CMP Special 10 Spring Equinox 2009

Celebrating the Spring, we bring you a very moving story by Willie Meikle, a wonderful piece from Horns of Power and four great pieces of music. In addition there is a very powerful Irish poem and we take another visit to The Dragon's Head deep in the Highlands to visit Duncan, the old Scottish Shannachie.

Full show notes, details and Contributor pages over at our main Website at http://celticmythpodshow.com/spring2009

Running Order:

• Intro 0:41
• News & Views 1:37
• Spring Equinox 3:32
• Spot On by Claymore 5:52
• Cernunnos & the Gundestrup Cauldron 10:05
• The Witch-God Cernunnos by Sorita D'Este 10:30
• The Warrior by the Bards of Mystic 24:00
• Mise Éire by Pádraic Mac Piarais 28:34
• One Spring Eve by Willie Meikle 31:00
• The Children of Lir by Sora 44:24
• Beara, Queen of Alba by Andy Guthrie 49:24
• One Autumn Day by Catherine Duc 54:53
• Listener Feedback - Kent, Jodie 58:51
• Promo - BYKI Irish 1:01:50
• Promo - Searching for my Wives 1:03:21
• Outtakes 1:05:36

We hope you enjoy it!

Gary & Ruthie x x

Released: 21st March 2009, 1hr 8m

We love to hear from you! Please email garyandruth@celticmythpodshow.com, or call us using Speakpipe

Gary apologises for losing emails - again! Come on Gary - stop fiddling with your computer and it might last five minutes :) We also announce the beginning of the Fansite section of the website for all those of you who may have been inspired by the stories. You might have written a story, a poem or maybe drawn/painted a picture or made some music. We welcome your submissions so that other in the Podshow clan can see your work. Please remember that all submissions would be subject to our Creative Commons licence. If you require a different licence, please let us know and we will make it clear on your page. We also wish everyone a very happy St. Patrick's Day for the 17th March.

The Spring Equinox

We chat about the meaning of the Spring Equinox and the coming of Spring. We talk about the Green Man and Mother Earth. Did the Celts celebrate the Equinox and Easter (Ostara) together.

by Claymore

High-energy and committed!!! England born Chris, as well as Jim and Derrek like to enjoy ourselves, and like to get everybody around us to have a fun time, but we also are very dedicated musicians. Although it may seem like Claymore is just about jumping around and not appearing serious, all of us are committed to being the best at what each of us do. We have our regular drummer Don (Otto) Wilson out with us on most occasions also. We are truly passionate about the music. We are also very grateful for our family and friends, who come out or support us in many different ways. You can find out more details about Claymore on their website or on their Contributor Page on our website.

Cernunnos & the Gundestrup Cauldron

The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date from between 200 BC and 300 AD, or more narrowly between 150 BC and 1 BC. This places it within the late La Tène period or early Roman Iron Age. The cauldron is the largest known example of European Iron Age silver work.

For more information, consult the Wiki page for the Cauldron.

by Sorita D'Este

This anthology is the first of its kind to be focused on the horned gods of our ancestors and includes both scholarly essays, bardic retellings of stories such as that of Herne the Hunter and a number of experiential essays. Invocations and meditation journeys are also included. The piece we bring you from this wonderful book is about the Celtic God Cernunnos and was written by the book's editor, the talented Sorita D'Este.

Bibliographic References for this article

Banier, Antoine; The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients, 1739; A Millar, London

Brown, Norman O.; Hermes the Thief, 1990; Lindisfarne Press; Massachusettes

Daniélou, Alain; Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus, 1992; Inner Traditions International, Vermont

Davidson, Hilda Ellis; The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe; 1999; Barnes & Noble, New York

Gimbutas, Marija; Anza ca 6500-5000 BC: A Cultural Yardstick for the Study of Neolithic Southeast Europe; in Journal of Field Archaeology Vol. 1.1; 1974; Boston University

Henig, Martin; A Corpus of Roman Engraved Gemstones from British Sites (2 vols); 1974; BAR; Oxford

Olmsted, G.S.; The Gundestrup Cauldron; 1979; in Collection Latomus 162; Brussels

Rankine, David & d'Este, Sorita; The Isles of the Many Gods; 2007; Avalonia; London

Ross, Anne; Pagan Celtic Britain; 1967; Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd; London

You can find out more details about Avalonia Books on their Contributor page on this website or visit the Avalonia website to buy the book or view their other fascinating titles.

