Retracing the Animal Presences

Retracing the Animal Presences

"In the infancy of culture ritual and art were one, and the hunters who drew the animals they desired and performed ritual dances in fissures deep in the rock must also have had poetry to evoke this physical and spiritual sympathy."

__ Jacquetta Hawkes, "A Land"

The cave and rock paintings of the ancient world depict the bison, mammoth, horse and deer, all of which have a powerful presence not found in domesticated animals. These wild creatures who prefigure a primal world of nature are figurative of more than meat and hid: they hold and mediate spiritual powers greater than the present consumerist mentality can evoke. The spirits of animals open gateways to deeper worlds of understanding, shared worlds in which people and animals learned from each other.

We do not know what rituals attended the painting of these creatures in ancient times, but looking at comparable cultures extant today, we can see that among the aboriginal Australians, for example, the rock and cave paintings are retraced by subsequent generations. This is a method of honoring and reconnecting with spiritual presences drawn by ancestors.

The power to re-evoke the spirits of animals with whom we once shared our world more equitably is still with us, if we will set aside the time and space. Returning to our own dark cave, lit only by the torch of our willing understanding, we come again to the ritual kindling of spiritual vision, wherein the ancient animal powers speak to us, creature to creature, in the dance of life.

"Meditate upon a species of animal now under threat of extinction. Listen to its wisdom with respect and thankfulness. Make a drawing of your experience."

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

The Undending Quest

The Unending Quest

"I watch the star to guide me home,

I found my soul and spirit's rest,

I travelled far across the foam.

There is no ending to my quest."

___ Caitlin Matthews, "The Celtic Book of the Dead"

Our spiritual quest leads us on many a long voyage, across unknown seas to distant and unguessed-at destinations. Like the heroic voyagers of Irish tradition who took ship to the furthest shores of the Blessed Isles, looking for the Land of Women and the Land of Heart's Desire, we too strike out into unknown seas.

To all spiritual quests there are two main features: the outward voyage, on which all is strange, new and frightening; and the homeward passage, on which there is time to consider all that we have experienced and to make sense of it. It is in that context that the epic of Troy makes sense when that other wily mariner, Odysseus, makes his own epic journey home. The manner in which we make our own spiritual homecoming is very important, since the return is a critical stage of our progress. Whatever beckons us from home will surely lead us, as we return with our spiritual luggage. Once home, we must unpack everything, retaining what is useful to us and freely giving away what does not serve.

The spiritual quest is unending. It may lead us to revisit old destination, but we will disembark as different people at each step as we progress on our meandering and fruitful voyage.

"Chart the major island landfalls of your own spiritual quest to date. Note any recurring patterns and check the usefulness of the spiritual baggage you have acquired on the way."

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

Lugh - The Many Gifted One

Lugh: The Many Gifted One

"There is a man at the door," said the doorkeeper. "His match

would be hard to find; every art answers his skill."

___ Gofraidh FionnO'Dalaigh, in Osborn Bergin, "Irish

Bardic Poetry" (trans. CM)

The nickname of the Irish god Lugh (LOO'kh) is Samidanach, or "The Many-Gifted One." He earns it when he comes to the court of King Nuada (NOO'a-ha) just as everyone is sitting down to feast. The doorkeeper challenges Lugh for his name and skill, for no one without a special art or skill may enter Tara. Lugh tells him that he is a smith, a builder, a champion, a harper, a hero, a poet, a magician, a healer, a cup-bearer, and a fire-keeper. His boast is tested by everyone there, and he is ultimately admitted.

Lugh is what we now call a 'Renaissance man', one whose many skill pass beyond narrow categories of accomplishment, spilling over into many fields of artistic skill. His boast at Nuadu's court causes as much skepticism as would that of a man attempting to enter Congress or Parliament who claimed to be a great politician, a military hero, a Nobel-winning scientist, a shaman, a pop musician, a film star and a poet of international acclaim all rolled into one

Lugh's many-gifted nature holds sway at this time of year, reflecting the rich variety of harvest, heralding the beginning of the many-colored autumn months. For ourselves, the month of August enables us to pass the narrow confines of our daily occupation and enjoy the full range of our own skills and abilities as we take our vacation.

"On this day of festival, review your own many-gifted nature with appreciation. How does it serve your community? Which of your gifts are you hiding away? Which ones will you be enjoying this autumn?"

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

On this day we pass into the Lughnasadh Quarter of the Wheel of Year. The autumn quarter of Lughnasadh brings the gift of maturity and is a time of physical harvest and spiritual garnering. It sees the greatest change in weather from broiling heat to dark and chilly nights.

It is the time for celebrating the harvest and sees the busy preparations for winter. In the human growth cycle, Lughnasadh corresponds to the period of mature adulthood when a certain steadiness and responsibility have been established. It is a good time to celebrate the lives of all who have helped stabilize and uphold the noble values of life, of all who have exercised good judgment and steered the doubtful into the harbor of certainty, of all holy ones whose guardianship has saved us from life-disabling mistakes.

[From "Celtic Devotional" by Caitlin Matthews]

Lughnasa

Lughnasa

"About the Calends of August Taltiu died, on a Monday, on the feast of Lughnasad of Lug; around her grave from that Monday forth is held the chief fair of noble Erin."
___ "The Metrical Dindshenchas," ed. Edward Gwynn (trans CM)

This feast is often understood to be a celebration of the Irish god Lugh (LOO'kh), but this is not the case. The festival celebrated primarily in honor of Lugh's foster-mother, Taltiu (TAWL'too), who single-handedly cleared the plains of Ireland of trees in order that agriculture and the gazing of cattle might take place. This necessary work is remembered and honored in the myth of Taltiu. The word 'Lughnasa' (LOO'nas-ah) comes from the old Irish 'Lugh nasad,' or 'the binding promise or duty of Lugh.' On the death of his foster mother, Lugh caused funeral games to be held in her honor. Over time, these games devolved into a fair, held annually in Telltown in County Meath. On this eve, the sacred time of harvest is celebrated - a time for harvest suppers and for enjoying all the varieties of food that have been in short supply.

