anderson

M O M E N T O M O R I I follow back from @zeusskid !!! scorpio sun, aquarius moon, leo rising • they/them • 17 • eclectic death witch •

[witchsaidwhat-deactivated202012]

A FREE small booklet on Chlíodhna (pronounced Kleena), the Celtic Goddess of Beauty, the Sea, and the Afterlife.  It includes:

The history and legacy of one of the most famous Celtic deities.  She is a must-know if you are going to be a Celtic witch!

A ritual to help connect with the Queen of the Banshees and allow her influence in your life!

A custom Tarot spread to help you receive messages from Chlíodhna.  

Hope this helps you all on your journey!  Please let me know if you all would like more content like this!  (Comment below!)

SALT

[aphroditiful]

🌼 G O D D E S S GUIDE : Aoibheall 🌼

🔅 love all things bright and sparkling

🔅 work with the Fey

🔅 use and wear colors of red, burgundy, green, white and gold

🔅 work with fire as your primary element

🔅 keep a white cat as familiar

🔅 offerings of music and poetry, baked goods and honey

🔅 leave offerings on an altar or a rock outside

🔅 spellwork using heat and flames

🔅 learn a musical instrument and incorporate it into your craft, (especially a string instrument) especially if you hex or curse

🔅 base your spellwork around the weather

🔅 Tap into your intuition and work on making predictions and prophecies

🔅 stick up for women abused by their lovers

🔅 be both benevolent and malevolent

🦋🌸APHRODITIFUL🌸🦋

[aphroditiful]

🌙 Goddess Guide 🌙 C E R R I D W E N

✨ her sacred feast is on July 3rd

✨ obtain a nice cauldron do to spells in

✨ do your rituals under the new moon, or on mondays

✨ surround yourself with books and gain knowledge by studying many topics

✨ use the Elements Earth and Water

✨ a greyhound would be your ideal pet as she can shape shift into one

✨ write poetry or music in your spare time

✨ learn from your mistakes and be able to think on your feet and adapt quickly

✨ hawk and hen feathers should be included in your craft

✨ use essential oils of vanilla, almond and bergamot

✨ offerings - corn, apples, wine or beer, acorns

✨ study herbs and potions

✨ use crystals like carnelian, Brown jasper and agate

✨ do not fear change, rather, embrace it

🦋🌸Aphroditiful🌸🦋

✨CHECK MY GODDESS GUIDE TAG FOR MORE✨

[aphroditiful]

GODDESS GUIDE: E P O N A 🥀 Bless your animals 🥀 Garden to keep the earth fertile 🥀 use ruby and moonstone 🥀 work on achieving your dreams 🥀 surround yourself with horse iconography 🥀 go riding 🥀 work on lucid dreaming and keep a dream journal 🥀 set up a cornucopia in your kitchen 🥀 wear a little horse or horseshoe necklace 🥀 practice water healing 🥀 decorate your space with rose garlands 🥀 invite new choices and paths into your life 🦋💧Aphroditiful💧🦋

Artemis

Hecate

Eris

Persephone

[aphroditiful]

👑 G O D D E S S GUIDE : Áine 👑

🔅 work with both the sun and moon

🔅 incorporate faerie magick into your craft

🔅 keep your space glowing and well lit

🔅 write songs and poetry

🔅 always be ready to stand up for yourself

🔅 work with the elements of air and fire

🔅 dress in colors of red, gold, green and blue

🔅 do spellwork at dawn or dusk

🔅 be hopeful even in dark times

🔅 light candles or straw

🔅offerings of grain or wheat

🔅 do offerings on Midsummer or Lammas

🔅 focus on the abundance around you

🔅 use herbs like blackberry, garlic, nettle, mugwort and flax

🔅 teach your circle about love

🔅 tend to a garden or grow your own crops

🦋🔮APHRODITIFUL🔮🦋

[theforgottenfae]

Mabon apple twist bread

More mabon goodies!!! This is something I devised while looking at various recipes and having a apples that needed to be used up. I think it turned out fairly well.

