Today's Oracle 16th April 2021

Bear (Fierce Femininity)

The wild bear of the forest is the expression of motherly devotion and loyalty to family and kin. In times of provocation and danger, the mother bear protects and defends her young without regard to her own safety. Her actions are swift and unselfish.

Invoking the Quality of Selfless Actions.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, this may be an ideal time to develop the fierce, feminine qualities of readiness and responsibility for others into your character. Not only does the mother bear protect her own young, but she personifies selfless, courageous acts on behalf of others. She acts immediately and powerfully in service to others to protect and preserve in times of danger and distress. Her actions bring peace and tranquillity to life. Everyone benefits from her watchful attention and protection.

The wild bear of the forest is intimately linked with the Celtic goddess Artio, her very name meaning bear. Artio, the bear goddess to the Gaulish Celts, appears fiercely protective in the manner of a mother bear defending her young. She guards the bears from danger and guards humans from the bears. Accordingly, Artio personifies divine watchfulness and protection for both the human and animal realms. In human affairs, her motherly and bearlike protection brings a sense of safety, ease, and well-being.

Artio was the bear goddess of the Celts of Switzerland and the Moselle Valley during the Roman-Celtic period. While retaining the calm and tranquil bearing of the mother goddess and characteristically bearing fruit for her supplicants, Artio was nonetheless a fierce protectress. She had something of a double identity, as she was both the guardian of the bears and wild creatures of the forest, and the guardian of the sacred hunt.

Like a mother bear defending her young, Artio watched over animals and humans alike. Fiercely loyal, she was venerated by the Celts for the protection she provided against the wild forces of nature and, by extension, against enemies. Hunters and warriors propitiated her interventions. When enraged she was aggressive and dominant. Raging like a mother bear protecting her young in times of danger, the Celts felt safer under her sway.

Artio's fierce qualities resemble the "Mother Terrible" aspect of the goddesses of Old Europe from the Balkans discussed by Marija Gimbatas (6500-3500 B.C. ). Artio's supernatural character may be a remnant from a time when goddesses were revered as the primal forces of nature, presiding over life, regeneration, and death. While Celtic mythology abounds in stories of fiery goddesses and queens, archaeological evidence for Artio (or other ferociously dominant goddesses) is scarce. A small bronze statue found near Berne, Switzerland, depicts a regal Artio bearing fruit before the full figure of a bear, who appears to be greeting her. Between them is intimate identification, as though they are matched in strength and ferocity and equally divine.

Being watchful and safeguarding the rightful needs of family, kin, and community are beneficial and necessary qualities in human life. Men and women are called on to intervene and mediate when the rights of others are unjustly violated or circumscribed. Trust your immediate and selfless response to situations when others are in need or danger. There is no reason to hold back and think about it. Act.

Today's Oracle 15th April 2021

Sacred King (The Oath)

The sacred king represents the successful union of the sovereign goddess with a mortal king. If the king is faithful to his oath, the people prosper. The sacred king signifies honourable and responsible actions.

Invoking the Qualities of honour and Responsibility.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your actions must be especially honourable and unselfish. You are in a situation of responsibility asking you to protect the well-being of others. Your sense of honour and duty demand that you put aside personal inclinations to serve others.

If the royal cloak fits him, the royal chariot obeys him, the Stone of Fál at Tara shrieks at his touch, and the goddess joins with him, a mortal man will be chosen king of Ireland. Bound by sacred oaths, geissi, to govern wisely and protect his people, the king's authority is carefully constrained and obliged by duty. The destiny of the king and his reign and the land and its bounty depend on the king's fealty to the royal oaths. The sacred king signifies honourable and responsible actions.

In former times, before the Norman conquest of Britain and coastal Ireland and Wales, Celtic kings were chosen by the sovereign goddess who granted the new king otherworldly powers so as to reign justly and wisely. To find the rightful man among the young men of the royal clan, the candidates were watched and tested by the druids for signs of providence. Niall of the Nine Hostages was born by a well, a sacred threshold to the Otherworld. Later, he meets and couples with the goddess there and is elected king of Ireland.

The tests of honour for the rightful king remain much the same throughout history. The king must show exceptional virtue, as though already appointed by the Otherworld. In Ireland, according to tradition, the royal cloak must fit him, the royal chariot must obey him, and the Stone of Fál at Tara must shriek when he touches it. Then, the sovereign goddess of the land must accept him as her own choice from among the others. In myth, their union is sexual: the exchange of primal energies bringing fertility and greenery to the land. Recorded in the twelfth century by the Roman chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) was the ritual bath of the Ulster king in the broth that boiled the butchered flesh of a white mare, symbolizing the sovereign goddess. At the royal court at Tara, the heart of legendary Ireland, their union is ritually reenacted. Ériu, a goddess and namesake of Ireland, offers a gold goblet of red wine to successive kings, symbolizing their union and her promise through this union to bless the land with ceaseless bounty.

