Tag: Ireland

Ur (Heather) II

“On the summit of his ancient stronghold, South Barrule Mountain, the god Manannan yet dwells invisible to mortal eyes, and whenever on a warm day he throws off his magic mist-blanket with which he is wont to cover the whole island, the golden gorse or purple heather blossoms become musical with the hum of bees, and sway gently on breezes made balmy by the tropical warmth of an ocean stream flowing from the far distant Mexican shores of a New World.” – W. Y. Evans-Wentz (Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries)

1) The Roots: Background information

2) The Trunk: Celtic Mythology and Significance

3) The Foliage: Spells using the Plant

The Roots:

Ur is the eighteenth letter of the Ogham. The tree that is usually associated with this letter is the Heather[i].

The Ogham Tract’s kenning[ii] “in cold dwelling” is given the meaning of “fear” in John Mathew’s book the Celtic Shaman.

Robert Ellison in Ogham: Secret Language of the Druids says that the Heather is associated with “healing and homelands.” He also says that the herb is connected with the Celtic fairies and thus has magical uses.

Eryn Rowan Laurie in Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom states that the Ogham letter Ur is representative of death, fate and finality through its connection to the soil[iii]. Laurie also claims that Heather –independent from the letter- is linked to poverty.

Catlin Mathews in her book Celtic Wisdom Sticks says that Ur’s word-Ogham kennings all refer to either the earth or “growth cycles.” Her divination system supports these reflections as the interpretations refer to hard work, growth, and following one’s life path.

The Trunk:

“Heather is the four leaf clover of the Scottish Highlands.[iv]” In fact, it is often even seen as a Scottish national symbol. As a result Heather is found on many of the Scottish clan badges.

The importance of Heather to the ancestors can easily be understood within the context of the old texts. The “herb” was often used as roof thatch, to cover open doorways, to make rope, and was even an important source of fuel and warmth. In the stories Heather was also often used as bedding or was bundled and used as a pillow.

In the 1911 book Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans Wentz we find Heather used in a very clever manner. This story is of Dermout who has stolen Finn Mac Cool’s Sister:

“He took with him a bag of sand and a bunch of heather; and when he was in the mountains he would put the bag of sand under his head at night, and then tell everybody he met that he had slept on the sand (the sea-shore); and when on the sand he would use the bunch of heather for a pillow, and say he had slept on the heather (the mountains). And so nobody ever caught him at all.”

There’s actually a link between Heather and the Celtic trickster the fox. There’s an old story found in Joseph Jacob’s 1894 More Celtic Fairy Tales. The same tale is found in various other texts as well. The fox would gather some Heather and put his head into the midst of it. He would then enter the stream stealthily, swimming towards the ducks. These unsuspecting birds would attempt to use this Heather as cover, only to find themselves inside the jaws of the wily fox. It would seem that the Fox had a clever use for everything, because he would also carry a piece of wool in his mouth, backing into the flowing water until only his nose and the wool were exposed. He did this in order to rid himself of fleas.

In the 1825 book Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland by Thomas Croker the Cluiricaune knew the “secrets of brewing a Heather beer.” This is not so unusual as Heather was often associated with fairies and magic.

In the 1903 book Heather in Lore, Lyric, and Lay by Alexander Wallace we are told that witches in Scotland would ride over the Heather on black tabby cats during Samhain. According to this text Heather was also associated with the Cailleach; the primordial Celtic hag goddess[v].

In More Celtic Fairy Tales we find another interesting Heather story. A young couple attempts to escape from powerful witch sisters. As they flee they take the form of Doves in order to confuse their pursuers. When the one sister realizes that the birds are actually the escaping couple she comes at them in a fury. To avoid her they turn themselves into Heather brooms and begin to sweep the town square without “the assistance of human hands.” After this inconspicuous act they turn once more back into Doves and resume their flight to safety.

Nothing to see here, we’re just two brooms doing some innocent sweeping… honest.

The Tylwyth Teg -a type of fairy- at certain times of the year lived in the Heather or Gorse[vi]. Heather is not just connected with fairies but is also associated with the dead. As Katherine Briggs says, however, Fairies and Ghosts may be the same thing[vii].

