Willingness

Willingness

"Ae man can lead a horse ta the water but twenty couldna gar [make] him drink."
  ___ Scots proverb


    If you have ever tried to give strong-tasting medicine to an animal or child, you have encountered (probably with some frustration) the full extent of unwillingness. The same frustration sometimes arises when we try to persuade someone to our way of seeing something; no matter, how many times we explain our perspective, the listener's understanding does not come to the place of realization. It is just not within range of his will.
    In our lives we must do many things contrary to our consent: out of duty, expediency or consideration for others. Our ability to show willingness is often a measure of our maturity, a skill honed by circumstance, upbringing, and experience. But these very factors often have the reverse effect; that is, they detach us from our own will.
    When we do spend time trying to define our will, it is often a shock to find how much of what we think of as our own opinion, our full consent, our true will is formed by the opinions, wishes and desires of others. Sorting grit from the grain takes a lot of perseverance.
    Will without maturity is of no service to us; we must know when we can compromise it and when we should defend it.

"Consult your own will. Where are its boundaries, and when must you defend them?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Concentration

Concentration

"Traditional training laid great stress upon...... observing the motion of the breath, concentrating on a tree or a stone, hearing the environment and observing the traditional cycle of the year in plants, animals and the earth itself."
    ____ Ian G. Rees, "The Therapist's Chair and the Seige Perilous," in R. J. Stewart, ed., "Psychology and Spiritual Traditions"


    The preparation of bards, ovates and druids included training not only in the memorization of knowledge and practices but also in the stillness of attention that we call concentration. If you have even tried to learn a new skill that requires the memorization of long lists or subtle correspondences, you will know that modern memory can be often unprepared and evasive when it comes to remembering on command.
   The traditional Celtic method of concentration is learned in stillness and in the contemplation of the natural rhythms and cycles, involving the whole of our body, not just our intellect. In this deep stillness, poets discern metaphor, musicians music, architects primordial design, thinkers archetypal patterns, and relationships, seers truthful visions. We too can achieve this kind of concentration if we slow down and exercise our deeper faculties into a robust vigor that sustains whatever we wish to learn.

"Find a quiet place where you can contemplate some aspect of nature: a stone, tree, plant or star, for example. If you are indoors, concentrate on the sky you can see from your window, or on a plant growing in your home. Be aware of the object of your contemplation. Gradually become aware of the space around the object, Now switch your attention from object to space and back again, backward and forward repeatedly. Finally become aware of both object and space at once, and then include yourself in the relationship and remain in stillness and waiting, entering into a deep communion. Record your feelings in a poetic or artistic way."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Healing at Hand

The Healing at Hand

"May healing be hear to our hurt!"
   ___Eoghan Ruadh Mac An Bhaird,
     in Osborn Bergin, Irish Bardic Poetry (trans. CM)


    At moments of crisis or action, there is no time for long-winded utterances or beautifully written invocations, only for a swift arrow of prayer to pierce the veil between the worlds and beseech assistance. The prayer 'God between me and all harm!' and the observation 'God is nearer than the door' are examples of the Celtic trust in the immediacy of help and spiritual assistance.
    The help or healing that is near to us may not always be obvious or seem available. But even if we do not know who our spiritual allies are, they know who we are and will find us soon enough. The important thing is to ask for help or healing, so that we create a pathway down which help can come.
   Many of us feel that we are personally and solely in control of our lives, that we should be able to manage without intervention, that we are capable human beings who do not need help.
    The healing that lies near to our hurt needs our assistance to be manifested: we must be able to ask for it without setting limits on its action. Rarely given in an instantaneous miracle, healing makes us whole over an organic period of time. But we must cooperate with and trust the healing, not pick off the band-aid every hour to see how the wound is doing! To trust the help or healing, we must learn to trust the spiritual allies who provide it.

"Make your own short invocation for help or healing. Meditate upon the help that you need and upon your own receptivity to healing. Make an act of trust in your own spiritual allies and their ability to heal."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

A Ruler's Rules

A Ruler's Rule

"Do not be too wise, nor too foolish,
do not be too conceited, nor too retiring,
do not be too haughty, nor too humble
do not be too talkative, nor too silent,
do not be too hard, nor too weak."
    ___ "The Instructions of King Cormac mac Art" (trans. CM)

   The Irish King Cormac's instructions can be applied to anyone with benefit. If we give the impression of being wise, much is expected of us; if give the impression of being naive, we are taken advantage of. If we are full of ourselves, we annoy people; if we hide our achievements under a bushel, no one notices us. The overloquacious soon lose their audience; the silent are never asked their opinion. Those who act harshly are broken on the rock of their own flinty hearts; those who act like victims are crushed.
   Avoiding the extremes of exaggeration or underemphasis, we allow the true self to be expressed. Finding our own proper balance is the work of years of practice, however. Since we reflect and respond to each person in an individual way, we are occasionally thrown off course or present ourselves awkwardly.
   It is not the duty of any human being to appease or permit inappropriate behavior out of misplaced politeness. It is possible to stand firm in our innate integrity and not be swayed by persuasive and manipulative people. We can achieve this stance by holding to the core of our own being and discovering the power of our soul.

