Seeding the Wateland

Seeding the Wasteland

"Learning  the mysteries whereby wasteland
Becomes wheatland; grains must fall
Into the hungry earth and be swallowed whole."
    ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Avebury Easter"


   When wasteland has become an ever-present reality, when something stricken has lain barren for many years, it takes special grace to recover again. It is not a matter of snapping back into normal mode or of pulling ourselves together. It is usually a matter of picking up the pieces slowly and painfully, an organic process that can take a long time. This reassembly is like a gathering of precious seeds and fertile gragments, a putting-together of the essential selves that form our soul, so that life's flavor and savor can return.

   The scattered seeds that hold the potential of our lives must come home and rest once more in the familiar soil of everyday living before the grain can germinate and send its long shoots toward the sun. This mysterious return is begun by preparing the soil to receive the seed. The farmer must remove all obstructions from the ground; the hatreds, fears, lies, and treacheries have to be relinquished. Then the plow must turn over the soil; all the deep needs of the soul must be acknowledged and an urgent request for help and return be sent up. This is a time for singing over the ground of loss in consolation, and a time for singing for the scattered seeds to come back, letting them know that they are welcome.

   The mysterious sowing happens in silence and unknowing: the soul seeds return and lodge in the deep earth. There they will rest, germinating in their own time, until the once-barren wasteland becomes fertile again.

"Look at the causes of your wasteland; then let go of the fears, hatreds, and other obstacles that impede your return to full health and wholeness. Now begin the work of welcoming back whatever qualities have fled. Be patient, preserving and hopeful."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Hidden Truth of Dreams

The Hidden Truth of Dreams

"Your dream tells a truth about yourself. A truth you hide from while you are awake. A truth you need to know about yourself. For your ....wellbring."
    ____ David Rudkin, "Penda's Fen"


   Dreams are messangers of the soul. Every one of us has dreams, whether or not we remember them. Dreams speak of hidden truths in oblique ways - truths that we have not been able to understand or assimilate in our waking lives. Their enigmatic symbolism cannot be decoded by books of dream interpretation that give pat or plausible answers for standard dream themes; dreams must be decoded entirely by the dreamer and scrutinized for their personal symbolism.

   What is the truth that we need to know about ourselves? Whatever we have covered over or hidden from in our daily lives has a way of breaking through in self-disclosing (and often pun-filled) ways in our dreams. For example, we may dream of putting an annoying but senior colleague at work into the garbage, while in waking life we seriously wish that we could put a lid on his snide remarks.

   In a society that declines dreams as wacky or illusory, it can be hard for us to realize that they reveal to us the nature of our waking self-delusion. Dreams not only warn of dangers; they also reveal areas that we have never dared explore because of their power or wonder. Dreams bring us to meed the potentialities of our soul in a remarkable manner: we may dream that we are flying, dancing, shining meeting - deep truths that are the very essence of our well-being, that we can find, court, and assimilate if only we listen to our soul's messagers.

"Take one dream fragment from this week. Without giving it a psychological spin-dry, look at it honestly and see what truth it has to tell you. What emotions does your dream evoke? Where is your power free or suppressed? What is the overall impression or message it conveys?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Defending Ancient Springs

Defending Ancient Springs

"Where her head was lifted, a spring was found....
Healing for every disease is within it.....
Making body and soul whole."
   __ Life of St. Gwenfrewi, anon. Welsh chronicle (trans CM)


   The communion with the holy waters of a well or sacred spring is intrinsically part of Celtic tradition. All natural places of water have their own indwelling spirit, but many wells and springs frequently have holy, curative properties.

