PLEASE support me on Ko-fi! (or take a class). With the political and economic uncertainty at the moment, my teaching income has dropped. Please support me on Ko-fi at: ko-fi.com/krishughes Thanks! ONLINE CLASSES: Intro to Celtic Mythology starts 4th January tinyurl.com/ICM25 Rashiecoats starts 15th January tinyurl.com/rashie25 You can always find out about upcoming classes at: tinyurl.com/GDclasses
I appreciate the uncertainty in Celtic mythology because it encourages exploration and discussion. The lack of definitive answers not only sparks my curiosity but also creates space to engage with others, sharing interpretations and debating possibilities. This open-endedness makes the myths feel alive, evolving through the perspectives of those who engage with them. To me, this fluidity mirrors the natural world’s complexity and the way stories transform over time, weaving a rich tapestry of meaning that’s never fully fixed or final.
To me Celtic mythology is like an intricate piece of Celtic knotwork, it’s all there, just a little difficult to decipher, where it starts and ends and what was the artist thinking. What at first seems to be one thing, on closer inspection, turns out to be another. This can make me uncertain about my own interpretations which can sometimes be way out to say the least, and this in turn guides me back to the teachers I depend on. So fascinating though, the deeper I go.
I've been on this path long enough to have gotten used to the uncertainty of the mythology. The lack of clarity relates to the lac of dogma. The stories require additional work to understand and find meaning and this leads to a very personal relationship with both the stories and the deities.
I’m a bit late but I’d like to add something anyway! I definitely enjoy and find the fluidity of Celtic myth interesting. I’m much more on the “sparks my curiosity” side of the coin, rather than being frustrated by the lack of literal meaning in Celtic art. I think that it leaves much more room for exploration of what the art is conveying, and can be an interesting insight into how a culture views the world. I think the contrast between Celtic art and Greek/Roman art is an excellent example of this, as you showed in the video. I don’t really see either as wrong, but it seems like different forms of expression on how they viewed the Divine. I could be wrong, but I’ve always had the impression that ancient Romans appreciated and emphasized outward expressions of beauty, tending toward opulence and flashiness, if you will. They seemed to believe that outwardly expressions of devotion brought you closer to the gods (something that we have definitely carried into the modern day, in my opinion). I don’t really know enough about ancient Celtic thought to say for sure, but I suspect that Celtic cultures may have preferred a more “internal” journey with the gods and the Divine. Not that they had no appreciation for beauty, of course, but rather a different expression of it. I have noticed that in the art of many indigenous cultures around the world, actually, and it has brought me to an understanding that what we think of as literal interpretation of the world is not the only interpretation that has value. Myth and stories have definite power of their own, and I find it annoying when myth is written off as a “primitive” understanding of the world. It is an extremely dismissive take, and I think contributes to the shortsightedness of many people today.
I find the fluidity of Celtic Mythology both frustrating and liberating. Frustrating because there is a part of me that wants everything to be rational, explainable, and easily defined. Liberating because it allows one to be open to inspiration. The fluidity of Celtic Mythology is a beautiful gift, waiting to be unwrapped, examined, and explored in depth. Simultaneously, it must be experienced, allowing it to reach us on yet another level.
Personally I find the fluidity of Celtic myth to be both exciting and challenging. Sometimes I get stuck on language, categories, and rigid distinctions (like many humans), but one of the most enriching part of spiritual study for me is how it can challenge you to break down these often arbitrary boundaries. That has a liberatory quality. Sometimes the empty space from a lack of clear answers can be very refreshing. I appreciate also what you said about fundamentalism. The myths can be tools for the student instead of a set of precepts from on high. Through study and experience, like a craftsman, one can get more out of the tools. The fluidity helps with that aspect as well. And the way that the fuzziness serves to encourage asking questions and thinking critically is very powerful too! So it's very exciting :) Thank you for doing this series again.
For me the fluidity is one of the great joys of Celtic mythology. Particularly for me the fluidity between human and non human. I am an animist and this loss of clear lines between human and animal, human and landscape, human and percieved literal reality, mimics my own view on the world. For me my dreams and my internal imagination are real - not in the same way that it is a reality that I am currently sat typing this, but still real. This Celtic way of having a less definite sense of real and unreal, of there being multiple layers and different types of real, fits with how I see the world. Why can't I be the sword, or the hawk - in journeying I have certainly become the mouse - and the journeying world for me has been as real as the solid "agreed on "world - regardless of how many people could say that they were watching me and I was just a human banging a drum not a mouse! But there is another side to me -the part that wants to categorise, the part that wants definite, the part that goes things are either true or not -and this bit can get greatly frustrated -desperate to know if what is written was meant as a truth, a myth, an ideology, a teaching exercise or just a story to entertain children. (Incidentently having done last years twelve days I am STILL going through the Cullwch and Olwen court list - diverting into history, a bit of linguisitcs, other mythological literature and generally getting distracted and carried off into a warren of rabbit holes!)
