Imbolc with Ritual, Activism and the Miraculous Abortion

Ritual of the Brat

Leaving a piece of cloth out for Brighid to bless on Imbolc eve is a wonderful tradition, as a doll maker I make full use of a wooden clothes horse and leave out lots of fabric that will adorn new dolls in the coming year.

The magic of this ritual is that the dew that gathers on the cloth soaks into the fibers. So make sure to collect your fabric before the rising sun dries it up.

The above photo is a piece of Harris Tweed I left out one year and the dew gathered in the form of a frost of tiny ice crystals.

Midwives would use their fabric to help women in labor, as well as putting around the neck of animals going not labor, asking for Brighid’s help in her role of birthing new souls into the world.

Fire Temple, Kildare, Ireland

Tending Her Flame

Brighid is a fire Goddess, her perpetual flame was constantly tended to and kept alive at Cill Dara (Kildare, Ireland) up until the middle ages with the dissolution of the monasteries, the flame was relit by the Brigadine Sisters in 1993. It was officially relit in the Market Square by Mary Teresa Cullen, the then leader of the Brigidine Sisters at the opening of a Justice and Peace conference, “Brigid: Prophetess, Earthwoman, Peacemaker and is now tended by the Brigidine Sisters in their Centre, Solas Bhride.

The image above is of her Fire Temple at Kildare where 19 women tended to the flame, each taking their day and night of ritual. The 20th night was left for Brighid herself to tend the flame.

Perhaps you’d like to decorate a 7 day glass candle and light it at certain times when your tending to her flame. A time for ritual, reflection or prayers - or the Celtic tradition of sitting in solitude and silence.

Active Hope

Brighid was an activist, a community weaver. From women’s rights - to her food miracles in feeding the holes and the hungry, to performing miraculous abortions and allowing women to ask men to marry them on a leap year. The video above tells the story of Activists in Ireland connecting to the story of Brighid performing a miraculous abortion in their successful campaigning to bring abortion into law in Ireland

While Brighid brings really hope back into the world at this dark time, her hope is one rooted in action, and active hope rather than wishy washy hopes that have no real foundation.

She is our inspiration in these dark times, to root our hopes in actions, in whatever you can do to bring about much needed change in the world.

You’re Invited - An Imbolc Gathering

If you’d like more Brighid stories, ritual and making a Brideog doll join me this Sunday for my Imbolc Gathering, this Sunday 1-4pm Eastern, with:

• Stories of Brighid as Goddess, Saint and Mary of the Gael

• Brighid as triple Goddess, 3 sisters

• Guided meditation & music

• Create a cloth Brighid Doll

• Imbolc traditions

• Other rituals to weave Brighid into your life

Diné (Navajo) Fundraiser Raffle

RAFFLE ITEMS SHIP WORLDWIDE (WE PAY FOR SHIPPING)

RAFFLE CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT THURSDAY 10TH FEBRUARY

The proceeds of this raffle will go toward chopping and delivering firewood to Diné families and Elders in Northern Arizona.  Andy Dann, a Diné Elder, craftsman, silversmith, and humanitarian, leads this work with the help of his extended family.  His friend Hilary Giovale and I are collaborating to raise funds in support of Andy's essential work.

A history of oppression by the United States government, as well as ongoing settler colonialism, make for a complex set of circumstances in Andy's community.  Traditional Diné lifeways, economies and governance were interrupted.  Many in Andy's community are now Elders who live alone in remote areas without running water or electricity.  In most homes, firewood is the only heat source.  It is important to ensure that the Elders have enough firewood as winter continues.We aim to raise $3,000 for Andy’s community.

Raffle Tickets are $20 each. Use the PayPal button to purchase as many tickets as you wish, the raffle ends on THURSDAY 10TH FEBRUARY and the winners will be notified on via my newsletter and Facebook Groups with the total amount of money raised. All money raised, outwit PayPal fees and postage of raffle items will be donated to Andy Dann.

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RAFFLE PRIZES

1. Silver bracelet by Diné Artist Andy Dann

2. In Mothers Hood. Polar Bear Doll

3. She Who Runs With the Herd. Doll by Jude Lally

4. One Year Online Course Voucher

5. Portal Tomb - Felted Art by Jude Lally
   

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1. First prize - Silver Cheyenne Turquoise Bracelet

   Silver Cheyenne Turquoise adjustable unisex bracelet by Diné silversmith Andy Dann. Value $550

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2. Second Prize. In Mothers Hood. Inuit Packing Doll of Taloyoak

The packing polar bear was designed by Peeteekootee Ugyuk of Taloyoak. This doll is signed by the artist with an embroidery stitch on the bears paw. The  packing doll wears a hand embroidered parka (amauti), and comes with a bear cub tucked in the pouch. The hood is for covering  the cub.

