Today's Oracle 4th April 2020

Leprechauns (Earth)

Leprechauns represent the playful and resourceful qualities of the earth. By poking fun at our desire for riches, the leprechauns teach us detachment and equanimity in relationship to material wealth and status.

Invoking the Qualities of Playfulness and Mirth.

The leprechaun is a small, mischievous, and wizened man who often appears dressed in fanciful clothes such as a red vest, green trousers, and a conical hat. Aligned with the otherworldly powers of the subterranean earth, he knows its hidden treasures and is therefore very rich. When encountered cobbling in a lonely place, humans torment him to relinquish his golden guinea purse or lead them to a crock of gold. Through cleverness and trickery, he typically outwits his captors and escapes.

The leprechaun is known by many local names throughout Ireland. All manner of similar dwarves and gnomes inhabit the stories of western Europe, especially Germany and France, particularly Celtic Brittany in France. The leprechaun often lives in the ground or in rock caverns and caves. Though commonly connected with the faeries or known as the cobbler to the faeries, the leprechaun is a singular otherworldly being associated with the underground and its riches, especially gold and hidden treasure.

Most commonly, a leprechaun appears as a small and mischievous man, a wee cobbler, who possesses an inexhaustible purse of golden coins or hidden treasure. Typically encountered at the thresholds of time, just before dawn or after night has fallen, a leprechaun will often be dressed like a country gentleman of the last century, wearing a fanciful red vest with gold buttons or a gentleman's dress coat with large buttons, tight fitting trousers or knee-breeches, and curious shoes with large metal buckles or boots with curled-up and pointed toes. Occasionally, a leprechaun will befriend a poor farmer or a child by leading them to hidden treasure or leaving a guinea in an old chest each night. Some leprechauns live merrily in the wine cellars of old and noble families - as long as good wine is kept in the cellar. Nonetheless, most leprechauns are seen cobbling a single shoe in a hedgerow or out in the bog. When chased, he may disappear as though swallowed by the ground.

A common leprechaun story tells of a man, or occasionally a woman, who catches a leprechaun cobbling on a single shoe and makes a "close prisoner" of him. Until he tells where the gold is, the leprechaun has no chance of getting away. Taking the man out to an old ring fort where the faeries live, the leprechaun shows him a big ragwort, and says, "Dig under this weed tomorrow morning and you'll get a crock of gold." "Wait," he says, "and we'll mark it. Take off my red garter and tie it around the [ragwort], and you'll know where to dig in the morning." The man does exactly that and lets the wee man go. When he comes out in the morning, there is a red garter on every ragwort in the field, thousands of them, exactly the same size and pattern.

Even with a tight grasp about a leprechaun, the wee man can only be trapped by an unbroken stare. Many stories of leprechauns tell of his imitating a lover's voice from behind, alerting the captor to some alleged danger, creating a ruckus, and the like. A likely story from Ireland goes like this:

"The clocharachán [a local name for a leprechaun] makes shoes inside a little rock cavern and he has sparán na scillinge: every  time you'd look. the purse there would be a shilling there. You'd seldom see the clocharachán and it is very difficult to catch him. A man heard that he was in some rock cavern or other. He came upon him one evening and gripped him firmly.

",give me your purse! " said the matt.

"Let me go," said the clocharachán, "and I'll give you the purse."

If you took our eye off him he'd get away from you.

"Get a red-hot spit," said the clocharachán, "and stick it in his backside!"

The man looked all around him and the clocharachán departed and took his purse away with him!"

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting the playful and resourceful qualities of the earth. The leprechaun is boundlessly rich. Each time he opens his silken purse, he finds another golden guinea. Yet his presence often has a double meaning. On the one hand, he beckons the rich resources of the earth toward you, tempts you, and may bountifully reward you. On the other hand, he often turns your attachment toward wealth into a standing joke in which you are the principal player.