Hi Kris, very excited to be joining the 12 Days of Celtic Myth for the first time. Thank you again for all of your fantastic work. For the question: As a lover of mystery, symbolism and ambiguity, the vagueness inherent in Celtic myth and history is one of the things that I most enjoy about it! It automatically involves so much equivocation and layering of interpretations that there is always going to be an incredible amount of room leftover for speculation. And questions are often more inspiring and thought provoking than answers. As you say, a symbol is never fixed and can stand for a multitude of different things, often at the same time. So yes, the fluidity of interpretation as well as the fluidity of existence itself which Celtic cultures seem to have espoused-both are immensely attractive to me. Another thing that really excites me (if I can manage to articulate a thought very much still in the process of forming), is how there is also a way in which Celtic myth, again because of this fluidity, seems almost to have a sort of meta-structural aspect build into it, wherein one is not only required to interpret a symbolic language, but also is simultaneously led to arrive at a deeper understanding of the very nature of symbolism and the imagination itself.-In attempting to interpret these stories I am inevitably made to consider my own personal systems of meaning and interpretation in the world more deeply and to gain a greater understanding of the role that symbolism itself plays in all our lives. I think I will always find these tenebrous areas of human knowledge and experience far more intriguing and rewarding than any hunt I could ever embark upon for “concrete answers.” Best wishes and many thanks, -Forest
I like the misty boundaries of Celtic lore. It feels akin to the spirals you find on rocks and in texts and jewelry. The liminality of experience as opposed to the Greco-Roman and later Christian preference for categorising everything. It feels more visceral and uncertain. Less patriarchal/hierophant. It feels more dangerous and wild. Which can be unsettling on occasion. There's a challenge there. I respond to that.
I think that you are right about Celtic art and stories being intentionally abstract to a degree. And I love it. I do think that some of the ephemeral features weren’t so abstract in their original context, though. I think the use of certain symbols and themes were common knowledge to people, and we have lost that context. What may seem to us to be an elusive, and nebulous description could very well have been obvious reference to people who lived in the cultural context.
I'm absolutely a mix of both frustrated and excitedly curious. The frustration, however, I think, comes as much from what has been lost to time as it does the actual nature of the mythology and art. The more I learn the more it seems there is for me to learn, which as a life-long-learner I find quite exciting. But it can also be quite frustrating because I can only spend so much time on it and the nature of my mind makes that difficult; I want to immerse and obsess and focus on nothing else, but life doesn't work that way. That's probably a good thing because I think it's also helpful to step away and look at things from a distance and various perspectives. I definitely get frustrated though when I walk away feeling less clarity than I had going in. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that the frustration is part and parcel of the excitement for me. Struggling to understand something makes the discoveries that much more exciting. Like walking through a fog and catching glimpses of astounding beauty and insight, always leaving me with much more I want to explore further than I expected when I set out.
I enjoy the fluidity of Celtic mythology, though yes I've had moments when I've felt frustrated or just completely lost. I think one of the many purposes of myth is to explore concepts that are perhaps too profound for a fixed form. I enjoy the experience of story, symbol, archetype, and poetry in itself so I'm ok not knowing all the answers. Though, the fluidity of Celtic myth is probably what has fueled me to further study it. I enjoy the journey and would be really disappointed if it was simple and concrete. I like to wade between the layers, parse apart the language, identify the patterns, compare three different translations, and then do it all again tomorrow.
