Manannán mac Lir–a brief introduction

I'm working on a special project for the month of August.  Those of you that know me IRL know that *religiously speaking* I swing with the Polytheist crowd with a slight emphasis on Irish Reconstructionist Paganism.  This month, I'll be writing about the god Manannán mac Lir (and posting) every day.  I got the idea from this post by Galina Krasskova, and plan on answering most of the questions to the best of my ability, though I am by no means an expert.  Oh, and I'll still be doing Poetry Wednesdays, but the poetry will be devotional in nature—also the poems will replace four of the questions.  Probably.  Oh, and I'm cross-posting this on my personal blog.

Manannán mac Lir chariots over the waves.  Art by Loime Studios.  I love this piece.

Who is Manannán?

Simply speaking, Manannán mac Lir is the Irish god of the sea.  It's actually a bit more complicated than that, but, of course, everything is.  And it would be a bit more accurate to say that he's the Celtic god of the sea, and Manx.  And possibly Welsh, though I, for one, am more apt to believe that the Welsh deity, Manawyddan, and the Manx/Celtic deity Manannán are two separate but interrelated entities like the Greek Zeus and Roman Jove.

Manannán is a liminal deity, walking much in the in-between.  He is associated with both the Tuatha de Danann and their enemies the Fomorians, and could be counted among either group or both.  He is the accepted outsider.  He is also the guardian (and ruler?) of the Blessed Isles of the Otherworld—Tír na mBean, Tír fo Thonn, Tír na nOg, Emain Ablach, and Mag Mell.  He is also known to ferry the souls of the dead to the otherworld.

He is as vast and changeable as the sea itself.

He is a magician, a trickster, a wise man, a fool, a lover, a warrior, a protector, a gatekeeper, a father, and a teacher.

Oh, and he has a wicked sense of humor.

There is so much to this god, and I'm excited to be exploring more of him with you as the month goes on.

Lá Fhéile Bríde (Imbolc) 2016

By Culnacreann CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is going to be a long post since a lot is going on with me.  Generally, the ritual portion of today's celebration will not be so long, as I like things a little less formal, but must needs this year.  So Lá Fhéile Bríde (Imbolc) is going to be a little more involved than I plan on going forward.  It will also be more than a welcoming of spring and celebration of Brigid; it will be a petition, a renewal, and an oath of study and service.

Also, normally, cleansing and purification would be more one-step.  A combination process of sorts, but I am in need of a deep, deep physical and spiritual cleanse—and have been for some time, really—so, multi-step-multi-day process for me!

Things'll simple up after the day.

Schedule

1. Clean everything!
2. Bake.
3. Cleanse self.
4. Purify everything.
5. Cleanse and consecrate tools.
6. Petition my gods and the Tuatha Dé Danann.
7. Honor my previous commitments to my gods.
8. Prayer celebrating Brigid and the coming spring.
9. Divination.

What I'll be doing on the 31st of July

by M. Gage.  The logo is a highly stylized symbol of Ba'al.

I'll be participating in the Polytheist Day of Protest and Remembrance.  This is a mass ritual cooked up by Galina Krasskova, and posted on her personal website and polytheist.com.  It is meant as a remembrance of and protest against the destruction of ancient and holy sites by Daesh.

Check out the ritual and join me.

Cleansing and Purification

Elakala Falls. Forest Wanderer.

I think it's important to regularly cleanse and purify not only your sacred and mundane spaces, but your mind, body, and spirit as well.  Imbolc, which occurs on roughly the second of February marks the start of spring cleaning for me, and though I didn't write or perform an Imbolc ritual this year (which I totally meant to do) what follows is at least part of the purification process involved in my usual Imbolc rituals.

Cleansing and purification is important way to renew and rejuvenate.  By removing the negative energies that bog down your spirit, and cleaning your home of clutter and filth that exhaust your mind and body, you open yourself to the possibility of new beginnings and positive change.

Salt, Water, & Fire

These are the base of all of my cleansing and purification rituals/spells

Dead Sea Salt. Hassan Bushnaq.

Salt

Salt has been used for thousands of years by cultures all over the world for purification purposes.  According to folklore salt purifies and repels evil beings and negative energies, which makes it perfect for our purposes.  

Water

Water is the universal cleansing element.  It is what we use to wash ourselves, our homes, our world.  Water is connected to the moon and the divine feminine.

Fire

Fire is a purifying element.  Both destructive and creative, without which we could not be.  Our world would not be here, not as it is.  Fire is connected to the divine masculine and the sun.

