Danu's Cauldron: Wisewoman's Ways, and Wild Fey Magic

Living in a sacred landscape, walking between the worlds in the veil of Avalon Glastonbury. Where the old gods roam the hills, and the sidhe dance beneath the moon...wander into the mists with me and let us see what we may find...

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Trees and the hill of Tara, reclaiming our soul sovereignty.


This May I was blessed to be asked to teach at a wonderful event at Dunderry Park in County Meath in Ireland. 'Animystics' was a two day event that wove together various Celtic traditions and earth based practices to really deepen our connection to the earth and our own souls. My session was all about connecting with tree spirits, and the tradition of the Bile, or sacred tree, clan totem and representative of the world tree in the Celtic Traditions. Standing there, in a field on a beautiful May morning, I was struck again by how such simple acts as breathing and being present to nature can restore our balance, and by extension our connection to our own sovereignty, our own souls, and the soul of the earth Herself. Dunderry is just a few miles from the hill of Tara, said to be the ancient seat of the semi- mythical high kings of Ireland, and I felt the ancient ancestors, with their passionate love of the land reach out to us, to remember, and honour Her again as a way to restore ourselves in these often troubled times.

Tara is such a special place, a wide green hill that overlooks a vast and verdant landscape. On a clear day it is said you can see all of Ireland from it's summit. Once an Iron Age hill fort, it is also home to a Neolithic burial mound, 'the mound of the hostages', granting access to the womb of the earth, the realm of the sidhe, and the Lia Fáil, or Stone of Destiny, said to have been brought from the otherworldly city of Falias by the Tuatha de Danann, the Irish gods. The Lia Fáil is said to cry out when the rightful king stands upon it. Once it stood beside the mound, but now it stands sentry a little further off, overlooking the wide plains below. Whether this solitary monolith was truly the ancient mythical stone will always be up for debate, but standing there touching its weathered grey sides, sensing the endless generations that have come here, and used this as the touchstone, the still and central point to anchor their spiritual and earthly selves together, to find that link to sovereignty in a world that tries to take so much soul and so much power from us, is always a healing and humbling moment.

To touch even fleetingly the potent core of life, from which all healing may spring, is a sacred act. To reclaim, to touch upon our sovereignty is to bring life back to the dried out parts of our lives, to the places where hope or love is lost, to bring spring back to where winter has withered our dreams. In this way the Lia Fáil is much like the Bile, the sacred trees of old; an umbilicus connecting us to our core, the earth and the many worlds, simultaneously. Dancing between the self and the infinite, to carry that connection, even as a memory, means to carry a little of that power within us, with the determination to let it germinate and grow in the fertile soil of our hearts.

Just as the Lia Fáil stands near the 'mound of the hostages'- the entrance to the underworld, the realms of the sidhe, so we cannot access our own sovereignty without knowing what power lies within us, and facing the challenges our own fertile darkness presents us with. In the Irish tradition, a hostage was an honoured guest, a royal cousin, raised as foster family to build good relations and bonds between kingdoms. Freeing those hostages, releasing all that they have learnt during their stay, to bring their knowledge into the world again is to bring treasure from the depths of our own being.To return to our centre, to reclaim that sovereignty, to be king within our own lives, is not easily won, but is a far smaller challenge than enduring the sorrows and pale shadows of living a life without it. 

©danuforest2016

www.danuforest.co.uk

 

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Danu Forest is a wisewoman in the Celtic Bean Feasa tradition of her Irish ancestors. You could call her many things- witch, seer, walker between the worlds, healer, druid, priestess, teacher, writer, gardener, herbwife, stargazer, faery friend, tree planter, poet, and wild woman. Danu lives in a cottage near Glastonbury Tor in the midst of the Avalon lakes, in the southwest of England. Exploring the Celtic mysteries for over 25 years, and noted for her quality research, practical experience, as well as her deep love of the land, Danu writes for numerous national and international magazines and is the author of several books including Wild Magic, The Druid Shaman, Celtic Tree Magic, Gwyn ap Nudd and The Magical Year'. She teaches regular workshops and online courses and is available for consultations, including healings readings and other ceremonies.

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