Aisa

[lisasterle]

tough week /// tough life

[total-metamorphosis]

This is me every fucking week honestly.

[lifeinpoetry]

If they really saw deep into my eyes they couldn’t handle me / Once they could see the darkest part of me surrounding them / The blackest part of my eyes in front of them, a sun that never sets

Dorothea Lasky, from “The Devil and the Infinite Night,” Black Life (via mythaelogy)

[bloodtears-gold]

‘I am lord of the ocean, the ocean of mind and heart. It is not physical water - it is a metaphor for the depth and the power of my world. You have seen its colors.. royal blue, bright cerulean, deep green, shining gold and white. These are the brilliant colors of the world of the Fair Ones, not muddied by matter.’ - Manannán Mac Lir

[an-tarbh]

Source: If anyone knows who wrote this poem, please let me know so I can give them credit! 

Day 22: A quote, a poem, or piece of writing that you think this deity resonates strongly with.

This is a really beautiful poem that captures (I think) the Morrigan very well. 

[selenemooneffe]

We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.

Andy Goldsworthy (via selenemooneffe)

[hammer-ov-thor]

[nothowtheforceworks]

Goodbye Mr. Rickman, it’s been an honor.

[tarotismyreligion]

*wails*

[adulting-female]

Quick Lunar Phase Correspondences

The Waxing Moon Growth Learning Accomplishments Creativity Healing Positivity

The Waning Moon Release Cleansing Making Space Opening Up Letting Go

The New Moon New Beginnings New Relationships Change Optimism Hope

The Full Moon Wish Fulfillment Spell work Harvest Success Protection Enlightenment

[witchofhounds]

Don’t put random things on my fucking altar - the memoir of an angry pagan.

[honor-loyalty-sovereignty]

Stories of the Morrígan

This list was originally compiled by Morpheus Ravenna in her text, The Book of the Great Queen.  Her site includes downloads of the poems and prophecies of the Morrígan being read aloud in both Old Irish and English.  All credit goes to her and her incredible work, as well as the contributions of the Coru Priesthood.  This is both for my own reference and for those who have an interest in the Morrígna but no idea where to start.

These works are the major texts in which the Morrígan or one of the Morrígna appears, but there are other texts in which she’s mentioned in passing that I haven’t included.  There are many versions of the same stories, so I would highly recommend reading more than just the links I’ve provided.

An Index of Irish Myth

The Mythological Cycle

Cath Muige Tuired Cunga, “The Battle of Mag Tuired of Cong” or “The First Battle of Mag Tuired”

Cath Maige Tuired, “The Second Battle of Mag Tuired“

Lebor Gabála Érenn, “Book of Invasions“

The Ulster Cycle

Tochmare Emire, “The Wooing of Emer”

Tochmare Feirbe, “The Courtship of Ferb”

Echtra Nerai, “The Adventures of Nera”

Táin Bó Regamna, “The Cattle Raid of Regamna”

Táin Bó Cúalnge, “The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge”

Nóinden Ulad, “The Debility of the Ulstermen”

Aided Con Culainn, “The Death of Cú Chulainn”

Brislech Mór Maige Muirtheimne, “The Great Defeat on Muirtheimne Plain”

Togail Bruidne Dá Derga, “The Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel”

Bruidean Dá Chocae, “Dá Choca’s Hostel”

Toruigheacht Gruaidhe Griansholus, “The Pursuit of Gruaidh Griansholus”

The Finn Cycle

Reicne Fothaid Canainne, “The Dirge of Fothad Canainne”

Seilg Síth na Mban Finn, “The Chase of Síd na mBan Finn”

Cath Finntrágha, “The Battle of Ventry”

The Cycle of Kings

Cath Muighe Rath, “The Battle of Mag Rath”

Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaubh, “The War of the Irish with the Foreigners” (full text not found)

Cath Almain, “The Battle of Allen”

Cath Mhuighe Leana, “The Battle of Mag Lena”

Dindschenchas A collection of places whose names reflect that of one of the Morrígna, some of which are attested in the Dindschenchas.

Ailech Néit / Grianán of Ailech

Ard Macha / Armagh

Emain Macha / Navan Fort

Brúg na Bóinne / Newgrange

Slíab Bodbgna / Slieve Bawn

Mag mBreg / Plain of Brega

Berba / River Barrow

Mag Féa / Plain of Féa

Other Texts

Annála na gCeitbre Máistrí, “Annals of the Four Masters”

Banshenchas, “The Lore of Women” (full text not found)

[aisamoon-blog]

my dog is in love with my altar. No kidding, she comes to my room and just lay there facing it, but yestarday she put her whole bed there. It’s so cute. 