The presence of this oracle suggests that you are being tempted by material resources in the form of money, great opportunities, or a "deal." These material resources may come, but more likely, they are ephemeral. Being a natural trickster and mischief-maker, there is no telling what the leprechaun's influence will be. There is no human logic predicting his rare gifts of hidden treasure. There is only a slim hope that your present circumstances will result in making you rich or famous.

Spiritually, the tempting yet ephemeral riches of the leprechaun invite you to cultivate detachment and equanimity with regard to material treasure.

Today's Oracle 3rd April 2020

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.

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."

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.

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 2nd April 2020

Will O' the Wisp - Jack O'Lantern (Fire)

Will O' the Wisp is too bad for heaven and too clever for hell. He therefore forever wanders the countryside with a wisp of light. Using the creativity of fire unwisely or selfishly brings misfortune. Seek to use creativity and talent with generosity and compassion.

Invoking the Use of Creativity and Talent.

Will O' the Wisp was a poor and quick-witted man who ill used his talents taunting his neighbours, including the devil. Some say he was an awful man who always got the upper hand with his neighbours, and even with the devil. When Willy died, he was welcome neither in heaven nor hell. He still wanders about the Irish bogs at night with a lantern or his nose afire. His presence signifies the fires of creativity and talent and their right use in the world.

Mysterious lights are seen on the bogs in Ireland at night. Holding a wisp, a lantern, or with his own nose ablaze to illumine his way in the dark, poor Willy the Wisp (also known as Jack O' Lantern) forever wanders the countryside. "Willy the Wisp ... refused admittance of heaven and hell, was given a wisp for light by the devil. And Willy goes about lonesome places from that day to this and the wisp with him."" Willy the Wisp was too bad for heaven and too clever for hell.

When alive, he had been a terrible bad man who played spiteful tricks on his neighbours. His wicked eye was said to have the power to turn a person into a goat. Carried away with his own cleverness, though, he taunted the devil and

"Got the upper hand of Old Nick in every deal. At long last he died and was sent down to hell. When the devil saw him coming he ordered all the doors and windows to be securely locked and bolted. Poor Will walked up and down expecting to be let in at any moment. Losing patience at long last he went over and began peeping in through the bars. What do you say if his nose didn't catch fire! But [he had/ no [chancel of getting in. The poor fellow had to come back to Ireland and he is wandering up and down the country ever since with the tip of his nose on fire. That's the light you see when he's nthe bog.... The fire on the tip of his nose is so strong that all the water in the ocean wouldn't extinguish it. He'll be wandering about night after night till Doomsday and then if the devil doesn't let him in I don't know what will become of him."

Never follow Willy's meandering light in the bog. He will lead a man or woman astray.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your creativity and talent may be going astray. A wise person uses his or her creativity wisely and unselfishly. Are you undervaluing your talents and skills and therefore undermining your endeavours? Are you withholding your strengths? hoarding them? trivializing them? neglecting them? overlooking their potential and not attending to their development? Are you supporting your talents through proper diet, exercise, and rest?

Unwise or selfish use of creativity and talents brings misfortune. Wise and generous use of talents brings peace of mind and contentment. Compassionate use of talents brings much joy to the heart. In seeking to develop your talents and how to use them it is wise to seek guidance from those who have manifested their own talents in creative and generous ways. Such guidance will be inspiring and sound, because it is based on having already wrestled with the tensions of ambition and impatience, success and failure, giving and receiving, and passion and resistance.

Today's Oracle 1st April 2020

Faery Lover (Sensuality)

The faery lover (suitor) is a beautiful man or woman who comes (often in the night) to rouse and seduce us. The faery lover's presence signifies unexpected pleasure and delight, and sometimes danger.

Invoking the Qualities of Pleasure, Delight, and Danger.

A faery lover disguises his or her identity and appears as a beautiful man or woman. Approaching by night or in secluded places, the faery lover courts the intended with poetry and song, plays games that delight the senses, or promises riches and happiness as the rewards of marriage. Sometimes a human visits a faery castle beneath the ground and meets a comely lover there. These otherworldly liaisons are short-lived, usually foiled by amiable but cunning trickery.

