Today's Oracle 28th March 2020

Esus Cutting the Tree (Sacrifice)

A living tree signifies the source of life and is therefore sacred. The ritual of cutting or sacrificing a tree represents relinquishing the practiced and familiar for the new and unknown. Cutting the tree signifies surrender of the old and receptivity to the new.

Invoking Surrender of the Old and Receptivity to the New.

The unique image of Esus portrays him as a woodcutter chopping down a tree. The young woodcutter, the surrounding animal and bird imagery, and the prominence of the tree as a symbol of life all hint at a once popular myth. Throughout the Celtic world, trees were (and still are) considered sacred, and indiscriminately cutting one down was punishable by tribal law. To sacrifice a tree signifies the relinquishing of the familiar for the new and unknown.

The complex and evocative imagery of two stone bas-reliefs from the first century portray a young man chopping down a tree or cutting branches off a tree, surrounded by the imagery of a bull and three cranes or egrets. The larger of the two monuments, discovered in 1711 at the site of Notre Dame in Paris, is dedicated to Jupiter during the reign of Tiberius by a guild of sailors, and consists of six beautifully carved stones. On one stone is a large bull standing in front of a willow with two cranes on his back and a third perched on his head. On an adjoining stone, a woodcutter chops at the branches of a willow. Inscribed above the bull and water birds is Tarvostrigaranus, meaning "The Bull with Three Cranes," and the woodcutter Esus, meaning Lord. The other, more dramatic stone monument from Trier, Germany, combines these images, evoking the drama of a complex myth of which we know little aside from the images and inscriptions themselves. On the stone from Trier, a woodcutter chops at a willow surrounded by the head of a bull and three cranes or egrets.

A woodcutter and willow so artfully depicted evokes the portrayal of a sacred act, probably ritually enacted. The bull signifies the powers of the Otherworld, especially potency. The water birds connect the image to lakes and marshes, thresholds of the Otherworld. The graceful willow is native to the banks of rivers and lakes and especially prevalent in marshes. All trees are sacred, symbolizing the passage of life and death in its cycle of growth. In temperate climates where deciduous trees so noticeably change with the season, this symbolic Tree of Life dramatizes the passage of life each year. As seen in the tree oracles and especially regarding the thorn tree, the violation of such a tree brought havoc to human life and was often punishable by tribal law. To cut or chop a tree signifies a ritual act of sacrifice and surrender to the numinous forces that impinge every day on human life, an awareness perhaps unsettling but always familiar to the rural and agrarian Celts, and other indigenous cultures worldwide.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your deep instincts are pulling you into new endeavours and prospects and away from the known and familiar. Now is a great time to sacrifice graciously the old for the new. The new needs space in which to grow. By voluntarily clearing your life of the clutter of unnecessary habits and possessions, the transition will be much easier. If you can just clear your thoughts, fresh thoughts and ideas are ready to arise in your imagination. Your dreams and daydreams are probably already guiding you. Little can stop you except your own holding on to well-known habits and patterns of the past.

It may be important to do some practical things, such as cleaning your house, closets, garage, attic, basement, office, studio, or desk to initiate clearing your life of the useless debris that invariably accumulates. Throw away or store out of sight things you are no longer using. Then rest and wait for your imagination to awaken and your new life to begin.

Today's Oracle 27th March 2020

Hearth and Family (Right Relations)

In the cold lands in the north of Europe and elsewhere, family and friends gather near the fire at night. The warmth of the fire and the closeness of family, friends, and community is strengthened and valued.

Invoking Friendship, Family, and Community.

Before the advent of electricity, the rural Celts would entertain one another with conversation., riddles, songs, ballads, and storytelling. With a fire brightening and warming a windowless home, a storyteller would blend fact and fiction to form a seamless tale. After working in the fields by day, men and women would gather around a central hearth for evening levity, swapping of news, and storytelling. The mingling of friends and family and the welcoming of strangers around the hearth represent right relations among people.

Alexander Carmichael describes his experience of the evening ceilidh (gathering time) of the crofters and farmers of the Outer Hebrides in the late nineteenth century. As evening approaches, the house of the town's storytellers is full, making it "difficult to get inside and away from the cold wind and soft sleet without." The house is

"Roomy and clean, if homely, with its bright peat fire in the middle of the floor. There are many present men and women, boys and girls. All the women are seated, and most of the men. girls are crouched between the knees of fathers or brothers or friends, while boys wherever boy like they can climb. The houseman is twisting twigs of heather into ropes to hold down thatch, a neighbour crofter is twining quicken roots into cords to tie cows, while another is plaiting bent grass into baskets to hold meal. The housewife is spinning, a daughter is carding.... Neighbour wives and neighbors daughters are knitting, sewing, or embroidering.... The speaker is eagerly listened to, and is urged to tell more. But, he pleads that he came to hear and not to speak, saying
The first story from the host, story till day from the guest."

