This is an excerpt from a chapter
on Sacrifice in my book, The Power of Truth, the second
book in my Ogham Keys to
Wisdom series and classes. The following pages attempt to investigate
the why of human sacrifice rather than dwelling on the physical evidence or the
morality of the practice. Other works are referencd that discuss these
approaches to the subject more fully. My intent here is to give the student and
the researcher a feel for what is happening or being attempted on a spiritual
or magical basis.
In the first book of this series, Opening the Pathways, the idea that
everything in creation came about from the body of an original ‘Cosmic Man’ was
introduced (the Seven Part Adam; Vedic creation tales and even the Norse Ymir).
There is no reason to think that the Druids and Celts held a different belief.
In fact, the many tales and placename stories of Irish tradition identify parts
of the landscape as having been parts of a deity’s body or even as being people
who have been turned to stone. Other parts of the land have been sculpted by
heroic or god-like deeds (such as the tops of mountains having been sheared off
by Fergus’ using his sword Caldebolg. The idea of sacrifice forming or creating
these parts of the universe, a being or an object being a proper offering was
also presented. The Druids were pictured as claiming that they had created the
world and in a sense, this is very true. Ritual sacrifice is how everything in
this world or the next is renewed through spiritual exchange. The food of the
gods becomes the food of the people. The worship of the people is the spiritual
food of the gods. The parts of our being have a corresponding quality in the
Dúile of creation. One part equates and
feeds the others whether in a person or a cosmic world.
The idea of sacrifice pleasing the gods is one that the Irish had no
problem understanding when Christianity was first presented to them. They had
long been offering sacrifices to their traditional, native deities. Human
sacrifice was possibly also seen in a ritual and religious context. What
happens in these rituals and how the power of truth is reinforced through
ritual action and sacrifice was the central point of a class I once taught on
the subject[i].
An edited version of the class log and notes follows.
[i]
Compuserve Celtic Section of the NewAge Forum, circa 1993.
The matter of
human sacrifice by the Celts and the Druids is a topic that creates, at once, a
sense of horror and wonder for us in this modern age. In our present age, separated from the
phenomena of death as we are, even animal sacrifice shocks our senses. The much more controversial subject of human
sacrifice is almost beyond our comprehension.
We should endeavor to look beyond our immediate "surface
reactions" to this sensitive topic if we wish to understand why and what
was done b our ancestors. As we delve a
little deeper into the primal Celtic soul and psyche, perhaps our study will
allow us to understand why such sacrifices occurred.
We shall seek understanding of this powerful and terrible practice to understand it and how this practice was replaced by less drastic symbolic sacrifices and practices. Almost every religion n the world has travelled this road in its rituals and developing symbols. The Druid way leads in this matter, rather than being
a throw-back or repressive example of this philosophy. Understanding how and
what comes into play during sacrificial actions and worship are the heights of
knowledge in religion and philosophy.
In today's Celtic
workshop, we shall attempt to cover the available evidence for such acts of
sacrifice among the Celts and Druids. We
shall also attempt to classify the many types of such sacrifices, their methods
and their means, as well as their meanings.
We have evidence
that the Celts and Druids performed human sacrifices. Today's Celtic workshop will allow us all to
discuss this sensitive topic interactively.
Before we start, I thought I would list the available sources that I've
studied and considered in preparing for this workshop:
·
The Writings of the Greeks and Romans.
·
The Writings of the Christian Scribes.
·
The Continued Existence of Folk Customs.
·
Similar Practices among Other Cultures.
·
Archaeological Evidence.
·
Psychic and Mystical Evidence
What was the
purpose of human sacrifice?
