Druidism for the 21st Century™

Henge Happenings

Imbolc 2014 - Issue 101

Contents From the Officers

From the Vice President 2 ......................From the Groves 3 ......................................Bard’s Path - Poetry by Jenne Micale 4 .......

!!Druid’s Path by Autumn Rose 5 ...................From the Internet 6...................................

The Henge of Keltria

Public

Edition

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ADDRESS CHANGE Please note the address change: !

The Henge of Keltria!P.O. Box 1060!

Anoka, MN 55303-1060

As I began to pre-pare to write this letter I decided to look back at some older additions of the Henge Happen-ings. I wanted to see if I was on the right track with what is to be con-veyed in this quarterly newsletter.

I started with HH #31 which was released August of 1996. Issue after issue what contin-ued to jump out at me was the sheer determi-nation to produce the finest quality Druid origina-tion possible. My chest swells with Celtic pride as I read the many trials, growing pains, and triumphs The Henge of Keltria has experienced and cele-brated throughout its’ many years.

With the age of mass communication and the ability to reach thousands by a single push of a button, HOK has maintained it’s high standards of being Celtic in focus and placing scholarship in high regard. As I peruse the many different on-line Druid groups quite often they are riddled with bickering and competition on who wears the big-gest hat.

HOK has consistently stayed away from such childish behavior and maintained clean forums on which we are free to gain and exchange knowledge.

I raise a horn of The Waters of Life to you Tony Taylor. Firstly for being the Champion of our grove Olde Stone. Secondly for being the awesome druid that you are. Your forethought, patience and wis-dom has help to provide a firm foundation for many druids who will walk this path for centuries to come.

I raise a horn of The Waters of Life to the past, present and future boards and trustees. You have been, are and will be that strength that feeds the foundation for Henge of Keltria.

I raise a horn of the Waters of Life to long term Keltrian members and new ones alike. Through our daily lives we walk the druid path and in doing so we share by example the many blessings of our Ancestors, Nature Spirits and Gods. I find great gratitude in the knowledge that at each feast no matter how far our physical distance may be we have the opportunity to be together as one when we call all druids of the present.

Many Blessings to you and yours in this Season of the Stirring,

Walk with Wisdom, BeanSidhe

by BeanSidhe

Greetings fellow Keltrians,

From the Vice-President

Vice-President BeanSidhe

Keltrian Druidism is a spiritual path dedicated to

revering the Nature Spirits, hon-oring the Ancestors, and cele-

brating the Gods and Goddesses of the ancient Irish.

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From the Groves

Our group is moving toward preparations for The Feast of Awakening in our area.  We will be enacting the sevenfold blessing of stepping through Brid's Girdle (the Crois Bhrighde ).  Heal-ing and Protecting Mantles (Bhrighde Bhrat) will be hanging in the branches all around our Clan's Nemeton.  Our clan family and guests will be told to take them home but leave them outside all night to fully impart the Blessings of Breo-Saighit...our much loved Fiery Arrow.

!"A Brighid,

scars os mo chionn Do bhrat fionn dom anacal?!!

 Trans: "O Brighid,spread over my head Your bright mantle to guard me?!!

No fire, no sun, no moon shall burn me,No lake, no water, nor sea shall drown me,No arrow of fairy, nor dart of fay shall wound me!!

May the blessings of Brid of the Many Names be with all of our Keltrian family as we col-lectively join our Tree selves in the Great Work of awakening the Earth!  As was shared by our Matron !

...!!I put songs and music on the wind

before ever the bells of the chapels were rung in the West or heard in the East. !!

I am Brighid-nam-Bratta (Brighid of the Man-tle), but I am also Brighid-Muirghin-na-tuinne (Brighid of the conception of the waves),and Brighid-sluagh (Brighid of the immor-tal host), !

!!Brighid-nan-sitheach seang (Brighid of the

slim faery folk),Brighid-Binne- Bheullbuchd-nan-trusganan-uaine (Brighid of sweet songs and melodious mouth),and I am older than Aona (Friday) and am as old as Luan (Monday). !

And in Tir-na-h'oige (Land of the Ever Young) my name is Suibhal-bheann (Mountain traveler); in Tir-fo-thuinn (Country of the Waves)  it is Cu gorm (Grey Hound);and in Tir-nah'oise  (Country of Ancient Years)it is Sireadh-thall (Seek-beyond). !

And I have been a breath in your heart. !And the day has its feet to it that will see me

coming into the hearts of men and women like a flame upon dry grass,like a flame of wind in a great wood...!

May your hearts open with hope and joy like the first peeking flowers of the coming Spring!!!