Passionate love affairs often take place between otherworldly lovers and humans in old Celtic myths. Gods and goddesses seduce human men and woman, usually bringing them back with them into their realms. Children born of these unions are exceptionally beautiful and possess extraordinary powers. In the Irish folk stories, supernatural lovers are typically faeries who come to court and seduce human men and women, especially those who are forlorn or cut off from society."' In Scottish tales, the lovers are faeries, selkies, or beautiful seal men from the sea. Always, the lovers are comely and seductive, appearing as human. A selkie lover slips into a lonely man's bed by night to make love tenderly.

In a typical Irish tale, a young orphan girl encounters a handsome faery man while alone: "Day in and day out, she is driven out to mind the cows on every windblown headland and down to Elly Dunes as well. One day she was down there, a young lad came up to her and joined in the conversation with her and when she came home that evening, her stepmother said: 'You must have been playing a lot today, you look terribly worn out.' 'I wasn't doing anything,' says she." The next day and next, she goes out with the cows and each day she fails the more. When finally she confesses the tryst to her stepmother, she advises: "'When he comes to you tomorrow ... say that there is a very sick calf at home and ask what would cure it.' So the lad told her: `Tell your mother that hen dung, stale urine, a black-hafted knife and last year's burned palm, all mixed together and sprinkled on the calf, will do the trick."' Using the magic potion to get rid of the faery man instead, "the stepmother made up a posset and she gave it to the orphan girl." The next day when the girl met the lad, she had the ... bottle in her pocket. "When the lad sat down beside her, she splashed some of the posset over him. He rose up in a mist and disappeared westwards out over Achill."

The old mythic tales of encounters between Celtic gods and goddesses and human lovers are boldly and playfully erotic. Unlike these ancient stories, tales told in more recent times are sensual and erotic, but rarely directly sexual. Rather than welcomed, otherworldly lovers are typically feared and driven away. Humans rarely visit the faery realms to find lovers there. With passions no longer easily shared between the supernatural world and the human inhabitants of the Middle World, the bold passions of the supernatural realms stay hidden in the Otherworld.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the sensual and sexual side of your nature is wanting attention and care. Your body itself may be wanting deeper and more intimate expression. This oracle suggests that you may be wanting and attracting new (or renewed) relationships that are both loving and fulfilling. Exploring the possibility of a new relationship with your imagination may help to make you more receptive. These new or renewed relationships will bring greater physical and emotional vitality. By being open to new situations (and not repelling them), new acquaintanceships may develop into intimate encounters, friendships, or even partnerships. The faery lover tends to approach quietly and gently, but unexpectedly.

The oracle also suggests that now may be a good time to nourish the normal sensual and sexual needs of the body with comfort, pleasure, and delight. Comforting the body's needs will bring you joy and strength.

Today's Oracle 31st March 2020

Banishing of Snakes (Loss of Hope/Regenerative Power)

The break in connection with the powers governed by the Otherworld is symbolized in the banishing of snakes (attributed to St. Patrick) in Ireland. This oracle signifies a loss of a vital connection with the powers of the physical and natural world and invites reconnection.

Invoking Breakthrough and Reconnection with the Natural World.

The break in the connection with the powers of the Otherworld is symbolized in the banishing of the snakes, attributed to St. Patrick in Ireland. As snakes are a well-known symbol of the goddesses, especially mother goddesses such as Brigit, the popular belief in their banishment represents a break with the primal and regenerative authority of the earth and the Otherworld. The banishing of snakes signifies the loss of hope and regenerative power and invites reconnection.

Croagh Patrick in County Mayo is the traditional site associated with St. Patrick's banishing of the snakes from Ireland. The conical mountain, tipped with white quartz, stands majestically overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Clew Bay. Also known as the Reek, the mountain commands attention and has been a site of religious activities since ancient times.

