The Celtic heart took root in the last moments of twilight where darkness and light are interfused. The Celts believed that they were descendants of the God of the Dead and that theirs was a life born from darkness bridging the gap between the spiritual, physical, and imaginative planes translating to the conjunction of mind, body and spirit (Rolleston, p. 24, Sharkey, p. 10). Although the warlike nature of the Celts affords them a violent reputation, their connection with the rhythms of life, death, and rebirth infused their temperament with an awe and reverence for life demonstrated by their legends, artwork, rituals, and mysteries almost unparalleled in beauty and depth within the Western tradition. Their infamous fearlessness in battle stemmed from their belief that the cause of life is death (Sharkey, p. 10). Their knowledge of continual rebirth and transformation allowed the Celts a sense of fearlessness and confidence that made them unstoppable in battle. These ancient peoples spoke the language of the stars interpreting their song as a message of eternal return making them certain of reincarnation and allowing them to honor living with ecstatic, boundless abandon. They recognized four cycles of being that humans either descended into or rose from determining the soul's path or destination. These cycles were viewed as both literal and psychological states:
Annwn: the innermost realm where the unseen roots of the world tree rests beneath the earth. This is the unconscious abode of unformed matter, elementals, wraiths and demonic spirits.Abred: the middle realm where life begins. This is the ego where good and evil are of equal measure and free will determines the choices human beings make.
Gwynvyd: the heavenly realm of enlightened, divine beings. This is the fully conscious mind resulting from the triumph of the life spark and the integration of the conscious and unconscious parts of the self. Like the Tibetans, the Celts believed this to be an attainable state and once reached, they were able to get off the Wheel of Life and rest from the trials of reincarnations.
Ceugant: the dwelling place of all creation and home of the unknowable, unnamable creator (Conway, p. 79, Pennick, p. 11-13).
The term Celt comes from historian Heataeus' Keltoi which describes a linguistic family (Rolleston, p. 17). Anthropologists, archeologists and historians are still not certain about the exact birthplace of the Celts. They may have emerged in Austria around 700 BCE but their distinctive presence became known in middle Europe between the Rhine and Danube rivers around the fifth century BCE (Rolleston, p. 7, p. 17). Over the course of approximately 1000 years the Celts migrated all over Europe in what some have called a "campaign of destruction" into areas including Spain, France, northern Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Balkans, Scotland, and England. However, the Romans quelled the Celtic expansion and Christianized their holy places and mythologies. The remaining Celts finally settled in western Europe in the British Isles during approximately the sixth century AD (Rolleston, p. 7). The Celtic language survives today in France and Britain and includes Breton, Irish, Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Manx (Rolleston, p. 17).
The impetus for these Celtic migrations is not known for certain; however, some scholars speculate that for the Celts, expansion was synonymous with the symbolic life of the soul and cycle of experience (Sharkey, p. 18). The spiral labyrinths the Celts left on rocks and dolmans suggest that perhaps their invasion routes and settlements were a necessary part of their collective spiritual growth.
Celts had detailed legends concerning sovereignty of the land, layered with different levels of meaning and importance. For the Celts sovereignty did not mean supreme rule or power over an area, instead it translated to a relationship of the people with the land itself, personified by the Great Goddess (Godwin, p. 17). The Celts did not simply invade and conquer a country, instead they felt their role was to unify the forces of male and female by acting as stewards of the land which belonged to the whole tribe and in turn, the Godhead (Sharkey, p. 9, Godwin, p. 17). The Celts felt that there must be a vital, fertile relationship between the land, the immortal goddess, and its king, mortal man, and this belief transcended the ages to become the magical secret of the Holy Grail (Godwin, p. 17). The disruption of this relationship spawned some of the most valiant, timeless heroes of all time in their quest to reestablish the balance between man and nature (Godwin, p. 17).
