Phenomena

While these tales show the Hunt as Märchen, attempts have also been made to interpret the legends as based on natural phenomena. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Wild Hunt/Furious Host was often compared to the stormwinds of winter. A more plausible explanation was offered by the Danish scholar H. F. Feilberg: in “Hvorledes Opstar Sagn i Vore Dage”  he describes how, one evening near Odense, he heard a great rustling and hound-barking in the air over his head, and how he thought at once of the Odinsjaeger, but

Wild Geese Pic: Beardy Git

“Next day I asked the teacher of natural history at Latin school which migratory birds it was that I had heard.”

Hylten-Cavallius cites the Wärend expressions,

“that is Oden’s hunt, those are Oden’s hounds that can be heard in the air”

for the passing of the wild geese, and in eastern Hinterpommern, the Wild Hunt comes in the spring and fall, when the migratory birds come and go. It cannot be denied that the eerie barking voices and rustling of a flock of geese passing overhead is very likely to have contributed to the longevity of the belief in the Wild Hunt; however, it does not explain the legend. Wild geese, after all, do not visit the northern countries around Yuletime, when the Wild Hunt most often rides.

Further, Iceland is a favorite stopping place of many sorts of migratory birds: if the legends of the Wild Hunt were heavily based on flocks of geese, one might have expected them to have survived better there than anywhere else. However, Iceland lacks hound-and-horse hunting, and also lacks the sort of social stratification which may have contributed strongly to the development of the Furious Host into the Wild Hunt elsewhere.

The Wild Hunt as Ancient Folk Ritual

Otto Höfler, in his Verwandlungskulte, Volkssagen, und Mythen, has strongly put forth the idea that many of the medieval records of the Wild Hunt/Furious Host were actually descriptions of a ritual folk-procession. The fact that the host appears by both day and night, coming into the city streets as well as terrifying lonely travellers in the dark wood, may support this theory, as does Vulpius’ 16th-century description of the Nürnberg Fastnacht train as

“the wild host, very strange figures, horned, beaked, tailed … roaring and shouting … behind, on a black, wild steed, Frau Holda, the Wild Huntress, blowing into the hunting horn, swinging the cracking whip, her head-hair shaking about wildly like a true wonder-outrage.”

Vulpius also calls this procession “das wuthende Heer” (Meissen, p. 124). Similar living trains appear in the Tirol, such as the Perchtenlauf described by J.V. v. Zingerle in 1857:

The Perchten Pic: The Race

The Perchtenlauf was earlier usual on the last Fasching-evening. It was a kind of masked procession. The masked ones were called Perchten. They were divided into beautiful and ugly…. The beautiful Perchten often distributed gifts. So went it loudly and joyfully, if the wild Perchte herself did not come among them.

If this spirit mixed among them, the game was dangerous. One could recognize the presence of the wild Perchte when the Perchten raged all wild and furious and sprang over the well-stock. In this case the Perchten ran swiftly away from each other in fear and tried to reach the nearest, best house. For as soon as one was under a roof, the Wild One could not have them any longer. Otherwise she would tear apart anyone, who she could get possession of. Even today, one can see places where the Perchten torn apart by the wild Perchten lie buried.

This idea of a Yule/masking game becoming terrifyingly real also appears in a Danish folk-tale, where a young woman dances with the Yule-buck, which then comes to life as the Devil himself and batters her to death against the barn walls. Christine N.F. Eike, in her article

“Oskoreia og ekstaseriter” extends Höfler’s investigation to the Norwegian materials, concluding that there may well be an original relationship between the living bands of young men that travel about during the Yule season riding horses, drinking beer, and so forth, and the tales about the bands of the dead who do the same.

The Consistency of the Legends

Overall, the legends of the “Furious Host” or “Wild Hunt” seem to have maintained a remarkable degree of consistency through their wide range of time and space a consistency which can, perhaps, be best explained by the essential reality of the underlying belief to those who held it, from the heathen period through the time of our own grandparents. So when you go out into the night this wintertime, listen carefully for the barking of dogs and the cry “Midden in dem Weg!” Do not mock at the horde that sweeps past, but be ready to carry home whatever Woden or Holda should give you, for the lowliest of gifts from the Hunt’s leader may be found to turn to true gold like the very folk-stories themselves, whose quaint dialects and humble words cloak the gold of our forebears’ souls.

