Another Trip Around The Sun!

My birthday has passed. It was a wonderful day and here I am in a new year of my life, another journey around the sun! It’s been an extraordinary journey so far and, as usual, it’s been a wonderful time for casting the occasional, cursory glance over my shoulder to the past. To this end, I have recalled many aspects of my relationship with my parents, especially in my younger years, realising more and more just how wonderful they both were! When one is in the thick of it all it’s sometimes very hard to see the people behind the…

An Open Portal in Time…

October 28, 2016November 2, 2016 Categories: Celtic Mythology · Celts · Celts Celtic Festivals · Gardens · Ireland Celtic festivals · SamhainTags: All Saints · baptism · barbarians · Christianity · condemned · cultural roots · Dragons breath · heritage · holiday · home birth · Ireland · John B Keane · Odilo of Cluny · pagan · Paganism · Pope Boniface · Pope Gregory · purgatory · romans · saints · Samhain · soul · The Field9 Comments

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 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. https://bealtainecottage.com/2012/10/15/the-celtic-new-year-festival-of-samhain/ Samhain ends at Bealtaine, when the light half begins at sunset on May 1st. Both festivals are closely linked,…

Old Year’s Night…Celtic Samhain

September 29, 2016September 29, 2016 Categories: ancient Ireland · celtic festival · Celtic Mythology · Celts · Folklore · Gardens · goddess · magic · New Year · SamhainTags: ancient Irish · balance · Caesar · celtic calendar · celtic new year's eve · consciousness · dusk · ground · Halloween · honour the dead · humna form · immortal soul · Iron Age · Mother Earth · pronounce Samhain · Samhain · seed · seeds · veil is thin · winter8 Comments

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 for Mother Earth. It was the onset of Winter that allowed the Great Mother to get ready the seed for Spring. Samhain is the Celtic New Year’s Eve. It is at this time, between worlds, that the veil is thin. A time of possibilities. A…

Between Worlds We celebrate

October 5, 2015October 5, 2015 Categories: Celts · Ireland · Samhain · writersTags: Brian Friel · celebration · celtic lore · Glenties · Samhain · Willow Coffin8 Comments

As with all things Celtic, the merging of time and place meant boundaries became thin and blurred… Known as “The Night of the Thin Veil…a time of “between worlds”…the fertile edge when all is possible! Today’s Podcast… https://soundcloud.com/bealtaine-cottage/between-worlds-we-celebrate Bealtaine Cottage is free and has over 850 blogs, as well as over 3,500 photographs. Bealtaine Cottage Good Life is a mere 12 euros per year and allows me a small income, to keep doing what I love doing most…writing about Mother Earth and photographing her. To subscribe, a small donation of 12 euros per year, will add your name to the subscriber…

The Passing of Samhain

November 1, 2013November 1, 2013 Categories: Cats · Climate · Country Living · Garden · Inspiration · Life · Lifestyle · Permaculture · SamhainTags: beginning a basket · cats miaow · early winter · eaves · giant willow · grapevine · Jack Frost · manifested · pantry · pollarded willow · reflective rain water · Samhain · weekend8 Comments

Autumn remains, despite the passing of Samhain. Nasturtiums hold their blooms and the occasional bee busies himself with work, inside the generous flowers of orange and yellow. Sammy-Bear and Che-Mousey have drunk all their milk and turned their noses up at the biscuits…they may be spoiled! The leaves of the Nasturtium appear to grow huge, as the season of growth comes to an end…capturing and reflecting the dew of the morning. Giant Willow, (Biomass), drops its leaves and the winter duvet, that will cover the earth, spreads. This Willow grows at the top of the gardens and is pollarded, to…

Cottage Industry

October 30, 2013October 31, 2013 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Cats · celebrations · Celts · Cottage · Gardens · Ireland · Permaculture · Samhain · Spirituality · Thoughts · UncategorizedTags: 1920's type hat · Annie Hall · autumn · cats · cloche hat · cottage · cottage industry · Diane Keaton · Etsy · hats · natural fabric · Samhain · season · weather21 Comments

The clock ticks towards Samhain, literally meaning: Summer’s end! Tomorrow is Samhain, a celebration of the last day of Summer and the beginning of Winter in the Celtic calendar. Despite cold nights creeping into Bealtaine, all remains green on the ground, with just the trees showing signs of transition into Winter. Nasturtiums have not yet melted in the frost…it seems the ground continues to put forth enough heat to protect them! “I ordered my food ages ago!” Sammy-Bear waits for his breakfast on the veranda…I have to hurry up with this photography business and serve him breakfast! The Wisteria, on…

The Celtic Roots of Samhain

October 22, 2013October 15, 2016 Categories: celebrations · Celtic Mythology · Celts · Garden · Inspiration · Ireland · Samhain · Spirituality · Thoughts · UncategorizedTags: boundary · celtic roots of Samhain · dision of light and dark · division · enchant · hill of tara · leaves · mantle · mound of the hostages · preparing for winter · summer's end · sun · The Celts · thinnest point · veil5 Comments

The bright red of the Ruby Chard will add colour to the Samhain feast! In Celtic Ireland, Samhain marked the division of the year between the light (summer) and the dark (winter). For me, the customs of my ancestors are important to acknowledge and continue. This time of tuning into the seasonal shift and preparing for the darkness of the winter months ahead, is important. Even today, as I stacked these logs in the shelter of the veranda, I couldn’t help but think about Samhain and its meaning as a custom and special tradition. The Hill of Tara was associated…

The Moon of Samhain

October 20, 2013October 26, 2013 Categories: Autumn · celebrations · Celts · Country Living · Earth · Garden · Inspiration · Ireland · Life · Permaculture · Samhain · Thoughts · UncategorizedTags: birthday month · earth · fortune of friendship · lunar cycle · passions · Samhain · Scorpio women · seasons · stage · summer end · therapy · true friend · wardrobe · workroom6 Comments

Leaves are changing the trees and shrubs into their vivid autumn attire. Spiders are scurrying to and fro, spinning webs and catching food. Berries hang in abundance on shrubs and trees. Samhain waits in the wings. The season makes progress towards “Summers’ End.” My friend, Marion has delivered some logs to me as a gift…a true and thoughtful friend indeed! Rain has fallen for some days now and the ground is saturated. However, Jack must be walked…Walking in the rain is therapeutic and quite humbling, reminding me of the blessings of warmth and comfort in the cottage and the fortune…

The Promise of Mist

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013 Categories: Cats · Permaculture · Samhain · Spirituality · UncategorizedTags: Bandon Pottery · fading light of autumn · light mist · lunar cycle · mountains of Arigna · rose-hips · South Africa4 Comments

The evening falls a little faster, the light fades in the west and the cottage warms up to greet the night. Missy has been reluctant to go outside today, as the rain fell steadily all afternoon. The warm air ensures a light mist will rise from the valley tonight. If the morning is clear, the mist will rise up through the valley and embrace the mountains of Arigna. Rose-hips are flopping out from hedgerows…is this the sign of a cold winter to come? We shall see! Tea, lovely hot and comforting, the cup that cheers…thank you Jane for the beautiful…