Lesson Four ~ The Ancestors and the Living Land
Professor James Lovelock wrote a book in 1979 proposing a new theory, which he called the Gaia Hypothesis. This theory suggested that the planet was not just a lump of inert rock floating in space ~ but a living, self-regulating being. Every living creature was like a cell in the Earth’s body.
To many scientists today the Gaia Hypothesis is still a radical, controversial idea. To the Pagan cultures of the ancient world it was a truth that even the slowest-witted peasant lived with. Pagans back then (and most today) would take Professor Lovelock’s ideas one step further, to say that the Earth is not just alive, but also thinking. It is appropriate that the theory is named after a Pagan goddess.
For the Celtic tribes the land played a central role in their religion. She was the source of their crops, the fodder for their animals, fed the trees that they built their houses from and so forth. Without the land, human life was not possible. That is still true today, though for many people living in cities it is easy to forget ~ when you can buy any sort of food imported from all over the world, all nice and washed and shrink-wrapped in cling-film, and we see more concrete and plastic than we do wood or stone.
The Gaelic tribes called the earth goddess Danu, Anu or Danand, whilst the Welsh tribes called her Don. When a chieftain took office, he symbolically married the land. Bishop Gerald of Wales, writing in the 12th century, describes the inauguration of a chieftain in County Donegal. The ritual which he describes, in which the chief simulated sex with a horse (even allowing that he might have made some of it up), sounds like a ceremonial marriage to the land.
The quality of his rule was judged not just in terms of battle victories and political alliances, but in regards to harvests, animal birth rates and public health. In the “Testament of Morann” it says:
“It is through the truth of the ruler that plagues and great lightnings are kept from the people…. It is through the truth of the ruler that milk-yeilds of great cattle are maintained. It is through the truth of the ruler that there is abundance of every high, tall corn.”
If the land gave poor crop yields, if the cattle gave little milk and birthed few young, if plagues or bad weather afflicted the people, then this was all seen as reflecting ill on the chieftain. These environmental happenings were not just random chance or bad luck, they happened for a reason. If the Gods were happy with the chieftain, the land was healthy and the people fared well. If the Gods were displeased, then they withdrew their gifts from the tribe and everyone suffered. This theme persisted into later Arthurian legend, with the story of the Wasteland and the Fisher King.
In addition to the various Gods of the land, each area had its own local spirits which inhabited the forests, lakes, rocks, rivers, caves etc. Some were seen as friendly to humans, others as predatory and dangerous. Houses also had spirits dwelling within them, and people were advised to keep on good terms with their local spirits. The folklore of Celtic lands is full of odd little practices which people are meant to follow in order to keep the Little People sweet. Putting out bowls of milk is a common practice, but it is considered very unwise to offer items of clothing to house spirits ~ for whatever reason, they take offence and cause mayhem in the home!
In a future lesson we will look at the folklore around some of these different types of spirit ~ both those found around the home, and those found out in the wilds.
In 1925 Alfred Watkins wrote a book called “The Old Straight Track”, which introduced the term ley line. Watkins proposed the idea that there are lines of energy flowing throughout the earth, and that in ancient times people sensitive to these forces chose to build religious sites on them, to tap the energies. Whilst not every Pagan shares Watkins’ beliefs, they are certainly popular. They are also quite similar to ideas commonly held in the Far East and elsewhere.
The early Celts made pilgrimages between holy places, a habit continued into Christian times. Wether the paths they trod were chosen because of earth energies, or just as matters of convenience, we can only guess at now. It is customary when visiting a shrine or holy place to walk round it clockwise for a certain number of times (traditions vary as to how many times, commonly a multiple of three.) This may be a hang-over from a ritual to the sun, in which worshippers walked east to west in honour of the solar journey. Spirals and concentric circle patterns appear all over Neolithic monuments ~ possible symbols of the sun. They might also reflect peoples experience of certain forms of land energy moving in a circular pattern ~ and the draw to walk in harmony with the flow of the force being a means of tuning into it. There could, of course, be of other much less mystical reasons why people chose to walk round and round.
There are plenty of stories about particular places which exhibit magical powers, that humans can deliberately (or accidentally) become involved with. Welsh myth, for example, tells of a hill in Arberth which was inhabited by the Sidi (Welsh fairies), where wondrous sites could be seen at certain special times. A prince called Pwyll sat on the hill at the auspicious time, and saw the beautiful Rhiannon appear riding nearby. Many believe her to be based on an older horse goddess called Rigantona. There are a number of Irish tales in which hunters were so intent on pursuing a white deer, that they accidentally slipped through a gate into the Otherworld. Sometimes Otherwordly beings, such as Fand, journey into our realms.
