FALL

FALL

"Autumn is a good time for visiting;
During its short days there is work for all...
There are sweet acorns in the high woods,
Cornstalks are kind  over the brown earth."
   ___ ancient Irish poem of the seasons (trans. CM)



  After the labor of the grain harvest, the people of the Celtic world looked forward to a more sociable time together, although they by no means stopped work, This sutumnal time is ful of the bustling prep0aration for winter, a task to which animals and birds still pay serious heed. Without their intensive harvesting and harboring in the storehouses of tree and earth, there would be little to sustain life in a very few weeks.

  As the garden begins to look straggly and unkempt, the work is to uproot, to collect seeds from the custering seed-heads, and to dig up the ground in preparation for the winter ahead. Autumn's many-colored intensity begins to deepen and wrap us round as this season makes its royal progress, shouts it long goodbye to the growing time.  Trees lean together in more contemplative coteries, their summer dancing stilled until the strong winds begin, then their leaves will tear loose to be blown about the world in wild jigs and solitary war dances.

  There are those who find autumn a time melancholy refelction, a reminder of death and decay; but the world is a wiser place if we attend closely to its turning.  The cycle of our years is annually enriched by the lessons of fall: as students return to school and college, so we can turn to our expansive tutorial of the year's new term in search of maturity, heart's sharing, and the work of our dedicated living.

"Take a walk where you can best appreciate the turning season. As you walk, commune with the spirits of the plants, trees and animals that you encounter and learn from them the message of fall."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews)

The Unquiet Mind

The Unquiet Mind

"Oh the mind, mind has mountains, cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomned. Hold them cheap
may who ne'er hung there."
    ___ Gerald Manley Hopkins, "No Worst, There is None"





    As social pressures to be all things to all people incrase, so does thye prevalence of mental illness. It has been customary to think of such illness as an unfortunate heredity problem suffered by others, but it becomes clearer every day that it is common to all of us. 
   Signs of mental disquiet are not usually apparent to others and do not impinge upon others' lives until the person's behavior is affected. Behavioral changes do not have to be labeled as madness to draw our attention, however. We may realize that our partner's failure to make good decisions results from his inability to shift his received expectations, for example, or what our friend's addictive behavior is based upon terrible insecurity. We may even notice signs of creeping paranoia in our own lives: a fear so great that we avoid any occasion to notice it, a truth sonfrightful that we spend our lives projecting it upon everyone but ourselves.

  The ability of soul-friends to recognize the early stages of such states of mind is often acute. With our own friends, we can keep a watchful eye out for signs of disquiet, offering reality checks, asking questions, and giving opportunities for help to be requested. It is not generally our place to treat the early signs of mental disquiet, but it is always our task to encourage, support and befriend in times of turmoil.

"What are your own current 'cliffs or fall'?  How did you get there? What help is available (or could you seek) to help you down?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Ceremony

Ceremony

"How else but in custom and ceremony are innocence and beauty born?'

 __ W. B. Yeats, "A Prayer for My Daughter."

  Ceremon enables transition. Rituals of intiation, such as baptism and graduation; seasonal rituals; rituals of prayer and remembrance; dedication rituals, such as marriage; protective rituals in which we invoke our guardian spirit - all these help create a sacred link between us and Spirit, conferring special grace. Ceremony does not have to be dramaticd of wordy, and it need not involve a cast of thousands. The constituents of a ceremony are simpkle:

• The need or impulse for ritual.
• Space and time dedicated to the ceremony.
• The intentioned, sacred use of objects, elements, and expressive and apposite means of music/speech/silence/meditation
• A role for everyone participating, if appropriate
• A space of silence or empatiness in which divine interaction can happen
• A clearn statement of the purpose at the beginning and a thank-you afterward
• A point at which celebrants remember and include the rest of the universe, especially those who share their needs.         

 Ceremony can happen in any suitable place: our own home is our hearth and shrine, and as such is quite suitable for personal ceremonies. In times of transition, new ceremonies that meed the needs of a society are urgently needed, so that innocence and beauty - nthe currency of Spirit - can flow into our lives.

"Choose a real need in your life. Devise a short and simple ceremony that will address that need practically. (Examples of needs incude beginning a new job, preparing for retirement, cleansing the home after a burglary, adjusting to children leaving home, and entering the hospitalo.)"

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

The Tune of the Cosmic Dust

The Tune of the Cosmic Dust


"Human beings, vegetables, cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player."
    ____ Albert Einstein, interview




  Those who, like Einstein, come daily into contact with the physical laws that order the universe cannot help but catch the strains of that great dance in which we are all whirling. Whether it be in the intricacy of cellular formation, or the flow of currents, or in the vast pattering of the stellar orbits that illuminate the heavens, scientists are privileged to see into the structure of that dance.

  The inapprehensible motion of life escapes our daily awareness, as does the tune of the cosmic dust that orders us all in one great dance of life. We do not hear it playing until we come to a point where our ordinary and subtle senses are aligned together. Then we come into harmony and awareness of both worlds at once, the apparent and the unseen worlds in conscious communion within us. These privileged moments cannot be sought: they come unbidden, surprising us into mystical vision. It may be that when we interrupt a walk on a high place at evening to admire the view, we apprehend the revolution of the earth as a physical motion beneath our feet; it may be that we become aware of a rhythm that weaves about the steady beating of our own heart, as if it were a partner in the dance.