7 apples - fertility/abundance

4 cans of pillsbury crescent rolls

1tspVanilla extract- beauty/self love

2tbs Ground nutmeg-prosperity/luck

1tbs Ground cloves-prosperity/good relationships

3tbs Cinnamon-happiness/wealth

1/2 Crushed Walnuts-protection/empowerment

2/3 cup butter ( used vegan butter but dairy works fine) -tenacity/nurturing

1 cup sugar (preferably brown but white works fine)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Dice apples into bite size peices

then add apples, nutmeg, sugar, cloves, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract into pan

Keep them on medium until apples are soft.

(My stove was right between 4-3. And

it took 5-10 minutes till they were soft)

Open up the pillyberry dough and take out a single triangle from each one

(This will be used to patch up while we’re the apples break through if your like me and over stuff them)

Take the remaining dough and roll them into four separate balls

Roll out the balls into basically dough lines

Load up each line with the soft apples

Then pull on the sides to fill and create long dough filled apple things

Repeat for each ball of dough using the dough you pulled out to patch wholes along the way

Put non stick stuff into your pan (I just brush mine with olive oil)

Twist two lines of dough into a braid like thing

And repeat with the other two

Then brush over both twists with left over goop from the apples

Sprinkle on the crushed walnuts and bake for 30-35 minutes

[witchtips]

❄️️ Imbolc 🌷

(pronounced ee-molc, also called Candlemas)

What Is Imbolc? ❄️️➡️️🌷

Imbolc is celebrated roughly when winter begins to turn to spring. Traditionally it also marked the successful survival of the harsh winter months and the beginning of the agricultural season. The returning sun is welcomed and the Celtic goddess Brigid is honored.

Traditional Lore/Activities 🕯️

Each candle within a household should be lit, if only for a moment, to honor the sun’s return.

If there is still snow on the ground one should draw an image of the sun in it.

Foods Associated with Imbolc 🥐

Sour cream and other dairy dishes.

Spicy foods.

Spiced wine.

Raisins.

Foods containing peppers, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, and chives.

Modern Activities 🎨

Cooking/Baking

Lamb Stew - from @liberumbrarum

Sour Cream and Honey Cake - from @liberumbrarum

Imbolc Ritual Cake - from @phynxrizng

Milk Tea for Imbolc - from @queerkitchenwitch

Bread and Butter Pudding - from @althara

Imbolc Desserts - from @phynxrizng

Self Care

Imbolc Bath - from @magickmomma16

Crafts

Candle making.

Weave traditional Brigid’s Crosses.

Plan what herbs/flowers you want to grow during the upcoming spring and summer.

Burn your Yule greens to help winter on its way.

Colors and Altar Decor 🌸

White

Pink

Red

Yellow

Amethyst

Bloodstone

Garnet

Ruby

Onyx

Turquoise

Green Candles

Brigid’s Crosses

Potted Bulbs

An Anvil or Hammer

Poetry

❣️

[dutchpagan]

Ogham - an introduction

So I may be Dutch, but there’s interesting things to learn from all over the world and from all kinds of cultures. I’ve always had a love of the Irish ogham letters - probably since they’re strongly connected to popular Celtic paganism, and to tree lore. Here’s an introduction to the Ogham I wrote some years ago, that I think is still pretty accurate. Please let me know if you’ve any comments or questions!

—

History About ten years ago I came across a book called Celtic Tree Mysteries by Steve Blamires. Now, I’m interested in Celtic stuff, and I love tree and mysteries, so this was the right book for me. Through this book (which in my humble opinion is quite a good start if you want to learn more about this subject) I learned about the Ogham alphabet. This early medieval Irish alphabet has become quite popular in modern Celtic Pagan and Druid circles, mostly as a means of divination, but also for other magical purposes.

As I said, the alphabet is early medieval Irish. It might have been developed when the first Christians came to Ireland and brought the concept of writing with them, but there is no actual proof of that. We have about 400 known inscriptions on stones, most of them names. The functions of these stones is unclear, but most researchers are of the opinion that they mark borders. Other uses of Ogham have been found in manuscripts, and these provide more insight.

