Settle in today to listen to an Irish David and Goliath tale that extols pluck and smarts and reminds us that it's often the small and seemingly weak that topple the great and grand, especially when they're being tyrants and bullies. We can ALL make a difference. https://youtu.be/qqZJRNb_W3c I'd love to hear from you: [...]
The star of traditional Irish midsummer - St. John's Eve on the 23rd of June - is the BONFIRE which turns out to be multi-faceted and multi-purposed, and altogether quite powerful! Let's take a leaf out of the traditional Irish playbook and kindle our own fires - of enthusiasm, love, and excitement about being alive. [...]
Irish tradition offers us some inspiring ideas about how to get older in a powerful way. I can't wait to hear what you think! Tell us in the comments: 1. Of the four ideas I shared, which are you eager to put into practice? 2. What's the best thing about getting older, in your opinion? [...]
Here is a bouquet of touching, funny, and truthful Irish proverbs about the creative power of praise, and three poems - one from the 11th century (though attributed to a 6th century Irish saint), one from the 17th century, and a ravishing folk poem from the 18th century. I hope it puts you in [...]
Do you know what Bards do? They learn stuff - demonstrable, actionable things that can be shared on the spot. Sing a song? Check. Recite a poem? Got it. Tell us a tale? Gladly! This picture shows the evolving repertoire of one of my dearest and most long-standing Bardic Academy students. At present she knows [...]
Here's a lovely treat for you today: a post by my friend and neighbor, Jo, that will make you want to hop on the very next plane to Ireland. Also check out an exciting opportunity in the PS! The Lovely Fields by Jo Toale (2019) I went home to a place I’ve never been. Mountains [...]
I’m getting ready to teach my first Irish language class through the Celtic Wisdom School, though I’ve taught Irish for about 25 years now at Harvard and a few times at Boston College – and so I’m grappling with the question: Why would anyone want to learn Irish? When I was falling in love [...]
The night was cold and windy and the hedges on either side of the narrow road that runs outside Ballyferriter, a town near Dingle in Ireland, were emitting a preternatural sound. My hair stood on end. I was twenty, my head full of tales and romance, and it’s not too much to say: I was [...]
After many decades of studying Irish proverbs, they have become good friends whose voices speak to me with kindness, with sly wit, and with graceful intelligence. They take the long view. Here, at the beginning of the year with a million hopes, desires, and goals swirling in our minds and the kind of excitement [...]
