Water Horses (Magical Encounters)
Water horses, are magical horses riding over the seas or appearing from the depths of inland lochs. Water horses appear magically and swiftly. Their presence signifies masculine strength and beauty.
Invoking the Union of Strength and Beauty.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are called to renew some aspect of your life with the joining of beauty and strength. Perhaps your life now feels too familiar, routine, conforming, or emotionally flat. Your daily activities may lack spontaneity and vigour. Male or female, the depths of your masculinity may long for opportunities to explore new strengths and capacities. You may wish to express your outward authority, mastery, and leadership in tender and gracious ways. If so, new challenges and experiences may be drawing close. Your judgment and skill will be tested. Opportunities to explore the unknown may enter your life. By joining beauty to strength, you have the opportunity to break out of the overly familiar and experience vigorous and harmonious ways of living and acting.
Crossing the seas or arising from the depths of inland lochs, water horses bring a bright union of strength and beauty. Glistening in the sun, they combine the strength and vigour of a horse, the radiance of sun in swift flight, and the mystery of its origins beneath the sea. In The Voyage of Bran, a mythical sea horse conveys the chariot of the god of the seas, Manannán Mac Lir, and his company to meet Bran and his sailors, who are in search of the enchanted isle. As Manannán comes closer to the boat he begins to sing:
"Bran's boat shims over calm waters.
Bran's ship is revelling in a clear sea, but to me, in my chariot, it is a flowery plain.
In my gentle land, the home of Manannán Mac Lir, sea horses glisten in the sun, and rivers pour forth honey.
Flowers are growing where Bran sees waves....
Row steadily, Bran, row steadily over my kingdom and you will reach the Land of Women before the setting of the sun."
Manannán and his chariot disappear beneath the waves and Bran and his sailors row on.
Water horses radiate strength and beauty in popular tales from Ireland and Scotland. Many of the stories tell of a poor farmer whose farm is near a lake or the sea. One day he discovers a foal in his field and she grows into a magnificent mare. She is beautiful, of "fine limb and graceful form" and as "swift as the wind and had no equal." Many years later, he mistreats her and she disappears with her foals back into the sea. In a typical story from County Sligo in Ireland, a poor farmer encounters a foal grazing on the shore near his small house:
"One morning when he got up he went out to the well for a can of water for his tea. To his great surprise, he saw a young foal on the shore. He went down to the shore and brought the foal in. The foal grew to a mare and every year she had a foal. This continued for seven years and after some time he was a rich man.... But one morning a strange thing happened. The man went out to the stable to let out the mare. When he was letting her out, he hit her with her bridle. As soon as he did, the mare neighed seven times and the seven foals came galloping up to her. They all turned in the direction of the sea and swam out into the water. They were never seen again."
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Manannán Mac Lir (pronounced 'man-an-on mack leer') was the greatest sea-god of Irish Mythology. His name means 'son of the sea' and he is regarded as the Overlord of the mighty Tuatha de Danann.
His famous boat was named Scuabtuinne meaning 'the wave sweeper', and was a fantastic chariot drawn by the powerful horse 'Enbarr of the Flowing Mane', who could travel easily both on sea and land. He used this chariot to transport beings from the mortal world to the Otherworld, of which he was Guardian.
Such was the power of the chariot that it obeyed the thoughts of the person aboard and did not require sails or oars. The boat could even grow to accommodate any number of passengers.
Manannán was associated with the Isle of Man, the small island in the Irish sea, and takes his first name from that place. He possessed the sword named 'Fragarach', meaning 'the Answerer' and the incredible 'Féth Fíada', the cloak of invisibility that he would use to protect the Isle of Man from being seen. Manannán Mac Lir was thus very formidable.
https://www.ireland-information.com/irish-mythology/manannan-irish-legend.html
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