In October 2015, I had a very strange experience at Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward. As I walked the site, I became increasingly dizzy and developed a powerful headache. Half an hour after driving away from the site,… Read More
Last week, I told you the legends of Macha; today we look at the monuments in the Irish landscape she is said to have inspired. EMAIN MACHA, also known by the name of Navan Fort, is real and… Read More
The ancient Irish divided their year into four seasons punctuated by the festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasa and Samhain, according to the equinoxes and solstices. Samhain lies between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It was believed that at Samhain, the veil between the mortal world and the Otherworld was very thin, and that the spirits of the ancestors could cross over and walk amongst the living again.
In Irish mythology, Óengus Óg is famous for his dream. It changed his life. In fact, it almost killed him. It also went on a long time, a whole year in fact. Do you think it is possible for a dream to have such an effect? Perhaps you think you never dream. Nowadays, we believe that dreams are just the manifestations of an over-active mind attempting to process the events and experiences of our waking moments. In ancient times, however, they were seen as far more significant.
I‘ve never really liked Halloween. I never understood why people got excited about dressing up, or visiting the homes of strangers and demanding ‘Trick or Treat’. I never enjoyed the gaudy decorations, or the references to vampires, witches,… Read More
It was raining gently when I woke up this morning and looked out the window. The light was a watery grey, the clouds hugging the ground, what the Irish call a ‘soft morning’. “What are you looking at?”… Read More
