The Gateways of the Heart

"Ancient power spots and sacred sites .... are gateways. The real
openings lie in our hearts, minds and lives." 
  _____ Jo May, Fogou 




    The whole of our lives is a bringing together of our inspirational and power sources.
These are like the stones that form the gateway of our spiritual path, creating thresholds
in which our spiritual allies in the otherworld are drawn; they come close to us when we
recognize and visit our inspirational and power sources. Our efforts and their efforts
combined make these thresholds real gateways between the worlds, through which vital
energy can flow. The reciprocation between the worlds passes through these thresholds.
When we finally come to die, our fear will be lessened because we will already be familiar
with these thresholds of passage.
    The ancestors who once visited sacred sites were acutely aware of these things. They
would doubtless prepare themselves before visiting by prayer, fasting and purification and
be interviewed by the guardian of the site before they approached it, to ensure that each
visitor truly attuned and prepare. If we also cleanse the gateways of our heart before we
approach sacred sites, we will come fully prepared for the encounter between the worlds:
to greet our ancestors with peace and our spiritual allies with love.

Before you next visit a sacred site, meditate upon the preparations you may need
to take before visiting. 

[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Manifesting Our Dreams

"Dreams grow holy put in action, 
Work grows fair through starry dreaming; 
But when each flows on unmingling, 
Both are fruitless and in vain. 
May the stars within this gleaming, 
Cause my dreams to be unchained." 
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional 


  We live in a world where the divorce of dreams and their practical implementation is
almost complete. How can we weave the two worlds of dreaming and working together?
By attending first to our dreams and visions, and by allowing a space to appreciate and
develop them. Unless we take steps, our dreams fall barren into rocky soil of our
unconceiving imagination. Dreams will not manifest without our active help, or
without the energizing grace of the spirit. And while that grace is generously available
to us, it will not accomplish our dreams without our hard work.
   When our dreams manifest through this process, the whole world is recreated in
that moment, for we have been cooperators in the work of creation, not merely passive
creatures who crawl upon the earth. It is then that the stars dance where we step and
the song of joy issues from our spiritual allies, for we have made holy the daily ground
of our working.

Before sleeping, hold your inspired plans and visions in your heart as you recite
this prayer above. Be attentive in the days that follow to the clues and pathways 
that open to your dreaming. 
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Mattews]

The Door of Perception

The Doors of Perception

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is, infinite."
   ____William Blake - "A Memorable Fancy"

   The doors of perception are the senses - not only the physical senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and tough, but also the subtle senses of inner vision, resonance, instinct, discrimination and empathy. Without the cooperation of these two sets of senses, we cannot perceive truly.
   To be able to perceive everything as it really is means retraining and exercising senses that we have often neglected. Meditation can hone our subtle senses to combine with our hearing and resonance, so that, like  a bat or a whale, we have a sense of space, distance, and mass. Or we may find that our sense of smell/taste combines with our instinct and discrimination to give our visual field a sense of color and quality that is both accurate and surprising.
   When the doors of perception are cleaned, we received earlier warning of matters that are likely to be dangerous or problematic for us; we are subsequently able to make better decisions, draft more accurate forecasts, and read the character of the universe in an altogether better way.

"Practice using your subtle senses in combination with your physical senses today. Your eyes tell you one thing about a person but what do your ears tell you? Is the message different? What do your deep instinct and discrimination have to say?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews] 

The Druid Circle

The Druid Circle

"In Druidry, we come together in circles ... to experience that we are in communion not just with our present-day companions, but with the spirits of the animals, trees, stones, stars, ancestors, and children.
   ____ Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, The Druid Animal Oracle

     The breaking of hierarchy was the idea behind King Arthur's Round Table, at which worthy guardians of the Land could sit without order of precedence getting in the way, at which counsel could be given and taken without offense. The old stone circles that predate the Celtic era by centuries were the first meeting places, erected to put people into correct alignment and spiritual communion with past, present and future, and with all the beings no longer living as well as those yet to be born. In our own time, people are learning these wise yet ancient ways of relating to the universe.
   The change of emphasis that spiritual practice undergoes when people meet together in a circle is radical:  no altar rails, no pulpit, no them and us, no priest and congregation. Suddenly there is an equity we have never before experienced. We are one,  not only with those gathered about the circle with us, but also with beings in ever-wider concentric circles of relationship that set the universe in a different order and break the old hierarchies forever.
    The whole universe is symbolically seated about a communal fire called life - a fire that we all share in the darkness of our isolation, that courses through all veins, that maintains the life of even stones and plants and all that we seldom think of as living. It is a fire that burns in all time and places.