In the 1900 book Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx by John Rhys the spirits of family members are often seen dancing over “the tops of Heather.” The herb is even directly connected to a haunted graveyard. We are also told in the same text that if a person heard the fairy songs – and was possessed to dance – that they would often wake the next morning “in the Heather.” The Heather was also connected to fairy rings elsewhere in the book.

In mythology, Heather is associated with Rathcroghan, also called Cruachan[viii]. This is an ancient site found in the Ulster Cycle and is an important archaeological site today. In the 1904 Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Gregory we are told that Finn Mac Cool “delighted” in the song of “the Grouse of the Heather of Cruachan” whose music put him to sleep. Elsewhere in the book we are told that Finn found peace in “the Stag of the Heather of quiet Cruachan.”

Finally, in Joseph Jacob’s 1895 Celtic Fairy Tales we are told of a long forgotten magical use for Heather. In this tale Conall blinds a one eyed giant -who may or may not have been a later version of Balor – with Heather:

“I got Heather and I made a rubber (?) of it, and I set him upright in the caldron. I began at the eye that was well, pretending to him that I would give its sight to the other one, tell I left them as bad as each other; and surely it was easier to spoil the one that was well than to give sight to the other.”

The Foliage:

In Alexander Wallace’s 1903 book Heather in Lore, Lyric and Lay, Heather branches were carried around the sacred fire three times before being raised above dwellings to protect the house’s occupants “against the evil eye.” The text also says that throwing Heather after a person was supposed to bring them good luck.

Robert Ellison relays in Ogham: the Secret Language of the Druids that “a small broom made from Heather can be used to sweep an area where magic is to be performed.” He also says that Heather can be burnt as incense while working with “spells involving the fair folk.”

In A.W. Moore’s 1891 Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man we are also told of a spell that was used to remove evil or the influence of witches from fishing boats:

“It was not only on land that burning some animal or thing to detect or exorcise witchcraft was resorted to, but at sea also, for when a boat was unsuccessful during the fishing season, the cause was ascribed by the sailors to witchcraft, and, in their opinion, it then became necessary to exorcise the boat by burning the Witches out of it. Townley, in his journal, relates one of these operations, which he witnessed in Douglas harbor: 
in 1789, as follows — ‘They set fire to bunches of heather in the center of the boat, and soon made wisps of heather, and lighted them, going one at the head, another at the stern, others along the sides, so that every part of the boat might be touched.’ Again he says, ‘There is another burning of witches out of an unsuccessful boat off Banks’s Howe—
to the top of the bay.’ Feltham, writing a few years later, also mentions this practice.”

In this example, Heather is used in a similar manner to the Native Americans’ who burnt instead Sage or Sweet Grass. This Heather smoke was used to purify the boat and to chase off evil spirits.

 

“Heather is an Herb Tree in Irish law. It is abundant on heathland throughout western Europe, growing profusely in acid soil.” – Caitlin Mathews (Celtic Wisdom Stick

All images in this post are from Wikipedia commons unless otherwise stated and are of the public domain.

[i] The Ogham was not originally a Tree Alphabet. See previous posts.

[iii] The Ogham Tract.

[v] The previous Heather post relays more Heather stories taken from this book.

[vi] See last week’s post on Gorse.

[vii] Katherine Briggs says that fairies were categorized as either “diminished gods or the dead.” The Fairies in Tradition and Literature.

Oir (Gold or Spindle)

“Lochlann was the mythical undersea home of the later Fomorian invaders of Ireland, against whom the Tuatha de Danaan fought a bloody war. The god Tethra ruled it. It seems that legends of the war between these two nations were worked by later poets into ballad cycles celebrating the ninth-century wars between the Irish and the Danish and Norse pirates. Thus the Scandinavians came to be called ‘the Lochlannach’ and the Danish King of Dublin was also styled ‘King of Lochlin’.” – Robert Graves (the White Goddess)

The Roots:

The 22nd letter of the Ogham is Oir. This few is usually seen as representing the Spindle tree or the element of Gold.

Liz and Colin Murray in the Celtic Tree Oracle associate this letter to thunder. The letter was described as meaning “sweetness, delight and sudden intelligence.” The Murrays claimed that thunder, Tharan, brings forth from the heavens enlightenment or Awen.

John Michael Greer in the Druid Magic Handbook calls Oir, “a few of fate, sudden change, and the unexpected, symbolized by the spindle tree; the flash of the lightning bolt, change caused by outside factors.”

