View From The Big Hills

Growing up in Ireland as a child I constantly heard a cornucopia of superstitions on the streets as I played or from friends and family members in the home. Some of these superstitions were fairly generic and often found elsewhere on the English speaking globe, others were more local and geographically based around Belfast, Antrim or Down. One of my fondest memories of the time is of listening to my grandmother imparting all the lunar lore she recalled from her life in the last few years. Some 35 years ago one of my aunts collected a great host of these superstitions for posterity alongside a further collection of children’s rhymes, songs, games and chants. Over the coming year I intend to tell you about some of these, alongside my grandmother’s recollections of moon magic. Many of them you will recognize, others may be a pleasant surprise. Here goes ….. “If your feet are itching, you are to walk upon a strange ground.” “If your nose is itching little mite, it means you’...

In this time of fast technology and data overload it is easy to forget or at least overlook the importance of oral tradition in music and magic. Folk musicians on these Isles have a long tradition of learning songs and music from others on the road, in the club, pub and home. I suspect it is the same for folk music around the globe generally. Listening, learning and playing to explain and remember the past or customizing for a new era and changing needs.   The Celts had a rich tradition of orally transmitting their insights and culture called in Gaelic “beul aithris.” Similarly t he Jewish people had a long tradition of only verbally teaching key elements of their Kabalistic Tradition, particularly the practical or magical side of it. What many modern day practitioners and writers on Western magical traditions often seem to miss is the importance attached to the transmission of magical knowledge and wisdom through oral methods only, and, of course through song too. ...

Over the past few months I’ve been carrying out some further research about the great artist and Theosophist, Art O'Murnaghan. As readers will know from my earlier post on him, the trip has taken me down some odd paths that at times appear strange bedfellows – WB Yeats, The Society of the Inner Light, Ella Young, Irish Nationalism, Sara Allgood, Theosophy, Irish Drama, Dion Fortune and Philadelphian whiskey maker, Joseph McGarrity . In these searches I was delighted to come across a 1946 book, All for Hecuba, by Anglo-Irish dramatist and actor, Micheál Mac Liammóir .  A photograph of the book's cover is shown below. In his autobiography Mac Liammóir provides a captivating description of Art acting in Denis Johnston’s play The Old Lady Says No . Art O’Murnaghan wielded the drumsticks with untiring devotion  and a rapt expression like a druid at some sacred rite. He was an elderly saint who worshipped Angus and Lu and the ancient  gods of  Ireland...