Today's Oracle 31st May 2021

Mother Goddess Carrying Children/Food (Well-Being)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Comfort and Contentment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 30th May 2021

 Treasures (Stone, Spear, Sword, and Cauldron)

The four treasures brought by the Tuatha De Danann to Ireland are the Stone of Fál, the Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Nuada, and the Cauldron of the Daghdha. Each treasure in turn signals power and a challenge for further development of your character.

Invoking the Challenges of Mastery and Power.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are either naturally drawn to power and authority, or your present circumstances require the right use of power. Power is invariably a double-edged sword capable of cutting in two directions. Your skills may involve a natural talent or expertise cultivated over time. Having mastery makes possible important personal accomplishments, expression, and satisfaction. At the same time, by holding authority you also attract circumstances and events that challenge and further develop your skill and authority. Unless you acquire personal qualities equal to your talents and skills, your life situations will become untenable and you will not be able to express the talents and skills you rightfully hold. Consider the possibility that the challenges you attract are actually invitations to bring qualities such as greater awareness, confidence, integrity, savvy, kindness, and equanimity into your nature. Take time to reflect on the particular type of challenges you are presently encountering and the unique qualities needed to meet them successfully.

Accomplished in the arts of Druidry, the godlike Tuatha De Danann came from the isles to the north of the world to invade ancient Ireland. The Tuatha De brought four treasures with them: the Stone of Fál, which shrieks when a rightful king sits upon it, the Spear of Lugh, which grants victory, the Sword of Nuada, from which no one escapes, and the Cauldron of the Daghdha, from which none leave hungry. Each treasure represents power and its challenges.

Failias, Goirias, Findias, and Muirias were the four cities of the mythic isles in the northern seas. From the cities' great sages, the Tuatha Dé Danann acquired knowledge of Druidry, magic, and prophesy. They invaded ancient Ireland with a great fleet of ships, and upon reaching the western shore, they set their boats on fire and, in so doing, destroyed any hope of returning to the north of the world. Defeating and routing the Fir Bolgs who then lived on the island, the Tuatha De controlled all of Ireland and established themselves at the royal court of the high kings of Ireland at Tara. As recorded in the Book of the Invasions, which chronicles the successive invasions of Ireland, the Tuatha De brought four great treasures to Ireland from the northern isles.

"From Failias was brought the Lia Fail which ... utter[ed] a cry under every king that should take Ireland. From Goirias was brought the spear which Lug [Lugh] had: battle would never go against him who had it in hand. From Findias was brought the sword of Nuadu: no man would escape from it; when it was drawn from its battle-scabbard, there was no resisting it. From Muirias was brought the cauldron of the Dagda [Daghdha]; no company would go from it unsatisfied."

All four treasures recur in the historical legends of Ireland, and feature prominently in Arthurian legend. By tradition, the Lia Fál (the Stone of Fál) still resides on the hills of Tara in County Meath, the mythic center of Ireland and inaugural site of ancient Irish kings. In a curious blend of ancient and Christian traditions, the Book of Invasions tells that the stone made no cry after the birth of Christ.

Today's Oracle 29th May 2021

Sun god (god of the Sky)

The power and return of the sun has been acclaimed and honoured for thousands of years. The warmth and light of the sun kindles the life-giving potential of the earth's biosphere. The sun's qualities are majesty, radiance, fertility, and beauty.

Invoking the Qualities of Power and Radiance.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are sensing a fiery power emanating toward you or IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE from within you. You marvel at the majesty of the sky world and the delicate fabric of life stirred by sunlight. You cannot seem to get enough sunlight. The brilliance of light attracts you. You may want to wear bright jewelry, or even be attracted to precious gems, especially diamonds.

The power of the sun to give light and warmth and its return each day have been revered for thousands of years, from the time of the Bronze and Iron Age Celts. Portrayed as a spoked wheel or swastika, the sun rolls across the firmament pulled by a chariot and team of horses. Among the Romanised Celts, a powerful sky god brandishes his solar wheel as a shield as he crushes the head of a monster with his foot or hand. The sun god signifies majesty, power, radiance, fertility, and beauty.