Eryn Rowan Laurie in Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom claims that Oir represents Gold but as a tree could also signify the Spindle. The associations for Oir that she lists in her work are those of worth, value and wealth.

Nigel Pennick in Magical Alphabets says that this few can represent the Gooseberry as well as the Spindle. The Spindle tree, he states, is associated with childbirth and can be used magically to “ease the passage of the baby from the womb to the world.”

John Mathews in the Celtic Shaman interprets the word-Ogham “most venerable structure” as representing “truth.” Caitlin Mathews in Celtic Wisdom Sticks uses this few to represent East.

In Ogham: the Secret Language of the Druids, Robert Ellison says that this few represents  “community and working within the home.” He also says that the Spindle tree can be used in spells that are “long lasting.”

Robert Graves in the Crane Bag and Other Disputed Subjects says that this few is represented in the mythology of the crane-bag as being the King of Lochlainn’s helmet[i].

The Spindle Tree is elusive in Celtic mythology. It derives its name from the spindle which was apparently originally fashioned from the wood of this tree. The spindle, as a tool, is an early proto type of the spinning wheel. Thus the tree can be indirectly related to any tales of spinning found in Celtic mythology.

There are tales of industrious fairies in the Celtic stories including the Scottish Habitrot, a beneficient Caileach type figure[ii]. Alfred Tennyson’s Victorian poem the Lady of Shalott, with medieval roots, is also about a weaver.

Oir, the Spindle tree or Gold itself, is a very mysterious few. It has come to represent a sudden positive change in one’s life. It has also come to mean wealth or inspired knowledge in modern times.

The Trunk:

“As for the other miscellaneous objects found in the Crane Bag: if one thinks poetically, not scientifically, their meaning leaps to the eye.” –Robert Graves (the Crane Bag and other Disputed Subjects)

As previously stated the forfeda[iii], or the items found in the crane-bag by poets, are  listed as ‘the King of Scotland’s Shears’(the X), ‘the king of Lochlainn’s helmet’ (with his face underneath, the four sided diamond), ‘the bones of Assail’s swine’ (the double lined X out to the side of the line), ‘Goibne’s smith-hook’ (the P or hook symbol), and Manannan’s own shirt’, which “is a map of the sea showing lines of longitude and latitude.”

The King of Lochlainn is a mysterious figure. The quote at the beginning of this blog post summarizes what is generally believed to be the origins and the evolution of the mysterious Lochlainn[iv].

“Lochlainn may have initially described the fabulous abode under lakes and waters of hostile, supernatural beings like the Famorians.”

In the Irish myths the King of Lochlainn had clearly come to represent the marauders of Nordic descent. There are stories, however, where Finn Mac Cool fosters sons of the King of Lochlainn. These foreigners are usually enemies though.

In Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Gregory[v] one battalion of Fianna, led by Finn Mac Cool, are pitted up against ten battalions of “the King of the World.” The three sons of Lochlainn come one after another, alone, to wreck destruction upon the Fionna. They are eventually followed by the seemingly invincible King of Lochlainn himself.

The fist son, Forne, slays many men before Finn’s own son Oisin stands to face him alone. Initially the battle seems to be going poorly for Oisin. Eventually, though, he is embarrassed by the words of a fellow Fianna who tells him that the men are watching him being beaten. Oisin, who is then spurred into action, pierces Forne with his spear killing him.

The second son, Tocha, then brings the fight to the Fianna slaying many more of their men. Only Lugaidh’s son manages to stand against Tocha, eventually cutting his heart in two.

The third son, Mongach of the Sea, rushes the Fianna swearing vengeance. He carries with him a mighty flail with seven iron balls, with fifty chains, with fifty apples upon every chain, and with fifty iron thorns on every apple! Fidach, son of the King of Breton – out of shame at seeing the destruction of the Fianna – stands alone against him. The two battle hard, but eventually Fidach cut off Mongach of the Sea’s hands. He then cuts him in half. An apple from the flail, with its many thorns, pierces Fidach’s mouth and the two fall “lip to lip” in death.

Finally, the King of Lochlainn himself rushes the Fianna. The destruction that he inflicts is terrible to behold. His flaming shield causes many casualties. Druimderg, grandson of the head of the Fianna of Ulster comes forward with his spear ‘Croderg the Red Socketed.’ Druimberg can see no part of the King of Lochlainn that is not covered in armour except for the open mouth which is laughing beneath the helmet. Druimderg casts his spear into the open laughing mouth of the king and kills him.

