Tuath Tribe
The Online Newsletter of the Tuatha Dé

At this time of nature's abundant harvest David found a great site to help others experience it for free! Once a day you can go to the following site and with a mouse click provide someone with food. I've made it my homepage. The address is: www.thehungersite.com . They also have links to assorted sites where you can click to provide everything from free mammograms, to helping children's health, reading skills and saving the rain forests.

The God Lug, (modern spelling Lugh, probably also the Deity Lleu in the Welsh Mabinogi) was known as the "All Skilled One," and was one of the most widely worhipped in the ancient Celtic world. Some scholars believe he was 'borrowed into' the Norse pantheon, where he became the God Odin. (Alternately, Odin and Lugh may have come from the same 'root' Indo-European deity, since Celtic and Germanic tribes share Indo-European ancestry.) Others, notably Nikolai Tolstoy, in his book The Quest for Merlin, make a case for the idea that Lugh was 'embodied' more than worshipped from afar. That is, a priest would be 'possessed' by Lugh in a ritual theatrical performance, akin to modern Vodou rituals.

You can bear this in mind in relation my discussion of theophanies, or manifestations of the Divine, in the newsletter below.

Hope you enjoy it!

Le Beannachhdan,
With Blessings,
Geo

Theophany and Enthusiasm
God With and Within Us

Taking our theophanies, (our manifestations of Deity), where we find them, and having the enthusiasm to follow their lead

I think I've finally gotten a sense of the opportunity that newsletter writing presents. Here, I can respond to topical events and aspects of culture in ways that might 'date' or be a bit too 'off the cuff' for books.

It worked out that as I've been writing this, I'm also writing on illumination for a project I'm working on and the BBC finished airing the first season of their revival of the cult science fiction show Dr. Who earlier this summer. (Yes, I'm going somewhere with all these elements!)

Those of you who know me will know that I love science fiction. I wrote an episode for Star Trek: Voyager (Sacred Ground), and have gone to extremes of fan-girl geekdom over Babylon Five. Yet I never really 'got' Dr. Who, the British show about an alien 'Time Lord' who travels around in a space and time ship disguised as a British police box. He periodically regenerates, allowing for different actors to take the role. After several years off the screen, he returned, played by Christopher Eccleston, with a human sidekick, Rose, played by Billie Piper.

Darshan

I enjoyed the first few episodes, but began to really engage with the series with the episode, Father's Day. I had a couple of strong moments of darshan, a Sanskrit word that means the direct perception of Deity in the other.

It's generally used to refer to the experience one can have in a temple when the Gods have been invoked and their statues dressed and garlanded. Priests draw back the curtain before the shrine to reveal them in their great beauty, and with the chant, flickering candles, incense and devotional energy one can have an incredible moment of darshan.

So, isn't it somewhat sacreligious to speak of having darshan watching Doctor Who? Not really. I've spoken before about the idea of creation as emanation from Deity, making all things manifestations of Deity. The early Irish theologian, Eriugena, spoke of everything as a theophany, a manifestation of God, from people to plants to ideas. "What is a perfect idea?" he asked, then answered: "A manifestation of God in the human soul." And this, in part, is where actors playing characters can manifest as theophanies with great power, triggering darshan.

Deity wears many masks and takes many archetypal forms. In fact, Deity wears every mask and takes every archetypal form. Every word is another name for God.

One person I've worked with as a 'soul friend' confessed in slightly embarassed tones that she'd had darshan big style at the film The Pirates of the Caribbean in response to Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, a wonderful manifestation of the trickster archetype.

I advised her to go ahead and use her perception in spirit journeys and meditation. If she'd had darshan in front of a golden Buddha or an icon she wouldn't question it, yet those images are actually no more or less theophanies than Captain Jack. None of our depictions of Deity can be said to be 'accurate' after all, so there's no reason why bearded, old, male, or somber should be considered to be more appropriate than any other depiction.

