#irish legends

[enchantedbook]

Irish Wonders Popular Tales as told by the people by D. R. McAnally, illustrated by H. R. Heaton, 1888

[lackadaisycal-art]

Fionn mac Cumhaill aka Finn McCool

Because who doesn't love a legendary hero with a magic thumb

[ladywhistledone]

two irish icons together

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[juniper-divination-and-witchery]

The new moon in Irish folk traditions

Photo by Lenstravelier on Unsplash

In Irish folk practices, the new moon (gealach úr in Irish) is seen as a time for setting intentions and ensuring your luck until the next new moon. What you do on the night of the new moon sets the tone for that lunar cycle.

Many of these customs are based on what you are doing when you first see the new moon so I feel it’s important to note that the Irish counted the dark moon (when no moon is visible in the sky) as its own phase, and the new moon would have been when the moon first became visible again.

The sources for these practices are all from The School’s Collection and they come from all over Ireland. They were collected by school children in the 1930s, who were tasked with interviewing their parents, grandparents, and neighbors for what folklore and customs they remembered from their childhoods. While these practices often reference Catholicism, they can also give us clues to former Pagan practices.

Growth and good luck

Whatever you are holding when you first see the new moon, you will have more of that by the next new moon (source 1, 2)

Planting at the new moon ensures growth for crops (source 1, 2)

If you have coins in your pocket when you see the new moon, turn them sunwise (east to west) three times to bring you wealth over the coming month, although in some sources it is enough just to hold or shake the coins (source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Or you can turn whatever you have in your pocket and make a wish (source)

Or just make a wish! (source)

It was considered unlucky

To view the new moon, especially for the first time, through a mirror or glass (source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

To view the new moon over your shoulder (source)

Unless it’s your left shoulder (source)

But the right shoulder is definitely unlucky (source 1, 2)

New moons on Saturdays are considered generally unlucky (source 1, 2)

It is unlucky to have the new moon pointed out to you by someone else (source)

Other new moon folklore

If you turn your coat inside out when you see a new moon you will have a new coat before the next new moon. source

When you see the new moon for the 1st time you should bless yourself and turn some of your clothing inside out and you will get a present. source

If you make the sign of the cross when you see the new moon you will never have a toothache. source

There is also tons of weather divination done with the moon in Irish culture. The most common piece of lore about the new moon is that if the new moon appears on its back, it means bad weather (source 1, 2), or sometimes it means a wet month. (source)

Traditional prayer upon seeing the new moon

Almost all new moon prayers start with the following stanza

I see the moon And the moon sees me God bless the moon And God bless me.

it is sometimes extended with

Grace in the kitchen, Grace in the hall. May the grace of God, Be about us all.

or

There's light in the cottage, There's light in the hall. And the glory of God, Is over us all.

(sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

In several sources it is stated that the prayer should be done on the knees, in others kneeling isn’t mentioned.

Learn more

This post just scratching the surface of some of the most popular new moon practices in Ireland. If you're interested in learning more, I can't recommend Duchas.ie enough! The Irish Pagan School is also an amazing resource and has a course all about the moon in Irish traditions.

[gnomidekatria]

This is in no way corvidcore related and St. Patrick's Day is long passed, but I keep thinking of a Luck of the Irish sequel (yes, the 2000's Disney Movie) where Kyle Gallner plays a now grown Kyle Johnson and he finds a bunch of Irish Legends about vampires (called Dearg Due) and discovers they aren't just myths and subsequently has to hunt them, eventually resulting in him asking Seamus McTiernan for help.

Bonus points if they bring back Timothy Omundson as Seamus McTiernan.

[kiwibirb1]

marcys magic thumb sounds so weird without context. it's because she's Fionn okay? I might even do a version of the salmon of knowledge hmmm

[french-teapot]

Tír na nÓg, or on the way to it anyway.

A remake of an old illustration. Can't remember if I posted it here or not.

[death-by-mercury]

[amylouioc]

Irish Mythology Tarot | Death | The Banshee

Buy the full set here

[whowouldwininafite]

[roselynnthornwood]

Artist IG: drea.d.art

Support her on Patreon!

Author IG: roselynnthornwood_author

Support me on Patreon!

[lorrhalore]

🐗 St. Ruadhán and the Wild boar.

(St. Ruadhán's feast day April 15th)

The wild boar is a symbol of the warrior spirit and there are numerous ancient Celtic myths and legends reflecting these attributes. The foundation of Lorrha is based on the representation of the wild boar as a pagan symbol and St. Ruadhán as the founder of Christianity in this area, The Life of Ruadhán reflects this as follows:

'On Ruadhán's arrival at the aforesaid place, a wild boar, fearful of him, abandoned its hallow, for that place in the above-mentioned kingdom of Múscraighe was deserted before holy father Ruadhán founded the great monastery of Lorrha, in which he himself is buried.' Later in the famous 'Cursing of Tara', King Diarmuid counter-attacks the curses of St.Ruadhán with the following references to the boar in his malediction: 'Your much-loved place will be deserted, and swine will turn it over with their snouts' and later again replies 'A fierce wild boar will dig out your coffin with his tooth'. These are symbolic of the intended reversion of Lorrha to it's pre-Christian wilderness and the desecration of St. Ruadhán's shrines.

