Food for thought, are you an old soul?

The “Old Soul” Signs You’re An Old Soul: You tend to be a solitary loner. Because old souls are disinterested in the pursuits and interests of the people in their age groups, they find it dissatisfying to make friends with people they find it hard to relate to. The result is … old souls tend to find themselves alone a lot of the time. People just don’t cut it for them. You love knowledge, wisdom and truth. Yep … this seems a little grandiose and overly noble, but the old soul finds himself naturally gravitating towards the intellectual side of life. Old souls inherently understand that knowledge is power, wisdom is happiness and truth is freedom, so why not seek after those things? These pursuits are more meaningful to them than reading up on the latest gossip about Snooki’s latest boyfriend, or the latest football scores. You’re spiritually inclined.

More emotional old souls tend to have sensitive and spiritual natures. Overcoming the confines of the ego, seeking enlightenment and fostering love and peace are the main pursuits of these young-in-body Mother Teresa’s. To them it seems the wisest, most fulfilling use of time.
You understand the transience of life.

Old souls are frequently plagued with reminders of not only their own mortality, but that of everything and everyone around them. This makes the old soul wary and at times withdrawn, but wisely dictates the way they live their lives.

You’re thoughtful and introspective.

Old souls tend to think a lot … about everything. Their ability to reflect and learn from their actions and those of others is their greatest teacher in life. One reason why old souls feel so old at heart is because they have learnt so many lessons through their own thought processes, and possess so much insight into life situations from their ability to quietly and carefully observe what if going on around them.
You see the bigger picture.

Rarely do old souls get lost in the superficial details of getting useless degrees, job promotions, boob jobs and bigger TV’s. Old souls have the tendency to look at life from a birds eye view, seeing what is the most wise and meaningful way to approach life. When confronted with issues, old souls tend to see them as temporary and passing pains that merely serve to increase the amount of joy felt in the future. Consequently, old souls tend to have placid, stable natures as a result of their approach to life.
You aren’t materialistic.

Wealth, status, fame, and the latest version of iPhone … they just bore old souls. The old soul doesn’t see the purpose of pursuing things that can be easily taken away from them. Additionally, old souls have little time and interest for the short-lived things in life, as they bring little meaning or long lasting fulfillment for them.
You were a strange, socially maladaptive kid.

This is not always the case, but many old souls exhibit odd signs of maturity at young ages. Often, these children are labelled as being “precocious”, “introverted”, or “rebellious“, failing to fit into the mainstream behaviors. Usually, these children are extremely inquisitive and intelligent, seeing the purposelessness of many things their teachers, parents and peers say and so, and either passively or aggressively resisting them. If you can talk to your child like he/she’s an adult – you’ve probably got an old soul on your hands.
You just “feel” old.

Before putting a name to what I felt, I experienced certain sensations of simply being an “old person” inside. The feelings that accompany being an old soul are usually: a feeling of world wariness, mental tiredness, watchful patience, and detached calmness. Unfortunately, this can often be perceived as being aloof and cold, which is only one of many Old Soul Myths.

Just as some old people describe themselves as being “young at heart”, so too can young people be “old at heart”.

— ALETHEIA LUNA

Elven Biology

Elven Biology

Elves are very close to humans on a biological level, but hey so are chimpanzees...

Elves belong to the same genus as humans but not to the same specie, unlike Neanderthals (brut men) who are the same species, and so is Hin (halflings).

Genetically elves are 99.8% similar to humans in this passage were going to discuss the remaining 0.2 percent.

Appearance-
Elves tend to be shorter than humans. This is true in most cases though often you can find elves reaching 1.8 meters in height (males and females) and even higher. Reduced height poses an advantage in the dense forest realms the elves come from therefore adult elves tend to be ranging from 1.4 to 1.7 meters (males and females are the same size).

Elves who do not live in forested areas for long periods of time tend to grow higher than woodland elves.

Elven bodies are more slender than humans and they weigh lower than the human norm for their height. However their muscles are still strong and they are not fragile as they seem. Elves do not have bodily hair. Nowhere.

Elves have narrow faces with pointed ears (this is much more refined than some illustrations show. the ears are less pointed than Mr. Spoks) and hazel shaped eyes, whose colour range from grey and silver through blue and green to violet. Brown eyes can be found but they are more rare.

Hair changes according to subrace and tribe. While blond and golden tend to be more common in most cases some tribes are completely black haired.

