| Place | Painting No. | Date |
| Inishbofin. | “(1S)” | 20/August/2022 |
| Spiritual/Esoteric ref | Gaeilge | Etymological Root |
| The White Cow . Holy water symbolism. The Lady of The Lake | Inis Bó Finne | Inish Bó Finne. The Island of The White Cow (Finne meaning white or fair, ) |
The Tuatha Dé Dannan were said to arrive in Ireland from four cities in the north across the sea and in each of those cities, Falias, Gorias, Finas and Murias, “where they fought their battle for learning“, lived four wise men who taught their warriors skill, knowledge and perfect wisdom. With them they brought the four treasures of which The Sword of Lugh is one.
This is a key event that occurs in Irish mythology and it’s the first story recounted in Lady Gregory’s tome. One can easily see in the minds eye these magical objects here in Donegal arriving with their powerful owners with godlike magical abilities in their ships anchored off our northern shoreline. It is a vision of the otherworld. These objects symbolise the most important attributes of the warriors journey and they reappear again and again throughout many legends. Their symbolism is powerful and the four treasures each seem to represent 4 special areas of knowledge. This is knowledge of the otherworld primarily.
Everywhere you look in the Irish landscape you can see the face of The Holy Goddess. The country is filled with places named after goddesses. The five main royal sites …
- Cnoc Áine,
- Emhain Macha,
- Dún Ailline,
- Rathcroghan ( The Crone and Maebh ),
- Uisneach (Deidre and the Sons of Uisneach)
All of these are on the The Crystal Path and numerous other places on it including another royal site Tara and Newgrange are each named after or are strongly related to an Irish Goddess or very influential female figure from mythology. Now as we shall see, our rivers lakes and springs are also related to the Sacred Goddess.
To be a witness to our majestic landscape in Ireland is to acknowledge the sacredness of its presence in our lives . For the Christian here this is aligned with a recognition of the Holy Spirit, The Sacred feminine as embodied in a devotion our island to Our Lady, known as Stella Maris The Star of The Sea, particularly at Knock in Mayo where She appeared in 1879 and another couple of sites such as Ballinspittle, Cork and Mount Melleray, Waterford, which is by a stream, where people saw Her in 1985. This is a belief which may also be related to a more recent development of interest in Mary Magdalene who is believed by some to have married Jesus. Wells and springs in Ireland since the coming of Christianity are now often dedicated to Our Lady and St Brigid. The Balla spring near Knock used to be a place of pilgrimage before Her apparition at the gable end of the Church at Knock. Knock or, “Cnoc’ in Irish , means Hill and the hill nearby I suspect was also associated with Pre Christian beliefs. In Ireland the Sacred feminine figure has been given prominence before and after the arrival of Christianity. This of course raises the question about who the third person of the Holy Trinity we grew up referring mysteriously to as “The Holy Ghost” might be. With the father and Son known to us we can only conclude that the Holy Spirit is The Holy Mother the spouse of Our Father in Heaven, the meaning behind the term Immaculate Conception, not below Him but equal to Him. This was foreshadowed by the beliefs of many civilizations for thousands of years before the coming of Christianity. Do we really know The Holy Spirit at all ?
The Spirit of the valley never dies This is called the mysterious female. The gateway of the mysterious female Is called the root of heaven and earth. Dimly visible , it seems as if it were there, Yet use will never drain it. Verse VI Book One , Tao Te Ching c (551-479)
In modern times Saint Maximillian Kolbe (1894-1941) who died when he gave his life to save another in Auschwitz came to believe that Our Lady and The Holy Spirit were one and the same. He declared this in his writings which had to be approved by the catholic church in order that he be canonized. This in fact may prove to be the last great teaching of the church, an institution that has failed on so many spiritual levels that one even doubts its authenticity anymore. However despite these failings people hold their belief in The personages of The Holy Trinity.
What is a true belief in spirituality? Can we find some answers in the development of the earliest Christianity. Can the ancient systems of belief in The Goddess figure and the beliefs of christianity be reconciled in some way ? Well my answer to that lies in those earliest days of christianity in Ireland when there is ample evidence to show that there was a reconciliation between the two. It appears to have been a mostly peaceful agreement and was followed by a complete absorption of Christianity into the Celtic cultural identity in Irish Society . The conversion of the king by St Patrick at the rock of Cashel reveals one aspect of this . This is related at this page, Memories of The Rock Of Cashel. We have to also entertain the idea that what became orthodoxy in the Catholic church owes a great deal to the absorption of pagan rituals and beliefs into its own fundamental structure. Understanding this may deepen our faith.