   The way in which we approach these sacred waters matters a great deal. The tendency among many people now exploring and discovering the sacred sources of land, heritage and culture is to act as consumers, demanding that the sacred otherworld give to us unstintingly. We do not participate in the sacred by such action; rather, we disconnect ourselves from participation. We can so easily become takers rather than givers. The act of sacred participation always requires us to give the gist of ourselves, to honor the sacred presence, to respond and reciprocate with our very best. This means behaving appropriately when we visit: not using the sacred place as a site for mundance refreshment, for example, smoking or picnicking or listenting to the radio. When we come within the compass of ancient springs, we are on holy ground. When we take the waters, it shuold be prayerfully and thankfully, engaging spiritually with the guardian spirit of the waters.

   By not allowing ourselves to become consumers of the otherworldly gifts that present themselves to generously to us, by reciprocating with thanks, we permit these gifts to work their own healing, reconnective magic upon us.

"Find out where your own nearest source of sacred water is to be found. What re the traditions surrounding it? Go and visit if you can, and experience the waters for yourself."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Let me ask this question - do you think there are any sacred ancient springs within the United States?

Invulnerability

Invulnerability

"I am an indestructible fortess,
I am an unassailable rock,
I am a precious jewel."

  ___ from an ancient Irish prayer
           for long life (trans CM)


   To be invulnerable means never to be wounded. Yet it is the nature of life for human beings to suffer assults from many quarters. Our bodies endure various accidents and illnesses; our emotions are ruled by fierce winds; our minds are subject to doubt, fear, delusion.

   For those on the druid path, death is not the end. The soul passes into other forms to find rebirth again and again. Similar beliefs are still held around the world in many cultures. It is only in the West, where we have disbelieved in any other reality than the apparent world, that we have an awesome terror of death. For many people today, this life is all there is or will be. No wonder they live without joy or expectation!

   Only the soul is deathless. It is indeed our indestructible fortress, our precious jewel, our unassailable rock. So where, then, is the eternal vigilance in our care of the soul? Where are the limberings, the workouts, the exercise programs, the efforts at beautification and enhancement of the soul? If we truly wish to share confidently in the invulnerability of the soul, we need to polish our jewel and peer deeply into its primordial and unassilable facets to find the beauty that cannot die.

"What are the gifts of your vulnerability?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Trees and the Life of the Planet

Trees and the Life of the Planet

"Every tree is a living watercourse, its roots, trunk and branches
conduct water up from the soil to the leaves, from which it then
passes into the atmosphere."
     ___ Nigel Pennick, "Celtic Sacred Landscape"


    The interdependence of all living things is something we often take for granted. It goes unnoticed in the daily round, so we forget that what happens in one place has its effect upon another place. It is only now that deforestation has been revealed to be a terrible legacy to our children that we begin to appreciate the contribution of trees to the life of our planet.

   At this time of year, the spring rains have an important function in the revivification of the land, especially around the full moon. Trees are able to draw up the rainfall from their roots to their higher branches so that the canopy can become green again. As the leaves emerge from their buds, we notice a corresponding unfurling of spirit in ourselves as we respond with gladness to the annual regreening of the world.

   As those leaves unfurl, they exude oxygen, so vital for our planet's atmosphere and our own living breath. The carbon dioxide that human beings exhale is absorbed and transformed by trees. Our lives and those of the trees are beautifully and aptly intertwined as we share and replenish the atmosphere for each other. Our breath and the exhalation of trees have a symbiotic link that is necessary to our very life.

   Verdancy of spirit comes when the sap rises in our souls, when we return to a state of thankfulness and welcome the spring with joy.

"Attune to the life of a tree that grows near you. Meditate upon the life that you share. Even better, plant tree."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Greater Good

The Greater Good

"Three things for which a person might hazard his/her life
and lose it: the search for truth, the upholding of justice;
the performance of mercy."
   ___ Welsh triad, (trans CM)


   The eternal search for truth engages many people in a dangerous quest, whether that quest be research into life-threatening diseases in an attempt to find a cure, the struggle of writers, poets, and activists to maintain the voice of truth in the face of restrictive regimes, or any of myriad other pursuits.