  The resonances to which we respond and the relationship between ourselves and the music of life give us the only clues available about the nature of the invisible partner - clues reassuring enough that we can trust the source of our music.

"Attune to the cosmic tune and rthythm of life; stand and dance."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Service of Beauty

The Service of Beauty



"The concern of  the Primary Imgination, its only concern, is with
sacred beings and sacred events. The sacred is that to which it is
obliged to respond; the profane is that to which it cannot respond
and therefore does not know."   ___ W. H. Auden, "The Dyer's Hand"




We each have an instinct that informs us when something is aestheutically pleasing; we are aware of the interplay of order, balance, and harmony. When a house or an object is ill-conceived, when a garment or a plan does not sit well, we have a strong sense of physical discomfort or agitation.

  The 'primary imagination' reveals to us the hidden beauty and order of the universe, giving us a sense of the sacred. Unfortunately our society now seems to foster a stronger instinct to acclaim the profane, to deviate from the sacred simplicity of harmony and beauty as a 'fashion statement.'

  The difference between sacred and profane is this: the sacred includes all that can be conceived of the history of existence, while the profane excludes everything except what serves our present craving. The profane can be easily spotted because it lacks beauty and harmony. The primary imagination will not dance to the profane; it is a servant only of the sacred.

  The sacred is often narrowly defined as pertaining only to religious institutions, but the service of the primary imagination runs in every aspect of our lives. We ourselves are not exempt from the service of beauty. The way furnish our homes, the objects we buy, the kinds of theories we buy into - all these are subjects to this sacred service.

"Look around your home with the eye of the primary imagination. What grates upon your sense of harmony and beauty? How can your home better reflect the service of beauty?"
From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Kinship of Nature

 Kinship of Nature

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

     ___ William Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

  As we walk through the countryside at this time of year, it is easy to feel our symbiotic connection with nature. The rich profusion of colors and the abundant seeding and fruiting of the land in preparation for autumn all beckon us into a wider family circle.  We return home after such a walk, perhaps to the city, brimming with a sense of belonging, but this feeling fades sooner or later as we are immersed once more in the daily running of our lives.

  We place reminders of nature's beauty about our home. Driven by recognition that our kinship with nature is slipping, we surround ourselves with 'natural' or 'organic' things. While such things may remind us of our wider relationship, they do not truly connect us, since kinship must pass beyond strictly visual reminders if it is to be authenic.

  It is in the touch of nature that connection is most strongly made, for it is at the most physical levels that recognition of kinship is triggered. We engage with our kindred when we are in physica contact: whether we tend our garden, groom our dog, or receive the kiss of rain upon our skin. These moments of precious contact are opportunities for loving thankfulness, in recognition of the fact that we are wholly akin to a great family. When we live our lives open to such moments, we enter a wider embrace that includes us all.

"What relationships do you have with your natural kin, apart from other human beings? What trees, animals, rocks, and places call out to you as kindred? Become more aware of these precious kindred and the way in which you yourself are included in the relationship."

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

Some Suggested Activities for the Autumn Months in Caitlin Matthews' "Celtic Devotional" are:

• Harvest fruit and vegetable and prepare the garden for winter.
• Walk and meditate outdoors for at least fifteen minutes daily '
• Identify plants and trees by their Autumn color and find out about their habitats and qualities.
• As you travel through the country of Autumn, relate your spiritual journey to the gifts available at this time.

Landmarks

Landmarks

"We can have inherited no single syllable from the names given by
Paleolithis hunters, but never since their day have our landmarks
been without them, without some sound to enrich and confirm their
personality."   __ Jacquetta Hawkes, "A Land"


  The abiding landmarks of our country have personality, quality, and emotive properties. Landmarks -
feature of the land that speak to us of the ancient sculpting of the earth in distant eras - recall the coming of humankind who raised and shaped the land in new ways; and they embody the myths, deeds, and actions that have happened there.

  The process of naming places in the land began in ancestral eras too distant to imagine, but we can guess that our ancestors, like us, saw the broad outlines of gigantic figures - the jut of a giant's knee, the rocky profile of a noble face, the upturned breasts of a goddess, the vast cauldron of a river-filled canyon or valley.

  Every natural landmark is redolent of the myths and legends of the land. Even in seemingly featureless places, those stories stillo run like veins of a golden song beneath the sleeping earth. The utterance of the landmark's name can be a magical evocation of its stories and rememberances.

"Recall the features of the landscape around your own home. What would they be like without manmade structures upon them?  What stories, traditions, and songs abide in your land? If your
land was once occupied by other peoples, what was the name in that time, and how does it preserve its meaning?
  When you next walk in your locality, be sensitive to the spirit of the place. Name the area; get to know it; let its story be told again."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

 The month of September sees the fruit and berry harvest, and the turning of the trees to their many colors. The meditation themes for this month include appreciating the harvest, home, wandering, belonging, boundaries, nationhood, music, beauty and ceremony.
"The Celtic Spirit"