The Great Myths #10: The Book of Invasions (Celtic)

An episode from 7/7/21: In this third episode on Celtic mythology, I read a summary of that massive work of poetry and prose that combined the efforts of generations’ of medieval Irish scholars and earlier storytellers into a weird, brilliant and ungainly whole: the Lebor Gabála Érenn, otherwise known as the Book of Invasions. I also discuss why, with some of this mythological and folkloric material, reading a summary and not the original is preferable.

The summary I read comes from James MacKillop’s Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. The 5-volume English translation of the entire Lebor Gabála Érenn (published by the Irish Texts Society) can be purchased in hardcover here; however, each volume is now available for download as .pdfs, here.

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Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.

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#231: The mythology of the moon – Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 6/1/26: Tonight, we delve into the significance of the moon in mythology, religion, and folklore. I read from the Taschen Book of Symbols, the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, and Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion.Finally, and most personally, I read about the history of Rosh Chodesh, the monthly Jewish holiday recognizing the New Moon. For this, I read a passage from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s A Guide to Jewish Prayer.The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
  1. #231: The mythology of the moon
  2. #230 – The mythology of the bear, and Byron gets apocalyptic
  3. #229 : Mother Earth and myths of mining and agriculture
  4. #228 – What Ted Bundy did on July 14, 1974
  5. #227 – The Great Fire of London and the destruction of Jerusalem
  6. #226: The Vitality and terror of cities
  7. #225 – The invention of the wheel, and the power of storytelling
  8. #224: Let's talk about William Blake
  9. #223 – How to write two novels at the same time, with Charles Dickens
  10. #222: Seamus Heaney – 10 Essential Poems

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