Spiritual Space

Spiritual Space

"We see only the loving hollow
Of a tomb which is always a womb:
A perfect, wondering O of beginnings."
         __ Catilin Matthews - "Conference of the Trees"


   Spiritual space, silence, the emptiness from which all things can be born - these spaces worry us. We are fretful to fill them. As Christmas approaches, we can be pulled into cycles of gift-buying, into hectic socializing and so abandon the empty spaces that our soul needs so badly. From the empty spaces, from tasklessness of a spare afternoon, we can find the place wherein we actually fit. This gap is like a tunnel that joins our world with the otherworld, a tunnel wherein our moments of blankness or emptubess comes the invittion to be ourselves, to bury the old busy self, to give birth to a new self that is sensitive to these precious moments.

  This is especially so when we have received a great revelation, or encountered an immense thought, or experienced a world-changing situation: instead of rushing off to complete the next task, we benefit from stopping and allowing the precious, wondering O to envelop us in a circle of calm contemplation. Within this circle, we can re-experience and ponder all that has befallen us, allowing it to connect with the wisdom that is already ours.

  Creating sacred space is an art. Consider the forbearance of the artist who stops when the picture is finished rather than painting in yet more, inessential detail. Our own spiritual space needs the same kind of forbearance, needs patience and deep listening for revelation to be made manifest: a wondering O in which profound realizations can dance and sing.

"Be attentive to, and give allowance for, spiritual space to encompass you."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Moon and Its Light

   Our ancestors made stone circles to mark the movements and
interaction of the sun and moon. They understood that what
happens in the heavens affects us on Earth, and saw the moon
as a focus for extraterrestrial energies. The Celts believed that
when the moon was high it was a good time to plant seeds, while when it was low it was time to harvest (modern
biodynamic farmers still apply this rule). Druids would make
lunar calculations to advise poeple when to make a journey or
conceive a child. A bronze-age body was found in a grave in England with a disk on its chest with seven notices on it, which may have been used to make such astrological predictions.

Moonlight and shadow exercise:  Go out at the time of the full moon and walk. Notice the effect of moonlight, how it transforms the world, how strangely beight it is and how strong the moonshadow.
The more time you spend in the moonlight, the more refined your lunar consciousness will become. This will help you become more aware of the rhythms and cycles in the sky and in your own body.
[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]

Renewal

Renewal

"When the great concrete megaCity chokes the globe from pole to
pole, it shall already have, bedded in some hidden creack, the sacred
seed of its own disintegration and collapse."
     ____ David Rudkin, "Penda's Fen"


   What we have paved over feels safe, secure, permanent, habitable, civilized. Already a majority of people feel uneasy in the countryside or in open land, without sight of buildings, shops, and the full panoply of urban living.
  When a civilized place is abandoned by people, the green world takes it back again. The first tough weeds quickly force their way through the concrete, splitting the man-made amalgam of civilization, and soon the wild seeds of life celebrate their return by germinating unchecked until that stone is covered with green.
   The prospect of ending or decay is greatly dismaying to people who feel that it means the end of life as they know it. And they are rightfully fearful, for the energy of life is stasis. The seeds of renewal are always mysteriously buried within the thick of decay and corruption, ready to spring up0 when all seems lost.
  At this time of the year when the trees look disheveled, when growth stops, we may feel the loss as a personal thing and cross the threshold to depression. Yet the roots of renewal lie in the contemplation of the way in which this year's leaf mold on the forest floow will become the rich earth for next year's glorious growth.
   The urbanization of the soul has become in many way like a 'great concrete megaCity' that petrifies the living impulses of our natural heart. The lesson of this season is to welcome the elements that free our soul into wider ways of living. To burst out of the urban soul into the great expanses where renewal can clear away all that impedes our way.

"What is static or decaying in your current life? Commune with the fruits of this season and find out how you can welcome change in."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

To Part The Mists

The path to the top of the Tor

Is also the spiraled way to the woman within

A journey of growth, empowerment,

And self understanding

Voyage to the Source.... the Center...the Goddess....

She whose Name can only be found in the silence of the soul

Delve into your darkness... enter your pain

Conquer your fears....

Call the Barge to take you

To the Holy Island of Healing which resides within...

and emerge renewed

The Mysteries of Avalon are alive

Her Apples are red and sweet....

Do you dare take a bite?

Become the Woman you were born to be...

Remember...

by Jhenah Telyndru (1995)

From "Avalon Within"

Spiraling Prayer

Spiraling Prayer

"People visited groves and springs at the sadred times and made...
the Turas, circling these holy places and wells. A sort of concentric
prayer, spiralling inwards."
____  from a speech by Nuala Ahern, Irish Member of the
    European Parliament

  The word turas (TU'ras), which means 'journey', 'pilgrimage,' and 'time',
refers especially to the circular, spiraling prayer and meditation form used by people in the Celtic countries as they walked sunwise around a sacred site. Making the turas, or circling around a sacred site, well, tree, or stone, is still a living part of Celtic spirituality today.

  The motion of this walking prayer is always deiseal, or sunwise - that is, from left to right. The clockwise method of making the turas is customary in the northern hemisphere; it is considerd to be foertunate and appropriate way of moving, while tuahal, or counterclockwise, is considered to be less fortunate.  (Note: In the southern hemisphere, sacred motion is counterclockwise.)

   We need to cricle, spirialing, around the sacred site with our body, in tune with our intentions and with the presence of the site. The process of spiraling around builds power, strengthens intention, and brings us into atunement with our soul's thread. It also attunes us in another way: as our planet spins around the circling year year, we too simultaneously experience the turning of our soul toward the greatest spiritual light. Each season is a mystical gateway of opportunity and understanding, a sacred time of wisdom. If we live with awareness of the year's cycles, we will achieve a direct alignment with those sacred opportunities.

