We are into March, and March is a month through which I always love to talk about, and join in conversations, about trees and woods. Here in Ireland, March is the last month of the seasonal tree planting season. Despite being the time when the tree sap wakes up and gets moving again, this also seems to be the month when the most bare root tree planting happens, even though the bare root tree planting season starts in November. I will start my tree folklore series her very soon.
I am about ready to share this site you've created with all of my friends and relations. What a gift you have for interpreting the ancient folklore. Some of my students, and yes they tend to be women, are very interested in folk medicine and their origins in folklore. So I hope your traffic will increase and with it some support.
I plan to visit Ireland in June for about 4 or 5 days -- one night to witness Peter Gabriel in Dublin. I'll be near Johnnie Fox's Pub. A nice B and B. near there. Glencullen. Perhaps we can connect at some point during my visit in late June (23-27).
Yes, I'm a storyteller too. As you'll soon see when I start posting on Substack. Maybe I'll get the hang of it and doing podcasts and such. I've been reading from my trilogy aloud over Zoom. Small gathering of friends. Warm. Right now, I'm midway through the second book, and John Pearl is about to enter Newgrange for the first time. It won't be the last.
I think everyone probably grows into their own interpretation of those words. For me, ‘Awen’ is the most recent. First time I heard it was when I was beiefly working in Pembrokeshire around 1971, and did not hear of it again until meeting some OBOD people, probably from mid 80s. I have always thought of it as being a word for the path of inspiration and the flow of life, but described as a ‘trinity’ held together as a cycle of wholeness.
Imbas, I think I first heard mid 60s in Scotland in reference to clairvoyant and prophesy practice. The idea of using prompts to bring on vision and inspiration that is very handy in poetry. I think today our interpretation of Imbas and Awen is much the same along with the oriental Qi, maybe. Interesting thinking of the words ‘wisdom’ and ‘enlightenment’ as I tend to believe wisdom comes from enlightenment.
Sidhe is a word I was brought up with and I have just accepted that as being a handy word for us to describe life itself, and maybe that life is what generates the Imbas or Awen because without having those perceptions, enlightenment, we may not be aware of the presence of the ‘sidhe’ . A bit like how some people describe how they ‘found Christ’ or ‘found God’.
But before I ever heard the Imbas and Awen words what was said to me was “the sidhe is the spirit that guides us and helps us to see the unseen, understand it and interpret it” . Fairies I was often told of as a child was invented for ‘fun’ as a way to show some of the ways that the sidhe lives.
Hi John, is the Sidhe, as awen, the same thing as Imbas? I'm guessing that for you, the Sidhe embody Awen, and this enlightenment, or knowledge, exists and flows through all things. Am I interpreting that right?
Ha, ha, I never promoted myself as a women’s group guide, but it was mainly women’s groups that booked me. I would never have promoted myself as such, though.
The fact that your "Nature Folklore interpretations are largely personal and biographical" is what makes them so powerful, to my way of thinking. ~ Dang! I didn't know you led women's groups to goddess sites. That's exciting. You must have started offering that after my tour, as I never saw it on the menu.
I am about ready to share this site you've created with all of my friends and relations. What a gift you have for interpreting the ancient folklore. Some of my students, and yes they tend to be women, are very interested in folk medicine and their origins in folklore. So I hope your traffic will increase and with it some support.
I plan to visit Ireland in June for about 4 or 5 days -- one night to witness Peter Gabriel in Dublin. I'll be near Johnnie Fox's Pub. A nice B and B. near there. Glencullen. Perhaps we can connect at some point during my visit in late June (23-27).
Yes, I'm a storyteller too. As you'll soon see when I start posting on Substack. Maybe I'll get the hang of it and doing podcasts and such. I've been reading from my trilogy aloud over Zoom. Small gathering of friends. Warm. Right now, I'm midway through the second book, and John Pearl is about to enter Newgrange for the first time. It won't be the last.
Cheers.
I think everyone probably grows into their own interpretation of those words. For me, ‘Awen’ is the most recent. First time I heard it was when I was beiefly working in Pembrokeshire around 1971, and did not hear of it again until meeting some OBOD people, probably from mid 80s. I have always thought of it as being a word for the path of inspiration and the flow of life, but described as a ‘trinity’ held together as a cycle of wholeness.
Imbas, I think I first heard mid 60s in Scotland in reference to clairvoyant and prophesy practice. The idea of using prompts to bring on vision and inspiration that is very handy in poetry. I think today our interpretation of Imbas and Awen is much the same along with the oriental Qi, maybe. Interesting thinking of the words ‘wisdom’ and ‘enlightenment’ as I tend to believe wisdom comes from enlightenment.
Sidhe is a word I was brought up with and I have just accepted that as being a handy word for us to describe life itself, and maybe that life is what generates the Imbas or Awen because without having those perceptions, enlightenment, we may not be aware of the presence of the ‘sidhe’ . A bit like how some people describe how they ‘found Christ’ or ‘found God’.
But before I ever heard the Imbas and Awen words what was said to me was “the sidhe is the spirit that guides us and helps us to see the unseen, understand it and interpret it” . Fairies I was often told of as a child was invented for ‘fun’ as a way to show some of the ways that the sidhe lives.
Hi John, is the Sidhe, as awen, the same thing as Imbas? I'm guessing that for you, the Sidhe embody Awen, and this enlightenment, or knowledge, exists and flows through all things. Am I interpreting that right?
Ha, ha, I never promoted myself as a women’s group guide, but it was mainly women’s groups that booked me. I would never have promoted myself as such, though.
The fact that your "Nature Folklore interpretations are largely personal and biographical" is what makes them so powerful, to my way of thinking. ~ Dang! I didn't know you led women's groups to goddess sites. That's exciting. You must have started offering that after my tour, as I never saw it on the menu.