Old elves (and that’s mighty old!) have white hair. Blue hair or greenish are legends that probably refer to some fairy race or to dryads.

Senses-
Elven ears have a different hearing range from humans. While human adults hear noises from 400 to 20,000 hertz , elves hear from 1000 to 30,000 hertz a slightly higher range. This is probably why elves speak in higher pitches than humans. Elves have an excellent sense of sight especially in close ranges. They separate colours better, and therefore make better archers and hunters in forested areas when shades of green are the difference between a leaf and a meal of frog legs.

I have a serious problem with infra vision. In order to decipher infra red light the eyes of an elf should be very different. Snakes that do have infra vision have special organs for that range of light instead of their regular eyes.Because of this, IMC ,elves (end dwarfs and orcs and everyone) don’t have infra vision but rather have the natural ability to open their pupils larger (like cats) in order to gather more light. They can see in what seem to humans to be darkness, but cant see in total absolute darkness.
This comes as a disadvantage in places of extreme sunlight such as deserts and snow fields , as the pain to the eyes is terrible.

Smell and taste are usually the same as humans, though what elves and humans like to taste and smell is not always the same.

Food and drink-

The elven diet is composed on less complex carbohydrates than humans and less protein from meat. Its not true that all elves are vegetarians or that they are repulsed by eating meat. Its just they need meat in different quantities than humans. Elves do eat a lot of simple sugars from sugar-cane berries and fruit , and they supplement it with the occasional insect fish, frogs and small mammals (usually rabbits) they also eat roots and mushrooms and some nutritious tree bark. Elves cook meat (again against rumours and legends) usually roasting it on open fire. Elves drink wine (only kind of alcohol they know) and tend to react to its effect the same way humans do.
Sleep-

This is a very sensitive subject. The elven biological clock works differently than the human one in almost every aspect. (see below).
For one thing the active hours of elves are different. Elves are not nocturnal, but there most active hours are from the afternoon to midnight.

Elves go to sleep around two hours before sunrise and wake up at noon (just like modern teenagers!) they sometimes nap in the evening like humans do in the afternoon. The reason for this daily cycle is not known, but it explains lots of the myths humans have about elves. For one thing, common human folk that live near elves think they are lazy and never work- that’s not true - elves work, they just don’t do it early in the morning like humans do. Another thing humans think about elves is that they have wild parties all night long (dancing in fairy rings and such) this is only partly true as elves tend to sit around the fire before they go to sleep talking singing and telling stories.
Life cycle-

Elves have extremely long life spans in the OD&D this is about 800 years and in the AD&D system up to 600 years IMC this is more complicated than this. While elves do have very long lives this doesn't mean their cycle of life is the same as humans. Elves grow up slightly slower than humans and when they mature they stay that way for a very long time before they age. Old elves don't suffer for the same ailments that plague human elderly people, but just the different ailments they gathered through their long lives. Elves do not get wrinkles on their skin nor do their bodies become fragile or weak. Eventually, they will suffer a normal disease and die. This is not considered as death of old age since elves do not fade away into death, they just die.

Elven life cycle versus human life cycle:

human years
elven years

babies
0-2
0-3

children
3-12
4-15

puberty
13-17
16-21

young adulthood (fertility)
18-28
21-70

adulthood
29-55
71-250

venerable
56-75
251- 350

death
75-100
350-550

Love and monogamy

Elves usually start getting interested in the opposite sex during their young adult years. Elves form strong bonds with mates (the same way they do with members of their own gender) but this doesn't always lead to marriage. Elves are monogamous and never have relationships with more than one mate but the relationship is not permanent. Elves learned about the marriage custom from humans and use it to promise their loved ones they will stay with them forever. However elven couples are known to fall in love live together raise kids and then go on living single lives again- marriage is optional.

Sexual relations

While we have trouble understanding this complicated subject in our own society its even harder to try and understand sex in a completely different race.

Elves have sex the same way humans (and most mammals) do, in the physical sense but they treat it in a different way. Elves enjoy sex less than humans. Elves are not slaves to their passions as we are and lots of them go through life (a very very long life!) without sex. Elves have less obvious sexual organs than humans, the male’s penis is less thick and reaches only 10-14 cm, while the females vagina doesn't have clear outer parts. Both genders have absolutely no hair on their bodies , not even in places that serve as erogenous zones.Elves treat blind sexual passion as animalistic (in some way that is the main reason humans seem inferior to elves being “like animals” in behaviour). 

