I found a Book Proposal from 13 years ago, that I had agreed to write before life took a different turn for me – a “Who’s Who of Irish Mythology & How to Work with Them”. I may or may not turn it into a book at some stage…?! But for now it may as…
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Brian Ború’s Fort, County Clare
This is Brian Boru’s Fort, Ballyvally, Co. Clare, in the South West of Ireland. The Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) number is CL045-031. For your Sat Nav, the GPS co-ordinates are approximately 52.819486, -8.451598, and it’s in Irish State ownership, so you don’t have to get permission to walk the site. Brian Boru (Old…
Padraig and the Pouca
There was a young man in Clare, a miller’s son, whose name was Padraig. He worked hard for his father, for they hadn’t much, but every day he went to the mill he would have to shout and shuffle the lazy labourers out there to get them to do even a tap of work. One…
First President of Ireland – Douglas Hyde
‘We need not claim that in quantity and quality of achievement he was great as a writer; but we surely can say that he did write well, that he did help others to write greatly – that he did help Irish letters, in all its branches, to be native, continuous, rooted, branching and fruitful.’ Robert…
The Irish National Anthem
National Anthems come about, not because of the suitability of the particular words or notes, but because they are adopted generally by the nation. That is exactly how the “Soldiers’ Song” became a National Anthem in this country. It happened to be the Anthem on the lips of the people when they came into their…
Vinegar Hill
In 1798, the United Irishmen Rebellion – between May and September – led to over 20,000 deaths, and some estimates would place the toll as high as 50,000. The Irish were still suffering under the Penal Laws, a system of rule which was called “a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, as well fitted for…
Abortion in Ireland – Did You Know?
I went down to this little child, because she was a child… I got down on my knees in the aisle, and I asked her was she ok? She said, “No”. She was upset, and she said, she had had an abortion that afternoon in London. Now if you know anything about flying, you don’t…
My First Year with the Morrigan – Guest Post
It began at a hospital bedside in Western North Carolina. Holding my grandmother’s hand as she took her final soft, short breaths. She was surrounded by the people closest to her, being loved and supported as she slipped away into the Otherworld. There was something mesmerizing about that moment. In the days that followed, as…
Winter Solstice Greetings from Ireland
Being Pagan in Ireland is a little different, I think, than being Pagan anywhere else. We’re an odd lot, and we value individual strength, as long as it doesn’t upset the apple cart of family/community tradition, or give the neighbours anything bad to talk about. I’m a… well, I don’t actually have a label that…
An Irish Winter Solstice
The Longest Night. A woman sits by her fire, wrapped in a blanket to keep out the chill, watching the flames in the quiet of a room. Her house is silent around her, family sleeping as she waits. Lights burn through the darkest hours. When the deep blackness begins to lessen, she makes her way…