Happy Burns Night!

Yay! Today is the end of Mercury Retrograde! From this moment hence, communications should get better, also transportation and travel in general should improve, and I should be getting my computer back soon (a definite victim of Mercury’s slumber).

Even better, tonight is Burns Night. So, grab a bowl of haggis, read some Robbie Burns (roll those Rs when you say his name), since Auld Lang Syne again, and celebrate!

The Celtic Oak Moon

The kiss of midsummer is upon us and also the waxing Oak Moon. It's a beautiful time of year.

Solstice means 'standstill' and refers to the way the sun appears to rise and set in the same place for a few days this week. Here in the west of Ireland, there are very few hours of darkness right now. In fact, at this time of year, I have stayed outside gardening in the almost-darkness, and been shocked when I came inside and found out it was one in the morning.


People used to light bonfires on the summer solstice to celebrate the sun at the height of its power, and to strengthen the power of the sun through ritual. When the Christians arrived in Ireland, they took over the Summer Solstice, as they did most holidays, and declared that a new holiday would be celebrated on the 24th of June (a few days after the solstice). This, they decreed, just happened to be the anniversary of the birth of St. John the Baptist. The custom still exists and, on the eve of St. John (June 23rd), bonfires are lit all over the Irish countryside. Tomorow night, I'll go to the local bonfire and take old cardboard boxes, pillows, and a few other things that need to be 'released' to the flames! But instead of thinking about St. John (who may or may not have been born in June), I'll be thinking druidic thoughts about the symbolic strength of midsummer, and gratitude for how the warmer weather empowers all of us, humans, animals and plants.

Tonight, as the sun was setting behind the mountains, a waxing crescent moon was high in the sky, very close to the sun. It was an oddly magical sight. According to the ancient Celtic tree calender, this is the Oak Moon, a moon that symbolizes strength, security and power. Druids worshipped in oak groves, and later, the vaulting in English churches was made from curved oak timbers. A most powerful tree for a most powerful time of year. Right now is the best time of year to employ nature and use the strength of the sun to aid visualization and guide our personal powers.


I wish you all a blessed and magical season!

'She kneels beneath the huge oak tree 

And in silence prayeth she.' 

      -Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

A Haunted Landscape

When Roman Christianity invaded Ireland, a shameful Irish custom began, and continued until the 1960s. It was decreed that no unbaptised child or individual could be buried in consecrated ground. This was a concept used by theologians in an effort to compel individuals to be baptised into the Catholic faith.

Most unbaptised children, as well as victims of murder, disease or suicide, were buried in a lisheen. One such lisheen lies in the Ower countryside of County Galway, on the Black River. It is atop an ancient ring fort, which is now an overgrown forest. To previous generations, this would have been a ‘faerie fort,’ a landscape haunted by the fey. A place in between worlds, much like the ‘Limbo,’ unbaptised babies would be resigned to. To reach the lisheen, you have to traverse around briars and prickly hawthorne trees. In the springtime, the ground in this forest is covered in beautiful white wild garlic flowers. Always there is an air of extreme peacefulness here—an almost eerie calm—occasionally punctuated by the fluting of birds in the trees overhead and the rush of the river far below.

The land slopes down into the forest and the ground is covered in tumbled, moss-covered stones. Headstones.

Back when most babies were born at home and infant mortality was high, parents suffered unbearable grief and anguish, believing that their child would never get to heaven or they’d never see their unbaptised loved ones again. Standing in this forest, it’s easy to imagine a father burdened with the task of bringing a baby here, probably under cover of darkness, and laying the tiny creature in a shallow grave without a wake, or any support from neighbours.

In the centre of this forest is a large rectangular mound of stones which it is said was once an altar where the local Franciscan monks said mass during the time of the Cromwell invasion. 

The Ower lisheen, like most of the Irish landscape, is fertile both agriculturally and emotionally . . . a place where stories seem to come up out of the ground, grab you by the ankle, and demand, ‘Write me!’

HAPPY EPONALIA!

Eponalia is the feast day of the ancient Celtic Horse Goddess, Epona. The word ‘pony’ is derived from her name. Ancient peoples from the west of Ireland, to as far east as Anatolia (Turkey), from the Danube River to Yugoslavia, down to Rome and even North Africa, worshipped the Horse Goddess.  Her Facebook fan page would have broken world records.

The ancient Celts had totem animals, much like Native Americans.  The horse, and the white horse in particular, was a powerful totem, symbolising the land and journeying (both physical and spiritual). It was believed that the Horse Goddess could help humans transcend the limitations of mortality. 

Today, Ireland is definitely horse country. When you visit the west country, you’ll undoubtedly see (and perhaps meet) lots of different breeds, from Thoroughbred racehorses to sturdy Cobs, and everything in between. But the most prevalent by far is the native Connemara pony. More of a horse than a pony, the Connemara is a cross between the original very small Irish horses referred to as ‘Hobby’ and the Arabians and Andalusians that came to Ireland with the Spanish Armada in the 16^th Century. The Connemara pony is hardy, intelligent and good-tempered—much like the rest of Ireland!