Once elected, the king is bound by sacred oaths and strict rules of conduct, securing that his reign will provide for the well-being, prosperity, and protection of the people. He is not free to do as he pleases and follow his whims. He is bound by rules of fealty and honour, the betrayal of which signals his individual ruin, a lackluster reign, the failure of crops, and the demoralization of his people. His only honourable choice, once king, is to govern wisely and justly, speak only the truth and keep his promises, show impartiality, provide protection to the weak and the strong alike, render hospitality, take up arms to defend the people from enemies, and in his noble conduct set a standard for all to follow.

In order to be successful, your actions must be honest and impartial. In the present situation, your personal likes and dislikes, or impressions formed in the past, may be untrustworthy. Make decisions based on what is valid and invalid, on the weaknesses and strengths inherent in the specific circumstance. Tell the truth and keep your promises. Accept responsibility graciously. Extend generosity and concern, especially to those who are less fortunate in your community. Be mindful that your personal life is now an aspect of your public life and that your actions set an example for others.

Today's Oracle 14th April 2021

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.

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.

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.

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 13th April 2021

Mother Goddess Carrying Children/Food (Well-Being)

The goddess of care-giving provides comfort, ease, and contentment in the home and wherever she goes. Her qualities provide for daily nurturance and the necessities of life and support for our physical and emotional fulfillment.

Invoking the Qualities of Comfort and Contentment.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting physical and emotional comfort and well-being into your life. You may be in the midst of a challenging situation, or the mundane activities or weariness of life's struggles may be tiring or exhausting your reserves.

The mother goddess in her aspect of beneficence gives nourishment, food, and well-being to domestic life. Her mothering tends to the immediate and personal needs of daily human life. She cradles and nurses infants, is surrounded by children under her care, and carries fruits, ears of corn, grains, cakes, breads, goblets of wine, kegs, pots, baskets and cornucopias spilling over with fruits, grains, and breads. Her dependable and soothing attention provides comfort and contentment in daily life.

Images of the mother goddess of well-being are found throughout the Celtic territories. As a local maternal sovereign, she attends to the everyday needs of life by sustaining the local crops, blessing the harvest, nursing the babies, comforting the sick and the dying, pouring out the wine, and dispensing the fruits of the harvest. The passing of life, the cycle of birth and death, and the vicissitudes of day-to-day existence are her concerns. Her presence is familiar, homey, and soothing. Amid the insecurities and dangers of life, she blesses life with comfort, constancy, and contentment.

Whether depicted as a single goddess or in groups of two or three representing her magnificence, the mother goddess in her aspect of loving care carries symbols of well-being, security, and prosperity intended to bless and provide for life's daily needs. In image after image, she holds fruit, grains, ears of corn, bread, pots of honey and mead. Ordinarily, she carries babies and is encircled by toddlers and older children seeking her attention and perhaps her good counsel. In this lovely image from the Rhineland, she carries two enormous cornucopias, signifying her bountiful presence in providing food and sustenance throughout the years.

The goddess of the home and locality is immortalized in the words of the ancient poet Amergin:

"I am the womb: of every holt, I am the blaze: on every hill, I am the queen: of every hive, I am the shield: for every head, I am the tomb: of every hope."

Drawing this oracle is a wake-up call to nourish yourself with soothing activities and relationships. A complete rest is not necessary. Nonetheless, you are asked to focus your attention on your immediate and personal needs for comfort, nourishment, and well-being. What activities would soothe you? Is your diet supporting your life? Do the people around you give you comfort and reassurance? Is there a way to receive more physical or sexual contact and comfort? Do some people and activities unnerve you or deplete you? Even seemingly minor activities can be enormously tiring or rejuvenating. Look for patterns, especially in your home life. Write them down, even if they seem unimportant at the time. Since the mother goddess is devoted to tranquillity at home, it is especially important to consider ways to bring more ease, contentment, and security to your domestic life.

Even amid trying situations, it is possible to support your physical and emotional well-being. Small signs of joy, acts of kindness, personal prayer, meditation, and attention to diet and exercise are essential. The presence of this oracle gives hope that the nourishment and comfort you need is available in your immediate environment.

Today's Oracle 12th April 2021

Rowan (The Alchemical Wand)

The rowan and its red berries in winter are connected with the Otherworld. Twigs are sometimes worn on clothing for protection from malevolent spirits. Rowan berries signal chthonic protection, divination, good luck, and sometimes healing and the giving of wisdom.