The joy and art of ready conversation, music, humour, banter, and repartee are greatly prized in Celtic lands. Even today in Ireland, the soft warmth of a peat fire and lively conversation attract more attention than the nightly news or BBC. In the winter months, much of the home entertainment of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales is graced nightly by the conversation of neighbours, especially if houseguests are willing to oblige an eager audience with tales of distant places (though anywhere will do, like America or England). If you are known for pipin' or fiddlin' or tellin' stories, you will be asked to entertain. A praiseworthy Irish compliment is to be thought a "good crack," that is, capable of setting others laughing, thereby fashioning an atmosphere to forget the cares and struggles of the day. As is proverbial in Ireland, village pubs are the gathering places of neighbours. Here the melodious strains of conversation and music intertwine.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, it is time to lighten up on your professional identity and worldly status and cultivate friendship, conversation and camaraderie, and family relationships. This oracle suggests that your life activities have carried you too far adrift from the social activities and ordinary joys of life. Being in right relations with those immediately around you is to be relaxed with the human and unprotected side of who you are. In good company, your identity and attachments to status and worldly pursuits can relax, even if only for a short while. This relaxed demeanour is not the side of your nature that you necessarily take to the office, but the side of your nature that wants to be known and nurtured informally and intimately among those you love and trust.

The art of socializing for the sheer joy of it seems curiously dated in the twentieth century. Nonetheless, all of us need the community of right relations, the cultivation of familiar and relaxed social relationships.

UPDATE ON COVID19

Update on Coronavirus for the 26th March 2020

Today's Oracle 26th March 2020

Sovereignty (Voluptuous Authority)

Sovereignty is personified by the mother goddess who grants sovereignty to rightful kings. The earth's power originates in her hot and fiery interior, giving the earth's surface its lively, sensuous, and voluptuous qualities. Her presence signifies enthusiasm and activity.

Invoking the Vitality of the Natural World.

The sovereignty of the earth is personified by the mother goddesses who pass sovereignty to rightful kings. The earth's power originates in her mysterious and fiery interior, giving the earth's surface its lively, sensuous, and voluptuous qualities. The earth's hot interior rises to caress the earth's surface through wells and thermal springs, seas and lakes, certain mountains and hills, and in the essence or power of place. Sovereignty signifies the fresh vitality of the natural world.

The sovereignty of the earth expresses herself in the wonders of the natural world, its beauty, intricacies, and marvels stroking the senses and calling us homeward to the present moment in time. Celtic sovereignty is scarcely a transcendent deity, but queenly and earthy, naming us kin and returning us to the soil that bore us into flesh. The earth herself pulses with the power of creation. Thermal waters rush to her surface, her sacred cauldrons boiling within.

As in most cultures with an ancient lineage, the Celts revere the earth and personify her as mother, the source of life. The goddess Brigit carries the clearest attributes of sovereignty in several Celtic countries. Sovereignty is passed, albeit temporarily, to the rightful king or chief. In Britain, she is worshiped as Brigantia, a territorial goddess and namesake of a Celtic tribe once living in the Midlands. In the preparations for celebrating the Feast of the Bride on February 1, a home-crafted symbol of sovereignty, a "small straight white wand (the bark being peeled off), [is placed] beside the figure [of Brigit]. The wand is generally of birch, broom, bramble, white willow, or other sacred wood.... A similar rod was given to the kings of Ireland at their coronation, and to the Lords of the Isles [of Scotland] at their instatement." Similarly, Brigit is linked with the source of life and the seasons. According to Celtic lore, the serpent of the Otherworld resides within the earth, appearing on the Feast of the Bride after the harshness of winter is spent and the greening of spring begins. Heavy with sleep in winter and restive and awake in spring, Brigit rules the seasons with her activities. She is sovereign.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you not only want to be out-of-doors but want the freshness and spontaneity of nature as a core dynamic in your everyday life. The raw and voluptuous quality of nature seems like fire to your physical well-being. Activities such as sitting in the sunshine, feeling the wind against your face, listening to the call of birds and the sounds of animals, crackling autumn leaves under your feet, or swimming with the current of a river are needs that seem to course like a stream through your muscles and nerves. It is not just the vigour of nature that attracts you, but the fresh and startling impetus in the acts of nature that spark your drive, health, and vitality.

