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 conceived and against all horticultural wisdom it was planned.
Planned, planted and grown!
The Bealtaine Project is now complete.
This land is both resilient and regenerative…it can grow abundance without me.
I am now free to observe and delight, potter and sit, all the while simply ensuring the gentle maintenance of the edges and paths, free to harvest and raise plants for the Potager Beds which provide some of my food and much of my pleasure.
I have embarked on writing my second book, happy with the good reception of the first, “A Cottage and Three Acres.”
I recently read this quote by W. H. Murray and found it to be true to my experience at Bealtaine Cottage over the past thirteen years…
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. “
W. H. Murray
Wise words…live your life!
Click here to purchase the book… “A Cottage and Three Acres…One Woman’s Return to Ireland in Her Quest for Eden.”
In Ireland, because of its close association with the goddess Brigit, it became Saint Brigid’s Day.
Yuletide continues to be marked at Bealtaine Cottage through to it’s end on the first day of January. A time of great hope and lifting of one’s head towards the ascending sun.
SAMHAIN…The Celts believed that Oidhche Shamhna, Samhain, was an open portal in time. 
This weekend marks the prelude to Samhain.
Monday is the day of 
It is a time of in-between…between worlds as the Celts believed it to be… 
The Celts understood the year to be divided into two halves associated with the dark and the light. 
The dark half begins at sunset on October 31st with Samhain.
Both festivals are closely linked, but Samhain is considered to be the most important.
In Ireland, years ago, great preparations were made for the sharing of a feast that included the departed as guests of honour. 
To enable them to come and go freely, all doors and windows were left unlatched; a special cake was made exclusively for their consumption, and a certain amount of other food was set aside just for them. 
This had to be left untouched by any mortal hand for the duration of the ritual period. Eating the food of the dead was considered to be a major sacrilege and it condemned the perpetrator to becoming a hungry spirit after death, forever banned from sharing in the Samhain feast.
As Bridget Haggerty writes in “Irish Culture and Customs,” “…As with many of the old festivals, Christianity stepped in to do whatever it could to eliminate pagan rituals.
In this case, it was Pope Boniface who took the festival of the dead and made it the festival of all saints and martyrs.
Originally it took place on May 13th, but a century later, Pope Gregory III shifted it to November.
In Ireland, All Saints Day was instituted in 998 AD by Abbot Odilo of Cluny and by the 13th century, although many of the old Samhain rituals persisted as folk customs, November 1st had become firmly established as a Christian festival.”
All Saints Eve is now 31st of October…Samhain! 
So what was always and only a great Celtic celebration has been claimed by a relatively contemporary religion as its own! 
However, Ireland being an island and its people being thinly removed from its cultural heritage, as John B. Keane once wrote in the play “The Field,” we have not forgotten our roots!
In the play, “The Field,” the parish priest proclaims Christianity to be a “thin veneer” over Irish people, in a derogatory reference both to the people and pre-Christian Paganism alike. 
Regarding the compassion displayed for those who grieved and mourned the loss of family and loved ones, we were far removed from how the Romans described us as “Barbarians!” 
As for the souls of the dead, all were honoured, unlike the Christian church here in Ireland which regarded the souls of un-baptised babies as being condemned to “Purgatory”.
Such was the the belief as I grew up and for the countless generations of those in my family before me. 
This Samhain I will try to remember and honour all my family and friends no longer in this mortal sphere.
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 lot done because I made the decision last week to come off Facebook…and have shared my thoughts with you on this… 
I posted a number of pics on FB this morning, as so many people delight in seeing Bealtaine Cottage! 
It is, however, almost impossible to respond to comments left on FB as I simply do not have the time and am resolved not to negate my commitment to this blog and the second website at bealtainecottage.org 
Those of you who have followed this blog for any amount of time will be aware of the enormous workload I carry and will, therefore, totally understand this. 
Recently I came across this quote by Joseph Campbell and was deeply moved to meditate upon it for a while. 
It has inspired me to “go with the flow” much more and to simply get on and do whatever tasks need doing, rather than planning and then becoming despondent at what I have not achieved…I can be my own hardest and most severe taskmaster! 
I am determined to come away from this driven approach and relax into life more! 
I could do with taking lessons from Sammy-bear, seen here by the Catnip in the tunnel, out of his mind! 
Cats remind us all how we should relax…frequently and often! 
This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, because these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.
I have found this to be comforting as I attempt to make sense of the chaos! 
This is a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, and also the great festival of Lughnasadh!
I will stride forth on Lughnasadh Eve to a high point on a nearby mountain to welcome in the new season and pay tribute to Mother Earth and in particular, Mother Ireland. 
To celebrate the season is to turn one’s back on the machinations, arrogance and hubris of Man, seeking instead, the warmth and generosity of the Great Mother…Earth, in all her beauty! 
Before I go, just to let you know, I am writing a blog on the Bealtaine Cottage Good Life website, all about using sheep wool in the tunnel as I prepare it for the Autumn/Winter sowing and planting.
“The symbol of Goddess gives us permission. She teaches us to embrace the holiness of every natural, ordinary, sensual dying moment. Patriarchy may try to negate body and flee earth with its constant heartbeat of death, but Goddess forces us back to embrace them, to take our human life in our arms and clasp it for the divine life it is – the nice, sanitary, harmonious moment as well as the painful, dark, splintered ones.
I was guilty of what many enthusiastic people are guilty of…spreading myself too thinly! Already I have many requests from would-be visitors, so have made the decision to take a year off from opening the gardens.
There is so much work to be done, as I have plans to create new beds and paths around the three acres. Talk about work…I haven’t even had time to move my Lemon tree in from the veranda! Thank goodness it’s been a mild Winter!
Time is of the essence for me, as I attempt to fit in so many aspects of my life!
Out of metamorphosis comes new, better and stronger.
