Henge Happenings #55
The Divination
By Beirdd
During the recent Gathering of Keltrian Tribes, Henge secretary
and Golden Horse Grove Leader, Topaz Owl, also served as “taibhsear”
(seer) and underwent a version of the “tarbh feis” in order
to provide a divination. During this rite, she was covered with a dense,
heavy blanket while others continued to chant and pray. Once the time
for incubation was over, she was able to relate several images she experienced
in the darkness and heat. I was not present for the divination, and
Topaz Owl has asked me to act as an objective interpreter of her vision.
I hope her trust in my insight will prove to be divinatory, as well.
During her experience, the seer experienced four distinct images. They
were perceived sequentially, with no overlap or obvious relation. These
images were:
1. A giant wave that washed over the land, yet did no damage.
2. A battle between sides represented by the colors red and white, at
which culmination came a strong sense that much had been lost, but everything
gained.
3. A raven flying east out of the setting sun.
4. The Druids present at the Gathering ministering to others with healing
and compassion.
The first thing that strikes me is the number of images. Visions often
come in multiple images, with each one confirming a single theme from
a slightly different view. On closer examination, there is a sense that
the number of images and their general content have provided a particularly
Druidic postmark for the overall vision. In the first three images,
we have Sea, Land, and Sky represented by the tidal wave, the battlefield,
and the bird. In the fourth image we see Power being used; some may
refer to it as Fire or Spirit. I have the sense that, despite the sequential
appearance of the images, the fourth is actually at the hub of the three
denoting the Realms.
In the first image, a tidal wave washes over the land. When it recedes,
everything seems as it was. Or is it? The seer said it “did no
damage;” “no harm was done to the land.” Yet there must
be some effect of such an event. On the surface, this is an image of
cleansing and purification. When one considers the awe with which the
Celts held the sea, as well as the questions it leaves us even in our
age, another possibility arises. When one is engulfed by the mystical/spiritual,
it is also like a tidal wave that, when gone, leaves the individual
seemingly untouched, but deeply altered. Paradox is surely a hallmark
of the encounter between worlds.
The second image also carries a mystery. The Seer was unsure at first
as to the symbolism of the colors red and white. In Celtic symbology,
these two colors often appear together. Their potency is witnessed in
how their pairing has survived through the evolution of literature and
legend: Merlin’s prophetic dragons, the wells around Glastonbury/Avalon,
even the hair and ears of Otherwordly canines. The Seer has since expressed
the sense that these colors represent nature/earth and spirit respectively.
They could represent this world and the Otherworld or, perhaps, body
and soul. They probably cover all of these possibilities, and more.
Whatever the detail, the battle represents a tension coming to a head.
Here, as in the image of the tidal wave, there is a paradoxical conclusion:
“much has been lost and everything gained.” There must be
massive deaths on the battlefield, yet the sense of victory is palpable
and relegated to neither the red or the white. In my opinion, we have
here the view of camera two on the same scene or, rather, message of
the vision as a whole. Does this carry through to the third image?
The third image is of a raven flying east out of the sunset. The raven
is a carrion bird; both the herald and the consumer of death. Its home
is the land of death, the lands from which no one returns, the island
of the West. And here it is, flying out of the realm of death, at sunset,
the moment of death. Is this some dire warning, the herald of some sort
of attack? Yet this oracular bird is bringing its message in the daylight,
feeble though it may be, and it is moving eastward, toward the land
of the living. In this image it is straddling worlds that are usually
in tension, yet there is no prey, only the message. Death seems to be
reconciling with life.
The fourth image of the working Druids seems straightforward: Druids
are to work to bring healing and compassion. Because of these events?
Despite these events? Causing these events? In the end, these questions
are useless. It is the nature of visions that they can only be realized
after the events they portend have passed. It is also their nature that
they speak to us on multiple levels from the cosmos to the universe
of the individual soul. Keltrians may see in the individual scenes a
tidal wave bringing an enlivened respect for the ancestors, a battle
which results in a costly victory that, nevertheless, should bolster
those who fight in defense of the natural environment, a soaring vision
of Lugh, the Morrighan, or other gods. The fourth image is the simplest
to envision, yet the most difficult to do. It is our paradox. In my
experience, the best path to take is that which interprets the visionary
message within the heart of the individual person. Then we become the
deep set roots and foundation stones, the tides, and the winds that
bring healing and compassion, change and cooperation between people,
nations, worlds, and realms.
Beirdd
Garrán an Eich Órbhuí
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Last updated: 19 October 2002
