Exploring Celtic Spirituality
A Series of Classes and
Ceremonies Celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year
with Edie Stone, MA
2027 Broadway,
Suite H, Boulder, Colorado 80302
303-415-3755
Entrance to Newgrange, Ireland
- Temple of the Winter Sun
Learn more about the
Exploring Celtic Spirituality Series
Visit the ARCHIVE
of activities 2009-2011
RJ Stewart
events in Colorado, June 2011 -
Glastonbury and Avalon
Events with the Colorado Welsh Society
Dwynwen's Day Welsh
Fest, January 26, 2013
Saint David's
Day, March 3, 2013
All photo credits on
this page
NEXT
EVENTS:
- Imbolc
on the Labyrinth
- Celebrate Brigid, timeless Celtic
goddess and beloved Irish saint.
- Saturday, February 2,
2013. 2 to 4 pm.
- Celebrate the beauty,
inspiration, and healing energy of Brigid
- Receive a small candle infused with the Flame of Brigid,
and a blessing from her well
- Walk the lovely 11-circuit labyrinth in quiet
contemplation
- Celebrate the Rebirth of Spring in the Celtic calendar!
- By donation
- $10 to $25 appreciated (no
one turned away for lack of funds)
- RSVP: 303-415-3755
or rsvp@ediestone.com
- Plenty of space, but I need to know how many candles we
need
- LOCATION: First
United Methodist Church of Boulder
- 1421 Spruce Street, Boulder, CO 80302.
- Labyrinth is in basement. Handicapped accessible.
- Directions and Parking
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RECENT EVENTS:
I have given Brigid a whole page for Herself. Click here for
details.
I have given Merlin a whole page for Himself. Click here for
details.
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Exploring Celtic
Spirituality is a series of classes and
ceremonies celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year and seasonal
traditions in the Britain, Ireland, and beyond.
Suggested
donation for most events is $10 to $25.
PLEASE RSVP as space is limited:
estone@ediestone.
com by the
day before an event, or call 303-415-3755 on the
day of an event (if space is left)
===================================================
UPCOMING Exploring Celtic Spirituality events in
2012:
Jan 29, 2012 - Imbolc on the Labyrinth
Celebrate Brigid in her many aspects as Celtic
Goddess and Beloved Saint of Ireland
Welcome the return of Spring!
2 pm. First United Methodist
Church, Boulder
Feb 24-25, 2012 - Merlin's Prophecies and 2012
Metaphysical Society of Denver
Merlin and Visions of 2012
On Samhain, we worked with the Young Merlin of prophecy, and
the Old Merlin of wisdom, to help us mark the Directions
and the turning of the Wheel of the Year.
Young Merlin embodies the power of visionary experience, and the
courage of speaking truth to power. Old Merlin embodies the
madness of war, the cleansing of grief, the healing power of
nature, kinship with animals, and the wisdom of cosmic knowledge.
This is the Welsh Merlin, the first images of Merlin that we see
in ancient Welsh poetry and the early medieval text,
Vita Merlini. This is not the
Merlin of later Grail Quest legends in Europe. He is not the
sorcerer sealed in cave, tree, or glass by the seductive Vivien or
Nimue, and he is not the silly wizard with a pointy hat of film
and comics. Rather, he is a visionary prophet, poet, king, madman,
and philosopher of the stars, with deep relevance to our times.
I am planning to offer a workshop in February, 2012, to explore
the Prophecies of Merlin. Please let me know if you are interested
by sending me an email at
estone@ediestone.com with "Interested in Merlin
workshop" or something like that in the subject line. That will
help me plan for the size of the workshop, thanks.
Preview: You can read my article on Merlin's Prophecies at
http://www.shamanstone.org/ArticleMerlinVisions.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exploring Celtic
Spirituality is a series of classes and
ceremonies celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year and seasonal
traditions in the Britain, Ireland, and beyond.
Suggested
donation for most events is $10 to $25.
PLEASE RSVP as space is limited:
estone@ediestone.com by
the
day before an event, or call
303-415-3755 on
the
day of an event (if space is left)
Exploring Celtic Spirituality
A Series of
Classes and Ceremonies Celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year
with Edie
Stone, MA
A Hollow Hill on Angelsey
The Green Abbey of Glastonbury
How beautiful they are,
The lordly ones
Who dwell in the hills,
The hollow hills.
Fiona MacLeod, The Immortal Hour, Act 1,
Scene 3
About the Exploring Celtic
Spirituality series with Edie Stone, MA
An on-going series of monthly classes and ceremonies exploring
Celtic worldviews, spiritual traditions, ancestral connections,
and mythic imagery.
Celtic spirituality bridges ancient traditions of the British Isles
and old Europe, early Celtic Christianity, revivals of written and
visionary knowledge, and a living flow of mystical awareness and
love of nature.
All classes will include information and time for questions. Each
session also will include a participitory or experiential activity
such as a shamanic journey or a simple ritual. Often we will
end with a prayer and blessing circle.
I also offer individual
sessions to support you in exploring spiritual questions
and paths of deeper knowing. Call me at 303-415-3755 or email me.
Well of St. Brigid in Kildare, Ireland
Celtic Wheel of the Year
Solstice Sunrise at Stonehenge
All
photo credits on this page
Return to
top
Edie's main page,
www.ediestone.com
LINKS
Check
out the article that appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera,
Saturday, January 23, 2010, about our 2010 Imbolc
celebration! http://www.dailycamera.com/archivesearch/ci_14248469
Text of the article is copied Here.
Return to
top
Edie's main page,
www.ediestone.com
My background in
Celtic Studies
I have a lifelong interest in mythic imagery, dreams, and Welsh
fairy tales. I also have always been drawn to Native American
spirituality. I was delighted to discover in 1993 that much of the
worldview, practices and elements of Celtic spirituality had a deep
resonance and affinity to Native American spirituality.
While at Naropa University from 1994 to 1997, I was a core member of
a Celtic spirituality group, with Frank Owen MacEowen and others. We
co-created three years of seasonal Celtic ceremonies. This was a
very rich and exciting time of research and spiritual development
for all of us.
Since then, I have completed an in-depth apprenticeship with a
Native American teacher, Kayla Moonwatcher, to become a
Certified Shamanic Journey Guide. I also have studied shamanic
traditions from South America, especially the Pachakuti Mesa
Tradition with Oscar Miro-Quesada.
I continued to study with other Celtic teachers, including Frank,
Tom Cowan, Geo Cameron Trevarthan, Mara Freeman, and Caitlín
Matthews. I led three years of Celtic shamanic circles in the
Boulder area, and gave presentations and workshops in Colorado and
Wales, 2000-2008.*
Most recently, I have participated in an extended series of
teachings with renowned author and teacher R J Stewart, on many
aspects of Celtic spirituality, British mystical traditions and
inner work.
If you are interested in an on-going group or a workshop, or if you
would like to schedule a presentation, please contact me at
303-415-3755 or EStone@ShamanicJourneys.net
I also offer individual sessions of Soul-Centered Counseling and
Heart Vision Shamanic
Journeys.
Presentations
*I have taught the following seminars and courses in Wales, England, and Colorado:
- Medicine Wheels and
Celtic Crosses
- Peruvian Shamanism
and Celtic Traditions
- The Mystery of
Eagle and Owl
- 2012: Merlin's
Prophesies, Peruvian Shamanism, and The Mayan Calendar
For information on the UK tours, see http://www.ediestone.com/PeruvianShamanismCelticTraditionsWales.html
and http://www.shamanstone.co.uk/
If you would like to schedule a presentation on these or other
Celtic topics, please contact me at 303-415-3755 or EStone@ShamanicJourneys.net
Return to
top
Edie's main
page, www.ediestone.com
Articles
Links:
For Boulder Daily Camera article,
January 2010
Celtic celebration honors
spiritual woman of mystery, history
Megan Quinn, For the Camera
Posted: 01/23/2010 12:04:44 AM MST
Celtic goddess and Catholic
saint Brigid carries a sense of mysticism in two seemingly
different but intimately connected traditions.
Edie Stone, who has been
organizing Celtic festivals in Boulder since the early 90's,
hopes to shed light on Brigid and Imbolc, her upcoming Celtic
celebration. The holiday honors Brigid, a woman with dual
identities as a Catholic saint and a pagan goddess of healing
and poetry. The Imbolc celebration takes place 3 p.m. Sunday,
Jan. 31 at the First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce
Street. [That was the
date for 2010. The
date for 2013 is Feb. 2, at
2 pm.]
Brigid is a dynamic symbol
because of her multiple identities, Stone said.
"The qualities and symbolism of
goddess and saint overlap and merge in a lovely way, making it
difficult to tell where the myth of one ends and the legends of
the other begins," she said.
The celebration, which is open
to the public, will feature stories, music, and poetry inspired
by Brigid, and participants will pass around candles that
symbolize the fire that continuously burns in Kildare, Ireland,
where Saint Brigid established an abbey around the year 470. In
the Pagan tradition, Brigid's flame symbolizes Spring's growing
warmth.
"There's a lot of crossover when
it comes to Brigid in the historical sense and the mythical
sense," she said.
Stone became interested in
Celtic rituals as a graduate student at Naropa in the early
90's. At first, she studied Native American traditions and their
connections to the earth. After meeting another student who
described his spiritual experiences with Celtic traditions,
Stone threw herself into learning everything about Celtic
ceremonies and their similar ties to nature. A group of students
got together and organized celebrations for each of the four
major Celtic celebrations.
"We started really getting into
it and taught each other. It was a joyful process, and we were
always discussing how we could do it so it was interesting and
exciting for people," she said.
There are four "cross-quarter"
holy days that fall in between solstice days and equinox days.
They also include Samhain or Halloween, Beltane or May Day and
Lughnasa or Lammas. Stone often holds workshops that delve into
the other three celebrations.
Stone said the First United
Methodist Church was a good place to hold the event because of
the church's large indoor labyrinth. Another part of the
ceremony will include a contemplative walk through the
labyrinth.
Labyrinths have also appeared in
both early pagan and Christian traditions, Stone said. The
winding, circular path is meant to help generate a meditative
state where people can reflect on their life and spirituality.
Julie Heins of First United
Methodist Church said the church has rented out the labyrinth
room to many organizations since it is one of the few indoor
labyrinths in Boulder.
"It's a pretty popular spiritual
practice around here," she said.
The church's large basement
labyrinth was the brainchild of former pastor Trevor Potter, and
a committee helped maintain it and integrate it into spiritual
events. In the past few years, however, the most active users
have moved away, gone back to school or joined other churches,
Heins said.
The labyrinth, open to the
public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, it is available to people of all faith traditions,
she said.
Those interested can also walk a
few other labyrinths around Boulder. St. John's Episcopal
Church, 1419 Pine Street, has a stone labyrinth just outside the
building. Those who are looking for a nature-centered maze can
walk the gravel labyrinth behind the Boulder Public Library. The
labyrinth sits right next to Boulder Creek.
Megan Quinn writes a weekly
faith column for the Camera and can be reached at
bubblegumandbibles@gmail.com.