Invoking the Qualities of Otherworldly Protection.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the protection and good luck of the rowan are being offered to you. Are you presently engaged in challenging or risky situations that beg extra protection and comfort? Do circumstances or the time of year invite circumspection and care? Do you feel any need to shield yourself from the unkindness of others or from spirits in the psychic realm? The presence of the rowan suggests both caution in worldly affairs and the protection of unseen forces. Its otherworldly authority dispels fear and anxiety, enabling life to proceed beneficially.

The rowan tree and its winter clusters of red berries signify the protection of the Otherworld within the human middle world. A rowan branch above the door protects homes from unwanted intruders, especially mischievous spirits. A small rowan twig concealed underneath garments protects the wearer while traveling. Eating the red berries of an enchanted rowan brings wisdom. But beware, a fire of rowan wood may entreat the presence of otherworldly spirits, both gentle and malevolent.

The rowan tree or mountain ash, is honoured throughout the Celtic world for its role in the magic and enchantments emanating from the Otherworld. Its aspect can be potent and fierce. In the mythological cycle of Irish tales, Etáin is struck with a "wand of scarlet rowan berries" and instantly disappears into a pool of water. In the Fionn Cycle of Irish tales, the hero Finn acquires understanding of all things by eating a red-speckled salmon that fed on the berries of the enchanted rowan tree overhanging the pool.

Rowan trees are favoured because they provide chthonic [relating to or inhabiting the underworld] or otherworldly protection and good luck. People like to have one neighbouring the house and holy places or to secretly fasten small twigs to their clothes to bring good luck. A rowan branch above the door protects the home from fire and unkindly intruders and spirits. In a story collected in the last century in the lowlands of Scotland, the rowan protects the peasantry while watching the procession of faeries, which takes place at the coming of summer. From beneath a door arrayed with rowan branches, they can safely "gaze on the cavalcade, as with music sounding, bridles ringing, and voices mingling, [as] it pursued its way from place to place."

Rowan berries and rowan branches are the certain protectors of cows, sacred to the goddesses of the underworld. Rowan are kept in the barn "to safeguard the cows; put in the pail and around the churn to ensure that the profit of the milk [is] not stolen." In a story told in County Cavan in the 1940s, Charles King relays that the "old people would tie roundberry [rowanberry] to the cows' tails. They would make a small ring of the roundberry and tie it with a red rag, and slip it in as far as they could on the cow's tail.... That was done as a 'protection' against the butter being taken from the milk during the year."

Rowan wood also serves in divination. It is likely that the Norse carved runes from rowan wood. A rowan wand is used in divining the future. A fire of rowan wood casts spells and anticipates danger by summoning underworldly spirits, not all of them benevolent.

It may be an auspicious time to consider and appreciate the chthonic forces at hand in your life. Such forces stir within the human realm, bringing vitality and even healing and guidance. In the slow, steady pace of the underworld, you may be dreaming or "seeing" in new ways, prompted by otherworldly forces stirring within your unconscious mind. In this way, the presence of the rowan is a means of divining your next step, goal, relationship, or endeavour. Usually, there is no great drama or vision, just a gentle and pervasive shift in perspective and inclination. Like the rowan's red berries in winter, changes accord with the rhythms of nature.

Today's Oracle 11th April 2021

Hammer god (Scepter of Authority and Choice)

The Hammer God is primarily a tribal father god, wielding his hammer or mallet as a symbol of authority and command. He is mature and kindly, yet his presence signifies the need to consider options wisely and make sound, discriminating decisions.

Invoking the Qualities of Wise and Just Decisions

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you need to make wise and careful decisions regarding your own resources and activities, and perhaps those affecting a large number of people, such as your extended family or community. Others are looking to you for guidance, leadership, and support.

The Hammer God is primarily a tribal father god, wielding his hammer or mallet as a symbol of authority and command. Of mature age and kindly disposition, he is the most good-natured and benevolent of the major male deities. Frequently holding a pot or goblet or standing near wine barrels, he is also linked with the inexhaustible cauldron of the Otherworld. His Celtic name is Sucellus, meaning "The Good Striker," and his presence brings wise and judicious decision making, especially in community affairs.

The Hammer God had widespread influence throughout the Rhineland and ancient Gaul, extending southward to the mouth of the Rhone. Over two hundred stone and bronze representations have been found, largely along the Rhine and the Rhone River valleys. His mature and kind appearance lends a benign and fatherly presence. In the image he not only carries a large club but his erect penis depicts power and robust fertility. He holds a hammer or mallet, his signature attribute among many Celtic tribes. Often the hammer is crudely carved; sometimes it is realistically portrayed, with a long-shafted handle and metal blade. Occasionally, a double-ax, suggestive of unlimited authority, is present along with the hammer. The Hammer God is so ubiquitously associated with the hammer that sometimes his presence is marked by the symbol of the hammer alone.

