Ruins of Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland.
Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval site in Northern Ireland, the seat of Clan McDonnell. This is also a place where an early Irish fort once stood.
The first historical recording of the people called the Celts was in Ancient Greece around 700 BC.
Moving from East and Central Europe, the Celts first arrived in Ireland about 500 BC.
The story of their arrival is intermingled with that of the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan, a mythical tribe of the Goddess Danu.
With the arrival of Christianity in the fifth century AD, written records then observe that the Celtic language was being spoken all over the island of Ireland.
However, the Celtic Ogham script was used in Ireland from the fourth century AD to the eighth century AD.
The script consisted of strokes or notches cut along the edge of a standing stone. 
Therefore, Ogham is seen as being the first written records of life in Ancient Ireland.
The written word was not, however, much required in Celtic life, as the hierarchy placed the storyteller high in importance within the tribe.
Within this is also placed the Druid, whose powers of recall, knowledge and tribal history, as well as poetry and lore, was central to the wellbeing and social standing of the tribe or clan.
In this, the Celts loved storytelling. Before they learned to write, the Celts passed on their stories from one generation to another. Here is my grandfather, Hugh O’Neill of Tyrone, who was both a wonderfully gifted storyteller and musician. My elder brothers, Phelim and Sean are with him by the fireside in Omagh, County Tyrone.
The Celts built large earthen banks or stone walls around their farms to protect themselves and their animals.
These walls were called raths or duns.
Many place names in Ireland include the word rath or dun.
Examples such as Rathcormac and Dunloe come to mind…try looking at a map of Ireland and see how many you can pick out!
Many of the fortified homes were enlarged to become know as Hillforts, offering more protection and domination of the landscape. Oftentimes these sites were used later to build castles and larger settlements.
Ireland is covered with the memories of our ancient tribes and people.<
Driving home through the landscape of this beautiful part of Ireland was a holiday in itself. The road from Clifden to Westport is the stuff made of legends, with mountains that rear up in front of one and water reflecting the ever-changing sky.
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,
Colette O’Neill is a writer and photographer living at Bealtaine Cottage in the west of Ireland.
Outside the birdsong carries vibrant energy over the land.
On this, the longest day of the year, the Earth in the northern hemisphere basks in the glow of seemingly eternal light.
The shades of green seem endless, a patchwork of effervescence with splashes of outrageous colour.
As fast as flowers open they turn to seed and the future summers to come.
The hard work of the winter, creating the Lughnasadh Garden, has paid such rewards as could only have been imagined.
Midsummer marks the year in glorious technicolour and song, as befits Mother Earth. It’s like a birthday for her!
I have run out of space on this land…there is little room for more…yet more grows and arrives as gifts.
The workshop on July 1st covers aspects of co-creating a garden with Mother Earth, creating micro-climates, incorporating fruit and vegetables and the no-dig method of establishing, building and maintaining a regenerative Eden.
Aspects of seed saving will be part of the day.
A full walk and talk of the gardens will also be included.
You are welcome to take photographs and ask all the questions you may want.
Please allow for the weather in your outdoor clothing considerations…and footwear.
The day begins at 11am and finishes at 5pm.
Morning and afternoon tea and vegan cakes are included.
A vegan lunch, also included, is served at 1.30pm.
As of this posting there are two spaces left.
The candle is lit in the kitchen window, a soft light to welcome the night, while on the far side of the room a small lamp illuminates the dark. 
“I love to watch the fine mist of the night come on,
The Blackbird has sung out the day and in the night, as it flies around it’s territory, marking out it’s boundary in song.
“Inhale and hold the evening in your lungs.”
“Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
The time between blue and black is quiet, almost timeless. 
There is an ethereal glow that conjures night. 
And slowly, slowly, the hush becomes night. 
Goodnight from Bealtaine Cottage…goodnight.
