Non eclectic me

I occasionally attend pagan rituals in my area around Los Angeles County. Not as often as I should, indeed it’s not as often as I want to. The main problem for me is that rituals and retreats etc. take place on weekends. My career choice involves weekend work so I am effectively excluded from most rituals and celebrations. The cares of the mundane world hold me back and work gets in the way of life. That may well be the subject of another post but, for now; I want to write about the Pagan rituals I have attended here in this part of America.

Frequently before the ceremony begins, the participants are smudged. Drums are played to a Native American beat. In discussion with Americans who are seeking out the ancient path I hear talk of “Karma” and of “Chakras” These things and more make me uneasy and it took me a while to figure out why.

I am Welsh, nothing but Welsh as far back as I know. Most people in America are a mixture of many things. I have become convinced that it is this mixture of cultural heritages that make Americans in particular, more at ease with a mix and match of ritual and doctrine than I can be comfortable with.

I am an old Welsh Druid and that is it, simple and straightforward. I don’t go along with Karma but I understand cause and effect. I have a view of my physical body and its relationship to the spiritual energies that has nothing to do with “Chakra” These concepts are part of the spirituality of India. Valuable and worth knowing about, just not a part of my way or my views on Life the Universe and Everything.

I have a number of Native American friends, my wife is Apache Nation. From time to time we attend drumming circles and I always enjoy the Pow-Wow trail when we can get on it. Nevertheless there has been so much taken from the native peoples I feel that if I were to take an active part I would be just another European moving in on their land again. So I get uncomfortable when, at a Druid ritual, I am smudged. I can accept the gift gratefully when done at a Native ritual but in a European Pagan context it doesn’t sit well. I have come to realize that this is because my life, my heritage and my cultural roots all revolve around a distinctly Brythonic culture. For those who see themselves as new to this long and winding road we call the Pagan path it seems natural to explore various “Traditions” and include them in practice. For me personally, mix and match does not work.

The Awen, lost in translation

The Welsh legend of Taliesin begins with Ceridwen creating a Cauldron filled with a Magical elixir. This is where something tends to get lost in translation. Usually when the story is told, even by me as in this video, it is said that she is stirring the Cauldron of Inspiration. That isn’t exactly correct. Ceridwen is creating Awen.

The Welsh word for “inspiration” is ysbrydoliaeth the legend talks of Awen and that is not so easy to translate. Awen refers to that force in nature that creates inspiration. Frequently the word is translated as “muse” as in a line from the third verse of the Welsh national anthem “Ni liddwyd yr Awen trwy erchyll law brad” The Muse is not hindered by the awful hand of treason. However it means a lot more than that.

Consider the universe as being the ultimate in creativity. Everything in the universe includes all creativity. Creativity permeates the universe because it happens all the time. The universe is also the ultimate in inspiration. The existence of the universe is the product of the greatest inspiration. Awen is the personalization of all the inspiration and creativity that exists. Awen is untranslatable because it is a concept and an event. The event occurs when someone touches the Awen.

In the story of Taliesin he touches the Awen and is transformed forever. He becomes more than he ever could have been. This is the lesson and the challenge for us all. If we could just touch, just take three small drops of the Awen, there is nothing we could not create. We too would be transformed into something beyond our present imaginings. Can we touch the creativity and inspiration of the universe? It’s worth a try. Can we also drink from the Cauldron of Ceridwen?

See you around the fire.

Ceridwen and blind Morda

I was in a group discussion the other day when the question of Ceridwen arose. People had a number of questions about the story. Not surprising really, It is one of the most profound of the old Welsh legends. It tells of the birth of Taliesin, the greatest of the ancient Welsh poets or Bards.  The legend has it that an old blind man, Morda is his name is set to stir the cauldron of Awen. To make sure it doesn’t boil over. Morda falls asleep and three drops of the precious liquid fall on the thumb of a little boy.

 Just so we don’t get lost in translation; the boy’s name is Gwion Bach, literally “Little innocent” The old man is Morda, “Sea Father” Ceridwen is a lot trickier. The oldest manuscripts write her name as Keridvan or in modern Welsh spelling Ceridfan. “Fan” means place Cerid could be “loving” or it could mean “Crooked” or “Bent.” This would seem to reference the crescent moon. There is a deep study here and we have by no means uncovered all of the secret lessons hidden in this legend.

The part of the story that had almost all of my friends questioning was in regard to the action of Ceridwen. When she discovers that the Awen was taken by the young boy, the legend states that she beat Morda until his eye fell out. In Pagan groups Ceridwen is viewed as a Goddess. In fact there is ample evidence from legends and other sources to convince us all that she has always been a Goddess, so what is this passage all about? How could this be the behavior of a Goddess? I had to remind my friends of an important part of the story. Morda was blind. She was beating out the eye of a blind man. So what good was the eye to him? There are meanings within meanings inside these old tales. We are lulled into thinking that blind means “Not-seeing” Instead we should ask; “What was he blind to?” If we think of this part of the story as Morda losing that which prevented him from seeing clearly, then we realize that Morda also went through a transformation gifted by the grace of the Lady. It all revolves around a question that everyone in my group thought they had the answer to. The question of; what was in the Cauldron? What was it that Morda was stirring for a year and a day?