   The upholding of justice is a worldwide concern. Although we may complain that judicial systems are antiquated and need reform in the West, at least we have a system of justice, however poorly we may believe it to function. In parts of the world where dictatorship, war, and other evils reign, justice is a gun in the hand, and there are many daily who die in attempting to bring an end to unjust governance.

  The performance of mercy endangers life every day; wherever the land, the weather, or the prevailing conditions are dangerous, there are teams of rescue workers and health professionals who hazard their own lives in order to save those of others.

   Those whose view of humankind is a very low one, who believe humans to be intrinsically selfish, and greedy, need only look at the lives of the defenders of truth, justice, and mercy to change their opinion. If we cannot venture our lives in defense of the three principles named in the above triad, then there is indeed little hope for our species; but there never seems to be a lack of compassionate people who put their own concerns aside and risk their very lives in defense of the greater good.

"Make a blessing of protection for all who hazard their lives in defense of lofty principles."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Power of the Word

Power of the Word

"Tongue is weak and tongue is woe,
Tongue is water and tongue is wine,
Tongue is chief of melody.
And tongue is thing that fast will bind."
    ____ "Propheies of Thomas Erceldoune"
      Scottish text (trans CM)


    It is probably impossible to fully realize these days the power of the word in the Celtic world. In a society that used no writing, the word had a primacy that can scarely be now imagned. The poets, druids, and judges were highly respected, because what came out of their mouths was not only the lore of the tribe; it was also the truth. Like Thomas the Rhymer, the Scottish poet  who entered the world of faery and won from the Faery Queen 'the tongue which cannot lie', the gifted ones of the Celtic tradition could use their skills both mundanely and magically.

   While the poet most often used his skill to praise patrons, recite genealogies, encourage  and enchant, he could also call upon formidable verbal powers to initiate change. A poet's satire was not just a painful lampoon that others could snicker  about; it could actually raise blisters upon the face of the subject, bringing shame. It is said that a well-placed satire could even cause death.

   In many people, the tongue is untrained and weak, and some use it only for spreading gossip and for scaremongering. While speech can be workaday or poetic, it can also be the music that enchants and inspires the wine of praise; it can be used as a weapon to bind, both in truthful promise and in smitting satire.

"Strengthen the power of the word in your mouth by speaking only truth today."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Increasing Year

The Increasing Year

"Three things which are always increasing; the light of the fire4, the intelligence of truth, the life of existence - these are victorious over all things and are the end of darkness."
   Welsh triad (trans CM)


    From this day on, the sun is climbing toward its zenith at midsummer in the northern hemisphere: a good day to consider the optimistic triad printed above and the many things that are growing and increasing in our own lives and in the unfolding history of the world.
    The radiant spark of light is at the core of every creative being; it leaps from place to place, from heart to heart, changing and forever growing. Nothing can stop this spark from spreading through the world like flame through a piece of charcoal. It is becoming harder and harder to pull the wool over people's eyes, to deceive others for more than a short period of time. This is predominantly because of better education and the discernment that derives from it.

   The many associations around the world that uphold human rights are in the business of protecting truth and justice. Countries and regimes that give truth nothing more than lip service are increasingly having to fight off criticism from without and dissent from within, asconsciousness and truth increaase. \

   Our whole consciousness of what life is, of how we live it and how we ethically deal with it, is the next challenge that will increase the boundaries of our understanding.

"Meditate upon three wonderful things that have increased within your own lifetimes?How have these increases changed the world?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Prayer of the Spring Equinox

The Prayer of the Spring Equinox

"With the first rays of the sun on the plant's leaves its
ethereal spirit is strong enough to summon our convention-blinded souls to this primitive worship."
    ___Llewelyn Powys, "Earth Memories"


   At last we have a clear sign that the year is rising from the enclosing darkness of winter into a warmer, brighter world. On this first day of spring, the sun is at its midway mark, halfway between midwinter and midsummer, when its glory will be greater still. This is a good day for beginnings.