Contemporary information on the Ogham is sparse; what has been written about it can be read in high medieval and late medieval manuscripts. These manuscripts are: The Book of Leinster (12th century) The Book of Ballymote (1391) The Book of Lecan (1416)

These manuscripts refer to older sources: The Scholar’s Primer, The Values of the Forfeda and the Book of Ogham. The Scholar’s Primer says that Ogham was only to be used by learned men – would they be monks or druids? The act of reading and writing was very elite in the early Middle Ages, so we can be sure that the average Irish farmer wouldn’t have been very familiar with Ogham.

The exact origin of Ogham isn’t known, but there some interesting myths and stories have been written down. In one of the manuscripts we find a legend about the origin of the Ogham: it was developed by Fenius Farsaidh, with the help of Goidel Mac Etheoir and Iar Mac Nema and a whole host of scholars. After the destruction of the Biblical Tower of Babel, Fenius went to search for the letters all over the world that together would make the most perfect language. Each letter was named after a linguist who best devoted his time to this task. Note that ‘Gaelic’ or ‘Goidelic’ (the name of the Irish language) comes from Goidel Mac Etheoir, one of the scholars that developed Ogham.

Apart from this legend, another link has been made by modern scholars with the Celtic Irish god Ogma, who may be compared to the Celtic Gallic god Ogmios. The names of these gods seem connected to Ogham (which, by the way, means something like ‘idea’ or ‘notion’). The Romans liked to compare foreign gods with their own gods and they dubbed Ogmios the ‘Celtic Hercules’, or at least an older version of their Hercules. According to these Roman sources, Ogmios was depicted as an old but strong man with one end of a chain through his tongue, the other end being attached to the ears of an eager public. This has been explained as the power of eloquence, or the power of words, in which the strength of this god lies. There is no direct connection between Ogham and Ogma/Ogmios, but could there be a divine element to the development of Ogham, keeping this part of mythology in mind?

Purpose and meaning The ancient Celts were mostly an illiterate people. It was the Roman world, and Christianity after that, that brought the written word to those parts in Europe that apparently had no use for it before. This is also the reason why we use the letters we have today instead of systems like the Ogham. Our letters are derived from Roman scripture, and more directly from the letters in medieval manuscripts (especially those made under Charlemagne). To be honest, Ogham isn’t a very practical script – so what was it used for?

Based on where the Ogham has been found, it appears that this alphabet had a few specific uses. First of all, as has already been noted above, Ogham has been found on standing stones, or monoliths. They are said to mark borders, and by doing that they also marked someone’s property. This might also be the reason why mostly names and short phrases (‘of the clan of x’, etc.) are found on these stones, instead of actual texts. There could also be some cryptic message in all this, since not many people were actually able to read Ogham, even in that time – but as far as I know this has been lost. Ogham that has been found in manuscripts seems to have a different function. It has mostly the purpose of learning, remembering and making connections.

But there are also certain stories in which the Ogham has a more magical purpose. From these old sagas we learn that Ogham was not only written down on stone, but also on wood. This is a material that doesn’t last, so there is no physical evidence, but it seems plausible that this was actually done in reality. There is even one instance where Ogham is written on metal. In the Book of Leinster we find an medieval legend in which an Ogham text on an iron ring around a stone says: ‘Whoever comes to this meadow, if he is armed, he is forbidden to leave this meadow without requesting single combat.’ The only thing stopping someone from simply leaving the meadow without a fight is the text itself – therefore it must hold some magical power. The semi-divine hero Cú Chulainn has another solution; he throws the stone away, with ring and all. In another instance, Cu Chulainn gives a small wooden spear to the king of Alba (Scotland) inscribed with Ogham – it says that the king is allowed to take Cú Chulainn’s seat at the court of Ulster.

There is slight evidence of the use of Ogham as divination in Irish myth, and this is what Ogham is used for today by many Celtic Pagans and Druids. In an Irish legend, a druid writes down Ogham letters on yew sticks and then uses them for divination, but it gives no further details.   Nowadays, what is most popular is to make a branch for every letter and then use this set of branches in several ways. This can be done by blindly drawing one or several sticks and then interpret the meaning of the letter(s). Another way is to throw the branches on ‘Finn’s Window’ (based on the round diagram that can be seen on the parchment page from the Book of Ballymote here depicted) and draw a meaning from how the branches fall.

