Airbe Druad : A mystical protective barrier (‘druid’s hedge’) created round an army by a druid. It sometimes seems that a similar barrier protects the ancient wisdoms and understandings from ourselves…

Angus, Angus Óg, Oengus : Son of the Dagda, Irish god of love; wooes and wins Caer. His mother was Boann. He was called Mac Óg (or the Young Son) after his mother’s words, ‘Young is the son who was begotten at break of day and born betwixt it and evening’, referring to his magical conception and gestation. He was fostered by Midir. Because of his magical birth, he had power over time. When the mounds of the Sidhe were being distributed between the Tuatha De Danaan, he arrived late and demanded to spend a day and night in the dwelling of the Dagda. This was granted, but on the following day when he was asked to leave, he said, ‘It is clear that night and day are the whole world, and it is that which has been given to me.’

Variants state that Angus was given the sidhe of Bruig na Boinne in place of his mother’s husband, Elcmar. He was the foster-father of Diarmuid.

Amergin, Amirgin, Amairgen, (am ORG in, or OY ar gin) : Milesian poet, son of Miled, husband of Skena. His strange lay, sung when his foot first touched Irish soil; his judgment, delivered as between the Danaan’s and Milesians; chants incantation to land of Erin; Amergin the Druid, gives judgment as to claims to sovranty of Eremon and Eber; Ollav Fá´la is compared with Amergin.

The Judgment of Amergin : The Milesian host, after landing, advance to Tara, where they find the three kings of the Danaans awaiting them, and summon them to deliver up the island. The Danaans ask for three days’ time to consider whether they shall quit Ireland, or submit, or give battle; and they propose to leave the decision, upon their request, to Amergin. Amergin pronounces judgment -”the first judgment which was delivered in Ireland.” He agrees that the Milesians must not take their foes by surprise – they are to withdraw the lenght of nine waves from the shore, and then return; if they then conquer the Danaans the land is to be fairly theirs by right of battle. The Milesians submit to this decision and embark on their ships. But no sooner have they drawn off for this mystical distance of the nine waves than a mist and storm are raised by the sorceries of the Danaans – the coast of Ireland is hidden from their sight, and they wander dispersed upon the ocean. To ascertain if it is a natural or a Druidic tempest which afflicts them, a man named Aranan is sent up to the masthead to see if the wind is blowing there also or not. He is flung from the swaying mast, but as he falls to his death he cries his message to his shipmates: ‘There is no storm aloft.’ Amergin, who as poet – that is to say, Druid – takes the lead in all critical situations, thereupon chants his incantation to the land of Erin. The wind falls, and they turn their prows, rejoicing, towards the shore. But one of the Milesian lords, Eber Donn, exults in brutal rage at the prospect of putting all the dwellers in Ireland to the sword; the tempest immediately springs up again, and many of the Milesian ships founder, Eber Donn’s among them. At last a remnant of the Milesians find their way to shore, and land in the estuary of the Boyne.

Encyclopedia of the Celts

Aisling : The word means dream or vision and is, in modern Irish, a woman’s name, but in the many Irish tales bearing this title, the dreamer experiences a vision of a Speir-Bhean or vision-woman whose beauty leads him into closer communion with the Otherworld. A great many poets of the eighteenth century wrote Aisling poems, in which a fair woman is found wandering in poverty and distress. She represents the land of Ireland itself, oppressed under the English yoke.

Aes Sidhe : The Hosts of the Sidhe or Hollow Hills. The inhabitants of the Otherworld. They were thought to ride out on the eves of the four great fire festivals: Samhain (31 October), Oimelc (31 January), Beltaine (30 April), and Lughnasadh (31 July), when they had communion with earthly folk. WB Yeats wrote of them as ‘The Hosts of the Air’. Another name by which they were referred were the ‘Aes Dana’ – but this was used more specifically to refer to a learnéd class within the Aes Sidhe who excelled within their art or craft.