As most of my readers probably know, I have been a Celtic Reconstructionist Druid for the last 30 years. We are a species of Druid that take Celtic scholarship quite seriously (if you want to learn more please visit Tribe of the Oak ) . At this time of year, as Samhain (Halloween) approaches, we concern ourselves with thoughts of the dead ancestors who sacrificed and worked hard to make it possible for us to be alive here on this Earth today.
Druids like to think in “triads” or threes, because the steadiest cauldron rests on three legs. Its an Indo-European thing (think of Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu and all the old Celtic High Gods like Brighid and the Morrigan who are triple). For us the dead come in three varieties; those of our bloodline, those of our Spirit, and those whose blood and bone make the soil upon which we stand and which provides our sustenance.
I live in supposedly intellectual, Liberal, New England. Imagine my shock when a local town is refusing to allow Native American tribal experts and elders to even examine a tract of land for possible sacred sites and burials before clear cutting to put in a massive solar array. The same town has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to preserve White monuments and historic places. It boggles the mind.
Here is what a local Native American had to say about it;
” This is against MA law for Historical Commissions, which dictates that all heritage is to be identified, inventoried and preserved without prejudice as to origin. Clearly, that law is being obstructed by the Shutesbury Planning Board, Historical Commission and Select Board.
Shutesbury is the Birmingham, Alabama, of discrimination against Native Americans.”
So I find myself in the middle of all this, contacting the ACLU and my state representatives.
This part of Massachusetts has become a black hole as far as knowledge about paleo-Indians is concerned and here is one reason why. To add to the wierdness, when I posted my feelings on a private Yahoo list the landowner sent the local sheriff to my house with a no trespassing order. I am no longer allowed to set foot on any of their properties and they are just about the largest landowner in the state. Meanwhile the general public uses their forests for hunting, fishing, snow mobiling, skiing, and hiking. I have never even set foot on the tract in question, apparently just speaking your mind is a threat in America these days.
So now I know how accused Witches felt in this part of the colonies where women who had strong opinions found themselves locked up or worse. I also feel like a serf in old England who had the sheriff called down on her for offending the local land baron. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds.
And please pause to remember the original meaning of the Hallow ‘Een festival. It’s the time to honor those who have gone before us and to make offerings of respect to our beloved dead.
The Celtic origins of Halloween
UPCOMING EVENTS
- October 14, 2017 – April 2018
Intro to Herbalism and Self Care~ A Six Month Intensive
Two Saturdays a month, 1-5 PM near Amherst, MA, PLEASE MESSAGE ME WITH YOUR INTEREST.
Western Materia Medica, Chinese 5 Element Theory, Flower Essence Counseling, Formula making, Hands on Herbalism, Ethnobotany, Herb walks, Case taking and more. - Sunday, October 15th
Celebrate Samhain!
A talk about using herbs to communicate with the Spirits
10 am to 6 pm at the Courtyard Marriott
2200 Southwood Drive, Nashua, NH 03063 - Help Create a Druid Film Featuring Iron Age Herbalists and Healers!
Based on the Priestess of the Forest trilogy of Celtic novels, the film will be set in ancient Ireland. It features strong female characters, Iron Age Herbalists, warriors, Druids, and early Christian missionaries.
We have a script, a director, a lead actor and actress, a composer, and a film editor. The next step is to film a scene to put on Yahoo, as a way of attracting a major producer. We need YOU to become a patron with on-going support, or just to make a one-time gift!
Patrons receive bonuses and perks!
How to Contribute
BOOK NEWS
NEWS YOU CAN USE
*Reminder – Yule is coming! You can order books and DVDs from this site. Get a copy signed by the author and a personal note! Please specify who you want the book signed to *
Below you will find the usual past Moonth’s collection of archeology, nature, climate, religion, Fairy, Celtic, Political and Ethical news. Enjoy!
