Articles

Two thousand years ago, these islands were awash with an awareness of the Divine Child. In the Brythonic tongue he was called Mabon ap Modron – “Son, son of Mother”. In Gaelic he was Oenghus - “The Chosen One”. Beings of Light and Unconditional Love, these divinities were the earliest native mythic depictions of what we now call the Christ Consciousness. Legends carrying the possibility of this level of attainment for human beings abound in all parts of the world. It is both stirring and significant that Druidism was moving over the brink of its own Mythic exploration of the Christ Consciousness at the same period in history as Middle-Eastern scriptures and the mystery traditions of the Mediterranean were finding their fulfilment…

....Most simply put; my intention in forming Céile Dé Groups has always been to invite others who feel drawn to these same riches to join me. I hope this sharing of my vision for Céile Dé Groups, my aim as a teacher and my experiences as a walker along this Way have been of help to you. Most of all, I hope that it has given some voice to your own inner hunger. If all of the above speaks to your heart you may be in the right place. I hope you are. I hope you too will find your home here.

It is very likely that when we are new to real inner work we will not be capable of discerning the difference between 'Anam Chairdeas' - soul-centred relationship - and what we call 'Bith' - the world created by illusory ideas and the relationships that unconsciously support them. The following questions might be a useful first step to help a seeker measure the extent of their current enthralment by Bith...

Silence, when used mindfully, could be experienced as a constriction by the limited, habitual self… but to our Deepest Self it is a key to liberation.

Silence gifts us with the opportunity to be held within a womb-like sacred container; within these nourishing walls some of the experiences so many of us increasingly hunger for these days might have a chance to be given life.

Many people become excited during a teaching retreat and can remain so for weeks afterwards; when they hear of a community such as the Caim, they believe they want to be a part of it; however, when they are given the opportunity, something inside them is unable to grasp it from within the context of their everyday lives. Remarkably, few will notice the gap between what they say they want and what they actualise; some people live their entire lives without noticing that they intend to begin ‘tomorrow’. The force of unconsciousness in the world is just a fact of life, communities like the Caim exist for those who are ready to do the work of developing awareness.

Although the titles used in our tradition represent stages of spiritual study within our tradition and are more or less sequential, most people will find the place that works for them in the early stages; for instance, whilst someone would not remain long-term in the community as an Irradair (one who is still searching for his path) many will feel comfortable as a Felmac (student) forever... Indeed we are ALL.. always... still learning - thank God-ness!

Part of the discipline of the Anam Chara means rising each day at 3.00 a.m. to do certain practices and also to pray for all the souls s/he serves, both in this world and in the next... Then to take that intention back into sleep, where the boundaries between the worlds are soft and open...

A short story... written by Laura, an elder in one of our groups in Oregon, USA, at a time when healing light is much needed

So, dear friends, settle down, let yourself be a wee child again (God knows we all deserve that, this year of all years!) and open your heart: here begins the story of "Lil Spark"....

...Think about committing to deep-memory the chants and the few traditional words you are given. It is another way of sinking the tradition into the deeper levels of your lives. I say deep memory very deliberately. .....

..... The ancients knew that there was a mysterious relationship between memory and the expansion of our souls… It is one of the things that the Céili Dé have not forgotten. What you deliberately take into your psyche affects the hue and nuance of who you are in this life.

So how do you commit sacred words to deep-memory? ...For a start, don't cram them into your head just a few days before you plan to use them... Live them, breathe them… Take them for walks in the hills… speak them to the trees and the rivers. They will listen... they may even join in… they do in Scotland. Perhaps because they’ve heard them before...

When we incorporate symbolic language and gesture into our spirituality, we are no longer speaking our habitual language – that of World (matter; thought; emotions)… neither are we speaking the “language” of Spirit (which cannot be done, it can only Be). We are, however, speaking the subtle, paradoxical language of soul. The Tradition calls this part of ourselves Anam… The “siddhi” or “charism” it gives us is called Coinneach in the Céile Dé tradition. We define it as the ability to let go and effortlessly do or know something that seems to just flow through us from a “Place Beyond and Within”.

I am writing because I want to share some of my heart with you. If you don’t like heart things, best not to read on. There will be no cerebral profit to be made here today.

The mystery of the outpouring from Good Friday to Pentecost cannot be netted in words.

We are witnessing a Rose called Kairos opening slowly before our eyes…

Even before Easter Tide, and for all of our lives, we have been preparing for the coming of the Rose. We have purified our deepest ground, re-channelling our energy towards our highest aspiration...

...The Rose.