There is growing awareness of Brighid, who is otherwise known as Brigid, Bríd, Bride, Bridy, Brigit, St. Brigit, not to be confused with a Bridie, which is a Scottish meat pasty! Brigid is of course most associated in Ireland with her Saint's Day, called (as Gaeige) Lá Fhéile Bríde. To Pagans it is more importantly linked to the ancient festival of Imbolc or Oímelc or even Imbolg. This festival falls at approximately the same time as the Christian Saint's day (1 February), but it is a moveable feast, depending on who you talk to. Some prefer to celebrate on the eve (night before) of Brigid's Day, some when the first snowdrops emerge from the ground, others when the very first lamb is born. Others again choose to celebrate based on the sidereal calender, choosing the exact mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. There are a huge number of folk traditions, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, linked to this goddess/saint - various styles of crosses, an Brídeóg (a d

This year's solsitice is on 21st December at approx 3pm, of course the actual time is the same every year by the sidereal calendar, but by our modern Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1585, it changes slightly, every year. In Ireland the most famous Winter Solstice site is of course Newgrange, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex of 3 sites. Newgrange itself is called Sí an Bhrú or its older name of Síd in Broga. The pillar-box light shaft, once filled with 2 quartz stones, famously allows the illumination of the stones in the rear of the passageway, on the solstice. The word in Irish, grianstad, translates as 'sun standing' or rather 'sun standing still', which is because for approximately 3 days the minimal height of the risen sun remains constant, before it starts to slowly ascend again. The latin based word solstice has a similar meaning - 'sun stopped', but of course the sun never actually stops or stands still, it is just an illusion from the perspective of humans standing here on E

Published in Issue 8 of Pagan Ireland (Summer 2023). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues The Ogham stone in Ballycrovane, County Cork is said to be the tallest standing stone in the world. The towering height of over 17 feet with the writing from over two thousand years ago, has gotten into my bones, my energy and spirit. Standing on the stone, immersed in energy coming deep from the earth, I am stirred to a tantalizing new place within me. Some people head to Ireland for the Guinness factory tour. Some head there for the Blarney – the Stone and the craic. Others to find their roots. I ,on the other hand, am here on a completely different tour. After over a dozen trips to Ireland staying with my aunts and uncles, never touring the Guinness factory and steering clear of the Blarney Stone, I am enthralled to learn and experience more of the land and its stony past, its Pagan past. This trip is deeply spiritual while connecting to nature and ourselves – a sou

Published in Issue 7 of Pagan Ireland (Spring 2023). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues To my knowledge a traditional Shaman or Medicine Man comes from a community tribal culture, and is fully immersed in that culture and language since birth. So can a New-Age Shaman that has never been immersed in a Shamanic culture from his birth to death really be considered to be a Shaman? Since they don’t have access to the majority of that tribal culture and are making it up with New-Age research as they go along? Shaman (the word) has a historic/anthroplological use to depict a particular person in a tribe that communed with the spirits and the Otherworld. As such they had training and cultural conditioning to make them who they were. They specifically looked after the wellbeing of their tribe beyond all others, upto and including the destruction of other tribes and individuals. The New-Age Shaman is making it up from their knowledge as they go along. Many of which

So, as you all know, we're coming up to Halloween, which is on the 31st of this month. Now, a lot of people would not know what Halloween is really about or what it's based on. So, I’m going to try to explain that in a short blog post. So Halloween it is basically means All Hallows’ Eve. So it’s the night before uh All Hallow's Day, otherwise called All Saints' Day, which is one of the most holy days in the Roman Catholic calendar and that was carried forward sort of into the Protestant calendar as well in an unofficial way, but its origin is in the Catholic church. Som following on from All Hallow's Day, the following day (2nd November) is All Souls’ Day. So, you have these two holy days put together. And it's no accident where they fall - to coincide with an ancient Irish Pagan festival - because um at this time of year (dates can vary. anything between 20th of October through to the 7th November), you have a much older Pagan festival called Samhain, which originates in pre-Christian

Published in Issue 6 of Pagan Ireland (Winter 2022). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues It was early morning, November 6th 2007. We had spent the night travelling over the Sea from the UK to Ireland. We were starting a new chapter in our lives and were looking forward to what it would bring. We had chosen to move to The Republic as my husband’s father was born there, as were most of his relatives and I had always wanted to learn more about the beauty of the country and its people. As I opened my eyes I saw before me in the distance the most perfect and biggest pair of breasts I had ever seen! The hills were literally in the shape of a woman’s breasts, complete with what appeared to be nipples on top! I rubbed my sleepy eyes and turned to my husband and said, ‘are you seeing what I am seeing?’. Yes, he replied with a smile. As the road snaked around, I could still see her. When I looked closer I could see that the whole mountain range looked like a woman o