In a delightfully Irish manner, ancient and Christian traditions intertwine at Croagh Patrick. Some thirty thousand pilgrims still come annually to ascend the mountain, circuit the stations for prayer, or join the festivities on the first Sunday in August (or the last Sunday in July), the day traditionally associated with Lughnasa, the harvest festival in honour of the warrior god Lugh. By some reports, since the mountain is associated with fertility, even. into the mid-nineteenth century only women were allowed to ascend the steep slope to the summit. There the women, and especially those who were childless, slept in the "bed" of the goddess in hope of obtaining fertility.

Many legends associated with St. Patrick depict his struggle with a snake goddess, symbolizing Brigit, and commonly known as the devil's mother, the Caora or the Caorthanach. By tradition, the mountain goddess attacks Patrick as a great bird and later as a monstrous snake. He banishes her from the mountain, but she escapes to a lake at the side of the mountain, reappearing at Lough Derg, County Donegal, to attack Patrick once again.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are probably experiencing a loss of energy, vitality, and generativity in the world. The Banishing of Snakes signifies a disconnection with the primal elements of the earth responsible for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Disconnected in this way, your body tends to feel limp and lethargic, and your emotions are likely to be depressive.

Reestablishing a stable connection with the transformative powers of the Otherworld typically involves a lengthy and steady process of recovery. If severely depleted, your physical body and even your emotions may require a slow rhythm to heal and revitalize. You may also have to break strong personal habits that deplete your energy and health. Many factors are involved in this process, including attention to proper diet and exercise, adequate sleep and rest, time spent outdoors, and sustaining a nurturing social and emotional life. If you have a positive and appreciative attitude toward your natural environment, your recovery will be quicker and stronger. It may also be necessary to look at ways in which you may be dismissing your own physical and sexual needs or participating in addictive habits that undermine your physical and emotional vitality.

Today's Oracle 30th March 2020

The Morrigán, the Raven goddess (Chaos)

The Morrigán signals the presence of sex, lovemaking, chaos, and often death to a particular way of being. Chaos clears the way for transformation. Often appearing in disguise, her qualities are confusion, chaos, destruction or death, and rapid change.

Invoking the Quality of Rapid Change.

The Morrigán presides at thresholds of change, namely conflict, life and death, and sexuality. On the eve of the battle, in the twilight between the armies, the Morrigán hails the victor in the shape of a great crow or raven, screaming encouragement to the favoured and death to foes. Voraciously sexual, her couplings with gods and heroes render protection and fertility to the land. Her presence signifies confusion, destruction, and, especially, rapid change.

After the Tuatha De Danann had defeated the Fomorians, a demon-like race inhabiting Ireland, and cleared away the slaughter, the Morrigán or Mórrígu (meaning the "Terrifying" or "Great Queen") proclaimed news of victory and peace to Ireland. Joined in a single voice, the ancestors, the rivers, the summits, and the sources of waters of Ireland demanded, "What is the news?"

"Peace up to heaven
Heaven down to earth
Earth beneath heaven
Strength in each
A cup very full
Full of honey
Mead in abundance
Summer in winter ...
Peace up to heaven ..."

Later in mythic history, in the Ulster Cycle and the Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) chronicling the great conflict between the provinces of Ulster and Connacht, the war goddesses Neamhain, Badhbh, and the Morrigán terrify the Connachtmen and "a hundred warriors died of fright ." Appearing as a great crow or raven, the Morrigán prophesies victory to the forces of Ulster and hides the deadly news from the forces of Connacht. The great hero of the conflict is Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. Throughout the epic cycle, Cu Chulainn himself is hounded by the seductive and clever Morrigán, who both aids and ultimately defeats him. She attempts to seduce him, he spurns her, and she attacks him in revenge. She tricks him into breaking his geis, his sacred oath: Cú Chulainn eats the flesh of a dog, his namesake. Weakened, he goes into battle. Shortly thereafter, the Morrigán appears to him as the Washer at the Ford, washing blood from his tunic, a sure sign of approaching death:

"She was washing blood-stained clothes in the stream, moaning and sobbing all the time. As Cú Chulainn watched, she lifted the garment she was washing out of the water and he saw his own tunic in her hands. Blood poured from it into the stream and turned the water red."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are approaching or are in the midst of rapid change. While the appearance of a goddess of war may appear sinister, she also clears the way for a new order once the chaos and confusion have passed. With greater spiritual maturity and experience, the presence of the Morrigán is welcomed. Following in her wake, you can quickly and even graciously rid yourself of attachments to material possessions, bankrupt relationships, and harmful or futile circumstances. This oracle is auspicious: great psychological and spiritual progress is possible. Success depends on your conscious participation, as the changes now in progress are inevitable and you cannot change them. However, by consciously observing and welcoming the changes, a new order will quickly appear, integrating remnants of your old life with new elements you never dreamed possible.

