Celtic Myths and Legends

RSS
Email

1 Kudos

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Author

Comment

Talisen

Re: How excellent!

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 537

(06/17/02 03:41 AM)

Alot of the Taliesin shape shifting you mentioned can be seen as metephoric, describing his skills and talents. He writes
'I have fled in the shape of a raven of prophetic speach
in the shape of the satirising fox'
etc.

"You reached for the secrets too soon, now you cry for the moon"
And To Moonlight Forum
And Elderberry Hall

Selkye

Actually

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 269

(06/17/02 05:31 AM)

here is a book that I started reading that is extremely interesting on the topic of "modern" shapeshifting. This is the excerpt from Amazon.com

Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation

Quote:
Only a handful of visionaries have recognized that indigenous wisdom can aid the transition to a sustainable world. John Perkins' wonderful shapeshifting brings great insight for an industrial civilization consuming and polluting itself toward catastrophe. (Edgar Mitchell, ScD., Apollo astronaut, author of The Way of the Explorer)

John's wonderful storytelling creates a journey so captivating it shifted me beyond time and space - a compelling book for anyone. (Stephan Rechtschaffen, M.D., President, Omega Institute, author of Time Shifting)

Shapeshifting is an engaging sage of one individual's transformation from global businessman to on-the-ground conservationist and healer. (Michael Balick, Ph.D., author of Plants, People and Culture)

John Perkins eloquently portrays how changing our dream can propel us into shapeshifting not only ourselves but also the reality of the world around us. Perkins is a bridge.

Book Description
An exploration of the shamanic practice of shape shifting and the story of how learning these techniques helped the author transform from corporate executive to environmental activist.

Many indigenous cultures have known the art of shapeshifting: the actual transformation of a human being into another living creature. Lakota Sioux warriors would shapeshift into buffalo to become better hunters and to honor the animal, and Andean shamans transform into plants from the jungle to learn healing power. In this book, author John Perkins examines these ancient shamanic practices and reveals the mental techniques that enable an individual to merge with another living creature. Shapeshifting is also the story of the author's transformation from a corporate utility executive to an environmental activist. oints: Examining the shamanic techniques of "becoming the other" from different cultures, the author shows how it is within the capability of anyone to transform themselves on this deep level and achieve a true unity with all things.

About the Author
John Perkins has traveled and worked with South American indigenous peoples since 1968. He currently arranges expeditions into the Amazon and has developed the POLE (Pollution Offset Lease on Earth) program with the Shuar and Achuar peoples as a means of preserving their culture against the onslaught of modern civilization. He is also the author of The Stress-Free Habit, Psychonavigation, Dream Change Audio, and The World Is As You Dream It.

For more information on John Perkins and the Dream Change Coalition check out the Dream Change Coalition's website at www.dreamchange.org/dreamchange/.

Hi-ra-U-O
Beo go deo.
Hi-ri-U-O
Marbh go deo.

Cerredwen

Irish King Lir

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(06/09/05 11:08 AM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

Long ago there was a king in Ireland called Lir who was the father of four beautiful children, a son, a daughter and twin sons. Their mother (daughter of the High King of Ireland) died when they were still young and needing loving care. And so it came about that King Lir, who dearly loved his four children and wanted them to have a new mother, married his wife's sister, Aoife, and gave them into her charge.

But Aoife, seeing King Lir playing with the children and giving them so much of his time, became jealous of them and thought how she might have her King all to herself and the children out of the way. One night she secretly bargained with a druid for the use of his magic wand and made her plans while the children were asleep.

Next morning, when they woke to a beautiful summer's day, Aoife had perfected her plan. "Come with me," she said to the children, "Today I am going to take you to the lake and when the sun gets hot you can all go into the cool water for a swim." When noonday came and the sun was at its height in the sky Aoife saw a dark cloud coming from the North and, fearing her plan would be spoiled, shouted "Quickly now, into the water with you all!" Then using the druid's magic wand Aoife cast a spell on the four children, turning them one by one into swans.

The great dark cloud from the North turned black, shut out the sun, burst into thunder and with a scream Aoife disappeared into the cloud and was never seen again. But Aoife, with her druid's wand, had not taken away the children's human voices; she had told them they would be set free again from the spell in 900 years time when St. Patrick would come to Ireland and they would hear the sound of the first Christian bells.

And so at the end of 300 years on lake Davra, 300 years on the sea of Moyle and another 300 years on the lake isle of Glora in Mayo, the day came when they heard the distant sound of one of the first Christian bells to ring in Ireland. They immediately followed the sound until they came to the house of a Christian called Caomhog and told him what had happened to them so long ago.

They were lovingly cared for by the people of the house and people came from far and near to see the swans who could talk and sing. Then one day a princess sent her servants to try and steal the swans. But just as the servants laid hands on them the time had come for the swans to become humans again and the servants ran away terrified.

Now that the swans were again human, although 900 years old, Caomhog had them baptized and the bells rang out at their Christening. Soon afterwards, when they had died of old age, Caomhog dreamt on the very same night that he saw four beautiful children - a boy, his sister and two twin brothers flying out over the lake then straight up to heaven and he knew they really were the children of Lir.

Source: Unknown

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We swear by Peace and Love to stand,
Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand.
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
confirming this, our Sacred Vow.
~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

Cerredwen

THE CHILDREN OF LIR: AN IRISH LEGEND

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(07/10/05 02:46 PM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

There was a time in ancient Ireland when the people believed in magic and in druids and spells. These were the days of the Tuatha De Danann tribe, the Goddess Danu and of Lir, the lord of the sea.

Lir's wife, Eva, had given him four beautiful children. The two eldest, Fionnuala and Aodh, went swimming in a small lake. But these were no ordinary swimmers! They possessed gills for breathing and webbed feet as they were, after all, the offspring of 'the ruler of the land beneath the waves'.

They met a messenger who told them that they were wanted by their father. They went home immediately only to find their father disturbed.

'What is wrong father?' they enquired
'Your mother has given birth to twins....' he replied
'....and has gone off to rest'
'What do you mean father?' they asked

Lir explained that this was what humans called 'death' but that since they were immortal that their mother had gone to recover, possibly for a thousand years or more. The children were to look after the new brothers, Fiachra and Conn.

The children kissed their mother for the last time and then left.

As the children grew Lir's spirits declined until one day he met Aiofe, the sister of his wife. Aoife was possessed of magical powers and soon enough it was known that she and Lir would marry. The new family thrived under the influence of their new mother but not for long as guilt and jealousy about the childresn real mother took its toll on Aoifes health. She fell into sickness for a year but recovered only to start to become old before here time.

Aoife was a changed woman now and one day suggested that she and the children should visit their grandfather. On the journey they stopped by a lake and she encouraged the children to go for a swim. The four children played happily in the water, not noticing that their stepmother was now standing at the waters edge wearing her fathers magic cloak.

'For too long you children have stood between your father and I, but not for much longer!' she cried

'We cannot be killed by you...' Aodh replied,
'...we are the Children of Lir and if you harm us our ghosts will haunt you!'

'Im not going to kill you.....' she shouted
'......but I am going to change you!'

At this she bowed her head and started an incantation. The children looked at each other in fear as they saw a red and gold circle envelope them on the water. They saw Aoife open up her cloak from which the great light of a fireball emerged and hurtled towards them, burning all in its wake.

The fireball hit the water and caused masses of steam to rise about the children and they soon lost all feeling in their legs, arms, shoulders and head. They soon regained their sight only to see Aoife laughing at them. Aodh tried to attack her and flailed his arms about furiously but nothing happened except the splashing of water. He turned to look at his brothers and sister only to see that they had all been turned intot the most beautiful swans ever seen.

Aoife scowled at them again and told them that they were to spend nine hundred years as swans, three hundred on Lough Derravaragh, three hundred on the Straits of Moyle and three hundred on the Isle of Inish Glora. To end the spell they would have to hear the bell of the new God.

'I leave you with your voice however, and the most beautiful singing ever heard' she said.

Lir searched for his children that day, but Aoife told him that they had been attacked and killed by wild boars. Fionnuala, now in swan form, approached her father and told him what Aoife had done. Lir was furious and banished Aoife into exile as an evil demon of the air.

Lir faithfully visited his children and the power of his love ensured that their time on the lake was one fo bliss. He knew though that the 300 years of the first phase had passed and that the next phase of the spell was about to begin. The swans left for the Straits of Moyle, never to see their father again.

Their time on the Northern Straits of Moyle were not so joyous, with frequent storms separating them, only for they to join up again. Another 300 years passed but they had survived together.

They departed the cold straits and made their way towards Lough Derravaragh. They flew over the land, hoping to find their father's fort, but it was now nothing more than ruins. They wept because they knew the time of the Tuatha De Danann was gone.

They traveled West to the waters of Inish Glora and found refuge on a small saltwater lake where time passed slowly. One day an old man named Mochua visited the lake and the children enquired of him if he was a follower of the new God. The startled man asked if they were the children of Lir and they told him that they were.

'Are you a holy man?' asked Fiacra.
'I am...' came the reply '

The children knew that to break the spell that they would have to hear the bell of a new God toll in their own land.

Mochua told them all about his new God and all about Saint Patrick who had brought his faith to their country.

The children became excited as they knew that this was the new god their stepmother had told them of. They stayed with Mochua for many years who gave them sanctuary in a small chapel which he had built. He intended to make a bell and collected old swords, shields and other metal to make it. The bell was now completed and was about to be rung when another disaster occurred.

A Warrior dressed in amour entered the chapel. He had come for the children who were famed for their wonderful singing.

'I am Liargren, King of Connaught' he shouted,
'My wife desires those swans and I will have them...
...give them here or I will tear this building down.'

Fionnuala looked at Mochua and then said that they would agree to go away with this King. Liargen was amazed to hear her speak but soon composed himself and ordered his men to take the children away. They were being loaded onto a carriage when suddenly, the church bell tolled loudly.

Time seemed to stand still, but in another instant a great white mist had been blown off the nearby lake and enveloped the children as it had done 900 years before. The mist changed into all of the colors of the rainbow before a great wind gusted it away.

The children had at last been transformed back into human form.

Liagren fled immediately, never to return. Mochua baptized the beautiful children who had begun to age rapidly and so it was that the children of Lir, the last of the Tuatha De Danann died soon afterwards, their legend to live on forever.

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We swear by Peace and Love to stand,
Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand.
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
confirming this, our Sacred Vow.
~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

Last Edited By: Cerredwen 06/03/08 12:43 AM. Edited 1 times.

Cerredwen

Re: More Celtic Myth and Legend

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(08/25/05 05:05 AM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

Celtic Mythology

ANGUS OF THE BRUGH, also OENGUS OF THE BRUIG God of youth, son of the Dagda. In Ireland, Angus is the counterpart of Cupid. Angus' kisses turn into singing birds, and the music he plays irresistibly draws all who hear.

ARIANRHOD "Silver Wheel," "High Fruitful Mother." One of the Three Virgins of Britain, her palace is Caer Arianrhod, the Celtic name for the Aurora Borealis.

BADB A goddess of war. One of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Bird-shaped and crimson-mouthed, Badb uses her magic to decide battles. Badb lusts after men and is often seen at fords washing the armor and weapons of men about to die in combat.

