#MythologyMonday: The #TuathaDéDanannrefined the art of brewing until the ale of their smith and brewer #Goibniu was strong enough to endow the drinker with immortality. #Irish epics connect ale with the festival of #Samhain, when the boundaries between this world and the #Otherworld were blurred.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: The #Irish ritual of the one-legged crane dance curse (corrghuineacht) is a form of magic-working, the power of which is intensified when practised standing on one leg, with one arm outstretched, and with one eye closed like a crane (ir. corr). The ritual position itself is known as glám dícenn (meaning ‘satire which destroys’). It was thought that the open eye was able to look directly into the magical #Otherworld, whilst standing on only one leg indicated being present in neither one world or the other.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
Like Cáer and Angus, Midir and Étain shape-changed into swans, circled the area and then disappeared into the mound of the #Otherworld.
Source: Helen Benigni/Barbara Carter/Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn „The Myth of the Year“ #Celtic
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: The Cailleach Bheur was associated with #winter and the protection of animals during the season. This blue hag, was reborn every All Hallows Eve and brought back the winter weather with her magical staff, which froze the ground with every tap. On Beltane Eve she returned to the Earth, throwing her staff beneath a gorse bush before turning to stone.
Source: https://druidry.org/resources/furze
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: When Balor sold the Glas Gaibhneach, „he did not give Goibniu the magical halter rope to which he knew the cow was bound to return each evening. Without having the halter to restrain the cow, Goibniu employed a warrior called Cian to guard the beast. Balor distracted Cian by a ruse and when Cian took his eyes off the cow, Balor led her off quickly to his island fortress.
Cian followed in a boat owned by the powerful #Otherworld deity Manannán mac Lir. Balor had locked his daughter Eithne away from the company of men as he feared a prophecy that he would die at the hands of his own grandson. On reaching the island Cian got access to Eithne who was soon pregnant and delivered a son, Lugh. Eithne gave Cian the magical halter rope and the child and he left the island with them on Manannán’s boat along with the Enchanted Cow. Manannán fostered the child and when Lugh grew to manhood he killed Balor at the Second Battle of Moytura, thus fulfilling the prophecy.“
Source: Antiquarian Research in Co. Sligo as a Background to the Mythology and Archaeology of Moytura by Eamonn P. Kelly
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: In the #Otherworld High King Cormac „came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dún, where he entered in and asked hospitality. Out came Manannan dressed in a cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved in the light.“
Source: The Vanishing of Cormac | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: Manannan had bartered a branch with nine golden apples for Cormac’s wife and his children. This way he brought #Ireland’s High King to his palace in the #Otherworld to be his guest for the sake of Cormac‘s wisdom.
Source: The Vanishing of Cormac | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
Cú Roí mac Dáire and Cú Chulainn returned from the #Otherworld „to Eriú with the three treasures of the Fálgae – namely, three red-eared milk-abounding cows who each produced the milk of ten cows every day, with three cranes called the three men of Ochain upon their backs, the great cauldron rich in gold and silver from which a hundred men could come away satisfied, and Bláthíne daughter of Mend.“ #Celtic
Source: Blathine, Lady of the Sidhe | The Ulaid Cycle (emeraldisle.ie)
One day, Cormac, the High King of Ireland, was captivated by a youth dressed in splendid robes and finely costumed. Over his shoulder he carried a nine-belled stick, each bell shaped like a golden apple. The music it produced was so enchanting that Cormac bartered his wife, son, and daughter for it. This caused great sorrow among his people, which he alleviated with the stick’s music.#Celtic
Source: The Vanishing of Cormac | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
A year later, Cormac, missing his family, followed their path into a misty, unfamiliar land. This was the #Otherworld, a place of beautiful meadows, woods filled with singing birds, and flowers he’d never seen before. He encountered Manannan and Fand in a grand Dún, where he was invited to stay for the night.
In the Dún, Cormac was presented with the magical cup of Manannan. This cup would break when a lie was spoken and would only get whole again when a truth was told.
Cormac was reunited with his family. The joy of their reunion was immense, and they returned to their people, bringing with them Manannan‘s treasures: the bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had covered the table where they sat in the palace of Manannan.