"Visit a tree, rock, well, or other place in nature to which you feel paraticularly drawn. Make your own turas about it. If you live in an urban environment, find a stone that can represent a sacred site within your own home."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Sister Song

by Jacqui Wood-Smith

Spinning in the Wheel of Morgens

Woman, priestess, witch, am I

Hidden secrets now revealing

Wild, unbroken spirits fly.

Ancient hearts and primal rhythms

Throbbing drumbeats, crackling fire

Join the Morgens in their circle

Feel them kindle your desire.

Heart's true song and soul's deep learning

Secret spells and passions true

Join the Morgens in their circle

Let them weave their song for you.

Nine will dance and nine will gather

Crows and tatters touch the sky

Join the Morgens in their circle

Claim your power with crows' wild cry.

Spinning in the Wheel of Morgens

Women, priestesses, witches we

Hidden secrets now revealing

Wild unbroken spirits free! 

Grace Before Food

Grace Before Food

"Be with me, O God, at the breaking of bread,
Be with me, O God,k at the end of my meal.
May no morsel of my body's partaking
Add to my soul's freight!"
    __ Scots Gaelic grave (trans. CM)

  The blessing of food or the saying of 'grace' before eating is regarded as old-fashioned behavior in most households these days, except perhaps on Thanksgiving, when it plays a traditional role.

  The blessing upon our food is itself a thanksgiving to all who have participated in the preparation of our meal: the grains, the earth, the elements, the animals, the ones who have processed our food and sold it to us - everyone is involved. If we comtemplate only one item of food on our table and trace back through the steps that brought it there, the scale of our thanksgiving becomes very real - a network of cooperation that is one strand in our life.

  The Gaelic blessing above seems very relevant today. With the addition of chemicals and pesticides and the genetic manipulation of the cellular structure of our food, many people are very worried about swallowing anything these days. The need to return to organic food-production methods where only the usual growing agents - air, sunlight, water and root nurture - are allowed to influence the food we eat is now widely recognized.

  Very few people wish to harm their bodies or souls by participating in immoral and disrespectful food-production methods. The same goes for foodstuffs whose gathering and production endanger other species of animals or plants or further exploit already exploited people. Our choice of food is determined by the staple items of our region and our culture, many of which are in short supply. Can we change our eating habits in order to be able to breath a tru blessing upon our table?

"Write your own grace or meditate silently before you eat."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Generosity

Generosity

"As long as sun and moon shall last
The generous one shallo never be empty."
    __ Scots Gaelic saying (trans. CM)


   True generosity flows from the one who is full to the one who is empty. With whatever gift we are full - whether it be a skill, a resource, even time and space themselves - we have the ability to dispense from our fullness. The truly generous one gives without stint, like Fionn mac Cumbail, of whome it was said:

"If only the brown leaf were gold the tree sheds when the year is old!

Silver, the foam upon the bay, Fionn would give it all away."

  Where, then, are the limits of generosity? Generosity is limited by a patronizing attitude that condescends to another's need. It is curtailed by a misery spirit that gives only to 'the deserving' - a category7 that few seem to fit when it comes right down to it. Generosity can also be abused by receipients who do not reciprocate any kind of thanks. It does not matter if the reciprocated gift is of a different kind only that thankfulness is expressed in some measure. The law of hospitality is the law of return - a law that makes sense onloy when we regard all beings, all strangers, as potentially our family.

  This is the curious paradox about giving from the depths of our gift: if we give, the giving wells up in us more strongly than ever like an ever-renewing fund of hospitable welcome from the source of life itself. As the planets light our world with unbegrudging light, illumining the good and the bad, the poor and the rich, the sick and the healthy, so the impetus of generosity is a well that does not discern to whom the draft is to be given; all may drink.

"With what are you full? How does generosity irrigate your life?"

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Integrity of Action

Integrity of Action

"We of the Fianna never told a lie. Falsehood
was never attributed to them. But by truth and
the strength of our hands, we came safe out of
every combat."
   ___ LadoidhcChunaic, an Air, anon Irish poem

  The Fianna (FEE'enn-a) was the prestigious war band of the hero Fionn mac Cumhail, whose honor was bound up in their maintenance of truth, as their motto says "Truth in our hearts, strength in our hands, consistency upon our tongues."

  If we divert the truth in pursuit of our ambitions, however marginal the lie, we also divert the course of our honor; we weaken our soul's thread. It is often easier to lie than to admit the truth. To state our honest objections, to cut across the dishonesty of thosewith whom we associate, to challenge falsehood in the workplace or in high places may seem a kind of foolhardiness today.

  The practice of honesty is a daily exercise that hones our integrity. In both trivial and important actions, the experienced truth-bearer is like a hero who has practiced her sword strokes so many times that she can cleave through thistledown and accuracy and perception.

  The integrity of truth offers a clean way of dealing in our lives -- a way of dealing that sets down better and more honorable patterns upon which our society can be reformed.

"Try to tell the truth for twenty-four hours. Feel in your body how living honestly changes your life's experience. If your life is wholly or partiially built on lies, begin to examine the scaffolding on which it is based: ask help of your spiritual allies to discover how the scaffolding can be distmantled and how you can become true to your soul's thread."
From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthew]

The Initiations of Youth

The Initiations of Youth

"Youth's native sadness
dramatizes itself ever against time
in experimental mime
against immensities."
   ___ Ross Nichols, "The Cosmic Shape"

   There are no formal rites of passage in our society to help children become adults: young people graduate, take their driving test, become sexually active, try intoxicants, get tattooed or pierced. Forever testing the limits of their powers, they seen to know no restraint. This applies to girls just as it does to boys. In societies, where rites of passage are customary, physical ordeals push participants to their limits of endurance, courage, and dedication; sometimes failure means actual death. While we may view such rites of passage as barbarous and unnecessary, we should note that our own children create their initiatory rites in the same daring spirit; running across the freeway, climbing up tall buildings, and driving at top speed down winding coastal roads are just a few of these initiations. Yes, youth dramatizes itself all right!