At another level, Lugh's honoring of Taltiu acknowledges the bounty of harvest and the contract that exists between all living being and the earth. It is in that acknowledgment that the last sheaf of grain is harvested and honored, to be bound about the churn-dash in the form of a woman of sprouting hair and spreading stalks, or be woven into complex shapes as a corn-dolly.

"Make your own promise to the Land this evening, as the sun strikes the harvesting earth
with its last rays. Meditate upon how you can keep this time sacred in your personal spiritual practice."
[From "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews

Voyage to the Summer Stars

Voyage to the Summer Stars

"Come let us build the ship of the future

In an ancient pattern, that journeys far.

Come let us sail for the always islands,

Through seas of leaving to the Summer Stars."

___ Robin Williamson, "Seasons They Change"

The sense of being visited by our spiritual allies is strong in many people. The beautiful, potent ones who are our spiritual friends and whose inspiration and encouragement keep us company come to us in moments of solitude and insight, speaking to us of the unseen world that lies on the other side of the veil from our own. This sense of visitation is not alien, unfriendly or extraterrestrial; it is common, ordinary and familiar, giving us hope, not fear.

Our awareness of the region of the 'Summer Stars' - that area just within the boundaries of the otherworld - is often very powerful. We may feel, when we enter into communion with our spiritual friends, that we have indeed slipped over the horizon of our world and entered into a new blessedness. The vessel that 'journeys far' is indeed the vessel of the living imagination that exists beyond time and space. As a vessel, it is very ancient indeed, and in its bows have stood many a voyager to the other shore.

The two-way traffic between ourselves and our spiritual allies is purposeful and creative. The communion between the spiritual voyager and her otherworldly friends is profound, respectful, and reciprocal. Our own voyage to the Summer Stars is taken in company with thousands of human beings who enjoy their lives and who have responsibilities that they are not going to throw over just because they are spiritually inclined. They voyage in order to enhance life, not in order to leave it, returning to speak with soul-friends of the wonders and joys that have been the secret of all mystics.

"Make your own voyage to the Summer Stars to meet your allies."

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

The Mound of Wonders

The Mound of Wonders

"Whoever sits upon this mound cannot go hence without either

receiving blows or else seeing a great wonder."

___ Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, from "The Mabinogion"

Ascending to mounds and high places in order to look out over the land in a divinatory way was a common practice among the Celts. It was especially customary in the days leading up to Lughnasa, when the harvest was in its last week of ripening. It was a method of auguring what the year would bring, as well as an honoring of the Land.

The Mound of Wonders is a place where the veil between the worlds is thin. Prince Pwyll decides to ascend this sacred seat of wonder in order to take an augury of his reign, and while there he sees a great wonder indeed: a woman in a golden dress riding upon a horse. He learns that she is Rhiannon, a woman from the Underworld, and that she has come thither in order to marry him. Pwyll believes himself to be in receipt of the wonders promised by the Mound, but his subsequent story has enough heave blows in it to render his prophetic expectations low.

Pwyll's experience on the Mound of Wonders demonstrates the double nature of seership and prophecy: the thing that is shown often bears an unsuspected barb in its tail. Our expectations of divinatory methods leads us to accept the best and to reject the worst findings of our augury, to embrace the prophesied end but to ignore the rather irksome human means to its achievement. But once we have called out in question to the otherworld, we have to bear the burden of the answer.

"Go out into the countryside and climb to a high place where you can look out over the land. Ask for an augury of the land for the coming season."

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

Incubatory Divination

"What is your name?" asked Maeve.
"I am Fedelm, poetess of Connacht," she replied. "I have
come from Albion after learning the art of divination."
"Have you the power of prophecy called imbas forosna?" asked
the queen.
"I have indeed," said Fedelm."
____ "Tain Bo Cualgne (trans. CM)

Here Queen Maeve of Connacht interviews a prophetic female poet in order to determine the outcome of the battle. Only poets who had trained in the highest divinatory techniques could illumine dark matters that could not be solved by normal means. 'Imbas forosna' (IM'bas for-OS'na) - literally. 'the inspiration of the great sigh' - was one of the 'Three Illuminations" or prophetic techniques of divination. Fedelm tells Maeve, "I see it bloody, I see it red." She then prophesies accurately, and in some detail, the valor of the hero Cuchulainn, who will be responsible for laying waste Maeve's champions.

'Imbas forosna' is a form of Celtic incubatory divination that can be employed when we need to get more information about things that are unclear to us. By using the technique with modifications, we can attempt to 'dream true.' Imbas forosna requires well-framed intentions and an ability to remember our dreams. Before sleeping, create an invocation that addressed your spiritual allies and ask for help about the matter in hand; include the instruction that you wish to wake up when the answer has been revealed. Immediately write down any remembrances on waking, bearing in mind that the 'answer' may be in riddling or hidden form. In order to unlock the answer, keep asking yourself how your dream experiences relate to your question. Try this for not more than three nights in succession, as continual attempts to 'work' instead of rest during the night can disrupt sleep patterns.

"Make your own incubatory divination, as indicated above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]