The Soul of the Land

The Soul of the Land

"How has Ireland been apportioned? -- Knowledge in the west, battle in the north, prosperity in the east, music in the south, kingship in the centre."

--- "The Settling of the Manor of Tara" from Caitlin and John Matthews - "The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom."

Beneath the physical form of hills and valleys, beneath the rivers and mountains, there is another appearance. It is not only in the minerals,m nor in the folded rocks; it is not only in the soil, nor in the trees and plants. Yet somehow in under and through all these things, the land has another nature; its living soul. Many people believe that there are no such things as souls in people or anywhere else, and yet we know that this cannot be so. As the soul of a person looks out of her eyes and makes her who she is, so too does the soul of the land shine out of its features and give it special qualities.

However small or large our own country is, certain regions have their own distinct nature. They are centers of administration, trade, learning, art, spiritual wisdom and so on. All contribute to the land as a whole. Certain regions foster one quality more than another; they are like a garden in which certain skills flourish and grow strong.

In the Celtic lands of yesteryear, each region had its sacred center or assembly, as did each country - a center that was not necessarily central in mathematical terms. The sacred center of any land has a greater spiritual pull than any other part, so it is here that the major assemblies of national importance are debated or decided. As Tara is to Ireland, so too is our own country's sacred center to the land itself: a hallowed place where the soul of the land shows through in all its splendor.

"Become closer acquainted with the different regions of your own country through travel, study, and meditation."

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

Harvest

Harvest

"All among the barley,

Who would not be blithe,

While the ripe and bearded barley

Is smiling on the scythe?"

___ anon. "The Ripe and Bearded Barley"

Every year brings the miracle of the harvest. The grain has ripened beneath the great golden sun of summer, with the assistance of the sharp, lancing showers of spring, with the help of the germinating chill of winter's grasp upon the seed hidden within the earth. It is only in autumn that we can began to enjoy the fruits of the earth.

The seasonal round is not longer part of our daily life, accustomed as we are to helping ourselves to the good things of the earth, at any time of the year. Food preservation methods are now so sophisticated that we can enjoy cherries in December or hazelnuts in March.

The mysteries of the grain were hallowed by our ancestors, because grain created two stable items of diet: bread and ale. The complex processes of flour refining and fermentation were discovered millennia ago, bringing their own special gladness to everyone's hearth.

Though the celebration of harvest no longer brings us together in communities to rejoice that the cycle of life can continue into another year, we can still be blithe and thankful that there is sufficient food for all to share. Every time we eat bread, every time we drink beverages brewed from grain, we also partake in the mysteries of harvest.

"What is your life harvest this year? Consider the riches of the year's experiences and ponder how they will fuel the year to come?"

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

The Moon

The Moon

"I give you praise, moon of guidance,

That I have seen you again,

That I have seen the New Moon,

The lovely leader of the way."

___ Scots Gaelic prayer to the moon (trans. CM)

Few people today mark the moon's phases, unless they go out a lot at night or their work calls them to contemplate the mysteries of the moon. The tides and seasons of our own mood have their correspondence with the moon's phases, which we can use with benefit once we are aware of them. It is easy to live only a daytime life, obedient only to the sun's diurnal rhythm. The longer monthly pattern of the moon is less discernible to us, but much more profoundly connected with our unvoiced preoccupations, with subtextual feelings, memories, and instincts that inform us with their subtle messages.

To be aware, as the writer of this invocation was, of the moon as 'leader of the way' is a great gift. The inexorable daily rhythm of the sun can sometimes beat us upon the anvil of life as problems hassle us, and the sun's longer rhythm of the four seasons brings us through changes over the whole year. But the cycle of the moon sees our soul through the phases of birth, growth, achievement, and death in one month, giving us relief, change and encouragement. Whatever the problem, no matter how heavy the burden, we can look up and see that the moon has renewed itself yet again - as we also can.

"Go out and commune with the moon tonight, whether it is visible or not. Note your mood over a couple of months and see how its changes correspond to the moon's phases."

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

Wisdom Teachers

Wisdom Teachers

"The three teachers who impart wisdom: suffering, thought,

and a truthful heart."

-- Welsh Triad (trans. CM)

It is often said that on the path to spiritual wisdom we must suffer in order to learn. Certainly whatever breaks us out of the path of ingrained habit leads us into a wider and deeper existence. Those who have endured great sufferings are indeed sometimes forged by their terrible experiences into wiser people; adrift from what is normal and familiar to them, perhaps even forced into the regions of pain and terror, they have experienced the full enormity of suffering and come out whole. There are also many people who feel that suffering is an over-rated teacher, however.

