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.

Today's Oracle 16th March 2020

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.

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!""

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.

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 15th March 2020

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.

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."

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.

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

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

Today's Oracle 14th March 2020

The Sacred Three (Seeing in All Directions)

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

Invoking Awareness of the Spirit World.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE - On COVID-19

An update on COVID-19 (13th March 2020)

Whenever I am thinking about a situation or problem that needs solving I generally reach for my Tarot cards and start with a quick 3 card spread to see if anything comes to light. Usually it does, if I need more clarity I will try another spread to gain more insight on the problem/situation. So seeing as the UK government seems to be slowly reacting to COVID-19 and Boris is quite happy to listen to his experts I thought I would cast a quick 3 carder to see if it would enlighten me or certainly inspire me to think about the problem in a more logical and analytical manner. So have a look at this spread below and see just how it gave me some food for thought.

Introduction

How long will Covid-19 last and what can we do to halt its progress, longterm?

3 Card (Past, Present and Future) Spread.

Five of Clubs (Reversed)

The Past: Past events or influences that have played an important part in bringing about the current
situation, perhaps including those that brought one to the need for the question in the first place.
The effect of those events or influences on the present and how best we can use them to shape and
understand the future.

Upright: Indicates an agreement. It is a neutral card by itself. It simply means agreement: contracts,
commitments, transactions, etc.

Reversed: Trickery, complexity, involvement.

Two of Spades

The Present: Where the querent finds themselves at the present time. Opportunities and obstacles
in the current situation.

Upright: Signifies change. It’s the feeling of walking in one direction then suddenly you take a step
in another direction and continue on from there. This card deals with a definite change of course in
readings. Patience.

Reversed: The waiting is over. Stalemate ended. Beware of a new situation. The seeker, or someone
known to the seeker, may travel soon.

Ace of Hearts (Reversed)

The Future: Future events and fresh influences about to come into play that will operate in the near
future. Possible outcome of the situation. One's aspirations.

Upright: Focuses on the home. Another neutral card. The other cards surrounding the Ace of
Hearts will show you the actual feelings concerning “the home”.

Reversed: False hope, clouded joy, fulfillment delayed, false heart, unfaithfulness, false love,
change, alteration, sterility.

Personal Notes

This card has a lot to do with family and ‘home’ matters. It can also indicate problems or troubles
being relieved between loved ones. This card can also speak of good news to or from a family
member or possibly a marriage. It is said that if this card falls within the first three cards of any
spread it may indicate that the Inquirer is in an emotional or sensitive state of mind.

Conclusion and Outcome

I can see the past and present situations quite clearly, what matters is the final card (3). The Ace
of Hearts is telling us that if we stay at home for longer periods then the virus has nowhere to
go and the likelihood of it spreading is reduced dramatically. In turn this will delay the spread,
reduce infection and eventually the virus will die.

The logical way to solve this situation is to deploy our Armed Forces who are professional and
well organised. The plan would be to isolate area by area, as each area is clear then move on
to the next. Control is fundamental so we could addopte the same strategy that Italy has used
by restricting movement that is non essential and issuing travelling passes for movement around
the country for those who are clear and have important and necessary work to do.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS, TEST TEST TEST.

Setup military checkpoints outside major cities and large towns to supervise control over movement,
monitoring of clear areas and infected areas is paramount. Once everyone and everywhere is
clear a strict control of movement of people entering and leaving the country is vital to safeguard
the cleanup that has been done over the control period.

If this works then the strategy could be incorporated worldwide.

I know this all sounds a bit drastic but unless somebody can effectively and efficiently control and
monitor movement then we will not stop this virus in any other way.

Today's Oracle 13th March 2020

Cernunnos, Antlered god (Lord of the Animals)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Generosity and Magnanimity.

