ApplesHoneyMeadWhite flowersA thing brought back from a journey
Invocation Approach
Tone
Luminous and kind
Address
NiamhNiamh Cinn ÓirDaughter of Manannán
Relationship
The one who takes you somewhere you cannot stay
Warning
The time you spend with her is not the time that passes at home
Resonance
Those in love with elsewhere those returning after a long absence
Symbols
White horseGolden hairThe islandApples
Mythology Summary
Niamh Cinn Óir, 'Niamh of the Golden Head', is the daughter of Manannán mac Lir who takes Oisín to Tír na nÓg, the land of the ever-young, in the Ossianic tradition; when he wants to return she warns him not to dismount, and when he does, three centuries fall on him at once. The story belongs to the later Ossianic lays rather than to the medieval saga stratum, and its best-known form is Micheál Coimín's Laoi Oisín ar Thír na n-Óg (1750).
Modern Practice
Niamh is called in love that crosses a boundary and in the return from somewhere that changed the clock. The practice is the visit and the return: go, come back, and expect the cost.