Ancient Ways- Planetary Healing for People, Pets & Places

12/25/2025

Irish Fairy Faith. What it is about:

When people hear the phrase ‘Irish Fairy Faith’, they often imagine something whimsical or decorative. That idea has very little to do with how fairies were understood in Irish tradition.

The Fairy Faith refers to a widespread, long held set of beliefs about the sidhe as an otherworldly people who share the landscape with humans. These beliefs were not abstract theology or entertainment. They shaped how people farmed, travelled, built homes, treated illness, and understood misfortune and luck. The sidhe were part of the moral and practical fabric of life.

In Irish sources, fairies are not tiny winged creatures. They are often identified with the Túatha Dé Danann, powerful beings associated with ancient places, sovereignty, and the deep memory of the land. They dwell in mounds, forts, hills, trees, paths, and boundary spaces. Roads like this one matter, because crossings and liminal places are where encounters were most likely to occur.

The Fairy Faith is grounded in behaviour rather than belief statements. You show respect by how you move, what you take, what you disturb, and what you leave alone. You don’t challenge them. You don’t demand contact. You mind yourself and your manners. Reciprocity and restraint matter more than curiosity.

What’s crucial to understand is that the Fairy Faith was never a single system. It was local, relational, and shaped by place. What people believed about the sidhe in one parish was not identical to another. That local specificity is part of its integrity.

Approached properly, the Fairy Faith is not about seeking fantasy experiences. It’s about learning how Irish people understood living in a world where the land itself was alive, aware, and not solely human.

👀 Check out the book 'The FairyFaith in Ireland' by Lora O'Brien, MA.

(Also, there's more great info on our blog at ➡️ http://irishpagan.school?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com )

09/20/2025

Blessed Mabon to all.

🍂 Autumn Equinox in Celtic Tradition & Ancestral Connection

In Celtic cosmology, while the equinox itself wasn’t named as a formal festival, it marked a powerful threshold, a time of balance between light and dark, harvest and descent. It sits between Lughnasadh, the first harvest, and Samhain, the ancestral new year. This liminal space was seen as a time to reflect, give thanks, and prepare for the inward turn.

The equinox was a moment to honor the Earth’s generosity and begin the slow descent into the dark half of the year. As the veil thinned, the ancestors drew closer, their presence felt in the hush of twilight and the falling leaf. Offerings of grain, fruit, and fire were made to both the land and the spirits, acknowledging that what is gathered now was seeded by those who came before.

To the Celts, descent was not death, it was gestation. The ancestors walked with the living, guiding the turn of the wheel.

© DailyShaman 2025

04/27/2023

Personally I feel it is spiritual and cultural appropriation to call one’s self a “shaman”.
Just as it isn’t right to do pipe ceremony unless one is of a Native Nation that employs that spiritual practice. A wise Native Elder and respected teacher said it is utmost of Colonizer ego to use titles that do not belong to them as a people. I may use Shamanic techniques in my healing work, and have had formal training but I am not “a Shaman”. This is my opinion, others may feel fine doing it.

While non-Native anthropologists often use the term shaman for indigenous healers worldwide, including the Americas, shaman is the specific name for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia and is not used in Native American or First Nations communities.

Shamanism, a term that refers to a specific set of spiritual beliefs and practices, has been widely misused and misunderstood in popular culture. The entertainment industry, in particular, has used the terms "medicine man" and "shaman" interchangeably to describe holy men and women of Native America. This has led to a widespread assumption that "shamanism" is a universal indigenous way of life practiced by all Native American tribes.

This could not be further from the truth.

In reality, there are many indigenous communities in North America, each with their own distinct culture, language, and belief systems, none of which have historically described their spiritual beliefs as such.

The confusion regarding the term "shamanism" is further reinforced by commercial pseudo-indigenous groups that have appeared in recent decades. These groups typically focus on New Age alternative healing techniques and environmental awareness, and often misrepresent themselves as authentic teachers of Native American culture. Many charge high fees for these teachings and ceremonies that are neither traditional nor typical of North American beliefs. As a result, many Native Americans view the use of the word "shamanism" as a highly offensive stereotype and a form of commercial exploitation.