Return to
top
Edie's main page,
www.ediestone.com
Resources
(in progress)
Archive of Celtic Classes and Events - in
chronological order
Past Times with Good
Company (prior classes in Exploring Celtic Spirituality)
..........................................................................................................
Class 1: Evening Introduction with Edie Stone, 2009
This is the first meeting of a series of monthly classes
exploring Celtic worldviews, spiritual traditions, ancestral
connections, and mythic imagery. Each session will include an
experiential activity such as a shamanic journey. Often we
will end with a prayer and blessing circle.
- Tuesday, September 29,
2009. 7 pm - Evening Introduction to this
series of classes.
- Wednesday, September 30,
2009, 7 pm
- Tuesday, October 20, 2009.
7:30 pm
- As both the September intros filled up, this your
opportunity to get in on the foundation ideas of the class
series. Not required, but recommended. Bring your quesitons
and curiosity.
Class 2: Ancestors, Samhain, and All Hallow's
Eve, 2009
- Tuesday, October
27, 2009. 7:30 pm. Theme: Ancestors and Samhuin.
- We will explore Celtic traditions associated with the
end of the harvest and the old year, honoring the ancestors,
Hallowe'en, All Hallow's Eve, and Samhuin (pronounced
sow-in).
- Bring photos of ancestors, or any loved ones who have
passed over during the year.
- Bring a piece of cloth and/or an object that connects
you to your ancestors. "Ancestors" can be in your blood
line, your milk line - those who have nourished you, or your
spirit line - those who have inspired or mentored you
..........................................................................................................
Class 3: Celtic Solstice Traditions. 2009
- Tuesday, December
1, 2009. 7 pm. Theme: Celtic Solstice
Traditions.
- Why is the solstice called "Midwinter"?
- The ancient calendar of the land, and the Stones of
Time.
- Solstice trees, evergreen, mistletoe, holly and ivy,
and the Green Man.
- Please bring a bit of greenery
for our altar.
- Rebirth of the Sun in myth, imagery, and customs.
- Birth of the Son, the Child of Light:
- Lugh and Llew
- Angus Og the Young God of Brugh na Boinne
(Newgrange)
- Mabon ap Modron, Apollo Maponus, and Mary's Mabon
the Christ Child
- All classes by donation, $10 to $25 range, for those
able to give. No one turned away for lack of funds
Class 4:
Bringing Light & Mirth to the Dark of the Year. 2010
- Monday, January
4, 2010, 7 pm. Twelfth Night Traditions
- Yule, Twelfth Night, mummers and guisers.
- New Years, Hogmanay, Mari Llwyd, and wassailing
traditions
Class 5: Imbolc 2010 -- The
Festival of Brigid, Goddess and Saint
- Sunday, January 31, 2010, 3 to 4:30 pm
- Labyrinth Room in the First United Methodist Church
- 1421 Spruce Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302
[note: The date and time for
2011 is January 30, 2011, 2
to 3:30 pm]
- A celebration of the beauty,
inspiration, and healing energy of Brigid -- Brigid
who is an ancient and timeless triune goddess of the
Celtic spirit, and Brigid, who is the beloved saint of
Ireland and Scotland. The
qualities and symbolism of goddess and saint overlap and merge
in a lovely way, making it difficult to tell where the myth of
one ends and the legends of the other begins.
Check out the article that appeared
in the Boulder Daily Camera, Saturday, January 23, 2010,
about our Imbolc celebration! http://www.dailycamera.com/archivesearch/ci_14248469
..........................................................................................................
Class 6: A Green Spring: Celtic
Spring and Equinox Traditions, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010, 3
pm
Exploring Celtic
Spirituality class with Edie Stone,
MA
Alban Eilir
ALSO:
Flamekeepers of Brigid meeting at 2 pm. For anyone interested in
observing the 20-day cycle keeping the Flame of Brigid. You would
tend a candle once every 20 days to honor Brigid and the spirit of
peace.
A southerly sun
A full belly
Prepare the
Spring.
Cornish
saying
Join us in celebrating the return of
green energy, as daylight is rapidly expanding, the Earth
is warming, green shoots are emerging, and life energy is
stirring beneath the ground.
Some themes and traditions we might explore:
- The balancing of Day and Night, and of
Masculine and Feminine
- Rebirth of Life and the God of Spring
- Equinox and the Game of Dark and Light
- Wakening of the Sleeping Lord
- Green shoots in Wales and Ireland-
leeks, daffodils, shamrocks, and sorrel
- The green saints, David and Patrick
- St. Piran and the Cross of Tin
- Goddess traditions, ancient and modern
- Easter rabbits and boxing hares
- Eostre or Ostara, the Goddess of Spring
and Dawn
- Easter eggs and the Cosmic Egg
- Saint Non and the Goddess of the Well
- Lady Day, Mothering Sunday, Cybele/Rhea,
Anna Perenna
- The New Year Equinox
- Hot Cross Buns and the Wheel of the Year
The Equinox class starts at 3 pm. I will meet
with people interested in becoming Flamekeepers of Brigid at 2
pm. More information on Flamekeeping to follow.
..........................................................................................................
Class 7: May Day &
Bealtaine 2010 - Summer bursts forth in the Glory of Green Man and the Power
of the Queen
Organizational meeting Tuesday, April 27, 7 pm.
• Edie Stone's office, 2027 Broadway,
Boulder (below OM Time Yoga)
• RSVP to Edie: 303-415-3755 or
rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net
Celebration: Sunday, May 2, 2010
Private location
Some spellings: Bealtane, Beltane, Beltinne, Beltaine, Bealtaine,
Beltine, Bhealtaine, Lá Bealtaine, Latha Bealltainn, Calan
Mai
..........................................................................................................
Class 8:Summer Solstice Traditions -
June 15 and 24,
2010
Learn
about Summer Solstice traditions in the Celtic realm and old
Europe.
Similar classes, same location, slightly different themes:
June 15
- Why is June 21st called Midsummer when
it is the beginning of summer?
- The Celtic cross-quarter seasons vs.
the solar calendar
- Sunrise over Stonehenge, dancing the
stones in Calanish
- The sun god and the hero of fire -
Belenus, Apollo, Mithra, Prometheus, Baldur
- The hidden history of Mother Sun,
Áine and Grían
- Fire festivals, wheels of fire, bone
fires, need fires, and the fire of St. John
- Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
- Midsummer Night
- Parting the veil between the worlds,
seeing the faery realm
- Fairies, great and small, hobgoblins,
Queen Mab, Robin Goodfellow and Puck
- The Lord and Lady of Summer, The Green
Man, and the Lord of Misrule
- Streaking at 3 am in Latvia, the
Cerne Abbas Giant, and other fertility symbols
- Parades, pageants, and parties
- Other names:
- Alban Heruin (Druid, Light of the Shore) or Alban
Hefin (light of midsummer), Litha (pagan) or Aerra Litha
(Saxon for June), Grianstad an tSamhraidh (summer solstice,
Irish - Graín is Sun and Samhradh is summer in Irish)
- Midsummer: Medio-saminos (Old Celtic/Gaulish), which
in modern languages became the name for June: Mehefin
(Welsh), Metheven (Cornish), Mezheven (Breton), and Meitheamh
(Irish, older versions: Meadhshamh Middle
Irish, from Old Irish med·sam “midsummer”).
..........................................................................................................
Class 8B:
June 24, 2010 - Summer Solstice Traditions
CONTENT:
See
above
ADDITIONAL THEMES ON JUNE
24: 
Why are we celebrating the Solstice on June 24?
Well, historically,
most European Midsummer customs are celebrated on the evening
of June 23 and the day of June 24. Customs
include May Poles and Green Crosses in Scandinavia and
Central Europe as well as Britain.
June 24 is the Feast of
the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. As usual (thanks to
Gregory the Great), the Catholic Church placed a saint's day
on top of a traditional seasonal festival. Then the Church
spent centuries trying to stamp out the frivolities and
festivities, such as:
* Rolling
wheels of fire
* Naked
midnight swims
* Battles
between the Kings of Winter and Summer
Also, learn more about
magical ferns, invisibility, and St. John's Wort ... which is
of course associated with the happy, sunny days of the Feast
of St. John the Baptist.
Other names: Lá Fhéile Eoin
(Irish), An Fhéill-Eoin (Scottish Gaelic), Gwyl Ifan
(Welsh), Golowan or Gol-Jowan (Cornwall), Gouel SAnt-Yann
(Breton), Laa l'Ean (Manx)
TIME: 7:00 to 9:30 pm
LOCATION:
Edie
Stone's
office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder, 80304. One-half
block north of the Pearl Street Mall, below OM Time Yoga.
DIRECTIONS:
My office
is 1/2 block north of the Pearl Street Mall, between Pearl and
Spruce, in downtown Boulder. After parking, come back to
the sidewalk on the west side of Broadway. At street level, look
for OM Time Yoga, then come downstairs. Parking is
available on the street or in the Spruce Street Garage. The
southbound Skip bus stops right in front of my building.
COST: By donation. $10 to $25 appreciated, if you
have the ability to give. No one turned away for lack of
funds.
And
now for something completely, Celtically obscure and wonderful:
On the Isle of Man, they celebrate Midsummer on July 5. Why?
Because the Manx pegged their national holiday, Tynwald Day, and
its Midsummer Court Ceremony, to St. John's Day, June 24. But when
they converted from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar
in 1753, they kept Tynwald on the same natural day, 11 days ahead of the Gregorian
date, July 5.
And another bit on July 5th as Midsummer:
FEILL-SHEATHAIN, or MIDSUMMER July 5th is the date of the Old
Midsummer [i.e. before the Gregorian calendar change].
Feill-Sheathain means "Swithin's Eve." Swithin is the old form of
John, the common form being Iain, Eoin, and Eathin. Many ancient
Pagan sites dedicated to Baldur were rededicated, by the Christian
Church, to St. John the Baptist. Baldur was, of course, a radiant
Sun god.
Throughout Scotland, and the rest of Britain, villagers would make
"cartwheels" of straw and dip them in pitch. On Midsummer's Eve
these would be set alight and bowled down the hillsides, to give
power to the sun god. It the flames went out before the wheel
reached the bottom of the hill, it presaged a bad harvest.
Quote from
http://www.brenna.co.uk/Seasons.html
..........................................................................................................
Class 9: Lughnasa - The Festival of Lugh - August 1, 2010
Come co-create and celebrate the Festival of Lugh - The Harvest,
the Arts, and the Divine Masculine.
- Sunday, August 1.
- Private location
- By donation
Lughnasa (LOO-nah-sah), August
1st, is a celebration of the first harvest, the beginning of
autumn, the season of golden grain and golden sunlight.
In the ancient Celtic calendar, this feast day was dedicated to
the young god Lugh,
master of all the arts, embodiment of the Divine Masculine. In
partnership with the Goddess of Sovereignty, he confirms rightful
Kingship and right relationship to power.
In the Church calendar, Lammas
Sunday, the first Sunday of August, is celebrated with
the Blessing of the Loaves.
