Colette O'Neill… Author, Publisher, photographer. Creator of Goddess Permaculture.
…flit into my head as I walk the woodland sanctuary, for it is here that I feel able to simply be, unaware of even myself! I imagine this is the same for most people, for it is in this state of unawareness that the creative mind begins to flow evenly, unstoppable. It was in walking […]
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The stories of shape-shifting can be found in many cultures throughout the world, but none so prominently as that found in Celtic culture. Within the near area of Bealtaine Cottage can be found a wealth of ancient history many thousands of years old. The Tuatha Dé Danann, the people of the Goddess Danu, were one of […]
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Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah. It makes absolutely no difference what people think of you. Rumi Another five days. Bealtaine. The beginning of Summer. This Bealtaine is the celebration of thirteen years of the Bealtaine project. A project once considered the silly dream of a ridiculous woman. Against all financial advice it was […]
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In preparing for the season of Yule, I follow the age old traditions of all the women who have gone before me. Preparation is everything. This begins in the home and involves casting an eye over all that will be of importance during this sacred time of gathering. I am driven with the desire to […]
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Origins of Yule The great Festival of Yule, beginning at the time of the Winter Solstice and lasting for a full twelve days, summed up the cycle of the Celtic year. The word Yule, according to the Venerable Bede, came from the Norse word Iul meaning ‘wheel’ and suggested that this was the time when […]
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SAMHAIN…The Celts believed that Oidhche Shamhna, Samhain, was an open portal in time. This weekend marks the prelude to Samhain. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QE3V4W5FYDFA8 Monday is the day of https://bealtainecottage.com/2013/09/29/the-night-of-the-thin-veil/ and is marked as a holiday here in Ireland. It is a time of in-between…between worlds as the Celts believed it to be… https://bealtainecottage.com/2015/10/05/between-world-we-celebrate/ The Celts understood the […]
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This portal to the Otherworld: a place of being for the Celts, where life existed, but not as we know it! The portal is the Old Fairy House, which was once the gateway to Kilronan castle. This ethereal looking gatehouse was created many years ago, when only horses and carriages travelled the roads of […]
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Between two worlds, that of Summer and of Winter, rests Samhain. Samhain, (pronounced “Sow-when”) is the most important time in the Ancient Irish (and Celtic) Calendar. The time of Samhain starts at dusk, when the light and dark are in balance. This was never regarded as a time of death, but a time of incubation […]
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I’ve been spending much of this week catching up with a great many tasks that were backing up around me…cork-tiling the bathroom floor and part of the Lodge floor, clearing the tunnel for the winter crops and all the usual stuff such as clearing and mowing the paths in the gardens! I have got a […]
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