For our ancestors, the Equinox provided a pause between autumn and winter. The word equinox derives from the Latin for “equal to night”. This phenomenon occurs twice a year and happens when the sun rises due east and sets due west and day and night are equal in length. Samhain which occurs November 7th and …
“On a Saturday, my father Frank took my sister Alison and I to fields well known for mushrooms. When we got there, not a mushroom could be seen. With baskets and hearts empty, we started to make our way back to the car and along the route the hedgerows were bursting with blackberries. We picked …
By Dr. Karen Ward For northern hemisphere dwellers, Summer Solstice – the longest day and the shortest night of our year is usually celebrated on 21st June. This year, the exact time of the cross-quarter moment between Bealtaine (early Summer) and Lughnasadh (early Autumn) is Saturday June 20th at 21.44pm GMT. In Gaelic, Solstice is Grianstad, …
I Lár Ciorcal na Sinsir (in Gaelic) In the Centre of the Circle of the Ancestors by John Cantwell [Excerpt from this chapter in ‘Soul Seers – an Irish Anthology of Celtic Shamanism’] We are your Ancestors. Our presence and voices include all those you remember and have recorded and the great number who you …
Creating and Living In Sacred Space Techniques for honouring the energies of the four directions of the Universe, the Earth, the Heavens and Great Spirit yield a profound positive shift in the sanctity of the spaces in which we live, love and work. We also incorporate our ability to mechanically ‘open’ our Light/Electro-Magnetic Field (LEM) …
By John Cantwell “This is for you” Martha said as she handed me a red, black, white and yellow bracelet. “It was made for those who danced at last year’s Lakota Sundance Festival, you might like to wear it”. We had met at a recent international gathering of shamanic practitioners here in Ireland, there were …
Halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice is the cross quarter time of Bealtaine, the celestial announcement of the Summer season, even though temperatures may not yet tempt us to the beach . As the sun’s height and dominance in the dance between day and night increases from Spring Equinox to the climax at Summer Solstice, …