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The spiritual lineage of Celtic Druidry, spans many thousands of years. For the Celts, the Earth and the Realm of Nature were alive with sacredness and with the elementals of fire, earth, air, and water, who were imbued with innate divinity and purposeful beingness. The ancient Celts were foremost pilgrim travellers embarked on a spiritual journey living a physical existence, which they perceived as one of many interconnected lifetimes, in an eternal sea of ever evolving sacred spiraling energy. To them the veils between the realms, worlds, and dimensions were gossamer thin, dancing about with the winds of cyclical change and the poetic rhythms of divinity. While the endless knot was symbolic of eternal life and flowing continuity as the soul journeyed a path without a beginning or an ending, the spiraling, swirling patterns which the Celts used to express their spiritual connectivity with the sacred mysteries, reflected the inspirational beauty and harmony of the Natural World. The boundaries between this world and the Otherworld were adaptable, fluidic, and malleable. All mortals had the ability or aptitude to cross over the thresholds between lands and realms and to travel back and forth between them. During the Festivals of Beltaine and Samhain the boundaries betwixt and between worlds disappeared for a time, for a spell.
All of the animals,
forests, lakes, mountains, rivers, and trees were blessed and holy to the Celts
and worthy of their utmost reverence. The Natural World inspired their
imaginations and enlivened their art. The Celts preferred to perform their
rituals outside in the Natural World underneath the never-ending circle of sky
in forest clearings. in open air shrines, and in sacred groves.
The Divine Forest, typified by the Sacred Grove or Nemeton was hallowed ground for the Celts who preferred to revere their Goddesses and Gods in natural spaces. Sacred Groves were the settings for ceremonies, meetings, and sanctuaries. For instance the Galatian Celts met at the Oak Sanctuary once a year to discuss crucial tribal concerns. Woods were so sacred to the Celts and played such a significant role in their overall cultural existence that at one time the Celtic heartlands in Northern Europe and Southern Germany were almost entirely covered with trees. Although they had the Ogham written language, the Celts rarely used it, preferring instead to pass on their beliefs, knowledge, and wisdom through the time honored method of their oral traditions. The Druids, who travelled widely among the Celtic tribes, were the keepers of the Celtic Calendar which corresponded to the months with the Celtic Tree Alphabet and the vowels of the Ogham.
So for each of the months
there was a corresponding tree from which an overall Tree Calendar emerged. The
Celtic Year then was divided into thirteen months with an extra day or two
adjustment at the end of the year...
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