This Week on The Spiral Dance Podcast
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The Spiral Dance with Hawthorne (blubrry.com)
Blessed Beltaine
This week, we celebrate Beltane! Beltane is happening on Friday, the first of May! It's a festival of Fertility and Love as we welcome the flowering of Nature's Return. In our mythology Beltane represents the Mating of the Goddess and the God. It's The Original White Wedding!
So, we'll talk in more detail about the meaning and significance of May Day from our earliest history. Plus we'll talk about the mythologies and customs that are traditionally associated with Beltane. And, while we're at it; just what the heck does "Beltane" mean? I've got the answers right here!
Beltane's importance goes deep into our history, and it was never actually snuffed out to the Church's satisfaction. It, in fact, followed the Euopeans to these very shores. I have a reading from the American writer, Nathanial Hawthorne. He wrote a story in 1836, which was a fictionalized account taken from early colonial history. It's called "The Maypole at Merrymount". This is being presented Laura Teaches English; Teen Story Time, which is on YouTube
Be well. Do good. Enjoy the show!
So, we'll talk in more detail about the meaning and significance of May Day from our earliest history. Plus we'll talk about the mythologies and customs that are traditionally associated with Beltane. And, while we're at it; just what the heck does "Beltane" mean? I've got the answers right here!
Beltane's importance goes deep into our history, and it was never actually snuffed out to the Church's satisfaction. It, in fact, followed the Euopeans to these very shores. I have a reading from the American writer, Nathanial Hawthorne. He wrote a story in 1836, which was a fictionalized account taken from early colonial history. It's called "The Maypole at Merrymount". This is being presented Laura Teaches English; Teen Story Time, which is on YouTube
Be well. Do good. Enjoy the show!
Fionn Mac Cumhaill
Fionn Mac Cumhaill is one of the most popular figures in Irish mythology and the folklore of Ireland and Scotland, past and present. In the stories, Fionn appeared as a skilled warrior, heroic leader of a band of champions called fénnidi who lived as hunters and adventurers in the forests and borderlands. Their adventures led them all over Ireland and Scotland, and frequently they crossed the unseen borders into the Otherworld. Also, Fionn and many of the fénnidi were skilled poets and seers. Fionn, above all, had gifts and techniques that enabled him to obtain the knowledge of the Otherworld.
Although Fionn was presented in the stories as a human with superhuman skills, talents, and attributes, he bore many of the marks of a solar god. He was depicted as most active during the summer. His banner bore solar insignia. His name meant "bright" or "shining white."
In the story of Diarmuid and Grainne, Fionn had the power to heal, though he chose not to use it. As a forest dweller, Fionn was identified with fertility concerns. His nearest relatives—wife, son—appeared in deer form and Fionn himself could assume stag shape; this recalls the association between stags and solar symbols in the earliest Celtic carvings. It’s worth recalling that Celtic hunting deities were protectors of wild animals, but, when properly propitiated, they allowed and assisted humans in hunting. Therefore, a divine forest protector would assume the shapes of the protected animal, protect the animals, and know best how to hunt them.
Fionn and the fénnidi also often engaged in hunting boar, another sacred animal with solar connotations.
Fionn also single-handedly fought and defeated Ailenn, a monster of darkness that annually attacked Tara. In a perverse use of sleep-spell music, Ailenn would lull everyone gathered at Tara to celebrate Samhain until they were sound asleep. Then the monster would incinerate everything with a fiery breath. This occurred each year until Fionn eluded the sleep-spell and, with his spear (the classic weapon of a solar god), killed Ailenn at the entrance to the sidhe. The story showed the two sides of fire: its heat and light could be used constructively to provide food and warmth and help people survive, but it could also be used to destroy the structures and the order of human civilization. As in the Welsh stories of monsters being defeated at Bealtaine, Fionn the warrior of light destroyed the force of darkness threatening the center of kingship and social order. Perhaps, the story of Fionn and Ailenn was originally associated with Bealtaine, when one would expect a story of light dispelling dark and restoring order at a time when the power of the sidhe was very strong. On the other hand, the story also fits into the time of Samhain, during the chaos of the year’s end when Ailenn brought a death-like—and winter-like—sleep and fire’s destructive power, but Fionn, with his spear like the sun’s rays, restored order. Indeed, the story had resonances for both Bealtaine and Samhain, the two halves of the year, when light and dark met.
