Macneamh | Reflections
On these pages, I look forward to sharing reflections with you from the field of Psychology, Philosophy, Poetry, Art, and Mythology and the Ancient Gaelic world, ideas closest to my own heart, with the intention and the hope of inspiring and sparking your own creativity, curiosity and personal development work.
James Joyce
James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He is considered the most prominent English-speaking literary figure of the first half of the twentieth century…
Eavan Boland
Eavan Boland was an Irish poet, author, and professor at Stanford University, where she had taught since 1996. Her work deals with issues of Irish national identity and the role of women in Irish history…
Michael Hartnett
Michael Harnett (Micheál ÓhAirtnéide) was a bilingual poet who wrote in Irish and English. He was deeply revered and beloved amongst his peers…
Edna O’Brien
Edna O'Brien was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Her writing often spoke to women's experiences and described the inner world of women and their challenges in society…
Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. At the age of 16, Behan joined the IRA, which led to his serving time in a borstal youth prison in the United Kingdom and imprisonment in Ireland…
Samhain and the Otherworld
The Celtic day began at night, and the new year started in darkness, for it is understood that the whisperings of new beginnings come in dark silence. These threshold times are liminal times…
Athrú - On the Cusp of a New Season
We are on the threshold of a new season. The natural world around us is still full and ripe, yet we feel a change is coming. The trees are getting ready to lose their leaves again, and vegetation will begin to change colour and die away...
The Festival at Lúghnasadh [Video]
Lúnasa marks the mid-point between the Summer Solstice and the Equinox and was celebrated in remembrance of the God Lugh…
An Fharraige
His name means ''Son of the Sea,'' he is considered the God of the sea and one of the Túatha De Danann…
An Ghealach
The moon has a face we can see and an unseen side in the shadows. This is a wonderful symbol for our own psyche…
However long the day, evening will come. [Video]
This proverb invites us to view change and transformation as a metaphorical dark night- an initiation...
The windy day is not the day for thatching. [Video]
This sean fhocal, or proverb, speaks to how all things have their own timing. It is a wise reminder not to wait for a crisis to happen to make the changes necessary in our lives…
Cocaí Féir
The haystacks stood in the field for a month or so, and then it was time to bring them home from the fields to the shed or haggard- the traditional storage area for the crops…
In the shelter of each other the people live. [Video]
Probably the most well-known Sean Fhocail, which is most often referenced, is “Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine”…