Book-Hoard

Brunk, August. “Der wilde Jager im Glauben des pommerschen Volkes”, Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde XIII, 1903, pp. 179-192.

Celander, Hilding. “Oskoreien ok besläkade forestall-ningar I äldre och nyare nordisk tradition”, Saga och sed 1942, pp. 71-175.

Elke, Christine N.F. “Oskoreia og ekstaseriter”, Norveg 23, 1980, pp. 277-309

Feilberg, H.F. “Hvorledes opstar Sagn I vore Dagar?”, Dania II, 1892-4, pp. 81-126. Feilberg, H.F. Jul (2nd ed, 2 vols).

This article copyright 1992 by Kveldulf Hagen Gundarsson.
Web version copyright 1997 by Kveldulf Hagen Gundarsson and Mountain Thunder.

Source

Pic: Rick Leche

Astronomy magazine has a website that tells us that on Friday night, January 29/30, if you think the Moon is shining down on you with a special brilliance, you’re right. That’s because it’s the nearest Full Moon of 2010.

At closest, our natural satellite will lie roughly 221,600 miles (356,630 kilometers) from Earth. Compare that to the Moon’s average distance of 238,855 miles (384,800 km) from Earth. This distance difference translates into a late-January Full Moon whose area is nearly 12 percent larger than average.

Astronomically, there’s nothing special about Friday night’s Moon,

said Astronomy Contributing Editor Raymond Shubinski.

But it does help teach that the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, not circular. Sometimes it’s closer to Earth, and at other times it’s farther away.

Along with the year’s biggest Full Moon, a special treat awaits skywatchers. In the early evening look for Mars less than 7° north-northeast of the Moon. You won’t have any trouble spotting Mars. The Red Planet will glow with an intense orange-white light, and only Sirius, the brightest of all the nighttime stars, will outshine it. But Sirius is blue-white and lies one-quarter of the way across the sky to the southwest.

Read the full article and find out more about the magazine at astronomy.com

Pic: Arcana XV

As you know, we are preparing to enter the realms of Welsh Mythology for our next set of shows. Welsh myth, specifically the Mabinogion, contains the stories that are possibly the origins of the Arthurian mythos. One of the ways in which to experience a mythology is to immerse yourself in its images and archetypes and there is no better way than with a set of Tarot cards. John & Caitlin Matthews, along with Miranda Gray designed and released this wonderful set of cards back in 1991. Now is a good time to have another look at them.

Hallowquest

The sacred quest for the Grail is central to the Arthurian story. Its parallels in earlier mythology (the quest for the Dagda’s Harp, the Golden Fleece etc.) are obvious and the theme continued throughout the ages finding reflection in Alchemy as the search for the Philosopher’s Stone, and even into modern times with the Great Work of Thelemic magic and the Adept studies of the Golden Dawn. The Quest is central to the growth of the human soul and the stages of the journey and the helpers that can be found along the way are brilliantly highlighted within the tales by this superb deck of cards.

The Aeclectic Review

Interestingly, the superb illustration of the Grail and its nine maidens brings to mind the guardians of Brigid’s Fire in early Erin. I wonder whether there are any parallels between what is essentially an archetpyal water symbol and an equally archetypal fire symbol? Fascinating! Anyway, the wonderful Tarot review site, Aeclectic Tarot, has a superb review of the deck by Cory Underwood which you can find on their website. This Australian website is possibly the best place to find images of Tarot decks to compare. Some of the highlights of the review are below.

Pic: Arcana XV

Since the deck was designed around the King Arthur Theme, as well as his court, a fairly large number of cards have been renamed. First, the Matthews renamed the major and minor arcane to the Greater and Lesser powers. They then changed the suits to better reflect the Celtic tradition during that time period. The suits they selected are: Spears (wands), Swords, Stones (disks), and Grails (cups).