This doll carries her young in her parkas. This mimics the way a child is “packed” in a mother’s amauti— a parka devised with a baby pouch (amaut) that is tailored as part of the garment’s main body but is hidden under a large hood.

This doll had been donated to the raffle from a private collection. Prices for these collector item dolls range from $350 - $600.

Click here to read an article on the traditional uses of this doll - which the above information was taken from.

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3. Third Prize. She Who Runs With the Herds. Felted Doll by Jude Lally.

From the stories of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland She Who Runs With the Herd is among early peoples who followed herds of reindeer in the summer tundra. They travelled from mainland Europe to the UK, which at that time was connected to the continent.

The women of the clan performed rituals where, to the sound of the drum and chanting would shapeshift into reindeer and run out and run with the herd.

She wears a fringed mask for journeying between the worlds, decorated by a fly agaric mushroom, a staff and a dark moon drum. Her bag can be used to hold scared objects or scrolls of paper which you can add prayers etc. her drum is a dark moon druShe is marked with cup and rings markings, which can be found etched onto Scottish rocks as well as symbols which are found throughout the world.

18 Inches tall. Value $175

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4. Fourth Prize. Voucher for One Year of Online Courses Run by Jude Lally.

Take as many of my online courses as you want to. Registration for all courses are announced via my newsletter, so you can get in touch for any courses you wish to take for free. Examples of courses which ran last year:

• Cailleach Circle. A six month course exploring the folklore of the Cailleach with art, ritual and Zoom gatherings

• The Antlered Mother

• Celtic Soul Prayer Beads

• A Keening Circle

  Courses will be added to the website throughout the year, possible voucher value up to $600

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5. Fifth Prize. Felted Portal Tomb by Jude Lally.

Portal Tomb

This portal tomb, which are also referred to as passage graves or womb tombs is inspired by Newgrange. The string of electric lights sewn into the piece are inspired by the Winter Solstice sunrise which illuminate the inner chamber fo Newgrange.

Such sites are places of transformation where rituals, ceremonies and sacred songs accompanied the dead into that liminal place. Often these portals were aligned to the sunrise of a particular festival - so when the sun rose the light illuminated the chamber and gave the blessing of transformation and renewal - the dead reborn, taking their place as an ancestor.

The lights offer that aspect of renewal and rebirth - lighting up the inner chamber. This piece is made in a needle felting process using a single needle.

Value: $125

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Raffle Ticket Purchase

Raffle tickets are $20 each. Just type in the amount equal to the amount of raffle tickets you wish to purchase.

The raffle ends on Friday 11th February

Raffle Tickets are $20 each. Use the PayPal button to purchase as many tickets as you wish, the raffle ends on and the winners will be notified on via my newsletter and Facebook Groups with the total amount of money raised. All money raised, aside of PayPal fees and postage of raffle items will be donated to Andy Dann.

TO PURCHASE USE THE BUTTON BELOW AND TYPE IN THE AMOUNT YOU WISH TO PURCHASE, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU WISH TO BUY 2 TICKETS, TYPE IN $40

RAFFLE HAS NOW CLOSED

Why Women are Signing Up for The Cailleach Circle

Why Women are Signing Up For the Cailleach Course

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” 
- The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd 

                        
I've asked several women why they have signed up for the Cailleach Circle and almost all shared the same answer - stories! 

Life doesn't seem possible without stories, in fact, I don't even think that's possible. We are wired for stories, we have ears to take in the words and imagination to set the scene and bring the characters to life.

Here are 3 reasons why women are signing up for the Cailleach Circle: 

1. Stories of the Cailleach
- Women have shared that they want to hear the folklore of the Cailleach
- Hear the stories that have been told and passed down through the generations
- Each month we will explore a story through art and ritual

2. Stories of Self 
- Folks have also shared that they want to learn the wisdom of the Cailleach
- How they can use it and integrate it into their lives
- You’ll fully engage with these stories, by exploring what questions emerge 

3. Sharing Stories 
- To meet monthly with the same group of women
- Share your own stories and listen to other people's stories
- Create a web of listening and learning, inspiring one another, and exploring those threads through art and ritual. 

