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Ancient Ireland: Culture and Society

Ancient Ireland: Culture and Society

I’m going to do something different today. I’ve reviewed books and websites before but this is the first time I review a study course.

The course is on the website Udemy The course is called Ancient Ireland: Culture and Society by Kevin Flanagan. Kevin Flanagan owns the website The Brehon Law Academy. The course is self-paced so you can take it in your own time.

I’m going to start with what I…

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Foundations of the Gaels

Foundations of the Gaels

Foundation of the Gaels is a course on Udemy given by Tyler Hackworth, historian and storyteller, who has a B.A. in History, a Certificate of Celtic Studies, and a M.A. in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies.

The course is divided into two parts, the first was the ancient Celts and the second was the Celts in the Classical World. All in all there was 13 small lectures, 4 – 7 minutes long, an…

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Celtic From the West 3

Celtic From the West 3

Full Title: Celtic From the West 3 – Atlantic Europe in the Metal Ages: Questions of Shared Language

Editors: John T. Koch and Barry Cunliffe in collaboration with Kerri Cleary and Catriona D. Gibson

Published: 2016

Publisher: Oxbow Books, Oxford

Pages: 539 including Index

Synopsis: The Celtic languages and groups called Keltoi (i.e. Celts ) emerge into our written records at the pre-Roman Iron…

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Welsh Folk Customs

Author: Trefor M. Owen

Publisher: Gomer Press

Published: First edition 1959, this edition 1994

ISBN: 0863833470

Pages: 197 including a selected bibliography and index, and 16 black and white plates.

Review:

I bought this book for my research and it was such a delight to read. The text talks about the customs of the Welsh people, both calendrical and social. 

It has five chapters about the…

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The Silver Bough Vol 1

The Silver Bough Vol 1

Full Title: The Silver Bough Volume 1 Scottish Folklore and Folk Belief. (1 of 4)

Author: F. Marian McNeill

Publisher: Canongate Classics

Published: 1956 by William MacLellan, first published by Canongate Classics in 1989

ISBN: 0 86241 231 5

Pages: 242, with the notes starting on page 169

Synopsis: A marvellous and indispensible treasury of Scottish folklore and folk belief from the world of…

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Celtic Cornwall

Full title: Celtic Cornwall: Nation. Tradition. Invention

Author: Alan M. Kent

Photographer: Jan Beare

Publisher: Halsgrove

Published: 23 July 2012

ISBN: 978-0857040787

Pages: 288 with an index of place names and a bibliography

Synopsis: Exploring the sites associated with the Celts, both in ancient and more modern times, this volume provides a fascinating insight into the landscape, life and…

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The Celtic Evil Eye and Related Mythological Motifs in Medieval Ireland

The Celtic Evil Eye and Related Mythological Motifs in Medieval Ireland

Author: Jacqueline Borsje with a contribution from Fergus Kelly (Studies in the History and Anthropology of Religion #2)

Publisher: Peeters

Published: 2012

ISBN: 978-90-429-2641-7

Pages: 387 including 3 Appendices, bibliography and index.

Synopsis: If looks could kill… They can, according to medieval Irish texts – our richest literary inheritance in a Celtic language. The belief in evel, angry or…

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Announcing Air n-Aithesc 3.2

Announcing Air n-Aithesc 3.2

So it is out. Please let us know what you think!

Air n-Aithesc: Air n-Aithesc 3.2 (2016)

Air n-Aithesc 3.2 Lughnasadh/Samhain 2016

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The new issue of @airn-aithesc is out! Which includes my article “There Was Not Found a Man to Withstand Her”…the one I wasn’t going to write until a couple of days before deadline. ~:p

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How to Read a Myth

How to Read a Myth

Title: How to Read a Myth

Series: Phylosophy and Literary Theory

Author: William Marderness

Publisher: Humanity Books

Published: 2009

ISBN: 9781591026402

Pages: 152, including notes, bibliography and Index.

Synopsis: 

Roland Barthes and Mircea Eliade pioneered two contrasting yet equally influential theories of myth. Until now, no one has successfully integrated Barthes’ interpretation of myth as…

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I have posted an excerpt from within my current @airn-aithesc article “The War Goddess’s Bitch” which is looking at the wolf warrior path as a cult to the Morrígan and looking at the female canine shape-shifters and dog-heads.

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Do you know of any significances of the number 2 in relation to The Morrigú?

My initial, very academic thought process:

“There was that one time – no, wait, there were three.  What about – no, fuck, there were three of those, too.  Maybe when she – FUCK.”

I can’t think of much that isn’t related to the number three, but maybe something here will help:

After having sex with the Dagda on the eve before the Second Battle of Maige Tuired  at a place that came to be called the Bed of the Couple (two), she promises to bring two handfuls of blood from the Fomorian king, Indech.

Speaking of, there the First and Second Battles, although while she’s a major player they’re not specifically about her.

Two of her prophecies in particular are famous.

Macha (who may or may not be one of the Morrígna, depending on who you ask, as some believe she’s more of a goddess on her own) may have a second name, Grian.

Conceptually, there’s the yes/no of actions in situations she’s set up, e.g. Cú Chulainn could have said yes to her proposition but said no; on another occasion he said yes to unknowingly healing her three wounds instead of no, etc.  (You could argue that perhaps there’s no real choice to make in these situations when one of the people involved is a poet/prophetess/sorceress, but while she helps bring about certain circumstances, the people involved are still free to make their own choices.  Determinism is a monotheistic question, as far as I’m concerned.  >:| )  There’s the duality of “my kin” versus “everyone else” and what that implies in terms of war and loyalty and protection.  There’s also the yes/no of a king’s decisions: either they’re just and honorable or they’re not, as in The Debility of the Ulstermen.

The Morrígan often appears as a trio, occasionally in other numbers (I’ve seen her in a quartet, idek), and while I’ve never heard of her appearing to anyone as a duo it doesn’t mean she can’t or won’t.

I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.  She’s always existed in a liminal space for me, a kind of neither/nor.  Sorry I can’t be more helpful.  Anyone else?

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Brigid

Name of Series: Pagan Portals

Full Title: Brigid – Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well

Author: Morgan Daimler

Publisher: Moon Books

Published: 2016

ISBN: 978-1-78535-320-8

Pages: 90 pages including 2 appendices, bibliography and endnotes. Text only 74 pages.

Synopsis:

Pagan Portals – Brigidis a basic introduction to the Goddess Brigid focusing on her history and myth…

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Brigid

Name of Series: Pagan Portals

Full Title: Brigid – Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well

Author: Morgan Daimler

Publisher: Moon Books

Published: 2016

ISBN: 978-1-78535-320-8

Pages: 90 pages including 2 appendices, bibliography and endnotes. Text only 74 pages.

Synopsis:

Pagan Portals – Brigidis a basic introduction to the Goddess Brigid focusing on her history and myth…

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Bog Bodies Uncovered

Full Title: Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery

Author: Miranda Aldhouse-Green

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Published: 2015

ISBN: 978-0-500-05182-5

Pages: 223 including appendices, index, notes, bibliography, and coloured plates as well as black and white ones.

   Synopsis: Some 2,000 years ago, certain unfortunate individuals were violently killed and buried not in graves but in…

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I can't believe it is finally out!

An Leabhar Urnai A Book Of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayers

An Leabhar Urnai A Book Of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayers

An Leabhar Urnaí: A Book of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayers

By Air n-Aithesc (Our Message) in Air n-Aithesc Press Books

92 pages, published 3/1/2016

An Leabhar Urnaí: A Book of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayer, was inspired by Ceisiwr Serith’s book A book of Pagan…