Candlelit Tales Irish Mythology Podcast

Now that you know who everybody is, it’s time for the Avengers, sorry, the Fianna to assemble! This episode, we’re taking you along on a rollicking adventure, as the Fianna contend with betrayal, magic, and invasion! Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. Support for this podcast comes from our patrons. Find out more, or become a patr...

A Fianna story with a difference, this tale takes our heroes way out of their comfort zone and into the mysterious house of Cuanna, where everything is weighted with meaning and nothing is as it seems. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. Support for this podcast comes from our patrons. https://open.spotify.com/show/2102WuUUe9Jl6cGX...

Continuing on from last week, it’s time to meet more heroes of the Fianna! This time, it’s the surly teenager who grew up and became a hero after hearing one hell of a speech; the demon dog that became man’s best friend, and the man who everybody fell in love with. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatro...

In a series of short stories, we’re introducing you to the members of one of the greatest bands of warriors the world has ever seen over the next couple of episodes. This week, meet the fastest man in the world, the baldest man in the world, and the woman who everyone was in love with. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://op...

In this episode, we tell the story of the birth and boyhood of one of Ireland’s greatest heroes: Fionn Mac Cumhaill. But this story isn’t about Fionn, so much as it is about the women who raised him, shaped him, and made him the man he was. We talk about the place of the Fianna in old Irish society, and the women of the Fianna who have been forgotten. The article we talk about after the story is h...

One of the most heartbreaking stories in Irish mythology, Sadhbh is a story of persecution, resilience, and tragedy that doesn’t pull any punches. Maybe it’s something in Irish genes, but that just makes us love it more! Curl up with a cup of something comforting and prepare to have your heart punched in the face. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty...

This is a love story. One of the most romantic love stories of Irish myth. A sweeping epic that shows how true love transcends all barriers of form and time and place and circumstance. And then it has a really dark, messed up ending. Because apparently, we can't have nice things. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://open.spo...

Ancient Ireland functioned as a society without police or prisons: but how? This episode, we’re telling you one of the great stories of Crime and Punishment in Irish myth, with a complex cast of characters and a mighty adventure, you might find yourself wondering who the good guys are by the end! Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty....

The magical Tuatha de Dannan were said to have ruled Ireland for many years. But what happened to them? And where did they go? In this story, we hear who supplanted the shining ones as the rulers of Ireland, and why they may still be closer than we think. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=676283...

For the month of March, just after the spring equinox, we’re bringing you three short stories to celebrate this time of new life and new beginnings. The births of Lugh, god of the sun; Brigid, goddess of healing, craft, and poetic inspiration; and Cuchulainn, the great boy-hero of Ulster. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https:/...

One of our best-known tales, Oisin in Tir na nOg, doesn’t end the way we thought. The great pagan warrior, cast out of his own time, met the foremost Irish Saint, and they had a whole lot to talk about! Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6762832

Irish mythology has many wonderful love stories... and almost all of them end horribly! Here is "the happy one" - a tale of true love and how the God of Love, Aonghus Og, met his match! Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6762832

Whether goddess or Saint, Brigid is a character of timeless importance in Ireland, transcending the divide between pagan and Christian, and bringing us all together under her magical cloak. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6762832

The ancient battle between good and evil, Irish style. So the good guys aren't always that good, and the evil isn't so simple. If you've ever wondered where J.R.R. Tolkien got his idea for Sauron of the Evil Eye, well, look no further than Balor's baleful orb! Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6...

Irish mythology has no creation myth: the land was here first. This is the tale of the very first person to come to these shores: Cesaire and her followers - three times fifty women of art and skill, and three men. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron Hegarty. https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6762832

Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Mary Mc Laughlin performs, teaches, writes and records original and traditional songs (in both English and Irish). Having lived in both England and California where she founded a Gaelic Choir, Mary has appeared on over twelve recordings and holds a PhD in Songs of the Irish Otherworld. The song you heard was “An Mhaighdean Mhara” (The Mermaid) Aoife Wolf is a s...

This is the tale of a crucial lesson learned too late: that a warrior’s strength is meant to defend the weak, not to prop up the strong. The Curse of Macha has repercussions throughout the rest of the Tain. Also, Aron forgot how to speak after his story and confused AD and BC and may have made up a few words. But this was all inspired by a book given to him by Caitlin Moon, so shout out to her. Pr...

One of the background stories to the Tain, Deirdre is the story of tragic beauty and what happens when we treat people like things. Sorcha and Aron talk about who Deirdre was, how she's been interpreted and reinterpreted over the years, and how Candlelit Tales chose to imagine this wild, beautiful woman. Produced and edited by Oisin Ryan, with music by Oisin Ryan, story by Sorcha Hegarty and Aron...

We released our first podcast on our 4 year anniversary as a company. We started, as we did in the winter of 2014, with the story of ‘An Táin Bo Culaigne’. So feast your ears on this inaugural two-part episode. This show was recorded live in Whelans on the 22nd of October, 2018, to a sell-out audience. We developed this show in 2016 with the help of all of these lovely people (in no particular ord...

We released our first podcast on our 4 year anniversary as a company. We started, as we did in the winter of 2014, with the story of ‘An Táin Bo Culaigne’. So feast your ears on this inaugural two-part episode. This show was recorded live in Whelans on the 22nd of October, 2018, to a sell-out audience. We developed this show in 2016 with the help of all of these lovely people (in no particular ord...