In some religions,
sacrifice is an act performed to influence the gods. In others, it is a symbolic return to the
gods of their blessings. In still
others, it is a freeing of life-force to empower Magical workings. Sometimes, the giving of life in ritual
demonstrates belief in deity. Other
times it is done to redeem the spiritual cost of mundane actions done in this
world. This is done by sending a tribal
member to the Otherworld. The
sacrificial victim then becomes the representative of the people performing the
sacrifice. Also, custom/tradition might
dictate that victims are to be sacrificed in response to certain events (such
as: funerals, droughts, bad harvests, rain, volcanoes, auguries, battles, plagues,
comets, meteors, astrological signs, building foundations, earthquakes,
etc.). So far we have defined the
following reasons for human sacrifice:
·
Influence Deity
·
Return of Blessings
·
Empower Magic
·
Demonstrate Belief
·
Payment for Mundane Aid
·
Otherworldly Advocate
·
Custom/Tradition
I'm sure there are
other reasons that humans were sacrificed but they escape me for now. I thank the Workshop for all of their inputs
particularly. :) My "gut feeling"
is that the Celts and Druids engaged in human sacrifice for just about all of
the above reasons.
Who was
sacrificed? I suppose this varied, based
upon the need. The list of sacrificial
victims goes from kings to criminals, from priests to babies, from prisoners of
war to witches. Just about anyone could
have been sacrificed at any time for what was thought to be a sufficiently good
reason.
Kings were sacrificed for the biggest Magics. This included better weather, victory in war,
improving the harvest and protecting the tribes. Children and babies were also sacrificed for
improving the crops as well as for dedicating buildings and sacred sites. Prisoners (whether criminals or war captives)
were the normally preferred sacrifice for most mundane reasons. This was a matter of practicality as well as
religion. The tribe could not afford to
house and feed large numbers of prisoners.
Letting them go, meant they would return to fight and destroy another
day. Knowing you would be sacrificed by
your enemies tended to dampen one's enthusiasm for making war in the first
place. Using prisoners for sacrifice was
the easiest way to generate a lot of energy for "Blood Magic"
quickly. This was simply a case of
turning the enemy's Power back upon them.
In the next part of my presentation, I will
give the details (archaeological, literary, historical and Magical) that show
how, why, where and when such sacrifices were done by the Celts and the Druids. For those interested in reading more about
Celtic/Druidic sacrifices, I'd recommend:
·
"The Life and Death of a Druid Prince"
by Ann Ross and Don Robbins.
·
"Druids, Magicians of the West",
·
"Celtic Lore" and "Celtic
Mythology" by Ward Rutherford.
·
"The Coming of the King" (F) by Count
Nicolai Tolstoy.
·
"The Quest for Merlin" by Count Nicolai
Tolstoy.
·
"Lammas Night" (F) by Katherine
Kurtz.
·
"Druids" by Stuart Piggott.
·
"Bard" (F) and "Druids" (F)
by Morgan Llewellyn.
·
"Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe" by
H.R. Ellis Davidson.
·
"The Religion of the Ancient Celts" by
J.A. MacCulloch
·
"The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom" by
Caitlin and John Matthews.
·
"The Celtic Druids' Year" by John
King,
·
"Mythic Ireland" by Michael
Dames.
·
"Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend"
by Miranda Green.
·
"Earth Memory" by Paul Devereux.
(F) above stands for historical fiction.
Many other
excellent works exist on the Celts as well as the subject of sacrifice and
blood Magic, but these are the sources I've reviewed preparing for this
workshop.
Adam of Bremen
refers to a sacrifice of animals and men held every ninth year at Uppsala in
Sweden (I'm including examples from the Norse as well as the Celtic sacrificial
practices.):
"It is the custom
moreover every nine years for a common festival of all the provinces of Sweden
to be held at Uppsala. Kings and
commoners one and all send their gifts to Uppsala, and what is more cruel than
any punishment, even those who have accepted Christianity have to buy immunity
from these ceremonies. the sacrifice is
as follows: of every living creature they offer nine head, and with the blood
of those it is the custom to placate the gods, but the bodies are hanged in a
grove which is near the temple; so holy is that grove to the heathens that each
tree in it is presumed to be divine by reason of the victim's death and
putrefaction. There also dogs and horses
hang along with men. One of the
Christians told me that he had seen seventy-two bodies of various kinds hanging
there, but the incantations which are usually sung at this kind of sacrifice
are various and disgraceful, and so we had better say nothing about them."
