Coru Cathubodua Priesthood

Wednesday, 3 April 2024 11am Pacific ~ online via Zoom

Join us for an orientation on our upcoming (and first!) annual pagan-informed domestic violence certification training, happening this summer. This discovery call will explain more about what to expect, what it does and doesn't offer, how it contributes to our directory of DV-certified spiritual service providers, and how to get involved.

Emain Ablach, the Isle of Apples.

A land of yew trees and swans, it is said that a young Lugh spent part of his fosterage in this bountiful isle.

dublin city university has asynchronous courses that run regularly on futurelearn, starting with irish 101 and going up to 208 (you might have to wait a little while for 101 to come around again because they don't all run simultaneously). they're a pretty good intro with more grammar explanations, written exercises, etc. my biggest issue with them was motivating myself to actually put the time in, because i found it tough to get through all the course in the amount of time i had available to give to them, but they're probably the best free online resource i know of, especially because they do have people there to answer questions and explain grammar

there are also various online courses on zoom etc but those tend to cost money. i do think after a certain point it's worth trying to get in an actual class (in person or online) for the conversation practice if nothing else, but something like the futurelearn courses is a good stepping stone to get going

The book series Gaeilge gan stró is also a great resource to work through at your own pace and comes with CDs of audio exercises. (though one copy I got from the library had some scratches so I missed out on a few of those exercises)

while we're on the subject of podcasts/audio learning, here's raidió fáilte's "foghlaim" playlist, which includes the audio for the buntus cainte course (but ulster irish rather than the one you'd typically get on the CD with it)

also here's a site with the "irish on your own" / now you're talking course from the 1990s. this starts from first steps.

She says "what are we looking at here. This is a work called “Resilience: Living in a Pandemic since 1492” by Osceola and Genevieve Red Shirt who conceived of the work in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic. It features a leather plague doctor's mask inscribed with the names of diseases that have devastated Indigenous nations through history. Caption reads "Smallpox, Diphtheria, Spanish Flu, Covid-19.

Wendy says "these are overlaid with Indigenous medicinal plants. The mask is paired with a war bonnet to honor Indigenous people as survivors and warriors" /End VD

Additional description of the work: The medicinal plants are: Marsh Marigold (yellow); Pokeweed (cone shape with purple berries); Purple Coneflower (lavender color with orange center); Skunk Cabbage (burgundy with bright green).

Kylemore Abbey

A hoard of Celtic gold coins hidden in a cow bone, discovered near Sedgewick, England, 1st century AD

Not “I’m going to hit you” but “I am going to buy a tuna sub from the gas station and hide it under the seat of your car”

Not “I’m going to kill myself” but “I am going to walk into the desert and let the scarabs take me”

The other side then happened. When I mess something up, instead of saying it’s bad and perpetuating negative thoughts, swing hard the other way.

Not “this art is terrible” but “this shall be framed and mounted on the wall in my museum exhibition as testament to the suffering I had to overcome”

Have been doing this since high school. It was my drama teacher who asked me to please stop scaring the actors. The other half of the edict was that I had to say it in a polite tone, and end it with either please or thank you.

#Queued

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

"don't look away" is a meaningless phrase. who are you benefiting by inundating yourself with misery porn?

DO something about things you care about. Go to a protest for something you believe in, if you can. Donate money to a cause if you have it to spare. Volunteer your time to help people if you have the energy. Write a letter to your political representatives if that's something you can do. These are meaningful ways to try to make change in the world.

And then? don't feel bad about insulating yourself from horrible news. Don't make yourself look at images that make you feel sick. Don't read endless things that depress you. Because frankly it gets harder to actually do the more you doomscroll. Reading constantly about things you can't change because they're happening at a systemic level or on the other side of the world is paralyzing. It makes you less able to help where you can.

I'm not saying be willfully ignorant. I'm not saying pretend horrible things aren't happening. I'm saying don't destroy your mental health going in-depth and cycling through horror after horror on your phone. I'm saying there is no virtue in making yourself experience other people's traumas because mere awareness is not activism. you inflicting suffering on yourself is not activism.

"Elk Centaur" by Francois Lelong

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and one of our semi-local organizations is providing a free public webinar about what it is, what it isn't, separating fact from myth, and info about resources and options.