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

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

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

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

"Sleep here tonight, and in the morning arise early, and take the road upwards through the valley until thou ... comest to a large sheltered glade with a mound in the centre. And thou wilt see a black man of great stature on the top of the mound. He is not smaller than two men of this world. He has but one foot, and one eye in the middle of his forehead. And he has a club of iron. .. . And he is not a comely man, but on the contrary he is exceedingly ill favoured; and he is the Woodward of that wood.
And thou wilt see a thousand wild animals grazing all around him....
And the next morning I arose ... and proceeded straight through the valley to that wood.... And there was I three times more astonished at the number of wild animals.... And the black man was there, sitting upon the top of the mound. Huge of stature as the man had told me....
Then I asked him what power he had over the animals.... And he took his club in his hand, and with it he struck a stag so great a blow that it brayed vehemently, and at his braying the animals came together, as numerous as the stars in the sky, so that it was difficult for me to find room in the glade to stand among them. There were serpents, and dragons and divers sorts of animals. And [the black man] looked at them, and bade them go and feed; and they bowed their heads, and did him homage as vassals to their lord."

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

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

Today's Oracle 12th 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 11th March 2020

Oengus/Mabon (Youthful Champion, Son of Light)

Oengus is one of the Tuatha De Danann, son of a secret union between Daghdha and Bóinn, the river goddess. Falling in love with a girl he sees in a dream, Oengus finds her and heroically wins her. Oengus and his counterpart in the Welsh tradition, Mabon, represent the youthful championing of innocence, virtue, and love.

Invoking the Defence of Innocence, Love, and Virtue.

Oengus is the son of a secret union of Daghdha, the Good God, and Bóinn, the river goddess. Oengus sees a girl in a dream and falls in love with her. Though he finds her and her companions living in a lake, they are shape-shifters who transform into swans every other year. Unable to persuade the girl's father to allow him to wed her, he turns himself into a swan and they fly away together as swans. Oengus represents heroic love, innocence, virtue, and the overcoming of obstacles.

In Irish myth, Oengus is the heroic champion. Variously known as the son of the goddess or the son of light, Oengus is one of the Tuatha De Danann, a race of supernatural beings forced to dwell underground with the coming of the Celts to Ireland. In the mating of the river goddess, Bóinn, and the Good God, Daghdha, Oengus is conceived. In order to hide their secret union, Bóinn and Daghdha cause the sun to stand still in the heavens for nine months, giving the appearance that Oengus is conceived and born on the same day. Imbued with the armour of the sun, Oengus becomes a wondrous youth, the champion of love, innocence, and virtue.

As a young man, Oengus dreams of a young girl he does not know. Upon awakening, he is passionately in love with her and sets out searching the countryside to find her. When at last he finds Caer ("Yew Berry"), she is living in a lake, a portal to the Otherworld. Caer and her girl companions are shape-shifters, and every other year, at the festival of Samhain, they turn into swans. All of them have lovely chains around their necks, except Caer's is made of gold. Though Oengus begs to marry Caer, her marriage signals the father's death and he adamantly refuses. Only at Samhain, when the thresholds between the worlds are as thin as veils, might he escape with her. Waiting until Samhain, Oengus turns himself into a swan and he and Caer fly away together, circling the lake three times to enchant the inhabitants to sleep for three nights and three days.

In the Welsh tradition, the youthful champion is the son of the Modron, the mother goddess. He is called Mabon, taken from his mother at the age of three days and held captive in a prison by Arthur for uncounted centuries. When, countless ages later, he is released, Mabon is older than any living creature. Of supernatural birth, he is destined to be a champion of the right and those on quest for the sake of love: Mabon's assistance allows Arthur and Culhwch to overtake Twrch Trwyth, a fierce wild boar, and to seize the scissors, razor, and comb between its ears. It is a quest within a quest, and only by securing this extraordinary prize can Culhwch wed Olwen, the object of his impassioned love.

Born of supernatural origins, Oengus and Mabon are prefigured champions, each a wondrous child, who has grown older to overcome the impossible.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are a champion of unpopular causes. You want to live honourably and honestly even if it costs you time and money. Pursuing honest work and maintaining faithful relationships are extremely important to you. Male or female, you are developing the noble character of a knight, striving from a sense of fidelity and virtue on behalf of everyone. In this matter, you are capable of great accomplishments, overcoming obstacles that would seem hopeless and fearful to most people.

Having drawn this oracle, you may also be facing a situation that tempts you away from virtuous actions and toward an easier and more convenient course. Do not mistake expediency for virtue. As with champions, you are being tested. Look closely at the situation, seeking to see the good, innocent, reliable, and honest. Any gain from acting cheaply or deceitfully will be temporary and vacuous. Rather than acting imprudently, act from a sense of principle. Whatever your age, the oracle promises you a youthful energy to champion an honourable cause, action, and outcome.