The sun gives warmth, light, and cycles to the year and is therefore associated with the giving of life, fertility of the crops, and the conquering of menacing forces. Complementary to the earth's primal power over life, the sun touches the earth and sparks the life already there. From archaeological evidence from the Bronze and Iron Age through the mythological period, the allusion to sexual coupling is obvious: the warmth of the sun enters the moist interior of the earth where life begins. Solar images adorn the bodies and are conveyed by goddesses and gods alike. In the Camonica Valley in northern Italy, the Celts of the late Bronze and Iron Age carved on cave walls solar images, round disks or spoked wheels held aloft or volleyed by human figures. The Gundestrup Cauldron bears the image of a magnificent sky god portrayed as being upheld, perhaps conveyed, by a wheel. Small clay figures of young goddesses are affixed with sun wheels surrounding their bodies or adorning their breasts, bellies, and thighs. Images of the sun and earthly abundance appear to harmonize in the Celtic imagination. Though sun images are primarily associated with male deities and images of earthly abundance with mother goddesses, it is not uncommon to find goddesses associated with sun wheels and gods carrying cornucopias and signs of a prosperous harvest.

Images of the sun wheel and swastikas, sometimes accompanied by a chariot and horse, on cave walls, coins, and armour, distill in imagery the mythic portrayal of the sun conveyed across the sky by a chariot and a team of horses. Perhaps only an animal as prestigious as a horse could accompany the sun. Epona, the horse goddess, is sometimes accompanied by solar imagery.

Solar deities in the Roman period, however, became increasingly masculine and fierce, though benevolent toward those they protected. Borrowing some of Jupiter's appearance from the Romans, the Celtic Jupiter is a powerful god, portrayed as standing and holding his solar wheel authoritatively. He frequently appears as a victor and as a god of generous mien and majesty, mounted on a horse and brandishing his (entirely Celtic) solar wheel like a shield against the enemy. Beneath him, pressed down by his foot or hand, is a monstrous, serpent like creature. The Celtic Jupiter is a warrior god, conquering the hideous forces troubling human life.

Two of the great fire festivals of the Celtic world, Beltaine at the coming of summer (May 1) and Lughnasa at the coming of the harvest (August 1), ritualise fire as the sun's semblance on earth. The cycles of the sun bring life. Celebrated into the nineteenth century, a midsummer celebration in Germany, for example, involved setting a wheel of straw on fire and rolling it down a mountain into the Moselle River. If the wheel reached the river still ablaze, a good wine harvest was foreseen. Similarly, the great fire festival of the Christian year, Easter, became associated in time with the sun. On Easter, the country people in Ireland rose early in the morning in hopes of seeing the "sun dancin' in the sky."

Drawing this oracle suggests that you have an opportunity to attract majesty and radiance to your character and attitude toward life. This is your time in the sun, a time to shine, bringing a sparkling quality to your own life as well as to others'. If you are attracted to a spiritual path, you may sense an inner light that propels you to focus more intensely on your meditations, prayers, or practices toward gaining enlightenment.

The sun's constancy and radiance invariably help to instil confidence and assurance. Positioning your life within the sun's beneficence brings balance to the flow of ordinary life events. In sensing the constancy of movement beneath change, hard times will bestow resilient and bountiful times, steadiness, and hope. By mindfully drawing closer to the sun's radiance, your life will seem more buoyant, majestic, powerful, and inspiring.

Today's Oracle 28th May 2021

Triple-Mother goddess (Magnificence)

The Triple-Mother Goddess, commonly manifesting as maiden, mother, and crone, signifies the magnificence of Mother Earth in giving life. Expressing herself in all aspects of life, she encompasses all ages, polarities, and. expressions. Her qualities are majesty, generativity, and an inner connection with the life-giving sovereignty of the earth.

Invoking the Qualities of Majesty and Generativity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are invited to bring authority, stability, and vitality into your personal life and affairs. Your expression and activities may need to realign with the abundance of the Triple-Mother Goddess, the life-giving and sustaining power of the earth. Her powers are sublime and primal, rooted in the earth.