Although Fionn was presented in the stories as a human with superhuman skills, talents, and attributes, he bore many of the marks of a solar god. He was depicted as most active during the summer. His banner bore solar insignia. His name meant "bright" or "shining white."
In the story of Diarmuid and Grainne, Fionn had the power to heal, though he chose not to use it. As a forest dweller, Fionn was identified with fertility concerns. His nearest relatives—wife, son—appeared in deer form and Fionn himself could assume stag shape; this recalls the association between stags and solar symbols in the earliest Celtic carvings. It’s worth recalling that Celtic hunting deities were protectors of wild animals, but, when properly propitiated, they allowed and assisted humans in hunting. Therefore, a divine forest protector would assume the shapes of the protected animal, protect the animals, and know best how to hunt them.
Fionn and the fénnidi also often engaged in hunting boar, another sacred animal with solar connotations.
Fionn also single-handedly fought and defeated Ailenn, a monster of darkness that annually attacked Tara. In a perverse use of sleep-spell music, Ailenn would lull everyone gathered at Tara to celebrate Samhain until they were sound asleep. Then the monster would incinerate everything with a fiery breath. This occurred each year until Fionn eluded the sleep-spell and, with his spear (the classic weapon of a solar god), killed Ailenn at the entrance to the sidhe. The story showed the two sides of fire: its heat and light could be used constructively to provide food and warmth and help people survive, but it could also be used to destroy the structures and the order of human civilization. As in the Welsh stories of monsters being defeated at Bealtaine, Fionn the warrior of light destroyed the force of darkness threatening the center of kingship and social order. Perhaps, the story of Fionn and Ailenn was originally associated with Bealtaine, when one would expect a story of light dispelling dark and restoring order at a time when the power of the sidhe was very strong. On the other hand, the story also fits into the time of Samhain, during the chaos of the year’s end when Ailenn brought a death-like—and winter-like—sleep and fire’s destructive power, but Fionn, with his spear like the sun’s rays, restored order. Indeed, the story had resonances for both Bealtaine and Samhain, the two halves of the year, when light and dark met.
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The Spiral Dance with Hawthorne (blubrry.com)
The Spiral Dance with Hawthorne (blubrry.com)
Playlist for This Week's Show
Wendy Rule: "Beltane"
Incubus Succubus: "Queen of the May"
Troika: "Magic Birdcage"
Troika: "The Jewels of the Faeries"
Jenna Geene: "Green Man (Wild Earth Child)"
Troika: "The Star Maiden"
Troika: "The Mountain Spirit"
Mooch: "Come a Maying"
Marjorie de Muynck: "Breath"
Spoken Word: "The Maypole at Merrymount"
Laura Teaches English; Teen Story Time
Revels: "Breton Band Set"
Billy Idol: "White Wedding"
Incubus Succubus: "Queen of the May"
Troika: "Magic Birdcage"
Troika: "The Jewels of the Faeries"
Jenna Geene: "Green Man (Wild Earth Child)"
Troika: "The Star Maiden"
Troika: "The Mountain Spirit"
Mooch: "Come a Maying"
Marjorie de Muynck: "Breath"
Spoken Word: "The Maypole at Merrymount"
Laura Teaches English; Teen Story Time
Revels: "Breton Band Set"
Billy Idol: "White Wedding"
Announcements
If you or your group has anything coming up that you would like me to announce, drop me a line at [email protected]