Today's Oracle 10th March 2020

Chambers in the Earth (Rhythms of the Otherworld)

Caves and subterranean chambers, natural or dug out of the ground, represent our desire to maintain an intimate connection to the Otherworld. Although our actions may seem slow or sluggish to others, steady progress is occurring in the rhythm common to the Otherworld.

Invoking a Slow and Rhythmical Course of Action.

Like their Neolithic and Bronze Age ancestors, the Iron Age Celts use caves and subterranean chambers for shelter, protection, and ritual. On the walls, they carve images of solar wheels and stag hunting, bringing the potency of the sun and the sacred hunt into the earth's interior chambers. These caves and chambers provide refuge from the harsh outer world and connection with the never-ending pulse of life within the earth's sacred interior, the sovereign mother goddess.

In the Valley of Camonica in the Alps of northern Italy, sacred rock carvings enhance the walls of natural caves. Largely composed of solar wheels, stag deer, and hunting scenes, these carvings transport the potency and virility of the sun, the stag, and the sacred hunt into the earth's interior. The rays of sun are depicted as immense antlers spreading like the branches of a tree. Cernunnos, the Lord of the Animals, has antlers flowering out of his head and wears a Celtic tore on each arm. Praying and dancing figures, penises erect, enclose around a stag. A solar figure appears as an arbiter between hunters.

Like many ancient cultures, the Iron Age Celts sought out caves and subterranean chambers for protection and shelter from weather, predators, and enemies. Within them they communicated with the Otherworld and dramatized the bringing and taking of life by depicting the fury of the hunt and the authority of the sun. Within the caves, the natural wombs of the earth, the mysteries of sexual union and fertility could be celebrated in intimate connection with the primal pulse of the sovereign mother goddess, the earth herself.

In later Celtic periods, mythological figures are thought to reside within famous tombs, especially in Ireland. The magnificent megalithic tombs at Newgrange, the Brú na Bóinne, in County Meath, are thought to have been constructed as the abode of the supernatural beings. In Irish literature, Newgrange is the dwelling place of the powerful god Daghdha, his wife, Bóinn, and son, Oengus. The kings of Tara sought to aggrandize their authority by claiming Newgrange and the nearby tombs at Dowth and Knowth as royal burial sites, even in the Christian period.

Hills, mountains, rocks, crevices, and caves are also favoured by leprechauns and faeries as dwelling places. As descendants of the people of the goddess Danu, the Tuatha De Danann, the faeries have long inhabited the underworld, the subterranean realm just below the ground, living within the ground and especially liking "faery mounds" apart from human habitation. Faeries and leprechauns often slip into the ground invisibly, as if the ground has swallowed them.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the resources and rhythms of nature, and especially the Otherworld, would provide steady continuity in some aspect of your life. Aside from earthquakes affecting the earth's surface, the rhythm or pulse of Mother Earth is largely slow, regular, dependable, and certain. Constancy and consistency bring success.

Your creative ideas and enthusiasm are like the rays of the sun. By stabilizing your ideas and energies in the steady and balanced rhythms common to the earth and the practical aspects of human life, you will complete important projects, build confidence, acquire continuity in relationships, and achieve balance between the creative forces of earth and sky. For now, do not be concerned if you feel that things are going too slowly. Having drawn this oracle, the constant rhythms of Mother Earth are bringing balance and certainty into your life.

Having drawn this oracle, you may feel that a particular quality needs to be solidified to become a more permanent part of your nature. If so, inquire of the oracles once again.

Today's Oracle 9th March 2020

Tír na nÓg (Blessed Isle to the West)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Harmony, Peace, and Blessing.

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 8th March 2020

Faeries of Music, Dance, and the Performing Arts

Faeries love to dance, sing, and play music, and sometimes gift musicians (especially fiddlers and pipers) with great talent in fiddling or piping. Their presence brings talents and resources in the pleasures of dancing, singing, and music.

Invoking Talents and Resources.