The Triple-Mother Goddess signifies the magnificence of mother earth in the giving of life. She presides over giving birth, the fluorescence and fruitfulness of plants, generativity at all ages, and the splendour of earthy and womanly wisdom. Though the mature wisdom of the aged woman is especially revered, she encompasses all ages, polarities, and expressions. Her qualities are majesty, generativity, and an inner connection with the life-giving sovereignty of the earth.

According to mythic history, when the Celts arrived on the shores of Ireland, they encountered the three sovereign mother goddesses, Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, who shielded and protected the land from harm. Each required the invaders to promise that if successful in occupying the land, the land would forever bear her name.

"They had colloquy with Ériu in Uisnech. She said unto them: Warriors, said she, welcome to you. Long have soothsayers had [knowledge of] your coming. Yours shall be this island forever; and to the east of the world there shall not be a better island. No race shall there be, more numerous than yours. good is that, said Amorgen; good is the prophecy.... A gift to me, ye sons of Mil, and ye children of Breogan, said she, that my name shall be on this island."

The Triple-Mother Goddess gives life to the land and its people. She preserves them from misfortune, injury, and danger. In her fiercest aspect, she is a warrior goddess wreaking havoc and death on intruders. Her motherliness more typically presides in the birthing of new forms of life and the nourishing and germinating of the land's flowers and vegetation. In locations as distant as Scotland and Hungary, and especially prevalent along the Rhone, Mosel, and Rhine river valleys of central Europe, carvings and sculptures of the Triple-Mother Goddess are remarkably alike. Typically she carries children, fruit, wine goblets, cornucopias or trays loaded with the fruits of the harvest.

Often the Triple-Mother Goddess manifests as a maiden, mother, and crone. One or two of the goddess figures is youthful with smooth skin and rounded cheeks and another is aged with creased cheeks and a wrinkled neck. At other times, their ages are much alike but their faces different in temperament. In the Roman-occupied areas of Germany, the three mother goddesses were consistently portrayed as a central goddess who is young with long, flowing hair, carries fruit, and is surrounded on both sides by older goddesses with large, circular headdresses made of supple willow branches covered with linen. With obvious dignity and stature, she gives the impression of unquestioned authority and magnificence.

In some ways you may feel uprooted, disconnected from the spontaneous fruitfulness of the natural world. The generative powers of the Triple-Mother Goddess will help lend a sense of majesty, authority, and ease to your intentions and actions. In aligning yourself with her spontaneous outpouring of energy, you will begin to reconnect your own life force with her expressions in others around you. Since the Triple Goddess faces in all directions, Her qualities are especially abundant in the natural environment and in the creatures that inhabit the earth. Spending time outdoors in nature enjoying her manifestations will help you to recharge.

Today's Oracle 27th May 2021

Wondrous Child (Promise)

The wondrous child represents promise, hope in the future, and the rekindling of spiritual life. The new life is innocent, potential, and incomplete. The qualities of newborn innocence and inner development require safety and long stretches of unencumbered time.

Invoking the Qualities of Hope and Trust in the Future.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are urged to cherish and develop a talent or skill that is latent within yourself or in someone you love. It may be a child, a friend, a partner, or even a teacher. Whether you need to attend to yourself or someone else, the talent in question is extraordinary in some unique way. If the talent is within you, you will need to create an environment that allows for long stretches of unencumbered time to practice or cultivate the essential skills. Garnering unencumbered time in modern life may require major reordering of priorities. If you are in the role of supporting another, you are in the role of an assistant and supporter who makes time and more supportive environments possible. Either way, you are a great encourager of self or another.

The Wondrous Child conveys promise and the rekindling of hope and trust in the future. In Irish legend, the wondrous child is Cú Chulainn. As a boy of seven, he was already the greatest combatant in the court of the king, Conor Mac Nessa, and he grows up to defend all of Ulster single-handedly. Taliesin, the great bard of Wales, is another wondrous child. When as a child he is discovered in a leather bag in a salmon weir, he composes poetry recounting the feats of his fabulous origins.