BRIGHID, also BRIGIT Goddess of healing and craftsmanship, especially metalwork. Also a patron of learning and poetry. In Wales she is Caridwen, who possesses the cauldron of knowledge and inspiration. The Celts so loved Brighid that they could not abandon her even when they became Christians, and so made Brighid a Christian saint.

CARIDWEN also HEN WEN; in Wales, BRIGHID "White Grain," "Old White One." Corn goddess. Mother of Taliesen, greatest and wisest of all the bards, and therefore a patron of poets. The "white goddess" of Robert Graves. Caridwen lives among the stars in the land of Caer Sidi. Caridwen is connected with wolves, and some claim her cult dates to the neolithic era.

CERNUNNOS Horned god of virility. Cernunnos wears the torc (neck-ring) and is ever in the company of a ram-headed serpent and a stag. Extremely popular among the Celts, the Druids encouraged the worship of Cernunnos, attempting to replace the plethora of local deities and spirits with a national religion. The Celts were so enamored of Cernunnos that his cult was a serious obstacle to the spread of Christianity.

DAGDA Earth and father god. Dagda possesses a bottomless cauldron of plenty and rules the seasons with the music of his harp. With his mighty club Dagda can slay nine men with a single blow, and with its small end he can bring them back to life. On the day of the New Year, Dagda mates with the raven goddess of the Morrigan who while making love straddles a river with one foot on each bank. A slightly comical figure.

DANU Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother. Another of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Connected with the moon goddess Aine of Knockaine, who protects crops and cattle. Most importantly, the mother of the Tuatha de' Danann, the tribe of the gods.

DIAN CECHT A healer. At the second battle of Moytura, Dian Cecht murdered his own son whose skill in healing endangered his father's reputation. The Judgments of Dian Cecht, an ancient Irish legal tract, lays down the obligations to the ill and injured. An aggressor must pay for curing anyone he has injured, and the severity of any wound, even
the smallest, is measured in grains of corn.

DIS PATER Originally a god of death and the underworld, later the chief god of the Gauls. The Gauls believed, as their Druids taught, that Dis Pater is the ancestor of all the Gauls.

DONN Irish counterpart to Dis Pater. Donn sends storms and wrecks ships, but he protects crops and cattle as well. Donn's descendants come to his island after death.

EPONA Horse goddess. Usually portrayed as riding a mare, sometimes with a foal. Roman legionnaires, deeply impressed with Celtic horsemanship, took up the worship of Epona themselves and eventually imported her cult to Rome itself.

ESUS A god of the Gauls "whose shrines make men shudder," according to a Roman poet. Human sacrifices to Esus were hanged and run through with a sword. For unknown reasons, Esus is usually portrayed as a woodcutter.

GOVANNON The smith god. The weapons Govannon makes are unfailing in their aim and deadliness, the armor unfailing in its protection. Also a healer. Those who attend the feast of Govannon and drink of the god's sacred cup need no longer fear old age and infirmity.

LUG, also LUGH, LLEU A sun god and a hero god, young, strong, radiant with hair of gold, master of all arts, skills and crafts. One day Lug arrived at the court of the Dagda and demanded to be admitted to the company of the gods. The gatekeeper asked him what he could do. For every skill or art Lug named, the gatekeeper replied that there was already one among the company who had mastered it. Lug at last pointed out that they had no one who had mastered them all, and so gained a place among the deities, eventually leading them to victory in the second battle of Moytura against the Formorian invaders. (The Formorians were a race of monsters who challenged the gods for supremacy in the first and second battles of Moytura.) The Romans identified Lug with Mercury. The most popular and widely worshipped of the Celtic gods, Lug's name in its various forms was taken by the cities of Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Leon, Lieden, Leignitz, Carlisle and Vienna.

MACHA "Crow." The third of the triad of war goddesses known as the Morrigan, Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies. Macha often dominates her male lovers through cunning or simple brute strength.

MEDB "Drunk Woman." A goddess of war, not one of the Morrigan. Where the Morrigan use magic, Medb wields a weapon herself. The sight of Medb blinds enemies, and she runs faster than the fastest horse. A bawdy girl, Medb needs thirty men a day to satisfy her sexual appetite.

MORRIGAN, THE, also MORRIGU MORRIGAN A war goddess, forerunner of the Arthurian Morgan La Fey. Like Odin, fickle and unfaithful, not to be trusted. A hag with a demonic laugh, the Morrigan appears as a grotesque apparition to men about to die in battle. Her name is also used for a triad of war goddesses, who are often thought of as different aspects of the Morrigan.

NEMAIN "Panic." A war goddess.

NUADHU also NUD, NODENS, LUD "Nuadhu of the silver arm." God of healing and water; his name suggests "wealth-bringer" and "cloud-maker." At the first battle of Moytura, Nuadhu lost an arm, and Dian Cecht replaced it with a new one made out of silver. Because of this, Nuadhu was obliged to turn leadership of the Tuatha de' Dannan over to Lug. People came to be healed at Nuadhu's temple at Lydney, and small votive limbs made of silver have been found there.

OGMIOS, also OGMA "Sun Face." A hero god like Hercules, a god of eloquence, language, genius. Generally portrayed as an old man dressed in a lion skin. From his tongue hang fine gold chains attached to the ears of his eager followers.

SUCELLUS Guardian of forests, patron of agriculture. His consort is Nantosvelta, whose name suggests brooks and streams. Sometimes considered synonymous with Cernunnos or Daghda.

TUATHA DE' DANANN The divine tribes and people descended from the goddess Danu. Skilled in druidry and magic, the Tuatha de' Danann possess four talismans of great power: the stone of Fal which shrieked under the true heir to the throne; the spear of Lug which made victory certain; the sword of Nuadhu which slays all enemies; and the ever full cauldron of Daghda from which no man ever goes away hungry.

The preceding information was compiled and is copyrighted 1994 by D.W. Owens. Distribution is allowed if credit is given. Likewise, all validity, spelling, and authenticity of information rests on the author's shoulders and not ours. Enjoy!

Article

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We swear by Peace and Love to stand,
Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand.
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
confirming this, our Sacred Vow.
~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

Cerredwen

Nine Maidens Whose Breath Fueled the Cauldron

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(08/28/05 11:31 AM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

(o anadyl naw morwyn)

The mysteries of the Cauldron represent the inner and sacred teachings of creation, transformation, and regeneration. In both myth and legend the cauldron brews potions, aids in casting of spells, produces abundance or decline, and is a holy vessel for offerings to the powers of the Night, and to the Great Goddess. Its chief attribute is that of transformation, whether of a spiritual or physical nature. When symbolizing the Goddess it can bestow wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration.

It is within the tale of the Cauldron of Cerridwen that many associated aspects of the Mystery Teachings are found. Cerridwen is preparing in her cauldron a brew designed to give enlightenment to her son. The potion is required to brew for and year and a day. Such a time period is symbolic of initiation and reflects the teaching in many traditions that each degree requires a year and a day of training. In this tale of Cerridwen, Gwion, for whom it was not intended, tastes the potion. This makes Cerridwen angry, and she pursues the offender. Both of them transform into various cult animals during the chase.

Included in the potion of Cerridwen were yellow flower known as Pipes of Lleu (cowslip), Gwion's silver (fluxwort), the borues of Gwion (hedge-berry), Taliesin's cresses (vervain), and mistletoe berries mixed with sea foam. The dredge of the brew was poisonous and had to be handled properly. In early Greek tradition, this potion was prepared in the cauldron of Ceres whose residue was likewise poisonous in substance and whose herbal ingredients were also mixed with seawater. This potentially fatal potion was prepared for willing initiates whereby by their consciousness would retrieve the genetic memories of their ancestors.

In the Celtic myth the cauldron of Cerridwen was warmed by the breath of nine maidens and produced an elixir that that conferred inspiration. Here, in comparison, are striking similarities to an earlier Greek tale in which the nine Muses gave inspiration to humans. In the Celtic legends that most probably evolved from the Mediterranean Mystery Traditions Cerridwen's cauldron was said to have a ring of pearls around its rim. It was located in the realm of Annwn (the Underworld) and, according to the Taliesin's poem "The Spoils of Annwn" the breath of nine maidens kindled the fire beneath it. Oracle speech reportedly came forth from the cauldron. This, of course, is another connection to the nine Muses that were associated with the Oracle Delphi. The vapors emanating from the volcanic pit below the oracle were said to bestow the gift of prophecy.

The Breath if Awen
Welsh bardic literature frequently refers to the "cauldron of inspiration" which contains a mysterious substance called awen, the Welsh equivalent of imbas. Awen literally means "flowing spirit" and is bestowed only by the generosity of Ceridwen, the poets' muse and mistress of the cauldron. An early poem by a Welsh bard describes his experience of awen when he taps into its powerful force:

" The Awen I sing,
From the deep I bring it,
A river while it flows,
I know its extent;
I know when it disappears;
I know when it fills;
I know when it overflows;
I know when it shrinks;
I know what base
There is beneath the sea."

Here the source of awen is in the depths of the sea, a traditional location for the Celtic Otherworld. But it emerges also from the depths of the poet himself, who may have drunk the "intoxicating mead" of the druids. The flowing drink from cauldron or cup sets into motion the flowing spirit from deep within.

Link

Awen ...
is the energy of divine inspiration, the flow of spirit, the essence of life in motion. It is the exquisite power of sacred relationship, the power that floods through the body and soul when spirit touches spirit, life is acknowledged, a moment's experience shared, divine energy exchanged. Awen is the focus of the deep inner quest; it is what we all seek as we stumble through life, that which brings us wisdom, clarity, freedom, ecstasy, the joy of being alive, simply being, peaceful, presence. It is fire in the head, poetic frenzy, lust for breath, complete purpose in perfect serenity.

Link

Inspiration
Inspiration is a term used to define an intangible quality. It is a distinctive quality that by it's presence or absence makes a vast difference to any work of art (visual, literary or theatrical). If we first examine the etymology of inspiration we may appreciate its significance.

Inspiration: comes from a Middle-French word inspirer, which derives from the Latin inspirare, from in- + spirare to breathe [spirare - breath of life or soul]. So we have the archaic definition: to breathe or blow life into or upon, to infuse (life) by breathing. Or the more contemporary definition: to influence, move, or guide by divine or the supernatural; to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on.

The roots of this word speak of breathing 'life' itself into something; as in myth many references are made to the divine blowing life into clay. For us to write, compose, dance or create anything artistically we seek to imbue that creation with a 'life' of its own. To give breath and soul to our creation we appeal to gods, goddess, muses, etc. that they may favor us with the ability to infuse 'life' into our creation. Thus to be favored by the gods/ muses/ fey is to be able to imbue this quality of 'life' into a work of art.

The Muses* are among the most famous deities associated with art and inspiration. There are differing myths as to their origins, and indeed as to how many there were. They are not the only deities associated with inspiration (i.e. Brour own Irish goddess of poetry, and smithcraft).

The very act of creation is intimately connected to the divine. Theoretically any god /goddess who are themselves attributed with aspects of creation can be called upon to assist us in being creative -that they may inspire us to breathe 'life' into our own artistic endeavor.