When she takes spirit journeys, she experiences a connection with a theophany quite similar in appearance to Captain Jack (and so, to Dionysius, Kokopelli and other archetypal trickster figures). He's teaching her about having fun, not taking it all so seriously and passionately enjoying life.

This may sound like cultivating a teen-age crush rather than 'proper' religious devotion, but think for a moment. First, it's part of an actor's job to 'give great archetype.' In fact, many scholars believe that theatre began in ancient Greece with priests acting as oracles or channels for Greek gods. You could take it back further to shamans acting out their journeys and so, at times, speaking as their tutelary deities.

Engaging passion for a particular theophany fuels the devotional process. Did you fantasise about a particular actor or musician as a teenager, or even now? Does your meditative experience seem anaemic by comparison? Few feelings are stronger than teen 'crushes.' Why not harness the passion of 'fantasy' to the focus of devotion in meditation and spirit journeys?

The key thing to remember if you have darshan through an actor in a film is not to attribute what comes through them to them in physical reality. The actor is not the archetype they invoke, so whatever you experience spiritually has no bearing on physical reality. That way lies stalking!

Of course, people have also experienced the Sacred through literary characters and film characters who aren't exactly actors. I remember hearing a Star Wars designer say that people walked up to him and said, "Yoda changed my life, man." This designer would think, "Come on, Yoda's a piece of foam rubber!"

Yet the 'perfect idea' of Yoda is just another manifestation of the theophany or archetype of the wry, wise old teacher. As such, there's no reason he couldn't change someone's life. Even the foam rubber he's made of is, like everything else, the very 'stuff' of God.

Because Deity effectively 'dismembered' Itself in matter, worshipping a tree, or the sun, is never just worshipping an individual physical object, or even an individual spirit. It's also worshipping the unity of Deity that lies behind all forms and all spirits, the power that flows through everything and rests in nothing.

In some respects, there are no 'greater' or 'lesser' theophanies. There's an Edward Gorey limerick that goes, "The fetishist gets out the hassock, draws the blinds and bolts the door, then in galoshes and a cassock, he worships it upon the floor." This takes the matter to a comical extreme, yet worshipping anything, if we understand it to be a facet of Absolute Deity is seeing through the theophany to Theo, God.

Monotheism and Polytheism

As far as Celtic tradition goes, this understanding reconciles the statements of the early Christian Church father, Origen with those of Caesar. Where Origen said that the Celts were monotheistic long before Christianity, Caesar said they worshipped many Gods. Both statements are true.

The earliest recorded Celtic and Irish traditions, and later Celtic traditions such as the Scottish prayers recorded in the 19^th century by Alexander Carmichael in Carmina Gadelica, depict Spirit both ways. Spirit manifests in myriad forms, but there's also a transcendant G-O-D in flashing neon block capitals.

When I've talked to elders from shamanic traditions that may be perceived as 'nature based' and polytheistic, I've found that there's generally one Great Spirit or Absolute Deity somewhere behind the myriad forms.

The 19^th century explorer, Rasmussen, asked an Inuit shaman about his ideas of Deity. The shaman said that there was a being called Sila, who could be heard out in the tundra. It speaks in a quiet voice like a child's voice, so no one could be afraid, and it says, 'Be not afraid of the universe.'"

Monotheism doesn't just underly polytheism, though, the opposite is also true in a sense. Mystics in monotheistic faiths like Christianity may ultimately see God in everything. St. John of the Cross said, "My beloved is the mountains and the lonely wooded valleys; strange islands and resounding rivers." In the Gospel of Thomas Christ says, "Lift a stone and I am there. Split a piece of wood and I am there." Nothing experienced this way is an alternative God, but rather a manifestation of God, a revelation of God in all Being, a cause for joy.

In the right state of awareness, praising all things is praising God. The sixteenth century Irish poet, Ghilla Brighde, defending 'secular' and praise poetry, said, "To praise man is to praise the One who made him, and man's earthly possessions add to God's mighty praise. All metre and mystery touch on the Lord at last. The tide thunders ashore in praise of the High King."

