Dara Gur

05/11/2024

How 'bout a little doom & gloom to darken a nice May day? Check out Old Irish Culture at Plainfield's Cutler Memorial Library - Tuesday, May 14th at 6:30 p.m.

Our session will focus upon Dhuinn (also Don or Daun), the dark Lord of Storms in SW Ireland, who arrived with the first settlers in 3200 BC and is still an actively-acknowledged presence today. He has his own mountain... Cnoc Dhuinn Fírinne (Don's Hill of Truth) in County LImerick. Many folktales are set there.

(photo by MCB ©2009 at Museum of Early European Civilization NYC)

05/11/2024

Solar storm follow-up: NOAA reports that G5 and G4 storming continue (after this morning's two X-flares, and will do so again on Sunday the 12th when two groups of incoming CMEs will merge as they reach Earth.

They note disruptions in GPS, radio communications and other services. I checked and see that Spectrum had multiple outages between 8 am and 3:30 p.m.

05/11/2024

MAJOR SOLAR STORM ALERT! This storm follows a series of high-intensity (X-class) solar flares followed by powerful Coronal Mass Ejections - CMEs. The first is arriving now and several more will combine arrive over the next 12 hours. This is the most powerful storm in two decades, and could be damaging.

Expect to see a bright display of the Northern LIghts here and even further south when sky is clear between now and dawn.
This is no small matter. A G5 (highest) solar storm... which are now told to expect... is rare and very widespread in its effects. No electronic system is immune and it could effect satellites/GPS, the electric grid, the Internet and global data and voice communications lines including undersea. If the grid is badly affected, major disruptions in food supply, pharmaceuticals, fuel, banking and other industries can be expected.

If the power goes down or the Internet crashes, please know that I will be at the Plainfield Town Hall Emergency Operations Center from 10 a.m. tomorrow onward to answer questions & to help out.

Read the following wonderfully comprehensive New Yorker article to understand the whole, and download (print to pdf) if you want to refer to it latter. You may be able to view it as a free article -

Disturbances on the sun may have the potential to devastate our power grid and communication systems. When the next big storm arrives, will we be prepared for it?

05/01/2024

Happy Béltaine, Everyone!

As I recently shared with a local Vermont group, "In some ways, Béltaine represents the rekindling of hope and generosity, after a grim and sometimes punishing winter and dark time that has just passed." Certainly it is a marking point for renewal, optimism and the beginning of new growth and community.

We'll be out in Waterbury (as usual when not in Ireland) to ask Áine's blessing for all the livestock... for healthy newborns and nourishing milk.

04/20/2024

Preparing for Béltaine - Cutler Memorial Library, Tuesday APRIL 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Béltaine is the oldest celebration of what we now call May Day. Its focus is an intentional restoration of balance - of joy vs. fear; birth vs. death; light vs. dark; and blessing vs. curse.

This celebration of female generative power, the turning of the year, and the fertility of animals and fields was practiced by crowds of the early pre-Celtic Irish more than 3 millennia ago... and continues to have impact today.

It is still a heart-opening event. We will discuss its origins; the ancient women-ruled Béltaine landscape in Ireland; and prepare for a Vermont-based version focussed on requests for livestock blessing and favorable farming weather.

[photo by Tom Finnell - cattle blessing request on Áine's Hlll, Knockainy, Limerick, Ireland ]

01/26/2024

Do you know about Imbolc? (pronounced i´hm-moulk = "eve's milk"). It is one of the four traditional "cross-quarter" celebrations in the ancient rural Irish year. This day marked the warming of the Earth by the firey energy of Brighid - awakening sap and seeds, and signaling the shift from a frozen winter. It is a seasonal event often signaled and celebrated by the full Moon, and is also held on February 2nd.

A small group of us will be celebrating Imbolc down at the Plainfield VT Rec Field edge with Great Brook, at 10 p.m. this Saturday evening. Bring a small important gift to share with the water, as a signal of one's own gratitude for thawing... inside and out. And if you want to help with preparation, we will be meeting there at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year, Vermont and the rest of the world. May everyone who is making war get TOTALLY tired of it and do something else for the rest of the new year.

And just imagine... in four months and a week, the Sun will hide behind the Moon for a while. Should be good (and I hope the weather cooperates).

12/26/2023

May the chill in the air and the short days be counterbalanced by crisp bright mornings and good company by the fire. Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas.

12/09/2023

We continue our monthly discussions about pre-Celtic Irish culture on Tuesday, December 12th (please note the start time of 6:30 p.m. ). Cutler Memorial Library, Plainfield. Our topic this month is Baltic Magicians & the Birth of the Tuath dé Danann.

Having looked at the roots Ireland's founding culture, and followed the development of the first permanent settlement beside Lough Gur and its slow expansion across the island, we now look at the events after a 1750 BC conquering sea pirate invasion.

One of the largest tribes decided to flee Ireland for Baltic "Fionn Lochlainn"... where they learned there was a culture of magicians who they hoped would help them. Their exodus to early Baltic Scandinavia, and their 4 generations of apprenticeship before returning to Ireland as the Tuath dé Danann (Tribe of Danu) is highly speculative and colorful.

We have some clues which we will discuss. Led by lay Irish cultural archaeology field researcher Michael Billingsley, we will discuss the stories and the probable explanation for the Tribe of Béotach's quest for the magic powers of the far North.