Is inspiration always about alliance with the divine? Well there are those who call on the Se or their personal angelic guides, there are those who look to their animal guides and others that seek to be part of Awen (a constant flowing source). The myriad belief systems and personal connections ensure that inspiration has millions of subjective sources. Were we to believe in one god and from him/her all things come, we would perhaps agree on the source.

Is the source of inspiration our concern? Consider likening inspiration to the seed: if the seeds were identical and the soil, winds, winters, and gardeners differ then the trees will differ. The piece of art, in relation to the inspiration, also depends on things like place, time, and whims of the artist. Could it be that there was an amazing piece of art created into a society that was to primitive or prejudiced to appreciate it? That the piece was inspired and imbued with 'life' perhaps it would survive to be acclaimed hundreds of years later, or by a more liberal society across the oceans, but there is always a chance that the inspiration may go unappreciated or be mistranslated. Does that concern us in relation to inspiration? Or is it in the moment of inspiration that we are closest to divine, we become the creator even for the short seconds of a dance upon the stage. Perhaps to have it observed and acknowledged as inspired is superfluous to the fact that it is.

It is in relation to touching upon the divine that I believe we concern ourselves with inspiration. It is in many respects a form of prayer then - this act of creation itself -when we seek to infuse this quality of 'life' in our art. If the artist does not look to any deity, entity, guide etc. then they look to the divine within and find inspiration there.

So to be inspired is to be filled with this energy of life and soul. What a wonderful sense of what it is to be alive, would it be, to feel that breath of divine within? Then comes the understanding of methods used to bring on the inspired state from ritual, drugs, hallucinogens, bargaining with deities, selling your soul to the devil all the clichays that are also part of human endeavor to become inspired.

We acknowledge the importance of this quality in work and in art, for sometimes the inspired piece could be a sword that has been fashioned with such craft that it becomes celebrated as art. Sometimes the work itself transcends the mundane and we acknowledge it as inspired even though traditionally it may not be considered art/artistic. Anyone can be thus inspired, and inspiration is the quality that distinguishes the ordinary from the extraordinary, the inanimate from that which has had 'life' breathed into it.

In the manner of things, which are inspired, we can find a connection to the divine/or source and so these things themselves can become inspirational. Art can inspire art. Indeed the attraction I perceive to inspired 'things' is that we connect to the divine through them. This itself is a controversial viewpoint as there are those who argue the validity of divorcing the artist from their creation. It is not however about the inspired connection the artist had in creating. I believe a piece which has been enlivened itself can communicate directly. That communication will 'speak' of connection, divine inspiration. It should not matter then whom the artist is, what drugs they done, the daemons of their soul or the gods they worship. Inspiration exists apart from all these factors.

It is also then helpful in appreciating the nature of inspiration to observe ourselves as art, the creation, and perceive each other as inspired 'things'. Our very 'life' (or soul) is that intangible quality. Hence our ability to be inspired by each other, as by pieces of art, as sparks of the divine or glimpses of the source whatever we believe that to be. Better to appreciate the light and see, than seeking to understand what light is! Better to appreciate inspiration and be, than to seek it and miss out altogether

In light and laughter
Marion Rose
Article

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We swear by Peace and Love to stand,
Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand.
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
confirming this, our Sacred Vow.
~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

Last Edited By: Cerredwen 06/03/08 12:41 AM. Edited 1 times.

Cerredwen

Celtic Mythology of Ireland

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(09/09/07 10:25 PM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

by John Patrick Parle

The Celtic mythology of Ireland is best summarized as consisting of four broad cycles. This month's article deals with mythic Celtic mortals, figures who populate the stories in the second and third cycles below.

Four Cycles of Irish Mythology
Foundation Cycle--myths of the early founding of Ireland, its deities, as well as the beginnings of the Irish Celts. Includes the "Lebor Gabala" (The Book of Invasions) and other works. The time period covered in this cycle is roughly the dawn of man to about 400 B.C.

Ulster Cycle--myths of the Red Branch Champions of Ulster, including Cuchulainn and King Conchobar. The best known work in this cycle is the "Tain Bo Cuailnge" (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). The time period of this cycle is roughly the first century A.D.

Fenian Cycle--myths of Finn MacCool and the Fenians, the band of elite soldiers that protected Ireland. This cycle covers a time period of about a century and a half beginning with Conn of the Hundred Battles in 177 A.D.

Historic Cycle--legends associated with historical figures in Ireland, from Naill of the Nine Hostages to St. Patrick (both 5th century A.D.), and from St. Columba (d. 597) to Brian Boru, the Irish high king who drove out the Vikings in 1014.

The Ulster Cycle
In the territories of Celtic northern Ireland, the ancient provincial capital was Emain Macha. This center today exists as an actual archeological site, though the stories surrounding it are mythic and fantastical. For this was the home of the mythic Conchobar mac Nessa, the mighty king of the Ulster province, at the time when Eochaid Airem was high king of Ireland at Tara.

King Conchobar surrounded himself with a band of hearty warriors, called the Red Branch Champions. The Red Branch itself was the name of one of the large houses where Conchobar held court in Emain Macha. It contained, according to the stories, "nine compartments of red yew, partitioned by walls of bronze, all grouped around the king's private chamber, which had a ceiling of silver, and bronze pillars adorned with gold and carbuncles."

This was the golden age of Celtic Ulster, when no other province was its match. And holding up the mythic pillars of Ulster were the Red Branch Champions. Most famous was Cuchulainn, of whom epics were written. Next in order came his two friends, Laeghaire the Battle-winner and Conall the Victorious. Fergus was another hero, though he sometimes fell out of favor with King Conchobar. Sencha was a wise man among them, Fedlimid their bard, and Cathbad their druid. Bicriu held the role of a mischievous troublemaker at Emain Macha; for instance, when he would try to get the heroes at a feast to argue over the "champion's portion," the best cut of the meat being served, given to the foremost champion.

Cuchulainn, himself, was of lofty lineage. His father was the god Lugh, and his mother was Dechtira half-sister of King Conchobar, and a descendent of the god Angus. Cuchulainn's original given name was Sedanta, and when he was young, the druid Cathbad warned him that if he took up arms he would become renowned down through the ages, but that he would die young. Cuchulainn's reply was: "Provided that my fame lives, I care not if I be on this earth but a single day!"

After young Cuchulainn defeated a number of enemy champions, the women of Ulster all swooned in his presence. The warriors at Conchobar's court grew jealous, and insisted that a wife be found for him, lest they lose their women to this young victor. But, Cuchulainn had eyes for only one lady: Emer, the daughter of Forgall the Wily. She had eminence throughout Ireland for the six maidenly gifts: the gift of beauty, the gift of song, the gift of sweet speech, the gift of needlework, the gift of wisdom, and the gift of chastity.

Forgall said that he would yield his daughter to Cuchulainn only if he accomplished a feat: to go to the Island of Scathach the Celtic Amazon and learn warrior-craft from her. This was a dangerous trip, and Forgall assumed that Cuchulainn would die before returning. But after much peril he did return, and Cuchulainn drove his chariot to Forgall's palace, took Emer, and travelled to Emain Macha where they were married.

Tain Bo Cuailnge
Some say this, "The Cattle Raid of Cooley," is the foremost work of ancient Irish literature. The story grows from Queen Medb (Maeve) of Connaught's desire to own the famous Brown Bull of Cuailnge, to match beside her husband's (King Ailill's) White- horned Bull of Connaught. The owners of the Brown Bull of Cuailnge, who in the story live in Ulster, refuse to give the animal up. Queen Medb goes ballistic, and assembles an army of warriors from the rest of Ireland to attack Ulster and capture the bull, hence the makings of a huge cattle-raid.

Medb expects a quick victory because the Red Branch Champions of Ulster are under a "geasa," a taboo, which in this case results in the warriors lying in a weak state for a number of days each year. This geasa was the product of a curse pronounced by a goddess who was insulted by one of King Conchobar's ancestors in a previous generation. But, Queen Medb is bothered when a prophetess she consults forewarns her that in a vision Medb's soldiers all appear in red and crimson, the color of blood. How can this be, when all the warriors of Ulster are in a magical stupor?

The answer is that Cuchulainn has been freed of the geasa, and he alone will face the brigade of Queen Medb's soldiers. At age 17, he has the battle of his life ahead of him. In good honor, single combats are organized, and in this Cuchulainn slays a hundred of Medb's soldiers every day. Morrigan, the great war-goddess, watches this from afar, and love is kindled in her untamed heart. One night, after a day of victorious battle, Cuchulainn is awakened from sleep by a fierce shout from the north. He sees a imposing woman with red eyebrows riding a chariot drawn by a red horse. She wears a red dress and a red cloak, and carries a gray spear. Morrigan, it is, and she instantly proclaims her love for him. Cuchulainn spurns her affections, for which Morrigan then proffers her hatred and enmity. Vengeance will come, she says, and then shape-shifts into a crow, an image for him to beware of.

Cuchulainn continues to defeat every soldier of Queen Medb who comes before him in single combat. But finally, he is forced to fight and kill his old friend Ferdiad, which brings much heaviness to Cuchulainn. He proclaims that he can no longer defend all of Ulster by himself. Cuchulainn's foster-father Sualtam hears this and gallops to Emain Macha on Cuchulainn's war horse, the Gray of Battle. Sualtam shouts again and again: "Men are being killed, women carried off, and cattle lifted in Ulster!" An accident happens while nearing King Conchobar's palace, and Sualtam is beheaded--yet his severed head continues to shout: "Men are being killed, women carried off, and cattle lifted in Ulster!"

This amazing spectacle brings Conchobar and his warriors out of their slumber, and they rise up to help Cuchulainn, thus soundly defeating Queen Medb and her forces. However, she briefly captures the Brown Bull of Cuailnge. The bull encounters the White-horned Bull of Connaught, and tears it to pieces. The Brown Bull then escapes and goes back to Ulster, and in its madness, the bull's heart bursts in a loud bellow. And so ends in an ironic twist the Tain Bo Cuailnge.

The Story of Deirdre
Deirdre could easily be considered as a sort of Gaelic Helen of Troy. When she was born, Cathbad the druid prophesied that she would become the most beautiful woman ever seen, but that her beauty would bring death to many champions, and danger to Ulster. King Conchobar decided that he would keep the infant in hiding until she grew, and then take her for his own wife. So, Deirdre for years lived in a mountain hut where her only companions were the birds and animals. As she grew, she more and more aspired to be loved, and by a young handsome man.

When she was of age, Deirdre chanced upon a fair-haired young man named Naoise, the son of Usnach. She offered him her love, and begged Naoise to take her to a far away land and from the clutches of King Conchobar. Naoise was bewitched by her beauty, and he and Deirdre decided to run away to the Island of Alba, to be accompanied by his brothers Ardan and Ainle. So the three sons of Usnach, warriors in their own right, broke ties with Ulster and took Deirdre away.

King Conchobar was furious. He sent his champion Fergus to Alba to persuade the sons of Usnach to return with Deirdre. Soon they were back at Emain Macha, and Conchobar housed them at the Red Branch palace. But vengeance was on his mind. At nighttime, Conchobar ordered the Red Branch to be burned and all to be killed, but for Deirdre. Battle ensued, numerous heroes perished, and the three sons of Usnach were beheaded. Conchobar had no solace, because Deirdre died soon thereafter.

