Tuath Tribe
The Online Newsletter of the Tuatha Dé

Many of you, I know, are awaiting the internet course that was supposed to start at Beltane. Well...I actually started another project around Beltane. I am expecting a child, who is due around the winter solstice. I was aware of the fact before Trinity, and as it turns out, baby has gone on quite a tour.

The Ph.D. is All Over, Including the Shouting!

Besides Trinity and Findhorn, I also received my Ph.D. from Edinburgh in July. My interdisciplinary doctorate was examined in Anthropology and Celtic Studies, and encompassed the fields of psychology and theology as well. My bibliography alone is thirty pages! It academically demonstrated for the first time the existence of, and some aspects of the significance of, shamanism in Celtic cultures. (I know the fact was demonstrated experientially to lots of us a long time ago!)

Many of you probably don't realise exactly what's required for a doctorate — I certainly didn't when I started! It has to be totally unique and original work. My supervisor had to check other universities to be sure no one was covering the same precise area of research. The enormity of what I was about to attempt really hit home for me in my first week in Edinburgh when the president of the University addressed all the incoming post-graduate students. He said, "At the end of your Ph.D. here you will be the world expert in your field."

I got an immersion in academic rigour in my first year for my Master of Science in Celtic, specialising in Old Irish literature and translation. The examination allowed no books or grammars, just me commenting upon and translating great swaths of Old Irish out of my head! I graduated MSc Magna Cum Laude (with Distinction), and received two hotly contested Faculty of Arts Studentships for the next two years of my Ph.D., the remaining official period of study.

While I am certainly not the only person in the world who knows something about Celtic shamanism, I am, by the most rigorous standards of scholarship Academia can apply, the world expert. After a lifetime of work in this area, and these last seven years of hard academic work, an intense defense and revisions...well, let's just say I feel I've earned it. Those of you who know me know that I'm not a big one for blowing my own horn, but people have written to ask about my qualifications, so here they are. (A resumé is now also posted as a link from my biography page.)

Graduation day was a great day. I truly felt different.

At the graduation, I was joking with Jeremy, a School of Scottish Studies Ph.D. sitting next to me at the ceremony, that I wondered if the graduation could be interpreted to encompass baby as well. (Kind of like a less extreme version of Alia being born a Reverend Mother in Dune because Jessica takes the water of life when pregnant with her. Though I would hope it would end better, knock on wood!) Anyway, the baby was literally one with me when I got touched on the head with the magic hat conferring the degree. Jeremy said, "You've got to interpret it that way, think of all the money and trouble you'll save!" He spoke of getting his two-year-old out of the audience to graduate with him but I was sure that would be well outside any metaphysical grey area.

The hat you are "capped" with when graduating at Edinburgh is supposed to have been made of fabric from a pair of the breeches of John Knox, the famous Scottish fire and brimstone preacher. He probably spun in his grave when I got "capped." You consequently don't wear hats for graduation, but I brought my vulture encennach (winged headdress) for pictures afterwards. (Pictures soon to appear here.) Margaret McKay, the head of the Scottish Studies branch of the Celtic and Scottish Studies Department, said that I should have worn it to the ceremony where it could have duelled with John Knox's hat, but I don't think they'd have let me in.

Dragons

Another fun event was David and I being interviewed for a program on dragons for the History channel. It will first be shown in the US, then the UK. (I'll send out a mailing.) I even did some broadsword for the show, illustrating a point.

Nigel Pennick noted (in his book Geomancy) that the dragon always seems to be slain in images by its head being transfixed to the earth with a sword or spear. If the earth energies were seen as dragon power, twining through the earth, then transfixing the head to a spot would anchor it there. Naturally, these energies move over time. However, if you're building a sacred site using tons of stone, you don't want the power to have moved in ten years. Pennick theorised that the dragon slayer was a person who had the power to fix the dragon power to a certain site where it could be tapped consistently. So I did some broadsword and it might be that they drop a CGI dragon in there. I rather hope they do. It would be another amusing thing to show a child. "Look, it's mummy fighting a dragon four months pregnant with you."

A "Compressed" Life

I've been joking with friends that this has been the year everything happened — got married, got pregnant, finished Ph.D., got a semi-regular "non-magickal" job. David and I have been immersed to some extent in the day to day. I work in town two days a week, he works out here at a job for a temporary agency three different days a week, so we can trade off child care when the baby arrives. Meanwhile, we hope that both of us working part time can enable him to complete his Ph.D. while I continue to develop more writing, teaching and coaching work.

