The mystical lands of Tír na nÓg

Tír na Nóg, a more detailed explanation.

Tír na nÓg is the most popular of the Otherworlds in Irish mythology. it is perhaps best known from the story of Oisín, one of the few mortals who lived there, who was said to have been brought there by Niamh of the Golden Hair. It was where the Tuatha Dé Danann settled when they left Ireland's surface, and was visited by some of Ireland's greatest heroes. Tír na nÓg is similar to other mythical Irish lands such as Mag Mell and Ablach.
Tír na nÓg was considered a place beyond the edges of the map, located on an island far to the west. It could be reached by either an arduous voyage or an invitation from one of its fairy residents. The isle was visited by various Irish heroes and monks in the echtrae (Adventure) and immram (Voyage) tales popular during the Middle Ages. Contrary to popular assumption, Tír na nÓg was not an afterlife for deceased heroes, but rather a sort of an earthly paradise populated by supernatural beings, which a few sailors and adventurers have been fortunate enough to happen upon during their journeys. This otherworld was a place where sickness and death do not exist. It was a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life, and all pleasurable pursuits came together in a single place. Here happiness lasted forever; no one wanted for food or drink. It is roughly similar to the Greek Elysium, or the Valhalla of the Norse, though with notable, distinct and important differences.
I was looking threw some old folklore books that i had many years ago and came across the story of Tír na nÓg it is indeed in irish-celtic mythology and i thought it would make a great addition that you guys could incorporate into the storyline.


Main story of Tír na nÓg 
It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisin with many companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming towards them a maiden, exceedingly beautiful, riding on a snow-white steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head, and a dark-brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell around her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's hoofs, and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she said to Finn, "From very far away I have come, and now at last I have found you, Finn son of Cumhal." 

Then Finn said, "What is your land and race, maiden, and what do you seek from me? 

"My name," she said, "is Niamh of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is the love of your son Oisin." 

Then she turned to Oisin, and she spoke to him in the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was granted to her. 

"Will you go with me, Oisin, to my father's land?" 

And Oisin said, "That will I, and to the world's end," for the fairy spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any earthly thing but to have the love of Niamh of the Head of Gold. 

Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned her lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor did a horse shake his bit, nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of wind stir in the forest trees till she had made an end. 

And what she said seemed sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything they could afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could remember it 
was this: 

"Delightful is the land beyond all dreams, 
Fairer than anything your eyes have ever seen. 
There all the year the fruit is on the tree, 
And all the year the bloom is on the flower. 

"There with wild honey drip the forest trees; 
The stores of wine and mead shall never fail. 
Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there, 
Death and decay come near him never more. 

"The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire, 
Nor music cease for ever through the hall; 
The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth 
Outshine all splendors ever dreamed by man. 

"You will have horses of the fairy breed, 
You will have hounds that can outrun the wind; 
A hundred chiefs shall follow you in war, 
A hundred maidens sing thee to your sleep. 

"A crown of sovereignty your brow shall wear, 
And by your side a magic blade shall hang, 
And you will be lord of all the Land of Youth, 
And lord of Niamh of the Head of Gold."

As the magic song ended the Fians beheld Oisin mount the fairy steed and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle, and down the forest glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when clouds drive across the sun; and never did the
Fianna behold Oisin son of Finn on earth again. 

Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange, so was his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal eyes and lived to tell them with mortal lips. 

The Journey to Fairyland 
When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly over the waves, and soon the green woods and headlands of Erin faded out of sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders passed into a golden haze in which Oisin lost all knowledge of where he was, or if sea or dry land were beneath his horse's
hoofs. But strange sights sometimes appeared to them in the mist, for towers and palace gateways loomed up and disappeared, and once a hornless doe bounded by them chased by a white hound with one red ear; and again they saw a young maid ride by on a brown steed, bearing a golden apple in her hand, and close behind her followed a young horseman on a white steed, a purple cloak floating at his back and a gold-hilted sword in his hand. And Oisin would have asked the princess who and what these apparitions were, but Niamh bade him ask nothing nor seem to notice any phantom they might see until they were come to the Land of Youth. 

