Today's Oracle 19th March 2021

 Hag, the Initiator (Beginnings)

The hag initiates change and transformation, and signals the potential for significant change and transformation in relationships and the affairs of everyday life. Her often terrifying appearance is a test of your readiness for change.

Invoking Readiness for Change.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the hag may be testing your readiness for change. Her presence signals the potential for significant shifts in business and professional life, relationships, and the affairs of everyday living. New beginnings are possible. While the hag's outward appearance may be ghastly, welcoming her signals your readiness for a shift in awareness and fortunes. Anything may happen if you embrace such an unlikely stranger across the threshold of your life.

In Irish myth, a ghastly hag symbolizes the sovereign goddess of Ireland in the quest for the rightful heir and king. Through her, he is joined to the land. When the hag mates with the rightful heir, she signals his sovereignty by becoming a lovely maiden. In Irish and Scottish folk tales, the hag gives birth to the mountains and valleys, hills and rocks, and the various creatures of the land. The hag tests and initiates beginnings and rightful change.

The powerful hag is one of the three aspects of the Triple-Mother Goddess, the sovereign goddess of the land. Typically old and yet ageless, her terrifying appearance tests the readiness of kings and heroes. In Irish, Welsh, and Scottish legends, she enchants her "chosen" heroes with magical powers and confounds and hounds any who spurn her advances. Her shape is spine- tinglingly horrid and yet radiant, as captured in a contemporary poem, originally composed in Gaelic, by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill:

"She stood naked in the dark, her palms cold like luminous fish on my shoulders:

her hips flashing fire beneath the two moons of her breasts.

I sank my head in her sea-weed hair and bitter waves of sea bruised and battered me, our white-horse waves rusted to rats: all became empurpled.

In the morning waking my head aching I saw sallow scales encrusted her and rotten teeth from the abyss snarled at me and hissed.

I took my awl and last and left the place fast!"

In approaching this goddess, the Irish kings were chosen. By legend, the reign of the U1 Neill, descendants of Niall, was initiated by the blessing of the goddess of sovereignty, the hag. Though the youngest of the five sons of the king, Niall became the king of Ireland from 379-405. As the story is told in an early fifth-century manuscript, Niall and his four brothers were out hunting in the forest and were overwhelmed by thirst. One by one, each brother comes upon a pool of water guarded by a hideous hag. She offers each a drink in exchange for a kiss and each one flees at her dreadful appearance, except for Niall. He kisses the crone and makes love to her. As they kiss, the hag becomes the loveliest of maidens, her face like the radiance of the sun - none other than the goddess of sovereignty herself.

Folk tales in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland abound in stories about the hag, the "Mountain Mother," the "Great Old One," or the Cailleach in Gaelic. Striding across the land, she "lets fall from her skirts" the natural features and creatures of the land. In Ireland, many tales tell of benevolent hags, loathsome hags, hags saved by saints from peril, and hags who turn to hares and turn back into an old neighbour woman again when caught milking the cows!

Life presents many situations that are unsettling, even abhorrent. When troubles arise, they may represent the presence of the hag, artfully disguised. There is no way to prepare for her, except to watch for her presence. She has come to test your nerve and willingness for living in a new way. Welcoming her many manifestations signals a ready and awakened consciousness. Having crossed the threshold of danger, many things - anything - is possible.

Today's Oracle 18th March 2021

Tír na nÓg (Blessed Isle to the West)

The Tír na nÓg is one of many blessed and magical isles to the west. It is the land of the forever young, revelling in beauty, merriment, and harmony. Its qualities are joy, pleasure, peace, and blessing.

Invoking the Qualities of Harmony, Peace, and Blessing.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are becoming more aware of the simple and delightful pleasures of living. The blessings of a land "flowing with milk and honey" in your own terms are coming into your life. Long-held tensions, grudges, hurts, and fears are losing their hold on you. Personal and professional conflicts are being resolved. Harmony and contentment are replacing disappointment and loss. Your life's work is beginning to manifest in clear and concrete ways.

The blessed isles lie off the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, as if to follow . - the sun in its homeward path. At the coming of the Celts to Ireland, the ancient Tuatha De Danann take shelter there. In The Voyage of Bran, Bran and his men wander the seas in search of the Island of Women, a land revelling in harmony, beautiful women, and merriment. In the Fionn Cycle, the young champion Oisín and the princess Niamh of the Golden Hair ride on the sea as if it were a plain to Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young.

The sanctity of islands to the west harkens back to a mythic time. Dozens of lake islands and islands off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland are revered as sites of homage and pilgrimage, associated with monasteries and abbeys in our time. The prospect of enchanted islands, beckoning the youthful and the adventurous, appearing and disappearing from sight, riding on shining pedestals to glisten in the sun, singing with music to sweeten the air, and bestowing gifts on the virtuous and forsaken has long inspired the Celtic imagination. "West of the sun," for example, is the island of Iona, St. Columba's (Colm Cille) holy strand.

