I just finished celebrating a very quiet three day Halloween here on the mountain. In ancient times Samonios (later called Samhain or Samhuinn) was a three day festival according to the Gallo-Roman Coligny Calendar . There is an entry “TRINOX[tion] SAMO[nii] SINDIV” (three-nights of Samonios today) which implies that Halloween was observed for three days and nights. We moderns have preserved that to some extent with All Saints Day and All Souls Day and of course, our day to celebrate ghoulies and ghosties and trick or treating.
My own observance consisted of placing offerings for the Fairies on the altar in the garden; whole grain toast and honey, milk and honey, and apple crisp, on each of the three nights. I took a few moments with my students on October 31 to share stories of our ancestors and those we had lost in the past year. We munched small offerings of pomegranate seeds and chocolate in their memory.
It is a somber time. It feels like the US is slouching into yet another war, and this time its boots on the ground in Syria. In my own life a company I have worked for, for almost a decade, has decided to move to Texas where they can pay lower wages and offer fewer benefits. A hundred locals are being laid off as a result, which does not seem to factor into anyone’s calculations. We workers are expendable and only profit margins have any real meaning.
But life will go on, as it always does. Below you will find the usual assortment of news from the archaeology front, nature news, herb, news, religion, ethics and politics, and if you are reading this I wish you a very happy and prosperous Celtic New Year. May your fires be bright and your hearth warm!
BOOK NEWS
- A recent podcast that covers Druids, Herbalism and many other topics;
- My newest herbal is already available for pre-order;
Secret Medicines from Your Garden
Plants for Healing, Spirituality, and Magic
A guided exploration of herbal lore and healing plants found in yards, forests, meadows, and hedgerows - My newest Druid book A Legacy of Druids – Conversations with Druid leaders of Britain, the USA and Canada, past and present (Moon Books) has just completed its final edit and the cover is being designed. It will be out Spring of 2016. Endorsements are already coming in;
‘This extraordinary assembly of Druids reveals the paths leading to our native, spiritual heritage, without fear or favour. Deep and true!’ – Caitlín Matthews, author of Celtic Visions, past-presider of OBOD. - Nimue Brown of Moon Books writes; “Recently I have learned from the Society of Authors that if you get 50 book reviews on Amazon, then Amazon might start paying more attention to your book. I also learned, that ratings on Goodreads can lead to being listed in the Goodreads Choice Awards. We’re talking in the thousands here, by the looks of it. Not easily done, but worth knowing all the same. In terms of increasing visibility, reviews clearly have a lot of influence.”If anyone here has read my books would you please pen a short review on Goodreads or Amazon? Blessings in advance! (smile)
*Reminder- you can purchase signed books from me via this website and get a signed copy with a personal note from the author. Perfect for Yuletide giving! Please specify who you want the books autographed to if they are gifts.*
ARCHEOLOGY NEWS
- No single Celtic DNA group in the UK
- A Mesolithic house found in the UK
- Rethinking Neanderthal influence in Europe
- Iron Age dwellings in Scotland
- Neolithic feasting rituals
- Celts in Poland
- Hobby Lobby’s Christian owners likely bought looted artifacts for their Bible museum
- Celtic burials in Croatia
- A Neolithic flint knife
- 4,800 year old evidence of plague in Europe
- A second Viking outpost (circa 1000 CE) found in Canada
- Ancient textiles from Austrian salt mines
- The Old Irish Bee Laws
- Celtic women’s ankle bracelets mark Eastwards expansion of the Celts
- Largest ever Neolithic site in Wales recently discovered
- Cheese was offered to the Gods at Stonehenge
- Celts – Blood and Sacrifice Vol 1 (video)
- Vol 2 (video)
- Vol 3 (video)
- New evidence for human DNA in Ice Age romances
- Who were the Celts?
- Inuit women going back to traditional tattoos
- A 2,400 year old tomb from Cyprus
- The first Vikings
- Iron Age torcs
- Curating the Celts (video)
- Palmyra attacked by ISIL again, an arch blown up
More…
PAGAN NEWS
- Fairy Lore of the Isle of Skye
- In the shadow of the Witch hunts
- Witches in Greek and Welsh lore
- Why are old women the face of evil in folklore?
- Baltic Pagans honor the dead
- Cornish Halloween customs
- Samhuinn in Edinburgh
- Iceland’s belief in elves
- The last of the Granny Witches in Appalachia
- The origins of Witches
- The forest of Dubhros
- Runic alphabets
- Kitchen Witchery (video)
- Greek women Bacchics (video)
HERB NEWS
- How to eat Burdock roots
- Palo Santo – holy wood (Bursera)
- Use Dandelion root to build your immune system
- Nobel prize won for herbal extract
- Make a Hawthorn Cordial
- Herb Rally – schools, conferences, etc. all over the place
- Time to eat the acorns!
- Acorn cake
More on Acorns
NATURE NEWS
- Coywolves!
- Cheese is addictive
- New Zealand: all animals are sentient beings
- EPA confirms – fracking poisons drinking water
- Cave lions found in Siberian permafrost
- Are cats domesticated?
- Memories may be passed down through DNA
- Let’s turn cemeteries into forests
- The evidence for parallel universes
RELIGION NEWS
- Peruvian shaman murders investigated
“He alleged that the mayor, who is an evangelical Christian, ordered the killings on hearing that the shamans planned to form an association. He said the mayor’s brother was known in the area as a matabrujos or witch killer.
“For Protestant sects, the shamans are possessed by the devil; a totally sectarian, primitive and racist concept,” he said.” - People are ditching religion and turning to nature instead, study finds
- Sacred wells and wishing trees
- Hopi prophecy (video)
LANGUAGE NEWS
POLITICS AND ETHICS
- Americans want government official to support same sex marriage licenses, poll shows
- Paul Krugman: the brazen lies of the GOP
- 10 reasons we must elect Bernie Sanders President
- Warren and Sanders unite to reinstate Glass Steagall
- Elizabeth Warren: Paul Ryan’s budgets are dangerous for America
- CDC map of gun deaths, state by state, in the US. How does your state rank?
- Anonymous about to expose 1000 KKK members
- Bill Gates: “Only Socialism can save us from climate change”
- Justice Department set to prosecute Banksters
- Supreme Court decision that could set off a massive arms race in the US
- MO GOP (naturally) lawmaker wants women to get permission from their abuser for an abortion
- Democrats now favor Socialism over Capitalism, poll shows
- Justice Department will sue Alabama if it doesn’t comply with voting laws
- Bernie Sanders filed amendment to undo Citizens United
- DOJ finds no evidence the IRS targeted Conservatives
- Ben Carson opposes abortion for victims of rape, incest, compares them to slave owners
- One mile of California coastline returned to the indigenous Pomo
- 30,000 gun deaths a year in the US is an epidemic
- Abortion in Puritan America was legal and not uncommon
- Bernie Sanders declines contribution from drug company CEO/scalper
- Republicans demand that portrait of Margaret Sanger be removed
- Court overturns AZ anti-abortion medication law
- Abortion clinic in OH will stay open for now
- States that declined the Medicare expansion face higher costs
- Toddlers are shot or shoot others with a gun once a week now, in the USA
- Wisconsin gun shop ordered to pay fine after selling guns to straw men and cops are shot
- 44% of Republicans want a Christian theocracy (what part of “Freedom of religion” don’t they understand?)
- How to create a mass shooter