366 Celt: A Year and A Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore

Go Muireann na nGael

COPYRIGHT

Element

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HarperCollinsPublishers Limited

First published 2005

Copyright © Carl McColman 2005

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Carl McColman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007193097

Ebook Edition © MARCH 2015 ISBN: 9780008138417

Version: 2015-03-06

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

The Path of Approach

The Path of Sovereignty

The Path of the Druid

The Path of Nature

The Path of the Bard

The Path of Mythology

The Path of the Seer

The Path of Neart

The Path of the Saints

The Path of the Fairies

The Path of the Warrior

The Path of the Otherworld

The Path of the Shaman

The Path of the Night

The Path of Meditation

The Path of the Gods

The Path of Hospitality

The Path of Devotion

The Path of the Anamchara

The Path of the Goddesses

The Path of Dreams

The Path of Sacred Sites

The Path of Community

The Path of Sacred Days

The Path of Virtue

The Path of Sacred Animals

The Path of Faith

The Path of Brigit

The Path of the Storyteller

The Path of Magic

The Path of the Three Noble Strains

The Path of the Grail

The Path of Romance

The Path of the Spiral

The Path of Imbas And Awen

The Path of Sacrifice

The Path of the Future

The Path of the Diaspora

The Path of the Ogham

The Path of the Mystic

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

About the Author

About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

“IN CONVERSATION THEY SPEAK IN RIDDLES, FOR THE MOST PART HINTING OF THINGS AND LEAVING A GREAT DEAL TO BE UNDERSTOOD.”

Thus did the classical writer Diodorus Siculus describe the druids, the original keepers of Celtic wisdom and lore. What we mostly know about the druids reveals just how much we do not know: we know they did not write down their lore, we know that they were not only spiritual leaders but also scientists/intellectuals; and yet even so we know that they were the ritual priests, the soothsayers, and the interpreters of omens. And apparently, they did it all with a rollicking good humor, and uncanny ability to speak in oblique and mysterious ways.

The Celtic world is a world of poetry before philosophy; of mysticism before theology; of magic before logic. Storytelling matters more than the ability to explain something in dry, step-by-step detail. The Celts are, and always have been, a people with one foot in the otherworld, and thus are governed by the enigmatic conventions and customs of that spiritual realm: where time is meaningless, love is forever, and dancing just might never ever end.

The book you’re holding is written with the spirit of the old druids in mind. Riddles and hints matter more here than direct explanations or matter-of-fact descriptions. This is a book of meditations, but what does that mean? Some of the pages that follow invite you into a world of fairies and goddesses; others sneak significant symbols past you in the guise of a summary description of this or that aspect of the tradition. There are 366 pages of thoughts and ideas and invitations into the inner world—read them a day at a time, or get wild and swallow up a week or even a month at a single sitting. I decided to number the entries, rather than date them—daily meditation books seem so structured and tight, if you read “May 17” on any other day it’s just, well, wrong. That, of course, is an invitation to utter chaos, at least as a riddle-talking Celt sees it. So I decided to circumvent the chaos and give each reader the freedom to explore these 366 “morsels” in whatever way works best for you.

The entire collection is organized in 40 different “paths,” each one consisting of 3, 9, or 21 meditations. No one path is required as a prerequisite for any of the others. Once in a while paths crisscross and you’ll encounter the same figure or event that you bumped into three or four paths back. The Celtic tradition just kind of works that way.

Feel free to jump around between the paths, or even within any one path. Read these pages in order, or not. The choice is yours. 366 pages later, you’ll have covered a nice slice of the Celtic terrain. And you’ll still be an absolute beginner in the world of the Celts. Listen to the druids: they’ll have more riddles to offer you. Some will open up amazing shafts of light that will illuminate and inspire you. Others will leave you scratching your head and wondering, “Huh?” That, too, is part of the territory.

May the blessings of the four directions, the three realms, the two worlds, and the one source fill all your days with laughter and joy.

Carl McColman

Summer Solstice 2004

Note on spelling: The names of Celtic deities and heroes can be spelled many different ways. For the sake of simplicity, I have chosen to conform to the spelling found in MacKillop’s Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford University Press, 1998). Brigit poses a unique problem since both a goddess and a saint bear the same name. Following MacKillop, in this book I have identified the goddess as “Brigit” and the saint as “Brigid.”