It's typical that
opposing sides in a conflict would attempt to pervert the most sacred practice
of the opponent. A willing sacrifice for
the clan is a noble deed, whereas, an involuntary sacrifice or execution is
just the opposite. Accounts by Strabo
and Julius Caesar also mention the "Wicker Man" (large figures of
wickerwork into which victims were placed to be burned). Strabo describes such a construction as
"... a colossus of straw and wood". He goes on to say that cattle, wild animals
of various kinds and human victims were thrown into these. The ashes were thought to aid the growth of
crops. Caesar described them as
structures "...with limbs woven out of twigs, filled with living men and
set on fire so that the victims perished in a sheet of flame'."
In his 'Gallic
War, Julius Caesar describes offerings made by Celts in Gaul to a god he called
Mars:
"... when they have determined on a decisive
battle, they dedicate as a rule whatever spoil they may take. After a victory they sacrifice such living
things as they have taken, and all the other effects they gather into one
place. In many states heaps of such
objects are to be seen piled up in hallowed spots, and it has not often happened
that a man, in defiance of religious scruple, has dared to conceal such spoils
in his house or to remove them from their place, and the most grievous
punishment, with torture, is ordained for such an offence. (Loeb translation)."
In "Ynglinga
Saga", Snorri tells us about a Swedish ceremonial sacrifice of their king
Domaldi:
"The first year [of the
famine] they sacrificed oxen, and there was no improvement in the harvest. The next autumn they sacrificed men, but the
harvest was as before or even worse. and
the third autumn many Swedes came to Uppsala when the sacrifice was to take
place. the chiefs took counsel then, and
decided unanin my opinionusly that the famine must be due to their king
Domaldi, and that they must sacrifice him for a good season and redden the
altars with his blood, and this they did."
Posidonius tells
us about the Celtic custom of taking heads:
"They cut off the heads
of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to
their attendants and carry off as booty, while taking part in a triumphal march
and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their
houses, just as do those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar-oil the heads of the
most distinguished enemies and preserve them carefully in a chest."
According to
Strabo, the Cimbri (a Celtic tribe) were said to have used prisoners, taken
during battle, for divinations within ritual.
The prisoners would be consecrated for sacrifice, then either impaled on
stakes or hung above enormous bronze bowls. Their priestesses would climb
ladders to cut the throats of the victims, collecting the flow of blood within
the waiting bronze bowls below. Based upon how the blood flowed into the bowl,
the grey-haired, white-robed women could determine what the outcome of the
battle would be. Other victims were disemboweled for the purposes of augury.
This blood was also said to be used to "drench their altars".
There are also
historical references to sacrifice in Irish sources. Children were said to have
been sacrificed to the idol called Crom Cruach according to the
"Dindshenchas": (This is reminiscent of the Phoenician/Carthagean
practice). This practice was said to have started with the Irish king Tigernmas
about 1000 BCE:
"For him ingloriously
they slew their wretched firstborn with much weeping and distress, to pour out
their blood round the Bent One of the Hill.
Milk and corn they used to ask of him speedily in return for a third of
their whole progeny; great was the horror and outcry about him."
In another story,
Conn the Hundred-Fighter, had become enamored of a faerie woman to the extent
that the Land itself was suffering. The
people were without milk and corn for a year. The Druids consulted their
science and their wisdom to determine how the blight should be ended. The Druids determined that the son of a
sinless couple should be found and brought to Tara and slain. His blood had to be mingled with the soil of
Tara to return blessings to the Land.
Conn himself went
in quest of this child and found him in the household of Daire Degamra from the
Land of Wonders and Rigu Rosclethan from the Land of Promise. The child's name was Segda Saerlabraid and
even though his father would not give him up, he chose to willingly go with
Conn, King of Ireland.
When the Druids
saw the boy their counsel was to slay him and then to mingle his blood with the
earth of Ireland so that the blight could be lifted and its prosperity
returned. Conn and his son Art as well
as Finn stood together against the Druids and the clamoring of the men of
Ireland, protecting the boy. The boy
himself then asked that he should be put to death if it was for such a noble
purpose and to if it was to save such a noble land as Ireland.
Just as this deed
was about to be done, a mysterious woman appeared leading a cow which was also
carrying two bags, one each on either of its sides. When the Druids themselves could not
determine the mystery of the woman and her cow, or even the bags themselves,
she was then asked to explain. She said
that the single cow before them had come to save the innocent youth and to rescue
the prosperity of Ireland. It was itself to be slain in his place and after
this deed was done, her blood was to be mixed with the earth.