Ancient Celts lived in a time and place that knew few cities or towns, and was covered with forests, mountains, and open plain. The sky and the land left unmolested provided a relationship between man and the cosmos that is almost unknown to us today. The Celts recognized nature as a divine mirror of the cycles and power of the universe and saw animals, lakes, trees, stones, the sun, moon, and seasons as reflections of the Godhead. Celts often chose oak groves and forests for places of worship and for them, each place had a soul or anima loci whose name represented the natural energies of the area (Pennick, p. 13, Conway, p. 81)). The Celts saw various features of the landscape as reflections of corresponding human parts which is explained by author and Celt, Nigel Pennick, as he quotes from The Book of Llanrwst:
The first is the earth, which is inert and heavy, and from it proceeds the flesh; the second are the stones, which are hard, and the substance of bones; the third is water, which is moist and cold, and is the substance of the blood; the fourth is salt, which is briny and sharp, and from it are the nerves, and the temperament of feelings, as regards bodily sense and faculty; the fifth is the firmament or wind, out of which proceeds the breathing; the sixth is the sun, which is clear and fair, and from it proceed the fire, or bodily heat, the light and colour; the seventh is the Holy Ghost, from whom issues the soul and life; and eighth is Christ, that is, the intellect, wisdom and the light of soul and life (Pennick, p. 20).
Each of the Celtic provinces had a sacred place that was considered the center of the world and the name of the location showed a relationship between the sacred directions, earth and sky, the tribe and its divinity (Sharkey, p. 6). According to the Celtic Heritage Trust, this system represented "the elemental forces of nature being brought into order by the gods of light..." (Celtic Heritage Trust, http://www.dalriada.co.uk/). Also, it provides a pattern of how the Celts viewed the structure of the cosmos mirrored in social and political divisions (CHT, http://www.dalriada.co.uk/). An outline of this system follows:
North: Ulster- earth, shield, warriors, battle, bull, Fir BolgSouth: Munster- fire, spear, serfs, music, boar, Partholon
East: Leinster- air, sword, farmers, prosperity, eagle, nemed
West: Connaught- water, cauldron, priests, learning, salmon, Tuatha De Danaan
Centre: Tara- Lia Fail, kings, sovereignty, Sons of Mil
The Celts knew that the realms of animals and humans, gods and goddesses, and life and death existed as units of a cosmic whole (Pennick, p. 19). They felt that spiritual orderliness originated in a harmonious relationship with the land which brought peace and plenty, a society of good will, fertility of crops and herds, and the fruitfulness of the fields and orchards (Pennick, p. 15). This philosophy allowed the Celts to see in every island, tree, rock, river, pond and meadow an aspect of themselves. The Celtic way of thinking made nature a personal, spiritual teacher.
In particular, the Celts saw trees as being supremely divine because their roots existed in the underworld, their trunks in the physical world and their branches in the heavens. Like humans, trees were entirely linked to the cosmos and had personal souls which manifested themselves in their special qualities, strengths and medicinal value (Pennick, p. 21-24). In the Welsh language, the words for awareness, knowledge and writing found their roots in the word for wood, wydd, as in the Celtic priests' title, Druid, derwydd. The forests hold eternal, elemental forces that can be described as deep feelings of calm and serenity coupled with heightened awareness of one's surroundings. The home of the trees, the wild wood and forest, represented the untamed, wild aspect of the human unconscious. Today, ecologists and spiritual thinkers explain that if the forests and trees continue to be destroyed, humankind will no longer have a link to its wild nature and will then plummet into the Wasteland of dis-ease caused by a schism between the conscious and unconscious parts of ourselves (Pennick, p. 24).
Together with sacred trees, the Celts viewed stones as the bones of Mother Earth and the structures supporting all other aspects of physical existence. The bones inside the body determine its physical form while for the psyche the stone is identified with the eternal substance of existence at the deepest level (Pennick, p. 39). Celtic labyrinth carvings on stones demonstrated the mysteries of human consciousness including the unfolding processes of birth, transformation and death and were symbols representing the Great Goddess (Pennick, p. 59).
Running through the psyche, over the stones and into trees, water infuses energy into all organic creations; therefore, the Celts saw it as the primary symbol of life. The Celts had many holy wells whose depths were related to the unseen unconscious, a hidden yet reachable source of wisdom (Pennick, p. 71). Each well was unique bearing a name that expressed the interaction between its geology, topography, and human attributes (Pennick, p. 67). Because of their sacrilization of water, Celts viewed fish as being manifestations of the enlightened human spirit swimming between the depths and shallows of the conscious and unconscious (Pennick, p. 74). The presence of fish in water or wells denoted that the unconscious mind contains living qualities of which we need to be more aware (Pennick, p. 74). These attributes made fish the archetype of the integrated mind and in turn, became the symbol of Christ, the mythological hero who recognized his own divinity by becoming fully conscious (Pennick, p. 75).