The distinctions begin to fade. My husband, David, and I were talking about this the other night. We theorised that polytheism is monotheism where you name the parts and materialism is where you only acknowledge the parts without any underlying spiritual reality.

As we can see by looking around us, a view that sees the world as self-contained pieces, not a whole, hasn't served us well, environmentally, socially or spiritually. (Of course, a world view that tries to enforce sacred or secular uniformity, rather than unity, without diversity, hasn't served us well either.)

When we see the world as self-contained pieces in our individual lives, any one of the 'pieces,' be it money, beauty, ambition, romance or another individual can inflate to godhood in our minds. All our eggs are in that one basket. The loss of that one part, if and when it comes, is then catastrophic.

Chief Rabbi John Sacks recently said that "Monotheism is saying that the only thing worth worshipping is everything. If you make any one thing your god then you're in trouble." I wholeheartedly agree.

It puts a different slant on what we may think of as idolatry. If we conduct our daily lives in awareness of God in all creation, nothing that we pay attention to is set up as an alternative to God, so nothing is idolatrous.

By contrast, without this awareness, everything is idolatrous.

Darshan and Dr. Who

So — back to my experience of darshan during Doctor Who. The great writing and acting in the episode Father's Day came together to create an impression of the Doctor that chimed with experiences I've had with Deities, mainly with the Dagda, the Celtic Father God. It was a combination of humour, severity, mercy, nobility, delight and loneliness. I'll give you some examples (without giving too much of the plot away).

The Doctor has always had a human companion or two, whose function seems to mainly be to get into trouble, get rescued, and keep him company.

So far so Deity-like (us being the troublesome companions).

When, his companion, Rose was a baby, her dad died in a hit and run accident. She wants to go back and be with him so he doesn't die alone, but ends up saving him and creating a rift in time with horrific consequences. They all end up hiding out in a church with various other guests from a wedding that Rose's father, mother and the infant Rose had been attending. At one point the Doctor's looking in her baby basket smiling and talking in the sweet tones one tends to use with babies, but he's saying, "You're not going to cause the end of the world are you?"

The other Rose comes up and all sweetness vanishes as he gives her a real dressing down for being so stupid. Earlier he'd said that he'd obviously just found himself another dumb monkey. "It's never about showing you the universe, it's about what the universe can do for you!"

This really struck me. How often do we go to the universe, and to Deity, as wealthy beggars?

We say something to the effect of: "Well, thanks for all the stars and the ecosystem, food, health, body, relationships, parents, spouse, children, beauty, music, sex, laughter, long walks, popcorn, movies, train rides, cute babies, one-ear-up, one-ear-down dogs, cathedrals, candlelight, sunsets, smiles, laughter, hot baths and long sleeps but what I'd really like is..."

Except we often skip the 'thanks' part and go straight to those last five words.

Where is that at? Can't seeing, really seeing, the universe ever be enough, even for a little bit? Can't darshan sometimes be enough? Can't we just cultivate darshan and rest in it sometimes, take a rest from wanting?

After Dr. Who scolds Rose for a bit, he asks her to say she's sorry. After a pause, when she seems to be thinking, along with the rest of us, that 'sorry' can't possibly matter if she's caused the end of the world, she says she's sorry, and he just beams at her and hugs her.

This is another divine quality. Deity is always present in the eternal now, so there's no clinging to emotional affect. God is not vengeful. Theophanies, particular manifestations of Deity such as spirits of higher or lower orders, with free will like us, can be vengeful, but Absolute Deity isn't.

Justice exists, there are systems in place that create consequences for our actions, but God isn't up there like a school master with a cane seething at our slip ups. God always responds to each of us in the now.

Going back to the Dr. Who episode, he says that there's nothing more important than an ordinary person. The bride and groom come up to him because he seems to know what he's doing. "Yes, I give that impression don't I?" He asks who they are and how their relationship began, and hears about sharing a taxi on a rainy night at two am. Though they're not important people, will he try to save them?