What kind of person am I? Before feeling fully free to immerse myself in Celtic lore I was someone who was forced to be very fundamental and strict. Having been raised Christian in the USA I was fettered by there being only ONE answer to everything, only ONE definitive truth, only ONE book, only ONE god…how I chafed at being forced into this. Let’s just say it played a key role in helping to form and worsen mental health issues that I deal with. I wanted things to be fluid so badly. I secretly drew symbols with mud on rocks as a secret sacred act as a child. I wasn’t allowed Santa Claus, but how I revered him secretly. (Santa was my gateway drug into paganism…he is a Thought Form and not technically a god, but I treated him as one.) The idea of goddesses-how I wanted them so badly!!! So, what kind of person am I when it comes to the fluidity of Celtic Myth? A liberated person. It’s been exactly two years come Xmas day that I fully allowed myself to embrace Celtic Mythology and Celtic paganism. I have never felt freer. The fluidity of Celtic myth brings a fluidity to myself-the self that people in my past would label “free spirited” or “eccentric” with a pained expression as they tried to make me fit neatly into there religious/cultural box. Celtic Mythology is filled with mystery, and that mystery is so beautiful. The myths are like life itself-things don’t stay the same forever. Everything is always changing, the cosmos dances to its own mysterious melody. To be able to give myself the permission to join in this dance is the greatest gift that I have ever received. I have been many things, and I will be many things. The gods have been many things, and they will be many things! It is magnificent, terrifying, and beautiful! 🌌🌠🌟✨⭐️🌞☀️🌅🌑🌕🌙
As for me, I've changed my position back and forth a bit when it comes to how I feel about the fluidity of some of Celtic Myths. At first I just assumed I was misremembering things or had previously read bad translations/retellings. This left me frustrated. Then I started to learn about the variations/cycles and was genuinly intrigued by the nuance and potential. I sometimes liken it to the modern Marvel Universe having different origin stories or versions of the hero that suit the author and target audience better. Holy Blasphemy Batman! (and yes, I know he is DC) Here and there I get frustrated when I see an ember amongst the ashes of something intriguing mentioned as an aside or within a Triad. I go to seek more clues and, DAMN, that was the only mention we have of it anywhere ever?!? Or other times I've spent extended time trying to decide if two characters are in fact different names for the same person only to find the sources contradicting themselves by having some being their own great-grand-nephew or some such. It sometimes feels like I've gone through a lot of effort to blow fresh are on the embers, but get nothing but a little smoke. I'm working to measure my own reactions to the uncertainty. Let it be more of a dance than a flailing about. Untimately I do enjoy the journey!
I feel like the uncertainty in Celtic myths is tied to the experience of being exposed to nature more often than we are in our modern context. Where one thing starts and another ends gets blurrier the more time you spend learning about animals, plants, fungi, the air, the earth, and the oceans. I'm curious if Roman and Greek cultures at the time had larger urban populations where things were tightly defined and relatively certain. I find the fluid nature of things in these mythologies comforting as it brings a sense that there is no one right answer to be found, but that the exploration of the idea is the heart.
I feel knowing the true Celtic Texts will ultimately enable me to understand the positioning of my Albion Zodiac and possibly give it greater credence to the wider world, who may not yet accept its truth or design, but think geology is a science rather that an art, as demonstrated within the Coastline of the British Isles! This 25,000 years old image is either the source or a record of, at least some of, the Celtic Text, as well as all religions, astronomy, and even our pre-history!
Where are you from , Kris? I live in the U.S. I have Hughes ancestry through my Mother’s side. My maternal great grandmother was Jane Elizabeth Hughes ( Pennsylvania ).My son was able to trace my Hughes ancestry back to Wales. However, my Mother has ancestry from England and Scotland , also. My Mother’s maiden name was Piper. My son was able to trace our Piper’s back to Wiltshire. My ancestry gives me a huge feeling of connection and respect for my ancestors and their beliefs and customs.
Celtic culture sees divinity in everything, there are supranatural beings in all things. You can meet a god/goddess whilst washing your clothes in the burn, chasing deer in the forest or sitting grinding corn by your door. This diffuse divinity permeates all layers of their culture. In their art there is no attempt at representation of any single reality for what, after all, is ‘real’. The same is true of their myths, legends and stories, which are shot through with analogy and recurring themes. Nixey, in The Darkening Age (2017) describes the destruction of the diverse Greco/Roman Pagan culture by Christian zealots. The same narrowing occurs when the Christ god reaches the Celtic world. How are we, victims of this Christian hegemony of ‘one truth’ which has lasted over 2000 years to grasp this? I am both fascinated and frustrated by it and offer a poor piece in explanation of my position. I am trout, leaping after fly, And carp rooting blindly in mud. I am otter joyful in the waves, And the cliff on which the tide breaks.