It takes an active curiosity in conjunction with the perseverance to research human motives and behavior, to reach new understandings about our experiential sufferings and how they can be altered or accepted. The exercise of thought can lead us, in turn, to the truthful heart within us - unless, of course, we remain bound in fetters of useless analysis and recrimination about our condition. A truthful heart has no room for blame or revenge. It maintains its own living watch on what life sends, transmuting the toxins of difficult experience into a regenerating draught, siphoning away whatever cannot be changed.

The way of freedom is to draw upon the compassion plumbed by our suffering, upon the clarity of our thought, and upon the essential truth of our whole human existence.

"Select one difficult experience from your own life and - with compassion, clarity, and truth -

consider what wisdom has been revealed to you."

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

The Courage to Try Again

"I will rise, I will go back to the white and silver shore.

I will have courage, as the sun does, rising and setting.

I will go as the sea in its turning.

I will rise, I will go back, I will rise!"

___ Caitlin Matthews, "Celtic Devotional"

The courage to return to places (emotional as well as physical) of trial or difficulty is often lacking in us. Sometimes the injury, offence, or experience we underwent in a place was so dreadful that we choose to avoid it altogether. Any mention of a person or place associated with that experience may cause disorientation or even nausea.

Sometimes we must summon up the courage to surmount our careful avoidance's, to step back onto ground where we have been hurt or injured or mocked. How do we find the courage then? Only by surrendering our fear, only by transforming it into the ability and power to move again. By avoiding our fear, we give it more substance. By facing our fear, we transform it.

The truly courageous go into danger realizing and accepting the terrors ahead. Most importantly, they do not plumb the depths of courage by an act of will alone. They draw upon spiritual helpers, upon the familiar strengths of their daily lives. upon the love and friendship of their kindred and their dear ones. With them, because of them, for them, the courage within grows and conquers fear, shame, and anger.

"Consider a painful situation or experience that is causing you to avoid certain places, or people. Pray to your strongest spiritual helpers for courage to return."

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

Colonization

Colonization

"Until we have learned to stand Grand Canyon deep in the earth,

we shouldn't even think of setting foot on the moon or Mars."

__ John Moriarty, "Turtle Was Gone a Long Time"

The bequest of colonization is a miserable one, and it stems entirely from selfishness and greed; from lack of respect for land, beast, and culture; from a superior attitude that leads to untold violence and abuse. Even when nations have extricated themselves and peoples have gained their independence, the legacy lives on. Colonists may leave, but colonization burrows even deeper in the land and people, leaving crooked souls and wounded attitudes.

There are many who silently pray for a complete change in human behavior before the space program becomes much more advanced. It is one thing to live with animosity, selfishness and greed upon our own planet; it is another to take those traits beyond our atmosphere to other planets and spread the plague of violence and disrespect there. But how can we learn to 'stand Grand Canyon deep' in our own planet, in the good earth from which all life comes, before that moment arrives?

To love what we have is perhaps more important than to aspire to that which we do not possess. To respect and maintain the earth, to find resourceful ways of living. is actually a greater challenge than to find ways of propelling ourselves at ever-greater speeds to even further destinations. Let us hope that the immensity of space itself may teach humankind a better wisdom.

"Meditate upon one of the uplifting places of the earth that you have visited. Go there in soul-flight now and learn from the spirit of the place what it is to live upon the earth with respect."

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

Ancestral Wisdom

Ancestral Wisdom

"We who have no elders, come

To your strong knees for counsel."

___ Caitlin Matthews, "Avebury Easter"

Most of us are sufficiently distanced from our own ancestral wisdom to feel disoriented in a time when indigenous knowledge is being reevaluated. How do we rekindle the ancestral fires once again? Where is the wisdom that will help us through the night of ignorance and doubt? Instead of elders, we now have elected politicians who speak with corrupt and self-serving voices; instead of fragrant local wisdom, we have homogeneous civil law and institutionalized religion to guide us.

Ancestral wisdom does not cease because the elders are no longer important in our society. Indeed, the wisdom is retrievable and implementable now. Part of the solution lies with ourselves. By changing the way we think - extending our planning to include the next ten generations rather than our own lifetime and vigorously upholding the rights and privileges of elders in our community - we shift from a basis of neglect to a more respectful and empowered position.

If we genuinely want to look to our recent or ancient past for wisdom, then we must give time, effort and study to our own spiritual and indigenous traditions, or to the traditions of those lands whence our ancestors came. Whatever is useful, whatever is practical, whatever is wise will never be lost as long as one person is practicing it.

"Ask one of your own ancestors - someone known or unknown to you - to come to your circle of meditation. Ask this wise one for help about some aspect of your own life that is problematic. Then implement the advice you are given and see what results."

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