Today's Oracle 3rd April 2021

 Bards (Storytelling)

Around a fire, the old stories are told again. In the telling of stories the past more consciously bears upon the present. Set against the long story of life, the familiar and unusual mingle to form the contours and patterns of our lives.

Invoking the Qualities of Remembrance and Identity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, knowing and interpreting the long story of your life - or the long story of your family, community, or people - is important to you. Sacred texts, great literature, or science fiction that probes the boundaries of the future may unexpectedly seem more relevant to you.

One local storyteller narrates the history of the people, another relays romantic tales playing fact against fiction, and yet another recites poetry as if words were waves upon the sea. Another storyteller, perhaps an itinerant bard, sings heroic ballads, runes and incantations, songs of romance, or lullabies for children. Genealogies and epics retain the long memory of generations and seldom change. Other stories fashion plots, both old and new, breathing new life and interpretation into changing circumstance.

The most well-known bard of the Celtic tradition is Taliesin Pen Beirdd, the bard of the isle of Britain, who lived in Wales during the second half of the sixth century. A large corpus of songs, poems, and lore are attributed to him. Although much of this work actually comes from medieval times, it is identified with Taliesin to enhance the prestige of the bardic orders in Britain. Nonetheless, the poems of Taliesin stemming from the sixth century, and probably predating his time, relay much of what we know of the ancient bards whose words bestowed blessings on friends and, on the darker side, the curse of satire on foes. Taliesin speaks of his origins:

"I was instructor to the whole universe.

I shall be until the judgement on the face of the earth. . . .

There is not a marvel in the world Which I cannot reveal."

Notwithstanding Taliesin's immodesty, the bards conveyed through the centuries the mysteries of lore and tradition. Stretching back before recorded time, the most important role of itinerant bards and village storytellers was to preserve a vast body of oral lore, including history and genealogies, poems and songs, epic tales, riddles, incantations, knowledge of disputes and settlements, and law.

Travelling from parish to parish in the late nineteenth century, Alexander Carmichael visited many such storytellers and recorded their tales and songs. The storytellers Carmichael sought out were already old; they had learned their poems and stories as children from old storytellers who had learned them when they were children. In this manner, the tales and poems Carmichael collected travel back in memory to the first half of the seventeenth century. Carmichael tells of an itinerant storyteller of early eighteenth-century Scotland, one Catherine Macaulay, who "wandered from house to house, and from townland to townland ... and remained in each place longer or shorter according to the population and the season.... [reciting] night after night, and week after week ... poems and stories ... long and weird." One storyteller of the Outer Hebrides was Janet Campbell, a nurse, who "had many beautiful songs and lullabies of the nursery... [H]er stories had a charm for children ... listening to what the bear said to the bee, the fox to the lamb, the harrier to the hen, the serpent to the pipet, the whale to the herring, and the brown otter of the stream to the silvery grilse of the current."

Some of your own life stories will not change, or only slightly. Others, reflected in the mirror of current circumstance, will change dramatically. In the act of telling stories, the past more consciously bears upon the present. Former times are revisited and integrated, sometimes in startling ways. Familiar and seemingly stray events are probed for meaning. In your stories, the familiar and unusual are bound to mingle, forming the rich contours and patterns of your life.

The art of storytelling is active, not passive. Though a story is unchanged from an earlier telling, it nonetheless brings reminiscence, meaning, and identity. What is more, a changing story may contain the promptings and guidance of spirit. Watch your own tellings for changes - they may indicate a shifting of awareness as well as prospects for the future.

Today's Oracle 2nd April 2021

 Salmon (Knowledge)

As a magical creature of the waters that is close to powers of the Otherworld, the salmon brings knowledge and wisdom, expressing them through the creative arts, especially poetry, prose, and singing. Ancient bards were inspired by tasting the salmon of knowledge.

