SPIRITUAL CRISIS IN EARLY IRISH LITERATURE AND LATER FOLK LIFE

By

Geo Cameron

Submitted for the Award of MSc in Celtic Studies University of Edinburgh, September, 1997

© Geo Cameron 1997


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

II. Methodology

III. Introduction to the Texts
Aithed Muirne re Dubh Ruis
Aislinge Óenguso
Serglige Con Culainn

IV. Onset and Ordeal Stages of Initiatory Crisis
Mis
Cú Chulainn
Óengus
Overview of the Ordeal Stages of Initiatory Crisis

V. Recovery from Initiatory Crisis
Mis
Cú Chulainn
Óengus
Overview of the Recovery Stage of Initiatory Crisis

VI. The Transmission of Gifts

VII. Diagrams Illustrating the Patterns of Initiatory Illness
Mis and the Hamatsa
Óengus and the Burmese Shaman
Cú Chulainn and the Siberian Shaman

VIII. Overview of the Pattern of Initiatory Illness

IX. Conclusions
The Shaman as Guarantor of Cosmic Order

Bibliography


I. Introduction

Celtic literature and folklore is full of descriptions of contact with the síd, or other world. Initially we hear of this contact in the myths, tales of the saint's lives, and epics. Generally, we hear of the upper echelons of Celtic society, the kings, heroes and druids, encountering the other world. Sometimes it occurs through the love of a woman of the síd, as in the Serglige Con Culainn,1 or through following an enchanted animal into a wood, as in the tale of Pwyll, the Prince of Dyfed. Sometimes this contact is transformative, sometimes traumatic. For example Pwyll, in his exchange with Arawn, becomes a better ruler,2 but King Muirchetach meets his doom when he meets the fairy woman Sín.3 These tales have some elements that seem to go back to primal Celtic traditions, and others that seem Christian.

Behind all the tales of these experiences, there is a person, mythic or actual, who sees, at least for a moment, not through a glass darkly but face to face. The stories of this experience also have in common certain features that appear world wide amongst diverse peoples.4 Those features may be called shamanic. That is, they pertain to an individual having a personal experience of a spiritual aspect of reality.

The word "shaman" is a Tungus Siberian word that has been used to describe a wide range of phenomenon. In earlier times druids, and sometimes heroes, seem to function fully as shamans, as defined by Mircea Eliade, in his definitive work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. That is, they undertake a spirit journey into the other world, and return with spiritual gifts for their community.5

For the purpose of this study, I would define shamanism as a body of techniques that bring the individual into a personal and interactive contact with the spirit aspect of reality.6 This contact can involve the spirit journey, where the shaman enters the other world. It may include the shaman acting as an oracle, becoming possessed by the deity. A shamanic experience may arise spontaneously, or by using specific techniques. I stress the personal and interactive aspect because that is to me the distinguishing feature of shamanism.

A variety of shamanic features, such as spirit flight and journeying, totem animals, power over fire, initiatory illness and spirit marriage, are present in Celtic material.

It also seems clear to me that all the general features of shamanism are present in the accounts of druids we find in the Early Irish literature. As one example, we find the Druid Mog Roith engaging in spirit flight in Forbuis Droma Damhgaire,7 as well as having mastery of fire,8 and using classically shamanic accoutrements, such as the encennach, the bird winged headdress. Bird features are the most common theme in shamanic costuming generally. The reason is not hard to imagine, given that spirit flight is central to shamanism. Even when it is not as elaborate a likeness as amongst the Yakut, where an entire bird's skeleton is made of iron, the headdress is often made of feathers and imitates a bird.9

In the later folklore there are fewer people one could argue were fully functioning shamans on all levels, yet one can argue that they are described as having, personal and interactive contact with the spiritual aspect of reality.

For example, in later times personal contact with the sacred occurs in periods of mass spiritual revival within a Christian context. In the writings of the Covenanters, we find vivid descriptions of union with Christ accompanied by enormous joy and a sense of illumination and oneness with creation.10 We also hear about the dark night of the soul, when the person coming into union with the sacred experiences severe psychological and sometimes physical torment.

Additionally, as primal aspects of Celtic practices became increasingly repressed, we find instances of contact with the other world that are more individual. The person experiencing contact with the sacred is not necessarily doing it to return with gifts for the people, as the shaman is. In fact, in some cases the dà shealladh, the two sights, are regarded as a curse rather than a blessing,11 in part, perhaps, because of the pain often experienced at the onset of these powers.

Shamanic cultures, which I define as those with practising shamans, are characterised by an ever-present sense of spirit manifesting in daily life. This seems to be a characteristic of Celtic culture, certainly as it is portrayed in early Irish literature, and much of later folklore. In such a culture, shamans are not the only ones to have spiritual experiences. While not everyone feels the call to become a shaman as a vocation, generally everyone uses shamanic techniques. For example, amongst Native American tribes, most people seek spiritual power and a connection with guardian spirits, obtained by the same shamanic techniques the shaman uses.12

In the 1690's in Scotland during a ceremony to receive a vision the person acting in the role of seer is no longer a druid, but one of the participants chosen by lot.13 This shows that any of them were believed to be able to have a shamanic experience in the right circumstances.14

The difference between a shaman and a person in a shamanic culture using the techniques is that the social role of the shaman is to use the spiritual power he gains to help the community. The shaman's spiritual experience is also unusually and consistently intense, in comparison with his fellows. I stress the consistent aspect of the equation because while many people in traditional cultures may sometimes experience an intense encounter with the spirit world, for the shaman it is a frequent occurrence.

In this paper, I explore two facets of my research into shamanic features in Celtic literature and folklore. These are shamanic initiatory crisis and the union with the spirit mate that may often feature as a prominent stage of that crisis.15

Shamanic initiatory illness is an experience of psycho-spiritual darkness and dissolution that tears down the old ego structure of the individual.16 The career of many shamans begins with this dramatic episode of altered consciousness that would often be classed by traditional Western psychiatry as a manifestation of serious mental diseases, like schizophrenia or psychosis.17

The distinguishing difference between this and the experience of a schizophrenic or psychotic person is that the shaman's illness is healed.18 He or she attains a passionate and personal relationship with the sacred. This relationship does not psychologically disassociate him from physical reality, but leads the shaman to greater effectiveness in the world.

Spiritual crisis may, like shamanic experience itself, also occur in people who are not shamans. When spiritual crisis occurs in people who are not acting as shamans, even down to the current day, it has been termed by some "spiritual emergency."19 The stories I focus on in this study are those that seem to me to show classically shamanic features, and yield some evidence of a shamanic culture surrounding the experience of the afflicted person. I will where appropriate, draw from folk tradition and other sources to amplify on certain points.

A related phenomenon in many cultures, also addressed in this paper, is that of the shaman acquiring power through union with a spirit mate.20

II. Methodology

The stories I explore here for evidence of the themes of initiatory illness and spirit marriage are Aislinge Óenguso, Serglige Con Culainn, and Aithed Muirne re Dubh Ruis.

These and similar texts, have been viewed in various ways by Celtic scholars. For example, Aithed Muirne re Dubh Ruis has been viewed by Mac Cana as a manifestation of the theme of King and Goddess, emanating from primal Celtic tradition.21 One may also question whether she is a female Suibhne, and a largely literary endeavor. The Aislinge may be seen as a sophisticated literary work, similar to, and perhaps influenced by, tales of courtly love. On the other hand, one can also see themes that may date back to Indo-European origins, pointing to roots that are more archaic. For example, the sercc ecmaise, "love in absence" or "love of a spectral love" seems to me to bear a relationship with an Indian literary convention, ad___ak_ma, defined as "love of an unseen one".22

In general, scholars such as McCone and Carney tend to view Irish tales as literary products, not reflecting ancient traditions to any great extent. On the other hand, scholars such as Ó Cathasaigh, Dillon, and Mac Cana see them as possibly retaining very archaic primal elements. Ó Cathasaigh has also spoken of how the myth making process was ongoing in later times. Tales of Cormac Mac Airt still served as myths, inspiring and guiding those who believed they descended from him, long after Ireland had been Christianised.23

The implications of these differing views to my study are various. On the one hand, a Covenanter going through a "dark night of the soul" experience, an Eskimo shaman going through his initiatory crisis, and a modern day person experiencing "spiritual emergency," may describe a strikingly similar state. On this level, whether the experience stems from primal, Christian, or a combination of both, traditions is ancillary to its reality. You could look to St. Theresa of Avila, or St. Gertrude the Great of Helfta, as well as to Balinese shamans for accounts of divine marriage. Those who experienced an initiatory crisis in later times did not do so in a purely or perhaps even partially primal context. However, what I hope to prove is that these experiences occurred, and in the earlier tales, did so in a way which is so classically and traditionally shamanic that some primal elements seem likely.

In what follows, I compare the three primary texts I am using, in their entirety, to the stages in shamanic initiatory crisis. To aid in making a full comparison, I have included diagrams in section VII that compare the major events in each story to the parallel stages of initiatory crisis in other cultures. The form of crisis and initiation in the three tales I have chosen bear strong resemblance to shamanic illness and initiation in two cultures in particular, that of the Kwakiutl of Canada, and that found in Burmese shamanism. In making my comparisons in these diagrams I have used the full description of the crisis involved in any one case.

In sections IV - VII compare the stages of crisis in the tales with the stages of crisis in Kwakiutl, Burmese and other types of shamanism. I also utilise various other sources from anthropology, psychology, and other tales to emphasise and amplify on certain points.