Almost everyone thinks it was the Cauldron of Inspiration. It is not.

The second Axiom of Magic

I haven’t written on this blog for some time. The reason is that I’ve met a publisher who wants me to write a book. The book will be about the Axioms of Magic and that’s why I haven’t continued with the series. Still, I want to put the second one out there. So here it is, the second Axiom of Magic;

 When you use Words of Power, powerful things will happen.

  Words are powerful. This is the Magic of the Bard. A song or a poem can make us laugh or cry, can inspire us to great deeds or sink us to despair. During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said that the song “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was worth two battalions. There is no doubt that it inspired the North. The line, “He died to make men holy, let us die to make them free.” Is especially powerful. French revolutionary actions taken during the 19th Century were inspired by the phrase of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon; “The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise.” Powerful words spoken and powerful things happened.
 A rather traditional view of a Magic spell would be the speaking of the certain words in a certain way with a clear intent to create a desired result. Have you ever been the victim of such a spell? Have you ever walked into a car dealership? Did the salesman say certain words in a certain tone with a clear intent? Then did you leave with a car and did the dealer get your money? He put a spell on you however you look at it. The word and the will achieved a powerful result.
 On a different level, the power of chanting raises vibrations that can be felt and can only be described by the experience. An example would be the fairly well known “Om Mani Padme Hum” Repeating this in a low and vibrant tone can set up powerful vibrations. Repeating the phrase or Mantra in a group setting can feel very powerful indeed. I have been in groups where the Welsh word “Awen” has been chanted with some amazing results. These are experiences that cannot be adequately described. This is the Magic of words, words can change the world and words can change your world.
More on this subject when I publish the book.

The First Axiom of magic

If you look where no one else is looking, you will see what no one else sees. I wrote a whole essay on this statement. This is what I view as the first axiom of Magic. It seems obvious to most and true on a deep level to a few. I changed my mind about presenting the essay here though. Looking and seeing are not efforts, not something to be worked at. These are things to do, or do not. Wonder and magic are all around us. Do you see it? If you do not see wonder and Magic, if you never look where others do not, you may still be happy and successful. You just won’t be Magical, that’s all.

The Axioms of Magic

Something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time is; how do we define Magic?  When the question is asked on an individual basis it is usually phrased “How do you define Magic?” The question is phrased that way because within the Pagan community there is a strong tradition that truth is not necessarily absolute, your truth is not necessarily my truth. I sense that this is more rebellion than tradition. A determination that those who honor the Old Gods will not set an absolute doctrine of “My way or Eternal Hell” as Abrahamic religions are fond of saying.

 There is no evidence of a “Holy War” among Pre-Christian inhabitants of North-West Europe. There were different names for the same God and quite naturally so: The God of a river would be viewed, and named, differently by those who lived near the lake at its source, those who lived near the rapids and those who dwelt by the estuary. Nevertheless there is no evidence of strife, no insistence that this is the God’s name and nature. It seems that each area had its own “Folk Ways” that were accepted by the visitor and the settler. The way in which the modern Pagan movement emulates this is warming and comforting to the modern settler and wanderer in the spiritual communities.

That’s all well and good, but what about the Magic? Some will say that Magic is simply science that hasn’t been understood yet. The problem with that is that science tends towards the absolute and absolute means that one Magic must be everyone’s Magic. The argument that “Your Magic may not be my Magic” Raises the thorny question of “Then what good is it?” If it is only Magic for you, then how can it affect me or any other being? Without universal truth Magic becomes self- serving, growing, or diminishing the practitioner, having no effect in the World and leading to the assertion that Magic fails.

I’ve been wondering for some time if there could be a set of axioms, along the line of Euclid’s axioms that are common to all sciences that could be common to all Magics. So I’m starting a series here on my Blog all about the axioms of magic.

My next post will talk about the first axiom.

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The Lady of Llyn y Fan fach

 In the year 1180 CE a young farmer met a beautiful woman from the land of the fairy. They fell in love and married. Their marriage was with one condition; He must never strike her three times without cause Tri ergyd di-achos He readily agreed to this condition for he felt that he could never strike this woman. However, as so often happens when such a condition is made, he does strike those three blows. The woman, whose name is given as Nelferch, returns to her world and the husband never sees her again.
What makes this tale particularly interesting and unique among such tales is what happens after the tale ends. The couple had three sons and though she never again appeared to the husband, she did for her children. She took them around the Black mountains of Wales, showing them herbs and explaining the healing properties of those herbs. She taught them the arts of medicine until the three sons became famous for their healing skills. Their descendants continued in this tradition until Dr. Rhys Williams M.D. died in 1842. It is said that he was the last of the descendants of the lady of the lake.
Fortunately, the children of Nelferch wrote down the knowledge they had gained and a copy of it can be seen at Jesus College, Oxford. A translation of "The Medical Book of the Physicians of Myddfai" can be accessed online here;  http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/meddigion_myddfai.html