You still have time to join us as registration closes tomorrow
(Thursday 14th October) at midnight

Click below to read more about the Circles and for sign up

An Evening with the Cailleach

Cailleach, Luss Hills, Loch Lomond - Digital art by Jude Lally

If you missed our evening with the Cailleach, the replay is now available via the Sisterhood of the Antlers course, sign up link below

Cailleach Circle Introduction with: 

• A short introduction to the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland

• Cailleach film

• How to connect to the Cailleach

• An overview of Cailleach Stories featured in both Cailleach Circles

• Guided meditation & music

• Considering your intention for the deep

REGISTRATION FOR BOTH CAILLEACH CIRCLES CLOSES ON THURSDAY 14TH OCTOBER

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Cailleach Circle 2 opens up this week. All those signed up will receive an email to join the course

7 Reasons to Join the Cailleach Circle

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1. An Ancient Old Woman

Who isn’t drawn to an ancient primordial old woman whose roots are entwined with the very bedrock of the land she was born from? A figure which is so old that she has seen great ice sheets come and go and remembers back to a time when the very ocean was a forest!

2. Storytelling

Come sit by the fire, wrap yourself in a shawl with a cup of tea. Relax and listen to a guided journey - a story that takes you into the realm of the Cailleach and where you meet the old crone on her terms. But beware - it might be a bumpy ride!

3. Doll Making

We all need a way to make sense of the world, and for me, one way is doll making. You’ll create your very own doll which will speak of your relationship to the Cailleach as well as exploring the path to becoming a Cailleach (old woman), wherever you may be on that path.

4. Ritual

You’ll be invited to create small gestures of ritual which speak to the essence of the stories you are working with, and what meaning they hold for you.

5. Art

For years I’ve heard women say they can’t make art. We are all artists and sometimes all we need is some time, some space, encouragement and some inspiration!

6. Altar Making

You will be invited to make an altar, a focus for some aspect of the Cailleach’s story that resonated with you. We don’t need to analyze this, is something done with our senses, that part of us that hears whispers in the thresholds. This can be an inside altar but also in gathering some natural items outside.

7. Community

There are several ways to engage with our Circle Community - from the online course website where you can chat and upload images to a dedicated Facebook Page as well as a monthly Zoom gathering - choose what suits you or use all 3.

Five Reasons to Sign up for Creating a Meaningful Menopause

‘The Cave of the Grandmothers’

by Jude Lally

1. Community

Menopause can be tough. One day you’re sailing along thinking you have got a handle on it and then BOOM! Something unexpected and the ground yet again shifts beneath our feet.

This isn’t something we should have to go through alone. Women have told me that they want to hear other women’s stories, and tell our stories. Within the course, we meet via a Zoom gathering and when the course is completed there is the opportunity to meet Dark Moon Gatherings

2. Reinvent Yourself 

I look at menopause as an opportunity for change. Often much wanted but never got around to change. After all, menopause is ‘the change’ and we can work on who we want to become as we engage with this physical, emotional, and spiritual journey.

3. Ritual & Ceremony

Viewing menopause as a rite of passage gives us the opportunity to really engage - to go through the descent, the deep and emerging - just like the journey of the caterpillar into Butterfly. We can use ritual to speak to explore the things that come up and many women celebrate with a ceremony such as a Croning Ceremony. I’ll be sharing two women's stories of Croning Ceremonies and ideas if you wish to have your own.

4. Call the Midwife 

All this change isn’t easy, it takes work. Yet this natural change gives us the opportunity for a rebirth, to quote Ursula Le Guinn, we need to give birth to ourselves and so we call on a midwife to help us through this. There’s lots of inspiration in the course to help pick this diety, ancestor of Goddess figure such as figures from Celtic folklore such as the Goddess Brighid or the Cailleach. Just think of going through the ‘change’ with the Cailleach as your midwife!

5. Becoming Crone 

Ultimately, if we are lucky enough, the path we begin in menopause will lead us to crone. She is not someone who is valued in our society, and so we submerge ourselves in exploring the wisdom of the crone, her liminal position with her otherworld connections, and explore birth, death, and rebirth as we go through this transformational process.

Creating a Meaningful Menopause - Your Questions Answered

Many thanks to the folks who got back to me, glad to hear this is a journey I'm not going to be doing alone. I thought I'd share five of the questions I received: 

1. A few folks who had said they were post-menopausal were wondering what they could get from the course. 

Let me let a previous student (of the pilot course) answer that question: 

When I signed up for the menopause course, I hadn’t bled in a decade. I had never talked to anyone about my experience. I had no idea if what I had experienced was “normal”, and wished I didn’t have such a negative attitude about being post-menopausal. Jude’s course had a community of women at all stages of menopause. It was great to hear them share where they were on the path, their wide variety of experiences, and to reframe my own recollections. I was able to change my view and embrace that I was holding a different kind of life-blood, wiser and nurturing with time. I came away with a sense of richness for being among women who are not made small by this transformation.

