Pagan movie, Gaelic and the Moon

Zach heard of a movie he wanted to see so we looked in the library system and lo! and behold! it was in our own library.  So off we went to get it.  It's called The Secret of Kells, and is a lovely fictionalized account of the Book of Kells and it's rescue.  It's a cartoon, with the background animation reflecting the illuminations of The Book of Kells but it's not by any stretch of the imagination a Christian rendition of it.  It's highly Pagan, with a forest spirit who helps the boy and references to Pagan entities.  But one of the greatest parts, for me, were the many Pagan symbols that exist in the real Book of Kells.  I have told my husband frequently that Christianity wouldn't exist today if it hadn't incorporated so much Paganism.  It would have died out long before it ever got going.  Which, of course, says to me that Paganism is the stronger of the religions.  Just sayin'.

Plus the movie is an Irish production.  I love that it didn't have any Hollywoodizing too it.  Just pure Irish story-telling.

ETA:  I painted this movie as a Pagan film but it's also about how Christianity took over Ireland.  In some ways it's portrayed as a good thing.  I don't see it that way, of course.

I'm going to clean my room tonight to get ready for the Dark Moon ritual I plan on having tonight and for the New Moon ritual I've got planned for tomorrow night.  I'm convinced I'm tied to the Moon somehow and I've got to learn how to channel her energies because She drains me dry.  I'm hoping these rituals will help.

Plus I intend to start using frankincense as therapy for my depression which is grabbing hold of me again.  Tight this time.

Tomorrow I need to get my seeds planted indoors.  I'm hoping the New Moon will be a good time to do that.  I haven't looked at the almanac yet.  I probably should check that but I think I remember my grandfather talking about starting things on the New Moon.  And no, he was fully Christian and yet used a lot of Pagan ideas and folklore on his farm.  My mom used to use charms when we were little, but I'm sure she doesn't remember that now.  It's just what people did then...they didn't think of it as Pagan.  But they also didn't see it as a conflict with Christianity.

It has occurred to me that my estrangement from my older son puts my younger son and I in jeopardy of being outed for both being Pagans and for Zach being gay.  I've decided from now on, not to hide it from the people around me up here, not even Godboy at Wendy's.  But for my parents' sake, because I know if they knew I wasn't a Christian anymore, they would have sleepless nights until they die, I won't let myself be out to them.  It's not a question of saving myself.  It's a question of not hurting them.  I don't think my older son would really do that, but there is always a risk when you've entrusted a secret to someone who no longer feels an attachment to you, that that secret might be used as ammunition against you.  I was just weighing those risks.

Zach has expressed interest in Celtic Paganism, although not with a particular God/dess so we've decided to try and learn Irish Gaelic.  I got a booklet and cd from the library but it's conversational Irish so I'm not sure how helpful it will be.  I have another course on order from the library that is more a language course.  If we make progress with it, I'll look into a better course to buy, but I don't want to spend money if we're not going to keep at it.  I'd also like to learn Welsh, but I need to take one step at a time.  I'm not good at languages beside Latin so I don't know how well I'll do.

I should get busy because I plan on going to sleep early tonight.  My energy is just sapped and I need to recharge so I'd like to clean and do my rituals before it gets too late.  My widget says the moon is 0% of full so I guess it's time.