Help a doggie live.

My friends and followers. I don’t usually do this but this is something close to my heart. My amazing friend Saigh Kym Lambert owner of Shadow of the Hooded Crow website needs our help. She has a beautiful dog, Gleann, who needs life saving surgery and she needs to raise money to get that done. She has some amazing perks that she is offering for donations, as well as a shop you can by stuff from and an auction going on for those who love Linda Hamilton, The Terminator years. So let me tell you a little about these perks.

1. The fund raiser:

Gleann’s Surgery Fundraiser  

Perk 01:  Saigh says, “This is a voucher for a reduction in the cost of workshops, in person (which may not happen at all if no venue can be found) or online. Due to the focus on trying to save Gleann, the planning for these workshops has been put on hold, so they may not happen until LATE 2017 now…and to be perfectly frank, far longer if we do lose him after all this, it will take me more time to recover. 

The reduction will be for $5 LESS than the donation, due to the fees. It is also retroactive, so if you have donate $10 or more and are interested you can take this. 

If you choose this option, I will send you an email acknowledging this and you need to keep it safe. At the time of registration you can send a copy of the email with your registration (or if it is a real life venue and you register in person you can use a print version). I will also keep a list of email addresses and I will send a mailing out.”

Perk 02: A Celtic Knot Embroidered bag if you donate 100 dollars. Only 1 available.

Felt bag by Gaiam, messenger type, long strap, wood toggle closure, zipper pocket under flap.

If outside of the US, please know if there are any shipping restrictions. They will ship anywhere they can but they will ask you for the shipping costs.

Perk 03: Pictish Horse Pendant if you donate 100 dollars or more. Only 1 available.

Appears to be by Rainnea when they were making such things. Pewter. No chain/cord, mesh bag.

If outside of the US, please know if there are any shipping restrictions. The will ship anywhere they can and add on the shipping costs.

Perk 04: Wolf head pendant/charm if you donate 100 dollars or more. Only 1 available.

Silver or silver plated, yes it’s tarnished, sorry, comes with velvet like pouch but no cord or chain. Wolf “bites” the chain. Black stone. 

If outside of the US, please know if there are any shipping restrictions. The will ship anywhere they can and add on the shipping costs.

Perk 04: Lady With A Mead Cup if you donate 500 dollars. Only 1 available.

Four Court Press, 2007 hardcover edition. Like new, barely touched. Which is all she’ll say about her feelings for this book. Well, okay, she also feels her dog should be richly awarded for keeping this book in such condition because it would have flown across the room many times if she hadn’t been worried about scaring him. So to release another copy back into the world she expects a good donation. More than she is asking would be appreciated. Remember you’re helping us save a dog and getting a book in return, not buying a book! 

If outside of the US, please know if there are any shipping restrictions. The will ship anywhere they can and add on the shipping costs.

2. The Auction at The Terminator Fans website

If you are a fan of Linda Hamilton, the Terminator years then please go and bid on the items available.

Item 01: A signed autograph of Linda Hamilton

Item 02: 3 McFarlane Sarah Connor Varient Figures BOXED!

3. The shops: 

Nurturing Strength 

Dún Sgáthan

Sarah Conner Charm School

If you buy anything from these shops you will be helping the funding for the operation.

PLEASE, PLEASE help if you can or bid on the items. And please, please share this wide and far.

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How to Read a Myth

Title: How to Read a Myth

Series: Phylosophy and Literary Theory

Author: William Marderness

Publisher: Humanity Books

Published: 2009

ISBN: 9781591026402

Pages: 152, including notes, bibliography and Index.

Synopsis: 

Roland Barthes and Mircea Eliade pioneered two contrasting yet equally influential theories of myth. Until now, no one has successfully integrated Barthes’ interpretation of myth as a system of signs and Eliade’s interpretation of myth as a sacred narrative. In this important contribution to the study of myth, philosopher William Marderness proposes a comprehensive theory that accounts for the diverse interpretations of Barthes and Eliade, among others. 

Marderness articulates four ways of understanding myth: mythical reading (myth as truth), cultural reading (myth as cultural convention), extra mythical reading (myth as enigma), and mythological reading (myth as artifice). Through this interpretive framework, Marderness explicates portions of the Bible, Virgil’s “Aeneid”, Anchee Min’s “Red Azalea”, and Julia Alvarez’s “In the Time of the Butterflies”. Marderness shows us through diverse contexts how his comprehensive theory enriches our understanding of myth as cultural expression.
  

Review:

For a while now I’ve wanted to work on my study of the myths. I decided to begin at the very beginning. This books seemed like the best place to start. The text is made up of four chapters, an Introduction and a conclusion. The aim of the book is to offer a way to read and understand myths that accounts for different varied interpretations.

The first chapter explains the hypothesis that the author is trying to prove in his book. I found the whole chapter confusing, until I got to the last section entitled “Four Readings”, then it all clicked for me. Basically, when reading a myth four things need to be kept in mind. Mythical reading believes that the narrative is what it claims to be. The cultural reading accepts the narrative as literature and the myths that support it as cultural and religious conventions. The meaning of the myths come under the heading extra-mythical reading. Finally, mythological reading looks at two similar myths and tries to determine what narrative of the two is the accurate one.

The rest of the chapters take four examples and apply the method above to them. It works for the examples he cited. I decided to see if it worked for the Irish myths in the same way. For the most part it did until I got to the last part which is the mythological reading. In Irish mythology we sometimes have different versions of the same myth, and trying to say which one is accurate is not possible and counter-productive. Both can be accurate if we took them as versions of the myth coming from different provinces. 

How to Read a Myth gave me a lot of food for thought and for the most part proved to be very helpful in giving me a way to look critically at the Irish myths. It is a short read and an informative one. I would recommend it to people interested in different hypotheses of how to read myths, but approach it with the mindset that it might not work on all the myths.

An Leabhar Urnai A Book Of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayers

An Leabhar Urnaí: A Book of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayers

By Air n-Aithesc (Our Message) in Air n-Aithesc Press Books

92 pages, published 3/1/2016

An Leabhar Urnaí: A Book of Celtic Reconstructionist Friendly Prayer, was inspired by Ceisiwr Serith’s book A book of Pagan Prayer. This book offers prayers and invocations in Old Irish, Gaulish, with their English translations; as well as prayers in English to Welsh, Irish and Gaulish Gods. The authors and editor also took the time to add a little information on the Gods they pray too and the reasons behind writing their prayers or…

The Passing of Alexei Kondratiev

On May 27,2010 the CT/CR world lost one of its elders and pioneers. He was a writer, a linguist and an all round great and patient guy. I won’t say anything more about him because others have. I would like to talk though about how he made me feel.

I didn’t know him personally but through some of the lists I belong too. And it seems to me that no matter how small or large the question directed at him was he always made the time to answer it, it never mattered to him who asked the question. He had time for the newbies, and never seemed to put them down when they asked a question. He directed them to the places they should start their search and when they had a follow up question he was there to answer, it may have taken him a bit to answer but he always answered.

His love of the Celtic languages was very evident in what he wrote and said. And it was from him that I learned to appreciate them, and the culture they belonged too. It was through reading his book “The Apple Branch” that I first learned about Celtic Spirituality and it was the starting point to the path I am on now. We may not have agreed on everything, but he taught me and many more like me what dedication meant.

May the gods welcome him with open arms.