Caves also held special significance to the Celts as they have other native peoples for millenniums. The universal symbol of the womb of Mother Earth, caves provided shelter and had an eerie darkness and mystery that fueled the imaginative processes and unlocked the unconscious. Caves where wind emerged were places where the Celts felt one could hear the earth breathing and by entering them, humans breathed in the earth itself, becoming part of the natural characteristics and processes of the land (Pennick, p. 93).
These Celtic beliefs about the natural world were an important part of Druidic teachings; however, the information we know about the Druids is mainly second hand from Roman observation. We do know that the Druids maintained an oral tradition that protected the secrecy within their priesthood and acted as a reminder of the origin of all sacred mysteries- the breath of the word (Sharkey, p. 13, Conway, p. 78). The Druidic or Ogham alphabet was a secret language communicated through hand gestures and scratches on rock. Consisting of twenty letters based upon characteristics of certain trees, the alphabet created in 600 BCE was used for divination and religious purposes (Conway, p. 76-79, p. 158). Druids taught in riddles similar to the Zen, Tibetan, and Hindu traditions and composed triads as mnemonic devices. The Druids and Dryads, female priestesses, were the healers, judges, astronomers, teachers, oracles, and religious leaders of the Celts (Conway, p. 78). The Druids had great political power and were able to go between warring tribes with amnesty and speak before the king in public arenas (Conway, p. 77, Rolleston, p. 23). The Druid priesthood contained three divisions: bardic, the poets who taught music and poetry; ovate, the prophets, philosophers and soothsayers who compiled knowledge; and the priests who oversaw both earthly and spiritual law (Conway, p. 79).
The Druidic calendar followed the cycles of the moon and sun. The beginning of Celtic time on the physical plane began when the Tuatha De Daanans defeated the Formorians (light over darkness) and the Celtic day began at midnight (Conway, p. 81). The Druidic calendar is based upon the moon and divided into thirteen months named after trees corresponding to the Ogham alphabet (Conway, p. 81). They also recognized the solar year as one revolution of the sun around the earth and adjusted their lunar year accordingly by inserting an extra thirty day month alternately at two-and-a-half and three year intervals (Conway, p. 81). The Druidic cycle consisted of thirty years broken into Lustres of five years each and a Druidic era consisted of 630 years (Conway, p. 81).
Druids presided over Celtic festivals which were an integral part of society because they renewed the relationship between the people’s spirits and the landscape, thereby harmonizing their scattered tribes. These festivals were held at night and centered on the solstices, equinoxes and moon phases with the main four highlighting the cycles of the Celtic farming system: plowing, sowing, growing and harvesting (Conway, p. 48). Contemporary Celts continue to honor these celebrations.
Imbolc- February 1 or first full moon in Aquarius- Sacred flame encourages the sun from its winter sleep bringing growth and renewal and a time for cleansing and new born sheep.Beltaine- May 1 or first full moon in Taurus- Fertility gathering with nature enchantments and offerings to elementals, elves and fairies. Trial marriages for one year are granted and sexual activity encouraged.
Lughnassadh- August 1 or first full moon in Leo- Completion of the harvest, which is the turning point in Mother Earth's year. It is a celebration in honor of the Sun God Lugh's wedding to Mother Earth.
Samhain- November 1 or first full moon in Scorpio- Ending of the Celtic year. Ritual known as Ancestor Night or Feast of the Dead because it was a time when the veil between the worlds of dead and living is the thinnest. This is also a time to honor ancestors as affirmations of continuing life (Conway, p. 48-49, Rolleston, p. 21).
The ability to understand, conceptualize and enact a lifestyle in rhythm with these cycles stems from the Druids' shamanistic religious base. The Druids were able to literally move between the worlds of the dead and undead and the conscious and unconscious mind. Through a process of personal initiation in a succession of trance states brought about by hallucinogens such as the mistletoe berry, Druids gained access to the otherworld, or unconscious, and acted as emissaries representing the worlds within each other (Sharkey, p. 12). The Celts communicated their understanding of this in-between dimension through their "Janus" statues which were double-headed figures whose faces pointed both ways (Sharkey, p. 7). The Druids were the living embodiment of the collective unconscious and coupled with the Celtic emphasis on the natural world, their ability to express the divine and foretell the future was inseparable from the natural lore of the forests where they lived (Sharkey, p. 93).
