by Nora Lisius
It struck me the other day that I had never heard a Celtic creation myth. How odd, I thought, and began researching. As it turns out, there are no Celtic creation myths-at least nothing of authentic antiquity that has survived. All right, I am the product of a culture and a religion which view things through a linear perspective, an outlook which requires a tidy beginning and a logical ending. How might my Celtic ancestors, with their fascination for spirals and circles, have looked at life?
As one might expect, it seems to have been a cyclical mindset, one in which the wheel of the year forever turns upon itself, spring growth giving way to summer fullness and autumn harvest, with the sleep and death of winter following close behind. But the cycle starts all over again with the new spring. Perhaps stories of first beginnings were just not relevant to our ancestors.
But what about the other "end" of life-death itself? Well, here again, death in the pre-Christian Celtic view appears to have been simply a prelude to new life.
Excavated Iron Age Celtic gravesites show that our ancestors looked forward to a life after death that was much like that lived on earth. Implements contained in the graves-anything from swords to mirrors to jewelry to chariots-seemed to point to another similar life. But the next life was happier. It has been noted that the swords found in these gravesites were frequently ritually cut or bent. I like to think they felt they wouldn't need them where they were going. Indeed, most items seem to have been placed in the graves to indicate the rank and status of the individual and to ensure that continued privilege in the next life. Apparently the Otherworld is still hierarchical.
All souls appear to have resided in the same place after death. There is no evidence of the heaven-hell dichotomy of Christian philosophy. The Otherworld had many names, among them Avalon (Land of Apples) and Tir Na Nog (Land of Eternal Youth). So, where was the Otherworld? Well, it depends. Sometimes it was a shadowy underworld-the place to which the Tuatha de Danann had made their escape. Or at times it seems to have been a misty island in the Western Sea, only visible to mortal eyes at certain times (traditionally once every seven years). Again it might seem to be a parallel universe, co-existing with our own. Most of us know that the veil between this world and the next is supposed to be thinnest at Samhain. If the dead are not "among us" in some sense, how can we connect with them at that time of the year? William Butler Yeats once remarked, "In Ireland, this world and the world we go to after death are not far apart."
Wherever this Otherworld is, doesn't that imply an end of sorts? Isn't it the end and resolution of life to go to the Otherworld and hang out forever? Apparently not, for it is obvious from surviving stories and traditions that the ancient Celts also believed in reincarnation-the re-entering of a physical body on the earthly plane. Therein does the circle begin again. It was believed that the goddess birthed the soul from the cauldron of life, nurtured it during its earthly sojourn, and reabsorbed it into the cauldron (womb) at death. We could, I suppose, think of the time in the Otherworld as a resting in the cauldron while awaiting rebirth.
Ancient Celtic beliefs appear truly not to differ much from those of Buddhism, but perhaps the life cycle was not so relentlessly driven by karma. It seems to have been OK to hang around Tir Na Nog until you were good and ready to have another go at this life thing.
Some scholars believe druids taught that the soul progressed lifetime after lifetime through plant life, animals, humanity and, finally, divinity. Others maintain that druids only taught human-to-human reincarnation of the soul, but stressed that the physical components of the discarded body were absorbed by other life forms and so, in a very real sense, all of us partake in all of life. This lovely poem attributed to Amairgen (sometimes associated with Taliesin) illustrates this compelling pantheistic concept:
I am the wind which blows o'er the sea;
I am the wave of the deep;
I am the bull of seven battles;
I am the eagle on the rock;
I am a tear of the sun;
I am the fairest of plants;
I am a boar for courage;
I am a salmon in the water;
I am a lake in the plain;
I am the world of knowledge;
I am the head of the battle-dealing spear;
I am the god who fashions fire in the head;
Who spreads light in the gathering on the mountain?
Who foretells the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the spot where the sun rests?
Nora Lisius lives in Central Oregon, where she has served as an officer and board member for the High Desert Celtic Society and occasionally writes for their newsletter, "The Seanachie." Before the onset of middle age and arthritis, she was also a member of their Scottish Country Dance performance team. Nora holds a degree in English literature from the University of Oregon and continues to pursue a life-long interest in folklore and mythology, particularly as pertains to the Celtic and Nordic peoples. She is currently studying with Tira in the Hazel Grove. Nora can be reached at nlisius@bendbroadband.com
A Land Within, A Land Afar copyright © 2008 by Nora Lisius, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page
Earthsongs: International Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans copyright © 2008 by Elder Grove Press and content providers. All rights reserved. International copyright laws prohibit reproduction of or distribution of this page by any means whatsoever, electronic or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permissions of the copyright holders. We retain legal counsel to protect our copyrights.