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Steve Blamires (born 1955) is a researcher and historian in the field of Neopaganism, Celtic spirituality, and folklore, and the author of three books in these fields.
Born in Ayr on the west coast of Scotland, he studied the western mystery tradition for twelve years with Gareth Knight, [1] then directed his studies to Celtic subjects. He and his now ex-wife Helen Star founded "Wandering Angus," a Celtic resource and educational center in Washington State. He now lives in Beacon, New York. [2]
Blamires is an authority on Celtic traditions, and represented the Celtic peoples at the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. In 1986 he founded the Celtic Research and Folklore Society in Scotland, and wrote and edited the CRFS journal Seanchas. He has worked with Tibetan Buddhist monks to make Holy Isle, Firth of Clyde, Scotland, a place of spiritual retreat for people of all beliefs. He is a member of the Company of Hawkwood and a co-founder of the Company of Avalon. [3] He also teaches an overview of Celtic Culture through Peninsula College. [4] [5] [6]
He helped establish the Highland Clearances Memorial Fund in 1996, [7] and has since helped facilitate events to generate funds to commemorate the tragedy of the Highland Clearances. [8]
Blamires is an authority on the life and work of William Sharp, AKA the Scottish poet, writer and mystic Fiona MacLeod. He published a biography of William Sharp in 2008 entitled The Little Book of the Great Enchantment. [9]
He has traveled extensively on all seven continents, has circumnavigated the globe, and visited over fifty countries. He is an authority on the Celtic, Viking and Inuit peoples, and has an extensive knowledge of the society, culture and history of Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland. He is a Royal Yachting Association licensed Zodiac driver, and has worked as an expedition leader for Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society since 2002. [10]
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In Irish mythology, Aengus or Óengus is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably originally a god associated with youth, love, summer and poetic inspiration. The son of The Dagda and Boann, Aengus is also known as Macan Óc, and corresponds to the Welsh mythical figure Mabon and the Celtic god Maponos. He plays a central role in five Irish myths.
Stregheria is the root form of witchcraft originating in Southern Europe, but also includes Italian American witchcraft. Stregheria is sometimes referred to as La Vecchia Religione. The word stregheria is an archaic Italian word for "witchcraft", the most used and modern Italian word being stregoneria. "Stregoneria Italiana" is a form of stregoneria that took hold of southern Europe before the Catholic church forced practitioners to conform. Stregheria is rooted in folk magic having little if any relationship to other forms of Witchcraft.
James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence was a Scottish journalist, poet, author, folklorist and occult scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice-president of the Scottish Anthropological and Folklore Society. He founded the Scottish National Movement.
Highland games are events held in spring and summer in Scotland and other countries with a large Scottish diaspora, as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic of Scotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. While centred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic cultures.
Ogham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language, and later the Old Irish language. There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain, the bulk of which are in southern Munster. The largest number outside Ireland are in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Scott Douglas Cunningham was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects.
The cat-sìth, in Irish cat sí is a fairy creature from Celtic mythology, said to resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. Legend has it that the spectral cat haunts the Scottish Highlands. The legends surrounding this creature are more common in Scottish folklore, but a few occur in Irish. Some common folklore suggested that the cat-sìth was not a fairy, but a witch that could transform into a cat nine times.
Gary Charles Erbe, known as Raven Grimassi, was an American author of over 20 books, including topics on Wicca, Stregheria, witchcraft and neo-paganism. He popularized Stregheria, the religious practice of witchcraft with roots in Italy. Grimassi presented this material in the form of neo-paganism through his books. Raven had been a practitioner of witchcraft for over 45 years and was the co-director of the Ash, Birch and Willow tradition. He died of pancreatic cancer on March 10, 2019.
Patricia Monaghan was a poet, a writer, a spiritual activist, and an influential figure in the contemporary women's spirituality movement. Monaghan wrote over 20 books on a range of topics including Goddess spirituality, earth spirituality, Celtic mythology, the landscape of Ireland, and techniques of meditation. In 1979, she published the first encyclopedia of female divinities, a book which has remained steadily in print since then and was republished in 2009 in a two volume set as The Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. She was a mentor to many scholars and writers including biologist Cristina Eisenberg, poet Annie Finch, theologian Charlene Spretnak, and anthropologist Dawn Work-MaKinne, and was the founding member of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, which brought together artists, scholars, and researchers of women-centered mythology and Goddess spirituality for the first time in a national academic organization.