1

THE PATH OF APPROACH

The Celts are the people of the end of the world. Just as the tip of the Cornwall peninsula is called Land’s End, so too has Ireland been regarded since ancient days as the last stop before the mysterious otherworld located over the waters. Today that sense of mystery has been lost by knowledge of global geography—a traveler leaving the British Isles heading west arrives not at Tír na nÓg but rather comes to Boston or New York. But if we insist on approaching Celtic wisdom with a purely materialistic sense of things, then we run the risk of missing out on the glory and grandeur of their mystical sensibility. Britain and Ireland and Brittany may no longer be the ends of the physical earth, but they can still represent for us a final stopping place before that immense and mysterious journey to the spiritual world that lies just beyond the reaches of the senses.

2

THE PATH OF APPROACH

Who are the Celts? Are they simply the people of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany (with Galicia thrown in for good measure)? Or does the Celtic world include anyone who can trace his or her ancestry back to one of these lands? For that matter, may we suppose that the Celtic experience also embraces anyone who comes to live in a Celtic land, or even anyone (of any ancestry or ethnicity) who feels called to explore the wisdom and spirituality of this ancient family of cultures and languages? Maybe the question needs to be put another way. What makes the Celtic world Celtic? What separates Celt from Saxon, or Roman, or Slav? Ah, but these are not the questions to be asking. Celtic wisdom (and spirituality) invites us to come together, not be separated off from one another. The Celtic way is the way of hospitality and of convivial fellowship—worrying about the impertinent details of life that separate us can wait for another day.

So if we need a definition of the Celtic world, let’s leave it at the world that has its roots in languages such as Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Manx. But although the Celtic experience begins with language, it doesn’t end there. Culture, nature, a sense of place and tradition, and a deep love for Spirit all contribute to forging the Celtic identity.

3

THE PATH OF APPROACH

How can we approach Celtic wisdom today? Especially for those of us who live far away from the islands of our ancestors, what does it mean to walk a Celtic path? There is no single or straightforward answer to a question like this. The Celts are not so much philosophers as poets, not so much architects as artists. Celtic lore invites us to discover meaning through myth and symbol and dream; to celebrate life through the crashing of wave on rocks or the whisper of a winter wind. There can be no “Point A to Point B” logic behind following the Celtic way. Surely, we can study the bards and the druids and the saints, learn their stories, and consider how their lives illuminate our own. Indeed, no better way to embrace Celtic wisdom exists, at least as far as I can tell. But keep in mind that you or I can hear the same stories or ponder the same legends and draw quite different conclusions about the heart of the path we are called to walk. This is as it should be. For the Celtic path is not one of corporate standardization, but rather celebrates the same kind of abundant diversity that characterizes the natural world.

4

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

A part-historical, part-legendary Irish hero named Niall is said to have encountered a goddess who called herself Sovereignty. He was in the wilderness hunting with his brothers, and they stumbled across a sacred well attended by an ugly old hag. Thirsty, the oldest brother approached the water, but the crone blocked his way. “You can drink all you desire, young man, but first you must give me a kiss.” Revolted at the mere thought, he backed away. The second oldest stepped forward, but received a similar challenge from the hideous woman. Each brother in turn declined the request for a kiss, until the youngest, Niall, stepped forward and offered the hag a full embrace. Their lips locked, and magic happened. When Niall stepped back, he found that the old crone had transformed herself into a radiant, lovely lady. “I am Sovereignty,” she said, “and since you alone of your brothers has accepted me in my dark aspect, now I accept you as the king.” And so it was that Niall became the king of the land.

5

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

Why was it important for Niall—or for any king, actually—to accept the ugly side of Sovereignty as a prerequisite to enjoying her beauty? Perhaps this story contains an ancient truth. Sunlight only shines for half of a day. Light emerges out of darkness, and so to reject darkness means to reject the original state of all things. Niall’s brothers made the mistake of passing judgment on someone they deemed as ugly, repulsive, unattractive. Only the youngest brother could see that a kiss was a small price to pay for the nourishing waters. So what if the old woman wasn’t so much to look at? And of course, by accepting her, he proved himself worthy to see that her decay is only part of her story.