The technical details So, after reading all this, you’re probably wondering what this Ogham alphabet actually looks like. I’m not a linguist, but I’ll give you an outlining that’ll hopefully give you more insight. The Ogham Alphabet doesn’t have the sort of letters that we are familiar with. Its essence is lines; smaller lines that are placed in a series across a longer line. Ogham can be found on standing stones, where this line goes from bottom to top (and from top to bottom on the other side) . It can also be found in parchment manuscripts, where it goes from left to right. The notches on the long line, the actual letters, are called feda, which means ‘wood’. Is this just a figural way of speaking, since the long vertical line on a stone with the notches on each side does sort of look like a tree?  Or is there more behind this? I don’t know this – then again, I can’t actually read Old Irish, excepts for the few words that are needed to understand the Ogham alphabet, so perhaps someone else can help me out here. On to the letters and their order:

B  L  F  S  N  H  D  T  C  Q  M G  nG St R A  O  U  E  I  EA  Oi  Ui  iO  AE

That makes 25 letters, of which the last five letters (the so called forfeda) were added at later times – so it appears the oldest version of Ogham had twenty letters.

Keeping these twenty letters in mind, there are four families/series, or aicmí (plural of aicme), that each contain five letters: Aicme Beithe, Aicme hÚatha, Aicme Muine, and Aicme Ailme. Note also that a neat quarter of these letters is a vowel and three quarters exits of consonants.

There is some confusion about the order of the first five letters. In many texts it says BLFSN, but in some other text it says BLNFS. As far as I know, it was Robert Graves in his famous book The White Goddess, who used the sequence of BLNFS first. This has probably to do with the poetic and mythological value he added to each letter, and also with his introduction of the so-called Ogham Tree Calendar. [The tree calendar gives a certain period or time of the year for each letter, e.g. 24 December – 20 January for Beithe. This is a strictly modern invention, though that shouldn’t say everything about its value.] The White Goddess has had a huge influence on many modern pagan and witchcraft traditions, and I think that it’s from this source that the BLNFS-sequence has seeped into the modern use of the Ogham alphabet. However, it seems that more historically authentic sources stick to BLFSN, so that’s the sequence I’m sticking with, too.

Some note about individual letters: iO was original P – for some reason this letter was replaced in later times, leaving the alphabet without a proper P-sound. AE was originally X or CH.

The ‘Tree Alphabet’ So what about the name ‘tree alphabet’? Actually, the Ogham was also a bird alphabet, colour alphabet, river alphabet, etc. It appears that there were many systems that were used for remembering the letters of the Ogham alphabet. Of all these systems (several hundreds, they say), the tree system has been most popular since early times. So, every letter got a tree attached to it, and by memorizing the trees, one was able to memorize the letters. A mnemonic aid of some sorts. Then again, we can’t rule out a deeper, perhaps even magical, meaning for using such a system.

The meaning of the letters connected to the trees was further developed in the uses of kennings, or phrases, known as the Bríatharogham. Three of these lists are known: Bríatharogham Morainn Mac Moín (who was a human judge) Bríatharogham Mac Oengus (god) Bríatharogham Cú Chulainn (semi-divine hero, we’ve already noted him in connection to the Ogham) The translations of these kennings can be found below, under each individual letter.

The separate letters

Beithe Literal meaning: birch, (a) being Letter: B Tree: birch (beithe) Book of Ballymote: Now Beithe has been named from the Birch owing to its resemblance to the trunk of that tree. Of withered trunk, fair-haired the Birch. Word Ogham of Morainn: Faded trunk and fair hair/withered foot with fine hair. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Browed beauty, worthy of pursuit/beauty of the eyebrow. Word Ogham of Oengus: Most silver of skin/greyest of skin.

Luis Literal meaning: flame, herb Letter: L Tree: rowan (caertheand) Book of Ballymote: Luis is named from Mountain Ash (caertheand) as it is the old Gaelic name for rowan. [Delightful] for eyes is Mountain Ash owing to the beauty of its berries. Word Ogham of Morainn: Delight of eye, quicken-tree; to whit, the flame/luster of the eye. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Strength of cattle/sustenance of cattle. Word Ogham of Oengus: Friend of cattle.