He responds that though he's been to all sorts of places and seen things they couldn't imagine, "...rain, taxi, two am, I've never had a life like that. Yes, I'll try to save you." And he grins.

It reminded me of how the Dagda once told me that this world is a place where God can have terrible fun, in the fullest possible meaning of both words.

This isn't to say that God is callously playing games with our lives for his amusement. He's in here with us. In my experience he's rooting for things to be more fun than terrible. There was another great moment in another episode of the series where everything miraculously works out with the Doctor's help in the end and he's delighted. "Just this once, everyone lives!"

Deity loves it when things work out for us, he helps the process along, but he also knows that it's not the end of the worlds if they don't.

Because nothing can harm our divine essence, physical reality is a game in a sense. Hindu tradition speaks of the God Krishna's lila or 'play' with reality. In one story he's eating dirt, as infants do, and his mother goes to clean his mouth out. When she opens it, she sees the universe. Yet in all his power and majesty, he plays games, makes mischief, steals butter and much later when he grows up, lures numerous women to erotic adventures in the forest.

One of Lord Krishna's greatest characteristics is his enthusiasm for life. He doesn't sit back and keep his hands clean. He gets 'stuck in' to life. He involves himself in all kinds of activity, from romance to war to friendship to teaching. He is enthusiastic.

Despite the fact that the Doctor in the show tells people not to worship him because he'd make a lousy god (he'd get no day off, for one thing) his mad enthusiasm is a wondrously divine quality. The passion for risk, relationship, engagement in reality, all resonate with what I've experienced of Deity, with and within me.

Enthusiasm: the Power of God Within Us

Enthusiasm is a primary divine attribute. I believe the Greek root is en theo, meaning something like 'the god within.'

Imitating God's enthusiasm is an important part of cultivating an experience of God within us. Earlier this summer I had a great example in one of the most pleasurable teaching and learning experiences of my life at the Oneness Gathering in Bavaria: http://www.the-oneness-gathering.com. Currently this links to the German version only as they're re-writing the site for 2006. There will be an English version posted. You'll see that I'll be back in 2006!

It's an annual gathering, organised by writer and teacher Andrew Blake, drawing together a group of participants and teachers interested in cultivating a sense of love, unity and divine presence through music, meditation, ritual, art, shamanic work and energy work including chi kung and runic postures. Andrew, his wife, Amona (hope I've spelled it right!) and their children are lovely people, combining spiritual and practical sense. They're in the process of developing a retreat centre / intentional community in New Zealand.

I was honoured that my friends there, Barry Brailsford and his wife, Cushla, recommended me as a woman hereditary teacher from a shamanic tradition native to that part of Europe. (Celtic settlements were once all through that part of Bavaria and Celtic and Germanic traditions are pretty inextricably intertwined anyway.)

The site of the festival, Gut Sedlbrunn, was a beautiful hotel and horse farm in the countryside, appropriately enough. Horses have always been seen as sacred by Celtic and Germanic peoples. The staff there were great and the food delicious.

The teachers and participants I had the chance to really connect with were all lovely people, with huge enthusiasm for the process as a whole and their part in it.

The vision of the Gathering really chimed with the work so many of us are striving to engage in. On the site, Andrew states the wish that all people that get involved in the process of the Oneness Gathering, "experience a deep inner transformation, that brings them in touch with their true life purpose" and reveals to them the strength within to manifest their life task. Only a life that is lived in unison with one's own task from the heart, is blessed with joy, fulfillment and deep inner peace. "This joy and this peace are independent from the outer circumstances, because they are based on the wisdom of the heart and the insight to be at the right place here and now and to do the right thing. Therefore whoever is ready to cast off the superficial structures of the mind, with their shallow joy and satisfaction, which are dependent on outer factors, is in the right place here."

As a result of this intention, enthusiastically applied, profound things could happen. All our work integrated beautifully, one teacher's work flowed pretty seamlessly into the next.