The most prominent father-god of Irish mythology is the Daghdha, meaning "the good god." He is one of the Tuatha De Danann, the people of the goddess Danu. Like the Hammer God, he wields an enormous club, suggestive of authority, fertility, and perhaps its role as an agent of renewal. Another of the Daghdha's attributes is his possession of an enormous, inexhaustible cauldron, also associated with the otherworldly powers of the mother goddesses.

In a similar manner, the Gaulish and Rhineland Hammer God is also associated with pots, goblets, and wine barrels, particularly in wine-producing regions like Burgundy. Though always signified as holding a hammer or mallet over one of his shoulders, he sometimes carries a pot or goblet as well, or stands with wine barrels at his feet. This association assumes his protection of the grape harvest and the production of wine.

You must consider the situation perspicaciously, carefully examining the circumstances and options, as well as the possible outcomes of your present actions. You may need to be very patient, waiting for information to form a discernible pattern. Only then can you make prudent decisions. The fatherly presence of the Hammer God signals an auspicious opportunity to better your own circumstances and the circumstances of those for whom you are responsible. If you take sufficient time and care to listen to all sides of the discussion and weigh all the possible outcomes, you will not only be successful but garner the esteem of your family and community.

Today"s Oracle 10th April 2021

Cauldron of the Otherworld (Alchemy)

The brewing cauldron symbolizes the goddess's powers of replenishment in everyday life. In the brewing of earth's elements, alchemy and medicine are formed. The cauldron conveys healing to the body and emotions, and wisdom to actions. Lost aspects of the self may be returned.

Invoking Healing and Replenishing the Spirit.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are likely to attract the return of health, vitality, and optimism to your life. If you have been feeling weary, ill, or depressed, you are likely to feel more active, energetic, confident, and cheerful in the weeks ahead. The brewing cauldron signifies the potential to heal and replenish your emotional and spiritual well-being.

The brewing cauldron resides in the Otherworld and appears on the earth to heal and give wisdom. In her semblance as a hag, the goddess tends the cauldron, adding elements of the earth and stars to preserve the ancient brew. Mythological warriors travelled to the Otherworld to seize the sacred chalice or cauldron to convey it to the Middle World. The Cauldron of the Otherworld symbolises the goddess's powers of healing and replenishment to everyday life.

The cauldron conveys gifts from the Otherworld to restore health, replenish vitality, and grant wisdom and prophesy. It derives its supernatural power from the womb of the goddess, the inexhaustible cauldron of creation. Through the art of alchemy and healing, the brewing cauldron of the Otherworld brings healing to creatures of the Middle World, or those dwelling on the earth.

Archaeological evidence and mythology portray cauldrons, pots, buckets, chalices, and vats as sacred symbols indicating replenishment, prosperity, and abundance. Precious objects including brooches, weapons, shields, and cauldrons - cast as offerings - have been found in lakes and at the source of springs. Domestic and temple statues found in Britain, France, and Germany frequently portray the Celtic goddesses Rosmerta and Nantosuelta, and occasionally their consorts Sucellus and Mercury, as holding or accompanied by various bowls, pots, and goblets. In the wine-producing regions along the Rhone and Rhine Rivers, the containers seem to hold wine, a supernatural elixir associated with the blood of birth and regeneration. In Irish and Welsh myth and legend, cauldrons and chalices appear frequently as symbols of replenishment, rebirth, and inspiration. In the story of Taliesin's origins, as retold here by John Matthews, Ceridwen the Hag brews a supernatural potion for her son:

"In the time of Arthur there lived in the region of Llyn Tegrid a nobleman named Tegid Foel [the Bald]. And he had a wife who was named Ceridwen, who was skilled in the magical arts. Tegrid and Ceridwen had two children: one who was so ugly that they called him Morfran [Great Crow]. The other child was a daughter, whose name was Creirwy [Dear One], and she was as fair as Morfran was dark. Ceridwen thought that her son would never be accepted in the world because of his hideous looks ... so she resolved to boil a Cauldron of Inspiration and Wisdom according to the Books of the Fíerllt, and the method of it was this: she must first gather certain herbs on certain days and hours, and put them in the Cauldron, which must then be kept boiling for a year and a day, until three drops of Inspiration were obtained.

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Spiritually, the presence of the brewing cauldron signals the return of elements of your essential nature that have been lost through harmful, neglectful, or wrong actions in the past. In the days and weeks ahead, you may recall personal qualities and hopes long abandoned. Some may have been cast off in childhood by trauma or disappointments. Others may have been left undeveloped, or discarded as impractical, ridiculous, frivolous, or childish. Still others may have been corrupted through lies and self-deceit. Having drawn this oracle, some of these qualities and hopes may now be returning to you.

Today's Oracle 9th April 2021

Charioteer / The Chariot (Rescue from Danger)

The charioteer is a loyal companion who comes quickly to rescue us from danger. While the warrior fights, the charioteer keeps the chariot slightly apart from the fray, helping the warrior make a hasty retreat. The charioteer's qualities are trustworthiness and loyalty.