After the cow had
been slain and her blood scattered and mixed with the earth of Tara, then the
two bags were opened to reveal their mysteries. One bag was found to contain a single bird
with one leg only, while the other bag held a similar bird, but this one having
twelve legs instead of two or one. When
the two birds were released they immediately flew into the air and began to
fight. Amazingly, it was the one legged
bird that prevailed and not the bird of twelve legs as had been expected.
The Druids could
not determine the meaning of this conflict and once again the woman was
consulted by all. She then read the
signs, stating that it was the Druids that should be hanged and that the boy
should be spared. Everyone agreed that this must be a true saying, since the Druids
had failed in their attempts to read the mysteries. The Druids must then be the
bird with twelve legs and the boy may have been represented by the victorious
bird with only one leg. And so it was that the young man was not put to
death.
The woman then
further prophesied that Ireland itself would be without one third of its
produce until Conn could put away his faerie woman, Becuma Cneisgel. The woman
then left, taking Segda with her, while refusing all payments, jewels and
treasures that were offered. This is how Segda Saerlabraid was saved from the
blades of the Druids and was not sacrificed for Conn's folly of the faerie lover.
Now that we have
listed some of the ancient comments about human sacrifice by the Celts, along
with a few modern ones. Let's see what a
shamanic source has to say about life-force as well as sacrifice:
The nature of
power as life-force: why is it important?
Not hard to say, without life-force (which is also known as
"power") spirit cannot manifest (nor hold a manifestation) within the
physical realm. The smaller the
life-force the less spirit is able to manifest.
The greater the life-force the more Spirit is able to manifest itself
and its Will on the earth plane. Looking
at it in a purely physical human example - a 300 lb body builder can do more
work than a sickly 98 lb weakling. They
can work "bigger". They
manifest life "larger" than someone who is physically weak (for
whatever reason).
When the body can
no longer produce, channel, & contain life-force we say it
"dies". The only difference
between a body which is "dead" and one which is "alive" is
the amount of life-force in each of them.
When a body looses so much life-force that it can no longer
maintain/contain the physical manifestation of Spirit, then the spirit MUST
leave that body. In order to manifest
spirit on the physical plane you need 3 things:
This can be a human body, a
rock or crystal, a drum or a rattle, an animal, a plant or any similar
device. Normally these are
"natural" items i.e., not plastic (although I suppose that something
synthetic technically could be used... I
don't think it would really work all that well as there is no natural resonance
within it that could maintain the force...
kind of like running power into a battery that just wont hold the
charge).
Once you have the container it must be
empowered with sufficient life-force to enable a spirit to "live"
within it. Otherwise it's just an empty
shell (whether it's a still-born baby or a "pretty crystal" that's
use resides in an amethyst crystal wand or deer horn knife that you use in
ceremony. They are essentially the
same. Power dispersed = energy (static,
direct, alternating, auric, etc.) Power condensed = physical manifestation
(anything from a brick wall to a brain tumor).
Likewise power which is "de-condensed" will "un-manifest"
- this is the way that a shaman would cure a tumor, for instance. He would pull the power out of the tumor
until the physical manifestation just disappears as well.
There is no manifestation of
any kind anywhere without the condensing of power into physical matter. This is done through a focusing of the will.
One of the basic "physical laws" of power is that it will flow from a
greater concentration to a lesser concentration. The flows of power should be channeled to
flow under control and to be contained within the desired boundaries. On a
personal level, this is important to know as we come into contact with beings
of power (incarnate humans and discarnate who-knows-whats alike). If we have more power than those around us
they will be drawn to us seeking our power like moths that are attracted to a
flame. This can be distracting and counter-productive to our own intentions. We
must be careful not to carelessly attract them to us (or allow our personal
power to flow away from our own workings).
On the other hand, if they are more powerful than we are, then we must
be careful to shield ourselves to ensure that our personal power does not flow
from us to them without our conscious intent or permission. It is vital to be able to "hold your
power". Here are several
experiences/examples of empowering bodies for magical workings to illustrate
how this all works:
It is said by some shamans, that there are spirits
in other realms who wish to come to this plane of existence. One of these realms is that of "crystal
people". These are certain spirits
which resonate particularly well with crystals and who very much want to come
to the earth plane. In exchange for
assistance in manifesting in this realm they will perform certain "services"
for the person who makes this possible.