   We have made our choice not to initiate our children into adulthood with formal ceremonies that bring them to the edge of their powers. Having done so, we cannot blame them for making their own rites. Young people need to claim a name for themselves. In Celtic society adolescence was often the time when a nickname became attached to the childhood name, or when the original name was changed to one that reflected a more adult commitment - a name 'discovered' in someone's chance remark, perhaps. How can our children make their own name in our society unless they are given the initiations that bring them the opportunity?

"Make your own initiatory blessing for adolescents about to launch themselves into the world."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Kindling of Love

The Kindling of Love

"There are three sparks that kindle love: the face, the demeanor,
and the way of speaking."  __ ancient Irish triad


   These sparks are like three lights that shine from the beloved, beacons that shine upon our dark and lonely landscape and illuminate it in a way that no other person can achieve. The first light strikes us from the eyes: there is a liquid light within the eyes of the beloved that illuminates her face. Because the soul can be seen in the eyes, the glance of the beloved warms and welcomes us, while the glance of the enemy chills, repels or withers us like a laser beam.

  The whole nature of the soul is seen in the demeanor of the beloved: the way the person moves, his body language, his way of guarding and shield his soul with respect. The demeanor of the beloved is like an aurora ofdawning that permeates the surrounding area with a gentle light and picks out features that are important and noteworthy in our own soul.

  Most wonderful is the light shed by the voice of the beloved. It is tuned to our own cadence, becoming a pathway of welcome, a resonant and gently penetrating music. Of all the sparks that we value about our beloved, the voice is probably the one we remember longest. Even those lovers whose beloved is dead and who can now scarcely remember every loved feature, who become impatient with the false memory of a photograph, say that the voice of the beloved is the most beautiful thing they still remember. The beloved speaks of things beneath the spoken words, like a ray of light that carries the shape and the shadow in its wake. To that shape we cleave while others linger in the shadow.

"Consider your own beloved, whether alive or dead. Which of his or her qualities spark love within you? How are loving qualities present within yourself?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Daring

Daring

"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain, or lose it all."
   ___ James Graham, Marquis of Montrose,
        "My Dear and Only Love"


   When the young Setanta was being taught by the druid Cathbad, the students asked their teacher, "What deeds are favorable for this day of all days?"  Cathbad replied, "This day is one on any young stripling who claims the arms and armor of a man shall become the hero who surpasses all the youth of Ireland. His name will be glorious, but his life will be fleetingly short. "  On hearing that, Setanta - who would become the hero Cuchulainn - immediately decided that the day had come to him to take valor and claim his status as a man.

  When we are young, we are fearless, heedless of both hidden and obvious perils. We have the brash arrogance and ignorance of youth, a combination that is oddly endearing and chillingly frightening at the same time. Age and experience bring us to greater circumspection.

  Whence do we draw the daring to perform the deeds of adult life?  There is no time to dither when we stand in danger of losing our livelihood or well-being. To take up the gage of daring is dangerous, but to have never dared is to have never won. Is it good to spend our lives in risk-free circumstances, never challenged or stretched beyond our personal comfort factor? Sometimes we have to become vulnerable, and suffer risk to protect and defend that which we love beyond our personal lives. When our response is absolute, we seize our fate with urgent hands, fly out on the spiral loop of our soul's thread, without a parachute: only by the truth and integrity of our actions are we protected.

"What feels risky in your life?  How are you endangered? Where are you being stretched to dare?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Voice of the Soul

The Voice of the Soul

"Who is this Singer that sends his voice through the dark forest, and
inhabits us with ageless and immortal music, and sets the long
echoes rolling for evermore?" 
         ___ Mary Webb, "Gone to Earth"

   In all people there is a potent voice sounding from the very depths of their being. When we stand at the timeless intersections of our lives, when danger threatens, when beauty awakens us to deeper levels of being, we hear the clear call. It speaks words of urgent survival, of potent arousal, of immediate and uncontrollable response. It may not speak with words that we hear with our physical ears, but its vibrations permeate our very body. Many people who have been aware of this voice fear it with an almost superstitious terror; they fear its strength, its persuasion, and especially its passion. They believe that this voice is from some dark malevolence, rather than from the very heart of love.

   It is the voice of the soul itself, which has its wavelength tuned exactly to our personal pitch. In our society, which validates only that which is seen, 'hearing voices' is associated with serious mental disturbance. Our society's inability to recognize the unseen as real in turn causes us to distrust our deepest beliefs and instincts. Instead of listening to the voice that surges passionately into every aspect of understanding, we attempt to blot it out, expunge its presence, substituting our rational explanations as being more authoriative.

  Beginning to make sense of the soul's voice often requires us to 'tune out' the interference that our suspicions and conditioning have created. The voice of soul speaks from the heart of love. True love does not injuire; rather, it upholds the good of the beloved before itself. By the fruits of our experience, our trust in that voice will grow until we can progress to a stage wherein we will be borne up in love and trust.

"Listen to the deep voice of your own soul. Feel what it is saying. Do not be distrated by the voice of your mind."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

 

Deferred Decisions

Deferred Decisions

"Do not go Monday, be still on Tuesday,
Wednesday's a bad day, Thursday is slow,
Friday's unlucky, Saturday's grudging,
So give up your troublesome travel tomorrow!"
    ___ Scots Gaelic song (trans. CM)

  This song is snug to beguile the welcome guest, to delay her departure and cause her to stay longer. Sometimes, thought, we cannot be so self-indulgent; we need to take incisive action rather than defer it.

  Procrastination is subtle and invasive self-persuasion that second-guesses all avenues of possibility as they present themselves. It is always easier to leave a difficult decision to the next day, to put off reading and signing a complex document until a later date, to ignore a request until the time is more convenient and our mood more amenable. The prince of procrastination is Shakespeare's Hamlet, who virtually worries himself into mental illness. When deferred actions are deferred too long, the fear around their performance becomes horrifically amplied.

