celticshaman

“He must decrease and I must increase.”

At Midsummer the lingers long but the long days have turned and soon the nights will be eating away at the days again. Now we celebrate the summer, the sun, warmth on face, sweat on brow, hands in the earth of the garden. The plants grow so fast you can see their progress from morning to noon.

Enjoy the summer — bless and be blessed.

The Midsummer podcast opens with Fig for a Kiss / Butterfly / Drowsy Maggie by Diana Rowan from the album Panta Rhei - Celtic and Mediterranean Music for Harp (2009). Find it at http://magnatune.com/artists/rowan

Dillon reads from the Folk-lore of the Isle of Man by A.W. Moore, first published in 1891, Chapter VI, Customs and Superstitions Connected With the Seasons. (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fim/fim09.htm)

Next we enjoy La Tierche Estampie Royale, from the album Canconier (2009) by Canconier. Find this at http://magnatune.com/artists/canconier.

Our readings from the Carmina Gadelica Vol. 2 by Alexander Carmichael, first published in 1900, are both titled St. John’s Wort. Dillon and Tira read Excerpts 165 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg2/cg2048.htm) and 168 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg2/cg2051.htm) in Scots Gaelic and English, alternately.

The final tune is Downstream by Shira Kammen from the Braid soundtrack as released on Magnatune. Website: http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/braid-soundtrack/

We hope you enjoy our podcast and thank you for listening.

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Once again the Beltane fires burn bright. Spring flames green across the land. How marvelous and blessed this renewal seems to us after a long, harsh winter. How much more miraculous and welcome to our ancestors who did not live in centrally heated homes, or travel in warm automobiles. At last, the frosts are gone. The flocks and herds can return to the hills and meadows. And so, we celebrate. Beltane!

Our podcast opens with “Kringellek” from the album Dram (2009) performed by Anna Ryfenors and Erik Ask Upmark. Their website is at http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/erik-dram.

Next Dillon Carlyon reads an excerpt from Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Vol. 1, by William Bottrell. The selection is from the chapter titled: Annual Visit of the West-Country Folks to the Pellar of Helston, to have their Protection Renewed and can be found at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/swc1/swc114.htm

Pitch the Peat performs “Ormond Sound/Liberty Joe’s/Broken” from their Far From Home album (2008). Visit them at http://www.pitchthepeat.com

Dillon Carlyon and Tira Brandon-Evans present the Beltane Blessing (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1078.htm) and the Herding Blessing (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1109.htm) in Scots Gaelic and English. Both of these readings are from the Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900], at Sacred-Texts.com, (http://www.sacred-texts.com).

We close with the song “Avanti” from the Corvus Corax album Mille Anni Passi Sunt (2000). To hear more from Corvus Corax go to http://www.corvuscorax.de

May your Beltane season be filled with peace, health, and joy. One hundred thousand blessings to you and all our relations.

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When the Sun passes into Aries, around the 20th or 21st of March each year, we celebrate Alban Eiler or Ostara. From this night the forces of light wax and the forces of darkness wane, but on this night they are equally balanced, poised on the razor’s edge. Alban Eiler is a between time, one of the eight portals of the seasons, during which we may more easily move from this world into the realms of Faerie. The surviving pre-Christian traditions associated with this festival are those now collected about the celebration of Easter.

Alban Eiler means Light of the Earth. The Earth does appear to glow with the burgeoning of new life. The tender green of new leaves in the sunlight creates a dazzlement like no other.

This podcast opens with The Song of Wandering Aengus by W.B.Yeats

Next we played The Sands of Aberdeen (2008), from the Jed Marum album of that name. Connect to Jed Marum at http://www.jedmarum.com

Following the Sands of Aberdeen, Dillon read Legends of the Saints: St. Patrick, from Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde. He also brings us The Baptism of Aongus, by Patrick Kennedy and found in Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts.

From On The Salt Sea by Henry Martin we have the tune Mrs. McGrath.

Dillon and I read two selections from the Carmina Gadelica in English and Scots Gaelic. Our Celtic speaking ancestors depended on the herbs of heath and grove for their health and healing. They respected the wild plants and blessed them. Here are two charms for gathering herbs: The Fairy Wort and The Yarrow.