Some of these might include protecting the keeper of the crystal in
which they live, giving them the ability to discern truthfulness from
falsehood, the ability to journey to a certain realm or plane more easily. The shaman going to the other plane to negotiate
the arrangement will find out what the entity/spirit is capable of doing for
him. He will then find out what the
spirit needs in return (must be empowered daily, kept in salt water when not
being used, smudged with cedar once a full moon, whatever, etc.). If the service offered and the price asked
are agreeable to both parties the shaman extends a crystal which he has
cleared/cleaned and empowered and the entity enters the crystal and is brought
back to this realm when the shaman returns from his journey to the land of the
crystal people. Had the crystal not
contained enough power to "hold" the spirit within it then the
crystal spirit could not have manifested life on this plane. If the crystal becomes disempowered then the
entity within it will literally "die". It is a great responsibility. Rather like having a physically dependent
child to care for who must be fed, exercised, and companioned regularly or they
cannot live.
Another use of
empowered/enlivened objects for shamans and medicine people is to use an arrow or weapon of some kind either
for protection or as a form of hunting medicine (in the Native American or
tribal sense). I have seen a spirit
caught and placed within an arrow. The
shaman then used that arrow by directing the spirit in the arrow to "guard
his back" or "assist him in bringing down game to feed his
family." This focused intention and
empowerment then becomes the entity's "prime directive" until it is
released, the directive is changed, or the physical body loses its power and
the entity/spirit slips free from it.
Power is something
that must be continually (or at least regularly) supplied. It's like supplying your body with fuel so
that it can continue to live. You can't
eat once or twice a month and still expect to live... let alone do any kind of work, play, or
activity (like magic maybe ) if it's has no fuel to run on. It's like expecting a car to run the Indy 500
with no fuel in the tank.... just
doesn't work.
Patricia : I don't know of a
reading resource to direct you to. The
experience came from working with a man who was shaman who took several of us
on the journey there and back. Do you
have a specific question about them? They are spirits who exist in a different
plane from us who are very interested in manifesting here on the earth plane.
My perception of them was that they are rather small in size, non humanoid, and
the realm is not anything that I have a physical earth correspondence for. it was rather light, sparkly and not well focused
(could have been my own lack of ability to see on that plane)
NO. It is a journey through specific
landscape and not so much of an "inner journey"
OK we are covering
a lot of ground today.... so bear with
me....we will eventually get to Lindow Man and his threefold death. First, I wanted
to talk more about the principals of life-force, energy and sacrifice. and How that is all directed.
Assuming a willing
sacrifice exists (and religions have been founded on just that basis), the
person to be sacrificed should build as much power within himself as possible
prior to the actual sacrifice and he should practice "loading up" on
power and releasing it beforehand. He
must "stretch" himself in his ability to hold more and more power
every day so that he can hold the maximum amount of power possible for the
sacrifice.
Other people can
assist with this by "pouring" power into him. Be very careful not to pour too quickly nor
provide so much that his power envelope is stretched to the point where it
would develop "holes". The
group should stand in a circle and build the power by whatever means they
choose, and then the head of the circle should funnel the power through him to
the sacrifice through a golden power conduit/cord into the third chakras or
from the leader's hands into the third chakra of the sacrifice. This should be practiced for some time before
the day of the actual sacrifice to stretch and strengthen the sacrifice's power
carrying "muscles", as it were.
When "fully
loaded" the sacrifice's body should feel as light as a feather to
him... almost as though it's not there
it is so easy to carry. When he feels
that he is almost about to "float away" or when his envelope has
gotten thin like an overfilled balloon and is beginning to show thin spots
(before there are actually holes) stop pouring the power. <
People who are stoked up hardly even notice
that they are carrying a body with them at all - just a side note.>>
A second note
here.... the person being sacrificed
should be in good shape physically. A
well toned/muscled, healthy body is capable of holding and carrying much, much
more power than is an old, worn out or overweight or sick body. The sacrifice should be as whole, hale and
hearty as possible. If he does have a
problem (overweight, out of shape, tumor, broken bones etc. these should be healed or fixed before the
time of the sacrifice. Never sacrifice
anything or anyone but your absolute best.