Invoking Spontaneity and Artistry.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the unspoiled wisdom within your nature seek expression in the creative arts, especially poetry, prose, drama, and singing. Even without special training or talent, creative pursuits seem satisfying and want to be spontaneously expressed. Routine activities may suddenly seem revitalized with insight. Creative and ingenious people attract you. The grandeur of nature is a great source of joy and inspiration.

The magical salmon brings supernatural knowledge and wisdom. Taliesin, the ancient bard of Wales, was retrieved from a salmon weir in the River Convey. In the Finn Cycle of Ireland, the red-speckled salmon living in a pool on the River Boyne acquires great knowledge by eating the berries of the rowan tree overhanging the pool. When Finn tastes one of the salmon, he acquires knowledge of everything in the world, past, present, and future, and becomes as great a poet as he is a warrior and hunter.

In Irish and Welsh legends, the salmon captures the wonders of otherworldly wisdom. Swimming in pools close to sacred springs and feeding on rowan berries, salmon acquire knowledge of all there is to know.

The Finn Cycle of Ireland chronicles the story of a magic salmon and the giving of the knowledge of all things to Finn. To acquire greater wisdom, Finn goes to  learn poetry from Finneces, who lives on the shores of the magical River Boyne (Bóinn), encamped there for seven years attempting to catch one of the red-speckled salmon that live in a pool by the river. The salmon eat the berries that fall from a rowan tree overhanging the pool and acquire the knowledge of all there ever was to know. Whoever eats one of the salmon will enjoy the wisdom of the world. When Finn comes to Finneces's camp, the poet has just caught a beautiful salmon. Finneces gives the fish to Finn and instructs him to cook it, but not to eat even the smallest piece. While lifting the salmon off the spit, the skin of fish sears Finn's thumb. Thrusting his thumb into his mouth to ease the pain, the knowledge intended for Finneces goes to Finn. As prophesied, the wisdom of the salmon goes to a fair-haired man named Finn who becomes as great "a poet as he was a warrior and hunter."

In the Celtic world, the bards could both bless and curse with the eloquence of their words. In our time, words can promote good and evil and, therefore, rightful expression requires clarity of mind and heart. Take time to choose your words and expressions carefully.

Like the magical salmon feeding on the rowan berries at the bottom of the pool, wisdom may seem to come from a deep well within you. Fresh insights may nourish many aspects of your life, personally and professionally. New ideas will beg expression in words. If you respect the rights of others, this new (or renewed) artistry in ideas and words will develop and increase.

Today's Oracle 1st April 2021

 The Under Tree (Taking Root in the Otherworld)

The Under Tree extends its trunk and opens its branches toward the sky and into the Otherworld. It represents our capacity to expand and stand strong in the hidden and unknown aspects of our nature and to nourish their graceful expression.

Invoking the Qualities of Exploration and Expansion.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the ancient tree beckons you to take root in the Otherworld to stabilize and then expand the hidden and unknown resources of your nature. For centuries, the poets and musicians of the Celtic world have been nourished by otherworldly or spiritual forces within the earth. In this way, poets and prophets break totally new ground, bringing new ideas to awareness. If you accept the invitation, you will begin to explore undeveloped talents and inclinations in your character. Sustained periods of exploration and discovery may be ahead of you. In the Celtic world, the Otherworld is joyous and delightful and never dreary or depressive, so exploring the otherworldly (or inner) side of your nature is likely to be lighthearted and graceful. Supported by an otherworldly merriment, too much work is rarely involved. Rather, the newly matured talents and qualities will add greater depth and dimensionality to your life and work.

Wile  all trees spread upward in the sky, the Under Tree also reaches beneath the ground, extending its trunk and branches within the earth. By following the tree's branches into the earth, the traveller enters the Otherworld beneath the ground. In the Christian period, the Tree of Life grows on the Blessed Isles ever to the west. Forever blossoming and fruitful, the tree supports the maturing of the unseen and unexplored resources in our nature.