In the last of the waves of invasions mentioned in the Lebor Gabala, the poet Amergin divided Ireland in two. The mortals got to live on the surface, whilst the Tuatha lived inside the hills, under the surface of the land. As the stories have been told and retold the distinction between deity and fairy has become very blurred, and many Irish legends also refer to fairies living inside the Hollow Hills. Welsh lore may have had a similar sort of story at some point, because they too have the notion of a World Beneath, where fairies and other spirits live.
A place in which ritual is held is termed a nemeton, which derives from the word nemed meaning ‘sacred’. A nemeton could be a clearing in the woods, a cave in the mountains, a cove on a beach, or an indoor site. It doesn’t matter how big it is, or what shape it is, so long as it exhibits the right energy. What that energy is, depends largely on the purpose of the ritual. Some places are very conducive to healing, whilst others would be better suited to battle, quiet reflection, or fertility. It is arguable whether the mysterious presence stems purely from the land, from the spirits inhabiting the place, from the residue left by previous humans, or other factors besides. If the ceremony is to honour the sun, the Druid might find somewhere that “feels” sunny, if it is to gain victory in battle, then they might opt for a venue with a more militant aura to it.
When choosing a place for ritual, one has to think firstly in practical terms ~ where you can get to, is the place overlooked by nosey neighbours, are there trespassing laws involved etc. Having found a potential venue, one can then turn to view it from a spiritual perspective. Some people are very psychic, and would immediately pick up on whether the place was welcoming, whether it felt “right” for the rite. Not every Pagan has grand psychic visions (in fact, most don’t), but there are other ways to commune with the place ~ sit and meditate, use divination, ask someone else to check it for you, etc.
This process of communion establishes certain things ~ will the spirits inhabiting this place approve of the planned ritual, do they want to join in, would they like any offerings left in exchange, and so forth. If the place is unhappy with the planned ritual, the best thing to do is move on and find somewhere that is happy.
A nemeton is often referred to as a sacred place. It’s worth stopping a minute and thinking about this. If one place is sacred, then it rather implies that other places aren’t, that they’re profane in some manner. Lots of people today, Pagan or otherwise, accept the idea that some places are profane, prosaic, spiritually dead etc. There is little evidence that our Celtic ancestors held to this view. For them the whole world was holy, and even the most humdrum of activities could be accompanied by singing hymns, chanting, ritual. A nemeton is not, as such, more holy than the glade down the track. Rather it is better suited to certain activities, certain types of ritual.
Some places feel frightening and hostile. We may feel that they are haunted ~ either by the dead, or by dangerous nature spirits. Simply because a place is hostile to me, doesn’t mean it might not be quite welcoming to someone else. There may be a reason why it is hostile to me specifically, or humans generally. In some religions (including some Pagan ones), such places tend to get automatically exorcised and cleansed. Such an approach is not necessary in Druidry, or even desirable.
To be crude for while, not many people like the smell of shit. There is a reason why shit stinks ~ it’s full of bacteria that is harmful to us, so we learn to avoid the smell. Yet shit is not “evil” ~ it rots down, feeds the plants, restores nutrients to the soil. There are places which exude the psychic equivalent of a bad smell. Sometimes it may be because there is a very disturbed spirit trapped there, but it may also be because there is some spirit or process going on there which is dangerous to humans, but important in the grand scheme of things (and so best left alone!).
The upshot of all this waffle is: think carefully when choosing a place to work ritual, and don’t assume that all types of ritual can be conducted in the same venue.
Up until quite recently few people travelled to any great extent. A friend of mine tells how he moved to Stowmarket (a small town in Suffolk) back in the 70’s, and met old men who had never actually left the town ~ not even for a bus ride into neighbouring villages. Up until the Industrial Revolution there were many families who had lived for ten generations in the same village. The graveyard was full of their ancestors ~ their ancestral blood and bones literally feeding the earth.
Whilst some ancient Celts became sailors and merchants and mercenaries, travelling as far afield as Egypt, plenty more lived as farmers and seldom travelled further than the nearest marketplace. In Lesson 1 we mentioned the theory advanced by historians like Simon James, that the Irish and British Iron Age tribes were descended from the Bronze Age natives and earlier. If that is the case, there may have been many villages built a short walk from a Neolithic burial mound containing the bones of their far distant ancestors.