I mean think about it. Would you
prefer to have a healthy warrior guarding you, fighting to protect you, working
on your behalf... or would you rather
hand your best sword to someone who can't even lift it or who will tire before
the battle is halfway over and thereby leave you defenseless?
The power should
be returned to the people gifting it or grounded into the earth or sent out on
a specific working once it is built and transferred successfully. This refines the sacrifice's technique of
releasing the power to do work. At the
appointed day and time the power is once again built and poured into the
prepared sacrificial vessel. The person
has built his own power as high as it will possibly go. He has been gifted with as much power as he
can possibly carry. At the height of
this gathering of power he is sacrificed.
His spirit is released... is set
free from his body. It takes all of the
power that used to be used to animate his body (which is considerable), all of
the power he has personally built on this day, and all of the power that he has
been gifted with in once massive, powerful "discharge". (I always see it in my mind as almost being
like a rocket taking off or a "super eagle" taking
flight.) Once on the other side, freed from the
limitations of incarnation on the earth plane and able to see things more
clearly, the sacrifice takes the accumulated power and does whatever working he
has been chosen to do. He becomes a
warrior/guardian/magician on the other side working in connection with and for
the benefit of this side of the curtain.
I imagine that
there is at least one person on this side of the curtain who is chosen to
continue to work with the spirit/sacrifice on the other side for at least a
year. In some tribes it was a common
practice when someone crossed over for a close relative/friend/mate to be
relieved of duties for the span of one year so that they could
"funnel" information to this side from the one who just crossed over. This is done by prior arrangement, at least
with the people that I have talked to.
It was done so that the tribe could benefit from having someone able to
see, hear, and understand things affecting the tribe and give
advice/information from that freed/unlimited persective of being on the other
side of the curtain.
Now we all ready
to discuss the events leading up to the sacrifice that was made at Lindow Bog
in 60 C.E. by a Celt that we have come to know as Lindow Man or as he is called
by Anne Ross and Don Robbins......
Lovernios. The year 60 C.E. was
known as the Dark Year because this was the time when Bodicea was defeated with
the resulting slaughter of most of her troops.
The Romans determined to end the power of the Druids in England as a
political force. To do this they
attacked the sacred Isle of Anglesly also called Mona (or Mons).
The Romans were
led by their general Suetonius. He was
pretty much known as a really hard nosed, blood and guts type of
general... took few prisoners. As the Roman troops stood across the Menai
straights watching the Druids cast spells and hurl curses at them, they also
saw Druidesses in black robes and wild hair running among the men building
power against them. Many of the troops
wanted to flee and to desert but their leaders threatened them and whipped them
back into shape and they attacked fiercely.
The results of this battle against largely undefended Druids were that
thousands upon thousands of Druids were slain by the single-minded Romans. Some of the Druids were able to flee into the
hills to lead the guerilla warfare that lasted for the next 400 years. The Romans had defeated the power of the Druids. Enter the next phase of the conflict. The Druids realized that they could not
defeat the Romans head-on so they did what they had always done after a
defeat. They went to the Gods. All the life-force, energy, power, and spirit
of countless Druids had been freed by their deaths during the slaughter at
Mona, but remained unfocused, a waste, without form.
In the nights
after the battle a Druid prince landed on the Isle of Mona too late to help
stop the carnage but not too late to be the focus for one of the most powerful
workings in the history of the Druids.
The Sacred Grove had been destroyed and cut down so this mysterious
Druid Price who we shall call Lovernios made his way up the river past were
present day Liverpool is to landfall near another sacred site called Llyn
Cerrig Bach. "The Lake of the Small
Pebbles" It was there that he was to start the rituals that led to his
eventual sacrifice.