Many in Ulster were disgusted with how Conchobar had handled the affair. Fergus left to join forces with Queen Medb in Connaught, and Cathbad the druid placed a curse that none of Conchobar's descendants would ever again reign in Emain Macha. Ulster was now in peril. Would Cuchulainn be ready to defend it if threats arose?

Queen Medb had never forgiven Cuchulainn for her defeat ten years earlier. She began conferring with the relatives of all those whom Cuchulainn had slain, and soon she had an army raised to march on Ulster again. Cuchulainn stood ready for battle. But prophecies had warned him that his hero's light might be fading, and that death may soon be near. His battle-fury ire was raised, but a spear mortally wounded Cuchulainn. Struggling to stand, Cuchulainn tied himself to a pillar stone, so that he would not die lying down. Thus at the age of 27 years Cuchulainn died, leaving his face as pale as "a one-night's snow." A crow came and perched on his shoulder, a reminder of the vengeance of Morrigan.

It was said that the prosperity of Ulster soon faded after the loss of the greatest mythic warrior of the Gaels. But there were still stories to tell, and bards to bring entertainments to Erin.

The Fenian Cycle
The Irish annalists record a succession of four part-mythic, part-historic high kings of Ireland whose story begins in 177 A.D. These are 1) Conn of the Hundred Battles, and his descendants: 2) Art the Lonely, 3) Cormac the Magnificent, and 4) CairbrIt is during King Cormac's time that the bulk of the Fenian cycle occurs. Finn MacCool, the leader of the Fenians, was said in the myths to have died around 283 A.D.

The Fenians, themselves, were the common name for the "Fianna Eirinn," or the Soldiers of Ireland. They were an elite fighting force that travelled throughout Ireland defending its coastline against outside invaders. The Fenians consisted of three regiments of 3,000 men each, modelled in some ways like a Roman legion. To become a Fenian, an aspirant needed to pass a series of stringent tests of physical strength and agility.

Finn, son of Cumhal, became the Fenian leader by virtue of his wisdom, gained in his youth by eating the salmon of knowledge, from which he acquired the gifts of foreknowledge and magic counsel. Finn's son was Ossian, whose bardic tradition is famous in Gaelic lands, and his grandson was Oscar, perhaps the mightiest of the Fenians. Other Fenians were Caoilte the Thin Man (known for his swift-footedness), Goll mac Morna, Finn's nephew Diarmaid, and a comic character named Conan.

The Story of Diarmaid and Grainne
Diarmaid was incredibly handsome, and no woman could see him without falling instantly in love. A problem arose when the Lady Grainne saw him, and of course became enamored. She was the daughter of King Cormac, and the betrothed wife of Finn himself. Thus were the makings of an intrigue.

She offered her love to Diarmaid, but he refused it in honor of Finn. But Grainne placed a "geasa" taboo on Diarmaid, requiring him to return her love. He became perplexed, and asked other Fenians what he should do. They told him that a hero should never break a geasa placed on him by a woman. The same advice was given him by Finn, when Diarmaid asked without divulging the actual name of the woman.

So Diarmaid and Grainne took flight from Tara and travelled deep into the woods. Finn found out, became furious, and led a armed band of soldiers out to capture the lovers. They found Diarmaid and his mate, but could not capture them for the couple had the help of the gods. The god Angus gave Grainne a mantle of invisibility, a cloak that enabled her to escape unseen. The god Manannan gave Diarmaid two of his magic spears and two of his magic swords, and with enchanted speed, Diarmaid was able to escape.

The lovers settled again further in a woods beneath a magic rowan tree. Finn and his troupe again came near, but with the help of the invisible cloak and speed, Diarmaid and Grainne were again able to escape. Finally the god Angus came out as an ambassador to Finn, and settled that the lovers would no longer be harassed.

The Fenians did not last long after the death of Finn MacCool. It is said in myth, that King Cormac's son Cairbrisbanded the Fenians in 284 A.D. But stories of the Fenian members Ossian and Caoilte appear even later, as we shall see in the coming months.

"May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We swear by Peace and Love to stand,
Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand.
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
confirming this, our Sacred Vow.
~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

Cerredwen

Women of the Celts in Myth, Legend and Story

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(01/05/08 12:41 AM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

From SkyeViews Issue 8 June 1996
SkyeViews is a magazine devoted to The Island of Skye
www.pabay.org/skyeviews.html

Sgathaich-The Warrior Queen
The Celts were an ancient, elusive people, who occupied the central stage of Europe and the British Isles for about 800 years, between 700 BC and their almost complete assimilation into the Roman Empire around 100 AD. The Celts built no cities, founded no empires and never developed a written language, but, although their world is now dead, their culture influenced a good part of the continent and spread all the way from Ireland to the shores of the Black Sea. Their name derives from the Greek 'Keltoi', meaning 'hidden people' -a reference to their lack of a written language and all tales were memorized and passed down through the generations by the Druids or 'wiseman' who studied long years to commit all their knowledge to memory. Although these learned men, who functioned as lawgivers as well as priests, could read and write Greek and Latin, they chose to pass on the chronicle of their people's existence orally in the form of verse. It wasn't until the 6th and 7th centuries AD that Irish monks began to transcribe Celtic history and law, and the famous collection of legends known as the Ulster Cycle which is thousands of years old, it is from them that we learn of the old traditions of law, the concepts of kingship, of truth and of the 'fitness of things' which held their society together.

The gods and goddesses of the ancient Celts were living forces in their imagination and worship, and although Victorian scholars thought their savage war-goddesses; their barbaric sea-gods and the mysteries of the Otherworld, quaint, barbaric and often incomprehensible, these myths reveal the beautiful and often profound beliefs of a passionate, resourceful and creative people. For the pagan Celt, the essence of the universe and all its creativity was female and they left permanent traces of a culture in which women were the spiritual and moral pivot. The mother goddess and all her personifications of fertility, sovereignty, love and healing, was an essential basis of their very role in the world. Women feature prominently in Celtic myth and their goddesses' occupied positions that represented women of practical, everyday Celtic life. They were free to bear arms, become Druids and engage in politics unlike their Greek sisters, who were highly idealised in myth but not representative of the reality governing the lives of Greek women.

The very phrase 'Celtic women evokes all kinds of images - fearsome warriors, romantic heroines and tragic, wronged queens - goddesses by the score, from old hags to screaming harpies, to beautiful wise women and learned Druidesses, to the great female saints of the early Celtic church. The women of the Celtic myths are a reflection of the historical women of early Celtic society with all their problems, loves, heartaches and triumphs. They display a range of characters and positions in society being powerful weak, serious, capricious, vengeful and ambitious - there are no empty-headed beauties. As Moyra Caldicott says in 'Women in Celtic Myth' . . . "one of the things I find so refreshing in the Celtic myths is that the women are honoured as much for their minds as for their bodies. The dumb blond would not stand much of a chance in ancient Celtic society".

Celtic women then achieved high positions in society and a standing which their sisters in the majority of other contemporary European societies did not have. They were able to govern; they played an active part in political; social and religious life. They could be warriors, doctors, physicians, judges and poets. They could own property and remain the owner even when married. They had sexual freedom, were free to choose their partners and divorce, and could claim damages if molested. Celtic women could, and often did, lead their men into battle. The Roman Deodorizes Sickles observed - "The women of the Celts are nearly as tall as the men and they rival them also in courage". Yet another report by Amicus Marcelling states - "A whole troop of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Celt if he called his wife to his assistance"! So women went to war in the ancient Celtic world and took command of men. The, training of a warrior was a long task, frequently undertaken by warrior women who were responsible for teaching boys the arts of combat and of love. Specific titles were given to these classes of female warriors such as BAN-GAISGEDAIG (BAN-meaning woman and a derivative of GAS which means young warrior) and BAN-FEJNNIDH (which combines BAN with FEINNIDH meaning 'band of warriors') so it seems they were classed according to age and experience, possibly starting their training as very young girls. Women warriors even appear on Celtic coins as a common iconographic theme. BOUDICCA, the great warrior-queen of the Iceni was a ruler of her people in her own right, and accepted as a war leader against the Romans not only by her own tribe but by the Triumvirates and other neighbouring tribes who joined her, such as the Cretan. Less well-known is our own warrior queen SGATHAICH who presided over a famous military academy at the South end of Skye. Near to Tarscavaig and overlooking the bay of OB GAUSCA VAIG (Whale Bay) stand the ruins of Dunscaith Castle, said to mean 'the Fort of Shadows', a stronghold of Sgathaich.

A Skye legend tells of how the castle was built in a single night by a witch or faerie "All night the witch sang and the castle grew up from the rock with tower and turrets crowned; all night she sang, when fell the morning dew 'Twas finished round and round". Dunscaith is described as being "surrounded by seven ramparts crowned by iron palisades and protected by a pit full of snakes and beaked toads"... It is believed that the castle was, in fact, a great deal larger than the remaining fragments would indicate, but even these serve to show what an impregnable fortress it must once have been. It is built upon a rock with precipitous sides, and approached by a causeway, partly natural, which leads to a bridge over a gully in the rock. The floor of the bridge is missing and it is safer to view it from the main-land rock.

Most Skye duns have their origin in Neolithic, or even earlier times, and history shows this site to be a vitrified fort of early importance. For several centuries it was the stronghold of the MacLeods and the MacDonalds of the Isles, but in fact it is much older than any clan. It was to this fortress that the hero Cu Chulainn (the 'Hound of Culann' and the archetypal superhuman champion of epic tradition) came to complete his training in arms under the guidance of Sgathaich who instructed men in the martial arts. Sgathaich was a formidable woman, a teacher of war-craft and a prophetess (Druid?) who foretells Cu Chulainn's future through divination. She was reputed to be the matron of self-defence and female independence as well as the guardian of young people who seek to know their full potential. Men came from further a field than Gaul to train with her, and if they passed her rigorous tests they were more feared than any other fighting men. Cu Chulainn's intended bride EMER, niece to Ulster's KING TETARA, had refused to marry him unless he proved himself in this way. She said to her father. "He is a green boy. If I wed it will be to a man who can match me in every way. I am tired of boasting youths and their tedious feats of arms. The man I marry must be the greatest champion ever. He must be capable of protecting me from every danger" And so Cu Chulainn journeyed to Skye, (known as the Isle of Shadows) to seek this warrior-queen and learn her skills. The way to her castle was dangerous and Cu Chulainn's journey was full of strange and magical happenings but although filled with fear and wonder he acquitted himself with honour, and on his third attempt managed to cross the perilous bridge of Dunscaith which threw off all those who failed to get across in two strides! Sgathaich taught Cu Chulainn the martial arts, his famous 'salmon leap' and certain tricks and feats of strength as well as giving him magical weapons and armour for battle including her famous GAE BOLGA (the 'belly ripper') - a barbed spear which inflicts only fatal wounds. (This can also be interpreted as GATH BOLAG - Spear of Light). Cu Chulainn also received a magic visor, gift of MA NNA NAN the Celtic Sea-God, and his charioteer LAEG protected him with powers of invisibility. Was it Sgathaich who taught Cu Chulainn his famous 'battle-rage'? It was said that when the rage was on him he went into 'warp-spasm', a beserk fit which prevented him from telling friend from foe. His enemies were terrified by the sight of such uncontrolled passion but this defence mechanism was to bring Cu Chulainn the greatest grief in his life, as this tale relates. In return for tuition, Cu Chulainn fought battles for Sgathaich as she was constantly at war with her sister AOIFE (Reflection) herself a notable and fearsome warrior. AOJFE proved a formidable opponent, and Cu Chulainn was well matched.

