Hearth Craft

“An rud a nitear sa chuil, thig e dh’ionnsaigh an teine” ~ What’s done in the corner will come to the hearth.

“No matter where I serve my guests, it seems they like the kitchen best” ~ A decorative plate that once hung in my Great Grandmother’s kitchen.

In these modern times, in Western society especially, the home of today is centered on the television. The furniture is placed strategically around it; the couch or sofa faces it and the faces of the family are also turned towards it. Often our most prized family photos, trophies, mementos and the like rest on or near it. Surely if archaeologists one day dig up the bones of our civilization, they will think the television was our God.

But before primetime TV and soaps operas took over our lives, before Nintendo and Xbox, the household and everyone in it would gather around the family stove, and before that, the hearth. The hearth was such in integral part of European (and Colonial) culture that there was no separating hearth and home, fireside and family. In fact, the word for “hearth” in Latin is “focus”.

Hearthcraft is working with the magick and… Continue reading →