5/14/2008 - Four-leafed Clover

1/4/2008 - Celtic Tree Month of Birch

11/27/2007 - Celtic Tree Month of Elder

The Celtic Tree Month of Elder falls between Nov. 25 - Dec. 22

The Elder Moon is both the end of the Celtic lunar year and a time to prepare for the next. The day after the Elder Moon resides no month, but is a solemn spirtual day know as the Secret of the Unhewn Stone or the Feast of Potential.

During this Moon, plan to meet with your shadow self or cowalker. The part of you residing in the otherworld who is the key to your completeness. It relfects the true self of the year gone by, so that you may prepare to fulfill the potential of the year to come.

Turn your altar to the west and light one black and one white candle. Gaze between them into a portal of the otherworld. Call out yo your other self to appear to you between the candles. When the image is visible comune with it in whatever method seems appropriate. Learn from this self all you can about your true earthly nature.

Offer your shadow self food and drunk before bidding it farewell.

11/21/2007 - Evergreen Love

Sir Tristan and King Mark competed for the affections of Iseult, who was Mark's wife but prefered the knight Tristan. As meditator King Arthur declared that one man should live with her when the trees were bare, the other when they were in leaf. Mark picked winter, because its nights were longer. But her forgot evergreens , and hence Tristan won Iseult's company year round.

True love can be likend to the evergreen: constant amidist chante. Think of the true love you hold in your heart for a spouse or for family and friends and celebrate treasured relationships by a ceremony of thanksgiving. Use evergreen foliage as a symbolic centerpiece

10/31/2007 - Celtic Tree Month of Reed

The Celtic Tree Month of Reed goes from October 28 to November 24

The Reed Moon is connected to the solar festival of Samhain, the time when we are open to contact with ancestor spirits, strengthen our family ties and gather in supplies for the winter ahead.

First take time to collect items you feel link you to your ancestors and place these objects on an altar. Light a candle for each spirit whose nam you call aloud., then light one more for frinedly wanderling spirits. Once you sense thier pressences offer them food and drink.

Thank the spirits for making sacrifices that made your world a better place, and for giving you stamina to cope with adversity. Think of all the posistive aspects of yourself and honor them with blessings, for example:

Blessed be they who made me tall and readheaded
Blessed be they who made me smart and patient
Blessed by they who gave me artistic talent
Blessed be they who gave me a sense of humur

and so on, filling in whatever traits you most like about yourself.

9/30/2007 - Celtic Tree Month of Ivy

9/6/2007 - Celtic Tree Month of Vine

8/1/2007 - The Feast of Lughnasa

Lughnasa named after the Irish god Lugh, was a joyous festival held on August 1(In Christain times it became known as Lammas). Festing, dancing, and genereal revelry went on for two weeks either side of the acutal day. Games were played in a spirit of energetic teamwork.

During the season of Lughnasa, invite family and friends to your version of a barn dance with wine (or juice) and beer and bread to symbolize the grap and the grain. Play Celtic and other joyful music and entice everyone young and old to dance in celebration of the bounty of life.

7/30/2007 - Tree Month of Hazel

6/1/2007 - Ritual of the Mists

 This ritual is intended to be done when there is lots of fog in your area. This Ritual and prayer is to bring you closer to Manannan Mac Lyr, Keeper of the Mist, Ruler of Tir Na Og, and keeper of the Well of Wisdom. Personally when I have done it I have felt strangly drawn into the mists as if the Ancestors were calling me into them to join them. Someday I might go ahead and go but as of yet, I haven't. If at all possible, try to do this ritual in a place with trees and open land. I have done it outside my home but my home is too connected to this world. I have done it in a park, and the effects are much much cleaner and crisper there.

Items needed:

Staff
Robe
Object w/ Double spiral
Object w/ Triskele
Bread as a sacrifice to the land spirits

First thing to do is to feel the mists around you, Alert your senses to it. Remember that the Mists are an Inbetween area, not sky, not water. Get your bearings, realize that you are in an inbetween state. At this time you should be wearing your robe.

Becoming aware of the Center of the Three realms

The first thing to do, is to become aware of the three realms. Land, Sea, and Sky.
Hold the object with the Triskele firmly in your hand and do the following:

Bend down and touch the ground, and say - "I stand firmly upon the land."
Stand up and hold your arms out to the sides - "The sea surronds me."
Bring your arms over your head and finally say - "The sky spreads itself above me."
Bring your hands down over your heart and say - "I acknowldge the three realms."

Acknowleding the Mists:

Take the staff and pound it on the ground three times. Take the staff and hold it straight out from your body (like it is an extension of your arms) and turn around three times (counter clockwise) as if you were cutting the mists in half.

Bring the staff and wave it over your head three times. (This movement is like acknowledging the three realms. Hitting the ground with the staff contacts it with land, cutting the mists gives it contact with water, and waving it over your head give is contact with the air)

Next face North (the direction of the four cities, and the place that the Tuatha de Dannan came from)

Take the staff and draw a double spiral in the air, and say the following words:

 "Manannan Mac Lyr, Lord of the Mist, Ruler of Tir na mBam, Keeper of the double gate of the otherworld. I am here seeking knowledge of the mists and the otherworlds. I come bringing sacrifices for the land spirits. I come in complete awareness and in harmony with the three realms. Watch over me as I travel the mists, keep me from harm as I travel here in the inbetween. Grant me, oh Manannan, the gift of knowlege from the well which is yours to protect, from which the five rivers flow, into which the nuts of knowlege drop, into which swim the salmon of knowledge."

