Bealtaine.

Bealtaine.

To the Celts, time was circular rather than linear. This is reflected in their commencing each day, and each festival, at dusk rather than dawn, a custom comparable with that of the Jewish Sabbath. Bealtaine is celebrated around 1st May and is sacred to the god Belanus (the shining one). The word derives from Beltinne or Fires of Bel. Bealtaine is a time of fertility when the cattle are set free from their winter quarters and driven between the cleansing fires, a time of feasting, fairs, and mating of livestock.

Foods eaten at the Bealtaine feast may include honey products, mead, fruit, fish, and milk products.

It has been suggested that the sacred fires of Bealtaine were actually a form of sympathetic magic that encouraged the sun to cast its warmth upon the earth.
Bealtaine and its opposite Samhain, divide the year into two seasons, the dark winter and the bright summer and as Samhain honours the dead so Bealtaine as its opposite honours life. The sun reigns over the moon and now begins a time of magic and divination.

Bealtaine is the time when people get up early (at dawn) and gather branches and flowers to decorate their homes. Leaves of the rowan along with primroses and buttercups were hung over the door and placed on the window sills and the colour green would be worn to honour Mother Nature.

The sacred fire would be lit by the druids on the Hill of Uisneach. This had the power to heal and purify and its light would stretch out across the land for all to see. It celebrates the burning away of winter and the return of life to the earth. It was said that cinders and torches would transfer some of the sacred fire to every hearth in the land so that each and every person could share in its power.

There are many superstitions concerning this time and it is the one day of the year when you give nothing away even if a stranger called at your door looking for a light or a bit of butter they would be turned away.

Dependent on which part of the country you were in, the customs were observed, on May Day you should not dig, whitewash, bathe in the sea or take out a boat. At this time the gentry were on the move and no one should upset them. It was also believed that on this day you must not venture out but if you had to go out for some reason then you should carry a piece of iron in your pocket for protection against the faeries (the gentry) if you had no iron then a sprig of rowan would do just as well. People would also leave a gift of food or drink for the faeries on the doorstep or under a hawthorn tree. The first water taken from the well on this day was known to be full of luck and healing but in the wrong hands it could be used for doing harm. It was also believed that a child born on May Day had the gift of second sight but they would only have a short life.

This was also the time of year when tenants had to go up to the big house to pay the half-year rent.

Weather watching was an important pastime and the appearance of the sky, the moon, the strength and direction of the wind, the amount of rainfall were all indications of the coming summer. If it was wet and windy then that was a good sign as it was an omen of good harvests to come. A cold, east wind was a bad sign and frost was an indicator of hard times ahead. Snow was such a bad omen that the farmers expected the landlord to forego the rent for the next half year (fat chance of that).

Family health was important at this time as it was believed that any injury sustained at this time would be very difficult to cure and may be a long time healing. However, this was also considered the best time to gather medicinal herbs and replenishing the medicine chest. Also the first butter made from the milk gathered on May Day would make a powerful ointment.

Bealtaine was a time of unabashed sexuality and promiscuity where marriages of a year and a day could be undertaken but it is rarely observed in that manner in modern times.

In the old Celtic times, young people would spend the entire night in the woods "A-Maying," and then dance around the phallic Maypole the next morning.

Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. There is absolutely no way you would get away with using that as an excuse today so if any of you are thinking about it. Forget it.

Below is an extract from a poem by Kipling that tells of that night.

Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,
Or he would call it a sin;
But - we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth-
Good news for cattle and corn-
Now is the Sun come up from the South,
With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Extract from A Tree Song by Rudyard Kipling.

Top image courtesy of Fine Art America

Imbolc. The Festival of Brigid.

Imbolc. The Festival of Brigid.

In the ancient, agrarian society of the Celts, the heralding of spring was no small thing, having spent months in the frigid cold, often with little food stores left. Imbolc is a word believed to be derived from the Old Irish i mbolg which translates as 'In the belly', referring to the pregnancy of Ewes, an event which coincided with the onset of spring. Initially celebrated on February 1st, the festival of Brigid represented the point in the Celtic year that divided winter in half; where the crone aspect of the cold months recedes heralding the return of the young spring maiden. The festival of Imbolc celebrates the increasing strength of the new God, still within his child form, and a return of the maiden aspect of the Goddess in the form of Brigid.

