page 15
(The Study of Threes)
http://threesology.org
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The following reference is culled from another website involving the number 3. Please give the respective author their due
credit. A Link to the website is provided following this selection.
and
Triune Logic v.3.5
by Iain MacAnTsaoir
--- Email ---
I. Dualism
It has been the plan to shore up, and build upon the foundations already set in your thought processes. The philosophical foundation that we have in this society is established within the framework of neo-Platonic thought, as forwarded by Christianity. This form of logic is pervasive in our --- society ---(1). Within this form of logic is found Aristotelian (binary) --- logic ---(2) and a particularly nasty form of dualism which establishes fundamental oppositions (good vs. evil) in eternally existing spheres. That last part about dualism was the offspring of such thinkers as Zoroaster and others. The modern pagan movement has carried this thought form on in a mutated version. The modern pagan expression of dualism has as its base components feminine and masculine.
Modern pagans don't consciously assign "good" and "evil" connotations to the masculine and feminine elements. However, their modern western mindsets come out in the current trend toward assigning that which is masculine to the evil category and that which is feminine to the good. In a very real way, this is only a reversed expression of the dominant societies ways. All you have to do is read most any Neo-Pagan literature to see this. Officially they will say that their form of dualism is more accurately described as 'polarities'. They further state that the objective is some obscure and undefined 'state of balance' between the two. They also teach that this physical world sits at the junction of those two polarities, and is not a thing unto itself.
The Gaels and other Celts didn't hold with neo-Platonism, or other manifestations of dualism that pitted eternal spheres in absolute conflict. They also did not think that the physical was only an illusion that sits at the junction of the two. On the other hand, there was the concept of functions such as masculine and feminine. Another basic Indo-European mythology, which manifests in several different reflexes (cultural representations) present in Gaelic lands, has a basic pattern dealing with twins. That pattern of twins has two different expressions. One of them holds that the twins only had minimal interaction, the other that the twins did interact.
The first expression, what is termed "the Divine Twins reflex", has one of them as a Creator and the other as the Lord of the Dead. This set is composed the King and his twin who is a priestly figure. Typically the priestly figure (Manu, Ameirigin) kills the King (Yamu, Donn), and the King becomes the Lord of the Dead, in the realm he establishes after his death (the Otherworld). That is the extent of their interaction, though it is through the death of the King that the cosmos is --- created --- (3). Scholars agree that the Brown and White bulls in Irish lore correlates to these to persons as --- well --- (4). It is neither opposition, nor is it some balance between the two that is seen in these reflexes. It is they mutually fulfilling their functions in regards to each other that creates the cosmos. The cosmos itself then manifests in tripartite form.
In the other expression of the basic mythos the twins
adventure together together killing the monsters that cross their path.
This is thought to be metaphorical language for bringing Order to Chaos, or
as presented in the stories, making the world "safe". In this expression
one of the Twins is flawless and immortal while the other one is
imperfect. While in some reflexes the flawed twin is brought back to life,
in others he is not.
One Gaelic reflex of this theme pertains to Lugh
and his Tanist, who was in fact Lugh in another guise. The story of Lugh
falls somewhere between the Flawed/Perfect dichotomy and the Creator/Lord
of Death dichotomy as typified by the Hindu reflex of Yama/Manu.
Even
the story of the birth of Lugh has components from both reflex types.
Lugh's story would appear however, to be closer to the Creator/Lord of
Death model than to the Divine Twins expression. Please note that in the
lore one of the twins becomes associated with Otherworld while the other
remains 'human'.
In Celtic thought, the existence of these sets of two, and the dynamics between them, were necessary for the creation of the world and the sustaining of the world. They are not a matter of establishing what is "good" and what is "evil". It is the a cooperation between these two parts of the whole, each fulfilling their obligation, which either brings order to chaos or in some other way creates the cosmos. Again, the world itself is tripartite in nature.
For the next little while I will be taxing you to think. I do not want you to think in the ways that you've been taught by the current dominant culture. I want you to begin to consciously attempt thinking in threes. It will be work, but your efforts in memorizing the Triads have been creating a platform for this leap. I have no expectations that you will be intellectually lazy, you will do well. The leap from Neo-Platonic thought to Triune thought is a major growth. Your growth is contingent upon your willingness to change. The ability to adapt and change is part of --- warriorship --- (3). One of these changes must be to first begin to think, and afterwards, to think like a tribal person, then a Celt, in this case, a Gaelic Celt.