Throughout the world, the birth of exceptional children is a sign of hope. In Celtic lore and legend, the origins and childhood of great poets, saints, musicians, and warriors are often miraculous in character. Cú Chulainn, the great hero of the Ulster Cycle, was the son of none other than the god Lugh of the Long Arm of the Tuatha De Danann and Dechtire, sister of the King of Ulster, Conor Mac Nessa. Oengus, the youthful champion, was the son of the river goddess Bóinn and Daghdha, the Good God.

Taliesin, the incomparable bard of Wales, had once been a boy called Gwion Bach. Upon "accidentally" acquiring knowledge of all there was to know, he incurs the wrath of Ceridwen the Hag, who chases him as a greyhound when he is a hare, as an otter when he is a fish, and as a hawk when he is a bird. Finally, as a hen, she eats him when he is a grain of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn. The grain of wheat passes into her womb, and in nine months she gives birth to a son so fair and beautiful that she cannot bear to slay him. So she puts him in a leather bag and watches him while he shape-shifts into a hare, a fish, a bird, and finally into a grain of wheat. Immediately, Ceridwen eats him and the seed goes into her womb. Nine months later, Taliesin is born once again as a boy so fair and beautiful that Ceridwen, unable to kill him, places him in a leather bag (in some versions a basket) and sets him to drift on a river on the eve of Beltaine.

Meanwhile, the son of a nobleman, called Elffin, known for his terribly bad luck, is sent by his father to a favoured salmon weir. Every May Eve, the father was accustomed to taking salmon of great value from the weir, but Elffin finds nothing but a plain leather bag. When Elffin slices the bag open, he sees a bright forehead, and cries, "Look, a radiant brow (taliesin)." Elffin is despondent over the bad luck of returning to his father's court with nothing but a child. But the boy astride Elffin's saddle begins at once to compose a poem for him. Amazed, Elffin asks him how he could possibly compose such poetry, being so young. Taliesin replies with another poem, known as "The Consolation of Elffin":

"Elffin of noble generosity.
Do not sorrow at your catch.
Though I am weak on the floor of my basket, there are wonders on my tongue.
While I am watching over you, no great need will overcome you ..."

New life in all forms is invariably innocent, potential, and incomplete. The role of encouraging, supporting, and providing safety are essential to its secure development.

Today's Oracle 26th May 2021

The Sacred Three (Seeing in All Directions)

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

Invoking Awareness of the Spirit World.

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

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

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

The well-known Triple Spiral was carved on stones at 

Newgrange by the Stone Age ancestors of the Celts.

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 25th May 2021

 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.

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.

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.

Throughout Celtic history, mother goddesses have various consorts. Often goddesses and gods, such as Nantosuelta and Sucellus and Rosmerta and Mercury, are consistently paired as divine partners or lovers. The Green Man is one such consort, a precociously sexual and youthful consort conveying fertility wherever he goes.

The virility of the antlered god Cernunnos and the Green Man are interrelated, so much so that the Green Man might be considered a variant of Cernunnos. From the earliest evidence left by Bronze and Iron Age Celts, Cernunnos presides over the forest, wearing the branching antlers of a stag. His imagery is potent and powerful, assuring the fertility of the natural world in human life. Similarly, in a carving from Germany known as the St. Goar pillar, vegetation grows from the Green Man's head and forms his beard. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, the head of a male is covered with the stylised hair formed of intertwining leaves. As in so many Celtic images the power resides in the head.

Images of the Green Man adorning European cathedrals and churches portray his head and especially his hair, beard, and mustache as a composite of leaves, branches, and vines. Long leaves may stem from his mouth to form an exaggerated beard or mustache. Grapevines, sometimes bearing grapes, run out of the sides of his mouth encircling his head as stylised hair and beard. A mass of leaves may surround his head. His image on the facades and interiors of churches artfully combines the Green Man's foliate persona with figures from the Christian gospels. His appearance is typically placed as though he were an unnamed guardian, as in the Gothic spire of the Münster of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Largely hidden from view from below, heads of the Green Man look down from the open fretwork spire in grief and sorrow at the crucified Christ on the cross below. In a Romanesque carving from Exeter, the Virgin Mary holds her child supported by the foliate head of a Green Man, his eyes closed as though in ageless invocation.

