Tales from the Cailleach: Tipping the Balance at Equinox.

A short walk today, just as far as the thorn. 

The Equinox sunrise gilded the stones within my mound this morning.

Photo: sunlight at Spring Equinox inside Cairn T  © Clare Tuffy http://www.newgrange.com 

Seed-sprouts rise from the earth, tiny leaves curl on branches.
Still, there is a breath of snow in the air and on these grey days I don’t stray far from the hearth.

The fire awakened, I sit staring into the flames, warmed by memories of SAMHAIN past. 

Since then I have a ready smile for neighbours and laughter in my eyes. 

They do not know the cause but I see them sniffing the air as they pass, sensing sea tang, their faces puzzled by the seaweed fond across my threshold. 

The phone rings, reflections shatter.

Two voices, so like my own, whisper down the line.

“ Tonight, is it?”

I nod my reply.

“Yes, we’ll tip the balance. ”

Later, fire banked, I listen to the house as it sighs and settles into the night.

Once the tale was told of we three Hags who push up new growth from the land at Equinox, it’s almost true that story.
My sister-selves and I labour when light and dark are equal but not beneath the earth.

As shadows deepen, eyes close, breathing slows and I gently slip away.

Needing neither broom nor steed I rise to travel rimed roads. 

Sleep blankets the villages I pass, a quiet night in this world.

Over frost bitten bog and pitch river I gather speed to soar above the rising hill.

Photo © Lynda McCormack 

A feathering of snow flakes as I settle upon Sliabh na Caillíghe, where once we leapt and hurled 

the stones that now bear legends.

Upon my chair I scour the sleeping island with keen eyes.

Photo: Courtesy of © Anthony Murphy http://www.mythicalireland.com 

Yes, the land is ready, ripe for growth. 

I release my howl of greeting high into the darkness.  

A chill blast bearing laughter replies, my sister-self on Gullion. 

A moment later the screech of Bheara answers and we three Hags are ready.

The tipping point approaches.

At the mound, breath hoar frost on stone, I enter black stillness.

In this womb, the air, already laden with the scent of meadowsweet yet to bloom, 

shifts as I trace shapes within the stones. 

Patterns once danced upon the land in rhythm with earth, sea and sky.

We three move as one. 

Goodness in seed, grass and grain.

Sunwise circling.

Goodness in flower, fruit and branch.

Weaving words.

Goodness in grain, nourish our people.

A sudden surge. 

A torrent, the yellow of ripening sun, is birthed across the land. 

The point of balance tipped.

The land awash with vigour once again.

Cailleach at Sliabh na Caillíghe © Jane Brideson.

***

Next morning, I stir the embers back to flame and place the kettle on the stove, my work complete 

till harvest.

Stepping out the sky is washed pale blue and Seán stops the post van by the gate. 

“ Not a bad morning,” he says, “ there’s a feel of spring to the air. ”

Handing over the bills he stays to chat until the kettle sings. 

“ No tea for me today. ” 

Leaving he sniffs and mutters, “ is that the sea ? ”

I look to the sky. 

From the west a cloud formed like a wave rolls across the hills.

Inside two cups sit ready.

Manannán comes.

My first story of The Cailleach at Samhain is here: The Lament of the Old Woman

By Stone, Whitethorn and Well.

It may have been that sacred springs and wells were understood by our ancestors to originate in the Otherworld, flowing from the earth into this world at special places, bringing healing, inspiration, wisdom and connection to deities.

Gold boat from the Brighter Hoard Co. Derry, thought to be a votive offering to Manannán Mac Lír.

Numerous deposits of votive offerings were made during the Bronze and Iron Ages in the lakes, rivers and bogs of Ireland indicating that water was an important part of ancient peoples’ lives and beliefs.

In Ireland there remain wells that are pre-Christian in origin

St. Mobhi’s Well, also known as Fionn MacCumhail’s Well. 

Photograph courtesy of Gary Branigan - Gary's book is available HERE

The construction has lead archaeologist Geraldine Stout to suggest that it may have been built around the same time as the great mound at Newgrange. 

and famous wells of mythology whose over flowing created the rivers of the island.