A mysterious tree guards the entrance to the Otherworld beneath the ground. By climbing down through its branches, a traveller enters the Otherworld and encounters supernatural figures living there. In the Welsh Mabinogion, the legend of "The Lady of the Fountain" tells of the hero Owain, who becomes the champion of the fountain of wisdom and the husband of "the Countess," none other than the sovereign goddess herself. One of Owain's companions, Kynon, tells a story of being directed by the Lord of the Animals to

"Ascend the wooded steep until thou comest to its summit; and there thou wilt find an open space like to a large valley, and in the midst of it a tall tree, whose branches are greener than the greenest pine trees. Under this tree is a fountain, and by the side of the fountain a marble slab, and on the marble slab a silver bowl, attached by a chain of silver, so that it may not be carried away. Take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water upon the slab, and thou wilt hear a mighty peal of thunder, so that thou wilt think that heaven and earth are trembling with its fury.... And the shower will be of hailstones; and after the shower, the weather will become fair, but every leaf that was upon the tree will have been carried away by the shower. Then a flight of birds will come and alight upon the tree; and in thine own country thou didst never hear a strain so sweet as that which they will sing."

The ancient tree is the center of the Celtic world, connecting the earth to the Otherworld below and the sky world above. Its branches reach into the ground and sky. Sometimes the tree is silver and its fruit shimmer like jewels. If an apple tree, a branch from the sacred tree bears blossoms and apples all year long. In the Ulster Cycle, Cú Chulainn's charioteer, Laeg, eloquently describes the ancient tree as he approaches the hallowed realms of the Otherworld:

"At the entrance to the enclosure is a tree from whose branches there comes beautiful and harmonious music.
It is a tree of silver, which the sun illumines.
It glistens like gold."

Today's Oracle 31st March 2021

 The Sacred Three (Seeing in All Directions)

Odd numbers, multiples of three, and the triple spirals are sacred symbols in the Celtic world. Triplication of divine figures signifies the all-seeing and unifying presence of the spirit world. Look for the wider circumstances behind events.

Invoking Awareness of the Spirit World.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are focusing too narrowly on the immediate circumstances rather than looking at the larger context and possibilities for the future. The all-seeing vision of this oracle invites you to step back from the immediate situation, to scan events as though you were looking at them from a distance, and to imagine how possible outcomes might look from a future date. This enlarged perspective will inspire confidence, focus your intention, and simplify your actions.

The tripling of supernatural figures and sacred attributes signifies the all- seeing and unifying presence of the spirit world. Triplication reaches its height in the images of the Triple-Mother Goddess. Tripling the image gives an air of magic and fervour to gods, heads, horns, phalluses, horses, and faces of supernatural figures.The image of the tricephalos appears to look out in three directions simultaneously from a single head.

The image of the Sacred Three pervades Celtic iconography and story from the pre-Roman period on through to the predominance of the Trinity in Celtic Christianity. Sublimity and power are linked to the tripling of images and attributes. The well-known Triple Spiral was carved on stones at Newgrange by the Stone Age ancestors of the Celts. Images of the Triple-Mother Goddess abound in the pre-Roman and Roman-Celtic period. By tradition, when the first Celts invaded Ireland, they were met by the three goddesses who protected the land. Brigit is sometimes triplicated or represented as three sisters. Powerful attributes such as horns and phalluses are triplicated.

Of particular significance in this image of goddesses and gods are the triple-faced or triple-headed images from northeastern Gaul, near modern Reims, as well as a few images from the south and west of Gaul and even from as far north as Scotland and Ireland. A triple-faced image may appear as a single head with three distinct faces, sometimes blended with one dominant face and two in profile. Occasionally, the heads in juxtaposition may vary in age, one old and two representing youth, and less frequently male and female faces may be combined together. Images from modern Trier and Metz portraying the Triple-Mother Goddess appear to trample on the tricephalos (triple-headed) god beneath, suggesting the dominance of the mother goddess over the triple-headed god.

