#irish mythology
Banshee and Dullahan Gothic Lolita Glitter Charms. These were part of my Halloween drop but the colours in them make them perfect for all year round. I have them here on my shop!
Níamh of Golden-haired
This weekend is the pre-Christian Irish holiday of Samhain - celebrated more widely as Halloween! Due to my current circumstances, instead of a recipe this week, I’ll be doing this instead! Pumpkins weren’t present in Ireland until well after the Columbian Exchange, but turnips are an indigenous vegetable here - and were carved for millennia.
In any case, let’s now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like what I do, consider checking out my Patreon!
Ingredients
A Turnip
Method
1 - Cut top off turnip
To begin making a carved turnip, you of course need a turnip! Try and get a large turnip, as it’ll be more sturdy once carved. Cut the top off the root bulb - alternatively you can cut the base off the turnip, using the leaf bundle at the top as a handle!
Either way, be very careful when cutting into this. Turnips are notoriously difficult to cut easily. Plus, if you’re careless - like I was earlier - the turnip will win against you.
2 - Core turnip
When the top of your turnip has been taken off, start scoring the inside of your turnip with a knife. Leave about a finger’s width of a wall of the turnip. This will make it easier to carve a face out of later, and will also give the whole thing a bit of structure when it’s done.
You may find it easier to use a metal spoon when scraping the inside of your carved turnip - use whatever is easiest for you! But try and not scrape more than your spoon can handle, as it can and will bend to the will of the turnip.
3 - Carve Face
When your turnip is suitably hollow, you can now get to grips with gouging out it’s eyes and mouth. Traditionally, turnips were carved in the image of scowling faces - in an attempt to dissuade evil spirits present at Samhain. But of course, you can carve whatever you want these days! Try and carve some teeth if you want!
When the whole thing has been carved to your liking, place a lit candle inside it, and set it out somewhere for you to enjoy!
Carving vegetables or fruit is found worldwide, throughout various cultures and time periods. While the art of carving turnips for Halloween has fallen out of style due to the ease and hardiness of the pumpkin, turnips are still used around Samhain in rural areas of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales!
The term Jack-o-Lantern is an 18th century name for these decorations, and we are unsure of what they were referred to in antiquity - in Irish it was likely called a carved turnip. A simple name, but it does the job well enough!
Currently finishing off illustrations for my new book due out in August on Hill of Tara Press @taraopenstudio .
Thanks so much to @courtneydavisart for having enough faith in my drawings to publish this. It is incredible to be at his studio and go through Courtney’s sketches and listen to his knowledge of Celtic art. (at Hill of Tara (Temair))
https://www.instagram.com/p/Byx44zCIeco/?igshid=1hb5s4d7t97bu
Um, Gael Pols, lookie here! :)
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Stirring
Three cauldrons, is what my patchwork research shows me,
A shining thread of early wisdom, warped to modern tongues
By ears more clever and subtle then my own.
Amateur as I am, I suspect, even as I try to curl my hands
Around the warmth of the Cauldron of Vocation, it tips
My words splatter from a lack of discipline.
And yet, I still catch her fingers about my head,
my spine spins like a spoon that I may find how best
to pour out what she has given me–
only mine to taste, share, and not keep.
(Written 31 January 2022. Inspired by Erynn Rowan Laurie’s article “The Cauldron of Poesy,” published in Obsidian,1999. Please do not reblog without listing me as the creator.)
Day 12: Foam | Selkie
For Prints, check out my store! https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/iparwing/
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Cú Chulainn: Okay. I get it. You’ve had a really hard time lately, you’re stressed out, seven people died-
Láeg:Twelve, actually.
Cú Chulainn: Not the point. Look, they’re dead now and really whose fault is that?
Láeg:Yours!
Cú Chulainn: That’s right: no one’s.
Fer Diad: So are we flirting right now?
Cú Chulainn: I AM LITERALLY STABBING YOU
Fer Diad: That doesn’t answer my question
Emer: How many kids do you have?
Cú Chulainn: Biologically, emotionally, or legally?
Looking for new folks to follow!
Merry meet! I have recently noticed that many of the blogs I have followed over the last year or so have either stagnated, or have been reblogging or posting things of a similar theme and I would like to be able to give those that follow me a little more variety when I cannot create original content. If you post original content related to:
Herbalism
Wicca
Paganism
Green witches, hearth witches, elemental witches
Educational witches or circle teaching
Gardening + nature related
Irish and Celtic mythology
Or similar topics, please reblog or like and I will try to get back to you! Thank you for reading, and blessed be~
Merry meet! I have recently noticed that many of the blogs I have followed over the last year or so have either stagnated, or have been reblogging or posting things of a similar theme and I would like to be able to give those that follow me a little more variety when I cannot create original content. If you post original content related to:
Herbalism
Wicca
Paganism
Green witches, hearth witches, elemental witches
Educational witches or circle teaching
Gardening + nature related
Irish and Celtic mythology
Or similar topics, please reblog or like and I will try to get back to you! Thank you for reading, and blessed be~
The Morrígan also known as the Phantom Queen, the Irish Goddess of war and death, member of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She is the jealous wife to the Dagda, and is associated with the Banshee. As is the case with many Irish deities, she is one of the first expressions of what Christians refer to now as “the Trinity,” to Pagans she is a “Triple Goddess.” She is displayed here as having three heads; she is a shape-shifter, sometimes explained as three sisters all manifesting as the same entity. In Irish myth, she can also shift into the shape of a raven and her appearance on the battlefield would signal who would reign as victor. Other stories indicate that she would shift into any shape that would allow her to meet her ends. She is also the Goddess of prophecy and fate who knows exactly how the end of the world will occur, she will share it with you, for a price.
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The Morrígan also known as the Phantom Queen, the Irish Goddess of war and death, member of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She is the jealous wife to the Dagda, and is associated with the Banshee. As is the case with many Irish deities, she is one of the first expressions of what Christians refer to now as “the Trinity,” to Pagans she is a “Triple Goddess.” She is displayed here as having three heads; she is a shape-shifter, sometimes explained as three sisters all manifesting as the same entity. In Irish myth, she can also shift into the shape of a raven and her appearance on the battlefield would signal who would reign as victor. Other stories indicate that she would shift into any shape that would allow her to meet her ends. She is also the Goddess of prophecy and fate who knows exactly how the end of the world will occur, she will share it with you, for a price.
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The Leprechaun is a small humanoid Fairy found in Ireland. The Leprechaun is described as a small humanoid Fairy that in modern day is depicted usually wearing green with a top hat and smoking a pipe and most of the time they have an orange beard. The very first mention of a Leprechaun is found in the book Echtra Fergus Mac Léti which translates to Adventure of Fergus son of Léti where the King of Ulster Fergus Mac Léti wakes up on a beach where he sees three Leprechauns trying to drag him into the ocean; he then captures them and they offer him three wishes for their release. Leprechauns are also said to have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and if you get the gold they will offer you three wishes for its return however most people take the gold due to the fact that Leprechauns are know tricksters and like to cause mischief so your wishes may not end up as you expect them.
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Merrow
[ID: Art of a mermaid sitting on a rock, watching the sunset. Her skin is brown, and her hair is dark and curly, hanging in ringlets. She wears an elaborate pearl headpiece. The sky and water are pink and orange, and gulls fly in the distance.]
