Like Hebrew is to Judaism and Latin is to the Catholic Church, I was drawn to Irish as a language medium for spell craft. One has to hear the language to truly understand its magnificence and as Irish undergoes a renaissance in Ireland, it’s also experienced an uptick in interest among the Irish diaspora abroad and became a subject again of international significance.
Once again it was pop culture that led me down this road of enchantment. I remember it like yesterday. It was 2015 and a show called Outlander aired and the theme was decidely Gaelic. Perhaps it was the Dance of the Druids which made the most eventful impact on me but I remember that as the women were dancing minutes before sunrise on Samhain, I wanted to research more on Druidery and its significance to Ancient Ireland. At one point, Irish was spoken in both Ireland and Scotland before devolving into two separate languages by the 17th century.
The point is Samhain is a Celtic Gaelic holiday rooted in druid tradition and it is the original sabbat of hallowed celebrations on the most sacred night of the year. Samhain in a way is what inspired me to become fluent in Irish and connect it to the craft. The more accurate spirituality I subscribe to is Druidcraft. In fact, there’s even a tarot deck called that.
Irish druidery is about connecting to nature and on Samhain, Yule, Imbolc reaching across the veil to the unseen netherworld occupied by the Fae and other spiritual beings like the formidable banshee. Doing this requires unique words and what better language in the practice of the craft than Irish, language of the Fae and the Banshee.
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