"Check your demeanor with people today. Did you come on too strong to some? Did you feel ignored or manipulated? Meditate upon how you can be more adaptable, especially with those people and in those situations that cause you to feel out of balance."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Conception

Conception

"It is in the agony and ecstasy of corporeal love,
it is under the ascendancy of this first- born of all
the senses that mortals draw most near to the quivering
secret of life."
   _____ Llewelyn Powys, "Earth Memories"


   In the Celtic tradition, it was believed that conception took place after a significant event: when the mother drank water from a certain well or say under the moon, for example, or when she ate a magical salmon or when the shadow of a god fell upon her.
    The moment of the soul's entry cannot be heralded or decreed. Women who yearn to conceive often do so only when they cease worrying about their goal. It is in the secret unregarded moments that a soul incarnates.
    In the conception of a child or of an idea, there has to be a passionate connection wherein the seed of making can pass from one to another, whereby life can be kindled and its flame grow secretly in the dark. Conception is not a solitary or a daytime affair. Our passion must be stimulated, recognized, and shared by another being: in the conception of a child by our physical partner; in the conception of an idea, by a nonphysical partner - a spiritual ally who can penetrate the veil between the worlds to help convey the soul of a thought into manifestation. The actual conception takes place in darkness, beyond the compass of our conscious thought or participation.
    Wrapped in a passionate embrace, in which differences of gender or form are reconciled in the bliss of union, the ecstatic wellspring of life springs up.

"Meditate upon some project close to your heart before you go to sleep, praying that it might come into being. Pass into sleep and let your dreams reveal their secret magic."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Light in Darkness

Light In Darkness

"There are three candles the illuminate
every darkness: truth, nature, and knowledge."
   ancient Irish triad

  Truth has been the mirror and shield of all seekers since life began. The primal integrity of all beings shines out like the light of a diamond, sharp and clear; but when truth is hidden, we are aware only of a dimness, and obscurity that cloaks our perception. Our unique sensitivity of soul to truth is inbred. It tells us what is good, well-aligned, and perfect. If we return to recognizing truth in ourselves, our actions, our speech, and our thoughts, we relate to ourselves and to the universe with better respect.
   Nature is the shining garment in which all life is clothed. The vigor, strength and power of life are
nature's gifts. We experience nature through our physical senses, and this experience is often ecstatic. We tend these days to rhapsodize nature, after a long era of neglect and abuse. we are each part of nature: if we abuse it, we abuse ourselves and those we love. If we observe and learn from nature's beautiful and balancing continuum, we live lives of harmony and justice.
    Knowledge is the glory that arises when truth and nature are properly welcomed and respected. It cannot be given to another; it can only arise when Mother Nature and Father Truth conjoin in union. Knowledge is the glorious child stored in every cell of the universe. If we search for glory in our thoughts, motivations and experiences, we align ourselves with knowledge. But neither truth, nature, nor knowledge can be owned: this is why they are the eternal candles. Let us always be on guard, therefore, for anyone who attempts to trade these three, for such action heralds the approach of absolute darkness. But with the three candles of truth, nature and knowledge to light out way, we need never be in darkness.

"How do these three candles illuminate your own darkness?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Imbolc

The Spring quarter of Imbolc brings

the gift of insight and inspiration and is

a time of beginnings and of essential truthfulness.

Begun in the dark and often icy days of

early Spring, it is traditionally the time to

appreciate innocence, truth and justice, to

make resolutions and plans and to prepare

for the enfolding year.

In the human growth cycle,

Imbolc corresponds to the period

of childhood when all things are questioned or

enjoyed for their own sake.

Imbolc is a good time to celebrate the

lives of all 'soul-midwives'  who have

taught and prepared us, all who have been

upholders of justice and truth,

all holy ones who have gone to the heart

of the matter with great clarity and insight." 

[From: "Celtic Devotional" by Caitlin Matthews]

Brighid, Mother of Memory

Brighid, Mother of Memory

"Brighid of the mantle, encompass us;
Lady of the Lambs, protect us;
Keeper of the hearth, kindle us;
Beneath your mantle, gather us,
And restore us to memory."
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, "A Blessing for
    Hearth Keepers"


   The festival of Imbolc is under the protection of Brighid. The ancient goddess, daughter of the Dagda - or Good God of the Gaelic gods, the Tuatha de Danaan (TOO'a-ha day DAH'nan) - is the matron of poetry, healing and smithcraft. In the fifth century, her namesake St. Brigit of Kildare took over many of the goddess's qualities and aspects.
    The extraordinary fusion of goddess and saint demonstrates how important Brighid is to the Celtic people. So great was her power that even the coming of Christianity could not diminish her influence: Brighid was immediately promoted within Irish Christianity to the role of the Virgin's midwife and Christ's foster-mother, and remains the secondary patron of Ireland to this day.
    The mantle of Brighid is continually invoked in Celtic prayer, to powerfully encompass all and protect from harm. As the keeper of the hearth, Brighid and her power are present in the hearth-fire that radiates its welcoming glow throughout the household. Poets and craftspeople look to her as their inspirer, householders beseech her to encompass their homes and flocks, and the sick pray to her to cast her mantle over them and bring them again to health.
   Brighid is the mother of memory, the one who reminds us of the original, divine, protective motherhood that promotes the individuality of our power and fan its flame to quickening life.

"Make your own invocation to Brighid to ask for the encompassment and protection of your household, including all that is dear to you."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

February

Month of February - scarce are the dainties;

Wakeful an adder to generate its poison;

Habitual is reproach from frequent acknowledgement.

____ anon. Welsh poem

February sees the beginning of the season of spring, the festival of Imbolc. The themes of this month include beginnings, illumination, recognizing our song, myth and story, disorder and pattern, clear discernment and memory, help and advice, service and sacrifice, the three threads of the soul, and their ninefold expression, wasteland and healing.