Lora O'Brien – Irish Author & Guide
Your Authentic Connection to Ireland
It was fierce cold for sure out there, away from the light and heat of the feast. Eoghan hated gatekeeping duty, but it was his turn and that was that, so there he sat. Young Fionnuala had slipped him a wineskin full of the best from inside in the kitchens, so it wasn’t as bad…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I observe Samhain from dark moon to dark moon. When I first went ‘public’ with this over 3 years ago, it seemed a novel idea to many folks, and maybe a little bit… extreme or some shit? But it’s always made sense to me, for a few reasons: 31st October as modern Samhain/Halloween doesn’t correlate with…
Samhain Interview with Lora O’Brien First Contact Hi Lora, I hope you’re keeping well. My name is Lisa [xxxxx] and I’m a freelance journalist for the Irish [xxxxx]. I am currently working on a Halloween special for the newspaper and I would like to include a feature on modern Irish women who practice witchcraft. I…
May Bush, May Flowers, May Pole and May Bough are all traditions still to be found scattered through the Irish countryside come Bealtaine, 30th April (May Eve) and 1st May (May Day). You might call it Beltine, Beltane, Beltaine, or any other variation of the word, but in Ireland it’s Bealtaine, as that is still…
I sat on the shore, watching the dance and sparkle of sun on water, and seeing nothing. Nothing dances inside a heavy heart, nothing sparkles through a weary, worn spirit. I was nothing, then. The great sea heaved its rhythm through my head regardless. The pattern of waves inserted into my mind, inciting me to…
No, it’s not ok to pronounce it Sam-Hane… “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole” ? C.G. Jung In Irish (Gaeilge), it’s pronounced Sow-wen, with sow as in female pig. It’s a word that has a huge cultural and…