We will playfully celebrate the arts and skills in each of us,
hear Lugh's tale, then feast on berries, bread, and ale, and other
potluck!
Bring: Potluck! Foods of
all kinds, including seasonal berries, ripe fruits, local produce,
and bread products. Protein and veg dishes also welcome so we
don't carb out. Red ale is ritually significant, and other drinks
potent and plain to quench our summer thirst.
Bring: Skills! arts,
crafts, poetry, song, dance, mime, mumming, padded
swordplay, magic spells, jumping, racing hobby horses, joinery,
smithcraft, music, storytelling, jokes, festive costumes ... Lugh
was skilled in all the arts: builder, smith, champion, harper,
warrior, poet, historian, magician, physician, cupbearer, and
brazier.
Other names for this festival: Lammas, August Eve,
Feast of Bread, Harvest Home, Dozynki, Luhnasa; Lunasda,
Lunasdal; Laa Luanys and Luanistyn; Gwl Awst, Thingtide,
Garland Sunday, Bilberry Sunday, Fraughan Sunday, Crom
Dubh Sunday, Black Stoop Sunday, Lammas, Cornucopia
..........................................................................................................
Class 10, Celtic
Equinox and Harvest Traditions - September 22, 2010
Enjoy the fruits of the maturing year,
celebrate the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine
Bring
fruit or something you have baked, brewed, or harvested.
- Wednesday,
September
22.
- Edie Stone's Office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder -
detailed directions
below
- RSVP, if
possible. We will have plenty of space, but
I need to plan for the size of the group.
- OR by phone, on or before Sept. 22 at 303-415-3755
- By donation
Join
us in celebrating the richness of Celtic harvest and autumn
traditions on the Autumn Equinox.
We will break bread
together, create a harvest altar, explore seasonal, mythic, and archetypal themes,
and do a group journey or simple ceremony.
Actual Equinox
time is Sept 22, 2010 at 9:09 PM Mountain Daylight Time or
Sept 23, 3:09 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). So we will be
in ceremony on the exact equinox.
A good site for calendar and astronomical info is
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/september-equinox.html
Some or most of the themes we
will cover are:
A. The Celtic Wheel of the Year -
Autumn phase
- The Three Harvests - Grain,
Fruit, Root
- Cutting the last sheaf
The death, dismemberment, and rebirth of John Barleycorn
B. The balance of day and night, of dark
and light, and of masculine and feminine:
- The Divine
Masculine
- The Celtic God Lugh in
his solar, protector, and healer aspects
- St. Michael in his
aspect as prince of light, protector, and healer
- Mabon and Lleu Llaw
Gyffes in Welsh tradition
- The life, death, and
transmigration of Lleu
- Leprechauns and the
Shoemaker
- Lugh and Arthur?
Historic
image
of Lugh as Celtic warrior-king is from Wilson's Almanac, one of
the most interesting websites in the world.
www.wilsonsalmanac.com
- The Divine Feminine
- The Goddess and the Grail
- The Goddess and the Harvest
- Rosemerta, Eithne, Tailtiu
- Blodeuwedd and the Owl
- Fertility symbolism of the
carrot harvest
- "Ireland, as you know, is a
woman." Quote from Michael Quirke, storyteller from
Sligo.
- Balancing the
polarities: A harvest of archetypal images
- The dark and light sides of
Lugh
- Crom Dubh & Lugh,
Goronwy & Lleu
- St Michael and the dragon
- Michael and Mary Leylines
- Glastonbury, the balance of
red and white
- Avalon - The Island of
Apples
- The Corn Dolly and the
Cailleach
- Equinox in the Hill of the
Hag, Sliabh na Caillí
Bring fruit or something you have baked, brewed, or
harvested.
Other names for
this time of year:
Autumnal Equinox,
Alban Elfed (modern Druid), Festival of Mabon (modern
Wiccan)
Harvest Home, 2nd
Harvest, Midharvest, Fruit Harvest, Wine Harvest, Gŵyl
Ganol yr Hydref (Welsh, Feast of Middle of Autumn),
Goeldheys (Cornish, feast of ricks), Foghar (Scots Gaelic,
harvest), Feast of the Ingathering (England),
Kirn(Scotland), Mell Supper (Northern England)
Michaelmas (Sept. 29),
Lá Fhéile Michil (Irish), Gwyl Fihangel
(Welsh), Gouel Sant-Mikael (Breton), Goel Myghal
(Cornish), Goel Myghal (Manx)
Let us give thanks. Consider the hours of labor it used to
take to reap enough grain by hand to keep family and
community alive through the winter. Accounts of Irish
harvest labourers employed in Scotland, for 5 to 15
shillings per acre, could harvest 300 sheaves a day using
a sickle, and eat 10 pounds of porridge, 3 pounds of milk,
and "2 gallons of good ale" per day!
How
to put the cart before the bull! A reaping machine from
1st Century Celtic Gaul, described by Pliney the Elder.
Harvest info from the 1888 Chambers’s Encyclopedia of
Universal Knowledge, excerpts quoted on
http://vickipedia.multipledigression.com/
Entry on August 9, 2007, Reaping.
The sun enters Cairn T at Loughcrew at dawn on the Equinoxes.
Martin Brennan, who wrote The Stones of Time, gathered volunteers
to document the movement of the sun across the figures on the
interior stones of many cairns near Newgrange. He suggests that
the whole comples of cairns in the Boyne Valley, Newgrange, and
Knowth, could have been used as a giant calendar of sun events
around the year.
Martin Brennan also wrote The Hidden Maya, a fascinating
exploration of Mayan glyphs using his knowledge of Native
sign language.
Martin spoke in Boulder with the Diné Anthropologist
Charlie Cambridge and the late Dr. Bob McFarlane about the stone
circles next to NIST, which caught the sunset shadow of the neck
of Bear Mountain on the Winter Solstice. That area may also have
served as a large prehistoric calender site, now it is home to the
atomic clock!
Photo
credits below.
..........................................................................................................
Class 11A - Samhain
- October 29, 2010.
Original ceremony was
postponed due to fire in Boulder Canyon, but a small class and
ceremony was held in Edie's office.
Class 11B - Lunar Samhain, November 5, 2010.
Lunar Samhain and New Moon Ceremony
The True Celtic Halloween
Samhain and Halloween Traditions
–
Honoring the Ancestors and the
Dark Night of the Year
- DATE
CHANGED
TO: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2010
- RESCHEDULED from Friday, October 29, 2010 due to fire west
of Boulder
- TIME: Plan to arrive between 7:00 and 7:15 pm. Doors
close at 7:30 pm.
- Remember that parking fills
quickly on Friday nights. The southbound SKIP and 208
buses stop at the front door of my office.
- LOCATION: 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder,
80304. (Same
location as Oct.29)
- One-half
block
north of the Pearl St. Mall, below OM Time Yoga.
By
donation. $10 to $25 appreciated. No one turned away for lack of
funds.
Photos: A Samhain altar with a
blessing bowl, and the Jack O'Cat, carved by Maria Jekic, from our 2009 ceremony.
Explore Celtic traditions associated with the end of
the harvest and the death of the old year, honoring the ancestors,
Hallowe'en, All Hallow's Eve, and Samhain (pronounced
sow-in).
- The Celtic Wheel of the Year –– The word "Samhain" may
mean the "end" or "concealment" of Summer. The Celts marked
time at the threshold of darkness. Thus the day starts at
twilight, as we enter the hours of darkness, and the year
starts at Samhain, as we enter the season of darkness. This is
the time when the "veils between the worlds" are the
thinnest.
- We will honor the energy of the Old Ones, female and
male:
- The Ancient Mother, the Crone, Cailleach
the "Hag of the Hills" and the Owl.
- The Antlered God, Cernunnos; Lugh and the dying Sun;
and Fintan, Holder of Memory & Master of Rebirth
- We will experience an embodied journey process
developed by Frank MacEowen, in which we will "step back" into
awareness of our own ancestors.
- We will end with a potluck celebration
Please bring:
- Photos of ancestors, or any loved ones who have passed
over in the past year. These can be placed on the altar in our
"Western Room."
- A piece of cloth or small object that connects you to
your ancestors. "Ancestors" can be in your blood line,
your milk line (those who have nourished you), or your
spirit line (those who have inspired or mentored you).
- Creature comforts: Bring water bottle, and warm socks
if it's a cold night
- Potluck (easy-to-serve or finger food, there is no
stove or fridge available)
Many thanks to Maria Jekic, who is helping to plan and
co-lead our ceremony. She has led many seasonal and Celtic rituals
at The StarHouse, and co-led last years Samhain celebration.
Thanks also to our crew of volunteers.
Background: Why is Halloween called Samhain?
The oldest record we have of this name and tradition is found
in the Coligny Calendar, a set of bronze tablets from 1st Century
Gaul. There are two groups of months, one headed by Samon (Samonios) and Giamon (Giamonios). On the date
Samon xvii is a notation Trinouxtion
Samonii sindiu, meaning "the three-night period of
Samonios begins today."
"In the modern Gaelic languages the festival is called Samhain (Irish), Samhuinn (Scots Gaelic), and Sauin (Manx). The night
on which it begins (Oíche
Shamhna in Irish, Oidhche
Shamhna in Scots Gaelic, Oie Houney in Manx) is the primary focus of the
celebration. The Brythonic languages call the feast by a
name meaning "first of Winter", borrowing the Latin term calenda
which designates the first day of a month (Welsh Calan Gaeaf, Breton Kala-Goañv, Cornish Kalann Gwav), but the beliefs
and practices associated with it are consistent with what we find
in the Gaelic countries, and will help us discover a pan-Celtic
theology of Samhain." (Quote from the late, great scholar of
Celtic ritual, Alexei Kondratiev, "Samhain: Season of Death and
Renewal"- http://www.imbas.org/articles/samhain.html
)
Later, the Catholic Church tried to suppress the folk
traditions of Samhain. Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as All Saints' Day in the 730's,
and Pope Gregory IV made it obligatory in 835. (It had previously
been celebrated on May 13, the Roman festival of Lemuria or Feast
of the Lemures, when the restless souls of the dead were appeased
with offerings. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, All Saints' Sunday
is still in the spring, the Sunday after Pentecost.)
All Souls' Day, or the Feast of All Souls, a day of
prayer for souls who were not quite so saintly, was celebrated on
November 2, starting in 998.
In English, the term All
Hallows' Day or All Hallowmas was often used instead of
All Saints' Day. But the Celtic sense of time continued, with the
days starting in the evening.
So All Hallows' Even was celebrated starting the night before All
Hallows' Day. The Scots dropped the v from Even, creating All Hallows' E'en, which was
further shortened to Hallowe'en.
The three celebrations, the Eve of All Saints', All Saints', and
All Souls', were commonly referred together as Hallowmas in English.Thus the
three-day Christian period of prayer for the departed, Hallowmas,
came to be mapped precisely on the pagan period of honoring the
departed, Samanios or Samhain.
