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When We Are No Place at All
"The middle-despite the common use of that word-is not halfway between here and there, beginning and end, birth and death, right and...
Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Thing Is', by Ellen Bass
To love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,...
Keening Traditions and the Irish Wake
When looking at the lifecycle in terms of folklore it cannot escape ones notice that many aspects of the life cycle have clearly defined...
Reincarnation, the ‘Interlife’, Universal Consciousness & the Holographic Soul
Modern studies repeatedly suggest that a significant proportion of people in the Western world now believe in reincarnation. Although...
The Irish Keening Tradition: Singing the Soul Home
Keening, which was once an integral part of the Irish grieving process, began to vanish from before the 1880’s. In many academic papers...
Perspectives on Death and Dying
This months BIOPHILIA Mentorship focused on themes of death, funerals, grief composting and trauma amongst other earth element...
The Turn of the Seasons
I was reading about a white stag shot by police in England today and I was reminded of both this image by Vexim and the almost archaic...
Samhain and the Return of the Dead
As we begin to approach Samhain, and the astronomical cross-quarter, I though I'd begin to post some traditions associated with this...
Samhain and the Seed
I recently finished Andrew Micheal Hurley’s excellent folklore novel, Starve Acre. Without spoilers, the protagonist discovers the bones...
Taboo Folklore in the Irish Record: Sex, Death, and Dark Magic
Recently, I read posts from two different people arguing for opposing views of how Irish folklore should be treated. The first person was...
Blúiríní Béaloidis 33 - Death
In life, there is much which seems uncertain to us. Concerning death however, there can be no doubt. It was an honour to speak with...
Symbolism and the Alchemy of the Archetypes
It may not look like it, but on my hands I carry the remains of two guns. The blood red color is a blend of iron oxides derived from...
Ireland's First Witch Burning: Petronilla de Meath
There is a famous Jonathan Swift quote about how the law impacts upon the rich and poor in unequal measure which reads, “Laws are like...
On Grief
It's okay to be sad, to feel a bit shaky and uncertain, melancholic, to lament, and to grieve. Despite a collective disembodiment to...
The Death Goddesses of Samhain and Winter.
Summer feels very far away now, and the surrender to the coming winter seems to hold more doubt and uncertainty for many than usual....
On Being Present with Death
"Expected Death - When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a...
Blúiríní Béaloidis Episode 22 - Invisible Worlds (With Eddie Lenihan)
Our lives are built on the stories we tell. At both an individual and a communal level, they orient and mould us, shaping our...
Blúiríní Béaloidis 13 - The Soul In Folk Tradition
The idea of the existence of a soul or life-force which exists independently of the body is of considerable antiquity. In folk tradition,...
Dreaming the Dark: 'Sedna', the Siren and the Selkie (Part 4)
Part 4 of the series on Lilith as 'Sedna', the Siren and the Selkie
Dreaming the Dark: Baba Yaga, Pombagira, Santa Muerte, and Kali (Part 3)
Being Irish, I also went into a little detail about Lilith from the Irish perspective