The Ecstasy of the Word

The Ecstasy of the Word

"Hwyl...is a curious Welsh word that expresses the sing-song cadence, the rhythmic auto-hypnotic transport evoked by musical syllables, in which both poets and orators..... have the power of losing themselves."
    ___ John Cowper Powys, "The Obstinate Cymric"

    Hwyl (HOIL) is the untranslatable Welsh term for the ecstasy which grips the priest, orator, poet, or actor and which, in ancient times, would have been the clear sign that the Goddess of Awen (inspiration) attended the speaker.
    In our day we tend to be suspicious of charismatic speakers who have the power to sway the crowd/ Oratory, like all other arts, must have integrity or it can lead to such horrors as the Nuremberg Rally. Hwyl comes when the speaker accesses the way between the worlds, when he clearly envisages his subject in a true, living sense. When the voice is flooded with superhuman power like a singer's when the words appear in strength like a host of soldiers, when the listeners lose all sense of time and place and their emotions are loosened - that is when the inspirational power of hwyl is present.
   The ecstasy of the word still has power to change and encourage listeners. We hear the tones in the voices of Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and other great speakers of this century - men and women who give their voices, hopes and hearts to their people as a free gift and to whom is granted the gift of prophetic and inspired speech.

"Make it your practice today to honor the ecstasy of the work by speaking from your heart rather than making small talk. Listen with attention to what is said and meant."
[From:"The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Heavens Within Us

The Heavens With Us

"Draw into thy Centre-deep... thy Heavens within...
Take present care of the Heavens of your Mind....
Dive into your own Celestiality, and see what manner
of spirits you are endued: for in them the Powers do
entirely lie for Transformation."
   ___ Jane Leade, "A Fountain of Gardens"

   How do we find our center-deep? We have hid from it all our days, though it beams upon us like a lighthouse and continually shows us the path to the center. This path of light can be discovered in times of quietness and solitude, when we withdraw from the bustle of life and contemplate who and where we are in the great web of existence, when we still our minds from the spindle of anxiety and redefine not being as a partaker in the vast macrocosm.
   In the stilling of our body, mind and soul, we discover the special spirits who are our guides and helpers on the spiritual path. These spirits are not fantasies or psychological archetypes; they are real, living beings.
   Finding our which spiritual helpers we are gifted with is the primary task for those who would seek out their center-deep. All of us have our own spiritual friends - those being who do not have a human or earthly existence but who nevertheless exist and accompany us. We do not choose them; they and we are drawn to each other according to the gifts we share. They cooperate with us in the work of transformation; for, by our encounters with the spirits of our center-deep, we grow and change as we are accompanied and taught.

"Sitting in silence, become aware of your own center-deep. What kind of landscape does it have? Who is there with you?  What has drawn you both there?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Return of Mabon

The Return of Mabon

"When will I see you, Mabon, my son?
When will I kiss you, my pretty one?
' When the ages turn round at the brink of the sun,
When the birds at the wellhead have ended their song.' "
     ___ Caitlin Mathews, "Mabon's Journey"


   This song is a dialogue between Modron and Mabon, respectively, the divine Mother and Son of British tradition. Mabon is eternally lost, taken from Modron's side when he was a baby - and just as eternally rediscovered and released.
   Human need and sacred response are the two voice of their dialogue - a dialogue mirrored in our own. There is locked within us something so deep and sacred that we often feel we have lost or mislaid the key to the treasure. If we could see it, it would look like a child: simple, innocent, powerful as a shaft of light.
   We may have ceased to search for this lost child long years ago; we may feel unworthy to call up the deep, sacred appearance of our own soul, believing that it will no longer answer so soiled a need as our own. And yet that part of us which Modron, an urgent mother in search of her child, still rises when the need is strongest, descending to the darkest places, rousing any one will aid her quest for her child, the soul.
   At the sharpest edge of need, Mabon still returns, down every age of the world, bearing a bright sword to defend the right. The integral innocence of the soul that lives within us cannot help but shine like a mirror, like a child whose innocence turns away harm.

"Commune with the innocence of your own soul. Visualize what your soul might look like."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Appreciation

Appreciation

"The three supporters of inspiration: success,
acquaintance, praise."
  ___ Welsh triad (trans CM)


   This triad is written with prestigious poets in mind, the Celtic glitterati, equivalent to our pop stars and film idols. It speaks to their insecurity, to reputations based on noble patronage, and local adulation.
    Building on our own success is a way to foster inspiration and confidence in our lives. There is little impetus to further effort without some sense of achievement, whether our success alone, however, is the road to egomania, disillusionment, or even suicide.
   Our special connections in our chosen field of work are very important to our confidence and success. It is not just the contact who can pull the strings for us, putting us in touch with the right person at the right time, but the colleagues who work with us, our family, and well-disposed friends. We cannot depend on our connections alone, however; we must also prove ourselves worthy.
    The cordial of praise is more intoxicating than any other. Although we may seldom drink of its draught, when receive compliments or praise, our confidence soars. While it is good to receive praise, it is even better to bestow it. Praise offered from the heart is the greatest inspiration of all.
   It is by steadily building on our success; valuing our connection with friends, family, and those we serve; and noting what people are truly appreciating that we set our inspirational work in its true context.