We end with the song Planxty Glenstal by Tonnta (2008) from the charity album Sanctuary. All profits from the album  go to charities supporting victims of domestic violence in Ireland. The artists have all given of their work and time at no cost and have raised the money to pay for the production of this album so that the charities will benefit from the sale of the very first CD. Three charities will benefit: Adapt House, AMEN and the ISPCC. Adapt House is a women’s refuge and support service that provides safe, emergency shelter and support to women and their children who are subjected to domestic abuse in Limerick. Amen is a voluntary group, founded by Mary Cleary in December 1997, which provides a confidential helpline, a support service and information for male victims of domestic abuse. The ISPCC exists to advocate on behalf of all children in Ireland, and to provide a range of independent and unique services which are preventative and empowering. This very worthwhile project deserves our support. Buy the CD. Tell your friends.

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Brighid of the Mantles, your mantle over me. Brighid of the Fair White Hands, your hand in mine.

Our Imbolc podcast begins with the Devil in the Kitchen Set from Crepuscule and found on their album Shades of Music. ( http://www.Crepuscule.ca)

This is followed by Dillon Carlyon’s reading from  A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory [1906] Book One: Brigit, The Mary of the Gael found at Sacred Texts. (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/saw/saw01.htm)

Next from the album Sixth and Porter by the The Kreellers we have The Night Visit. (http://www.Kreellers.com)

Tira Brandon-Evans comments on traditions connected with Bride and Imbolc and reads from notes and invocations from the Carmina Gadelica. Smooring the Fire ( http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1092.htm), Guarding the Flocks, ( http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1113.htm), The Spell of the Fox,  (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg2/cg2067.htm). Dillon alternates with Tira reading the invocations in Gaelic and English.

The invocations are followed by Epping Forest, a song from the album A Light in the Forest by Anne Roos. (http://www.celticharpmusic.com)

If you enjoy our podcasts you may wish to join our public group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celticshaman. Or visit our homepage at http://www.faeryshaman.org.

Have a happy and blessed Imbolc. Be well, be strong, be free!

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May the Winter Solstice bless you and yours with the returning light. This morning, December 21st, the first light of the rising sun shone in the inner chambers of Maes Howe in Orkney and into Newgrange in Ireland. This return of the Sun has been marked in these sacred chambers for thousands of years. Good news. The first news! The Sun returns! Night is put to flight!

Dillon Carlyon’s reading this Midwinter is from “Christmas in Ritual and Tradition” by Clement A. Miles, (http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/crt/crt17.htm) “Chapter XIII, Masking, The Mummer’s Play, The Feast of Fools, and the Boy Bishop”. The reading is preceded by the Brobdingnagian Bards (http://www.brobdingnagianbards.com) “Greensleeves Medley”, from “A Faire to Remember”, (2001). Dillon’s reading is followed by James Edwards (http://www.jamesedwardsguitar.com/home.html) Gloustershire “Wassail - Wassail Song”  from “Magnature Compilation: Christmas Music”, (2008).

Tira Brandon-Evans and Dillon Carlyon together recite some Midwinter verses from the Carmina Gadelica. Dillon recites in Scots Gaelic and Tira in English. “Hey the Gift, Ho the Gift” (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1063.htm), The Gift of Power  (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1064.htm), and  Hogmanay of the Sack (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/cg1067.htm).

Cheryl Ann Fulton’s (http://magnatune.com/artists/fulton) “Winter Song” from the “Once and Future Harp”, (2004) carries us into the Outro by Dillon Carlyon.

If you enjoy our podcasts you may wish to join our public group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celticshaman. Or visit our homepage at http://www.faeryshaman.org.

Have a happy and blessed Yule. Be well, be strong, be free!

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A happy and blessed Samhain season to each and every one. This is the time of year when the days grow short. The nights grow long and the moon hangs large and pale in the night. The year of the little sun has come and we gather round the fire to hear tales told from long ago. Our podcaster, Dillon Carlyon, has just a such a tale for us this Samhain. “Leam O’Rooney’s Burial”, comes from the book “From Beside the Fire”, by Douglas Hyde. This is book of traditional folk tales published in 1910. You may find the story at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/btf/btf09.htm. Before the tale begins we hear the song “Kiss from God” (unreleased) by the group Monastic. You may find more music from Monastic at http://www.myspace.com/themonastic. “Distant Dreamland” from Minstrel Spirit, follows this Samhain tale. The song is from the album “Enter the Woods”, (2005). Find more from Minstrel Spirit at http://www.magnatune.com or http://www.mondocruiser.net/minstrelspirit/index.htm.