He finally secured her surrender by means of a trick, and peace was restored between the two women. Soon after, Aoife seduced Cu Chulainn and was pregnant by the time he completed his training with Sgathaich and returned to Ulster. Before leaving he gave Aoife his gold ring for their son so that she could send the boy to him in the future. The ring would confirm his identity. Cu Chulainn then left, and Aoife was certain he would return one day. Time passed, the boy CONLAOCH grew to be an amazing fighter like his father, but when Aoife heard that Cu Chulainn had married Emer and would not come back to Skye, she became bitter and angry, planning revenge. She sent Conlaoch to Ulster under GAES or taboo. He was not to reveal his identity to anyone, no matter who asked, and was never to refuse to fight. The youth arrived at Cu Chulainn's court and refusing to name himself was immediately called arrogant and drawn into combat. After defeating several of his father's men, he was eventually challenged by a very angry Cu Chullain, who, in his famous battle-rage struck down Conlaoch with Sgathaich's gift, the Gae Bolga. As his son lay dying, Cu Chullain finally came to his senses and regognised his ring and the boy's identity. His grief was terrifying. Cu Chulainn, who had tremendous resources as a warrior of worldly battles, couldn't cope with the loss of his only son, and was to spend the rest of his short life learning to handle his passions, doubts, and fears.

He never fully recovered from his loss and Aoife's revenge was complete. One of the major features of Celtic goddesses is a fusion of fertility powers with those of war. These goddesses were in effect the Openers and Closers of The Way of Life: the Givers and Takers. The apparent conflict between a goddess ruling both fertility and death presented no problem to the Celt who knew that death comes from life and life from death. Although the later eastern concept of dominant hero and swooning maid is not inherent in Celtic myth, heroes were drawn into the "Otherworld" by beautiful young maiden-type goddesses. The Celts had no straightforward Goddess of love, such as the classical Venus or Aphrodite, but they seem to have worshipped nature goddesses, often portrayed as beautiful and desirable young women. They set tasks, not as mere tasks of manhood, but to send the 'improved' hero back to his tribe or clan having achieved something, or gained some higher state of being which would benefit them all. It was often a dangerous task and in many ways the hero was considered a sacrifice for the good of his people.

NIAMH OF THE GOLDEN HAIR was one such maiden goddess, daughter of Mannanan, the Celtic God of the sea who roamed our west coast waters and gave his name to the Isle of Man. It was Leod (Liotr) grandson of Godred the Black, King of Man, who established Dunvegan castle as the seat of Clan MacLeod. Niamh is described thus: her golden hair hung in tresses, and at the end of each plait hung a bead. To some men her hair was the colour of the yellow flag iris which grows by summer water; others thought it like ruddy polished gold. Slender and exquisite as a birch tree, of shape as sweet as the fine clover, of colour as fair as a summer morning, she is the type of the glory of all lands.

Niamh chose a mortal man, QISIN son of FINN chief of the legendary Fenian warriors of Celtic Ireland to be her lover, and took him to Tir-nan-Og, the Celtic "Land of the Ever Young" which lies somewhere in the western sea. The Otherworld was a timeless, ageless, happy place, a source of all wisdom, peace, beauty, harmony and immortality -a world full of magic, enchantment and music. Earthly time has no relevance. If humans visit it they remain young while there, but age catches up if they return home. Oisin, despite all he learns and the happiness he enjoys with Niamh, becomes homesick and plans a visit, to the upper world. Niamh warns him not to set foot on land or he will not return to her. In the upper world Oisin, travelling on horse-back, finds 300 years have passed. His harness breaks, he falls from his horse, and crumbles to dust. This story, like so many others in mythology, is about the inner journey of the human soul/psyche/ spirit - the facing of tests and trials for initiation into the higher or better state of being. Niamh's father was sometimes known as Mannanan Mac Lir, a name meaning Son of the Sea, or as Barmnthus, the primal god of the ocean deeps, and as such he is associated with stellar navigation. Mannanan appeared in many guises, and as a monk called 'Father Barinthus' he visited St Brendan and told him to travel west-wards to the 'Island of Promise of the Saints'. In the 9th century AD St Brendan of Clonfert in County Galway, Ireland, set out in a skin boat with 14 monks to accompany him to search for this land across the ocean. His voyage of discovery has been claimed as the first visit by a European to America. Mannanan is also referred to in the 12th century 'Vita Merlini', when he ferries the wounded King Arthur, accompanied by the prophet Merlin and the bard Taliesin, to the other world for his cure.

The Cells had no religious dogma that we can trace; though accompanying everything they did was a strong sense of holiness and sacredness of all existence. To them animals and trees had souls and immortality and reincarnation were facts of life, and different levels of reality were taken for granted The old role of the animals was to link man, through the collective myth of dreams, to be mediators between him and his gods, and they were considered sacred.

Many of the gods and spirits of the Celtic world were represented with bird and animal parts, and birds of every kind wing their way through the divine world of the Celts. Indeed birds were generally thought to be bearers of divine information, and their calls and flight patterns were commonly interpreted by the druids for insights into the future.

To the Celts the land itself was a living sacred entity. There was no intellectual separation between religion and living, all life, all acts, all relationships were essentially religious; not in any formal senses but as a matter of simple fact.

There is no clear cut boundary between the end of paganism and the beginning of Christianity in Celtic Europe. The old gods lingered long, but during the 4th century Christianity was officially adopted as the state religion of the Roman world, and in Britain and Ireland, where Celtic traditions were arguably sustained longest, the Celtic church was established during the 5th century.

When he came to England St. Augustine is said to have been advised by Pope Gregory to "accommodate the ceremonies of the Christian worship as much as possible into those of the heathen, that the people might not be too much startled by the change", and he seems to have followed these instructions to the letter. Therefore, when the Christian movement at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, made Mary officially the Mother of God, the Celts turned to her enthusiastically as the replacement mother goddess, seeing in her the goddesses of fertility, love and healing. The early Celtic Christians pictured Mary as the eternal mother figure, encouraging men and women to turn to her in times of trouble.

It is interesting to note that at the time when the Celts began to accept Christianity, Celtic women, as in pagan times, were equal to men in preaching religion. We are told that both Brigid of Kildare and Beoferlic (St Beverley of York) of the Celtic church in Northumbria, were ordained not simply as priests but as bishops as well. A far cry from the situation today!

And so the Celtic world slowly began to change and with it the major pagan-celtic ceremonies which were gradually assimilated into the Christian calendar. Festivals such as SAMHAJN, which was celebrated on November 1st, the beginning of the Celtic year. This was the day of changes, of births and deaths when the gate between the worlds is open and spirits can pass freely from one to the other. We celebrate it as All Saints day and even now some people fear the walking ghosts of Halloween. The Spring Equinox is called ALBAN.

EILER - or the Light of the Earth - among the reformed orders of Druidry. It marks the mid-point between the suns least and strongest appearance at Midwinter and Midsummer respectively. The Celts welcomed the sun with a glad heart, for its dancing rays awakened the seemingly dead earth to new life and signalled the ending of the long, cold winter. "As the light lengthens, so the cold strengthens", goes the old saying. The stark coldness of February seems winter-locked until the emerging tips of snowdrops herald the return of spring. ~ The pagan Celts celebrated the season IMBOLC as spring approached and it encompassed the sprouting period of young growth when the earth emerges from the introspection of winter into the fresh hope of the new spring. This festival coincides with the birth of lambs and the lactation of ewes, which underlies the meaning of the word Imbolic. It was simple to assimilate this pagan festival into the Christian calendar as EASTER.

Easter, though in name entirely pagan, now describes only the Christian festival of the Resurrection. Many explanations of the origin of this word have been put forward, but that generally accepted is the earliest, given by Bcde more than a thousand years ago. Writing of April he says it was called "Eostur-Monath, which is now rendered the Paschal month and formally received its name from a goddess of spring called EOSTRI, worshipped by the ancient nations of the north in whose honour a festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox".

Although little is known about her cult it seems likely that she was once a dawn goddess as she was connected with ideas of rising and new life. The ancient Sanskrit word for dawn was USRA and from it most certainly came both Easter and the east, the direction from where the sun is known to rise. Since spring with its increasing light and warmth is "the dawn of the living year" it was natural that a dawn goddess should be worshipped then.

The Irish cleric Sedulius Scottus wrote "Christ the true sun rose from the dark last night... may Heavenly Easter joy gather you to the threshold of light". The Germans have a similar name for this season - OSTERN or OSTERFEST -deriving in part from OSTARA, another version of Eostre. In various parts of Germany stone altars called Easter-stones can still be found dedicated to the fair goddess Eostre.

The Celts believed that Eostre's favourite animal and attendant spirit was the hare. Everywhere it represented love, fertility and growth and was associated with the moon, dawn and Easter - the enlightenment of the soul through death, redemption and resurrection. The goddess changed into a hare at the full moon and even to this day there is a superstition that hares carry the souls of the dead. Tradition also has it that the hare was sacred to the White Goddess - the Earth Mother - and as such was considered to be a royal animal. The warrior queen Boudicca took a hare into battle with her to ensure victory and it was said to have screamed like a woman from beneath her cloak. Legend relates how that same Celtic warrior Oisin, beloved of Niamh, hunted a hare and wounded it in the leg, forcing it to seek refuge in a clump of bushes. When Oisin followed it he found, in the thicket, a door leading down into the ground and eventually emerged into a huge hail where he found a beautiful young woman sitting on a throne bleeding from a wound in her leg. The transmigration of the soul is clearly seen in Celtic lore; the life of the body is not the end of the soul, which is understood to take other forms successively.

In Europe there are wide-spread remnants of a cult of a hare goddess and man has for centuries feared the hare because of the supernatural powers with which he has endowed her solitude, her remoteness and her subtle, natural skills. Active at night, symbolic of the intuitive, and the fickleness of the moon, the hare is an emblem of inconstancy. Like the moon which is always changing places in the sky, hares have illogical habits and are full of mystery and contradictions. Certainly it has never been regarded as ad ordinary creature in any part of the world, and in ancient Egypt the hare was used as a Hieroglyph for the word denoting existence. Many divergent cultures link the hare with the moon and Buddhists have a saying about the "shadow of the hare in the moon" instead of the man in the moon. They see the hare as a resurrection symbol. The moon is perhaps the most manifest symbol of this universal becoming- birth, growth, reproduction, death and rebirth. The moon disappears, dies and is born again, and this underlies most primitive initiation rites- that a being must die before he can be born again on a higher spiritual level.

The Celts counted time not by days, but by nights, and made their calendars (Coligny) not by the sun, but by the moon. Fortnight means 14 nights or half a lunar cycle.