We've been dealing with similar issues in all this. David's intermittent work on digs was more directly related to his vocation, but was too sporadic to sustain us, pay his tuition and work in with a baby. It was also distracting, coming and going irregularly and having to try and get back into his Ph.D. head-space every time he got back from a dig. At least you can't take call centre work home with you, so when he's done for the day he's done!

My inability to take travel anymore for health reasons and other setbacks meant a big loss of income, and the need to take other work less directly related to my vocation, but still meaningful. Synchronistically the baby would have made it impossible for me to travel now anyway, so it's an ideal time to fall back and regroup. Books, future retreats over here and internet based options will ultimately get the work out more broadly than my running around like a headless chicken. However, meeting David, entering the PhD, changing career tracks and getting pregnant when I did has given a "compressed" feeling to my life right now. I'm certainly not alone.

I read a column by Jeremy Clarkson in the Sunday Times, where he spoke of our compressed lives. We used to marry in our teens, have children in our twenties, establish careers in our thirties, make a bit of money in our forties, enjoy it in our fifties when the children were off, retire and take up other pursuits in our sixties. Now he said, many of us do nothing in out teens, nothing in our twenties, and cram all the marrying, breeding and careering into our thirties, which doesn't leave much time for the money-making or the enjoying of it! I certainly don't know the solution...(ideas anyone?)...I just thought he stated the problem really well. If you look at my resume that's just been posted on this site, you'll see I didn't exactly do nothing for all those years, but the major life events are certainly as compressed as he describes for me. So...the upshot is that the net course will happen as soon as it is possible for me to finish it up. Hopefully sooner rather and later. David and I are constantly kicking around ideas for it, so rest assured, it is developing.

Being In the World, Not of It

The only partial solution I'm finding to this "compression" of life experience is, as usual, my connection with Spirit. It buffers the impact of the all the work I'm doing and the physical and other stresses of pregnancy. So much powerful information is coming through for me just now. I hope you'll all find it encouraging that at this time, heavily engaged as I must be with the mundane world, I'm also having some of my most powerful spiritual experiences. It is possible to be in the world and not of it, at least some of the time!

My recent experiences relate to a cycle of journeys, events and magickal workings that began over ten years ago, so I can't really précis all of it here. I'm sure that I will be told the correct way to transmit what is appropriate over time.

One aspect I will share is that developing a strong devotional core is the key to progress in the work. It is also the strongest possible protection from internal enemies like fear, distraction and procrastination and external enemies like malefic or parasitical spirits, annoying individuals and discouraging life events. I wish I could transmit in writing what it's like to truly know and love the God you co-create your life with. Mircea Eliade, the great scholar of shamanism, spoke of the shaman's "tutelary deity." The relationship forged through love and devotion between you and your Deity is like nothing I can describe. The closest thing to it for me is the sense of falling madly in love...but my approach has always been to Deity as Beloved, which appears in Hinduism as the bhakti tradition.

You may find that approaching Deity as mother, or father, or friend works better for you. You could try taking a spirit journey in which you ask Deity to manifest to you in the way that will most powerfully evoke the response of love and devotion for you, and see what happens.

There Are No Boundaries in Spirit

Another point to make about the personal nature of the relationship to your tutelary deity is that you're not limited by cultural traditions. Following a tradition creates a frame for experience, not a wall to keep experience out. The Sacred is too big to fit in any frame we make, so it stands to reason that we may encounter spirits from different places, cultures and traditions in our work.

Eliade has noted that there is no "pure" form of religion or shamanism, and even the ancient Celts were quite eclectic in their spirituality. Celtic deities were combined with Roman ones, for example, Mars Teutates. There was a temple to Isis in the Gaulish port of Massilia (modern day Marseilles). My mother has always been particularly devoted to Isis. Of course, according to the mytho-poetic histories of Ireland, we descend from Pharaoh's daughter Scota. The Lady Olivia Robertson, High Priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, traces her descent from the same lady. (I'm also a member of the Fellowship.) The Egyptian deity, Anubis, has been an important spirit teacher for me since I was seven.

The Lord of Air

Recently, I've been connecting most powerfully with Enlil, the Lord of Air, King of Heaven and Earth, Master of the Divine Word, and Empowerer / Inspirer of the Sumerian pantheon. (The specific information on Enlil below primarily comes from: http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com so you can go there for more information.)

I began to become more aware of the connection about ten years ago, when I dreamt of Cappadocia, a region of central Turkey. The dreams and journeys I took brought me into greater contact with angelic forces. I discovered connections between angelic figures, shamans in various ancient cultures and the tradition of the Tuatha Dé.