I found the artwork on the Majors amazing; they really brought life to some of the people from the legends. I was particularly pleased with the Lady of the Lake. I admit a few of the choices confused me, but the book helped drastically with the understanding of the cards.

The book itself was very well written, I thought. Section One contained a nice introduction to the deck, a listing of the renamed cards and court orders, as well as a seasonal, traditional tarot, and color association for each of the suits.

Section Two goes on to provide a full listing for the Greater and Lesser powers. In this section each card entry contains a description of the picture, the background (and any history associated with it), and divinatory meanings. Majors also contain Archetypical meanings. Divinatory meanings are for the upright cards only, the authors want people to create their own reversal meanings.

Second Three describes how to read the cards, providing decent information on the differences between Greater and Lesser Powers, the importance of numbers, what the court cards stand for, as well as a section for Significators and how to gauge time with cards from the deck during spreads. The section concludes with some nice words about rading in person for people and things to consider and some suggestions on how to conduct a reading.

Section Four has some sample spreads with a sample reading using each one. The only drawback I found on this chapter was the sample readings do not always use all the cards. Contained within however, we get a spread which is more or less an alternate version of the Celtic Cross, a “Mirror” Spread which helps you see how you are seen both by yourself and others, as well as a few other spreads. One which may be of note to people is the Excalibur spread which deals with lessons from previous lives.

Section Five is the final section which is a quick reference to everything talked about in Section two without all the background and history for each card. [Source]

It is well worth reading the full review and the deck can still be bought on Amazon (and probably many other places as well!) You can find out more about John & Caitlin Matthews on their Hallowquest website.

"Sangreal" Pic: Wiki

Arthur Rackham was born in 1867 into a Victorian age that he perpetuated and documented by way of his art. He was one of twelve children. He studied at the City of London School where he won prizes and a reputation for his art. At the age of 18, he became a clerk. It was, after all, a Dickensian world as well, where clerks played a significant role in both fiction and real life. He clerked and in his spare time studied at the Lambeth School of Art. He made occasional sales to the illustrated magazines of the day like Scraps and Chums. In 1891 and 1892, he had a close association with the Pall Mall Budget as one of this weekly’s main illustrative reporters.

Most obvious, in retrospective, is the calm and good humor of the drawings. They seem imbued with a gentle joy that must have been reassuring to both the children and their parents. Rackham had found his niche. His drawings would convey a non-threatening yet fearful thrill and a beauty that was in no way overtly sexy or lewd. It was a perfect Victorian solution and he seems to have taken to it with an impish delight.

Through the teens and twenties he continued to create wonderful images and books. Many of vellum-bound limited editions of the era are from Rackham. Many of his books were revised and re-released. There was even a Peter Pan portfolio. It seems like every classic was fair game for him. Through 1940 he did versions of Aesop’s Fables, Mother Goose, A Christmas Carol, The Romance of King Arthur, English Fairy Tales, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Irish Fairy Tales, A Fairy Book, The Allies Fairy Book, Comus, A Wonder Book, The Tempest, The Vicar of Wakefield, The Chimes, The Night Before Christmas, The Compleat Angler, The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, The King of the Golden River, Goblin Market, The Pied Piper, Peer Gynt, The Wind in the Willows and more. Note how many of these same titles were also issued with illustrations by Edmund Dulac. [Source]

Rackham and Mythology

Although most famous for his work on Norse, Wagnerian myth and the Rheingold, he also illustrated many of the myths of Celtic lands. Illustrtating works like English Fairy Tales and Irish Fairy Tales. The latter link contains the text of the book but sadly not the Rackham illustrations. As the book contains the story of Tuan the Immortal which we covered in Episode 16, we still haven’t seen these images and cannot show any of them to you! His Arthurian imagery, as seen above and in the book The Romance of King Arthur is haunting and beautiful.

"Norns Weaving" Pic: Wiki

Last minute update: I have just found an incredible collection of Rackham art, including the illustrations from Irish Fairy Tales! Pop over to ArtPassions.net and see them! 