There’s a phrase for you: “only part of her story.” Each one of us is a magnificent story, filled with heart, emotion, dreams, and desires. We also have our share of loss, disappointment, and sorrow. Think of when you encounter someone: an angry person standing in line at the post office; a harried mother with rude, bawling children; a government employee who’s not interested in all the reasons why your taxes were paid late. When we encounter such people, we only encounter part of their stories. Sometimes, the parts we see are not to our liking. Perhaps we can take a lesson from Niall, and remember that there’s more to them than meets the eye.

6

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

Irish myth tells how when the first Celts came to Ireland with the intention of settling, they met three goddesses—Banba, Fódla, and Ériu—each of whom offered to help the Celts in their quest to conquer the land, if only they would name the land after her. Ériu was the last of the three that they encountered, and they met her at the spiritual center of the land, and she offered the greatest amount of help to the invaders. So they promised her primacy in terms of the land bearing her name. And indeed, to this day Ireland (in Irish, Éire) takes its name from this goddess. The suggestion is clear: the land is divine, and the land is not only named for a goddess, but in a very real way the land embodies the spirit of the goddess. It’s the spirit of Sovereignty, encoded in the very land.

7

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

The crone whom Niall kissed may be the most obvious example of a mythological figure in the Celtic tradition linked with the concept of Sovereignty—after all, she described herself as such. But she is hardly the only figure in the tradition who embodies this powerful spirit. Indeed, many goddesses in Celtic lore have a profound connection with the land, or with the king, or with the relationship between the two. Meadbh, who appears in Irish literature as a mythic queen, may have originally been a goddess linked with Tara, the traditional seat of the high king of the land. Meadbh’s name means “she who intoxicates” and she may be linked with ancient rituals that conferred kingship onto a new leader through ritualized marriage with the goddess. Other Irish goddesses are associated with traditional seats for regional kings: the king of the northern province of Ulster ruled from Emain Macha, a site associated with the goddess Macha; while the royal seat of the western province of Connacht was associated with the Mórrígan, a goddess whose name means “great queen.” Again and again, political authority and the relationship between the king and the land all points back to a profound spirituality—where the freedom of the people is bound up with the spirit of the Feminine Divine.

8

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

Why does Celtic spirituality draw this unusual link between the goddesses of the land, and the concept of Sovereignty? Maybe it has something to do with power. A king, after all, is a powerful person. A society can only function if its members are willing to support their leaders. But where does a king derive his power and authority? Most monarchies, at least in the Christian world, have suggested their royal power comes from God. Here, Celtic spirituality offers a radically different perspective. To the Celts, royal authority comes from the goddess: from the spirit of sovereignty, the spirit of the land. This is not meant to undermine belief in God in a traditional or Christian sense. But it does imply that the God of monotheism shares divine power, at least in the Celtic world. He shares power with the goddess, who is as connected to the earth and the land as surely as God is associated with heaven above. So the goddess is Sovereignty as a subtle way of saying that she answers to no one—not even God. She is God’s partner in ordering the universe—not his slave.

9

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

The Irish language does not have a word for the coronation of a king; instead the ceremony by which a new king was installed was called the banais righe, or the wedding-feast of the king. Who was the king marrying? The goddess, of course: Sovereignty herself, in one of her various forms. Ancient annals describe this wedding-feast as involving two elements: the goddess (or a priestess assuming the role of goddess) offering a sacred drink to her new “husband”—perhaps mead, from which the goddess Meadbh takes her name; and then the consummation of the marriage itself, symbolizing a sacred union between the land and the people—land symbolized by the goddess, and people symbolized by their king. So here is a profound clue into the heart of Celtic wisdom: life is lived truly and bountifully out of a harmonious, marriage-like relationship between humanity and nature. Nature is not some inert resource for us to exploit as we wish, but rather is divine, and can be related to as a Divine Feminine: a goddess.

10

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

The Irish word for sovereignty is flaitheas. It is related to flaithiúil, a lovely word that means “generous.” To understand the Celtic concept of sovereignty, consider how generosity can be related to it. The goddess of Sovereignty is, in essence, a generous, abundant, and nurturing spirit. The hag by the well was perfectly willing to share of her water. All she asked in return was one loving kiss.

