The Blackbird

The Blackbirds have been singing their spring songs for the last few days and they have inspired me. So here is what the Druid animal oracle has to say about them.

Blackbird.
Druid Dhubh.

Enchantment, The Gateway, The Inner call.

The card shows a blackbird sitting on a rowan tree. It is twilight and the first stars are appearing in the sky. In the background we see the entrance to an enchanted cave. Druid Dhubh is the bird of both the gateway and the forge.

Druid Dhubh calls to us from the gateway between two worlds, urging us to follow a spiritual path or to become more self aware. He calls to us in the twilight, showing us the path to otherworldly secrets, pointing out the ways in which we can discover more about our hidden motivations and potential. There are times in life when it is important to concentrate on the outer world and you responsibilities in that world, but there are also times when you must attend to the haunting song of your soul which calls you to a study of spiritual truths, and to an exploration of the inner world through dreams and myths. In heeding Druid Dhubh’s song, you will discover healing and new depths in your soul.

The Tradition of the Blackbird.

One of the Gaelic names for the blackbird, Druid Dhubh, means the Black Druid. Druid Dhubh is a bird which sings beautifully and melodiously at twilight, and even later. Twilight is the shimmering time, a time of transition between one reality and the next. Such in-between times are considered especially significant in the Druid tradition. The blackbird sings to us as the world changes around us, as the time of daylight and consciousness and the concrete world gives way to the moon-time of the unconscious, of the otherworld. His song reminds us that these gateway times are ones of great beauty and potential.

If we are to follow Druid Dhubh’s song we will be led to a place of depth and enchantment from which we may uncover secrets about ourselves and the world.

From the Druid Animal Oracle.

Dance With the Goddess

Come dance with me my love,
come dance, the dance of life.
Surrender yourself to my embrace
lose yourself in me.
Know that I am your Goddess and your lover,
lay with me and create the gift of life.
Lay with me through the dark and sultry night
and with the dawn
a new day will be born.
Do not fear me my love,
Do not fear your feelings.
For with me is love made perfect.
I am your beginning.
I am your maturity.
I am your end.
So come dance with me my love,
and we will live forever.

pangur ban

The Song of Amergin

 

I am a stag: of seven tines,
I am a flood: across a plain,
I am a wind: on a deep lake,
I am a tear: the Sun lets fall,
I am a hawk: above the cliff,
I am a thorn: beneath the nail,
I am a wonder: among flowers,
I am a wizard: who but I
Sets the cool head aflame with smoke?

I am a spear: that roars for blood,
I am a salmon: in a pool,
I am a lure: from paradise,
I am a hill: where poets walk,
I am a boar: ruthless and red,
I am a breaker: threatening doom,
I am a tide: that drags to death,
I am an infant: who but I
Peeps from the unhewn dolman arch?

I am the womb: of every holt,
I am the blaze: on every hill,
I am the queen: of every hive,
I am the shield: for every head,
I am the tomb: of every hope.

~1530 B.C.E.

Song of Amergin translated by Robert Graves, from The White Goddess, Faber and Faber Limited, 24 Russell Square London WC1. It appears here under the principle of Fair Use.

The Land of Fantasy.

 

Land of fantasy.

Sleep comes eyelids drooping
carrying me of to the land of Morpheus.
There to find wonders beyond belief.
Fabulous flying faeries of vibrant hue,
Crimson red and cobalt blue
Turquoise green and saffron yellow, rainbow streaks
In the air.
Here there be dragons to
Of every shape and size..and hue.
Big fire breathing monsters protecting their golden hoard,
Their smaller cousins here also can be found
Alighting on your shoulder singing sweet songs of joy.
And as you travel this land of wonder
The biggest wonder of all, you may see the Elven ones
Travelling on their way, and if ....if you're very lucky
They may stop and share with you
Songs of magical daring do.
But all to soon its over you wake with a start!
And find on your pillow
Fairy dust, a piece of gold and forest leaves.
pangur-ban

My Sanctuary

My sanctuary is quite a complex landscape that exists on the astral plain. I enter my sanctuary via a moonlit bay which is horseshoe in shape comprising of a shingle bank where the waves slowly break onto the shore and sea Otters play  amongst the breakers.

Walking slowly inland the landscape turns to heathland dominated by silver birch trees and the air is full of insects and the chirring of night jars.

Walking further inland the heathland gives way to a very English country lane bounded by an ancient hedgerow where it is always late summer early autumn with the blackberries and sloes in full fruit. It is here where my teacher the grey haired crone parks her wagon.

As I leave the hedgerow behind I start to climb as the landscape becomes one of downland with the grass waving in the wind. This is a place of horses and giants carved into the chalk and dominating the down is a huge standing stone full twenty feet tall and covered in carved spirals.

As I climb the last hill it is here that my sacred grove can be found within in a perfect ring of silver birches, in the centre of the grove a fire is always burning. it is here that I meet my animal guides and find a safe environment to work with my gwers.