If you enjoy our podcasts you may wish to join our public group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celticshaman. Or visit our homepage at http://www.faeryshaman.org.

Have a happy and blessed Samhain. Be well, be strong, be free!

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Dillon Carlyon, or podcaster, opens this Alban Elued podcast with music from the band, Da Camera. They can be found at www.dacamera.com and also on www.magnatune.com. The tunes are Three Airs from the Dancing Master, http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/dacamera-celtic/. Following we hear Carolan’s Farewell to Music from A Celtic Celebration http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/dacamera-celtic.

Tira Brandon-Evans reads from the Candle of Vision by Irish author, poet, painter and mystic George William Russell, is a set of transcendent essays on Celtic mysticism. Known by his pen name AE (which is short for Aeon), Russell was friends with many other figures of the Celtic renaissance of the early 20th century, including Y.B. Yeats, and James Stephens.

The Candle of Vision describes Russells’ luminous excursions into the otherworld, including clairvoyant and prophetic visions, precognition of Gnostic concepts, past-life and astral journeys, and, always, heightened awareness of the beauty that pervades mundane reality. Russell describes encounters with what today we would call UFOs, and attempts to construct a private Kabala based on an intuitive reconstuction of a primal language and alphabet. Lastly, he attempts to put a mystical gloss on the primeval Celtic pagan deities. Lovers of Celtic lore and ecstatic mystic literature will both find much to enjoy in this short book. Find the entire book at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cov/index.htm

Dillon shares some of his recent journey to Cape Breton Isle, a place where the Celtic culture is still alive and well in North America. You may view his entire travel blog, including the pictures, at: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=8164442&blogID=425053998 .

If you enjoy our podcasts you may wish to join our public group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celticshaman

Have a happy and blessed Mabon/Alban Elued. Be well, be strong, be free!

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This podcast begins with Tira Brandon-Evans’ invocation of Brighid of the Mantles based on traditional invocations contained in the Carmina Gadelica at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/index.htm

This is followed by Terry Griffiths For My Grandfathers, from the CD of same name found at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/terrygriffith

A Dream of Angus Oge, read by Tira, is excerpted from Imaginations and Reveries. You may find Imaginations and Reveries, with a biography of AE, in the Lughnasadh issue of Earthsongs at http://www.faeryshaman.org/es12.3/es12.3art1.htm. Find the entire work at: http://www.wordaramanights.com/books/703/Imaginations-and-Reveries in PDF, or at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/imgrv10.txtt as text.

Fire in the Head is from the CD Bending Tradition by Emerald Rose. Visit Emerald Rose at: http://www.emeraldrose.com/mainpage.htm.

Dillon Carlyon conducts this podcast and also narrates the tale of Clever Tom and the Leprechaun, which you may read at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm133.htm. This tale is one of many in The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley, published 1870. Find the entire work at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/index.htm.

We end our podcast with I Vo Bene, from Mistral: Winds of Song in France Italy and Brittany. The Shira Kammen homepage is http://www.shirakammen.com.

Thank you for listening and being present in our Celtic traditions at the First Harvest, Lughnasadh.

If you enjoyed this podcast, do visit us at the Society of Celtic Shamans (http://www.faeryshaman.org) or discover our ‘zine, Earthsongs (http://www.faeryshaman.org/erthsong.htm).

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A blessed and happy Midsummer to each and every one of you. This podcast for Alban Heruin features Dillon Carlyon reading from the “Wooing of Emer” and a reading by Tira Brandon-Evans from the “Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries”. Both these may be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/index.htm. We hope you enjoy our podcast for Alban Heruin.

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The Society of Celtic Shamans presents the first part of the Irish myth, The Wooing of Emer, to celebrate Beltane. Beltane was both a day and a season. In the Celtic isles Beltane was celebrated with fires and festivals. Spring is definitely in the air at Beltane. Flirtations are the order of the day and many a lad has been known to woo a fair lassie beneath a mystic moon.

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