Viewing posts for the category Dots on a Page
It's time for another song! This one is focused on the Sidhe-folk, literally the people of the mounds. What they are is confusing at best to us humans, but they're a clearly important group of beings in Irish lore and thus worthy of honoring with song in this a season where they are traditionally given extra attention. With this, I also tried to capture the other-worldliness of the experience of trying to get into contact with them, as in most of my own experiences as well as the lore it feels like time out of time, with everything not quite as you expect.
Our group is back to doing Greek-focused rites for spring equinox, which is great fun, because it means I get to honor Dionysos, the happy god of wine, fertility, and general frivolity. And sure, that stuff is fun, but I've always thought there was more of a point to it, namely that your personal truth, the things you really really want and believe, can be found only after you've stripped away a lot of social graces, habits, and nicities that you've learned over your lifetime to hide yourself for the sake of convenience or livelihood.
In the season of Imbolg, it is cold, it is snowy, but there's also clear signs that spring will be coming soon. There is more sunlight each day, which makes for signs of hope. But the snow and cold also keep you indoors, making this a good time for celebrating hearth and home. Which, conveniently, the Irish goddess Brighid absolutely is a present part of, so this is designated, at least in our local calendar, her birthday, a fitting time of in-gathering and preparation for the coming year.
It's the season of Yuletide once again, a time of darkness and dreary weather, but also a time of partying inside every home. The harvest is gathered in, and the folk are mostly lounging around eating and staying warm and doing indoor tasks until it's time to get ready to head to the fields again.
The late fall season is upon us. The last bit of crops have been brought in, I've been busily winterizing my house in preparation for the deep cold of winter, and there is a sense of the world dying as it turns towards darkness. As is typical for modern pagan types, this leads to a focus in this season on our beloved dead and our ancient forebearers. This song comes from a vision that the screams and faint cries that are heard when wind rushes by are their voices, interpreted by some as the bean sidhe or banshee.