The Circuit of Births

The Circuit of Births

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


     Tuirigin (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 tuirigin is the same as reincarnation, but this is not so. In tuirigin, the soul moves between the otherworld and this world in a series of journeys.
    This 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 oh 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.
     Tuirigin 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 tuirigin is about fusion - not the refining of the soil 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 Dindshenches, 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 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 also 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, unconcreted 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] 

Cernunnos

Cernunnos

"The suppression of Cernunnos was and is one
of [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 Orpheus, lord of the animals and master of life. Neither quite deer nor entirely man, his manifestations achieve in our own time. Because he is horned and holds snake, he was expressly demonized by early Christianity, although medieval Europe could not entirely shake off his abiding image and often depicted Christ as the hoofed and horned unicorn, a figure who also meditates between the two natures.
      In many depictions, Cernunnos holds the torc or neck-ring of human achievement in his right (or 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 wellspring of dynamic mediation among those who follow the old ways. He enables us to appreciate and be obedient to our dual nature: to 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 animal powers."
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Violence

Violence

"The four things which a violent life brings:
it shrinks borders, it destroys life, it increases
enmity and prolongs pains."
  ___ Colman Mac Bregonae, 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 effects fluctuates from 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. Its containment is made possible by mature self-control and patience. Sudden outbursts of domestic violence are usually triggered by a succession of irritations that have 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 each 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 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 the sacred truth has not sounded. In different places, 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 times for living beings to respond to its challenge in ways appropriate to the time and circumstances. Sacred truth resides in 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 flowers, the herbs and almost every animal. All these
become instruments of real knowledge."
   ____ The Shepherd of Banbury'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 round the moon that speaks of frost - contributes to our most significant understanding oh 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-Leading

Soul-Leading

"Now is the soul set free,
Rising from the soul-shrine.
O Holy Eternal Ones from the Realm of Bliss,
Encircle the one we love in your own compassion."
   ____ Caitlin Matthews, The 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/him 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 the 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]