Invoking the Qualities of Trustworthiness and Loyalty.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting loyal companionship and good counsel. Perhaps you are in a leadership role and you need discerning yet supportive feedback. Perhaps your endeavours are risky and you need cautious and discriminating advice. Perhaps your life is so out of control or in transition that you temporarily need to have a trustworthy person make decisions on your behalf. Perhaps it is sufficient just knowing that others are available to assist you, even if you rarely call on them. just talking things through with someone sincerely interested in your welfare can be greatly stabilizing and heartening.

A chariot and team of horses pull the sun across the sky. In the blessed isles, golden chariots seem to rise "with the tide towards the sun." The charioteer's art is to stand loyal to the champion in the heat of battle. Withdrawing the war chariot slightly apart from the fray, the charioteer stands ready to rescue the champion if the battle presses too dangerously. The charioteer's qualities are intense personal loyalty and trustworthiness, especially amid the fervour of turmoil and change.

The Celts were terrifying fighters, much feared by the Romans. Combining the swift movements of the calvary with two-wheeled war chariots, the chariots raced between the lines and harassed the enemy. The screaming of instruments, the howling of warriors, the rattle of chariot wheels, the neighing of horses, and the confusion were ghastly. Darting back and forth between the lines of comrade and foe, each chariot carried a warrior, charioteer, and weapons behind well-trained horses. Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico ruefully bemoans the charioteers' skill. As the chariots veered close to the enemy lines, the warriors hurled spears at Roman soldiers and gouged them with swords. The warriors then jumped from the chariots to fight on foot while the steady charioteers remained with their chariots poised at a distance, ready to retrieve their masters safely from the fray.

The war chariot is readied for combat, the horses dressed and eager, and the warrior "warped" with the frenzy of the battle. The loyalty of the charioteer steadies the conflict. The charioteer casts a spell over the horses and his comrades-in-arms to disguise them and make ready their presence. From the Ulster Cycle, the story of the champion Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster, and his charioteer, Laeg, epitomizes the loyalty and readiness of the charioteer:

"The sickle chariot, friend Laeg," Cúchulainn said, "can you yoke W" . . . The charioteer rose up then and donned his charioteer's war-harness ... of stitched deer's leather, light as a breath, kneaded supple and smooth not to hinder his free arm movements .. . his feathery outer mantle [and] his plated, four-pointed, crested battle cap.... To set him apart from his master, he placed the charioteer's sign on his brow with his hand: a circle of deep yellow like a single red-gold strip of burning gold shaped on an anvil's edge. He took the long horse-spancel and the ornamented goad in his right hand. In his left hand he grasped the steed-ruling reins that give the charioteer control. Then he threw the decorated iron armour-plate over the horses, covering them from head to foot with spears and spit- points, blades, and barbs. Every inch of the chariot bristled. Every angle and corner, front and rear, was a tearing-place."

The charioteer's great strength is his or her trustworthiness and readiness to help. The more stressed. your situation, the more important is reliable counsel and the loyalty of comrades and friends. Choose your confidants wisely, based on their personal qualities, and then seek their counsel, support, and assistance.

Today's Oracle 8th April 2021

New Moon (Wisdoms of the Heart)

The new moon represents the wisdom of the heart, which come with emotional and spiritual maturity. Spiritual traditions everywhere tell of the compassionate wisdom (or intelligence) of the heart. Knowledge is acquired from the implicit and tacit meanings of things in their essence.

Invoking Tenderness and Compassionate Knowing.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are learning to see with the eye of the heart. There are meanings, understandings, and discernments known to the heart alone, and rarely seen or understood by the intellect, the discriminating mind.

According to the old traditions, the moon is revered as the queen of the night, beauteous and fair. On seeing the new moon rising in the night, the men and women of old Scotland and Ireland bow gently, bending a knee in admiration. "Hail to thee, thou new moon, guiding jewel of gentleness!" Shining in the night sky as the queen maiden of guidance and good fortune, the new moon brings graciousness and maidenly joys to daily life. She signifies tenderness, compassion, and the intelligence of a loving heart.

Along with reverence and rites concerning the sun, stars, and fire, lunar worship is a common feature of the old ways of the Celtic people. Alexander Carmichael, recording the prayers and customs of the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides in the late nineteenth century, observed these vanishing customs and rites, still then extant among the country people.

In the Island of Barra of the Outer Hebrides, the old men and women "make obeisance to [the new moon] as to a great chief. The women curtsy gracefully and men bow low, raising their bonnets reverently. The bow of the men is peculiar, partaking somewhat of a curtsy of the women, the left knee being bent and the right drawn forward towards the middle of the left leg in a curious but not inelegant manner." Carmichael records several invocations and prayers hailing the new moon, the jewel of the night sky:

"Hail to thee, thou new moon, guiding jewel of gentleness!

