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Lughnassadh Song: Lugh's Lament

For the rite of Lughnassadh, my grove celebrates this in the Irish cultural style, and a key aspect of the Irish celebration of Lughnassadh was a major festival gathering across all of Ireland. The origin of this gathering, according to at least some myths, was that Lugh, at the time king of Ireland, had called for annual warrior games in honor of the death of his foster mother Tailtiu after she gave her life preparing all the fields of Ireland to receive crops. Funerary games are a documented tradition in much of the ancient world (e.g. an entire chapter of the Iliad is devoted to one such round of games). This all inspired me to write a song which is aiming to be Lugh's voice honoring Tailtiu and her sacrifice for the good of her community and his realm.

Midsummer Song: Crack! Strikes the Lightning

The late spring and early summer this year has presented some rather odd weather patterns which unfortunately might be getting more common due to climate change. Locally, we had a period of 3 weeks with not a single drop of rain, and not that far away wildfires were raging. Air quality and smoke were a serious problem in a lot of places, and in the places that got the worst of it the sky turned a bright orange color (I wasn't personally witness to it this time, but I woke up one day under that kind of smoke about 20 years ago and it was freaky). In the nick of time, though, thunderstorms came through, refilling wells, watering plants that desperately needed it, and generally saving the land from utter disaster, and since I was already planning on attending a ritual in honor of Thor the direction my music should take seemed very clear.

Beltaine Song: The Realm of Mystery

It's time for another song! This one is focused on the Sidhe-folk, literally the people of the mounds. What they are is confusing at best to us humans, but they're a clearly important group of beings in Irish lore and thus worthy of honoring with song in this a season where they are traditionally given extra attention. With this, I also tried to capture the other-worldliness of the experience of trying to get into contact with them, as in most of my own experiences as well as the lore it feels like time out of time, with everything not quite as you expect.

Dionysia Song: Dance of the Drunken Dionysos

Our group is back to doing Greek-focused rites for spring equinox, which is great fun, because it means I get to honor Dionysos, the happy god of wine, fertility, and general frivolity. And sure, that stuff is fun, but I've always thought there was more of a point to it, namely that your personal truth, the things you really really want and believe, can be found only after you've stripped away a lot of social graces, habits, and nicities that you've learned over your lifetime to hide yourself for the sake of convenience or livelihood.

Imbolg Song: The Time of the Plague

In the season of Imbolg, it is cold, it is snowy, but there's also clear signs that spring will be coming soon. There is more sunlight each day, which makes for signs of hope. But the snow and cold also keep you indoors, making this a good time for celebrating hearth and home. Which, conveniently, the Irish goddess Brighid absolutely is a present part of, so this is designated, at least in our local calendar, her birthday, a fitting time of in-gathering and preparation for the coming year.