Spring, the time of year that is full of energy. When the fertility of the land bursts forth. It is full of the promise of renewal and potential, an awakening of the earth and its life force. A return of the light and warmth of the sun and life’s insatiable appetite for rebirth. It is time to let go of the past and to look to the future, a clearing out of the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings. This can be done in numerous ways, from spring cleaning your home to clearing the mind and heart to allow inspiration to enter and a good time for making a dedication to the goddess Brigid. Imbolc is traditionally the great festival and honouring of Brigid (Brighid, Bride, Brigit). She is a Goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft. She is a Goddess of Fire, of the Sun and of the Hearth and is associated with wells and water. She brings fertility to the land and its people and is closely connected to midwives and new-born babies. Fire and purification are an important aspect of this festival.

This is also the time to hang strips of cloth on the branches of a tree, Rowan or Willow if possible but if not then any tree near your house will serve the same purpose. The dew that settles on them overnight will be blessed by the goddess as she passes by and will be imbued with the powers of healing and protection and these powers will last throughout the year. Keep them in a special place in the house and bring them out when needed (when illness occurs). They could be wrapped around the site of pain or injury and in times gone by were used by midwifes to help women in childbirth as Brigid was especially known as being the patron of healers and midwifes. These healing cloths can also be used on sick animals, especially cows and sheep.

Brigid’s Cross is made annually from straw or rushes and hung above the door. In pre-Christian times, it was probably a sun symbol and celebrated the power of the goddess to bring back the light at the Celtic feast of Imbolc. It holds the promise of fertility and abundance.


Some of the symbols attributed to Brigid are:

The Snowdrop. The first gift of Spring in the bleakness of Winter.

The Swan. The swan mates for life and represents loyalty, fidelity and faithfulness. Swan feathers are a powerful amulet.

The Flame. Imbolc is a Fire Festival and fire of all kinds is associated with Brigid – the fire of creativity, the protective hearth fire, and her fire wheel – the Brigid Cross, which heralds her as a Sun Goddess.

Brigid’s Cross. This is a traditional fire wheel symbol – found at the hearths of homes throughout Ireland and beyond as a symbol of protection.

Brigid Doll. A very old tradition involved the making of a Brigid doll which can be included in ceremony and/or placed in ‘Bride’s Bed’ to bring fertility and good fortune to the home.

The Serpent. In Celtic mythology Brigid was associated with an awakening hibernating serpent which emerged from its lair at Imbolc. Traditionally serpents were associated with creativity and inspiration.
Sheep. Brigid’s festival is at the beginning of lambing – eat ewe’s milk cheese!

Herbs of Imbolc:

Blackberry: Sacred to Brigid, the leaves and berries are used to attract prosperity and healing.

Coltsfoot: Coltsfoot or ‘sponnc’ (Gaelic) is an herb associated with Brigid. An herb of Venus, moves emotional and physical stagnation and is used magically to engender love and to bring peace.

Ginger: revitalises and stimulates the ‘fire within’.

Trees of Imbolc:

Rowan: Luis, or the Rowan, is the tree usually assigned to this time of year in the Celtic (Ogham) Tree Alphabet. It has long associations with the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. It is also known as the ‘Quickening Tree’ and is associated with serpents. Traditionally it protects and wards of evil. A sprig of Rowan can be put near the door of your home (we have a whole tree), or a sprig worn for protection. Rowan berries have a tiny five-pointed star on the bottom reminiscent of the pentagram.

Willow: The fourth tree in the Celtic Tree alphabet – S Saille, is also long associated with the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. Willow is the great ‘shape shifter’ of consciousness and emotion and symbolises feminine energy and the lunar cycle. Its branches are flexible – expressing movement and change rather than resistance. It is a tree of enchantment and dreaming, enhancing the confidence to follow one’s intuition, and inspires leaps of imagination.

Stone circles.