The isles go by many names: Tír fo Thoinn, the Land Under the Waves; Tír Nam Beo, the Land of the Living; Tiirn Ail, the Otherworld; Magh Mór, the Great Plain; Magh Meall, the Pleasant Plain; Tir Tairngire, the Plain of Happiness. Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young, is a delightful place fit for myths and legends.

Bran mac Feabhail is feasting with his chiefs when a beautiful woman appears from nowhere. She is so lovely that "the company held its breath." Turning toward Bran, she begins to sing:

"I bring [an apple] branch of [the Isle of the Happy], In shape like those you know.

Twigs of white silver are upon it, buds of crystal with blossoms.

There is a distant isle, around which sea-horses glisten.

A fair course against the white-swelling surge Four pedestals uphold it....

Unknown is wailing or treachery In the homely well-tilled land.

There is nothing rough or harsh, But sweet music striking the ear.

Without grief, without gloom, without death, without any sickness or debility -

That is the sign of [the Isle of the Happy]. Uncommon is the like of such a marvel."

She admonishes Bran to stop feasting and drinking wine, and asks him to journey across the crystal sea westward to the blessed isle.

Similarly, in the Fionn Cycle from Ireland, Finn and his men, the Fianna, are resting in Lough Lene in Kerry after the bitter battle of Gowra. In the mist of the May morning, Finn and his men send out their dogs to hunt, when suddenly a lovely young woman gallops toward them on a willowy white horse. She is so beautiful that they hold their breath as one. She is Niamh of the Golden Hair and her father is king of Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young. She tells Finn that she has come because she loves one of his sons, Oisín. So fair is he that rumours have reached all the way to Tir na nÓg. Beckoning Oisín to follow her, she recounts the island's delights:

"You will never fall ill or grow old there. In my country you will never die. Trees grow tall there and trees bend low with fruit. The land flows with honey and wine, as much as you could ever want.... As well as all of this you will get beauty, strength and power. And me for your wife."

Oisín bids his father, Finn, and all his friends farewell. The horse neighs three times and carries them across the sea, the waves parting before them.

True paradise is a state of grace. No one can give you joy or take it away. No circumstance can deprive you of your dignity or value. No dream come true is necessarily better than the delight and opportunity to dream. No accord, contract, job, relationship, possession, privilege, or status is better than your inmost vision of yourself, the paradise of being fully content and satisfied. In the Celtic imagination, such a blessing is westward, in the direction of the sun's journey homeward, inward to itself, deep within the pleasures of being fabulously alive.

Today's Oracle 17th March 2021

 Cernunnos, Antlered god (Lord of the Animals)

God and guardian of the animal realm, Cernunnos' authority is heralded by wearing the antlers of the deer. He provides sustenance and protection for the animals under his care. His qualities are generosity and magnanimity.

Invoking the Qualities of Generosity and Magnanimity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may not think of yourself as regal, as having a noble character; yet this capacity is developing within you. Others are already looking to you for strength, support, and guidance, even if you are not aware of your influence on them and your importance in their eyes. The "others" may be your children, employees, friends, partners, family, or neighbours. If you are not in a position of great external authority, your character is nonetheless leaving a strong impression on those around you. If your meditation has been strong, your spiritual maturity may be garnering such strength that it is beginning to show in your actions and presence.

As Lord of the Animals, Cernunnos provides refuge, sustenance, and well- being for the animals of the great forests of Europe. Majestically portrayed on the Gundestrup Cauldron, the antlered Cernunnos sits cross-legged on the ground next to a great stag. Cernunnos also appears intimately allied with the mother goddesses, carrying cornucopiae and offering bowls of fruit and grain to animals. The sovereign Cernunnos signifies generosity and magnanimity toward those he protects.

As early as the fourth century B.C., Cernunnos appears in rock drawings from the Camonica Valley of northern Italy. Cernunnos's authority is heralded by his great antlers, signifying his lordship among the animals of the forest of Europe. Through the centuries, his symbols - antlers of a great stag, Celtic jewelry called torcs, and the ram-horned snake remained remarkably consistent. Drawn on cave walls by Iron Age Celts, he appears robed and standing, and arrayed with great antlers, torcs on both arms, and a ram-horned snake at his side. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, Cernunnos's portrayal is regal: he sits cross-legged on the ground like a hunter, grasping a tore in one hand and a ram-horned snake against his face in the other. He is surrounded by a bull, hound, boar, and otherworldly animals. A stag with identical antlers stands beside him, as though mirroring his image as an animal.

Extending his sovereignty to include imagery usually associated with the mother goddesses, Roman-Celtic statues of Cernunnos show him carrying abundant cornucopias, feeding animals, and offering grain or coins from a bag.'' Like the mother goddess, also common at this time, Cernunnos extends his protection to include the growth of crops and the health and well-being of animals and humans alike.