Oisin's Return 
The story goes on to tell how Oisin met with various adventures in the Land of Youth, including the rescue of an imprisoned princess from a Fomorian giant. But at last, after what seemed to him a sojourn of three weeks in the Land of Youth, he was satiated with delights of every kind, and longed to visit his native land again and
to see his old comrades.

He promised to return when he had done so, and Niamh gave him the white fairy steed that had borne him across the sea to Tir na nÓg, but charged him that when he had reached the Land of Erin again he must never alight from its back nor touch the soil of the earthly world with his foot, or the way of return to the Land of Youth would be barred to him for ever. 

Oisin then set forth, and once more crossed the mystic ocean, finding himself at last on the western shores of Ireland. Here he made at once for the Hill of Allen, where the dun of Finn was wont to be, but marveled, as he traversed the woods, that he met no sign of the Fian hunters and at the small size of the folk whom he saw tilling the ground. 

At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where the Hill of Allen was wont to rise, broad and green, with its rampart enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering high in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds and whin bushes, and among them pastured a
peasant's kine.

Then a strange horror fell upon him and he thought some enchantment from the land of Sidhe held his eyes and mocked him with false visions. He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and Oscar, but none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds might hear him, so he cried upon Bran and Sceolan and strained his ears if they might catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world from the sight
of which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the sighing of the wind in the whins. 

Then he rode in terror from that place, setting his face towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse Ireland from side to side and end to end in search of some escape from his enchantment 

The Broken Spell 
But when he came near to the eastern sea, and was now in the place which is called the Valley of the Thrushes,* he saw in a field upon the hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside a great boulder from their tilled land, and an overseer directing them. 

Towards them he rode, meaning to ask them concerning Finn and the Fianna. As he came near they all stopped their work to gaze upon him, for to them he appeared like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an angel from heaven. Taller and mightier he was than the men-folk they knew, with sword-blue eyes and brown, ruddy cheeks ; in his mouth, as it were, a shower of pearls, and bright hair clustered beneath the rim of his helmet. 

And as Oisin looked upon their puny forms, marred by toil and care, and at the stone which they feebly strove to heave from its bed, he was filled with pity, and thought to himself,
"Not such were even the churls of Erin when I left them for the Land of Youth " and he stooped from his saddle to help them. He set his hand to the boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted it from where it lay and set it rolling down the hill. And the men raised a shout of wonder and applause; but their shouting changed in a
moment into cries of terror and dismay, and they fled, jostling and overthrowing each other to escape from the place of fear, for a marvel horrible to see had taken place. 

For Oisin's saddle girth had burst as he heaved the stone and he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant the white steed had vanished from their eyes like a
wreath of mist, and that which rose, feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful warrior, but a man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and withered, who stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and bitter cries. 

And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but coarse
homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted sword was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the roads from farmer's house to house. 

When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for them they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with his face hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up, and asked who he was and what had befallen him. 

Oisin gazed round on them with dim eyes, and at last he said, "I was Oisin the son of
Finn, and I pray you tell me where he dwells, for his dun on the Hill of Allen is now a desolation, and I have neither seen him nor heard his hunting-horn from the western to the eastern sea." 

Then the men gazed strangely on each other and on Oisin, and the overseer asked, "Of what Finn do you speak, for there be many of that name in Erin?" 

Oisin said, "Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of Erin."
Then the overseer said, "You are daft, old man, and you have made us daft to take you for a youth as we did a while ago. 

But we at least have now our wits again and we know that Finn son of Cumhal and all his generation have been dead these three hundred years. At the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisin, and Finn at the battle of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays of Oisin, whose death no man knows the manner of, are sung by our harpers at great men's feasts.

But now the Talkenn*, Patrick has come into Ireland and has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son, by whose might these old days and ways are done away with; and Finn and his Fianna, with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of love,
have no such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of Holy Patrick, and the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from sin and to save us from the fire of judgment."

But Oisin replied, only half hearing and still less comprehending what was said to him, "If your God has slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man." Then they all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till he should order what was to be done.

Originally: http://www.celtic-heroes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=272

Trinertá, the Three Forces

The universe emerged from a triad, Trinertá, the Three Forces. the three elements, ie, the two opposing forces and their resultant, arising from the first movement in the Immensity supra-causal and non-differentiated Bituimon. This triad is the primary basis for all aspects of the universe. These three basic forces are mentioned in cosmology as a centripetal attraction, a centrifugal force and balance.