In some parts of Skye, old and young kept a coin in their pockets to hail RIOGHA INN NA H-OIDCHE (the queen of the night) as the moon was called. The coin, PEIGHINN PISICH (propitious penny) was turned three times in the pocket when the new moon was seen. (From the Carmina Gadelica, collected by Carmichael)

"Hail to thee, Jewel of the night! Beauty of the heavens, Jewel of the night! Mother of the stars, Fosterling of the sun, Majesty of the stars! Glory to thee for ever! Thou bright moon, this night Thyself art ever the glorious lamp of the poor".

The symbol of the hare was used deliberately to transfer old pagan religion into a Christian context, and the Albrecht Durer woodcut of the Holy Family (1471-1 528) clearly depicts three hares at the family's feet. Later superstition changed the Easter hare into the Easter rabbit or bunny - far less threatening than the ancient pagan symbol and very few people will be aware that the hare ever held such standing, and why.

As the ancient beliefs died, superstitions about the hare were rife and many witches were reported to have hares as their familiars. In the 17th Century Witch Trials quoted by Margaret Murray, one of the old women chants...

"Hare, hare, god send the care I am in a hare's likeness now, but I shall be in a woman's likeness even now."

Today we talk of a lucky rabbit's foot but for many generations a hare's paw or foot was a much used charm against evil, a throw-back to the long forgotten belief in Eostre the Celtic dawn goddess. By AD 410 when Celtic Britain had emerged from the long centuries of Roman occupation, the Celts were struggling to balance the original co-equal society with male dominance.

The Romans had been horrified by the social status of Celtic women as they enjoyed privileges that would have made Roman women, of the same period, green with envy. This was subversive to the patriarchal paradigms of Greece and Rome and had to be destroyed. The destructive influence of the Roman empire, then of Christianity, when women were no longer allowed sexual freedom, coupled with the cultures of the Anglo Saxons and the Franks, certainly forced the Celts into fundamental change. They clung to the old ways but finally that harmony between the roles of men and women. The harmony that was no dependent on the superiority of one over the other, but on an equality in which each could feel comfortable and the feminist concept of a descent into (modern) civilization is reasonable.

MACHA the Celtic horse goddess, who gave her name to Cu Chulainns war horse, the Grey of Macha, cursed the patriarchal age that had just dawned, with these words...

"Although you may develop sophisticated doctrines of rebirth; although you may have taken on yourselves the right of life and death; although your efforts may seem logical and plausible in the light of a patriarchal culture; your efforts cannot but be doomed to failure as long as they are based on the subordination of women" The story did not end with the conquests of Rome. The Celts continued to exist over Europe, although the language died out in most areas, their ideas, their beliefs and folk festivals, and place names, survived. Ireland and much of Scotland were not conquered by the Romans, in there as in Wales and the Isle of Man, Celtic culture continued to exist, retaining its art, its religion and its language.
.....Pamela Budge

Sources;
Exploring Scotland's Heritage By Ritchieand Harman
Celtic Women by P.Berrisford Ellis
The Leaping Hare by G. Evans and L Thomson
Women in Celtic Myth by Moyra Caldicott
The Mediaeval Castles of Skye by D. Roberts and R. Miket
Carmina Gadelica by A Carmichael

Cerredwen

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(05/14/09 12:18 AM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

Celtic Folklore: The People of the Mounds
L. MacDonald, DALRIADA MAGAZINE 1993

"For all the hillside was haunted By the faery folk come again And down in the heart-light enchanted Were opal-coloured men" AE

In the first article of this series, I looked at the survival of belief among the Celtic peoples of an invisible realm inhabited by Otherworldly beings known collectively as the Sidhe, or the Good People. This belief was once common throughout all the Celtic countries, in localised forms. The Sidhe are considered to be a distinct race, quite separate from human beings yet who have had much contact with mortals over the centuries, and there are many documented testimonies to this. Belief in this race of beings who have powers beyond those of men to move quickly through the air and change their shape at will once played a huge part in the lives of people living in rural Ireland and Scotland.

It is difficult to pin-point an exact historical era as the time when fairy lore began. Many writers maintain that the people of Ireland and their Gods before the coming of the Gaels are the 'ancestors' of the sidhe. Clearly the belief in the sidhe is part of the pre-Christian religion which survived for thousands of years and which has never been completely wiped out from the minds of the people. When the first Gaels, the sons of Mil, arrived in Ireland, they found that the Tuatha De Danaan, the people of the goddess Dana, already had control of the land. The sons of Mil fought them in battle and defeated them, driving them 'underground' where it is said they remain to this day in the hollow hills or sidhe mounds.

In the early Irish manuscripts (which were recorded from an earlier oral tradition) we find references to the Tuatha De Danaan. In 'The Book of the Dun Cow' and the 'Book of Leinster' this race of beings is described as "gods and not gods", pointing to the fact that they are 'something in between'. Also in the Book of the Dun Cow it says of wise men that: "it seems likely to them that they [the Tuatha De Danaan] came from heaven, on account of their intelligence and excellence of their knowledge".

The hold that the Tuatha De Danaan had on the Irish mind was so strong that the new religion of Christianity could not shake it. In 'The Colloquy of the Ancients' a dialogue which supposedly took place between St. Patrick and the ghost of Caeilte of the Fianna, Patrick is amazed to see a fairy woman coming out of the cave of Cruachan, wearing a green mantle with a crown of gold on her head. Whereas the fairy woman is young and beautiful, Caeilte himself is old and withered. When Patrick enquires of this, Caeilte tells him that:
"She is of the Tuatha De Danaans who are unfading...and I am of the sons of Mil, who are perishable and fade away".

The sidhe of the subterranean mounds are also seen by the Irish as the descendants of the old agricultural gods of the Earth, (one of the most important being Crom Cruaich, the Crooked One of the Hill). These gods controlled the ripening of the crops and the milk yields of the cattle, therefore offerings had to be given to them regularly. In the Book of Leinster we discover that after their conquest the Tuatha De Danaan took revenge on the sons of Mil by destroying their wheat and the goodness of the milk (the sidhe are notorious for this even today). The sons of Mil were thus forced to make a treaty with them, and ever since that time the people of Ireland have
honoured this treaty by leaving offerings of milk and butter to the Good People.

A notable feature of the sidhe is that they have distinct tribes, ruled over by fairy kings and queens in each territory. It would seem that the social order of the sidhe corresponds to the old aristocracy of ancient Irish families, which is in itself a reflection of the ancient Celtic caste system. It is interesting to note that many of the Irish refer to the sidhe as simply "the gentry", on account of their tall, noble appearance and silvery sweet speech. They have their own palaces where they feast and play music, but also have regular battles with neighbouring tribes. The great fairy hosts seem to be distinctly Milesian, but there are still folk memories of perhaps older pre-Gaelic races and their gods, in the form of the 'geancanach', a spirit of Ulster, or the 'cluricaun', of Munster. We must not forget also the 'leprechaun', a diminutive creature who is said to know the whereabouts of a pot of gold hidden in local fairy raths. The leprechaun could possibly be a folk memory of a dwarfish race of Fir Bolg people who lived in these raths before the coming of the Gaels.

In the testimonies of many rural folk a distinction is often made between the sidhe who are seen walking on the ground after sunset, and the 'Sluagh Sidhe', the fairy host who travel through the air at night, and are known to 'take' mortals with them on their journeys. There are also guardian sidhe of most of the lakes of Ireland and Scotland. These distinct categories of sidhe beings ties in with the testimonies of seers who divide the sidhe into wood spirits, water spirits, air spirits and so on, the elemental spirits of each place.

Lough Gur in County Limerick is a very magical place where we meet many of the sidhe kings and queens of Ireland. The lake lies within a circle of low lying hills, but once every seven years it appears as dry land, where an entrance to the Land of Youth may be found. The lake's guardian is known as Toice Bhrean (the lazy one) because she neglected to watch over the well, from which the lake sprang forth. It is believed that once every seven years a mortal meets their death by drowning in the lake, 'taken' by the Beann Fhionn, the White Lady.

FAIRY QUEENS OF IRELAND

There are many great fairy queens that are remembered in Irish folk tales. They are known as 'bean righean na brugh', the fairy queen of the palace, and are quite clearly the tutelary goddesses of local tribes. Many are still said to be the guardians of certain Irish clans.

Three miles south west of Lough Gur is Cnoc Aine, or Knockainy, the hill of Aine, one of the most important fairy queens of Munster. Also on the shores of the lake is Cnoc Finnine, of the goddess Fennel, the sister of Aine. Many of the sidhe folk have encounters or relationships with mortals. The Earl of Desmond once saw Aine combing her hair on the bank of a river. He fell in love with her and seizing her cloak made her his wife.

The offspring of this union was Aine's enchanted son Geroid Iarla, who lives under the lake awaiting his return to the world of men. Once every seven years he emerges from the water as a phantom riding on a white horse. Aine is revered throughout Ireland. In Co. Derry locals say she was a mortal woman who was 'taken' by the fairies; the local family O'Corra are said to be descended from Aine. In Co. Louth Aine's stronghold is at Dunany point (Dun Aine). Every year three days are dedicated to her, the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Lammas; it was said that she would claim a life on those days.

It is at Cnoc Aine in Co. Limerick where Aine is most well remembered as a great queen. Every year on St. John's Eve (24 June) local people would form a procession around the hill, then carry flaming torches through the fields of ripening crops. Aine herself was seen on many occasions leading the procession.

The fairy queen of the north of Munster is Aoibheal; she is the ancestral deity of the O'Briens, (the descendants of Brian Boru) who rules from Craig Liath (grey rock) in Co. Clare. At the great battle of Clontarf, Aoibheal had fore-knowledge of the outcome and tried to warn her people. Aoibheal is revered in many of the 'Aislings', the vision poems of the eighteenth century concerning the future freedom of Ireland.

Cliodna is loved and cherished by the people of Co. Cork, where a number of place names are associated with her. She is the guardian goddess of the O'Keefes, and said to be the eldest daughter of the last Druid of Ireland. One of the three great waves mentioned in Irish mythology is Tonn Cliodna, the wave of Cliodna, off the coast at Glandore, Co. Cork. A legend tells of Ciabhan of the Curling Locks who took Cliodna out of the lands of Manannan and brought her to the shores of Ireland in his curragh. He left Cliodna alone on the shore while he went off to hunt deer; while he was gone Manannan sent a huge wave over the strand and Cliodna was drowned.

In the north east of Leinster the fairy queen Grian of the Bright Cheeks has her abode on Cnoc Greine. The sidhe mound of her father was attacked once by the five sons of Conall. Grian pursued them and in revenge she transformed them into badgers. In the Irish sagas Grania eloped with Diarmaid, and all over Ireland there are cairns and cromlechs known locally as 'the bed of Diarmaid and Grania'. In Co. Tipperary, east of loch Derg, lies Knockshegouna, the fairy hill of Una. Una is the wife of the fairy king Finnbheara of Cnoc Meadha; she is a somewhat elusive figure, but nevertheless her sidhe dwelling was a very important place in former times, and she is still remembered by local people.

FAIRY KINGS OF IRELAND

The great fairy king of Co. Galway in the west of Ireland is Finnbheara (Finnvarr). Cnoc Meadha is his abode, a prominent hill west of Tuam, on top of which is a burial mound. To the north west is Magh Tuireadh, where the legendary battle between the Fir Bolgs and the Tuatha De Danaans took place. There are many stories which illustrate Finnbheara's liking for earthly women. He would often draw young girls away to dance all night with him in his palace, but the next morning they were always found safely asleep in bed.