Thus the King of Lochlainn is defeated along with his sons.

Other tales also pit heroes against the King of Lochlainn, but the mentioning of his helmet in this particular tale, including the vulnerability of its wearer, is worthy of note.

(Helmet from Cheiftain’s Grave. 10th Century. Norway. Photo: John Erling Blad)

As the helmet is one of the items found in Manannan’s crane bag it’s also worth noting that there is another story with possible connections. This tale is also found in Gods and Fighting Men. Here, Lugh himself is wearing the helmet of Manannan.

“And they were not long there before they saw an armed troop coming towards them from the east, over the plain; and there was a young man in front of the troop, in command over the rest, and the brightness of his face was like the setting sun, so that they were not able to look at him because of its brightness.

And when he came nearer they knew it was Lugh Lamh-Fada, of the Long Hand, that had come back to them, and along with him were the Riders of the Sidhe from the Land of Promise, and his own foster brothers, the sons of Manannan, Sgoith Gleigeil, the White Flower, and Goitne Gorm-Shuileach, the Blue-eyed Spear, and Sine Sindearg, of the Red Ring, and Donall Donn-Ruadh, of the Red brown Hair. And it is the way Lugh was, he had Manannan’s horse, the Aonbharr, of the One Mane, under him, that was as swift as the naked cold wind of spring, and the sea was the same as dry land to her, and the rider was never killed off her back. And he had Manannan’s breast-plate on him, that kept whoever was wearing it from wounds, and a helmet on his head with two beautiful precious stones set in the front of it and one at the back, and when he took it off, his forehead was like the sun on a dry summer day. And he had Manannan’s sword, the Freagarthach, the Answerer, at his side, and no one that was wounded by it would ever get away alive; and when that sword was bared in a battle, no man that saw it coming against him had any more strength than a woman in child-birth.”

Although there is no indication that the helmet once belonged to the King of Lochlainn, of later times, it may in fact have belonged to one of the Famorian kings that we have previously mentioned. The possibility, however remote, should be considered.

So if Manannan’s shirt is representative of ‘the sea’, and the King of Scotland’s shears is representative of ‘the grove’ then what can the helmet from the King of Lochlainn be representative of?

Whether Lochlainn represents the Famorians or another later foreign invader hardly seems to matter. The helmet represents the seeming invincibility of a dangerous enemy. It is an enemy, a mysterious force, which threatens to take everything away. The fact that Manannan owns the helmet means that it is an enemy that has likely been vanquished or perhaps even tamed[vi].

If we were presented with a riddle regarding Oir it might then look like this… What is gold and brings with it sudden sweetness and delight? What is brought by thunder? What brings with it sudden insight or illumination? What is dangerous and otherworldly to the forest? What is the bringer of Awen? What is a catalyst which brings with it change? What may be seen as a triangle pointing into the air with a separate triangle, invisible to the human eye, pointing mirror like into the underworld? What thing seems to be weaving unto itself?

This riddle seems to have an answer that would be near impossible to validate. That answer would be fire. If we consider the flames that radiated from the King of Lochlainn’s shield we seem to have come upon further evidence that supports this possibility. Fire is the one invader of the forest that needs to be tamed. The fire may also be representative of the sun itself. Lugh comes from the east like the rising sun. The descriptors all compare the brightness of his head, which is enshrouded in the helmet, to the sun itself. Perhaps Manannan is being depicted as a great worker of magic, one who has tamed the element of fire.

Of course, I am no scholar. I reflect upon the Ogham and the mythologies that surround them while finding my own meanings for the crane-bag in regards to these forfeda. I have never come across this association of Oir to fire anywhere else.

I do, however, find the possibilities more than a little intriguing.

The Foliage:

The Euonymous occidentalis, or the Western Wahoo, is the Spindle tree of western North America. It can be found from halfway up Vancouver Island down to California[vii]. It is part of the Bittersweet family.

The shrub is listed as “red” in British Columbia. This listing marks the plant as threatened or endangered. There are very few documented areas that the plant exists within and it is not known to thrive anywhere in British Columbia.