The time of the
year was Bealtaine. His last meal was
one of a traditional Bealtaine cake which consisted of a variety of grains
which were blackened This blackened bread is always the last meal of the ritual
sacrifice in Celtic tradition. This
tradition of receiving the blackened cake persisted in Scotland until the last
century. At the time of Bealtaine a cake
would be cooked and divided into many pieces and placed into a hat. One piece would be blackened with charcoal. The men and young boys would select pieces
from the hat. The person drawing the
blackened piece would be known as the "devoted one".
In modern times
the devoted one was not sacrificed but was required to perform some sort of
deed. This deed could be called
something called "Riding the Lord" which basically consisted of being
hazed around the bounds of the village.
Another version of this type of deed might be found in the devoted one
having to jump the Bealtaine fires three times where everyone else only had to
jump the fires once. These customs have
persisted for thousands of years and on this night the devoted one was the
Divine Victim, Lovernious.
When the body of
Lindow Man was recovered from the bog it was discovered that he had suffered a
threefold death. His skull had been
crushed by a blow from a war ax or a ceremonial ax that came from above. His throat had been garroted and at the
moment of death his throat had been cut with a knife strike from below.... bleeding his blood ritually into a
cauldron. This threefold death is
symbolic of his dedication to three different Gods. These gods represent the three different
worlds. The Skyworld, the Middleworld, and the Otherworld. Ross and Robins think that this sacrifice was
to the gods Taranis, Esus, and Teutates.
Are these the three gods of Danu perhaps? Perhaps not.
Why the threefold
death? And what elements do these deaths represent? It is my contention that death occurred
because he was sacrificed to the Three Worlds and the primary elements that
they represent. The blow from above crushed him to the element of earth below
in the form of the ax. The middle death was given to the element of air due to
the garrote (cutting the connection between Earth and Sky). The upward blow of
the knife, that cut his throat, represents the element of water due to the loss
of blood. It also freed his Spirit to the Sky.
These three elemental deaths: loss of breath, loss of blood, loss of
awareness, left Lovernious as a being of Fire and Spirit. He became a shamanic entity, a willing
sacrifice to focus the lifeforce of the Druids on their magical working. His body was cast into the lake at Lindow,
its name meaning "Black Lake" in Welsh. He was returned to the Mother Goddess of Life
and Death just as the sword Excalibur was cast into the lake of the Lady. His body returned to the Mother, his spirit
and lifeforce, his fire performed the magical working. This all happened in 60 C.E. This is within decades of another similar
sacrifice on the other side of the world where another great magician did a
great working.
This date, this
Dark Year of the Druids, 60 C.E., marks the time when the Roman Empire quit
growing and began its long decay. The
willing sacrifice and death at Lindow by Lovernious was said to have been accomplished to prevent
the Romans from going to Ireland and into Scotland.[i] It was not a case of magic against
spears. It was a case of Druid Magic
and Spirit working its Way and its Will upon the soul of the empire. There have been other bodies recovered from
bogs such as Tollund man and those found at Borremose. None is so clearly the work of Druid Magic
and sacrifice as the case of Lindow man.
The king or the prince was sacrificed to the Land and to the Lady, to
the three gods of Danu as it has always been.
To my brothers and
sisters in Europe where this story still lives and where this magic still works
I say:
“When you visit a sacred
site... when you touch the spirit of a
stone monolith or circle... open the pathways within yourselves and talk to our
brothers and sisters from the past.
Within each of these circles is a fellow Druid and Celt. The spirit of each of these rocks talks to
us. They live for us. They are there to connect and reconnect us to
the land. Many a foundation was secured
by such as sacrifice. Merlin himself
narrowly escaped being sacrificed to secure Vortigen's Tower. These sacrifices were all willing. They were all a threefold death to free the
fire of the spirit and to lock the magic of the "devoted ones" to the
sites.
I'm not sure where
I read this but someone (perhaps R.J. Stewart) once did a psychic working at a
sacred site in Brittany, I think, and talked to such a Devoted One. He stepped from the rock and his spirit
wondered where the people were? What was
the focus of their spirit? Why did they
no longer love the land? The stones looked on in silence but they are not
silent to those who listen. Lovernious
speaks to us across two thousand years through stone, through water, through
his death and through his sacrificial offering.
The Lady of the Lake has given us back a Druid Prince. The magic continues and now it is up to us to
do the work.
[i]
Anne Ross, The Death of a Druid Prince.
