Episode 10: Which Way Do You Turn? 

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This episode looks at the place of the sun in Irish tradition, and why Irish Paganism was never the sun worship that newer systems often assume. Drawing on the lorica attributed to Colum Cille, where the traveller calls on the king of suns for a smooth path, and on Kevin Danaher's record of people walking sunwise at the holy wells, it sets out how Irish people actually worked with the sun, as a direction of blessing rather than a god to be adored. It also asks why the solstices were never the centre of the Irish year, and what stands there instead.

This Episode's Practice: The Sunwise Turn

Do this in daylight, in the morning or the middle of the day, ideally somewhere a bit of sun can reach you, though a bright dull day will serve. Stand where you have a small space to turn, at a window indoors or outside if you can. Settle with one breath, and bring to mind a single thing you want to go well, a piece of work, a trip, a hard conversation, held plainly. Then turn slowly to your right, sunwise, deiseal (pronounced: DESH-al), the whole way round in a full circle, keeping that one thing in mind. Make three slow sunwise turns in all. On the last, as you come back to face out again, say the old line, a rí grian rob soraid sét, king of suns, may the way be smooth. Close with Beir Bua (pronounced: BARE BOO-ah), take victory, and go on about your day. Turn only sunwise, with the sun's course, and leave the opposite direction, tuathal (pronounced: TOO-uh-hal), alone.

NOTE ON THE IRISH LANGUAGE

That's Old Irish, and into Modern Irish it comes out roughly as:

A Rí na Gréine, go raibh an tslí réidh.

Breaking down the source so you can see the choices I made:

"a rí grian" is the vocative, "O Sun King" or "O King of the Sun". Modern idiom usually takes the article, so "A Rí na Gréine", though "A Rí Gréine" stays closer to the article-less original if you prefer that.

"rob" is the old optative of the copula, "may it be", which in Modern Irish becomes "go raibh".

"soraid" is the adjective easy, smooth, prosperous, said of a journey going well. The natural modern word is "réidh" (smooth, clear). If you'd rather keep the older root, "soraidh" still exists but now carries more the sense of a farewell or blessing than literally smooth.

"sét" is way, path, journey. Modern options are "slí" or "bealach"; I used "an tslí".

So a very literal modern reading is "O King of the Sun, may the way be smooth", which matches the gloss in the episode. If you want it to feel more like a spoken blessing you could go with "A Rí na Gréine, go raibh do shlí réidh" (may your way be smooth).

Check the pronunciation of any word on https://abair.ie 

Sources

• Jacqueline Borsje, 'Celtic Spells and Counterspells', on the lorica attributed to Colum Cille (Recension I), a rí grian rob soraid sét.
• Kevin Danaher, The Year in Ireland (Cork: Mercier Press, 1972), on sunwise (deiseal) rounds at the holy wells.
• Cath Maige Tuired, for the phrase 'as long as the sun travels right-hand-wise'.

Living Irish Witchcraft is hosted by Rev. Lora O'Brien, MA. Find more at irishpaganschool.ie