I am bending to thee my knee, I am offering thee my love.

I am bending to thee my knee, I am giving thee my hand,

I am lifting to thee mine eye, O new moon of the seasons.

Hail to thee, thou new moon, joyful maiden of my love!

Hail to thee, thou new moon, Joyful maiden of the graces!

Thou art travelling in thy course.

Thou art steering the full tides.

Thou art illuming to us thy face, O new moon of the seasons.

Thou queen-maiden of guidance.

Thou queen-maiden of good fortune.

Thou queen-maiden my beloved.

Thou new moon of the seasons!"

When you begin to see with the eye of the heart, it will be as though a veil has been lifted before you. You will see more deeply into the nature of things, relationships, and events. Your discriminating mind will relax. With your actions more in accord with natural patterns around you, you will interfere less, allowing others and events to mature according to their own design and necessity. Your actions will be more secure and compassionate, supportive of what is implicitly good and natural. In time, these softer wisdom of the heart will bring you greater wisdom and nobility of character.

Today's Oracle 7th April 2021

Faery Wind (Air)

The faery winds and whirlwinds of late summer burst forth suddenly and take a part of the harvest to the Otherworld. The winds signify the need to offer a part of our resources to the spirit world. The winds urge us to avoid indulgence and to serve our communities generously.

Invoking Exchange with the Spirit World.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your life will be enhanced by giving your money, resources, and time to worthy charitable and spiritual endeavours. Within the Christian tradition, tithing is a traditional - and often misunderstood - term for giving back to creation from the fruits of your labours. Numerous indigenous cultures have elaborate rituals for redistributing wealth. In many of the world's religious traditions, merit is acquired by honouring holy men and women with food and alms. In this oracle, the faery winds signify the otherworldly taking of a portion of the harvest to support the needs of the spirit world.

The whirlwinds of late summer are the faery hosts out making their rounds. The whirlwinds come on the loveliest days of late summer at harvest time. Sweeping everything into their path, they pass over the countryside as if searching for hay, corn, or even animals. Haystacks are hit and lifted into the skies. Heaps of corn disappear into the faery winds. Sometimes men and women out harvesting blow away, too. The faery hosts raise the high winds to take what they need.

In Ireland, the old people say that it is the faery hosts who raise the high winds. Nodding their heads or tipping their caps at the wind as if greeting a lady, a small whirlwind is thought to be "the gentry," the faeries making their customary rounds about the countryside. A high wind, though, is fearsome and unlucky. Even if you are not blown away, it is unlucky to get a "blast." Grazing horses are known to snort to blow the "good people" out of their way. A characteristic story comes from County Donegal:

"I myself have seen a faery whirlwind on a summer day take all the hay of a holding into the firmament. They often raised high winds in harvest-time to get the corn they wanted. One year long ago a man named Paddy Bhride living east of here at Fál Garbh had the devil's own lot of corn sown - as much as the rest of the town land all together. When he had all his corn reaped and stooped there came a nigh of high wind and Paddy went out [and] there was not as much left as would sprinkle Holy Water on a corpse."

The faery hosts raise the high winds to take what they need of the harvest. As the winds sweep across the winnowed fields, they suddenly can pull a haystack into the sky. A man or woman, horses, and cows can be swept away, too. Sometimes the faeries speak or laugh as they pass across the fields, departing with an acerbic bit of faery whimsy:

"One fine autumn day long ago, a gang of men were reaping oats, and three women were binding the oats after them. They heard a whirlwind coming into the field with force. The women stood looking at the whirlwind. It was lifting the oats, taking it up into the sky, and whirling and whirling all the time. One of the women stooped, and pulled a wisp of grass from the side of the ridge, and when the whirlwind was making for them: "Here," she said, on purpose, "take that instead of me!" throwing the wisp at it. "Aw," said the whirlwind, "you grey goose's shit, it wasn't you I was after!""

Because the spirit world constantly acts on your behalf, it is honourable to return a measure of your resources to it and to those who support prayerful and spiritual activities on your behalf. The faery winds urge us to avoid indulgence and to cultivate less attachment to material possessions. By consciously giving of your money and time, a natural sense of exchange and respect for the spirit world and all life will gradually extend to everything you do.

Today's Oracle 6th April 2021

Pooka (The Trickster)

From the Pooka, a goblin and trickster of the Otherworld, expect the unusual. The Pooka is known to take humans for a ride and dump them. He is not what he appears to be. Be open to unforeseen experiences, circumstances, or insight.

