Moving onward.

Two more knocked off the list!
-add Hero & Land Spirit holidays & -decide what to do about Hero & Land Spirit holidays

This bumps my unnamed holiday list up to 46. I can't believe I have so many holidays! I was actually talking to a friend about this yesterday (we will call him Arrow), and how the calendar is a lot bigger than I originally intended. There are 17 3 day holidays, and 38 1 day holidays, not to mention Gealach Dubh, which is every 28(ish) days, and Altú, which is every week. That means there are 51 days of Major Holidays, 38 days of Minor Holidays, and roughly 64 days of More Minor Holidays, which comes out to 153 days with some sort of special activity attached to them. That's just shy of half the year. *mind is boggled*

Next up is definitely the Gealach Dubh ritual, and I'll be mulling over some ideas for the shrine essay, and the life milestones. Gotta keep myself busy!

// Juni


--
Ritual
-write Altú 5/23
-translate Altú
-write Na Tinente Chnámh Mór rituals
-write An Cór rituals
-write Gealach Dubh ritual
-write Ceangal ritual
-write Dúthracht ritual
-write Beannacht ritual

Calendar
-name all unnamed holidays (44 46)
-figure out regional An Cór holidays
-add all Na nDéithe Lasmuigh holidays
-add Hero & Land Spirit holidays 5/30

Other
-write morals & ethics essays
-compile significant myths
-write mionn mór & geasa essays
-write sacrifice & offerings essays
-write seven merits essay
-write essay regarding founding a teallach
-write essay regarding running a teallach
-write essay regarding aonair practices
-decide which life milestones will be celebrated in ritual
-decide what to do about Hero & Land Spirit holidays 5/30
-redo FAQ portions about Ancestors, Land Spirits & Good Folk
-write essay regarding multi-path walking
-write essay regarding shrines
-write prayer beads prayers 5/29
-expand on An Bhís Gealach, An Bhís Grian & An Bhís Cloch
-translate paidín prayers
-write Na nDéithe Mór essays
-write Na nDéithe Lasmuigh essays
-write Na na-ainDéithe essays

To-Do

-write prayer beads prayers

One thing knocked off the list. I wanted to scratch it off days ago, but I had a few of the paidín chants left to write. The whole thing is complete. Of course, with one thing knocked off, one gets added:

-translate paidín prayers

I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next...maybe the essay about shrines? I need to keep working on naming the holidays, and placing the holidays for Na nDéithe Lasmuigh. Actually, I want to work on the Gealach Dubh ritual soon, too. I think that'll be next.


Ritual
-write Altú 5/23
-translate Altú
-write Na Tinente Chnámh Mór rituals
-write An Cór rituals
-write Gealach Dubh ritual
-write Ceangal ritual
-write Dúthracht ritual
-write Beannacht ritual

Calendar
-name all unnamed holidays (44)
-figure out regional An Cór holidays
-add all Na nDéithe Lasmuigh holidays
-add Hero & Land Spirit holidays

Other
-write morals & ethics essays
-compile significant myths
-write mionn mór & geasa essays
-write sacrifice & offerings essays
-write seven merits essay
-write essay regarding founding a teallach
-write essay regarding running a teallach
-write essay regarding aonair practices
-decide which life milestones will be celebrated in ritual
-decide what to do about Hero & Land Spirit holidays
-redo FAQ portions about Ancestors, Land Spirits & Good Folk
-write essay regarding multi-path walking
-write essay regarding shrines
-write prayer beads prayers 5/29
-expand on An Bhís Gealach, An Bhís Grian & An Bhís Cloch
-translate paidín prayers
-write Na nDéithe Mór essays
-write Na nDéithe Lasmuigh essays
-write Na na-ainDéithe essays

To-Do

I went through my previous posts and the assorted and scattered files on my computer, and I think I've compiled a good list to start with:

Ritual
-write Altú 5/23
-translate Altú
-write Na Tinente Chnámh Mór rituals
-write An Cór rituals
-write Gealach Dubh ritual
-write Ceangal ritual
-write Dúthracht ritual
-write Beannacht ritual

Calendar
-name Na Tinente Chnámh Mór holidays
-figure out regional An Cór holidays
-Na Treibheanna
-write Na nDéithe Mór essays
-write Na nDéithe Lasmuigh essays
-write Na na-ainDéithe essays

Other
-write morals & ethics essays
-compile significant myths
-write mionn mór & geasa essays
-write sacrifice & offerings essays
-write seven merits essay
-write essay regarding founding a teallach
-write essay regarding running a teallach
-write essay regarding aonair practices
-decide which life milestones will be celebrated in ritual
-decide what to do about Hero & Land Spirit holidays
-redo FAQ portions about Ancestors, Land Spirits & Good Folk
-write essay regarding multi-path walking
-write essay regarding shrines
-write prayer beads prayers
-expand on An Bhís Gealach, An Bhís Grian & An Bhís Cloch

As I get things done and come up with new things to work on, I'll try to work off this list, subtracting and adding as I need. Looking at it like this makes me realize how much I need to do! Sigh.

// Juni

Altú

Finally, I've sat down and written the Altú rituals, to be done by someone on their own or in a group setting. Now I just need to finish my translations (as everything spoken in ritual is done in Irish Gaelic.) This is a slow process, as I have to get everything double checked by others more competent in Irish than I am.

I've been thinking about the calendar some more. I haven't played with it at all- no new names for any of the holidays or anything- but I have been debating some things. For one: Siúlóirí work with all three tribes of Na Treibheanna (Na nDéithe Mór, Na nDéithe Lasmuigh and Na na-ainDéithe) to various extents. Each of the 13 nDéithe Mór has a 3 day holiday over the course of the year; each of the deities (the number of which hasn't been solidified quite yet) of Na nDéithe Lasmuigh will have a 1 day holiday somewhere in the year. But where does that leave those of Na na-ainDéithe? I mean, they're not gods, as such (as reflected by their name, "The Not-Gods") but they're still worthy of our respect and reverence.

To go on a slight side note- I need to redo part of the FAQ, I just realized, as I didn't initially include Na na-ainDéithe as part of Na Treibheanna, so all the references to work done with the Ancestors, Good Folk or Land Spirits need to be rewritten. Oh boy.

Back to the calendar- the question becomes: how do I honor them within the year without overwhelming my already stuffed calendar? (It's pretty full, honestly, if you consider the weekly Altú and the monthly Gealach Dubh rites. [Which, speaking of, I haven't written up anything for Gealach Dubh either, and I'm not sure if I should. Maybe a basic beginning and ending to make it more uniform and put one in a reflective and ritual mindset, and leave the middle bit open for the reflecting? I think that'll work.]) Members of Na na-ainDéithe fall into one of four categories, basically: Ancestors/Beloved Dead, Land Spirits, Good Folk, and Heroes. I suppose I could do one holiday for each of the four categories? That would keep it simple.

If I go off that model, then I essentially only need to add two holidays, as my calendar as it stands has Lá Bealtaine as the day of the Good Folk and Oíche Shamhna as the night of the Beloved Dead/Ancestors. Those two are UPG extrapolations from the Celtic and Wiccan holidays of Beltane and Samhain. But what to do for the Land Spirits and the Heroes? When in the year is an appropriate time to honor them? I'll have to think on it some more.

I think I'm going to wander through my files and previous entries and put together a bulleted to-do list, as I'm much better at accomplishing things when I have them laid out that way.

// Juni