In contrast to the subtle fertility imagery of church art, the explicit, sexual imagery of a youthful consort is boldly portrayed in Irish myth and legend. Like the land itself, Irish legends are rich and moist with youthful sexuality. Much lighthearted phallic humour, for example, quickens the narrative of the Irish epic Táiin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). As a responsible sovereign, Queen Medb (often thought to be a personification of a goddess because Celtic tribes did not necessarily have queens) tests the prowess of her many consorts. In their encounter in the wood, Fergus fails to meet Medb's expectations and he "loses his sword." Similarly, Imbolc, the Feast of Brigit celebrated on February 1, is marked with sexual overtones evocative of an older agrarian perspective that linked the fertility of crops, livestock, and humans. According to one folk tradition, the man of the house enters the household in the name of Brigit and "those within ... go on their knees, open their eyes and admit Brigit," an overtly sexual reference to mating on Imbolc as a means of invoking the blessing of the goddess on the fertility of the household. The robust and fertile image of the Green Man is continued in the Irish Strawboys, the "masked and straw-costumed well-wishers who graced with their presence the house-parties of Irish country weddings."

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.

Today's Oracle 24th May 2021

Hammer god (Scepter of Authority and Choice)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Wise and Just Decisions

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 23rd May 2021

Water Horses (Magical Encounters)

Water horses, are magical horses riding over the seas or appearing from the depths of inland lochs. Water horses appear magically and swiftly. Their presence signifies masculine strength and beauty.

Invoking the Union of Strength and Beauty.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are called to renew some aspect of your life with the joining of beauty and strength. Perhaps your life now feels too familiar, routine, conforming, or emotionally flat. Your daily activities may lack spontaneity and vigour. Male or female, the depths of your masculinity may long for opportunities to explore new strengths and capacities. You may wish to express your outward authority, mastery, and leadership in tender and gracious ways. If so, new challenges and experiences may be drawing close. Your judgment and skill will be tested. Opportunities to explore the unknown may enter your life. By joining beauty to strength, you have the opportunity to break out of the overly familiar and experience vigorous and harmonious ways of living and acting.

Water horses appear riding across the seas or arising from he depths of lochs. Like sky horses drawing the sun's chariots across the skies in prehistoric drawings, mythic water horses convey the chariots of the god of the seas, Manannán Mac Lir, and his entourage across oceans. In folk stories, swift and radiant water horses arise from the depths of inland lakes to bring prosperity to those who respect and provide for them. The water horse represents strength and beauty crossing into our lives.

Crossing the seas or arising from the depths of inland lochs, water horses bring a bright union of strength and beauty. Glistening in the sun, they combine the strength and vigour of a horse, the radiance of sun in swift flight, and the mystery of its origins beneath the sea. In The Voyage of Bran, a mythical sea horse conveys the chariot of the god of the seas, Manannán Mac Lir, and his company to meet Bran and his sailors, who are in search of the enchanted isle. As Manannán comes closer to the boat he begins to sing:

"Bran's boat shims over calm waters.
Bran's ship is revelling in a clear sea, but to me, in my chariot, it is a flowery plain.
In my gentle land, the home of Manannán Mac Lir, sea horses glisten in the sun, and rivers pour forth honey.
Flowers are growing where Bran sees waves....
Row steadily, Bran, row steadily over my kingdom and you will reach the Land of Women before the setting of the sun."

Manannán and his chariot disappear beneath the waves and Bran and his sailors row on.