 Trinity Well, the source of the Boyne.

One such well was Tobar Segais, said to be surrounded by nine hazel trees.

When the hazelnuts, containing wisdom, fell into the water they were eaten by the Salmon, a creature who appears throughout Irish tradition associated with great knowledge. 

An Bradán Feasa, The Salmon of Wisdom courtesy of Séighean Ó Draoi.

More work by Séighean HERE

The legend of Tobar Segais explains that the only visitors allowed to approach the Well of Knowledge was Nechtan and his three cup bearers.

However, Boann, Nechtan’s wife, defies this taboo and visits the well where she walks around it three times, tuathal, anti-clockwise, against the course of the sun.

Unfortunately Tobar Segais, like most wells, should only be circled in a sun-wise direction and her offence causes the waters to rise up, drowning and dismembering Boann and creating the River Boyne, which bears her name.

Boann - the goddess whose essence forms the river.
More about Boann HERE

We cannot know the ancient rituals or beliefs associated with sacred springs and wells but the spiritual traditions which have grown around them may offer a glimpse into the past. 

Tobar Lugna, Co. Offaly.

With the arrival of Christianity many wells were consecrated by the early saints of Ireland and folk traditions were incorporated into the Christian rituals.

These older folk beliefs are thought to contain traces of much earlier practices of pilgrimage and veneration at well sites. 

Irish Roman Catholicism today includes devotions which take place on the feast day of the patron saint of the parish, these are known as ‘patterns’ and many are linked to rituals at wells. 

Sign explaining the pattern at ‘The City’ and holy well, Co. Kerry. 

Part of these prescribed rituals involved pilgrims ‘paying the rounds’, reciting a rosary whilst circling around the well site a number of times, always revolving deiseal, in the sun wise direction.  

Crutches and circling ritual at Doon Well, Co. Donegal. ©info@ihpc.ie

Often this circling is carried out three times, at others nine, with water from the holy well sipped at the end of the rounds. 

Occasionally holy water was taken away in bottles to be used at graves, in healing or sprinkled at the four corners of the home for protection.  

In the past patterns often ended with drinking, dancing and fighting and were so popular in rural areas that the church began to forbid these gatherings, describing the folk belief in the powers of the wells as pagan.

Bullaun stone at St. Manchan’s Holy well, Co. Offaly where sunlight and shadow creates the ‘mystical fish’.

Some healing wells were understood to contain a mystical fish, often a salmon or a trout, which appeared at certain times when the water was especially potent. 

As a sacred symbol the fish is known in both Irish mythology and Christianity. 

At St Kieran’s Holy Well, Castlekieran, Co. Meath, three trout are said to appear just before 

midnight on the first Sunday of August.

For those seeking to be cured the presence of the fish is taken as a sign that the healing

will be effective. 

Offerings continue to be made to wells, usually after drinking the water, with coins, holy medals, pieces of cloth and flowers left by pilgrims. 

Occasionally a pin or coin is put into the well water itself.

Offerings at St. Fachtnan’s Well on the Burren.

Offerings of daisies and rose petals at Ladywell, Co. Galway.

Another element of many well sites is the presence of a special bush or tree, usually a whitethorn, ash or oak.

Rags are often secured to the branches of these trees as an offering to the well or in the case of healing wells, in the belief that as the cloth rots away so does the illness.

Whitethorn & offerings at one of The Seven Blessed Wells of Killeigh, Co. Offaly.

The well dates to pre Christian times.

Holy wells are not only accompanied by trees.

There are numerous locations recorded as having some sort of stone nearby and this combination of water, tree and stone was incorporated into Christian ritual.

Stone, whitethorn and well at Tobereenatemple, Co. Clare.

Stones found near wells may consist of standing stones, enclosures or natural outcrops. 

The City, Co. Kerry.

The City, Co. Kerry 

The stones may be used as altars or utilised in ‘patterns’ with marks being scratched on the surface to indicate points within the rounds.

It is common to find a boulder with one or more depressions near to holy wells, known as a bullaun stone, although the formation and original function of bullauns is unknown.

Bullaun stone at Saint John’s Well, St John’s Point, County Down.

