Into the Well of Beauty: NOD assignment

Artwork by Esther Remmington
Brighid & Cernunnos

Into the Well of Beauty: Chapter 4 assignment

Reflect on your own relationship to the Sacred and/or Divinity.
How does it relate to this chapter of the NOD Bardic Text?

In a previous post I discussed how I came to be a Pagan. That I always believed in 'something', something within Nature that connects us all. I have likened it to the 'Force' described in Star Wars.

Our Celtic Ancestors were not known for anthropomorphising their Gods. That is, it was only with interaction with Rome that they came to see statues and figurines of humanized Gods.

Our Ancestors saw the Gods of Albion, Eire, Cymru etc as the Land itself or within the Trees and animals of Nature. The Hills were the shapely body of Danu, the Sun was the blazing light of Lugh and the Ravens were the sign of the Morrigan drawing close.

Many Celtic tribes had a totem animal that represented their connection to their Gods (the Bear, the Wolf, the Raven etc). Others connected through hot spots in the Land (Sacred Wells, Standing Stones, Hills and Burial Mounds.

But it is only really later that we began to personify our Gods in Human form.

For me, all Gods/Goddesses are one. They are the life force, Nature itself, that flows within each of us.
But just as I am a Daughter, I am also a Wife. I am a sister, an Auntie, a cousin, a friend, a Priestess, a Witch, a Druid, a Teacher, an Actress, a Student and a storyteller....
I am one but I am also many....and thus it is with the Gods.

The Spirit has both male and female energies within it (as do all humans)
This is personified as God and Goddess.

The Goddess then is taken and she too is split. Maiden, Mother, Crone. Goddess of the Earth, Goddess of the Moon, Goddess of the Sea, Goddess of Love, War, Sexuality, Peace, Animals, Childbirth, Fire, Forge, Water, Wells, Healing....

The God's energies are also divided. Son, Lover and Father. God of the Sun, Lord of the Sky, Lord of the Hunt, God of Animals, Stag God, Horned one, God of Lust, Protector, Hunter, Warrior, Leader, Guide, Guardian, Green Man, Lord of all that is wild and free...

We call upon different God/Goddesses for different things. We call on the aspect that we need. My Nephew will call on me as his Aunt, but my students will call on me as their teacher- I am the same.

If we need protection we may call on the protective aspects of the God or Goddess.
If we require Guidance then it is this aspect that we call upon. And so we call the Gods by their different names.

We also have Patron Gods and Goddesses who we may have a closer bond to.

For me, I have always been close to Brighid.
I found her many years ago. Red headed Irish Goddess of Fire & Forge. Of Healing Waters and Guiding Light. The Goddesses of many aspects. So Beloved that when Ireland became Christianized they had to make her a saint for she was not going to vanish with the Old Gods quietly!

For me she has been there through all trials and tribulations, through Joy and Abundance, forever guiding me and ensuring that I act upon my instincts.

I cannot describe the Love I feel for this aspect of the Great Spirit.
I honour her in Ritual and have dedicated my life to being her Priestess, and teaching others the way of Paganism and Celtic Witchcraft.

She was beside me when I worked as an Auxiliary Nurse, when I cared for those who were sick and dying, and when I tended the bodies of those who had passed. She is with me now as a Teacher of children.
She gives me the strength to be compassionate and kind, caring and patient.

She gives me the fire to spark my ideas, my creativity, my passions and my desires. She gives me the energy to be excited by life, and to be ever optimistic.

She is the force behind me unwavering belief that life is sacred, precious and should be lived the fullest with no regrets.

She is my inner strength and my guiding light.

The male aspect of Divinity came to me a little later. Some call him Cernunnos, but I find Herne befits him better. Herne has a gravitas and a heart warming feeling, whearas Cernunnos sounds too Classical for me!

However you call upon him, he is the Stag Horned God.
He is the Lover, the Protector, the Warrior and the Hunter.

He is the spark. He teaches me to enjoy my life. To live it truly to the maximum. To dance, to feed my passions, to enjoy the sensualities of life in all its forms (to feel, taste, touch, smell and hear the world around me) and to ACT rather than just REACT.

He teaches me to embrace all sides of my personality and to like who I am. He helps me when I don't feel confident. He is the nervous butterflies and hungry excitement before I step onto the stage. He encourages the fire, the anger, the laughter and the extroverted side of my personality.

I honour my Patron Gods and feel closest to them but I do also feel close to Morrigan, Dagda, Lugh and Danu.

These are the Gods whom I work most often with, though I have been known to work with Greek and Roman aspects of the Great Spirit if a spell, healing or other magickal practice requires it.

Chapter 4 of NOD discusses the connection we feel to the Gods.
It is individual for all, and will be different for everyone- even those following a similar path.

I don't see my Gods as beings floating in the heavens in humanised bodies that can interfere in our lives if they feel like it. But that is me.

They are a personification. They are a character that helps us relate to the energy that is made of the elements. They are present in Nature. They are the Standing Stones and the Flowing Wells.
They are the Sun in the Sky Above and the Moon at Night. They are the seasons. They are the dual sides of our personalities. They are within and around us always.

I may call my Goddess one name, but she is ALL names.

My relationship with my Gods builds each and every time I invoke them in Ritual. Or each time I hear a song written for them that makes me cry through Love for them.
When I go through a difficult time, I do no blame the Gods. I do not have anger at them. I find comfort in them and I accept that life must have a balance of good and bad, light and dark.

My relationship with the Gods and with Divinity is eternal, and is one that I gain much happiness, spirituality and peace with.

I leave you with two songs dedicated to my Patron Gods.
Brighid by Damh the Bard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAXuLcej3Ws
Herne by Clannad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Qo4vxXpC8


To you and to your Gods however you see them,
I give the Brightest of Blessings,
Breaca
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