Fearn Literal meaning: alder Letter: F Tree: alder (fearn) Book of Ballymote: Fearn, Alder, the van of the warrior band for thereof are the shields. Word Ogham of Morainn: Shield of warrior bands, owing to their redness/vanguard of warriors. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Protection of the heart, a shield/protection of the heart. Word Ogham of Oengus: Guarding of milk, or milk bucket/milk container.

Saille Literal meaning: willow Letter: S Tree: Willow (saille) Book of Ballymote: Tthe colour of a lifeless one that is, it has no colour, owing to the resemblance of the colour to a dead person. Word Ogham of Morainn: Hue of the lifeless/pallor of a lifeless one. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Beginning of loss, willow/beginning of honey. Word Ogham of Oengus: Strength of bees/sustenance of bees.

Nion Literal meaning: branch fork, loft Letter: N Tree: ash (uinnius) Book of Ballymote: Nion, Ash-tree, a check on peace is Nion for of it are made the spear-shafts by which the peace is broken. Word Ogham of Morainn: Checking of peace/establishing of peace. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Flight of beauty, a weaver’s beam/boast of beauty. Word Ogham of Oengus: The flight of women/boast of women.

hUuath Literal meaning: horror, fear Letter: (silent) H Tree: white thorn Book of Ballymote: A meet of hounds is Huath (whitethorn), or because it is formidable owing to its thorns. Word Ogham of Morainn: Pack of wolves/assembly of pack of hounds. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Difficult night, hawthorn/most difficult at night. Word Ogham of Oengus: Whitening of face/blanching of faces.

Duir Literal meaning: oak Letter: D Tree: oak (duir) Book of Ballymote: Duir, Oak, higher than bushes is an oak. Word Ogham of Morainn: highest of bushes/highest tree Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Kneeling work, bright and shining work/most carved of craftmanship Word Ogham of Oengus: Craft work/handicraft of a craftsmanship.

Tinne Literal meaning: metal bar, ingot. Letter: T Tree: holly (cuileand) Book of ballymote: A third of a wheel is Tinne, because holly is one of the three timbers of the chariot wheel. Word Ogham of Morainn: Third of a wheel/one of three parts of a wheel. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: A third of weapons, an iron bar/one of three parts of a weapon. Word Ogham of Oengus: Fires of coal/marrow of (char)coal.

Coll Literal meaning: hazel Letter: C Tree: hazel (coll) Book of Ballymote: Coll, that is everyone is eating of its nuts. Word Ogham of Morainn: Fairest of trees/fairest tree. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Sweetest of woods, a nut/sweetest tree. Word Ogham of Oengus: Friend of cracking/friend of nutshells

Quert Literal meaning: bush Letter: Q Tree: apple (aball) Book of Ballymote: Shelter of a wild hind is is Quert, that is, an apple tree. Word Ogham of Morainn: Shelter of a hind, lunatic or death/sense [the time when a lunatic’s sense comes back to him]/shelter of a lunatic. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Excellent emblem, protection/dregs of clothing. Word Ogham of Oengus: Force of a man/substance of an insignificant person.

Muin Literal meaning: not certain – neck, ruse/trick, love/esteem Letter: M Tree: vine (finemhain) Book of Ballymote: Highest of beauty is Muin, that is, because it grows aloft. That is, a vine-tree. Word Ogham of Morainn: Highest of beauty, strongest of effort, Muin equals back of man or ox for it is they in existence that are strongest as regards effort./strongest in exertion. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Pack of wolves with spears, three vines/path of the voice. Word Ogham of Oengus: The condition of slaughter/proverb of slaughter.

Gort Literal meaning: field (as in: garden) Letter: G Tree: ivy (edind) Book of Ballymote: Gort, that is ivy, greener than pastures is ivy. Word Ogham of Morainn: Greenest of pastures, sweeter than grasses, due to associations with corn fields/sweetest grass. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Pleasing oil, corn/sating of multitudes. Word Ogham of Oengus: Size of a warrior/suitable place for cows.

nGetal Literal meaning: slaying Letter: nG Tree: broom (cilcach) Book of Ballymote: nGetal, broom or fern, a physician’s strength is broom. Word Ogham of Morainn: A physician’s strength, panacea equals broom/sustenance of a leech. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: beginning of heroic deeds, healing/beginning of slaying. Word Ogham of Oengus: Robe of physicians/raiment of physicians.