The Water Cure

Arnamentia (or Arnametia) was an Anglo-Celtic goddess of spring waters and of healing. The last part of her name was taken from ‘nemeton,’ which was a sacred grove of trees where druids worshipped. Usually, those groves would be near water, for water marked the entrance to the OtherWorld and offered great healing powers.

Oh, Arnamentia, where the heck are you? Ireland needs you now . . .

This month marks the first time ever that Irish people will have to pay for water. It’s a utility long taken for granted in this country because we have so much of it. Unfortunately, the water we are now paying for is often polluted or carcinogenic. And people are angry. Many picketed in protest against the water charges, and threatened not to pay. There’s a video on Facebook showing how to remove the water meters that have been installed. Shops are selling giant plastic rain barrels so people can collect water for free. On the radio, DJs joke about not washing dishes and drinking alcohol instead of water.

 

And in the middle of all this angst and controversy, I started: 

The Water Cure

By now, most people have heard of the water cure, but just in case you haven’t, I’ll share a bit of what I know and am learning about this interesting antidote. Originally, I started this cure to help lower my blood pressure naturally, without harmful pharmaceuticals, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that it’s also helped my achy old-dancer joints and even helped me lose a bit of weight without trying.

In the early 1990s, a physician named Fereydoon Batmanghelidj (he’s mercifully referred to as ‘Dr. Batman’ for short) published a book entitled, YOUR BODY'S MANY CRIES FOR WATER. The book describes his discovery that chronic dehydration is the root cause of many ailments, including Asthma and allergies, Obesity, High cholesterol, Heart disease and stroke, Diabetes, Hypertension, Infection, Depression and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Sleep disorders, Lack of energy, Addiction, Osteoporosis, Leukaemia and Lymphoma, Attention Deficit Disorder, Hot flushes, Gout and Kidney stones. Batman’s byline is: You’re not sick; you’re thirsty. Don’t treat thirst with medication. That’s wonderfully provocative, especially when you consider that water is cheaper than medication. Dr. Batman asserted that most people don’t even know they need water, as dry mouth is the last sign of dehydration. He also said that people drink less as they age, thereby aging faster.

Here’s how The Water Cure works:

1.      Water. Calculate half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 300 pounds that would be 150 ounces. You’d drink 150 ounces of purified, not tap water per day, divided into at least six servings. For a 300 pound person, that would be roughly three 8-ounce cups of water six times a day. But, the good news is, that 300 pound person would begin losing weight quickly, so he or she could drink less!

Here’s a link to convert ounces to millilitres and vice versa:
http://www.convertunits.com/from/oz/to/ml

2. Salt. Before drinking each serving of water, you dissolve 1/16 tsp (a pinch) of Himalayan Pink Salt or Celtic Sea Salt on your tongue.

Most conventional physicians will tell you to cut out salt or sodium to lower blood pressure. But Himalayan Pink Salt is very different from basic table salt. Both are sodium chloride, but table salt is like white flour – it has been stripped of minerals and its ‘good’ properties. According to Dr. Batman (I love that name), the human body needs the minerals in pure salt.

     3. Timing. Dr. Batman said that when we drink water is important. I was drinking more than half my body weight in water before I started this cure, but I was sipping it, and usually drinking quite a bit with meals. Drinking when you eat is okay, but your body uses that water to help digest the food, and it then leaves your body. Water is really important on a cellular level, and it needs to remain in your body for about two hours. This means we need to drink a fair amount of it in between meals so that it can get into the cells and our bodies can really use it.  For that reason, there’s a schedule to this cure.

First thing in the morning, take a pinch of salt and dissolve it on your tongue, then drink your first amount of water (1/6^th of half your total weight in ounces). This water should be consumed in five minutes or less.

Wait 30 minutes.

Eat breakfast

Wait 2 to 2 ½ hours. Do not consume anything except water, if you wish, for those two hours.

After that 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, repeat the whole process.

Do this a total of six times each day.

Right away, I think of a friend of mine who says she ‘hates the taste of water.’ Bizarre, but true. For people who ‘hate’ water, adding a bit of organic vanilla extract to the water can make it palatable. As an added bonus, Christiane Northrup, M.D. says that organic vanilla extract added to water can help regulate thyroid function.

Now, with a heightened awareness of the importance of water, I’ll say a silent prayer to the goddess Arnamentia and ask for her help with the whole Irish water situation. Maybe she can help my fellow countrymen understand that we should be boycotting water quality rather than water charges. If the Irish government would use the money we pay to actually purify our drinking water, then maybe that water would quench our anger, and cure a load of other problems. 

Torc Waterfall, County Kerry