Update

Whew!  It has been almost a year since my last post(yeah, I'm not good about these).  Hopefully that will change though.  I have taken this last year to re-assess and the more time that went on, the more of a draw I felt towards my Celtic heritage and the modern spiritual and cultural revivals thereof.  I was at a place in my life back in 1998 that I almost went down this path, but that decision slowly changed as I discovered more about my Germanic heritage.  Like most Americans, I am a Euro-mutt.  Nationality wise while my ancestors were mostly English(with large chunks of Scottish, and Irish, and bits of French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Austrian, and Welsh), my genetic legacy is quite the Germano-Celtic hybrid.  Asatru made sense to me, the over-arching Germanic mindset was already an easy fit, and when I called...the Gods actually listened and seemed to talk back.
As the years have gone by though, it is as if I left well enough alone too soon.  I had a strong connection, a real good one it seemed, with Manannan Mac Lir especially, but I made a different choice.  It has taken time to feel this connection again(this time, with the faith itself in general), but ever since Samhain of last year it has been back and better than ever.  I have re-joined Ar nDraoicht Fein to help give myself focus, foster my learning, and to connect with other Celtic Polytheists.  When I start to dive into my dedicant's work I will probably use this blog as a journal for that journey.
I have also joined a multi-faith Brigidine Order that welcomes both Pagan and Christian views of the goddess/saint Brighid/Brigit and through them have joined other worshipers in flame tending rituals for the goddess.
Imbolc is coming up soon and Brighid will likewise be the focus here as well.  She has been a focus for me lately it seems because since I have been slowly learning and getting my feet wet, I have always felt like she was unreachable for some reason.  Now with the newfound interest, the right timing it seems, that ice is thawing and I am noticing differences in my life and in my dreams. Only time will tell where this all ends up, but Gods willing, it will end up delightful.

Great Year

Great Year

By: Shawn Rowland

In the void of creation between what is dark and bright

Weaving in and out effulgent ribbons of light

Forms of fire, the sparks of spirit

Forms of water, foundations of life

A cycle begins anew, a cosmic turn of celestial seasons

Awaking from slumber, a sapling grows

Like an acorn deep in black rich soil

Both warmth and cool bring forth the mighty tree

Spring returns in the Great Year, fruit grows on vines

Fruit that is a mighty spark, souls in slumber

Spring returns to the Great Year, rains of life fall

Rains of the world, forms not yet made, in wait

Acorns fall from the Great Tree, souls of might and worth

From the North they come, mighty in magic

From the North they come, deep in wisdom

From the North they come, truth in their wake

Ages pass, long ages of golden years and silver tongues

Years of games, and lore, of peace and plenty

Until time it was, to dance in the Great Year again

To forge the tools of worth making

A great spirit arose, after a time

A lord of life, a father of all, a mighty druid

By the harp he plays the seasons, and the moods of souls

By the cauldron he feeds all who seeks aid

A daughter he brought into the weave of being

A lady of great skill and endless heart

A mistress of the forge, a singer of the soul, a healer in truth

To the irons she went and hammered a shape

Singing a song of life and beauty, of terror and awe

She brought strange metals and bright flames to weft and woof

Hammering out a shape, a swirling shield of being became

The hammer struck, and faery songs echoed

The hammer struck and sparks flew to beyond infinity

A voice in the dark, an explosion of life

A rushing forth of fire and water

An aching groan of sprouting limbs

To life the little fruits awoke

To the worthy road and the doing of deeds

To the making of merry and the healing of ills

To the rememberance of golden years and silver spells

The mighty mistress wept in her birth cries

She saw in her art, fair and foul, worth and wickedness

Yet know she did, and the other Gods as well

That this opus of life is ever right and ever good

For the seasons must turn, and the trees must grow

That hunter will kill, and the folk will triumph

The cosmos will fade, and turn again in time

The Gods will rise, and in their art, life be thine.

Strike!

Strike the fire! 
Holy Brighid strike! 
Let loose the Imbas 
Burn bright the hearth 
Pluck the harp strings 
Craft with metal tongs 

Strike the fire! 
Holy Brighid strike! 
Stern in your gaze 
Patience in your breath 
Kin full knowing 
Fire in the head blazes 

Strike the fire! 
Holy Brighid strike! 
Warmth in your eyes 
Flowers bloom in your shadow 
Anam awakens warm hearth 
Holy Brighid, holy flame! 

by: Shawn Rowland 

First posts are always awkward.  So I'll just go with a bit about what is going on.  This blog, 'Emerald Whispers', will be my online vehicle for poems, experiences, thoughts and ideas concerning Gaelic Reconstructionist Polytheism.  GRP is a subset of Celtic Reconstructionism, which is a modern expression of the polytheistic religions of the Celtic peoples, the living Celtic folk and rural spiritualities, and to some degree Neo-Druidry.  I have been an Asatruar/Anglo-Saxon Heathen since 1998 though at the same time and since then I have also always been interested in GRP, but per my experiences, it was the Germanic part of my heritage which called strongest.  It still does, but that other half, the part whose genetic and cultural heritage lay in Ireland and Scotland and other Celtic lands has been calling ever stronger.  I began looking into it somewhat in earnest back in 2009.  It felt right and good, but also not, like it was the "wrong time".  I would take omens using the Ogham and I would be told exactly that in fact, that this was something of a place for healing and growth and a new direction, just not yet.  That has changed now.  Now, it is the "right time", and what had been a slow and drudging effort has become easier and "natural" to some extent.  I made my first offering to the Tuatha De Dannan as a whole a few days ago, and it was, I feel, accepted well with good omens viewed in the natural world around me.  I have a shrine set up for them, with an ancestor shelf in the library, and it all just kind of "fits" now.  I'll have pics of it and some other crafts I have in the works up soon and a poem to post also, but for now just a simple why and where I am coming from seemed like a good idea as a first post.  If you read this and you have any advice on books, or bringing more Gaelic culture into my life, or if you want to share your own experiences and UPG(unsubstantiated personal gnosis), feel free.  Thanks for reading.