Stone Circles, Stone Rows, and Standing Stones are quite evocative in the Irish landscape and still cause people to pause and contemplate their original use and to imagine the rituals which took place at, or in them and to try to imagine the people who performed such ritual. Were they for marriage, a baptism of some sort, funeral rites, or sacrifice? Nothing else in Irish archaeology has this power of connecting the peoples of the past with the people of the present. To stand in the centre of a Bronze Age stone circle on the side of a windswept hill is an extremely moving experience.

There are two distinct types of stone circle in Ireland. In West Cork - Kerry the circles are made up of uneven numbers of stones from five to seventeen and these contain an area of between 8 feet and fifty feet. The entrance faces the north-east and a stone opposite the entrance is called the axial stone. Some of the circles have a boulder burial within them. Boulder burials are very simple in plan and are just what they describe, a burial, usually cremated, with a large boulder marking the spot.

In Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry a group of stone circles are classified as the Mid-Ulster Group. There are some differences between this group and the Cork Kerry group. These differences occur in the spacing between the stones, the size of the stones and the number of stones. The area within the Ulster group is usually smaller than that of thier southern counterparts.

The largest stone circle in Ireland is that of Grange at Lough Gur in County Limerick. This is very accessible and an effort should be made to get to it if you have an interest in how our Bronze Age ancestors conducted their daily lives. It measures 150 feet in diameter and is enclosed by 113 standing stones. The stones are surrounded by and supported by a forty foot wide bank The largest stone is over 13 feet high and is estimated to weigh 40 tons. It was built over 4000 years ago.

By 2000 B.C., stone circles were built in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. A population concerned with birth and fertility, the Irish included movements of the sun in their religious monuments. The circles were temples for a solar religion. In 1159 B.C., there are indications that the weather got much worse and the gods and goddesses of water, in streams and lakes, took on greater importance. Material possessions, animals, and even people were sacrificed, probably to appease these gods.

There is hardly any evidence available to tell us what stone circles were actually used for. Some archaeologists suggest they may have had a ritualistic purpose (this is normal when they don’t have a clue or cannot agree). Some even suggest they may have been royal burial sites and then there are those who suggest sites of sacrifice (seems like an awful lot of trouble when you could just sacrifice using the bogs).

However, as previously mentioned the astrological alignment of the circles cannot be denied. Evidence of cremation have been found in some circles but does this mean sacrifice or could it simply have been someone of high rank who having died was cremated in the circle ?

Archaeologists have suggested that stone circles pre-date the Celts and the druids and therefore were not druidic in their conception. However, although druids celebrated within groves it is quite conceivable that they also used the stone circles for ritual as their understanding of the cosmos was extremely advanced and the positioning of the stones would have been known to them.

It has been said that there is no written evidence concerning the druids, (Julius Caesar) and Christianity saw to that. I would suggest that they were totally biased and inaccurate with an extremely big axe to grind.

There is, however, one legend in Irish literature that seems to connect the druids with a stone circle, and that is contained in an early Life of St. Patrick.

It concerns an event that took place near the modern Ballymagauran in County Cavan in Ireland. Here stood the chief idol of Ireland, Cromm Cruaich, and this was surrounded by a ring of twelve smaller idols; it is described as the scene of druidic worship, and it witnessed a mighty conflict between St. Patrick and the druids. In the end, Patrick threatened the main idol so effectively that it was permanently branded with the mark of his stave.

This sounds very much as though the legend is an attempt to explain the existence of a stone circle with a central standing stone, and it is clear, therefore, that in the ninth century, the probable date of this Life, such remains were connected with the druids. This is, of course, very far from being proof that the druids really did worship at such places, but it shows that it is not altogether an extravagant notion to suppose so. Today we do use stone circles for ritual. However, we also use open spaces, woods, or by the side of water.

The Hill of Ward. Tlachtga.

History of the Hill of Ward

Tlachtga Old irish: "earth spear"--tlacht "earth"; gae "spear".

Tlachtga the Celtic Goddess of Samhain. Goddess of Thunderbolt's and Wisdom.

While on the one hand, the figure of Tlachtga is one of the many tragic heroines of Irish myth (such as Deirdu or Grainne), her name is also used for a geographical location. This location is the Hill of Ward, near Tara.