It is best to catch the wind of this fiery energy while you can. Like weather and seasons, it changes. Now is an excellent time to play, to be spontaneous, and to allow your enthusiasm to guide you. Put your productivity agenda aside. Later, in a slower time, you can reflect and integrate.

Today's Oracle 25th March 2020

Changeling (Exchange Between Worlds)

The Changeling represents the exchange between worlds. Some people are faeries or have otherworldly characteristics. Some of them bring exceptional talents and skills. Received and used wisely, an exchange between the worlds brings otherworldly knowing.

Invoking Otherworldly Knowing and Talent.

The Changeling is a faery who has taken the place of a human, often a child or a baby. In more general terms, changelings are people of all ages who bear otherworldly, fey, or faery characteristics, but otherwise live ordinary human lives. Like the Changeling, they may be unusually sensitive and have remarkable talents, such as natural musical abilities, capacity for healing, psychic awareness, or sensitivity to subtle energies. Their exceptional talents become blessings if encouraged and used wisely.

The Changeling is an exchange with the world of the faeries. A faery has taken the place of a friend or neighbour, often a child or a baby. In recent times, these stories have been sinister and frightening, engendering more fear than respect for faery sensitivities and talents. The stories now remaining may be a distorted remnant from a time when an easy and natural exchange between the middle human world and the faery world was commonplace and beneficial.

Throughout the north of Europe, and especially in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, traditions attest to kidnappings of children by otherworldly beings with sickly or precocious impostors - changelings - left in their place. In Ireland and Scotland, changeling children are sickly, mettlesome, cranky, laugh when misfortune befalls the home, and sometimes have beards and long teeth. Though appearing as children, they typically betray their identity by conversing like adults, revealing ancient knowledge or memory of times long past, rising out of the cradle to play the pipes or the fiddle, or other unnatural actions for a child. Sometimes pipes, a fiddle, or another instrument are left beside the cradle and, when the family hears the most lovely music imaginable, the child is surely known to be a changeling. I II As many of the Irish and Scottish stories go, the changeling is discovered by a travelling tailor while applying his craft alone with the children:

"The man of the house wanted some clothes and sent for the tailor to make them. On that day they had a group on the bog cutting turf. Dinnertime came and the woman went out with the food for the men. She told the tailor to mind the babies while she would be out. One of them was at the bottom of the cradle and the other at the top. She wasn't long gone from the house when they spoke in the cradle. "An awkward woman's food for the turf cutters! " said one of them. "Do you remember such and such a war?" said one to the other. "I remember," said he, "and hundreds of wars besides." "Get the violin, Cathay" said the other man, "and we'll have a spell of music and dancing." He did and one of them played and the other danced.... They warned the tailor not to let on that he knew anything or he would come off worst. When the tailor finishes his work ... he put a shovel into the good turf fire and "reddened" it twice... . When it is red . . . he placed the red shovel under their backsides in the cradle and out the door with them.... A woman came to the door, and she threw in one of her own children and after a while, the other one."

Sadly, the belief in changelings has explained childhood diseases and abnormalities and has legitimised the torture of babies in attempts to rid them of the exchange. A unique or exceptional child - or even adult - runs the risk of being thought of as "away with the faeries."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, opportunities to encounter or exchange with the Otherworld are possible. There are people of all ages who naturally convey supernatural qualities and often impress others as fey, strange, mysterious, or extraordinary. They often have exceptional supersensory or uncanny abilities, especially in music, healing, or psychic awareness. In drawing this oracle, you may be encountering these otherworldly gifts in yourself or others.

In other ages, knowing things before they occur or at a distance, or healing others through touch and inward knowledge of plants and herbs, was valued and respected. People with such natural talents were recognized early on, encouraged, and trained by elders who had developed and rightfully used these talents. You may now have the opportunity to awaken and develop otherworldly talents in yourself or to support these talents in someone close to you.

Today's Oracle 24th March 2020

Nightfall (Thresholds and Beginnings)

Dusk is the beginning of each new day. In the stillness of night, we cross the threshold of beginning anew. We discover ourselves in the dark, as if carved from the night. Inspiration begins at dusk and expands while protected by the night.

Invoking Interiority and Inner Growth.

The Celts favour the night, for darkness renders guidance and mystery. Otherworldly beings quicken, just a little out of sight. Imagine a way of life in which guidance is carved from the stories told and retold in the night and images are born in the long silence of winter. Descending in a hush at twilight, nightfall is the threshold of beginnings. Things newly born are fashioned in the night. Like a womb shielding the land and its people from intrusion, the passage of night gives safe passage to the new.

