Lughnasa

Lughnasa

"About the Calends of August Taltiu died, on a Monday, on the feast of Lughnasad of Lug; around her grave from that Monday forth is held the chief fair of noble Erin."
   ___ "The Metrical Dindshenchas," ed. Edward Gwynn (trans CM)

   This feast is often understood to be a celebration of the Irish god Lugh (LOO'kh), but this is not the case. The festival is celebrated primarily in honor of Lugh's foster-mother, Taltiu (TAWL'too), who single-handedly cleared the plains of Ireland of trees in order that agriculture and the grazing of cattle might take place. This necessary work is remembered and honored in the myth of Taltiu. The word Lughnasa (LOO'nas-ah) comes from the old Irish Lugh nasad, or 'the binding promise or duty of Lugh.' On the death of his foster-mother, Lugh caused funeral games to be held annually at Telltown in County Meath. On this eve, the sacred time of harvest is celebrated - a time for harvest suppers and for enjoying all the varieties of food that have been in short supply.
   At another level, Lugh's honoring of Taltiu acknowledges the bounty of harvest and the contract that exists between all living beings and the earth. It is in that acknowledgment that the last sheaf of grain is harvested and honored, to be bound about the churn-dash in the form of a woman sprouting hair and spreading stalks, or to woven into complex shapes as a corn-dolly.

"Make your own promise to the land this evening, as the sun strikes the harvesting earth with its last rays. Meditate upon how you can keep this time sacred in your spiritual practice."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Voyage to the Summer Stars

Voyage to the Summer Stars

"Come let us build the ship of the future
In an ancient pattern that journeys far.
Come let us set sail for the always islands,
Through seas of leaving to the Summer Stars."
  ___ Robin Williamson, "Seasons They Change"


   The sense of being visited by our spiritual allies is strong in many people. The beautiful, potent ones who are our spiritual friends and whose inspiration and encouragement keep us company come to us in moments of solitude and insight, speaking to us of the unseen world that lies on the other side of the veil from our own. This sense of visitation is not alien, unfriendly, or extraterrestrial; it is common, ordinary, and familiar, giving us hope, not fear.
   Our awareness of the region of the "Summer Stars" - that area just within the boundaries of the otherworld - is often very powerful. We may feel, when we enter into communion with our spiritual friends, that we have indeed slipped over the horizon of our world and entered into a new blessedness. The vessel that 'journeys far' is indeed the vessel of the living imagination that exists beyond time and space. As a vessel, it is very ancient indeed, and in its bows have stood many a voyager to the other shore.
   The two-way traffic between ourselves and our spiritual allies is purposeful and creative. The communion between the spiritual voyager and her otherworldly friends is profound, respectful, and reciprocal. Our own voyage to the Summer Stars is taken in company with thousands of human beings who enjoy their lives and who have responsibilities that they are not going to throw over just because they are spiritually inclined. They voyage in order to enhance life, not in order to leave it, returning to speak with soul-friends of the wonders and joys that have been the secret of all mystics.

"Make your own voyage to the Summer Stars to meet your allies."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Holy Day or Holiday!

Holy Day or Holiday!

"The sharp division of work from play and the natural from the supernatural has turned holy days into holidays."
   ___ Jacquetta Hawkes, "A Land"

   For most people, holy days are now just holidays, periods when they do not work, perhaps enjoying themselves in a recreative way. There is little or no sacred element left in holidays anymore; they have become one-way streets, days to be spent solely in gratifying our own needs. In centuries past, holy days were two-way streets; time was spent not only in recreation but also in honoring the Holy Ones to whom the day was dedicated, with some part of the time set aside for spiritual communion, remembrance, and veneration.
   Holy days are days outside mundane time and business, days when we give ourselves time to be present, soul to spirit, with our spiritual helpers. It is important that we celebrate the days that are holy to us, whether they be religious festivals, personal remembrances, memorials for friends and family no longer alive, the two equinoxes and two solstices, the four Celtic festivals, or days dedicated to inspirers and teachers who have changed our lives.
   When spiritual and recreative observances each inform and delight the other, holy days and holidays take their rightful balance in our lives.

"Which holy days do you celebrate? If you could create a special holy day in the calendar, what would it be in aid of, what activities and celebrations would honor it, and on which day would you hold it?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Mound of Wonders

The Mound of Wonders

"Whoever sits upon this mound cannot go hence
without either receiving blows or else seeing a great wonder."
   ___ Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, "The Mabinogion"

   Ascending to mounds and high places in order to look out over the land in a divinatory way was a common practice among the Celts. It was especially customary in the days leading up to Lughnasa, when the harvest was in its last week of ripening. It was a method of auguring what the year would bring, as well as an honoring of the land.
    The Mound of Wonders is a place where the veil between the worlds is thin. Prince Pwyll, decides to ascend this sacred seat of wonder in order to take an augury of his reign, and while there he sees a great wonder indeed; a woman in a golden dress riding upon a horse. He learns that she is Rhiannon, a woman from the Underworld, and that she has come thither in order to marry him. Pwyll believes himself to be in receipt of the wonders promised by the Mound, but his subsequent story has enough heavy blows in it to render his prophetic expectations low.
   Pwyll's experience on the Mound of Wonders demonstrates the double nature of seership and prophecy: the thing that is shown often bears an unsuspected barb in its tail. Our expectations of divinatory methods lead us to accept the best and to reject the worst findings of our augury, to embrace the prophesied end but to ignore the rather irksome human means to its achievement. But once we have called out in question to the otherworld, we have to bear the burden of the answer.