Casting this oracle may also signal the need to remain in a state of upheaval and bewilderment for a while longer. At present, no future direction can be clearly indicated, and the oracle cautions you to wait and ask again later.

Today's Oracle 29th March 2020

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.

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!

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.

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 28th March 2020

Esus Cutting the Tree (Sacrifice)

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

Invoking Surrender of the Old and Receptivity to the New.

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 27th March 2020

Hearth and Family (Right Relations)

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

Invoking Friendship, Family, and Community.

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE ON COVID19

Update on Coronavirus for the 26th March 2020

Today's Oracle 26th March 2020

Sovereignty (Voluptuous Authority)

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

Invoking the Vitality of the Natural World.

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 25th March 2020

Changeling (Exchange Between Worlds)

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

Invoking Otherworldly Knowing and Talent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 24th March 2020

Nightfall (Thresholds and Beginnings)

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

Invoking Interiority and Inner Growth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 23rd March 2020

Head (Immortality)

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

Invoking the Refinement of Character.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 22nd March 2020

Oak (The Ancient Wood)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Respect and Timelessness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 21st March 2020

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.

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!"

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.

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 20th March 2020

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.

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 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.

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.

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 19th March 2020

Wells and Thermal Springs (Returning to the Source)

Wells and thermal springs are orifices or gateways to the sacred, hot interior of the goddess earth. Her presence marks strength and capacity in our personal and spiritual lives and the desire to express inner changes in our everyday lives.

Invoking the Qualities of Manifestation and Expression.

Wells and thermal springs are natural orifices of the womb of the goddess herself, the warm fires of the earth. Welling up from within, the waters press to the surface of the earth to refresh the land. By tradition, the local king or chieftain mates with the goddess by drinking or bathing in the waters. Fertility for the land is then assured, sometimes by flooding the surrounding land and creating the world anew. This fiery, watery presence of the goddess gives power to manifest inner changes in the outer affairs of life.

It is said that there are some three thousand holy wells in Ireland alone, many abandoned and overgrown, others used only to quench the thirst of livestock, and others engendering pilgrimage and homage throughout the centuries. Often sequestered in lonely hillsides and meadows or nestled in a wooded grove, the ambiance of holy wells is intimate, quieting, and numinous. Now dedicated to St. Brigit, St. Brendan, the Virgin Mary, or one of hundreds of local saints, they were once personifications of mother goddesses, generously welling up water to the surface of the land to sustain life in that locale. At the Well of Doon in County Donegal, for example, the bushes and trees near the well are fashioned with hundreds of rags and torn bits of plastic grocery bags, along with pacifiers, baby ribbons, booties, bibs, trinkets, photos, jewelry, strands of beads, rosaries, crocheted crosses, caps, shoes, and farm boots - all weathering in the wind and rain, the offerings of pilgrims over the years. The well is simple, a level place to kneel and pray and a small, cement-lined pool in which to fill your bottle with water for friends and relatives at home. The prayers for loved ones, for the childless and widowed, for the sick and infirm, and for blessings on family and kin are redolent of memories from an ancient time when wells were the preserves of goddesses and their devoted - though doubtlessly less penitent - supplicants.

In ancient times, people gathered at the goddess's wells for the great solar festivals such as Beltaine (May 1), to celebrate the coming of summer, and Lughnasa (August 1), to celebrate the harvest with ceremony, feasting, games, and races. In modern times, ancient rituals were felicitously attached to saints' days, particularly in midsummer. Most of what we know of these activities comes from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers horrified by the "idolatrous" practices of drinking, gambling, and faction fighting occurring on pattern (pilgrimage) days at holy wells.

