I love this. I have started learning Gaeilge to reconnect to my matrilineal ancestry - the language was lost four generations ago when my ancestors had to flee to Aotearoa New Zealand (a catholic married a Protestant in the rural northwest of Ireland and it didn’t land well in the community). I’m only four months in and already I feel the language changing me and healing generational loss and trauma. So excited to have subscribed to your work. Can’t wait to read more.
Thank you so much for sharing this agus tá áthas orm a chloisteáil go bhfuil tú ag foghlaim Gaeilge! I am delighted---literally in Irish, I have joy on me! to hear that you have started learning Gaeilge. And what a moving family history to be healing! I have heard this from so many people now: that learning and speaking Irish is healing. Some say it's the sound of the words themselves---that these ancient sounds (similar to the sacred language Sanskrit, another ancient language that Irish is very connected to) impacts us on a level of vibrations. I am so happy for you! (And your ancestors.) Please keep me posted about how it goes for you as your journey continues...
Manchán Magan has written quite a bit about this and now has a new book out specifically on the topic. Here's an article he wrote for the Irish Times that gives an overview: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/11/09/manchan-magan-india-and-ireland-share-many-features-that-show-remarkable-commonality-whats-going-on-here/ Some of these connections could be because both are PIE (Pindo-European languages), which is true of course of many other European languages, but Manchán suggests that Irish and Sanskrit are two farthest points (East and West) where some early linguistic and mythological motifs have been better preserved/maintained.
Hi! I first got interested in the connections , west-to-east, along the Silk Road in late 1990’s with publication of a book The Mummies of Urumchi, by Elizabeth W Barber. I was “caught” by the author’s exploration of textile patterns on blankets found buried with these mummies. Among other insights she herself was struck by the strong resemblance to textile patterns found as far west as British Isles associated with early peoples there.
This morning, trying to find the book again, since stumbling on your substack, I found much more recent archeological info. All pretty fascinating.
It is wonderful to read this piece, Dian! I plan to travel to Ireland for 9 days this spring through a learning community at my college (an environmental science course and a literature course)! I have already been looking forward to the opportunity to ground my feet on my mother's motherland for the first time, but receiving all these beautiful, hopeful ideas has multiplied my excitement exponentially!! I too, believe that our capacity to re-member ourselves and the interconnectedness of life is at the core of finding our way. Hearing about your experience learning the Irish language - that it is currently your greatest teacher - deepens my inspiration to continue learning (and remembering) Gaelic. I'm excited to read more of your work :)
Is breá liom é seo go léir a chloisteáil! I love hearing all this -- every morsel: about your studies, your upcoming trip, and getting your feet on the mother('s) land! Fáilte! And I also am resonating with "re-membering." I love the etymology of this word, which your hyphenation highlights: being made whole again. I look forward to hearing about your trip. Perhaps in the future there will be Gaelic Effect trip to liminal places in Ireland...
I love it and am interested. It would help me greatly if you would provide phonetic spellings of the Irish you use. I know a few rules of how to interpret all the (seemingly) extra consonants and vowels, but I’d love to roll the authentic sounds of it around in my mind. And it will help me learn how to read Irish faster. Thanks for considering!
Thank you for this feedback! Great idea-- since I am wanting to support myself and others in speaking Irish! Now the question is, which dialect LOL, since they can be quite different, esp Ulster IMO (esp from Munster Irish, which I've been learning). https://www.teanglann.ie/ has for single words usually with the three dialects, pronounced by native speakers. I will see how I can integrate this moving forward or maybe put it in the comments! :)
Cinnte! Tá sé seo fíor! Exactly! This is so true! :) And I just learned that there's no word for "should" in Irish. Instead, you say it would be "right" for me to do something. For example, Ba cheart duit labhairt leis = "It would be right for me to speak with him, which is how you say, "I should speak with him." I will be writing about this in more detail in the blog at some point! But imagine a world with no "shoulds"!! What is right for me--and you??
So happy to have found you, Dion. I loved “How the Irish Saved Civilization” and am currently researching the Irish language for a character in my next novel. The synchronicity of you popping up in my timeline was beautiful. Go raibh maith agat for writing this beautiful stack!
My mom always used to sigh and say she wished she lived in a world where the Celts had defeated the Romans and we lived in a culture descended from theirs instead. She’s learning Gaelic and I’m definitely sending her this article!
Yes, so true! It would be a different world for sure! Agus tá áthas orm a chloisteáil go bhfuil sí ag foghlaim Gaeilge! (And I am so happy to hear that she’s learning Irish!).
