Paulie Rainbow 

Digging the Well - looking for the wisdom of the path  

The DCWC loves doing the Hearthstone OFM once a year, it’s a fun challenge, delving into the things we love, like opening a treasure chest in the attic and looking for the perfect hat and wand out of a grand and sparkling collection! 

Because the rest of the year we are, separately and together, digging down into the deep rich earth of our tradition, reading books, attending workshops, discussing our findings, exploring what we’ve learned and sharing our rituals together as we grow. 

This is the second year of my work on my MA in Irish Literature through University College Cork. I’m done with my classes and working on my final in-depth essay. To get myself started on reviewing the material I think I want to incorporate, I picked back up the book “The Rites of Brigid; Goddess and Saint” by Seán Ó Duinn. It’s a favorite reference in our circle but this time I ripped into it looking for the morsels I want to highlight in my thesis essay. We will be making good use of some of the material in our upcoming ritual, but it won’t have a strong presence in my essay. I’m focussing on the manuscript materials for modern American Pagans, and this wonderful book centers on beliefs and practices over texts, but it is rich with hints of true faith, enduring values, and truly Irish cultural habits and traditions. 

I have made an ironic discovery in the midst of my degree work. While I intended to mine the manuscript materials for Pagan/Pre-Christian truth, the truth of the pre-Christian practice was encoded in gestures and songs, spoken oaths, alliteration, and paths so worn into the landscape that footsteps are the story, and seasons are the words. What of this un-literate, lived world might have been chosen for the record created by monkish hands and monotheist minds is the subject of many, many scholarly debates, and will still be the subject of my final assignment. 

But all of this has brought me to an appreciation of what we do together, as a community. I have a new, deeper regard for the power of sung and spoken words, for the personal handling of sacred objects, for the value of moments that we spend in sacred ritual together. 

I am still in the mines of the manuscripts, sifting through the living earth of Irish tradition to screen out nuggets I hope my community will eventually assay favorably. I want to make a gift of my learning, to strike a spark in dark times. 

In the meanwhile, I will be joining with my sister, Kellene, and possibly another member, and with you all in our greater community as we weave our magic in moments and words. This is what matters. It may seem ephemeral, but it has the enduring qualities of the traditions that strengthened, healed and blessed our ancestors for thousands of years. 

This month is our annual Brigit’s Basket Food Drive for Food Bank of the Rockies. As it has been a challenging year for so many we doubled our online donation goal and partnered witih Spiritways Metaphysical who offered to donate 5% of their profits for their February Festival weekend on the 13-14 Feb 2021. Although that weekend is over by the time you read this, please drop by when you’re out shopping again and let them know we appreciate their contributions! Every dollar given to FBR provides 4 meals for our neighbors in need, and allows Food Bank of the Rockies to purchase fresh produce and other specialty items for local pantries. If you would like to donate online please go to: 

http://fbr.convio.net/goto/BrigitsBasket2021

Peace of the mountains to you, 

Paulie Rainbow