Happy Imbolic!!!

This is the holiday celebrating pregnancy!! The Pregnancy of the ewes. It is also Candlemas, the Lunar New Year, and Groundhogs day. I'm super tired right now, so I won't write much, but tomorrow Friday I will have the time to do so. Have a great holiday and a good rest of the week.

Happy Yule Day 1

I hope everyone got the chance to enjoy last night's Total Lunar Eclipse. This is the first time since 1374 that the total lunar eclipse has been on the Winter Solstice. I unfortunately didn't really get to see it because there was too much cloud cover, but I caught a glimpse of the beautiful red moon around 2 am. Today was the beginning of Yule, which lasts for 13 days. Yule is celebrated with the spreading of the warmth throughout the community. This is done by lighting personal hearths with torches that were lit with a sacred fire that is kept burning throughout the winter. This represents that we are all connected and equal and that our souls all come from the same source. Yule is also celebrated with communal feasts. Yule celebrates the death and re-birth of the sun from the mother earth. So the return of light and the hope for a brighter year. During this time we sacrifice a Boar, if we do not spill the blood of the Boar it is said that the Mother Goddess will not have the strength to give birth to the sun.

The food is put away for the winter,
the crops are set aside to feed us,
the cattle are come down from their fields,
and the sheep are in from the pasture.
The land is cold, the sea is stormy, the sky is gray.
The nights are dark, but we have our family,
kin and clan around the hearth,
staying warm in the midst of darkness,
our spirit and love a flame
a beacon burning brightly
in the night.

~Celtic prayer for Yule

Celtic Proverb 29

Your son is your son until he marries but your daughter is your daughter until you die.
Is é do mhac do mhac go bpósann sé ach is í d'iníon go bhfaighidh tú bás.

~Celtic Poverb

Celtic Proverb 28

Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live everyday as if it were your last.

~Celtic Proverb

Bright Blessings on this Samhain

It is Summer's End! Samhain is one of the most holy nights of the year for Celts. I wish everyone Bright Blessings and good fortune for the upcoming year. Today is the day when the border between this world and the Otherworld is weak and the spirits of the dead can come into our world freely. This is not to be confused with the Summer Solstice, in which the veil is also weak and the Aoi Sidhe can cross into our domain. Aoi Sidhe are the decedents of the gods. In my culture, we also have "ghost dancers", at least this is how I translate it. The dancers paint their bodies with white mud, and dance naked or nearly naked. If you have ever witnessed the Sankai Juku dancers in Japan, then that is very similar to the Ghost Dancers. Samhain is held for three nights, 30, 31, and 1. It is the midpoint between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice, at least on the lunar calendar. Celts used both a Solar and Lunar Calendar to mark the dates. On Samhain the Feile na Marbh, or Festival of the Dead, in which we honor and celebrate the live of those who have passed before us. As well as, the death of nature and the end of the harvest.

Celtic Proverb 27

May those who love us, love us. And those who hate us, may God turn their hearts. And if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping.

~ Celtic Proverbs

Celtic Proverb 26

You can't kiss an Irish girl unexpectedly. You can only kiss her sooner than she thought you would.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 25

How many mourn the want of possessions; yet the strong, the brave, and the rich, all go to the grave at last; like the poor, and the emaciated, and the infant.
~ Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 24

Three best to have in plenty - sunshine, wisdom and generosity.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Spells

Shield and Safeguard Us

Valiant Nuada of the white sword,
Who subdued the Firbolg of blood,
For love of the Tribe, for pains of Danu's children,
Hold thy shield over us, protect us all,
Hold thy shield over us, protect us all.
Danu beloved! Mother of the Shining Ones,
Shield, oh shield us, Lady of nobleness,
And Brigit the beauteous, shepherdess of the flocks,
Safeguard thou our animals, encircle us together,
Safeguard thou our animals, encircle us together.
And Ellen, beneficent, benign,
Governess of the trackways of power,
Invoke the star of power upon the path,
Guide well thou ourselves, shield our procession,
Guide well thou ourselves, shield our procession.
O Mother! O Maiden! O Crone of Wisdom!
Be the Triad with us day and night,
On the machair plain or on the mountain ridge,
Be the Triad with us and her cloak around us,
Be the Triad with us and her cloak around us.

Celtic Proverb 23

The peacemaker is never in the way.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 22

If Candlemas is wet or foul, half the winter has gone at Yule. If Candlemas is fine and fair, half the winter is to come and more.

~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 21

The only cure for love is marriage.
Níl aon leigheas ar an ngrá ach pósadh.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 20

If the head cannot bear the glory of the crown, better to be without it.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 19

There’s no wise man without fault.
Ní bhíonn saoi gan locht.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 18

It is a wedge of itself that splits the oak.(Beware the enemy within.)
Is í ding di féin a scoileann an dair.
~ Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 17

Beware of the anger of a patient man.
Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 16

What is Seldom is Wonderful.
An rud is annamh is íontach.
~Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 15

"Conversation is the cure for every sorrow. Even contention is better than loneliness."
~ Celtic Proverb

Celtic Proverb 14

"No pain like that of refusal. No sorrow like the loss of friends."
~ Celtic Proverb.