One particular nobleman was not so fortunate, however. His bride was taken one time by the fairy king. The bride's old nurse told the noble that he must dig down into the sidhe mound, starting at the top. But during the night the fairies of the mound filled the tunnel back in with earth. This happened again on the second night. In despair the nobleman turned to the old nurse again, who told him to sprinkle the earth with salt and place a line of burning turf around the trench, as the sidhe could not resist that. The following morning the bride was found safe in her bed. Finnbheara is also known to love horses, and he is usually seen riding a black horse with flaring red nostrils. Some-times he would invite young men to ride with his fairy host.

In Co. Limerick the fairy king Donn of Knockfierna is well remembered. There is a large earthern fort on his hill and a number of dolmens known as the 'Giants Graves'. You can see the entrance to his fairy palace. Donn is the ancient Celtic god of the Dead who rules the rocky islands to the south west on the Atlantic coast. Donn is also known in Co. Fermanagh as the ancestor of the Maguires, whom he helped in their battles. Sometimes he is seen riding on a white horse on stormy nights, when people would exclaim: "Donn is galloping in the clouds tonight". Donn now more closely resembles a medieval Irish landlord than a god. He rules quite strictly but will aid his people when needed. He is also believed to fight against rival hosts in other counties, the winner carrying off the best potato crop for that year.

It will be noted that the fairy queens and kings are in fact the old pagan gods and goddesses 'in disguise' who have long been revered by the Irish. I once heard someone state that the Celtic gods of Ireland had long been wiped out, buried under the sway of Catholicism. Yet anyone who has been to the Emerald Isle, or listened to her many folk tales can see for themselves that this is very far from the reality. The old gods live on in folk tales as the giants of the hill; the Gobhan Saor who built all the bridges of Ireland; the Gille Decair, a clown and trickster; the carl (serf) of the drab coat and many others. The old deities were once worshipped throughout Ireland, however it is in the west that they are best remembered now, the east having been more Christianized and anglicised, and subject to more invasions. By contrast, the west of Ireland, to which the native Irish were driven ("to hell or Connaught") has held on longer to her ancient heritage.

FAIRY WOMEN OF SCOTLAND

There are many similarities to be found in the fairy lore of Scotland, no doubt due to the migration of peoples back and forth between Scotland and Ireland. Most people know about the last wave of Gaelic incomers into Scotland from Ireland in the fifth century, but for many centuries before this the Irish were intermarrying with the Cruithne (Picts) of Scotland and this is mentioned in some early texts. Thus there has been a long interchange between the two lands which has led to a mingling of folklore and belief.

The most well known of the fairy women both in Ireland and Scotland has to be the Bean Sidhe, the Banshee. In Ireland she is the ancestress of the old aristocratic families, the Irish clans. When any death or misfortune is about to occur in the family, she will be heard wailing her unearthly lament. It was considered something of a status symbol to have a banshee attached to your family! She is more often heard than seen, though if you do catch sight of her she may be combing her long hair with a silver comb. She is also known as the bean chaointe, the wailing woman, and also as badhbh chaointe. Badhbh is the Irish for a scald crow, but more interestingly it is the name of one of the Celtic war goddesses who would shriek over the battlefields in the form of a crow.

In the Highlands of Scotland this type of banshee is known as the bean tighe, the fairy housekeeper, or in some places as the Glaistig Uaine, the Green Lady, who is often sighted in the rooms and the grounds of the old castles of the Scottish clans, keeping watch over everything. There is also the wilder type of banshee found in the remoter places. This type of banshee wanders through the woods and over the moors at dusk, luring travellers to their doom.

The gruagach is the fairy woman who watches over the cattle fold at night and protects the goodness of the milk. On Skye, Tiree and other islands are to be found 'gruagach stones', stones with hollows in where libations of milk were poured as an offering to her. If this daily offering was neglected, the best cow of the fold would be found dead in the morning. The Book of Arran mentions such a gruagach who minded the cattle in the district of Kilmory.

There are many stories of sidhe women who help households with spinning, housework, threshing corn and so on. However, if they are interfered with in any way, even by the offering of a present, they will never return again. Alexander Carmichael mentions the 'bean chaol a chot uaine 's na gruaige buidhe', the slender woman of the green kirtle and yellow hair, who can turn water into wine and weave spider's webs into plaide, and play sweet music on the fairy reed.

We also find in Scotland the dreaded bean nighe, otherwise known as the Washer at the Ford. She may be seen at midnight washing the death shirt of someone about to die. Usually the person who meets her knows that it is his own fate that she foretells. As she washes she sings a dirge: "Se do leine, se do leine ga mi nigheadh" (It is your shirt, your shirt that I am washing).

Many spirits of rivers and mountains in Scotland appear in the shape of an old hag, the Cailleach. The most famous is the Cailleach bheara who washes her clothes in the whirlpool of the Corryvreckan off Jura, and rides across the land in the form of the 'night mare'.

There is another sidhe being that is mentioned in the writings of Fiona MacLeod and is greatly feared among the Gaels. He is the Amadan Dubh, the Fairy Fool, bringer of madness and oblivion. Sometimes he appears as a darkly clad figure on the slope of a hill after sunset, playing on his reed pipes a fairy enchantment.

We may conclude, then, that within the fairy lore of Scotland and Ireland are to be found the remnants of the old pagan religion, with gods and goddesses being remembered as the guardian ancestors of the clans. In fact, all the clans once claimed descent from a particular deity, so this is nothing new. The old gods still appear in local tales, as kings and queens of fairy palaces, or as guardians of lakes. In other words, they are still very much part of the land and the folk memory of the people. Belief in the sidhe has been steadily diminishing, however, not least through the decline in the Gaelic language, and with it so many of the folk tales that were only ever told in the Gaelic. It is sad that the attitude of so many people of today is that these tales are merely children's stories, to be put aside when we grow older and wiser in years. How far from the truth this is, if only they could see it. The fairies are the elemental powers of the land, the ancient Earth Shapers who live in the hollow hills, to whom the world of Mankind is but a dream...

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cerredwen

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(10/25/09 11:14 PM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

Irish Creatures
By Bridget Haggerty

The lore of supernatural beings in Ireland is unlike that of the rest of Europe in one very important respect: spirit powers in the Emerald Isle have been endowed with names and personalities.

Of all the unearthly phenomena associated with Erin, two of the most famous are the Leprechaun and the Banshee. Always solitary, it is erroneous to ever consider a company of Leprechauns, or a group of Banshees. However, according to folklore, the Leprechaun was once part of a community called Luchor-pan or the wee bodies. Over time, the name became corrupted and this corruption gave rise to the notion that "brog" or shoe was part of the name Thus, Leprechauns became shoemakers to the Good People, as well as the protector of their treasures. And, for whatever reason, Leprechauns were identified with some very anti-social personality traits, including irascibility, cunning, doubletalk and a liking for their own company.
In Co. Kildare, the name "Lurikeen" appears to be the name for Leprechaun and there are still other monikers elsewhere, but throughout the country, the folklore is the same when it comes to his haunts, habits and hidden crocks of gold. If you should wish to seek one out, they're usually found near very old castles, and they're always engaged in making shoes, but always one - never a pair.

As the story goes, if you find one of these crafty rascals, you should draw close to him without making a sound and quickly take him in your grasp. Demand to know where the crocks of gold are hidden and beware of any distraction, for he will surely cheat you. Take your eyes from him for just an instant and he will disappear. The Far Darrig - "The Red Man" - is a near relation to the Leprechaun, but he dresses in red from head to toe and, much amused by mortal terror, he's been known to give his victims terrifying nightmares.

The Bean Sidhe or Banshee makes her appearance when someone in the household is about to die. She haunts only the families of the "high Milesian race" - those whose names have an "O", "Mac" or other prefix. One exception to this rule has been granted by virtue of the Irish poets who have given her to some of the Norman-Irish families - the FitzGerald's for example. In any event, she heralds the demise of only those who are of authentic noble stock and it is with great dread when her piercing "caoine" or keening is heard. In many respects, this mysterious creature resembles traditional Irish keeners or mourners of old; as with her mortal counterparts, those who have seen her describe her as drawing a comb through her hair, similar to tearing the hair out in anguish, which the ancient mourners used to do. Incidentally or maybe not, while the Banshee is considered benign, she supposedly has a sister force who isn't; this force is called the Lianhan Sidhe and her sole purpose is to seek the love of mortal men. Their desire for her ultimately destroys them.

The Púca, pronounced "Pookah" is the Irish word for hobgoblin. One of the most feared spirits, according to legend, it can take on a variety of shapes and sizes in order to wreak havoc and harm. However, as the legend goes it s now less dangerous thanks to the legendary King, Brian Boru, who is said to have tamed it and ridden it like a horse. In fact, (if one can use that word in the same sentence as talking about the supernatural), it's said that the Púca often takes on the form of a horse or calf, rushes between a victims legs, and hoists them away for a mad dash across the countryside. Besides horses and cows, the Púca can also take on the shape of a bird or bat and has been known to scratch the face of its quarry. Usually, this ominous spirit lies in wait at suitably eerie places such as a crossroads, fence or bridge.

The Taisé is the image of a person who is not present and warns of an imminent accident. The worst omen of all is to see the Taisé of yourself, which means you are about to die.

The Gray Man or Far Liath appears as a fog and covers land and sea with his mantle. He obscures rocks so ships crash upon them and darkens the road so that travelers unwittingly stumble over cliffs to their deaths.

The Grogoch was originally a half human, half-spirit entity who originated in Scotland and settled in Ireland. Well-known throughout north Antrim, Rathlin Island and parts of Donegal, he may also be found on the Isle of Man. He has the power of invisibility but will often allow certain trusted people to observe him. A very sociable being, he may even attach himself to certain individuals and help them with their planting and harvesting or with domestic chores, all for no payment other than a jug of cream. As with many supernatural beings, he has a great fear of the clergy and will not enter a house if a priest or minister is present.

The Dark Man or Far Dorocha rides on his black horse into our world to abduct humans that the Queen of the Good People desires. Although he never speaks, mortals invariably understand his commands and, unable to disobey, surrender their wills to his and mount up behind him.

The Demon Bride, a beautiful but evil spirit, seduces her mortal victim with a kiss that steals his soul. He dies the death of a raving lunatic, haunted by the knowledge of his fatal mistake.

The Dullahan is a headless horseman who rides an equally headless horse during the dead of night; wherever he stops a mortal dies. We've devoted an entire article to this unholy terror which you can read here: The Dullahan. http://www.irishculturean...om/ACalend/Dullahan.html

The Dearg-Dur is Ireland's legendary vampire. According to some tales, it can take the shape of a pale young woman who lingers in graveyards at night waiting for unwary passers-by. Her beauty is irresistibly seductive, but when she kisses, she feeds on blood, draining the life from her victim. Supposedly, it can be defeated by building a cairn of stones over its grave.