Elves don’t treat nudity as indecent or always sex related, but sexual relations of any kind are always done in privacy.

Elves sometimes have sex with partners of the same gender this is considered an act of strong love to that person. Elves do not consider these relations as having to do with duality and don't understand how can one be solely attracted to his/hers own gender there aren't any elven homosexuals as such.
Reproductive habits

This is the most puzzling aspect of elven biology. In evolutionary terms elves rate of reproduction is much too slow to allow the continuation of the specie. But evolution works different on creatures of magical essence and maybe the slow rate of reproduction is necessary to the survival of the elven race.

Elves rarely have sex , sex rarely brings to fertilisation and pregnancy + childhood take long. All these make the elves poor breeders. This is probably why there are fewer elves than humans. The ratio on mystery (and most worlds) is about 15 to 1 in favour of humans. While humans can triple their population in a century (given ideal resources and space) elves need 500 years to do same.
The fact that elves war less among themselves evens the sides a bit.
Elf females have a monthly period like human women but only release eggs every two or three months. Elf males release less sperm than humans and therefor fertilisation is rare.
When fertilisation does occur the female enters a pregnancy of two years (like elephants!) at which time of course she is not fertile. After this long pregnancy an elven baby is born and stays helpless for three years (elven babies learn to walk when they are two).

http://pandius.com/morphail/Elvenbiology.html

Fairy Love

For my dear sis

I Love the fairy people. 

Up on high in the sky, 

over the tops of the mountains,

and down into valley,

down into the ravine do they fly,

Fly on hi, fly on low over the river,

with sparkly fairy dust do they land,

land upon the blooms of the cherry trees,

Satisfying their thirst they dance, 

and dance until the sun sets.

Each bedding within the blooms about,

enfolding them softly,

protecting them for the night. 

Fairy love

  ೋღ♥ღღೋ ✫ Writen by Cynthia  ೋღ♥ღღೋ✫

Syrandir (Enchantment)

Syrandir (Enchantment)

elaf eldiver (gentle kindreth), .....da na varsifala eldat qum u eldon ( is a particularly elfin form of magic). Occasionally non otherkind try to use it, but seldom effectively, for they do not truly understand the source of this magic and its power. Enchantment comes from the words En = to and chant which is to chant or sing. The key to enchantment is the Song of our Elfin Being. There are even a group of elves, tae fondfali (the singers), who never speak but sing every word of communication. The source of enchantment is Joy and as it radiates through and from us it creates a subsonic vibrational tone that subtly caresses and fascinates others in a way that they find intriguing and mysterious. There are numerous varieties of enchantment but the most of them can be subdivided under the seven major rays of manifestation which are also correlated to the seven points of the elven star.

The first ray is the ray of will. The enchantment that comes from this ray stems from the attraction that people feel for those who are confident and sure of thems'elves. Among the dark elves (vampires) this can function as an overshadowing of the will of another individual. However, the most of ours have discovered that to overshadow another's will is to assume their karma and entails a constant effort that is eventually exhausting to the psyche. Among normals and the non-races, this first ray enchantment usually functions under what is often referred to as the "cult of the personality". It is the attraction and appeal of those in authority to those who are eager to be led. However, we elfin are neither leaders nor followers. The first ray enchantment among most elfin is a result of our s'elf esteem and even more so from our devotion to encouraging this s'elf confidence in others. We help epople feel good about thems'elves and promote their urge toward independence and s'elf direction. Rather than trying to force our will upon them, we urge them to make their own decisions and this puzzling behaviour very much enchants them.

Love-Wisdom is the source of second ray enchantment. Among all elven it manifests as everything from sexual attraction to the highest forms of spiritual love. To the elven there is very little difference between sex and love. We are Tantrists and sex and love are soul mates each in perpetual search for the other. For many folke the sexual and the spiritual are of utterly different orders of being; however, to the elfin sex is very spiritual and the realm of the spirit is tremendously sexy. Among many peoples, love is a bargaining chip...if you give money or security or introduce them to the right people then you will be loved. Even to their children they use love as a method of behaviour control. Do what they want or forget about getting any. But among the elven, LOVE IS EVER FREE. It is not indiscriminate; however, this is the ray of Love-Wisdom, after all, but it is always given without price or condition. We smile upon nearly everyone...unfortunately, many folke have been trained to be suspicious of the smiling face and it is most often not our openness which so intrigues them...but our clear and constant love for each other that awakens their soul ...longing desparately to have what they see so evident before them. We adore each other and that fascinates them and arouses the 'elf within.