Herbal Sea Salt Scrub for Self-Cleansing Ritual

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sea salt 
• 1/2 cup of jojoba oil 
• 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary 
• ~15 drops of rosemary essential oil 

Mix the salt and oil, stir well.  Add the rosemary, stir again.  Add the essential oil, stir again.  Put it in a wide mouth container for easy use.  Use.  

Fire from a brazier. Erin Silversmith.

[Notes: (1) The dried herbs and scent are totally optional.  (2) The coarseness of the salt will affect different people differently, so experiment.  I find that a coarse sea salt is great for my body, and the finer dead sea salt is wonderful on my face.  (3) Instead of jojoba oil you can you can use grapeseed, almond, coconut, or whatever type of oil you prefer.  (4) You can replace the rosemary and rosemary essential oil with any of the other cleansing herbs (i.e. lavender, sage, chamomile, hyssop, lemon balm, peppermint, etc) or you can remove it entirely!]

To use in a shower:

Light some candles to add the element of fire to the room while you bathe.  Burn incense if you wish.  PrepareWash yourself with soap and rinse off.  Turn off the water in the shower, if you use the scrub with the water running it'll rinse off before you're full scrubbed down.  Scrub you body head to toe with the salt scrub until you can no longer feel the salt.  Be gentle with yourself.  If you have a partner let them scrub your hard to reach places.  Turn the water back on and rinse off. 

To use in a bath:

Basically the same.  Only I'd drain the tub between washing and the scrub, and use a pitcher or hand shower to make sure I'm fully rinsed.

Visualization for the cleansing:

Focus on the warmth of the water, the coarseness of the scrub.  Picture all the negativity, all your troubles and worries being washed away, swept down the drain and out towards the sea.  See your mind, body, and spirit being purified.  Find that glow from within and strengthen it.  

To Purify a Space

Clean the room.  Pick up the clutter.  Dust, take down the drapes, beat the pillows, change the sheets or slipcovers, sweep or vacuum.  Move in a deosil or clockwise direction while cleaning, at least as much as possible.  When the room is clean in the more mundane sense, set small bowls of salt or salt water in the corners of the room.  Allow the bowls to stand for 24 hours before removing from the room and discarding the contents.  Additionally, you can mix water, salt, and cleansing herbs to asperge the room:  walk around deosil around the room and sprinkle the mixture while you walk.  You can also smudge the room with burning herbs or incense.  I usually use a mix of all three.

Yule and Ritual

Source.

Yule* (also known as the Longest Night, the Winter Solstice, Midwinter, and a myriad of other names) falls on the shortest day and longest night of the year.  For the Norther Hemisphere it's usually sometime between the 20th and 23rd of December.  Yule, or Winsol (see my note at the end of this post), is, for me, a time to celebrate both the darkness and the rebirth of the sun.  It's the birth of the a new year, and I treat it as such.  This is my time to make plans, to rid myself of unnecessary and often negative influences, and begin the process of shedding my old skin.  Often, I write myself a letter to be read on the next Winsol, and read the letter that was written on the last.  And of course there's feasting and the exchange of gifts.  Winsol is a time for rest, regeneration, making plans for the next year, and spending time with loved ones.

Below is a short, solitary ritual that I wrote this year, and some associations I have for the holiday.  They are not Wiccan, as I am not Wiccan, but instead are some crazy amalgam of Neopagan, folkloric, and druidical traditions, coupled with my family's decidedly non-Christian Christmas tradition.

2014's Winsol falls on the 21st of December.  Sunset is at 5:03pm CST.

Source.

Associations

Colors: red, green, white, blue, gold, silver, black

Plants: mugwort, cranberry, bayberry, poinsettia, evergreens: spruce, fir, juniper, mistletoe, holly, etc.

Food/Flavors: goose, roast beef, lamb, nuts, dried fruit, cranberries, apples, oranges, gingerbread, spices, beans and legumes, mint

Drink: buttered rum, wassail, eggnog, spiced rum, ginger tea, hot chocolate

Scents: frankincense, myrrh, evergreen scents: balsam, fir, juniper, etc., spicy scents: ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.

Stones: bloodstone, ruby, garnet, emerald

Astronomical: Aurora Borealis

Source.

Ritual

A few minutes before sunset (which is at 5:03 pm CST, see above) bundle up and go outside.  As you watch the sun disappear below the horizon, hold your breath.  While you're holding that breath, think on the year past: blessings and sorrows.  Think of everything you wanted to do and didn't.  Think of what you did instead, and see how those things changed you.  Gather up your negative thoughts, your regrets, your pains and pressures, everything you want to rid yourself of from the previous year.**  Release your held breath, and with that release expel all of the negativity you gathered.  Meditate briefly on your goals for the coming year, then head back inside.

