CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE:
PEACE TO THE SKIES ©
by Tira Brandon Evans

Recently, one of the members of our Celticshaman group sparked a discussion of prophecy. She was wondering if there were any famous prophecies in the Celtic tradition similar to those preserved by the Christians and Mayans.

She was asking if our Celtic speaking ancestors had a tradition of apocalytic predictions. This immediately brought to my mind the prophecies such as the one the Morrígan spoke after the Second Battle of Mag Tuiread.

The Morrígan's first prophecy was uttered before the battle. It was spoken as curse against the Formorians, the enemies confronting the Tuatha de Danaan on that day. After the battle, she spoke the second prophecy as a blessing on the victorious Tuatha de Danaan.

Perhaps the first was not only a curse but also a prediction – along the lines of, "If the Formorians win this is the fate of Ireland." And the second is her prediction of the fate of Ireland under the kinder governance of the Tuatha de.

The Morrígan's First Prophecy

I shall not see a world that will be dear to me
Summer without flowers
Kine will be without milk,
Women without modesty,
Men without valor,
Captures without a king...
Woods without mast,
Sea without produce...
Wrong judgments of old men,
False precedents of lawyers,
Every man a betrayer,
Every boy a reaver
Son will enter his fathers bed,
Father will enter his son's bed,
Every one will be his brother's brother in law....
An evil time!
Son will deceive his father,
Daughter will deceive her mother.

The Morrígan's Second Prophecy

Peace to the sky
sky to the earth
earth beneath sky
strength in everyone
a cup very full
a fullness of honey
honour enough
summer in winter
spear supported by shield
shields supported by forts
forts fierce eager for battle
fleece from sheep
woods grown with antler-tips
forever destructions have departed
nuts on trees
a branch drooping-down
drooping from growth
wealth for a son
a son very learned
neck of bull
a bull from a song
knots in woods
wood for a fire
fire as wanted
palisades new and bright
salmon their victory
the Boyne their hostel
hostel with an excellence of length
new growth after spring
in autumn horses increase
the land held secure
land recounted with excellence of word
Be might to the eternal much excellent woods
peace to sky
be nine times eternal

(Find The Second Battle of Mag Tured at http://web.ncf.ca/dc920/tured.html)

Other Celtic Prophets

The Brahan Seer (brawn seer) of Scotland is perhaps the most famous Celtic prophet and his prophecies are generally quite gloomy but also seem to be more or less accurate. They are usually specific to Scotland.[1]

A much older prophecy, and one quite famous even today, is the Prophecy of Merlin in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Brittaniae" or "The History of the Kings of Britain", which may be found in it's entirety on this website: http://www.caerleon.net/history/geoffrey/prophecy1.htm

This prophecy is quite specific to Britain.

And I have a feeling the Mayan prophecies are really quite specific to the Mayans and have only recently been interpreted to apply to the entire world.

The End Is Near – Maybe

The thing is that the world is always coming to an end and a new heaven and a new earth are always just around the corner.[2] Having lived for sixty-two years, I have come to the point of feeling end of the world predictions are all pretty much the same in every time and every place. Just in my lifetime, I have been told dozens of times the world was in immediate danger of destruction. Some of these predictions were based on very serious grounds – the USA and Russia very nearly did come to nuclear blows over Cuba in the 1960's, for instance. Some of the dire predictions proved to be nothing but hot air – the terrible disasters that would result from the Y2K computer bug, for example.

Various religious leaders have often prophesied the world would end on a specific date. Many encouraged their followers to sell all they had to prepare for destruction – or talked folks into following them into the wilderness to await Armegeddon. Sometimes, when the end did not come, they talked their followers into suicide.

Certainly, the world is always changing and there may be bad times ahead – but, on the other hand, these bad times may never materialize. My philosophy is, be prepared.

