The Spirits of Trees

The Spirits of Trees

"Working with the spirit of the tree can bring us renewed energy, powerful inspiration and deep communion."
____ Philip Carr-Gomm, "The Druid Tradition"


    The Celts saw trees as sacred powers, mediators between the worlds, with their roots penetrating the depths of the Underword and their branches straining at the ceiling of the apparent world. Druids congregated within nemetoms, or sacred groves that were open to the sky, so that they might be ringed by the protective wisdom of the trees. Certain very ancient trees were virtually accorded the status of tribal ancestors, standing as sacred protectors at the center of the tribal region and venerated by everyone in the district. The laws against laying blade against these trees were particularly severe.

   We may also be able to work with the powers of the trees, if we approach them cooperatively. Some people take their troubles to a particular tree and gain refreshment and solace from its company, others derive inspiration from sitting at its foot or in its branches; still others have discovered that trees are truly mediators between the worlds, living bridges between our apparent world and the unseen realms of the otherworld. When we approach a tree, we need to slow down our breathing, slow down our rapid pace, our mental busyness, in order to be attuned to the spirit of the tree itself. Without touching it, we slow down and then put our intentions, greeting the tree and then sitting down by it, or - with its permission - standing against its trunk. Then we sing or croon quietly to it, leaving speech alone. With our heart, we ask the tree to show us part of its nature. (It will take many visits to know its full nature.) We listen and give thanks. Even when we are just passing a tree, not visiting, we can still send out a greeting to it.

"Begin to make the acquaintance of a chosen tree near you."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Mattews]

The Soul-Protecting Shield

The Soul-Protecting Shield

"I seek a mantle that cannot be folded,
That neithter holly spike nor tree branch will catch upon;
That guards me as a brooch guards a cloak;
A powerful cloak of beetle-green."
   ___ "The Merry Dindshenchas, ed. Edward Gwynn (trans CM)


    The shield that is desired here is a lorica, or breastplate for the soul. The lorica, a spell or charm that invokes the different powers of the universe to keep the reciter free from harm, was used by ancient Celts and by their Christian descendants alike. The soul-protecting invocation calls out to the universe, to every place and shape that the soul has been in, to come and weave help around the reciter in time of need.

  The nature of the lorica depends very much upon the one who makes it. Traditional invocations have been passed down, but it is always better to create our own, for our own needs. Those whom we invoke may include the powers of nature with which we feel attuned, the beings and creatures who are our spiritual allies, and heroes and gods, and ancestors. The lorica protects the mantle of our soul, the soul's shrine of our body, from harm. Without intention, the words of the lorica have little effect. But when our heart is aligned with our words and our intention, our utterance can go forth; and with the help of the lorica, the connection and weaving together of the assisting powers can surround us in a sure mantle.

"Create your own lorica to help shield you against whatever you are fearful of. Weave into your litany of assistance all your soul-friends and spiritual allies, the powers of the natural world that are meaning fully protective to you."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Painted People

The Painted People

"They tattoo their bodies not only with likenesses of animals of all kinds, but with all sorts of drawings."
   ___  Herodian, "Commentaries"


   The use for body-painting of native plants such as woad, whose leaves yield a bright-blue dye, is attested by many writers. Isidore of Seville, writing in the sixth century, tells how the Picts - another name for the Caledonians of Scotland - 'have a name derived from the appearance of their bodies. These are played upon by a needle working with small pricks and by the squeezed out sap of a native plant, so that they bear the resultant marks according to the personal rank of the individual, their painted limbs being tattooed to show their high birth.'  One seventeenth-century Scots writer asserted that many a Pict took on 'the forms of beasts, birds and fishes on his his face; not on it only, but his whole body.'  These totemic shapes remain on the Pictish standing stones of eastern Scotland: the eagle, the salmon, bull, stag, seahorse, seal, and many others. Were these their tribal or personal totems?  We have no means of knowing, as they left no written documents. In fact, the Pictish language remains unknown, though historians know that they used ogham, the Celtic tree script employed only in inscriptions.

  In our own time, the tattoo, long seen as the fashion statement of green youths and hardened workmen, is fast becoming a mature statement of personal identity and belonging among a remarkable number of people - women as well as men. We seek the shapes that our soul has touched, as we quest for the circuits of birth and the meaning of our life's weaving, potent images and symbols arise. Although we may not wish to have them lastingly engraved upon our bodies, they are nevertheless etched upon our souls.

