Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Nameless Day / December 22 / Love Itself / Holy Places
















 From The Wisdom of Trees, by Jane Gifford:

One day remains completely unaccounted for in the Celtic Calendar, December 22nd, known as the "Nameless Day."  This is the extra day that features in so many folk tales where the story takes place over a year and a day.  On this day, when the King of the Waning Year was dead and the New King of the Waxing Year not yet born, it was the custom to fast to appease the goddess in her darkest aspect so that she would permit the sun to return to the world and the cycle of the year to recommence.  This darkest of days has neither tree nor name and is sacred to Morrigan, goddess of death and destruction.  Her name means Great Queen in Irish.  She appears in Arthurian legend as Morgan le Faye, sister of King Arthur: "le Faye" means "the Fate." This dark queen took the form of a raven and was feared and respected by everyone.



                                    "Love Itself"

The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of Love.

In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the Nameless makes
A Name for one like me.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then Love Itself
Love Itself was gone.

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then Love Itself
Love Itself was gone.

Then I came back from where I’d been.
My room, it looked the same –
But there was nothing left between
The Nameless and the Name.

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then Love itself,
Love Itself was gone.
Love Itself was gone.

From "Holy Places," the December 22nd chapter of A Winter Walk, by Tolbert McCarroll:

... A child's intuitive sense of the sacred often helps us understand spiritual fundamentals.  When my daughter, Holly, was almost seven, a fatally ill infant came into her life.  We all knew the child would die, but it was a shock when it happened.  Holly received the news one morning as she was setting out to school. She told me that we would need to do something before she could go to school. "We have to go to a place where people pray," she announced.  I walked her to a nearby Catholic church where a Mass was in process and asked if this would do.  "No," she said, "we have to wait 'til the priest leaves." In the after-service silence of that space, Holly somehow came to terms with the death.  I think she also said good-bye.  After a while, Holly told me, "We can light a candle and leave now." We did ...

5 comments:

The Solitary Walker said...

Thoughtful connections . . . thank you.

Anonymous said...

I had not heard of Morgan Le Faye before, but it reminded me of an interesting atmospheric optic that appears called a Fata Morgana. As it turns out, because you know everything is connected, the Fata Morgana is named for the sorceress Morgan Le Faye. Here is the Wikipedia entry about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_%28mirage%29
I photographed a superior mirage a few years ago with a hint of a Fata Morgana. Isn't the planet wonderful!
http://newdharmabums.blogspot.com/2014/11/something-new.html

am said...

Robert -- You're welcome!

robin andrea -- Thank you for making the connection with Fata Morgana and for the links. I do remember your wonderful photo with the hint of a Fata Morgana! Speaking of connections. the "See Also" on the Fata Morgana wiki page includes the green flash, and I revisited that just now.

Tara said...

I have forgotten so much about Morgana...makes me want to go back and read The Mists of Avalon.

Hauntingly beautiful lyrics. Sends my mind spinning.

Merry Christmas, and all that jazz.

am said...

Tara -- Merry Christmas!