PLEASE support me on Ko-fi! (or take a class). With the political and economic uncertainty at the moment, my teaching income has dropped. Please support me on Ko-fi at: ko-fi.com/krishughes Thanks!
ONLINE CLASSES: Intro to Celtic Mythology starts 4th January tinyurl.com/ICM25
Rashiecoats starts 15th January tinyurl.com/rashie25
You can always find out about upcoming classes at: tinyurl.com/GDclasses
I appreciate the uncertainty in Celtic mythology because it encourages exploration and discussion. The lack of definitive answers not only sparks my curiosity but also creates space to engage with others, sharing interpretations and debating possibilities. This open-endedness makes the myths feel alive, evolving through the perspectives of those who engage with them. To me, this fluidity mirrors the natural world’s complexity and the way stories transform over time, weaving a rich tapestry of meaning that’s never fully fixed or final.
To me Celtic mythology is like an intricate piece of Celtic knotwork, it’s all there, just a little difficult to decipher, where it starts and ends and what was the artist thinking. What at first seems to be one thing, on closer inspection, turns out to be another.
This can make me uncertain about my own interpretations which can sometimes be way out to say the least, and this in turn guides me back to the teachers I depend on. So fascinating though, the deeper I go.
I've been on this path long enough to have gotten used to the uncertainty of the mythology. The lack of clarity relates to the lac of dogma. The stories require additional work to understand and find meaning and this leads to a very personal relationship with both the stories and the deities.
Yes! I find that the extra work helps create a more personal bond with the stories as well. 😊
I’m a bit late but I’d like to add something anyway!
I definitely enjoy and find the fluidity of Celtic myth interesting. I’m much more on the “sparks my curiosity” side of the coin, rather than being frustrated by the lack of literal meaning in Celtic art. I think that it leaves much more room for exploration of what the art is conveying, and can be an interesting insight into how a culture views the world. I think the contrast between Celtic art and Greek/Roman art is an excellent example of this, as you showed in the video. I don’t really see either as wrong, but it seems like different forms of expression on how they viewed the Divine. I could be wrong, but I’ve always had the impression that ancient Romans appreciated and emphasized outward expressions of beauty, tending toward opulence and flashiness, if you will. They seemed to believe that outwardly expressions of devotion brought you closer to the gods (something that we have definitely carried into the modern day, in my opinion). I don’t really know enough about ancient Celtic thought to say for sure, but I suspect that Celtic cultures may have preferred a more “internal” journey with the gods and the Divine. Not that they had no appreciation for beauty, of course, but rather a different expression of it.
I have noticed that in the art of many indigenous cultures around the world, actually, and it has brought me to an understanding that what we think of as literal interpretation of the world is not the only interpretation that has value. Myth and stories have definite power of their own, and I find it annoying when myth is written off as a “primitive” understanding of the world. It is an extremely dismissive take, and I think contributes to the shortsightedness of many people today.
I find the fluidity of Celtic Mythology both frustrating and liberating. Frustrating because there is a part of me that wants everything to be rational, explainable, and easily defined. Liberating because it allows one to be open to inspiration. The fluidity of Celtic Mythology is a beautiful gift, waiting to be unwrapped, examined, and explored in depth. Simultaneously, it must be experienced, allowing it to reach us on yet another level.
Personally I find the fluidity of Celtic myth to be both exciting and challenging. Sometimes I get stuck on language, categories, and rigid distinctions (like many humans), but one of the most enriching part of spiritual study for me is how it can challenge you to break down these often arbitrary boundaries. That has a liberatory quality. Sometimes the empty space from a lack of clear answers can be very refreshing. I appreciate also what you said about fundamentalism. The myths can be tools for the student instead of a set of precepts from on high. Through study and experience, like a craftsman, one can get more out of the tools. The fluidity helps with that aspect as well. And the way that the fuzziness serves to encourage asking questions and thinking critically is very powerful too! So it's very exciting :) Thank you for doing this series again.
