Merlin of the Woods

Merlin of the Woods

"He became a silvan man just as though devoted to the
woods. For a whole summer after this, hidden like animal, he
remained buried in the woods, found by no-one and forgetful
of himself and his kindred."
      _____Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini

   When Merlin views the terrible battle of Arfderwydd (Arv-DAIR'with), he becomes mad and runs into the depths of the forest. Within the forest's embrace, he becomes one with the trees and seasons and puts aside the terrible sights he has seen to focus upon the gifts of the wild world, becoming rusticated and 'uncivilized.'
    Ever pertinent and prophetic, he sees through the pretexts and pretensions of those who come to lure him back to the civilization with the sure instinct of an animal, with the abiding perception, of a long-lived tree.  Rather than look into the human nature, he prefers to consult the almanac of the seasons and discover his center within their compass.
     But no human being, however gifted, can remain forever in the wild.
     The displacement of our lives by difficult events may not be as severe as in Merlin's experience, but we each go though periods when the flow of events swirls past us too swiftly for us to cope. It is then that the indwelling presences of nature, the little unregarded things that surround us, reveal their own life and wisdom. These become precious handholds along the precipitous rock-face of our lives. Their innate familiarity makes them an ally capable of leading us on the pathway home to our soul.

"Recall a time of personal disorientation. What factors were most important to your return to health and confidence?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Courting the Inspirer

Courting the Inspirer

"The Muse , nae poet ever fand (found) her,
Till by himself he learn'd to wander
Adown some trotting burn's meander,
An' no think lang (long). "
   ____Robert Burns, "Epistle to William Simpson, Ochiltree"


    We frequently read about the muse, the female form that inspiration takes for men. She is courted by artists who know that they cannot create alone, who need to be folded within her embrace before the creative spark leaps the synapse of potentiality. We hear less about the forms that inspiration takes for women, who are no less inspired as artists and creators than men, although the inspirer most often appears to them in male form. The inspirer of women is the daimon (DYE'mone), the quicksilver spirit who, like the golden muse, brings the wealth of the imaginal realms of creation to our world.
    Sometimes the qualities of our muse, or daimon, are seen to temporarily reside or become superimposed upon a living person, someone who shows us how desire, joy, love, and inspiration fuse together in creation. Sometimes the muse or daimon is seen not in a person but in a place which fires us with inspiration. The embrace of nature becomes the embrace of the inspirer. In an act of participation as intimate as making love, the creator walks with the inspirer in the place of making.
     When the inspirer is absent from us, we feel as empty as if a lover had gone. To woo the inspirer, we must go faithfully, time after time, to the threshold places where our soul is exposed to beauty - go without expectations to cloud our coming, without demands or extortions to coerce, we come to meet with the one who makes our heart's wish leap into verdant life again.

"What are the forms of your inspirer? Who most resembles your muse or daimon in the world?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Restoring the Web

Restoring the Web

"May there be peace in the North;
May there be peace in the South;
May there be peace in the West;
May there be peace in the East.
May there be peace throughout the whole world."
    Druidic blessing given to the four directions


     The giving of peace to the directions symbolically and actually changes the whole ambience of a circle of meeting and the relationship of the people within it to each other and to all that lies beyond its limits. It is a calling together or re-formation of a primal web of unity and harmony that individual and corporate acts have torn or fragmented.
     When we open to sacred space and focus spirituality, we first need to put ourselves in right relationship to the whole world, in both its seen and unseen aspects. To proceed without some act of truce, some easing of earthly anxieties and expectations, is to proceed unprepared, to view the sacred heart of the ceremony, prayer or meeting through the eyes of our fears and disquietings.
      The circle itself is a restatement of the web of life, of connection and unity. Whenever we meet together in this way, we potentially recreate its delicate networks of connection. Even within each encounter with another person, we have to carry this intention of peacefulness, to send over to that person a thread that can become a pathway to peace. If we meet in anger, disgust or scorn, we sever all possible connections that can exist between us. When we have learned what maintains us within the circle of life, then we are able to be in right relationship to its supporting web.

"Create your own act of reconciliation with the apparent and unseen worlds, for use before you open sacred space."
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Plenty Enough

Plenty Enough

"My chosen husbandry, I'll reveal without concealment:
Fresh leeks, hens, speckled salmon, bees.
Sufficient clothes and food from the King of fair fame,
And chance to sit at times, praying God in each place."
  ____ St. Manchan, "Prayer" [trans. CM)


    The fantasy of future perfect conditions, how life will be when we make the big time, often hides the fact of our present plenty, which we take for granted. In a consumerist society we are tempted to go after more when we actually have enough of something, becoming hoarders or collectors rather than users of a commodity.
     And yet, even when we have every good thing that money can buy, if we do not have the simple commodities listed in Manchan's poem - clean water and air, fresh food free of contamination or toxicity, the company of like-souled people to share our plenty - then we are truly impoverished.
       How can we truly appreciate what we have? Learning to live with enough, rather than with indulgence, may help us balance the availability of all good things, help us refrain from using more than we need.
     An indwelling sense of scarcity may derive from feelings of inadequacy and our desire to make good the deficiency, or it may originate in fear of poverty. To obtain a sense of plenty we have only to appreciate the things we enjoy and own on a daily basis to be glad of the way that they sustain and support our lives.

