Art O'Murnaghan's retelling of "The Sword of Light"
And now for the next instalment in our explorations into Dion Fortune’s Hibernian Adept, Art O ’Murnaghan…. This part of the story begins in 1891 with an American called Jeremiah Curtin. Having recently recovered from a bad dose of pneumonia, Curtin set off from Boston on a boat called “The City of Chicago,” sailing for Queenstown in Ireland. This was his second visit to Ireland on a trip which lasted between 1891 and 1893. During this visit he spent time in a number of places including Dingle, Traigh Fionntrá (Ventry Strand) and Donegal, collecting as many jewels of Celtic folklore as he could find. So who was Jeremiah Curtin? Pictured below, he was a successful American linguist, mythologist and folklorist. Alongside Alexander Carmichael, Ella Young, Evans-Wentz and Kenneth Mackenzie, Curtin was one of the great collectors of folklore in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. While there is much warranted criticism about Curtin’s translations, interpretation and occasio...