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Samhain 2004
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Greetings! The newsletter below was written around Samhain. With it I also send my best wishes and blessings for Solstice, Yule, Christmas and the Gregorian New Year. There's not a lot of news to announce. My ten month old daughter Téa continues to develop her musical abilities. Two members of my Druid choir, Fíach and Corrah Beth, and I sang at the renewal of Téa's God and Goddess parents wedding vows. The high point for me was Téa joining in clearly for the first time with the second part of the Trinity chant. Of course, she heard it in the womb since we were rehearsing lots for an interfaith concert when I was pregnant. Teaching is going well on academic and experiential fronts. I'm almost done teaching this year's Introduction to Pagan Celtic Religion at Edinburgh University's Open Studies, and that has gone well. I taught a workshop on the element of water for The Geomancy Group up in Aberdeen, and also an introductory day at the Edinburgh Shamanic Centre, both of which went well. On a less cheerful note, it has come to my attention that a certain person has placed the statement "approved by Geo A. Trevarthen" on a description of a course offered by them. Such an endorsement has been neither asked for nor given. The accompanying "essay" apparently by me is the result of selected quotation (altering the sense of what I said) from private correspondence and used without permission. As a basic rule, if I wish to endorse a specific individual or course, I will always name them on my website or in a newsletter. Let us know if you'd like to unsubscribe to this mailing. (You're only getting this if you or someone using your email gave us the address.) Also, please keep us up to date with your email and be sure any spam filters will allow emails from tuath@btopenworld.com where we send the announcements from. (Excite seems to have a problem with btopenworld in particular.) Thanks! Anyway, hope you enjoy the newsletter, and I wish you and yours many blessings and great happiness now and throughout the year! Le Beannachdan, Dr. Geo Athena Trevarthen
Samhain 2004 Below you'll find current news and announcements and information on Samhain in ancient Celtic traditions and as a time of creation and fresh beginnings. I'll talk about the time between the Celtic and Gregorian new years as a time for reflection and change. I've also reprinted a piece titled "The 100 Person Village," and related statistics which I think everyone should read — they've certainly given me some perspective and ideas for change. The 100 Person Village is based on the idea of shrinking the earth's population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing ratios remaining the same, revealing that, for example 80 would live in substandard housing and just one would have a computer. There's information on what we in Britain, Europe and America tend to spend at this time of year and the power we have to change lives wiith a fraction of our resources. Samhain The ancient Celtic ritual year was divided into a light half and a dark half of the year. The two poles of the year's axis were Samhain and Beltane, marking the start of the dark and light halves, respectively. These two nights, along with midsummer, were known as "spirit nights" in Wales. Samhain, however, is the only fire festival positively indicated on the Coligny Calendar, which seems to give it precedence. The Coligny Calendar is a 1st Century BC Celtic Gaulish calendar engraved on bronze tablets, that was discovered in France in 1897. Tellingly, the first month of the Coligny year is Samonios, which can be translated as Summer's End, the beginning of the dark half of the year that starts with Samhain. This is one reason Samhain is considered to have been the ancient Celtic New Year. We begin with the end, with the descent into the dark. From death and darkness springs life and light. Caesar, in his Conquest of Gaul, says "The Gauls claim all to be descended from Father Dis [a god of death, darkness and the underworld] declaring that this is the tradition preserved by the Druids. For this reason they measure periods of time not by days but by nights; and in celebrating birthdays, the first of the month, and new year's day, they go on the principle that the day begins at night." Kondratiev gives a very detailed discussion of the calendar in Celtic Rituals, and Alwyn and Brinley Rees discuss it in Celtic Heritage. Creation takes shape in the dark, like a babe in the mother's womb or a seed in the black earth, to bloom into the light. The darkness holds the powers of destruction and creation, just as the black, fertile earth is made from things which are dead and broken, like crushed seashells, dead leaves, plants, animals, and excrement. As plants grow sunwards from this, so we grow towards the Creator's sun from things we may perceive as dark, broken or unclean. We grow from loss, both from the longing for sacred union it inspires, and from the way it defines us as individuals. It shows us what's essential in our lives, and strips the rest away. Vegetation dies back during the dark half of the year so we can see farther and clearer. Late autumn was an ambivalent time in many cultures with similar or harsher climates than Britain and Ireland. You have to slaughter livestock you can't feed over the winter so there can be feasting. The growing season is over and the produce is stored. Mead and ale have had time to ferment so you can get drunk. Samhain is therefore the ultimate "best of times / worst of times" festival, combining the enjoyment of feasting and ritual with the ambivalence that is always a part of the slaughtering process and the beginning of the journey into a winter you might not survive. Bonfires were "bone fires" where inedible bits of animals not used for craft purposes got burned. In Gaelic tradition, the Fenian, shamanistic war-bands lived in the wilderness during summer and were quartered on the population during winter, giving you another reason to be cheerful come the spring! (Not that they weren't pleasant folk, but they were mostly young men living in the woods with no civilising influences. I don't really