II. Triune Thought.
That the Gaels and other Celts utilized Triadic thought is not a matter
of dispute. It is evidenced in the Triads, lore and poems, in Deity forms,
even in the very structures of the society of our
--- ancestors ---
(4).
Concerning the structures of our ancestral tribal culture, it must be understood that it is solid anthropological fact that the structures of a tribal culture reflect that society's ideas about the structure of the cosmos. We know that the basic structure of the society contained three parts. These were the warrior, skilled and farmer social groups. We can therefore expect to see that these are reflected in the society's cosmology, and see them we do, as they exist in our ancestor's ideas of the three spheres of Sky, Sea and Land. Concerning this last set of three, Peter Berresford Ellis states in The Druids (p. 128) :
"As in the Greek world, so among the Celts, who saw homo sapiens as body, soul and spirit; the world they inhabited as earth, sea and air; the divisions of nature as animal, vegetable and mineral; the cardinal colors as red, yellow and blue and so forth. Three was the number of all things..."
There are those who think that "the Three Gods of Danu," (Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba) are the Land, the Sea and the Sky presented in metaphorical language. Following this reasoning they are the Three Cauldrons of existence, as well as other tripartite components of everything. They are a Celtic Trinity, in much the same way as the three chief gods of the Vedas (Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma) are the three parts of everything. In the Irish mythological reflexes they appear with a variety of names. These names depend on the tales and the functions of these "three parts" (as they are required to accomplish their functions). Other lists that occur in Gaelic reflexes being lists: Goibhniu, Luchta, Creidhne as well as Dagda, Lugh and Ogma.
As Stated the Triads, the Triple Aspect of Deities, the Triple of each Triple, etc; are prime evidences of the use of Triune thought. There is also the great concern placed on between times such as sunrise and sunset, or Beltaine and Samhain. Each of these is a place in between, an actual third time. It has even been recognized by scholars, that our ancestors recognized three of what we would call elements: fire, water, and --- earth ---(5). In practical expression, Triune thought is seen, not only in the aforementioned, but also in many concrete practices found exercised amongst tribal peoples to this day, as well as amongst surviving customs still found in Ireland, Scotland, and the Hebrides.
These include the belief that when a person dies, they are not dead until ritually interred; they are every much still amongst the people, in a real state. Another related practice is found in the old lore and deals with ritual death, whether it be that assigned to the outcast(scapegoat) or a King who, while technically alive, IS dead and unseen. It is seen in the beliefs of the two distinct parts of what we would call the "spirit." The first being what I will call the lower spirit, the mind/personality part; and the soul, which is the eternal part.
There is a dramatic leap in the thought processes when we go from Dualism as the basis of all that is, to Triune thought. It is a hard leap to make, but one has to remember that Triune thought is not just an interesting variation of Dualism, but an entirely different paradigm altogether! The Third "thing" is not just a point of demarcation between the two of Dualism, it is rather a third thing unto itself.
In this way of thinking, this life we live is a matter of symbols used by the conscious reasoning mind, that are superimposed by ourselves over a greater "item" that is there. These symbols are not actually an additional things. In fact, they are not "things" or "places" at all. This everyday life we live is an event - a phenomenon that happens. It is a state of MIND, a kind of awareness that we collectively impose on ourselves so that we can interact. That phenomenon is called consciousness. As beings who are generally fixated on the set of symbols we call the "physical world", we can seek out places that are physically "between", like seashores, doorways, and sunsets. All these are junctures of the Three. These are setting the mood, so to speak, preparing the psyche for mystical things, helping it to accept information it would otherwise be unable to comprehend. I would even go so far as to say that we are using the symbols themselves to move away from the whole set of symbols and to begin perceiving the actual things that are there. What we are doing is momentarily moving out of the perpetually-turning cycle to observe it from afar. That, after all, is where the Gods live.
