Happy Beltaine to all my pagan friends! Are y’all having a good day? Mine? Meh. I set up my altar, went to pour my libation…
and saw….rain!
As you know, I’ve said it before, I have an odd way of thinking about the holidays, especially since so many of the traditional 8 Sabbats (or 4, if you follow the Insular Celtic festival calendar which for the laymen here is the four major sabbats–Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain) sort of blur in my neck of the woods. Anyway, the Irish considered May 1st the first day of early summer, or a second spring, and lit bonfires in honor of the strengthening sun. Well, *gasp* here in good ole south Florida, we’re already sweltering. Our summer usual consists of two things: Heat and rain. Thought you could get away from it because it’s only May 1st?
Nope! The gods had other plans. It’s been raining like the dickens the last 24 hours. And I earlier saw a poor little frog hopping across my back yard in search of…well I assume he was in search of shelter, poor thing!
I suppose if one were to believe the Old Wives Tales about rain on wedding days (love being the other theme of Beltaine) this might be a bad sign, but you know, I was married the day after a major deluge in my hometown (and yes, it rained that night too) and hubs and I have been going strong for 20 years. So, rain’s not always a bad thing, just so long as it doesn’t cave in a roof or knock down a tree limb. Or, you know, flood the backyard.
So, to those, my friends, celebrating early summer, blessed be! May you all have a soft, productive spring. Me? I’m going to go hunker down and hope my backyard survives this “flood”!
Okay, maybe required isn’t exactly correct, but it sure recharges the ole batteries sometimes. I’ve been revising the heck out of two books, and writing a third something, (heh. Threes. She does things in threes. Gee…wonder why…) and reading a fourth novel. So I needed a little break from fiction.
I’ve been reading a lot about Druids–well, have been for years but have dipped my toes, or nose, rather, back into the books of late. I’m skimming through the first chapter of The Celts by Nora Chadwick (having enjoyed Imbas Forasnai a while back [thank you, Erynn Laurie Rowan for making it available again!] I thought I’d give it another look…more on that later when I finish it, maybe). Meanwhile, does anyone know of any books like Patricia Monaghan’s Red-Haired Girl from the Bog that I can add to my must read list? I just finished her book and though I’ve read mixed reviews of it, I enjoyed it. The basis of it is that Ms. Monaghan found herself in Ireland one year, chasing her roots, so to speak, and a deep love of the land emerged that had her going back to Ireland, year after year, picking out threads of the ancient Celts stories of the land and the gods/goddesses. She even mentioned some that are near and dear to my heart. *sigh* I, for one, loved it and would like to find more like it. (If I had one criticism of the book, I only wish she’d have included some photographs of the places she mentions in the book. I’d like to have seen what some of the landscapes look like without resorting to Google.) I took a lot of notes. Who knows if I’ll ever use all of them in a story. Never say never though!
Speaking of books, thanks to everyone who bought my books (The Artist’s Inheritance, Caitlin’s Book of Shadows or House of Cards) in the Fantasy sales last month. I hope you enjoy them. And don’t forget to leave a review somewhere if you did. I’m currently about to set about hitting the revisions for the follow up to The Artist’s Inheritance, so hope it can get out by my projected date. Maybe early summer at this point. We’ll see. I’m still working on it, in between the one for TWRP that I mentioned below.
I found a neat story for your weekend; maybe it’s not as strange as usual, but I was just writing something yesterday that referenced the Ancient Irish Epic, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) so this jumped out at me.
If you could recommend just one book to a newcomer, what would it be?
Alright, we all know that’s not very fair. So you can share up to 3 books that you feel all people looking to explore Paganism should read.
That’s… never a good question for a bookworm. Let’s see, if someone came to me asking what books they should read? Well, it would really depend on what they’re path is, I suppose. I started out investigating it, as I always seem to, for a story. I had the story set in Ireland and so from a friend’s recommendation I picked up anything I could by Scott Cunningham. Particularly for solitary practitioners, any book by Scott Cunningham is recommended, such as Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner.
For you writers, believe it or not, I’ve referenced these for stories, on occasion.
Also, though I find her a bit too political for my tastes, Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance is a good beginning book covering the more feminist aspects of Wicca.
