Even before the time of the Celts, Ireland was believed to be a land of power that "welled up" from the earth in the form of bubbling springs and healing waters. The myths and rituals surrounding these holy wells have been modified through the centuries as pre-Celtic and Celtic rituals blended with Christian traditions to form the combination of rites performed at these sites today. Drawing on fifteen years of fieldwork and archival research, conversations with local informants, and scrutiny of dozens of maps ancient and modern, the Brennemans have written the first study of these wells that offers an in-depth interpretation of their symbolism and their mythological and ritual origins. More than two dozen photographs and a map of the wells cited in the text portray the authors' journey throughout Ireland to recover the archaic patterns that link past and present, pagan and Christian. Some of the wells photographed in the early years of their research have become inactive, and some Celtic practices have disappeared, leaving these photographs, in some instances, the only remaining record. Enhancing the photographs and research are numerous tales about trees at the wells that when cut will not burn, stones associated with the wells that when removed always return, and trout living in the wells that when caught cannot be cooked. Drawing largely on the work of historian of religions Mircea Eliade in interpreting these phenomena, the Brennemans have developed an original concept, the "loric", that is used to identify a particular form of power tied to and arising from a specific locality. They then contrast the loric with the "sacred", a universalizing and world-creating power. Complementingthis theoretical treatment are insights into the influence of St. Patrick and the Christian symbolism at the wells.

She Is Everywhere! Volume 3 presents a bold, brave, and beautiful compilation of womanist/feminist essays, poems, and artwork showcasing work from an international community of women and men who honor the Sacred Female. The fifty contributors in this anthology-scholars, creative writers, and visual artists-share their vision for a world that reclaims the inviolability of the Divine Female in all Her many and varied manifestations. She Is Everywhere! Volume 3 is the latest edition of a leading-edge series which, like its predecessors, offers an invaluable contribution to women's spirituality, religion, philosophy, and women's studies. The contemporary voices contained within its pages echo an ancient clarion call to embrace the values of justice with compassion, equality for all people, and transformation. "We have a calling in this world-namely, to prevent the destruction from continuing." -Claudia von Werlhof "I am in the presence of a divine Mother, and She is fulfilling a deep longing inside of me." -Nicole Margiasso-Tran "She was, I am, my daughter is because we are all Her." -Etoyle McKee Just as dark matter (mother) in space shapes galaxies and holds them together, we are shaped and held by the African Dark Mother who has given us Her life force, and resides in the very depths of our being, where the macrocosm is literally reflected in the microcosm." -Leslene della-Madre Front cover: Black Madonna Cradles the Earth (c) 2010 Yvonne M. Lucia Back cover: Contemplate Creation (c) 2006 Sheila Marie Hennessy

Sacred Wells is an in depth study of springs, wells and waters that have been venerated from California to Cornwall, Russia to Australia. Tales of faeries, black hounds, hauntings and miraculous cures are explored. Many of these sites are still locations for religious festivals and ritual, unchanging for hundreds of years. The book is illustrated with photos taken by the author.

Describing sacred waters and their associated traditions in over thirty countries and across multiple time periods, this book identifies patterns in panhuman hydrolatry. Supplying life’s most basic daily need, freshwater sources were likely the earliest sacred sites, and the first protected and contested resource. Guarded by taboos, rites and supermundane forces, freshwater sources have also been considered thresholds to otherworlds. Often associated also with venerated stones, trees and healing flora, sacred water sources are sites of biocultural diversity. Addressing themes that will shape future water research, this volume examines cultural perceptions of water’s sacrality that can be employed to foster resilient human–environmental relationships in the growing water crises of the twenty-first century. The work combines perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, classics, folklore, geography, geology, history, literature and religious studies.

The fifth volume of The Oxford History of British & Irish Catholicism--covering the period from the Great War, through the Second World War and the Second Vatican Council--surveys the transformed ecclesial landscape between the papacies of Benedict XV and Pope Francis. It explores the efforts of bishops, priests and people in Ireland and Scotland, Wales and England to respond to modern challenges and reintegrate the experiences and expertise of the laity into the ministry of the Church. Alongside the twentieth century's designation as an era of technological innovation, war, peace, globalization, decolonization and liberation, this period has also been designated 'the People's Century'. Viewed through the lens of the Catholic church in Britain and Ireland, these same dynamics are explored within thematic, synoptic chapters by leading scholars. As a century characterized by the rise, or better renewal of the apostolate of the laity, this edited collection traces the struggles to reconcile tradition, re-evaluate hierarchical authority, adapt to social and educational mobility, as well as to adjudicate serious challenges from outside and within--including inflammatory biopolitics and clerical sexual abuse--to religious belief and the legitimacy of the Church as an institution.

This book re-assesses archaeological research into holy well sites in Ireland and the evidence for votive deposition at watery sites throughout northwest European prehistory.