Since childhood I must have moved house over a dozen times. Like most people these days, I have no real sense of roots. I do not live in the same house my parents did, cannot point to a tree and know that my great-grandfather planted it, or see a hill and know my great-great-grandmother was married atop it. Knowing that past generations of your bloodline have lived in a place gives a unique sense of belonging to the land, being somehow part of it.
The stories of the waves of invasions in Ireland often have a death take place early on. It may have been an echo of some land-bonding ritual, the sense that the newcomers could take possession of a territory by planting their ancestors in the soil. Some have argued that such rituals may have been enacted with a fatal sacrifice when people moved to a brand new area ~ interring someone specially bumped off for the purpose of creating a bond. We cannot say for certain that this never happened, though equally we can say that there is no evidence to suggest this happened on a regular or widespread basis amongst the Celts. However, it is worth noting that numerous buildings dating from the last fifteen hundred years, have been found with mummified animals under the foundations, under church altars, sealed inside wall cavities etc.
The spirits of the dead have a strong role to play in nearly all tribal religions. It is commonly held that blood ancestors maintain a general interest in the welfare of their descendants. In the Iron Age the Celtic tribes were head-hunters, and collected the severed heads of their fallen enemies. They also seemed to have the habit (at least, some tribes did) of keeping the skulls of revered leaders, who may well have died quite peacefully. The most famous legend featuring this sort of incident is the Welsh story of Bran the Blessed. His sister, Branwen, married an Irish chief who abused her. When her brother found out, he led an army into Ireland to punish the chief and his tribe. At the climax of a massive battle, Bran was wounded and asked his war band to chop off his head. The body died, but the head continued to live and talk. For 80 years it entertained and advised the war band.
A number of Classical accounts mention Celts keeping skulls or preserved heads around the house, and bringing them out as talking points ~ much the way people bring out their holiday photos or sporting trophies these days. Some even made drinking cups out of skulls. It was believed that the soul dwelt in the head and, through various magical rituals, a skull could be used like an oracle ~ a medium through which the dead could be communicated with.
People might commune with the dead to seek advice, to be reassured that the loved one is happy in the Afterlife, to gain protection or other forms of help, or just to update them on the latest family happenings. Whilst seances are often thought of as rather gloomy affairs these days, many cultures make a great party out of holy days dedicated to the dead. They go and have picnics in graveyards, tell their deceased relatives all the family gossip, recite poems or engage in activities they think the relative would have enjoyed in life.
Tribal chieftains in Britain and Ireland employed poets and storytellers to memorise their family trees, going back nine generations or beyond. These trees could then be recited at important occasions ~ especially if one of their ancestors was famous, and could be bragged about at great length. Many claimed to be descended from certain Gods, and the line between a deity and an ancestor is frequently blurred.
Just as some ancestors are worth bragging about, others might be a cause for embarrassment. It is worth stopping a minute and reflecting on what death is ~ a transition. It is a learning experience, like any. Some people might learn a huge amount from it, whilst others might change very little. A person who was sadistic, avaricious, stupid, boring or bone idle in life might not be that much different after death. It would be unwise to assume that every ancestor is going to be lovely, sweet and wise. If they gave bad advice in life, they might be just as daft in death. So when communing with the dead, remember to retain your own judgement and don’t feel you have to do absolutely everything some passing spirit tells you to.
In addition to blood relations, there are also many spirits who take an interest in the living because of some shared passion. A great musician might be drawn to still-living musicians. Some of these spirits may hang around for the rest of your life, whilst others may pop in only briefly.
Most polytheist druids will invite the spirits of their (benevolent) ancestors to join them for rituals. Every year there is the feast of Samhain, at which special attention is given to the dead ~ especially the recent losses. This festival is a good time not only for honouring dead friends and relatives, but also those people who (even if you never met them in the flesh) inspired or uplifted your life in some way… a favourite actor or singer, a writer, an inventor, a great historical figure etc. In a future lesson we will discuss what lies beyond the grave.
Some questions for you to think about:
- What means would you feel comfortable using to try and sense the will of the spirit of a place?
- How far back can you trace your family tree? How much do you know about the lives of your grandparents, great-aunts, long-dead cousins etc?
- How do you view humanity’s relationship to the land? Are we its masters, its guardians, just one species amongst many, or something else again?
Practical Exercise
Try to meditate and make contact with the spirit of your house. If possible, ask it what it’s name is. See if it manifests in a particular way ~ does it look human, animal, or something else? Do you sense any particular aroma, sound, taste etc linked with it?
Having made contact, create a small shrine to it somewhere in your house. Ask what the spirit would like on the shrine, and if it has a preference for any particular type of offering ~ a certain food or drink, for example.