When first reading this section my left brain kicked in,
reminding me that the tree calendar is a fabrication invented by Robert Graves,
and that an entire industry has been built around this fictitious notion, so
that the idea of a ‘Celtic Astrology’ is detrimental to the discovery,
collection, organization and utilization of Celtic history.
Simultaneously, my right brain jumped up and down excitedly
saying, “Yeah! I love tree and plant lore!”
And so it is that over a decade ago one of my life motto’s
became, “I must be both scholar and seer.”
Along the way I found the middle road between those two - a path I call “shaman”.
With this said, my birth tree is actually two plants; or at
least, by my reckoning. This was
something I calculated long ago, based on Fionn’s Window. Using this template, found in the Old Irish
treatise In Lebor Ogaim (section 75), I arranged the Ogham along the circumference
of a circle, mathematically calculated where April, my birth month, would fall,
and determined that according to this particular alignment, Ohn and Ur would be
the corresponding plants.
Meanwhile, on the otherside of my brain, the Fege Finn’s
outline is alluring, inviting and compelling.
Its layers upon layers pull me inwards, outwards and upwards when gazing
upon its design. It is many things – a ‘window’,
a ‘shield’, the central point within a circular Iron Age home, the Axis Mundi,
Tyr’s Star. And the predominance of the
number five throughout, is – earth, air, fire, water and ether, the pentagram, the
physical body and planet earth, health and love, organic nature, the senses and
their functions, the five divisions of Eire, the five-fold manifestation of Being,
the five sacred fires, the five forms of worship, the five winds and five
breaths, the five foods and five treatments, and the five arrows.
Dwelling as I do in the middle - or the shamanic aspect that
rises as flame from right- and left-brain thinking - Fege Finn is that vertical
axis that accesses ascension. It is the
ladder upon which I climb to reach Wyrd Consciousness. It is the doorway that I open to rendezvous with
my Anam Cara. It is the mandala that
focuses my intent, casting the sacred thread that weaves its way to ecstatic
being. And so it was when gazing upon the
Cerne Abbas Giant that I sensed the true might was not there, but slightly ‘up’
and to the right of his head. And there
was a gorse hedge in full bloom. Its
bright yellow flowers as the sun, is scent as milk and honey, and its bees – with
stingers as sharp as gorse thorns’ - humming their mantra, was the perfect
place for me to sit and dream.
Likewise heather too was my traveling companion as I
backpacked across England, Wales and Eire; the two were ever in my bag, stuffed
in my pockets, and pulled out and pressed to my nose or rubbed on my skin for
the vibrancy they generously offered on my pilgrimage.
In accord to those teachings I learned from birth to
adulthood, such things are best viewed individually in order to ‘become’ with
their wholeness. So it is that I have
long noted the Three Made One aspects of both Onn and Ur:
Onn
Flesh: The search of
many lifetimes is over. You have reached
the goal. Continue without reservation.
Heart: Be free with
your knowledge; this is the way of wealth and weal.
Spirit: You were born
blessed, share this with others.
Ur
Flesh: Listen to the
body, it is the teacher of life and healing.
Heart: Breath deep
and be calm. Healing lies within.
Spirit: There is only Self.
Know this and be whole; all else will follow.
And so it is that these two are
threads within the tapestry of who-I-am - residing as they do within my soul.
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