For me the fluidity is one of the great joys of Celtic mythology. Particularly for me the fluidity between human and non human. I am an animist and this loss of clear lines between human and animal, human and landscape, human and percieved literal reality, mimics my own view on the world. For me my dreams and my internal imagination are real - not in the same way that it is a reality that I am currently sat typing this, but still real. This Celtic way of having a less definite sense of real and unreal, of there being multiple layers and different types of real, fits with how I see the world. Why can't I be the sword, or the hawk - in journeying I have certainly become the mouse - and the journeying world for me has been as real as the solid "agreed on "world - regardless of how many people could say that they were watching me and I was just a human banging a drum not a mouse! But there is another side to me -the part that wants to categorise, the part that wants definite, the part that goes things are either true or not -and this bit can get greatly frustrated -desperate to know if what is written was meant as a truth, a myth, an ideology, a teaching exercise or just a story to entertain children. (Incidentently having done last years twelve days I am STILL going through the Cullwch and Olwen court list - diverting into history, a bit of linguisitcs, other mythological literature and generally getting distracted and carried off into a warren of rabbit holes!)
Hi Kris, very excited to be joining the 12 Days of Celtic Myth for the first time. Thank you again for all of your fantastic work.
For the question: As a lover of mystery, symbolism and ambiguity, the vagueness inherent in Celtic myth and history is one of the things that I most enjoy about it! It automatically involves so much equivocation and layering of interpretations that there is always going to be an incredible amount of room leftover for speculation. And questions are often more inspiring and thought provoking than answers. As you say, a symbol is never fixed and can stand for a multitude of different things, often at the same time. So yes, the fluidity of interpretation as well as the fluidity of existence itself which Celtic cultures seem to have espoused-both are immensely attractive to me. Another thing that really excites me (if I can manage to articulate a thought very much still in the process of forming), is how there is also a way in which Celtic myth, again because of this fluidity, seems almost to have a sort of meta-structural aspect build into it, wherein one is not only required to interpret a symbolic language, but also is simultaneously led to arrive at a deeper understanding of the very nature of symbolism and the imagination itself.-In attempting to interpret these stories I am inevitably made to consider my own personal systems of meaning and interpretation in the world more deeply and to gain a greater understanding of the role that symbolism itself plays in all our lives. I think I will always find these tenebrous areas of human knowledge and experience far more intriguing and rewarding than any hunt I could ever embark upon for “concrete answers.”
Best wishes and many thanks,
-Forest
I like the misty boundaries of Celtic lore. It feels akin to the spirals you find on rocks and in texts and jewelry. The liminality of experience as opposed to the Greco-Roman and later Christian preference for categorising everything. It feels more visceral and uncertain. Less patriarchal/hierophant. It feels more dangerous and wild. Which can be unsettling on occasion. There's a challenge there. I respond to that.
I think that you are right about Celtic art and stories being intentionally abstract to a degree. And I love it. I do think that some of the ephemeral features weren’t so abstract in their original context, though. I think the use of certain symbols and themes were common knowledge to people, and we have lost that context. What may seem to us to be an elusive, and nebulous description could very well have been obvious reference to people who lived in the cultural context.
I'm absolutely a mix of both frustrated and excitedly curious. The frustration, however, I think, comes as much from what has been lost to time as it does the actual nature of the mythology and art. The more I learn the more it seems there is for me to learn, which as a life-long-learner I find quite exciting. But it can also be quite frustrating because I can only spend so much time on it and the nature of my mind makes that difficult; I want to immerse and obsess and focus on nothing else, but life doesn't work that way. That's probably a good thing because I think it's also helpful to step away and look at things from a distance and various perspectives. I definitely get frustrated though when I walk away feeling less clarity than I had going in.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that the frustration is part and parcel of the excitement for me. Struggling to understand something makes the discoveries that much more exciting. Like walking through a fog and catching glimpses of astounding beauty and insight, always leaving me with much more I want to explore further than I expected when I set out.
I enjoy the fluidity of Celtic mythology, though yes I've had moments when I've felt frustrated or just completely lost. I think one of the many purposes of myth is to explore concepts that are perhaps too profound for a fixed form. I enjoy the experience of story, symbol, archetype, and poetry in itself so I'm ok not knowing all the answers. Though, the fluidity of Celtic myth is probably what has fueled me to further study it. I enjoy the journey and would be really disappointed if it was simple and concrete. I like to wade between the layers, parse apart the language, identify the patterns, compare three different translations, and then do it all again tomorrow.
What kind of person am I? Before feeling fully free to immerse myself in Celtic lore I was someone who was forced to be very fundamental and strict. Having been raised Christian in the USA I was fettered by there being only ONE answer to everything, only ONE definitive truth, only ONE book, only ONE god…how I chafed at being forced into this. Let’s just say it played a key role in helping to form and worsen mental health issues that I deal with. I wanted things to be fluid so badly. I secretly drew symbols with mud on rocks as a secret sacred act as a child. I wasn’t allowed Santa Claus, but how I revered him secretly. (Santa was my gateway drug into paganism…he is a Thought Form and not technically a god, but I treated him as one.) The idea of goddesses-how I wanted them so badly!!!