Water horses radiate strength and beauty in popular tales from Ireland and Scotland. Many of the stories tell of a poor farmer whose farm is near a lake or the sea. One day he discovers a foal in his field and she grows into a magnificent mare. She is beautiful, of "fine limb and graceful form" and as "swift as the wind and had no equal." Many years later, he mistreats her and she disappears with her foals back into the sea. In a typical story from County Sligo in Ireland, a poor farmer encounters a foal grazing on the shore near his small house:

"One morning when he got up he went out to the well for a can of water for his tea. To his great surprise, he saw a young foal on the shore. He went down to the shore and brought the foal in. The foal grew to a mare and every year she had a foal. This continued for seven years and after some time he was a rich man.... But one morning a strange thing happened. The man went out to the stable to let out the mare. When he was letting her out, he hit her with her bridle. As soon as he did, the mare neighed seven times and the seven foals came galloping up to her. They all turned in the direction of the sea and swam out into the water. They were never seen again."

Today's Oracle 22nd May 2021

Sun god (god of the Sky)

The power and return of the sun has been acclaimed and honoured for thousands of years. The warmth and light of the sun kindles the life-giving potential of the earth's biosphere. The sun's qualities are majesty, radiance, fertility, and beauty.

Invoking the Qualities of Power and Radiance.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are sensing a fiery power emanating toward you or from within you. You marvel at the majesty of the sky world and the delicate fabric of life stirred by sunlight. You cannot seem to get enough sunlight. The brilliance of light attracts you. You may want to wear bright jewelry, or even be attracted to precious gems, especially diamonds.

The power of the sun to give light and warmth and its return each day have been revered for thousands of years, from the time of the Bronze and Iron Age Celts. Portrayed as a spoked wheel or swastika, the sun rolls across the firmament pulled by a chariot and team of horses. Among the Romanised Celts, a powerful sky god brandishes his solar wheel as a shield as he crushes the head of a monster with his foot or hand. The sun god signifies majesty, power, radiance, fertility, and beauty.

The sun gives warmth, light, and cycles to the year and is therefore associated with the giving of life, fertility of the crops, and the conquering of menacing forces. Complementary to the earth's primal power over life, the sun touches the earth and sparks the life already there. From archaeological evidence from the Bronze and Iron Age through the mythological period, the allusion to sexual coupling is obvious: the warmth of the sun enters the moist interior of the earth where life begins. Solar images adorn the bodies and are conveyed by goddesses and gods alike. In the Camonica Valley in northern Italy, the Celts of the late Bronze and Iron Age carved on cave walls solar images, round disks or spoked wheels held aloft or volleyed by human figures. The Gundestrup Cauldron bears the image of a magnificent sky god portrayed as being upheld, perhaps conveyed, by a wheel. Small clay figures of young goddesses are affixed with sun wheels surrounding their bodies or adorning their breasts, bellies, and thighs. Images of the sun and earthly abundance appear to harmonize in the Celtic imagination. Though sun images are primarily associated with male deities and images of earthly abundance with mother goddesses, it is not uncommon to find goddesses associated with sun wheels and gods carrying cornucopias and signs of a prosperous harvest.

Images of the sun wheel and swastikas, sometimes accompanied by a chariot and horse, on cave walls, coins, and armour, distill in imagery the mythic portrayal of the sun conveyed across the sky by a chariot and a team of horses. Perhaps only an animal as prestigious as a horse could accompany the sun. Epona, the horse goddess, is sometimes accompanied by solar imagery.

Solar deities in the Roman period, however, became increasingly masculine and fierce, though benevolent toward those they protected. Borrowing some of Jupiter's appearance from the Romans, the Celtic Jupiter is a powerful god, portrayed as standing and holding his solar wheel authoritatively. He frequently appears as a victor and as a god of generous mien and majesty, mounted on a horse and brandishing his (entirely Celtic) solar wheel like a shield against the enemy. Beneath him, pressed down by his foot or hand, is a monstrous, serpent like creature. The Celtic Jupiter is a warrior god, conquering the hideous forces troubling human life.

Two of the great fire festivals of the Celtic world, Beltaine at the coming of summer (May 1) and Lughnasa at the coming of the harvest (August 1), ritualise fire as the sun's semblance on earth. The cycles of the sun bring life. Celebrated into the nineteenth century, a midsummer celebration in Germany, for example, involved setting a wheel of straw on fire and rolling it down a mountain into the Moselle River. If the wheel reached the river still ablaze, a good wine harvest was foreseen. Similarly, the great fire festival of the Christian year, Easter, became associated in time with the sun. On Easter, the country people in Ireland rose early in the morning in hopes of seeing the "sun dancing' in the sky."

