from corn in her lap. In other images she holds a key which unlocks the gateways to the Underworld or Otherworld. Shape-shifting into the form of a horse, she would carry the souls of the dead to the Summer lands or to Hy Breasil, the Irish paradise in the west, which some believe gave its name to Brazil. As horse of the dead, she is sometimes seen as a phantom creature or the provoker of nightmares. In Scotland the kelpie or Each Uisge haunts lochs and appears like a sleek pony, offering its back to travelers to help them cross the water. But once the victim is astride, it becomes a terrifying creature with huge teeth and long wild hair, and it plunges deep into the loch carrying its rider into the Underworld. In Skye it is said that unicorns live within certain lochs, and an eel-horse with twelve legs swims in Loch Awe.

The Gateways of Birth And Death

In the Druid tradition the time of Beltane, of mating, in May symbolizes the gateway for the soul to enter the world, and the time of Samhuinn, of death, at the other side of the year in November, symbolizes the gateway for the soul to leave the world. These two gateways act as fundamental points in the life-cycle. The horse-goddess opens the gates of life at Beltane, allowing in a great flood of ebullient energy which makes men feel like stallions and makes women refer to them as "studs." As the gates are closed at Samhuinn, she carries the soul to the afterlife, back to the Summerlands to be renewed again.

The association of the horse-goddess with the life-cycle of birth, death, afterlife and rebirth is confirmed when we discover that ritual Hobby Horses are ridden either at Samhuinn or Beltane. The Padstow and Minehead Hobby Horses bring in the May, while the Hodden Horse of Kent, the Wild Horses of Cheshire and Shropshire and the Mari Lwyd of Wales usher in the winter.

Being associated with the life-cycle and hence sexuality, the horse represents not only human fertility, but the power and fertility of the land itself. In Ireland certain kings undertook a symbolic marriage to a white mare to ally their own sovereignty with the power of the land. And as if to reinforce our awareness of the horse's connection with the earth, great images of the horse were carved on the chalk hillsides of Britain.

As well as symbolizing the power of the land, the horse also had a close affinity with the sun. As a solar animal, it was depicted pulling the sun's chariot across the sky, making it not only sacred to the Goddess but also to the sun and sky god. Whether allied with god or goddess, the horse provides us with the power and the ability to journey—in this world or the next. And with shoes, the horse can ride even faster and further. Horse-shoeing was first developed in the Celtic world, and the smith was considered an important figure: under old Welsh law it was he who took the first drink at any feast. And in Ireland the smith god Goibhniu was host at a feast which rendered his guests immortal. By taking us to Hy Breasil and back, the horse does indeed provide us with the means to transcend the limitations of mortality.



Presented by The Druid Oracles app from The Fool's Dog.

Mac Macartney speaks of Ynys Mon, the island of the Druids, fear, courage, and connection: https://youtu.be/c2IYd3tohf4

' Would you be surprised if I told you that, far from being a land of monoglots, there are ten indigenous languages spoken today in the British Isles? Yet we are very quick to tell ourselves that we're rubbish at languages. We are linguistically isolated monoglots, marooned on a cluster of islands on the edge of the Atlantic. If we were in the mix of mainland Europe, we tell ourselves, we'd be blethering away in at least two languages.

Except, as you read this, people the length of these islands are using indigenous languages other than English to communicate with friends, family, teachers, colleagues and public services. That they are in the minority doesn't meant that they don't exist. In fact, the numbers of primary school-age speakers are growing; almost a quarter of school pupils in Wales are educated through the medium of Welsh, Northern Ireland is home to 30 Irish-medium schools, Scotland's capital has just opened a new, dedicated Gaelic school due to increasing demand, and the Isle of Man has a Manx-medium school.

All of these children are also fluent in English; indeed, in the case of Gaelic-medium pupils, they outperform their English-educated counterparts in English tests. Their bilingualism bucks the monoglot trend of the majority. '

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/29/dont-neglect-uks-indigenous-languages?CMP=share_btn_fb

Watch this profound healing resource:

' How does your story go on?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwTFV3XFRb4&t=382s&fbclid=IwAR0Hr5w4FD-bno_EjkIFvc7f4RwXdSs-Z30AD9ThGBDUMe-pYmHl_tGFBf8 '

https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=604414203536387&id=217484825562662 🌈

37622-109779-2-PB.pdf

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF NEW RELIGIONS, VOL 9, NO 2 (2018)

Home > Vol 9, No 2 (2018) > Owen

Is Druidry Indigenous? The Politics of Pagan Indigeneity Discourse

Suzanne Owen

Issued Date: 23 Oct 2019

Abstract

This article asks if “indigenous,” associated as it is with “colonized peoples,” is being employed strategically by Druids in Britain to support cultural or political aims. Prominent Druids make various claims to indigeneity, presenting Druidry as the pre-Christian religion of the British Isles and emphasizing that it originated there. By “religion” it also assumes Druidry was a culture equal to if not superior to Christianity—similar to views of antiquarians in earlier centuries who idealized a pre-Christian British culture as equal to that of ancient Greece. Although British Druids refute the nationalist tag, and make efforts to root out those tendencies, it can be argued that it is a love of the land rather than the country per se that drives indigeneity discourses in British Druidry.

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https://journals.equinoxpub.com/IJSNR/article/viewArticle/37622

🔊 Intuitive Social Celt • @IntuitiveEmergent • @IntuitivePublicEarth • Immanent Somatic Druidic Dreaming • IPR ••• https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAFGNXE4F1NRZOAFYzw

' some worlds have been destroyed or irreversably altered - after all, think of the primeval rainforests and all bioregions which no longer exist. the scottish gaidhlig word cianalas speaks to this concept, as does the welsh word hiraeth (in its own other way). the two can be loosely translated as a sense of longing for, or belonging to a place that no longer exists as it once did. cianalas is often attributed to the sense of longing for a home no longer accessible felt by hebridean gaels following their forced removal from their homelands during the highland clearances. some worlds only exist in memory, in the past, or in death - and none of those worlds are particularly easy to go to or come back from as folklore shows. '

https://www.rowanrain.com/post/the-veil-is-thin-and-other-modern-concepts