So, what kind of person am I when it comes to the fluidity of Celtic Myth? A liberated person. It’s been exactly two years come Xmas day that I fully allowed myself to embrace Celtic Mythology and Celtic paganism. I have never felt freer. The fluidity of Celtic myth brings a fluidity to myself-the self that people in my past would label “free spirited” or “eccentric” with a pained expression as they tried to make me fit neatly into there religious/cultural box. Celtic Mythology is filled with mystery, and that mystery is so beautiful. The myths are like life itself-things don’t stay the same forever. Everything is always changing, the cosmos dances to its own mysterious melody. To be able to give myself the permission to join in this dance is the greatest gift that I have ever received. I have been many things, and I will be many things. The gods have been many things, and they will be many things! It is magnificent, terrifying, and beautiful! 🌌🌠🌟✨⭐️🌞☀️🌅🌑🌕🌙
As for me, I've changed my position back and forth a bit when it comes to how I feel about the fluidity of some of Celtic Myths.
At first I just assumed I was misremembering things or had previously read bad translations/retellings. This left me frustrated.
Then I started to learn about the variations/cycles and was genuinly intrigued by the nuance and potential. I sometimes liken it to the modern Marvel Universe having different origin stories or versions of the hero that suit the author and target audience better. Holy Blasphemy Batman! (and yes, I know he is DC)
Here and there I get frustrated when I see an ember amongst the ashes of something intriguing mentioned as an aside or within a Triad. I go to seek more clues and, DAMN, that was the only mention we have of it anywhere ever?!? Or other times I've spent extended time trying to decide if two characters are in fact different names for the same person only to find the sources contradicting themselves by having some being their own great-grand-nephew or some such. It sometimes feels like I've gone through a lot of effort to blow fresh are on the embers, but get nothing but a little smoke.
I'm working to measure my own reactions to the uncertainty. Let it be more of a dance than a flailing about. Untimately I do enjoy the journey!
I feel like the uncertainty in Celtic myths is tied to the experience of being exposed to nature more often than we are in our modern context. Where one thing starts and another ends gets blurrier the more time you spend learning about animals, plants, fungi, the air, the earth, and the oceans. I'm curious if Roman and Greek cultures at the time had larger urban populations where things were tightly defined and relatively certain. I find the fluid nature of things in these mythologies comforting as it brings a sense that there is no one right answer to be found, but that the exploration of the idea is the heart.
I feel knowing the true Celtic Texts will ultimately enable me to understand the positioning of my Albion Zodiac and possibly give it greater credence to the wider world, who may not yet accept its truth or design, but think geology is a science rather that an art, as demonstrated within the Coastline of the British Isles! This 25,000 years old image is either the source or a record of, at least some of, the Celtic Text, as well as all religions, astronomy, and even our pre-history!
And Astrology too! 😎👍
Where are you from , Kris? I live in the U.S. I have Hughes ancestry through my Mother’s side. My maternal great grandmother was Jane Elizabeth Hughes ( Pennsylvania ).My son was able to trace my Hughes ancestry back to Wales. However, my Mother has ancestry from England and Scotland , also. My Mother’s maiden name was Piper. My son was able to trace our Piper’s back to Wiltshire. My ancestry gives me a huge feeling of connection and respect for my ancestors and their beliefs and customs.
Celtic culture sees divinity in everything, there are supranatural beings in all things. You can meet a god/goddess whilst washing your clothes in the burn, chasing deer in the forest or sitting grinding corn by your door.
This diffuse divinity permeates all layers of their culture. In their art there is no attempt at representation of any single reality for what, after all, is ‘real’. The same is true of their myths, legends and stories, which are shot through with analogy and recurring themes.
Nixey, in The Darkening Age (2017) describes the destruction of the diverse Greco/Roman Pagan culture by Christian zealots. The same narrowing occurs when the Christ god reaches the Celtic world. How are we, victims of this Christian hegemony of ‘one truth’ which has lasted over 2000 years to grasp this?
I am both fascinated and frustrated by it and offer a poor piece in explanation of my position.
I am trout, leaping after fly,
And carp rooting blindly in mud.
I am otter joyful in the waves,
And the cliff on which the tide breaks.