"Light a candle and invite other beings and allies - from the spirits of stars to the spirits of stones - to gather in a circle around the candle and meditate upon the life of the universe. Thank all your invited guests and extinguish the candle. What happened, what changed when you did this? What have you learned?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Books For the Soul

Books For the Soul

"That I might search all books and from their chart, Find my soul's calm!"

     ____ St. Columba's, "Song of Exile"


    When St. Columba went into self-imposed on  the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, he borrowed a particularly fine volume of the psalms from Abbot of Finnian of Moville and had it secretly copied. When Finnian discovered what had happened, he demanded not only his book back but also Columba's copy, on the principle that 'to each cow her calf.'  Columba, whose enthusiasm for the dissemination of knowledge often outran his ethical judgment, had to comply.
    In the early days of book transcription, only sacred texts were considered important enough for an illuminator and scribe to spend several months working on them. Today printed books are widely available; we are able to read a variety of writings, from sacred scriptures to poetry, from biography and history to philosophy, from legends to novels.
    If we look along our shelves, there are certain books with which we would never wish to part, dear to us because they provide us with soul-food. These are  not always sacred texts: they may be myths, folk tales, or other stories whose narratives inspire us with their abiding wisdom; they may be poems or songs that reflect the music of our own soul; they may be biographical accounts of people whose lives and works have been inspiring to our soul's circuit.

"Which book comes nearest to being your soul's chart? Meditate upon a passage from it today. Make your own blessing for the author."
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Service of the Grail

The Service of the Grail

"Go, heart, unto the lamp of licht (light),
Go, heart, do service and honour."

    ____ anon. "Go, Heart, unto the Lamp of Licht"


    The traditional concept of service is based upon the honor of the soul and the respect that we tender to other souls. In Grail legends, the sacred vessel of healing and restoration can be accessed only by questers who are sufficiently attuned to their soul to ask the "Grail question," which is said to be "Whom does the Grail serve?" - a question that, once asked, accesses the healing that it freely brings. It is only when we are able and willing to look beyond the boundaries of our own concerns and inquire what is wrong and to what extent we are involved in putting things right that we truly understand service. Then the realization that we are not the source of help, grace, or service becomes clear to us: we are truly cooperating with the spiritual source of our life and made mediators of healing.
    The Grail is a lamp of light, life and love that brings its solace only when someone is willing to serve. When we align our heart with need and honor, the heart itself becomes a lamp at which light is kindled. When the heart is alight with service, the flame can  pass freely from heart to heart.

"What is the nature of your service within the universe?  What are the terms of the contract between your service and the spiritual source whom you serve?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Cosmos of the Soul

The Cosmos of the Soul

"One soul in the immensity of its intelligence, is greater and more excellent than the whole world. The ocean is but the drop of a bucket to it, the heavens but a center, the sun obscurity, and all ages but as one day."
    ___ Thomas Traherne, Centuries

    The druids believed that the soul encompassed the far extents of time and space, uncircumscribed by temporal dimensions. For the Celtic peoples, the physical world was seen to be made up of three elemental dimensions: the depths of the sea, the breadth of the earth, and the airy regions of the heavens. Fusing these three dimensions together was the fiery sun, whose diurnal circuit maintained the life of the apparent world. Each ensoulsed body lived within the dispensation of these dimensions. But the soul was regarded as yet greater than these, able not only to move through water, earth, air and fire but also to travel beyond these modes into the wider domain of the unseen world.  For the soul, the passage of ages is but a day in cosmic time; there is no sense of time passing, only an eternal present to soul-travelers who enter the otherworld.
   When we begin to pay attention to our soul, rather than ignoring its needs and urgings, we experience a sense of inclusion within the universe. If we learn to pass beyonds the limits of our body as soul-travelers, we discover that the constellations and planets that spin within the soul are qualities, intelligences, and allies we have always longed for.

"Look into the depths of your soul, as into the immensity of inner space. How is the cosmos reflected within your soul? What constellations and planets are featured therein? Within the solar system of your soul, what major features do you recognize?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]