TWPT Talks to Lora O'Brien
Lora O'Brien..... Lora O'Brien is the full time mother of two young girls, and married to Brendan, who is also a Witch. Originally from Dublin, she lived there for many years, and also in Kilkenny and Galway - but her family have bought a house and some land, and settled in County Roscommon (north West of Ireland, in Connaught).
Lora has considered herself a Witch from about the age of 15, even before she knew what to call it, after a powerful magical experience led her to this path. She met her future husband at the age of 16, and they have worked together magically since that time, only marrying when Lora was 21, after a time of going their separate ways. She trained for 5 years in a successful Dublin Wiccan group, the "Coven of the Dagda's Cauldron", and had the honour of being their Maiden (the deputy High Priestess for want of a better description!) for 4 of those years. She received her Third and final degree with them before she left, conferring the role of High Priestess upon her. As a High Priestess she is entitled (by Wiccan traditions) and expected to initiate and train new Witches, or run her own group. The High Priestess and High Priest of the coven where she received her training and degrees had themselves 'hived' (branched off) after training, from a coven run by the English Wiccan Stewart Farrar (author of "What Witches Do") and his partner, Janet. Lora is still in regular friendly contact with her former coven members.
Though first a solitary witch, and then trained as an Alexandrian/Gardnerian Wiccan, she has gone on to discover her own path, Irish Witchcraft in it's essence. Priestess is how she generally describes herself these days, Bean Draoí (pronounced Ban Dree) in her native tongue, or just Witch.
She co-organises the only Irish national yearly event, Féile Draíochta (A Festival of Irish Magic). She has organised these Irish national events since 2003, with great success, and facilitates a monthly Pagan meeting in her own County Roscommon, which has also been running since 2003.
Lora has done much in the way of public and media appearance, not the least of which was her experience of public speaking, debating competitions and acting/directing while at school and college! Early on in her 'Witch career' she was picked to represent the Irish Goddess Tailtiu for a demonstration and protest at the attempted ruination of one of Ireland's primary mythological sites. This was filmed by an Irish television crew and shown on a popular programme "Nationwide", which runs on the Irish station RTE1. She now speaks and holds workshops at Witchcraft and Pagan events in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with some interest indicated from the States, and Finland, for next year.
The workshops and training sessions she runs have a very natural flow - very easy going, entertaining, and approachable; which is mirrored in both Lora's personality and her style of writing and speaking. Her first book, "Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch", was published by New Page Books in October 2004, receiving many excellent reviews from critics and the general public alike.
the interview
http://www.twpt.com/loraobrien.htm
Lora O'Brien's web site
http://www.irishwitchcraft.com/
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