A Celtic Country: 2 of 3, #2

By Delenn Harper

Since she joined Avalonia, the school that trains the Priestesses of Avalon, Lania has been trying to adapt to the back and forth between Paris and the Celtic school, but also to her druidic learning... 

But when Lania studies the Women's Mysteries, her practice confronts the teachings she receives with her daily life. 

Can we apply ancestral knowledge to a modern society that is not compatible with this philosophy? 

Will it be able to maintain a balance between spirituality and normality? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071510384

Book preview

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Lania: daughter of Katell of the Tudwall clan of Armorique

Luam: son of Meriadoc, student in Avalonia

Helori: Head of Bangor House

Cierdwyn: Old Priestess, Head of House of the House of Priestesses

Niam: Director of Avalonia

Ellylw: Priestess of Mona, Professor of Stories and Tales

Tamara: Cornish student in Avalonia

Gairech: Irish student in Avalonia

Deirdre: Irish student in Avalonia

Ailsa: Scottish student in Avalonia

Tifenn: cousin of Lania

Guilhem: cousin of Lania

Lania, twin brother of Iollan

Iollan: cousin of Lania, twin brother of Guilhem

Howel: Lania's uncle

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Britonnia: Name of a Celtic territory

Briton, ne: inhabitants of Britonnia

Avalonia: School of the Summer Country

Bangor: College of Druids

Llydaw: Welsh name of Little Brittany

Breizh: Armorican Brittany

Alba / Scotie: Scotland

Kernow: Cornwall

Eire / Erin: Ireland

Cymru / Gwynedd: Wales

Mannin: Isle of Man

Galiza: Galicia

In the depths of winter, I discovered within myself an invincible summer.  

Albert Camus

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The Circle was open, the class could begin and Niam asked us to take a seat in the circle around her. She wore her Welsh tartan full plaid like bagpipes. But the image of Niam playing the bagpipes seemed to me incongruous. 

Then suddenly, a soldier appeared in front of us. He was tall and imposing and his Celtic instrument was deafening. A piece of his tartan passed under his right shoulder to tie the whole thing on his left shoulder with an interlaced brooch, which fell into a skillful drape all over his left arm. His garment was held by a finely chopped brooch, decorated with the typical motifs of Celtic art. The way his tartan was worn, the folds and the drapery worked indicated his military rank, which corresponded in our French army to a five-star general. But I knew that the Celtic Country had not been at war for a long time, I thought about it then the energies of the season came back to me. Niam was at war in her life. The season called for action and she showed it to us with her clothes. 

She thanked the general in a kilt with a nod of her head. He left the room quietly, showing his mastery of bigniou to excellence.

We have just passed the Winter Solstice, she said mightily, the world is starting to wake up again and Imbolc is upon us. The passive season is behind us, and action is now on the agenda. We can no longer bury ourselves, hide or close our eyes until the storm passes. You will be on the front line, girls! With this season, you will finally be able to experience your warrior skills! But we will see all of this in due course... For the moment, in nature, a seed is preparing to give birth to a future plant. As I already taught you, we follow the seasons and the land that undergoes seasonal changes. But do you know what the festival of Imbolc represents? Since we are celebrating Imbolc, she added, sipping from her cup of tea. Oimelg is the arrival of spring, and at this season we are celebrating Brigitte," said Deirdre, who was perfectly in control of Brigitte's party. 

Her Irish accent gave another intonation in the name of Imbolc, which made me smile by realizing the difference in the sonority of the same word decorated with an accent or not.

That's normal, Tamara whispered to me, "she has no merit, she's Irish. In addition, her mother is the Director of the Erin Country School in Kildare.

I nodded vigorously to relieve my ignorance of the Lady of the Season, adding that everyone knew that in Ireland, Brigitte had always been celebrated. To give me a countenance, I finished in one gulp my cup of tea which began to turn cold. But our head trainer continued without flinching.

Very well underlined Deirdre, because Imbolc is not a celebration of the spring but a festival to remind all of the approach of Spring. But carry on, please... 

Deirdre, whose name I could never pronounce, had gained confidence in herself, and like a huntress who never lets go of her prey, she went on all the same.

It's not difficult, Imbolc is the end of winter. It's the last burst of cold before spring arrives.

