Mythical Ireland embodies the search for a soul among Ireland's ancient ruins, and is an attempt to retrieve something of deeper import from 5,000-year-old megalithic monuments and their associated myths. The book represents a fascinating and engaging journey through time, landscape and the human spirit. Dealing with archaeology, interpretive mythography, cosmology and cosmogony, the book attempts to grapple with a core meaning, something beyond the functional interpretations of academia. In this revised and expanded edition, Anthony Murphy delves further into the many enthralling aspects of this journey. Just how much knowledge did locals have of the secrets of Newgrange before it was excavated? Who is the Cailleach, the ancient hag goddess whose image is ubiquitous in the ancient landscape? What happened to make Ireland's Stonehenge disappear from the landscape? Who were the first kings of Tara? What were the indigenous Irish myths about the Milky Way? Did someone try to steal the Tara Brooch? Why are there myths in Ireland about flooded towns and cities? Lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs of the Irish landscape and ancient monuments, Mythical Ireland represents a personal and yet universal journey, a quest to reimagine the shrines as empowering and transformative sacred places. Murphy invokes the druids and poets of the Boyne and thus the sídhe of the ancient texts are reawakened for a modern and turbulent world.

A lavishly illustrated exploration of Ireland's ancient, mystical past, dealing with archaeology, interpretive mythography, cosmology and cosmogeny.

The age of the myth lives on in Ireland - in folk tales and literature, in place-names and language, in ceremonies and monuments. This work explores Ireland's four provinces to discover the places at the root of Irish myth and legend. Focal mythic sites such as St Patrick's Purgatory in Ulster, Loster Gur in Munster and Dublin in Leinster, are described in detail. Finally Ireland is surveyed from a fifth province Mide where the entire island is seen to be held in a web of pre-historic sites aligned with solar-lunar events. Ireland's sacred locations take on contemporary relevance as the book shows that the underlying concerns of myth - conservation and recurrence - are increasingly present concerns.

This powerful analysis of the wise women healer from the oral traditions of Ireland's rural communities is unique in its depth and perspective. Stories, told and retold, embedded in the texture of culture and community, collected and studied for many decades, are here translated and made available to the general reader for the first time. The figure of the wise woman, the hag, the Cailleach, or the Red Woman are part of an oral tradition which has its roots in pre-Christian Ireland. In the hands of Gearoid O Crualaich, these figures are subtly explored to reveal how they offered a complex understanding of the world, of human psychology and its predicaments: the thematic structure of the book brings to the fore universal themes such as death, marriage, childbirth, and healing, and invites the reader to see the contemporary relevance of the stories for themselves.

If you can only think of leprechauns when you think of Irish mythical creatures, it's time to think again! Ireland's mythology is bursting with mysterious and fantastical characters and this book is the perfect way to explore the island's magical heritage. The book is packed with some supernatural creatures you may have heard of, like the banshee, and many more that may be new to you, such as the Suileach, a monster with 400 eyes, or the Airetech, a creature from the underworld who has three beautiful daughters who can transform into werewolves. This new edition of this bestselling book includes eight additional creatures you may not have heard of, including the Gruagach, the beast of Loch Lurgan, and the magic bird of Assaroe. In this beautifully designed book, Mark Joyce brings us on a fantastic journey through Irish folklore with his stories of monsters and enchanted creatures, all brought to life through his original illustrations. He uncovers local stories of monsters that have been lost or forgotten and breathes new life into them with his creative artwork, sure to spark the imagination.

First written down in the eighth century AD, these early Irish stories depict a far older world - part myth, part legend and part history. Rich with magic and achingly beautiful, they speak of a land of heroic battles, intense love and warrior ideals, in which the otherworld is explored and men mingle freely with the gods. From the vivid adventures of the great Celtic hero Cu Chulaind, to the stunning 'Exile of the Sons of Uisliu' - a tale of treachery, honour and romance - these are masterpieces of passion and vitality, and form the foundation for the Irish literary tradition: a mythic legacy that was a powerful influence on the work of Yeats, Synge and Joyce.

A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fiction Ireland’s Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era—and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams’s comprehensive history traces how these gods—known as the Túatha Dé Danann—have shifted shape across the centuries. We meet the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves; and many others. Ireland’s Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world’s imagination for so long.