Straiph, Literal meaning: sulphur Letter: St Tree: blackthorn (draighin) Book of Ballymote: The hedge of a stream is straiph, that is, blackthorn. Word Ogham of Morainn: Careful effort, strongest of red, straiph equals sloe which gives strong red dye on metal/strongest reddening (dye). Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: An arrow’s mist, smoke drifting up from the fire/seeking of clouds. Word Ogham of Oengus: Increasing of secrets/increase of secrets.

Ruis Literal meaning: red Letter: R Tree: elder (trom) Book of Ballymote: The redness of shame is Ruis, that is, elder. Word Ogham of Morainn: intensest of blushes, it I reddening of a man’s face through the juice of the herb being rubbed on it/most intense blushing. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Arduous anger, punishment/glow of anger. Word Ogham of Oengus: redness of faces/reddening of faces.

Ailm Literal meaning: pine (?) Letter: A Tree: fir or pine Book of Ballymote: Ailm, a fir tree, a pine tree. Word Ogham of Morainn: Loudest of groanings, that is, wondering. Ailm or A for that is what a man says while groaning in disease or wonder/loudest groan. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Beginning of the weaver’s beams, ahh/beginning of calling. Word Ogham of Oengus: Beginning of answers/beginning of an answer.

Onn Literal meaning: ash-tree Letter: O Tree: furze (aiten) Book of Ballymote: Onn that is furze. Word Ogham of Morainn: Helper of horses, wheels of a chariot, equally wounding; whin/wounder of horses. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Strength of warriors, fierceness/[equipment]  of warriorbands. Word Ogham of Oengus: Gentlest of work/smoothest of craftsmanship.

Ur Literal meaning: earth, clay, soil Letter: U Tree: heather (fraech) Book of Ballymote: Ur, that is heath. Word Ogham of Morainn: Terrible tribe, in cold dwellings; mould of the earth, or heath/in cold dwellings. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Completion of lifelessness, the grave/shroud of a lifeless one. Word Ogham of Oengus: Growing of plants/propagation of plants.

Edhad Literal meaning: unknown Letter: E Tree: aspen (crithach) Book of Ballymote: Horrible grief, that is, test tree or aspen. Word Ogham of Morainn: Distinguished man or wood/discerning tree. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Kinsman to the birch, aspen/brother of birch (?) Word Ogham of Oengus: Additional name for a friend/exchange of friends.

Idhad Literal meaning: yew-tree (?) Letter: I Tree: yew (idhad) Book of Ballymote: Yew. Word Ogham of Morainn: Oldest of woods, service tree, yes/oldest tree Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: strength or colour of a sick man, people or an age/energy of an infirm person. Word Ogham of Oengus: Abuse for an ancestor or pleasing consent/fairest of the ancients.

Ebad Literal meaning: unknown Letter: EA Tree: apsen (critchach) Word Ogham of Morainn: Fair-swimming letter. Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Fairest fish. Word Ogham of Oengus: [admonishing?] of an infirm person.

Óir Literal meaning: gold Letter: OI Tree: spindle-tree or ivy (feorus, edind) Word Ogham of Morainn: Most venerable substance. Word Ogham of Oengus: Splendour of form.

Uillen Literal meaning: elbow Letter: UI Tree: honeysuckle (edleand) Word Ogham of Morainn: Fragnant tree. Word Ogham of Oengus: Great elbow/cubit.

Iphín Literal meaning: spine, thorn (?) Letter: IO Tree: gooseberry or thorn (spinan, ispin) Word Ogham of Morainn: Sweetest tree. Word Ogham of Oengus: Mostwonderful taste.

Emancholl Literal meaning: twin of hazel Letter: AE Word Ogham of Morainn: Groan of a sick person. Word Ogham of Oengus: Groan of a sick person

[redbeardwoodcarver]

An oaken comb with ancient symbol - Knot of Longevity, wich helps to take health, beauty and longevity.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZxfurIs-t/?igshid=10sosnjctf30

https://www.etsy.com/listing/705220720/comb-knot-of-longevity

[dutchpagan]

The wisdom of the ogham trees is finding its way back into my life again. It’s not only a good way to learn folklore, but also a fantastic reason to go outside and get to know your trees. I found some old drawings, and based on remarks a friend of mine made, I feel another series of ink drawings coming up…Here’s an older watercolor-ink drawing to begin with.