   Make a gift of this day, dedicating it to the beginning of a new phase of your life, or to a new plan or enterprise, rather than doing your mundane work. Begin the day by greeting the sunrise, if you are able, becoming aware of the passing darkness of winter and seeing the sun as the herald of the light that will grow from now on.

  Stand in the light of midday, facing the sun, and tune your heart to the season of spring and all that it means to you. Be aware of how your own soul's circuit and the circuit of the sun are being aligned and attuned to each other. Make your own prayer for this spring quarter on behalf of all beings. Then turn and face your shadow, feeling the sun upon your back. Your shadow is shorter than it was at midwinter and will shorten even more as the year grows.

   Project your thoughts and intentions forward over the next few months. Over what activities, plans, and events is your shadow going to fall? Draw the light into your body and allow the sap-rising spring to penetrate to your soul. Be aware of the fusion between body and soul, of their unity with the light and the season. Open your eyes, becoming aware of your soundings and your life's purpose. As you prepare to sleep, be thankful for the darkness and the rest that enable everything to grow.

"Stand in the sun at midday, as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


For me the concept of the Spring Equinox is representing balance - light vs dark - and I see the tarot card Temperance as being a representative of this harmony.  Here is the Temperance tarot card from Legend, the Arthurian Tarot.

This Temperance card is subtitled The Cauldron of Annwn.. And here is a description of this card's images and symbols.  Nine priestesses attend the Cauldron of Annwn, source of poetic inspiration and mantic powers. Many peoples have attributed the powers of prophecy, inspiration and art to magical springs, cauldrons, and heads. All three motifs have been incorporated into the scene, representing the collective unconscious wisdom available to one who seeks it.
   The bards of Arthur's time credited their talents to the Cauldron of Annwn, which originally was thought to have been a head. This echoes the card's alternative name, Ar, since it is the arts that most often achieve and communicate knowledge of the unearthly.
   One priestess holds a torch, its fire representing the consciuos mind and structure. Another of the priestesses pours water, representing the subconscious and the genius of inspiration. It was the custom to mix wine with water and this mixing symbolizs moderation, the combining and balancing of both the physica and spiritual plane. The priestess has one leg in the water while the other rests on the stone. She bridges both worlds, representing one who is capable of manifesting psychic knowledge on this plane.
    The sisterhood of nine priestesses combines energies, forming a union of forces which illustrates the value of compatibility, diplomacy, and accommodation.

Clearing Ill-Report

"Unfortunate the one whose name has been linked
to ill-report since youth."
    ___ Welsh saying


   Once a story attaches to us, it is hard to shift. Gossip and hearsay usually run ahead of any good repute we have. It is particularly unfortunate if a story attaches to us when we are young. Once it is believed that we are difficult, unreliable, or badly behaved, this 'information' has a way of following us around and becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that sabotages all that we attempt.

  How do we make good our reputation once ill-report has done its work? Many people attempt to clear their name by starting again in a new place - a place where their actions will not be prejudged by others who know their story.

   Those who choose to remain where they are and attempt to make good need at least one ally who will support and encourage them, someone who will be an advocate in the community, someone who will witness and support their intention to start again. But the final change of reputation will take place only when others observe the fruits of change with their own eyes - and it may take a very long time for marked improvement to become visible. People who have an old story thrown into their faces again and agin need to reiterate. 'That was then; this is now. I'm changing, but I can change only with your help and support."

"Consider an old story that attached to when you were younger. Think about how you have struggled against or overcome its spell. If the story still sticks to you, meditate upon the way you want to be now."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Gifts of the Awen

The Gifts of the Awen

"Then Ceridwen began to boil the cauldron... for a year and a day until
three blessed drops of Inspiration had been obtained from the brew."
     ___ Hanes Taliesin, Welsh text (trans CM)

     When Ceridwen (Ker-RID'wen) brewed her cauldron of inspiration, she set a boy called Gwion (GWEE'on) to tend it. Three drops leaped from the cauldron and burned his hand.  As he sucked the scalded spot to cool it, knowledge came to him in an instant. He hid in a variety of shapes, but while hiding as a grain of wheat he was eaten by Ceridwen who in the form of a red hen. Resuming her usual form, she conceived him in her womb; nine months later he was born and sent forth upon the waters in a skin bagt. Eventually he was discovered in a salmon weir, where he was recognized as Taliesin (Tal-ee-ESS'in).