We are fortunate enough to have our own well and it may be easily be switched from our electric pump to a hand pump at a moment's notice. We have a little half acre to provide some veggies in season and we could keep chickens quite easily. We live about a hundred yards from one of the best salmon streams in the world with fish year round – only about three months of the year are sans salmon. We have a woodstove for heat and, if the grid actually does go down, I think we can figure out how to cook outdoors over an open fire.

I have taken thought for what items will be valuable in a future without public services: toothpaste, toothbrushes, healing herbs, salt – salt is hugely important – honey, spices, canning jars with lids, the list is really endless.

But this is just our way of making sure we can look after ourselves if we have to. I don't really think we will ever have to.

As things stand we are in a very good situation to survive the 'end of the world as we know it'. Make decisions for your future based on what you think is best for you and your family NOW. Remember, tomorrow never comes. If you aren't happy in your present situation there is little chance you would be happy in that situation tomorrow, no matter what the rest of the world is doing.

In some ways it would be quite wonderful if tomorrow it was the 'end of the world as we know it' because we would be absolved of the responsibility of trying to fix things. We would not have to worry any more about things that make us unhappy. We would be far too busy just surviving to take thought of tomorrow at all.

Now, I know many people will say, "But I am busy just surviving." Well, not really, not if you live in Europe or Australia or North America or any country with a stable government and secure infrastructure.

People in India, Africa, parts of Asia, parts of the Middle East, and parts of Central and South America really ARE struggling just to survive. Disease, starvation, drought, and war are their daily reality.

I highly recommend you make your decisions based on what you and your family need today and not on some future that may never come. If and when the grid goes down, you will figure out a way to make that work for you and your loved ones. Until then, be prepared and be free of fearing tomorrow.

The Coming Eucatastrophe

Something that occurred to me as we were all exchanging messages about prophecies is they are almost always negative. I wonder if that is because seers only on see bad things or if it is because folks only pay attention to, and preserve, the negative prophecies?

I mean, what if I had a series of visions showing the earth and all her people living in peace, plenty and harmony, and told the visions and the signs to look for that would indicate this golden age was soon to begin? Would these prophecies be respected and remembered and handed down from generation to generation? Or would they be ignored and forgotten within a generation?

And that, to me, is a very interesting question because just as there are always catastrophes happening so are there also events Tolkien called eucatastrophes, sudden wonderful and miraculous events.

Long ago, I started to practice a little trick to cheer myself up when I was glum. I would make up my mind to notice all the good things that happened to me in a day and immediately forget all the bad things. At the end of the day, I would tally up all the good things. It is amazing how well this works. Not that bad things don't happen, but if we are looking only at the negative things then we are constructing a pretty negative universe for ourselves. If we concentrate on what is good and wholesome and right in our lives this builds a positive reality.

Of course, there are times when I enjoy wallowing in the slough of despond, but even when I am doing this, I am aware it is my choice. When I make up mind to be happy, I am. I have the choice to spend my life preparing for a catastrophe that may never come or celebrating the eucatastrophe that is our beautiful living planet. The choice is also yours.




Tira Brandon-Evans is the Founder and Moderator of the Society of Celtic Shamans, editor of Earthsongs: Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans, and is, herself, a Faery Shaman. Her books, The Green and Burning Tree: A Faery Shaman's Handbook, Portals of the Seasons: A Celtic Wheel of the Year, Through the Unremembered Gate: Journeys of Initiation, The Labyrinthine Way: Walking Ancient Paths in a Modern World, and Healing Waters, are all published by Elder Grove Press. She is presently writing a book about the Ogham. You may contact Tira by email at info@faeryshaman.org.

ENDNOTES:

  1. Links to information on the Brahan Seer.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahan_Seer
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/scotland/western/article_1.shtml
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8287/seer2.html
    http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pbs/index.htm
    (Return to Article)

  2. See TheLady, the Cow and the Tower by Yeats Rossignol in this issue. (Return to Article)



Céad Míle Fáilte: Peace to the Skies copyright © 2007 by Tira Brandon-Evans, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page



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