An Upswing Spring

By Delenn Harper

This initiatory tale takes place in a world where history has been reinvented. Here, the Celts did not lose to the Romans, and nowadays there are still druidic schools in Europe.
Join Lania in this second very feminine volume and learn about the power of the Feminine Mysteries and her sacred body.
A new season brings new challenges. Lania continues to confront her study of the druidic teachings, and her journeys back and forth between the two countries. But will she manage to maintain the balance between a modern world and the ancestral traditions of this Celtic world?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delenn Harper
• Release date: Apr 23, 2019

Book preview

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Lania : Daughter of Katell of the Tudwal clan of Armoric

Luam : Son of Meriadoc, student in Avalonia

Helori : Bangor House Manager

Cierdwyn : Old priestess, Head of the House of Sisterhood

Niam : Director and Head of Avalonia

Ellylw : Priestess of Mona, professor of History and Tales

Tamara : Cornish student in Avalonia

Gairech : Irish student in Avalonia

Deirdre : Irish student in Avalonia

Ailsa : Scottish student in Avalonia

Tifenn : Lania's cousin

Guilhem : cousin of Lania, twin brother of Iollan

Iollan : Lania's cousin, Guilhem's twin brother

Howel : Lania's uncle

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Britonnia : Name of Celtic territory

Briton, ne : inhabitants of Britonnia

Avalonia : Summer Country School

Bangor : college of druids, House of Brotherhood

Llydaw : Welsh name for Little Brittany

Breizh : Armorican Brittany

Alba /Scotia : Scotland

Kernow : Cornwall

Eire/ Erin : Ireland

Cymru /Gwynedd : Wales

Mannin : Isle of Man

Galiza : Galicia

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In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer

Albert Camus

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The Circle was open, the class could start and Niam asked us to sit in a circle around her. She wore her Welsh tartan full plaid like one of the Bagpipe player. But the image of Niam playing the bagpipe seemed odd. 

And suddenly, a soldier stood in front of us. The man was big and played loudly of his Celtic instrument. A piece of his tartan passed under the man’s right shoulder to attach the whole thing to his left shoulder by a knotted brooch and which fell back into a skillful drape over his entire left arm. His garment was held by a finely carved brooch, decorated with the typical motifs of Celtic art. The way he wore his tartan, the folds, and the worked drape showed his rank of war, which corresponded in our French army to a five-star general. But I knew that the country had not been at war for a long time, and then I remember the energies of the season.

Niam was at war in her life. The season called her to action, and she showed it to us with her clothes. She nodded her head to the general in a kilt and he left the room quietly.

We have just passed the Winter Solstice, she said loudly, "the world is waking up again and Imbolc is on top of us. The passive season is behind us, and action is now on the agenda. We can no longer hide, hide or close our eyes until the storm passes. You guys will be on the field! With this season, you will finally be able to experience your warrior talents! but we see that in due course... 

For the time being, in nature, the seed is preparing to give birth to the future plant. As I have already taught you, we follow the seasons and the land that undergoes seasonal changes. But do you know what Imbolc’s is all about? As we celebrate Imbolc, she added while sipping her cup of tea.

Oimelg is the arrival of spring and this season we celebrate Brigitte, replied Deirdre, who had a perfect knowledge of Brigitte’s celebration. 

Her Irish accent gave another intonation to the name of Imbolc, which made me smile as I realized the difference in the sound of the same word decorated with an accent or not.

            It’s normal, Tamara told me softly in my ear, she has no merit she’s Irish. In addition, her mother is the Director of the School of Erin in Kildare. 

I nodded vigorously to relieve my ignorance of the lady of the season and added that everyone knew that Brigitte had always been celebrated in Ireland. I regained my composure by finishing my cup of tea which was cooling. But our chief trainer continued without blinking.

            Deirdre was very well pointed out because Imbolc is not a celebration of spring but a celebration to remind everyone of the approach of Spring. But keep going, please... 

Deirdre, whose first name I could never pronounce, had gained confidence in herself and like a huntress who would never let go of her prey, she continued to look more beautiful.

            It’s easy, Imbolc is the end of winter. It is the last cold spurt before spring arrives. 

Yes, okay, but how does that manifest itself in our lives?

The silence of the Irish woman delighted me and Tamara rejoiced too. Gairech seemed deaf to our joys as schoolgirls, and Niam took over the running of the class.