need to go into detail, do I?) As the new year, Samhain is a time of both destruction and creation. The Old Irish myth, the Cath Maige Tuired, or Battle of Moytura, places the great battle between the Tuatha Dé, forces of order, and the Fomoire, forces of chaos, at Samhain. Yet before the battle, the Mórrigan and the Dagda, the most primordial manifestations of the God and Goddess in Irish tradition, mate straddling a river, so the river of life symbolically flows from their union before the battle. After the battle, the Mórrígan beautifully invokes the peace of the Otherworld in this realm, saying: "Peace up to heaven, heaven to earth, earth below heaven, power in each, a cup very full, full of honey, mead in abundance, summer in winter, peace up to heaven, heaven to earth." There's a double meaning here. Síd (pronounced shee'-the) is the most general name in Old Irish for the Otherworld. Síd also means peace. This reveals that the peace of spiritual awareness is both the essence of, and entrance to, the Otherworld. Samhain is a time when the Síd is more accessible, a time out of time, when we have access in a more profound way to the archetypal powers of the first creation. As those of you who have studied with me will have heard many times, in Celtic tradition creation is seen as emanation, that is, Deity created the universe out of Itself, first splitting into polarities we can see as masculine and feminine, force and source, God and Goddess, then subdivided into other forms of deity and spirit and everything that is. An Old Irish Apocryphal text describes God as a Downward Growing Tree, with a single root in heaven and myriad branches growing out of it below. The Cath Maige Tuired also reflects this idea. Before the Dagda leads the Tuatha Dé into battle, all the other deities tell of their powers, and what they will do in the fight. One says he'll shake the mountains beneath the Fomoire's feet. Another says he'll dry up the lakes so they can't find water. Another will rain fire upon them. Then the Dagda says, "I alone possess the power you all boast of." "Truly you are The Good God!" They respond, acknowledging that they are all his aspects, and He the true source of their power. This incident calls to mind one of the Indian Upanishads which spring in part, like Celtic tradition, from Indo-European roots. The Brihad-aranyaka Upanisad says, "This that people say, "Worship this god! Worship that god! — One after another — this is his [Brahman's] creation indeed! And he himself is all the gods." In Celtic as in Indian tradition, all deities are ultimately seen as facets of one God. In some branches of Hindu tradition, as in the quote above, the supreme God is Brahman. In the Shaivite tradition Lord Shiva is both the supreme God and the ultimate ground of being. A similar sense of the Dagda is shown in this story. Of course, not only gods are aspects of God. All beings are God's manifestations. We are all aspects of Deity, 'pocket editions' of the God and Goddess. Which leads me to the main point of this newsletter. Showing God a Good Time In workshops I often ask the question, "As you are a part of God/dess, are you showing God/dess a good time?" It's a good point to reflect on. In Celtic tradition enjoyment of life is a religious duty. But what about the rest of God, not just the bit that you are? We all hear about those less fortunate every day, but when I read what follows, the 100 Person Village, and related statistics below, it revealed quite how priviledged I am. I am amongst the 8% wealthiest people in the world, for example. I reprint it below, along with a few other illuminating pieces of information. FROM: www.whoschoosing.org.uk ?If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be: When one considers our world from such a compressed?perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding?and education becomes glaringly apparent. Phillip M Harter, MD, FACEP The following is also something to ponder: If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If your parents are alive and still married...you are very rare. If you can read this message you are more blessed than over two thousand million people in the world that cannot read at all. And more from www.feedthechildren.co.uk A donation of £8 (approximately $13 US) provides a mother and baby with food for a month. A donation of £12 (approximately $19) provides a family with clean drinking water A donation of £40 (approximately $64) feeds a family of five for two months A donation of £250 (approximately $400) feeds a family for one year The above, is of course, just about the human reality. Think about all the other beings who are aspects of Deity as well. Pause for reflection. If that did what I intended you'll never say you have "no money" again. After all, you're the one in a hundred who owns a computer. You'll also think for a moment, especially in this season of culturally supported overspending, on what is truly valuable, on what you truly need, and on what the money could do elsewhere. Doesn't a novelty gift costing £40 look just a bit obscene when you realise that the cash could feed a family of five for two months or a mother and child for five months? Here's an indication of what some of us actually spend this time of year: From: http://www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/release.htm?releaseId=851 (The University of Birmingham website) The BBC recently cited a Deloitte & Touche report that said the average Briton will spend £568 on gifts, food, drink and socialising at Christmas. We spend far higher than European countries such as France (£224) and Germany (£175). From http://www.homeaccentstoday.com/newsNov02.asp#112502 Home Accents Today (2002 figures) American families intend to spend an average of $483 on gifts this Christmas, up from last year's $462, The Conference Board reports. This annual survey of Christmas spending intentions covers a nationally representative sample of 5,000 households. Other key findings in The Conference Board survey: Families earning more than $50,000 intend to spend $649 for Christmas gifts -- one-and-a-third times the national average. Men will outspend women on gifts by 14 percent. They say they'll put $959 into gift shopping compared