When I arrived in Inishbofin bay looking for whatever ancient sites were associated with the ancient Crystal path I began to think of it as pertaining to the whole area of the bay where I was drawn to, including the island which is very close to the mainland. I did not have time to look for standing stones or ring forts nearby . But as Laura and I walked the length of the white beach the incredible beautiful wild Atlantic vista opened out in front of us. As my awareness and thoughts about this legend grew I began to see the sword as an expression of the light of the sun as if the startling bright white light reflecting off the white sand was somehow mirrored in this blade, held above me and all, as a vision of Pure Truth . Inishboffin or Inish Bó Finne means “Island of The White Cow” This relates to the name Boann whom I shall talk about later here. There is said to be a special white stone in the centre of the island and a mysterious cave at “Tóin na Maoile Móire” which may mean “the back of the great flatness or falls”. But I haven’t yet managed to get to see them, perhaps this will be for my next visit.
Lugh’s Sword was known as “Fragarach” meaning “the Answerer” and was associated with the Lia Fáil as it could only be wielded by those who were able to stand above the “stone of destiny” as king. This stone was believed at one point to be at Tara (see “The Lost Stone of Eriú” in part 4 of the blog to come ).
There the sword answered in response to the loud cry that the stone made which confirmed one worthy. This is very reminiscent of the Excalibur ‘sword in the stone’ myth. The sword in that story can only be drawn from the stone, within which it is embedded fast, by the true heir to the throne. The imagery of the sword in the stone is also related to the way swords were made, by pouring molten metal in a two piece stone mould allowing it to set and drawing the cooled metal blade out from it. A process that could be seen in magical terms as part of the transmutative alchemical process, a metalworking casting process.
The Sword of Lugh was actually given to him by Manannán who obtained it after King Nuada of the silver arm finished with it. Presumably because he lost his arm in battle and had to have it replaced by a silver one. This meant he could no longer be king as any Irish King could not have a physical imperfection. So he could no longer rightfully claim the sword. This myth is reflected in the idea of The Wounded King of The Grail Legends also known as The Fisher King who presides over a Wasteland becuase it is believed if the King is wounded the land becomes infertile. This is a belief taken directly from Irish Myths. In fact the state of the kings in celtic myths are intimately related to the lands. Even to the point of a king being sacrificed to the Goddess of the lands.
Before the sword came to Lugh. Nuada, was ruler of The Tuatha Dé Dannan for seven years before they came and conquered ireland eventually defeating the previous rulers The Fir Bolg at the battle of Mag Tuired or Moy Tura. But Nuada lost his sword wielding arm… and the sword and kingship with it at that battle. This resulted in Bres taking over for 7 Years. Meanwhile Nuada had his arm replaced first with a silver arm giving him the title Nuada Airgetlàm (or Airgedlámh) meaning silver arm ( “Airgead” can also be translated into modern Irish as meaning “money ” and lámh can also mean hand ). He then had his arm completely healed and a flesh and bone arm replaced the silver one by Dian Cechts son, Miach. This allowed him to take back the kingship from Bres who was not well regarded. Nuada then reigned for 21 years until the sword came back to Mannanán and given to Lugh.
In Frazers seminal work, “The Golden Bough,” he recounts how Some cultures contain stories of a king who after a set period would be sacrificed in order to renew the land. (“The King is dead , long live the King”). This sacred king at one with the land is last reported in Ireland in the 6th century AD where the High King of Tara died the ceremonial “threefold death” falling from (a tree ) or wood into a river while injured , this was completed by hanging, drowning and being ritually wounded. These ideas go back to the ancient worship of trees in the land as the expression of the presence of the Celtic gods who resides in them. In fact as Robert Graves pointed out in his work “The White Goddess” the very alphabet itself used by the ancient Druids were based upon the name of trees. Their ancient ABC was Beth, Luis, Noin … that is the Birch, Rowan and Ash trees, the first three trees after which the first letters of their alphabet were named. This gave rise to the tree-like vertical Ogham script.
