Foltchaoin

I've made a post about Flidais herself, and in that post, I mention that she has quite a few daughters. She also has one son, but we explored most of what there is on him in that original post. But her daughters are intriguing on their own and in my opinion deserve their own post. The order they're listed in is alphabetical and does not denote any sort of order of importance. Arden There is only one mention of Arden in the original sources. She appears briefly in the Lebor Gabála Érenn  alongside 3 of her sisters in the quote: "Flidais, of whom is the "Cattle of Flidais"; her four daughters were Argoen and Be Chuille and Dinand and Be Theite." [sic]  (2) . Even though this is the only mention of her, scholar John Carey sees a potential connection between Arden and Arduinna (1). Arduinna is a Continental Gaulish Goddess of the Ardennes forest, which is mostly within Belgium, Germany, and France. Arduinna might have been a forest/woodland Goddess herself, as s...

When I published my last post, the one about the dúile, I realized I might have been getting a bit ahead of myself. I mentioned Celtic cosmology in that post briefly, but I think it's worth its own post since cosmology is an important part of any religious or spiritual practice. So, cosmology, what is it? To put it simply, cosmology is how we think of the universe around us. Usually, cosmology deals with the origins of the universe and the eventual fate of the universe. Celtic cosmology is unique in this regard, however, as there is no surviving creation story of the world or universe. It's important to understand that all surviving Celtic mythology, which only consists of Irish and Welsh, was written down by Christian monks/scribes. So, this means that there are obvious Christian overtones and influences in the mythology we do have left, but there are nuggets of pre-Christian ideas we might be able to see peeking through. Please note that this is a vast topic and as such most ...

The Classical elements of earth, water, fire, and air are deeply embedded in today's society. For most, thinking of these as the  elements is just natural. It's one of those concepts that are so widespread that nobody really questions it. Even pagans, of any path, don't tend to question why we think of these things as the  elements, they simply are. But did you know that other cultures didn't (or don't) all view the world this way? Celtic cultures did not view the world in this four-directional split. In Celtic cosmology, the world is split into the realms of land, sea, and sky. The dúile - the elements (in modern Irish "dúile" specifically means the elements of creation), make up the world and everything in it. The dúile can be thought of as making up the realms of land, sea, and sky or as originating from the realms (1). In Gaelic tradition there are no set number of dúile, but sometimes it's described as somewhere between 7 and 14 (1). Usually in mo...

A little story-time, I went into my college biology program an atheist, and I left a polytheist. This is often a bit mind-boggling to people, and for good reason. There's an attitude both within scientific fields and without that scientists are "too logical" for religion or spirituality. Of course, there are religious scientists everywhere. I live in the south and trust me I've met plenty of Christian science professors. But this idea that spirituality and science are complete and total opposites is a false one. Science is a man-made discipline and comes with all the faults and limitations that that entails. There are things we cannot use science to understand because we cannot apply the scientific method to it (spirituality and religion are the most obvious examples of this). There are many things we don't understand because nobody has asked the right questions yet (like women's health). Science is a tool that can be used to manipulate outcomes and enforce de...

  Hello! I'm Zoe, at the time of writing I'm 24 and have been a Gaelic polytheist for around 2 years or so. I am a devotee of Flidais, though have not undergone any sort of formal oath to Her. I have relationships with other deities, mostly Brigid and  Manannán mac Lir right now. My personal passions include nature (of course), but animals mostly. I have a bachelor's in biology with a minor in environmental studies, but sadly not much other experience. I did volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center for a little while, and I loved it. I would love to work in a related field, when the world allows.   The purpose of this blog is to be a space to put my thoughts into the world. Expect musings, informal book reviews, and experiences. Maybe more, who knows, I'll see where the wind takes me. This blog is named after Flidais (Foltchaoin is her epithet), but don't expect content only about Her. Speaking of Flidais...  As a devotee to Flidais, I notice that hardly an...