"Mediate upon the totemic symbols and images that typify your life's journey."
[From:  "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Color

Color

"What is it? --
Near and far, its shape I see
Twelve miles from me over the sea:
The man of the little green boat
And his shirt sewn with red thread."
[A rainbow]
   ___ Scots Gaelic riddle (trans CM)

   In the rainbow we see the beam from the eye of the sun, the spectrum of colors that pervade our world from end to end. Those who learn their own codes of color and its meaning discover ways of regulating their mood and appearance. For different people and cultures, these meanings and gifts can vary considerably. The whole rainbow spectrum of colors can be derived from ingredients in the natural world to create dyes: from the bold statement of red that grants courage, through the protective hue of orange, to the brightness of yellow that gives energy, the calming or harmonious shades of green, the joyful and sorrowful blues, the dutiful and responsible service of indigo, and the rare holiness of purple.

  Color is an essential nourishment to our senses. If we are starved of color for any length of time, or our surroundings have tints that depress spirits, we being to feel very strange indeed. Color is an unappreciated joy that offers itself freely to all sighted people. The rainbow bids us to remember and reacquaint ourselves with the beauty and gifts of its rich spectrum.

"What are your favorite colors? Which ones do you not care for? What kinds of feelings and qualities do you associate with the rainbow's spectrum of color?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Shield and Sword of Music

The Shield and Sword of Music

"Be valiant, princely,
Be active, exceedingly bold,
Be ready, fresh and comely!"
    __ Lachlann Mor MacMnuirich,
          "Battle Exhortation to Clan Donald"


   Before armies set forth on expeditions, and on the eve of battle, bardic poets sang to encourage warriors and to give heart to the fearful. Armies also went into battle with their musicians to encourage them. Music is still very much a shield and sword in our own age. Though few of us go into conflict with sharp-edged weapons, we still go into danger with better heart when music accompanies us. The songs that come unconsciously to our lips when we are in need of comfort, courage or new heart are always very significant. Their words and themes are often either akin to our own situation in that very moment or able to shield us from the danger ahead.

   Recognizing and seeking out the songs and music that support us in such times is a wonderful way of being prepared. We can gather our own repertoire of music, ready to serve us in need: the battle songs that arm us with courage as we go toward challenge, the soothing songs that restrain our fears, the shielding songs that speak of our deep resourcefulness and that set danger at naught, the songs of spiritual exhortation that urge our sacred allies to accompany us. All these songs can go with us wherever we are. The music that is our own sword and shield derives from strong sources of inspiration - from the deep core of meaning that moves us to joy and new heart.

"Begin to recognize and gather your own repertoire of soul-strengthening music. Which songs do you use for different occasions?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Strong Protectors

The Strong Protectors

"Each day and night
That I recite the genealogy of Brighid
I shall not be killed nor despoiled,
I shall be not imprisoned nor wounded."
  ___ Scots Gaelic blessing (trans CM)


    There is a strong tradition throughout the Celtic realms of special protectors who stand between our world and the otherworld. These are the 'greater dead', the ancestors who do not pass into the next phase of their tuirgin but stand ready to intercede, facilitate, and assist us. In early times, these figures behaved as protectors against attack and invasion. One such protector is Eoghan Bel, a sixth-century Irish king of Connacht, who insisted on being interred standing, with a spear in his hand. Similarly, King Arthur did not die but is held to be ready to come again from Avalon to Britain's defense.

   These early traditions were not overthrown but were supplemented by other strong protectors. The saints who had power to stand between mortals and the dangers of the natural, for example, would also intercede to the Divine on behalf of beseechers. This guardianship could be invoked by pilgrimage: visiting the tomb of St. David in Pembrokshire, Wales, was said to ensure that you would not go to hell, as was the annual barefoot climbing of Croagh Patrick Mountain in County Mayo, Ireland. The recitation of Brigit's genealogy not only protected the speaker but made him part of the saint's family in a special way. The strong protectors are not superbeing, gods or spirits in their initial appearance; they are mortals who become endowed with supernatural power after their death, vehicles of special grace. They form an ancestral hotline that stretches directly between ourselves and the sacred, unseen would, every ready to assist us.

"Who are the strong ancestral protectors to whom you appeal?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Past Experiences

Past Experiences

"I've been in many shapes
Before I assumed a constant form."
    ___ Taliesin, "Cad Goodeu" (trans J. Matthews)


    The Welsh poet Taliesin (Tal-ee-ESS'in) remembers all his past existences on the circuit of births after he has achieved the gift of knowledge. His existence include being a drop in the air, a star, a bridge, an eagle, a sword in battle, a string in a harp, and a tree in a grove. He concludes that 'there is nothing of which I have not been a part.' Few of us alive today can speak with any kind of accuracy about the past existences that we have experienced. Human beings do not usually remember their incarnations. It is perhaps fortunate that this is so: if we had memory of everything and everyone that we have been, the burden would be intolerable. It is given to few people to know their full past, because there are indeed few with the maturity of soul to understand and bear the burden with neutrality, without anguish.

