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Showing posts from May, 2008

Loughcrew is For Sale

Loughcrew is up for sale, a cool 5.8 million euros. The Naper family have lived at Loughcrew in Oldcastle, Co Meath since the 16th century which has included taking over stewardship of the large network of the remains of over 50 passage cairns and stone circles the predate both Newgrange and Stonehenge. The preserved cairns, known as Cairn L and Cairn T are perhaps the most famous. Cairn T is open to the public and is now very popular due to its preservation of one of the best collections of megalithic art in Europe. Inside this cairn are 16 large stones with carved arrangements of sun positions, moon positions, star charts and stories told. During a sunny equinox sunrise a beam of light lights a sun symbol on a stone and then travels through an arc of sun symbols as the sun rises, a spectacular site. Cairn L was closed to the public about 20 years ago, but is the most spectacular, to me, because of its function. There is not the collection of art as in Cairn T but a free standing quar

Thoughts Of Beltaine

Of all of the fire festivals this seems to pass me by without writing about it. Maybe this is because the signs of transition between Spring to Summer are here and suddenly there’s a lot to do. That is certainly the situation with me this year. The true time of Beltaine Most people identify Beltaine with being on May 1 st , aligning it to the Roman calendar but in pre-Christian times this was the midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. This year this will be Monday May 5 th , or to be precise 12:55 pm GMT when the Sun passes 15 degrees Taurus. To align with ancient times the sunrise and sunset of this day would be of celebration. Most people reading this will probably have a lot more to add, but this year i will keep this article to the basics of Beltaine. This is a fertility fire festival time, not only a time of mating but a time of creativity too. Around ireland there were sacred places, well they are still there, where couple would meet. At some of these ancient sites

The Thatcher Arrived!

Lots of action during the past two days. Broadband arrived in our remote part of Ireland, which has automatically changed how we connect with people, of course. ….. and the thatcher arrived for the Roofing of our new Celtic Ways Centre with its “Ceili Hearth” kitchen, “Two Worlds” little theatre and soon its Labyrinth Garden. Also I am setting in BlogJet that I like to post blogs with so this is a test for now, and I will be editing and expanding this blog post soon to share with you what is happening at our centre. So here goes ….