The centripetal action, personified by Lugus, the immanent, the Preserver of the universe is called Biwotúts ("existence"), because there is a concentration of energy, a force of agglomeration. On the mental plane, the cohesive force is the tendency that lights up the unit.

The centrifugal action, called Demerá ("dark"), is the force that seeks to prevent the dispersion concentration. This tendency toward disintegration is the symbol of the final dissolution of all existence in Non-Being. It therefore represents a release. This force of annihilation is personified by dits firing, the Destroyer of Worlds, also called Dagodéwos, Good God

The balance of centripetal and centrifugal gives rise to the third trend, the tendency to orbiting, Suimon, which is the source of the activity. She is personified by the Creator, He-Who-Is-Eternal Bitumios.

Albiyon (the universe) is composed of the Three Worlds:

• Magoniyá, "Divine Plan", the world of heaven (heaven);
• Bitus, the world we inhabit, formed by Nemos (heaven, sky), Talamú (Earth), Mori (Sea);
• Dubnon, the Abyss, the Underworld.

Linking the Three Worlds is Albiyon Beliyon, the World Tree.

therefore:

Three fundamentals of Albiyon: Biwotúts, Demerá, Suimon. And its root is in Undifferentiated Bituimon.

Three worlds of Albiyon: Magoniyá, and Bitus Dubnon. And these are joined by Beliyon.

Three parts of Bitus: Nemos, Talamú and Mori.

It is rooted in that order triadic organization of knowledge: it reflects his identification with the origin of life (and the truth behind appearances) and emphasizes its sacredness and eternal.

The effectiveness of three trends binds to the three ways of being: existence, consciousness and experience. It is this realization of the root space, thought and time. The demonstration takes place, respectively, in the three states of wakefulness (state deperto), dream and deep sleep. The waking state binds to Suimon, ie Bitumios, the dream, the Biwotúts, ie Lugus, the deep sleep, the Demerá, ie, the Dagodéwos.

The tendency to orbiting (what we might call "stability"), which depends on the essence of space, is the source of all spheres of existence perceptible. In the waking state, we effected the experience of existence, you need space and time related. Thus, this state is related to Bitumios, the Immense Being, the Creator. The action, specifically, the ritual action, is the way the corresponding realization.

In the dream state, we effected the experience of the centripetal tendency, the essence of thought, which represents the process of manifestation of the subtle plane in the world. The thought, you know, are the way of corresponding realization. The man who dreams actually recreates the world in symbolic terms.

The deep sleep, which is the inactive state of consciousness is the perception of happiness, the causal state of experience. The tendency to disintegration is the causal aspect of the three qualities; the waking state and dream state emerge from the obscurity of deep sleep and it dissolves. The state of deep sleep is linked to Dagodéwos.

It is not in action, in complete silence of thought, we can achieve the highest degree of consciousness, the pure existence of perfect happiness.

From the standpoint of human achievement, the Dagodéwos Represents the final dissolution of the individual, while the Immanent, the Preserver, Lugus, Represents the supreme enlightenment, the experience of the transcendent God to turn Which all religions. In Fact, the religions Often not know anything Beyond the aspect of Lugus Beyond anything and not about her means of realization.

The position or rank of the three qualities varies with the position of the observer. From the standpoint of human action, is the inferior aspect Demerá, Biwotúts, the most high. Demerá manifests as death, evil, inactivity at the time only the action seemed to work. However, from the standpoint of spiritual realization in which the action is the main obstacle is the inferior aspect Biwotúts, which creates bonds through the merit and virtue, and Demerá the most high, the release of the non-action.

In the process of manifestation, more and more complex relationships between the three trends emerge, giving rise to various types of existence, different beings, distinct entities. The various planes of existence are distinguished by the relative proportion of the action of three trends:

Biwotús (existence) in Biwotúts (existence) is the nature of the Self (Self), anamú (the soul).

Suimon (orbiting) in Biwotúts (existence) is the nature of divinity.

Demerá (dark) in Biwotúts (existence) is the nature of being alive.

