Freedom

Freedom 


"Ah! Freedom is a noble thing! 
Freedom makes man to have liking; 
Freedom all solace to man gives; 
He lives at ease that freely lives!" 
   ____ John Barbour, "Freedom"

   We take granted today that freedom should be possessed by all people, but there
are still many places in the world where basic human rights are absent. There are many
forms of freedom: national autonomy, individual liberties, spiritual and ideological freedom.
   Individual freedom is composed of many thing: the exercise of personal truth and
integrity, freedom of spiritual belief, the ability to be educated and follow vocational
urges, freedom of movement and of expression and liberty to marry or not marry,
among many other things. The measure to which we are free to exercise these
elements of choice gives us our sense of liberty. When any of these are constrained,
then the struggle for freedom is joined.
   Regimes that scorn free states and countries often sneer at their permissiveness and
inability to curb crime, disorder and dissent - conditions that are generally stamped
upon severely in totalitarian states. We lives in a remarkably tolerant age in the Western
world, an era when maintenance of the freedom we enjoy is being pushed to its limits.
But where tolerance spills over into permissiveness or disorder, totalitarian or restrictive
legislation may be applied and freedoms lost.
   The archetype of freedom recognizes and extends tolerance to all, but it stops short
of allowing people the total freedom to behave as they will; it does not permit anarchy.
The apportioning of freedom in a fair and ordered way has to be balanced to ensure
that it does not become license to infringe on others' liberty.

"Meditate upon the freedoms you enjoy in your life. What are the limits that demarcate
your freedoms?" 
[From The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Holy Earth

The Holy Earth 


"There is no state or condition more holy than  the Earth." 
     ___ R. J.. Stewart. Power Within in the Land 


    The British writer R. J. Stewart makes this firm and startling claim to counter the ways
in which the physical world has been disregarded and disrespected for so many centuries.
He does not state that there is nothing but the earth, only that we should regard it as equally 
holy with every other realm.
    This is quite a difficult thing for many people to do, especially those raised in the belief
that the earth and all its works are somehow spoiled from the outset and that the only hold
condition is the heavenly one. This concept and others like it have soured our relationship
with the earth, causing us to abuse it as a commodity, a provider of resources, and a place
to live our mundane lives as we wish.
    What is holiness and how can the earth be said to be holy? Holiness is nothing less than a
condition of wholeness, completion, and attunement. The earth is holy in that it is the womb
of manifest life, the partner in holiness with the otherworld, which is the originative fructifier
of life. Both sides of this alchemical partnership are equally important; we cannot leave one
of them out of the equation.
     Awareness of the earth's holiness and partnership with the otherworld is still possible,
especially when we stand at a place upon the earth where the veil between the worlds is
thinner. In such a place we can still intuit earthly holiness. Even though the earth's surface
has been abused, it is nonetheless a living womb of holy life, and we are its children.

"Meditate upon the earth as a holy place, and your own human state as 
a holy condition." 
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Grace of the Grail.

"The Grail, whether chalice or cauldron, 
Gives of its grace unstinting
To gentle and simple, wise and wanting." 
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Avebury Easter'

  The Celtic mythic tradition speaks of the vessels of grace that restore
the life of the world. In the early legends, we find the many cauldrons
that nurturing heroes, initiate and inspire poets and bring rebirth to
those slain in battle. In the later stories, the cauldron has become the
Grail -- which is sometimes associated with the  cup of the Last
Supper. Grail and cauldron have similar properties: they provide the
food that people most desire, bring revelation and wisdom to those on
spiritual quests, heal the sick, and revive the dead. The Grail is a vessel
of divine grace that appears upon the earth at times of greatest need
(though only if help and restoration are sincerely sought). No action of
ours can bring it into operation.
   What causes the Grail to appear? A large factor seems to be the
concerted hearts of many individuals who realize that their personal
quest is part of a larger one. It seems that the thing that individuals
cannot achieve alone -- peace, harmony, healing -- becomes possible
whenever like-minded people are gathered together to discuss the
problems that beset their land and all beings living within it; then
something profoundly mysterious happens. The concentration of hope
and desire upon the object of need creates the ability to see the Grail
and hear its message.


Meditate upon the Grail as a vessel of grace and healing. Present 
your needs and those of the world to its grace. 