Concerning the physical, we must affix our sights not on the 'symbol' we see with the eyes as the essence of a thing. We have to again learn to see that the physical world that we operate in is simply a place of illusion, which exists because of the symbols we impose on top of something else that exists. Within the Celtic way of thinking that upon which the symbols are overlaid is the point of conjunction of the soul, spirit, and form; these three being correlated to Sky (Sun), Sea (Moon), and Land (Earth). We can understand that 'something else' by looking at the Order of Nature. This we know to be the right thing to do, for this is where the Gods declare themselves, in those places where human kind cannot change or twist for personal gain.
The metaphysic of our religious thought, which we do not separate from the ordinary everyday life, was and is based upon the Order of Creation. This means that we can establish an understanding of the Divine, and what existence "is", and our place in it, by noting and understanding that Order.
We have to begin to think in ways which have an understanding that the Sun, Moon, and Earth each have elements that are: masculine and feminine and neither; masculine; and feminine. The easiest way to understand this is by applying it to ourselves. Each of us contains masculine and feminine, and that which is both and neither, being beyond definition or description. The word for this, still found in areas of Scotland, is Alldai. Yet we each also are obviously of a certain gender in the perceived realm. By looking at the ancient texts carefully, as well as places like the Carmina Gadelica we see that the Sun-Orb was considered feminine by the ancestors, and known by several names according to region Griann and Bride being the most well known. Yet we also see that the Sun-Light was masculine and known as Trogriann or Lugh respectively, as "The Son of the Sun.". The Sun also has an undefined quality in the old texts which suggests a balance of them both which was actually neither. Yet, even within the Cauldron which each of us is, though it contains both elements, in the physical there is the obvious gender. For this, again I would point out that the physical we see with our eyes is an illusion. We are ourselves a world, or Cauldron, supported by three legs. We can call those legs Sun, Moon and Earth, which are the ruling bodies of the Sky, Sea, and Land respectively. Or, we may call them Soul, Spirit, and Form as they pertain to us as individual cauldrons. They are each correlated to their counterpart, one simply being a microcosmic version of the other. Within the Cauldron of our individual beings is the fluid of our existence, and our genders are but a place on the ebbing and flowing map of our existence.
In this way of thinking we are not trying to achieve some ill or undefined and impossible balance. Rather we realize that we are part of the flux and flow of the eternal. We are attempting to flow in such a way as to not impede the evolution of ourselves or the universe, but rather to expedite it. That is our Sacred duty as willfully living human beings. In this scheme, the physical, as supported by the conscious mind, is not a thing. It is rather an incident or occasion.
The ancient Celtic ideas surrounding sacrifice support this. A ritual death in the myths is never without its accompanying rebirth, either in this world (in the form of fertile crops, restored health to a sick person, etc.) or in the next (rebirth/reincarnation, or perhaps some form of enlightenment). Life energies are continually in motion, continually flowing among all realms, continually recycling all things in the universe. It is the movement of things, not its 'form' specifically or 'location' specifically, that is important. It is the 'flow of being', that is important, and it takes all three spheres for this flow to occur. To find what those three spheres are, we simply look, as did our ancestors, to the Order of Nature. Again I say it, that it is only there that the declarations of the Gods are beyond the ability of human-kind to twist them. Let's look at them.
III. The Sea, Land and Sky
While we can extrapolate on what is about to be written, we must remain firmly planted in a reality where we can see with our own eyes, what is. Spirit reveals itself to individuals. What exists around us in the Created realm is there for all to see, and interpret. The revelation of the Gods, is in the glory of the created.
While we know that there are circles within circles, or rather Cauldrons within Cauldrons, each mirroring the other. In hard truth, to extrapolate beyond the observable world should be left to the individual, lest dogmatism once again be a burden to individuals. We don't need to extrapolate to establish a foundation, or worldview, for people to build upon. We have the foundation right here around us in the arena in which we operate on a daily basis, the Earth. Yet we have to look at the 'whole' Earth.
There is one Earth. She is a living being. Yet She has three distinct realms which are necessary for life. These are the Sky, the Sea, and the Land. These were important to our fore-bearers for many important --- reasons --- (6). They are important to us for the same reasons. The continuous use of these three establish them as our frame of reference.
