IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
Celtic Art, Celtic Myths, The Lord of Animals, Transformation, Shapeshifting, Metamorphosis, Mother Goddesses, Babh & Morrigan, Cliodna, Rhiannon, The Cauldron of Rebirth, Celtic knot, Cernunnos The Horned God, Fairy mounds or Sidhe, Magic Apple Tree, Apples of Immortality, Genii Cucullati or Hooded Spirits, Epona, Tir na n'Og, The Land of Youth, Magic Cauldron, The Otherworld Kingdom of Manannen, The God of the Sea,The Washer At The Ford, Druids, Celtic Priests, Bards, Fairy Muse, The Gift of Divination and Poetry, The Celtic Year, The Great Celtic Festivals: Beltaine, Samhain, Lughnasa, Imbolg, Halloween
CELTIC SERIES
RHIANNON (SOLD)
Otherworld Goddess Rhiannon was said to ride a white horse. Legend had it that she rode so fast that no mortal being every saw her properly, the best they could hope for was a flash.
No one is quite sure when the Celts first emerged as a distinct culture. The early Celts were skilled metal workers. They introduced the art of iron-forging to Europe. They were accomplished warriors. The iron-forging technology provided them with swords, spears and awe-inspiring iron-wheeled chariots. By the 6th century BC they had expanded into what are now the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria as well as Belgium, The Netherlands and north eastern France from Normandy to the Alps. Three centuries later they had reached Britain and Ireland as well as the western half of the Iberian peninsula.
As warrior people the Celts worshipped a wide range of martial gods and goddesses. War goddesses spurred warriors on to victory, but they also appeared in the form of a raven or a crow, an omen of death, in battle. From inscriptions and written texts we know that there were about four hundred (!) gods and goddesses!
Some ancient Celtic deities may have taken the form of animals, later to become figures such as Cernunnos, 'The Horned God ', (to read more about Antler Symbolism see Pazyryk Series!) a widespread feritlity god associated with forests. Cernunnos was probably venerated as the 'Lord of Animals' and came to be depicted as a bearded man with antlers or horns. In Celtic myths there were countless instances of transformation or shapeshifting. I.e. human beings changed into animals and back again. (To read more about this phenomenon see Apogrypha and Shamanism) Birds and animals were supposed to possess supernatural powers. The Mother Goddesses Babh and Morrigan were able to metamorphose into a crow or raven. In that form they were said to hover over battlefields as harbingers of death to those fighting below.
The Otherworld queen Cliodna possessed three birds whose song restored health. In Celtic myth animals are associated with healing and believed to possess special wisdom that can be used to help mortals.
The goddess Epona was associated with horses. She was usually shown mounted on a mare dispensing fruit, grain or bread. She was also connected with the journey of the soul from this life to the Otherworld. For this reason she is often depicted bearing a key, followed by a human figure.
Numbers played an important part in Celtic mystic thinking. The number five represented the world - north, east, south, west and centre. This is reflected, for instance, in the five provinces of Ireland. But the number three was paramount. The mystic quality of number three was reflected in the three tiers of the universe: Heaven, Earth and Otherworld and the three types of being who inhabited the cosmos: mortals, deities and the dead.
CELTIC KNOT (80 x 100 cm) £495
Celtic knots are a variety of endless knots and stylized representations of knots adopted by the ancient Celts. These knots are best known for their adaptation for use in Christian monuments (such as Celtic Crosses) and manuscripts (think: Book of Kells).
Many Celtic deities possessed three manifestations, such as the Genii Cucullati ('Hooded Spirits'). These were fertility spirits who are depicted as wearing long hooded capes. They are often found in the company of the triple mother goddess. This triplication implied great potency. Many images of three-headed gods and animals also occur as well as images of triple-horned bulls. In the myths unusual phenomena tend to come in threes. Otherworld Beings appear in threes just before a critical or dramatic event. The Triple Mother Goddess often appears alongside the male triple fertility god Hooded Spirit. In Irish myths a hero is believed to know that his death is imminent when he sees three red-headed warriors riding in front of him.
It is important to remember that in this age most people did not live beyond early childhood. Those who did spent most of their lives in a struggle to avoid hunger and disease. The Mother Goddess was of central importance. She presided over all aspects of female fertility and childbirth. She was frequently depicted breastfeeding a baby. Mother Goddesses were also linked to the fertility of the land and individual prosperity.
Life in the Otherworld consisted of hunting and feasting. Those who lived there knew neither pain nor sickness. Not did they grow old. For this reason the Otherworld was also known as Tir na n-Og, 'The Land of Youth'. There were magic cauldrons that dispensed an inexhaustible supply of food and drink. There were magic apple trees that produced a never-ending supply of apples that granted immortality.