The dark Druidic realm of the Celtic mysteries was considered extremely important because it contained omens, signs and other extraordinary events which a Celtic warrior could pit his life against (Sharkey, p. 11). Celts had to live within the limits of their own predestined fates decided upon by the geis or prohibitions given to them at birth (Rolleston, p. 33, Sharkey, p. 5). This knowledge empowered the warrior with non-ordinary awareness, respect, an awareness of fear, altertness and self-confidence allowing him/her to win the battle between the forces of darkness and light, within and outside the self (Sharkey, p. 11). Celtic warriors saw themselves as solar incarnations of the sun who had to fight the greatest war of all to overcome darkness (Sharkey, p. 10).
With this type of initiation and training from birth, the Celtic warriors, who were both male and female, possessed an unwavering ferocity resulting from a complete and total absence of fear towards death. For them, death was not a mystery but instead a living entity that was always present. They considered the highest honor in life to be death on the battlefield surrounded by poets, friends and slaughtered enemies (Sharkey, p. 10). The Celts took warfare very seriously and regarded the heads of the defeated as ultimate sources of spiritual power and as seats of the soul. Heads were collected as trophies adorning warriors’ necks, chariots and even doorways (Rolleston, p. 8-9, p. 18, Godwin, p. 55). As if to complement the already horrific site of human-headed jewelry, the Celts ran naked, bloody and tattooed into battle shrieking and berserk, instilling panic and awe within the hearts of their adversaries (Rolleston, p. 17).
The savage behavior of the Celtic warrior runs opposite to what would be considered civilized behavior off the battlefield. The Celts were a stable society for over a millennium due to their distribution of wealth through a wide clan network consisting of extended families in tribal groupings, as well as international trade via roads and river barges (Rolleston, p. 18, Conway, p. 22). Each Celtic kingdom chose a king and because of his literal, direct relationship with the land, he had to be without a physical blemish for fear the imperfection would spread to the land itself causing drought or famine (Rolleston, p. 20). The king was also the military leader surrounded by an elite of warriors, intellectuals and craftsmen (Rolleston, p. 20).
The Celts were very clean people using soap before the Romans and both sexes often washed their hair in lime to lighten its color and thicken its texture (Conway, p. 85). The women wore make-up, painted their fingernails and dyed their hair with berries and herbs while the men wore mustaches and grew their hair to long lengths (Conway, p. 85-86). Both sexes wore brightly colored, plaid wool-dyed tunics clasped with ornate brooches (Conway, p. 85). The Celts loved music, poetry, gold jewelry, precious metals, games and decorated ordinary objects with intricate spiral, lattice, matrix, and knotwork designs to symbolically demonstrate their understanding of plurality; the flux-state of existence; and the underlying cycles of life, death and rebirth (Conway, p.p. 85-86, Pennick, p. 9). Blacksmiths were held in very high esteem because of their ability to create using the four elements of earth, air, fire and water (Conway, p. 80).
The deities worshipped by the Celts were subject to the rhythms of life and the demands of a particular locale (Pennick, p. 84). Each Celtic god and goddess possessed characteristics relating to physical, spiritual and ethereal planes. Goddesses symbolized the divine feminine psychic principle of receptivity and the relationship between the moon cycle and the flow of menstrual blood. The Celtic belief in reincarnation was personified in the Mother Goddess aspects of maiden, mother and crone and because she was seen as a direct representation of nature, the Goddess could be either merciless or bountiful (Sharkey, p. 7). The male aspect of the psyche was personified in the horned god, Cerrunos, whose origins reach back approximately 15,000 years to Paleolithic times (Godwin, p. 81). Cerrunos was the opener of the gates of life and death- the feminine principle- and god of the underworld in its oldest form (Sharkey, p. 85). He was celebrated and ritualized by Druids in shamanistic states when they projected their animal natures to become manifestations of Cerrunos, Lord of the Animals, demonstrating that the hunter and hunted are one (Sharkey, p. 12 and p. 85).