  Unfortunately inquiry into past lives is now a common pursuit, taught at weekend seminars. Within the bardic initiation, such knowledge was taught to the beginner, nor to the curious, nor to those who wish to discount the faults of their present life by casting responsibility onto another era, place or person; it was taught only to those with the maturity not to misuse the knowledge. The poet's fusion with the myriad life forms of nature is thereafter never just a memory, but a potent, living  understanding of life as it is lived in the present moment. Let us be grateful for the often salutary glimpses that we are given of our own turigin and learn all we can from them.

"Review the disharmonious recurrent patterns in your present life if you want to learn more of past lives. These patterns reveal things you need to deal with or assimilate."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Care of the Soul

Care of the Soul

"There's little wisdom,
owner of the sap-laden tree,
to watch the growth of your frail apples,
yet to be careless of your own soul."
   ___ anon. Irish poem (trans CM)

   As with the care of trees and plants, of the soul cannot be left up0 to nature if we wish to have the best results. The fruits of spirit never ripen upon an unfrequented soul. Care of the soul is at least as important as care of the body. Listen to the soul's needs carefully - though these may not be easy to hear if we have been in the habit of ignoring them. The soul feeds on beauty, harmony, recreation, creativity, and connectedness with all that nourished its core.

  Look closely at what we have been put on earth to achieve. Pursuing our vision and putting ourselves upon the path of our vocation can help bring us into great alignment with the soul's powers. From this alignment will come a living, connective bridge between ourselves, our world, and the otherworld.

   If your understanding of spirit has been envisioned in unhelpful images and metaphors, use your soul's intrinsic sensitivity to change those metaphors and images and find ones which you can be fully responsive. The soul is wiser than we.

Listen to your soul. Ask your spiritual allies to show you what it most needs."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Prayer of Midsummer

The Prayer of Midsummer

"Sun-stone's kiss, midsummer pleasure,
Welcome all and some.
At the hele-stone sing and gather,
Every blessed one."
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Midsummer Blessing"


   On this, the longest day of the year, an annual miracle occurs. At dawn, the first rays of the sun touch the hele-stone, the solitary sighting stone that stands outside the great circle of Stonehenge. The miracle of the longest day is celebrated by people all over the world as the time of greatest light and blessedness. Tonight we will have the shortest night, the least darkness of the year, as the sun climbs to its zenith in the heavens.

  At midday, stand in the sunlight, which (unless you ave very far north or very far south of the equator) will directly overhead. Check to see where, if anywhere, your shadow is. Most people will find that there is scant shadow at all. All living creatures cast shadows; it is only spirits who have none. This is the nearest we can come to resembling spirits in this reality. Become attuned to the midsummer sun. Absorb the warmth and blessedness, and in return hold in your heart those who lack the blessing of light. Do not make any prayer for things to be changed one or another; just hold these places and beings in your heart and let the sun shine upon them. Come back to awareness of your own time and place, and give thanks for the longest day.

   It is traditional to make a bonfire at twilight and stay up late dancing, singing, and making merry with the community. If you cannot do this, light a candle and make your own blessing for all beings on this happy day.

"Commune with the longest day and shortest night, adapting the suggestions above to your own needs and those of your community."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Defending the Territory

Defending the Territory

"Peredur saw a chess-board in the hall, and the chess-men were playing against each other, by themselves. Now the side that he supported lost the game, while the other side set up shout, as though they had been living men."
    ___ Peredur, from "The Mabinogion" (trans CM)

   In Celtic tradition, gaming boards represent the land itself, and the pieces represent people who fight over rulership of the land. Games of this kind teach players to defend their territory and to hazard their own pieces in defense of the king. In an age that expects us to be open, pleasant, and friendly, we could perhaps learn some salutary lessons from the 'wood-cunning' of the gaming board and rediscover how to better protect the territory of our soul. We do not want to live our lives on the defensive or on the attack, but by being always open and welcoming to everyone we meet, unaware of the need to protect our own very necessary boundaries, we expose ourselves to the danger that our soul will be encroached upon by people whose smiles hide manipulative or malign intentions, people interested (perhaps unconsciously) in coercing us to render our services without any reciprocation whatever.

   Those who live as if the world and its contents were set there for their personal convenience have no notion of boundaries, and they will steadily encroach upon the territory of others unless they are checked or challenged.

"Meditate upon where your personal boundaries are and set up checks and challenges to those who attempt to come across them without your express permission. Where are you encroaching upon the territory of others?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect

"A stone thrown into water measures its own depth."  ____ Welsh proverb


   When people live their lives as though there were no cause and effect within it, great harms comes. When they believe that this world is the only world there is, they live less carefully in respect to cause and effect. Unaware of the correspondence of the apparent with the unseen world, they perform actions and harbor intentions that have a ripple effect. When a stone is thrown into water, we are aware only of the rippling on the surface of the pool; however, when the stone lands at the bottom, it displaces something else.

