Irish Culture & Heritage Blog
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Irish Pagan School Est. 2017
The Irish Pagan School was founded in 2017 to provide a space for native Irish teachers and those dedicated to Irish Paganism to share in an authentic connection to Ireland and its spiritual practices. -
Proud to Be a tree Hugger
These amazing arborial entities form such an important link with our planet's ecosystem that we can literally trace the impact of deforestation on global climate. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a byproduct of human existence, and release oxygen, a necessity for human existence. -
Faith is Found in Uncertainty. Believe...
Life is messy. Sure there are times when progress comes easy and smiles are frequent, but there are also times when every step we take feels laboured, the progress uncertain, and smiles few and far between.
What then do we do? What makes us get up again and again and try, no matter the perceived lack of reward?
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Meditation is not Medication... but it helps
One of the basic tenants of all forms of paganism is meditation and introspection.
Healthy spiritual growth requires an active awareness of self and the best mechanism to create and maintain such an awareness is meditation and introspection. -
The Ogham Series - Neart - Strength
Ogham is the first written script of Ireland. Combining this ancient script with the words from the living Irish language our Ogham series hopes to bring new energy and awareness to both.
Neart is the Irish word for Strength, but it can also be read as force or power. -
"A good Start is Half the work". - Tús Maith Leath Na Hoibre
Tús Maith Leath Na Hoibre translates as "A good Start is Half the work".
Often in our lives we fall afoul of a difficult to perceive influence which we are exposed to all of the time in our modern world. We are constantly shown how "great" a thing is in its completed state and rarely the effort that went into getting it there. -
The Fire Festivals of Ireland
The fire festivals of Ireland form one of the main cycles by which pagans mark the year. These festivals are still honoured today and used in conjunction with the cycle of the equinox as the basis of many a spiritual or ritual practices. -
If my Coat is Inside Out....
There are many many ways to get into the Irish Otherworld. The folk lore of Ireland is littered with tales of fairy rings, stray sods, fairy trees, mist walls, sidhe steeds, and boats. Each of these mundane appearing things are more than what they seem, functioning as a doorway or stepping over point from our world to the Other. -
Fairy Ring - Do Not Enter.
Ireland has long been a place set between the worlds and here to this very day we have some very firm and rightly observed lore about the folk of the Otherworld. From our early stories we are told the sidhe and the danger that may befall the unwary. One such danger is known as the fairy ring. -
I Like my Deity, Like I Like my Coffee...
No easy thing to consider when we break it down, especially when we need to challenge our preconceived ideology and unconscious bias. For me I find that engaging with deity can be as close and personal as you, and they, choose it to be. -
Sovereign - Just a word? Or can it be a state of mind?
Sovereign.
Whenever I say this word out loud it always feels heavy upon my lips, as if the word itself carries some indefinable mass. What we can define though, is our current understanding of the word itself.
noun
- a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.
- a person who has supreme power or authority.
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I Swear by the Gods My Ancestors Swore by...
Our world has changed, and yet for all of that forward progress, some of us find ourselves looking back. Gazing into the past. Seeking insight and meaning. Searching for a greater connection to the natural world all about us.