  When we are stuck in procrastination, we need a 'rabbit-bolder' - something that flushes realizations out of their deep hiding places up to the surface of our attention. This bolter may involve taking a day off work and away from the family, going into nature or to a place of some peacefulness, without stimulus and interference from any outside source, so that our minds can cease their squirrel-cage contortions and come to rest in focused attention upon how we must act. In our prayers and in the companionship of our spiritual allies, we can ask for help, clarity, and strength to make the right decisions and to defer them no longer.

"Choose one current predicament and meditate upon the possible solutions."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Living in the World

Living in the World

"Were All the Word a paradise of Ease,
'Twere Easy Then to Live in Peace."
    ___ Thomas Traherne, "Centuries"

  When we first plunge into the full flood of response to our spiritual path, the world seems a wonderful place. Our ecstasy is often s persuasive that we enter a period of convert fervor and rapidly become bores, singing the delights of our chosen way for the benefit of any friends (or total strangers) unfortunate enough to meet us.

  For anyone descending from the spiritual high-ground, the next phase is the most challenging to our chosen way. All the delights, joys, and insights we enjoyed at the peak suddenly run up against all the lethargies, doldrums, and seeingly meaningless interludes of daily life.  If our prayer life has been connective, it becomes prone to a strange interfernce in this phase; if our meditations have been colorful, they suddenly start receiving black-and-white transmission; if our spiritual allies have favored us with intimate interviews, they suddenly become amazingly elusive. No one and nothing seems to be on the same wavelength anymore.

  The individual who finds himself in such a predicament needs to look at each new challenge to his newfound spiritual peace as a practical opportunity to manifest some of his theoretical notions.

  It is not solely in the otherworld or in paradise that spirituality is to be implemented, but in the world in which we live. If our spirituality cannot supply us with resourceful encouragement, then it is very shallowly rooted in us. It is in the challenges to our spiritual peace that we find the strongest solutions. LIke a parched tree that has to send out deeper roots to sources of water, we alos have to send our spiritual roots deeper in search of help. To live our sacred text, to implement our holy philosophy, there is no better place than here and now.

"Apply your spiritual wisdom to the most challenging daily trial."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Scandal

Scandal

"Fionn, Prince of the Fianna,
Shall deliver me from the lie,
The son of Cumhail of the sharp blade,
And Goll of the strokes shall be my shield."
   __ Scots Gaelic charm against ill-report (trans. CM)


  In this Scots Gaelic charm, the speaker invokes the help of Fionn mac Cumhail (FINN mak KOOL), the great champion of the Gael, and one of his heroes, the hard-hitting Goll. When our own good name is brought into disrepute through the spiteful words of others, we need strong heroes to champion us against a world of back-stabbing gossips.

  Ill-report and scandal are like forest fires, sweeping through a circle of acquaintance faster than the wind. For anyone, regardless of prominence or anonymity in the world, the assault of scandal is the most difficult to parry or refuse. When the rights of livelihood or marriage or parenthood are stripped away as a result of false report, the injustice rankles to the core.

  Every person alive has a responsibility to those in his shared circle of life. If by one unregarded word of ours we cause pain or hurt unjustly, if we endanger the public exteem of someone without warrant, we are not better than the armed assailant who mugs people on the streets. To steal someone's good name is theft, however we wrap it up. Scandal flourishes only because there are willing ears to receive it. If we close our ears to unjust gossip and restrain our tongues from passing it on, its muddy outpourings will cease to foul our lives.

"How have you entertained gossip? How can you cease to be the exponent of ill-report?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Earth Energy

  The Celts sited their temples carefully to exploit the energies of the earth. For example, a shrine to Manannan, the Lord of the Waters, might be built near a river. Certain places held certain kinds of power, depending on factors such as the stone underlying them, the kinds of vegetation growing, and
the positioning of nearby hills or waterways. Some places are healing, some energizing, some conducive to contemplation; while some have an uncomfortable or uncanny atmosphere.

The art of dowsing:  Dowsing is an ancient method of detecting subtle currents of earth energy, such as underground water. A common technique involves holding a forked rod, usually made of hazel, in both hands with the single end pointing towad the ground. You should feel a reaction when you walk across a channel of energy - it might be a tingle in your hands, a twitching of the rod or a light vibration.
   It's important to feel relaxed, so prepare by stretching your muscles, and breathing deeply. For practice, find a bridge over a river and familiarize yourself with the change in sensation when you move from bank to the bridge.
[From "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]

Guardians of Power

Guardians of Power

"Who has seen the Cup flame in the West,
who has not also seen the breath of Nine
smoke on the air above the Cauldron's rim?"
   __  John Matthews, "The King's Moon-Rite"


  In Britich folklore, the Lord of the Underworld has a cauldron whose brew is available only to those who are courageous and worthy. In one of the earliest written texts to mention Arthur, the hero himsef goes in quest of this cauldron as proof of his sovereignty. It is tended by nine women who heat and empower the broth by their exhalation: these are nothing less than the guardians of the powers of life.

  The nine sisters of the cauldron are the forerunners of the two Grail guardians of medieval Arthurian tradition: the beautiful Grail maiden who carries the blessed vessel and the ugly Grail messenger who stimulates the knights to quest for the vessel. Whether Grail or cauldron, the vessel in question bestows special qualities upon those who imbibe its contents, conferring immortality, healing, or specific virtues that manifest the quester's intrinsic life-purpose.

  These nine sisters are the ones who guard the vessel of life and grant every living soul special gifts. Each breath that they breathe across the caudron of our life's essence imbues each of us with our particular vocationalo gifts and tendencies. If we ignore the blessings of the guardians of life, we do not flourish easily; life is an uphill grind and we have to reinvent the wheel at every turn. If, however, we examine the nature of our particular brew, and discover with what blessings and potentialities we are each imbued, we can find a wonderful unfolding richness in all we attempt.