There are those that would argue that the ancients didn't realize that the Sun, Moon, and Earth were separate spheres. These are generally people who haven't read the texts and lore, or what is present in the archeological evidence. I disagree with them. However, for the sake of avoiding argument, let me state that the referential realm will be the Earth itself. We will build Traditionalist cosmology from the foundation of the Earth as one contiguous realm.
When we look at the Earth, we see three spheres of Sky, Sea, and Land. As shown above, this three are recognized by scholars who have spent significant resources studying the artifacts of the Celtic cultures. I have given one quote of Ellis. From Celtic culture itself we find a typical artifact in the form of a poem ascribed to the Taliesin. I shall only give a portion of that poem here, though it is a rather significant portion of the whole poem. Even though Christians altered this poem by adding on to it, note the three powers that the author writes about his interaction with, the Sky, Sea, and Land:
|
A Poem By The Taliesin: I feel my way into the rock. I finger the dark holes of its brain. My hands encounter the dark. My eyes see with the sight of the rock. I breathe out with the breath of the rock. My fingers the wind touches and my feet the sea washes. My thought lies in the head of the rock Tintagel, gripping the White Brow. My sweat runs in streams down the face of rock. I mingle with the sea-salt and sea-mist. I blow out on the wind's back. The sky swallows my heart. I beat with the tick of the beating world. I beat. The wind shakes my hair. The sand forms itself to a pattern: An Iron Crown, spiked and purred. My fingers forget there are fingers. My body forgets all it has remembered. I learn the secret of the birth of the rock. A seabird without wings I am swept Into the sky - through the sky. Air rocks my wings. In the cave my fingers and feet Release rock. Strands of hair Twist in water and in air. Primary chief poet Am I to Elfin, Though my native land Is the place of the Summer Stars.... I was nine full months In the womb of Ceridwen. Before that I was Gwion, Now I am Taliesin.... |
The Sky, Sea and the Land, each of them are necessary for the Earth to be capable of manifesting and sustaining life. If any one of these were missing, life would not be and the Earth would not be alive. Notice for a moment that the further one gets from where all three legs meet, the more and more scarce life gets, of special note are the deserts. These are the three legs of the Cauldron, the three spheres upon which the created exists. In this sense, the Earth as One contiguous thing is the Cauldron.
IV. Correspondence of Sky, Land, and Sea to Sun, Moon and Earth
When we look at this further we see the Sun as the ruler of the Sky; the Moon who controls the tides and waters, the Sea; and the Land. While the Sun is related to Fire, the Moon is related to Water, and the Land related to Earth, these are not the elements in the Aristotelian format. Our fore-bearers recognized anywhere from nine to thirteen items that they called --- elements --- (7), depending on the region. To us these three items, fire, water and earth, are realms whose interaction allows existence to happen. We can thus prepare a correspondence table such as:
Correspondence Table 1:| Sky (8) | Sea | Land |
| Sun | Moon | Earth |
| Fire | Water | Land |
This however doesn't establish the relationships among the three. For that we have to observe how they interact here in the natural world. Places to start looking are the patterns of evaporation and rain, and even erosion. What we find is that none of the three are in opposition to each other. Instead they support each other, like the three legs of the cauldron. Each member of the triad is leaning on the others, and dependent on each of the others. The Mor-Rioghain described the cyclic dependence of Spheres when she declared the peace: --- "Peace up to the heavens....heavens above the land....." ---(9). That is the essence of Triadic thought right there. They are not only self-supporting, but they also allow for the manifestation of the whole by the cyclical and recyclical action between them.
An idea of this can be established by creating a diagram such as in figure 1:| Fig. 1 | Sky< | / | \ | < | \ | Sea ---->Land |
To insure the validity of what I've stated so far, I will remind you that in the Carmina, Bride is the Sun, and in other places we find that Bride is also the one associated with fire (the forge). She is also associated with the inspiration of poets, or Imbas Forosi (Fire in the Head). Other Goddesses are also associated with the other spheres so far listed, namely water (spirit) and land(form).