   The three drops of inspiration - the awen (AN'wen) - are encrytions of primal creative power, having the ability to change our lives. Their impact upon Gwion was such that he had to be literally born again in order to assimilate the knowledge he unwittingly gained. The awen is not merely a myth, however, it is a living possibility. It arises when the rays of experience glance upon and inspire the dormant seeds of knowledge within us. The connective energy of inspiration runs through our being, bridging areas of ignorance, reconnecting areas of neglect, bringing into one teeming mass of imagery, metaphor, and understanding all that we are about. The assimilation of this experience can take the rest of our lives, or we can welcome the manyfold experiences of our lives to help ripen our understanding from day to day.

   The gifts of awen lie dormant within each of us, to inspire, connect, and creatively empower all that we touch. From the creative soup of our personal experience, we can leap out to play in the teeming waters of the river of life as wise ones who are able to assimilate all that befalls us.

"What are the three main inspirations of your life experience?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Change

Change

"Now ebb, now flood, now friend, now cruel goe;
Now glad, now sad, now weel, now into woe;
Now clad in gold, dissolvit now in ash;
So dois [does] this world transitory go."
    ___ William Dunbar, "O Wretch Beware"


   The alternation of order and chaos are natural frequencies that balance our lives. Custom and change are but their children, who allow new influences and possibilities into the world. When things become too formalized and ordered, they become stale and static, lacking the life and energy that only change can bring. Yet when change strikes, we feel out of control, disordered, even attacked by its sudden overturning of all that we have known. Despite that, change is not, of its essence, antagonistic to us, only to our habitual and clinging notions. Long periods of change and fluctuation can be very wearing, however, because we have no order or pattern to give context to our living.

  The period leading up to the spring equinox is similarly a time of great upheavel in nature: the first full moon of March usually heralds high tides and spring winds that enliven the long-dead period of late winter. The change of spring is one that we welcome with all our hearts, but we appreciate it warmly only because of what has gone before it. Our ability to cope with change will improve if we discover the art of living in the present moment, of being at home where and when we are.

"What strategies do you use for coping with change? Deditate upon the fresh opportunities and energies that change is currently bringing to your life."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Solitariness

Solitariness

"It is a good thing to be happy alone. It is
better to be happy in company, but good
to be happy alone."
   ___ Thomas Traherne, "Centuries"


   Among tribal and traditional peoples today, few choose toa be solitary. Purposeful periods of solitude or seclusion are normally experienced only by young people facing their rites of passage - times during which they are taken from their famuilies to be instructed in tribal lore and adult responsibility. In such rites, each young person generally endures a short period of isolation wherein he encounters the spirits of the tribe in a visionary way. Awareness of the otherworld and the way it impinges upon our own reality is one of the fruits of solitariness.

  When we are far from the interaction of society, when the chatter and comment of our minds is stilled, then it is possible to enter into a deeper relationship with the universe that we inhabit. The revelations of solitude are often profoundly moving and though we may share them in conversation with friends afterward, we do not find it easy to reach into the depths that we have inhabited within our solitude once we return to company again.

  To be content with one's own company is an art that cannot be taught; it is something we each have to learn as our lives unfold. When there is nothing to distract us, we return to the primal ground of our being, where we can begin to learn who we truly are and discover our context within the rest of the universe.

"Whether you are naturally solitary or gregarious, enter the spaciousness of solitude and be aware of your true self and its context."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning

"Old loves, old insults, old wrongs, old hates,
old prides, old contempts, old horrors, old taboos, old totems.... [Clan I shed these
worn-skins of remembrance?]
  ___ John Cowper Powys, "Obstinate Cymric"


  At this season, we are often driven into a bout of spring cleaning, throwing out the unwanted and bringing new order to our household. But what of the deeper hurts, the old anguish, the festering wrongs, and the immovable obstinacies of our very being?

