Chambers in the Earth (Rhythms of the Otherworld)
Caves and subterranean chambers, natural or dug out of the ground, represent our desire to maintain an intimate connection to the Otherworld. Although our actions may seem slow or sluggish to others, steady progress is occurring in the rhythm common to the Otherworld.
Invoking a Slow and Rhythmical Course of Action.
In the Valley of Camonica in the Alps of northern Italy, sacred rock carvings enhance the walls of natural caves. Largely composed of solar wheels, stag deer, and hunting scenes, these carvings transport the potency and virility of the sun, the stag, and the sacred hunt into the earth's interior. The rays of sun are depicted as immense antlers spreading like the branches of a tree. Cernunnos, the Lord of the Animals, has antlers flowering out of his head and wears a Celtic tore on each arm. Praying and dancing figures, penises erect, enclose around a stag. A solar figure appears as an arbiter between hunters.
Like many ancient cultures, the Iron Age Celts sought out caves and subterranean chambers for protection and shelter from weather, predators, and enemies. Within them they communicated with the Otherworld and dramatized the bringing and taking of life by depicting the fury of the hunt and the authority of the sun. Within the caves, the natural wombs of the earth, the mysteries of sexual union and fertility could be celebrated in intimate connection with the primal pulse of the sovereign mother goddess, the earth herself.
In later Celtic periods, mythological figures are thought to reside within famous tombs, especially in Ireland. The magnificent megalithic tombs at Newgrange, the Brú na Bóinne, in County Meath, are thought to have been constructed as the abode of the supernatural beings. In Irish literature, Newgrange is the dwelling place of the powerful god Daghdha, his wife, Bóinn, and son, Oengus. The kings of Tara sought to aggrandize their authority by claiming Newgrange and the nearby tombs at Dowth and Knowth as royal burial sites, even in the Christian period.
Hills, mountains, rocks, crevices, and caves are also favoured by leprechauns and faeries as dwelling places. As descendants of the people of the goddess Danu, the Tuatha De Danann, the faeries have long inhabited the underworld, the subterranean realm just below the ground, living within the ground and especially liking "faery mounds" apart from human habitation. Faeries and leprechauns often slip into the ground invisibly, as if the ground has swallowed them.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the resources and rhythms of nature, and especially the Otherworld, would provide steady continuity in some aspect of your life. Aside from earthquakes affecting the earth's surface, the rhythm or pulse of Mother Earth is largely slow, regular, dependable, and certain. Constancy and consistency bring success.
Your creative ideas and enthusiasm are like the rays of the sun. By stabilizing your ideas and energies in the steady and balanced rhythms common to the earth and the practical aspects of human life, you will complete important projects, build confidence, acquire continuity in relationships, and achieve balance between the creative forces of earth and sky. For now, do not be concerned if you feel that things are going too slowly. Having drawn this oracle, the constant rhythms of Mother Earth are bringing balance and certainty into your life.
Having drawn this oracle, you may feel that a particular quality needs to be solidified to become a more permanent part of your nature. If so, inquire of the oracles once again.
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