[shatterrealm-deactivated2021031]

What I’ve Learned about the Ancient Druids/Celts

Celtic languages are disappearing, and disappearing with them is Celtic culture. In the last 100 years, Celts have become a popular trope in fantasy literature and New Age religion. Our perception of the Celts has suffered so much wishful thinking and poorly reinterpreted history that I have always struggled to find good sources on them. Here’s what I’ve learned in the last few months. If you have better (credible) sources, please add corrections.

The Celts Weren’t Always in the North

They were mercenaries for Sparta and Egypt.

They once occupied Thrace (now Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece).

They founded Galatia (now Turkey).

We get the word Gaelic (referring to people like the Scots) from the Greek word Galatia, which is derived from Gaul, “the territory corresponding to modern France, Belgium, the S Netherlands, Switzerland, N Italy, and Germany W of the Rhine.”

The expanding Roman Empire marginalized them.

Celtic Spirituality and Language Have Roots in Vedic Religion

Like almost all European languages, Celtic languages come from the Indo-European language group, which originated in Mesopotamia and northern India.

Celts and Hindus also had a similar caste system: educated rulers (Brahmin), warriors (Kshatriya), farmers, artisans, or business people (Vaishya), and serfs or slaves (Shudra).

Tree worship exists both in Celtic tradition and in “the agricultural tribes of India,” as “every village was positioned near a sacred grove” (Ellis 40).

The druid-poet Amairgen’s “philosophical outlook … parallels the declaration of Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita” (71), with presuppositions of reincarnation and pantheism. Though the Celtic Otherworld is unique, “the Celts celebrated birth with mourning for the death in the Otherworld, and regarded death with joy for the birth in the Otherworld” (176).

Somewhat like the Kshatriya, some Celts “fought naked because they believed this would release their karma to the fullest potential, enhancing their prowess and, if killed, speeding them to their incarnation in the Otherworld” (28).

Celtic gods were not creators, but venerated ancestors.

Druids May Have Simply Been a High Caste in Celtic Society

Though druids practiced magic and resided over many religious ceremonies, druidism probably wasn’t a religion, but a caste. The fact that Rome tried to suppress the druids implies that they represented the biggest threat to Roman conquest – they were the “intelligentsia,” the educated rulers. Warrior kings deferred to them. Throughout surviving ancient lore, druids fill the roles of doctor, astronomer, poet, and philosopher. Christian scribes were the ones preoccupied with druids as wizards.

Ancient Celts Were Pretty Advanced

They were the first Europeans to use soap. Their farming communities were prosperous, their art sophisticated, and their metalwork advanced. Officials were elected and property was more or less shared.

Unlike doctors in Greece, druid doctors were provided for by the community so that they could offer the same care to everyone. Of all pre-Christian European societies, the ancient Celts seemed to have the best healthcare system, refraining from then-otherwise-widespread euthanasia. They did not tend to view illness as a judgment of the gods, although they did address some illnesses as personal beings (250). Specific druid families passed medical knowledge and medical books down through generations.

Celtic women could be druids or warrior-queens. They owned property, practiced medicine, and had the right to divorce their husbands. Although their society began slipping into patriarchy before the arrival of Christianity, Irish Celts still had many female saints and spiritual mentors long after St. Patrick’s arrival. The cultural values of Christian leaders from Rome eventually put women in a less desirable place.

Truth was highly valued in Celtic philosophy. In fact, Truth was thought to hold magical power. “The Old Irish word for truth is also the basis for linguistic concepts of holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, for religion and, above all, for justice” (169).

It is false that the ancient Celts had no written language. Rather, the druids (educated caste) refrained from writing many things down in order to maintain secrecy and, therefore, political power. After Irish druids were displaced by Christian rulers, tiny little Ireland produced so many books that it made up one third of the literature in Europe.

The Celts Have Endured Some Garbage

They were slandered and suppressed by Roman invaders, and they were often slandered or misunderstood by Greek and Roman historians.

In England, invading Germanic, Danish, and Norman tribes marginalized Celtic tribes to such a degree that they no longer exist. Invading Germanics also displaced the Celts in what is now France.

Although Ireland converted to Christianity without any wars or martyrs, St. Patrick still saw to it that hundreds of druidic manuscripts were destroyed. We have no idea what they said.

Even after the Celts converted to Christianity, other so-called Christian kingdoms rounded them up to use them as slaves (see St. Patrick’s angry Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus).

This was still happening in the 16th century, when Oliver Cromwell’s “conquest of Ireland had wiped out just over one third of the population” and the rest were “shipped off to the New World, particularly Barbados, as indentured labourers…" Slaves cost money, but “Irish ‘indentured servants’ were supplied free by the government, and there was a tendency to work such ‘servants’ to death. They could always be replaced…” (Ellis 254).

