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.

Uses promptos facit

Stonehenge by Simon Wakefield - it's funny because this picture was actually taken on the 27th of December 2008.

Practice makes perfect

On the eve of the summer solstice (yesterday), I started thinking about the importance of regular practice in magical workings.  Magic, like writing or music or any other skill, is learned.  You may have an aptitude for it, but if you don't nurture that talent you won't get very far with it.  The benefits of creating and sticking with a regular schedule of ritual and workings are subtle yet manifold.  The more you work at something the easier it becomes for you, you know?

I know that when I stick to regular practice I feel calmer, more grounded, and yet more open and in touch with the various gods and spirits with whom I work.  Unfortunately, I'm terrible at keeping with a regular schedule at anything in my life.  Life, it seems, likes to get in my way, and I can always find an excuse to not do something even if it's something that I really want to do.  I'm working on breaking that habit, but, like with anything, it takes time and practice.  And I frustrate so easily.

See, I have a tendency to work manically—in fits and starts.  I'll spend days fretting over one or another: researching a god, or learning the magical, medicinal, and culinary uses of an herb, or finding, copying, and/or writing poems and prayers.  Then, I'll lose focus, and spend weeks doing nothing but vegging out with Netflix until I feel so guilty for doing so that I jump back into a manic state of work.  And everything is done so randomly and in such a slipshod fashion that I get no benefit from it.  I learn nothing.  I lose focus because I never really had it to begin with.

I decided a while back—though those who know have been saying this for years (I just didn't listen)—to look at my magical and religious practices like I did school.  I was brilliant at school.  Ruthlessly organized, relentless in my studies, and (once I figured out my major) frighteningly focused.  Since I finished my Master's degree, I've been all at ends.  For a while it was like I lost my purpose.  The sad fact that people with my degree now have an average wait of 10 years before landing a full time job in our field just made it worse.  In fact, even now the thing I most regret about my life is that I got a Master's: I don't believe that I will ever work full time in my field, and will leave it (and my crappy part time/no benefits job) as soon as I am able.  That's not the point, though.  That's not the lesson.*

The point is: what I need, what I believe everyone needs–especially magic workers–is that focus I learned in my years at university.

Regular practice.  Regular studies.  Regular worship.  It helps.  Really and truly, it does.  When I work on a schedule and not at my own whim, I am much calmer and everything in my life benefits.  The slow and incremental learning of anything, helps not only to build a foundation for more advanced skills, but also in retention.  To continue with my college analogy, it's much easier and mor effective to study all semester than to desperately cram before the final.  My magical practice has, in past years, been that desperate cram session resulting in wonky spells that may or may not work.  To fix this I've slowly been adding routine into my practice, and cutting out the mania.

Lately I've been needing more help with that.  Last October I quit one of my two part time jobs** and now I have way more time on my hands.  Which, for me, means more time to pursue my own interests/studies, and more time to dick around and forget about those interests/studies.  To remedy this, I recently bought a weekly planner–just like I had in uni–to help me plan out (and stick to) a more complicated schedule than I was expecting.  Oh, and this planner is a magical thing!  Room for notes and so much more.  And it's much harder to ignore a book than my phone.  It'll help me find and maintain a workable schedule for everything I want to do: magic, language, work, search for work, write, worship, and more!

As I am now, I've been able to maintain (for the most part) weekly offerings to my gods, ancestors, and spirits as per my arrangement with them.  I haven't kept up with my language studies, but expect that to change with focus.  As will my magical studies, since I plan to treat them like actual classes rather than the ad libitum episodes that they are now.  All this will help me to deepen my spiritual and magical practices, and help me gain a greater proficiency and knowledge of the things.  I encourage everyone looking to deepen and enrich their own practices to do so as well.

Happy solstice everyone!  And how cool is it that the full moon and the solstice fall on the same day this year?

*That's a minor rant about my utter disappointment and the waste of about $30K that I couldn't and still can't afford.

**In the hopes that I would soon find a full time position somewhere.  Besides that it was a SUPER crappy job.  Management treated the part time employees poorly, and the HR person constantly talked to me like I was a mentally handicapped child rather than a full grown woman in her 30s.  Sorry, another rant.

Update: News, Plans, and Other Likely Stories

Miranda–The Tempest, John William Waterhouse via Wikimedia Commons

I can't believe that it's been six months since either of us has posted anything!  Seriously, I started this blog with the express purpose of posting at least something once a month.  Leanne expressed to me the same desire.  Life, it seems, had other ideas.  Leanne spent those months preparing for and then welcoming her son to the world.¹  While I, like the ship in the picture, spent my time crashing against the rocks with a major case of burnout that ultimately cost me a job; granted, it was only a part time job, but since my other job is also part time I'm feeling the damage.  We've had no time for magic, is what I'm saying.  Or recording our magical practices, anyway.  More's the pity.

That, however, is changing.  I don't know about Leanne, because babies take a lot of time and effort, but I am planning on posting more.  I've promised my gods that I will observe all the Celtic Fire Festivals (Lá Fhéile Bride [Imbolc], Lá Bealtaine [Bealtaine], Lá Lúnasa [Lughnasa], and Oíche Shamhna [Samhain]) and I'm thinking I'll probably celebrate the solstices and equinoxes as well.  Everybody like a party.  I will record my ritual doings here.  As well as any major or minor magical happenings in between.

My religious leanings–polytheistic–have been pushing me more towards a more devotional practice, and towards Irish reconstruction and the Celtic pantheon.  I've been dreaming of Manannán mac Lir for months now, and, more recently, Brigid.  This change of perception requires a boatload of research, practice, and patience.  I will likely post articles about my path and what stumbles befall me.  It should be interesting.  Also, if you're interested, I've constructed an eShrine for Manannán (and Hecate and Bendis) over on Tumblr.  Check it out.

In addition to spells and rituals, and witchery of all types, I'm hoping to add poetry, prayers, stories, and songs.  I'd also like to add more reference pages/posts, which, I think, will come in handy on my journey, and will hopefully be helpful to our readers as well.  So keep an eye out for posts on: gods, gems/stones, the fair folk, plants/herbs, tools, shrines/altars, divination, and whatever else we think of.  Though, likely, those posts won't come any time soon.  There are a lot of changes happening in our lives, Leanne's and mine, in a lot of ways we're both having to rebuild from major upheavals, so please be patient!  We'll get this blog rolling again soon.

¹Cutest baby boy in the world, her son!  Not cutest baby in the world, as that title currently belongs to my brother's new daughter. ;)  I'm an aunt twice over (kith-aunt & kin-aunt)!  So exciting.