I believe that it is helpful to view these tales in two ways. One way is as the academic, standing back and viewing the subject, and the other is trying to view the stories closer to the way the subjects might have viewed them. Without throwing the intellect out the window, one has to acknowledge the validity of a world view that does not draw hard lines between body, mind, and spirit, religion and daily life, and this world and the other world.

Shamanic cultures that we know of, such as the Kwakiutl, tend not to view man as the prime mover in the universe. If their behaviour is discussed purely on terms of kinship, warfare, and prestige issues, we miss the true motivation behind it.24 The outward social form is based upon myth and visionary experience.

Problems of perception arise when we look at many of the Celtic texts. It is often very difficult to tell if a character is in this world or the other. In shamanic cultures there is often no clear distinction drawn between this world and the other in conversation and ritual. A South American Shuar shaman does not distinguish in speech between the realities, although he is aware when he is in one reality or the other. In the following example, a Shuar shaman sings of his experience. I have written in square brackets and italics where he is referring to this world, and where he refers to the other world.

I am like Tsuni,25 I am like Tsuni, [spirit reality] When I drink natema, all my body becomes cold, [physical reality] and I easily suck out the tsentsak.26 I am always above the clouds, and thus I have power. [spirit reality] I drank natema. [physical reality] I drank enough to have power... [spirit reality] there is a very large body of water. [physical reality] Thus, I am like a great body of water... [spirit reality] Now I am going to become dizzy, [physical reality] I will see [spirit reality] when I have become intoxicated.27 [physical reality]

One can see how cumbersome it would be for the shaman to draw distinctions between the realities. He would also not find it necessary to say which reality he is talking about, largely because shamanic cultures tend to view things more holistically. Additionally, the other world is no less vivid than this one. The use of the term dà shealladh, "the two sights" seems to reflect a view that the two worlds are of equal importance. This may also explain in part why we have such difficulty in Celtic texts distinguishing this world from other world experience.

III. Introduction to the Texts

Aithed Muirne re Dubh Ruis

This is a fascinating tale that illustrates many aspects of shamanic initiatory illness. This was why I chose it, despite the recent date it was written down.

Mis, daughter of Dáire Dóidgheal, goes mad after her father dies in battle and she drinks his blood. She races from the field in madness, and goes into the wilderness. Her hair grows long and she grows a coat of fur or feathers. She becomes a menace, killing animals and humans, so that the area where she lives became a wasteland. Despite this, the King of Munster orders that she not be killed, but offered a great reward for her capture.

Dubh Ruis, harper to the king, takes up the quest. He attracts her with his music, and succeeds in beginning to reawaken memories of her father and past life. They make love, and gradually Dubh Ruis begins to reintroduce her to civilised ways of eating, sleeping, and bathing. In two months, her reason was restored, the coat had fallen from her, and he took her home and married her. She bore him four children, and became one of the most beautiful and accomplished women in Munster. Sadly, Dubh Ruis is later killed while collecting rents, and Mis composed a song over his body.

The tale is contained in two copies, both in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. The first, Murphy MS. 58, pp. 50-57, was written in 1769 by Piaras Mac Gearailt, the second in 1818 by Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin.28

I have generally referred to Brian Ó Cuív's synopsis for the "broad strokes" of the text, and his edition of the text29 has been used for translation purposes where there was a need to go into greater narrative detail. I will note where my translation varies from the synopsis given by Ó Cuív.

Mac Cana thought the traditions contained in the tale were considerably older then the MS. extant, dating back to the tenth century.30 He connects them to tales relating to the king and the goddess of the land. The tale appears in the tale lists Mac Cana refers to as LL, H, R and H1, in The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland. Mis and Dubh Ruis also appear in various other early Irish sources, such as the Dindshenchas.31

I tend to agree with Mac Cana that this text represents an older tradition. Various features of the tale, such as her cannibalism, and the sexual, musical, and other means used to return her to human life, do not seem like later Christian writing. They also bear strong resemblance to shamanic rites of initiation and initiatory illness.

Aislinge Óenguso

Óengus, son of the Dagda and the Boann, sees a young girl in a vision each night, playing upon a stringed instrument by his bed. He tries to draw her to him but she vanishes. He becomes increasingly sick, and his mother decides they must find this girl. After various obstacles are encountered along the way, and the help of various people, including, strangely in this "mythic cycle" tale, Medb and Ailill, is obtained, the girl is found. The girl, Caer, takes the form of a swan on alternate years, and he learns that on Samhuin, he must call to her when she is in swan form on the lake. He does so, and they are united. They return to the lake, then take flight, returning to Óengus' home. They sing so beautifully together that they put everyone there in trance for three days and they stay together thereafter.

This text exists only in British Museum MS. Egerton 1782, folio 70 b. written by scribes of the Ó Maoilchonaire family about 1517. However, this tale, as well as the previous, appears in various older tale lists as a rémscel of the Táin Bó Cúailnge.32 This may be the reason for the strange appearance of Medb and Ailill side by side with the Dagda and the Boann. A scribe may have inserted them as a pretext to add it to the MS of the Táin. References to the text are to Kenneth Jackson's translation in A Celtic Miscellany. I note where I differ from his reading. For my own, I used Fr. Francis Shaw's 1934 edition.

Shaw felt it was an early text, of approximately the eighth century. Thurneysen felt it was a ninth to tenth century tale. Ó Cathasaigh has also done a recent article relating to issues of power in the text, which I will reference below.

One can also see in this text what might seem like a conventional romance influenced by tales of courtly love. I think one reason for this might be that courtly love tales themselves, such as Tristan and Isolt, were based in part on Celtic sources.33 Joseph Campbell has said that he felt that the troubadours were going back consciously to pre-Christian, primal European spiritual views.34 The phenomenon of courtly love is often treated as a revolution in human thought, unrelated to what went before. Yet the precepts of courtly love, the authority and the idealised nature of the beloved, and the religious quality of the verses offered to her, seem to me to bear a sense of the connection to the spirit mate in shamanic traditions. This idea is beyond the scope of the present study to explore, but might be borne in mind in relation to this story in particular.

Serglige Con Culainn

This story also begins with a supernatural visitation. Cú Chulainn and the Ulaid are at Mag Muirthemne for the Samhain festival. A flock of glorious birds arrives and all the women want them. Cú Chulainn succeeds in getting them for the other women but misses out Emer, his wife. She is displeased, so when two birds that are more beautiful arrive, he sets out to get them, despite the fact that Emer and Loeg, his charioteer, fear they are supernatural birds.

He misses his cast at them, something that had never happened before, and sits against a stone in an ill temper. He falls asleep, and two fairy women come at him with horsewhips, beating him until he is almost dead. He remains in a catatonic state for a year, until a fairy man comes to him, saying that all has arisen because Fand, a fairy woman and wife of Manannán wishes his love. First Loeg, then Cú Chulainn go into the other world.

Fand and Cú Chulainn become lovers, much to the consternation, and "only jealousy" of Emer, who gets the long knives out for Fand. In the end, Fand returns to Manannán, and Cú Chulainn to Emer. A brew of forgetfulness is given to Cú Chulainn and Emer by the Druids, so that they will forget the whole incident, and Manannán shakes out his cape between Cú Chulainn and Fand so they will never meet again.

This text has come down in two manuscripts, the 12th century Lebor na hUidre, and TCD H. 4. 22. which derives from the Lebor na hUidre.35 Various scholars, such as Dillon, Zimmer, Best and Thurneyssen36 have commented on the difficulty of unravelling elements of the tale. It is one of those upon which, H, the well known interpolator of the Lebor na hUidre has been at work. Carney views the Serglige as a literary inversion of Immram Brain.37

I have used the translation in Cross and Slover for most references. Where I differ, I have used the text of Myles Dillon's 1975 edition for my own translation.

IV. Onset and Ordeal Stages of Initiatory Crisis

(Note: In Old Irish transcriptions, "7" is standard notation for the character the scribes put for "ocus," meaning: "and.")

Mis

In the case of Mis, the onset of her illness occurs in trauma, when she goes to seek her father's body on the battlefield. "After finding the body with a multitude of bloody wounds he had taken, she proceeded to suck the blood out of the wounds." (...iar bhfagh_il an [51] chuirp go n-iomad créachta di, gabhus ag súgha 7 ag ól na fola as na cr_achtuibh,)

This may be in some way related to assuming ancestral power. In some cultures, a person's ancestors call them to become a shaman.38 In others, the ancestors are honoured by being eaten after death. Amongst the Yanomamö, for example, the ashes of dead relatives are mixed with water and drunk.39

In other cultures, such as the Jívaro, it is held that there is a vital soul that resides in the blood.40 Of course, the idea of the blood or flesh of a being transmitting their power continues to the present in the form of the Christian communion.41 A thorough investigation into the theme of drinking the blood of loved ones, a feature that appears even into comparatively modern times in Gaelic culture,42 is beyond the scope of this paper, but is certainly of interest for future work.

The significance of Mis' blood drinking, or at least blood line, is supported by the emphasis upon lineage in some of the Queen tales. The deranged women who sometimes figure in them are viewed as being of noble blood and desirable in marriage. For example, Fingen leaves his wife for Mór Muman, saying she is of better race.43

This leaves us with some questions. Is Mór Muman of a higher status family than Fingen's wife? If so, how? Is the status social, or is it connected to her derangement, which is the focus of the tale? Perhaps both. It might be because these deranged women are of a druidic or other family viewed as possessing spiritual power. Their illness in that case would illustrate that they possess a high level of this power.