   Select one such malingering obstruction to be removed from your mental attic by asking and answering the following questions:

* What past wrong or hurt embitters you the most?
* What past relationship still lingers painfully?
* What childhood horror shadows you?
* What irrational prejudice still clouds your horizons?
* To what or whom are you still shackled by hate?
* What long-dead voice of authority still has you leaping?
* What old story against yourself still rankles?

    Now take a walk in nature, meditating upon the issue at hand. Let your eye fall upon things that seem to speak to you about your own case: these might fallen leaves, pieces of rubbish blowing about, feathers, berries, bark, mushrooms, flowers and so on. Without damaging the landscape and its inhabitants, collect some of these things and assemble them into an emblem of your issue. These collected items can be tied together with string or woven together with grasses. Create something really beautiful. When it is complete, make a small fire outside. Relinquish your issue to the cleansing flames and burn the emblem you have made, visualizing its influence passing away from you. Stay and watch the emblem turn to ash and be borne away.

"Make an emblem and burn it, as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Empowerment

Empowerment

"Power of sea be yours,
Power of land be yours,
Power of heaven."
    ___ West Highland blessing


   When the life-force of the universe and the vigor that runs through our bodies are aligned with our spiritual core, then we experience our true power and live with it. The difference between living with power and simply behaving powerfully lies in one thing: those who inhabit their power by aligning with the universe freely let power pass through them, whereas those who behave powerfully hold onto power like a commodity. When the power of the cosmos is restrained, unable to come and go like a tidal current or a mighty wind, it merely inflates the holder, it does not empower her. And when it is hoarded to aggrandize the holder, she risks disease, want, misery, and a host of ills.

  We all have times when we feel powerless and insignificant, but the theft of power from another person or place cannot ultimately assist us. We may have a temporary sense of strength, but it does not last. It is only when relinquish our fearful grip that our own power comes back to our core, empowering us again. Learning how to live with our power involves living close to the truth that is within us and not deviating; it involves periodically checking out how we are behaving, how we are giving power away to things that do not need or deserve our intervention or assistance, how we are retaining or stealing power to create a cocoon of protection.

   Power cannot be owned; it is only on loan to us all.

"Check your own use of power in your life. What element of power that you have does not rightfully belong to you? Give back the power that you have held onto so that the tides can flow again."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Threefold

The Threefold

"The Sacred Three
My fortress be,
Encircling me.
Come and be round
My hearth, my home."
    ____ Alistair MacLean, "Hebridean Altars"


   The reverence for the threefold is deeply engrained in Celtic culture. This threefold conjunction is implicit within the creative process of beginning, middle and end; in the three sacred seeds of wisdommthat flash out of the cauldron of knowledge as primal sparks of inspiration; in the human family as mother, father, and child; in the apparent world as sea, land, and sky. Each of these threefolds offers an essential understanding of the nature of life itself and is recognized and revered as one of the supreme supports of the cosmos.

   Ancient Celtic wisdom was encapsulated in triads, tersely gnomic renditions of precedents, proverbs, historical incidents, and knowledge that could be remembered by everyone. Triple-headed gods and threefold coteries of goddesses are also common in Celtic religion: a triplicity  that is reflected in the Trinity - a concept thought by some scholars to have been developed by the Celtic St. Hilary of Tours in the fourth century.

  Today the ancient respect for three has become part of our concept of luck: 'The third time's lucky,' we say. Or, if we have had two unfortunate happenings we may wonder what the third misfortune is likely to be. Three is the number that comprises creation, destruction and maintenance of life.  For all these reasons, the Celts could not revere a greater or more encompassing number than three.