[mathan-na-mara-deactivated20231]

Facts About Celtic Polytheism

Commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry, both terms are incorrect.

A Druid is a political title within the Celtic Polytheistic religions equivalent to that of a priest/priestess.

A practitioner of Celtic Polytheism is not called a Druid. Not unless that practitioner is a priest or counselor to other Celtic Polytheists.

Despite common belief, Wicca, and Neo-Druidism are technically not Celtic religions; but rather Celtic inspired or influenced religions.

Celtic Polytheism is not witchcraft. A practitioner of Celtic Polytheism is never called a witch or a wizard.

Celtic Polytheism is actually a family of religions rather than a singular religion itself.

The religion branches are Gaelic Polytheism, Brythonic Polytheism, Gallaecian Polytheism & Celtiberian Polytheism, Gaulish Polytheism, and Pictish Polytheism.

Each of these religions have regional differences. For example, the gods and stories of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, and the Isle of Man are mostly the same or similar with minor differences.

All of the Celtic Polytheistic religions are technically extinct, however many stories from Ireland, and Wales have survived in particular.

Modern Celtic religions are referred to as Celtic Reconstructionist Polytheism, or simply Celtic Reconstructionism.

There is not a common pantheon of gods, as there were many different gods in each religion. While some gods appear in multiple religions with different names, majority of Celtic gods are unique to their branches.

[lunariagold-deactivated20230802]

WELP, St Patrick’s day is the day for it; the Irish Ogham oracle deck is headed to the printer ♣:･ﾟ☆✧ (preorders now open in my Etsy store; link in my bio)

Those trees were something else and took me in unexpected but wonderful directions… especially upwards…

In typically Irish fashion, there are two legendary accounts of the Ogham’s creation, one pagan and one Christian:

In the former, the alphabet was created by Ogma, a deity associated with eloquence and poetry. In the latter, king Fénius Farsaid traveled to the Tower of Babel, seeking to form a perfect language by drawing the best out of the many tongues found there. That language was Gaelic.

In keeping with the Ogham’s associations with roots and the power of language, I decided that my trees’ first message was to listen, then to seek guidance through the beauty of ancient words.

There are no ancient records of divination methods with the Ogham, so I left each Ogham letter- the feda- largely free to speak for itself. The deck may be used like a set of Ogham staves. However I created it as an inspirational oracle, a tribute to whispering trees, the god of poetry and weavers of words. 

The front of each card features a feda, its corresponding tree and a mineral mined in Irish soil.

The reverse side holds the feda’s name, its Bríatharogam- A two-word description and evocation of the feda from the Book of Ogams (In Lebor Ogaim)- and a passage from Irish poetry, ranging from the 8th to the 19th century, echoing the feda’s own symbolism and meaning.

Happy tree climbing! ♣:･ﾟ☆✧

I’m going to have a beer now

[broomclosetwitches]

Celtic Gods and Goddess

The Celtic world included Ireland, Britain, and a large section of the mainland

Aine: Goddess of love and fertility; encouraged human love; has command over crops and animals; daughter of Eogabail  

Amaethon: God of agriculture 

Anu or Danu/Dana: Mother goddess 

Aonghus: God of love; son of Dagda and Boann

Badb: Irish goddess of battle; could influence the outcome of conflict by inspiring fear or bravery in warriors

Balor: The one-eyed god of death, everyone he looked upon was destroyed

Belenus or Bel: Sun god; appears throughout the Celtic world in different forms; Beltaine celebrates him 

Boann: Water goddess; mother of Aonghus

Brigantia: Chief goddess of Brigantes tribe; associated with water, war and healing

Brigid/Brigit: Goddess of healing and fertility; said to help women during labor; possibly same goddess as Brigantia 

Camulos: God of war mostly worshiped in Belgium areas; said to wield an invincible sword

