Ocean's Meadow

We are accustomed to distinguish the supernatural from the natural. The barrier between the two domains is not, indeed, always impenetrable: the Homeric gods sometimes fight in the ranks of human armies, and a hero may force the gates of Hades and visit the empire of the dead. But the chasm is there nonetheless, and we are made aware of it by feeling of wonder or horror aroused by this violation of established order. The Celts knew nothing of this, if we are entitled to judge their attitude from Irish tradition. Here there is continuity, in space and in time, between what we call our world and the other world—or worlds. Some peoples, such as the Romans, think of their myths historically; the Irish think of their history mythologically; and so, too, of their geography. […] The supernatural and the natural penetrate and continue each other, and constant communication beteen them ensures their organic unity. Hence it is easier to describe the mythological world of the Celts than to define it, for definition implies a contrast.

Reconstructionist rituals are generally based on what we know of pre-Christian beliefs and practices, from historical and archaeological sources, and also – and perhaps primarily, from outward appearances at least – from folklore and folk customs. In other words, folklore often informs what we do, but our understanding of historical and archaeological sources in relation to ritual helps us to frame and anchor those practices in a Gaelic, polytheistic, worldview. In doing so, we are working from a continuum, rather than a specific era, and therefore what we are doing is not just a simple case of ‘bringing the Iron Age into the modern age’ (a common misconception about Gaelic Polytheism and reconstructionism in general), but looking to the bigger picture.

Greatest of all the water spirits, the sea god, Manannan mac Lir, has occasionally appeared, usually on some errand of mercy on the coast of Co. Mayo and he, or his son (or double), Oirbsen,^ of Loch Oirbsen (Loch Corrib), on the coast of Galway Bay. He has sometimes come to warn of the approach of a storm.

No doubt the pagan ancestors of the shore dwellers, worshipped him of old; and his reverence lingered when his. godhead was forgotten. The people live by the gifts of the sea, its fish, timber and seaweed, so naturally the gracious side of the-god was most felt, but there are also suggestions that his fierce cruelty was once felt. Anything that falls into the sea should not be retrieved : a hat blows off and Aran boatmen have refused to go after it.

A curious ceremony where young men naked on horseback are driven into Galway Bay and for some time kept from coming to land is very suggestive of a symbolic sacrifice. I am told that this has been in use near Spiddal, to. the west of Galway, in very recent years. Some fifty years ago I heard from Lord Kilannin that his father and others had to go to the rescue of some shipwrecked men whom the peasantry would neither help nor permit to land.

His relatives were eagerly warned of the disasters’to which they might be liable for saving anyone from the sea.

( Grant me ) Might of Heaven, brightness of the Sun, whiteness of snow, splendour of fire, speed of light, swiftness of Wind, depth of Ocean, stability of Earth, firmness of Rock,