Examples of Celtic gods and goddess are provided by author D.J. Conway in her book, Celtic Magic and short excerpts follow:
Anu (an-oo)- Ireland- Mother Earth, greatest of all goddesses. Guardian of fertility, prosperity and comfort. Guardian of cattle and health. Maiden aspect of the triple goddess.Arianrhod (ari-an-rod)- Wales- Goddess or reincarnation, stars sky, full moon. Keeper of the circling Silver Wheel or Stars, a symbol of time or karma. Mother aspect of triple goddess.
Bel- Ireland- Sun and fire god. Great God. God of fire, purification, fertility, and cattle.
Cerridwen- Wales- Moon Goddess, Great Mother. Goddess of nature, the moon, death, regeneration, magic, astrology, spells, knowledge, herbs, inspiration and poetry.
Epona- Britian, Gaul- The Great Mare Goddess. Goddess of horses, horse-breeding, maternity, fertility, and prosperity.
Morrigan- Ireland, Wales and Britian- Supreme War Goddess, Queen of phantoms or demons, shapeshifter. Reigned over the battlefield, queen of the fairies, crones aspect of triple goddess.
Nuada- Ireland, Wales- God with the Silver Hand- chieftain god during the Mythological cycle. Had invincible sword of the Tuatha De Danaan. God of healing, water, ocean, fish, youth, spears and slings, smiths, warfare, incantations, sorcery, and writing.
Rhiannon- Wales- Goddess of the underworld, enchantments, fertility, birds and horses.
Taliesin- Wales- Chief of the Bards of the West. Patron of the Druids, shapeshifter. God of writing, wisdom, bards, music, knowledge and magic (Conway, p. 104-115).
The most important detail about the Celts was their oneness with the cosmos. This belief has been infinitely rewoven in the legends of the Holy Grail inspired by the Celts and no essay would be complete without addressing this eternal story. Malcom Godwin in his novel, The Holy Grail, Its Origins, Secrets and Meaning Revealed, does the subject justice in a manner that is almost unrivaled by any of his contemporaries. To truly give credence to his ideas expands the scope of this paper; however, the author will attempt to shed some of Godwin’s light on possibly the most powerful and unifying story in our Western tradition.
Godwin describes the legend of the Holy Grail as "an archetypal dream image of the Ultimate Quest for All and Everything" (Godwin, p. 6). He notes the climate of the times these legends were put on paper as the Wasteland of the 12th century during the religious oppression by the rigid orthodoxy and their "weird hatred of Eve that resulted in a one-sided, stagnant, corrupt vision" of the cosmos that caused Europe to enter its darkest night of its collective soul (Godwin, p. 6). Godwin explains that the secret of the Holy Grail stems from the Celtic notion of healing the Wasteland by unifying the goddess, the feminine, and hero king, the masculine, in order to restore an earthly paradise that has not been lost, but sadly forgotten (Godwin, p. 232, p. 247). This union of the masculine and feminine also relates to the healing of the Wasteland within the human psyche, both collective and individual, through what Dr. Carl Jung terms the individuation process when one becomes fully conscious.
The Celtic version of the Holy Grail gave rise to what Godwin calls the Esoteric Christian and Alchemical versions. He groups these three into the three ages of mankind: Pagan/Celtic- the Age of the Father and the old law of the synagogue; Christian- the Age of the Son- the New Testament; and Alchemical- the Age of the Holy spirit and the dawn of a new awakening (Godwin, p. 15). Although the legends may manifest themselves differently, they all have certain core ideals. The main concept shared is that the Grail cannot be separated from the quest to obtain it because both the goal and process toward it embody human fulfillment (Godwin, p. 14). The Grail heroes search to learn who the Grail serves by embarking on a journey toward personal transformation where a radical change of consciousness occurs because he has given his life to something bigger than himself by letting go of the ego and learning to flow with the natural rhythms of life (Godwin, p. 228). The process of transformation requires the Grail hero to experience suffering, love, doubt, and humility and to sacrifice his innocence in order to obtain a higher understanding of the cosmos (Godwin, p. 228). Most importantly, although the hero is aided by the four magical graals listed below, he must achieve the knowledge of the Grail truths alone (Godwin, p. 13).
