The portal of Samhain, the call of the Cailleach and the potency of the mythic imagination

“Samhain is a call that asks us, for a time, to abandon our interpretation of the Earth, of stars of the psyche and attend to them in their naked presence. In Samhain what we find is ultimately not an initiation into an Otherworld but an initiation into a deeper perception of this world, in which we are not merely beings fractured from the universe which birthed us but a living and participatory dimension of that cosmos. We might at this psychic depth find ourselves initiated into a deeper way of being human.

Jason Kirkey

The Salmon in the Spring:The Ecology of Celtic Spirituality

Dear Blazers of Trails

As the veil thins I am feeling drawn to the darkness of the Otherworld(s).

I find myself reminiscing about The Hag of Béara and my time with her on the Béara Pennisula last winter.

I feel strangely comforted by the turning of the wheel and reassured by the cycles of change.

I am held in the space where the material and the mysterious meet. I am ready to be initiated.

Samhain is a vestibule into the darker half of the year. Known as a cross-quarter day (or time), in the Northern Hemisphere, this initiation falls between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It is neither one, but a mid-point of both.

Samhain is the Gaelic term for a pre-Christian Celtic festival marking the Celtic New Year and identified by many as the precursor of Hallowe’en. Samhain is ‘a day of the dead’, a time when it was believed that the souls of those who had died during the year were allowed access to the land of the living. It is a time when spirits were believed to be wandering between this world and the Other.

A shrouded passage over hallowed ground.

Samhain is a place where life and death meet - a third space. Our ancestors savoured both the light and the dark. They were fearless in the face of death, which their belief in reincarnation taught them was “…but the centre of a long life.” Darkness was associated with new beginnings, the potential of the seed below the ground. Their day began at dusk; the new-year at Samhain. In ancient mythology and folklore, the wisdom of darkness is often expressed by the powerful goddess figure known as the Cailleach.

The Cailleach

Cailleach is the Gaelic word for a hag or old crone. She can be found in Ireland and Scotland and England, traced through the names of ancient monuments and natural wonders, and through mythology and stories. One famous Irish poems says

'There are three great ages; the age of the yew tree, the age of the eagle and the age of the Cailleach’.

One of the oldest and most powerful of mythical beings associated with Ireland, the Cailleach forms part of the Great Goddess trinity, alongside younger incarnations as the maiden and the mother. She is also connected to the ’bean sidhe’ or banshee - the wild women of the Otherworld. The myth of the Cailleach is closely associated with counties of Kerry and Cork , with the Book of Lecan (c.1400AD) claiming that the Cailleach Béara was the chief goddess of the Corcu Duibne people of Kerry. The Hag of Béara is said to be one of the most ancient of mythological beings. Appearing as an old crone who brings winter with her when she appears and who wields incredible power over life and death. Her ability to control the weather and the seasons meant many communities looked on the Cailleach with a mixture of reverence and fear. She is also said to be responsible for the formation of many of the country’s most prominent mountain landmarks, including Hag’s Head on the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare and Sliabh na Caillí, ‘The Hag’s Mountain’, in County Meath. According to legend, she either dropped or threw stones from her apron as she passed through the land and these grew into rock formations or mountains.

In the far west of Ireland there are tales of a cat Goddess who lived in a cave and answered questions like a prophet. The connection of the hag Goddess with the cat in other lands (Egypt and Korea) supports the use of a cat as a symbol for The Caileach. This Goddess of Winter also translates across cultures as the Old Woman archetype, especially in Germanic and Slavic traditions such as Frau Holle and Baba Yaga.

Divine Hag and Creatrix

The Cailleach can guide us through dark times. She is the divine hag and creatrix whose role is to catalyse change through the transformative power of darkness. She leads through death into new life. She is the protectress of the land and all of the creatures who dwell here. As we start to become aware of our indigenous spiritual traditions we can see the relevance of our native myths, fairy tales and folk stories to the cultural, social, political and environmental problems we face in the world today.

Meet our Moon Medicine Academy Guest Luminary Dr. Sharon Blackie

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sharon Blackie to our Moon Medicine Academy as a gust luminary. She is an award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist, whose work sits at the intersection of psychology, mythology and ecology. The Irish Times recently published a piece by Sharon on How Irish myth and folklore can inspire women to fight for ecological change where she speaks about the Cailleach as a powerful female figure who fights the exploitation of animals and the land

“ The good news is that, here in Ireland, we have many powerful female role models in our native traditions. Irish mythology is highly female-centred. Many of these women are manifestations of Sovereignty, a quality of the goddess of the land who was its guardian and protector. I believe that ecological archetypes like the Cailleach can help inspire new and more functional ways of perceiving the natural world, the other-than-human beings who inhabit it along with us, and the place of humans in that wider web of life on this planet. And if Irish women are going to be inspired to find our voices again, and take our place among the many other raised female voices around the world, then folklore about the Cailleach offers us copious examples of a powerful female figure who stands against the exploitation of animals and the land, and who represents an implacable force for maintaining the necessary balance between human needs and the requirements of the wilder world”

If you haven’t already please pay a visit to our online training programme for women in 2020 - Moon Medicine Academy. Have a look around and let me know if you have any questions at all. I am more than happy to talk to you about our vision, the teachings and what else is involved as we prepare to set sail through 2020. You can contact us at hello@thetrailblazery.com

Blessings to you all. We look forward to blazing bright trails with you in the near future.

onwards

Kathy xox

PS: Our next Moon Medicine live gathering takes place on Nov 11 at beautiful City Assembly House at The Irish Georgian Society. You can find more details here

PPS: To receive your copy of A Trailblazer's Guide to the Universe click here

Image Credit. Goddess Rising

For more information on Dr. Sharon Blackie visit www.sharonblackie.net