Charles "Chic" Cicero is a well-known author in the esoteric community. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He has been a practicing ceremonial magician for the past forty years.
Sandra "Tabatha" Cicero is an American esoteric author and lecturer, best known for her work in the field of Western Hermeticism.
Deanna "D. J." Conway was a non-fiction author of books in the field of magic, Wicca, Druidism, shamanism, metaphysics and the occult, and the author of three fantasy novels. Born in Hood River, Oregon to a family of Irish, North Germanic, and Native North American descent, she studied the occult and Pagan religion for over thirty years. In 1998 she was voted Best Wiccan and New Age author by Silver Chalice, a Neo-Pagan magazine. She was an ordained minister in two New Age churches and holder of a Doctor of Divinity degree. Several of her stories were published in magazines, such as the science fantasy publication Encounters, and she was interviewed in magazines and appeared on such television shows as Journey with Brenda Roberts. She also designed Tarot decks, in collaboration with fellow author Sirona Knight and illustrator Lisa Hunt.
Dorothy Morrison is an author and teacher in the fields of magic, Wicca and Neo-Paganism. She is a Third Degree Wiccan High Priestess of the Georgian Tradition, and founded the Coven of the Crystal Garden in 1986. She is a member of the Coven of the Raven, and studies the RavenMyst Circle Tradition. Originally from Texas, she is an expert archer, a former staff writer for several bow-hunting magazines, and winner of three State Championship titles. She has also been an administrator for the Humane Society. She is a member of the Pagan Poets Society and a charter member of M.A.G.I.C., a magical writers and artists organization. Her work has been published in many journals and magazines, including Circle Network News, SageWoman, and Crone Chronicles. She presently lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Mark.
Nicholas R. Mann is the author of books on geomancy, mythology, the Celtic tradition, sacred geometry and, most recently, archaeoastronomy. Glastonbury, England, Avebury, England, Sedona, Arizona (USA) and Washington, DC (USA) are all locations which feature in his work. His book Druid Magic: The Practice of Celtic Wisdom, co-written with Maya Sutton, PhD, has been described by the British Druid Order as"One of the best practical guides available..." He is also an illustrator, producing the images for the Silver Branch Cards, a Celtic divination deck of his own design. He was born in Sussex, England. He lives in Somerset, England with his partner Philippa Glasson, with whom he co-authored The Star Temple of Avalon: Glastonbury's Ancient Observatory Revealed.
Morwyn is a New Age and amateur sleuth author, a Wiccan priestess and a ceremonial magician. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Colorado, an M.A. in Spanish, and a Ph.D. in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from the University of Wisconsin. She has taught at several universities, including the University of Colorado, University of Pittsburgh, and Brown University for 15 years. She has lived in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, England, Scotland, Wales, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, speaks five languages, and has studied esoteric traditions in those lands.
Many types of trees found in the Celtic nations are considered to be sacred, whether as symbols, or due to medicinal properties, or because they are seen as the abode of particular nature spirits. Historically and in folklore, the respect given to trees varies in different parts of the Celtic world. On the Isle of Man, the phrase 'fairy tree' often refers to the elder tree. The medieval Welsh poem Cad Goddeu is believed to contain Celtic tree lore, possibly relating to the crann ogham, the branch of the ogham alphabet where tree names are used as mnemonic devices.
Luguaedon of Inchagoill was an Irish hermit.
John Gregorson Campbell was a Scottish folklorist and Free Church minister at the Tiree and Coll parishes in Argyll, Scotland. An avid collector of traditional stories, he became Secretary to the Ossianic Society of Glasgow University in the mid-1850s. Ill health had prevented him taking up employment as a Minister when he was initially approved to preach by the Presbytery of Glasgow in 1858 and later after he was appointed to Tiree by the Duke of Argyll in 1861, parishioners objected to his manner of preaching.
The nine sorceresses or nine sisters are a recurring element in Arthurian legend in variants of the popular nine maidens theme from world mythologies. Their most important appearances are in Geoffrey of Monmouth's introduction of Avalon and the character that would later become Morgan le Fay, and as the central motif of Peredur's story in the Peredur son of Efrawg part of the Mabinogion.
Clan MacPhail or the Sons of Paul is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. Known in Scottish Gaelic as Conchie Dhu or Condochy Doye, the clan is mainly associated with the confederation of Clan Chattan.
