Bard Mythologies

Discovering Ireland's Deep Forgotten Wisdom

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    • Immersion 1 – Nine Waves – Introduction to Irish Myth, The Cycles and Silver Branch Perception
      • Wave 1: The Voyage Of Bran
      • Wave 2 – The Cesair Journey
      • Wave 3 – Fintan and the Hawk of Achill
      • Wave 4 – The Settling of the Manor of Tara
      • Wave 5 – Cú Chulainn: Romantic Cultural Hero
      • Wave 6 – Cú Chulainn as a Tragic Hero
      • Wave 7 – Amhairghin and the Arrival of the Sons of Mil
      • Wave 8 – Conaire Mór: The Exemplary King
      • Wave 9 – Niall of the Nine Hostages
    • Myths of the Civil War
    • Immersion 2 – Nine Waves – Myths of the Chosen and Not Chosen People
      • Wave 1 – Birth and Boyhood Deeds of Fionn MacCumhail
      • Wave 2 – Fionn and the Fianna
      • Wave 3 – Oisin and Niamh
      • Wave 4 – Diarmuid and Grainne
      • Wave 5 – Parthalon
      • Wave 6 – Nemed and the Fir Bolg
      • Wave 7 – Balor of the Evil Eye
      • Wave 8 – Cormac MacAirt
      • Wave 9 – Mongan
    • Immersion 3 – Exile, Migration and Return: Voyages and Adventures
      • Wave 1 – Deirdre of the Sorrows
      • Wave 2 – Midir and Etain
      • Wave 3 – The Children of Lir
      • Wave 4 – The One Jealousy of Emer: Cuchulain and Fand
      • Wave 5 – The Voyage of Mael Duin
      • Wave 6 – Brendan The Navigator
      • Wave 7 – The Voyage of Bran
      • Wave 8 – The dream of Oenghus
      • Wave 9 – Brigit and the Tuatha
      • Wave 10 – Columcille and the Celtic Christianity
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What is the purpose of the Bard?

By Bard Mythologies

The primary purpose of the Bard is the re-engagement with a unique traditional heritage in order to help us reflect on where we are today. To ask whether myths are true is the wrong question, the question to ask is to do with their utility.

At the end of the 14th century the Florentines believed that if only they could recover the wisdom of the classical world they would have ‘gold’, a cultural gold that they could use as a source of inspiration to help them out of a difficult time in Europe. What they discovered was that Roman and Greek texts were indeed the source of inspiration for what was to become known as the Florentine and Italian Renaissance, and the time in Europe was the medieval Dark Ages.

To suggest that the engagement with ancient oral texts might be a similar source of inspiration on Irish Renaissance as it were, Renaissance mediated by Myth is perhaps somewhat ambitious and grandiose. Even though it might seem Ireland is going through, indeed has lived through a dark age.

The purpose of the Bard is not a return to a Celtic medieval and archaic world, a once golden age but rather the practical application of the oral traditions, we call it the Mythic Method, as a way of looking deeply at today. The encounter with these stories helps an individual or culture see where they are today. It gives perspective, it gives a way of seeing – ‘silver branch perception’, is what it is called in the Myths.

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