A Sad Hard Truth About Irish Paganism

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What is this truth about Irish Paganism? Ireland has existed for many thousands of years and been home to many amazing and diverse tribes over time.

Yet it has also been a place of near constant conflict, repeatedly colonised and changed over the centuries so that what we are left with is a sad and hard truth about Irish Paganism.

The Archaeology of Occupation on this Island

The arrival of people into Ireland has long been believed to have occurred in the latter parts to the last recorded ice age. It was believed that roaming tribes of early hunter gatherers followed the migrating herds across the retreating glacial ice. 

More recent discoveries about human occupation of Ireland raise interesting questions about our current model of glaciation. 

The re-discovery by Dr Ruth Carden and Dr Marion Dowd of a bear bone found in 1902 in a cave in County Clare, showing butcher markings, indicates that humans were hunting in Ireland around 10,500 BCE (before Common Era)… almost 2,500 years earlier than had been previously thought.

Dr Ruth Carden has since continued work cataloguing older bones held in storage and found a reindeer bone from a cave in County Cork, which changes the time lines yet again. The bone, a hind leg reindeer femur, proves human activity in Ireland around 31,000 BCE, more than 20,000 years earlier than previously thought.

“This bone just changed Irish human history. We have humans coming into Ireland 33,000 years ago, which changes everything for Ireland and changes north Western Europe as a whole,” Dr Carden said.

Interview from TheJournal.ie

The current models of the last Ice age in Ireland believe that all of the island was covered up 30,000 years ago to approximately 14,000 years ago. Both of these bones raise questions about what we currently believe about people living in Ireland. 

The Mythology of Ireland’s Pagan Gods

From the later mediaeval period of Ireland come the great books of the early christian monasteries. These tomes such as the Book of Leinster, the Book of Fermoy, and the Great and the Yellow Books of Lecan relate to us stories of the oldest times in Ireland.

They share with us tales transcribed over centuries from the earliest oral traditions, which speak of the peoples who came in waves to live upon the island. Here we find the stories of Ireland’s oldest heroes, and indeed early Gods.

Though the hands that wrote the words may have followed the ‘new faith’ of christianity, within the tales we find the roots of older beliefs about the Otherworld and its peoples and practices as well as the empowered ancestors who became Gods of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann. 

These folk, descended from an even older tribe known as Nemedian’s, return to the lands of their ancestors bringing new knowledge from around the world, but holding also to their original language and culture. They find supremacy and in their rule they bring forth abundance for their people and the island itself. 

Yet their rule in this world comes to an end with the arrival of another tribe, whose dominance drives them from our world and into the Other. Despite the conquest of the Milesian’s ending their rule, their influence in our world is still seen and indeed needed down through the ages which followed to bring about balance, abundance and change. 

A Brief Insight on the End of Pagan Ireland

The arrival of christianity into Ireland first began as groups of believers seeking separate and remote locations in which to explore their spirituality. Where else could be considered more remote than the believed edge of the world itself, Ireland?

This is where we find the beginnings of hermitage like Skellig Micheal, or Guagán Barra. These places were built in the 6th and 7th century, although according to some records Ireland was already being targeted for christian colonisation 200 or even 300 years previously. 

In 431 CE (Common Era), a Gaulish deacon called Palladius was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent to be the first bishop to the “Scotti believing in Christ”. According to a chronicler in the Book of Armagh; 

“God hindered him…and neither did those fierce and cruel men receive his doctrine readily, nor did he himself wish to spend time in a strange land, but returned to him who sent him”.

This set the stage for one who would become Ireland’s patron saint, a Welsh man who had washed up on her shores years earlier, and was made a slave in accordance with Brehon law for being found on the coast without a people. Patrick. 

Though the tales speak of the sweeping success of this almost miraculous conversion which followed Saint Patrick, much of the lore about him seems to have been cobbled together from other sources. Deeds or companions originally attributed to Palladius appear in his narrative as this man who was a lowly slave rose to bring enlightenment and truth to the ‘savage Irish’. 

As far as propaganda pieces go it seems to have been very successful, and with the rising funding of these monastic settlements and the growth of the christian belief across Europe, it was not long before this new body of wealth and power exerted its influence in a more dominant manner.

Harsh legislation dictated by this rising power was created based on their own belief structures, and coupled with the show of wealth, this led to many targeted changes in Ireland. Everything from the prohibition of bards, blacksmiths, women’s power, and more, can be seen in a section of a prayer called Saint Patrick’s Breastplate;

“I summon today All these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul; 

Christ to shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.”

