Replay: Bealtaine Retreat
Recording and Resources
A Chairde, Friends,
I’m full today in gratitude to you all for the opportunity to travel together as our ancestors would have done at these portal moments. I was just musing on how the image of Ériu, Banba and Fódhla holding balls of light floated towards me while in a yoga posture a couple of days after a gathering I was at in Uisneach to mark Bealtaine. I was one of 30+ women who travelled to the Catstone to honour the goddess and our ripening at this threshold time. The image that came was of Banba standing beside the Catstone holding three balls of light, it appeared without thought and its beauty compelled me to sit to observe it. She was glorious! A few days later, I saw this painting from Wendy Andrew of the woman herself.
Building on the ‘firsts’ we explored yesterday, my first job as a teenager in the late 1990s, was working in a toy shop called, ‘Banba Toymaster’ in Dublin city centre, named after the goddess (which only twigged with me recently). We’re always being guided… :-)
For you lovelies who will be tuning into the replay, here’s a taste of what we covered along with resources for everyone below:
Guided journey to the Hill of Uisneach to meet Ériu, Banba and Fódhla, the triple Goddess of Sovereignty who gift us the three names for Ireland
The meaning of Bealtaine, the Dindshenchas, ‘The Lore of Places’, and the ancient fire festival at the Hill of Uisneach
Bealtaine as a season of ripening
A mythological perspective on Bealtaine as a time of arrival
Comparing two tales of the first leaders to Ireland who were both women, the story of Cessair from Lebor Gabála Érenn and the older myth of Banba from the lost manuscript Cín Dromma Sneachtai
The arrival of our ancestors led by the file, the poet-seer, Amergin Glúingel (Amergin “White-knees”)
The Song of Amergin, the ‘first’ poem of Éire, of Ireland
The emergence of a new consciousness where we stay above ground and the Tuatha Dé Danann, our supernatural ancestors, go below consciousness into the sídhe
The emergence from here of the ‘fairies’ (it’s taboo to say fairy in the Irish language) in Irish folklore
We followed this with a creative ritual exploring doors, portals and threshold moments in our lives
All mixed with beautiful humans, questions and shares