"List up the qualities that are blended in your unique brew of life. Speak to the Gifting Mothers and ask how their blessings may be used."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Misunderstandings

Misunderstandings

"The last thing I intended
Was for a dded to come between us."
   ___ 'The Song of Liadan,'  early Irish text (trans. CM)


   Liadan (LEE'dun) and Curithir (KOO'reer) were poets who met while on their poetic circuit of noble houses and fell in love. Curithir suggested that they marry immediately, adding that any child of theirs would be famous Perhaps piqued by his words and by the suggestion that Curithir thught more of any future child than of their very real love, Liadan took religious vows of chastity. When Curithir came to claim her as his wife, he was too late; she would not sleep with him, preferring to honor her poetry above her sexuality. The muddle was not helped when the lovers put themselves under the direction of the severe St. Cummine, who gave Curithir the choice of seeing Liadan and not talking to her, or speaking to her without seeing her. Since he was a poet, he chose speech. In due time, the suspicious St. Cummine banished Curithir from his monastic settlement, accusing him of sinful lust; Curithir than became a pilgrim and renounced Liadan's love. Liadan's subsequent poetry is a heart-rending self-condemnation of her action. She eventually died while cluthing the stone on which the exiled Curithir used to sit.

  When misunderstandings arise, they usually germinate in small and insignificant ways: a slighting glance, a failure to greet, a thoughtfuless word, a sense of exclusion or neglect - and so grow into substantial disasters. A phone call or letter or small token of apology can quickly bring reconciliation.

"Consider a situation in which you were misunderstood or were the agent of misunderstanding. What factors exacerbated the situation? How could the misunderstanding have been prevented? Is there a go-between who could have brought about reconciliation? Apply your realizations to a situation in whcih you are currently involved."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit " by Caitlin Matthews]

Pilgrimage Routes

Pilgrimage Routes

"Though the long tracks know no glad step,
And the circle goes unblessed.
From their long homes may the old ones
Welcome travellers upon their quest."
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Pilgrim's Blessing"


   Pilgrimage is a step beyond tourism, which merely comesd to look at places and enjoy them; pilgrimage involves a deeper engagement with the land, with the sacred nature of the experience that is had not only at the destination but along the route as well. Those who travel with spiritual purpose find pleasure and enjoyment no less than the tourist, but the experience is colored by the reality of their contact with the unseen world - not only with the apparent landscape about them, but with its inhabitants and guardians.

  When we re-engage with the sacred places of our spiritual heritage, the ability to be a pilgrim affects our experience of the places we visit: the ability to see beyond the desacralization, the skill to travel the road with expectant and prayerful hearts, the greeting we send out - before we even begin to travel - to the ancestral guardians and spiritual presences who have awaited our coming this long time.

   In pilgrimage, it is the ability to give blessing upon the places we visit, rather than seek blessing for ourselves in our travel, that is most appreciated. In offering our blessing, we are able to resacralize both the way and the site: for if we become alive to the generous and sacred nature of each place, so may many others; and we will have become guardians and pilgrims of a new generation for all the generations to come.

"Make your own pilgrimage to a special or sacred place during the wintertime, drawing upon some of the ideas above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Three Rocks of Judgment

Three Rocks of Judgment

"The three immovable and perfect rocks on which the
judgments of the world are sustained: the poet, the
written word, and nature."
     ___ Irish triad from 'Senchus Mor"


    This triad speaks of the three kinds of authority by which judgments can be made: authority from the divinatory composition of poets, from the letter of the law, and from the law of nature. These are the three traditional 'courts of appeal' and sustain the law.

  THe first court of appeal is the oral word, and its exponent is the poet. The divinatory prowss of the ancient poets was considered to be both wise and authoritaqtive. The spoken word is still a lively defender and prosecutor in modern courts of law, able to sway juries and reveal discrepancies in evidence.

  The second court of appeal is the written word, which now has precedent over the spoken word in our society. The written word is not so flexible as its spoken counterpart and has tended, over the centuries, to become the 'dead letter of the law' rather than a perfect rock upon which judgments may be based. The written word is indeed a strong rock if it is administered and maintained by people of probity and good guardianship, but it can also be interpreted in narrow and unhelpful ways. Many traditional legal frameworks stand in need of redrafting to encompass the changes that have overtaken our world.

  The third court of appeal is nature itself, which has its own immutable laws to which both word and writting must bow. The natural laws cannot be overset by human judgments. They govern the whole round of life. As we seek to manipulate nature, to bypass its natural processes, we find out just how enduring and implacable its laws are. Beyond human memory and written judgment stands nature, the final court of appeal, reflecting the truth of our actions and desires.

"What are the three rocks that sustain your world?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews ]

Tearing the Cloak in Two

Tearing the Cloak in Two

"Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong broken
And the beautiful men brought low."
   ___ Ewart Alan Mackintosh, "In Memoriam, Private D. Sutherland"


   Within the last five generations, there has probably not been a family living that did not have some remembrance of war and conflict, some dead to mourn as a result of warfare. This day, November 11, has commemorated dead warriors, throughout the Western world, since the armistice of the First World War.

  Those who serve in the defense of their families and countries - like the Gaulish soldier St. Martin of Tours, who tore his fine cloak in two to cloth the needy - tear the cloak of their lives in two, severing themselves from accustomed comfort and habitual kindness to enter a zone of pain and confrontation.

  In our own age, where much of the warfare is against ignorance, heatlessness, and environmental devastation, new kinds of warriors learn the art of sacrifice with a different set of weapons. They seek to tear their lives in two to make a greater mantle in the defense of the poor, the innocent, the needy.

  We no longer glorify war as our ancestors did; the loss, grief, and bewilderment of families for their fallen have been too great in the 20th century and this one, for such assuaging. We count the cost and bless the sacrifice of those who have had the courage to tearthe cloak in two, knowing that they did not glory in the pain and bloodshed any more than we ourselves now do.

"Make your own prayer of remembrance for those who have died in war and for those who are on the battlefield of conflict throughout the world today."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

From: http://wethreecats.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html
Monday, August 3, 2009


A place of belonging

From the first day She came to the house She had known it was there, hidden somewhere in the roof. The woman who lived here before told Her about it. But we learned the story from the cats who had lived here before.