Eventually this power structure and the control on the transfer of knowledge, coupled with the growth of wealth (despite the viking raiding of course!), would lead through Norman invasions from 1169 CE on to the later mediaeval period, and then to the 1600’s with the Flight of Earls, believed to be the end of Gaelic Ireland.

[Watch a Video with Dr Gillian Kenny Discussing the Loss of Gaelic Ireland]

What follows is of course the continued dominance of England over the island through their many ‘plantations’ of our country.

The eventual schism in christianity of the Protestant church from the Catholic would see some of the bloodiest atrocities committed on our soil, and sow the seed of a harm and hatred that still exist to this very day. 

The Sad and Hard Truth About Irish Paganism

So we reach the sad and hard truth about Irish Paganism, in that there is no such thing as an unbroken line of druidic practice, or pagan belief, or indigenous spirituality in Ireland. 

Ireland as a nation, a location and a people were targeted time and again by the other powers of the world, spiritual and political, for conversion. From the intentional undermining of Irish culture by ‘Saints’ of the christian faith prohibiting the performances of bard in Irish household in the 1200’s, all the way up to the brutalising of children in schools for speaking our native language in the 1900’s, Irish culture and belief has taken a beating from every possible angle. 

Yet for all of that…. the story is not over. 

The language has evolved, but it still exists and in some corners it thrives. Irish is not, by any means or definition, a ‘dead language’.

The old lore, though writing by christian hands, can still be found in the manuscripts preserved through time, and with the Gaelic Revival [Lora’s Research on that Period is Here], and the surge in exploration of our cultural identity that predates our independence from Britain… we are now more curious than ever.

Anot just about our ancient past, but about the future that we can bring from it. 

The Truth About Paganism in Ireland Today

There have been many attempts to reconstruct some form of earth based spirituality in Ireland over the recent years, yet much of this takes from other cultures and traditions and tries to transplant these beliefs into the landscape of the island and its peoples.

Though these endeavours can have some positive effects, much of what is presented is a mishmash of appropriated practices, pasted over with Irish words, names, locations, or deities in a cobbled together attempt at a ‘good enough fit’. Looking at you, ‘Celtic Shamanism’.

[Find Out Why Celtic Shamanism is Not a Thing]

The sad and hard truth about Irish Paganism – the Neo Pagan or New Age variety – is that ‘good enough’ is not always good for the land, the people, and the Gods.

So at the Irish Pagan School we don’t try for good enough. We believe that there is more to be done than just changing a deity’s name in some other culture’s prayer structure.

We believe that there is a deeper truth, hard earned, to authentic connection to the spirit of Ireland itself and her deities as expressed in her ancient tribes. We believe that Ireland, the land, her people and the descendants of her folk all around the world deserve better than ‘good enough’. 

There is no unbroken line of Irish Paganism, or Druidry, or Irish Witchcraft. There is no secret sect transposed and preserved in other places of the world. There is no secret bloodline holding the REAL truth of Irish spiritual belief. 

Yet for all of that…. the story is not over. The roots exist. 

The heirloom seeds of native Irish spirituality preserved in the hand writing of early christians. The structures of ancient practices built into the land itself from passage tombs to dolmens, ogham stones and more. The snippets of ancient resonance found in folklore beliefs carried down through countless generations.

What we don’t need is imported beliefs from other lands to try and cultivate them here.

What is needed is a careful digging up of that which does not serve our land and people well enough, those ‘invasive species’ so to speak that were brought here, and are draining the life from our land and sucking up all available resources, leaving no room for anything else to grow.

We do need a clearing out of negative things that have been thrust upon us for generations. And to hold that ground, and let it heal and grow new plants from old seeds, native to this land.

As a culture, we are facing an uphill struggle to face the harm and shame put upon our ancestry, to accept it as part of our narrative, and to choose to grow beyond it. 

What is called for is hard work, yet it is worthy work because each of us deserve an authentic connection to Ireland, be we descended of her peoples or not.

Contemporary Irish Paganism exists and can be more than transposed beliefs, it can be grown from the roots of our story in the very landscape of the island. It can be more than ‘good enough’, it can be amazing, fulfilling and life altering.

All you have to do is put in the effort. 

✨To help you walk this path, we provide free resources…

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IrishPaganSchool@gmail.com

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