After she falls ill, Mis runs off into the mountains, and her hair and nails grow. She can run like the wind and levitate. She grows a clúmh,44 a coat of what may be fur or feathers. Feathers might be seen as being more shamanically significant, as I've noted above, and DIL does seem to have more examples of this word used for feathers than for fur.45 Suibhne has a similar sort of experience, fleeing a battlefield, sprouting feathers, and acquiring powers of levitation. It may of course be that the later written story of Mis borrowed this component from Suibhne.46

There is an interesting parallel on two levels here to the initiation of Wurajeri Australian shamans. Baiami, the creator, appears in the physical form of a shaman. Kali, holy water, flows from his mouth over the students. The water flows into their bodies, penetrating their skin, without a drop being lost, and this causes them to "soon sprout feathers from their arms, which later grow into wings."47 The similarities being: the taking into the body of a special fluid from a person of power, in one case drinking blood, in the other kali, which is supposed to be liquid quartz crystals, being absorbed through the skin. This fluid comes from a senior or important being, in one case, Mis' father, in the other, the creator himself, embodied as a shaman. In both cases, this is followed by the sprouting of feathers.

"Moreover, the flightiness of her madness gave her such an impetus that she would run like the wind, so that she would overtake anything she wanted to in the world." (Do chuir fós foluamhain a gealtachais an seoladh siubhail sin f_ithe go ritheach mar an ngaoith ionas go sáruigheadh a rith , nídh ar bith budh mhian l_,)48

She would then consume all she wanted of their flesh and blood. Mis caused the Barony of Clan Maurice became like a desert.49

Cú Chulainn

Cú Chulainn also suffers a trauma. Initially it relates to his self image, which we all know was extremely important to Cú Chulainn! He misses his cast at the enchanted birds in the tale — something that has never happened to him before. This put him in a bad frame of mind, at which point he went to sit with his back to a stone.50

After sitting by the stone for a time, two fairy women appear with horsewhips, and beat him until he is nearly dead. Some of the Ulstermen want to try to wake him, but Fergus tells them no, for he is seeing a vision.51 When he awakes, he asks to be carried to a sick bed in Tete Brecc. There he remains in what might be described in psychological terms as a catatonic schizophrenic or immobile state for a year.52 This state is referred to in many cases as a feature of initiatory illness.53

At this juncture, something rather interesting happens. A fairy man, Angus, comes to speak with Cú Chulainn, after he had been in this catatonic state for some time. His friends and his wife are described as being all around him, Fergus by the side wall, Conall at his head, Lugaid at his pillow and his wife at his feet.54 This image of Cú Chulainn calls to my mind the image I saw of a young Bushman being called back from the spirit journey.55 Deep in trance, he must be brought back by the ntum masters, that is, the masters of supernatural power, blowing on him, holding his head, and calling to him. One Bushman describes the experience this way: "They take hold of your head and blow about the sides of your face. This is how you manage to be alive again. Friends, if they don't do that to you, you die..."56

Cú Chulainn's companions ask the fairy man why he is not afraid to come into the midst of all these great warriors. He responds that Cú Chulainn in his current state is more the protector of Ulster than he has ever been in the past, and he fears nothing because he has come to speak with Cú Chulainn.57 This is curious to say the least, as Cú Chulainn is like a plank at this stage.

It is, however, explicable if you look at it from a shamanic perspective. A shaman in his initiatory crisis is viewed as being more powerful than before because the crisis is caused by the power of the spirits coming to him.58 Fand coming to him as wife later confirms this. I will look at the significance of the word used here, chomairce,59 which can mean a guarantor, in my conclusions.

The power he is attaining is also confirmed by the statement of Liban, a fairy woman who comes to seek his aid in battle against her husband's enemies. He complains he is not in a fit state to contend with men that day. Liban responds that his debility will last but a little while and promises, "thou shalt be whole, and all that thou hast lost of thy strength shall be increased to thee."60 This agrees with what is generally said about initiatory illness, that the person is not just healed, but is brought to a higher state of function than where they were before.

This is also true of what psychologists have termed "temporary psychotic disorders," that is "Some patients have a mental illness and they get well and then they get weller! I mean they get better than they ever were...This is an extraordinary and little-realised truth."61

Óengus

The catatonic state Cú Chulainn enters is similar to what we find Óengus suffering in the Aislinge. When he begins to have dreams of Caer, he starts to pine away. He does not eat, or speak to anyone about what is troubling him. Finally, Conchobar's physician Fergne discovers what is the matter — the sercc écmaise62 — love of an absent one I spoke of earlier. He says it has been destined for Óengus to love her.

As the story moves on, the term used to describe his illness is interesting. The Dagda says: "It reflects poorly on us that we cannot deal with your stupor." (Ní ségdae dúnn ná cumcem do socht.)63

Socht has been described by Watkins as not just any old stupor, but as a pathological state imposed from outside the self.64 This strikes me as very much the way a shamanic culture would describe initiatory illness. However, this state is not only applicable to spiritual crisis. For example, it also occurs in Scéla Mucc Meic Dathó when Ailill and Medb, and Conchobar, all want Mac Datho's dog. His dilemma is also described as putting him into socht.65 It might be described then, in one way, as a catatonic state brought about by a sense of extreme powerlessness.

Overview of the Ordeal Stage of Initiatory Illness

Mis, Óengus and Cú Chulainn are all in situations in which they feel powerless. Óengus desperately wants to find Caer, but initially he does not have the power to attain her. This point is emphasised throughout the text. As one example, on the first night he sees her, "He had no idea whatsoever where she had vanished from him." (Nicon fitir cia arluid huad.)66

Cú Chulainn initially does not know what is going on at all, and despite his great warriorship, is helpless against the fairy women's assault. Mis is utterly unable to deal with her father's death. Thus, all of them are in a state of powerlessness. This makes perfect sense, as spiritual growth is often precipitated when a person is faced with a situation they cannot deal with in their usual way. It is often said that there are no atheists on a sinking ship!

It also makes sense from a psychological perspective as some scholars have viewed the shamanic vocation as compensatory mechanism for a felt state of powerlessness or lack of social prestige. It may also be seen as a way of fulfilling socially unacceptable desires, including, for lack of a better term, "Dionysian" ones.67 As we can see in the case of Mis, she behaves well outside the norm, especially for a woman of her time, both violently and sexually.

There is ongoing controversy amongst anthropologists about the source of the symptoms the shaman experiences in his crisis, as well as their significance. For example, the psychologist, Julian Silverman essentially views the shaman as a culturally supported schizophrenic.68 In referring to the schizophrenic process of the shaman, he quotes Sullivan, saying, "What we discover in the self system of a person undergoing schizophrenic change or schizophrenic processes is . . . an attempt to cope with what is essentially a failure at being human — a failure at being anything one could respect as worth being."69

In this assessment, the pre-shaman, or pre-schizophrenic, while in the throes of the onset of initiatory illness is in fact engaged in a desperate coping mechanism. They are attempting to replace a bad self-image with a divinised, archetypal one. They are trying to replace a desperate sense of unworthiness, felt as a consequence of their "failure at being human," with a sense of extreme worthiness, religious mission, divine election, etc.

In later Celtic society, the Covenanters might be seen as another manifestation of this sort of experience. The person at the initial stage of the conversion experience felt an intense and painful awareness of sinfulness and separation from God.70 Visions of attack by demons and despair are a common theme. Phenomena of this sort were considered quite ordinary and proper in the beginning of the 18th Century among Covenanting families. So much so, that when a servant, mourning and weeping, awaked Mr. Wodrow, the minister, and his wife, they thought it was just a normal part of the trauma that attends spiritual rebirth. The poor woman was actually pregnant because of rape.71

Bessie Clarkson, another Covenanter, had three years of crisis during which she says she would have been burnt alive to assure her salvation.72

This stage of crisis was followed by a shift, where the person in crisis was led to perceive themselves as one of the saved,73 and have experiences of blissful union with God.

So, in one of my examples, Cú Chulainn might have replaced a sense of inadequacy borne of his poor marksmanship with the realisation that he is good enough to be desired by the wife of a god.

Some psychologists say it is due to this mental shift, from inadequacy to ego inflation, that the person concerned experiences an eruption of archaic and uncanny imagery.74 In my three examples, a sense of powerlessness is followed by an experience of the supernatural. Of course, with Óengus, his initial vision occurs before the sense of powerlessness sets in.

Another feature common to this stage of shamanic initiatory illness is a call of some sort issued by a spirit mate. Both Óengus and Cú Chulainn have a precipitating encounter with other world women. Each of them fall into a state of illness during the time it takes them to achieve union with the spirit woman.

A close comparison to this situation is found in Burma, where the shaman is chosen by a spirit desiring them as mate. If they do not immediately marry the nat, as these spirits are called, the results can be severe misfortune, illness, madness, and even death.

Daw Pya, a female shaman, delayed her nat marriage, and took a human husband. At thirty-seven, her spirit mate insisted she divorce her husband. During this time, she lost all her property and became ill. Her symptoms included seizures, palpitations, vomiting, and, as with Óengus, the inability to digest solid foods. The inability to digest certain, or any, foods is a feature of initiatory illness in various cultures, among them the Zulu and the Korean.75 Daw Pya married her nat, afraid of going mad and returned to full health, regaining her property.76

If, in psychological terms, the divine marriage can be seen as an empowering act, in which psychological and spiritual polarities are resolved,77 one can see how resistance to the archetypal figures that have arisen in the psyche could be met aggressively by the subconscious. Time is also required to assimilate these figures.