A dancer from the All Souls'
Day Procession, Tucson, AZ, 2008. In the Southwestern culture of
the US, Samhain/Hallowe'en is greatly influenced by El Día de los Muertos.
Creative Commons Image from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls%27_Day
"Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise showing a Halloween party in
Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The young children on the right bob for
apples. A couple in the center play a variant, which involves
retrieving an apple hanging from a string. The couples at left
play divination games." from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
..........................................................................................................
12 A, 12B &
12C: Three Celtic Midwinter & Solstice Celebrations,
Dec. 2010
This Midwinter season, I am offering
three Exploring Celtic Spirituality events.
#1 is Earth-Centered Celtic
spirituality with a shamanic journey -- Dec. 19, 2010
#2 is seasonal with traditional British mythic
themes – part class, part party -- Dec. 26. 2010
#3 is reflective, inward, esoteric – connecting
starlight with the light within -- Jan. 3, 2011
..........................................................................................................
Class 12A: The Solstice and the Cave of the Sun,
December 19, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010, 6 pm
Edie's office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder. Below OM Time
Yoga
Potluck at 6 pm.
Exploration and celebration of seasonal themes start at 7 pm.
You are invited to explore Celtic spiritual traditions
about the Winter Solstice. Come celebrate the dark night of the
year and the rebirth of the light.
Some topics we can explore include:
- Why is the solstice called "Midwinter"?
- The ancient calendar of the land, and the
Stones of Time.
- Solstice trees, evergreen, mistletoe, holly and
ivy, and the Winter King. "When Santa was a Shaman."
- Please bring a bit of greenery for our altar.
- Rebirth of the Sun in myth, imagery, and customs.
- Plus ... the hidden light of the feminine, O Mother
Sun!
- Birth of the Son, the Child of Light:
- Angus Og the Young God of Brugh na Boinne (Newgrange)
- Mabon ap Modron, Apollo Maponus, and Mary's Mabon the
Christ Child
- The ancient sacred deer dance of Britain: Abbots
Bromley Horn Dance.
- The spirals of time
- This year there will be a lunar eclipse on the
Solstice full moon.
- In Colorado:
- Eclipse starts 11:32
pm MST, Dec.
20, 2010
- totality from 12:40
am
to 1:54 am MST, Dec. 21, 2010
- Above: Winter solstice sunrise floods Newgrange (Brugh
na Boinne) with Light.
- Right: Full lunar eclipse, from NASA
- All
photo credits below.
But it is not all talk. As always, we will have ceremony and our
inner journey this session will be to the Cave of the Sun, An Liamh Greine, at
Newgrange.
All events are by donation, $10 to $25 range is appreciated, for
those able to give.
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please bring finger food for a potluck before our ceremony, and a
bit of greenery for our altar.
A special request: If
possible, please bring an unscented natural pillar candle or some
natural tea lights. Some folks are sensitive to petroleum-based
candles. It would be great to have a stash of natural candles so
that we can use them for ceremonies when we are inside. If members
of our community can contribute soy or palm or beeswax candles, we
can create a healthier atmosphere for our ceremonies. No scented
candles, though. Thanks.
I also highly recommend The
Winter
Solarbration, which is held in Denver, Dec. 18th, 2010.
There you can witness the Abbots
Bromley
Horn Dance live.
..........................................................................................................
Class 12B: The Twelve
Days of Christmas: Bringing Light and Mirth to the
Dark of the Year. December, 2010
December 26, 2010. (Boxing
Day)
Potluck at 6 pm.
Exploration and celebration of seasonal themes start at 7 pm. Part
class, part party.
• Yule, Mummers and Guisers.
• Old Father Christmas and
Santa the Shaman
• New Years, Hogmanay and
First Footing
• Mari Llwyd and other White
Horses
• Wassailing Traditions and
Pagan Carols. Fa, la, la, la, la.
• The Feast of Fools
• Twelfth Night and Epiphany
Private location. Directions
available when you RSVP to 303-415-3755 or
rsvp@ediestone.com
..........................................................................................................
Class 12C:
Stellar Ceremony on the Moon's New Year, January 3, 2011
January 3, 2011.
6 pm potluck, 7 pm
Ceremony
By donation.
It's the New Moon, a New Sun, and a New Year. Celts marked the
start of day at sundown, and the start of a month at the New
Moon. The Moon's New Year features a dark New Moon embracing the
Sun in a the darkness of a Solar Eclipse, and giving rebirth to
the Light of the New Year. It is a potent time for setting new
intentions.
The dark of the moon is the best time to see the stars. So this
will be a Stellar Ceremony.
We will connect through guided meditation with the crystalline
energy of the stars. We will discover the connections between
Avalon, Tiahuanaco, and other Zodiaical sacred sites, as well as
Star Relatives and Crystal Cities.
We will also explore concepts of the River of Stars (Milky Way)
and the involution and evolution of souls. We will re-member the
River of Stars floating down the Urubamba as well.
This event is an opportunity for people with interests in either
Celtic Spirituality or Peruvian Shamanism to come together in
sacred space and enjoy the resonance and beauty of both
traditions.
Bring a crystal to place on our altar. Mesa carriers can also
bring a misaruni or sacred bundle.
Hopefully, we will have clear weather to do some stargazing after
our ceremony in the dark of the moon. We may also catch some of
the Quadrantids Meteor Shower. Bring binoculars and warm
coats.
A partial solar eclipse on the other side of the world will start
at 11:40 pm, Jan. 3, MST
(Colorado time), and end at 4:00
am Dec. 4, MST. It will be visible in parts of Asia, the
Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
The new moon will be at 02:04
am, Mountain Standard Time, on January 4, 2011, just after
our ceremony.
Private location. Directions
available when you RSVP to 303-415-3755 or
rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net.
..........................................................................................................
Class 13. January 30, 2011
- Imbolc: The Festival Of Brigid, Celtic Goddess and Saint
- Sunday, January 30, 2011, 2:00 to 3:30 pm
- Labyrinth Room in the First United Methodist Church
- 1421 Spruce Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302
- Celebrate the Rebirth of Spring in the Celtic calendar!
- By donation, $10 to $25 appreciated, no one turned away
for lack of funds
Come join us in celebration of the
beauty, inspiration, and healing energy of Brigid --
Brigid who is an ancient and timeless triune goddess of
the Celtic spirit, and Brigid, who is the beloved saint of
Ireland and Scotland.
In our ceremony, we will have an opportunity to walk the
lovely 11-circuit labyrinth in quiet contemplation. We
will also share stories, music, and poetry inspired by
Brigid. All participants will have an opportunity to
receive a small candle infused with the Flame of Brigid,
and a blessing from her healing well.
The qualities and symbolism of goddess and saint overlap
and merge in a lovely way, making it difficult to tell
where the myth of one ends and the legends of the other
begins.
Check out the article that appeared in the Boulder Daily
Camera, Saturday, January 23, 2010, about our Imbolc
celebration last year!
http://www.dailycamera.com/archivesearch/ci_14248469
Text of the article is copied above.
Well
of St. Brigid in Kildare, Ireland
NOTE: Be sure to bring warm socks, or enjoy going barefoot on the
Labyrinth. They will have some booties to cover shoes, if you need
shoes. (The floor can be slippery in socks.) We must do everything
we can to preserve the labyrinth, which is in delicate condition.
The church has an elevator to the basement, and is handicapped
accessible.
The parking lot behind the church is available for Sunday (not for
weekdays, however).
..........................................................................................................
Class
14
would have been Spring Equinox, but I was sick.
Class
15. May 1, 2011- Beltane Ceremony- May Day
with Edie Stone and Maria
Jekic
- Celebrate the joyous juiciness of Spring
and the flowering of Celtic Summer
- May King & Queen, May Pole, The May Bush
- Gwalchmai, the Hawk of May
- 1 pm, set-up and preparations; 2 pm, Ceremony -
Please arrive by 1:45 pm
- Potluck dinner follows the ceremony
- By donation, $10 to $25 appreciated, no one turned
away for lack of funds
Beltane Themes and Details
I am delighted to have
Maria Jekic join us as our co-facilitator and logistics maven
for Beltane!
You are invited to celebrate the joyous juiciness of Spring and
the beginning of the Celtic Summer with a Beltane ceremony,
followed by a potluck, on Sunday, May 1. Set up and preparations,
1 to 2 pm (set up May Pole, etc.) Please arrive by 1:45. Ceremony starts at 2 pm.
By donation, $10 to $25 is appreciated, no one turned away for
lack of funds.
The location will be in North Boulder, and you will receive
directions when you RSVP. Because I want and need this to be a
co-creation of our growing Celtic Spirituality group, you can
participate by bringing certain items, listed below. Be sure to
include what you are bringing with your RSVP to 303-415-3755 or rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net
Please bring folding chairs or blankets if you know you need to
sit. We will have a few chairs on hand.
During the afternoon, we will weave together several themes from
Celtic and British seasonal myths, folklore, and rituals, into a
playful, co-created ceremony. Themes include:
1. The transition out of the
dark half of the year, giamos, which has been with us from October
31, Samhain/Hallowe'en -- into the light half of the year, samos, which starts on May 1
with the Feast of Bealtinne.
3. This transition is sometimes symbolized by a battle between Green Man and Brown Man, or conflict between the Young God and an
Old, Dark, or Giant God. (The energy of Youth is
found in Mabon, Lleu, Culhwch, or Gawain/Gwalchmai in Welsh
traditions, Cúchulainn, Lugh, and Angus Og in Irish --
while the aging Cernunnos, the Hawthorne Giant, and Cú
Roí Mac Dáire are the old or defeated energy.) In
parts of Wales, the battle of
the King of Summer against the King of Winter for the
hand of the May Queen was acted out by teams of boys. In the
Middle Ages, Robin Hood or Jack-in-the-Green embodied
the young energy, battling against Dark and Evil. In many
traditional May Day revels, the triumphant youth is crowned as the
King of the May.
2. The coming forth of the Flower Maiden (Blodeuwedd and Olwen
in Welsh legend, Bláthnat in Irish). She is the Goddess of the Land in her
youthful, lovely aspect. Sometimes the old Hag
has to be vanquished, much as the Old God is defeated. Maid Marian,
whom some see as a version of the ancient White Lady of the wildwood, accompanies Robin
Hood. We find the Flower Maiden embodied in the Queen of
the May in many Bealtaine festivities.
3. Symbols
of fertility and the Greenwood Marriage. Fertility
symbols include the phallic May Pole (a Germanic/Saxon
influence), which is crowned, by a yoni-like wreath of flowers.
Other fertility symbols include ritualized "marriages" or the King and Queen
of the May, and the joining of Chalice and Blade. Hobby horses are often to be found in
May Day festivities, and they cavort and dance, teasing the girls,
and sometimes "capture" a maiden.
4. Another important figure is the Fool, who often
appears in mummers plays or Morris Dance groups as a male
cross-dressed in women's clothing. This is an apt symbol of the
limnal, neither-here-nor-there energy of transformation, of the
thinness of the veils between the worlds, and of the marriage of
opposites. By breaking patterns of expected behavior and
crossing boundaries, the Fool makes greater change possible.
