Irish myths and magic
I finished the first draft of my novel (woo!) and it comes in at 56,000 words right now, making it probably the longest single piece of writing I’ve ever completed. When I was teenager I wrote several novels for National Novel Writing Month, but those were right around 50,000 words since that’s the goal of NaNoWriMo. And that was the last time I wrote a novel (when I was 16), so this feels like a pretty big accomplishment. Of course, in its current state I’m pretty sure it’s quite bad, but now I get to do the second draft (and 3rd, maybe 4th), before it’s actually done. I somehow never edited any of my novels when I was a teenager, so writing a second draft is going to be a first for me. I plan to print it out and mark it up like crazy, focusing more on the structure than line edits. I’m making myself wait at least two weeks before I start working on it again, but it’s been a struggle to keep my hands off of it. I actually miss it, which I take as a good sign. When I first started thinking about writing seriously last winter, I had some doubts about whether I still really wanted to be a writer or if that was just an old dream that I had grown out of. Turns out, I think I do still like writing, (at least I would hope so, 56k later).
I thought for today’s post that I would share some of the research that I’ve done so far for the book. It involves a lot of Celtic Irish mythology and druid magic, so that’s been the main focus of my research. There are a ton of Irish myths, gods, and creatures and I’ve barely scratched the surface so far with my research. Deepening my understanding of Irish myths and beliefs will be one of the things I work on with the second draft, in fact I plan to go to Ireland next summer to do research there.
In my book, my main character Fern discovers that one of her ancestors was a Celtic Irish Druid, and she starts to learn about druid magic. I read a whole book on the subject which now I can’t find anywhere in my house, so I’ll have to add the reference later. Druid’s were teachers, healers and spiritual leaders in their community, and they believed that all poetry was magic. They had magical items that they carried with them to help with the spells they made, often using elaborate rituals involving water, fire, and trees. They had a deep respect for nature, especially trees. One of the items they usually carried was a crane bag, which plays an important role in the story.
My characters go into the Irish Otherworld, which is a sort of parallel universe where Irish fairies and gods live (they are called the Tuatha Dé Danann). In Irish myths fairies are typically not depicted as tiny creatures with wings, but as creatures that mostly look and act human, with magical abilities. They tend to be tricksters and are not always friendly to humans. In Ireland, they believe that Hawthorn trees are connected to the fairy realm, and often Hawthorn trees have been left alone because of this.
The Cave of Cats - this is on the itinerary for the Ireland trip!
There are other portals to the Otherworld as well, including the Cave of Cats, which is in County Roscommon, Ireland. Some sources say that this cave leads to the Underworld, while others call it the Otherworld. There doesn’t seem to be a really clear distinction between the two places in Irish mythology, but the “Underworld” doesn’t seem to be any kind of hell that is described in other myths. There is the “House of Donn” which is described in some myths as an in-between place on the way to wherever you go when you die (Donn is the god of death according to some myths, although his stories may be somewhat based on stories originating from places outside of Ireland). Donn and his house are both in my book as well.
One of the easiest to access tales that talks about the Otherworld is the voyage of Oisin, who was an Irish man who fell in love with the fairy/god Niamh and went to the Otherworld with her. He eventually became homesick and asked to return to Ireland, and Niamh granted permission reluctantly but warned him not to touch the ground. Of course he did, and immediately died because it had been 300 years in Ireland since he went to the Otherworld. A key factor of the Otherworld is that time moves differently there, and what feels like days are really years. It is called the land or city of eternal youth, because no one ages there and it’s described as a perfect place. Niamh is a character in my story, and of course my characters are in a race for time as soon as they step into the Otherworld because they know that time is passing in years in their “real” world."
Did you know one of the original (some sources even say it was the first) stories about the headless horseman comes from Irish mythology? They say the Legend of Sleepy Hollow was based off of the Irish myth. Of course, I had to throw in a headless horseman just because of that!
I feel excited about my novel all over again writing this blog post. I first became interested in Celtic Irish mythology and druids because of my own explorations into my ancestors, and the idea for this novel developed out of that. I can’t wait to start working on the second draft!