Cú Chulainn's beating reminds me of the way in which wrathful Tibetan deities can be experienced as bliss if there is no ego resistance to their will.78 When Cú Chulainn returns later to the stone where the women first whipped him, Liban, the fairy woman, emphasizes that the women did not seek to do him injury, but, rather, sought his friendship.79 He then experiences a blissful union with Fand.

Experiences of dismemberment, or physical assault, such as the beating Cú Chulainn received, are also common to shamanic initiation.80 The wife of one Siberian shaman said that while her husband was ill he had dreams: "He was beaten up several times, sometimes he was taken to strange places."81

As far as the catatonic state, this is one which many mystic traditions describe. The body may become cold and rigid, frozen in the position it was in when this state first occurred. St. Teresa of Avila said that the hands become cold and stiff as a piece of wood, and the body remains frozen "and the soul ...seems to forget to animate the body and abandons it."82 [Italics mine.]

There are a number of comparisons to Mis' situation. Pripuzov describes how the potential Yakut shaman becomes frenzied, then suddenly loses consciousness, withdraws to the forest, and feeds on tree bark.83

The closest comparison I have found to Mis, however, is that of the Kwakiutl hamatsa, or cannibal dancer. Both Mis and the hamatsa become crazed and voracious, living out in the woods. Both will consume human and animal flesh. Both are held to gain supernatural powers by this experience. All the forms of onset and ordeal described in these Celtic tales occur in anthropological accounts of shamanic initiatory illness.84

The process can be intensified, and even precipitated by physical stress. In many of the saints' lives we see fasting, long hours of wakefulness and prayer, and more severe forms of mortification of the flesh being used consciously to draw the devotee closer to God.85

Igjugarjuk, a Caribou Eskimo shaman interviewed by Knud Rasmussen in the 1920s fasted for a thirty-day period in freezing cold. Eventually, he received a female helping spirit and returned home. He still fasted periodically, and told Rasmussen that "The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can only be reached through suffering."86

This relates in an interesting way to some recent research about how the brain may experience mystic states of consciousness. Arnold Mandell, in his article Towards a Psychobiology of Transcendence: God in the Brain87 discusses how severe stress may induce transcendent experience. Mandell refers to the earlier research of Pavlov. When his dogs nearly drowned in a flood, he discovered that a curious thing occurred. Some of them seemed in a beatific state. Put under severe stress, (they were nearly up to their noses in water when they were rescued) the hippocampus in the brain had shut down all external stimuli and amplified the internal. This may have created the sort of grand unified experience described by mystics, sometimes after severe penance, fasting, and so forth.

All the dogs did not react in this way to the stress, but the ones that did were much more receptive to learning, i.e., they functioned better, and more tranquilly, in their day to day reality. It had, however, wiped out all their past conditioning, an important finding.

The three figures in the stories here are all subjected to severe stress, most notably Mis, in the trauma of her father's death and her retreat into the wilderness. In addition, Cú Chulainn with his beating, Óengus, with his fasting and both falling into catatonic states.

The purpose of shamanic initiation is to re-make the individual. After the ceremony to return the hamatsa to society he acts as if he had lost his memory, and has to be taught to eat, dress, and walk again.88 Mis loses her memory as well, and a feature of her recovery is her gradual remembering of her past life, and being shown how to do things in a civilised way by Dubh Ruis.

A last point to note is that all of them are from noble families. As I pointed out earlier, shamanic gifts are often held to go along family lines, and these families are often considered to be of high status because of their spiritual powers. For example, amongst the Kwakiutl the hamatsa must be a chief or the son of a chief.89 All chiefs are also considered shamans in some respects.90

V. Recovery from Initiatory Crisis

Mis

In the case of Mis it is sexual union with Dubh Ruis, as well as his harping, that restores her to sanity. He is described in the possibly older poetic component of the tale as a warrior, sage, poet, and prince.91 King figures, such as Cormac Mac Airt, seem to have strong connections to spiritual practice92 as the divine king,93 and Mac Cana has suggested that Dubh Ruis in the earlier tales may have been the son of a king. Musicians and music, particularly that of the harp,94 often also have magical associations.95

If Dubh Ruis is a spiritually powerful figure, his ability to restore Mis to sanity might be seen as that of the initiated shaman training the newly called shaman. He would have shown her how to handle her new level of spiritual power. Spiritual power, specifically the "mystical heat" of shamanism, can also sometimes be equated with sexual energy, as in tantra.96 Thus, Dubh Ruis having intercourse with her might represent a dissipation of this energy, with which she is seemingly overloaded. In the text, the banter between them is also quite bawdy, and the exchange serves to distract her from mourning her father.97

Initially the music Dubh Ruis plays on her harp attracts her to him. It has a soothing effect. There is, of course, a strong relationship between shamanic practice and the use of music to alter consciousness.98 Interestingly, there is also a connection here again to the method of return of the Wurajeri medicine men I spoke of in the last section. Having sprouted feathers and learnt to fly, he subsequently "sang off his wings" and returned to this world and the camp, to discuss his experience.99

After Mis and Dubh Ruis sleep together, Dubh Ruis is hungry, so she catches a deer. Dubh Ruis kills, skins, and cooks the deer, using a cooking pit dug in the earth filled with water and hot stones. Dubh Ruis has also brought bread with him. She says that she remembers bread, and associates it with memories of her father.100 Part of the Kwakiutl way of returning the hamatsa to a normal state is that he is made to eat food in a civilised manner.101

After the food, Dubh Ruis puts her into the pit with the broth of the deer and bathes her.102 This ritual bath seems particularly significant for several reasons. First, an immersion in fluid in the form of a bath or baptism rite is significant in many spiritual traditions. It represents a rebirth. For example, the hamatsa is bathed in waters infused with special herbs heated with stones as part of his return to society.

Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of the king being inaugurated in Ireland in part by being bathed in the broth of a sacrificed white mare.103 There are also references to people such as Ceithern being put in a tub of the marrow of cattle to rejuvenate them.104

Another example of a bath being used to return a person to society in the Celtic tradition is in one of Cú Chulainn's boyhood deeds. After killing his first men, he arrives back at Emain Macha with their heads and live swans and stags, tied to his chariot. As he comes, Conchobar says, "if measures be not taken to receive him prudently, the best of the Ulstermen must fall by his hand."105 Here we have the idea that the spiritual power, and its physical manifestation in the battle prowess of Cú Chulainn, must be moderated in some way, so it is not harmful to the community.

All of Emain Macha's women are sent out with bared bosoms. Cú Chulainn turned away in modesty. He was then seized, and dumped in a vat of cold water. The first vat burst, the second boiled over, and the third was still hot, but by then, he had been restored to his normal state.106

This bears a relationship with the hamatsa ceremony, which I have been comparing to the story of Mis. When the hamatsa comes back from the wilderness crazed with a desire for human flesh, a naked singing woman holding a corpse lures him into the longhouse.107 This woman must dance in a lascivious manner and must be a relative of the hamatsa. Since Cú Chulainn is Conchobar's nephew, it is probable that some of the women of Ulster are relatives. So here we have both a sexual component, although the young Cú Chulainn is depicted as embarrassed rather than aroused, and the bathing to cool down his potentially destructive power.

In the case of Mis, and the hamatsa, however, the bath is a warm one, making her experience different from that of Cú Chulainn, who is being cooled, but similar to the Kwakiutl hamatsa who is also bathed in specially prepared water heated by hot stones dropped in it.108

This seems to be about making the power useful to the community, rather than "cooling" it perhaps this can be seen as "cooking" it, rather than having it be in a "raw" state. Levi-Strauss has written in detail about the significance of cooking as a metaphor for civilising.109 For example, various Californian tribes put pubescent girls into ovens, hollowed into the ground. "After being covered with mats and hot stones, they were conscientiously 'cooked.' "110 He goes on to say,

"...the individuals who are "cooked" are those deeply involved in a physiological process: the newborn child, the woman who has just given birth, or the pubescent girl. The conjunction of a member of the social group with nature must be mediated through the intervention of cooking fire, whose normal function is to mediate the conjunction of the raw product and the human consumer, and whose operation thus has the effect of making sure that a natural creature is at one and the same time cooked and socialized..."111

Besides this "cooking," Mis is also scrubbed with great vigour.

...gabhas cuige sgraith an fhiadh gur chimil 7 gur chómhshuaith snadhmanna a cuirp 7 a cnámha go huile, 7 gabhas ag_ sgrios, ag_ sgrabh, 7 ag_ sleamhuin-slíobadh le geir an fhiadh 7 leis an anbhruigh nó gur ghlan mórán í, 7 gur bhain srotháin allais aiste amhlaidh san...112 Do bhí amhlaidh san iona fochair air an sliabhb [bsliadhbh] air feadh dhá mhíos, 7 a g[c]eann na haimsire sin do thuit an clúmh go hiomshlán di, óna síorsgrios 7 óna glana amhuil adubh-ramair, 7 fós go ttáinig a ciall 7 a cuimhne...

He took a piece of deer hide and rubbed (violently) the joints of her body and bones all over, and he proceeded to scrape and scratch her, and to buff her smooth with the tallow of the deer and with the broth until he cleaned her for the most part, and until he brought rivulets of sweat out of her in that manner ... He was in that way in her company for a span of two months on the mountain, and at the end of that time the feathers fell from her completely, as a result of her protracted scraping and cleaning as we have described and moreover (until) her sense and memory returned...113

One aspect of shamanic initiatory crisis may be described as the stripping away of the old self, the removal of all that is unnecessary. This may manifest quite graphically in dismemberment experiences.114 In the case of Mis, she certainly is not ripped limb from limb, but the text stresses her being scrubbed. This occurs in an opening in the earth, often an entry point in the shamanic journey,115 and in a broth made of a sacred animal. Dubh Ruis then builds a hut for them, and there they stay for two months, until her sense and memory are fully restored.