Biwotúts (existence) in Suimon (orbiting) as the meeting of the mind, intellect, consciousness and perception of individuality (the internal instrument by which we perceive as being different).

Suimon (orbiting) in Suimon (orbiting) is the nature of the vital energies.

Demerá (dark) in Suimon (orbiting) form the senses.

Biwotúts (existence) in Demerá (dark) gives rise to the principles of the elements.

Demerá (dark) in Demerá (dark) is the nature of the forms of inanimate physical world.

The gods have Suimon (orbiting, that is, stability) on Biwotúts (existence, ie, aggregation), which makes them ever existing. Living things (not that the gods are not living beings) have Demerá (dark, ie, breakdown, instability) on Biwotúts (existence), which makes them available, but unstable, constantly changing from one state to another.

Translated from: http://bellovesos.multiply.com/journal/item/155

Litus

Dú kaglái wolugun son dewyú
Déwobo Andéwobok owkselobo arimantobok,
Senisamonbo karatomarwobo,
Anamonbo legesos sosio, sedon umé biye.

Samalí esát,
Samalí est,
Samalí bisyet,
O, samalí bisyet!

Ratus ratuwon
Wer trís ollús.

Gutus wíryás,
Gutus enepoklowesos,
Gutus sulabaryás tou biyet.

Bowdilanyá moréos,
Bowdilanyá lugrás,
Bowdilanyá nemesos tou biyet.

Ratus ratuwon
Wer tou wergán.


This light illuminates to welcome
Gods and not-gods, noble and honorable,
To the Ancestors, dead loved ones,
The spirits of this place, peace be with you.

As it was,
As it is,
How will
Oh, how it will be!

A blessing of blessings
On all three.

The voice of truth,
The voice of reputation,
The voice of eloquence is yours..

The bounty of the sea,
The generosity of the moon,
The bounty of heaven is yours.

A blessing of blessings
On your work.


By: Bellovesos, http://bellovesos.multiply.com/photos/album/133/Litus#

The Three Rays of Light

                                                       
Einigen, the giant, first of all beings, he saw three rays of light descending fromheaven. These three rays were also a word of three syllables, the true name of GodCeli, hidden spirit of life that creates all things. Them all was the knowledge that ever existed, exists or will exist. Contemplating these rays, Einigen took three stickscarved rowan mad and they all knowledge of letters in straight lines and slopes. But when others saw bats, misunderstood and worshiped as gods bats rather than the knowledge they learn writing. So great was the sadness and anger Einigen why itbroke and he died.


When they had been a year and a day after the death of Einigen, Menw, son ofTeirwaedd, came across the skull of Einigen and saw that the three rowan wild batshad taken root and were growing inside of her mouth. His traditions of the rods haveto Gwydoniaidd - the ancient sages of the Celts - and, finally, one for druids. Thus, the knowledge that one day had shone into three major rays of light so now the wisdom of the Druidic religion.


The tale of the giant Einigen and three rays of light is the origin myth of DruidRenewal. The spokes themselves form the central symbol of Druidism and constantly arise wherever the teachings of the Druidic Renewal have left traces. They representAwen, the heart of the Druidic path.


What is Awen? In its most basic meaning, means spirit, inspiration and enlightenment. Awen is the inner light that gives the mind the ability to reach beyond itself. Awen is the verse that turns writers into poets and shows flashes of the future prophets and seers.


The Druids of Renewal studied the traditions of Awen and linked it to the knowledge and experience from many sources. They knew that people of all religions have experienced moments of illumination when the world took a deep meaning. Some of these experiences, they knew, occurred when people turned their attention outward, toward nature and the great spiritual powers of nature that humans called gods. They knew that other similar experiences took place when people turned their attention inward to the center of themselves.


These two modes are symbolized by experience two ways to draw the three rays of Light The first, the way invocative \ | /, represents the experience of Einigen - Awen of the descent of a divine source external to the individual. The second, the form most commonly used evocative   / | \, represents the experience of Menw - the awakening ofAwen within the individual soul through study and contemplation. The two formstogether make up the emblem called Tribann.