"Take time to contemplate your present life-style. Where do you need to rein in your consumption? Appreciate the plenty that you enjoy and give thanks for it."
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Creative Ingredients

Creative Ingredients

"Four things are needed by every work of art: a place, a time,
an author and a cause."
   _____ The Martyrology of Oengus, ed. W. Stokes (trans. CM)


     There are many ideas and inspirations wandering throughout the world. They seem to be shaken like stardust over everything, to be caught in handfuls by those who are ready to receive them, or missed by those who have not got a cause in their sights. The extraordinary way in which an idea seems to proliferate in the air is remarkable: several inventors invent the same thing simultaneously; several writers are inspired to write similar books; several musicians compose and record similar tunes. All inspirations must find an author to express them in some form. From the unseen depths of the formative otherworld, many ideas go forth, but only a few will fall to earth, only a handful will actually find their mode of manifestation. If the author, musician, artist, scientist or inventor is not receptive to the ideas that flow, nothing comes into being; the idea passes on, waiting to be received by someone who is ready and willing.
     Yet even readiness and willingness are not enough: time and place must also be right. Both opportunity and space must be found to bring the idea into manifestation. Timeliness is about the attunement of opportunity and creative impulse to each other. Place is not only about location but about correct placement of our idea.
      The struggle to make our ideas manifest must account for all these ingredients. If we try to avoid or omit any of them, we quickly face frustration and dissatisfaction. The coming into being of a creative piece of work is an act of birth that results from many secret unfoldings and preparations.

"Check the progress of the creative spark within your own act of making. Are you ready and prepared; is this the right time; is the world ready?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Entering the Charmed Circle

Entering the Charmed Circle

"Open the portal!"
"I will not open it."
"Wherefore not?"
"None may enter Arthur's hall but the son
of a king or a privileged country or a
craftsman bringing his craft."
    ____Culhwch and Olwen, from The Mabinogion


   This dialogue is between the porter of King Arthur's hall and Culhwch (KIL'ook), a young kinsman of Arthur's who arrives after the feasting has begun. He seeks to enter the charmed circle of the feast to gain his uncle's help and has to persuade his way in past the resolute porter, who has been given orders that no one may gain admittance.
    We each draw upon a network of people and things to fuel the power circuit of our lives: environment, habits and familiar things, relationships to people, our job, family and personal connections are all important factors in our lives. We base our power network on many things. Finding out where our power lines are truly strong and where they are based on dependency or appropriation is an important task. Claiming kinship with things with which we have no actual personal association, boasting and exaggerating our links with these things, can give us a fine feeling of strength; but that feeling is illusory. When our bluff is called and we attempt to call upon those strengths, they prove to be unsupportive and the whole facade tumbles down leaving us exposed.
    We earn the right to enter the charmed circle of acquaintance or association only when we show proper commitment, when we prepare ourselves and make the trial. Wanting to be in the exclusive club is a terrible hankering for some. Nothing can replace the sense of fellowship and belonging that results when she is truly welcomed as a kindred spirit.

"Which charmed circles and associations am I attempting to enter? By what right?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Living Ancestors

The Living Ancestors

"When we know about our ancestors, when we sense them as living and as supporting us, then we feel connected to the genetic life-stream, and we draw strength and nourishment from this."
   _____ Philip Carr-Gomm, The Druid Tradition


     Theoretically, we each have two parents, four grandparents, eight-great-grandparents, and so on, back in time. In practice, though, if each person alive continued that exponential progression for, say thirty generations, we would come up with more people than were on earth at that time. Genealogists tell us that if we each went back about seventeen generations, we would find many family relationships between ourselves and people of our acquaintance. It follows, then, that we are all intimately related to each other, that our personal ancestors are shared with many thousands of people alive today.
     These shared ancestors are the ones with whom we can relate, even though we may not have details of their names and places. Not all were wise or clever or happy, for all human beings make mistakes and bad decisions. But the ones who were wisdom-bearers and way-showers in their lives have not ceased from these roles. By asking our spiritual allies meditations to take us to meet one or more of our wise ancestors, the living ancestors, we can travel to the timeless otherworld and visit them. We can discover new spiritual allies in our living ancestors, consulting them about matters to do with our family, our way of life and ways of respecting the spiritual core of all things.

"Ask your spiritual allies to help you meet one of your wise ancestors in meditation and soul-flight."[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]