In Mis' story, the community support often expressed for the shaman's initiation is not present at this stage. Rather, it is reflected in the earlier fact that the king does not want her killed, but rather, restored to reason and returned to them.

Cú Chulainn

Cú Chulainn's healing begins when he is told by Angus that the cause of his illness is the love of Fand, and the cure is his going to be with her in the other world.116

The closest we have to an "expert advisor" in this case is Conchobar. Cú Chulainn asks him what he should do. Conchobar tells him to return to the place where the fairy women beat him. He does so and speaks to Liban, who seeks his aid in battle. First he sends Loeg, his charioteer, and when Loeg comes back with good tidings, feels strengthened in mind by what he has heard.117

Here there is a break in the text, where instructions relating to kingship are inserted. After this, Emer chides Cú Chulainn for lying in bed over the love of a woman, at which point he arises and goes to a particular place to speak with Liban.118 So here, he acts on his own behalf for the first time since the precipitating incident occurred. After some more discussion with Loeg, he goes into the other world, and does battle for the fairy man, Labraid.

We then have a recapitulation of his boyhood return from battle, where he is placed in vats of water to cool his battle frenzy, and he is then met by Fand.119 They sleep together, and spend a month together. At the end of this time, he arranges to meet her at a yew tree later. Shamans have often used sacred trees as entry points to the Otherworld.120 In later folklore, Thomas the Rhymer also goes to meet his spirit mate, the Queen of the Fairies, at a particular tree.121

At this stage, Cú Chulainn seems to be in full fettle once again. In some respect, these incidents seem to reflect a greater level of mastery of the forces he encountered when he was younger and in his first battle fury. Cú Chulainn, before embarrassed by the nakedness of the Ulsterwomen, now happily cohabits with Fand. Of course, this is far from his first sexual experience.

In Cú Chulainn's case we don't have quite the clarity of stages in the process of the return we have with Mis. Although this is unclear, there is strong support from the community for Cú Chulainn's recovery, a feature prominent in the initiation of shamans in many cultures such as the Zulu.122 In the bedside scene, we see Cú Chulainn surrounded by members of the community. Emer plays a pivotal role in stirring him to action, and Loeg acts as his intermediary with the other world. The help of the community is also present in the story of Óengus.

Óengus

During Óengus' illness, there is a gradual gathering of forces to help him, Fergne, the Boann, the Dagda, Bodb and so on. All of these are supernatural beings. In some respect, it might be similar to the way the shaman gathers the help of tutelary spirits in his quest for power.

Fergne here seems to be in the role of the "senior shaman." His magical diagnostic powers enable him to see what is wrong with Óengus and what should be done next about it. He also sees Óengus is destined to be with Caer.123

Much of the story is a sort of tag team. First Fingen diagnoses Óengus, then asks that the Boann be summoned. Boann fails to have the girl found, and so summons the Dagda. The Dagda suggests that they speak with Bodb, who finally locates her.124 The same sort of thing occurs when Bodb, then Medb and Ailill, and then even Ethal, the girl's father, say they don't have enough power to give the girl to Óengus.

Ó Cathasaigh has commented on the way the passive and impersonal constructions that are such a striking feature of the text mirror the fact that "Óengus' love for Caer is visited upon him;"125 This is also emphasised by the meaning of Óengus' name: chosen one.

A constant feature of shamanic initiatory illness is that it comes unsought. Shamans who actively seek to become shamans, and are not "called" to the role by initiatory illness are generally viewed as being less powerful.126

Additionally, passivity is a necessary stage in the mystic process, where the soul essentially "lets go and lets God." This gets the individual ego out of the way, and "clears the ground" for the divine will to come through unhindered.127

The end of this stage occurs for Óengus when, fully empowered, supported by the community, and at the auspicious and potent time of Samhain, he goes to the lake to meet Caer. At this point, he is referred to not as Óengus, which means "Chosen One," but rather, as in Macc Óc, or "the Young Son."128 (Italics mine.)

I think this is extremely significant. His parents are, respectively, referred to as the Dagda, or "Good God" and the Boann, or "She of the White Cows" (or something along those lines). These do not seem names so much as titles. When he goes to the lake, he takes the first ritual action on his own behalf in the story. He takes a title as well, making him the young son in the divine family. I feel this moment in the tale adds weight to the idea that these figures may have been oracles for these particular deities, and what we may see here is Óengus gaining the power to become "The Young Son." Having consummated his love with Caer, he is then ready to move onto the next stage.

Overview of the Recovery Stage of Initiatory Crisis

In these stories, sexual union of some sort, with a spirit mate or with another shamanically powerful being, seems to be an essential feature of the return to sanity. In many cultures, the experience of divine union, a merging with the feared powers that bring about the crisis, is what resolves the crisis. Cú Chulainn's case is perhaps the most explicit this way, assaulted by fairy women, he then has union with one and is healed.

In later Celtic folklore, much is written on the leannan sith, or fairy sweetheart.129 The fairy mate often comes bringing gifts of poetic and musical inspiration, even actual instruments. For example, the black chanter of Clan Chattan was said to have been given to a famous Macpherson piper by a fairy sweetheart.130

Union with the spirit mate is being joined to the sacred in marriage. Later mystics, like St. Gertrude the Great, of Helfta, speak of it as being the most perfect and transformative union; a union in which the person is fully united with the sacred to which he or she aspires.131

The unio mystica is often described in marital or sexual terms. Underhill says that it was natural that "the imagery of human love and marriage should have seemed to the mystic the best of all images of his own 'fulfillment of life'; his soul's surrender, first to the call, finally to the embrace of Perfect Love."132 Therefore, the spirit mate often features in both the initiation and consummation of the mystic or shamanic call.

The healing of the person in crisis, which we see in these three tales, is the most important way we can distinguish shaman from the simple sufferer. An Inuit does not become a shaman because he is epileptic, but because he can control his epilepsy.133

VI. The Transmission of Gifts

One is struck by the almost perfunctory denouement of these tales. I think this relates partially to the fact that myths of this sort are intended to guide the mystic through crisis. When it is over, the message for the mystic is often as simple as "Okay, now go and serve."

Each of the protagonists of these tales clearly went through a psycho-spiritual crisis bearing strong resemblance to shamanic initiatory illness, or "spiritual emergency" as Grof has termed it in modern, non-shamanic contexts. The question is, did these people act as shamans?

Mis "surpassed the lovely, many-talented women of Munster during her time." (7 go raibh air mhnáibh áille ilbhéasacha40 na Múmhan le a linn.134) However, we are not told that she acts in any particular way for the community. Of course, an eminent and gifted figure in the community would add to the community. If she was, as Mac Cana thinks is possible, a Queen figure, there would be a stronger argument for a service to the community as Queen. In essence, who she was, as embodiment of the Goddess for the King, marrying him to the land, would have been a very important service. However, in the story as we have it, there is no clear example of a particular service.

Cú Chulainn does use supernatural power as a warrior shaman would. In some cultures, the warrior role is by far the most important for the shaman, out weighing that of healer. There are plenty of accounts of this sort of shamanic activity amongst South American tribes.135 We also have Druids performing this sort of service in the stories, such as Mog Roith in Forbuis Droma Damhgaire.136

Cú Chulainn's father, the God Lugh, fights over him on behalf of Ulster while he rests.137 Thus showing he has a supernatural ally, as shamans do.138 He defeats the Mórrígan, and only he can heal her, thus showing he has healing powers as well.139

However, these things all occur later. At the end of this particular tale, Fand goes back to her husband; Cú Chulainn goes off to the mountains in misery. Finally, the druids give him and Emer a potion so that they will forget about the whole incident.140 There is no specific mention of transmission of gifts at the end of this tale. To find that, we have to look at the over all corpus of tales about Cú Chulainn.

Óengus is the most clearly and classically shamanic of all three. Besides his change of title, he and his mate become swans, an animal with strong supernatural associations.141 He and Caer sing so that all around his home go into trance, thus transmitting their experience of the other world to the community.142 He clearly fulfils the role of intermediary between this world and the other for his community.

VII. Diagrams Illustrating the Patterns of Initiatory Illness

Mis and the Hamatsa

The following is an outline of comparisons between the experience of Mis and that of a Kwakiutl hamatsa. It should be noted that there is quite a bit of variety in hamatsa rituals, and in shamanic rites in general, because of the individual nature of the spiritual experiences involved. In this case, the essential points of the rite are to return the hamatsa to civilisation.143 In all these charts, many of the footnotes are contained above, where I have covered the stages of crisis in more detail. Where that is not the case, I have included them here.