Frazer’s idea centred around an event in the Aeneid in which Aeneas and the Sibyl present a golden bough taken from a sacred grove to the gatekeeper of Hades to gain admission. The incident was illustrated by Turners 1834 painting of “The Golden Bough” Frazer gets Nemi and Lake Avernus mixed up but The lake of Nemi, also known as “Diana’s Mirror”, was a place where religious ceremonies and the “fulfilment of vows” of priests and kings were held. Frazer believed that the mistletoe was the golden bow because of its colour when withered . The Mistletoe that grows on the oak was particularly important because the oak tree was associated with many mystery cults. The king was sacrificed to The Goddess Diana who was associated with the lake.
This relates very well to another very Celtic characteristic of the Excalibur legend, the story of The Lady in The Lake who receives the sword when it is thrown into the lake (after a number of attempts) as Arthur dies by Sir Bedivere.
As Arthurs life is ending after been wounded in his penultimate battle at Badon Hill he asks Bedivere to take Excalibur and throws it into the lake. This is a ritualistic Celtic practice borne out by the discovery of many weapons found in old lakes and bogs in Ireland and England. This moment in the Arthurian legend is brilliantly depicted in the movie “Excalibur” by John Boorman shot entirely on location in Ireland near Ardmore studios in Wicklow.
When Bedivere fails to throw the sword into the lake, Arthur knows it, because when he asks Bedivere what he sees when he claims he has thrown the sword into the lake he makes no mention of the Lady of the Lake appearing. So after a number of attempts Bedivere, who does not want to part with the sword because of its power eventually does throw the sword …and the Lady of the Lake’s hand appears in order to catch it before she herself descends into the lake with it.
This idea of the Lady of the Lake finds its origins in the mystic Irish Goddess of the waters whose presence is associated with many rivers and lakes in Ireland such as can be found in the origins story for the river Boyne in Ireland named after the goddess Boann.
In this story Boann lives at Brú na Bóinne and is married to Elcmar. However the good god The Dagda sets his eye upon her and has a tryst with her . She becomes pregnant but in order to keep the tryst a secret, The Dagda casts a spell “an Grianstad ” (meaning sun stop , or solstice ) as is his gift to be able to do, where he stops the sun for nine months.
While Elcmar is sent away by The Dagda for what he thinks is just a day, allowing her to have the baby. She gives birth to Aengus Óg who is identified with the light of the young sun. This story is a way of transmitting knowledge about how the old sun impregntates the womb and “stops”, “grianstad”, in the chamber at Newgrange and then a “new” young sun is born after the solstice as a new year.
After this however Boann, whose name translates as “The White Cow” a Hathor-like deity, goes on a search to the sacred spring belonging to the god Nechtain . Only he and his three cup bearers are allowed near it and growing above it there are nine magical hazel trees of knowledge whose nuts fall into the spring. These are eaten by the five speckled salmon that swim there . One of these is the salmon in the famous story telling where Fionn Mac Cumhaill gets his knowledge by mistake. However Boann makes the mistake underestimating the power of the well and ignoring the rule upon it of the god. She challenges his power and walks ‘tuathal” (counter clockwise) around the spring which is regarded as dangerous to do . The Spring surges up and she is overwhelmed by it being swept away into it. She becomes the river Boann, The Boyne, which is named after her.
The river goddess now becomes part of the process of making the land fertile during its flooding season. Her body of water brings fertility to the earth. Her son the young Aengus symbolising the new year and the coming spring now shines upon the land bringing life-giving warmth in the spring. The goddess as embodied in the waters receives the weapons of the warriors as a sacrifice and many watery places of significance have been found to contain weapons and other objects given as part of this ritual.
In the Echtra Laegaire, The Adventure of Laegaire a mystical lady resides under Loughnaneane , the Lake of Birds. This name for Lough-naneane is also very similar sounding to one name given to the Lady of the Lake as Ninianne or Viviane and numerous spelling variations upon this in the numerous arthurian myths dealing with this subject. A name also given to the lady of the lake is Nimhue which is very like the Irish name Niamh from the legend to the land of Tír na n-Óg. The idea of Avalon in the arthurian legend as a kind of island water paradise is not unlike this concept of Tír n-Óg. The Land of the Young. Avalon is where King Arthur departs after his death until his return .