The Celts, already linking the supernatural with the Sacred Three, took naturally to Trinitarian formulations in the early Christian period. In the Carmina Gadelica, Alexander Carmichael chronicles the hymns, runes, prayers, invocations, and customs of late-nineteenth-century farmers and crofters of the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. One of the loveliest rituals invoking the Trinity is an evening ritual known as the "smooring of the fire," performed by the woman of the house:

"Peat is the fuel of the Highlands [of Scotland] and [the Outer Hebrides] ... Where wood is not obtainable the fire is kept in during the night. The ceremony of smooring the fire is artistic and symbolic, and is performed with loving care. The embers are evenly spread on the hearth - which is generally in the middle of the floor and formed into a circle. This circle is then divided into three equal sections, a small boss being left in the middle. A peat is laid between each section, each peat touching the boss, which forms a common centre. The first peat is laid down in name of the god of Life, the second in name of the god of Peace, the third in name of the god of grace. The circle is then covered over with ashes sufficient to subdue but not to extinguish the fire, in name of the Three of Light. The heap slightly raised in the centre is called "Tula nan Trí," the Hearth of the Three. When the smooring operation is complete the woman closes her eyes, stretches her hand, and softly intones one of the many formulae current for these occasions.

The sacred Three
To save,
To shield,
To surround,
The hearth,
The house,
The household,
This eve,
This night,
Oh! this eve,
This night,
And every night,
Each single night.
Amen."

In a larger sense, the Sacred Three reminds you that the multiplicity of forms and events before you are actually unified, if you were to see your life from an expanded perspective. The Triple Spiral expands in all directions. The tricephalos sees in all directions. The Christian Trinity represents the fullness of the Divine. By cultivating a wider vision, you will come to savor a grander unity beyond all the myriad forms and events in life. Your actions will become simple and efficient as you see the interrelations in your life.

Today's Oracle 30th March 2021

Faery Hill (The Hidden World of Faeries)

By legend, the faeries are the descendants of the Tuatha De Danann, a godlike race who once inhabited Ireland. They now reside beneath the ground inside hills and mounds in the countryside. Their presence signifies inspiration.

Invoking Inspiration.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracted to the spiritual forces around you. These spiritual forces, whether faeries or nature spirits, are sometimes the special friends of poets, artists, playwrights, musicians, and the inventive and creative ones of every trade or profession. The presence of the faeries and nature spirits gives the landscape around you its wondrous qualities, and you are attracted to its supernatural qualities.

The faeries, the people of the goddess Danu, live as neighbours in the hills and mounds of the countryside. Having yielded the land's surface to the Celts, the faeries now inhabit the Otherworld, beneath the ground, where they live merry and carefree lives. Their supernatural presence brings a lively, nostalgic, and passionate feeling to the landscape, especially enlivening the poetry, music, and song with a sensuous and haunting lyricism. Faery hills, in particular, denote unique sources of inspiration from the faery realms.

With the coming of the Celts to Ireland, the powerful Tuatha De Danann, the people of the goddess Danu, eventually retreated from the Middle World on the earth's surface and yielded the land's surface to the Celts. They gently slipped into the Otherworld, where they now live fanciful and merry lives as neighbours in a parallel realm to humans. Living in certain hills throughout the countryside, often ancestral burial mounds called sidhe or sí (pronounced "shee"), the inhabitants of the sidhe are known as faeries. At night some faery hills are seen as ablaze with sparkling lights and alive with merrymaking and music. On certain nights the doors between the worlds open, particularly Samhain (now Halloween), marking the beginning of winter, and May Eve, marking the beginning of summer. On these nights, faeries are often encountered travelling about in our world and may lead humans to gateways to the Otherworld. Familiar caves and cliffs may open, revealing splendid faery castles within. While kindly observers and visitors may be rewarded, interfering with faery hills or castles invites reprisal.