[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Care of the Land

"Spiritual orderliness originates in harmonious 
care of the land as sacred." 
   _____ Nigel P:enick, Celtic Sacred Landscapes 


    For the Celtic peoples, the land was inspired, able to reflect
whatever was done upon it. The concept of land as inert, unable
to respond was foreign to them. There was also a sense that not
every inch of the land could be used for human purposes, that
some was to be set aside as sacred to the spirits of the land.
    The prosperity of the land, the abundance of flocks and herds,
the fertility of fields and orchards - all these were dependent upon
the sacred ordering that gave respect to the spirit of the land. This
intrinsic knowledge arose from the land itself and was mirrored in
the way people behaved and believed. In an age when few of us
actually work the land with our own hands, this knowledge is now
retreating and we begin to see the products of the soil as commodities
rather than as inhabitants of the natural order.
   The very land and its inhabitants speak to us of spirit and sacred
order if we will listen to them. It is in the patient tending and listening
that those who have worked the land for generations know when a
plant or animal needs particular things, and when some profound
wisdom is being conveyed. If we make the spaces for those moments
of transmission, create opportunities for communication between
ourselves and the land, we may begin to embody the sacred orderliness
that maintains our whole ecology.

Go and listen to the land sometime this week. Be sensitive to its 
needs, your appropriate response to those needs, and the spiritual
lesson that it has to teach you. 
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

May Day

"The true man sings
gladly in the bright day, 
sings loudly of May - 
fair-aspected season." 
   ___ John Matthews, "from the Isles of Dream"

    Since before dawn this morning, many people all over Britain and Ireland
have been up to greet the May, to sing to the rising sun and to gather greeny
and flowers. Others have been preparing to celebrate with May-pole dancing
and community festivities, which may include the election and crowning of a
king and queen of the May. Most often the holiday royalty are a boy and girl
from a local school, but once they would have been the lustiest young man
and woman of the district.
    This is a day that is still honored in every part of Britain. Despite many
efforts to quell its rowdy good humor and lusty enjoyment down through the
centuries, it has survived in very good shape up to our own time. The sheer
exuberance of May overwhelms the restrictive and humorless reformers who
have tried to stop it.
    The explosion of May-blossom, sunlight and burgeoning life needs expression
at this time, when workday commonplaces can be thrown to the four winds
and the bright joy of living can bubble up within us with natural ecstasy.  All
who have waited at dawn to welcome in summer have felt the sudden burst of
brightness that ignites the deep happiness of the living earth as the sun rises.
This brightness is the sign of the ancient Celtic god Bel, whom the Gauls called
Belenos - the Shining One - the bright-faced splendor of green summer whose
glad arising spreads a shining honey of golden light over the waiting earth. It
is hard to witness this sunrise without feeling a part of it.

Cancel work today. Go and enjoy May Day by doing something that 
gives you great pleasure. Try to be outdoors all day if you can. Leave 
formal meditation alone and let your natural joy find its best outlet. 
[From The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

Beltaine

"Unite, unite, let us all unite, 
For Summer is a-come unto day
And wihither we are going we will all unite
On the merry morning of May." 
   ____"Padstow Night Song, traditional Cornish song

    At twilight this evening, May Eve, the great festival of Beltaine begins, a
great communal celebration that excludes no one from its embrace.
Ancient Celtic celebrations involved the kindling of bonfires at this time -
indeed, the name of the festival derives from 'bright fire'. The Beltaine
fire itself was kindled in a special way: evidence from nineteenth-century
Scotland reveals that the wood had to be of nine different kinds, that
it had to be gathered by men with no metal about their persons (metal
being inimical to the faerykind), and that it had be kindled without metal.
The ancient method of fire-raising involved a fire spindle and a small
piece of wood to create friction or by the rubbing together of two oak
poles. This arduous task was traditionally performed by nine teams of
nine married men - eighty-one firstborn sons.
   Once the fire had been kindled, people danced sunwise round it and
jumped through the flames. As the fire was dying down, the animals
that had wintered over in barns and local pastures were driven, on
their way up to summer grazing, between the parted fire to ensure
their fertility. Before the coals died out, people took fire from the
ceremonial blaze to rekindle their hearths (which had been extinguished
in every household prior to the festival).

Welcome in the May by making your own fire or lighting a candle 
and singing May-time songs. Honor the coming of summer in your 
own way. Rise before dawn and wash your face in the dew tomorrow
morning to receive the blessing of Beltaine.  If you have a partner, this 
is the best time for sexual fun and frolic.