The presence of a well, a tree and a special stone marks these locations as sacred.

Unlike the great community gatherings at bonfire festivals of the past, perhaps our ancestors also visited these places alone, in silence, or circled sacred wells chanting or murmuring prayers as many do today?

The atmospheric Ráithin Well, Co. Clare.

Sitting by stone, whitethorn and well the modern world drops away and we are left with nature, 

deep peace and the spirits of the place.

St Fachtnan's Well, a place of solitude and silence.

This is the second of three posts about Sacred Water, you can read the first HERE

Mythical figures across the land.

In Ireland mythology is everywhere, in landscape, place names, at sacred sites, wells and rivers.
Within cities too the work of artists and sculptors remind us of ancient stories.

Queen Maeve -  Bronze statue in Beresford Place, Dublin. Created by Patrick O'Reilly.

In places the Children of Lír still emerge changed by Aoife into four white swans. 

 The Children of Lír, Dublin Garden of Remembrance. Created by Oisín Kelly.

The Children of Lír, Lough Owel, County Westmeath. Created by Linda Brunker.

The Children of Lír, Ballycastle, County Antrim. Artist unknown.

Our goddesses, gods and heroes still grace the land.

Sculpture of Étaín and Midhir by Éamonn O'Doherty 

standing in the park near the Ardagh Heritage & Creativity Centre.

Princess Macha at the entrance to Altnagelvin Hospital, Co. Derry by F.E Mc William. 

Macha was said to have founded the earliest hospital in Ireland. 

Éire with harp by Jerome Connor, Merrion Sq Park, Dublin.

The dying Cú Chulainn by Oliver Sheppard can be seen in the GPO, Dublin

and is a memorial to the participants of the 1916 Rising.

 Bronze statue of  Cú Chulainn carrying his dying friend Ferdia 

by Ann Meldon Hugh, Ardee, County Louth. 

Lúgh Lámh Fhada by Séighean Ó Draoi on the shore of Lough Dunlewy

 at the foot of Mount Errigal, Co. Donegal

Manannán by Peter Grant, The Mall, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.

Sea God Manannán  by Ann Meldon Hugh, Dundalk, Co. Louth. 

One has been taken

The stolen statue of Danu who once stood near the Paps of Anu, Co. Kerry.

and one has returned.

 Manannán Commands the Sea by sculptor John Darren Sutton. 

In a moment of syncronicity when I  began to write this post I heard that the statue of Manannán Mac Lír, stolen back in January and recovered, will be erected again to look out from Binevenagh Mountain, Co. Derry towards Lough Foyle.

Welcome back!

My FaceBook SHOP

I now have a Facebook SHOP where you can buy 

Cards & Prints of my original paintings. 

If you have enjoyed my work on this blog please visit, 

LIKE and SHARE my Page with your friends. 

THANK YOU.

MY FACEBOOK SHOP

If you are on Facebook please drop by & say Hello!

The White Mare & the Horse Whisperer

The White Mare & the Horse Whisperer by Jane Brideson

Watercolour, & gouache  

Model: Vincent O'Brien

My painting of the White Mare and the Horse Whisperer is finally finished.
It was inspired by the Otherworldly horses of folklore, the Sídhe and stories told about the ability
of a famous horse whisperer in Ireland.

Distant fairy fort

Horses have been important here since 3,000 BCE  and are associated in mythology with several deities: Macha in Ulster, the DAGDHA, DONN and MANANNÁN MAC LÍR,
as well as with the rites of kingship on the HILL OF TARA where the Goddess of Sovereignty
took the form of a white mare.

Donn

A strong relationship between horses and water was seen at Lughnasadh when horses were swam
in rivers to protect them from harm during the year and tales of the fearsome each uisce,
the water horse, who was believed to live in lakes and the sea, was well known across the island.

Horses feature in many stories about the naming of places and one such tale tells of a lake in
Skreen, Co. Sligo near the Ox Mountains.
It was here that a local farmer found a horse on the shore which he caught and took home.
Many years passed and the farmer found the horse to be strong, gentle and easy to work.
One day however he struck the placid horse for the first time and the creature changed, rearing
and snorting violently. Before the farmer could dismount the water horse plunged into the lake
taking the man with him.
The farmer's body was never found but his heart finally floated to the surface and gave the
lake its' name, Lough Aghree, Lake of the Heart.

