I used to- quite contrary to how I see things now- harbour certain national identitarian fantasies. That is, before I realised just how doubly illusory and misleading these abstractions and divisions are (and how easily exploited to manipulate, control people and yoke them into the agendas of the powerful or would-be powerful). I even attempted to compose a kind of national theosophy for Ireland in the form of a Gita, replacing Lord KRSNA of the Bhagavad-Gita with Cu Chulainn. I suppose, reading back, it just represents my state of mind at the time which was one of high anxiety, (it was just after the ’08 financial crash) confusion, and a total lacking of real grounding – as well as the very neoliberal capitalist urge to develop, present and ‘sell’ an identity. This latter I see now at the root of a lot of the ethno/national/religious-identitarianism, and plastic-traditionalism that proliferates across social media, but also in academia, and actual political movements and theories (what I call Larp Fiction). I’ve long since given it all up. I realised that most of the divisions, distinctions, identities that we hold to be real are really only illusions- ours by our own creation or handed down/pressed onto to us -projected onto illusion, and that they are more usually than not the causes for needless antagonism and suffering. I take the view now that the broader, more general and inclusive, and simpler the basic set of characteristics regarding humanity – as in one species of life on one life supporting planet- the more realistic, the more unifying, and thus less malignant. Anyhow. This following is a selected piece from those compositions of my benighted days!
The Spectral Chariot of Cu Chulainn
Revelation in Dublin (2009)
I saw-
Rising from the earth appeared the phantom chariot of great Cu Chulainn. The hero stood within, arms raised, blazing in a green fiery effulgence as the vision ascended the chill air, hovering over the pines. Vast and mighty was the form as it rolled out, encompassing the night sky . All the newly awakened stars appeared in it’s embrace. Upon the champion’s shoulder sat a great black crow, eyes flashing in many hues. Fair was his countenance- noble, shining, and kind. About his shoulders, a cloak of turquoise was swept, purple was his tunic, silver his great brooch. His voice boomed as the wind of creation echoes through the caverns of perpetual becoming. Thus spoke the Divine Mind through the mouth of Ireland’s ancient hero-
Cu Chulainn speaks–
Seeker, son, suppliant, the crisis weighs thee down
Downcast are thine eyes
Heavy, thine haunted heart
Thou would know of the Real
lying firm beneath the opined
Forth to the Fortress of Night
My words as wheels lead on
Listen!
1
‘Of old, Setanta was my name,
Setanta, son of the Light
Guard hound of the great artificer I became,
no name need I, for I am always the Self
As for you, and me, and all this around
Though appearing distinct-
Branches of the same tree
Listen!
And here, the face of the hero blazed into new radiance,
more brilliant than any star,
and yet, easy to gaze upon.
His visage became two, then three, four,
Then twenty four,
Then myriad!
He exclaimed-
2
Here is a Mystery!
This is I,
As the Darkness, in peace, I rest
From the Dark Waters, as the Mind, I rise
As the Spirit of the Mother,
I generate and am generated
I am the World, the Soul, and the Gods
I am the going forth, I am the return
I am the rest, as I am the Home
This is I,
3
‘Hail to the One
Who makes of Themselves millions!
Hail to the One
that through mortal minds is sought,
found and seen in many, many ways
Hail to the One,
Whom mortals praise with myriad names,
telling but some
of the glory of That One. Hail!’
4
That which lies as the self within,
verily, it is the support of all
This Universe cannot appear without a substratum
and that substratum is the emptying Self of all
5
Formless, yet all forms containing
Living ,dying, living, yet beyond life and death
Male, female, both and neither
Animate, inanimate,
Pervading, presenting all
6
Many have seen this light within
It perceives Itself through countless eyes,
Itself, it embraces through uncounted limbs
All this, the Self,
And yet it is Alone
7
Forth from That One ascends the Mind,
The Mind casts forth Being,
From Being proceeds all multitude,
And multitude returns to That One
8
Truly, all potent is the One
from Whom the Universe proceeds,
and in Which it lives.
Therefore, do not say of the One,
that It is this He, She,
They, but no other.
Neither say of the One
that it is all but this He, She or They
For, verily, there is nothing that is not the One
9
in the beginning, there is the Night,
And this Darkness hums eternal
With a fathomless Sentience pervaded
It’s tides give rise to All
Here child is the substratum
Nothing outside exists
All-Being, all potent is the Deep.
10
As the Sun precedes it’s rays,
So does the Spirit precede the Sun,
From the porch to the eternal,
there ebbs and flows the perpetual.
11
Light on the Dark Water,
Light from the Dark Water,
Light in the Dark Water,
Light of the Dark Water.
12
Hail to Her, the Absolute, the Mother,
In Whose consciousness, this Universe is
Rising as suns and worlds
And ever returning Into Her womb.
