Over the Moor #520

8/12/21 by Marc Gunn, Talisk, Dram & Go, Kennedy's Kitchen, Band O'Brothers, Fir Arda, The Munster Men, Caliceltic, THE DIVINERS

http://celticmusicpodcast.com/over-the-moor-520

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/126994684
Episode: http://traffic.libsyn.com/bellobard/IrishCelticMusic-520.mp3?dest-id=17757

Let’s head over the moor from here to beyond with the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Talisk, Dram & Go, Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne, Kennedy's Kitchen, Jeff Blaney, Band O'Brothers, Fir Arda, John Mcgaha, The Munster Men, Wicked Tinkers, The Guinness Brothers, Aerialists, Caliceltic, THE DIVINERS I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show on socials or with a friend. The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is here to build our diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. If you hear music you love, buy the albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow the artists on streaming, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. Every week, you can get Celtic music news in your inbox. The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Subscribe and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20
This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2021 episode. Vote Now! THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC 0:05 - Talisk "Beyond" from Beyond 6:11 - WELCOME 7:24 - Dram & Go "Famous Baravan" from Heads, Tails, and Heart 12:41 - Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne "Willie O" from Kind Providence 16:01 - Kennedy's Kitchen "The Swallow's Tail Reel/The Sailor's Bonnet/Over The Moor To Maggie" from The Birds Upon The Trees 20:21 - Jeff Blaney "The Mockingbird" from Exodus 23:13 - FEEDBACK 27:15 - Band O'Brothers "The Whiskey Spider" from Band O'Brothers 31:44 - Fir Arda "Kean O'Hara" from Carolan's Receipt for Drinking 34:15 - John Mcgaha "The Final Trawl" from Origins 39:00 - The Munster Men "The rare auld mountain dew" from Tasting The Waters 43:24 - THANKS 46:33 - Wicked Tinkers "Those Marching O'Neills" from Hammered 51:20 - The Guinness Brothers "Whiskey in the Jar" from Live Craic 55:30 - Aerialists "Que Forte Diamante" from Dear Sienna 59:25 - Caliceltic "Evening Sun" from Staycation 1:02:16 - CLOSING 1:03:31 - THE DIVINERS "Steppin' Out / Farewell to Connolly Road" from earshot (EP) The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. The show was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. Subscribe through your favorite podcatcher or on our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com

Episode 33: Mabon

9/21/21 by Tamed Wild

https://soundcloud.com/user-243746194-22399360/episode-33-mabon

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/128830384
Episode: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1129057015-user-243746194-22399360-episode-33-mabon.mp3

Blessed Mabon! On episode 33 of the Magick and Alchemy Podcast, hosts Kate Belew and Kristin Lisenby explore the magick of Mabon. They discuss Mabon’s relationship to the second harvest, the Dying God, and the Fall Equinox. They talk about the vine month from the Celtic Tree Calendar, Greek God Dionysus, and why gratitude, sacrifice, and renewal are welcome themes at midharvest.

Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Kelsey May.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio.

Sources:

“Mabon: Rituals, Recipes, and Lore for the Autumn Equinox,” by Llewellyn

https://tamedwild.com/products/sabbat-series-books?_pos=1&_sid=1a28b4197&_ss=r&variant=29600835665980

“A Mabon Crown” by Annie Finch

Shoutouts:

Season 1, Episode 6, “Persephone and Pluto”

Peat Gatherers, Stornoway, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Despite the RSPCA telling them to leave it alone as it would find its way back to the forest, the police shot dead this beautiful white stag.

I really hate this fucking shithole country.

Whoever pulled the trigger will hereafter be cursed. This is an omen for things to come, even the mere sighting of a stag marks coming change. The killing of it will not go unpunished.

For anyone interested in the symbolism and mythology of the white stag, here is a video I made last year:

https://youtu.be/VdrV1UtrR9I

In the wild, albino creatures have a significantly higher than average mortality rate. Their inability to blend into their natural habitats means juvenile prey species such as deer are much more likely to be picked off by predators, and never make it to adulthood.

Adult white stags must therefore be the most cunning, the most quick, the most hardy and the most well adapted in order to overcome their inherent handicap. In making it to adulthood, these animals have to overcome the toughest conditions their species will ever face, and therefore represent a supreme specimen amongst their kind.

A pox upon the Merseyside Police who will no doubt pay a high price for what they have done.