Finally, it’s important to differentiate between the practices of the shaman and Native American traditions. The shaman is not a synonym for a tribal healer or holy person, and shamanism is not a catch-all term for indigenous religions, earth-based religions, spiritual healing or beliefs in totems, animal guardians, nature spirits, or ways of life. It's important to differentiate and educate the public about true practices. Inaccurate representations can lead to the commercialization and exploitation of Native American culture, which is both disrespectful and offensive.

John Gonzalez
Standing Bear Network

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[Image Description-

A depiction of a commercialized stereotypical “Shaman,”in watercolor entitled, “Please Don’t Squeeze The Shaman,” by John Gonzalez. -End ID]

12/28/2022

Having just experienced (and still experiencing) grief, this hit home.

You Never Go Back To Normal

I can tell you that you’ll always grieve the loss of the person you love…but that doesn’t mean that you won’t recover from the intense pain of that loss.

It’s so important that you understand that despite your loss, you still have the hope of healing, and even though it doesn’t feel like it right now, you won’t live with the acute anguish of grief forever.

What I’m saying is that you’ll recover from the pain, but you won’t recover from the grief. Grief is forever. But just because you don’t recover from the grief doesn’t mean you’re always going to feel as horrible as you do now.

I promise!

There are millions and millions of people out there (including myself) living normal and purposeful lives while also experiencing ongoing grief. It would be a pretty amazing thing to find someone who lives a long life here on Earth and never experiences some kind of a loss.

I’ve never met one.

Here’s the thing…..the reason I don’t believe we ever ‘recover’ from grief is because to recover from something means you return to normal. But when someone you love dies…you never go back to normal.

Everything changes.

People talk about ‘closure’….and I hate that word. I never use that word unless I’m saying something negative about it. The problem with closure is it doesn’t change anything. The person is still dead. No matter how much closure there is, you still can’t go back to the way life was before the person died.

I don’t say this stuff because I read about it in a book…I know what happens because I went through it myself.

Here’s what happens…..the loss, the person who died, and your grief, all get integrated into your life and they profoundly change how you live and experience the world.

So my point is, although you’ll recover from the intense distress of grief, you won’t ever recover from the grief itself.

Grief is one of those experiences you just can’t understand until you actually experience it yourself.

It comes into your life the second your loved one dies (sometimes even before), and as long as you continue to love that person…you never go back to normal.

Gary Sturgis – “Surviving Grief”

12/21/2022

12/09/2022

To heal our past wounds, it’s important to work through them, not ignore or suppress them. It is only by doing so that we can heal.

10/30/2022

Honor the Ancestors and all
Who have gone before us. Celebrate the Harvests and prepare for the dark months of the coming Winter.

10/06/2022

The natural way to give birth has long been pushed aside for convenience of medical personnel, but a conscious return to the universal posture is happening.

¿Sabías que antes del 1600 las Mujeres Occidentales daban a luz en cuclillas, sentadas y de pie?
Esto cambió cuando el rey Luis XIV de Francia dispuso que para poder él presenciar el nacimiento de sus hijos, sus mujeres debían dar a luz acostadas.

Aunque esa postura hace más difícil y doloroso el parto, pronto se generalizó, y los médicos franceses tuvieron que inventar los fórceps para evitar algunas de sus consecuencias. En poco tiempo se multiplicaron los instrumentos obstétricos, y se llegó a creer que el parto siempre era una urgencia que exigía atención médica para que fuera sin complicaciones.

Cada vez se populariza más la idea de que la mujer debe guiarse por su propio instinto en lo que se refiere al parto. El número de futuras madres que optan por el parto natural -entendido como aquel parto en el que la intervención externa es la mínima posible- va en aumento.

El obstetra francés Michel Odent, uno de los defensores más notables del parto natural, afirma que la parturienta no debe atenerse a ninguna regla, sino obedecer a su instinto, que la hace experta en dar a luz. Odent daba a sus pacientes entera libertad para proceder como quisiesen, e incluso les permitía sentarse en una tina de agua tibia para aliviar el dolor de las contracciones uterinas. De ahí surgió la idea del parto en agua.

Los conocimientos actuales de fisiología han demostrado que el parto vertical -de pie o en cuclillas- permite que el nacimiento del bebé sea más rápido y menos traumático. Sin embargo no existe una postura universal para dar a luz. En las comunidades más primitivas, las parturientas primerizas se guían por el consejo de mujeres más experimentadas.

09/21/2022

May your Mabon be blessed with bounty and joy.

09/12/2022

How many of us have effects of this?