5. Fires
of
transformation
and purification. The first Bealtaine fire was lit at
Uisnech, the center of Druidic power in Ireland. Other fires would
be relit from the central fire. Until the 1800's in Scotland and
Wales, the fires of Bealtaine or Calan Mai were lit to purify
cattle as they were driven from stale winter containment into the
fresh freedom of the green pastures in the hills, called
sheilings. The young people of the village would spend the summer
in the sheilings, which might have led to a bit of mischief.
6. The
blessing of water. Dew collected at dawn on Bealtaine was
especially potent, as it had absorbed the fire of the sun, and
thus became "sun in water." This could be saved and used for
healing during the rest of the year for healing. In some places,
communities would make a pilgrimage to a sacred well at dawn on
May Day, to collect the potent "sun in water," which was sprinkled
on them as a blessing. In Cornwall, May 1 was Dipping Day, and boys would splash
water on anyone they met who was not wearing hawthorne. In
southern Ireland, a procession of mummers included a clown who
would anoint the shrieking crowds with water from a home-made mop.
(Thanks to Mara Freeman for most of the water traditions, and
Alexei Kondratiev for the sun-in-water image.)
7. Bringing
in
the May, and May Bushes. It was customary in all the Celtic lands to rise
early on May Day, go out in the countryside, and bring back in
flowers and flowering branches, especially hawthorne branches. May
Bushes are a more authentically Celtic version of the May Pole.
Flowering branches were gathered together and decorated to make
the bush, or a living tree was decorated with flowers, ribbons,
bright scraps of material, colored eggshells, bits of shiny metal,
or a golden ball to symbolize the sun. Boys and girls with
branches and flowers would dance around the May Bush, in a
serpentine or spiral pattern.
How do you spell Beltane, any
way?
Any of these ways:
Belltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltane, Beltine, Bealteine,
Bealltuinn (Scottish Gaelic), Boaldyn (Manx)
Or try Welsh: Calan Mai, or Cornish: Cala' Mē, or
Breton: Kala-Hañv
..........................................................................................................
Class 16. June 22,
2011 - Exploring Celtic Spirituality - Summer Solstice &
Midsummer traditions
Learn about Summer Solstice and Midsummer
traditions in the Celtic realm and old Europe.
* Why is the solstice festival called Midsummer
when it is the beginning of summer?
~
The Celtic cross-quarter seasons vs. the solar calendar
~
Sunrise over Stonehenge, dancing the stones in Calanish
*
The sun god and the hero of fire - Belenus, Apollo,
Mithra, Prometheus
~
The hidden history of Mother Sun
*
Fire festivals, wheels of fire, bone fires, need fires,
and the fire of St. John
~
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
*
Midsummer Night
~
Parting the veil between the worlds, seeing the faery
realm
~
Fairies, great and small, hobgoblins, Queen Mab, Robin
Goodfellow and Puck
*
The Lord and Lady of Summer, The Green Man, and the Lord
of Misrule
~
Streaking at 3 am in Latvia, the Cerne Abbas Giant, and
other fertility symbols
~
Parades, pageants, and parties
DETAILS:
* Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 7 to 9:30 pm
* LOCATION: Edie Stone's office, 2027 Broadway, Suite
H, Boulder, CO 80302
~
1/2 block north of the Pearl Street Mall, below OM
Time Yoga
~
Cool, comfortable office
* RSVP if possible: rsvp@ediestone.com by June 21
~
Call 303-415-3755 by June 22
* Donations appreciated ($10-$25), but no one turned
away
Hey, I know it is not the solar Solstice.
Historically, most European Midsummer customs are
celebrated on the evening of June 23 and the day of
June 24. So we have one more day to party!
Midsummer customs
include May Poles and Green Crosses in Scandinavia and
Central Europe as well as Britain.
June 24 is also the
Feast of Saint John the Baptist. As usual (thanks to
Gregory the Great), the Catholic Church placed a
saint's day on top of a traditional seasonal festival.
Then the Church spent centuries trying to stamp out
the frivolities and festivities, such as:
* Rolling wheels of fire
* Naked midnight swims
* Battles between the Kings of Winter and Summer
Also, learn more
about magical ferns, invisibility, and St. John's Wort
... which is of course associated with the happy,
sunny days of the Feast of St. John the Baptist.
After this feast of images and symbolism, we will do a
little Midsummer Night's Dreaming, and journey to our
own inner solstice energies.
Also June 20, 2011 -
Midsummer Nights Dreaming Group - A Solstice Open House
For more information:
http://www.ediestone.com/midsummerdreams.html
..........................................................................................................
Class
17 - Celtic Equinox
and Harvest Traditions - September 23,
2011
Enjoy the fruits of the maturing year,
celebrate the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine
Bring fruit or something you have baked, brewed,
or harvested for the potluck.
Bring autumn leaves, branches, grasses to decorate our
"harvest home" and altar.
- Friday,
September 23, 2011
- 6 pm potluck
- 7:00 pm session starts
- Edie Stone's Office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder -
detailed directions
below
- RSVP, if
possible. We will have plenty of space, but
I need to plan for the size of the group.
- OR by phone, on or before Sept. 23 at 303-415-3755
- By donation ($10 to $25 appreciated, none turned away
for lack of funds)
Join
us in celebrating the richness of Celtic harvest and autumn
traditions on the Autumn Equinox.
We will break bread
together, create a harvest altar, explore seasonal, mythic, and archetypal themes,
and do a group journey or simple ceremony.
Actual Equinox time is Sept
23, 2010 at 3:04 AM Mountain Daylight Time or Sept 23, 9:04
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). So we will be in ceremony
just after the equinox.
A good site for calendar and astronomical info is
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/september-equinox.html
Some or most of the
themes we will cover are:
A. The Celtic Wheel of the Year -
Autumn phase
- The Three Harvests - Grain,
Fruit, Root
- Cutting the last sheaf
- The death, dismemberment, and
rebirth of John Barleycorn
B. The balance of day and night, of dark and
light, and of masculine and feminine:
- The Divine
Masculine
- The Celtic God Lugh in
his solar, protector, and healer aspects
- St. Michael in his
aspect as prince of light, protector, and healer
- Mabon and Lleu Llaw
Gyffes in Welsh tradition
- The life, death, and
transmigration of Lleu
- Leprechauns and the
Shoemaker
- Lugh and Arthur?
- Because
I
was
not in town for Lughnasa this year, I can offer
more background on Lugh if you want it.
- Historic image of Lugh
as Celtic warrior-king is from Wilson's Almanac,
one of the most interesting websites in the world.
www.wilsonsalmanac.com
- The Divine Feminine
- The Goddess and the Grail
- The Goddess and the Harvest
- Rosemerta, Eithne, Tailtiu
- Blodeuwedd and the Owl
- Fertility symbolism of the
carrot harvest
- "Ireland, as you know, is a
woman." Quote from Michael Quirke, storyteller from
Sligo.
- Balancing the
polarities: A harvest of archetypal images
- The dark and light sides of
Lugh
- Crom Dubh & Lugh,
Goronwy & Lleu
- St Michael and the dragon
- Michael and Mary Leylines
- Glastonbury, the balance of
red and white
- Avalon - The Island of
Apples
- The Corn Dolly and the
Cailleach
- Equinox in the Hill
of the Hag, Sliabh na Caillí
Bring fruit or
something you have baked, brewed, or harvested for the
potluck.
Bring autumn leaves, branches, grasses to decorate our
"harvest home" and altar.
Other names for this time of
year:
Autumnal Equinox,
Alban Elfed (modern Druid), Festival of Mabon (modern
Wiccan)
Harvest Home, 2nd
Harvest, Midharvest, Fruit Harvest, Wine Harvest, Gŵyl
Ganol yr Hydref (Welsh, Feast of Middle of Autumn),
Goeldheys (Cornish, feast of ricks), Foghar (Scots Gaelic,
harvest), Feast of the Ingathering (England),
Kirn(Scotland), Mell Supper (Northern England)
Michaelmas (Sept. 29),
Lá Fhéile Michil (Irish), Gwyl Fihangel
(Welsh), Gouel Sant-Mikael (Breton), Goel Myghal
(Cornish), Goel Myghal (Manx)
Let us give thanks. Consider the hours of labor it used to
take to reap enough grain by hand to keep family and
community alive through the winter. Accounts of Irish
harvest labourers employed in Scotland, for 5 to 15
shillings per acre, could harvest 300 sheaves a day using
a sickle, and eat 10 pounds of porridge, 3 pounds of milk,
and "2 gallons of good ale" per day!
How to put the cart before the
bull! A reaping machine from 1st Century Celtic
Gaul, described by Pliney the Elder.
Harvest info from the 1888 Chambers’s Encyclopedia
of Universal Knowledge, excerpts quoted on
http://vickipedia.multipledigression.com/
Entry on August 9, 2007, Reaping.
The sun enters Cairn T at Loughcrew at dawn on the Equinoxes.
Martin Brennan, who wrote The Stones of Time, gathered volunteers
to document the movement of the sun across the figures on the
interior stones of many cairns near Newgrange. He suggests that
the whole comples of cairns in the Boyne Valley, Newgrange, and
Knowth, could have been used as a giant calendar of sun events
around the year.
Martin Brennan also wrote The Hidden Maya, a fascinating
exploration of Mayan glyphs using his knowledge of Native
sign language.
Martin spoke in Boulder with the Diné Anthropologist
Charlie Cambridge and the late Dr. Bob McFarlane about the stone
circles next to NIST, which caught the sunset shadow of the neck
of Bear Mountain on the Winter Solstice. That area may also have
served as a large prehistoric calender site, now it is home to the
atomic clock!
..........................................................................................................
Class
18 -
A Celtic Hallowe'en: Samhain
Ancestor Ceremony & Merlin's 2012 Vision with Edie Stone
& Maria Jekic
Join us for
Samhain on the Eve of 2012!
The veil between the worlds is thinning. We have
gathered in our harvest. The old year is fading into night and the
new year is yet to be born. This is a ripe season for letting go
of the old and welcoming transformation.
Sunday, October 30,
2011 - 6:30 pm
6:30 pm Introduction
7:00 to 9:00 pm, Ceremony
Potluck follows, 9-10 pm or so
Doors will be locked once we start ceremony
about 7 pm
Location: Edie Stone's office,
and later in Om Time's Downstairs Studio
2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder, 80302
1/2 block north of the Pearl St. Mall in
downtown Boulder
Suggested donation: $10 to $25.
No one turned away.
PLEASE RSVP as space is limited:
estone@ediestone.com
by Saturday, or call 303-415-3755
on
Sunday (if space is left)
Photos: Samhain
altars, Jack O'Cat, and Mr. Snow Bones, ©2009 Edie
Stone
Jack
O'Cat Pumpkin, carved by Maria Jekic, 2009.
Join with us to celebrate
Samhain/Hallowe'en with a ceremony and shamanic ancestor
journey.