So when the builders came and tore the house apart we kept a watchful eye for it, waited, until it came to light. It was almost swept out with the rubble, all bent and tangled with cobwebs, it looked like nothing. But the young one saw it, picked it out, and put it safe up high. Something called to him, through the years, told him to keep it safe. Something, or someone.
 
Years ago there was a tradition that when a child left home you would place one of their shoes in the eaves of the house. This way they would always return, no matter how far they roamed, no matter where. This boot, now bent with age, now dry and dusty, this hobnailed boot belonged to a child, much loved. This was the Sunday best, going to church boot, all groomed and shod. All week the child would run barefoot over the hills, wild with the wonder of heather and gorse, seals and the sea, barefoot in the grass in the sand in the waves. On Sundays they would march together into church and sit in solemn rows.


Once this boot shone, polished with love, caressed by a mother's hands. She would tie the laces for the restless child, hug him close and breath in his summer scent, then lose him on the world and watch him run, between the high banks, all the way to the big church.

And when he grew too big for his child's shoe she kept it safe.

Then came the day that she dreaded, when the world called her boy away to war. She watched him march away with the other lads from Treleddyd Fawr, excited, full of themselves and full of the joy of being alive. She watched until he was long gone and still she stood. Then she fetched the shoe from its draw and placed it in the eaves of the house and said a small prayer
 
In St Davids Cathedral there is a war memorial that carries the names of three of the sons from Treleddyd Fawr who died in the Great War.


It is said that if the shoe in the eves did not bring the child home that it would draw back their spirit to rest at home so it would not wander the earth in some foreign land, forever lost.

Sometimes, when the day is calm, we think we can hear the laughter of a child, the click clack and clatter of hobnail boots on the stairs.

Earlier today we sent Her off to St Davids Cathedral to see if She could find the memorial. She found James Price from Treleddid Fawr. Perhaps this was James's hobnail boot?

She will put the boot back in the eaves. This is where it belongs.
 

The Wisdom Within

The Wisdom Within

"The faery queen of wisdom ived
Within the sun-room of a tree;
From there she saw the wide, wide world,
But no fool could her beauty see."
    ___ Scots Gaelic folk story

   This story tells of a faery queen who invited all the women of the world to visit her so that she might give them wisdom. Some declined, thinking themselves wise enough already, while others came in order to be seen and admired. When the guests had assembled, the faery queen went among them with a blue limpet shell containing the essence of wisdom. Those guests who were there for the wrong reasons refused to drink, but those women who sought the wisdom within their own hearts drank gladly, each receiving a portion of wisdom until there was nothing left in the shell.
  
   The wisdom that is already within each of us often needs only a small catalyst to develop, as long as we are open and receptive to wisdom when we meet it elsewhere. The unwritten wisdom of the heart abides within us as our motherwit, the widsom of the body that we inherit from our ancestors.  That wisdom is in the process of developing all the time as new information and experiences are brought into contact with it. We often mistakenly assume that wisdom must come from without, but external wisdom cannot develop within ourselves until our own wisdom meets and assimilates it in a practical way.

  Valuing our own wisdom is hard in a world that offers so many expert opinions wherever we turn. It is often easier to defer to professtionals than to regard our own views on a subject. Only when we have been to the limits of our own wisdom can we find the humility and recepitivity to increase it.

"Where are the limits of your knowledge? How many of your opinions are really your own, rathyer than adopted from others?"
From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews

Creative Destiny

Creative Destiny

"Welcome, oh life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the
reality of experience, to forge in the smithy of my soul the
uncreated conscience of my race...." 
   ___ James Joyce, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"

   These words of Stephen Dedalus are the ecstatic greeting of a young man on the verge of exile and adventure, creative destiny and the fulfillment of his heritage. "Creative destiny" sounds a very grand prosposition, the kind of thing that poets and artists might get themselves excited about. That we each have a creative destiny to fulfill is often conveniently forgotten, especially if we have carved out our niche in the world of work or have put the aspirations of our youth far behind us.

  We think of creativity as the production of professional and beautiful artwork or music or other achievements, but the whole course of our lives is one creative endeavor: not only the work of our hands, but the way we weave our relationships, the way we make our homes, the way we raise children, cook food, dream, garden, shop - all these and more are our creative fields. Our creative destiny is not fated by distant galaxies or proscriptive deities; it is nothing other than the mindful growth, development, and manifestation of the gifts that lie in potentia, the talents, aptitudes, and heritage with which we were born.

  Every year millions of young people begin their active, determined and intentioned lives as adults. LIke salmon retruning to their source, they set their faces toward the fulfillment of their creative destiny. It is a great adventure that few pursue unswervingly to the source; but for all who undertake it, there is no greater joy than to enter 'the smithy of the soul' and bring into manifestation something that was not possible before we brought our creative destiny to play there.

"What is your creative destiny? If it seem far off or unknown, consider the shape of your life to this point. Where has your life been wanting to flow?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Ethics

Ethics

"Ethics teach us the mysteries of morality, and
the nature of affections, virtues and manners, as
by them we may be guided to our highest happiness."   __ Thomas Traherne, "Centuries"


   It is no longer customary for men to take off their opponents' heads, to boast of their own achievements after dinner, or to buy less fortunate people into slavery - all aspects of the ancient Celtic world that are not missed.

  Manners and moral codes may alter, but not the structures that underlie. Ethics are the invisible scaffolding upon which our actions are built and without which life would be insupportable. Ethical
conduct follows an unwritten law that runs in every part of the world, forming a path for all action. Becoming sensitive to its dictates is like acquiring taste, poise or insight. Its invisible lines run laser-straight from our soul to the object of our consideration. Sensing the dynamic of that tug is like sailing a ship and having to be attentive to the winds and currents that move our vessel.

