The Wild Gees

Born #Onthisday 1905 Mabel Colhoun, educationalist, photographer & archaeologist. This is one of her photos of Rathlin Island in 1939 towermuseumcollections.com/mabelcolhoun... #XXmas

The recent attack at the IPAS centre in Drogheda is shocking, but not surprising. Nor is the silence from those who shout the loudest about protection of women and children.

#drogheda #immigration #asylum #racism #diversityandinclusion

Just in

Amazing sunrise marking the start of the Celtic New Year on 1st November / Samhain, the Christian Feast of All Saints Day.

At Carrowmore megalithic site, Sligo, the chamber at Listoghill faces the Ballygawley Mountains & sunrise in this position coincides with the start and the end of winter.

The far right will eventually kill someone or lots of someones if our pathetic government does not act now to stop them … first step would be for politicians, including Government ministers, to stop repeating far right racist rhetoric #speirgorm

Oíche Shamhna shona duit! 🐈‍⬛

Here's a short moment captured at the entrance to Oweynagat, Uaimh na gCat (Cave of the Cats) in the ancient landscape of Rathcroghan, Roscommon.

There are many tales about the dark depths of the cave, once described as the 'Gateway to Hell' in the Book of Leinster.

Spooky Samhain with Dr Hannah Mac Auliffe

Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh! Our ethereal expert Dr Hannah Mac Auliffe @maynoothuniversity.ie guides us through the darkness of #samhain a time for feasting, mischief & terror in medieval Irish literature, when the veil between worlds is thin, & ghastly ghouls abound. open.spotify.com/episode/6gQ6...

#Onthisday is Halloween - this is how it was celebrated in Glanane, North #Cork back in the day via the School Folklore Collection #LoveCork #PureCork #CorkLike shorturl.at/FVtZe

The Israeli UN rep called Francesca Albanese a witch & said her report on the ongoing genocide in Gaza was just ‘another page in her spell book’. Her brilliant response is that if she had spells (as a witch) she’d end their crimes. #endthegenocide

Spooky little Dead Man's Fingers fungi peeking through the forest floor...
Happy Halloween everyone!! 🥨😱 @irishwoodlandtrust.bsky.social

✨ Next Saturday, join us during Dublin Book Festival for a panel with Evelyn Conlon (author and UCD Press co-editor of After the Train) and Sinéad Gleeson in conversation with Clodagh Finn

Women Writing History
Saturday, 8 November
11 am
IMMA, RHK

🎟️ dublinbookfestival.com/event/women-...

Halloween histories: Step inside the stories of Ireland’s (alleged) witches Dr Niav Gallagher of the Dictionary of Irish Biography looks at the history of witchcraft in Ireland.

Traces of Samhain remain in the celebration we know today as Halloween: bonfires, feasting, dressing up and, of course, ghost stories. So, for the day that's in it, step inside the stories of Ireland’s (alleged) witches with DIB article in The Journal: www.thejournal.ie/readme/hallo...

Happy Halloween!

In pre-Christian Ireland, Samhain marked the shift from summer’s light to winter’s dark. But it was also the time when the barrier between this world and the Otherworld was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through to our realm, where they were appeased with food and drink

1/2:

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places.

“Once you [went] in those doors to those institutions, you [didn’t] come out the same.”

Mary Donovan's mother Margaret Mary spent most of her life detained in Irish psychiatric institutions.

She is now calling for an apology over how her mother was treated.

@investigates.thejournal.ie

♠️The Púca🌙
As the veil grows thin, let’s look back at how our ancestors inspired #Halloween.

The púca (Irish for spirit) is a creature of Celtic folklore. They were said to be shape-changers that could take the appearance of a human disguise.
Creepy!
✨Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%BAca

#Onthisday 1921 Linda Kearns, Eithne Coyle, Mae Burke (pictured at Ducket’s Grove #Carlow) & Aileen Keogh escape from Mountjoy Prison having been incarcerated during the Irish War of Independence issuu.com/ballymoteher... B&W📸UCD

The superstitions and mysteries around Ireland's 'fairy forts'. Many ringforts in rural Ireland were associated with fairy activity and supernatural happenings in the recent past, writes @marionmcgarry.bsky.social ATU www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... #Halloween

Dublin Book Festival | Women, Struggle and Resilience - Royal Irish Academy Leanne Calvert, Susan Marie Martin and Caroline West in conversation with Mary McAuliffe

Women, Struggle and Resilience - Leanne Calvert, Susan Marie Martin and Caroline West in conversation with Mary McAuliffe, Thurs 6th Nov., 6.45pm, RIA, book below #speirgorm #DBF24 www.ria.ie/events/dubli...

RIP - a great woman whose courageous challenge in the courts gave to Irish women the first steps towards control of their own reproductive bodies. Rest in power, Mrs McGee #speirgorm

Otd in 2012 Savita Halappanavar died after being refused a life-saving abortion in Ireland.
Her death led to huge demonstrations and helped put Ireland on the road to legalisation of abortion in a referendum in 2018. This is the story of that movement:
isj.org.uk/irelands-abo...

Waterford home of international travel writer Dervla Murphy bought by local council A treasured piece of Irish literary history has been acquired in perpetuity for the public in Waterford following a long-running campaign

Waterford home of international travel writer Dervla Murphy bought by local council
A treasured piece of Irish literary history has been acquired in perpetuity for the public in Waterford following a long-running campaign

www.independent.ie/regionals/wa...

Meet the Forgotten Female Artist Behind the World’s Most Popular Tarot Deck (1909) As an exercise draw a composition of fear or sadness, or great sorrow, quite simply, do not bother about details now, but in a few lines tell your story. Then show it to any one of your friends, or fa...

Meet the Forgotten Female Artist Behind the World’s Most Popular Tarot Deck (1909)

The Law on Metal Detecting in Ireland | National Museum of Ireland Welcome to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin & Castlebar covering Archaeology, Decorative Arts, Folk & Country Life, & Natural History.FREE Exhibitions

And in Ireland we have had to listen to (often condescending & colonialist) voices saying we are behind, “how much better it is in Britain and The Netherlands”

Our Archaeology & Heritage Act 2023 is unambivalent- it is illegal to metal detect for archaeological objects in Ireland without a licence

‘Under the stuff I can’t throw out is the stuff my parents couldn’t throw out’: novelist Anne Enright on the agony of clearing her family home Would saying goodbye to every last newspaper clipping, button and book her parents had saved over decades help her mourn?

‘Under the stuff I can’t throw out is the stuff my parents couldn’t throw out’: novelist Anne Enright on the agony of clearing her family home

Solidarity with Cork Drag Queens - two of whom were assaulted in Cork City this weekend. #speirgorm
Trigger Warning: Homophobic attack, violence, blood
www.instagram.com/p/DQSNOVXDWsS/

A trip to the indie bookshop or local library (or supporting them online) instead of placing an order through a mega-retailer.

Heading to a local coffee shop instead of an international chain.

Joining an indie's book club, fostering IRL connections.

Asking a librarian instead of relying on AI.

Just sent my weekly women's history newsletter and I'm up to more than 200 subscribers! If you want to join the fun, it's free and easy to sign up: www.infinite-women.com/weekly-newsl...

Ireland elects an independent, socialist woman to the position of president.

Irish Media: ‘Today, we ask what went wrong with the system, what her opponents have to say about it, and how it can be fixed for next time.’

#SpeirGorm #Áras2025

It’s inconvenient to have a publicly edited fact checker if you want to rewrite the past using Grok. #wikipedia #ai