It all seemed to relate to what the Dagda, the Celtic Father God, had told me to do, that is, take the tradition back to the "trunk of the tree." Over time, I have come to understand that the roots of the tree grow, at least in part, from the buried remains of Sumer. The connections between Sumerian and Celtic tradition are profound.

I've become aware of various examples in relation to Enlil. My experiences with him intensified around Beltane this year. I came to discover that he was called Bel in Babylon. Bel or Belenus is, of course, also the name of the Celtic God whose festival is celebrated at Beltane, which can be translated as "Bel's fire." The festival corresponds to the East and the element of air in the Celtic wheel of the year. Enlil is Lord of the Air. In Irish "bel" can also mean "mouth," and Enlil is Master of the Divine Word. Enlil's role as establisher of earthly kingship also connects his field of influence with my lineage from the High Kings of Tara. His throne is "the Duku, or holy mound." Similarly, the sovereignty of Tara was figuratively and literally "based upon" the holy hill of Tara itself.

The website above goes on to say that "Enlil...is the Inspired Word that is born from silence and devotion, which is also Unstoppable, or as put in a hymn: 'Enlil, whose command is far-reaching, whose Word is holy, the Lord whose pronouncement is unchangeable, who forever decrees destinies.'"

Silence and Devotion

Silence and devotion are two points worth emphasising from this hymn. Silence is important on two levels. First, because you can't hear when you're talking. In conversation with the Sacred, we can speak, but must then listen. Too often people extend their practice in daily speech to prayer. That is, they alternate talking with waiting to talk, as opposed to alternating talking with truly listening, where they participate in the experience and perspective of the other.

I know that my ability to listen is one reason why I have the kind of experiences I do. I'm aware that my spiritual experience is a lot more clear and intense than it is for many people, yet I certainly don't feel all holy (or even cheerful) all the time! Speaking with Enlil about what he gets out of our interaction, one of the first things he said was that I heard him.

Imagine how deeply frustrating it would be if you could never make yourself heard. Some Deities, (probably the vast majority if the truth be told!) have no interest in talking monkeys on a ball of dirt at all. Those that do, however, want to be heard, want to engage, want to co-create. It gives them great pleasure when humans hear and respond, resonating with their energy and manifesting their power in the world. Like Paul said, "we are the swords with which spirits fight." We are also the instruments through which they sing — but that song arises from the silence of listening.

Silence is also important after communication with the Sacred. The message you receive is for you. Only great reflection and stillness can reveal if there's any of it that you can or should reveal to others. Union with the Sacred can be so intimate and intense that speaking of it can feel inappropriate, like telling all your friends what your lover did in bed the other night. It can be felt to cheapen the experience, especially since nothing that we can say about it can ever convey what it was. The container of silence can also create positive tension. Holding the secret of divine communication within can generate energy and power within the alchemical vessel of the self. It can allow a more complete interpenetration of self and sacred.

It calls to mind the story I was told as a child, that, before incarnation, an angel puts his finger to our lips, creating the groove above them, and says, "Shhhh. Don't tell what you know." Sharon Bauer (who teaches Gestalt with her husband Rudy who many of you will have heard me mention), told the story of a young child who asked to be left alone in the room with a friend's new baby. There was a baby monitor, and of course they were all curious why, so they listened. She said, "Tell me about God. I'm starting to forget." Anyway...I digress.

There are other reasons for silence. Be particularly cautious if a spirit tells you to give anyone else instructions. These kind of instructions often come from ego...either that of the spirit concerned or your own. Even if you receive correct information, passing it on without consideration can create problems. Information the spirits give you may be is assimilable for you but not necessarily for the person you pass it on to. People can misinterpret teachings and consequently do things you wouldn't imagine a human would think to do. Or, if they receive truth they aren't ready for, they may never be able to accept the knowledge in future...and that's them metaphysically stuck for the rest of this incarnation. That's why Anubis once said to me, "The truth mis-timed is bad as a lie."

To return to devotion: it is both the catalyst for alchemical transformation and the failsafe for that transformation. It keeps us on the right track. When we stop bargaining with our Deity and simply love them we can exhale. (Moreso than with even the right partner, as in the film Waiting to Exhale!) We can rest in love rather than try to broker deals for imagined fulfilment. As the U2 song goes: "What you don't have you don't need it now."

We can still ask for things if we choose, but not from the unease of overwhelming need, and not as a condition for allowing ourselves to receive that love which God can give us now. Disappointment and pain can wait. In fact, try and make them wait as long as possible.