by The Bards of Mystic

William Widmaier is the "Captain" of the Bards of Mystic, William is the founder and the driving force behind the Bards. He is also the writer of all the stories, and that's his voice you hear narrating. Find out more about the Bards of Mystic on Myspace. More details will also be found on our Contributor Page.

by Pádraic Mac Piarais (Patrick Pearse)

Pádraic Mac Piarais (1879–1916) was a teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Pearse wrote stories and poems in both Irish and English, his best-known English poem being "The Wayfarer". He also penned several allegorical plays in the Irish language, including The King, The Master, and The Singer. His short stories in Irish include Eoghainín na nÉan ("Eoineen of the Birds"), Íosagán, Na Bóithre ("The Roads"), and An Bhean Chaointe ("The Keening Woman"). These are translated into English by Joseph Campbell (in the Collected Works of 1917). [Wiki] Mise Éire: Sine mé ná an Chailleach Bhéarra Mór mo ghlóir: Mé a rug Cú Chulainn cróga. Mór mo náir: Mo chlann féin a dhíol a máthair. Mór mo phian: Bithnaimhde do mo shíorchiapadh. Mór mo bhrón: D'éag an dream inar chuireas dóchas. Mise Éire: Uaigní mé ná an Chailleach Bhéarra.

I am Ireland: I am older than the old woman of Beare. Great my glory: I who bore Cuchulainn, the brave. Great my shame: My own children who sold their mother. Great my pain: My irreconcilable enemy who harrasses me continually... Great my sorrow That crowd, in whom I placed my trust, died. I am Ireland: I am lonelier than the old woman of Beare.

by Willie Meikle

Willie Meikle is a Scottish Author who writes Fantasy and Horror Fiction and has eight books published. Many of his stories and books are set in Scotland and are weaved with Mythology and folklore. Willie has had 130 stories published in the genre press, both in paper and on-line magazines and his work has appeared in the UK, Ireland, the USA, India, Greece, Romania and Canada. He has graciously allowed us to present an amazingly powerful short story called One Spring Eve. You can find out more about Willie and his work at his website or you can read more details about this fantastic author in our Contributor pages.

The Children of Lir

by Sora

Sora (aka Andrea Hunt) is an independent musician with a different philosophy on how she wants to share her music with the world. Perhaps it was all of the touring she did as a teenager with the Calgary Youth Orchestra and the Calgary Fiddlers that made her appreciate the subtleties of having a solid home base. It may have been the influence of playing with elite musicians and performing to sell out crowds that seeded her desire to mold a new musical lifestyle.

Her natural flair for Celtic vocal styling leaps out in her 2003 debut CD "Winds Of Change". On this self produced project all 13 tracks were recorded live off the floor. "What you hear is what we did" Sora says. "Everyone was in the same small room at the same time". The arrangements for each song were chosen specifically because they were so different from anything she had ever heard – which gave her the chance to put her heart and sound into each track. You can find her music on Myspace or Corvid Media. You can find out more details about Sora on her Contributor Page on our website.

Children of Lir

When on feathered wings take flight 'Oer the hills beating the time To the swans final song Sung so sweet, so for so long As they leave rocky shore Flying west with the sun And I watch from the land I love My past come undone

Oh Children of Lir where have you gone? The hills they are bare but echo your song Echo your song The stones silently fall And where do I belong?

On the hollow faerie mound The silence calls mocking the time When the swans haunting song Carried far, resounding strong And their stories they drift Upon stormy seas Lost in the waves of time The island, it is me

Oh Children of Lir where have you gone? The hills they are bare but echo your song Echo your song The stones silently fall And where do I belong?

When the bells so loudly toll An anthem rung drowing the sound To the swans final song Silver notes, fading, withdrawn Change swiftly comes On the wings of the dove The voices once heard are gone Where are they love?

Oh Children of Lir where have you gone? The hills they are bare but echo your song Echo your song Oh Children of Lir where have you gone? The hills they are bare but echo your song Echo your song The stones silently fall And where do I belong? Do I belong?

by Andy Guthrie

We are incredibly privileged to have Andy as a Contributor to the show. He tells stories that are alive in his family today and that have come down through the ages.

He says:

The old Legends are a passion and a Joy, and the writings of Fiona Macleod are inspiration, in all I do. I have been a Head gardener of 31 years for large house, and sill working, I see the years come and go from spring to winner, and love it all. I retell the old stories.

