Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch: True to the Heart

by Lora O'Brien

Overview

Updated and Revised 2nd Edition! 

Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch is a delightful mixture of academia and accessibility; a book that explores Witchcraft in Ireland: how it was, is, and will be. It succeeds where many books have failed - fulfilling the longing for real Irish Witchcraft, while crafting the delicate balance between learning from the past and weaving a modern system based on truth and respect. Lora O'Brien is an Irish Draoí (user of magic) working closely with her heritage and her native land, providing a contemporary guide to genuine practice.

Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch explores the past:

• -- Providing an investigation of the Witches' place in Irish mythology.
• -- Looking at Witchcraft and magic by examining the customs connected with the Sidhe (the Irish Fairies).
• -- Examining historical evidence of the Witch trials that swept across the island of Ireland through the ages.

And the present and beyond by:

• -- Working with Irish Gods and Goddesses, landscapes, and energies.
• -- Examining the wheel of the year, with its festivals, cycles, and seasons of Irish culture.
• -- Looking at ritual progression through a Witch's life: magical training, physical growth.
• -- Providing alternatives to the traditional stages of a child's life in modern Irish culture.

When it was released in 2004, this was the first traditionally published Pagan book ever written by an Irish author. It was the book that this author had sought, for over a decade previously... The 2nd edition of this book continues to do now what it did for so many on first publication - it bridges the gap between 'Celtic' NeoPagan nonsense, and authentic Irish Pagan Practice. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913821104
Publisher:	Eel & Otter Press
Publication date:	06/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
Sales rank:	129,809
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Lora O'Brien is an Author, Teacher, and Guide: native born Irish, with decades of personal and professional experience in our history, heritage, archaeology, mythology, and pre-christian Irish Spirituality. She is a modern Draoí - a practitioner and priest of indigenous Irish magic and spirituality. Lora has been consciously following a Pagan path since 1994, and dedicated specifically to the Irish Goddess Mórrígan in 2004. She managed one of Ireland's most important sacred sites - Cruachán/Rathcroghan - for a decade, and is a co-founder and Reverend legal celebrant with Pagan Life Rites Ireland.

Table of Contents

Foreword

• Some Reader Reviews, from the 1st Edition

Preface

Acknowledgement

ALL THAT WE MUST LEAVE BEHIND

To Begin

• This is Not Wicca?
• This is Wicca
• What Makes a Pagan?
• What then, is an Irish Witch?
• Being Irish
• This Book

HOW IT WAS

Myth and Legends

• An Cailleach
• The Otherworld
• Users of Magic

Folk and Fairies

• Family Folklore
• The Wise Woman
• The Fairies
• Fairy Spotting
• Fairy Fear
• Familial Wisdom
• What Fairies Do
• Staying on Good Terms

Trials of a Witch's Life

• Ireland's First Witch?
• Who Else?
• The Law
• Ireland's Failed Witch
• The Magic Still Lingers

HOW IT IS

Land and Gods

• Meeting the Trees
• Meeting the Sidhe
• Meeting the Gods
• Ritual Dedication
• How I Went About Things

Cycle and Sabbats

• Samhain (October 31st)
• Imbolg (February 1st)
• Bealtaine (April 30th)
• Lúnasa (August 1st)

Stages of a Witch's Life

• What is Initiation?
• Cuairteoir (Guest)
• Cuardaitheoir (First Stage)
• Duine Eolach (Second Stage)
• Seanóir (Third Stage)
• Irish Rites of Passage
• Irish Pagan Alternatives

HOW IT WILL BE

To Conclude

• In the Pub
• In the School
• In the Community
• In the Irish Pagan Community

Resources

• Bibliography
• Online Sources

About the Author

Also by Lora O'Brien

Editorial Reviews

Review by Daven

Rating:

I got this book because I had received the promotional materials from the publisher and this one looked to be interesting. So I asked for it and got it the day I was to leave for an event planned over Samhain weekend. So I stuck it in my bag, vowing to review it as I got the opportunity.

Well, it's been long and hard, but I finally finished the book. Not because it's bad, not because it's highbrow, but because of the ideas explored in this book are weighty.

As a Celt (Scottish descent) and as a Druid who is trying to follow an Irish path, I appreciate that this book starts out with the idea that one cannot study Irish magick and Irish Witchcraft without studying Ireland itself. So much of the "Celtic" magickal groups out there think that if they say a few words in Gaelic and chant the Gods' names that they are Celtic and this makes me very sad for the future of Pagan religion.

But this book starts with the advice that to understand the magick of Ireland, one should travel to Ireland. Failing that, one must understand Ireland through study and through the myths and culture. Only then can a student start understanding the Gods, the fey, the magick, and the sacred places of Ireland. THEN, and only then, can one start understand the spells and rituals that are made up of those elements that have been studied till now.

It's a refreshing change from the "one book and I'm a witch" set.

I also appreciate that this book doesn't try to be one thing to everyone. There are no spells, no rituals, no "Irish Witchcraft 101" in here to bulk it up and take up room. There is a short section on the holidays from the perspective of someone living with those holidays in the places where they are still celebrated. There is a discussion on the Fey Folk and their connection to the Land and people. There is a discussion of the people of Ireland. There is a section talking about the Celtic deities, not in a shopping list of qualities, but in the sense of their personality and Their wants and desires.

I know I'm supposed to find something wrong with this book to criticize at this point, to tell you what I though was wrong with it. Honestly, aside from personal quibbles of problems *I* would have with the material, I can't find anything to criticize. So here you go; I didn't like all the rules she lays out for what I should do.

It doesn't matter that she's right, and that they are absolutely necessary for me to follow to get the most out of my studies of Ireland and the magick of Ireland (and I know it). Part of me was being a spoiled petulant little child and digging my heels in.

So, that's that. Short review. It's earned the 5 stars out of 5 rating. I advise anyone who is interested in Celtic or Irish Witchcraft to go out and buy this book. Pass up the ice cream and the late', get this book. Read it, absorb it, study it, go back months later and read it again. Understand that this system is VASTLY different from any that you have encountered before, accept that and read the book again. Pack your bags to go to Ireland and do the tourist circuit. I hope to move there one day. But get this book.

SOURCE: http: //erinsjournal.com/irish-witchcraft-from-an-irish-witch

From the Publisher