Oh my goodness - could you speak a little more about the cow who was over-milked?
I’ve heard, from only once (oral) source, about the glas ghaibhleann, but the tale wasn’t focused on the owners of the cow, as it is in everything I’ve found online since. But the tale I heard was that she always gave whatever was needed and sustained everyone until someone milked her into a sieve; after that, she disappeared. To me it sounded like a cautionary tale about land sovereignty. Anyway, not only am I beginning to think about learning Irish because of you, but my curiosity is piqued about this tale if you (or others?) have additional information!
My only hesitation is that when a language doesn’t end up being useful in my daily life - like if others don’t speak it, especially- I tend to lose steam. I work, and homeschool, and am an astrologer and herbalist, so I don’t have tons of time to commit, you know? Nonetheless, I’m still considering it. 😂
If you only have a few minutes each day, I highly recommend this free, one word a day program to learn Irish. You can also review words from past days, to practice. A native speaker pronounces the word and then uses it in a sentence. A fun way to get some Irish into your day! :) https://www.transparent.com/word-of-the-day/today/irish?date=01-18-2025&utm_media=email
Another way I work on my Irish each day is through this online version of Búntus Cainte. You can get the book version as well (which has fun illustrations) or just learn completely online. No A.I. generated voices --all native speakers from Munster!
I’ve heard two different versions —one on the ring of Kerry and one on the Dingle Peninsula— but they both are similar along the storyline that the cow was over milked and yes, the milk put through a sieve, which is how all the stars were created of course :-) . In one version, a woman boasted that her cow could give an endless amount of milk. Another woman challenged the claim and tested the cow but used a sieve instead of a bucket to collect the milk so of course all of it poured out and eventually the cow was spent. In Ballyferriter, about a 15” drive from Dingle and part of the Gaeltacht there, I heard that there is a rock just outside of town that has some connection to the cow. I’ll be back there this summer, so I’ll see if I can learn more about that rock! BTW, the folklore archives at University College Dublin might have different versions of the story on file.
Thank you so much - I’ve been digging into it for years on and off and hadn’t found much aside from the one including Balor et al. I really appreciate your taking the time! Next time I’ll check into the folklore archives as well.
I love this and just subscribed. It’s in my heart as a student of Celtic mysticism and earth-based traditions for healing and ensoulment, to learn both Irish and Scots Gaelic! I am completely in love with what this language conveys… I have started learning traditional Gaelic songs. Very excited to learn from you!
GRMA Amanda --- very glad you're here. I just subscribed to your stack as well. BTW, I am creating a directory of all the Substacks focused on Irish and/or Gaelic language and culture. Someone has given it the name GAELstack! :)
Wonderful! Well, as very much a novice in the language I’m not sure mine counts, but Wild Becoming follows the Celtic Medicine Wheel (of the Year)… my writings are inspired by the deeper, mythic themes and medicine offered to us by the turning seasons, often featuring Celtic traditions, gods and goddesses, and other wisdom I’ve learned in both formal and experiential training. So glad to be connected!
This is fantastic. I think language is a way of wiring the brain, our operating system if you like, and Irish is a very different onthology of being in the world, much more sensual. I love that Irish has no word for 'yes', it's a verb, Are you going out? I am....
I am thinking of writing a piece on Irish Brehon law which was polycentric, unlike English common law, and I believe that as a result it had a much more supple relationship with the community that used it. The Irish language is the same....Maith an buachill!
GRMA! And yes, I bring the Brehon laws into some of my earlier blogs — and am sure will be doing more of it again! They are very consistent with the Irish language. Btw Spenser hated both… I think he actually referred to the Irish language as an abomination! 🤮
Greetings! And hello dear sister. An American daughter of the Irish Diaspora here. I am on a path of connecting with roots to do my bit to save the world, in oh so many ways. My desire for some time now is to learn to speak and read Irish from a native Irish speaker. Are there remote opportunities for live learning? With much fondness, thank you for all that you do and all that you are. Blessings upon you!
