Curse of Tara may have a sting in its tail

AS the shadow of desecration looms for the sacred site of Tara, the debate over the rights and wrongs of what is happening there has focused mainly on evidence from rivals within the field of archaeology, impassioned arguments by environmentalists, political posturing on all sides and weighty scholastic allusions to the site’s historical import.

But there has been nothing yet about the occult significance of what is unfolding at Tara. In the past fortnight, more than half a dozen large nests of wasps have been encountered in the valley.

In Celtic lore, the wasp is associated with the anger of Mother Earth at man’s wrongdoing. Its unexpected appearance in a given location was believed to portend disaster or ill fortune for anyone messing around with fairy forts or fairy rings.