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
- Text of a Hippocratic medical formula found in Egypt
- Ephesus to be reconnected to the sea
- A Viking boat grave is found in Trondheim, Norway
- Modern humans emerged more than 300,000 years ago
- Taranis, a Celtic thunder God
- The dog in Celtic culture
- Scientific dating of prehistoric Orkney
- A possible Roman temple found in Gloucester, UK
- Ritual caves in Sweden
- The world’s oldest human made objects
- An 11,500 year old settlement in Turkey
- Greece plans to restore the ancient temple of Olympian Zeus
- A 1000 year old Viking sword found in Cork City
- The ritual deposition of weapons in Celtic burials
- A large store of mushrooms found that may have been part of a Druid healer’s pharmacopoea
- A site in Kerry found to be aligned to the Autumnal Equinox
- Remote Roman forts
- Early Irish Farming
- The oldest known beer recipe from Mesopotamia
- The long lost sanctuary of Artemis is rediscovered
- British stone circles were places to party during the Neolithic
- Levels of Druids (the Aes Dana)
- A Medieval grave contained a dolphin
- A Bronze Age hoard found in Cumbria
- Carbon dating Orkney finds
- How trousers went from banned to required in Rome
- The Scordisi/Balkan wars with the Romans
- A Roman mosaic found in England
- MA logging company wants to cut down a forest with Native American sacred sites, to put up solar panels
- A new interpretation of Beowulf
- The Praetorian Guard
- Croft Moraig (video)
- A Roman helmet found in Britain
- A South Dakota cave yields Ice Age fossils
- Family trees of Egyptian, Greek, Norse Gods
- The earliest Iron Age gold in Britain came from the continent
- A British museum buys the torc
- A Bronze Age shield found in the river Shannon
- The origins of zero are Sanskrit
- Evidence for human dismemberment at Carrowkeel tomb
- The Celtic practice of excarnation
- A Pagan feasting hall found in Israel
- A Celtic burial from Slovakia
- Ancient fibulae
- When fossil DNA isn’t available Glycans can be studied
- Bronze Age stone tools found in Wales
- Early Norwegian iron production
- Celtic settlements in the lower Danube region
- A Mycenaean tomb found in Greece
- Excavation of a Celtic site in Perth begins
- The real head of a Scythian warrior
- Food and meals of ancient Rome
- A 9th century Irish manuscript
- The mystery of a lost Roman herb
- The end of the Bronze Age (video)
- Roman cavalry finds at Hadrian’s Wall
- Roman swords and toys found at Hadrian’s Wall
- A Viking warrior grave is found to be of a female war leader
- How the female Viking warrior was written out of history
Related: scholars struggle to accept evidence that graves may be of Viking warrior women, not men - The ancient Greek Kithara (video)
- Listen to the Sumerian Silver lyre (video)
- Listen to ancient an Babylonian song
- 4000 year old clay tablets found in Turkey
- Ancient settlements found in Yorkshire
- Female mobility was a key to cultural change in the Bronze Age and Neolithic
- Secrets of human evolution found in spit
- The Arch of Titus reconstructed in color
- Photoshop animation of what Queen Nefertiti looked like
- The Celtic round house
How to build one - Indigenous storytelling as a way to pass along ancient wisdom
- Ancient seals from the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem found
- An Iron Age village in Devon is being re-created
- Reindeer hunters find a Viking sword at high altitude
- New verses from the Epic of Gilgamesh discovered
- The Epic of Gilgamesh sung in the original Sumerian (video)
- English school girl finds a sword in a lake
- More on this story – the sword’s owner is found
- A mass grave in Germany points to a Neolithic massacre
- Have the bones of Pliny the Elder been found?
- Neanderthal stone tools and faunal remains
- How to bake ancient Roman bread
- Fossil footprints may change ideas about human evolution
- A Scottish cave littered with human remains from the Iron Age
- How Neanderthals made glue, 200,000 years ago
HERB NEWS
- Fermented zuccini pickles
- Dandelion root bitters
- Maitake/Hen of the Woods (video)
- Chicken of the Woods (video)
- Bacopa/Brahmi – an herb for insomnia
- Find an herb school in your area!
- Essential oil company fined for harvesting endangered woods
- Wild Autumn Soda
- The mystery of a lost Roman herb
- Elderberries are ripe!
- Chanterelle mushrooms
- Time to forage for Chicory root
- Its time to make your Fire Cider! (I do this with my students every year)
- What the future of farming looks like
- Harvesting beaked hazel nuts from the forest (video)
- Bio-molecules from ancient plants help in plant classification
HEALTH NEWS
- Is coconut oil really a “healthy” fat?
