Multiple Lifetimes: The soul in cycles comes and goes;
Wisdom, from life to life,
Though the memories fade away.
Thus does Awen burn bright!
Multiple Worlds: Three worlds there are, and at the center, us.
Woven always each to each--
Blessed Sky, Earth, and Sea,
Deity, Dead, and Sidhe!
Spirit in All Things: Water, rocks, and fire all have life;
Praise the spirits of place!
Spirits in all: Earth, Sea, and Sky;
Proof of Sovereignty�s bright face!
Reverence for Ancestors: Ancestors bind us in a Tribe,
Tribe of Humanity.
Lessons from their Truth�s bright
wisdom,
Flow through eternity.
Multiple Lifetimes
There is significant archaeological evidence of the Celtic belief in an
afterlife and the concept of reincarnation. Favorite items in life, such as
jewelry, shields, etc. and frequently pets or representatives of animal guides
have been found interred with the dead. As with the Egyptians, this shows
evidence in a belief in passage to another plane of existence. The Celtic
belief in reincarnation also echoes through the mythic cycles, in tales such as
that of CuChulainn and Bran the Blessed.
When placed in our modern system of belief, this implies that the soul
(anam) comes and goes in endless cycles. Memories of previous lifetimes may
come to us in subtle flashes (as in dreams and deja vu), but overall any
distinct memory is lost. The wisdom gleaned in these past incarnations
remains with us, however, and thus life builds upon life. This retained wisdom
is Awen (inspiration and Ultimate Truth).
The belief in multiple lifetimes is closely linked to reverence for our
Ancestors, as both are based in a belief in the importance of our past and
our history, and the wisdom to be found there.
Multiple Worlds
As Druids, we recognize that in addition to this world (the Land of
the Dead--the place of us and the Ancestors), there are two others: the
Land of the Living (the place of the Deities), and the Land of the Sidhe (the
place of the Faeries and the Spirits of Nature). These worlds, in turn, have
many various provinces and planes (such as Anwnn, Tir Na N�Og, Tir
Tairngiri, etc.). These worlds coexist and interpenetrate each other. It is
possible to journey between these worlds, but (we are told in various myths
and legends) to do this in human form is dangerous. Time in the
Otherworlds is nonlinear, and glamour and the subjective limitation of the
physical senses may seriously affect the traveler�s experience. So any travel
to the Otherworlds (the Land of the Living and, more particularly, the Land
of the Sidhe) should be undertaken in the form of spirit journeys (astral
travel).
These many worlds can be imagined as a wheel: we live on the rim of
the wheel and experience time on the journey around its perimeter. The
spokes of the wheel are the many Otherworlds (those of the Land of the
Living and the Land of the Sidhe) and the Self passes through these to get to
the hub (Imramma--spirit journeys in the Otherworld). The hub may be
understood as the sacred center, conjured during ritual: Three worlds there
are and at the center, us. The hub may also be viewed in cosmological
perspective as the Celtic Heaven, where the experience of the Self is not
constrained by birth, death, or time.
These three levels of existence--Land of the Dead, Land of the Living,
and Land of the Sidhe--are often represented by the sacred trinity of Earth,
Sky, and Sea which correspond with the elements of earth, fire/air, and
water.
The Ancient Celtic belief in such a cosmology is evidenced in the
mythic cycles of both Ireland and Wales, as well as in their use of
symbology, such as the triskele, the spiral, and Awen.
All three levels of existence are linked by the belief in a presence of
spirit in all things--an overriding Force, if you will, which penetrates all
things--rocks, trees, animals, and us--and binds all things together. This may
be understood as the Ultimate Truth or entity which Druids actually
�worship�, with the godforms (Deities) being simply representations of
particular aspects of this Force with which we may more easily identify.
Spirit in All Things
The Druids were shamanic in their origins, and such beliefs as animism
run throughout their cosmology and practice. Ancient systems of augury
and connection to power animals, as evidenced in the mythic cycles and
archaeological finds, support the belief in spirit immanent in all things.
Water, rocks, fire, air, us, and the animals are all penetrated and
bound by this overriding Force.
This animistic cosmological view leads into a reverence for the Spirits
of Place, which is directly connected to the Celtic issues of Sovereignty and
Truth. We are told in various myths of the relationship of the king to the
Land--this is the concept of Sovereignty. To be sovereign is to be
self-governing, independent, and to exercise personal power from the
overarching viewpoint of wisdom. Truth is the ultimate sovereign--it speaks
to us from within, and is based on the wisdom of the heart and soul (the
Awen which travels with us from life to life). This, then, connects us to the
outside world (and the various planes of existence) through the concepts of
Spirits of Place: the Land was understood to be, in anthropomorphic form,
the Goddess of the Land, to whom the king (rightful sovereign) must be wed.
Within the Land are held the spirits of tribe and ancestors, and the
overriding Force of All. Therefore, if Truth is king, the Spirits of Place
(those of the ancestors, the tribe, and the overriding Force of Deity, Nature,
et al) represent the Land over which it rules.
This personification of the landscape, evidenced everywhere in Neolithic
and later Celtic archaeological sites where have been found rock art,
mounds, dolmens, and portal tombs (digging into the �heart� of the earth and
often obviously associated with feminine powers, i.e., the Goddess of the
Land), binds us to the earth as a unified body of humanity, requiring of us a
dedication to a principle of care for the Earth, the environment, and all who
live upon and within.
Reverence for Ancestors
Historically, the Celts and those upon Celtic paths have always had
reverence for the wisdom of those who came before. As a tribal society, it
was very important to the Celts to have a sense of history; a sense of
where they had been, in order to understand where and who they were, and
where they were going and who they would be. This is particularly
evidenced in the Irish Historical Cycles, but also in the lengthy genealogies
presented in other myths, both within the Irish Cycles and in the Mabinogi.
Although not precisely ancestor worship (as found today and in the
past in many Asian countries and in the societies of Rome and Greece), it is a
form of religious reverence, placing the Beloved Dead almost on a level with
the Deities, in a manner similar to the Christian cosmology of God and the
angels.
This system of reverence for those who have lived in our pasts, both
recent and distant, is particularly important from a Reconstructionist
standpoint, as those upon this particular path to Druidry focus so much on
the Truths presented in history. |