The early Celts counted time by nights, not by days. The old calendars were oriented more to the cycles of the moon than to the sun. The mysteries of darkness were a protection and a comfort.

At nightfall, after the evening meal, family and neighbours gathered around a single hearth to converse, gossip, and tell tales. Strangers and beggars passing through with news were especially welcome. Stories told in good company in the night had a magic of their own. On special nights, when the mix of song and story was especially inviting, the Otherworld of faeries and ancestors and all manner of nature spirits were present, too, quickening and sometimes humming their own tunes and adding their own stories to the mix.

Night is the time of beginnings, nightfall its threshold. As darkness falls, the veils between the human world and the Otherworld grow thin. Protected as if by a shade, otherworldly dreams, inspirations, whisperings, and reveries are born. Daylight seems too bright for the imagination of the spirit world. Storytelling, inspiration, and creativity require a dimmer light, a gentler light. Things newly born are fashioned in the night. Playing light upon shadow, a flickering oil lamp or fire in the hearth is light enough to spark imagination and the whisperings of the Otherworld. Sometimes even prophesy is born.

In the poem "The Ballad of Father Gilligan," the great William Butler Yeats relays the story of a weary old priest from County Kerry who falls asleep as he prays. As the priest sleeps and another man dies, Yeats describes how the stars:

"They slowly into millions grew
And leaves shook in the wind
And god covered the world with shade
And whispered to mankind."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you long to renew your spiritual journey. The time and circumstances are now aligned with moving more deeply into your interior life. You are invited to slow down, quiet down, and deepen your prayer and meditation. By gradually quieting your outer life and the chattering of your mind, you can perceive the inward whisperings of the spirit world. In the Celtic imagination, darkness is a blessing and silence pregnant with possibility. Whether accompanied by others or richly alone to enjoy your nighttime reveries, night is the time for beginnings, insight, and spiritual replenishment. Whether alone or with others, quietude will bring solace and inner joy.

As a womb protects an embryo, the darkness of silence and daily quietude protect and nurture the spiritual life. Like young children, newly born spiritual awareness and insights must be sheltered from harsh probings and questions from the outer world, including your own.

Today's Oracle 23rd March 2020

Head (Immortality)

For the Celts, and many other indigenous peoples, the head carries the essence of a person - even after death. Considering what we will leave to future generations after our death often gives maturity and perspective to daily activities.

Invoking the Refinement of Character.

The sublimity of the human head is reflected in the Celtic stories and iconography, for the head conveyed the essence of a person and lived beyond the life of the body. Celtic warriors collected the heads of battle victims, hanging them from their belts or setting them apart on stones. Bran the Blessed instructed his companions to bury his head facing east on White Mount in London to guard Britain from invasion. The exaggerated Celtic head signifies the continuity and immortality of each human being.

In their artwork, the Celts frequently exaggerated the size of the human head and portrayed facial features, hair, and expression in the eyes with consistently finer detail than given to other parts of the human body. A large head might be expertly carved, with little attention given to the rest of the body and with limbs appearing diminutive by comparison. The large size and refined detail of the head give the image a lively, immediate, and personal character. Even apart from accompanying symbols, one senses that the expression alone relays identity and, by inference, an epic tale or heroic account.

Greek and Roman writers were ready to criticize the much-feared Celts and inform us that they practiced head-hunting, decapitating the victims of war and keeping the heads as trophies or offering them in shrines dedicated to the purpose. In southern Gaul at Roquepertuse, a shrine-portico from the second century was arrayed with niches containing skulls of young men who had died in battle. Epics from ancient Ireland and Wales portrayed warriors collecting the heads of battle victims. Even into the nineteenth century, the heads of Christian saints were thought to endow wells with holiness and healing powers and the heads of evil people to poison a well.