  Ethics uphold the right, privileges, and identity of every living soul: a maintenance that stretches to include the soul of what we may previously have considered inanimate or lifeless - the land, growing things, animals. Our subtle interrelatedness to all life walk these ethical lines, and when we are insensitive to the lines - when we forget that interrelatedness - we sever them. If any action that we undertake  warps or threatens to sever the soul-lines of ethical connection, we may be sure that there is something intrinsically wrong with our idea or our approach.

"Meditate upon a future plan. Visualize the line that stretches between you and it. Is there any discomfort or tug on the line? What is causing it? Does your plan uphold the dignity and rights of all who are involved in or affected by it?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Constancy

Constancy

"They'll turn me in arms, lady,
INto a deer so wild;
But hold me fast, let me go not,
The father o' your child."
   __ 'The Ballad of Tam Lin' - anon Scots ballad

  The Scottish ballad of Tam Lin describes how a young heroine, Janet, becomes pregnant by a man whom she meets in te woods. But Tam Lin is a mortal who has become stuck in the realm of faery, in bondage to the faery queen. The only way for Janet to win her lover home is for her to come to the crossroads at Hallowe'en, when the faeries ride by, and pull him from his horse. Then she must hold him fast while he changes into a variety of shap0es. No matter what monstrous shape he assumes under the enchantment of the jealous faery queen, she must hold on tight, remembering that he is the father of her child. Janet does so, and Tam Lin is restored to her again.

  No relationship is proof against change, whether it be through illness, unhappiness, new ambitions, discontent, or overfamiliarity. In such circumstances, constancy and patience are required as well as support.

  But when we experience a time of neglect or a failure to communicate changing needs, rather more than constancy is required. A clear challenge is re-engage in the mutual contract of relationship needs to be issued, giving a strong signal that neglectful behavior will not be tolerated.

  Sometimes we just need the patience to endure a period in which our partner is undergoing change, we need to ask for a period of patience, to express our need for support so that, like Tam Lin, we can eventually re-emerge into our daily lives.

"What  changes are you and your partner undergoing now?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Lay of History

The Lay of History

"Were poetry suppressed, my friends, with no history, no ancient lays,
save that each had a father, nothing of any man would be heard hereafter."
    __ Giolla Brighde Mhac Con Midhe in Osborn Bergin, "Irish Bardic Poetry"

  Celtuic poets not only sang praises and songs to their patrons, but they were also the repositories of history and genealogy. These were passed down to poets from generation to generation until the era when the church wrote them down.
   Before the coming of St. Patrick to Ireland, it is said that only three classes of people were premitted to speak in public with any authority: the chronicler to relate events and tell stories, the poet to eulogize and satirize, and the brehon, or judge, to pass sentences from precedents and commentaries.

  We may wonder at the way that poetry and history are conjoined. In order that historical, poetic. and legal traditions could be recalled accurately, memory was aided and strengthened by the 'thread of poetry' that bound together the teachings. The memory of these teachings can be likened to a preserving shrine or storehouse of knowledge, or to a brigh candle of knowledge conveyed from one person to another. The memory of wise traditions is called 'the old road to knowledge' - the road by which people can walk to their ancestral wisdom.

  Our own chronicles normally record events, trends, and times, and are rarely seen as the preservers of wisdom. The poetry of the living knowledge is a skill of more benefit than a bald recital of events: it becomes a road upon which we can walk all the way down to the depths of time and find the ageless knowledge. Without its mythic levels, history is shorn of glory and usefulness.

"Meditate upon the history of your people. What parts of it come alive for you? Down which 'old
roads of knowledge' can you walk?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Gifts of the Directions

Gifts of the Directions

"Star of the East, give us kindly birth,
Star of the South, give us great love,
Star of the West, give us quiet age,
Star of the North, give us death."
     ___ Fiona MacLeod, "Iona"

  Throughout the world, every traditional society has its own local understanding about the gifts of the different directions. These are seldom written down, remaining firmly embedded in consciousness and folklore.

  In Britain, the gifts of the directions above are commonly accepted in many locations. The east - the place of beginnings, where the sun rises --- guards the time of birth and development; the south - the place of growing, where the sun is at its warmest -- is where our love is most strongly engaged; the west - the place of maturity, where the sun sets - is the place of vision; the  north - the place of endings, where only by midnight sun shines - is commonly thought of as the place of death and still abiding.

  The gifts of the directions depend upon the location of a land mass on the globe and are affected by the prevailing winds, the nature of topographical features, the position of the sea, and many other factors. Many books attempt to assign fixed definitions to the gifts of the directions, but these cannot hold in every place on earth. The only way to learn more about these gifts is too seek them out in the place where you live - from your own experience., not from a book. Then you will truly be in a position to receive and experience those gifts for yourself and to give thanks for their guiding qualities.

"Standing or sitting outside, face each of the directions in turn. With eyes closed, meditate upon each direction, feeling for its particular gift and opportunity. Try repeating this at different times of day and night. How do these qualities intermesh with your life?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Habit of Familiarity

The Habit of Familiarity

"We are every day betrayed by the blank state of custom. The
commonplace accessories. ....  weigh us down."
   __ Llewelyn Powys, "Earth Memories"


    As the dark November days draw in, our working lives begin similarly too draw close about us. The daily round begins to grind; the very position of a desk or a table, the same blank faces on the street, the systematic regularity become like the beat of a hammer, emphasizing how very dull and ordinary every day seems.

  How do we keep our lives fresh and sparkling with energy when we hit the doldrums of the habitual and the familiar? If our daily surroundings and routine are beating out a rhythm so regular and unchanging that we are going to shoot the conductor soon, then it is time to introduce a new melody, a counterpoint to the rhythm. That does not mean that we stop our daily tasks, only that we begin to dance through them in a more conscious way.

  When personal focus becomes one-eyed, it is always good to get another perspective, to invite a friend over, spring a change on our partner. If we are the routine-holders in our family, we have a special responsbility to ring the changes; without help, we can get into 'corporate' ruts so deep that we cannot leave them. If we live alone, we need to go out with friends, practice our special skills, find the deep nurture of the things we enjoy.