Over 70% of Americans think of coconut oil as a “healthy food.” But this is a misconception. Coconut oil contains more saturated fat than most other dietary fats, including animal fats such as butter and lard. Coconut oil can also increase total and LDL cholesterol levels. For this reason, the American Heart Association now recommends that people with high cholesterol avoid using coconut oil to lower cholesterol or prevent heart disease. The best bet is to use polyunsaturated fats (e.g., safflower oil, sunflower oil, others) or monounsaturated fats (e.g., olive oil) in place of saturated fats. Replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 25%. From Natural Medicines - Antibiotic resistance growing and too few new drugs in the pipeline (factory farming a major cause)
- The climate change solution nobody talks about any more
- A zero carb diet can prolong life expectancy (in mice anyway)
- Lack of sleep contributes to mental health problems
- Midwife rides an inflatable swan to get to baby delivery during flood
- A nerve implant restores some consciousness to a man in vegetative state for years
- Evidence that psychopaths have distinct musical preferences
SCIENCE AND CLIMATE AND NATURE NEWS
- When Canada’s Badlands were a lush dinosaur forest by the sea
- Carbon found in 3.95 billion year old rocks appears to be remnant of ancient life
- US and Russia to cooperate on a Lunar space station
- Elon Musk’s plans for a Moon base and Mars flights
- The USA and Syria are now the only nations refusing to sign the Paris climate agreement (doesn’t that make you proud?)
- The most accurate reconstruction of a dinosaur to date
- How an ostrich halted plans for a real life Jurassic Park
- Germany’s first wild bison in 250 years shot dead by authorities
- Helping Fiji’s shark God
- The underlying cause for the recent Mexico Earthquakes
- Cassini dies after a 20 year run
- Photographs taken on the Cassini mission
- Prize winning astronomy photographs
- On the road to extinction, grieving the losses
- Global ocean circulation appears to be collapsing due to warming planet
- Loggers cut down “the world’s oldest tree”?
Not really but the real story is even better - Pluto’s surface features get official names
- A massive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way
- Tracing who is responsible for global warming and sea level rise
- September 6/7 the Sun ejected its largest solar flare in 12 years
- NASA’s latest Jupiter pics (gorgeous)
- Wild dogs vote by sneezing
RELIGION NEWS
- Alabama Justice says First Amendment only applies to Christians
- No girls allowed – the debate over female clergy continues
- Falsely accused of Satanic horrors, couple finally free after several decades and being paid millions
- White Christians now in the minority in US – PEW survey
- Right wing Christians think they are the most persecuted minority in USA
- Military chaplain thinks all religions other than his version of Christianity are Satanic
- The Irish wake
- Gods and Spirits are not just archetypes
- Religious advertising video (just for fun)
- 1000 Irish gather to celebrate ancient religion and culture
- A Zen Master’s advice on how to cope with Trump
- Has Evangelical Christianity become Sociopathic?
- Are Evangelicals inventing a new Christianity that’s all about sex?
- A brief history of the Witch persecutions (but the 9 million number is bogus)
- Americans give religions over 82.5 billion dollars a year. Imagine the advantages if taxes were imposed
CELTIC NEWS
- “Elf stones” to protect the cattle
- Michaelmas in Irish folklore
- The Banshee
- Gaelic singer to fight cultural erosion with children’s books
- A traditional Manx harvest time dance
More details here
FAIRY NEWS
POLITICS AND ETHICS
- Read Obama’s statement on Trump’s decision to end DACA (so refreshing to see a well thought out statement that isn’t a crude, barely literate tweet)
- Trump orders DACA kids deported September 5. Here is what happened September 4, 1942
- The media is creating an anti-ANTIFA meme to balance out reporting on Nazi thugs
- Republicans who are confirmed to have received Russian money
- When Nazis rallied in New York City, in 1939, and the protestors who opposed them
- Abortion is legal under the Constitution. Yet Oklahoma just enacted a law requiring a woman to get a man’s permission before she can have one.
- Crops rot in California due to lack of immigrant workers
- Sander’s Medicare for All bill now has many Democratic co-sponsors
- In the wake of Irma, calls for a Marshall Plan for the Caribbean
- Bannon is met with angry protests in Hong Kong (apparently he and Nazis are more popular in the USA)
- The secret truth about DACA and the US underground economy
- Donald Trump is the first White president