Tag Archives: CR

Telling time through worship

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Modern life is fast paced, time consuming and full of distractions where time gets lost and activities fall through the cracks.  We are forced to make schedules and just hope that we are able to keep them.  While there is no evidence the ancient Irish held monthly ritual observances, in modern America regular ritual observance of the gods can help us maintain our relationships with them. If you are looking to build a local community of like minded worshipers monthly gatherings are a necessity.

As to when to hold the rituals there are a few options.  Using the modern 12 month solar calender would be the simplest, but gentlidecht is a faith based on the practices of the ancient Irish. There for we should be following the calender used by the ancient Irish to dictate out religious schedule.  We have two sources for a lunar calender on which to base the schedule, the Coligny
Calendar used by the Gauls and Irish Neolithic art in and around passage mounds.  Admittedly we do not know if the Iron Age invaders (Celts) of Ireland
adopted the calender inscribed by the Neolithic Irish but knowing that the
Gauls, another Iron Age Celtic people, did use a lunar calender we will continue to work on the assumption that the ancient Irish did as well.

The carvings on Kerbstone 52 at Knowth

Based on the scholarship of the available calenders the year, month and days were split into a dark half and a light half with the beginning being the dark period of each.  This would place the start of the year during the darker months (Winter), the start of the month at the astronomical new moon (dark moon) and the start of the day at sundown.  Sounds simple but scholars have spent years working out the exact calender cycle and several theories exist.

Just based on this information genti could hold their monthly gatherings on or shortly after the dark moon.  This would provide 12-13 annual opportunities for community building and worship.  Of course each group could delve into the research further and come up with more exact religious calenders as well. I prefer the notional Celtic calender created by the Time Meddler which is a 12 month lunar calender with an occasional leap month.

The point is genti (followers of gentlidecht)  need to build a community, starting at the local level.  The best way to do so is to slow down and start getting together.  Establishing a religious calender and then sticking to it will help achieve that.

 

Personality Types – Of Warriors and Jerks

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The following is an excerpt from the forth coming article on various personality types I have identified among the neopagan warrior and Celtic Recon community.  It was pulled from another article entitled Fénidecht to be published in “Oak Leaves” Spring 2014 and on this blog June 2014.

In this excerpt I am discussing two types of ‘warriors’ we find online.  The problem we have is that we can’t usually tell them apart until it is too late unless we know what to look for, and by giving information on these two I hope to increase awareness and decrease the killing of good discussions while not feeding trolls.

 One of the most common féinnidi personality types I have come across is the “Challenger of the Norm.” They enjoy discussions with others and tend to ask questions of the community that force people to consider something that is counter to an existing belief or understanding thus disrupting how society thinks of itself. This has often resulted in the assumption that the féinnid is somehow trying to change things or be intentionally disruptive, while the truth may be as simple as that they want to understand another’s perspective and simply don’t know how to couch the question in a way that doesn’t seem as though they are pointing out errors in others’ understanding. Of course, sometimes an individual is in fact being intentionally disruptive, which is simply poor behavior. However, intentional or not, the community response is too often hostile, and instead of nurturing discussion and debate, the féinnid is flagged as a troll. Given an opportunity, the well-intentioned “Challengers of the Norm” will distinguish themselves by staying involved in a discussion; a troll, on the other hand, will post inflammatory statements with obvious intent to create trouble. While disruptive at times, “Challengers of the Norm” should be seen as the people who help us really know and understand ourselves by forcing us to periodically re-evaluate what we believe.

Then there is the‘Warrior Antagonist’, which is not a personality type limited to féinnidi but is a general type often found among those who identify themselves as warriors. They often appear to be “Challengers of the Norm” but as the discussion continues they tend to get more heated until finally a moderator steps in or the entire discussion shuts down. When challenged as to why they get so heated and fight the response is something akin to “I am a warrior and we enjoy conflict and fighting.” This is a behavior that no one, especially féinnidi, should accept. As modern warriors part of our martial training is de-escalation, team-work and in many organizations,including the armed forces and police forces, conflict resolution. The only time a warrior should escalate a conflict is to bring it to a quick end, and this only applies to actual combat situations. Escalating discussion and debates to the point of open hostility is also counter-productive and in the end only places the warrior in a poor light. With féinnidi already being misunderstood by the Neopagan community it is important to not be a ‘Warrior Antagonist’ and for non-warrior Neopagans to recognize the differences between the personalities to avoid killing discussions that could introduce new ideas and opinions.