Drawing this oracle suggests that you have an opportunity to attract majesty and radiance to your character and attitude toward life. This is your time in the sun, a time to shine, bringing a sparkling quality to your own life as well as to others'. If you are attracted to a spiritual path, you may sense an inner light that propels you to focus more intensely on your meditations, prayers, or practices toward gaining enlightenment.

The sun's constancy and radiance invariably help to instil confidence and assurance. Positioning your life within the sun's beneficence brings balance to the flow of ordinary life events. In sensing the constancy of movement beneath change, hard times will bestow resilient and bountiful times, steadiness, and hope. By mindfully drawing closer to the sun's radiance, your life will seem more buoyant, majestic, powerful, and inspiring.

Today's Oracle 21st May 2021

Tír na nÓg (Blessed Isle to the West)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Harmony, Peace, and Blessing.

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

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

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

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

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

"I bring [an apple] branch of [the Isle of the Happy], In shape like those you know.
Twigs of white silver are upon it, buds of crystal with blossoms.
There is a distant isle, around which sea-horses glisten.
A fair course against the white-swelling surge Four pedestals uphold it....
Unknown is wailing or treachery In the homely well-tilled land.
There is nothing rough or harsh, But sweet music striking the ear.
Without grief, without gloom, without death, without any sickness or debility -
That is the sign of [the Isle of the Happy]. Uncommon is the like of such a marvel."

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

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

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

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

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

Reading for 20th May 2021

Introduction

A 3 card spread for the day using the Lenormand Oracle deck and techniques. Along with possible answers to any questions asked.
Add the 3 cards together, minus 36 which is the amount of cards in the deck. The number that's left is the OUTCOME card.
So if the cards were numbered (16, 25, 7) you would get this calculation (16+25+7=48-36 = 12). The OUTCOME card is therefore, card #12.

 
Card Placement meaning: Recent influences: Any recent influences that may impact on the day.

HOUSE - Neutral
Near: If this card is in the middle of the tableau, it predicts losses and disharmony in the home. 
Made worse if the querent’s card is above it.

Far: Free of bad cards, this card promises prosperity and a happy end to problems.

General Meaning:
I am your family and your base, your ground and your home. 
I give you stability and comfort. I am your living arrangement and environment. 
I am what surrounds you and your estate. 
The cards around me will give you signs on my present state, or what the future will dictate.

Card Placement meaning: The Day card: This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.

SNAKE - Neutral

Near: Complicated situations and misfortunes, the intensity of which is made worse by its proximity to the querent’s card and if with cards 6, 10, or 14.

Far: Problems require patience and careful thought to overcome.

General Meaning:
Watch out for me because I am always hiding, you can never trust or believe me. 
I am cheating, deceiving, and will betray you in a heartbeat. 
Be careful where you are treading, my fangs will surely have you dreading.

 

Card Placement meaning: Possible Outcome: Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.

ANCHOR - Neutral

Near: Problems and unfaithfulness in love affairs. New relationships are not lasting. 
Demands are made on you, financially and professionally, that you will be unable to deliver.

Far: There will be good times in professional and business settings. Increased by the presence of good cards. 
Love and relationships proceed well. Hope.

General Meaning:
With stability and security, I give a peace of mind. 
I push you to persevere and help you reach your goal. 
Watch out for negative cards, they might shackle and pull you down a hole.

Card Placement meaning: Outcome card.

SCYTHE - Negative

Near: Warning of upset, and even danger, lessened by the presence of good cards when nearby. 
Made worse by the presence of bad cards.

Far: Diminishes the effect of any positive cards in its proximity when far away. 
Trials for those close to the querent.

General Meaning:
Be careful I am swift and sharp. 
I cut through with precision with a strict and clear vision. 
I am an accident,a sharp cut, a break, or sometimes a decision that needs to be made. 
I can bring good harvest or danger. 
Look at what I am cutting nearby, it just might be your wager.