                                                              Invokes, Evokes, Tribann



The tale of three rays of light is a myth, not history. However, the word "myth" to be understood carefully. Today, many people use this word meaning a narrative that is not true. Real myths, however, are not outright lies, even if they have nothing to do with historical fact. As the Greek philosopher Sallust *: "Myths are things that never happened but always are."


So, absolutely does not matter if a person called Menw ap Teirwaedd existed, was found the skull of a giant with three branches of the rowan tree growing in it or if ithappened exactly 366 days after the death of the giant. The journalistic sense ofliteral fact that the fundamentalists to bring the sacred texts have no place in understanding the Druidic myth. The heart of any myth is not whether it happened - or,for that matter who wrote it - but what it means and what it has to teach.


The discernment itself is, in fact, among the things that the tale teaches Einigen.Einigen recognized the rays of light and Menw recognized as having the branches of knowledge. Others who saw the sticks failed on that understanding and loved thesticks instead of learning his message. There is here a hard lesson about the difference between a religion of belief and spirituality based on understanding. The worshipers of bats treated them as objects of faith and have missed every teachingthat these objects intended to convey. Likewise, someone can believe in reportingand Einigen Menw and never understand that this legend has something to teach.


However, this is not the only lesson of the myth. The three rays are also three cheers and three parts of God's name Celi, the hidden source of all things. This name is the word Awen, divided into three syllables: en-au. Take a moment and think about what it means. Awen, the interior lighting that gives gifts of poetry and prophecy, is the real name of the source of all things. Play the Awen is touching the divine energy that creates the universe. Write a poem that captures a ray of inspiration is to represent the achievement of Einigen whose rowan bats captured the wisdom manifested in the three rays of light. Read a poem and catch a glimpse of the original inspiration is to represent the Menw done. The tale of three rays of light is then recounted in every work of creativity.


In Druidic religion, the three rays are also the three first rays of the rising sun at the summer solstice, the winter solstice and the equinoxes, shining on a standing stoneand casting its shadow on the floor. The sun's rays map shape relied upon as the shadow map shape is evocative.


An ancient myth, found in many legends describes the creation of the cosmos by the body of a primordial giant. In these legends, the giant skull becomes the sky. The myth of Welsh Einigen, echoing these ancient stories, show bats rowan angry that rise from the dead giant's skull instead of auroras that define the year. Thus, another significance of the year is reenacted every year when the Sun rises in the three key positions on the eastern horizon: Southeast at the winter solstice, summer solstice in the north, just east of the equinoxes in spring and autumn.



                                            
                                              Summer Solstice, Equinoxes, Winter Soltice




Each ray has its own symbolism and meaning. The first radius, or radius of the winter solstice, extends southeast \ | / or towards the north / | \. His name is Gwron (gu-ron)and represents the sun at its lowest point at the winter solstice, between the dark and cold winter. Gwron is knowledge of Awen.


The second radius, or radius of the summer solstice, extends from the northeast \ | / or to the southeast / | \. It's called Plenydd (Ple-Nith) and represents the sun of the summer solstice, at the height of his power. Plenydd is the power of Awen.


The third ray, or ray equator, extends east \ | / or to the west / | \. His name is Alawn (a-lon) and represents the sun at the equilibrium point, midway between its upwardand downward cycles of the year. Alawn is the peace of Awen.


Gwron, Plenydd Alawn and are also the names of three mysterious figures of the legend, the first three bards of Britain. A narrative of Bardas said they were the first to establish the degrees of Bard, Vate and Druid Gwydoniaidd among the masters of the tradition among the Celts, in the days before their wanderings bring them to Britain. The Bards, which preserve the knowledge of the past correspond to the radius of the winter solstice. The vates, who are the living power of the spiritual realms correspond to the radius of the summer solstice. The Druids, linking knowledge and power could separate and traditionally hosts the edge of the fight to bring peace, correspond to the central ray of the equinoxes.


Source: Greer, John Michael. The Druidry Handbook; spiritual practice rooted in the living earth. Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, York Beach ME, 2006, p. 49-54. ISBN 1-57863-354-0. 


The Three Rays of Light, Gwron, Plenydd and Alawn form the First Triad of Druidism.


* In the work Peri theon kai kosmos ("On the Gods and the world") century. IV A. D. (translator's note).






Translated from:  http://bellovesos.multiply.com/journal/item/141