Hamatsa Mis
Must be son of an important chief, or a chief himself.144 Daughter of Dáire Dóidgheal, a noble who attempted to conquer Ireland.
Precipitating crisis hard to determine, in a story relating to the first hamshamtses (an earlier version of the cannibal dance) it is precipitated by suicidal depression and an encounter with a spirit.145 Precipitated by the death of her father in battle, when she sucked his blood from his wounds.
Hamatsa possessed by spirit of Man-Eater.146 It is not suggested that Mis is possessed.
Goes out into the wilderness, gaining mystical powers, power of flight suggested by hamatsa coming into lodge through smokehole during later ceremony.147 She goes out into the wilderness and gains power of flight and swiftness.
Gets uncontrollable craving for human flesh, which he will tear off people with his teeth.148 Kills and eats both humans and animals, rending them with her bare hands.
Community deeply involved in ceremony to return hamatsa to civilisation.149 Dubh Ruis brings Mis back himself. Com- munity support indicated by the fact that the king has ordered she not be killed.
Returned to society by stages, first by the singing and erotic dance of a woman relative150 Display, distribution, and destruction of wealth is a feature of the ceremony.151 Mis returned by Dubh Ruis' music, the silver and gold he has laid out, and a sexual encounter with him. Dubh Ruis is not a relative.
He is bathed in special water, heated by hot stones immersed in it, with special herbs in it.152 Dubh Ruis bathes Mis in the hole he has cooked meat in, full of the broth of the stag, heated by hot stones.
He eats a meal in a civilised manner.153 Dubh Ruis prevents her eating the deer raw, but cooks it and gives her bread.
The hamatsa is finally tamed when he is made to inhale smoke of burning menstrual blood.154 At this hamatsa is "reborn." No clear comparison to Mis' story at this stage, other than blood drinking at start, which initiates rather than concludes the process.
There is a lengthy re-education process lasting from 1-3 years.155 Dubh Ruis stayed with her for two months until her reason was restored.
The hamatsa becomes one of the most highly regarded, powerful, and accomplished members of society.156 The hamatsa is regarded as a source of life,157 and fertility.158 Mis becomes the most beautiful and accomplished woman of her time in Munster, and bears Dubh Ruis four children.

Óengus and the Burmese Shaman

Óengus Burmese Shaman
He is of an elevated social status. The person seeing the spirit in Burma may be of any social class, but strongly tend to be lower class. They also tend to be women.
He sees an attractive spirit woman in dreams. He or she sees an attractive spirit in dreams.
She will not have intercourse with him. The spirit may become the lover of the person they appear to, or may wait until a formal marriage ceremony is performed.159
Óengus falls ill because of his love for the spirit. People loved by nats typically fall ill until they marry the nat.
His illness includes being unable to eat. Some people have difficulty eating or drinking when they are in the illness stage of the relationship with the nat.160
His illness includes being in a catatonic state. Catatonic states are not mentioned in relation to Burmese shamans.
He is initially helped by a person with super- natural powers (Fergne) to take the first steps in resolving his crisis. In most instances, a shaman identifies which nat is in love with the person and performs a ceremony to formalise the person's acceptance of the nat's proposal and minimise the amount they are "disturbed" by the nat.
A number of people assist Óengus in attaining union with Caer. The ceremony to marry the nat is large and expensive, involving many.161 However, the community perception of spirit marriage and shamans in general is not high, due to the fact that shamans dance wildly in public, have intercourse with their nats, and are thought to be promiscuous.162
Óengus finally attains Caer. He is referred to as "The Young Son" which may possibly indicate an oracular role and that he has gained a higher level of power. Óengus takes on the swan form of Caer, but does not "become" Caer. When the person marries the nat they become full fledged shamans and become an oracle for the nat they married.163
Óengus and Caer together return to Óengus' home and put all into trance with their song, thus transmitting the gift of their union to others. The shaman, possessed by their nat, is consulted by people with problems of various sorts, and dances at the nat festivals, where they perform the central ritual function for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people.164

Cú Chulainn and the Siberian Shaman

Due to the more individual nature of the shamanic experience in Siberia, I have had to use a general description of the overall pattern of Siberian election, rather than a clear initiatory pattern as exists in Burma, and amongst the Kwakiutl.

Cú Chulainn Siberian Shaman
He is of an elevated social status. Amongst the Buryat, shamanism often has a hereditary component.166
He has a blow to his sense of self-worth. There is no clear association of this sort of event to shamanic vocation in Siberia.
He is severely beaten by two spirit women. Beatings and dismemberment by spirits is a common feature of Siberian shamanism.167
The beating puts him in a catatonic state. Buryat shamans are in a catatonic state as spirits in the other world are torturing them.168
He is told that this experience is due to an other world woman being in love with him. Other world wives form an important, but not essential role to Siberian initiation.
He is advised by Conchobar to return to the place he was beaten. Buryat shamans are selected by the spirits but must also be taught by senior shamans.169
He goes through various adventures and does battle to win Fand. Samoyed shamans may have elaborate other world adventures and battles on the way to becoming a fully initiated shaman.170 These may or may not include acquiring a spirit wife, although this is common.
Emer is jealous of Fand. The human spouse may be jealous of the spirit, as the shaman sometimes considers that his human wife "is not fit to pour water" on her hands.171
Fand departs, and after drinking a brew of forgetfulness, Cú Chulainn forgets all about her. Nothing similar is typical in Siberia.
Cú Chulainn acts for the community, although not in the conclusion of this story. The shaman utilises his power for the community.

VIII. Overview of the Pattern of Initiatory Illness

All of the protagonists in these tales fulfil, either in the story itself, or later in their careers, a function to their community. This is a clear characteristic of the shaman the world over. Healing first himself, the shaman gains power to help others.

There are later references in Celtic folklore, particularly in some of the witch trial accounts of acquiring the power to heal, which refer to the witch being healed of the same illness herself. In 1597 in Lothian, Jonet Steill was accused of witchcraft. She had been healed of the plague, and thus gained the power to heal, by being cured by a strange man. These healer figures are sometimes referred to as being from the land of the Fairies, particularly in the earlier Scottish cases, and of course are later classed as diabolical.172

The shamans use to their communities distinguishes them quite clearly from psychotics or schizophrenics. The content of their visionary experience is also relevant to the human condition and often profound. For example, one shaman Rasmussen interviewed, Najagneq, received a message from the spirit called Sila, the upholder of the universe.

"The inhabitant or soul of the universe is never seen, its voice alone is heard. All we know is that it has a gentle voice, like a woman, a voice so fine and gentle that even a child cannot be afraid. And this is what it says, Sila ersinarsinivdluge, 'Be not afraid of the universe.' "173

This statement does not seem to stem from the "fear marked puzzlement" Silverman refers to as the state of the schizophrenic,174 rather, its opposite, a wisdom that corresponds to much of the perennial philosophy. It also contains a sense of peace that some mystics, such as Suso, St. Catherine of Sienna, and St. John of the Cross, describe attaining after the dark night of the soul.175

A poem attributed to Suibhne Geilt reads:

Over my house rain never falls,
There comes no terror of the spear;
It is a garden without walls,
And everlasting light shines here.176

This peace is very different from the schizophrenic or psychotic who remains trapped by his own unmastered psychological energies.

It is also very different from purely drug-induced states. It is like the story of a friend of mine, convinced during a drug trip that he had discovered the meaning of the cosmos. Amazingly, he found a pen, and wrote it down. In the morning, he discovered that it said, "The room smells funny."

Thus, again, we must use the applicability of visionary experience to the life of the visionary, and to his community, to judge whether it is disease at work, or an evolutionary process of another sort.

Joseph Campbell describes the difference between a psychotic or drug experience and mystical experience this way, "The plunges are all into the same deep inward sea; of that there can be no doubt. The symbolic figures encountered are in many instances identical...But there is an important difference. The difference — to put it sharply — is equivalent simply to that between a diver who can swim and one who cannot." The mystic swims in the same waters the schizophrenic drowns in.177 The mystic also has the power to return to the shore.

The Covenanters believed that the product of the conversion experience had to somehow be taken back into the world. The spiritually acquired knowledge had to be "affectionate and practical knowledge which stirs up to endeavours and earnestness."178 It calls to mind the way in which the importance of Suibhne Geilt was held to be not from the tale of his famous madness, but because of "the stories and poems he left in Ireland after him."179 that is, the product of his experience.

IX. Conclusions

I feel that, in the instances above, there is a strong case for viewing the tales as examples of shamanic initiatory illness and spirit marriage. This is of course in addition to any other themes that may be present, and any other relevance they may have from different perspectives.

If we confirm the shamanic aspects of Celtic spirituality in comparison with that of other cultures, it may shed light on areas of Celtic myth and religion that are poorly, or partially, understood. These areas include the role of women in Celtic spiritual practices, and the nature of the Celtic gods, as well as the possibility of people acting as oracles for those gods. The story of Mis raises interesting questions in this area. Her tale seems to connect in some ways to King and Goddess tales,180 to folklore about the Banshee,181 to traditions about mourning women,182 and to the ritual role of women in warrior cultures.183

Besides the relevance of exploring these issues to Celtic studies, if we discover that we can include the Celts in our analysis of shamanic cultures, we then have a broader basis of comparison for shamanic practices in general.

The Shaman as Guarantor of Cosmic Order

Proinsias Mac Cana argues convincingly that certain figures in Irish tales of kingship relate to ancient Celtic goddesses.184 While I would agree with this, there are certain points in the tales that seem to indicate the woman concerned is not purely the goddess of the land, but also a woman, possibly a shaman. One example is the way in which the widowed queen, Mór Muman, persists in mourning her first husband after his death, causing her second husband to reproach her.185

This does not seem like the unfeeling territorial goddess, as people sometimes view Queen Medb, with one man in the shadow of the other. (Not necessarily an accurate view — but that is another issue.) It seems rather, like a woman, fulfilling a priestly or shamanic function as a representative of the goddess, who nonetheless, has personal feelings about the matter. In addition, her initial derangement has a strong relationship to shamanic initiatory illness, as does that of Mis.

