Tlachtga/Hill of Ward

On the first day the group for the Wolves, Witches and Warbands Irish pilgrimage met up, we made a visit to Tlachtga/Hill of Ward, a ring fort and sacred site in Co. Meath. The weather was very cold, wet and grey, very reminiscent of a late fall day, instead of being on the cusp of Bealtaine, or how I pictured it would be at least in Ireland. Which I suppose was suitable, as there are some at least who think that Tlachtga is the birthplace of Samhain bonfires.

Before doing the group ritual, we all had a chance to explore the site a bit, after getting a little introduction by the lovely Gemma McGowan. The story of Tlachtga had a real impact on me, to the point of tears, but it was to the far corner of the field that the site is on that I first felt called to.

While others are priests of deities or the go-betweens on behalf of the Othercrowd, I was the dipshit on the fringe of sites chatting with trees and plants, and listening to what the birds had to say. This ended up being a personal theme for me at each site I was able to visit, giving me the opportunity to connect with various different spirits and beings of those places. At this particular spot it was the humble stinging nettle that had the most to teach me. 

Only until pretty recently Tlachtga has been often overlooked as far as importance goes, but it is growing in popularity. There has been Samhain festivities held there, and a couple years back there was an archaeological dig. 

Some links of interest:

Tlachtga-Hill of Ward {Knowth.com}

Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival by John Gilroy {some parts of the book on New Grange.com}

Excavations at Tlachtga {Facebook page}

The Hill of Ward: A Samhain Site in Co. Meath {JSTOR}

A really beautiful spot. <3

Recently Hoarded Gael Pol Pretties {more artwork by Sean Fitzgerald & Tales of the Taibhsear}

From a series done on Irish witch trials, Alice Kyteler & Petronilla de Meath}

Not too long ago I had gotten some more artwork by Sean Fitzgerald {you can see previous ones that I had gotten here}. If you are into the history, folklore and myths of Ireland, or love really great Celtic knotwork, go check out his online store. He is easily one of my favourite artists, and the photos I took of the prints sent to me do them no justice.

{Another from the Irish witch trials series Florence Goody Newton}

{portrait of a scene of from Irish myth, of Medb}

Currently Sean is working with Amanda Healy on an Irish mythology tarot deck and is also working on a Celtic knotwork book. Go check out his Instagram account to stay up to date on those projects and see what else he is working on. 

Something else that recently came to me in the post was Tales of the Taibhsear, a fantastic chapbook written by Scott Richardson-Read and an equally amazing c.d. accompanying it. A collection of Scottish folk magic, music and tales, this was a must have for me. I also got a lovely print of the cover art too {by Julia Jeffrey}, which hangs on my wall now beside the two witch trial prints from Sean Fitzgerald. 

Scott Richardson-Read is the one behind one of my favourite blogs Cailleach's Herbarium, Amanda Edmiston is a wonderful storyteller, and Debbie Armour who has such a beautiful voice. 

As Samhain Approaches

original photo by Crystal Woroniuk

 

With Samhain & Hallowe'en being just a few days away, this is a good time as any to share some seasonal resources that might be of interest to you folks.

 

Over at the nefaeria blog I did a post a couple of years back about Samhain & Hallowe'en, which covers a bit of the history and lore and I did a post on Ancestral offerings {and of course there is quite a bit about offerings and Ancestor reverence and workings that you can find by looking through "ancestors" and "offerings" tags}.

 

Tairis as usual has a treasure trove of information about the Gaelic history and lore of Samhain, ideas on how to celebrate, turnip carving,  and a wee bit on divination, too.

 

Three Shouts on a Hilltop has a neat post called Necromancy in the Irish Tradition, as well as another great post about working with an Irish deity associated with death.

Over at the Tuacondate website the group has shared two beautiful {Celtic Reconstructionist} ritual outlines that they did in 2009 and 2010 for Samhain.

Should you want more ideas on traditional Irish ways of celebrating Samhain, Hutman Productions shares some, along with instructions on how to make a Parshell, or Samhain Cross.

For some awesome story-telling, check out Story Archaeology's exploration of Samhain in Irish myth and folklore and New World Witchery's podcast episodes of spooky legends from here in North America.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luis the Rowan

This is a part of Ogma's Tale of Trees featuring Luis, or Rowan. You can see the words here, read the rest of the parts here, and watch more videos featuring other trees over at the Celtic Way's Youtube channel.



{I would also like to add that I am just posting this because I enjoy the tale; I really question the whole idea of a "Celtic Tree zodiac" that was used by ancient Druids as some type of astrology. You can read a good critique of this belief here The Fabrication of 'Celtic' Astrology by Peter Berresford Ellis}

Sláinte!

Laurel