PC Cast - Cruithne Mythology and the House of Night

Find out more about Nyx in the House of Night!

http://www.smartpopbooks.com/cruithne-mythology-and-the-house-of-night/

An Imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.
Dallas, TX

THIS PUBLICATION IS UNOFFICIAL AND UNAUTHORIZED. IT HAS NOT BEEN PREPARED, APPROVED, AUTHORIZED, LICENSED, OR ENDORSED BY ANY ENTITY THAT CREATED OR PRODUCED THE WELL-KNOWN BOOK SERIES THE HOUSE OF NIGHT.

2011 by P.C. Cast

All rights reserved.

BenBella Books, Inc.

10300 N. Central Expressway, Suite 400

Dallas, TX 75231

www.benbellabooks.com

www.smartpopbooks.com

Send feedback to

irst, let me explain why I use the term Cruithne and not Celtic when I speak of Scottish and Irish Clansfolk.

It may surprise readers to find out that the word most used to describe the culture and people of northwestern Europe, Celtic or Celt, is a modern word that only came into popular usage in the last century. The word comes from a Latin description of a small Spanish tribe that Roman scribes and historians used to create myths about a fictional race they called the Celts. These myths were so successful that, in todays world, its now generally believed that the Celts were every bit as real as the Romans, when in truth a Celtic race only existed in fiction.

The Scots and Irish Gaelic culture we associate with the term today, though, is very real. It just has no connection to those original Roman myths. After the Second World War, with the movement of peoples around Europe, the art and music of the Scots and Irish appealed to the souls of many nations, and they, most specifically of all northwestern Europeans, began to be called Celts.

The Clansfolk of Scotland and Ireland today prefer to be called by their ancient name of Cruithne. Cruithne is a Gaelic word used by Gaels themselves that specifically refers to the indigenous peoples of Scotland, Ireland, and Northwest Wales. This Gaelic word, by definition, incorporates the music, history, myths, legends, gods, and goddesses of the Gaelic peoples (oddly mirroring what the fictional title Celt had been created to do). Why I choose to use Cruithne instead of the more easily recognized Celt is because as I listened to their stories I saw that, in their own language, Cruithne is who they were, are, and ever will be.

When Zoeys soul shattered at the end of Tempted and I began to research the perfect place to use as a conduit between the modern world and Nyxs Otherworld, Scotland immediately came to mind. Ive long felt a connection to Scotland. Ive studied Cruithne history and mythology, and as a high school English teacher I led several groups of students to Scotland. Ill always remember the first time I crossed the English/Scottish border in 1994. Our tour bus stopped at one of those huge dividing stones that say ENGLAND on one side and SCOTLAND on the other. It was raining (of course!), and as I traced my fingers over the damp letters, S C O T L A N D, I thought, Finally here. Id enjoyed England, and still do, but Scotland has had my heart for a long time. So it felt right for me to look to Scotland for the magick and myth to solve Zoeys Otherworldly dilemma. As I considered the setting, I was drawn to the Scottish Highlands, the Isle of Skye in particular. Some people will call it luck or accident; I like to think of it as listening to and then following my intuition, which was, perhaps, guided by a little nudge from the Goddess. But whatever it was, I found myself in Edinburgh meeting Seoras Wallace, Chieftain of Clan Wallace, who was the research assistant my fabulous UK publisher hired for me. That day in early August of 2009 changed my life, as well as the mythology of the House of Night.

Seoras and I shared an instant connection, and on that sunny August day in the Highlands (yes! The sun does sometimes shine in the Highlands!), I stepped into another world as this Chieftain recognized and honored me as what he called a shenachie, or a traditional storyteller for the Clan, usually a revered, hereditary position. Seoras introduced me to Clan members who began answering my research questions by sharing with me the gift of their oral history. Because of the respect with which Seoras regarded me, I was accepted by and felt completely at home with his Clanand not just the men and women in Scotland! Seoras knew I needed more of the ancient Cruithne, so he opened the door to mystical Ireland and one of his Irish Clan brothers. This allowed me to attain a richer, more three-dimensional picture of the Cruithne mythos. In my research for Burned I made four lengthy trips to Scotland, and I wove the beautiful Scottish and Irish story threads I discovered there into a new mythological tapestry for the House of Night.

Id like to share with you a little of the magick I found in Scotland and Ireland, and show you how I absorbed it into Zoey Redbirds world.

My zodiac sign is Taurus; I am truly a bull. So its not surprising that more than three decades ago when I first discovered that the Scots and Irish had a mythos that centered around two great bulls eternally locked in combat, the stories stuck in my mind.

Id been thinking about getting a tattoo for years. I mean, obviously Im interested in them, as they play a major part in the House of Night. But it was in the middle of my second research trip to the Highlands for the House of Night when I came to my first tattooliterally.

Seoras had been leading me through the Highlands, but when he noticed how interested I was in the old stories of the bulls, he said that I really needed to speak with one of his Irish Clan brothers. Trusting Seoras intuition completely, I went with him from Glasgow to a little town about an hour and a half outside Dublin, Carraig Mhachaire Rois, where I met Alan Mac au Halpine, a tattoo artist who was more Shaman than modern ink guy (though Alan would not describe himself that wayauthentic Shamans rarely do). I talked with him at length about the connection I felt with my earth sign, and he began to speak of the Irish mythology of the bulls. As he told the ancient stories I could finally see my own tattoo: the figure of a bull, the form of a goddess held within the beast.

I asked Alan if he would design the tattoo for me, and all the while he sketched, and then during the three hours he tattooed me, Alans lilting voice spun stories of bulls and times gone by. It is from Alans stories that I found a path to create a belief system in the House of Night world that predated Nyxthat was earthy and wild and uncivilizedthat represented Light and Darkness in their purest forms.

Perhaps it was the ritualistic, tribal act of the tattoo itself that helped to shape the primeval aspect of the religion I expanded within the House of Night world. Alan did honor me by making the first mark of my tattoo in the ancient waywith a sharpened stick hed hand-carved, which he dipped in ink and tapped into my flesh. Maybe it was the combination of the pain of the tattoo mixed with the beauty of Alans artwork, wrapped in the stories he told. Or maybe the sibh (pronounced sheefairy folk) were drawn to me, a modern shenachie absorbing their ancient homeland stories, and they gathered around the little tattoo shop in the heart of the Irish village so that some of their tales could find their way into the world today, and their magick could touch us all.