"I acknowledge the shroud of the mists,
The mists that protect the otherworld,
the otherworld where the Well of Wisdom lies,
the Well of Wisdom that contains all knowledge,
knowledge, which is the key to our lives,
our lives that are in service to the Gods,
The Gods that live in the otherworld,
The otherworld that is protected by the mists,
I acknowledge the shroud of the mists."

Take the sacrifice, break it into several parts and then put them on the ground as a sacrifice to the land spirits.

At this point the formal part of the ritual is over. What I will do is I will begin walking through out the park or the place I am at and seeking the mists. Becoming familair with how different the land is when the mists come and envelop it.

When I am about to leave the place I am at, I then end with a prayer to the Gods and Goddesses of the Tuatha De Danann to keep me save as I travel the mists back to my world.

Acknowlegements: I first want to thank Taine Bwca and Erryn Darkstar for their help and direction. Much of this ritual comes from what they have taught me.

Copyright © 1995 John Gibson
All Rights Reserved
May be reposted as long as the above attribution and copyright notice are retained

5/20/2007 - Druid Meditation

4/13/2007 - The Mystic Center

To vangquish two dragons who threatened his relam, King Ludd if Britain had to locate the exact center of his kingdom, its source of scared energy. After defeating the dragons in combat, he banished the creatures as far away from this center as possible, to the mountains of Wales.

Decide what is your life's "center" your source of energy. It is important to protect your priorities, the values and people that matter most to you. Visulize these priorites within a circle at the center of your realm and promise yourself that even a minor threat to them will be dealt with firmly and promptly.

4/6/2007 - Mind Games

Chess featured often in Celtic liteature. A similar interest in intellectual gamesmanship was displayed in the complicated rhymee schemes of Welsh Poetry

It's beneficial for our brains to concentrate for an hour or so on some intellectual puzzle, as in chess, scrabble, or crosswords. Think of such games as a mental gymnasium where your mind can get enjoyable exercise as well as take a holiday from everyday pressures. Paradoxically, the more you concentrate on such games the more relaxing the experince.

3/30/2007 - The Chalice in the Crystal Column

The adventurer Brendan once sailed by a crystal column with a silver chalice locked inside it. While it appeared impossible to touch the chalice, Brandan's faith metled the crystal and the chalice was relseased into his hands, whereupon he used to to preform a religous ceremony

The strength our own belief gives us confidaunce to explore new experiences. Say aloud those affimations and meditate on thier truths "I have only to believe that I have no fear, and all my fear will melt away. I have only to believe in myself and all my obstacles will disolve"

3/23/2007 - Chains of Consequence

The Irish Celts were fascinated by knotwork designs, patterns of interlaced lines, endlessly running around the borders on manuscripts or teeming in the space between pictures. Two profound meanings were symbolized in such patterns, the boundlessness of God, and the complex webs of cause and effect that connected everything in the universe.

As a meditation exercise, trace some of the threads of consequence in your life, the impact varrious descions of yours have had on family and friends. Such connections ripples around every action you take. Resolve to act in ways that affect others positively.

3/16/2007 - The Druid's Egg

The Roman writer Pliny described Celts' anguinem, or druid's egg, and apple-sized tailsman formed from the spittle of angry snakes. Celtic attorneys carried arnguinem to enhance thier eloquence and to increase thier chances of victory in the law courts.

The druid's egg, or any talsiman cane be the basis of a useful visualization to reduce anxiety or stressful conversations. Breathe deeply and imagine your nervounsess channeled through the talisman and returned to your as its opposite, confidence. If you begin to feel anxious while speachmaking, recall the image of your druid's egg as a calming inspiration.

3/9/2007 - The Tree of Leaves and Fire

One day, the youthful hero Peredur came upon a tree that was part leaves and part flames at a triple fork in the road: one way led to a good night's sleep, one way to a sumptuous feast, the third to a fierce monster. Peredur chose the thrid, most perilous road, and his heroic deads were rewarded.

Think of some difficult action you have avioded taking: perhaps telling someone you cannot behave as they wish, or embarking on a new career or venture. The difficult raod requires courage. Follow your instincts and choose to face the challange, you will be in your own way heroic.

3/2/2007 - The Lure Of the Otherworld

Spirits in the Celtic belief, sometimes abducted people to the Otherworld where pain was unknown and feasting was an everday occurrence. However, there was a price, anyone who languished too long in the illusory fairy world would turn to dust when they ate human food agian. Families and magicians consorted to free captives by magic to prevent such distressing fates.

Ask yourself if you are turning a blind eye to difficult realities. Do you have self-deceiving views about the actions you are taking or the way that you appear to others? Do a reality check, you are strong enough to embrace clarity.

2/23/2007 - The Point of a Sword

Amergin, a great Irish magician who could change his shape at will, one day declared, "I am the point of a sword." The wise magician understood the inherent strength in his capacity to loose himself in action, to become so dedicated to achiveving a particular end by magic that for a short while he had no other qualities apart from that dedication.

When attempting a difficult activity, aim to concentrate on your whole attention on that which you wish to achieve. Banish distraction and maximize your chances of success. Become the point of the sword.

2/16/2007 - The Antlers of Renewal

Cernunnos, the Horned One, personifed the natural cycle of endless renewal. Often he was depicted as a man with antlers on his head, clutching a snake in one hand (a symbol of renewal on account of its yearly shedding and regrowth of skin) and an ornate gold necklace in the other (denoting nobility)

Dedicate your projects and ambitions to the spirit of Cernunos by remembering that life is a constant cycle. As one phase ends, do not give in to dessatisfaction, rather meditate to summon your natural posistive energy to reach new goals. A rewnewal takes place as that energy seeks and finds a fresh outlet.