A typical story from Donegal in Ireland tells of a man stacking turf on the bog. Returning at nightfall, he comes upon "a big black hole with mud lying on the surface ... and a kind of big opening down into the ground. He stuck his stick into it." When he tries to pull the stick out, "what did he do but take a jump into the hole. He went down until he hit hard ground at the bottom and began to walk until he reached a castle where there were many people singing and great entertainment and eating and drinking. He sat in amongst them but he did not eat anything" because he might never return home if he ate or drank.

The presence of the faeries living close by animates the landscape of the earth with lively activity. Along with nature spirits particular to trees, flowers, and features of the landscape, the Otherworld of the faeries imbues the natural, human world with movement, exuberance, and passion. Our world mirrors theirs.

While the Celts are unusually attentive to the presence of otherworldly beings who share the earth with us, the earth is sacred wherever you live. If you live in nature, especially in secluded places where supernatural beings are more at ease, you may be especially aware of their presence and passionate, spirited vitality. Quite unlike contemporary notions that portray the faeries as fearful and meddlesome, the faeries would much rather cooperate with us, especially sharing inspiration, visions, frivolity, song, and music. Unfortunately, the faeries - and other nature spirits - have become wary of humans, so attracting their support requires respect and care for our natural environment and the spirits who dwell there. 

THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME April 2021

Neptune

In the first days of April patience and tact are needed. Mercury is still in Neptune's sphere of influence, perception is clouded, and thinking is not very clear. The Sun and Venus in Aries, however, encourage you to move forward courageously. With Mercury entering Aries on April 4, the uncertainty of the last few days will quickly disappear. Now, what has only been sensed in recent weeks may finally be spoken. However, Mercury forms a conjunction with Chiron on April 9, and at the same time Mars squares Neptune and the Moon. Aim for clear communication during this time and don't blame yourself if you have to struggle for words now and then. Unclear messages could cause considerable confusion.

Aries

There is a New Moon in Aries on April 12, and Venus squares Pluto at the same time. This is an energetically charged time when many desires want to be satisfied. Anxious procrastination makes little sense now. Whatever begins during this time could make its presence felt throughout the year. Venus enters earthy Taurus on April 14, and on April 16, the Sun squares Pluto and the Moon is close to its North Node. On April 17, Gemini Mars forms a trine to Jupiter in Aquarius, and on April 19, the Sun also enters Taurus. Some of the difficulties of the last few days can now be overcome, sometimes this is achieved in a somewhat unceremonious manner or even with determined assertiveness. Sensual pleasures should not be neglected during these days. Now you could - within the scope of possibilities - celebrate a small feast of the senses and consciously appreciate the physical aspects of life once again.

In the last third of the month, the quality of time will change significantly. Tension is on the rise again and may bring an end to carefree living yet again. Venus and Mercury form a conjunction with Uranus on April 23 and 24, Mars enters Cancer at the same time. On April 25, Venus and Mercury square Saturn in Aquarius. The desire for security now becomes great, but it is unclear where real stability can be found. It is time to take a realistic look at the developments of the previous months and to handle your own resources responsibly. Blind activism or aggressive outbursts could lead you to harm yourself.

Scorpio

Towards the end of the month, an intense Full Moon in Scorpio awaits us on April 27. The Sun and Moon square Saturn in Aquarius, and the Sun is about to make a conjunction with Uranus (on April 30). What happens during these days can hardly be ignored and can be noted as another landmark in the current transformation of society. With Pluto turning retrograde at the same time, minor or major turbulences in the stock markets or sustained shifts in power are also likely. Keep in mind at this time, that while an individual has limited influence on the larger, collective events, new paths are usually pointed out by the wisdom of individuals.

Today's Oracle 29th March 2021

 Power of Place (Calling in the Spirit of Place)

The landscape, its hills, glens, plains, shorelines, nooks, and crannies, are the features of the body of the mother goddess, the earth. Place-names honour the unique qualities and lore of place. Similarly, honouring the power of place situates us in the passage of time.