Rackham’s Fairies, Elves and Goblins 

"Fairies never say, "We feel happy"; what they say is, "We feel dancey." " Pic: Wiki

From our point of view, his illustrations of the Fey are the key-note of his life and work. Moving away from the cutesy images of Fairies with gossamer wings and fairy-dust, his images are often full of tricksters, ethereal fey and dark trees. He captures the wild beauty of the fey, as seen in the ‘dancey’ image to the left. The best example of his Fey art can be found in the book, Rackham’s Fairies, Elves and Goblins [Amazon] about which we learn: The great Victorian illustrator is at his most radiant in this beguiling collection of otherworldly illustrations from magazines, periodicals, and novels such as Milton’s Comus and Hawthorne’s Wonder Book. Rackham’s unmistakable artistry and style bring life to a phantasmagoric parade of more than 80 creatures from both dreams and nightmares.

Most recently, we learn (from Wiki) that Rackham’s work influenced the creation of the Faun in the disturbing modern fairy/horror tale, Pan’s Labyrinth. To finish off, let’s have a look at some of his most characteristic Fey work!

"Often Mischief You" Pic: Art Passions

Elderberry chatting with a quince Pic: Artsy Craftsy

Arthur Rackham died of cancer in his home on September 6, 1939. The most distinctive qualities of his illustrations was the way in which he told the story through his illustrations. His eye for detail and gift of imagination and creativity, which are characteristic of his illustrations, were an influence of the sixteenth century German artists Albrecht Durer and Albrecht Altdorfer. The illustrator left behind a legacy of over 60 illustrated books including the works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickins, James Barrie and Lewis Carroll. He is known and beloved internationally for his work in Classic fiction and Children’s literature. [Source]

Sources listed:

Wikipedia
The Illustrator’s Project
Sur La Lune Fairy Tales
Amazon
Project Gutenberg
Art Passions

Pic:  Blodeuwedd -Christopher Williams (1873-1934)

The theme of shapeshifting is found in Celtic myth regardless of the specific country one invesigates. Thoughout my studies of Celtic lore I have found that there were very specific reasons or circumstances for shapeshifting. The theme of shapeshifting is found in Celtic myth regardless of the specific country one invesigates. Thoughout my studies of Celtic lore I have found that there were very specific reasons or circumstances for shapeshifting. These reasons fall into at least four different categories, they are punishment, survival, protection or as a means to facilitate rebirth. Sometimes a story will fall into more than one of these categories, such as the Welsh story of Llew Llaw Gyffes.

Shapeshifting for Survival and Rebirth

In the Welsh story of Taliesin, who as Gwion Bach, transforms himself into various animal shapes to escape the wrath of the goddess Ceridwen. Gwion transforms himself into a hare, a fish, a bird and finally a grain of wheat. Ceridwen in an attempt to catch him also transforms herself. She becomes a greyhound, an otter, a falcon and a hen. It is as a hen that she finally catches Gwion, who is at this stage a grain of wheat, she swallows Gwion and by so doing becomes pregnant and eventually gives birth to Taliesin.

The story of Taliesin has many similarities with the Irish story of Tuan mac Cairill. Tuan is the great-granson of Partholon who was the leader of one of the five invading races of Ireland. Tuan is the lone survivor of this race and lives out many lives on the island as a stag, a boar, a hawk and finally as a salmon. It is as a salmon that he is caught by a fisherman and served to the wife of Cairill. The lady becomes pregnant and gives birth to Tuan. The similarity of these two myths strikes home when we understand that both Tuan and Taliesin had full memories of their previous lives as humans. In both cases, their second lives as a human were both brought about by a woman eating them and becoming pregnant. This theme too echoes throughout Celtic myth.

There is a common misconception concerning these two myths which I wish to clarify. One may think that these two stories relate to reincarnation. That is not accurate, in both instances the main characters maintain their identities in every form. John and Caitlin Matthews have provided us with some insight into the Celtic view of stories of this type. They quote Cormac’s Glossary which gives an definition of transmigration, which in the Gaelic is tuirgin. "a birth that passes from every nature into another… a transitory birth which has traversed all nature from Adam and goes through every wonderful time down to the world’s doom." The Matthews’ go on to explain that these "transitory births" often traverse the realms of animals while the subjects retain their original memories and intelligence. But not only do they retain their original memories, they also retain the knowledge and experiences of their lives as animals. Therefore, it could be said that the act of transformation granted them knowledge they wouldn’t otherwise be able to attain.

