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Cormac Deane

The Last Lantern on the Street

A field note on the jack-o'-lantern, from Stingy Jack's doomed coal-lit turnip to the one carved light that always seems to burn longest on the street.

The Herds That Answer to No One

A look at Flidais, the Irish goddess who is said to herd and protect the wild deer of the forest, and at the old tale of the cattle raid that carries her name.

The Night the Black Horse Comes

A look at the púca, the shapeshifting night spirit of Irish and wider Celtic folklore, and the blackberry and harvest lore still tied to its name.

The Skin Left on the Rocks

A journal entry on the selkie of Scottish, Irish, and Faroese tradition — the seal that becomes human by shedding its skin, and what is owed, and lost, when that skin is taken.

The Giants Beneath the Turf

In the west of Ireland the Fir Bolg are remembered first as an ancient, defeated people, and only later as giants whose bodies became the hills they once held.

The Stone That Turns Three Ways

A visit to Newgrange and its carved triple spiral, and an honest reckoning with how much of what we say about the symbol is memory and how much is invention.
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