GRMA Carol - thanks so much for reading and the feedback. 😻 And so delighted that you want to learn Irish! (I’m probably not revealing a dark secret and one of my hopes in writing the Gaelic Effect is to inspire more people to learn Irish!) regarding learning online, there are so many wonderful resources available. I really love the Scoil Scairte program that Kathy Scott does each autumn as part of the Trail Blazery. Mancán Magan is usually part of that, which is a real treat! I also love that MemRise has a free community platform for learning Irish. It’s all the Buntús Cainte Audio files put on line in a game format. It’s a little bit dated but I love how it’s all native Irish speakers, using real idiomatic phrases, and from Munster. I also recommend Irish with Molly. Just Google her Also TG4, part of RTÉ, offers a lot of programming. I usually put the English captions on the first time then listen just again as Gaeilge. I’ve also watch some of the children’s programs which is right about my skill level right now lol. Hope this helps!
Haigh, a chara :) Iontach ar fad - grmma as do chuid oibre. Tá ailt mar seo fíorthábhachtach agus spéisiúil. Ba aoibhinn liom caint leat ar mo phodchraoladh. An mbeadh suim agat? Seo mo ríomhphost: irishwithmollie@gmail.com Bíodh deireadh seachtaine álainn agat :)
I love this. I have started learning Gaeilge to reconnect to my matrilineal ancestry - the language was lost four generations ago when my ancestors had to flee to Aotearoa New Zealand (a catholic married a Protestant in the rural northwest of Ireland and it didn’t land well in the community). I’m only four months in and already I feel the language changing me and healing generational loss and trauma. So excited to have subscribed to your work. Can’t wait to read more.
Thank you so much for sharing this agus tá áthas orm a chloisteáil go bhfuil tú ag foghlaim Gaeilge! I am delighted---literally in Irish, I have joy on me! to hear that you have started learning Gaeilge. And what a moving family history to be healing! I have heard this from so many people now: that learning and speaking Irish is healing. Some say it's the sound of the words themselves---that these ancient sounds (similar to the sacred language Sanskrit, another ancient language that Irish is very connected to) impacts us on a level of vibrations. I am so happy for you! (And your ancestors.) Please keep me posted about how it goes for you as your journey continues...
Would love to hear more about how Irish and Sanskrit connected
Manchán Magan has written quite a bit about this and now has a new book out specifically on the topic. Here's an article he wrote for the Irish Times that gives an overview: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/11/09/manchan-magan-india-and-ireland-share-many-features-that-show-remarkable-commonality-whats-going-on-here/ Some of these connections could be because both are PIE (Pindo-European languages), which is true of course of many other European languages, but Manchán suggests that Irish and Sanskrit are two farthest points (East and West) where some early linguistic and mythological motifs have been better preserved/maintained.
This is so true…
Hi! I first got interested in the connections , west-to-east, along the Silk Road in late 1990’s with publication of a book The Mummies of Urumchi, by Elizabeth W Barber. I was “caught” by the author’s exploration of textile patterns on blankets found buried with these mummies. Among other insights she herself was struck by the strong resemblance to textile patterns found as far west as British Isles associated with early peoples there.
This morning, trying to find the book again, since stumbling on your substack, I found much more recent archeological info. All pretty fascinating.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies
Have you already looked into this type of material?
Yes, I had heard about the Princess of Xiaohe. Fascinating! And so amazing to see how well preserved they are, down to the clothing!
And the clothing gave one of the big clues to origins!
Very interesting… there is still so much we don’t know about these times, lost or forgotten, but I also believe our future is connected.
Although I personally think they should be called the Celtic Isles!! ;)
Ha ha!!!! That was good.
Just more historically accurate… ;)
It is wonderful to read this piece, Dian! I plan to travel to Ireland for 9 days this spring through a learning community at my college (an environmental science course and a literature course)! I have already been looking forward to the opportunity to ground my feet on my mother's motherland for the first time, but receiving all these beautiful, hopeful ideas has multiplied my excitement exponentially!! I too, believe that our capacity to re-member ourselves and the interconnectedness of life is at the core of finding our way. Hearing about your experience learning the Irish language - that it is currently your greatest teacher - deepens my inspiration to continue learning (and remembering) Gaelic. I'm excited to read more of your work :)
Is breá liom é seo go léir a chloisteáil! I love hearing all this -- every morsel: about your studies, your upcoming trip, and getting your feet on the mother('s) land! Fáilte! And I also am resonating with "re-membering." I love the etymology of this word, which your hyphenation highlights: being made whole again. I look forward to hearing about your trip. Perhaps in the future there will be Gaelic Effect trip to liminal places in Ireland...
I love it and am interested. It would help me greatly if you would provide phonetic spellings of the Irish you use. I know a few rules of how to interpret all the (seemingly) extra consonants and vowels, but I’d love to roll the authentic sounds of it around in my mind. And it will help me learn how to read Irish faster. Thanks for considering!