The well-known tale of Bran the Blessed (Bendigeidfran) from the Welsh Mabinogion is a fine example of the divine properties thought to be encapsulated in the head. Bran was of supernormal size and of the royal family ap Llyr of Harlech in Wales. His sister Branwen was married to the king of Ireland, who, upon returning with her to Ireland, treated her as a servant. In time, Branwen trained a young starling to speak and sent it across to Wales to relay her plight to Bran, who immediately mobilized his armies against Ireland. Bran's forces won, but only seven warriors survived, and Bran himself was fatally wounded in the heel by a poisoned spear. Bran then summarily commanded his men:

"And take the head and carry it to Gwynfryn [White Mount] in London," said Bendigeidfran, "and bury it with its face toward France. You will be on the road for a long time: you will be feasting in Harlech for seven years with the birds of Rhiannon singing to you, and the head will be as good company for you as it ever was when it was on me. Then you will be in gwales in Pembroke eighty years, and until you open the door toward Aber Henfelen... you can remain there, and the head untainted, will be with you. But from the time you open the door you cannot remain there, go to London and bury the head.... Then his head was struck off, and the seven men and Branwen as the eighth began the crossing.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are invited to refine your character. Your character will outlast the death of your physical body. In the Celtic imagination, the refinement or coarseness of your character continues after death. The head of a person even converses with companions and endows wells and shrines with personal properties. Most religious traditions worldwide aver the continuity from life to death in some form, whether it be immortality, reincarnation, or the memories of future generations. Even if you do not personally believe in a form of life after death, considering what you leave to future generations after your death will give maturity and perspective to your daily activities.

Having drawn this oracle does not suggest that death is close, but that your present circumstances give you a unique opportunity to focus on refining your character. You are urged to look carefully at the people and challenges in your life that invite greater subtlety and nobility.

Today's Oracle 22nd March 2020

Oak (The Ancient Wood)

Oaks are among the long-lived trees, signifying the presence of the ages and the long memory of trees. They symbolize life and rebirth and the connection between earth and sky. Ancient groves inspire celebration of the continuity of life.

Invoking the Qualities of Respect and Timelessness.

Oaks are among the long-lived trees, signifying the presence of the ages and the long memory of trees. Elder oaks are revered as ancient goddesses residing upon the earth. In touching the sky with its branches and the Otherworld with its roots, oaks bring the forces of life and death together. Dead in winter and alive again in spring, oaks portray the steady passage of life. Symbolizing the connection of the Middle World with the forces of subterranean earth and sky, groves of aged oaks inspire celebration of the seamless continuity of life.

Like most other trees, the oaks are strongly associated with the goddesses. They symbolize the ceaseless passage of life from birth to death to life anew. Like the goddesses, they are connected through their roots to the Otherworld beneath the ground, where otherworldly spirits dwell. Stretching their branches into the sky, they are connected with the spirits of the Sky World, particularly Taranis, the god of lightning and thunder. The older the oak, the more enchanted, numinous, and sacred it is.

Oaks were especially sacred to the druids. A natural grove of aged oaks draws the spirits of the Sky World and the Otherworld to the Middle World, the human and animal world residing on the ground. In ancient times, Celts worshiped in open-air groves throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Even the Romans were wary of them, fearing that oak groves were mysterious and dark. Still dwelling among us in the Middle World, the aged oaks of our time invite us to their sacred grounds to connect with the spirits of both worlds and to celebrate the continuation of life throughout the ages.

The long life of oaks signifies the presence of the ages and the long memories of trees, spanning the ages. Oaks take us unto themselves as a precious creation, assuring us in their sway that life is knowledge enough. In a poem about a neighbour, a contemporary Irish poet, Cathal O Searcaigh, speaks to us of feeding "from the Tree of Knowledge":

"She inclined to flesh but also to fun and though she was fond of swearing and gap-toothed She was never gruff or gloomy with us
When we visited her on Sundays and she made us a drop of tea while she hotly "dashed" this and "dratted" that...
She kept herself there like a tree growing and withering according to season "It's not ageing I am, but ripening."
And her words fell like seeds into the welcoming earth of my mind.
And when she'd wrap me in her limbs so tightly, I felt the fat - the growth rings of her body."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the venerable oaks inspire respect for their continuity of life within change and chaos. You are called to a deep remembering of who you are.

For the venerable oaks, time is holy, every moment. Every memory has its place. Celebration and ritual inspire vision and perspective. Wherever you live, being in nature, especially among aged trees, may be cause for remembering - not because memories are necessarily pleasurable, but because they are ripe for the harvest of discovery. Amid the vicissitudes and changes of life, all mystical paths invite deep remembering. In the long memory of trees, no memory, however distant, is ever lost. You and your life in its deepest reflections are memories held forever. Perhaps you have separated yourself from deep memories of who you are or from the life of your family or community, or separated yourself from particular memories. Still, the aged oaks cradle them as though they are treasures for unpacking.

Deep remembering ultimately leads to a sense of peace and continuity. From the context of continuity, present circumstances - the good and ill alike - appear like snapshots on a long and special journey.