As most people understand it today, sovereignty is not so much a topic related to generosity, but rather has to do with dominion (lordship). The sovereign is the lord, the one who gets to make all the rules and tell everyone else what to do. But that is hardly a Celtic understanding of the concept. Sovereignty in the Celtic world is the spirit of authentic freedom, which extends not only to the political freedom that an independent state enjoys, but also the empowered ability to relate to others out of a profound inner-directed liberty. This includes, of course, the power to be giving (generous) as circumstances dictate. The goddess can only be giving because she is free. This is a point well worth considering. Perhaps we can only be free to the extent that we are generous.

11

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

The fact that sovereignty is related to generosity contributes to one of the most powerful themes of Celtic wisdom: the importance of hospitality as a social virtue. Hospitality is basically the generosity shown to strangers and guests in our midst. Mythology abounds with stories that suggest a king rules well when his court is filled with hospitality—that a visitor must eat till satisfied before even beginning to discuss whatever business brought him to the royal hall. By contrast, kings who do not practice hospitality are satirized, the land goes barren under their rule, and ultimately they are forced to abandon the throne. Sovereignty is not only related to generosity, but to a specific type of generosity: hospitality, through which any and all may benefit from the land’s abundance and the king’s largesse. From this we can get a clear sense that, to the ancient Celts, the goddess is more than just a kind of female version of the Almighty—she is a powerful presence who stands for the spirit of charity, generosity, and care for others, qualities that lead in turn to the blessings of abundance and prosperity from the land.

12

THE PATH OF SOVEREIGNTY

Why does the link between the goddess, the concept of sovereignty, and the concepts of generosity and hospitality matter to us today? After all, no society today (Celtic or otherwise) inaugurates its leaders by performing a symbolic sacred union with the goddess! But the importance of these concepts resides not so much in their political implications, as in their spiritual relevance to each of us as individual persons. After all, I may never be the leader of a nation, but I have “sovereignty” over my own life. As a follower of Celtic wisdom, I can see that my personal freedom is related to how I choose to relate to my environment—to the land on which I live. I can also see that I am only truly free if I can freely choose to be generous and practice the virtue of hospitality. In other words: in today’s world, each one of us can be called to the role of “king”—to enter into intimate relations with the goddess of the land, and find in her spirit of Sovereignty the power to foster a life that is spiritually meaningful and rewarding; in other words, a life of generosity and hospitality.

13

THE PATH OF THE DRUID

If there’s one word firmly associated with Celtic mysticism, it is “druid.” And yet probably no other concept connected with the spirituality of the Celts is less understood, or more frequently consigned to the mists of fantasy. We have only a handful of written records from ancient times (when the original druids were still active in the Celtic lands, prior to the coming of Christianity), and the druids themselves wrote none of these. Instead, Greek and Roman authors like Julius Caesar and Pliny have given us what little information we have about the earliest druids—and when you consider how some of these classical authors were biased against the Celts, it’s easy to see how this source material is not only scanty, but unreliable.

We’re not even entirely sure what the word druid means, although the popular notion that it has to do with “oak wisdom” is as good a theory as any. Seen this way, a druid is a natural philosopher, one who discerns the innate wisdom of the earth and interprets it for the good of the community. So when modern folks dismiss the druids as “tree huggers,” they’re probably not too far from the truth. But a druid would reply in an ironic tone of voice, “You say that like it’s a bad thing?”

14

THE PATH OF THE DRUID

The ancient writers who comment on the druids say that they were the spiritual and intellectual leaders of the Celtic world, and that their function in society included not only presiding at religious ceremonies, but also serving as scientists, philosophers, counselors, mediators, and seers. In other words, they were not just otherworldly dreamers, but collectively served as the “think tank” of the ancient Celtic world. In the modern world, it’s easy to forget the intellectual/scientific dimension of the druids, but in ancient times such mental skill would have been an essential part of a druid’s life. The druids were not driven by intuition or psychic hunches (attending to those kinds of stimuli would have been the job of the seer, another specific function in Celtic society), but by knowledge, reason, and wisdom. That this mental agility was embedded in spiritual activity would not have been considered odd, for throughout the ancient world, science and religion had not yet undergone the divorce that would separate them at the dawn of the modern world. In the world of the druids, true wisdom meant being knowledgable about inner matters and external realities in a holistic and integrated way.