1.The Stone of Destiny or Lia Fail from Falias which was said to moan or scream when a rightful king was enthroned. This legend still exists today in the form of the Stone of Scone, which has recently been returned to Scotland from its captors in England, and resides under the coronation chair of the king.2.The Sword of Lugh (the sun god) of the Long Arm from Gorias.
3.A magic spear from Finias.
4.The Cauldron of Dagda from Murias which had the ability to feed a host of warriors without ever being emptied (Rolleston, p. 27).
The treasures or graals can be grouped into male and female principles, the sword and spear being the male and the cauldron and stone being the female (Godwin, p. 47-49). The invincible Sword of Lugh bound the destiny of the man to his weapon while the magic spear which was known to drip blood acted as both a healing and wounding instrument, arming the hero with a tool that penetrates to the essential core of human nature by cutting through the illusions caused by the ego (Godwin, p. 47-49). Wounds inflicted by the spear and the painful wake left after ripping away illusion, such as that inflicted upon the Fisher King, would never be healed and the victim would never die if the Grail hero did not heal his psychological landscape. The Celtic Stone of Destiny became the disc graal which was a platter that, for mysterious reasons on which scholars mainly speculate, carried a bleeding head (Godwin, p. 47-49). The platter had dual qualities as the feminine supportive base of human endeavor and the Round Table which represented the quest for the missing feminine forces necessary to heal the masculine soul (Godwin, p. 47-49).
The last and most reinvented Celtic treasure, the Cauldron of Dagdga, became the Holy Grail. The cauldron itself has taken many forms within Celtic mythology including the Cauldron of Diwrnach, which offered the best meat to the hero and none to a coward; the Cauldron of Cormac, which broke into three pieces if a lie was told over it only to be restored if three truths were then spoken; the Cauldron of Cerridwen which contained the potion of esoteric knowledge; the Gundestrap Cauldron where a dead warrior could be placed and then revived minus the ability to speak in order to protect the secrets of the dead; and perhaps most famous in our Western religious tradition, the Christian Chalice from which Christ's blood was to have been shared at the Last Supper and is ritualized in the Eucharist (Godwin, 52-23). The Cauldron of Dagda in the form of the Holy Grail is the cup of ultimate transformation of both the land and the individual and as an empty vessel, signifies the principle of receptivity allowing it to be all things to all men (Godwin, p. 53, p. 242). The cauldron is the epitomal live-giving and life-sustaining symbol of the feminine which has both healing and destructive tendencies. For those who are ready for the rigorous trials on the road to enlightenment the grail is positive, yet those not ready for transcendence are often destroyed by the desire to obtain it (Godwin, p. 53). As a symbol of the Great Mother's cosmic womb and reincarnation, the importance of the cauldron in Celtic society was affirmed by its presence in every temple (Conway, p. 81).
Specifically, the Celtic version of the Holy Grail, Le Conte del Graal, written by Chretien de Troyes was based upon the ancient and magical myths of regeneration and renewal centered around the Dagda Cauldron (Godwin, p. 17). The Celtic Druid is represented by Merlin who is the shamanistic sorcerer of the land. Merlin instructs the hero, Peredeur, to find the meeting place between the worlds where he can heal the desolate land, personified by the Fisher King, and re-establish the precious link between the Sovereignty of the land, the female principle, and her king, the male, in order to restore cosmic harmony (Godwin, p. 18-20, p. 78).
Christian monks who were magnetically drawn to Celtic imagery and myth created their own version of the Grail Quest. Godwin cites eight major romances written in cycles during a span of twenty-five years all seeming to stem from Robert de Borron's Le Roman du Graal written between 1191 and 1202 AD which includes the coming of Arthur, the Round Table, Joseph d'Aramathie, Merlin and the hero Perceval (Godwin, p. 82). Cistercian monks were responsible for many Grail narratives which focused on the hero meeting his maker through redemption and salvation by committing himself to the Christian ideals of faith, compassion, chastity and abstinence (Godwin, p. 83). Through trials testing his worthiness, he is given the knowledge to bring heaven to earth by reconciling the Super- Nature of the Christian, monotheistic God, with Nature, the Pagan, polytheistic, Goddess (Godwin, p. 14). Merlin was also included in the story and although he retained his pagan, shamanistic origins his power came from always having one foot in the Christian world (Godwin, p. 14).