Invoking the Qualities of Familiarity, Remembrance, and Continuity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are yearning for a place you can call your own, perhaps a home, a village, a region or country, or a community. You seem to want somewhere to root, to settle, and invest yourself fully. Not anywhere will do. The place must be uniquely right for you. The power of the place compels you. Its atmosphere, physical features, people, vegetation, smells, and wildlife attract you. It may be where you are but your psyche has not yet fully engaged it. It may be a place deeply familiar and redolent of personal memories. Wherever this place is, you are more fully alive there, as though the outer landscape mirrors the inner landscape of who you are and who you are becoming. This remarkable correspondence brings vitality and a sense of contentment and well-being.

The Celts often name a place for its qualities and lore — a dell for providing shelter, a marshy corner for its soft and rushy bottom, a ring fort to signal an otherworldly ambiance, a meadow to mark the battles fought, or a holy well for its protectress. Affecting recollection, familiar places help us to situate ourselves in the passage of time and locale. Recalling such a place, Irish poet Cathal O Searcaigh concludes: "Contradictions are cancelled on the spot."

The landscape - its rocky slopes, the forks of a river, an elder tree, a spring at its source, a widening plain, or undulating hills - reveals the features of the body of the mother earth, the goddess herself. Her countenance is found in the physical appearance of each place. The power of each place is utterly unique, so that its physiognomy and stories, so familiar, are wedded to the memory of the men and women living there. In Ireland and other Celtic lands, power implicit in the stones and earth of a place is frequently distilled in place names, recollecting in a word or phrase the deeds and fortunes of memories past. Like tonic to the human spirit, the power of place - in all its nuances, the horrific and foreboding, the beautiful and innocent - links individuals and community to lore and locale.

In discussing a genre of Irish literature known as dindseanchas, the poet Seamus Heaney writes that its poems and tales "relate the meanings of place names and constitute a form of mythological etymology ... marrying] the geographical country with the country of the mind. Heaney continues:

"The landscape was sacramental, instinct with signs, implying a system of reality beyond the visible realities. Only thirty years ago, and thirty miles from Belfast, I experienced this kind of world vestigially and as a result may have retained some vestigial sense of place as it was experienced in the older dispensation. As I walked to school, I saw Lough Beg from Mulholland's Brae, and the spire of Church Island rose out of the trees. On Church Island Sunday in September, there was a Pilgrimage out to the island, because St. Patrick was supposed to have prayed there, and prayed with such intensity that he branded the shape of his knee into a stone in the old churchyard. The rainwater that collected in that stone, of course, had healing powers, and the thorn bush beside it was pennanted with the rags used by those who rubbed their warts and sores in that water... That legend, and the ringing ascetic triumph of rising in the frosts of winter to pray ... all combined to give Blemish a nimbus of its own.

The power of place is so intimate and "self-contained" that it is virtually hidden from those who inhabit the home, the locale, the village, or the city. Entering the place, the stranger "is immediately aware of the otherness and the intimate nature of the 'place.' One senses the odours unique to the place - its sounds and artifacts.... It is this quality of intimacy, based on uniqueness, that provides the possibility for placehood." By intertwining landscape and lore, the power of place connects the human psyche within the nexus of time and space.

Over the course of life, there are times to take pilgrimages to distant places and to garner their qualities to yourself. At other times, such as now, you are invited to situate your life in a particular place, to settle in and to mature amid the familiarity and memories built up over time. Surrounded by these intimacies as though encircled by the lacework of your life, your inner life and external surroundings blend together in support of each other.

Today's Oracle 28th March 2021

Lugh/Lludd (Warrior, the Shining One)

Lugh, the master of all arts, is one of the Tuatha De Danaan and a great warrior of the Irish mythological cycle. As foretold by a druid, he kills his own grandfather, Balor of the Evil Eye. A warrior's quality is mastery.