The faeries are known to love music and dance for a night and a day or even longer. Great musicians, particularly pipers and fiddlers, are inspired by overhearing faery music, happening upon a faery wedding and learning the tunes, or encountering a faery who strokes the strings of a fiddle, forever enchanting it with tunes. So beautiful is faery music that an inspired musician will always be in demand to play and never again be poor.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the spirit world wishes to gift you with talent and creative inspiration. You may even feel as though you have acquired an invisible companion, a kind of muse from the spirit world to guide and inspire you. You may feel gifted by insight or sudden talent, as if inspired from an imperceivable, spiritual source. Music and poetry may seem to be coming out of thin air. If illuminating ideas seem to arise in your mind as easily as air fills your lungs, you are being inspired by the breath of the spirit world.

It is important to be gracious and generous to yourself during special times of inspiration and creativity. For some people, such times can lead to over stimulation and intense activity. Others become drowsy or drift from one thing to another. Still others feel lost or confused. Like prayer and meditation, times of inspiration require personal nurture and constancy. Be mindful of nourishing yourself with nutritious food, sufficient rest and sleep, healthy exercise, and supportive companionship. By acquiring regular habits of work and relaxation, creative inspiration will become a natural, routine part of your life.

Today's Oracle 7th March 2020

Green Man (Renewal of the Earth)

The face and features of the Green Man are formed of leaves. He represents the masculine role in sexual coupling and fertility and the flowering of life and talent. Progress is uncluttered and easy. His qualities are innocence, success, and easy progress.

Invoking Innocence, Easy Progress, and Success.

In conveying the fertility of the forest and plants to people and livestock, the Green Man is the consort of the mother goddess, assisting in the greening of spring and summer and the fruitfulness of the earth. The Green Man's face and features are formed of leaves and vines. Deriving his prowess from the earth, he represents the masculine role in sexual coupling, fertility, and the flowering of human life and talent. He signifies innocence, easy progress, and success, especially in initiating new activities.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting youthful, zestful energy into your life. In the manner of the greening of spring, easy progress is ahead of you. Ideas and actions will seem innocent and spontaneous.

However, your success is limited by natural circumstances beyond your control. Though appearing in many guises through the centuries, the Green Man is always younger and less experienced than the mother goddess, the sovereign Mother Earth. This youthful innocence can accomplish many ends, but you will need greater strength, confidence, and maturity to fully accomplish your goals. By accepting the limits of the situation, you will find much personal satisfaction and ready success. On the other hand, if you overextend your energy or ambition or brashly push ahead, the situation may turn from success to disappointment, and even ridicule.

The Bohemian Arcana

The Bohemian Arcana - Major Trumps

Using the Ramses Tarot of Eternity card deck, here is a presentation of the Major Arcana. The deck is very colourful and the pictures are of Egyptian peoples in the times of the Pharos. The card numbering is different from the Rider Waite deck and stays with the theme of Worth who wrote "The Tarot of the Bohemians".

Today's Oracle 6th March 2020

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.

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.

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.

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 5th March 2020

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.

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.

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.

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 4th March 2020

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.

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.
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.

Today's Oracle 3rd March 2020

Hazel (The Divining Rod)

The hazel is the wood used for divination in everyday life and specifically in divining for water beneath the ground. Because of its purity, the hazel lends guidance and direction to the affairs of life. Its presence signals a time of reflection and concentration.

Invoking Concentration and Reflection.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the presence of the hazel tree directs you to the natural world for instruction. The hazel usually brings clarity by encouraging you to seek the inner meaning of events, relations, and situations. Looking at the surface of events will not help. However, calm reflection may reveal an inner meaning, significance, pattern, or growth that is not apparent on the surface of things. You may find yourself drawn into a period of quiet reflection, rather than activity and planning. The hazel will gently support your reflection, meditation, concentration, or prayer. Since the hazel tree encourages deep serenity and quietude, it may be an especially auspicious time for taking a vacation alone or going on retreat.

A hazel tree, and especially the hazelnut, signify the search of the inner world for guidance concerning your everyday affairs. Its signals are often found in nature. Like a Celtic hermit, you might look for guidance from the actions of the birds and creatures around you. The sudden appearance of certain animals and their habits and qualities, for example, may direct you to aspects of your own nature important to your personal development. Seek quietude, then wait and watch.

Today's Oracle 2nd March 2020

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.

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 1st March 2020

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.

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.