  A careless word, uttered without proper intention, lodges somewhere. A thoughtless deed, performed however secretly, leaves its impression somewhere. When our actions and intentions measure their depth in the otherworld, we may not be immediately aware of what has happened, but the sonic resonance of their falling returns to the world in a variety of ways, as a fresh set of ripples in another part of our world. Unchecked anger, spiraling fear, the theft or manipulation of the rights of other beings - these are but a few causes that have terrible effects. Anger directed at another is like an actual weapon that impacts upon its target. By ignoring the subtle messages of the unseen realms that lie about us and interact with us at every moment, we cut ourselves off from sources of spiritual joy and alignment. The result is a dispirited or stubborn self-dependency whose boundary of responsibility stops at the egocentric limits of the self. The universe is larger than we have conceived it: it encompasses not only the explored physical cosmos of our kindred beings but the unexplored cosmos of our otherworldly family.

"Consider the wider cause-and-effect patterns that interweave you with both worlds. What effects have you noticed?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Sacred Lore of Tradition

The Sacred Lore of Tradition

"The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of our children."
   _____ Philip Carr-Gomm, "The Druid Way"


    The true meaning of tradition entails the handing over by one generation to another the sacred lore by which life can be lived. The sacred lore of tradition is a living, moving thing, flowing like water from one age to another, reforming itself from one generation to the next, adapting to the needs of the new. Each one of us is a tradition-bearer, though we may not think of ourselves as such. But when we need the sacred lore of tradition - when a family reunion comes along, when death hovers close, when the community gathers together - a sense of unworthiness, a suspicion of fraudulence, a foreboding of inauthenticity shadows our steps. We reach for the ancient song of our ancestors and falter because we have not personally rewoven the sacred theme into our own time, place, and living. We are often driven to borrow the traditions of other people because our own have been mislaid or forgotten.

  Without us, the children will have no songs. Without our humble efforts to grasp and transmute the sacred lore that descends to us, there will be no tradition. Before that fate comes upon us, lot us silently ask the ancestors for help. Pray that the song of the sacred lore may be sung, that we may catch echoes and, through the understanding of our hearts, find the melody that harmonizes with our times.

"What beneficial traditions have you inherited?  How do they work best now?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Golden Age

The Golden Age

"The sleeping place of the Age of Gold is in the depths of every human heart."
    ___ John Cowper Powys, "Morwyn"


   Within Celtic belief, the Golden Age is a paradigm of the living otherworld, where there is no winter, no death, no disease, no want, no work. In every age, we look back to times that we judge to be less imperfect than our own. Grandparents remember better times than they see ahead for their grandchildren; traditional craftspeople remember times when their craft was truly valued, before mass-produced goods; soldiers envy troops who could fight on horseback or hand to hand without facing mass annihilation. The grass is always greener and the times always rosy in retrospect.

   The Edenic principle of Paradise has replaced the picture of the classical Golden Age within our own times, growing out of a story of disobedience that bruises the human heart and echoes after us. becoming the pretext for ideological brutality to all living beings, animals, and people. The reaction this has created other Golden Ages: the Matriarchal Golden Age, when women were supreme and the Divine was seen predominately seen as goddessly; the Pagan Golden Age, when all ancestral doings were good, wise and true.  Our longing for a Golden Age is not a fantasy or a historical reality; rather, it is a real remembrance of something profoundly, mythically true. Its images shimmer upon our inner sight like a mirage - a recognition of the eternal, living otherworld whose lands we travel to when we dream, meditate, or make soul-flights to its regions, a realm to which we instinctively belong.

"What is your vision of the Golden Age? How does it sustain hope in you?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Mother and Child

Mother and Child

"Despite the bitterness of every sickness,
The strife that's the gift of each living soul;
The child born of one's fair body
That is what lives in the mind."
  ____ Gormilaith, "Trum Anocht Mh'Osnadh"
    in Osborn Bergin, "Irish Bardic Poetry" (trans CM)


    The bond between mother and child, between child and mother, is regarded as a sacred one in most cultures - a bond that is upheld by most legal systems, at least while the child is young. In cultures where women are less respected than men, motherhood can be a potent tool of repression, however. Motherhood has become a sacred cow over which politicians argue and bicker, alternately nodding respectfully and pulling it off the highway as a massive obstruction. Our society is ambivalent about the rights of mothers and their children, especially as the strain on the nuclear family to earn a decent living cuts across child-rearing and child-support issues.