Invoking the Unexpected, Curious, and Whimsical.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may expect the unexpected. Tricksters are natural shape-shifters, so the Pooka might show up suddenly in many guises, as unforeseen events, unanticipated circumstances, unique people, or abrupt changes in direction. The Pooka's signaling characteristics are its sudden appearance (as if from nowhere), feeling tricked into doing something you wouldn't ordinarily do (against your better judgment), and perhaps being shaken by a series of seemingly dangerous or reckless events. Despite their unlikely appearance, these unsettling experiences may awaken you to new choices and opportunities. When you least expect it, the Pooka has the pesky habit of picking you up and "dumping" you into new circumstances.

Pooka can turn itself into a horse, a goat, a dog, a cross between a mule, a bullock, and a big black pig, or even a large wool fleece racing about the countryside in the manner of a horse. If an unwary traveller accepts a lift or the Pooka sneaks under and between a man's legs, it may take him for a furious ride atop cliffs and by way of wild and dangerous places. At daybreak, the Pooka tires of the chase and abruptly deposits the rider in a wayward spot. The Pooka is heard chuckling gleefully as it gallops out of sight.

The Pooka is the trickster among the Irish and Welsh goblins and is known to take many forms. Always rough and unkempt, the Pooka appears as a horse, a goat, a dog, or occasionally an eagle the size of a horse. Sometimes the Pooka appears as a ghastly-looking creature resembling a horse with great big long horns or an unknown mix of several animals. Appearing as a horse, it may sneak under a man and between his legs and then take off galloping. At the cave under the Dun of Clopook, there is "a spirit of a Pooka in this cave which frequently [presents] itself in the form of a fleece of wool, which issued from the cave and roamed over the field with astonishing celerity. Its motions were accompanied by a buzzing sound.

Pookas frequently appear around Halloween and May Eve (April 30), when the veil between the supernatural and human worlds grows thin and otherworldly beings and humans may pass more easily to and fro. Occasionally, a kindly Pooka rescues a man or woman from the faery host or other unseen dangers. More typically, though, the trickster Pooka appears to a lost and weary traveller to offer the man a welcome lift home - or somehow manages to get the man on its back. And "when he was on his back, [the Pooka] would race over the tops of cliffs frightening the man riding on him, and when the Pooka was tired of going with him, would bring him back again to the place where he was before or some lonely spot." The Pooka may laugh heartily as it gallops out of sight. A typical story from County Kerry tells of a saint who was caught out in the woods at night by a Pooka:

"The saint wasn't long more in the place, when a pooka horse came up to him. The pooka horse told him to come on his back and that he would bring him home. The saint was glad to hear the pooka saying that, and he thanked the pooka and said that he would go up on his back. Anyhow he got up on the pooka's back, and the pooka started running wild around the wood. [He] ran into big heaps of briars and bushes. The poor saint couldn't come off his back at all, and the pooka jumped across big glens and big holes and every place worse than another and the saint thought that he would be killed every minute. Anyway the pooka kept going on that way till morning, and he let the saint come off his back when it was bright day.

When the saint was on the ground again, he took a good rest before he started away again because indeed there was a right good fright on him after the night before."

The Pooka is the trickster or prankster of the Celtic world, making mischief with unsuspecting people especially when they feel lost or tired. While the Pooka may frighten and disorient, no one is harmed. Without the Pooka's intervention, you might not have been able to see clearly the circumstances now before you.

Today's Oracle 5th April 2021

Faeries of Mischief and Play

Faeries are mischievous, playful, and like to poke fun at human seriousness. They favour mischief and merrymaking. Their presence brings playfulness, frolic, mischief, humour, laughter, and fun into life.

Invoking the Qualities of Laughter, humour, and Fun.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, watch out for fun. Laughter and humour are great medicines. Laughter soothes the spirit and ignites the body with ecstasy. Cutting deftly to the quick, laughing at yourself shatters incrimination and morbid introspection. In strained or new circumstances, humour breaks the ice, because people love to laugh deeply where spirits meet gently, without formalities. Laughter and playfulness have a natural buoyancy that joins easily to joy.

The faeries find humans curiously earnest and somber, and therefore pleasantly amusing. By playing tricks on us, they offset our seriousness with their mischief and humour. They're unusually fond of confounding humans with merry pranks, unexplainable movement and swapping of objects, and fiddlin' merry dance tunes beneath the house. The faeries' presence brings playfulness, frolic, folly, synchronicity, laughter, and fun.

In their own realm in castles beneath the ground, the faeries live lives filled with laughter and merrymaking. Nothing is lacking. Food and drink are plentiful. Their lives are joyous and carefree and without pain, sickness, or suffering. Time seems to be endless and aging is slow, if at all. The faeries are blessed with joy and merriment. Descendants of the goddess Danu, their supernatural qualities supply them plentifully, except for a few missing things that are uniquely of the human Middle World. Two of these are milk and butter, which they steal remorselessly.