According to ancient knowing, wells and thermal springs web the landscape with life-giving fertility and generativity. The well opens into the womb of the sacred earth. An overflowing spring is a symbol of robust fertility. A flood destroys and renews the land. The guardian or human protectress of a holy well or thermal spring is female, the few exceptions an overlay, like veneer on an ancient wood. From a set of thermal springs at Bath dedicated to the goddess Sulis, water rushes to the surface at the rate of over a quarter of a million gallons a day. When relaxing or sleeping close to her plenteous waters and steamy breath or luxuriating in her baths, the earth's warmth soothes and refreshes the body. The goddess's presence here is personal, sensuous, and all-embracing.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you want to manifest interior changes in your outer world. You may be feeling even a bit impatient to "get out there" because the vibrancy of your inner life needs exterior expression, affirmation, and contact with others. Your courage and artistry (whether you think of yourself as an artist or not) are urging you to put your dreams and hopes into positive actions and concrete products and activities. Whatever hesitancies you may have, it is time to let them go.

The upwelling of spirit is within you. Like a spring rising to the surface of the land, your creativity is needing expression in the world. No more practicing and preparing to begin. Get going, one step at a time. You must begin by taking the first step, and then another. Don't let seeing the big picture terrorize you, just take the next step toward manifesting your dreams. You already have all the strength and capacity you need. Begin.

Today's Oracle 18th March 2020

Taranis (God of Lightning and Thunder)

Taranis, the god of lightning and thunder, announces the swift and action-packed authority of the sky world. His actions can be benevolent or destructive. His presence signifies a need to be vigilant and to be ready to act swiftly.

Invoking Action and Vigilance.

Taranis is the Celtic thunderer, his name derived from the Celtic word for thunder, taran. A sky god associated with the heavens and storm clouds, Taranis presides over the weather and conditions of men and women below. The flash of lightning and the roar of thunder signify the capricious nature of the elements and the fortunes of human life. Often allied with the sky god Jupiter, Taranis brings a thunderous, mercurial temperament and destructive character to the company of sky deities.

Little is known about Taranis, the god of lightning and thunder. The archaeological evidence is scarce, with merely seven altar dedications to Taranis among the Roman-Celtic areas of Britain, Gaul, the Rhineland, and Dalmatia (former Yugoslavia ). It is possible that dedications on statuary of Taranis may have been rough-hewn and, like Taranis himself, exposed to the elements, perhaps placed in locations adjoining mountaintops where lightning and thunder were likely. He is closely associated with Jupiter, the most prominent of the sky deities.

Infrequent allusions to Taranis by Roman writers, such as the poet Lucan, are so unflattering that it is improbable that they are impartial, but rather made by a citified outsider commenting about the customs of the rural and agrarian Celts. Lucan, in his Pharsalia, avers that the Gauls encountered by Caesar's army witnessed the making of offerings, blood sacrifices, and even human sacrifices to the shadowy gods Taranis, Teutates, and Esus, though little else is said of them.

As the god of thunder and lightning, Taranis can convey destruction and chaos among his wary supplicants.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your life probably feels beset with unforeseen changes. The swift pace of events can be unnerving and confusing. This oracle suggests that events are set into motion by natural forces outside your control. You are cautioned to be careful about your speech and actions and yet to be ready to act swiftly, especially if you or others are in danger.

Taranis is associated with the forces of nature. As it is prudent to take precautions and go indoors in inclement weather, it is wise to act in a restrained manner and to maintain a low profile when the circumstances of your life are shifting rapidly. Planning is often useless, even unwise, not only because of changing circumstances, but also because your mental clarity may be impaired. Like changes in the weather, the fast pace now occurring in your life will change soon. This oracle cautions against undue anxiety and suggests combining restraint and readiness in your present actions.

Today's Oracle 17th March 2020

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.

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.

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.

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.