The third ray is the ray of Active Intelligence. This is not simply nor necessarily equated with intellect or education. It is very much in tune with the ability to communicate and interact in an intelligent fashion. Nearly all people admire intelligence. Tae Murdili ( the violynts ), tae Lesvili (the greedees ) and tae Grymfali ( the scowlers ) are often hateful and at the very least envious of and leary about the educated and the intellectual but they admire native intelligence. Among the normal folke, intelligence is often a source of competition (what isn't?)...a game of one-up-manship which admires the cunning and the clever. While we elfin do tend to be intelligent, we have little regard for cleverness and we see intelligence as far more than education or intellect...it is not an area of competition but rather an arena where cooperative sharing makes the all of us more intelligent and successful. We are not enchanting because we are intelligent so much as the fact that we recognize intelligence in others and give it full appreciation. We stir people's souls not so much by our knowledge as our never ending Quest to learn and understand.

The fourth ray is the ray of Harmony through Diversity. It is a particularly creative ray. It is the realm of the individual and the eccentric (the elfin...by which we mean all faerie and otherkind). The normals who dread anything that is non-conformist tread not here...to do so is to risk exile...to be branded weird...a frightening prospect for them. It is in this ray that we come to know and develop our own particular style and flare, our unique indivdual nature while simltaneously accepting the uniqueness of others. Our unpredictable natures both terrify, amuse and arouse the normal folke who secretly admire our courage in being ours'elves and are inwardly delighted that something unusual is happening in their lives even if it is no more than a source of gossip for them. Of course, the non-races can be occasionally dangerous when confronted with anything that is too unusual and it is often safest to pass through their realms unseen. We would do well to encourage the creativity in each and everyone we can...and we do this best... by being our own unique 'elves.

Science and practical knowledge are the theme of the fifth ray. The key here is being an expert...to be good, nay, great at whatever one does...be you a writer or an auto mechanic...the firth ray strives for technical excellence. This is the realm of the wyzards and all people admire those who are really good at what they do. Strive for excellece...be your best..." be all that you can be..." and you will enchant all manner of folke.

Devotion and idealism rule the sixth ray. This is a powerful enchanment and it is the source of attraction that most religions hold over the converted. The elfin are generally not so much a religious people as a spiritual people and our devotion is less to ideas and more to individuals. We do not worship but rather stand in awe of the magnificence of life. We are devoted to the fulfillment of all peoples...not just the elfin ...and deep inside, if they have any sensitivity at all they feel this and are enchanted by it.

And finally, we come to the seventh ray...the ray of organization and ritual magic. Now, we elven are the least organized of all folke and our magic is usually impromptu and spontaneous rather than ritual. However, there is a rhythm to our lives that underlies all that we do and it creates a subtle vibration that effects all that we meet. They are slowly but surely drawn into the song, the dance and the music of our being which is elfland manifest. For the source of enchantment is Joy and the elves enjoy everything that we can. We are enchanted by everything that we see and everyone whom we meet... the stars, the earth and Her inhabitants fascinate us and unltimately it is our own enchantedness that so enchants others. kyela, the Silver Elves

Zardoa, Silver Flame, Solon, Elantari and Danyal

By the Silver Elves

Mountain Fairies

Mountain Fairies

I.

THE Gwyllion are female fairies of frightful characteristics, who haunt lonely roads in the Welsh mountains, and lead night-wanderers astray. They partake somewhat of the aspect of the Hecate of Greek mythology, who rode on the storm, and was a hag of horrid guise. The Welsh word gwyll is variously used to signify gloom, shade, duskiness, a hag, a witch, a fairy, and a goblin but its special application is to these mountain fames of gloomy and harmful habits, as distinct from the Ellyllon of the forest glades and dingles, which are more often beneficent. The Gwyllion take on a more distinct individuality under another name-as the Ellyllon do in mischievous Puck--and the Old Woman of the Mountain typifies all her kind.


