Druid Forest School Recommended Resources

Here is a most worthwhile project of sacred sound exploration into the Tuatha de Danaan by Sinead Whyte:

'After a trip to India a number of years ago and a circuitous life experience around the whole event I felt I was being guided into the field of Irish mythology and Deity exploration. Entering into an unknown field at that time I began my sound explorations with the Ancient Shining Lights of Ireland known as the Tuatha De Danann. Now a few years since then, and after sharing various and evolving mantric sounds with workshop participants, the Irish Deity sounds reflect a powerful Irish sonic healing heritage. The vibrations arise out of the ancestral heart pulse of the Irish and demonstrate ancient DNA codes that go way back into the land herself, the ether and far beyond.' Sinead Whyte has produced a most whorthwhile sound evocation of the Tuatha de Danaan. See: www.whyteflower.com

Here is a peerlessly beautiful and powerful art card set depicting the Gods and Goddesses of the ancient Irish. I found it breathtaking to perceive them in human form through the art of Jane Brideson

Her visionary depictions are palpably fused within the landscape, mythology and customs of Ireland.

When I showed them to my son, Deaglan, I found it was difficult to keep my voice from breaking when I explained her card about Eiru, the Goddess of the Land of Ireland.

Wonderful art which this water-marked image can not fully portray. So worthwhile.

http://theeverlivingones.blogspot.co.uk/

And here, importantly, are some books for the upcoming generation to hear about the Goddesses and Gods of the ancient Irish:

Here is a heroic tale of a disabled young man who sets out on a quest to save the magical realm of the Sidhe from oblivion. The fist two books of Ali Isaac's Trilogy are published:

Conor Kelly is not your average hero. Trapped inside a body he can’t control, Conor’s mind is as active and alert as that of any teenage boy. On the outside, however, he’s about as interactive as a lump of wood.
Then he meets Annalee. She claims to be a Sidhe Princess, some kind of fairy royalty, apparently. She offers to take him into the magical realm, where her people wield the power to help him.

But is she just some child-snatching lunatic psychopath, or can she be trusted? On the other hand, what’s he got to lose?
He soon discovers that Tir na Nog is not the benign, dreamy land of legend. Nor are its inhabitants, the Sidhe, the benevolent fairy folk of Irish mythology. To accept their help has a cost, but for someone who doesn’t value his life, death is a risk worth taking.
With the blood of Lugh, God of Lightning, tingling in his veins, the boy in the wheelchair must dig deep, if he is to unlock the inherited powers dormant within him. Only he can defy disgraced Sidhe-King, Bres, who seeks to avenge himself on his brethren, and subject all mankind to his tyranny....

To buy the book, go to: http://aliisaacstoryteller.com/

Here is Dermot Hickey's Review of Catherine Fisher's novel about the Druid heritage of Britain and ireland: 'Darkhenge'

‘Avebury is a hub of spiritual power rayed with visions and dreams.’ A Druid has come through aeons of time, as a small and secret archaeological team led by a driven angry embittered and hurt woman called Clare begins to excavate a wood henge: a ring of ancient timbers that they anticipate surrounds a ‘central deposit’, an artefact of great power in the souls of the Neolithic Builders of the henge.

At the same time, Rob’s young teenage sister has gone into a prolonged coma and the family is becoming more and more desolated, as the nuns who run the expensive nursing home look in vain for signs of consciousness on the monitors.

‘There are many ways into the Unworld. A door opens, a bird sings. Someone takes your hand. You go in. you listen. It only seems like seconds. Out here, lifetimes pass.’ The Druid explains the reality of Annwn to Rob who has smuggled him into the nursing home to see if his sister can be saved.

Rob has by now read his sister’s secret journal, and is horrified to read how much his mocking has hurt her. Now, the Druid finds, his sister has entered the Caers of Annwn and is being taken ever deeper and deeper by the young King of that place, who himself is terrified that he will be re-absorbed by the consciousness of the ever-encroaching trees. Each chapter of the book is numbers by a letter of the Ogham Celtic Tree Alphabet. The King has layer over layer of masks, each mask made of the tree of the Ogham letter.

Rob and the Druid find the way down into Annwn, when the dig reveals the central deposit is an inverted tree: its roots upwards, its trunk reaching down into the Underworld.

There they meet up with Clare, the leader of the dig, who is now mantled by the power of Cerridwen and thirsts for revenge at the inspiration the Druid once stole from her. Clare and the sister join forces ….

In all Catherine Fisher’s books, the truth that our consciousness is many-layered and transcends time and space pervades. Celtic myth fuels the modern quest for understanding and opens up the land of the imagination? The prose is peerless.

Will the sister want to be rescued from a world where the landscapes of story merge and blur – and she has the chance to be Queen???

And here is a review of Katie Sullivan's 'Changelings into the Mists'

I loved reading about the Fae and the old Irish mythologies. I feel the author did a masterful job researching and incorporating the myths into the story. I liked how the author has the Tuatha Dé Danann going through a bleak period for a choice they made; like Maureen and Sean, it all ties into the history of Ireland and the long battle it has had for independence.

The two heroes of the story are Changelings, descendants of Man and Fae. The Fae walked between the words - as Healers, mystics, even kings - but no more....