"Celtic Cluster Feck" CFTP 03/18 by Hrafnstong presents TEL Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Conversations from the Porch 03/18 by Hrafnstong presents TEL Radio | Blog Talk Radio
Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan author, Erynn Rowan Laurie guest-moderates the live chat box and interacts with chatters, The Ik and Sparky about the modern CR movement in heathenism. Celtic seership, tribes, mythography and so on.....

Nose to the Grind

Been a while. Yes. However, with as busy as our winter season gets, it is not so surprising! And, here we are, again... Going round and round on the rollercoaster. So, what's new for 2012?

OMG! If anything were set in stone, yet, I would blab it all; but, nothing is. YET...

So, here's as good a teaser that you're going to have:

Feb 19th: "Open Porch"... Call in and chat us up about some of the things you've heard on the show. I mean, we've interviewed a Proto-Indo European reconstructionist, Swain Wodening, Victoria Claire, Aed Ruadh, Rev. Alicia Lyon-Folberth... Gladsheim popped in, once. Want to know more about us - these weirdos on air you can't seem to stop listening to? Chat us up! Toll free number: (877) 230-4233.

Mar 4th: "TBA"... Morlog, Ik and Uruzz are supposed to attend a mini-moot this weekend, and "Sparky" might just have to host her own show. We're still discussing the topics, but, she's the astrology / crystal- NErd. You never know!

Mar 18th: "Celtic Cluster Feck"... The Ik and Sparky are slated to chat up some of Celtic Reconstructionisms leading authors in lieu of Saint Patty's Day. Ellen E. Hopman, Deiniol Jones and Erynn Rowan Laurie have already confirmed their participation. Now, if we can get our hands on a reputable Fey specialist...

THIS is where it gets hairy, because around this time we should have some extra, super-duper programs lined up for TEL Radio Productions. (We're just awaiting our potential- and future-hosts to conduct some serious contemplation, and confirm their participations.) As expected from the CFTP hosts, nothing will be 'mainstream', 'normal', or boring! (Ik's promise.)

There are some shows that need a little tweaking, but, this is a general listing of what to expect in future from your CFTP broadcasts:

"Would UPG - FU?" ... A debate (or, debaucle?) with cutting edge guests talking about "unsubstantiated personal gnosis" and the effect(s) on modern reconstructionism and practices.

"So Mote It Be, Devotee!" ... The pros and cons of devoting oneself to a particular god and their nuances; realistic expectations and the seriousness of oath-binding.

.... And, music! We're amassing permissions for a better "Uruzz Rocks" segment. Hang on to your hats, listeners. No poor-quality, backyard jam sessions allowed! (You can find those on other "pagan" programs.)

So, stay tuned in to see what TEL Radio Productions and the hosts of CFTP have in store for you... It only gets better from March.

SPARK THE FIRES!

Fire in the Head - Fire in the Heart: Drinking for Inspiration

~Ikinde

Dan O’Halloran wrote in his essay Fire in the Head: A Tradition of Ritualized Drinking: “While our modern culture descends from our Celto- Germanic forbearers, and this European backdrop pervades our present, neither folklorists, historians, nor anthropologists have systematically combed through the available historical and archaeological records to truly understand the phenomenon of Indo-European "drinking."

Sterling Publishing Company made a compilation of Irish Inspirations: Toasts, Wit & Blessings, wherein, many traditional sayings compiled from four different materials appears…

“Drunkenness and anger speak truth.”

“The inebriated heart will not lie.”

A truthful, honest heart is one that feels the most intensely. It moves us into action whether by drunkenness, or by anger – the inebriated heart is one that is relaxed and open to truth. No matter where you live, this old adage has been spoken many times: “the truth hurts”. But, the truth can heal, as well.

In a speech by an Irish member of the European Parliament named Nuala Ahern, this phrase appears:

“It is in bringing the rage of what hurts you personally into the world

that you have the power to bring néart, this active spirituality, out into the world.”

The word “néart” has no English translation. It is a type of sacred, life-force energy of might – a power that seems to connect all movements within, and around the universe. To lose one’s néart is to be powerless in the world, victimized and unmotivated. The only way to regain one’s néart is to embrace rage and to channel it into a positive motivation for reconnecting with the primal powers of the universal life force.

neart / nèirt (m): energy / force / might / strength [Freelang Dictionary; Scottish Gaelic translation].

As we’ve learned from Druidic ritual accounts, the mysteries lay in the “between” states: “thresholds” neither in, nor out of one single place or time. The most significant thresholds for the Celtic human experience lay on the verges of spiritual / ritual occurrences. Where soul met deity, the spark of creativity could flourish – if properly nurtured by one’s néart.

H.R. Ellis Davidson writes in Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe [1998], “There are references in early Irish literature to the inexhaustible cauldron of mead in the Other World. [p.45]” In most ritual Celtic feasts, the mead vat [cauldron] was just one of several set up for guests. She then adds, “The mead was often referred to in early poetry, representing as it did the gift of poetic inspiration and skill in words…[p.176]”

According to Alistair Moffat in his book, Before Scotland [2005], he refers to “a Celtic fondness for strong drink and drunkenness, but for warriors it was used to induce what contemporary Irish sources called the rage-fit, a battle frenzy which could produce acts of superhuman courage. Men became what the Vikings later called berserkers.”

I refer back to O’Halloran, here: “The word beer, also of Celto-Germanic ancestry… is frequently referred to in Celtic songs as the "bolsterer of courage" and "fortifier of man". [The Celtic Song "Canu y Cwrwf" is the "Tale of Ale"].” His reference: Matthews, J. A Celtic Reader, Aquarian Press, London:1992

Strong drink, therefore, begets two states common to layman Celts. The first is inspirational poetry that stems from the threshold one stands upon when getting drunk – a “fire in the head”.

The second, is the spark of néart one needs in order to channel his powerful life force into the battle fray – a “fire in the heart”. Warriors fought for what they believed to be true. Their truths could have been their perceived right to lands, property or even holding strong against an invading force.

It is not coincidental that large cauldrons of beer and mead were present at ritual feasts. Without néart warriors wouldn’t go bravely into battle, nor compete for the finest cut of meat at banquet. Without inspiration, poets would not compose their lays. Without the socially accepted practice of drinking for “inspiration”, Celtic poetry would not be as beautiful and distinctive as it is; nor Celtic warriors as fierce, admirable and worthy of mention as they were.