If the shaman acts as an oracle for a deity, they are not considered an actor playing a part, but are considered to become the deity.186 This can lead to confusion for modern readers as they try to understand what is going on. The fairy folk also seem to be portrayed as somewhere between gods and humans, as at the end of the Serglige, where Fand seems to have physical form so that everyone can see her, but in this case, Manannán does not. Yet, in the tale of Mongan's conception, he fights in battle and sires a child.187 In later folklore, people with shamanic abilities were sometimes viewed as incarnate members of the síd.188

The presence of shamans in Celtic culture may go some way to explaining all the confusion. Of course, there may be other explanations, such as Christian scribes being unsure how "divinely" to portray the old Celtic gods.

While Eliade felt the shamanic journey was the only central feature, and possession unnecessary to the shaman, research among many shamanic cultures suggests that this, too, is a central practice in the shaman's reportoire more often than not.189 This includes the Tungus who gave us the word "shaman" itself. It is also true in some cultures that the shaman is viewed as the living embodiment of the god, not just intermittently during possession trance.190

If the shaman can be seen as the living embodiment of certain deities or cosmic forces, what significance might the shaman's illness and restoration have? Aisling poetry191 is of particular significance to this issue.

In aisling poetry, the Goddess of the land is often represented as a deranged and suffering madwoman like Mis. This illustrates that the land of Ireland is in a bad way. The cosmos has been thrown out of order. From a political view, poets such as Aodhagán Ó Rathaille tie their depictions to the Jacobite cause.192 There is, of course, also a close link between the welfare of the divine monarch and the well being of the land, and the marriage of the king to the goddess of the land. In these poems, the land is in a bad way because she does not have the right spouse. "...Banba is in pain without consort, wedded though she be."193

She is described in one poem as the "brightness of brightness,"194 also as a spéir-bhean, or "sky-woman."195 She can transmit knowledge, and things the poet fears to reveal. When frightened by mention of the Virgin Mary, she retreats to the fairy mansion of Luachair.196 In another poem she is described as being reduced to a state where "...the hair of her head falls down in heavy showers! Streams of blood gush forth in torrents from her eyes! Her whole visage is of the appearance of black coal! Her limbs are shrunken, bound and tortured!"197

The only thing that can restore her is what restored Mis, her right spouse; in this case, a fit ruler for Ireland. Here we have ideas of sovereignty, the goddess of the land, and a deranged, yet spiritually powerful figure, all bound up together.

In some ways, the hoped for restoration of the madwoman in the poems is that of a restoration of cosmic order. In some respects, this is what the restoration of the hamatsa represents to the Kwakiutl. The Kwakiutl and Celtic societies have some similarities. Each are tribal, and there is an enormous stress in both on generosity. As the Irish kings were obligated to give great feasts, so the Kwakiutl chief must give great potlatches, and wealth and prestige were measured by how much you could afford to give away.198 Consequently, untempered voracity is one of the worse vices thinkable. I believe in both of these societies figures such as Mis and the hamatsa helped the people come to terms with life's harsh realities in very particular ways.

The ceremonies that are used to return the shaman to the world are often elaborate. Amongst the Kwakiutl, in particular, the cannibal dance takes up an enormous amount of time, energy, resources, and sacrifice, to the point of the flesh offerings given by the participants.

We see community involvement in the healing of both Cú Chulainn and Óengus. In the case of Mis, Dubh Ruis is the only one physically present, yet the communities' interest in her is indicated by the fact that the king wants her saved, despite her depredations.

There are stages to this ordering process. In the Lebor Gabála Érenn, we find the land being divided up in different ways, by different immigrants, which the Rees' have spoken of as possibly representing different stages of spiritual and societal development.199

In a Kwakiutl myth of the "first time", there is hunger and enmity in the land. The parents of Transformer, the order bringing divine figure, will not even feed him and their other son. This illustrates the Kwakiutl prime vice of greed. Likewise, a lack of generosity was regarded as a sufficiently severe vice to deprive Bres of the kingship of the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Cath Maige Tuireadh.200

In the Kwakiutl myth, Transformer then goes forth to set things right in the world.201 He sets up rules for meals, reincarnation, and the continual interchange between this and the other world. Before he does this, there is no harmony between the worlds. Without the organising power of the spirits, the Kwakiutl lived in a world of undependable resources, and constant hunger.202

A very important aspect of this tale is that before Transformer, there is helplessness. Hunger and passion govern humans, and they have no certain way of obtaining food. Untempered voracity reigns. After Transformer, there is at least an idea of how the universe works and a workable system of exchange with the spirits.

Helplessness and lack of control also characterises the initial stage of shamanic initiatory illness as well as schizophrenia.203 This trauma is brought about by what is felt by the sufferer to be inadequate behaviour or helplessness in the face of life situations that are "culturally acknowledged as crucially important."204 The inability to control a traumatic life situation is what Mis experiences in the death of her father, as we have already seen.

If we look at it more deeply, however, we will see that in a larger sense, we must all face death and chaos in life. The sense of order can be shattered at any moment by disease, death, or injury. The person diagnosed as psychotic will generally exhibit nothing that any human does not exhibit under extreme and prolonged205 threat. This threat, precipitated by trauma of some sort, may be seen as the actual state of being we are all in, just perceived with greater intensity and emotional resonance by the schizophrenic or the shamanic candidate. However, the shaman does more than observe, he acts as mediator.

I believe the shaman figure, in all these instances, may represent a microcosm of the creation process itself. Eliade writes that "The total crisis of the future shaman, sometimes leading to complete disintegration of the personality and to madness, can be valuated not only as an initiatory death, but also as a symbolic return to the precosmogonic chaos, to the amorphous and indescribable state that precedes any cosmogony..."206

Amongst the Kwakiutl, the winter ceremonial is seen as a time when time stops, when the events that brought about creation are re-enacted in both spiritual and physical dimensions.207 The shaman during this time, as the wild cannibal figure, goes through the stages of creation. He is fully absorbed in chaos. He is mad, forsaking all laws of human conduct, becoming one with the devouring power of the abyss.

Likewise, Mis devours humans and animals brutally and indiscriminately, as the forces of destruction and death come to all, forsaking all laws of man, but also not being limited by them. For example, she can fly and run with incredible speed. By tearing down all limitations, she moves beyond the limits of the rest of humanity. This seems to be considered valuable, as the king wants her returned to the world, not just killed. Yet if these powers remain sunk in the chaotic state, she remains a danger to all around her. We see the same thing with Cú Chulainn, when his warrior heat, so useful in battle, must be quenched lest he turn on friend as well as foe. Wildness tamed and harnessed yields its healing power. In South America, the Wild Woman of the Forest deity became Our Lady of Remedies.208

Tamed and returned to society both the hamatsa, symbolically in the ritual and as an eminent member of his society, and Mis, in bearing four children and being multi-talented, are seen as embodying creative forces in the end.

This shows that the shamanic candidate, to become a shaman, must go through the creation process fully, emerging from chaos. The shaman must be healed. He or she must return from the primal chaos, bringing its potency with them, but at the same time, harnessing that power to the good of the society.

Because of this, I believe that one way of viewing the shamanic candidate is as a guarantor of the creation process. The shaman, in repeating the creation journey, from chaos to order, shows that order still flows out of the primal creative and destructive chaos. By becoming the vehicle for the continued interchange between spirit and humanity, they show that the exchange is still working. In a way, the shaman may be seen as a living demonstration of a "covenant" between the other world and this one.

We may see a reflection of this concept in the use of the word comairche in the Serglige Con Culainn. In the scene I referred to earlier, when Cú Chulainn is still in a catatonic state and the fairy man comes to speak with him, he says "Inid i lobrai 7 i n-ingás dano atá, is móo de as chomairche airthiu."209 Which I translate, (erring on the side of literalness to make my point), as "When it is in weakness and sickness from wounds that he is, all the more is [the] guarantee on account of him."

This might be interpreted as an idea that the worse off the shamanic candidate is in his distress, the more powerfully his recovery represents the restoration of order. Even while in his distress, the candidate is the repository for enormous power. Thus in this case, the fairy man says even in his current state, Cú Chulainn is more a guarantor for Ulster than ever before.

In this manner, although Cú Chulainn does not gain the obvious powers of Mis and Óengus, the very act of his illness, and the affirmation it gives the community, might be seen as a sufficient gift. The other issue is the fact that Cú Chulainn is already perceived as being possessed of numerous gifts. It might be a question of "What do you give the man who has everything?"

When the initiated shaman passes through the fires of his or her personal and spiritual torment to a place of power, and through a spiritual and possibly physical mating, to a place of union and love, they demonstrate the power of the spirits to heal. Even Silverman, not a great booster of the shaman, says their personality is far different from that of the schizophrenic in at least one important way: they are "remarkably resilient."