Source: The Vanishing of Cormac | Emerald Isle Irish and #Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Hy-Brasil is an island in the #Otherworld west of #Ireland. Hy-Brasil shows up in a seven year cycle and is the seat of #Bresal, High King of the World, his name lives on in #Brazil. #Bresil was a magic realm, neither sea nor land, yet both.
Sources: Helmut Birkhan #Kelten and Michael Dames Ireland: A Sacred Journey
Unknown author, Argentine Ptolemy, Ireland and Brazil, 1513, public domain
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the Goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that Goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or Imbolc.
Source: https://substack.com/@aliisaac
#Celtic#LegendaryWednesday: Mabon ap Modron was rescued from his captivity at Cáer Loyw, a synonym for the #Otherworld, where he had been since he was stolen from his mother three days after his birth. Mabon repayed Culhwch by helping him to fulfill the tasks required for Culhwch's marriage to Olwen, a princess that charmed all with her outstanding beauty.
Source: Helen Benigni/Barbara Carter/Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn „The Myth of the Year“
#Celtic#LegendaryWednesday#WyrdWednesday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and #folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or #Imbolc.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: At two-year intervals, the wizardly pig-herders Rucht and Runce of the #Otherworld became stags, warriors, ghosts, dragons throwing snow on each others land, and finally 2 worms. As such, they impregnated 2 cows, causing them to be reborn as the magical bulls #Finnbennach of Cruachan and #Donn of Cuailgne. Source: Sylvia Botheroyd #Irland`
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: High King Art mac Cuinn had a one night stand with Achtan, daughter of a druid/smith named Olc Acha. One night, however, as Achtan slept, exhausted from her day’s travelling, her infant, #Cormac mac Airt, was stolen by a she-wolf and raised alongside her cubs.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack https://twitter.com/DaraSands/status/1325749794388709376
#Celtic#FolkyFriday: This is how High King Cormac vanished: One morning he went out alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which his wife and children had passed away a year before, and soon little fingers of mist began to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing scarves, and he was lost in the #Otherworld.
Source: The Vanishing of Cormac | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends https://twitter.com/BardMythologies/status/1202901250028818432
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: The words of #Niamh of the Golden Hair sparked in Oisin a irresistible craving to live with her in the #Otherworld:
“Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.
There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.
...“
Source: Dru Magus „#Myths and #legends of the #Celtic race“
#Celtic#WyrdWednesday#LegendaryWednesday: #Deirdre of the Sorrows eloped with #Naoise from her groom #Conchobar Mac Nessa. Because of the king's betrayal, Uisnech's son was killed. After a year of mourning #Deirdre was forced to marry the murderer of #Naoise. To prevent that, the Raving One threw herself on the way to the wedding from the chariot onto a rock to her death.
#Celtic#LegendaryWednesday: #Clídna of the Fair Hair was courted by #Ciabhán from #Ireland, who won her hand in her homeland of Tír Tairngiri, the Land of Promise. When it was time for Ciabhán to depart from the #Otherworld, the lovers couldn’t bear to be parted, and stole Manannán’s magical boat, the Wave Sweeper. Back at Glandore (“golden harbor”), #Clídna fell asleep after their long sea voyage, and Ciabhán went hunting for a deer to provide their supper. Having learned of their treachery, Manannán was furious and sent a huge wave to reclaim the runaway maiden, and so she was swept to her death. The wave which relentlessly pounds the shore there to this day is named in her memory.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and #folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the Goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that Goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or #Imbolc, which starts on February 1st.
Source: https://buff.ly/4aO9zLe
#Celtic#TempleThursday: Beira, the queen of winter, had Bride imprisoned at Ben Nevis. When Angus Og, the God of Summer, found her, winter had to give way to #spring. The painting ´The Coming of Bride` by John Duncan is full of spring flowers: primroses, azaleas, laburnum, lilac, tulips and grape hyacinth. #Imbolc
Source: Angus and Bride - Folklore Scotland
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: During the bleak period of winter #Brighid is held a captive prisoner at Ben Nevis as she awaits her hero, the youthful god Aengus mac Óg who would appear to represent the winter solstice sun returned from the Underworld. It is after he beholds Brighid in a vision that he sets out on his milk white steed from his #Otherworld Island drenched in perpetual summer to rescue the imprisoned goddess. The #Cailleach attempts to stop him at each step of his journey, however, it is in vain as Aengus secures Brighid’s freedom at #Imbolc. As the Cailleach storms away in a fury she flings her wand with one last gasp of resentment towards the roots of a holly bush as a final curse when #spring once again returns.