Sometimes, the shapeshifter undergoes the change in order to survive some great disaster. And this sometimes goes hand in hand with the rebirth senario, but not always.

We can look at the story of Llew for an example of transformation following a personal disaster. After Blodeuwedd and her lover attempt to kill Llew, he is transformed into the shape of an eagle. Gwydion find him perched on a tree, decomposing flesh falling from him, which is eaten by a sow. Gwydion then uses his Druidic wand to transform Llew back to his human shape. As a punishment for her treacherous ways, Gwydion transforms Blodeuwedd into an owl.

There are many more instances of rebirth and survival in the manner described above. In fact, Celtic myth is full of them, but I haven’t the space to address them all. The Celts believed that everything was possessed of a spirit and great care was taken by Celtic women not to partake of certain foods or plants for the fear of becoming pregnant.

Transformation as Punishment

As with Blodeuwedd’s transformation into an owl, a person could be transformed to inflict some sort of punishment for transgressions, real or percieved. Ossian’s mother was one such person. She was transformed into the shape of a deer by the Druid Fer Doirche. In this story, she is turned into a doe while pregnant with him. He is born of her while she is in deer form and retained throughout life a patch of "fawn’s hair" on his forehead where she licked him. Ossian becomes a member of the Fianna and later comes face to face with his mother while out hunting. She is able to show him her true form and thus prevent Ossian from shooting her. Ossian then warns to to flee, for the Fianna would not show her the same mercy.

The children of Lir were transformed into the shapes of swans by their step mother Aoife because she was jealous of Lir’s love for them. The children were doomed to remain in this shape for many years until finally they resumed thier human shapes and died old and tired.

The Welsh story of Math ap Mathonwy we find another example of transformation used as a punishment. Gwydion and his brother Gilfaethwy create problems for Math when they start a war with Pryderi, King of Annwn. This war is all to draw Math away from his royal foot holder Goewin. Gwydion kills Pryderi and Gilfaethwy rapes Goewin. Math in a rage over these transgressions changes Gilfaethwy and Gwydion into deer. Gwydion a stag and Gilfaethwy a doe. In these bodies they are forced to live as mates until death at which time they are again transformed, this time Gwydion becomes a sow and Gilfaethwy a boar. Again, they live life as mates and produce many off spring. After the "incarnation" as pigs they live again as wolves. Gwydion the he-wolf and Gilfaethwy as the she-wolf.

Shapeshifting for Protection

The father of Lugh, Cian mac Cainte encounters his sons enemies. Since Cian was outnumbered he strikes himself with his wand and changes himself into a boar. One of Lugh’s enemies, Brian mac Tuirenn, derides his brothers for not being able to distinguish a real boar from a druidical boar. Thus, he strikes his brothers with his wand, changing them into hounds. In this shape they pursue Cian and mortally wound him. Cian then resumes his human shape before he dies. This form of transformation for protection didn’t work, but there are other examples.

There is in Highland Scotland folklore a specific spell used to affect the transformation of an individual. This type of spell is known as fith-fath (fee-faw) and as most Celtic spells was chanted verse. The folklore behind the fith-fath states that it was employed to bring about invisibility by transforming the subject into a different form. Alexander Carmichael informs us that the fith-fath was applied to circumstances where a person needed to walk unseen, which was usually done in the shape of an animal, or when one wished to transform one object into another. Hunters would use this spell when hunting, as it afforded them the luxury of hiding from their prey, and hiding the slain prey from any who would steal it. One can imagine a hunter chanting the fith-fath and taking on the shape of a deer, how better to approach their quary unseen and unsuspected.

Carmichael has provided us with a translated fith-fath spell meant to ensure that the person whom it was chanted over would become invisible to all the animals and beings recited in the verse.

A magic cloud I put on thee,
From dog, from cat,
From cow, from horse,
From man, from woman,
From young man, from maiden,
And from little child.
Till I again return.

