J.M.J.

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Hello, Friend! Nannie here!

As you can see, Finney loves the beginnin’s and the endin’s of every day…and everything in between! Finney loves the sunrise in the mornin’ and the days, “no matter rain, no matter shine,”  and the sunsets at day’s end.  Finney loves his meals and he knows he has to get his work done before he can play!  He loves dancin’ and singin’ and laughin’ and havin’ fun!  And then our Finn loves to snooze!  He seems to have it all goin’ on.

He also knows, though, that life isn’t easy…especially when someone is tryin’ to steal the gold!

     

But he seems to easily enjoy all that God has blessed him with, and is so grateful.  Thinkin’ of Finney lying on the ground at night, with the candle light of his little red lantern, just lookin’ at the stars and the Moon…my goodness, what a peaceful sight!

     

     

The settin’ of the sun can be an amazin’ blaze of color and brilliance as well as a soft and lovely disappearance of the sun below the horizon.

     

For most everyone it seems to mark the day is coming to a close.  Dr. Joyce, in his A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (1906) tells us that “It was geis* for anyone to bring arms into the palace of Tara after sunset.” I’m thinking that if there was any kind of  temptation to violence it could wait till mornin’…?  Any thoughts on this?

*geis – sounds like gesh and means an act which people were prohibited from doing under penalty of misfortune or ill luck of some kind.                    www.libraryireland.com

So, we’ve spoken of sunshine and moonshine. An article on http://www.education.com, “Why Does the Moon Glow?”, by Tricia Edgar, goes further to speak of another “soft source of light is earthshine. This is light that reflects off the Earth onto the Moon.”

The ancient stone structures in Ireland give ample evidence of the awareness and knowledge of the movements of what can be seen in the sky, whether Morning or Evening.

Martin Brennan, in his book The Stones of Time­, shares information recorded that says that Conn the Hundred Fighter watched the stars at Tara…”so that no hostile aerial beings should descend upon Ireland unknown to him.”

In the 19th century, the Third Earl of Rosse designed and built the largest telescope in the world.  With this telescope, he discovered the spiral nature of some of the galaxies…This reflecting telescope remained the largest in the world for over 70 years…and still works today!  The location of this amazin’ telescope is Birr Castle in County Offaly.  If you ever find yourself in Ireland, the Birr Castle Gardens and Science Centre would be a wonderful and grand destination! (www.birrcastle.com)

Newgrange, as was mentioned (Post 58, October 9, 2015), celebrates the effects of the Sun rising in a special way on the event of the winter solstice.  The massive stone components in what arguably may be the oldest “building” in the world, lead to an inner chamber.  The portal opening above the entryway is situated exactly so that the sunrise at the winter solstice enters the passageway and illumines the whole inner chamber…real Indiana Jones stuff!

As a matter of fact, all access to the chamber at Newgrange when this happens at Winter Solstice time, is decided by lottery! (Everyone else, however, is welcome to come and stand on the outside of the monument.)  There were 30,475 entries for Solstice 2015!   Fifty names are drawn and each may bring a guest.  This allows 20 people for 5 different dawns over the time of the Winter Solstice!   There is a reserve list in case someone can’t come, but other than that the place at dawn is non-transferable.                              http://www.newgrange.com

Newgrange is estimated to be 5,000 to 6000 years old…pretty good record for dependability! Another little fun fact is that after all these thousands of years “the roof at Newgrange is still water proof!” (www.worldheritageireland.ie)  The ancients did some pretty amazin’ stuff!  Any of you who might want to read more about Newgrange, I would encourage you to look for the works of the O’Kellys who did extensive study of  Newgrange.  This is another place you would want to visit if you had the blessing of a trip to Ireland!

Newgrange Archaeology, Art and Legend by Michael J. O’Kelly                                            Illustrated Guide to Newgrange and the other Boyne Monuments by Claire O’Kelly

Referring to the sun worship in Ireland in ancient times, as was also mentioned in Post 58, October 9, 2015, St. Pat speaks of the true Sun being Jesus, the Son (St. Patrick’s Confessio). In regards to the Irish Cross, it really is no mind-stretch to think the cross looks like the cross of Jesus imposed on the Sun. In the beautiful Church in my Parish of St. Clement’s in Saratoga Springs, New York, there is a mosaic behind the altar which surely brings this to mind… no longer worship of the sun, but of  The Son…Jesus! Here are pictures…

     

 Also referring to Post 58, given that the cross symbol does have pre-Christian roots, and that a gold disc dated at about 2,000 B.C. has a cross symbol on it (Mythic Ireland, Dames, Michael), again it sure looks like Jesus’ Cross could rest right on top, making the familiar Irish Cross.

             

And speaking of one image leading to another…like the pre-Christian cross to the Cross of Jesus…Before when I mentioned that the inner chamber of Newgrange was illumined by the winter solstice sunrise, I did not point out something that Claire O’Kelly tells us. Mrs. O’Kelly tells us that the rising sun gives light on a 3-spiral carving on a stone in the end-chamber of the tomb. The 3-spiral*, also known as a trisceal, is the form of a shamrock. St. Patrick’s use of the shamrock to teach about the Blessed Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – brought a familiar ancient symbol of significance to new meaning as he taught his beloved Irish people about God loving the world so much He gave His only Son (John 3:16)

 

 *These 3-spiral “trisceal” images are also on the huge stone at the entrance of Newgrange.

Pre-Christian cross to Cross of Jesus…Ancient trisceal to Shamrock…all part of The Divine Plan! I am sure there must be some scholarly work somewhere that addresses this, but I think it’s fun to come upon these things and think about them! And, of course, Finney being on the inside track of good St. Pat…well, he knows all about all this!

 There are so many more fun facts about these subjects, but that’s all for now. Finney is callin’ to me…always want to make sure he’s okay!

 God bless you and thank you for stopping by to visit Finney and me!