So yes, this course is relevant for wherever you are on this menopausal journey. 

2. Here's what community the course offers: 
- Online course website with the course material - plus a place to share your thoughts and feedback
- Zoom gathering for each lesson. 
- Dedicated Facebook page, a place where we can share more of our own thoughts as well as articles, etc 
- The community keeps going even after the course finishes. You'll be invited to join me each month for a 'Dark Moon' gathering 


3. What's your big picture on menopause?

I loved this question! 

• The very core of the course is viewing menopause as a rite of passage. The way I approach this is inspired by the Wheel of the Year and the stories of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland.

• This rite of passage is broken down into 3 parts, the descent(peri-menopause), the deep (menopause), and emerging (post-menopause). When we look at it this way we can easily relate it to the festivals of the Wheel of the Year in the dark of the year.

4. Do you get into the biology and treatments for menopause? 

The answer is partial as this is primarily a course whose aim is to give meaning to menopause through story. There is a section called Radical Self Care in which we look at hot flushes (as the most common experienced aspect) as a case study - exploring: 

• Experience - What does it feel like

• Biology - What's going on?

• Story - Giving it a story eg. Some women say a power surge, I relate it to a powerful prayer evoked with the Goddess Brighid

• Ally - What helps. Help with side effects and plant power

We also look at the reasons why we might get angry and look at theories that describe a literal rewiring of the brain is happening. 

5. When does the course launch? 

Registration opens on Tuesday and I'll be sharing the course page with all the details of the course including scholarships. 

So keep an eye out for Tuesday's email - and sign up below if you’re not already on the mailing list.

Thanks,

The Cure For Menopause

Ok, I lied, that was a bit misleading, there is no cure for menopause. Menopause isn't an illness but there really are two things I've found which really help, which I'll share later in this email.

I always thought of menopause as a far-off thing, not that I had ever really given it much thought. Then I experienced a ‘wake-up’ call, which resulted in a series of Dr’s appointments, lab tests - when weeks later I realized that all I really needed was some plant-based estrogen cream. 

After my rough awakening into menopause, I began to look around online, to give this rite of passage meaning and purpose. Disappearing, becoming invisible and irrelevant is something I’m prepared to do. 

I checked Facebook groups where folks just seemed to be complaining and debating HRT (not that I condone anyone's choice) but that just wasn’t what I was looking for. I found a few anthologies which shared stories of women’s experiences and realized that community was something I really needed. To share with other women who were going through similar experiences. 

Slowly it dawned on me that I had to create something that other women might be interested in as we journeyed together on this path to becoming crone. 

TWO ESSENTIAL THINGS FOR MENOPAUSE 

I see two essential things for menopause - story and community. 

Community to listen, learn, share and recognize we aren’t alone and, stories which connect us to a powerful rite of passage and the power of the crone, a figure who holds the transformational energy of birth, death, and rebirth. Plus the opportunity for us to write our own individual menopause stories. 

How do you view menopause, is this something that you are interested in as next week I am launching my ‘Creating a Meaningful Menopause’ course in which we’ll: 

* Choose a midwife fire to work with
*Explore ritual and ceremony in honoring this rite of passage and also speaking to and addressing parts of this physical, emotional, and spiritual journey
*Consider real self-care, what are you good at, what could you improve on, and what are the things you just completely ignore

PLUS

Art projects
Guided meditations
Doll making
And working with symbols that reflect our personal experience and invite us into that liminal realm, the place where the magic happens.  

I hope you might be interested in joining me on this journey...

Change, A Banshee and Menopause

CHANGE, A BANSHEE, AND MENOPAUSE

It's humid, it's hot and humid, so hot and humid that last night there was condensation on the outside of the windows.
Last night as I packed up a Banshee doll ready for her journey around the world to Australia I took a minute to say goodbye.

It is said that banshees were connected to great Irish families. It's also said that the names of those families (beginning with Ó) vary with the teller of the tale, so I'll go ahead and include mine - Ó Maolalaidh). Does making your own Banshee count? Perhaps not but my family has been in the West Coast of Ireland for hundreds and hundreds of generations (DNA analysis by Brian Sykes).

As I laid her out to wrap in tissue paper I heard a blood-curdling cry, coyotes with their hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-raising yips and yelps. Then another alarm raised with the blazing sirens of several fire trucks and ambulances racing into the night. This started off the neighborhood dogs whose calls were added to by the mournful call of a faraway freight train.