Following the natural sequence of the logic we arrive at these corresponding diagrams:
| Fig. 2 | Fire< | / | \ | < | \ | Water ---->Earth |
or in another sphere of influence:
| Fig. 3 | Sun< | / | \ | < | \ | Moon ---->Earth |
Or within ourselves as a Cauldron within a Cauldron, a world unto ourselves:
| Fig. 4 | Soul< | / | \ | < | \ | Spirit --->Form |
These diagrams certainly show why the Carmina to this day illustrates a correspondence between the Sun and the Moon. It certainly explains why once the masculine aspect, or essence, was introduced, there was an interchange between the Moon and the Land (water and land) as shown by the Dagdah's mating with both Boinne and the Mor-Rioghain.
Yet even this interaction between the feminine and masculine is misunderstood in Dualistic thought. The first clue to gain understanding is in the Carmina where the Sun is referred to as Bride/Mary the "Sun-orb", and Lugh/Michael is referred to as "Sun-bright" (light). It is also seen in the concept of air being fire's water, which is the translation of the old Gaelic word for air. In this example the air is the essence of water, the masculine form of water. Even the vegetation is an essence of the land.
V. Correspondence To - Ourselves As Worlds
Now we must tackle yet another realm. This is the realm of our beings as individuals. This is important because if a religion doesn't give the lessons needed to better ourselves, then the religion is useless indeed.
The primary source for what I am about to give is called "Anecdota from Irish MS. vol 5" , which is a translation of MS TCD MS H.13.18 by Annie Power --- (10) ---. The version translated by Ms. Power is the only complete version known. That text was transcribed sometime in the 1400's into an Irish legal codex. It does, however, portray things from an earlier age. Its purpose is the instruction of poetry. An excellent analysis on the --- Cauldron of Poesy --- can be found online in an article by Erynn Laurie. Another analysis, though incomplete, is provided by Caitlin and John Matthews their book, "The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom" --- (11) ---. It must be remembered while reading their analysis, that all knowledge was kept, used, and passed in poetic form. All trades and skills kept the history of their trade/skill, and technical knowledge of their trade/skill in this way. Unfortunately, it is in vogue to try to fit anything with any antiquity behind it into the definition of "shamanism", and the Matthews have fallen into that trap. That is where the above mentioned analysis goes awry. There is much more to it than in-vogue terminologies can portray. Try utilizing this lesson with either the article provided either Ms. Laurie or the Matthews.
It must be clear by this time that we as individuals are Cauldrons in our own right. We are full and whole, each unto ourselves. Therefore, we must also possess the three spheres in our own beings. Celtic people held to the concept of the soul, therefore we know that we are in possession of a Soul, which correlates to the Sun/Sky and Fire. We can also see that we have Form, which correlates to Earth/Land. As we are here, we therefore have a Form which has been filled with Spirit, which correlates to the Sea or Water.
This text teaches us that we have within ourselves as cauldrons, three cauldrons. The first is: Coire Sois (Cauldron of Knowledge) which relates to the Soul. If we look through the tales of our ancestors we find three things associated with cauldrons. These are inspiration, plenty, and health. The first of this list, inspiration, correlates to Coire Sois. The second is Coire Ernmae (Cauldron of Vocation/Work) which correlates to plenty as well as to spirit. The third is called Coire Goiriath (Cauldron of Warming) in the text and relates to health, and to form. We can also interject more well known terms for basic understanding, until you find and study the text yourself. Doing this we can determine that our beings are made up in such a way that the three cauldrons can be called the Higher Self, the Middle Self, and the Lower Self. It would be very easy to revert into the standard pitfall offered by Jungian Psychology at this point. It could even be argued to a point that in Jungian psychology these have become the Higher Self, the Middle Self, and the Lower Self. There are dangers though, in strictly holding to Jungian psychology in trying to understand these. The first danger is that it takes the three out of the triangular diagram used by our ancestors. Remember the Triskele. Each of these fits within one of the swirls at each of the three apexes. The dangers of holding to strict Jungian psych isn't confined to just losing the cultural elements by taking them out of a triangle and putting them on a linear line. The biggest danger perhaps, is in making everything that is Sacred simply a matter of what exists in your mind. The Sky, Sea and Land exists, aside from you and outside of you. So do the Gods. The Sky, Sea and Land, have their correlations in you, and these fall in the schematic as such:
Correspondence Table 2:
| Coire Sois | Coire Ernmae | Coire Goiriath |
| Soul | Spirit | Form |
| Soul Self | Personality Self | Animal Self |
| One Who Does Not Speak | The One Who Speaks | The One Who Hides |
We could also diagram it this way:
| Fig. 5 | Coire Sois< | / | \ | < | \ | \ | Coire Ernmae---->Coire Goiriath |
| Fig. 6 | Soul< | / | \ | < | \ | \ | Spirit---->Form |
| Fig. 7 | High Self < | / | \ | < | \ | \ | Personality---->Form |
| Sun | Fire | Sky | Coire Sois/Soul | Awareness |
| Moon | Water | Sea | Ernmae/Spirit | Intent |
| Earth | Earth | Land | CoireGoiriath/Form | Will |
Because of some 1500 years of Christianity, we must assess and establish just what each of the three spheres are in us as cauldrons.
