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Bliadhna Mhath Ùr! Welcome to Tairis!
Happy New Year, and I hope 2013 brings good things. It's been quiet here lately but I've not been entirely slacking. Over the past year or so, instead of doing my own thing I've been collaborating with my good friends and colleagues Treasa and Kathryn for all kinds of good stuff over on Gaol Naofa. Our most recent efforts can be found in this announcement here, but suffice it to say the new stuff we have on offer includes (links are pdfs):
Another article from Treasa and Kathryn will be coming shortly and we will hopefully be opening Gaol Naofa up for membership soon. You can keep up to date with things on my main blog, also imaginatively called Tairis, and there's also Tairis Tales. If you like doing the Facebook thing, you can like our Gaol Naofa page, and we've recently started a page for CAORANN, too.
As ever, I hope you enjoy and find something useful in them, and if you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or whatever, feel free to comment over on the blog or
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. I would add, though, that I am unable to help anyone with their family tree or genealogy in general. It really isn't my area of expertise, and the only advice I can give is not to take the genealogies you find in the myths and legends too literally. They are often more an idealisation or total fabrication rather than anything you can trust; the Irish and Scots weren't shy about making a few convenient tweaks here and there if it suited their political aims, in particular.
I've recently had a few of the articles I have here translated into Portuguese by Brazilian blogger Aengus Miach (Leeh) over at Tír Tairnge. I am usually more than happy to give my permission to have articles translated into different languages, so long as you ask my permission. Otherwise I reserve the right to claim full copyright on all content. I've had a few problems with one blogger in particular reposting a whole swathe of this website without permission or even credit, and I've been forced to take action to have the articles removed. Three times now...It's just rude. And incredibly annoying.
A little background
So what's Tairis all about, then? I'm a Gaelic Reconstructionist Polytheist who is lucky enough to live in Scotland, and this website is all about the many different things I've been researching and looking into over the years. As I write, I learn, and it helps me to focus and think about things. Hopefully this site will give a good idea of how I interpret Gaelic Reconstructionist Polytheism, and in a wider context, Celtic Reconstructionism too. You can also find me at my blog, which hosts all my CR/GP-oriented blether.
Reconstructionism is a path that requires a lot of legwork and for the most part I stick to what I know best - Scottish and, to a lesser extent, Irish beliefs and customs. I take a fairly conservative approach to my practises and generally stick to the Scottish side of things, but I do find that comparative work and research with Irish practice is very helpful since Scotland's Gaelic heritage owes so much to Ireland and many of the avenues of my research lead back there. What I do is constantly evolving and hopefully I'll be able to reflect that by keeping the site up to date. Feel free to
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with your thoughts, questions, ideas.
During the course of my involvement in the wider Celtic Recontructionist movement I've participated in many of the online forums and groups and I strongly believe that Gaelic Polytheism can be nothing without community. I am currently serving as the Leas-Uachtarán (Vice President) of Gaol Naofa, an international organisation that aims to provide community and support for Gaelic Polytheists, as well as furthering the practices and resources available to seekers and dedicated Gaelic Polytheists alike. I am also a council member of CAORANN - Celts Against Oppression, Racism and Neo-Nazism - a group of Celtic Reconstructionists and allies who are dedicated to speaking out against racism, cultural appropriation, and the misuse and abuse of Celtic spiritualities and symbolism.
And why 'Tairis'? To be perfectly honest, I stumbled across the word in Macbain's dictionary. Its meaning was given as, "the dairymaid's cry to calm a cow" and really, it just made me laugh. It sums up a lot of the things I love about Scotland - that there's a word for such an act, so integral to the culture, so succinct. And I like cows, so it seemed apt. More seriously though, other meanings are given: In Scots Gaelic, it means loving or kind; going back to early Irish, it meant loyal, true. All this speaks to the core of what I do and how I feel about the culture I live in and am now a part of. I love what I do, and at the heart of it, I see and seek truth in it.
Beannachd leibh,
Seren
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