The child-mother bond goes through a series of different phases. After the intimate nurture of babyhood and infancy, the mother becomes the watchdog vigilante - often sharp-voiced and forthright - determined to ensure the safety and well-being of her child. After the child leaves home, the role of mother as caregiver evolves into a variety of different areas, depending on the mother's adaptability. The distance of age and maturity on both sides of the relationship can bring a mutual appreciation of great beauty. Every human being comes from a woman's body, and though mother and child may be unknown to each other after birth, nothing can rend the sacred bond that lies umbilically between them.

"Meditate about the mother-child bond in your own experience."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Right to Be Happy and Sad

The Right to Be Happy and Sad

"Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know;
Safely through the world we go."
   ___ William Blake, "Augries of Innocence"


   Joy and sorrow do not perform accordingly to logical rules and laws; they come unbidden like the clouds, the rain, the sunshine. If we assume that happiness is our sacred right, we tend to warp the all-covering garment of the universal bounty into a selfish cloak of self-appeasement. This cult of happiness can devolve into a pleasure-seeking pilgrimage, that excludes all difficulty and awkwardness. Our dissatisfaction, grief, or disillusion is then projected upon less-fortunate others.
    The gifts of sadness, like the gifts of happiness, come to all conditions and types of people. They provide moments of self-clarification that keep our lives on course. Sadness stems nearly always from some form of exclusion, separation, or rejection. When we are disconnected from life, we yearn for union. Joy connects us strongly with life; like people who plunge into the stream, we enter the swim of life in ecstatic connection. Our going safely through the world is based upon a true regard of both conditions. When we value the gifts both of joy and of sorrow, our taste for life increases. When we accept both happiness and sadness as our moral bequest, we grow as human beings.

"What have you learned from your own sad and happy times?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Divine Powers

Divine Powers

"Three things possible to none but God: to penetrate the eternal without loss of truth; to recreate the new from the old without destruction; to be able to change every shape but remain changeless."
    _____ Welsh triad (trans CM)


   The ability to penetrate the eternal without loss of truth contrasts with our own patchy perception and understanding of the unseen realms. Even though imagination is a faculty of the soul, and it blends the information received by our inner and outer senses together, it can give us only partial understanding.

    Science can now breed other life forms, DNA, or tissue, but not without the death of the donor or loss of integrity to the tissue in question. The issue of genetic research is surrounded by fear and desire. The ability to change every shape and yet remain changeless can be imputed only to those able to live through time and its many evolutions. Only the Divine does this. Although it is believed by many cultures, including the Celtic tradition, that the soul passes into many shapes, subtle change do occur over the flow of time and nature of place. The unchanging nature of the Divine is only reflected in our world, never fully revealed. We truly apprehend only a few potent images suggesting a totality that is forever hidden from us while we live on this side of the worlds.

"How do you perceive divine powers from your own spiritual experience?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Circuit of Births

The Circuit of Births

"Tuirgin is a successive birth that passes from every nature into another...... flowing through all time from beginning to end."
  _____ "Cormac's Glossary"  (trans CM)


   Turigin (TOOR'ghin) is a very precise word for which there is no English equivalent; the nearest we can get to a translation is 'a circuit of births.'  One might assume, from that definition, that turigin is the same as reincarnation, but this is not so. In turigin, the soul moves between the otherworld and this world in a series of journeys.

  The understanding and remembrance of past lives was acknowledged within the didactic stories told by the Celtic church, which saw the ancient legends as vehicles of wisdom. Among these is the story of the legendary Fintan, who passed from human to animal shape, finally being reborn from a human mother. From his living memory, the whole history of Ireland can be reconstructed. In conversation with learned men of Ireland, he admitted, "A continuity of existence remained in me, which I do not deny." This is significant, when we consider that any notion of rebirth has been uncanonical within the Roman Church since the Council of Lyons in 1274. Despite that official condemnation, adherence to early druidic and similar classical understandings of metempsychosis - the migration of soul from one body to another - seems to have survived.

   Turigin is nothing less than the birth of the true nature, for it is not until the soul has been fused with everything else that it assumes its true nature; the soul's many turnings bring about its wisdom. The Celtic turigin is about fusion - not the refining of the soul till it reaches nirvana, but a profound communion with everything that brings authenticity to the soul.

"Meditate upon your true nature and authenticity of soul."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Tasting the Ground

Tasting the Ground

"The druid Bicne bequeathed to his successor the duty that, whenever he was unable to decide upon some obscure question..... that he should first consume some of Ireland's fruit, corn, fish, milk or chestnuts." 
    ____ "The Metrical Dindshenchas," ed. Edward Gwynn (trans CM)


    In ancient Celtic tradition, the druids are often shown literally tasting the ground in a practical sense, seeking an augury from the land and its fruits before uttering a judgment or answer. In all earth traditions there is an understanding that the land is a witness to truth, that its very molecules do not lie, that its constituent fabric and all life forms that naturally grow upon it are wise in ways that humans rarely match. The blind druid Bicne is able to divine answers to uncertain matters by eating the produce of the earth - a skill that he teaches to his successors.