There are two references to Tlachtga in Irish literature; the first is the banshenchas "the Lore of Women" which sought to act as a sort of condensed guide to the various women of Irish myth. The second source is the dindsenchas "the Lore of Places" which sought to explain the names of various locations in Ireland. In each poem, we are told that Tlachtga is the daughter of Mog Roith, a powerful druid of Munster, and is associated with the son or sons of Simon Magus, often tragically.

Tlachtga means "earth spear" from tlacht "earth" and gae "spear." The hill is the site of a great oenach, the gathering, where the druids would light the bruane Samhna, New Year bonfires on Samhain (this was not at Tara). Now called Ward Hill (or Hill of Ward), it lies 12 miles northwest of Tara. Tlachtga was the point where the druids felt that this world and the otherworld were closest at the New Year; this tradition was later blended with that of Tara, which would then be associated with the holy centre of Ireland. The hill had consisted of a raised enclosure surrounded by four banks and ditches, a series of rings; these were disturbed in 1641(around Cromwell’s time).

Tlachtga is a sun goddess, one of several in Irish mythology (another being Grainne wife of Finn mac Cumhail). The name Mog Roith apparently means "devote of the wheel," and it is assumed that the wheel in question, as well as the wheel that Tlachtga makes, is the sun. This could then mean that the Samhain fires held on her hill were a way of recapturing the sun's light in the New Year, a way of ensuring light against the growing darkness of winter. The "pillar" is thought to represent lightning, and this would then explain the name "earth spear", for lightning was a spear thrown at the earth. She is then also not only goddess of the sun, but of lightning and storms.

The theme of a goddess, who dies in childbirth, giving her name to the land, is also seen in the story of Macha in the Ulster Cycle. In dying and entering the earth, her power then resides in the land.

Tlachtga was a fertility Goddess whose cult was centred on the hill. A later myth speaks of her being a Witch and daughter of the powerful wizard and chief Druid Mug Ruith.

The old legends of Mug Ruith suggest that he was a Sun God). The legend speaks of Tlachtga and Mug Ruith arriving in Italy and putting themselves under the tuition of a powerful wizard called Simon Magnus. The three constructed a flying wheel called the Roth Rámach. They used this machine to sail through the air and demonstrate how great their powers were. Mug Ruith and his daughter soon return to Ireland and brought the flying wheel with them.

We are then told that Simon’s 3 sons rape Tlachtga on the Hill and she died there giving birth to 3 sons. The great earthworks seen on the hill were raised over her grave and a festival was held in her honour. The number 3 is a very significant number for the Celts, suggesting that it represents the past, present and future. Or, it represents the world of the living, the in-between world/ underworld and the spirit world. The number 3 clearly has a female perspective because in many cases the Goddesses are described has having 3 aspects.

The myth of Tlachtga being raped by Simon’s 3 sons is a newer one (a Christian invention).

It has been suggested that the rape and death of the Goddess may represent the suppression of her cult with the taking over of another tribe, suggesting that Mug Ruith’s cult belonged to the invading tribe.

The Hill of Ward, also known as Tlachtga has been overshadowed by its famous neighbour Tara, and has not received the attention it deserves as a place of importance. This was the centre of the Great Fire Festival that signalled the onset of winter. The rituals and ceremonies carried out here by the pre-Christian Irish, offered assurance to the people that the powers of darkness would be overcome, and the powers of light and life would prevail. This was the place where the Celtic Sun God and Fertility Goddess were celebrated at the year’s end.

The memory of Tlachtga remained strong at the site, however, the arrival of new invaders have changed Tlachtga’s original role. She underwent a process of transformation from Fertility Goddess (and Goddess who protected her tribe), into the consort of the Sun God (Mug Ruith). The ceremonies at this site continue and the Samhain Festival has been reinstated.

There is a pre-existing grave here known as a barrow burial, which was a burial known to have taken place throughout the Bronze Age and continued into the Iron Age. The person who is buried at Tlachtga is undoubtedly an important figure. However, without in-depth archaeological digging, no one is certain what’s underneath. It is most likely a Bronze Age burial of a local Chieftain whose prestige was very high at the time of his death (it has been suggested that he may have been a King).