Thank you for this feedback! Great idea-- since I am wanting to support myself and others in speaking Irish! Now the question is, which dialect LOL, since they can be quite different, esp Ulster IMO (esp from Munster Irish, which I've been learning). https://www.teanglann.ie/ has for single words usually with the three dialects, pronounced by native speakers. I will see how I can integrate this moving forward or maybe put it in the comments! :)
Your new Substack name is inspired, and inspiring. Saving civilization is a tall order but if anyone can pull it off, then the Irish! Grma
Thanks so much Alice! Am smiling ear to ear—on both accounts! “Tá an ceart agat!” You are right! (Or literally, you have rightness on you…). 🤩
Love that things are „on“ one in Irish. As you once explained, it means they are only transient. Feelings, for example.
„This, too, shall pass.“ .
Cinnte! Tá sé seo fíor! Exactly! This is so true! :) And I just learned that there's no word for "should" in Irish. Instead, you say it would be "right" for me to do something. For example, Ba cheart duit labhairt leis = "It would be right for me to speak with him, which is how you say, "I should speak with him." I will be writing about this in more detail in the blog at some point! But imagine a world with no "shoulds"!! What is right for me--and you??
I love it, Dian — and I love your passion for Gaelic and language so much!
Thanks so much Krista—we are two passionate souls!
So happy to have found you, Dion. I loved “How the Irish Saved Civilization” and am currently researching the Irish language for a character in my next novel. The synchronicity of you popping up in my timeline was beautiful. Go raibh maith agat for writing this beautiful stack!
go hiontach!!
GRMA for letting me know! táim an-sásta é seo a chloisteáil! (Very happy hearing this!!)
I feel like I’m learning Irish already!
My mom always used to sigh and say she wished she lived in a world where the Celts had defeated the Romans and we lived in a culture descended from theirs instead. She’s learning Gaelic and I’m definitely sending her this article!
Yes, so true! It would be a different world for sure! Agus tá áthas orm a chloisteáil go bhfuil sí ag foghlaim Gaeilge! (And I am so happy to hear that she’s learning Irish!).
Oh my goodness - could you speak a little more about the cow who was over-milked?
I’ve heard, from only once (oral) source, about the glas ghaibhleann, but the tale wasn’t focused on the owners of the cow, as it is in everything I’ve found online since. But the tale I heard was that she always gave whatever was needed and sustained everyone until someone milked her into a sieve; after that, she disappeared. To me it sounded like a cautionary tale about land sovereignty. Anyway, not only am I beginning to think about learning Irish because of you, but my curiosity is piqued about this tale if you (or others?) have additional information!
agus tá lúcháir orm go bhfuil suim agat Gaeilge a fhoghlaim. (And I’m delighted that you are interested in learning Irish!) 🥰
My only hesitation is that when a language doesn’t end up being useful in my daily life - like if others don’t speak it, especially- I tend to lose steam. I work, and homeschool, and am an astrologer and herbalist, so I don’t have tons of time to commit, you know? Nonetheless, I’m still considering it. 😂
If you only have a few minutes each day, I highly recommend this free, one word a day program to learn Irish. You can also review words from past days, to practice. A native speaker pronounces the word and then uses it in a sentence. A fun way to get some Irish into your day! :) https://www.transparent.com/word-of-the-day/today/irish?date=01-18-2025&utm_media=email
Another way I work on my Irish each day is through this online version of Búntus Cainte. You can get the book version as well (which has fun illustrations) or just learn completely online. No A.I. generated voices --all native speakers from Munster!
https://community-courses.memrise.com/community/course/250279/beginner-spoken-irish-21-30-buntus-cainte/
You are so kind! I’ll poke around and see how I feel about these resources.
I’ve heard two different versions —one on the ring of Kerry and one on the Dingle Peninsula— but they both are similar along the storyline that the cow was over milked and yes, the milk put through a sieve, which is how all the stars were created of course :-) . In one version, a woman boasted that her cow could give an endless amount of milk. Another woman challenged the claim and tested the cow but used a sieve instead of a bucket to collect the milk so of course all of it poured out and eventually the cow was spent. In Ballyferriter, about a 15” drive from Dingle and part of the Gaeltacht there, I heard that there is a rock just outside of town that has some connection to the cow. I’ll be back there this summer, so I’ll see if I can learn more about that rock! BTW, the folklore archives at University College Dublin might have different versions of the story on file.
