A possible site where a High King was slain Published in Issue 4 of Pagan Ireland (Summer 2022). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues There is an unremarkable standing stone in the townland of Ballinver, near to the village of Grangemockler in Co. Tipperary. It stands forlorn and forgotten in a field that lies near to the Lingnaun River in the shadow of Slievenamon. It has stood untouched in the same spot for centuries. Every standing stone has a sort of stalwart presence of its own and although I am not an archaeologist, I’m convinced every standing stone is aligned with something, another stone, a mountain peak, some feature on the landscape and or they mark an ancient boundary or a site of significance, like a burial for example. And for an unremarkable standing stone, this one maybe quite remarkable, it may in fact be the place where the Druid Ferchais killed the High King Lughaid Mac Con. “There stands here, in a fence, a pillar stone of large size and

Walking a path between tradition and invention Published in Issue 3 of Pagan Ireland (Spring 2022). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues It was wonderful to participate in so many celebrations of Brigid, and of Imbolc, around February 1st. There was beautiful art, poetry, songs and stories. Moving traditions such as laying out Brigid’s Brat, weaving crosses, clearing hearth and house, walking ancient pathways, going to the well were revitalized. I felt uplifted by it all. It raised my spirits to be part of such a wide and diverse movement of celebration, and I look forward to next year when there will be a national holiday centred on her day and on Imbolc. In the middle of all of this I felt aware that there were some sceptics on the side and some critics and all kinds of different approaches to Brigit and to Imbolc. To begin with – how do we even spell these words? There is Brigit, Brigid, the two main spellings. There is Brid and Bridget and Brighid. Like

In South-East county Kildare, very close to the modern county Wicklow border, in the middle of nowhere lies perhaps the most important graveyard of the Pagan era, at least that is known of and still exists today. Killeen Cormac is named after King Cormac Mac Airt, the famed High King (Ard Rí), who is believed to have lived in the 2nd century CE. He is said to be responsible for all the oral knowledge of Ireland being written down into books. Clearly if this is true, the Pagan Irish were not illerate, as is often suggested. He also left a text known as 'The Wisdom of Cormac' which has been translated into English and other languages. The remains of a building on the mound were described in the 19th century, but this has not been confirmed by later writers or modern archaeologists. King Cormac was reputedly buried here but with no major archaeology undertaken, no bodies have been exumed from this ancient site. Whatever it once was, this place is deeply significant within ancient Pagan so

Published in Issue 2 of Pagan Ireland (Winter 2021). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues Some thoughts and feelings, mixed with my opinions, strongly held ones not always complimentary to what I see about me. I’m certainly not a humanist; so if asked I would describe myself as a non-religious Pagan, feeling as I do that the minute any spiritual endeavour becomes organised, structured and written down it becomes a religion. Priests and priestesses, named gods and goddesses who need be served with ritual, with prayer, with sacrifice; at this point I am inclined to walk away. No need for any of this; it’s just mostly trimmings without substance. I do not see that we have any need to place any person, god or mortal between us and living nature. Between our simple humanity and the great mechanism to which we can belong. To be part of nature, rather than apart from it. Just each individual one of us accepting our insignificance without fear, rather with joy and

Published in Issue 1 of Pagan Ireland (Autumn 2021). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues The following comes from my work with the image of the internal cauldrons, also called the cauldrons of poesy. While the outer geography of the land of Ireland is otherwise dealt with in other aspects of cosmology, the internal cauldrons are an image of internal energy dynamics. I, and several other people have found some correlation between the internal cauldrons described in Irish manuscript sources, and the Chakram of the Vedic people. The work of the Chakram offers path of development by affecting the aspirant on many levels.. Perhaps the most intangible, yet arguably most important aspect of a path of initiation is the effect on the energy body of an aspirant. The postulate of an energy body is very common in many cultures, and though we might also call it an electromagnetic body, or light body, the fact remains that there is a subtle aspect of the human being whi