What ails your King?
Find out at 'Tuatha Dé Danann' Arts Celebration, Fermoy, Cork 26-28 May, where I am honoured to share a creative healing journey on-stage with some of the best creatives in this land...
Celtic Wheel Series 5 - Bealtaine Reflections
The great wheel turned once more on Friday evening, 5th May last and as the full moon rose over the sea, luminous white, despite the muting of cloud-cover, I looked to the flames scattering sparks into the night sky and asked, as I do at each turn of the Wheel: What wisdom is offering itself to me at this turn, this Béal-an-Tine (Mouth of the Fire), so called because it is the start of Summer?
It came to me over the following days, percolating as always, through the everyday; seemingly un-noteworthy moments elucidating the question I did not know I had been asking for so long, but which was on the cusp: Where has the Divine Masculine gone? The Divine Feminine is rising and rising. Has she frightened him away?
The answer of course, is showing itself in each of us as individuals, regardless of the body into which we were born. In turn, our individual embodiment and expression of these ancient archetypes - as ancient as time itself - play out on the collective, in the world at large.
The God Cernnunos, known by many names in cultures worldwide, for a long time prior to the advent of Christianity, and associated with Bealtaine in his fertility aspect, as ‘The Green Man’, is an expression of the Divine Masculine. In modern parlance, we could call this ‘positive masculine’ - integrated and in union with, not standing over, the Divine Feminine - Yin / Yang, Dark / Light, weaving together, an eternal dance to bring balance.
In the time of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Tribe of the Goddess Danu), this sacred union was respected. When the Tuatha Dé retreated and the Milesians came to rule, the sacred union was continued by the granting of sovereignty through Éiriú, one of three daughters of King Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann and Goddess of the Land. It was she, who decided whether a man was fit to be King, based on his oath to protect the land and ensure fertility and abundance for all beings that dwelled thereon. A ritual ceremony at Uisneach, the spiritual centre of the land sealed the oath.
“It was customary for the High King to ritually ‘marry’ the sovereignty goddess (representing the land) at an inauguration ceremony known as the ‘Banais Righe’ (wedding feast of kingship). This ceremony may have been part of the ‘Dail Mór Uisneach’, a great assembly and fair held at the beginning of May (Bealtaine) when a great fire was lit on the hill to mark the onset of summer.” Source: uisneach.ie
It is worth noting the date on which a recent coronation took place on our neighbouring isle, coinciding with Bealtaine. Coincidence?
Two of the grail stories from that same isle: ‘The Fisher King’ from Arthurian legend, and ‘The Rape of the Well Maidens’, pre-dating the reign of King Arthur, are grim reminders of what befalls those who renege on this sacred oath. Emasculated by a wound to the genitalia, as a punishment, the King in these stories, is unable to uphold his sacred duty to perpetuate fertility. The sword (masculine) is broken; the grail (feminine) is lost. Thus, the land drys up and becomes a ‘wasteland’ - evoked in the poem of the same name by T.S. Elliot.
There are so many parallells to be drawn with our current existence, where we find ourselves in a wasteland of greed, creeping over the land and its inhabitants, facilitated by the broken sword of the wounded masculine that we all carry within, regardless of the physical body in which we find ourselves. It is time to heal, ourselves first and foremost, so that we can restore the wasteland to fertility. I believe the wisdom of the ancients holds the key to this healing. Join me and some of the very best creatives in the land, at Tuatha Dé Danann 26th - 28th May, in Fermoy, Cork, and share a healing journey with us….. Tickets Here
The poems below (audio & text), are woven from my own healing journey. I hope you enjoy them and if you do, please share :)
The Sword
Healing the Wasteland
The Sword
To soar is the thing, high above
with a bird’s eye view of all that could be true
in a world of apparition and ephemeral kings
pretenders to the throne.
The birds that fly high, they see it all
a wilderness bereft
the mating call of a land parched and dry
for want of wisdom.
Where is the true king
the one that I seek?
Let him not stand by in meek submission
while others fan the flames of destruction.
Uphold her glory, her unparalleled beauty
knowing at once your sacred duty
when others fall prey to a story
of pain and destitution.
Wield your sword with mighty purpose!
Take heart blessed man
before we lose all that is holy
and held in the Word of the Divine.
© Áine Fortune 2020
Healing The Wasteland
Grieving, weeping, toiling, gnawing
Bloodful seeping, darkness drawing
Wrathful, bitter, dry aridity
Hopeful, cleansing, tearful fluidity
Lost, despairing, sterile waste
Love repairing, sweetest taste
Binding, crushing, blackest sand
Loving, gentle, softening hand
Burning sun, mournful sky
Silver moon, knowing eye
Thunder booming, voiceless cry
Wondrous blooming, blissful sigh.
© Áine Fortune 2019
Footnotes:
Jungian archetypes are a concept from psychology that refers to a universal, inherited idea, pattern of thought, or image that is present in the collective unconscious of all human beings. The psychic counterpart of instinct, archetypes are thought to be the basis of many of the common themes and symbols that appear in stories, myths, and dreams across different cultures and societies. Some examples of archetypes include those of the Mother, the Father, The Child, among many others. The concept of archetypes and the collective unconscious was first proposed by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Source: Wikipedia
“…Cernnunos was the difference and diversity of life, the frenzy and ferment of evolution. But, He is much older still. He is oldest of the Ancient Ones, first born of the Goddess. At the time of First Earth, Cernnunos grew in the womb of the All Mother, Anu, waiting to be born, to come forth to initiate the everlasting, unbroken Circle of Life.” - Philip Carr-Gomm
The Tale of the Well-Maidens: “Long, long ago, even before the reign of King Arthur, the land was blessed with enchantment and great fertility. Throughout the realm, maidens stood guard over the sacred wells, offering their healing waters in golden cups to any journeyers who might pass. Indeed, some say that these were the very waters of inspiration, offering trans-port between the worlds….All was well, with the land bounteous and the people content, until the King conceived a desire to possess one of the well-maidens. He stole her sacred cup, carried her off, and raped her. His men followed his example, raping the other maidens. In response to these unheard-of acts, these violations against nature itself, the maidens withdrew themselves and their magic from the world. The wells dried up, and the re-generative powers of the land were destroyed, leaving it barren and devoid of enchant-ment. By seeking dominion over others, the King and his men had diminished the world.” Exerpt from: ‘The Tale of the Well-Maidens’, told by ecopsychologist Mary Gomes and clinical psychologist Allen Kanner (1995) in an essay on feminist psychology and the environmental crisis p.112