The Soul has taken on different connotations since the old days. Originally it was "The Truth", which was itself the only place from whence good could come. The power of Truth could be seen in the audacht (will) of the Brehon Morann mac Caibre --- (10) ---. Irish myth is full of instances where an act of Truth had magickal power. Except for what is fact in this realm, the Truth is never defined. It simply is. Yet we get the picture that to get to the Truth, we must always stand for the truth.
Even in the modern era one is likely to hear a Gaelic speaker say, "Ta' se'/si' in ait na fhirinne anois" to express that a dead person has "gone to the Truth". This statement has been Catholicized, which means that one of the legs of the triangle has been removed. That amputation was performed to the leg associated with Spirit. They in effect combined the elements of Soul and Spirit into one thing called Soul. Through this they achieved conformity with the newly imported dualism. Yet, what has remained is enough evidence to allow us to look at the Sun/Sky/Soul as being the Truth. That makes sense when we re-insert the description held by some of our Native American cousins for us, that being that the Truth is masculine and feminine and neither. This last one, which denotes 'being beyond description, is still referred to in the far reaches of the Highlands as Alldai, as the Soul. It is also the realm within ourselves that we go when we "enter the silence", a set of practices vulgarly called "shamanism" in the modern era. The Truth is the source of Imbas, when we actively and consciously connect with it. It is the place from which our awareness springs. As it is also the first leg, projecting from the center of the Great Everything,it shows our awareness projecting out from the center as well. It can be truly said that this part of us is always at the Center, a spark of Deity. It is the place we return to once we have learned all of our lessons.
Next comes Spirit. It is our personality, the part of ourselves that moves on from place to place and time to time. Note the travels of Bran across the seas (of existence) visiting thirty-three isles. Or the Samhain festivities which in the days of old, saw the heads of those vanquished displayed so that their spirits would not harass the living. This is a practice that degenerated in Christian times to the carving of turnips in the old country, and carried on here by immigrants in carving pumpkins. It is almost universal that we find water and spirit associated, the one being the symbol for the other. Also note that it is the Moon who rules the waters that is associated with the White Goddess, she who devours her young or harvests them but always with the promise of --- rebirth --- (12); and that, to some tribes, particularly amongst the Prentani, it was Her consort who gives chase in the Wild Hunt, when we die - He and his large white red eared hounds. It is the self that most come to know in the here and now, the personality. It is the realm of our intent, which itself is our vision of how we would have things. Note that the Gaels of old sought their visions. Before the Culdees sought solitude and deprivation in the wilderness, the fili wrapped themselves in the hides of cattle and bound themselves tight with cords. They did other things too. The personality part of our being is strongly influenced by our emotions. Our emotions are a matter of the heart, which is why, in rhetorical language, the heart has for so long been held to be the seat of our emotions. Our spirit empowers our form as the waters from sky empowers the acorn to grow into a Mighty Oak. It ebbs and flows as does the Sea which is itself in a larger Circle. As our spirit is that which enlivens (quickens) or energizes our form, it is our Energy in Motion (E-Motion). It has a particular flow that is most beneficial in fulfilling our task as humans. We will cover that in the next section.