    Keeping a sense of deep discernment and taste is very difficult when there are so many different criteria to consider. In multicultural and pluralist societies, both our physical and subtle senses of taste are under pressure to determine issues and things in ways that are right for us, our families, and our communities. One thing is certain: whoever lives upon a land with respect is welcomed by that land in ways deeper than we can imagine - a fact that we should bear in mind when issues of race and culture are raised. For those who are true to the land shall find that the land keeps faith with them. With our ability to move about the earth and settle at will, we do well to first consult the region where we are thinking of living, going straight to the land and speaking with its spirit, so that we can live with discrimination, truth and respect.

"Wherever you are living, go and stand on bare, umconcreted earth and commune with the spirit of the land. Return to your home and in soul-flight go back to the site you visited and ask for a better sense of discrimination."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Metaphor as Life

Metaphor as Life

"My eye is my verse,
My art is my whole vision."
   ___Dallan Forgaill, "Amra Senan" (trans CM)


   When spiritual darkness falls and we lose our sense of place and progress in life, the ability to see our way through our lives by way of metaphor can come to the rescue and give us a sense of restoration. We do not have to be poets to accomplish this. As living human beings, we all have the ability to tune in to our inner guidance system and gain perspective in our present circumstances, by asking the following questions:

• How do I describe myself in my present circumstances? What do I feel like? (For example, 'powerless, like a car with a dead battery'; unheard, like someone singing in a hail storm'; 'over-burdened, like a head of state.' )
• How would I describe my normal sense of spiritual connection? (For example, 'like receiving Morse code in a foreign language'; 'nurturing and strong, like bathing in a hot pool')
• What is the nature of help that my spiritual allies can bring to me now? What do I need? (For example, 'space and time'; 'a beautiful and deserted beach in the sun')
• How do I envisage my return to a place of clear understanding? (Draw upon the images and metaphors that you graphically describe in your earlier response4s. Meditate upon the help you need right now. Let your own metaphors give you guidance and support.)

Diagnose your present condition by using the inner guidance system of metaphor, as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Cernunnos

Cernunnos

"The suppression of Cernunnos was and is one [the] greatest psychological calamities. Had we continued to be religiously hospitable to him, he might have evolved into a gracious theranthropic, divine Patron of integration."
   ____ John Moriarty, "Turtle Was Gone a Long Time"


   Cernunnos (Ker-NUN'nos) is an antlered god surrounded by beasts and vibrant summer leaves like a shamanic, Celtic Orp0heus, lord of the animals and master of life. Neither quite deer nor entirely man, his theranthropic animal-human nature crosses a bridge that few divine manifestations achieve in our own time. Because he is horned and holds a snake, he was expressly demonized by early Christianity, although medieval Europe could not entirely shake off his abiding figure who also mediates between the two natures.
    In many depictions, Cernunnos holds the torc or neck-ring of human achievement in his right (conscious) hand; he grasps the ram-headed serpent of animal wisdom in his left (or unconscious) hand. His eyes are closed in an inward-looking attitude of meditation or ecstasy. For the Celtic world, this was the image of the guardian of life: not a macho or retributive deity, but one of quiet strength, an icon who protected the vital power of all living beings and mediated the powers of spiritual insight and enlightened knowledge. Cernunnos may have been excluded from mainstream religion, but he remains a wellspring of dynamic mediation among those who follow the old ways. He enables us to appreciate and be obedient to our dual nature: as human beings with the power of the mind, and as evolved animals with the power of the body. He stands between the worlds, visible at forest's edge and twilight, tide-turn and dawn, as a patient and protective figure in the borderlands of consciousness.

"Meditate upon your human and animals powers."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Violence

Violence

"The four things which a violent life brings: it shrinks borders, it increases enmity, it destroys life, and prolongs pains. "
   ___ Colman Mac Breognae, "Agiptir Chabaid,"
 Irish poem (trans CM)


    In every generation, commentators state that there is more violence than at any previous time. If we look through history, this is hard to substantiate, however. Violence is part of the human condition, and its effect fluctuates from time to time. Because we have a media system now that connects the whole world, we certainly hear about violent occurrences more often these days, making us believe that violence is on the rise. This emphasis on violence makes listening to the news very depressing; some days, we witness on the five-o-clock news a virtual catalogue of violence that soils the whole day for us. Awareness of violence is something that we would just rather not have.