Yes, very well, but how does this manifest in our lives?

The silence of the Irish woman pleased me on the inside and obviously, Tamara was also jubilant.

Gairech seemed deaf to our joys as schoolgirls and Niam took the direction of the course.

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

February with these words, a shiver ran through my back, and my memory hurriedly woke up. February, the month of storms, as it is called in Brittany. This cold season did not bring anything good.

"The period from Imbolc to the spring equinox; the period when wheat grows is auspicious to give rise in us to new aspirations that can bloom in the spring. We can take the opportunity to challenge ourselves, to do our housework, to make the Light push back our darkness. It is a time to go from the darkness of winter, to the green of spring's vital eland, of the putrefaction necessary for germination. In the druidic tradition, it's time to confront our darkest problems and celebrate the new life that is still underground, but soon to come out of the earth. It's time to look in the mirror of our soul. After suffering the passive violence of winter, we take energy with the first rays of the sun and we decide to change. 

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

"Change means finishing something and starting something else. Finish it, to the death. So, this season is an important transition period as it prepares the seeds in you that will soon grow in the spring. This season, you will be asking whether you allow yourself to change because you are entering the phase of the processing season. Know that this is certainly the most painful season because your goal will be to eliminate the demons. Are you going to face your fears and your inner demons? Because this season is that of the confrontation, the fight against the Shadow. You should know, ladies, that this fight will not be without victims on both sides of the two camps. Let us question the nature of Fear. Fear, our inner demons or Shadow, all this is the same thing, is the symbol of our interrupted growth. It is the expression of an unsatisfied potential that undermines our unconscious. Our inner demons have essential characteristics and necessary to our personality, but when these same demons invade us, we lose these essential characteristics because they act against us. The Gods gave us weapons to face the world. These weapons are our individual personalities and peculiarities. To use those weapons that are ours, life will teach us how to handle our weapons. 

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

Unfortunately, the modern male-dominated society stifles our original soul as a fighter. And from this comes a destructive and endless vicious cycle, because the more we stifle our fighting voice to melt into the societal mold then the less we hear our true nature express themselves. Until the day when our weapons, once gifts of the Gods to protect us, then turn against us. Because remember that energies must flow in one direction or another. And if we do not use our warrior qualities, then they turn against us. Because energy is not stored in a corner waiting to be used or forgotten. No, it must be released in one way or another.

So what to do?

"I am not saying that we must scream at the attack, or even butcher if the situation seems hopeless, but just realizing that what we take for handicapping defects are simply great qualities not used properly or poorly known. Let me explain that by keeping the same example. So, we are all born with a warlike nature, if I may say so, the goal being to protect us from harm. Today, the warrior in us is often discouraged and especially ridiculed. This repression is against our nature first, we internalize it to try to be the way which society wants us. That is, a helpless woman. As a result, this innate force that has been internalized can be changed and turned 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 intended to defend us can then turn against us 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, presenting to us the window. Winter is still here, and we are entering the blinding darkness of the Cave of Imbolc, we are still in the Cauldron of the Lady of the Winter. It is only when we have grasped our dark side, and when we have put it in the light of day that we can begin to 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 its identity remaining protected, Fear remains the master of the situation and therefore of yourself."

How can we take back what belongs to us, Madam? 

I had dared to ask.

"By your ability to identify, name and integrate that you will regain your power. In designating a person, an object or a situation with their name is to recognise them in their essence. It is by discovering the essence of things that we come into contact with them. Because this confrontation with your inner self, your darkest side, the most unknown of yourself, is ultimately a dialogue and integration that must be positive. Because this shadow is a part still unknown to you, but it is indeed you. You cannot put it aside; you have to accept it. So you have to fight for a progressive integration of these pieces of data about your new self, so that the forces of instinct, the impulses that you do not yet control do not burst in a destructive manner, but that they can gradually find their place and their initial role, which must be positive. Thus, by this step, the old self must die so that the new self can be born. This is painful because it involves the death of a part of us and 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 to accept diversity in others, we must begin by accepting our own fears without reproach and without guilt. We just have to learn to recognize what's in our shadows, and that's what's true, is a difficult step. Looking at our own faults