- Explore Celtic traditions associated with Hallowe'en
(All Hallow's Eve or Samhain).
- Learn about Merlin's Prophecies and how they relate to
2012.
- Release old patterns and prepare for personal and
planetary transformation
- Honor your ancestors and loved ones who have passed
over this year.
- ~ Shamanic ancestor journey, inspired by Frank
MacEowen Owen
- PLEASE BRING:
- ~ photos, cloth, or items that connect you with your
ancestors.
- ~ Warm socks or booties if it is a very cold night.
- ~ Dress code: ceremonial or mythic or ancestral or
artistic or casual
- Celebrate the end of the harvest with a potluck, and
toast the New Year.
- ~ PLEASE BRING: finger food for potluck (no
stove or fridge)
This event is co-hosted by Edie Stone and Maria Jekic.
Exploring Celtic
Spirituality is a series of classes
and ceremonies celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year and
seasonal traditions.
Suggested
donation $10 to $25.
PLEASE RSVP as space is limited:
estone@ediestone.com by
Saturday, or call 303-415-3755
on
Sunday (if space is left)
O ,
O O , O
O , O O
, O O , O
\/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/
Samhain 2011: Background
information & mythic themes:
- Samhain
- All Hallows
- The Wheel of the Year
- The Blessed Isles
- Cultural Soul Loss
- Merlin & 2012
Jack O'Cat Pumpkin, carved by Maria Jekic,
2009.
Samhain
Within the ancient Celtic rhythm of the seasons of the land and
the turning of the Wheel of the Year, we are now approaching
Samhain (pronounced Sow-un, sounds like sow, a female
pig).
Samhain is the most sacred ceremony and the most potent time of
the year. At this time, the veils between the worlds of
matter and spirit are the most thin, and the mists part to reveal
the most magical visions. The ancestors are the most available,
and our hearts are the most open to those who have passed over.
Samhain means "End of Summer." The remnants of the harvest were
first available to be gleaned by the poor. But anything left in
the field by Samhain Eve was to be left for the Faery Folk or
Spirits. We will honor this tradition by offering a Spirit Plate
on our altar, and you can also put one outside your house on
Hallow's Eve (Oct. 31).
In some areas, there were Pookas or other trickster spirits, who
knocked down your gate or soured your milk if you left nothing out
for them. Trickster or treats!
You can see the ancient echoes of this folk tradition in
the little ghosts and goblins that show up at your door on
Hallowe'en.
The traditional name for
dressing up in costume and entertaining or begging at your rich
neighbor's door is guising.
It was practiced throughout the British Isles during Winter
months, including going wassailing and caroling at Christmas,
mummers plays featuring the death and rebirth of the hero, and
the odd Welsh custom of traipsing through town with Mari Lwyd, a decorated horse
skull and white sheet, at New Years. Stay tuned for December and
January events for more guising.
The Wheel of the Year
The Celtic day started at sundown, and the Celtic year
started at the year's sundown, the time after Autumn Equinox when
the sunlight is rapidly fading, and winter is starting to set in.
So Samhain is not only the end of Summer, it is the end of the
year, the death of the old year. On Samhain, we open the door to
the darkness of Winter.
Wheel of the year image from http://www.gaias-garden.co.uk/articles/woty.html
Visit their site for a lovely tour of seasonal flowers in England,
and order calendars for 2012.
This is my favorite graphic of the Wheel of the Year, for it's
complete simplicity.
Hallowe'en, the start of
Winter? Oh, no!
We in America mark the seasons in the rhythms of the sky. We
think of Winter as starting with the Winter Solstice.
The Celts and ancient Britons, however, experienced and celebrated
the seasons more in the rhythms of the land than of the sky. The
agricultural seasons followed the cycles of the plants and
animals: the plant cycle
in the rhythms of sowing, tending, and reaping – and the cycles of the animals in the
rhythms of the lactation of ewes at the birth of Spring, of
driving the cattle to summer pastures at the beginning of
Bealtinne/Beltane, and of the sacrifice of cattle at Samhain for
survival through Winter.
This is still true in much of Britain and the Celtic lands. There,
the time around December 21-23 is still called Midwinter. And the
the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream were out making mischief on
the 23rd of June, not in July or August.
The tribal and community gatherings of the Celts also followed
these rhythms of the land. The major Celtic fire festivals are
held on the Cross-Quarter dates, in between the Solstices and
Equinoxes: Samhain (start of Winter, November 1), Imbolc (start of
Spring, February 1), Beltane/Bealtinne (start of Summer, May 1),
and Lughnasa (start of Harvest/Autumn, August 1). See Wheel of the Year, above.
It may feel a bit dreary and depressing to think that we are on
the verge of winter already. But we will have the festivities of
lights and feasts and carols and mistletoe to keep us merry at
Midwinter and through the Twelve Days of Christmas that follow, up
to Twelfth Night. Then only a few more weeks of January, and we
will be celebrating Spring already on February 1, with Blessed
Brigit and those lactating ewes of Imbolc. (I plan to host
Midwinter/Solstice and Twelve Days events, and certainly another
Imbolc, so stay tuned.)
Samhain, Hallowe'en, All
Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day
When the Roman Catholic Church showed
up in Ireland, and other places in northern Europe, they had a
really, really hard time stopping the people from
celebrating their connection with their ancestors at this time of
year. So they moved All Saints' Day to November 1 (it was
originally in May, one week after Pentecost), and added All Souls'
Day on November 2.
All Saints' Day was also known as All Hallows or Hallowmas, and
with the Celtic emphasis on the day starting at evening, October
31st became All Hallows Eve, better known as Hallowe'en.
Samhain was a three-day holiday, including an annual assembly.
That three-day aspect persists from the Coligny calendar (from
Gaul, 2nd century), through to the modern Church calendar of All
Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day.
This is all a simplification of course, and scholars squabble over
every point. But the point for us is to take the imagery, and
weave that into ceremony, and go deeper, then come back out and
have some fun celebrating, and then go home and dream
between the worlds.
Image
from Coligny Calendar, Mid Samonios, by Nantonos Aedui, an expert on Gaulish divinities.
All photo credits below.
Voyage to the West: The Blessed
Isles & The Isles of the Dead
In the mythic landscapes of Ireland and Britain, the waters
of the West hold the path of the souls beyond death.
In Irish mythology, Donn, or the Dark One, is the Lord of the
Dead. He was the chief and father-figure of the Milesian tribe of
the heroic era. He slighted the Goddess of the Land, Ériu
or Éire, and was drowned off the SW coast of Erin/Ireland.
The House of Donn (Tech nDuinn) was a small, rocky island of the
Beare Peninsula which served as the assembly place for the dead on
their way to the Otherworld in the Western Sea.
The location of this Celtic "Otherworld,"
like the location of an electron in a cloud of possibility,
shimmers between the Blessed Isles across the Western Sea,
underground in the light-filled Hollow Hills or Sídhe
mounds, or invisible but right alongside the land of the living,
as close to you as your garden.
"There are many islands of
the dead both actual and mythical, although by their very
nature, the former overlap with the latter: they have an
otherworldly nature by design. They are meant to serve as an
interface between the quick and the dead: a terminal to life’s
journey; an entreport to the deadlands. Here we’ll look at a few
examples, scattered around the British Isles and beyond; with
the awareness that we enter treacherous waters: for where one
ends and the other begins is hard to gauge. Real funerary
islands have a mythic atmosphere, and mythical isles of the dead
blur into islands of the ever-living: mortality becomes
immortality."
quote from a great essay by
Kevan Manwaring, http://www.kevanmanwaring.co.uk/article.html
Painting: Island of the Dead, version 3, by Arnold Böcklin,
1883
St. Michaels Mount, Cornwall.
Photo "MountSunRays" by Mark Twyning, 2006, Creative Commons
There are many western islands which have this quality of the
Blessed Isles and the Isles of the Dead:
• Britain itself, home of
the Hyperboreans, and destination of the souls of the Gauls and
Bretons
• Ireland itself, which
is completely magical
• Bardsey Island, off the
tip of the Llyn Peninsula in NW Wales, graves of saints and kings
• Anglesy or Ynys Mons,
to the NW of Wales, covered with ancient cairns, sacred College of
the Druids
• Island of Gwales off
the SW coast of Wales, where the men of the Welsh Bran listened to
his living head 80 years after his death
• The Isles of Scilly, SW
of the tip of Cornwall, 83 Bronze Age ancestral burial cairns
• St. Michaels Mount,
near the SW tip of Cornwall is the the intersection
of the Michael & Mary
leyline that runs across England form SW to NE, with
the Michael axis (and its
Apollo and Athena currents) that runs from Skellig Michael Island off
Ireland, through Mont St.
Michel, through Delphi
and Athens, to the "end
of the world" Megiddo/Armegeddon in Israel.
• Skellig Michael Island
off the SW of Ireland, sacred island of St. Michael
• The House of Donn (Tech
nDuinn), a rocky island off the Beare
Peninsula in SW Ireland, home of the Irish Lord of Death
• Iona off western
Scotland, more graves of saints and kings
• In the Irish legends of the Voyage of Bran, he and his crew sail
to various islands, including the Isle of Women. "Silver-cloud Plain. Plain of
Sports, Bountiful Land, Gentle Land, were some of the names that
these islands bore." Hy-Brasil
was out there somewhere in the Atlantic, too.
• St. Brandon of Ireland and Prince Madoc of Wales both sailed
west and may have made it to the big "island" of North America.
• The Islands of the Dead
blur quite easily into the Land
of the Ever-living. The classic location is Tir nan Og (Tír na
nÓg), the "Land of the Young" in the Western Sea.
• The most famous mythic island in British myth and legend is, of
course, Avalon, usually
associated with Glastonbury, in SW England. Avalon in Welsh is
Ynys Afallach which means Island of Apples. Two thousand years
ago, Glastonbury Tor was
an island in a shallow sea, near a Roman port for the tin trade.
Avalon. In the most
ancient Welsh legends of Arthur, recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth,
the wounded Arthur is taken by Merlin and the poet Taliesin on a
boat steered by Barinthus to "the island of apples which men call
The Fortunate Isle." There Arthur is treated by Morgen, the eldest
of nine sisters, who excels in the arts of healing and
shapeshifting. (This is not the later, ambivalent figure of the
sorceress and seductive opponent of Arthur, Morgan La Fay, but a
healer and goddess-like figure, who according to RJ Stewart, is
the regenerative power of the
Otherworld.)
Emigration from the Old
Countries and Cultural Soul-Loss
All of us with European roots are heir to a similar journey
westward by our ancestors. Some left their homes with a spirit of
excitement and exploration, but many others were forced to leave
their homes and communities by poverty, war, or oppression. Some
victims of the Irish famine were place in coffin ships, in a
literal journey to the waters of death in the West. Survivors
stood on the docks, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
wrenched from their roots, waiting for the ships to sail westward
to what they hoped was a new land of the blessed.