   What is the root of violence? How can we prevent its terrible force from surfacing in our own lives (for we are all capable of acts of violence)? Violence initially stems from the thwarting of our will or desire; it is an instinctive lashing out against things we do not like. It containment is made possible by mature self-control and practice. Sudden outbursts of domestic violence are usually triggered by a succession of irritations that have built up until they are unbearable. In such circumstances, the way to defuse the situation is to attempt communication or to leave the home (if provocation is continual and unsparing).

   The narrow ways of violence circumscribe our lives and cause anguish in many homes. But the levels of violence in our society are not the responsibility of governments or the police: they stem from every member in society, from individual's attitude to life.

"What things trigger violent reactions in yourself? What strategies can you use to restrain them? How can you channel your feelings into positive areas?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


 

Soundboards of Truth

Soundboards of Truth
"We who walk in white are but soundboards
Of a truth, frequencies of a faith, augurers
Of a song more mighty than this island can ever hold."
    ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Stonehenge Ceremony"

   We live in a time when more and more people are beginning to reappreciate the wisdom of their ancestral traditions. This is a very beautiful and needful thing for those who have been without spiritual direction or who have tried without avail to apply to their lives ways and practices of foreign cultures. There is nothing wrong with returning to our source and looking for living water. As long as we leave the stagnant brackish waters of practices and beliefs that will not give life in our own age strictly alone, we can serve our own land and communities by applying timeless wisdom to our needs today.

   There are many who decry what they see as the unwisdom of stirring up old, forgotten beliefs. For them, the revealed and written traditions of later centuries alone have primacy, and everything that is out of their compass is automatically demonized. Yet there can have been no time in which the eternal song of sacred truth has not sounded. In different places, at different times, people have responded passionately to this song, expressing its meaning through myth, ritual, and humane behavior.

   The song of sacred truth is not a tuneless lay on one unvarying note; rather, it is a call sounding at all time for living beings to respond to its challenge in ways appropriate to the time and circumstances. Sacred truth resides in every living moment that we draw breath. We can only be soundboards of this truth, receiving its vibration and absorbing and reflecting its tonality. If we insist that ours is the only authorized song, then we cut across the frequencies of others.

"What are the notes of the song of sacred truth that you receive?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Weather Lore

Weather Lore

"Everything in time becomes..... a sort of weather gauge. The sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the winds, the mists, the trees, the flower, the herbs and almost every animal. All these become instruments of real knowledge."
   ___ "The Shepherd of Branbury's Rules"


   Before long-range weather forecasts and satellite information became available, people relied upon their own observation of nature to discover weather trends. These often infinitesimal signs provided good guides to planting, growth and reaping. People who rely upon the land for their living still have knowledge of these signs and watch animal movements, cloud shapes, and rain patterns with an eye that is more receptive than most. For our ancestors good weather observation was often all that stood between plenty and dearth.

   What we once took for granted as ready information has become increasingly mysterious or magical to those who do not order their lives by such observation. The wisdom and rhythm of the sun and moon are seldom noted by us now, except to the extent that we are timekeepers of the celestial continuum; yet solar and lunar weather lore - whether the flaming dawn or sunset that portends foul or fair weather, or the ring around the moon that speaks of frost - contributes to our most significant understanding of patterns. Such close observations may be needed by us again as weather patterns change, bringing rains, winds, and droughts at times and in places we do not expect them. We are going to have to find new - and possibly old - ways of realigning ourselves with the elements of weather wisdom.

"Learn more about the weather patterns and lore of your district. Take the gauge of the weather throughout the day and learn its patterns for yourself."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Soul-Lending

Soul-Lending 

"Now is the soul set free,
Rising from the soul-shrine.
O Holy Eternal Ones from the Realms of Bliss,
Encircle the one we love in your own compassion."
     ____Caitlin Matthews, "The Celtic Book of the Dead"


   When it strikes us suddenly, death usually finds us totally unprepared to leave our lives. There is often a great deal of unfinished business, and an uncertainty on the part of family or dependents as to what our intentions were for the appropriate disposal of our body. Ideally, we would have already made arrangements for these things before the moment of our death, but unconsciousness or grave illness may have prevented us from conveying our wishes. Although the sun shines upon us this summer and thoughts of death may be far distant, it is always good to have our death arrangements in hand.

  Apart from practical considerations, there is the matter of our own route beyond death into the ever-living otherworld. We may not know what awaits us, or whether we will pass on to other existences, but we can at least cultivate those spiritual allies who accompany our soul's circuit so that we do not remain earthbound due to lack of orientation. If we have a close friend with whom we can share our soul's concerns, it is good to let her know what our dying needs will be. A soul-friend can act in a more independent way than immediate relatives. Our soul-friend may have no idea what route our soul will take, but she can implore our spiritual allies to give us good guidance to realms of peace.