"Go out into the countryside and climb to a high place where you can look out over the land. Ask for an augury of the land for the coming season."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Incubatory Divination

Incubatory Divination

"What is your name?" asked Maeve,
"I am Fedelm, poetress of Connacht," she replied. "I have come from Albion after learning the art of divination."
"Have you the power prophecy called imbas forosna?" asked the queen.
"I have indeed."  said Fedelm
  ___ Tdin Bo Cuailgne (trans. CM)

    Here Queen Maeve of Connacht interviews a prophetic female poet in order to determine the outcome of the battle. Only poets who had trained in the highest divinatory techniques could illumine dark matters that could not be solved by normal means. Imbas forosna (IM'bas for-OS'na) - literally, 'the inspiration of the great sigh' - was one of the "Three Illuminations" or prophetic techniques of divination. Fedelm tells Maeve, "I see it bloody, I see it red." She then prophesies accurately, and in some detail, the valor of the hero Cuchulainn, who will be responsible for laying waste Maeve's champions.
   Imbas forsona is a form of Celtic incubatory divination that can be employed when we need to get more information about things that are unclear to us. By using the technique with modifications, we can attempt to 'dream true.'  Imbas forosna requires well-framed intentions and an ability to remember our dreams. Before sleeping, create an invocation that addresses your spiritual allies and asks for help about the matter in hand; include the instruction that you wish to wake up when the answer has been revealed. Immediately write down any remembrances on waking, bearing in mind that the 'answer' may be in riddling or hidden form. In order to unlock the answer, keep asking yourself how your dream experiences relate to your question. Try this for not more than three nights in succession, as continual attempts to 'work'instead of rest during the night can disrupt sleep patterns.

"Make your own incubatory divination, as outlined above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Insults

Insults

"Curog and her ladies.... went to swim in the Boyne. When they had had enough swimming and diving they returned to their garments and left. But Eithne did not notice the maidens' departure and it so happened that the magic mist left her."
   ___ "The Fosterage in the House of the Two Pails," from Caitlin and John Matthews. "The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom."


   The earthly maiden Eithne (EN'ya) served the faery woman Curcog. She was brought up with her mistress and other maidens and lived happily within the feth fiadha (FAY FEE'a), or cordon of invisibility, that surrounded the faery dwelling-place of Newgrange. All was well until a guest, Finbarr, from a neighboring faery hill, came to visit their home.Noticing that Eithne was the most beautiful of the maidens, but disturbed that she was of a different race than he - human rather than a faery - he purposely insulted her. Eithne began to lose her health and confidence from that time forward, and so it was that eventually she began to find life within the faery hill insupportable. She slipped beyond the reach of the magic mist that shrouded faeryland into the realm of mortals. Unable to get back, she died.
   The exclusion that we feel when we are insulted may similarly cause us to become separated from the things that normally support and inspire us, to become depressed or antagonized beyond bearing. Insults, whether they bear a grain of truth or not, cause us to reexamine and sometimes doubt just who and what we are. We can become adrift from our soul's center and slip into a state of uncertainty and destabilization. How can we reestablish ourselves after so severe a knock? We can call upon our spiritual allies to pull out the barb that has lodged in our being and neutralize its effect on our system, so that we can be restored to ourselves again.

"What insulting barbs still lodge in your being? Call upon your spiritual allies to help dislodge them and restore you again."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Elements

The Elements

"Of I break faith, may the skies fall upon me, may the seas drown me, may the earth rise up and swallow me."
   ___ ancient Gaulish oath of the elements


   This mighty oath binds the swearer's existence to that of the ancient Celtic elements themselves. We take the elements' gifts for granted: we do not think for even a minute about the air we breathe, the water we wash with, or the earth that sustains our every step.
   But this ancient oath has more ominous and immediate connotations in our age. We have taken the elements so much for granted, disrespected their gifts so absolutely, that we have made it more than possible for the skies to fall on us, for the earth swallow us, for the seas to overwhelm us. As heavy industry pollutes the air, the air quality grows poorer; as the earth heats up from the greenhouse effect, the ice caps begin to melt and the seas rise; as we fill the earth with our unrecyclable waste, the soil itself becomes poisonous and unfertile. We forgot the meaning of this oath long ago, and now we are reminded,
    The broad and  beautiful gifts of the elements are so willing, able, and bounteous. They clothe, nurture, and irrigate the planet, and all its inhabitants freely and blessedly. To keep faith with the elements, we need to make an intentioned effort to sustain the life-flow of our planet by putting our minds and hearts and actions to the uplifting of life. These precious elements of air, water, and earth are the triad of powers that maintain the life of the world. Preserved by the warmth of the sun and these three mighty powers, our earth has heat, light, and life. Without them, it is cold, dark dry and barren.

"Consider each of the elements as you use them. When washing your hands, lighting a fire or stove, taking your first breath of fresh air, walking to work, stop and be thankful for their gifts. Bless them and pray that they be preserved in peace, so that human hubris may not invoke the ancient oath upon our dear planet."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]