Although not as horrifying as the journey of enslaved Africans,
many of the Celtic and other European emigrants did suffer a
collective soul-loss, which may still echo in the shadow of
America. Being wrenched from our roots and the lands of our
ancestors may have contributed to our collective disconnect from
the Earth, our cultural loss of seeing and sensing the spirits of
the land, our paving over Paradise to put up so many parking lots.
For some people, the ancestor journey work that we do on Samhain
can be an antidote to this cultural soul-loss.
Merlin and Visions of 2012
We will invite the Young Merlin of prophecy, and
the Old Merlin of wisdom, to help us mark the Directions
and the turning of the Wheel of the Year, as we enter
into 2012.
Young Merlin embodies the power of visionary experience, and the
courage of speaking truth to power. Old Merlin embodies the
madness of war, the cleansing of grief, the healing power of
nature, kinship with animals, and the wisdom of cosmic knowledge.
Preview: You can read my article on Merlin's Prophecies at
http://www.shamanstone.org/ArticleMerlinVisions.html
Finding
Your Own Vision:
Traditionally, Samhain was a potent time for
divinations and dreams of the future.
You may wish to prepare for Samhain on the Eve of 2012 by thinking
of old patterns you want to release, and by asking for guidance
and vision in preparing for personal and planetary transformation
in the coming year.
WEAVING
THE
THREADS
OF CEREMONY
As Maria Jekic and I have done in the past, we will weave the
various themes of Hallowe'en, Samhain, and the mythic images
mentioned above into visual reminders and ritual movements in our
ceremony.
In this Samhain celebration, we will start on the crowded docks of
the old country (Edie's office), then go on a voyage down a long
hall to the Om Time Otherworld. There we will be able to offer and
receive blessings of our ancestors and loved ones. Bring photos,
pieces of cloth, or other small objects which connect you to your
ancestors or loved ones who have passed over. You can place them
on an altar, or keep them close to your heart, but please remember
to take them home at the end of your journey. (Ancestors can
be your blood line; your milk line, those who nurtured you; or
your spirit line, those who inspired or guided you.)
In old Irish houses, there was a Western Room (it may have only
been a niche in the wall of most cottages), which was the place
where the ancestors were honored. We will have an altar area in
the niche of the West, where you can honor your loved ones.
We will connect with the central altar and the energies of the
Wheel of the Year, learn about Merlin and his visions, and share
poetry and inspiration.
We will do an embodied journey to the ancestors, which is a form
developed by our friend Frank MacEowen Owen, inspired by a dream
of his ancestors. We will reflect on and share some of our
experiences and visions.
And then, for all who choose to linger, we will eat, toast the New
Year, and be merry.
O ,
O O , O
O , O O
, O O , O
\/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/
Exploring Celtic
Spirituality is a series of classes and
ceremonies celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year and seasonal
traditions in the Blessed Isles.
Suggested
donation $10 to $25.
PLEASE RSVP as space is limited:
estone@ediestone.com by
Saturday, or call 303-415-3755
on
Sunday (if space is left)
..........................................................................................................
Class
19 - Winter Labyrinth Walk
with Brigid
Photo credit: http://www.stbrigit.org
Walking the Labyrinth,
with Diane Gansauer and Edie Stone
12/18/11 – UPDATE on our labyrinth walk which was
Saturday, December 10, 2011
A Midwinter
Preview of Imbolc, by Edie Stone
We
had planned to meet inside with a canvas labyrinth because of
the snow, but ... lo, the children were practicing their
Christmas pageant inside the church ... so we had to meet
outside. The site at St. Brigit's
is an old farm, and folks had to drive across an acre of snow
to reach the labyrinth. When I
arrived, Diane, Sue, and some church parents and teens had
just finished shoveling and sweeping a large volume of snow so
we could see and walk the paths. Thank you!
The day was warm, bright, and
beautiful – the first really clear blue sky in a long time. 
The center of this Chartres-style labyrinth is a six-petaled
rose (see diagram below). At the very center, I was
delighted to find a simple Brigid's cross, created from the
brick pavers that also formed the lines of the 11
circuits.
As we set up, I chose three candles that depict aspects of
Brigid: one in the North with a collage of Irish images,
including a red-headed colleen and spirals of Newgrange; one
in the East with a reed Brigid's Cross, that had an image of
Brigid as nun on one side, and
Brigid
either as maiden or goddess on the other; and the
third, in the South,
the image of a woman (Brigid? the artist? the viewer? any one
of us?) receiving the light of the sun which then spirals into
her heart. This last image is by Irish artist and writer Susanne
Iles (www.susanneiles.com/imbolc.html). One of the miracles of
that day is that the candles stayed lit through the whole
ceremony ... on the plains of Colorado where the wind always
blows.
In my experience, ceremonies have to include spontaneous
experience as well as a planned structure. The labyrinth
itself provides an archetypal structure of
enter/deepen/return, a gentle version of the hero's journey.
Diane's role was to provide an overview of these phases of
interacting with the labyrinth. My role was to open our
ceremony with an acknowledgment of the sacred space
surrounding us, and an invocation from the Carmina Gadelica. 
Then I received an inspiration directly from Brigid. The sun
was shining in the south, on this beautiful
clear day. The south candle showed
the woman receiving the light, her hands open, the light
spirialing into her heart. So I said, "Let's turn to the
sun, and receive the light. And allow it to flow into your
body, into your heart or belly." So we stood, each
receiving in our own way the warm golden sunlight. Truly,
a warm blessing of Brigid in the white winter landscape.
In some Scottish legends, is is said that there is a
fierce competition between the Cailleach (Hag of the
Harvest, the Winter Storm Goddess) and Brigid, in her
aspect as bringer of Spring. In some versions, the old
Cailleach imprisons the young Bride in a cave. In Ireland,
there is also the theme from O Mother
Sun by Patricia Monahan, which is the alternating
feminine identity
of the sun between the old winter sun Grian and the bright
summer sun Aine (in Irish, the word for sun, grian
or greine, is feminine).
Imbolc image © by
Susanne Iles, Irish symbolist artist and writer
www.susanneiles.com
Well, on this day, Bright Brigid escaped from the
icy hands of winter, scattered the grey clouds, and reminded
us that spring will soon return.
Our walk was wonderful and warm. Two amazing things at the
end: All the candles stayed lit. (outdoors! on the
plains!) And two large flocks of Canadian geese flew overhead
in the crystal blue sky.
Photo by Larry Eson, 2011.
Yes, there is a flock of geese there.
Enlarge your screen view if you need to.
Afterwards, we went to the church house and had hot cider
and cookies, and pleasant talk.
Here is the original description of this event:
Find your sacred path this season, and explore the peaceful
effects of walking a labyrinth. This is an opportunity to
set aside the rush of the holidays and move into sacred
space-time.
We will meet at the labyrinth near the new little church of
St. Brigit in Frederick, a few miles north of Denver. It is a
11-circuit labyrinth in the Chartres style, which has just
been created by volunteers.
..........................................................................................................
Class 20 -
Midwinter
Solstice:
Journey from Darkness into Light, with
Edie Stone
Explore Celtic and British traditions of the
Midwinter season as the Wheel of the Year turns through its
deepest, darkest hour. Experience an imaginal journey into the
Cave of the Sun (Newgrange or Brú na Bóinne) and
the rebirth of the Solstice light. Find ways we can
individually and collectively turn our dark shadows into
light.
Bring a small stone & sprig of greenery for our altar and
fingerfood for potluck after the ceremony.
DETAILS FOR MIDWINTER SOLSTICE EVENT:
Please RSVP as space is limited and
past events have filled up. estone@ediestone.com by 10 pm, Dec. 20 or 303-415-3755 by
Dec. 21. Note: I can't
access my emails on Dec. 21 so only a phone call/voice message
will work on Dec. 21 if you need information or to see if
there is still space or to change your reservation on that
date.
Date & Time: December 21, 2011
6:30 to 9:30 pm
Location
: Edie Stone's Office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H,
Boulder, CO 80304
Directions: 1/2 block north of the
Pearl Street Mall, downstairs, below OM Time Yoga
Detailed directions, parking, bus routes,
and office photos at
http://www.ediestone.com/directions.html
Donations appreciated ($10 to $25 suggested range).
No one turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP: estone@ediestone.com by 10 pm Dec 20, or 303-415-3755 by Dec. 21
Some topics we may cover include:
- The Wheel of the Year and the Midwinter Solstice
- Rebirth of the Sun in myth, imagery, and customs.
- Plus ... the hidden light of the feminine, O Mother
Sun!
- Birth of the Son, the Child of Light:
- Angus Og the Young God of Brugh na Boinne (Newgrange)
- Mabon ap Modron, Apollo Maponus, and Mary's Mabon the
Christ Child
- The ancient sacred deer dance of Britain: Abbots
Bromley Horn Dance.
- The spirals of time
Interior of Newgrange, the long passage is 63 ft.
Drawing from Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities, 1903
The Wheel of the Year ... approaching Midwinter
The Celtic day started at sundown, and the Celtic year
started at the year's sundown, the time after Autumn Equinox when
the sunlight is rapidly fading, and winter is starting to set in.
Samhain/All Hallows' Eve was not only the end of Summer, it was
the end of the year, the death of the old year. On Samhain, we
opened the door to the darkness of Winter, as the wheel turns
toward 2012.
Now as we approach the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day, we
are well into winter weather, and we are experiencing
increasing darkness. We are approaching "midwinter."
s
Wheel of the year image from http://www.gaias-garden.co.uk/articles/woty.html
Visit their site for a lovely tour of seasonal flowers in England,
and order calendars for 2012.
This is my favorite graphic of the Wheel of the Year, for it's
complete simplicity.
We in America mark the seasons in the rhythms of the
sky. We think of Winter as starting with the Winter Solstice.
The Celts and ancient Britons, however, experienced and celebrated
the seasons more in the rhythms of the land than of the sky. The
agricultural seasons followed the cycles of the plants and
animals: the plant
cycle in the rhythms of sowing, tending, and reaping –
and the cycles of the animals
in the rhythms of the lactation of ewes at the birth of Spring, of
driving the cattle to summer pastures at the beginning of
Bealtinne/Beltane, and of the sacrifice of cattle at Samhain for
survival through Winter.
This is still true in much of Britain and the Celtic lands. There,
the time around December 21-23 is still called Midwinter. And the the fairies
in Midsummer Night's Dream were out making mischief on the 23rd of
June, not in July or August.
The tribal and community gatherings of the Celts also followed
these rhythms of the land. The major Celtic fire festivals are
held on the Cross-Quarter dates, in between the Solstices and
Equinoxes: Samhain (start of Winter, November 1), Imbolc (start of
Spring, February 1), Beltane/Bealtinne (start of Summer, May 1),
and Lughnasa (start of Harvest/Autumn, August 1). See Wheel of the Year, above.
It may feel a bit dreary and depressing to think that we are in
winter already in November and December. But look outside, it has
been cold and snowy, finally. And when you realize that we are
almost half way through
winter, something may shift in your inner sense of the
seasons, and then you can truly look forward to the Solstice as Midwinter.