We ended up opening with a ritual like that used at the Welsh Eisteddfod, with a sword being drawn and the assembly being asked "Is it peace?" and responding "Peace" and the sword being sheathed.

We did this in Old Irish, where the word for 'peace,' Síd, (pronounced Shee-the) also means the 'Otherworld' This tells us that a sense of peace goes hand in hand with a sense of connection to Spirit. Affirming peace affirms the resolve to leave internal and external conflicts outside the circle of the Gathering.

Irish Kings were inaugurated on tumuli that were also called Sída (the plural of Síd). Most often these were ancient burial mounds, seen as entry points to the Otherworld. This symbolised that the king's rule was founded on Spirit, and also that Spirit is here, that physical reality is the densest level of Spirit. The strong, stable peace of the Otherworld, the peace of spiritual awareness, can support you, and give you the only ground that is truly firm enough to stand on in life.

We stand on this ground because our ancestors made it possible, we stand on their achievements, on their bones.

We decided to do this ritual the night before, but I'd brought no sword. Karl Grunick, a martial arts teacher, had one, and Kailash Kokopelli, a shaman and musician, did an opening talk about sacred space, prayer and smudging. The three of us didn't know each other, yet it felt like we'd worked together before. (http://www.kailash-kokopelli.com — Karl's not got a website — see the Oneness Gathering site for more info.)

I didn't get the chance to fully experience everything during the week, but really enjoyed what I could. David and Téa came and had a great time. There were about forty other children and Téa enjoyed playing with them (not to mention the adults!) and seeing the horses. She actually took her first steps in Bavaria. We all enjoyed a couple of meals out with Andrew, Amona, and some of the other artists, especially since it was the season for the world renowned asparagus of the region, served with buckets of Hollandaise.

My main talks and meditations were at the beginning and end of the Gathering. We began with some work on the idea of the alchemical vessel of self and its contents in ritual, spiritual practice and life in general.

Too much containment without enough power is stultifying. For example, a ritual with too much containment and not enough power might be when someone goes in each direction and recites twelve paragraphs of bad Victorian poetry. If there's no space for spirit to inspire or for people to enter an alternate state of consciousness, where Deity can speak to them, then there's no real catalyst for the alchemical process of transformation.

A ritual with too little containment might be the sort where everyone gets together and drums like hell for two hours with no clear purpose or focus. The energy just dissipates. It may be fun, but if our intent was to ritually manifest something, we've missed our chance.

Over the rest of the week I was able to participate in many but not all sessions so the list that follows isn't exhaustive. David took care of Téa much of the time. He and the other spouses of those of us with children like Karl's wife, Yvonne and Andrew's wife Amona were owed a big thank you during the week.

Andrew's chakra meditation used wonderfully selected music and movement to great effect and his talks set our intent very well. The whole idea, organisation and structure of the Gathering was also fantastic.

The meeting hall was decorated with hangings of sacred geometry made by Dariya and Jean Pierre. They really added to the event, and I came home with one of Metatron's cube, after finding myself drawn to it often during meditation. We hope to pay a visit to their holistic centre in Goa (www.healinghereandnow.com)

Dariya also introduced me to Byronchild, an Australian magazine devoted to humane parenting methods. It's a nice source of supportive advice for information on things like discipline without punishment, co-sleeping, and so on.

Kailash led a great fire ritual at the start, (the fire stayed burning for the whole gathering) and created wonderful soundscapes for spirit journeying and devotional awareness.

Karl gave clearer instruction on applying principles of ki/chi than I've heard in many years of martial arts study, and also taught runic postures. These are postures relating to specific Norse runes that work similarly to chi kung postures. I'd read about them but have always wanted to learn something about them from a person who knew them. Books can work, but in person is infinitely better for this kind of thing, so it was a great opportunity.

Pratibha led us in 'heart dance' using song and dance from around the world to connect with the Sacred with and within us. Pratibha, Omesh and their musicians created inspiring music and song throughout (www.pratibha.dk). A high point for me was collaborating on a version of the Trinity chant with them at the end. It sounded amazing with the rhythm Omesh suggested, Pratibha singing and the contributions of their band. There may be a collaborative cd at some point.