Thank you so much - I’ve been digging into it for years on and off and hadn’t found much aside from the one including Balor et al. I really appreciate your taking the time! Next time I’ll check into the folklore archives as well.
BTW here's quite a bit about it online, including the version of the story I heard: https://www.gormu.com/the-enigmatic-glas-gaibhnenn-a-dive-into-irish-folklore
Oooh thank you!
Iontach 😁🙏
GRMA! Agus go raibh maith agat as do spéis!
Dian, This is so exciting! May the new year bring success and joy to your work.
Iris
Thanks so much Iris! 🙏🏻🥰
I love this and just subscribed. It’s in my heart as a student of Celtic mysticism and earth-based traditions for healing and ensoulment, to learn both Irish and Scots Gaelic! I am completely in love with what this language conveys… I have started learning traditional Gaelic songs. Very excited to learn from you!
GRMA Amanda --- very glad you're here. I just subscribed to your stack as well. BTW, I am creating a directory of all the Substacks focused on Irish and/or Gaelic language and culture. Someone has given it the name GAELstack! :)
Wonderful! Well, as very much a novice in the language I’m not sure mine counts, but Wild Becoming follows the Celtic Medicine Wheel (of the Year)… my writings are inspired by the deeper, mythic themes and medicine offered to us by the turning seasons, often featuring Celtic traditions, gods and goddesses, and other wisdom I’ve learned in both formal and experiential training. So glad to be connected!
mise freisin! (Me too)
This is fantastic. I think language is a way of wiring the brain, our operating system if you like, and Irish is a very different onthology of being in the world, much more sensual. I love that Irish has no word for 'yes', it's a verb, Are you going out? I am....
I am thinking of writing a piece on Irish Brehon law which was polycentric, unlike English common law, and I believe that as a result it had a much more supple relationship with the community that used it. The Irish language is the same....Maith an buachill!
GRMA! And yes, I bring the Brehon laws into some of my earlier blogs — and am sure will be doing more of it again! They are very consistent with the Irish language. Btw Spenser hated both… I think he actually referred to the Irish language as an abomination! 🤮
Greetings! And hello dear sister. An American daughter of the Irish Diaspora here. I am on a path of connecting with roots to do my bit to save the world, in oh so many ways. My desire for some time now is to learn to speak and read Irish from a native Irish speaker. Are there remote opportunities for live learning? With much fondness, thank you for all that you do and all that you are. Blessings upon you!
GRMA Carol - thanks so much for reading and the feedback. 😻 And so delighted that you want to learn Irish! (I’m probably not revealing a dark secret and one of my hopes in writing the Gaelic Effect is to inspire more people to learn Irish!) regarding learning online, there are so many wonderful resources available. I really love the Scoil Scairte program that Kathy Scott does each autumn as part of the Trail Blazery. Mancán Magan is usually part of that, which is a real treat! I also love that MemRise has a free community platform for learning Irish. It’s all the Buntús Cainte Audio files put on line in a game format. It’s a little bit dated but I love how it’s all native Irish speakers, using real idiomatic phrases, and from Munster. I also recommend Irish with Molly. Just Google her Also TG4, part of RTÉ, offers a lot of programming. I usually put the English captions on the first time then listen just again as Gaeilge. I’ve also watch some of the children’s programs which is right about my skill level right now lol. Hope this helps!
Another resource put together by Briana Ní Loinsigh, Irish Resource Master List: https://foghlaimeoir.substack.com/p/irish-language-resource-masterlist
Haigh, a chara :) Iontach ar fad - grmma as do chuid oibre. Tá ailt mar seo fíorthábhachtach agus spéisiúil. Ba aoibhinn liom caint leat ar mo phodchraoladh. An mbeadh suim agat? Seo mo ríomhphost: irishwithmollie@gmail.com Bíodh deireadh seachtaine álainn agat :)
GRMA agus cinnte! Scríobhfaidh mé chugat. btw Níor mhol mé duit ach mar mhúinteoir Gaeilge. féach thuas!
Maith thú! Is aoibhinn liom an focal - draíocht. Chonaic mé an focal sin cúpla uair le déanaí. Is draíocht í!
Good for you! I love the word magic (https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/magic). I saw that word a few times lately. It's magic!
Ooh draíochta = having mysterious powers. Is maith liom é sin! I like that!
I love the new title. May it bring awareness of the gifts of the Irish language to people of many cultures, far and wide!
Thanks so much Lynda. And for being such a loyal reader and supporter! You were my first paid subscriber---very much appreciated!