"What are the three sources or supports of your life - those people, things, or places without which it would have no meaning?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Mysteries

Mysteries

"The three things which surpass understanding: the work of the bees, the mind of women, and the flow and ebb of the tide."
    ____ ancient Irish triad


   Much of our world is mysterious to us. However much science explains to us about our surroundings, there remain many mysteries that still evoke wonder. Though the beekeeper is close to the work of the hive, for example, she remains essentially an outsider, able only to exploit the bees and their honey-making skill. The thought processes of women, totally congruent to the feminine understanding, are mysterious to men. The ebb and flow of the tide can be reckoned by mariners and the Coast Guard, but they are mysteries to those who have not observed them.
  These unmapped terrains of mystery do not yield themselves easily to us; they are not apprehensible or quantifiable after short study. Only be observing the movement of migrating birds over many seasons, for example, do bird-watchers understand a little of that process which is natural yet deeply mysterious to the casual observer. Even our own mysterious processes are graspable only when we give time and meaningful attention to them. This means long, patient observation and notation of our dreams, our intentions, our relationship to the world. When we become more sensitive to the subtle messages that are clearly transmitted to us, we come to a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place within the world.

"What intrigues about your life? Begin to gather information by observing and tracking your inner workings; then meditate upon your findings."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Underground River of Creation

The Underground River of Creation

"Apart from sleep where the creative act seems involuntary and instantaneous, it does appear that a creative process goes on, all the time beneath the level of conscious thought."
    _____ Neil Gunn, "The Atom of Delight"


    The underground river of creation curves on beneath the surface of life, its inspiring waters ever available to refresh and bring sparkle to daily life. People who feel that they are uncreative often complain that they do not know how to get access to these waters. Surely, these people assert, creative waters run through particularly gifted people only.

   The way to find the ever-flowing creative river is to dig an artesian well by means of engaging actively and consciously with our creativity. By so doing, we allow the water to rise swiftly. The moment of creative conception happens in the dark, in sleep,  in moments of forgetfulness, in lapses of concentration when we have been beavering to bring something wonderful to fruition - but to no avail. As we continue to work, suddenly our project starts to taking shape, though progress is still gradual, inching forward day by day. The creative process cannot be hurried without loss or miscarriage of our project. However much we want it to manifest, it has to have organic space and time. It has to rest, like dough of good bread 'proving' in warm place to double in size. The frenzy of kneading and pummeling will not hasten its arrival. The moment of manifestation, when we share our creation with others, is only one among many moments of deep satisfaction, wherein we have drunk of the sweet waters that flow deeply through us.

"What are the processes of the plan you currently foster? At what stage are you at the moment?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Therapy of Nature

The Therapy of Nature

"Common experience tells us that a solitary walk by the river or
ocean, a few calm hours in the woods restore the spirit and may
produce more insight.... than the best labors of the professional
analyst."      ___ Theodore Roszak, "The Voice of the Earth,"
  cited in Paul Devereux, "Reclaiming the Earth"


   Now that the light is growing stronger and the first signs of spring are becoming apparent, it is good to explore the countryside and see its beauty with our own eyes. Nature is the best therapist for putting things into perspective. When we go purposefully outdoors, we enter our true, living context, becoming once more part of a world that is always there but whose gifts are excluded when we live entirely within walls, under a roof. Early Irish poetry speaks again and again of Spirit as the thatcher who roofs the sky with stars and keeps all things under divine protection. When exchange a tiled roof for the roof of the heavens, our soul has more room to expand.

   The ancients understoon about taking problems for a walk: the measured pace of walking, the juxtaposition of the problem against natural surroundings, the submiersion of abolition of worry in the face of the beauties and wonders of nature - all these factors enable us to discover a new perspective. Being under the mantle of nature, we receive a truer reflection of help, a more tolerant understanding, a more profound solution that encompasses not only our labyrinthine mental contortions but our physical discomforts and our emotional longings.