Human life seems overly serious and ponderous to the faeries. Humans seem to be in a kind of trance, a stupor in which things seem to be as they appear. So to trick us out of over seriousness, the faeries play pranks on us - traditionally moving the byre (the barn) a few paces, stealing objects and leaving something else in its place, swapping a favourite cow and replacing it with an otherworldly cow, conversing with humans from rocks and trees, leaving gold coins about, and playing gay music loud enough to be heard above the ground. The faeries' mischief reveals the "folly of things" and offsets our seriousness with humour and befuddlement. When we take their pranks seriously, they are filled the more with mirth. By following the faeries' mischievous example, human life would seem less ponderous and enlivened with playfulness, laughter, and lots more synchronicity. In a story from Donegal in Ireland, a man gets "magic from the faeries":

"One fair day he was the only man of the neighbouring town- lands who had not a pig to sell. Devil a thing did he do but go into a field and pull a bunch of yellow ragweed and make a pig of it. He went to the fair and his pig was the first sold that day. Well and good. When the buyer was taking the pig home he took it across a place where water was running across the road. Immediately the pig crossed the water [and it changed into a heap of yellow ragweed. The buyer turned back and made for the fellow and caught him by the shoulders, but the other merely swung around in the street and let the arm go with him. The buyer was frightened out of his life and ran off as quickly as he could, but before he went the fellow paid him his money. When the buyer was approaching Killybegs he put his hand in his pocket to see if he had got the right change, and there was nothing there but horse-dung!"

Where is the laughter and fun in your life? How long has it been since you laughed so hard your sides ached? When did you last laugh at yourself? Are you taking anything so seriously that it distorts the fullness of your life? Is the humour of the human condition escaping your notice? The faeries of mischief and humour poke fun at human seriousness so as to bring us more joy. Drawing this oracle suggests that you are approaching the frontier of laughter, merriment, and fun.

Today's Oracle 4th April 2021

 Lap Dog, Hound of the goddess (Intimacy with Self)

The lap dog brings healing and renewal to the inmost self. Old habits and traumas may resolve effortlessly. The lap dog's presence signifies an auspicious time to bring loving attention to our deep emotional and spiritual natures.

Invoking the Quality of Loving Attention.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting the benevolent forces of the spirit world to transform your life from within. It is a graced and auspicious time to heal and strengthen the inmost self. Old, deep wounds may be soothed and resolved without trauma or even conscious attention. Harmful patterns and habits may dissolve effortlessly. Troublesome relationships may clear up, slip away easily, or clear up in healthier and more beneficial ways.

The hound of the goddess conveys gentle companionship to the innermost promptings of the human spirit. Unlike the harrowing hound of hell in Mediterranean mythology, the Celtic hound is kind and helpful, usually sitting at the goddess's feet, resting in her lap, gazing adoringly, or even nursing from her breasts. Associated with the regenerative powers of the Otherworld, the lap dog brings healing and loving attention to our deep emotional and spiritual natures.

A magical encounter with otherworldly hounds is found in the First Branch of the Welsh Mabinogion, when Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed, is out hunting with his own pack of hounds:

"As he listened to the baying of his pack [of hounds] he perceived the cry of another pack, a different cry which was advancing towards him. He spied a clearing in the forest, a level field, and as his pack reached the edge of this field he saw the other pack with a stag running before it, and near the centre of the clearing this other pack overtook the stag and brought it down. Pwyll at once remarked on the pack's colour, without bothering to look at the stag, for no hound he had ever seen was the colour of these: a dazzling shining white with red ears, and as the whiteness of the dogs shone so did the redness of their ears."

The hounds of the goddess epitomize the domestic dog at its best affectionate, watchful, attentive, and loyal. Allied with the healing powers of the Otherworld, the hounds convey the gentle and regenerative powers of the spirit world to heal and restore. Throughout the Celtic world, like the goddess herself, hounds are symbols of nourishment and sustenance, and especially of companionship, even accompanying the goddess in the sacred hunt. The popular Celtic goddess of the North Sea, Nehalennia, was especially favoured by seafarers who invoked her protection on their hazardous crossings. Nehalennia is never without her constant companions, an otherworldly hound or two, sitting on her lap and heedful of her wishes.

Ever vigilant and faithful, the hounds bring the reassurance of divine favour and trustworthy intimacy with the healing and restorative powers of the spirit world.

You have only to let the changes occur naturally. You are asked to trust, allowing changes to unfold freely. The natural cycle of death and regeneration are working quietly on your behalf. Try not to interfere through over activity, thinking too much, wallowing in your troubles or insecurities, or planning the rest of your life. Taking time to meditate and not hurrying may give more spaciousness to the process of change.

Drawing this oracle suggests that the spirit world is now working in a very personal way to assist you. It is as if you are getting a little extra attention right now. Positive changes are already moving within you.

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.