“Then Finn said: ‘Lift up your hands, Fianna of Ireland, and give thee shouts of blessing to whoever will hinder this foreigner.’ And the Fianna gave those three shouts; and the King of Lochlann gave a great laugh when he heath them. And Druimderg, grandson of the Head of the Fianna of Ulster, was near him, and he had with him a deadly spear, the Croderg, the Red-Socketed, that came down from one to another of the sons of Rudraighe. And he looked at the King of Lochlann, and he could see no part of him without armour but his mouth that was opened wide, and he laughing at the Fianna. Then Druimderg made a cast with the Croderg that hit him in the open mouth, and befell, and his shield fell along with its master, and its flame went out. And Druimderg struck the head from his body, and made great boasts of the things he had done.” – Lady Gregory (Gods and Fighting Men. 1904)

[i] See previous two posts.

[ii] http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sfft/sfft32.htm, Carminan Gadelica Vol. 2. Alexander Carmichael [1900], The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. W.Y. Eavans-Wentz [1911], etc.

[iii] See blog post: An Introduction to the Forfeda.

[iv] See also: Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by James MacKillop.

[v] Part II Book III. [1904]

[vi] Is it possible that Manannan holds the helmet hostage?

[vii]http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspxsciname=Euonymus+occidentalisvar.occidentalis

Muin (Grape Vine)

“It must be born in mind that the Celtic peoples are identified solely by their language and cultures, of which, of course, language is the highest form of cultural expression” – Peter Berresford Ellis (the Druids)

The Roots:

Muin, the eleventh letter of the Ogham, is one of the most misunderstood and mysterious letters of the old Irish alphabet.

Muin is usually associated with the vine of the grape. The Ogham originated in Ireland, however, where the grape was never successfully grown even as a cultivated species.

Muin does not actually mean vine at all – which is finium or finemain – but means a thicket of any thorny plant[i]. According to Robert Graves the plant that the Ogham letter originally referred to was likely to have been the blackberry[ii].

To further add to the confusion, the grape in its purest of forms rarely appears in Celtic myth[iii]. Even wine was a rare commodity and was only found more commonly with the advancement of the church and the holy rite of communion.

This does provide us with some clues, however. Wine was so rare that usually only the priests partook of the wine communion. It became a sacred and revered object. Wine was a drink that would have been known of, yet unobtainable, by the common people[iv].

The process of wine making, like ale or mead-making, is an alchemical one. It should not be a surprise then that the grape, indirectly through wine, becomes a symbol of the greatest religious fusion tale of the Western world. That is the tale of the Holy Grail.

Erynn Rowan Laurie equates Muin to communication, most especially as it pertains to expressed emotions. Liz and Colin Murray link Muin with prophecy – which to them was when one spoke more perceptively and truthfully. John Michael Greer agrees with them but also adds that Muin is a few of insight and intoxication as well.

Nigel Pennick believes that Muin is the gathering together of various items that are needed on ones path or journey. Robert Graves says that the grape is indicative of joy, exhilaration and wrath. He goes on to say that wine, the transformed grape, is the “poet’s drink” of poetic inspiration, which may send one “spiralling towards immortality”.

As is most easy to see, Muin’s meanings are not very agreed upon at all!

What further confuses the researcher is how quickly most Ogham writers abandon Celtic myth and begin to explain their theories by using other cultural references most especially those of the Greeks or Romans. What would the grape have meant within the context of the Celtic tree alphabet however?

The answer is incredibly uncertain. We have various interpretations of Muin to contemplate. The few, or letter, in its grape form is also clearly a more recent addition. Also, there are very few Celtic references to reflect upon in relation to the grape
or even to wine.

For these very reasons I personally find that the legend of the Holy Grail and the eleventh few, Muin, are inseparable and even symbiotic. The Grail is many things, but most important of all, it is the symbol of healing brought to us from the Otherworld.

It is the drink of the Grail, which is wine or blood, which heals the wounded king and ultimately the land itself.

The Trunk:

Whole books have been written on the Holy Grail. Scholars to this day continue to debate many aspects of the Grail tradition as it is commonly accepted.