Today, of the tens of millions inhabiting formerly Celtic regions, only about two million people still speak a Celtic language. Historian Peter Berresford Ellis states, “Language is the highest form of cultural expression. The decline of the Celtic languages has been the result of a carefully established policy of brutal persecution and suppression,” and their inevitable disappearance “will be as the result of centuries of a careful policy of ethnocide” (280).

Neo-druidism

During the Enlightenment, druids became a fad, and were excessively romanticized. The “Ancient” Order of Druids was actually established in 1781, an offshoot of Freemasonry.

“…By the end of the first World War (1918) there were five different sects of Druids vying to perform their ‘sacred rites’” at Stonehenge (274). Times being what they were, these tourists did a lot of damage to the site.

Breton Neven Henaff, le Grand Druide, “tried to organize a community who would live by a set of principles which he saw as Druidic” (276). Because he actually studied Celtic sources, his Neo-druidism is probably most similar to the original religion, but he also brought a lot of his own ideas into it.

During the philosophical upheaval of the 1960s, the New Age movement incorporated a lot of the fanciful and speculative ideas that were a fad during the Enlightenment and had no basis in history.

SOURCES:

Etymonline.com Confessio.ie Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis The Oxford Encyclopedia of the English Language

[aisamoon-blog]

My boyfriend gave me this cool necklace and I think I will be using this as a pendulum to comunicate whith the morrigan and divination in general, I hope it works though.

[everything-wiccan]

A Little Witchy Guide of Candle Magick

I’ve gotten a few questions about candles and candle magick here and there, so I figured I’d make another Little Witchy Guide! If I have left anything out, please let me know! :) I really hope this helps you and please feel free to ask me any questions of any kind! :D

Candle magic is an ancient art and it is the most widely used magic practiced today. The candle itself is a very powerful magical tool it contains all the basic elements earth, wind, fire and water, earth is represented in the wax, water the melted wax, the flame fire and the air is the smoke. The colour of the candles is very important as the different colours will bring with it its own energy and power, green for healing, red for empowerment etc. Each of the elements has with it its own single coloured candle, green for earth, yellow for air, blue is for water and red is for fire. The different colours also represent either a yin female or yang male energy, yellow is yin, green is yang, blue is yin and red is yang.

A candle is believed to have its own vibration and can be used in meditation and divination, pink or violet is a calm and soft light where as red is strong and powerful, when a candle is lit its colour is released into the surrounding area which will bring a nice energy into the room. If during your ritual you need a lot of power, light multiple candles. By rubbing oil over a candle before your ritual this will charge the candle with your own personal energy.

Magical tips on candles:

It’s always a good idea to clean candles, this will strengthen their power.

Candles prefer not to be blown out, but to be put out using a toll or wet fingertips, blowing out the candle may insult the element.

It is best to use a different candle for each magical purpose, if you are using a red candle for love and a white one for healing, keep them separate.

A white candle is symbolic of purity and can be used in place of any other colour.

Any candle can be used in your magic, but beeswax candles are more powerful.

Engraving a candle is a good way to bring about your wish and by adding a letter of the magical alphabet you will bring mystery and connection to the ancient art of Wicca. A simple example could be to engrave a heart for love and a dollar sign for wealth in your ritual.

If a candle goes out whilst you are practicing doing magic, this is a sign, a message.

On your birthday when blowing out the candles you perform an act of candle magic. No one really knows where the idea of placing candles on a birthday cake came from, the main possibility is from the ancient Greeks who would bake round cakes in honour of their Moon goddess Artemis, it is said that the Greeks placed candles around the cake to resemble a glowing Moon.

Using your own homemade candles will greatly increase their power, candles are very easy to make, you only need to heat wax, add the wick and leave it to cool down then place it into a fire-safe bowl to burn the rest of the way down.

Looking into the flame of a candle is the perfect way to regain or strengthen focus .

A simple candle ritual is to sit in a darkened room facing a mirror, place the candle in front of you and look at your reflection, let your eyes relax and after a few moments your face will begin to change. Your reflection will reveal what you looked like in your past lives. This magic ritual can also be done with a friend. Both of you sit in a darkened room with a candle between you, and as you look at each other letting your eyes relax, you will see what your friend looked like in their past lives.

Some simple yet powerful candle magic is to write your wish on a piece of paper and fold it in half, light one corner with the candle flame and hold the paper as long as you can before the flame reaches your fingers.

To charge your candle you can rub essential oil into it, this will add power to your magic, any oil can be used it’s a personal preference.