Avalon was also believed to be in Ireland and the glam rocker Brian Ferry came to Crumlin Lodge, Inverin, Connamara on the west coast along with his wife Lucy Helmore to start writing for the Roxy Music Album entitled “Avalon”, the album also contains and instrumental called “Tara” . Appropriate to the legend it was their last album even though it was their most successful. The photograph on the cover is of the lake in front of the lodge . Helmore (who later remarried Robin Birley taking his name) was herself from an aristocratic family and it is her that features wearing a helmet and holding a Falcon on the cover. A lady of the Lake. She became an artist, a photographer in later life having four children with Ferry, Otis, Issac, Tar and Merlin. Sadly, Helmore took her own life at 58 years of age in county Clare.
Laurence Gardner, a writer on Grail related subjects, pointed out that the lady of the lake contains a reference to the Roman water Goddess Dea Latis. This, he argues, combines with the belief that there was a bloodline descended directly from Jesus and Mary Magdalene through the 6th Century Comtess of Avalon called Viviane Del Acqs. This is a figure whose three daughters ( a celtic triple goddess reference ) are associated with the mothers of Lancelot, Arthur and Gawain. Lancelot’s full name by the way is Lancelot du Lac. Lancelot of the lake. Lancelot means Servant, from the Old French L’ Ancelot but in the German it is said to come from the word for Land . According to Chretien de Troyes he has an affair with the Kings wife Guinivere not unlike The Dagda’s tryst with Boann. This of course represents a deeper idea. Guinivere’s name means “Fairy” or “Fair One.” In Irish terms She is one of The Sidhe, as Boann is . The “Sidhe” is the Irish name for fairies.
According to the story “Cormac’s Adventure in the Land of Promise”, there is a well in Tír na n-Óg surrounded by nine purple hazel trees called the Well of Knowledge, From it flows five streams that Manannán Mac Lir points out represents the five senses from which knowledge is perceived. They sound like they are one and the same on some level. It is also known as “The Well of Segais” . We are told that Segais is the otherworld name for the Goddess Boann and the Boyne is also known as Sruth Segsa. Segais may mean Six as in the Irish “Sé” and Sruth means stream. Stream Six ? A most unusual translation I think, I wonder what it could mean ? Perhaps the Gais in segais means “Geas” as in spell. Since Boann was walking “tuathal” (counterclockwise) around the well as part of her spell and cast into the river this makes more sense. Perhaps she walked around the spring six times?
This idea of Avalon is the same as the celtic idea of the spirit world and if you pay attention to the myths you begin to realise that this is where the heroes are actually travelling to . They suddenly find themselves passing over to the otherworld to the rath with the silver roof and walls of bronze attended by a mysterious king and beautiful maidens . Clearly they are voyagers in that otherworld and this is for the warriors a real journey the same as the vision quest of the Native American or the warriors journey as taken by South American shaman/ warriors/ magicians as alluded to by Carlos Castaneda.
The Ancient Celtic Irish, welsh or Scottish travelled to the otherworld to carry out their adventures and discover the nature of reality beyond the mundane version of living as experienced on earth. The myths actually are a travelogue of their journey and their druids taught them how to find their way there and how be ready when they were given these other worldly experiences. There they would be taught lessons about what is important in life or they would find the whereabouts of their one true love.
As you look through these legends you have to realise that what you are beginning to see is actually a beautiful representation of what the Spirit World is. Even in the artwork of the Pre Raphaelites featuring arthurian legends you begin to gain a sense of this spirit world , and modern filmmaking on occasion manages also to capture aspects of this. The film Excalibur I have mentioned already but one can add to that the recent production of “The Green Knight” . The misty and often desolate forests portray “The Wasteland” of our spirit, of the in-between spaces across which the knight travels often loosing himself in a swamp or bog. We are famiiar with theses places because we have seen them in our dreams and we ourselves have reached out to clench the hilt of The Sword of Truth in order to gain dominion over our soul and offer it back to God in shivering hope that She would accept the gift.