The Grail story is a fusion of Celtic legend, Christian Catholic idealism, medieval upper class culture, the influence of esoteric Islam, the Jewish Kabbalah as well as other possible Eastern influences. The earliest story -as it is now understood of the grail- surfaced at the end of the twelfth century from a French poet named Chretien de Troyes. It is generally accepted that there were previous stories of the same sort circulating orally through the courts by Breton, Welsh and Anglo-Norman story tellers. Chretien influenced other story tellers and -even though the legends fell out of favour at times- the Arthurian tales continue to fascinate and enthral people to this day.

The grail prototype was the cauldron that we have spoken of many times before. In the Mabinogion there is a cauldron quest in which Arthur is involved. There is also a much earlier poem found in the Book of Taliesin in which Arthur and many of his men go to the Otherworld to retrieve a sacred cauldron. Only seven of them return[v].

Christian scholars, along with nationalists who want to claim the Arthur stories as their own, often deny that the grail is a descendant of these cauldron quests. Some claim that the Grail stories sprang up completely independently of these legends, while others that the symbols represented are common throughout the world and may hold similar meanings to various peoples around the globe. There are even many conspiracy theories  around the Holy Grail in which some claim that the Grail is in fact the actual cup that Jesus used at the last supper, that the tradition is Catholic/Jewish, and that Celtic mythology had no influence whatsoever.

It is all very confusing, but I can’t help but wonder why no one seems to contemplate the obvious? If the tradition is Catholic/Christian then why use Arthur and the Celts – now sporting the latest and most fashionable medieval armour- in the stories at all? Is it just a coincidence that Arthur and his men sought after an otherworldly cauldron and that Arthur and his men –as told in the courts of France no less- later sought after an otherworldly cup? The very fact that Arthur is there at all proves a Celtic origin. As likely as water runs downhill, so it is that other Celtic images exist in the stories in an altered
form as well. For the church to admit a pagan origin would be terribly embarrassing for a story tradition that has never been officially rejected. Christians don’t often like to admit the pagan roots of many of their stories and traditions, even one such as this one which exists on the fringes. There are also those with the outdated belief that the Celts were mindless barbarians who contributed nothing. These ideas can usually be traced back to cultural conflicts.

(The Cauldron of Inspiration. E. Wallcousins, 1912: An early Grail prototype. The nine maidens keep the cauldron warm with their breath.)

An exhaustive study of the material at hand is very possible[vi].

The Holy Grail has become a Celtic symbol to many whether this is warranted or not. To me there is no doubt. The Arthurian legends speak of the mysteries of the land and of the Otherworld.

Whether the Grail is actually recovered or not differs from story to story. The common theme however is that the Grail offers healing to the wounded, which is most often a regal representative of the land itself.

The drink is wine, sometimes blood, and it pours forth from the ever elusive cup that was said to have been brought to the lands of the Celts by Joseph of Arimathea and buried at Glastonbury. This story was introduced by Robert De Baron.

The cup represents the female divine which is absent from Christianity, but which resonates with many people who are drawn to the old stories.

Without the female divine the king is wounded, the land is barren and the end is looming catastrophic.

The Holy Grail is elusive, like wisdom herself, and seems to only be found by the purest of hearts.

Many seek the Grail. It is the cup, however, that chooses who she will appear to.

As we have moved through the forest of myth -being led by the whispers of the Ogham- we have eventually found our way symbolically to the Otherworld, which is a land of metaphoric imagery and learning, transformation and power.

It is here that we may drink of the sacred wine that will heal us once more and make us whole.

Muin speaks to us from beyond the veil, from a time when wine was unavailable to the common man[vii].

The cup beckons to us to make a toast, and touch her once more to our lips.

The Divine welcomes us home.

The Foliage:

Several types of grapes exist naturally throughout eastern North America. In western North America -from British Columbia to California- grapes are grown to be made into wine. Most vineyards offer wine tours and bottles of their product are usually available at a reduced price…

It is impossible for me to think of grapes without remembering my time in Afghanistan.

I was part of the battle group for task force 3-09 and we would often patrol areas around villages in the province of Kandahar. We were mostly operating out of the Sperwan Ghar area. The villages in the area were on the border that divided controlled, or friendly, territory and that which was unfriendly and patrolled by the Taliban.

The villages were surrounded by grape fields that grew up along mud walls in cleverly irrigated maze-like enclosed areas. The hot sun would beat down upon the plants that provided shelter for shade seeking lizards and the occasional cat. Children would run and play in these desert gardens and old, tired looking men with salt stained shirts would move dirt with shovels to manipulate the direction of the plant feeding water. There was a beauty for me there; especially in those vines.