  In nature, all life is stripping off its finery to reveal its essential bare self. If the surface of our life seems dull and unmoving, we have only to look deeper and find where our energy is tending. In what secret place is it biding to wake refreshed?

"What are your strategies for coping with the habitual? How can your own routines be enlivened?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

From Mara Freeman's "Kindling the Celtic Spirit" - the month of November - The Lamp of Memory

   The dark days of November lead us deeper into the mysteries of Samhain, with All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2, two Christian festivals that overlaid the earlier pagan festivals of the dead. In modern America we tend to regard death as something of an aberration, but our Celtic ancestors viewed life as a never-ending spiral of birth, death, and rebirth. They believed that after death the soul journeyed to the Summerlands beyond the western sea, where the grass was always green and fruit and flowers grew together. Feasting, hunting, music, love and joyous sporting contests went on forever; and if any were wounded or killed one day, they sprang back to life the next. In the Iron Age men and women of noble rank were buried with everything they were likely to need in the afterlife: drinking horns, cauldrons, jewelry, weapons, and even chariots. Because of their beliefs, they were fearless in the face of death, which they considered to be 'but the center of a long life.' In fact, it was not uncommon for a man to lend money and agree on repayment in his next lifetime.

A November morning on the threshold of winter

Making Peace With the Ancestors

Making Peace With the Ancestors

"Dear ones in the house of the dead,
Can you forgive
An old woman who was your proud
Daughter, who now too late
Returns your love?"
   ___ Kathleen Raine, "The Oracle in the Heart"

   We often do not understand those who are closest to us until it is too late. This is especially true of our parents, upon whom we heap the faults of our upbringing. Parents struggle to do the best thing for their children, but these efforts are seldom appreciated until the children themselves become parents and enter into the war of attrition that we call growing up. When we are adults, our activities take us far from our parents' domain. The death of parents is perhaps the last part of growing up, usually happening when we are raising our own children, so that we stand midway between youth and age. Those who now find themselves in the eldest generation of a family discover new respondibilities: as they become grandparents, they look to the new generation to solve old, long-standing problems. This ancestral bequest tends to gather weight and momentum as it rolls from generation to generation, sometimes becoming too heavy for any one person to carry.

  Making peace between ourselves and our ancestors requires two things: the ability to speak the truth lovingly, and the ability to forgive and let go of issues that have muddied the way between us and the dead. We need to offer a work of love, a sign of admiration or praise, a visit, a gift, even a phone call - some direct communication while there is opportunity, before the time for regret is all that is left.

"Make a soul flight to a place where you and a relative who is now dead used to meet together. Speak words that you would have liked to say before death intervened. Listen to the words that your relative speaks to you. Thank and bless your relative."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


The Inner Cauldron - Reclaiming

   The quarter of Samhain teaches us about our Shadow: all the fears, blind spots, negativity, and unresolved issues about ourselves and life in general that must be recognized, accepted and reclaimed before we can become whole. Much of the power of Celtic spirituality lies in this willingness to embrace our dark side. Rather than insisting we turn ever toward the light, as certainly New Age spiritual paths would have us do, the Celtic Dark Goddess takes us down to bring us face to face with our own hidden darkness, for, as Jung once said, "One does not become enlightened by imaginary figures of light, but by making darkness conscious." 

  The Cailleach, the Morrigan, and all Hag aspects of the goddess play the role of Dweller on the Threshold, the figure who guards the entrance to the inner planes. She is the Queen of Air and Darkness, who embodies our Shadow in a fearsome manner, yet she is not evil in herself, she is merely reflecting back to us our own weaknesses, illusions, and fears. If we cannot face our own negativity, we are not ready to proceed further on the spiritual path. But if we can meet the Shadow with equalinimity, its formidable appearance dissolves, and we are initiated into deeper truths and realities.
[From "Kindling the Celtic Spirit" by Mara Freeman]

The Assembly of Peace

The Assembly of Peace

"It was their custom at the Feis of Tara to pass six days in feasting together before the sitting of the assembly; three days before Samhain and three days after it, making peace and entering into friendly alliances with each other."
    ___ Geoffrey Keating, "Forus Feasa ar Eirina"

   The Festival Assembly of Tara, at which notbles and learned people of Ireland ratified and renewed laws, took place every three years. During the festival it was strictly forbidden for any robbery, assult, or legal wrangles to take place. Anyone so engaged was summarily sentenced to death, and not even the king himself had power to pardon the one who had disrespected assembly of peace. Samhain (SOW'en) marked the beginning of winter and the cessation of hostilities between warning factions. The poets and their retinues quartered with the rich households of Ireland until Beltane, (BEL'tenn'a; May) so that the winter months might pass more quickly by their entertainment.

   Samhain means 'the summer's end'. In early days, this festival heralded a period when the gates of sid
(SHEE), the faery gates of the otherworld, were open and when the ancestors were nearer to the otherworld than at any other time.

  After a preliminary evening of half-fearful, half-mischievous activities, the daytime temper of Samhain was one of gravity, wherein all the changes could be acknowledged and assimilated. Of all the Celtic festivals, this is the one at which we best experience the overlap of one world with the other. It is time to assemble peacefully and be conscious of the ordering of our affairs, bringing ourselves into alignment with the blessings, work, and opportunities of the darker half of the year.

"Spend part of this day in assessing your place in life: look at the unfinished. Assess your current spiritual position, scrutinize your motives, clarify your commitments; recognize and discard inappropriate patterns that no longer serve you."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

November

"Month of November - very fat are the swine;

Let the shephard go; let the minstrel come;

Bloody the blade, full the barn."

   -- anon. Welsh poem

The season of winter begins at Samhain, the Celtic New Year, on the eve of November.  The meditation themes this month include destiny and fate, cycles and ages, fullness and emptiness, enduring traditions, overcoming difficulty by finding deep resources, the nature of action, and directions and spaces.

And so I start "The Celtic Spirit" over again for a turning of the Wheel of the Year.