Walk with Wisdom, Eibhlean and GryphonSong Clan

Altar at GryphonSong

GryphonSong Clan - Atlanta GA

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Tinne / The Ingot by Jenne Micale Tinne, whose name means "ingot," is all about

technical skill and mastery; it invokes Brighid the smith in its way. Its initial line is a quote common-ly attributed to the Anglo-Irish poet William But-ler Yeats. !In dreams begin responsibilities,!the poet hammers, the blows echoing!through the damp halls of a benighted past.!!He is dead now, and the words are deader.!The hammer still in the forge, the anvil!furred and silvered with dust. All fool's gold now.!!Or are you, then? Perhaps hidden under!a crust of charcoal lies the ingot, soft!and flaming. Fire waits for you to stoke it.!!The coals wait for your breath. Not machine, no --!let your lungs be the bellows, the midwife.!Let your sweat be the ink that writes the world.!!Your will, the hammer arcing down, thunder!itself. Your mind, the anvil that cannot!be moved. The ingot is what you make it.!!An axle that turns the galaxy's wheel.!The flat ice of a thirsty blade, singing!its want to the dissolving forge. A crown --!!Or something more simple. A holly bough,!a gift of green in the heart of winter,!berries as red as the forge. A starling!!among its spikes, claws balanced and light, as!the Milky Way wanders in its feathers.!You are the master, the smith and the fire.!!Rise, then. The fire waits for you to stoke it.!The anvil awaits your choices. Go now.!In dreams begin responsibilities.!

Lus: a flame, an herb by Jenne Micale Lus means both "a flame" and "an herb," and

invokes Brighid of the hearth, the locus of every-day healing, sustenance and storytelling.

!Come then. Your hands lace around the !chipped cup framing your eyes with!rising steam. The knots and veins of them thread!a landscape -- mountains, valleys, broad rivers.!!Age hones you into the image of Earth.!!At your back, the snow catches sound like mice!on a cat's paw. Turn instead to the fire.!!Let it delight your eye, let it spark a!story as it heats the tea, as it draws!us to the corners of the hearth. A breath!and again. Begin with prayers to cattle!and to men. Come then, you chant, let me tell!you of times spun of mist and shit and earth.!!Let me tell you of the herb you hold in!your cup. Let me tell you, the singing harp!the strings unstruck, of the hiss of fat from!the cooking fish that turns boy into bard.!!It starts with a hearth, with a cup of tea,!with age in your hands and fire in your eye,!a hearkening ear, and a crackling tongue.

These two poems share a theme of sacred fire, albeit in different ways. Jenne Micale uses the system of ogham developed by Erynn Rowan Laurie in Weaving Word Wisdom, which relies on kennings and the names of the ogham themselves as indicators of meaning, rather than trees. [ed]

Tea Brewing (Chai Pot)

FROM THE BARD’S PATH - POETRY

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A SEASONAL ACTIVITY FOR IMBOLC

by Autumn Rose

 A complete seasonal ritual includes a Seasonal Activity, also known as Grove's Choice when the ritual is performed by a group.  Below is a suggest-ed Imbolc activity for a solitary practitioner, with a proposed variation for a Grove.   Fill a fondue dish with ice cubes.  Place the

dish, along with its base, an unlit red votive candle, and matches or a lighter, at the front of the altar.  Elevate the dish of ice cubes.  Say: This is the frigid Land, stark and

barren as the Cailleach holds it yet in her icy grip. Set the dish down.   Light the candle and elevate it.  Say: This is the fire of Brigid, which

warms the frozen Land that it may once again become fertile. Place the candle in the base and the dish on top of it.  Say: The struggle between Brigid and the

Cailleach is an ancient one. The Crone will not easily surrender her dominion over the Land. But the fire of Brigid burns eternal-ly, and only for a while can it be damped. Now, as it does every year at this time, the struggle begins. May the fire of Brigid burn bright and hot. May the Cailleach be driven back to her lair. I add my warm breath to the warmth of Brigid, to aid in her vital work.

Blow on the ice cubes. !

Variation for a Grove:

At the beginning of the  seasonal rite  the Grove Tender dis-tributes ice cubes to the participants, who then file past the altar and place their cubes in the fondue dish.  At the end of  it  the par-ticipants again file past the altar, each one blowing on the ice cubes to assist Brigid in her task of warming.

(When the ice cubes are melted, you may wish to save the meltwater in a consecrated vessel to use in a cleansing ritual of your choosing, at Spring

The

Autumn Rose

Teapot warming by candle

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Ireland  – An ar-c h i ve o f s p o ke n Irish has just gone o n l i n e . C a l l e d the Doegen Records Web Project, it con-

sists of sound record-ings made from 1928 to 1931. A total of 136 speak-ers from 17 counties recorded 400 stories, songs, prayers, charms and parables. The archive can be searched by title, speaker, county and keyword. Ac-cess is free. [Doegen Records Web Project] http://www.doegen.ie/

From the InternetSpoken Irish Project

Doegen records at the Royal Irish

Doegan Records Web Project

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