XPost: alt.religion.wicca, alt.witchcraft, alt.magick   
   From: dalton@nfld.com   
      
   In article ,   
    David Dalton  wrote:   
      
   > I take the fact that Cu Chulainn spent seven years as hound   
   > to the smith, and that there is the line "I am a stag of   
   > seven tines" in The Song of Amergin to mean that Amergin   
   > had seven years of low years.   
   >   
   > But was it exactly seven years or a bit more?   
   >   
   > Once again I speculate that the pairs of birds   
   > in the story of the conception and birth of Cu Chulainn   
   > represent lunar months (one bird in a pair is the   
   > waning crescent and one is the waxing crescent).   
   >   
   > In that story there are 9 score birds and three   
   > birds separated themselves from them and   
   > went before them as far as the Brugh of the Boyne.   
   > The 9 score birds represent 90 lunar months and   
   > the three birds 1.5 lunar months.   I'm not   
   > sure if the 1.5 is to be subtracted or added   
   > to the 90, so let me say that the number of   
   > lunar months could range between 88.5 and 91.5.   
      
   And for comparison, seven years is 86.578 lunar months.   
      
   > In my case I have expected my low years to end   
   > seven years plus an eleven year sunspot cycle   
   > after they started, but I am now approaching   
   > 18 years plus four lunar months.   
   >   
   > If it is 88.5--91.5 lunar months plus an   
   > eleven year sunspot cycle, when would that be?   
   > There are about 136 lunar months in 11 years   
   > so it would be 224.5--227.5 lunar months.   
   > There are 235 lunar months in 19 years so   
   > the 224.5--227.5 lunar months would be   
   > 19 years minus 7.5--10.5 lunar months,   
   > which wouldn't be far off from   
   > 18 years plus 1.5--4.5 lunar months.   
      
   More precisely, not assuming 12 lunar months in a   
   year, it would be 18 years plus 1.87--4.87 lunar   
   months.   I am now at 18 years plus 3.85 lunar   
   months so I have another lunar month to go to   
   the upper limit, which will be during the waning   
   crescent of June, almost exactly at the summer   
   solstice.   
      
   > So I have passed the lower range and am   
   > now approaching the upper range.   
   >   
   > For the story I have referred to Anne Ross's   
   > book Pagan Celtic Britain, 1992 edition,   
   > pages 306--307.   
      
   --   
   David Dalton  dalton@nfld.com   http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)   
   http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)   
   "This could be the final breath/This is life and death/   
    This is hard rock and water/Out here between wind and flame/   
    Between tears and elation/Lies a secret nation" (Ron Hynes)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)