Invoking the Quality of Mastery.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting adventure and challenges to your life. This oracle signifies the actions of a mature and seasoned warrior, capable in many arts of action and contemplation. Seasoned warriors do not go out looking for high adventure, but challenges seem to find them nonetheless. To meet approaching events, you will want to combine authority with grace, skill, and artfulness. In acquiring many skills, you will be both flexible and strong. A true warrior has complete command of her or his actions. By coupling your skills to one another in your actions, you will master both the situation and yourself.

The Irish warrior Lugh is the master of all the arts. When he approaches Tara, the fort of King Nuada, the king's eyes are dazzled by the bright light of Lugh's countenance, as though he has gazed straight into the sun. Lugh's counterpart in the Welsh tradition is the warrior-king Lludd, who joins with his brother Llewelys to overcome the three plagues oppressing the Isle of Britain. A warrior's special quality is mastery of all the arts, including poetry, music, smithing, pageantry, and healing.

Long ago in Ireland, in mythological time before the time of the Celts, the Fomorians lay siege on the Tuatha De Danaan, who were living peacefully on the emerald isle. Among them, Lugh is a warrior more beautiful and noble than any man. Born of supernatural origins, he is the son of a prince of the Tuatha De and a Fomorian princess, the grandson of the powerful Fomorian king, Balor of the Evil Eye. When Lugh approaches the gates of Tara accompanied by his warriors, he gains access to the king's court as the master of all the arts, including carpentry, smithing, music, combat and war, poetry, magic, healing, cupbearing, pageantry, and gaming. Once the Tuatha De king, Nuada, sees that Lugh is matchless in all the arts, he enlists his aid against Balor. Soon, Lugh enlists the help of Manannán Mac Lir, the powerful ruler of the sea. From Manannán, he acquires a breastplate that no weapon can pierce and a sword whose thrust no one can survive. As Nuada watches Lugh and his warriors returning to Tara, his

"Eyes were dazzled by a bright light as if he had looked full into the sun, but then he saw the brilliant rays shone from the face of the leader of the troop and from his long golden hair. Darts of light came off the young man's armour and off his weapons and the gold-embossed harness of his horse. A great jewel blazed from the front of the golden helmet he wore on his shining hair, and Nuada knew that Lugh had come back to Tara."

As soon as Lugh takes his seat in the court of the king, a horde of slovenly Fomorians bears down upon Tara. To Lugh's horror, when the unkempt men stumble into the court, Nuada and his household rise to their feet. When Lugh protests, Nuada replies that these Fomorians are returning to claim their taxes and a third of the crops and a third of the children as slaves. Outraged, Lugh brandishes Manannán's sword and kills all but nine of the Fomorians, sparing them only to turn to Balor with Lugh's deadly reply.

The Tuatha De Danaan and the Fomorians prepare for war. King Balor, Queen Ceithlinn of the Crooked Teeth, their twelve sons, and a great army of warriors march across Ireland to Tara. On the Plain of Moytura, the ground becomes "slippery with blood" as men fight and die, friend and foe side by side. When Balor fells Nuada with a single blow, Lugh is so enraged that he taunts his grandfather Balor to lift the eyelid of his deadly eye. Ten Fomorian warriors pull on ropes, as though drawing a curtain, to raise the weighty lid. Lugh thrusts a stone from his sling into Balor's eye as it opens, killing him instantly as the eye falls back through Balor's head. Though the dead are "as countless as flakes of snow," the Fomorians are forever routed from Ireland."

If the present situation is dangerous to yourself or others, wise action is to seek guidance and assistance. A warrior rarely journeys alone, but is accompanied by kindred companions and trusted friends or advisors. Pursuing worthy and risky objectives without the aid and wise counsel of others is unwise and sometimes perilous. Concerted action adds strength to strength.