Today's Oracle 19th May 2021

Raven (Truth-telling and Prophecy)

Ravens and crows represent the power of speaking the truth and sometimes the power of prophesy. The raven brings truthfulness, clarity, and insight into the nature of a relationship, event, or situation. Tell the truth in the present situation.

Invoking the Qualities of Insight, Clarity, and Discrimination.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the raven is your benefactor and companion. Your present situation may require speaking the truth in order to clear the way for newness and avoid misunderstandings. Regardless of the situation, lying about mundane or important aspects of your life tears at the fabric of your nature because it disables your emotional and spiritual maturity. On the other hand, bludgeoning others with your opinion without cause or necessity is not mature truth-telling, either. Telling the truth means seeing the world clearly and speaking what you see.

The earliest depictions of the raven are found drawn on prehistoric cave walls. Large ravens are portrayed speaking to human figures, as though prophesying from the chthonic to the earthly realms. Irish druids watch the flight of ravens to predict the future. Appearing as ravens, goddesses wreak havoc among armies, predicting death and the outcomes of battles. As a messenger from the Otherworld, the raven signifies speaking the truth and prophecy.

Like mother goddesses, carrion birds are complex symbols of death and rebirth. Statuary and coins depicting carrion birds hint at myths and symbols long forgotten by history. At temple shrines dedicated to the mother goddess Nantosuelta, ravens perch near her as though bearing messages from the Otherworld. Unique Celtic coins suggest an unknown story: an immense raven rides on the back of a horse. The reins appear to be held by the bird, and its talons dig deeply into the horse's back. Sometimes carrying a small cake in its beak, the raven may be bearing fruit or gifts from the Otherworld.

The earliest traces of Celtic art are cave drawings found in the Camonica Valley in the Italian Alps near Brescia, the work of Iron and Bronze Age Celts. Ravens appear to speak to a human figure who stands before the bird, as though listening.

Evocative of an intimate connection between the birds and goddesses is the mysterious winged goddess. She appears as both in this world and of another world. While shape-shifting between forms is commonplace in Celtic images, portrayals are rarely "frozen" midway in transition. Like the raven, the winged goddess may be a messenger between the realms, bearing gifts as well as prophecies.

From the Iron and Bronze Age through the Roman period, ravens appear as benign, even auspicious, in their accustomed role as prophets and messengers from the Otherworld. However, in the warrior culture of medieval Ireland, their aspect changes. Forecasting death and carnage on the battlefield, tales of terror recount a better story. In the celebrated account in the Ulster Cycle of the death of Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster, the truth-telling Morrigán appears as a raven and concludes the scene:

"Holding the huge wound in his body together, Cúichulainn .. . took a drink and washed himself and turned from the lake to die. On the shore, a little distance away, he saw a pillar stone and he struggled towards it and put his back to it for support.
Then he took his belt and tied himself to the pillar so that he would die standing up, for he had sworn he would meet his end "feet on the ground, face to the foe. Upright and facing his enemies, he called to them to come near him and cautiously they approached and stood round him silently in a circle. They stayed there and watched him but none of them dared lay a hand on him for the hero light still shone round his head....
For three days his enemies watched Cúchulainn. The ravens of battle, the Morrigu and Badb, hovered around his head and at last the hero light faltered, flickered, and went out. As it did so, Cúchulainn let out a great sigh and the pillar stone split at his back. A raven lit on his shoulder and settled there."

Telling the truth is akin to prophesy. It cleans the "eye of the heart." In time your inner vision will see things in their essence and into events seeming to take place in the future. Having been drawn to this oracle, you may have an opportunity to open the windows of perception, to see more deeply into life, and to bring insight and discrimination from the world of spirit to the ordinary, seemingly mundane affairs of life.

Today's Oracle 18th May 2021

Cauldron of the Otherworld (Alchemy)

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

Invoking Healing and Replenishing the Spirit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 17th May 2021

 Bards (Storytelling)

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

Invoking the Qualities of Remembrance and Identity.

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

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

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

"I was instructor to the whole universe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Oracle 16th May 2021

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.

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.

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 neighbour 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.

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.