13
Verily Her Mind manifests
as this immensity,
This star-bath of appearance
Unto itself
as a million sights and more
in truth It is One
One and no more
14
One is the Mother of the Gods
One is She,
Whose shadow falls on millions
15
Marvelous is all this, the Universe
In the Mind of the Great Mother
Dreamer of the Everliving Dream
On the waves of eternal Night
16
Hail to the Mother
in the hour of pain
All power bestowing
Greater than the Gods
Mistress of all the Worlds
17
Hail to the Mother at the hour of Death
divine One, all-encompassing
Silent Queen before Sea, King and Sun
Lady of the Lantern,
Mind of the Wakeful Dark
Voice of Creation
Power flowing through the Gods
Hail to the Knowing
Appearing as the Known
18
As thy mind about thyself is wound
so too, the Great Queen about the Worlds
As thy intellect gazes from thine own eyes,
so too, from my shoulder,
gazes forth Morrigan the Great
19
Gaze, now upwards, child.
Breathe in the Spirit of the Great Queen.
Know that by Her is all this pervaded,
all this sustained.
Know too that, in truth,
there is none but Her in breath
– none but Her breathing.
20
Through light are all things
sustained and perceived
Truly, all unfolded through the light
The Great Crow (Morrigu) speaks–
‘Yea, Light is the measure of all things,
but, returning into me, even the light.
The Song of the Morrigan
(of cosmogony, She now speaks)
As the veiled one have I watched
the million millions I have born.
Having born creation, into creation am I born–
yea, a million million times and more.
Yet, ever am I veiled, alone.
Naught but me seen,
None but me seeing.
(of Her sovereignty, She now speaks)
I am thy Lady Spirit, weaver of light in space
I am Mother of Time, the queen and the fates,
the just recorder of destinies
(of Ireland, She now speaks)
This land is my shrine,
the folk thereon- my children
As Mother of the heavenly Great Ones,
this world is mine as mine own
The seas, the waters- my drinking cup
Its highlands, my altar
Wide plains as my garden
Verily my resting pillow-
the wetlands, the holy bogs
All life thereon my family
(of religion, She now speaks)
O , beloved , wherever you may pray-
Temple, church, the airs of space
Whatever be thy ritual, whatever thine liturgy
whatever be the names you call to with your pleas
It is at my feet you lay them,
and I listen, I watch.
(of the crisis She now speaks)
O my dear ones!
Your sins cause me pangs
You submit to greedy spirits,
your cruelties rise in their praise
The gods of Wealth and Sin
you have taken before me
Your empty prayers are a scandal,
to idols you devote your ways
When thine own siblings suffer,
their cries are to them incense
Sweat and tears, their treasured balm
The blood that is drawn,
o how sweet it is to them-
They are drunk upon it,
these gods of Wealth and Sin!
In shame, thou have exalted
the money-handed as ministers,
Make virtuous words corrupted,
thy hymns rise to gain
Are profits thine fit prophets?
Is greed thy true cult?
I shall not fail to trample on your money houses!
For thine own good and welfare shall I engender their collapse
Thou shalt live in equity before me,
and so shall I be pleased.
(of Her Motherhood, She now speaks)
O my dear ones!
It is I who is thy mother and father,
Thy true beloved-
Thy very being am I-
Yea, thy very spirit
(of the nature of Existence, She now speaks)
For, I am the content and the vessel.
I am the movement and the moved.
I am the rest and the resting.
I am the turns of space and the stars.
I am the ringer of bells and the silence.
I am the Breath of the Darkness and the Daughter .
I am the Mother of Day and of Night,
and I am the form of the Absolute Night.
When a sentience opens eyes, I see and am the seen.
I am the purple nimbus and the pink Dawn am I . .
I am the Mother of the Universe
and I am thy Goddess
I am First and Eldest Daughter of the Dark.
(on consolation, She now speaks)
Into the Darkness of the Cave of Death, say-
‘Compassion, kindness, gratitude, empathy, love’
Say these things and all names are said.
All remembered, nothing forgotten.’
Then all fell into deepest shadow,
Then, Behold!
I saw a lake of bronze water, lit by the eternal Sun which lies as the root to the waking world. A company of noble phantoms, garbed in ancient dress, emerged from the sun’s rays and marched on feet of mist, whispering across the water. They approached to address me on the shore.
At the forefront was an awesome spectral lord, silver hair swept down like a stream of ice, glorious of countenance, yet harrowed and grave like a hero king of old. Yet kindness was in the flame of his glance. Such unearthly power!
“We greet thee, younger soul. We are the tribe of the god people, the elder children of the Divine Sun, the one Self of all, risen in its own substance, the Womb of Darkness. I am Nuada, and yet you and I are emanations both of that one Self. Look to the Sun, and see our common root made self-visible.
Infant of the heavy world, we watch thee, care for thee. Forget us not. Remember our Self and embrace with kindness all the world.
To us you will return. The unity of the Great is beyond earthly unity. It is One beyond number, a unity of which all number is but emanation. Remember us. Remember your Self.
Aon, Ah, Aham, Atman!
Brath, Breh, Brigh, Briha, Brahman!”
Then it seemed as if both the sky and the lake sighed. The mist withdrew with all the kind spirits along with the sky and lake, as if inhaled by the Sun. The Sun then winked shut as an eye falling to sleep, and then indeed there was only the still and sacred Darkness