Changelings were the replacement for a mortal child who had been stolen by the Good People. For fear that a handsome baby would be kidnapped, people wouldn't mention its beauty. For his or her protection, they would not only call God's blessing upon the baby but actually spit at it, hoping that this would deceive the Good People into believing the baby wasn't worth stealing. Interestingly, boy babies were often dressed like females in their first years to deceive the Good People who were always looking for a mate for their queen. In folklore, changelings were very ugly and had a voracious appetite, eating everybody around them out of house and home. Adults too, were sometimes kidnapped and the changeling would be recognized by its harsh voice and mean-spirited personality.

The Amadán or amadawn is the fool or jester in the court of the Good People. In the month of June, he supposedly escapes from the court to roam the countryside. It was once believed that the touch of the amadán would drive a person mad and cause them to be "touched."

Merrows are the female inhabitants of Tir fo Thoinn - the Land beneath the Waves. The word merrow or moruadh comes from the Irish muir meaning sea and oigh meaning maid. According to folklore, they have special clothing which enables them to travel through ocean currents. In Kerry, Cork and Wexford, they wear a small red cap made from feathers, called a cohullen druith. In more northerly waters they travel through the sea wrapped in sealskin cloaks taking on the appearance and attributes of seals. In order to come ashore, the Merrow abandons her cap or cloak, so any mortal who finds them has power over her, as she cannot return to the sea until they are retrieved. In some parts of Ireland, Merrows are regarded as messengers of doom and death.

There are undoubtedly a good many other creepy Irish creatures we haven't mentioned, but we'll end this brief look at the country's better-known ones with a few words on the origin of most of them.

"The Good People" are thought to have evolved from the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Irish race of gods, founded by the goddess Danu. Irish mythology recounts a number of successive invasions where ultimately, the Milesians forced the Tuatha Dé Danann underground to forevermore dwell beneath the earth. These vanquished subjects of Danu were said to be equipped with supernatural powers and Irish folklore is filled with tales of them seeking vengeance by tormenting those who dwell above the ground. While the late Donnchadh Shéamais Ó Drisceoil, a man of great knowledge and intellectual abilities called it all 'rubbish', he is quoted as saying 'By God, I wouldn't like to walk through a lonely glen on a wild and stormy moonless night.'

Irish folklore abounds with clever ways to defend oneself from the wrath of the Good People. For instance, folks who were out and about at night would bring along a piece of glowing coal or turf stuck on a stake or a fork. If they were attacked, they would thrust the burning weapon towards the spirits mouth. This would usually stop the attack, but people would also bring lanterns in case the wind and rain extinguished the flames. These lanterns were meant purely as a defense against supernatural beings and not intended to light the way.

Fleeing into a graveyard or jumping across a creek were other options as it was believed the Good People couldn't follow you into a graveyard or across water. Religious folk, aware of the nightly danger, would also put their trust in holy water. It was transported in a handful of twisted stalks of straw, about six inches long, which had been dipped into the consecrated water. This "deisréad"* was carried in one hand, the arm stretched out in front of the carrier. Donnchadh Shéamais knew a woman who wouldn't dream of going out at night without a 'deisréad', or even more than one, although she claimed not to believe in the supernatural.

*pronounced desh-raid

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ACalend/CreepyCreatures.html

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cerredwen

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(11/03/09 10:24 PM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

Irish Superstitions concerning the Dead

MANY strange spells are effected by the means of a dead man's hand--chiefly to produce butter in the churn. The milk is stirred round nine times with the dead hand, the operator crying aloud all the time, "Gather! gather! gather." While a secret form of words is used which none but the initiated know.

Another use is to facilitate robberies. If a candle is placed in a dead hand, neither wind nor water can extinguish it. And if carried into a house the inmates will sleep the sleep of the dead as long as it remains under the roof, and no power on earth can wake them while the dead hand holds the candle.

For a mystic charm, one of the strongest known is the hand of an unbaptized infant fresh taken from the grave in the name of the Evil One.

A dead hand is esteemed also a certain cure for most diseases, and many a time sick people have been brought to a house where a corpse lay that the hand of the dead might be laid on them.
*The souls of the dead who may happen to die abroad, greatly desire to rest in Ireland. And the relations deem it their duty to bring back the body to be laid in Irish earth. But even then the dead will not rest peaceably unless laid with their forefathers and their own people, and not amongst strangers.

A young girl happened to die of a fever while away on a visit to some friends, and her father thought it safer not to bring her home, but to have her buried in the nearest churchyard. However, a few nights after his return home, he was awakened by a mournful wail at the window, and a voice cried, "I am alone; I am alone; I am alone!" Then the poor father knew well what it meant, and he prayed in the name of God that the spirit of his dead child might rest in peace until the morning. And when the day broke he arose and set off to the strange burial ground, and there he drew the coffin from, the earth, and had it carried all the way back from Cork to Mayo; and after he had laid time dead in the old graveyard beside his people and his kindred, the spirit of his child had rest, and the mournful cry was no more heard in the night.

The corner of a sheet that has wrapped a corpse is 'a cure for headache if tied round the head.

The ends of candles used at wakes are of great efficacy in curing burns.

A piece of linen wrap taken from a corpse will cure the swelling of a limb if tied round the part affected.

It is believed that the spirit of the dead last buried has to watch in the churchyard until another corpse is laid there; or has to perform menial offices in the spirit world, such as carrying wood and water until the next spirit comes from earth. They are also sent on messages to earth, chiefly to announce the coming death of some relative, and at this they are glad, for then their time of peace and rest will come at last.

If any one stumbles at a grave it is a bad omen; but if he falls and touches the clay, he will assuredly die before the year is out.

Any one meeting a funeral must turn back and walk at least four steps with the mourners. If the nearest relative touches the hand of a corpse it will utter a wild cry if not quite dead.

On Twelfth Night the dead walk, and on every tile of the house a soul is sitting, waiting for your prayers to take it out of purgatory.

There are many strange superstitions in the western islands of Connemara. At night the dead can be heard laughing with the fairies and spinning the flax. One girl declared that she distinctly heard her dead mother's voice singing a mournful Irish air away down in the heart of the hill. But after a year and a day the voices cease, and the dead are gone for ever.

*It is a custom in the West, when a corpse is carried to the grave, for the bearers to stop half way, while the nearest relatives build up a small monument of loose stones, and no hand would ever dare to touch or disturb this monument while the world lasts.

When the grave is dug, a cross is made of two spades, and the coffin is carried round it three times before being placed in the clay. Then the prayers for the dead are said, all the people kneeling with uncovered head.

www.libraryireland.com/AncientLegendsSuperstitions/Superstitions-Dead.php

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kimberly Glaser | Create Your Badge

Cerredwen

[-]

Walks an Earthbased Path

Posts: 11457

(11/03/09 10:32 PM)

~*~Priestess of the Goddess~*~

The Three Worlds

In the tale, the "Settling of the Manor of Tara", Fintan, the oldest living Seanchai, divided the Land of Ireland into five parts (East, West, North, South and Center). The navel of Ireland was placed at Uisneach as marked by the Stone of Divisions. This marked the center of the plane of the surface.

Trefuilingidh Tre-eochair (the Magical being who came from out of the West, seeking the Sun's rising) further defined these divisions into a series of qualities associated with each province and direction.

The Great Plane of the Sky, Magh Mor and the Islands of the Otherworldly Sea, Tir Andomain, can also have their surfaces defined in a corresponding manner.

These divisions allow us to define their centers so that we can understand their interconnection with the Bile or World/Sacred Tree.

The Celts and Neolithic peoples defined a circle (as well as a world) by using an equal armed cross. This symbol evolved into the "Celtic Cross". The Sunwheel is a symbol of Lugh as well as the cross (being a symbol of Brighid as well). This act of crossing is exactly what a Celt does to determine his "center" at sunrise of each day as he/she welcomes the first rays of the morning Sun.

Patterns and weaves that exist between the Three Worlds and their distinguishing qualities may appear to you and guide your own steps. The Three Worlds of Sky, Land and Sea (Upper, Middle, Under) / (Past, Present, Future)

Source Unknown

Great Plain or Skyworld:
Spirit of Creation (or the Future) - Light and Hope, Inspiration and Creativity, Miracles and Wonders, Origins and Wisdom

Earth World or Middleworld
Spirit of Being (the Present)
In it there is 4 directions.
Oithear (East) / Sword of Nuada - Prosperity and Change
Dess (South) / Spear of Lugh - Music and Poetry
Siar (West) / Cauldron of The Dagda - Knowledge and Druidry
Thuaidh (North) / Lia Fail - Battle and Determination

Underworld or Otherworld:
Spirit of the Ancestors (Past) - Eternity and Ancient Lore, Beauty and Pleasure, Fear and Perspective, Needs and Renewal

The World of the Sky

The Sky World was associated with the heavenly bodies: the Sun, the Moon, the stars. This is the realm of the Gods and Goddesses and is associated with the cycles and patterns of the Sky & the Megalithic Stone Circles. These visible objects were used as a basis for performing Higher Magicks such as: Prophecy and Astral travel. The cycles of the Sun and Moon also were used to determine the appropriate times for doing particular types of Magick. Festivals were held during Full Moons, Dark Moons, the 6th night of the New Moon, Sunrise, Sunset and the 4 days of the Solar extremes; Mid Winter, Mid Summer and the Equinoxes.

The heavenly bodies were not themselves considered to be Deities, but were thought to reflect or contain the types of Power associated with particular entities.

The Land Under the Sea

The Underworld is the realm of the Ancestors, as well as former humans and a number of Gods and Goddesses associated with the mystery of life springing forth from death. This process could be as simple and mysterious as the life cycle of a seed. From old life, new life appears in a series of changes from planting and germination to growth and harvesting. The passage graves and burial customs of the Celts also reflect this expectation of rebirth and afterlife. Many tombs and burial sites show that Celts were buried with objects that they could take with them into the Underworld to be used in battle, in hunting and/or for nourishment. This practice appears to be similar to what was practiced by many ancient peoples, including the Egyptians. Celts did not fear death, they expected to live on and eventually be reborn in another life. The Underworld and the Sky world were linked in this Mystery, sharing many of the same Gods and Goddesses. The daily rebirth of the Sun and the phases of the Moon are a good instance of this link between the World above and the one below.

A Spirit for Every Stone and Stream

The Earth World, occupied by we the living, also contains reflections and influences of the Sky World and the Underworld. These influences can be pictured as three zones (remember three is a sacred number):
#1 - the upper zone is associated with the weather, the flight of birds, sky augeries and the elements and powers of Air.
#2 - the middle zone is further divided into the Four Directions or Quarters (each with it's own Powers/Guardians of the Sacred Land).
#3 - the lower zone containing the depths of the sea, caves, cairns, burial mounds, "hollow hills" and sacred springs. This zone is the home of the Sidhe and the spirits associated with the Portals to the Underworld itself.

The Celts in their life upon the Sacred Land expected to experience the influences of the Sky and Underworld in their life upon the Land. This attitude is demonstrated in the many stories of place names. Many of these stories are associated with a deity, an elemental, an Underworld portal or a combat of the God/desses and/or Epic heroes and heroines.

Author Unknown

May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee,
O Mother, O Woman Eternal
who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters
between the hands upon Her Heart

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kimberly Glaser | Create Your Badge

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Yuku free message boards

Celtic Myths and Legends

Quick Reply