Godwin expends a considerable amount of time and energy explaining the third version of the Grail Quest, the Alchemical. Perhaps because the author Wolfrman von Eschenback combines esoteric teachings from around the globe including Arabian astrology, Persian astronomy, Islamic love poems, Alchemical symbolism, Jewish Kabbalic mysteries, Eastern Taoism and Christian Gnosticism, Godwin feels that Eschenback’s story unifies humankind on a grand scheme by having East meet West which helps heal the Wasteland on our planet (Godwin, p. 138). Eschenback's Parzival, whose name derives from perce a val, "piercing the valley," is about finding the middle path between the extremes of dark and light in order to obtain the Grail which is psychic wholeness (Godwin, p. 12). In order to discover the middle path, the hero must awaken to his unconscious, instinctual impulses that correspond with the rhythms of nature and surface when one lets-go of the ego (Godwin, p. 139-140).
On an Alchemical level, Parzival must move through the signs of the zodiac constellations and learn how the sun, moon and stars are involved in the vegetative and unfolding processes on earth as the Grail family carries the Grail and all of its responsibilities through the seasons (Godwin, p. 141, p. 170). The properties of the zodiacal constellations are found within astrology and are inherent in human beings. Because of this fact, Parzival must let go of his ego or illusions and let his soul be lead by the literal, natural revolving of the earth through its orbit around the sun and through the stars’ orbit around himself. If he cannot let go, Parzival will go against nature by not allowing his soul to follow the rhythms of its place in the cosmos and his psyche will become a Wasteland as will the planet. As if this task was not daunting enough, Parzival is taught that he cannot obtain the Grail through intentional effort; however, he must make an intentional decision to become aware of its possibilities through selflessness and compassion (Godwin, p. 141). The perils Parzival faces on his journey are that of the path of the seeker who is also on a journey to find the sacred center of his/her being where serenity resides (Godwin, p. 160).
Godwin closes his novel by explaining that the legends of the Holy Grail are so tangible and enticing because they are all connected by blood (Godwin, p. 184). In all versions of the legend, Celtic, Christian and Alchemical, blood is represented in either warfare, a magical blood-dripping spear, or the Grail vessel itself carrying the blood of Christ, the archetypal fully conscious human being (Godwin, p. 184). He goes on to discuss the novel Holy Blood, Holy Grail and how its authors have presented a case for the reality of an actual Grail being tied to Jesus (Godwin, p. 188). The authors speculate that Mary Magdelene was Jesus' wife and carried the knowledge of the key to heaven told to her at the Last Supper. She was to have passed this knowledge down through the Merovinghain bloodline who were considered the Grail guardians (Godwin, p. 188). Because of his jealously toward Mary, Peter is said to have inspired and caused the Christian hatred of women and in doing so literally made the planet into a Wasteland and wounded the collective individual (Godwin, p. 193).
Inside all people exists a part of Celtic consciousness that draws us to the most popular myth within our culture. The planet is still waiting for the coming of the king in each of us who will again achieve the Grail Quest by recognizing the divine within. We must fulfill our personal responsibility to heal the Wasteland of our souls by becoming aware of the truly present unity between the feminine and masculine, dark and light, spiritual and physical, natural and supernatural, earthly and heavenly bodies. Hidden in the guise of a warlike, savage race existed warrior-poets who sought eternal truths and desired to psychically and physically heal the earth, and in turn, themselves. The beliefs of this ancient culture will continue to fascinate Western culture because of its hope for human salvation. The Celts revered the twilight time between the worlds of the living and dead where they learned the secret mystery of the cosmos: the land, the Mother Goddess, and the king are one.
© Copyright Paula Vaughan
Not to be reprinted without permission.
Conway, DJ. Celtic Magic. Minnesota: Llewllyn Publications, 1996.
Pennick, Nigel. Celtic Sacred Landscape. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
Rolleston, TW. The Illustrated Guide to Celtic Mythology. New York: Crescent Books, 1995,
p. 7-52.
Sharkey, John. Celtic Mysteries, The Ancient Religion. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
The Celtic Heritage Trust: http://www.dalriada.co.uk/.
Celtic Mythology and Cultural Information
Celtic Religion and Spirituality
Helena Nelson Reed - Visionary and Fine Artist
Courtney Davis - Celtic artist
References
Resources for further study