Once inside and relieved of your bundling clothes, head to your alter and light candles in the colors of the season.  (This year I will be burning 1 red and 2 green candles that one of my brothers gave me for Christmas a few years back.  Scents: cinnamon, balsam & cedar, and mistletoe.) Offer up a small prayer for the rebirth of the sun.  Meditate on the flames, feel the warmth radiating out.  Breath in.  Breath out.  Slow your breath, your mind, your body.  When you can see into the heart of the flame you can call the elements, cast your circle:

Facing eastwards visualize the power of air before you and the power of water behind you, feel the presence of the winds of the east and waters of the west.  When this imagery is strong in your mind, say: "Light and darkness; east and west; air and water; come, let my circle, my spirit, be the meeting place between you."

Visualize the power of fire to your right and the power of earth to your left, feel the presence of the fires of the south and earth of the north.  When this imagery is strong in your mind, say: " Heat and coldness; south and north; fire and earth; come, let my circle, my spirit, be the meeting place between you."

Focus on the elements and their powers, the cardinal directions and their powers, when you have these clear in your mind, say: "Powers that create, preserve, destroy, and redeem, come, and let my circle, my spirit, be the meeting place between you." 

Continue: "Come, powers of east and air, light and dawn; come, and receive your blessing.  Come, powers of west and water, dark and dusk; come, and receive your blessing.  Come, powers of south and fire, heat and life; come, and receive your blessing.  Come, powers of north and earth, cold and death; come, and receive your blessing.  Blessed are the cardinal points and elements.  Blessed are those that join our*** circle."

Now, if you wish, you can invoke your ancestors, your gods and goddesses, or other spirits, inviting them into your circle in much the same way.

Say: "We gather to celebrate Winsol (the Winter Solstice, Yule, whatever), the rebirth of the sun, and the passing of the year.  On this, the longest of nights, we pray for the return of the sun and the promise of rebirth and spring!  As the sun grows stronger, the days lengthen, growing brighter, may we too grow stronger, brighter.  As the sun is reborn, so too are our hopes and our dreams.  Blessed is the sun, blessed is this solstice!"

Meditate on once again on the flames of your candles.  Find the heart of the flame, allow it to fill you with warmth and light, driving away the cold and darkness, driving away your troubles and negativity.  Breathe in and out slowly.  As before, gather up everything you want to discard that lives inside of you, picture it being shoved in a bag and draw the strings of the bag tightly closed.  Breathe and relax.  Find yourself in the heart and the heat of the flame.  Keep hold of the bag.

Faretheewell the elements, the spirits, the ancestors, the gods and goddesses that joined you in your circle: "Farewell, powers of east and air, light and dawn; farewell, and thank you for your presence and your blessings.  Hail and farewell!   Farewell, powers of west and water, night and dusk; farewell, and thank you for your presence and your blessings. Hail and farewell!  Farewell, powers of south and fire, heat and life; farewell, and thank you for your presences and your blessings.  Hail and farewell!  Farewell, powers of north and earth, cold and death; farewell, and thank you for your presence and blessings.  Hail and farewell! 

Continue: "Powers that create, preserve, destroy, and redeem, farewell!  Thank you for your presence and blessings.  May may there be peace and honor between us now and always.  Hail and farewell!"

Extinguish the candles, or leave them in a safe place where there is no possibility of them setting fire to anything.  Bundle up again, walk outside, face east, say:  "May the coming dawn bestow upon us all the blessings the coming spring, and bring the promise of endless possibilities.  May it drive the shadows from my soul."  Breathe in deeply and release, releasing, as well, the bag you've been holding in your mind.  Gently push the bag out with your breath and let it go.  Imagine it drifting away, dispersing where it can no longer do harm.   

Breathe, slowly, deeply, meditating on new possibilities.  Breathe out, and take a deep breath in pulling in the blessings of the solstice, feel those blessing fill you, pushing against your skin.  Say: "This Winsol ritual is complete.  Thank you.  Hail and farewell!"

Go inside.  Decompress.  Eat something.  Drink some water.  Stretch.  Dispose of any ritual offerings you added in an appropriate manner.  Write about your ritual experience, record as much as you can - you can interpret it later.  Write about what you look forward to in the coming year.  What are your goals?  Your dreams?  Think about what you need to do to accomplish those goals.

So, that's it.  That's my Winsol ritual for 2014.   

I totally just found this on google images.

*A few years ago I started calling Yule "Winsol" which is short for Winter Solstice, and, as far as I know, was coined by one of my favorite fantasy writers, Anne Bishop, for her Black Jewels series of books.  I like the term.  It suits the season.

**Can you tell 2014 was a bad year for me?

***I speak in plural once I've been joined by spirits.  To do otherwise, to me, seems rude.