Each of the twelve astrological star signs has a specific colour, you may wish to burn the candle for your star sign to empower yourself and enhance your strengths, or you may like to burn a coloured candle associated with another zodiac sign to empower yourself with the strengths of that sign. You may decide to use the strength, determination and wisdom of Scorpio the scorpion  before an important business meeting.

Zodiac Colours

Below is a table of the Zodiac and the corresponding colours:

Gemini the Twins, ruled by Mercury, colour yellow, air sign, best for spells with connections, intelligence and movement.

Cancer the Crab, ruled by the Moon, colour silver, water sign,  spells for love and friendship.

Aries the Ram, ruled by planet Mars, colour red or poppy, fire sign , spells for re-energising or lifting the spirit.

Aquarius the Water Bearer, ruled by Uranus, colour blue, air sign, for rituals to do with detachment, organisation or independence.

Taurus the Bull, ruled by Venus, colour green, earth sign, spells for wealth and fortune.

Leo the Lion, ruled by the Sun, colour orange, fire sign , spells for passion and sexual pleasures.

Libra, the Scales, ruled by Venus, air sign, colour violet or pink, spells for balance, romance and peace.

Capricorn, the Goat, ruled by Saturn, colour black or brown, earth sign, spells for ambition, loyalty  and determination.

Scorpio the Scorpion, ruled by Pluto, colour red or cherry, water sign, spells for intuition, sex, self empowerment and passion.

Pieces the Fish, ruled by Neptune, colour white, water sign, spells for inspiration, divination, intuition or dream magic.

Sagittarius, the archer, ruled by planet Jupiter, colour purple, fire sign, spells for creativity, confidence, happiness, trust and travel.

Virgo the Maiden, ruled by Mercury, colour pale blue, earth sign, spells for healing, communication, peace, and advancement.

Scented Candles and their magical strengths:

Blueberry – burn to keep unwanted negative energies away from your home.

Blue Rose – this is used to honour the goddesses.

Carnations – are traditionally used for healing.

Cherry – perfect to attract and inspire love.

Cinnamon – burn for wealth and fortune.

Coconut – burn this scent for purification and protection.

Copal – is perfect for honouring the Gods.

Frangipani – can be used to stimulate positive energy in a sacred space.

Honeysuckle – is used to bring good luck, health and strengthen psychic abilities

Jasmine – Burn to be lucky in love.

Lotus – burn for a harmonious life, inner peace and for meditation.

Musk – Used to gain courage, strength and to heighten sexual passion.

Myrrh – this is an ancient scent used for protection and purification.

Passion flower – use to ensure peaceful sleep, soothes troubles and calms the mind.

Patchouli – scent to attract money.

Pine – use to gain strength, and repel negative energies.

Rose – perfect for love magic, and a peaceful home.

Sandalwood – is an all purpose scent for healing and protection.

Spice – is a passionate scent for all your magic workings.

Spirit – used to attract guidance from spirits.

Strawberry – burn for love, friendship and luck.

Tangerine – burn to attract prosperity.

Temple – perfect to use on an altar during rituals.

Vanilla – burn to enhance memory and stimulate sexual appetite.

Coloured Candles And Their Magical Strengths:

Purple: power, business progress, ambition.

Red: love, health, sex, strength, energy, fire element.

Green: money, luck, fertility, prosperity, earth element.

Orange: attraction, ambition, stimulation, creativity.

Black: to heal discord, repel evil and repelling negativity and remove confusion.

White: truth, purity, peace, spirituality.

Brown:  fosters neutrality, overcomes uncertainty and hesitation, grounding.

Pink: love, morality, honour, romance, friendship.

Orange: attraction, ambition, stimulation, creativity.

Gray: calms, repels negativity.

Light Blue: tranquility, patience, health.

Dark Blue: aids depression and changeability.

Greenish Yellow: mellows jealousy, anger, discord.

[aisamoon-blog]

Omg, I got drunk and talked about paganism and Morrigan to my lesbian friend who is afraid she is going to hell because she was raised in a christian family. She must think I'm crazy now, oh gods

[parmandil]

Peggy Kriha Dye and Wallis Giunta in Le nozze di Figaro. Toronto, 2010. (Photo: Bruce Zinger)

[solarpunkarchivist-deactivated2]

CELT is the online resource for contemporary and historical Irish documents in literature, history and politics in UCC, Ireland.

Whether you’re a casual student of Irish myth and history or pursuing it academically you need this resource. CELT is a collection of Irish manuscripts digitised by the University of Cork and made available free online. The majority are written in Irish though some are in French or Latin and most of them have English translations provided. If it wasn’t for CELT accessing copies of many of these documents would be prohibitively expensive, extremely difficult or outright impossible and I’m personally very grateful to them from when I was studying for my masters.