            In the middle of February, Imbolc is the hardest time of the year.

February to these words, a shiver ran down my back, and my memory woke up in a hurry. February, the month of storms, as they say in Brittany. This cold season was not good.

            The period from Imbolc to the spring equinox; the period when wheat is growing, is a good time to generate new aspirations in us that can emerge in spring. We can take this opportunity to question ourselves, to clean our interior, to make sure that the Light pushes away our darkness. It is a time to move from the darkness of winter to the green of spring’s vital momentum, the putrefaction necessary for germination. In the Druidic tradition, this is the time to confront our darkest problems and celebrate the new life that is still underground but will soon come out of the ground. It is time to look in the mirror of our soul. After suffering the passive violence of winter, we regain energy with the first rays of the sun and change. 

She had written the verb ‘change’ on the board, and had asked us what it meant. Without worrying about our silence, she continued.

            "Change means ending something and doing something else. To finish, death. So, this season is an important transition period since it prepares the seeds in you that will soon grow in spring. This season will ask you if you allow yourself to change, as you are entering the transformation season phase. Know that this is the most painful season because your goal will be to eliminate demons. Will you face your inner fears? 

Because this season is one of confrontation, of fighting against your Shadow. Please be aware, ladies, that this fight will not be fought without victims on both sides. 

Let us ask ourselves about the nature of fear. Fear or your Shadow, all the same, is the symbol of our interrupted growth. It expresses an unsatisfied potential that undermines our unconscious. Our inner demons have essential and necessary characteristics for our personality, but when these same demons invade us we lose these essential characteristics because they act against us. The Gods have given us weapons to face the world. These weapons are our individual characteristics and particularities. To use these weapons that are ours, life will teach us how to handle our weapons." 

Her face darkened, and she turned her back on us. Her voice was in the room now. 

"Unfortunately, modern male-dominated society is suffocating our original fighting soul. And from there comes a destructive and endless vicious circle, because the more we stifle our fighting voice to blend into the societal mold, the less we hear our true nature express itself. Until the day when our weapons, once gifts from the Gods to protect us, turned against us. Because do not forget that energy must circulate. And if we don’t use our qualities as warriors, then they turn against us. Because energy cannot be stored in a corner waiting to be used or forgotten. No, it must be released somehow. 

"So, what can we do? I am not saying we should scream at the attack, or even mutilate ourselves if the situation seems hopeless, but just to realize that what we take for disabling defects are great qualities that are misused or misunderstood. Let me explain this to you with the same example. So, we were all born with a warrior nature, if I may say so, the purpose is to protect us from evil. Today, the warrior in us is often discouraged and especially ridiculed. This repression against our first nature, we internalize it to be like society wants us to be : a helpless woman. As a result, this innate force we have internalized can change and turn against us in the form of Inner Demons. 

When our warrior side does not find appropriate means of expression to express itself in the outside world, these same weapons designed to defend us can then turn against ourselves and hurt us. In such a state, we can neither see the truth nor act in harmony with Nature. Remember the season, girls. Look outside," she said, pointing to the window. 

Winter is still there, and we enter the blinding darkness of the Imbolc Cave, we are still in the Cauldron of the Lady of Winter. Only when we have grasped the Fear within us, and when we have put it in the light of day, can we understand the true nature of the situations in which we find ourselves. Because as long as the name of the fear that dominates us is kept secret, its true nature and identity is protected, fear remains in control of the situation and therefore of yourself.

How can we take back what belongs to us, Madam? I dared to ask. 

"Through your ability to identify, name and integrate that you will regain your power. To designate a person, object or situation by name is to recognize them in their essence. For this confrontation with your inner self, your darkest, most unknown side of yourself, is ultimately a dialogue and integration that must be positive. For this shadow is a part still unknown to you, but it is you. You can’t put it aside, accept it. It is therefore necessary to lead a fight allowing a progressive integration of this data of your new self, so that the forces of instinct, the impulses you do not control yet do not burst in a destructive way, but that they can little by little find their place and their initial role, which must be positive.

            "Thus, through this process, the old self must die so that the new one can be born. This process is painful because it involves the death of a part of ourselves that plays against us, but it is the nature of self-transformation. And to achieve this, we must first and foremost accept diversity in others. And accepting diversity in others begins by accepting our own Inner Fears without blame or self-blame. You just have to learn to recognize what is in our shadow,