From “The Celtic Oracle” cards by John Matthews

May 31, 2020 Pentecost Sunday

It was the death of my mother, while in my mid-thirties, that led me to awareness of European Shamanism. Like the Native Americans, Europeans also have pre-Christian, shamanic roots.

My mother was a devout Catholic, with a life-long devotion to the Blessed Mother and the rosary. At the time, I began to speculate: What deities, female and otherwise, were revered prior to Christianity? This led me to research the obscure, world-wide tradition of the Black Madonna and International Shamanism.

Years later, in 2012, I visited Ireland with the intent of visiting ancient Celtic sites. The Celts originated in Northern Europe. They revered nature and their spiritual ancestors. Their shamans communicated with the spirit world through hypnotic trance, using the information retrieved for healing the community. The following are some of the highlights from my Celtic journey.

Throughout the Irish countryside, there are 65 round towers, which mark pre-Christian spiritual sites, dating from the 5th through the12th century. The towers were thought to store wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from the natural environment. It is theorized that this energy was transmitted to those meditating nearby, like the early Christian monks. I am reminded about the recent concerns with electromagnetic contamination from modern technological sources. How wonderful it would be to have these towers scattered throughout the modern world, instead of cell phone towers. The Celtic architects understood that even radiation from the sun could be transmitted for healing purposes.

Traveling north from Dublin, I explored Newgrange, a burial mound constructed in 3,700 BC. The passageway into the chamber resembles the “womb of the Earth goddess” and is pitch black without artificial lighting. Each year, on December 21, sunlight enters a shaft and travels along the passageway, terminating at a stone block decorated with spirals. I imagined the ancient Celts participating in a Winter Solstice ceremony. What did these ancient Celts realize about astronomy, with their ability to construct a burial chamber in the precise location that allowed for this yearly illumination? I was struck by the fact that millions flock to Stonehenge while relatively few are aware of Newgrange, which is much more ancient and sophisticated. What energy is still available to us, far from the Newgrange chamber, during the change in seasons ? How can we use this energy for healing?

Proceeding west to Mt. Croagh St. Patrick, a world renowned pilgrimage site, I experienced the mixture of Celtic and Christian energies. St. Patrick traveled there because it was a known Celtic site of worship. He battled demons and claimed the mountain for Christianity. Today, thousands climb the mountain as a spiritual practice that all faiths can adopt. I only made it halfway up the mountain, as it was raining and the mud made the climb treacherous. As I look back, I ponder: What happened to this relatively peaceful blending of traditions? In our current temple of political polarization, we practice our “religions” of Democrat or Republican and fight to the death to defend our stance. Even fiery St. Patrick, as he tamed the snakes, was more tolerant. What if we “tuned out” of trying to convince each other who is right and took a yearly pilgrimage to a sacred site instead?

Located in southern Ireland is the city of Cork and the famous tourist attraction, the Blarney Castle. Thought to be the home of the first Irish cave dwellers, the grounds surrounding the castle are the real treasure. I meandered around and explored such gems as “the Witch’s Kitchen” , “Fairy Glade”, and “Druid Stone”, mythical guideposts in the Blarney gardens. Belief in the “fairy people” is still alive in Ireland and I remembered one of the first movies I saw as a child, “Barby O’Guill and the Little People.” For us, fairies only exist in “fairy tales”, but it seems this belief has shamanic roots. A shamanic tradition is still remembered in Cork during the midsummer “Bonfires in the Hills.”

On June 23, one of the busiest days of the year, smoke from hundreds of fires can be seen after nightfall. The following is a description of this ritual practice from “Old Ways and Old Secrets” by Jo Kerrigan.

“The fire honors the Sun at its highest point. It had to be lit at sunset and tended until midnight had passed, and ancient communities gathered on hilltops, rocky outcrops or a crossroads specifically for this purpose. Young men and women joined hands and jumped through the flames to mark their official betrothal. Farmers leapt as high as they could, so their crops would grow tall. A married couple might leap in the hope that the Sun god would bless their union with a baby. Youths seized burning sticks and tossed them into the air as high as possible-then ducked the showers of sparks. The next day, the cold ashes were sprinkled in the fields, for a good harvest.”

While we might scoff at this tradition, it fostered the bonding of the community with the belief that the crops would be plentiful. Compare this with our modern practice of depleting the nutrients from our food supply and the creation of GMO foods, leading to chronic disease.

From the Round Towers of the Irish countryside, to the Winter Solstice illumination of the Newgrange burial mound, and moving on to the Summer Solstice Festival of the Bonfires in Cork, Celtic Shamanism is everywhere in modern Ireland, if one looks “beyond the veil”. Whatever your heritage, I encourage you to explore your shamanic roots. In so doing, we merge the energies of the ancient and present day, creating a state of shamanic balance, to heal ourselves and the planet.