John Matthews on Taliesin The Last Celtic Shaman & Shapeshifting
John Matthews on ‘Taliesin: The Last Celtic Shaman’
Would you be willing to share some Celtic knowledge with us from their belief system that you find fascinating?
JM: I think if I had to pick one single instance of the beliefs of the Celtic people I would say that it is their connection to the natural world. This gave rise to so much of their practice on a daily basis. A good example of this would be the so-called alphabet known as Ogham, or sometimes as The Tree Alphabet. The letters – or perhaps signs would be better word – were created by making parallel strokes either to one side or other or crossing a single line. A whole world of associations existed for these letters, so that one could mention a tree, a pig, a wolf, or birds in flight, and in so doing pass on a message which only someone else who understood the alphabet could understand.
When it comes to shapeshifting in the Celtic tradition what is your perspective on it? I have interviewed many medicine men from Native belief systems but never Celtic. Is it an actual changing or more of a taking on of the traits of specific animals in their human bodies?
JM: Within the Taliesin story, as I mentioned, is a very clear indication of a belief in shape shifting among the Celts. Taliesin undergoes an initiation in which he takes on the form of various animals, each one associated with one of the elements. In the end he enters the womb of the goddess Ceridwen, and is reborn to her. In Irish tradition we hear of Tuan mac Carill who spends several lifetimes in different form, being reborn as animal bird or fish as he transmigrates through time. I’m not sure whether we are supposed to see this in a metaphorical way, or as an actual change of shape, but my suspicion is that this is a spiritual discipline that involves becoming other things – not just animals, but objects as well as Taliesin describes in his poetry.
PLEASE VISIT MUCH MORE OF THIS INTERVIEW ON CELTIC SHAMANISM AND BY DOING SO HELP ME OUT TREMENDOUSLY THANK YOU.
http://www.examiner.com/article/john-matthews-on-taliesin-the-last-celtic-shaman?cid=db_articles
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