You can read more about Andy on his Myspace page or on our Contributor Page.

by Catherine Duc

Visions and Dreams

Catherine Duc produces instrumentals blending Ambient, Celtic, Classical, Electronica and World music. Catherine is a classically trained pianist and has studied recording and production techniques at the Concert Hall in Melbourne. She also has a Diploma in Film Music Composition from The London School of Creative Studies. She was presented with the 'Instrumental Artist of The Year' award at the 16th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards. She has also won first prize in the Electronica category of a national song competition organised by Philips Australia. You can find out more details about Catherine on Myspace or on her Contributor Page on our website.

Listener Feedback

Kent, Jodie

We read an email from Kent, who raises an interesting question about cross-cultural influences between the Vikings and the Celts. We also play our first voicemail (from Jodie) using the new voicemail feature on the website - yay!

Promo - BYKI Irish

BYKI (Before You Know It)

Byki is a powerful and personalized language-learning system. It locks foreign language words and phrases into your memory so that you can recall them perfectly and remember them forever. Put simply: Byki works, it's smart, and people tell us they can't stop using it. Find out more about their premium and free Irish Gaelic products at the BYKI Irish Luck website.

Promo - Searching for my Wives

William Bostock

Searching For My Wives by William Bostock Imagine how it all began, this marvelous, long journey of Humanity. Some souls work for peace and happiness. Others, though, despoil, degrade, and kill. This is a novel of past lives, reincarnation, and our occult history. Not many protohumans were alive, one and one-half million years ago, but all of us had souls, and souls persist, and there are souls which lived in hominids in Chesowanja, eastern Africa who have lived among us almost to the present day.

Shimmer loves his wives, Sita and Ahalya, and tries to share sweet lives with them, but the trickster Murk, intent on dragging Mankind down, drives black souls to attack the ones who love. Come along as Shimmer leads migrations. Relive the waning of the Great Ice Age and the planetwide disaster. And remember how Old Kingdom Egypt travelled through a pleat in time to stabilize and rule the river plains of northern India. Re-experience Murk's dark campaign to undermine that peaceful land, and once again respond to Shimmer and Old Shiver's call to arms and meet the enemy between two rivers at fabled Kurukshetra. Find the podcast at Podiobooks.com.

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For incidental music:

Julien Boulier, Opale Voile from Remanence. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Shane D Rymer, Complaint v2 from Celestial Mechanics. See the Contributor Page for more details.

BertycoX, Toy Piano from Film'O Graf. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Evan, Ouverture and Perdue from Alice. Rever... Peut-etre... Part 1 from Rever... Peut-etre...See the Contributor Page for more details.

Miguel Herrero, Sadness from Soundtrack EP. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Sydney Poma, Elle obsede from Compositions Audiovisu'Elle.. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Bezed'h, Tout le monde debout from Ton jour viendra. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Kahlan, Nemesis from Nemesis. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Diane Arkenstone The Secret Garden. See the Contributor Page for details.

Kim Robertson, Angels in Disguise. See the Contributor Page for more details.

Jigger, Time Ticks Away. See the Contributor Page for more details.

The Skylark and Haghole, the brilliant Culann's Hounds. See their Contributor page for details.

And, of course, the Awen - inspiration and imagination!

(in Alphabetic order)

Anne Roos Extra Special thanks go for permission to use any of her masterful music to Anne Roos. You can find out more about Anne on her website or on her Contributor page.

Caera Extra Special thanks go for permission to any of her evocative harping and Gaelic singing to Caera. You can find out more about Caera on her website or on her Contributor Page.

Celia Extra Special Thanks go for permission to use any of her wonderful music to Celia Farran. You can find out more about Celia on her website or on her Contributor Page.

Damh the Bard Extra Special thanks go to Damh the Bard for his permission to use any of his music on the Show. You can find out more about Damh (Dave) on his website or on his Contributor page.

The Dolmen Extra Special thanks also go to The Dolmen, for their permission to use any of their fantastic Celtic Folk/Rock music on the Show. You can find out more about The Dolmen on their website or on our Contributor page.

Keltoria Extra Special thanks go for permission to use any of their inspired music to Keltoria. You can find out more about Keltoria on their website or on their Contributor page.

Kevin Skinner Extra Special thanks go for permission to use any of his superb music to Kevin Skinner. You can find out more about Kevin on his website or on his Contributor page.

Phil Thornton Extra Special Thanks go for permission to use any of his astounding ambient music to the Sonic Sorcerer himself, Phil Thornton. You can find out more about Phil on his website or on his Contributor Page.

S.J. Tucker Extra Special thanks go to Sooj for her permission to use any of her superb music. You can find out more about Sooj on her website or on her Contributor page.

Spiral Dance Extra Special thanks go for permission to use Adrienne and the band to use any of their music in the show. You can find out more about Spiral Dance on their website or on their Contributor page.

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