"Meditate upon what matters need resolution before you die. Leave clear written instructions with family, lawyer, and doctor about your wishes concerning your death. Your dear ones will thank you for being so prepared at a time when they can least cope with important decisions on your behalf."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

A New House

A New House

"A blessing upon your new home,
A blessing upon your new hearth,
A blessing upon your new dwelling,
Upon your newly kindled fire."
   __ Scots Gaelic blessing (trans CM)


   When we move to a new house or apartment, it is always good to give a blessing to the place. Most of us move into houses or apartments that have just been vacated by other occupants. Before we can move in and settle down, we need to cleanse the house of old influences and unhappinesses, just as much as we need to clean off the previous occupants' layers of grime and dust. Open doors and windows, let in light and air, and take the broom and mop to floors, walls, and ceilings. All the elements can be included in this process. If there are rooms that feel particularly unhappy or disturbed after a simple cleansing, then we need to pray that these influences be lifted by the help of our spiritual allies, and we may want to light some incense to permeate the room. '

   Then we greet the spirit of the land upon which our residence is built - even if we have a fifth-floor apartment. Every region of the earth has its own indwelling spirit, and it is good manners to greet it and tell it who we are and why we have come to live there, offering the peace of our heart, and a small gift of food or a song. Then, starting at the hearth, we give blessing to the structure, going sunwise through the house, through each room, with a verbal or sung blessing, taking light or incense into every corner until we arrive back at the hearth again. At the hearth, we can bless the occupants of the house and the activities that will take place within it.

  Lastly, we can have a housewarming party at which everyone is asked to make a blessing for the future happiness and blessedness of the dwelling.

"Make a blessing for your own home, whether it be old or new."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Power of Story

The Power of Story

"The king asked the storyteller to recount the title of those tales that he remembered. And so he recounted the titles of all the prime tales of Ireland that he was able to narrate."
   ___ fifteenth-century Gaelic manuscript (trans. CM)

   When Jeremiah Curtain collected stories in Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century, he met an old woman who fell ill and had to be taken to the hospital in Munster. She told him that she attributed her illness to the fact that she had told stories in the daytime. There is something magical and mythical about the power of the story within many traditions worldwide that can be discussed only when it is dark or when it is wintertime. This tradition implies that the recitation of a story causes its power to be released, and that this power has to be carefully controlled if one reality is not to invade another.
  
   The magic of the story is everywhere acclaimed as healing and transforming. The power of story to change us and bring us to the brink of self-forgetfulness and wonder is a gift beyond measure. However, if we truly believe in the power of story, it is important that we find appropriate stories for our condition and that they are told at times when we are most receptive to (an therefore most respectful of) their power. We each participate in a greater story than appears in any book, film, or recording: the story that is telling us is more important than the story we are telling. It is unwritten and sometimes unheard by us, but it runs throughout our lives with an authoritative voice that we need to listen for. It is in periods of receptive silence and listening that this story becomes apparent.

"Meditate upon your own story. What themes, protagonists, patterns and cycle can you perceive?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Examinations

Examinations

"They would not take him among them till he had made a leap over a stick the height of himself, and till he had stooped under one the height of his knee, and till he had taken a thorn out of his foot with his nail, and he running his fastest. But if he had done all these things, he was of Fionn's people."
    ____ Lady Augusta Gregory, "Gods and Fighting Men"

   These fearsome tests that all men were set who wanted to join the Fianna, the war band of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail, were designed to select only the best and strongest candidates. But the Fianna was made up not just of muscle-men or tiny-brained superheroes; all candidates also had to have culture and knowledge.

   At this time of the year many students must take examinations in order to try for places at a university or to gain certification for suitable employment that will use and stretch their gifts. Examinations test competency and reveal fitness for certain tasks and professions; these days, exam results often involve students in a competitive lottery. Only the most qualified take the plum places and jobs. Some educational experts would like this competitive element to be removed and to have instead some kind of cooperative system where all candidates are treated equally. If we look at the extensive variety of habitats in the world, we find there are animals who have adapted themselves perfectly to the environmental challenges of the most barren and remote terrains. Similarly, we human beings take the opportunities best suited to our abilities and then find ways to adapt ourselves to the challenges that stretch us.

"Make your own blessing for students sitting their exams."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

June

"Month of June - beautiful are the fields;
Smooth the sea, pleasing the strand;
Beautifully long the day, playful the ladies."
   ___ Anon. - Welsh Poem

And so the Merry Month of May passes and we come to June. June sees the beauty of summer unfolding, The month's meditation themes include clarity and clearing away, times of light in darkness, turnings and returnings, changing and shape-shifting, divine and mortal gifts, the enduring soul, and shields and defenders.