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 the great ancient tribes of Ireland.
These people who appeared to “land on top of a mountain”, Sliabh an Iarainn, a great brooding mass of sandstone rock and thin soil, visible from Bealtaine Cottage.
The ancient manuscript ‘The Annals of the Four Masters’, records that the Tuatha Dé Danann ruled Ireland from 1897 B.C. to 1700 B.C.
The Tuatha Dé Danann were eventually consigned to mythology, disappearing from the face of the Earth, but going underground, emerging later as ‘Aes sidhe’ (the people of the mound – fairy mounds)., now referred to simply as the Sidhe.
The people are known as “The Sidhe” or people of the mounds, or “The Lordly Ones” or “The Good People”.
Once consigned to the underworld the Tuatha Dé Danann engaged their powers of shape-shifting, emerging in many forms, even that of apparent human form.
In Irish mythology, we come across a number of stories about shape-shifting beings.
These shape-shifters are often goddesses, gods, magicians, witches, fairies and other supernatural creatures.
Shape-shifting is an important aspect of understanding the complexities of the influence of the Sidhe in contemporary Ireland, as it is believed this magic is employed to allow the Otherworld to communicate with humans.
A poem in the Lebor Gabála Érenn says of the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann:
“the truth was not known beneath the sky of stars,
whether they were of heaven or of earth.”
Colette O’Neill is a writer and photographer living at Bealtaine Cottage in the west of Ireland.
Colette follows the Path of the Goddess at Bealtaine Cottage and is the innovator of Goddess Permaculture, which holds Mother Earth and all Her life to be sacred.
This is a special offer on my first book, usually 27.50 now 22.50 but only until 7th July!
“A Cottage and Three Acres,” by Colette O’Neill
Please email Colette if you would like a particular inscription in your book. From a desolate cottage set in 3 acres of monoculture sadness, to a vibrant, thriving food forest of life…the journey back to Eden over 13 years… Bealtaine Books and Maps are printed in Ireland and posted from Ireland to support the people of Ireland.
€27.00
Now, that being said, I can get on with sharing images captured this morning as I walked the gardens.
Each morning I arise and embark on a series of rituals, that culminate with a hot cup of tea in one hand, my camera in the other and faithful Jack by my side. 
It is then that I step out… 
This has been my ritual, though not always with Jack, for the past twelve years. 
And so it continues… 
What has manifested here on this little piece of sacred Earth still takes my breath away! 
I touch base with it as many times a day as I can! 
I take thousands of photographs every year, for the sheer beauty of what Mother Earth can do on three acres of “poor land,” is beyond incredible! 
And this has manifested in one of the last remaining countries on Earth that continues to refer to itself as “Mother.”
“Mother Ireland”
The Great Mother, Mother Earth, Goddess, Creatrix! 
The Celts were one of the last remaining tribes of the Goddess…in that they recognised the spirit of the Earth as female. 
There lies a message in that…
I believe it to be simply this…”I am alive and filled with joy and waiting…” 
And earlier today…
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 the west of Ireland. 
It was built in the vernacular tradition, using water worn limestone hewn from the surrounding earth. 
Many years have passed since a horse or carriage passed by… 
The entrance is no longer a part of the old estate. 
Here it stands, watching the centuries pass by, unimpressed by progress…and perhaps, if stones could talk… 
I have a notion to bring my video camera with me next time…would you like a video of this enchanting place?
Here’s just a brief note to let you all know that there is now a new page here on the website!
Have a look at the top of the site and you’ll see listed at the very end: Cottage Journal. Click on and read the introduction.
A daily insight, as promised to all my supporters from FaceBook missing my daily postings!
You will find musings, news, garden updates and lots more each day!
The recipes are all simple and easy…like this Sweet Potato and Caramelised Red Onion Pate!
Green Salad with Olive Oil and Basil dressing; 
Spicy Roasted Veg., 
Bulgar Wheat and 
Ginger sauce…all home made in a short space of time…a delicious lunch!
I hosted a dinner party on Sunday, 
for my grandson who is off to Canada tomorrow, (Tuesday). 
And baked some very easy bread! 
Then baked the same recipe again today!
I also made a lunch for family today.
The original being Bealtaine Cottage and this website. 
The publication had been taken over and new management did not even give contributors like myself time to download and save our work. 
From that low point came the birth of this website…a place where I could share, in trust, the magic of this sacred little piece of Ireland. 
Recently I have found myself stretched beyond capacity, as I attempted to share more and more on Social Media.
This will not alter my natural capacity to want to share, but sharing will, from now on, be concentrated back where I started from…Bealtaine Cottage website.
A special visitor to Bealtaine Cottage today, Gian Castello, dropped by and played some haunting airs and a lively Hornpipe in the cottage kitchen…what an absolute delight!
Gian and his partner, Kitia, will be playing music and recitations around the magical gardens as the season of Lughnasadh progresses towards Samhain.
Each one will be recorded for the Bealtaine Cottage YouTube channel.