By this resilience, the shaman demonstrates the power of the human soul to emerge from adversity and helplessness in the face of the fearsome and chaotic realities of life as a co-creator with those same sacred powers. By doing so, I believe the shaman may well represent first a covenant, then an intermediary, between the community and the forces of creation. I think this idea underlies these Celtic tales as it does other tales from recognised shamanic cultures like the Kwakiutl. I will end with a quote that I think sums up this view quite well:

"Only to the extent that man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him. In this lies the dignity of daring...Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation can our contact with Divine Being, which is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable."210

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Footnotes

1 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 180
2 Guest, 1906, p. 17
3 Rees and Rees, 1990, pp.339-341
4 Harner, 1980, xi
5 Eliade, 1974, pp. 123, 136-137
6 Kalweit, 1988, pp. 113-117
7 Sjoestedt, 1926, 110-113
8 Eliade, 1974, p. 373
9 Eliade, 1974, pp. 156-158
10 Yeoman, 1991, pp. 183-184
11 MacInnes, 1989, p.15
12 Eliade, 1974, pp.314-315
13 Martin, 1934, p.172
14 MacInnes, 1989, p.15
15 Eliade, 1974, p. 73
16 Kalweit, 1988, pp. 109 - 110
17 Grof, 1989, p. 78
18 Eliade, 1974, p. 27
19 Grof, 1989, pp. 2-7
20 Eliade, 1974, p. 73
21 Mac Cana, 1955-56, pp. 370-377
22 Dillon, 1947, p. 256
23 Ó Cathasaigh, 1977, pp. 104 - 106
24 Walens, 1981, p. 3
25 The mythical First Shaman of the Shuar.
26 A spiritual parasite, viewed as the cause of illness.
27 Harner, 1972, p. 161
28 Ó Cuív, 1952-1954, p.326
29 Ó Cuív, 1952-1954, pp. 325-333
30 Mac Cana, 1955-1956, pp. 370-377
31 Gwynn, 1913, pp. 240-241
32 Shaw, pp. 23-24
33 de Rougemont, 1983, pp. 127-131
34 Campbell, 1990, pp. 216, 222
35 Dillon, 1975, p. xi.
36 Dillon, 1942, pp. 120-129
37 Carney, 1955, pp. 288 - 289
38 Eliade, 1974, p. 67
39 Chagnon, 1983, p. 106
40 Harner, 1984, p. 149
41 Chagnon, 1983, p.105
42 Ó Cuiv, 1954, p. 327, ff.2
43 Mac Cana, 1955-56, p. 79
44 Ó Cuiv, 1954, p. 328, line 19
45 Dictionary of the Irish Language, 1990, p. 124, headword: clúm
46 Mac Cana, 1955-56, p. 377
47 Kalweit, 1992, pp. 22-23
48 Ó Cuiv, 1954, p. 328, lines 24-26, author's translation
49 Ó Cuiv, 1954, p. 333
50 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp. 178-179
51 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 179
52 Davison and Neale, 1994, pp. 393-394, 397
53 Eliade, 1974, p.36
54 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp. 179-180
55 Campbell, with Moyers, 1987, Episode 3: The First Storytellers
56 Campbell with Moyers, 1988, pp. 108-109
57 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 180
58 Campbell with Moyers, 1988, p. 110
59 Dillon, 1975, p. 3, par. 10, line 94, author's translation
60 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 180-181
61 Menninger cited in Silverman, 1980, p. 63
62 Shaw, 1934, p. 46, par. 3, line 3, author's translation
63 Shaw, 1934, p. 56, par. 9, lines 9-10, author's translation
64 Watkins, 1976, p. 24
65 Thurneyssen, 1986, p. 3, par.3, line 1, author's translation
66 Shaw, 1934, p. 43, par. 1, lines 6-7, author's translation
67 Spiro, 1978, pp. 219-222
68 Silverman, 1967, p. 29
69 Silverman, 1967, pp. 28-29
70 Yeoman, 1991, p.24
71 Yeoman, 1991, p.25
72 Yeoman, 1991, p.24
73 Yeoman, 1991, pp. 33-34
74 Silverman, 1967, p. 28
75 Kalweit, 1988, pp. 82, 85
76 Spiro, 1978, pp. 208, 210
77 Jung, 1993, p. 37
78 Campbell, 1988, p.279
79 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 181
80 Eliade, 1974, pp. 53-60
81 Kalweit, 1988, p. 76
82 Underhill, 1990, p. 360
83 Eliade, 1974, p. 16
84 Eliade, 1974, pp. 34-66
85 Underhill, 1990, pp. 201-202
86 Campbell, 1993, pp. 204-205
87 Collins, 1991, pp. 192-196
88 Walens, 1981, p. 161
89 Goldman, 1981, p. 112
90 Goldman, 1981, p. 4
91 Mac Cana, 1955-56, pp. 376-377
92 Ó Cathasaigh, 1977, p. 3
93 Markale, 1994, pp. 145-148
94 Rees and Rees, 1990, p. 35
95 Rees and Rees, 1990, p. 137
96 Eliade, 1974, p. 437
97 Ó Cuív, 1954, p. 330, lines 64-70, and p. 327
98 Eliade, 1974, pp. 175, 179-180
99 Harner, 1980, p. 59
100 Ó Cuív, 1954, p. 330, lines 79-80, p. 333
101 Walens, 1981, p. 161
102 Ó Cuív, 1954, p. 333
103 Markale, 1994, p. 153
104 Jackson, 1971, p. 41
105 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp.150-151
106 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 150
107 Walens, 1981, p. 145
108 Walens, 1981, p. 160
109 Claude Levi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked: Introduction to a Science of Mythology: 1, (London: Jonathan Cope, 1970)
110 Levi-Strauss, 1970, pp. 335-336
111 Levi-Strauss, 1970, p. 336
112 Ó Cuív, 1954, p. 331, lines 115-119, author's translation
113 Ó Cu&oiacute;v, 1954, p. 332, lines 134-137, author's translation
114 Eliade, 1974, pp. 108, 130
115 Harner, 1980, pp. 25-29
116 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 180-181
117 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 184
118 Cross and Slover, 1969, p. 187
119 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp. 191-193
120 Eliade, 1972, p. 120
121 Murray, 1875, pp. 2-3
122 Kalweit, 1988, pp. 88-89
123 Ó Cathasaigh, 1997, pp. 434-435
124 Jackson, 1971, p. 94
125 Ó Cathasaigh, 1997, p. 434
126 Eliade, 1974, p. 13
127 Underhill, 1990, pp. 64-65
128 Shaw, 1934, p. 62, par. 13, line 9, author's translation
129 Evans-Wentz, 1990, pp. 135
130 Carmichael, 1972 v. 2, p. 354
131 The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude, 1985, pp.166-169
132 Underhill, , 1990, p. 136
133 Eliade, 1974, p.29
134 Ó Cuív, 1954, p. 332, lines 143-144, author's translation
135 Harner, 1973, pp. 140-142, 118-121
136 Sjoestedt, 1926, 110-113
137 O'Rahilly, 1976, pp. 183-184
138 Eliade, 1974, pp. 88-94
139 O'Rahilly, 1976, pp. 181-182
140 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp. 197-198
141 Ross, 1993, pp. 302-306
142 Jackson, 1971, p. 97
143 Walens, 1981, p. 141
144 Goldman, 1981, p. 112
145 Goldman, 1981, pp. 90-91
146 Goldman, 1981, p. 96
147 Walens, 1981, p. 142
148 Walens, 1981, p. 16
149 Walens, 1981, pp. 144-158
150 Walens, 1981, p. 145
151 Walens, 1981, p. 148
152 Walens, 1981, p. 160
153 Walens, 1981, p. 161
154 Walens, 1981, p. 158
155 Goldman, 1981, p. 96
156 Walens, 1991, p. 16
157 Walens, 1981, p. 159
158 Walens, 1981, pp. 147-148
159 Spiro, 1978, p. 211
160 Spiro, 1978, p. 212
161 Spiro, 1978, p. 213
162 Spiro, 1978, p. 209
163 Spiro, 1978, pp. 212, 221
164 Spiro, 1978, p. 221
165 Eliade, 1974, pp. 33-45, and Kalweit, 1988, p. 76
166 Eliade, 1974, p. 19
167 Kalweit, 1988, p. 76
168 Eliade, 1974, pp. 43-44
169 Eliade, 1974, p. 19
170 Eliade, 1974, pp. 38-42
171 Eliade, 1974, p. 77
172 Yeoman, 1996, unpublished excerpt from "The Devil as Doctor – Witchcraft, Wodrow, and the Wider World", Scottish Records, I, (1996)
173 Campbell, 1993, pp. 205-206
174 Silverman, 1967, pp. 28-29
175 Underhill, 1990, p. 412
176 Flower, 1970, p. 34
177 Campbell, 1993, p. 209
178 Yeoman, 1991, p. 134
179 Flower, 1970, p. 33
180 Mac Cana, 1955-56, p. 78-79
181 Lysaght, 1986, 201-206
182 Lysaght, 1986, p. 49
183 Enright, 1996, pp. 248-265
184 Mac Cana, 1955-56
185 Mac Cana, 1955-56, p. 363
186 Métraux, 1972, p. 127
187 Cross and Slover, 1969, pp. 546-547
188 Evans-Wentz, 1990, pp.368-374
189 Lewis, 1971, pp. 52-53
190 Chadwick, 1942, p. 21
191 Corkery, 1941, pp.126-145
192 Corkery, 1941, p. 129
193 O'Rahilly, 1909, p. 3
194 O'Rahilly, 1909, p. 19, line 1
195 Corkery, 1941, p. 129
196 O'Rahilly, 1909, p. 19, lines 9-16
197 O'Rahilly, 1909, p. 9
198 Walens, 1981, p. 151
199 Rees and Rees, 1990, pp. 104-117
200 Gray, 1982, pp. 33-37
201 Walens: 1981, p. 125
202 Walens: 1981, p. 127
203 Silverman: 1967, pp. 23-24
204 Silverman: 1967, p. 24
205 Silverman: 1967, p.24
206 Eliade: 1958, p. 89
207 Walens, 1981, p.28
208 Taussig, 1987, p. 189
209 Dillon, 1975, p. 3, line 93
210 Grof, 1989, p. 137, quoting Von Dürkheim, from The Way of Transformation


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