Gods With Us
An interesting topic that crops up in Celtic pagan discussion groups from time to time is whether the Irish (or more generally Celtic) Gods and spirits travel with the people who acknowledge them, or whether they are stationary, tied as it were to specific locations. People who argue for the latter view point to the way that Irish Gods were strongly associated with specific locations and the way that they were said in some cases to be embodied by the land, such as the hills called the Paps of Anu. How, this argument says, if the Gods are so strongly connected to those places can they also be elsewhere? Now my own view takes the former side and I decided to use today's blog to explain my viewpoint.
Brugh na Boyne; image in the common domain courtesy of http://www.public-domain-photos.com/t...
It is true that many if not all of the Irish Gods are said to have homes, or sidhe, in specific places. These were established when the Gods moved beneath the hills after the Milesians came and we know what many of them are because of the strong local folk traditions surrounding each location. The Tuatha De Danann are inextricably linked to real world places and these places are woven into the tapestry of the Gods' stories. Oweynagat is the Morrigan's and part of the story of Odras. Brugh na Boyne is Oengus mac Og's and part of the story of his conception and cleverness. Emhain Macha is Macha's and a symbol of her sovereignty. Our Gods do not essentially live in some distant, unreachable world or some separate plane of existence; they live here, in our world, or at least their homes have physical, tangible, counterparts here that we can visit and see and touch. Perhaps this is what leads to a feeling that these places are not just where we can find the Gods living, but are the only places the Gods can be...but if we look at myth we will see that our ancestors never held such a view. Each God had many homes, many places, and some gained and lost different places over time, indicating the transient nature of these connections.
The Irish Gods, the Tuatha De Danann, were not native to Ireland but rather came there later, whether you choose to believe that in the mythic sense outlined by the Invasion Cycle or whether you see them arriving with the Celtic peoples. Either way they were foreign Gods once who made homes in a new place. We see echoes of this ability to go where the people honoring them went in the spread of the worship of the Gaulish goddess Epona to Rome, as her worship caught on with Roman soldiers and was imported back to their homes. We see this as well in the way that the Irish migrating to Scotland brought with them some of their Gods, like Brighid and Angus and possibly the Cailleach. The Gods are not omniscient or omnipotent but they are Gods and it is entirely within their ability to go where they will, especially I think if they are being called and honored in a new place. Even the slua sidhe, the fairy host, is said to be able to cross the ocean and journey far afield of their homes; why would the Gods be able to do any less?
Speaking of the fairy host, another related argument that I hear is that the spirits of the Otherworld are bound to specific places. Now I grant you that land spirits generally are tied in this way to a location; however I do not believe that applies to the Good People. In stories they are clearly said to change their homes (their sidhe) at certain times of year and are wont to travel which is why building on fairy roads is such a bad idea. Yeats speaks of a woman whose mother had a fairy woman as a friend and the woman would tell her of things occurring in America; this can be interpreted as the fairy woman having oracular abilities, or perhaps she was able to travel there herself and directly see the events. I'd argue each possibility is equally likely. Spirits, like people, move and travel and explore new places. They also in my experience tend to follow those who believe in and offer to them. There are spirits of place and spirits of stationary things like trees or rocks that do not move around but there are other spirits that are not anchored to a specific thing that go where they will. And it is possible that how we perceive them plays a role as well.
When we move from place to place we bring our Gods and many of our spirits with us, and we also have an chance to meet new ones. We carry them with our traditions and practices and beliefs into new territories and new opportunities. In a way - perhaps the most important way - we ourselves are what anchor our Gods in this world as they migrate with us, until they establish new physical ties to things less transient....
Brugh na Boyne; image in the common domain courtesy of http://www.public-domain-photos.com/t...It is true that many if not all of the Irish Gods are said to have homes, or sidhe, in specific places. These were established when the Gods moved beneath the hills after the Milesians came and we know what many of them are because of the strong local folk traditions surrounding each location. The Tuatha De Danann are inextricably linked to real world places and these places are woven into the tapestry of the Gods' stories. Oweynagat is the Morrigan's and part of the story of Odras. Brugh na Boyne is Oengus mac Og's and part of the story of his conception and cleverness. Emhain Macha is Macha's and a symbol of her sovereignty. Our Gods do not essentially live in some distant, unreachable world or some separate plane of existence; they live here, in our world, or at least their homes have physical, tangible, counterparts here that we can visit and see and touch. Perhaps this is what leads to a feeling that these places are not just where we can find the Gods living, but are the only places the Gods can be...but if we look at myth we will see that our ancestors never held such a view. Each God had many homes, many places, and some gained and lost different places over time, indicating the transient nature of these connections.
The Irish Gods, the Tuatha De Danann, were not native to Ireland but rather came there later, whether you choose to believe that in the mythic sense outlined by the Invasion Cycle or whether you see them arriving with the Celtic peoples. Either way they were foreign Gods once who made homes in a new place. We see echoes of this ability to go where the people honoring them went in the spread of the worship of the Gaulish goddess Epona to Rome, as her worship caught on with Roman soldiers and was imported back to their homes. We see this as well in the way that the Irish migrating to Scotland brought with them some of their Gods, like Brighid and Angus and possibly the Cailleach. The Gods are not omniscient or omnipotent but they are Gods and it is entirely within their ability to go where they will, especially I think if they are being called and honored in a new place. Even the slua sidhe, the fairy host, is said to be able to cross the ocean and journey far afield of their homes; why would the Gods be able to do any less?
Speaking of the fairy host, another related argument that I hear is that the spirits of the Otherworld are bound to specific places. Now I grant you that land spirits generally are tied in this way to a location; however I do not believe that applies to the Good People. In stories they are clearly said to change their homes (their sidhe) at certain times of year and are wont to travel which is why building on fairy roads is such a bad idea. Yeats speaks of a woman whose mother had a fairy woman as a friend and the woman would tell her of things occurring in America; this can be interpreted as the fairy woman having oracular abilities, or perhaps she was able to travel there herself and directly see the events. I'd argue each possibility is equally likely. Spirits, like people, move and travel and explore new places. They also in my experience tend to follow those who believe in and offer to them. There are spirits of place and spirits of stationary things like trees or rocks that do not move around but there are other spirits that are not anchored to a specific thing that go where they will. And it is possible that how we perceive them plays a role as well.
When we move from place to place we bring our Gods and many of our spirits with us, and we also have an chance to meet new ones. We carry them with our traditions and practices and beliefs into new territories and new opportunities. In a way - perhaps the most important way - we ourselves are what anchor our Gods in this world as they migrate with us, until they establish new physical ties to things less transient....
No comments have been added yet.