The White Stag in British Legend and Symbolism

Today Merseyside Police shot and killed a White Hart in Bootle. Now sometimes a spade is a spade and one might be forgiven for taking a basic reading of this: police grunt shoots beautiful wild animal dead in built up area due to ‘threat’ posed to the urbanites thick and jittery enough to interfere/get spooked by it. But this is almost certainly no accident. The sighting of a White Stag is never an accident and the attempts to kill it never end well. So one can either view this as a noble and rare creature being put down in an urban landscape because people are too disconnected from wildlife to cope with it, or, what is more likely is that this was a sacrifice. This Stag, a White Hart which is symbolic across Europe and more specifically these isles, steeped in Celtic, Arthurian, Marian, Royal and Christian motifs and lore -was shot dead in order to taunt us. Those that know. In fact I imagine many people regardless of whether or not they know these various myths, legends and associations will recognise it as a mystical and divine creature. To both mark the disgusting despatching of this symbolic Lord of the Forest and to give you an idea of just why this was no ordinary form of ‘pest control’ on the part of the police here is a brief overview of what the White Hart is and the lore surrounding it.

Deer are revered the world over wherever they roam. They are among the most noble of woodland creatures and cut an impressive figure on the landscape, their hides are fine and venison is a delicious meat.. Yet they were particularly looked to by our ancestors, men of the North, be they of Germanic or Celtic stock. Much of our lore regarding the White Stag draws from the well of Celtic tradition, where one of the better attested and depicted deities is Cernunnos -the horned one, usually taking the form of a stag-horned man. Within the Celtic tradition the a White Stag takes the role of a messenger from the Annwn or ‘Otherworld’ and this is most attested in the tales of the Welsh. The Mabinogion uses the White Stag to mark a transgression on the part of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed for hunting in the grounds of the Lord of the Otherworld, Arawn. A white stag also appears in the story of the Welsh hero Peredur fab Efrawg, where he is told to kill the creature by a ‘black maiden’. In wider Arthurian legend, white stags frequently appear in the hunting grounds of Arthur’s Court at Camelot, signifying the beginning of events that would lead to a great quest. All in all, the white stag can be interpreted as a divine creature and messenger, an omen both good and bad.

In the British Isles however it is not just Brythonic Lore that holds a monopoly on white stag symbology. The Anglo-Saxons, though often better associated with boars and horses, certainly held stags in high regard. Heorot, the Grendel-ravaged mead-hall in the English national epic Beowulf takes is name from Deer and one can imagine it well adorned with great sets of antlers and hind pelts. King Rædwald’s sceptre unearthed at Sutton Hoo, possibly a symbol of office denoting his lordship over much of Britain as Bretwalda features a stag on top. And in comparatively recent English lore Herne the Hunter, an antler-headed haunt of Berkshire’s forests is often associated with white harts, he too appearing before great events such as the coming and goings of kings. Indeed Richard II took a white hart as his heraldic symbol from his mother the Fair Maid of Kent.

Yet as such things do, the symbolism of the white Stag was not lost on our ancestors attempting to straddle the Old Ways and the new religion; Christianity. The whiteness of the stag came to symbolise purity and as such, came to be associated with the Virgin Mary, and it is depicted as a brooch for her in numerous occasions. The white hart came to be used in conversion and important saintly stories across Europe, notably those of Saints Eustace and Hubert, but was also well used here. King David I of Scotland built Holyrood palace (Rood meaning cross) on the site where he had tried to hunt a white stag but had instead almost been killed by it before divine intercession, a cross appearing over the stag’s head before it disappeared. And at Llangar, Denbighshire a white stag leads builders of a church to a better spot after their work keeps being destroyed by poor weather.

On account of its rare and pure colour, aristocratic countenance and difficulty in trying to pursue, the White Stag is a deeply significant creature in the British Legendary Bestiary. They appear in our tales across the land, appearing before great events, leading people to their destiny be it doom or glory and their association is desirous and coveted. This is a sign, a divine sign. As many have said, its death will not and should not be taken lightly. A fine creature was felled today and it should repulse anyone who knows what it means.

St Kilda islanders photographed by George Washington Wilson in the 1880s at their weekly 'parliament', which was attended by all adult males of the island. This 'parliament' distributed labour and resources amongst the island families according to each ones need and ability. It had no chairman, each islander was permitted equal opportunity to speak, and they arrived to the meeting in their own time.
In 1899, the island school master John Ross commented that:
"Very much resembles our Honourable British Parliament in being able to waste any amount of precious time over a very small matter while on the other hand they can pass a Bill before it is well introduced".
The islanders of St Kilda were forced to evacuate their home in 1930 and the isle has known no permanent inhabitants since.

The cù-sìth is a mythological hound found in the folklore of Scotland. A similar creature exists in Irish folklore (spelled cú sídhe), and it also bears some resemblance to the Welsh Cŵn Annwn.

The cù-sìth is thought to make its home in the clefts of rocks and to roam the moors of the Highlands. It is usually described as having a shaggy, dark green coat and being as large as a small cow.

According to legend, the creature was capable of hunting silently, but would occasionally let out three terrifying barks, and only three, that could be heard for miles by those listening for it, even far out at sea. Those who hear the barking of the Cù-Sìth must reach safety by the third bark or be overcome with terror to the point of death.

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