Many gnostic ideas from early Christianity, especially ones similar to Celtic and Roman cults (Roman cults often absorbed Celtic mysteries as well as Greek and Persian ones such as Mithraism. Mithraism was very popular amongst roman soldiers. These soldiers transmitted their beliefs through their practice of rituals and symbols . The first Christian churches bear a lot of similarity to the Mithraic temples in the idea behind their design. In Mithraism there is great emphasis upon The Bull. The bull of course features greatly in Celtic mythology most prominently in The Táin Bó Cuailinge . There are signs of mithraic influence upon Arthurian legends. it is clear that these merged with celtic interpretations of mystery. The image of initiates surrounding a banqueting table in Mithraic ritual for example do remind one of the Idea of the arthurian round table.
The welsh military order of the time of Owen Dandtgwen combined with the roman military order which were influenced by their following of the mithraic cult. A seven levels ranking from the Mithraic order influence (which reflects the seven levels within the catholic hierarchy to this day) merges with early christian beliefs becoming gnosticism and even finds its legacy in the Roman Catholic imagery of The Stations of The Cross which are not unlike the pictograms representing different stages of initiation in early Mithraic temples and cave sites on the mosaics and sculpted relief panels found there. We can also see Mithraic ideas in the imagery of the Birth of Jesus at Bethlehem where the cow and the donkey represent the bull and the horse respectively. Also the idea of Jesus being born in a cave or manger is also strongly related to the celebration of the Mithraic cult in caves or wooden grottos that we still see reflected in the design of the Christmas crib and manger at that time of the year today.
Imagery was preserved also through these legends which were actually a form of encoding to both contain and conceal, hidden in the open, the ideas of the earliest Gnostic Christian Church and those later gnostic tradition groups who over time corrupted and took ownership of inner mystical teachings for their own ends.
Knowledge is power. When it is used for selfish reasons and status elevation it ceases to be mysticism. It might become magic but there is a spiritual price to be paid for this. But on a pure level The Sword of Truth is a symbol that reminds us of the standard we should hold for spiritual truth above all the lies and falseness of the world which is, after all, only a shadow of reality . Our eyes are set instead upon the vision of the Real World of The spirit that is promised to us.
As if to prove the power of the symbolism of The sword of divine origin there is a story here from history. Joan of Arc instructs De Metz, her armourer, to find a sword, her voices have told her about, buried behind the altar at the church of Ste Catharine de Firebois. it is historically recorded as one of her miracles that when De Metz went to look there he found the rust covered sword buried behind the altar which is after all , a stone (another celtic symbol). There the rust fell away from the sword which had five crosses engraved on it representing the five wounds of Jesus in n The Cross . We must remember that most of France formally known as Gaul, has a celtic history.
For christianity , the sword appears in the bible a number of times in the hands of angels but most prominently and associated with Light just like The Legends of Lugh, an image of The Sword of Truth comes in a vision to St John during his Revelation given to him on the island of Patmos when he sees…..
“… a figure like a son of man. His head and his hair were all white as white as wool or as snow, his eyes like a burning flame, his feet like burnished bronze when it as been refined in a furnace and his voice like the sound of the ocean . In his right hand he was holding seven stars , out of his mouth came a sharp sword , double edged and his face like the sun shining with all its force.” Rev 1: 13-17
The Sword at Inishbofin (For Laura) Sword bright White light At the limit of our vision The long stretch Of the blade Where the water Met the metal sand Along the 7 kilometres We walked between The sun and the cloud crown Away from the bay Into the headland And back The white cow Standing there We were received By cris-crossing winds Whipping around our heads Sand in our faces The shouting gusts Filling our ears Making us giddy So much at once All the senses filled The sea spray On our cheeks We were Knocked over By the hands Of the clapping breeze Our feet sinking in the dunes The white cow Standing there We pulled our legs out Laughing like children All innocence no cares. I carried you about We touched the island close on the horizon You giggled in my arms I thought I saw silver gates In the mirror of The drenched beach. We saw horses Rushing towards us From both sides at once We stumbled over rocks and seaweed And past the surfers It was as one Infinite moment That realisation Of the joy felt. We saw then The white cow standing there We could see White everywhere eyes dazzled At the glistening iris disc across the water The pale backs of the Silver riders The spiralling clouds Reflected on The glazed causeway The white cow Standing there On the edge Of the country Milk flowing Her back leaning Awaiting the hand Of The Maid All giving All goodness Present and precious Glowing quartz Drawing all power From the unseen Medium But all present Pouring out Life giving milk/grace here. The white cow Standing there And all seen In the blade Of the sword Of Your Hand.
THE CRYSTAL PATH 