'Take your own problems for a walk and be open to wider solutions and perspectives."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Desire of the Eyes

Desire of the Eyes

"What is it that will not stand lock nor chain?  --- The eye of a
person in the company of a friend: it will not abide shutting nor
restraint, but only looking upon."
    ____ from the riddle contest between Fionn  and Grainne,
           Scots Gaelic lore (trans CM)


    The riddling courtship of the aging Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail and the young and lovely Grainne (FINN mak KOOL and GRAWN'ya respectively) comes to nothing when Grainne sets eyes on Fionn's best companion, Diarmuid. Instead of marrying Fionn, Grainne runs away with Diarmuid. The desire of the eyes that both feel cannot be tamed; they are helplessly bound to each other and have to retreat from Fionn's sight or suffer in a terrible eternal triangle.

  Desire of the eyes is an affliction from which we have all suffered whether the desire be for a person or an object. In any love affair, desire of the eyes is the first signal to those close to the couple that something is sparking, for they cannot tear their eyes away from each other. The desire that links two people together in a mutual bond is a beautiful and potent force that other people do well to avoid: it has its own attractive energy with the power to short-circuit any interference. But the unreciprocated desire of one person for an unwilling one is an unhappy bondage that sometimes leads to a series of possessive interferences: stalking, interception, even soul-theft or rape. The doting parent who gazes unsparingly upon the apple of her eye with more pride than descretion inflicts the desire of the eyes upon her child; the lonely man who yearns after a woman who is ignorant of his existence inflects unwanted attentions upon her. Despite these potential distortions, desire of the eyes sometimes leads to a great love that (if it is mutual) no one may sunder to the world's ending.

"How does desire of the eyes affect your life? Is the attraction mutual or unreciprocated?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Harp - it's a new month - March

Month of March - great is the forwardness of the birds;
Severe is the cold wind upon the headlands;
Serene weather will be longer than the crops.
     ___ anon. Welsh poem


March gives us proof that spring has really arrived. The themes here in "The Celtic Spirit" will include observation and sensitivity to subtle messages, spring cleaning and restoring, tribal and individual consciousness, constancy and change, power and its abuses, creaton and increase, public service, creative fire.

I posted this image on a whim - when searching for images of the month of March, which was one of them that came up.
It comes from Arts Council of Northern Ireland and is by
Christy Keeney - Ceramics


 
 
 
Today's essay is called The Harp:
 
"Healer of each wounded warrior;
Comforter of each fine woman,
Guiding refrain over the blue water,
Image-laden, sweet-sounding music!"
   ____" The Book of the O'Connor Don,"  Irish text (trans. CM)

 
 
   The harp is one of the most characteristic instruments of the Celtic tradition. The harp of the Dagda (the Good God of the Gaelic gods) was magical. In it the Dagda had bound melodies that would not sound until he summoned them. It had three properties, or 'strains' that all harpers in ancient times used in their music, each property having a different effect. It had the suantraigh (SWON'tree) or 'sleep strain', which lulled people to sleep. It had the goiltraigh (GOYL'tree) or 'sorrow strain,' which cause people to weep. And it had the geantraigh (GEON'tree) or 'joy strain,' which caused people to laugh.
 
  These three harp strains are still the property of harp music today - music that can lull us into a restful state, bring tears of beauty to our eyes, or enliven us and set the foot tapping. With these three strains, harp music affects the soul: it pours comfort, balm, and rest into the soul laden with cares, burdens, and anxieties, giving it rest with the sleep strain; it plumbs the depths of sorrow and grief, of loneliness and bereavement, with the sorow strain; it reconnects those who are lost, stressed, and humorless with the primal joy of life with the joy strain. The playing of the harp confers a special privilege upon all harpers: the ability to unlock the doors of the soul.
 
"Choose three pieces of music that represent for you the three musical strains outlines above. Play
them when your soul needs rest, relief and uplift."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKF13msGu7o&feature=related 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEIsDc_f5o0&feature=related  
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmB5cZOQAdc&feature=related