Drunvalo Melchizedek lectured in a wonderfully warm, human way. Though some of his topics were fairly esoteric he made them accessible. His meditations allowed us to experience really deep states of connection with each other and enter into our 'heart space' (www.drunvalo.net).

The work I led at the end had to do with consciously contracting our energetic fields after the period of expansion we experienced at the Gathering. If we don't consciously contract the field in some way after a big expansive experience, the field does it to itself, it snaps back like an elastic band. It usually does this through negative 'contracted' emotional states like depression.

This is why people often feel lousy after spiritual retreats. It's more than just "Oh God, here I am at the grocery store again...stuck in traffic...back at work." It's that they've had a huge expansion, and the field can't stay that way all the time. There's a natural oscillation, and we also need to build up spiritual muscles to sustain expanded states longer.

So we worked on conscious control of the field and on setting homework. That is, one task we would undertake or gift we'd make to bring something of the Gathering into the world in a concrete way, like doing volunteer work or giving to charity. We focussed on the idea that will be familiar to many of you in general and from my other newsletters, the idea of acting as if oneness with Deity and all Being that we experienced at the Gathering mattered in practical ways. (See my previous two newsletters.)

The response to everyone's work over the week was amazing. The energy of over two hundred people all focussing enthusiastically on our unity created a blissful experience of teaching, learning and being.

I feel tremendous gratitude to Deity, the Spirits, and everyone involved. This event was exactly what I needed at this time. It's helped me reawaken my own enthusiasm for working with groups again, and seems to be opening other possibilities for doing so. (I never solicit workshops, the Spirits told me to only go where I'm invited, so opportunities to teach have to come by word of mouth.)

It's made me realise that when enthusiasm, the God within us, is present, everything is possible. By contrast, if we allow apathy to rule us, nothing can happen. It's good for us to cultivate enthusiasm, to go where our own enthusiasm guides us, and where we're met by others' enthusiasm for the work at hand.

When the God within us meets the God within others the force is tremendous. Like Isaac Newton said, when two forces are joined together their momentum doubles. In relationship this physical law is the spiritual ideal.

If one force meets an opposing or neutral force, of course, it slows or stop the momentum. This means we can't force our enthusiasm for something onto others. If we're met with consistent lack of enthusiasm, if the God in others doesn't answer our indwelling Divinity, we need to rethink our actions.

Maybe others could be more in touch with their Inspirer, or maybe we're just in the wrong place doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Whatever the case, we're slowing our momentum to no purpose. To be most effective, we need to feel our way round to a place where our enthusiasm is met and magnified, and withdraw our energies from places where this doesn't happen.

It's like what Joseph Campbell said about following your bliss, that doors would open for you where you didn't think there'd be doors, and there wouldn't be for anyone else.

To return to what Andrew said above, this brings us a joy and peace independent from outer circumstances, because it's "based on the wisdom of the heart and the insight to be at the right place here and now and to do the right thing."

Take some time to reflect on where your enthusiasm truly lies. It may seem silly or frivolous or over-ambitious, but try not to judge yourself. Sometimes our initial enthusiasm is designed as a pointer by Spirit. It may not be that we're ultimately meant to be a great movie director, for example, but rather, our delight in cinema may guide us to some other place that we're meant to be. Or it may simply be that enjoying a great movie is meant to be a source of joy in your life. Everything needn't be 'productive' in a work or vocational sense.

Yet everything is productive in the sense that all our experiences give Deity another window on Being. All of us are also theophanies. As some of you have heard me say in the past, God is always with us, the question is: are we showing God a good time?

So let your enthusiasm guide you to experiences that bring blessing and pleasure to your life and to the lives of those around you. Hope you're enjoying the fruits of the season and of your own efforts and highest aspirations.

Le Beannachdan,
With Blessings,
Geo