These cries were all laments, a keening that spread into the night like wildfire, jumping from tree to tree, spreading out through underground root systems - but just like the Banshee’s Cry, this call intended for human ears, for she is announcing death, a million innocent deaths, and each a needless death.

I imagine her raising the cry as she travels through each country - and the world replying with a grieving, wailing, raging, rebelling, and committing heart and soul to the planet.

THE REPORT  
Among all the stark findings within the just-released IPPC Report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was the unequivocal fact that the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming since 1850-1900.

When this figure is averaged out over the next 20 years the global temperature is then expected to reach, or possibly exceed a warming of 1.5°C.

While carbons sinks have played a huge role in absorbing excess C02 they are reaching saturation. Because of uncertainty over ice sheets, scientists cannot rule out a total rise of two meters by 2100 in a worst-case emissions scenario. With so much excess water entering the oceans this is in danger of affecting the Gulf Stream, which is responsible for keeping Scotland wet and not too hot and not too cold, a shift in this stream could have huge effects on Scotland.

But one thing the report did say is that it isn’t too late to stop the worst of the warming.

As I read the summarized report findings I could feel a hot flush race through me. I am beginning ’the change’, women going through this metamorphism become invisible and irrelevant in our society, yet society has forgotten the power of the Crone.

CREATING A MEANINGFUL MENOPAUSE

As I read the summarized report findings I could feel a hot flush race through me. I am beginning ’the change’, women going through this metamorphism become invisible and irrelevant in our society, yet society has forgotten the power of the Crone.

I am walking the path, towards crone as I go through this natural rite of passage. I want to gather women so we can tell each other powerful stories, learn of helpful allies and celebrate this crone journey. We have trained all our life to be the crones that the world needs, the wise women that gather to tend to a world in crisis.

To create a meaningful menopause is to throw out that story of the irrelevant crone, send our roots down deep into an ancient spiritual bedrock and sustain ourselves with stories of hags and folklore, give ourselves a new empowering story and do this together in community.

All these materials are wrapped up in a new online course which will be launching in early September, in which we will:

• Exploring menopause as a transformational journey - a rite of passage and a mythic journey

• Calling on a midwife - Choosing a midwife figure, creating a midwife doll & tales of cultures who honored this rite

• Create your own rite of passage -w with examples of women’s ceremonies, and ritual

• Engage in this sacred journey as one of descent, the deep, and the return

• Consider what it really means to ‘Becoming Crone’ and how we can embody these qualities
  
  

Plus exploring all of this through:

 ART PROJECTS

DOLL MAKING

DOWNLOADABLE COURSE WORKBOOK

SUGGESTIONS OF RITUAL

GUIDED MEDITATIONS

COMMUNITY

How is your experience of engaging with menopause? 

Summer Solstice on the Path of the Ancestral Mothers

How do you celebrate Summer Solstice?

I’m often in the western isles of Scotland, Islands on which hold stories of warrior women.

Twilight

Scottish summer draws you into the half light of twilight, it’s no longer day but not quite night, a place where magic resides. It’s time where you can clearly see the woman’s face in the cliff, her profile in the outline of the hill.

A Time Out of Patriarchy

It’s a time to gather, to be in community, to celebrate and to work together. It’s a time to step outside of patriarchy and dream big and turn those dreams into tangible actions and plans.

Relationship With the Land

It’s a time to honor the land under your feet. To explore whose land is it, if it stolen land how do you personally engage with those who were forcibly removed from the land?

How do you honor place, tell the stories born of the land and just as portent how do you listen? How do you create relationship with this place and in a world which is so nature deficient help rewild both place and aspects of yourself?

Stories to Inspire

It’s also a time to tell the story of female warriors,

Our Summer Solstice free online Gathering will take place on Friday 25th June, 7pm - just sign up for the mailing list and you’ll receive the Zoom invitation in next week’s newsletter,

• You’ll also get to hear about new online courses and have the option to be first to sign up

• Always get a preview of what’s heading into the monthly shop update and an invitation to browse before the shop update goes live for everyone else

• First opportunity to sign up for workshops and the Ancestral Mothers Retreat which we hope to be offering again in 2022

Warrior’s shield with symbols of the Ancestral Mothers

Art & Ritual

It’s also a time to take all of this inspiration, to listen to each other’s stories and to weave it into form - to create art that speaks to all of this, painting, shaping clay, doll making or collage. Adorning our warrior’s shield!