Ceridwen: Goddess of fertility

Cernunnos: God of wild animals, forest, and plenty; possibly also the god of death; known as the horned one

Cliodhna: Goddess of beauty; her three birds could sing the sick to sleep and heal them 

Dagda: The great god; could restore the dead to life

Dian Cecht: God of healing 

Don: Welsh version of Dana

Donn: God of the dead

Dylan: Sea god

Epona: Horse goddess

The Formorii: Sea gods; violent and misshapen

Goibhniu: Smith god 

Lir: God of sea, healing  and magic 

Lugh: Sun god (Ireland)

Lugus:  Sun god (France and Britain) 

Mac Cecht: God of eloquence

Macha: One of the war goddess

Manannan Mac Lir: Sea god; could stir up or soothe the sea

Manawydan: Welsh sea god, extremely similar to Manannan

Morrigan/Morrigu: Goddess of death on the battlefield 

Nechtan: Water god 

Nemain: Goddess of war

Nemglan: Bird god

Nodens: God of healing; owned magic healing hounds

Ogma: God of eloquence; creating of Ogham, the oldest writing system in Ireland

Taranis: Name means thunderer; Romans equated him to Jupiter; symbol was the wheel

Teutates or Toutatis: Romans equated him to Mars

**Not all inclusive 

All information gathered from “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm 

[pagansubmorine]

All done with finishing touches! My mini shrines for Cernunnos, Brigid, and The Morrigan are complete! I can’t wait to start using them. 🤗

[broomsick]

As a pagan, I think it’s very important to know ancient alphabets. Not just to write curses or spells, but to communicate with the gods through runic symbols. Because I am a norse pagan, I mostly master futhark runes (runic alphabet), but I know a bit of Oghams, the old celtic alphabet. Here they are, feel free to learn them, and trust me: it really helps! Another thing: the oghams are to be written vertically, on a single line.

[fae-sidhe]

Celebrating Lughnasadh:

Lughnasadh, also known as Lúnasa, Lùnastal, Luanistyn or Lammas, is a Gaelic festival of the first harvest, which also corresponds with other European early harvest festivals. It is held on the 1st of August, halfway between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumn Equinox (Mabon).

The festival is named after the Celtic god Lugh, and part of the festival is often offering some of the first harvest’s bounty in gratitude, and feasting or athletic competitions. Historically, journeys to sacred wells or holy shrines, or climbing mountains or hills have been popular, and in some places are still observed. Lugh is often seen as a personification of the first harvest, or the corn itself, and he is sometimes recast as folkloric figures such as John Barleycorn.

 Lughnasadh colours: gold, orange, yellow, green, light brown

 Lughnasadh crystals: amber, citrine, aventurine, peridot

 Lughnasadh foods: Bread, corn, soup, root vegetables, berries, mead, rice, barely, nuts, seasonal fruits, roasted meats, honey, beer

 Ideas for Lughnasadh celebrations:

Bake bread! Baking bread is one of the most traditional ways of celebrating this festival, and the first of the grains have been harvested. Consider baking different types of loaves, experiment with plaiting the dough or drawing designs on the top. Add seasonal berries, nuts or seeds to the dough to add flavour and interest

Have a picnic with friends and family – with lots of bread!

Go on a walk up a mountain or hill, or visit a sacred place such as a shrine, holy well, stone circle or burial mound (or just somewhere sacred to you if none of those are available)

Play games with friends or family, have a sports contest such as a running race or a tug of war

Make a donation of food to your local food bank or donate money to a charity

Hold your own Lughnasnadh ritual, light a fire and offer some food to the god Lugh and thank him for your harvest, and feel gratitude in knowing that all your efforts are coming to fruition

Make corn dollies, instructions for lots of interesting designs can be found online, or make sculptures and decorations out of salt dough

Light a candle and make a list of all that you are thankful for, and meditate upon this

Go on a foraging trip, look for early apples, plums, berries and edible fungi (ensure you are certain of what you are harvesting before you eat it!)

A blessed Lughnasadh to all, however you chose to celebrate it, and may your August be fruitful, prosperous and full of joy :)

[broomsick]

The holidays’ wreaths, by Julia Nikita