The lonely Lake of the Heart © rootsweb

Folklore tells of the belief that horses are sensitive to the presence of ghosts and Otherworldly
beings and will halt if a spirit is close by and refuse to move. If the rider looks between the horses
ears he too will be able to see the sídhe.

Their importance to humans meant that horses had to be protected from the good people,
who would steal them, ride them through the night, then return them the next morning lathered
and exhausted. To counter their intentions a slip of rowan would be tied to the mane or seven hairs knotted into it.
Others believed that horses were able to protect themselves by sneezing to keep the sídhe at bay.

In the west many fine horses were thought to be descendants of Otherworldly stallions.
The supernatural horses from the caves of Kilcroney, on the Burren and the sea horses which
emerged from Galway Bay, were reputed to have mated with local mares and produced a famous
blood line.

There were also tales of the fíorláir, ‘the true mare’, a name given to the seventh consecutive filly
foal born to a dam. This foal was understood to be safe from all evil and that her rider would be safe from all harm.
On the spot where the true mare was born a four-leaved shamrock would grow having the power to heal and protect anyone who picked it.
In general horses were considered to have luck attached to them with horse shoes being hung on
or above doors and halters kept in the home, even if the horse had been sold.

Horse-Whispering was the secret method which certain people used to tame unmanageable horses
and it was believed to be a gift passed down through generations of travelling families from father
to son. There are several opinions as to the actual method used in horse whispering or charming,
some say it is the application of a certain balm to the horse's muzzle, whilst others maintain the
secret lies in a calming spell whispered into the ear.

Portrait of Sullivan by Harrison Weir

One of the most famous whisperers of the eighteenth century was Daniel Sullivan from Mallow,
Co. Cork who was secretive about his methods, claiming that he could not explain his power.
His success with race horses was well known throughout the country and in his native Cork it was
said that if he spoke to a horse it would lie on its back with all four legs in the air and remain so calm that a glass full of drink could be balanced on each hoof.
Today horse whisperers are found across the world but none have been able to emulate Sullivan's feat!

See video below in which white horses and water horses still symbolise power, the Otherworld and Ireland :

For information on Fairy Horses please visit Living Liminally
The story about Lough Gur and the white horse can be found at Voices from the Dawn

The Ever-Living Ones stolen from the Irish landscape.

Image © Neil Meroney

The sad news of the theft of one of the most powerful depictions of the sea god Manannán Mac Lír
was reported this week.
There has been much speculation in the media about whether the thieves who stole the sculpture
of the pagan god were of the Christian belief because of a wooden cross and copy of the first commandment left
in its' place.
I don't know the religion (if any) of those involved but I do know that a beautiful, much loved work
of art, which embodied Ireland's rich mythology and folklore, has now gone and that many in
the local community feels its' loss.

© JD Sutton

'Manannán Commands The Sea' was created by the artist John Darren Sutton and the figure stood
on Binevenagh Mountain, Co. Derry overlooking Lough Foyle.
I had not visited the statue and now will not have the opportunity to do so and neither will you.

If you are on Facebook you may want to visit and 'like' the page -
Bring Back Manannan Mac Lir the Sea God where you will find many peoples' photographs and memories of their visits to view him.

To read about the folklore of Manannán in my previous post, please click HERE

Unfortunately Manannán Mac Lír is not the only statue of an Irish deity to be stolen from the landscape.

Image: Google Maps

In 2011 a depiction of the goddess Danú by Sandra Bell was taken from the roadside near
Rathmore, Co. Kerry.
She was placed here because of the proximity to the sacred mountains, The Paps of Anu, seen in the background
of the photo above.

Image: © M. Counihan

It is most likely that the goddess Danú was stolen because she was made from bronze and therefore
worth a considerable amount of money. The sculpture of the sea god was not stolen for its' bronze content as he was created using fibreglass and stainless steel.

Whatever the motives of those who took him, many of us here in Ireland believe that the thieves
shall have no luck at all in their lives from now on.