The "magic cloud" could easily be a invocation of the powers of the god Manannan, who being the god of the sea had control over the mists and fogs. These mists and fogs were controlled by the god with his magic cloak or mantle. This same mantle was shaken between Fionn and his Fae lover, so that they would forget each other. So, what the chanter of this verse is asking is that the subject be covered by the cloak of Manannan. This same spell could be used to transform the subject into an animal or some other object.

The Matthew’s find a correlation between the fith-fath and the spell known as the lorica in Irish lore. They translate the words fith-fath as "deer’s aspect" and give a similar translation for the Irish feth-faidha. The feth-faidha is another name for the chant known as "St. Patrick’s Breastplate." The breastplate was used by the Irish saint to confuse the soldiers of King Loegaire, thus changing Patrick and his attendants into deer. The breastplate runs thus:

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven,
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightening,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

Conclusion

As I stated above the people who were transformed were able to gain some knowledge from living as animals. Through this experience they were able to better appreciate nature and gained a closer affinity for nature. So we see several instances from Celtic myth where transformation was used as a means of survival or of protection. Taliesin and Tuan both used transformation as a means of survival and to bring about their eventual rebirth. Hunters and even the Irish Saints used transformation to protect themselves or cause them to become invisible.

John Matthews presents a theory which states that some transformations were necessary for an exchange of knowledge between otherworld beings and a seeker or shaman. These transformations required the seeker to confront a threshold guardian or to become that guardian themselves. In a later essay I will address this theory in greater detail.

References

The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom by Caitlin and John Matthews
The Celtic Tradition by Caitlin Matthews
Fire in the Head by Tom Cowan
The Magic arts in Celtic Britian by Lewis Spence
An introduction to Celtic Mythology by David Bellingham
The Druids by P.B. Ellis
The Druids-Magicians of the West by Ward Rutherford

Source

Pic: Wikipedia

The Fair Folk “The fair folk” were most covetous of new-born children and their mothers. Till the mothers were “sained” and churched, and the children were baptized, the most strict watch and ward had to be kept over them to keep them from being stolen. Every seven years they had to pay “the teind to hell,”

and to save them from paying this tribute with one of themselves they were ever on the alert to get hold of human infants.

Sometimes they succeeded in carrying off an unbaptized infant, and for it they left one of their own. The one left by them soon began to “dwine,” and to fret and cry night and day. At times the child has been saved from them as they were carrying it through the dog-hole.

A fisherman had a fine thriving baby. One day what looked like a beggar woman entered the house. She went to the cradle in which the baby was lying, and handled it under pretense of admiring it. From that day the child did nothing but fret and cry and waste away.

This had gone on for some months, when one day a beggar man entered asking alms. As he was getting his alms his eye lighted upon the infant in the cradle. After looking on it for some time he said,

“That’s nae a bairn; that’s an image; the bairn’s been stoun.”

He immediately set to work to bring back the child. He heaped up a large fire on the hearth, and ordered a black hen to be brought to him. When the fire was blazing at its full strength, he took the hen and held her over the fire as near it as possible, so as not to kill her. The bird struggled for a little, then escaped from the man’s grasp, and flew out by the “lum.”(chimney) The child was restored, and throve every day afterwards.

Another. A strong healthy boy in the parish of Tyrie began to “dwine.” The real baby had been stolen. A wise woman gave the means of bringing him back. His clothes were to be taken to a south-running well, washed, laid out to dry beside the well, and most carefully watched. This was done for some time, but no one came to take them away. The next thing to be done was to take the child himself and lay him between two furrows in a cornfield. This was carried out, and the child throve daily afterwards. All this was annoying to the “fair folk,” and rather than submit to such annoyance they restored the child, and took back their own one.

One day a fisherwoman with her baby was left a-bed alone, when in came a little man dressed in green. He proceeded at once to lay hold of the baby. The woman knew at once who the little man was and what he intended to do. She uttered the prayer,

“God be atween you an me.”

Out rushed the fairy in a moment, and the woman and her baby were left without further molestation.

Source: Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland, (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1881), pp. 60-62.