Today's Oracle 14th April 2020

Spirit of Mountains (Breasts of the goddess)

Certain mountains, such as the Paps of Anu in Ireland, signify the breasts of the mother goddess, the earth. Overflowing in generosity, they symbolize the qualities of mercy, forgiveness, and impartiality in human life.

Invoking the Qualities of Impartiality and Forgiveness.

Known as the Paps of Anu, two symmetrical, rounded mountains lie close together on the plains near Killarney in the Province of Munster in Ireland. Suggesting an ageless ritual, twentieth-century pilgrims carry stones from the bottom to the top of the mountains and then place the stones on the summits, forming unmistakable nipples on the breasts of the goddess. The strength of the goddess is her certain impartiality and forgiveness.

The Book of the Invasions, chronicling the successive invasions of Ireland, recounts stories of the Tuatha De Danann, the people of the goddess Anu, Áine, or Danu, who inhabited Ireland before the Celtic invasions from continental Europe. Initially from Galicia in northwestern Spain, the invading Celts compelled the Tuatha De to relinquish the Middle World and inhabit the Otherworld. Mythic history recounts the Tuatha De as a supernatural, godlike race having druids and poets of their own and hurling "a wind of wizards" against the Celts while still at sea.

"The druids of [the Tuatha De Danann of] Ireland and the poets sang spells behind them, so that they were carried far from Ireland, and were in distress by reason of the sea.... And the wind rose against the ship wherein were Donn and Airech, two sons of Míl, and ship wherein were Bres, Búas, and Buaighne; so that they were drowned at the Sand hills at Tech Duinn."

The Tuatha Dé are identified with the goddess Anu, an ancestral mother goddess of Ireland. Anu was undoubtedly a fertility goddess associated with the land. Little else is known, though her Neolithic origins suggest solar attributes, linking the fecundity of the earth and the fertility of the sun. One of her places of habitation, recorded in The Book of the Invasions, and an ancient center of ritual activity, is the Paps of Anu, a set of two breast like mountains lying close together on gently rolling lowlands in County Kerry. Modern-day pilgrims carry stones from the plains below to the very top of the mounds of stones left by pilgrims before them. Viewed even at a short distance, these mounds (probably ancient burial mounds) embellish the Paps of Anu with nipples (paps means breasts or teats). Below, near a natural spring and a starting point for ascending one of the paps, a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary beautifies a small clearing where the villagers still gather for occasional mass and festivals in midsummer.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are invited to let go of judging yourself or others harshly. While corrective actions are essential in the course of human life, needlessly blaming yourself or others for past actions is neither practical nor life-sustaining. However awkward or painful, both seeking and extending forgiveness frees life to be lived more fully in the present.

The image of the breasts of the goddess signifies the nourishment of a mother's milk. The image overflows with the milk of blessing. Her capacity for bestowing mercy and forgiveness is boundless. As though untouched by human logic, she gives impartially to the just and unjust alike. You are encouraged to partake of her wisdom in some aspect of your life. Rather than judging or holding court on the actions of others (or of yourself), you may wish to reevaluate and amend those aspects of your life in which a gentler and more forgiving approach would be freeing and deeply gratifying in the long run.