We have the festivities of lights and feasts and carols and
mistletoe to keep us merry at Midwinter and through the
Twelve Days of Christmas that follow, up to Twelfth Night. Then
only a few more weeks of January, and we will be celebrating Spring already on February 1,
with Blessed Brigit and those lactating ewes of Imbolc. Yes! (I
plan to host another Imbolc ceremony in the Labyrinth at First
United Methodist Church, on Sunday, January 20, 2011, so stay
tuned.)
..........................................................................................................
Class 21 - Imbolc, the Festival of Brigid
January 29, 2012
details at http://www.ediestone.com/brigid.html
..........................................................................................................
Class 22 - Merlin's Prophecies and 2012: Tools to Transform the
Future
February 24, 2012
details at http://www.ediestone.com/merlin.html
..........................................................................................................
Class 23 - Celtic
Equinox and Harvest Traditions - September 23, 2012
Enjoy the
fruits of the maturing year, celebrate the Divine
Masculine and Divine Feminine
- Sunday, September 23, 2012
- 5 pm potluck, 6 pm discussion and ceremony.
- Potluck: Bring fruit or something you have baked, brewed, or
harvested.
- Edie Stone's Office, 2027 Broadway, Suite H, Boulder
- RSVP:
- By email by Sept. 22 to: RSVP@ediestone.com
- OR by phone, on or before Sept. 23 at 303-415-3755
- By donation
Join us in celebrating the richness of
Celtic harvest and autumn traditions on the Autumn Equinox.
We will break bread together, create a harvest altar, explore
seasonal, mythic, and archetypal themes, and do a group journey
or simple ceremony.
Some or most of the themes we will cover are:
A. The Celtic Wheel of the Year - Autumn phase
- The Three Harvests - Grain, Fruit,
Root
- Cutting the last sheaf
- The
death, dismemberment, and rebirth of John Barleycorn
B. The balance of day and night, of dark and light, and
of masculine and feminine:
- The Divine Masculine
- The Celtic God Lugh in his solar, protector, and healer
aspects
- St. Michael in his aspect as prince of light, protector, and
healer
- Mabon and Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh tradition
- The Divine Feminine
- The Goddess and the Grail
- The Goddess and the Harvest - Rosemerta, Eithne, Tailtiu
- Blodeuwedd and the Owl
- Fertility symbolism of the carrot harvest!
- "Ireland, as you know, is a woman."
- Quote from Michael Quirke, storyteller and wood
sculptor from Sligo
- Balancing the polarities: A harvest of archetypal images
- The dark and light sides of Lugh
- Crom Dubh & Lugh, Goronwy & Lleu
- St Michael and the dragon
- Michael and Mary Leylines
- Glastonbury, the balance of red and white
- Avalon - The Island of Apples
- The Corn Dolly and the Cailleach
- Equinox in the Hill of the Hag, Sliabh na Caillí
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Class 24: Samhain: The Soulful Side of Hallowe'en
- Celebrate
Celtic Traditions, Ancient Tree Wisdom and the
Ancestors
- A Cross-Quarter Ceremony
with Edie Stone and Maria Jekic
NEW DATE:
Sunday, NOVEMBER 4, 6:00 to 8:30 pm
The Solstice Center, 302 Pearl Street ,
Boulder, CO 80302
SE Corner of Pearl Street and 3rd
Street
Enter thru Front Door, on Pearl
Street
Suggested donation: $15 to $25 . Thank
you.
PLEASE RSVP to 303-415-3755 by
day of event
OR to email Edie by day before event
The veil between the worlds is thinning. The moon
is waning. We have gathered in our harvest. The old year is
fading into night and the new year is yet to be born. This
is a ripe season for letting go of the old and welcoming
transformation.
Join with us to celebrate Samhain / Hallowe'en All
Hallows / All Souls Season with a ceremony and ajourney to the
Deep Wisdom of the Trees and Ancestors.
* Honor your ancestors and loved ones who have passed over this
year. Ancestors include your milk line (nurturing figures) and
spirit line (inspirational figures), as well as your blood lines.
* Receive the wisdom of the trees, the wisdom their roots bring
from deep in the Earth.
* Reconnect with your own roots and receive the gifts of the
Ancestors.
* Release old patterns which no longer serve you, and welcome new
energy and the seeds of new life.
* Experience the transformational alchemy of fire and water.
* Commune with the sacred plants of the Celtic realm.
PLEASE BRING:
* Photos, cloth, or small items that connect you with your
ancestors or departed dear ones.
* Ceremony is deep play, so bring your imagination and sense of
delight.
* Warm socks or wrap/blankie if it is a very cold night.
* Dress code: Ceremonial or mythic or ancestral or artistic or
casual. Kilts are OK!
* Please be prompt. Doors will close at 6:16 pm.
PLEASE RSVP to 303-415-3755 or email Edie
Unlike
past years, we won't be able to have a potluck at this location.
So eat some dinner before you come.
This event is co-facilitated by Edie Stone and Maria Jekic.
Exploring Celtic Spirituality is a series of classes and
ceremonies celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year.
Suggested donation $15 to $25. No one turned away for lack of
funds.
We are also looking for a few volunteers who want to assist at
the ceremony. Call Edie if you want to
volunteer.
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Colorado Welsh Society Events
2012 events to be posted soon
January 26, 2013 - Dwynwen's Day Welsh Fest
A fun evening of Welsh
folk dance, music and seasonal traditions, including Mari Lwyd. In
honor of the Welsh patron saint of lovers! Presented by the
Colorado Welsh Society, organized by Edie Stone.
At the Kirk of Bonnie Brae, SE Denver. Details:
Dwynwen's Day
Welsh Fest, January 26, 2013
Info on the Colorado Welsh Society: http://www.coloradowelshsociety.org/
..........................................................................................................
Ceremonies for Mother
Earth - Earth Day, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011. 7:00 pm
- By donation to support Camino
Verde's rainforest permaculture and cultural
preservation projects in Peru (www.caminoverde.org)
- Learn
ceremonies to open hearts and help heal planetary energy.
- Add
spiritual practice to your environmental actions.
- Explore
Earth-honoring, heart-centered practices from the
Pachakuti Mesa tradition of Peruvian shamanism
- Ancient
and modern Celtic traditions to heal the modern soul
..........................................................................................................
Another past event
with Celtic themes:
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Photo Credits:
- Summer Solstice and Midsummer images:
- Stonehenge diagram from Mr.
Bilben's Spectacular Symphony of Science,
www.burlington.k12.il.us/staff/8blue/bilen.htm
- Captive Robin by John
Fitzgerald. Fairy
art
from a great fairy site:
hubpages.com/hub/Midsummer-Nights-Dream--the-Tempest--and-other-Fairy-Illustrations-and-Fairies-in-Art
- Fire wheel from a Spanish
language review of a role play game named Burning
Wheel, basuraatomica.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/, but
it relates to the ancient Osterraeder tradition at
Luegde, Germany. More fascinating info at
www.osterraederlauf.com/
- Midsummer Bonfire Dance from a great site about
calendars, and special info for every day of the year:
www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images1/midsummer_bonfire.gif
- Fire Wheel for St. John's Day from
www.canadafirst.net/our_heritage/solstice/
- Stonehenge Summer Solstice from Photobucket,
available at several sites
- Photos with Exploring Celtic Spirituality
- Green Abbey of Glastonbury © Edie Stone 2008
- A Hollow Hill on Anglesey © Edie Stone 2008
- The best Celtic Wheel of the Year that I found was
nimbinfestival.com/nmg/images/wheel_of_the_year.jpg, but I
don't think they drew it.
- Stonehenge Summer Solstice from Photobucket,
available at several sites
- Lugh and Autum Equinox photos
- The Harvest, by Robert Zund, on several sites via
Google image search
- Barley Sheaf with Sickle, old image, found on
http://hindsfoot.org/barbudd.html in a discussion of
Buddhism and AA, by Jouh Barleycorn himself.
- John Barleycorn mug, a collectible by Royal Doulton,
is available for sale at several sites.
- The Mountains of Mourn at harvest time. Found by
Google image search on an Irish financial site,
leeburnfinancial.com, of all places. But acutally, Lugh was
also the god of commerce, oaths, and contracts, so that is
very appropriate.
- Harvest Maiden, a style of Corn Dolly, by Gordon
(surname unknown) on www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/cdolly.php
- Ancient Reaping machine sited with image and
comments.
- Sun Circles on stone in Cairn T, Loughcrew. Image
from Wikipedia, Creative Commons.
- Cairn T at Loughcrew is on the Hill of the Hag, Sliabh na Caillí.
Image from Knowth.com - go there to discover
many exciting photos of the cairns.
- Sun Circles on stone in Cairn T, Loughcrew.
- Samhain and Hallowe'en photos
- Samhain altars, Jack O'Cat,
and Mr. Snow Bones, ©2009 Edie Stone
- All Souls Procession dancer
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls%27_Day,
Creative
Commons
- Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
- Gleaning, by Arthur Hughes,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gleaning_by_Arthur_Hughes.jpg
- Owl Altar, ©2010 Edie Stone
- Mari Lwyd Goes Trickster Treating, ©2010 Edie
Stone
- Wheel of the Year, from
http://www.gaias-garden.co.uk/articles/woty.html
- Detail of Coligny Calendar by NantonosAedui, Creative
Commons,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coligny-closeup.jpg
- Island of the Dead, version 3, by Arnold
Böcklin, 1883,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_the_Dead_(painting)
- Torre de Glastonbury by Josep Renalias, Creative
Commons,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Torre_de_Glastonbury.JPG
- Midwinter Solstice photos
- Winter solstice sunrise floods Newgrange (Brugh na
Boinne) with Light.
- http://astronomy2009.ie/news/live_webcast_of_the_winter_.html
- Image from above website, photo by Cyril Byrne,
courtesy of The Irish Times
- Full lunar eclipse. http://science.nasa.gov/
- Mari Lwyd in profile at Colorado Welsh Society's
Dwynwen celebration. Photo by Edie Stone
- Solar Eclipse from NASA. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
- Labyrinth at St. Brigit's Episcopal Church,
Frederick, CO, http://www.stbrigit.org/
- Front of Newgrange, Creative Commons, photo by
Hofi0006
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newgrange,_Ireland.jpg
- Drawing of interior of Newgrange,
http://www.archive.org/stream/wakemanshandbook00wake#page/84/mode/2up/search/p+84
- Beltaine photo
- May Pole 2010 by Lola Wilcox
- Walking the Labyrinth photos
- Big labyrinth photo: http://www.stbrigit.org
- Snowy Labyrinth and Snowy Brick Brigid
Cross: 2011 by Edie Stone (use with permission)
- Crystal Sky with Canadian Geese, Larry
Eson, 2011 (use with permission)
- Painting of Brigid: "Imbolc"
by Susanne Iles, Irish Symbolist Artist and Writer
©2008
Explore her art and writing at susanneiles.com/imbolc.html
We can all receive the Flame of Brigid in our hearts!
- Contact Susanne for permission to use, and view her
other art! She is on Facebook, too.
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www.ediestone.com
