Ancestral Dependence

Ancestral Dependence

"The one whose solitary boast is his lineage, but no
descendent of any virture."
    ___ Welsh proverb (trans CM)


   The Celtic peoples honored the keeping, rememberance, and repetition of genealogies and family lists. Such genealogies were 'memory resident' in bards and poets, one of whose chief tasks was to recite these ancient lineages on important occasions.  In our society, we generally leave such matters to the professional genealogist or herald, and so our own memory dwindles. As a result of this neglect, strange obsessions sometimes develop. People with no knowledge of their lineage sometimes invent family trees or make outrageously unsubtantiated claims regarding their descent. Such acts have a terrible pathos about them. At the other extreme, we find those who dine out on their ancestral achievements without any attempt to make their own mark. Both they and the people who invent their lineage fall into the trap of ancestral dependence. Whether actual or invented, our lineage is a path that moves through us to our own descendants. Our physical bloodline may have great and good ancestors among its number, but their deeds do not flow through our veins or belong to us unless we make them ours by similar doing.
   Dependence upon the ancestors is often just a manifestation of laziness, a wayof absolving ourselves from total engagement in life; it is also a form of theft that robs our hard-working ancestors of their credit.  We cannot live in the reflected glory of ancestral honors without absconding from own lives and missing the very real opportunities to become worthy ancestors in our turn.

"Honor your ancestors, known or unknown, by a worthy act of your own."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Becoming a Bard

   The training to become a bard or file (an Irish poet seer),
was long and arduous; it could invovle lying in a dark hut for hours, or sitting in cold water to force inspiration to come. But a poet had to have natural talent before he could be trained. There are many tales of the favoured one receiving his gift from a woman of the Otherword, as in the Scottish border ballad of Thomas the Rhymer:

"They they came to a garden green,

And she pulled an apple from a tree:

'Take this for your wages, true Thomas;

It will give you the tongue that can never lie.' "

It is the queen of Elfland who initiates Thomas and gives him the gift of unfailing truthfulness. He is not sure he wants this, because he realizes how awkard it could be when flirthing with women or haggling at the market, but she insists. Every great gift must have its price.

Kindle your creative spark:

We all have great potential for creativity. This bardic exercise will help you to kindle your spark:

1. Find a room that can be made completely dark and quiet. Sit or lie comfortably wrapped in a blanket and wait until midnight.
2. Keep your eyes open and stay there until you are teetering right on the edge of sleep. In this trance-like state, which is neight sleeping nor waking, new ideas will bubble into your mind.
3. Get up and write your thoughts down straightway (however odd they may seem) - otherwise you'll forget them. They may be the seeds of something wonderful.

[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]

I've been awarded the

Award.... Thank you Mary....

S.