Source: Wade MacMorrighan „Rekindling the Rites of #Imbolg“
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „Another in kind parable portrays #Brighid and the #Cailleach not as imminent challengers, but as two sides of the same coin. As the season of #winter draws to a close the Cailleach again journeys to the #Otherworld island of Tír na n-Óg where she searches a deep wood for the magickal Well of Youth. At the moment when the dawn sun crests over the horizon she bends to drink its bubbling waters from the crevice of a rock and emerges renewed as the fair goddess Brighid. Where her enchanted wand once caused all vegetation to wither and die, it now transformed the dormant brown grass into vivid green shoots surmounted by the yellow and white flowers of #spring.“ #Imbolc
Source: Wade MacMorrighan „Rekindling the Rites of Imbolg“ https://twitter.com/RubyFaesRealm/status/1620681046210785281
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: The scenes of the portrayals on the Gundestrup cauldron correlate image-by-image with the beginning and end of the Táin and with the major episodes outlined in the seventh-century poetic narrations of the Táin. Plate E of the Gundestrup cauldron, in particular, displays the major events of the Aided Fraich episode. The dead Fraech is carried off into the #Otherworld and returns alive.
Source: G. Olmsted "The Gundestrup and Chiemsee Cauldrons: Witnesses to the Art..."
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: Airitech had three daughters who were werewolves. Every #Samhain, they emerged from the Cave of Cruachan, said to be a gateway to the #Otherworld, to kill sheep. They liked music, so the poet Cas Corach played his harp to distract them, and persuaded them to change back into their human form. Caoilte, a warrior of the #Fianna, then cast a spear that penetrated all three at once, and so they were killed. https://twitter.com/ChristineV8/status/1322054923232681984
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
The interior of Croghan Hill in Co. #Offaly belongs to the #Otherworld of Bri Éile. This is named after Éle, a Sidhe. The men of #Ireland were at feud about that maiden. One man after another went to woo her on #Samhain and to each one this used to happen: one of his people was slain. This went on year after year until #Fionn Mac Cumhail put an end to it. He killed #Aed from the Otherworld, who had always killed someone from the followers of the courtship out of jealousy.
#Celtic#WyrdWednesday: There were portals or gates between the worlds like #Oweynagat through which the fairy folk came forth and through which humans could pass to visit them. However, for most people, the passage was one way, for it was rare for humans to return from fairyland— although they might return so far distant in time or place that they found nothing familiar to greet them.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#WyrdWednesday: As a boy Elidyr used a hole in the riverbank as a portal to #Fairyland. He encountered two little men who took him to the #Otherworld, where he lived in ease and joy. All was beautiful there—bountiful land, beautiful people, endlessly sunny weather.
But when the prospective #Welsh hero tryed to steal a little gold ball he was caught by the fairies, who were angry and disappointed at his actions. They did not punish him but allowed him to go back to the surface world, free and safe. But thereafter, no matter how he sought, Elidyr could never find that riverbank entrance to fairyland.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
@Alanis@TheAcademy@Starbucks Cliona/Clíodhna. Queen of Banshees of S Munster & goddess of love/beauty, & patron Co Cork. Has 3 brightly coloured birds who eat apples from an otherworldly tree! Their song heals the sick! Put to sleep by music played by sea god's minstrel & drowned in Glandore harbour, Co Cork
#LegendaryWednesday: Despite the report of her watery demise, #Clídna managed to live on to have more romantic adventures. She fell in love with a man named John Fitzjames, who already had a human lover named Caitileen Óg. This girl followed Clídna into the #Otherworld, angrily demanding the return of her man. Although she came close to persuading Clídna to let her sweetheart go, even the witty tongue of Caitileen Óg was ultimately ineffective against Clídna’s desires.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore https://twitter.com/OpenBoo02828388/status/1359219634856198147