From there you might move on to books on whatever god you happen to be most drawn to or go more in depth on the wheel of the year, or aromatherapy or herbalism, or what have you. The possibilities are endless. So, yeah. One book? Nigh impossible!
Brighid, Goddess of the bards, Goddess of the Hearth.
From the lore, we know Brighid is one of the foremost goddesses of the Tuatha dé Dannan. Variously known as Brigid, Brighid, Brigantia, Bride, Brigandu, and by a myriad other spellings, She tends the fires of the Smithy, burned by those fires, She is yet beautiful.(1) She lends inspiration to the bards and poets, and heals the sick; cries for the dead and dying; sustains the family hearth fires. She has been greeted year after year, on February 1st-2nd*, the Usher to the springtides, all the life that springs forth with its return.
The Great Goddess of the Celts, She leant her name, even to several of their tribes, and it seems, to the Island of Great Britain itself. She was even revered by the Romans, as another form of Minerva.*
*I wrote that seven years ago on my first website. That’s all true of her but you know, I love her for more than that.
Yes, simply put, I love Brighid. When I first started studying paganism, lo many years ago, she was the first I found–or rather she found me. I was in school at the time, and naturally needed all the help I could get in the test department. I was also writing myself into Carpal Tunnel. Writing every minute I could, even when I was supposed to be taking notes. Out of that came many, many attempts at novels, but that’s a different story.
I picked up …gosh I don’t even remember now. I picked up a book of goddesses and found her correspondences. She was the Queen of the Tuatha dé Dannan, the Irish goddess of hearth, of blacksmiths and most importantly, bards. Bards=storytellers/writers in the ancient world, and so I couldn’t resist. Thus, come the next full moon, began my devotion to her.
To say my creativity went off the charts is an understatement. *shows overflowing box of computer disks* And believe me, when I need it, when I’m slacking, she thumps me and back I go to the pens. I guess it’s paid off.
I’m not saying they were very good stories, but I was writing and I was happy. Something, whatever it was, she lit a fire under me (see what I did there?) and it’s been glowing ever since. She even (sorta side-like) worked her way into one of my novels (*ssh* You’ll see it some day!). I wanted to release it on her day, but…oh, well. Not this year. Well, to be honest, I have several characters in several novels named after her, and she always seems to turn up somewhere.
I have a little book on a charm bracelet that reminds me of her and triskele that I sometimes wear for her. I collect those sorts of things whenever I can. (Should I mention the ground bees that populate my backyard every spring? No…. she’s not keeping an eye on me, no…:) Though I’m not exactly the domestic goddess she is, she keeps me mindful not to walk out on a burning stove (or not to walk out for long).
However, her fire burns more in my pen (and keyboard) and heart than anywhere else, and I was lucky enough to be born in Her month (if not exactly on Her day) so I think it was fated love. Or the romantic in me likes to think so.
I’ve been dedicated to her for years. She’s the hearth mother of my stories, and she happily has her place in my “Family”. As to the early spring thing, I can totally deal with that. The area I’m in, spring “springs” before the actual date of spring…
(Say that three times fast!) Sad sufferers you can begin looking forward to shedding those winter blues. They’re almost over!
Since today is Imbolc, my beloved Brighid’s day, I couldn’t resist saying something about her, here.
Would you like to read a bit more about The goddess Brighid? Try:
And just for the crafty ones among my readers, I found this how-to on a beautiful Candle wreath for Imbolc.
* This article says the official date/time of Imbolc this year is February 3, at 10:57 AM
(RE: Pagan Blog Prompts)
Okay, well, I tried to think of what to write for this week’s prompt and I just couldn’t. The prompt picker’s suggestion to write about black magick seemed too outdated, irrelevant and honestly quite inflammatory. I mean, aren’t we, as modern pagans, always trying to get away from the stereotype that we practice such?
Except for maybe fodder for a good fictional bad guy, it’s not for me and not a topic I care to waste any time on. And that’s all I’m going to write about that silly subject. I’d rather write about my beloved, Bright Lady, Brighid )
Bright blessings to all who take the time to read this! Oh, and … All hail Brighid!
So, rain’s not always a bad thing, just so long as it doesn’t cave in a roof or knock down a tree limb. Or, you know, flood the backyard.