His best-known image comes from Lady Charlotte Guest's rendering of "The Lady of the Fountain," included in her translation of the Mabinogion. Cernunnos appears as the potent Lord of the Animals:

"Sleep here tonight, and in the morning arise early, and take the road upwards through the valley until thou ... comest to a large sheltered glade with a mound in the centre. And thou wilt see a black man of great stature on the top of the mound. He is not smaller than two men of this world. He has but one foot, and one eye in the middle of his forehead. And he has a club of iron. .. . And he is not a comely man, but on the contrary he is exceedingly ill favoured; and he is the Woodward of that wood.

And thou wilt see a thousand wild animals grazing all around him....

And the next morning I arose ... and proceeded straight through the valley to that wood.... And there was I three times more astonished at the number of wild animals.... And the black man was there, sitting upon the top of the mound. Huge of stature as the man had told me....

Then I asked him what power he had over the animals.... And he took his club in his hand, and with it he struck a stag so great a blow that it brayed vehemently, and at his braying the animals came together, as numerous as the stars in the sky, so that it was difficult for me to find room in the glade to stand among them. There were serpents, and dragons and divers sorts of animals. And [the black man] looked at them, and bade them go and feed; and they bowed their heads, and did him homage as vassals to their lord."

Generosity comes from confidence and magnanimity from strength, an inner knowledge that life will always be filled up and replenished anew. More and more, your actions are spontaneous and unaffected. By responding to the needs of others unselfconsciously, you are participating in the natural urge of creation to increase in generosity and love.

Today's Oracle 16th March 2021

 Nymphs (Healing)

The nymph like goddesses of healing springs are sometimes nurturing and soothing, or playfully erotic. They bring healing and loving attention to our physical bodies. Their qualities include the giving and receiving of intimacy.

Invoking the Qualities of Intimate and Loving Attention.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you want to renew your physical well-being. You may have particular physical ailments. Emotional trauma may also be impairing your health and vitality. You may desire more passion and intimacy in your relationships or in your sexual life. You may be preparing for a life transition requiring greater health and stamina.

Healing springs are associated with the healing properties of youthful goddesses, commonly personified as young, playful nymphs. Pilgrims gather around the bubbling waters, making prayers and offerings to a favoured goddess. Children and adults bathe in the curative pools. Women sleep near pools thought to cure barrenness and convey fertility. The best-known nymph is Coventina, who signifies loving and healing attention to our physical needs.

Thousands of curative springs dot the landscape of continental Europe and the British Isles. Like caves, burial mounds, subterranean passages, the shores of lakes, and islands to the west, natural springs are gateways to the Otherworld. Each spring is an orifice - a mouth or vagina - of the mother goddess, a gateway to the realm of the goddess. Though each spring is a repository of the goddess's abundance, the goddess manifests her nature a bit differently in every spring. Like a woman with many attributes to give to life, the attributes conjoined in a single spring are found nowhere else on the surface of the earth.

Natural springs inspired healing and replenishment. Many springs were known to cure barrenness in women, so women went to sleep there, and probably lovers went to the pools together seeking fertility. Some springs in particular were playful meeting places for family and friends, especially in the warm months of summer. Great numbers of pilgrims and relatives prayed at them to propitiate the goddess's favour. The pools near natural springs, particularly thermal springs, also inspired leisure and recreation. When sleeping overnight by the pools, the pilgrims were encouraged to rest and dream the answers to their queries.

In northwest Spain, southern Gaul, and Britain, the spring goddess Coventina was revered, with the height of ritual activity taking place in the late second and early third century, prior to the edict that made such rites illegal in areas under Roman authority. On one stone, Coventina is a nymph, shown resting on waves lapping against a riverbank, waving a water lily playfully in the air with one hand and poising her other arm on an upturned jug of water. At Carrawburgh, along Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, she is portrayed as a triple nymph. Akin to images of the Triple-Mother Goddess, the face of the three images varies slightly, but her imagery otherwise is standard. She appears semi-nude, pouring a jug of water on the ground with one hand and holding another jug aloft in the other. Over sixteen thousand coins have been found in her well, a level of ritual offerings higher than that at the thermal springs at Aquae Sulis in Bath, England. Other offerings found include jewelry, bits of glass, bone, metal, and leather. Supplicants came to offer prayers and petitions, bathe in the pools, drink from the well, and leave offerings to accompany their prayers.

The presence of the playful nymph signals the healing of physical distress and the replenishment of vitality. Key to receiving the gifts of her presence is your willingness to receive intimacy and love and to play and frolic. She wants you to have fun, relax, and enjoy life. A healing vacation near water or at a spa may be especially helpful. If you have the opportunity to move to a new home, you might consider living near a river or stream. Professional activities can certainly recede into the background for a while. Perhaps you have been working too hard. Perhaps at this time in your life you need to pause and refresh your physical resources. Perhaps you are approaching retirement, a change in activities or environment, or preparing to give birth to a child. Whatever your situation, this oracle invites you to renew your physical well-being and restore passion, eroticism, and wonder to the physical and sensual activities of daily life.