THE CELTIC CAULDRON OF REBIRTH
(Monoprint)
Manannan, the God of the Sea, was said to have built invisible barriers to keep mortals out of the Otherworld. Even so there were plenty of tales of individuals crossing over by accident or being led there by magic animals or fairy women. However, mortals venturing into the Otherworld deliberately tended to encounter demons, monsters and other perils, rather than the land of bliss that greeted the newly dead or accidental arrivals. The Otherworld Kingdom of Mannanan did not lie below ground, it was a group of enchanted islands.
As regards the 'monsters guarding the Otherworld', there is an interesting link here with the Dragons Series. There it is explained that dragons are often terrifying and destructive creatures unless they are 'employed' by the Gods as guardians. Click on Mythical Beasts and see the Dragons section!
At times rivers and streams possessed a (sinister) symbolism as boundaries between life and death. A common theme is that of the 'Washer at the Ford' - a war goddess waiting at a ford, sometimes in the form of a woman but also sometimes in the shape of a raven or a crow. She determined which of the warriors who passed were to perish on the battlefield that day...
The Druids, or Celtic priests, had a lot of influence in Celtic society. They interceded between this world and the gods. Human sacrifice played a role in this. They were diviners, predicing auspicious dates for harvests, wars and so forth. They acted as judges. They were guardians of the Celtic tradition. The oak tree was central to many rituals of the Druids (click to read more about this in the Sacred Trees Series!) The word Druid may be derived from the Celtic word for oak. Druids travelled freely. Tribes who were at war with each other would always give free passage to a Druid! There is evidence that female Druids formed a group of their own. Women Druids often appear in myths.
SIDHE (80 x 100 cm) £495
In Irish myths bards sometimes fall asleep on a sidhe (burial or fairy mound), dreaming of a leanon sidh (or Learning Fairy). This was a Fairy Muse who granted the gift of divination and poetry. It was said that if you were brave enough to sleep on a fairy mound, you'd wake up either a poet or a madman the next morning!
(Interesting enough this is not just a Celtic notion. In many cultures people believed, or even still believe today, that sleeping near or on graves of ancestors would produce dreams that offer a solution to problems from everyday reality).
Nature was sacred to the Celts. They rarely enclosed their places of worship. Divinity was in lakes, springs and groves. They preferred to use nature's own boundaries, such as a group of trees or the bank of a river, to seperate sacred space from the everyday world. Forest groves were especially hallowed as natural spaces where people could gather to venerate gods and spirits. People threw offerings into the lakes and rivers: weapons, coins and jewellery. No one dared steal these things for fear of upsetting the gods! There is evidence of human sacrifice too.
Among the items offered to water deities were cauldrons. The famous 'Cauldron of Rebirth' restored the dead to life in a medieval Welsh myth. Many Celtic Otherworld tales tell about the search for Otherworld cauldrons. In late Celtic mythology, especially the Arthurian myths, Christianity takes centre stage. Instead of the quest for the Magic Cauldron, there is the quest for the Holy Grail (i.e. the cup used at the Last Supper and the cup that received Christ's blood at the Crucifixion).
Early Irish literature records four great seasonal festivals that marked important divisions of the Celtic year. Summer began at Beltaine ('Great Fire') on May 1st. Winter began at Samhain ('End of Summer') on November 1st. Then there was Lughnasa (1st August, Harvest Festival) and Imbolg ('Sheep's Milk', on February 2nd, marking the beginning of Spring and the birth of lambs). These great festivals were also magical times, when the boundaries between the everyday world and the Otherworld faded. Particularly on Samhain, the boundaries disappeared altogether and the Sidhe (fairy) mounds opened. Our Halloween celebrations hark from this, tales of the walking dead and spirits rising from the grave.
It is lucky that the advent of Christianity did not mean the wholesale destruction of the Celtic heritage. We owe almost our entire knowledge of Celtic mythology to the monks who took great care from the 5th century onward to write down the ancient sagas.
Imelda Almqvist, April 2006
(Last Updated August 2010)
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THE CELTS Life, Myth and Art Juliette Wood Duncan Baird Publishers London 1998 ISBN 1-900131-86-2
HEROES OF THE DAWN Celtic Myth Duncan Baird Publishers London 1996 ISBN 0-7154-2171-6
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY The Myths and Legends of the Celtic World Arthur Cotterell Hermes House London 2002 ISBN 1-84038-724-6
Celtic Art, Celtic Myths, The Lord of Animals, Transformation, Shapeshifting, Metamorphosis, Mother Goddesses, Babh & Morrigan, Cliodna, Rhiannon, The Cauldron of Rebirth, Celtic knot, Cernunnos The Horned God, Fairy mounds or Sidhe, Magic Apple Tree, Apples of Immortality, Genii Cucullati or Hooded Spirits, Epona, Tir na n'Og, The Land of Youth, Magic Cauldron, The Otherworld Kingdom of Manannen, The God of the Sea,The Washer At The Ford, Druids, Celtic Priests, Bards, Fairy Muse, The Gift of Divination and Poetry, The Celtic Year, The Great Celtic Festivals: Beltaine, Samhain, Lughnasa, Imbolg, Halloween
IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