EDITED – Updated the first paragraph after my editor pulled this section from the original article.

Pagan adaptations of original source material.

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I love the work of Morgan Daimler and Mike Nichols who both published poetry from the Carmina Gadelica converted to a Neopagan version.  This makes sense to me.

What I don’t understand is why we have to change things that are already good.  The example I ran into just this morning is from the “Acallam na Senórach” when Patrick asks  Caílte what kept Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s warrior band going all those years.  His response  is “Fírinde inár croidhedhaibh & nertt inár lámhaibh, & comall inár tengthaibh.” which has been translated in variants: “truth in our hearts, strength of our arms, and constancy of our tongues” or  “truth in our hearts, strength of our arms, and fulfillment of our tongues”.

If you look for this phrase on the internet though you find it written as  “Strength in our arms, truth on our tongue, clarity in our heart” and yet there is no use of this version that I have been able to find in any translation of the AnS yet people cite that it is from the Fennian Cycle.  It’s not but I did find its source.  Turns out it was written by Seán ó Tuathail in 1993 as part of his Foclóir Draíochta – Dictionary of Druidism.   In it he reorganizes the phrase and puts it into Modern Irish as “Neart inár lámha, fírinne ar ár dteanga, glaine inár gcroí”.  Honestly, it is easier to understand than the various translations of the original but why not just clarify the original?

Three points to take away from this brief rant:  1) Why not use original phrases when they don’t contain obvious non-Pagan overtones 2) Be sure you know the source of something before citing it.  3) If you adapt something, cite it properly so we all know its origin.

As Abraham Lincoln said at his 1865 Inauguration Speech – “Just because it is on the internet!!  Does not make it true.”

Sharing other Outsider blogs…

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Here is a quick and short list of blogs for folks that I know who self-identify as outsiders and are in some way connected to the CR movement or Gaelic Polytheism.

Searching for Imbas – Erynn Laurie
 Flying with the Hooded Crow – Kym Lambert
A Wolfman, not a Wolf in Mans Clothing – Faoladh

Daily Declaration of a Féinnid #1

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An affirmation is a positive self-empowering statement that should be said daily .  They have probably always been around for a long while but became a ‘thing’ in the New Age movement.  As part of our spiritual lives many make affirmations and I support this, and we should make affirmations part of our daily ritual.
As  féinnidi we should do more.  We should declare ourselves to the gods daily our role and remind ourselves who we are and why we do what we do.  This first declaration focuses on the Otherworldly aspect of fénidecht and is a prayer that can be done anytime or anyplace.

Warrior, hunter, poet, seer, outsider, I am what
is feared by the ‘things that go bump in the night.’ With truth in my heart,
strength of my arms, and constancy of my tongue, I walk the boundary between
worlds and stand at the borders guarding against the unknown. Armed against
those who wish to harm; I am the wolf, I am the prey, I am the wild hunt.
 I am a guardian between the realms, a wild beast in the wood, a féinnid
in the service of my people.

*Writing requirement for OOTW course *koyros1 

Processional Prayer of Introduction

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Féinnidi protected the community from invaders, from this world and the Otherworld.  When standing outside a ritual space modern Féinnid should do the same.  Here is a poem I wrote years ago for Pagan Spirit Gathering.  I would say it as the participants would process into the circle for the larger rituals.

Finn, Chieftain of the Fiana hear our call.
For we stand at the boundary between Order and Chaos, the civilized and the wild.
As the tribe gathers we come to observe and protect. 
We shall fear no man, nor beast, and nor spirit. 
We shall challenge any who come to do the people ill.
Gods and ungods of the people, know that we are here and we are allies.
With spear and shield we will protect the people, aid the people and sacrifice ourselves for the people.
We stand at the boundary between Order and Chaos, the civilized and the wild.

*Writing requirement for OOTW course *koyros1