For our form we find the Earth and the Land, the body of the cauldron itself which is filled with Awareness and personality; Soul and Spirit; The sacred Fire, and the sacred Waters. We have an awareness, we have an intent, and associated with form is our will. Our will is the mechanism for bringing our intent into being. The most used part of our form for this task is our hands. Our hands should always be manifesting the intent of our hearts, bringing into being our personal vision. This is why it is so important for every act to be a willful one. To this day, an old Gael may come up to you and ask, "where is your heart?" The answer should be, "in my hands".
Sources & Notes:- Encyclopedia Brittanica Vol. 8; Encyclopedia
Brittanica -1994
- Ibid Vol. 1, "Arisitotlianism"
Ibid Vol. 14, "Aristotlianism"
Great Books Vol 7 -Aristotle I, Encyclopedia Brittanica 1993
Great Books Vol 8 -Aristotle II, Encyclopedia Brittanica 1993
- Death, War and Sacrifice, Bruce Lincoln,
University of Chicago Press, 1991, ISBN 0-226-48200-6 , pgs. 32-37
- ibid
- THE CODE OF THE WARRIOR-In History, Myth, and
Everyday Life, Rick Fields
Conversations with the Lakota Wikwashawakan Eddie Black Eagle
- L'ideologie Triparte des Indo-Europeens, G.
Dumezil
A History Of Religious Ideas Vol. 2, Mircea Eliade
Celtic Realms, Miles Dillon & Nora Chadwick
The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis
Ortha nan Gaidheal, Alastair MacGille Mhicheil, 1900, #141. Again, this text commonly known as The Carmina Gadelica has more than one ancient incantation which lists 7, 9 or 11 elements. These are called 'duile.' The most common lists have either seven or nine. In Catholicized incantations these are represented by 11 of the Apostles. The 11 elements are: wind, wrath, fire, thunder, lightening, storms, moon, sun, stars, sky and land.
While this is sure to raise some umbrage amongst modern magickal practitioners. I will remind them of their own history, in which the four element system was developed by the Greeks, after the Archaean invasion, a development the Greeks were quite proud of.
We Gaels can find what our people considered the elements preserved in the Carmina Gadelica. One such list is found in a spell for the "Exorcism of the Eye", and are listed as: wind, wrath (emotion), fire, thunder, lightening, storm, Moon, Sun, stars, and sky. These lists of 'duile' were, in the earliest days, a way of correlating the human (or animal) body to the cosmos, and was actually at one time used in the process of sacrifices (Death, War and Sacrifice by Bruce Lincoln).
The holding of three definite spheres, corresponding to the three phases of the Moon, as a composite of Fire, Water, and Earth, whose colors are red, white, and black, is much older than the Greek four element system. Note that red, black, and white are also the colors of the moon.
Lebor Gebala Erenn Vol. 1-5, MacAlister, Irish texts Society
Cath Maige Tuired, Elizabeth Gray, Irish Texts Society
Orechetnecus, George Calder
Ogygia, Roderick O'Flaherty, 1685
Tales concerning the "Voyages of Bran"
A History Of Religious Ideas Vol.2, Mircea EliadeOrtha nan Gaidheal, Alastair MacGille Mhicheil, 1900, #141. Again, this text commonly known as The Carmina Gadelica has more than one ancient incantation which lists 7, 9 or 11 elements. These are called 'duile.'The most common lists have either seven or nine. In Catholicized incantations these are represented by 11 of the Apostles. The 11 elements are: wind, wrath, fire, thunder, lightening, storms, moon, sun, stars, sky and land.
Note that when breaking down the Gaelic word for "air" into its component words and then looking those up in the Dineens to get the old usage, air transliterates to mean "fire's water".
- Cath Maige Tuired, Elizabeth Gray, Irish Texts Society
The Cauldron of Poesy as recorded into "Anecdota from Irish MS. vol 5", translated from the original manuscript MS TCD MS H.3.18 pgs 53a1-57b5 by Annie Power
- The Cauldron of Poesy, an interpretive
article by Erynn Laurie, in the Clannada na Cadelica online library.
The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom-A Celtic Shamans Source Book, Caitlin and John Matthews - Leabhar na Nuachonghbala(The Book Of Leinster)
Copyright 1996--- Clannada na Gadelica --- (http://www.clannada.org/), internet and other uses allowed so long as text is used in full, for educational purposes without profit, with all credits given and this copyright tag attached, all other rights reserved.
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