"How often do you encourage your friends and family? Make a point of sincerely appreciating someone's achievement today."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Shape-Shifting

Shape-Shifting

"I will go in the name of God, 
in the likeness of deer, in likeness of horse, 
in likeness of serpent, in likeness of king. 
More victorious am I than all others."
  ___ Scots Gaelic invocation for justice

   The Gaelic practice of the fith-fath (FEE'faw), dating back to ancient days, is a kind of shape-shifting spell; it is uttered when people feel themselves to be endangered or vulnerable, needing a measure of invisibility or better confidence in difficult situations.
  Sometimes the fith-fath is said, as the example above, for the purposes of endowing oneself with helpful qualities in difficult circumstances; when seeking justice in a court of law, for example, or when entering a strange place. The magic of the
fith-fath does not lie in the words that are recited, but rather in the intentions with which the words are said.  The words, most often spontaneously chosen, are generally apposite to the circumstances and the moment's need. The intentions of the speaker are everything, drawing upon real alliances between the self and spiritual helpers whose friendship is already strongly established. 
   Fith-fath shape-shifting is undertaken in moments of great need. The spell itself- the first phase - is uttered privately, even secretly, certainly not in a crowd; in the second phase. the shape-shifter, now prepared goes into the situation or place and does whatever is necessary; finally in private again, the
fith-fath  is dropped and the original shape resumed.
   Whether we go into challenging interviews, venture into dangerous places, or attempt to pass through a crowd unnoticed and unscathed, the old custom of shape-shifting can serve us well if we use it with respect.

"Make your own fith-fath invocation, to recite at times when you need a little more confidence or when you would like to be less noticeable." 
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

  

Visiting the Countryside

Visiting the Countryside

"It is always wise to avoid show-places and choose for your excursions into the country the simplest and most natural scenery you can find."
    ___ John Cowper Powys, "The Meaning of Culture"

   The countryside takes on the burden of our needs for refreshment, especially at the end of the summer when we take to the roads on the last few days of holiday to seek recreation.
   Ironically, the very places that are solitary and full of sacred power are now becoming the most exhausted places of all. Even sites of natural beauty that offer wide-open spaces of forest, water, and hill are choked with holiday-makers seeking the wilderness and the refreshment of nature. Instead of wildlife, vista, and peace, they find only each other - and in increasingly large bands.
   The burden of expectation upon the countryside is something that we can help redress, with a little consideration. This redress may involve finding other, less popular countryside places to visit, or finding places within or near the city. But chiefly we should consider what we can give when we make our country visits. To leave the countryside as we found it, without traces of our passing, is a duty we can teach to our families, so that the beauty may be preserved for future generations.
   Our pilgrimage to the country, whether it be for spiritual refreshment or physical recreation, can be a purposeful and beautiful excursion that restores us in soul and body. Our thank-you gift to the country and the beings who live within it is our respect and the gratitude of our heart.

"Meditate upon your favorite place in the country and visit it in soul-flight. Consult the spirit of the place and ask its advice and permission about your next visit. Ask what gift (a song or blessing, perhaps - something that will not harm the land) would be acceptable. Do this whenever a visit is planned."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Spiral Tower

Spiral Tower

"I have been three times in the prison of Arianrhod."
  ___Taliesin, Primary Chief Bard

  Caer Sidi (Kire SID'y), the Glass Castle or Spiral Tower of the British goddess Arianrhod (Ar-ee-ANN'hrode), is traditionally the place where-in poets serve their apprenticeship. The terms of apprenticeship are strict, which is why the great poet Taliesin speaks of Arianrhod's tower as a place of imprisonment. Of his own poetic initiation, we know that he was chased by the Goddess of Inspiration, Ceridwen, and assimilated by her as her own child. Taliesin was one of those who descended into the Underworld of Annwfn (AN'oon) to help the battle leader, Arthur, steal the cauldron of heroes. Like all poets, he is constant in his service of his poetic mistress, who is both muse and inspiratrix.
   However many lifetimes our soul may have inhabited, we are compelled to seek the spiraling tower in which our soul is refined. Arianrhod is the mistress who hones the soul, by helping it recognize the configuration and resonances of our soul-track through the stars. This search is not confined to one lifetime or to waking hours; within the long spiraling of the soul and within the cavern of dreaming, we come to a deeper understanding of our true living metaphor. By whatever image, metaphor, story, sign or symbol we steer, we will find the clues as we pass through the otherworldly, mystical and subtextual life of our spiritualn quest; within the mystery of Caer Arianrhod's laybrinthine turnings, we may discover the very reason for our existence.

"Visualize the spiraling tower of Caer Sidi, the place of initiation and clarity. Ask to be shown the important patterns of your soul-track in your dreams and your reflective moments - those times when you are most truly yourself."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]