To avoid IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) we would often painstakingly crawl over walls and through irrigation ditches as we maintained a deterring presence from those who liked to threaten or harm the simple villagers. We were literally travelling through people’s back yards. Some of these were beautiful. It was a marvel to see these crops grown in much the same way as they must have been since the very beginning.

I was left with a sense of stepping back in time. Sheppard’s led goats across rock strewn ground seeking out slivers of grass and men walked camels along pathways beside mud compounds and buildings that looked to be hundreds of years old. There was the occasional car, the odd motorcycle or bicycle and the rarely seen water pump that made the whole watering system work. Other than these few tools, that made life slightly easier, the patterns of life had remained relatively similar to our ancient ancestors across the globe, from the Mediterranean to the Holy Land.

Historians once believed that religion was born from the domestication of plants and animals. Humans were then able to settle in one place as the food was available to them. Religion then arose to “promote social cooperation”.  The excavation of the site of Gobekli Tepe (9600 – 8200 BC) in Turkey is starting to bring to the fore-front a completely separate theory. Never mind that the architectural marvel believed to be dated at the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution, – which was described as “finding out that someone had built a 747 in their basement with an X-acto knife”- it also made Klaus Schmidt (a German Researcher) reconsider common held beliefs about ancient organized religion. Some are now starting to believe that “wonderment in the natural world” gave birth to religion, which in turn led to the creation of stationary places of worship. These places of worship like Gobekli Tepe created an epicentre. People then found ways to grow food for large groups of people gathering near these sacred sites[viii].

The parallel to modern Afghanistan makes this connection seem easy. People grow food, pomegranates, grapes and small fields of wheat, to trade or consume. They grow the more lavish opium or lesser – but still lucrative- marijuana to sell for provisions or tools to continue to exist in a meagre way. For many of them it is just the filler that exists around a daily devotional practice to an Abrahamic god of the desert. Every morning, and every evening, the call to prayer is chanted forth into the awakening, or settling, day in reverent song.

It is a simple life.

They do not have the luxuries of the west but still they smile. They do not have television, shopping malls, movie theatres, Starbucks, air conditioning, Internet or ice cold drinks. They do not drink alcohol; even wine. They are happy, though, even with so little. They seem to have everything that they need in the moment[ix].

Of course, I am only speaking for half of them. The other half, the women, have less than anyone can imagine.

Perhaps they too, these men of the desert, need a Grail myth. Perhaps they too need to reconnect with the feminine divine which can then restore the balance?

For the Great Mother, the Holy Grail, brings healing and prosperity for all.

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” – Rumi

[i]Nigel Pennick. Magical Alphabets.

[ii] The White Goddess.

[iii]There is an Irish story of St. Brendan from the late 9th or early 10th
century. The saint is sailing on an epic journey seeking the Land of Promise.
One of the places he discovers is the Island of the Grape Trees. James MacKillop.
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology.

[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion_wine

[v] The Spoils of Annwfn or Preiddeu Annwfn

[vi] See the Holy Grail: Its Origins Secrets & Meanings Revealed, Malcolm Godwin for a spiritual tradition perspective and the source for much of the above information. See also the Holy Grail: the History of a Legend, Richard Barber for a more scholarly, yet different perspective from the one I offer. There are many, many books on the Holy Grail including the Grail: a Secret History by John Mathews, the Holy Grail: History, Myth, and Religion by Giles Morgan and on Arthur – King Arthur: the Man and the Legend Revealed by Mike Ashley.

[vii] And even more unavailable to women.

[viii] See, the Birth of Religion, National Geographic June 2011, for the complete article. Charles. C. Mann

[ix] My tour in Afghanistan taught me many things. I remember how after extreme hardship the local people would carry on, after what to my western eyes would seem to be an extremely short period of time. That was not my only observation worth sharing here, though. I will ever after be suspicious of the media after my tour as well. Reporters would write stories of events they were not even present for from the safety of KAF (Kandahar Air Field), stating that they were “reporting from Afghanistan”. I would compare this unethical practice to writing a story on Florida’s everglades from a hotel suite in New York. The events reported were always fictitious and dramatic. These would also either be pro-military or anti-military and were rarely truth based.

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