Source: Pádraig Ó Rain, Four Tipperary Saints (Dublin, 2014) pp 74-5, 81-2.

James Heenan, The Cursing of Tara - Symbolism and Interpretation (The Lamp, 2023) pp 48-53.

Text: Lorrhalore

Picture: A wild boar fleeing on the approach of St. Ruadhán to Lorrha (Image generated by Lorrhalore ©)

[whiskeysmokeandcologne]

What thoughts course behind those gorgeous eyes of yours?

[juniper-divination-and-witchery]

Ogham: An Introduction

What is ogham?

Ogham (pronounced OH-mm) is a writing system that dates from the 4th century CE that was used to write Primitive Irish and is used today as both a writing and magical and divinatory system. Each letter in the Ogham alphabet is called a fid (pronounced fee) and a group of letters is called a feda (pronounced fed-ah).

Stones with ogham inscriptions are found all around Ireland and areas surrounding the Irish Sea.

You may also see it spelled ogham spelled as ogam, which is the Old Irish spelling (the version of Irish that came after Primitive Irish).

The original alphabet has 20 letters and is divided into four groups of five letters called aicme (hear pronuncation). An additional five letters were added to the ogham in the Old Irish period (600CE to 900CE) and these are known as the forfeda and are less commonly used today.

Each letter has many associated lists that may have been used as mnemonic devices as well as bríatharogaim or kennings which are phrases that are associated with each letter which we can date back to the Old Irish period.

As a quick aside: Often when people have heard of ogham it’s through Robert Graves’ The White Goddess and his “Celtic tree calendar” or “Celtic astrology.” Ogham is not a calendar or time-keeping system and has many associations beyond just trees.

What do the ogham letters look like?

The ogham letters are formed by tally marks that come off of a central line. They are generally read from bottom to top when the text is arranged vertically (as it often is on stone inscriptions) or from left to right if it is arranged horizontally. The rightmost line of this images is the forfeda who's characters are more complex than the original alphabet.

Where did ogham come from?

There are 2 main theories on where ogham comes from. The first is that ogham was created by the Irish to be a written language that could not be understood by Latin speakers (primarily for political. religious, and military purposes).

The other mainstream theory is that the ogham was invented by early Irish Christians because the Irish language was difficult to write in the Latin alphabet.

There is also an older theory that ogham was invented by Druids in Gaul which has since been discredited as it has since been shown that ogham was almost certainly created for writing primitive Irish.

What are ogham's mythical origins?

The Book of Invasions and The Scholar’s Primer both have similar stories about the invention of ogham that relate to the Tower of Babel (see this episode of The Constant podcast for more context around this).

In this version of the story, a (fictional) Irish king sends out a group of scholars shortly after the fall of the Tower of Babel to try and reconstruct our previously shared language that the Christian God had destroyed. Those scholars take the best part of each new language that they find and mix them all together and create the Irish language/recreate the original language before the fall of the Tower of Babel and the ogham writing system with each fed being named after one of the scholars who helped reconstruct the language.

However The Scholar's Primer contains a second creation story and it tells us that the god Ogma, a God known for his skills in speech and poetry, invented the ogham to warn the God Lugh that his wife would be stolen away to the Otherworld unless he protected her with birch.

What are ogham's uses today?

Today ogham is primarily used in Pagan circles as a writing and divinatory system. The bríatharogaim and associated lists for each letter are generally used as a guide to the letter’s divinatory meaning. The main reference cited for ogham as a divinatory tool is a brief mention in The Wooing of Etaine but not much information is given on how exactly the ogham was used other than it involving yew wands with the ogham written on them, but reading methods tend to vary from practitioner to practitioner.

Where can I learn more about ogham?

Books

Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie

Ogham: The Secret Language of the Druids by Robert Lee Ellison

Courses

3 Truths About Ogham (Free!)

Primary Sources

The Ogham Tract

[galaxysorceressofficial]

˜*˜Gwyn ap Nudd˜*˜

Gwyn ap Nudd -  In Welsh lore is king of the Tylwyth Teg or "fair folk" "faeries" and ruler of the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. Described as a dark, shadowy hunter riding a noble steed accompanied by his best hound, Dormarth. Gwyn is also connected with Fionn mac Cumhail, possibly are one and the same. Both Gwyn and Finn translate to bright, white, blessed, fair, just, true. Which is an interesting correlation considering Gwyn ap Nudd is known for a darker aesthetic. 

Fear Doirich - Translating to “Dark Man” in Irish lore was a malevolent fairy and servant of the Fairy Queen.

Have you ever experienced waking to a dark, hooded, figure at the edge of your bed? Could this be Fear Doirich or a similar Fairy Queen servant? What is your connection to the faerie world?

 Fairy Queen - The Fairy Queen has many different historical interpretations and therefore it is hard to know for sure if she is one supreme being for eternity or if this position alternates and at different periods of time a new Queen reigns. At times her stories are mystical, magical and beautiful at other times her encounters with humans bring terror and misfortune. The Fairy Queen is still a complete mystery to all. Who is she?