to the $844 women estimate they'll spend. More than half of survey respondents plan to spend at least $500 on holiday gifts this year. One in 20 shoppers will spend $2,500 or more. Source: The Conference Board / Christmas Spending Survey, 2002 [Note that the latter only covers gifts, not total holiday spending, and it's also based on what families intend to spend, not what they actually end up spending.] From: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_712540.html Children will bag £2 billion worth of presents this Christmas, according to a report. According to credit card firm Goldfish, parents and relatives will collectively spend £2,010,875,080 on their gifts. Parents will spend an average of £288 per child and youngsters will buy presents worth an average of £66 for their parents. Men are more generous than women towards children, with fathers spending a total of £787 on gifts, while women spend an average of £599 Last night I heard a parody of the Feed the World song with an 'African' pitying the many already obese Westerners killing themselves with overfeeding at Christmas. It's funny because it's true. We're doing ourselves and our children in with our gluttony on many levels. But what to do? The answer is: anything. Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor recently took a motorcycle trip around many 'dangerous' parts of the world. They found that the people there were always willing to help and offer hospitality, however little they had. Mcgregor said it was a shock to get back to NY and London, where people had so many more resources, and a much greater ability to help, but weren't willing. I didn't set out to write a pre-Christmas 'feel-bad' letter. I set out to let you know you have a lot of power, which should make you feel good. I will be celebrating Solstice and Christmas. (I experience Christ and the Blessed Mother as manifestations of Deity, obviously just not the only ones. :-)) I will give and receive some presents and share in some nice food — but I'm also going to try and make some changes in how I do things, at this time of year and others. The period after Samhain, between the New Years, the Celtic and the Gregorian, is a time I reflect on changes I'd like to make. Sometimes I take Samhain as a date to start making a change and January 1st as the date to have that change fully in place and enshrined in habit. Say you wanted to meditate daily for 15 minutes. You might start after Samhain to practice once a week. Then, after a week, take it up to twice a week, and so on until you've worked up to daily practice by January 1st. I'll be writing more about change in the next few newsletters. For right now, though, I'd invite you to look at your celebration this year, and take one step to help other beings, even if it's small. You might spend just £8 / $13 or the equivalent in your currency less than normal in the weeks before Christmas. Get less expensive mince pies, or make them, or take a thermos to work for a week, instead of buying gourmet coffee out. Use that money to make the rest of Deity happier this year. Remember, that amount provides a divine mother and baby with food for a month. Splash out £4 / $6 more on the rest of Deity for Solstice and Christmas and give a divine family clean drinking water. Here are some ideas for changing the way you spend this year: You can make some gifts, like crafts and foods. You could get some gifts from fair trade sources — if the growers and manufacturers in many countries got a fair deal, the money would exceed all the aid money they get. If you get some gifts at charity shops, you can give in five ways. You won't be 'buying into' the environmental damage that manufacturing just about anything new creates, you'll be re-using (much better than recycling) something, you'll be giving to charity, you'll be giving to your friend or family member. The fifth way? If you choose, you could give the money you save to a good cause. Would the people on your list really be furious if you told them, "Instead of getting you a robot dog, I am feeding a mother and child on your behalf in the Sudan for six months. I am giving that mother her baby's life, and that baby his mother's life." How would it be to, with your child's agreement, spend less and support a child and their community in a developing country throughout the next year? Might that not mean more to your family and might it not be more informative for your child than any 'educational' toy? There are lots of organisations that let you really see where your donations are going, from buying acres of land that will otherwise be deforested, to reports from communities and individuals on the differences your donation can make. We so often say, "I saw this, and thought of you" when we give a gift. Maybe it's a new mother thing, but when I see or hear of a child or elderly person or woman or man in need I more and more frequently think of my child or my mum or my best friend or husband and the divine beings they are, irreplaceable. Solstice and Christmas are all about Divinity being born into the world in less than ideal circumstances at the darkest time. I'm just one voice among many at this time of year asking you to give Divinity a hand. Whatever you choose to do, feel good about it. All of us can probably look back on how we've spent our money over the years in light of the statistics above and grow horrified, even if we've been relatively frugal by general Western standards. I know I can. But don't feel so guilty about what you haven't done that you do nothing now. If you feel like it, you can let me know ideas and experiences of taking action and I'll share some of them in future newsletters. A little boy, given the assignment to use a new word in a narrative, asked his teacher what 'frugal' meant. "To save." His teacher responded. A few minutes later, he gave her his assignment, which read: "Frugal me, frugal me!" she said. So he frugalled her, and they lived happily ever after. I had a good laugh when David told me that one, but in a very real way this holiday season, to 'frugal' and 'to save' in the above sense can be the same thing. Give it some thought. Moran Beannachdan, Many Blessings, Geo
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