She is very carefully described by the Prophet Jones in the guise in which she haunted Lanhyddel Mountain in Monmouthshire. This was the semblance of a poor old woman, with an oblong four-cornered hat, ash-coloured clothes, her apron thrown across her shoulder, with a pot or wooden can in her hand, such as poor people carry to fetch milk with, always going before the spectator, and sometimes crying 'Wow up!' This is an English form of a Welsh cry of distress) ' Wwb!' or 'Ww-bwb! [Pronounced Wooboob]. Those who saw this apparition, whether by night or on a misty day, would be sure to lose their way, though they might be perfectly familiar with the road.


Sometimes they heard her cry, 'Wow up!' when they did not see her. Sometimes when they went out by night, to fetch coal, water, etc., the dwellers near that mountain would hear the cry very close to them, and immediately after they would hear it afar off, as if it were on the opposite mountain, in the parish of Aberystruth. The popular tradition in that district was that the Old Woman of the Mountain was the spirit of one Juan White, who lived time out of mind in those parts, and was thought to be a witch; because the mountains were not haunted in this manner until after Juan White's death. ['Juan (Shui) White is an old acquaintance of my boyhood,' writes to me a friend who was born some thirty years ago in Monmouthshire. ' A ruined cottage on the Lasgarn hill near Pontypool was understood by us boys to have been her house, and there she appeared at 12 p.m., carrying her head under her arm.']


When people first lost their way, and saw her before them, they used to hurry forward and try to catch her, supposing her to be a flesh-and-blood woman, who could set them right; but they never could overtake her, and she on her part never looked back; so that no man ever saw her face. She has also been seen in the Black Mountain in Breconshire. Robert Williams, of Langattock, Crickhowel, 'a substantial man and of undoubted veracity,' tells this tale As he was travelling one night over part of the Black Mountain, he saw the Old Woman, and at the same time found he had lost his way. Not knowing her to be a spectre he hallooed to her to stay for him, but receiving no answer thought she was deaf. He then hastened his steps, thinking to over take her, but the faster he ran the further he found himself behind her, at which he wondered very much, not knowing the reason of it. He presently found himself stumbling in a marsh, at which discovery his vexation increased and then he heard the Old Woman laughing at him with a weird, uncanny crackling old laugh. This set him to thinking she might he a gwyll; and when he happened to draw out his knife for some purpose, and the Old Woman vanished, then he was sure of it; for Welsh ghosts and fairies are afraid of a knife.

II.

Another account relates that John ap John, of Cwm Celyn, set out one morning before daybreak to walk to Caerleon Fair. As he ascended Milfre Mountain he heard a shouting behind him as if it were on Bryn Mawr, which is a part of the Black Mountain in Breconshire. Soon after he heard the shouting on his left hand, at Bwlch y Llwyn, nearer to him, whereupon he was seized with a great fright, and began to suspect it was no human voice. He had already been wondering, indeed, what any one could be doing at that hour in the morning, shouting on the mountain side. Still going on, he came up higher on the mountain, when he heard the shouting Just before him, at Gilfach fields, to the right-and now he was sure it was the Old Woman of the Mountain, who purposed leading him astray. Presently he heard behind him the noise of a coach, and with it the special cry of the Old Woman of the Mountain, viz., 'Wow up!' Knowing very well that no coach could go that way, and still hearing its noise approaching nearer and nearer, he became thoroughly terrified, and running out of the road threw himself down upon the ground and buried his face in the heath, waiting for the phantom to pass. When it was gone out of hearing, he arose; and hearing the birds singing as the day began to break, also seeing some sheep before him, his fear went quite off. And this, says the Prophet Jones, was 'no profane, immoral man,' but 'an honest,,peaceable, knowing man, and a very comely person more-over.

III.

The exorcism by knife appears to be a Welsh notion; though there is an old superstition of wide prevalence in Europe that to give to or receive from a friend a knife or a pair of scissors cuts friendship. I have even encountered this superstition in America; once an editorial friend at Indianapolis gave me a very handsome pocket-knife, which he refused to part with except at the price of one cent, lawful coin of the realm, asserting that we should become enemies without this precaution. In China, too, special charms are associated with knives, and a knife which has slain a fellow-being is an invaluable possession. In Wales, according to Jones, the Gwyllion often came into the houses of the people at Aberystruth, especially in stormy weather, and the inmates made them welcome--not through any love they bore them, but through fear of the hurts the Gwyllion. might inflict if offended--by providing clean water for them, and taking especial care that no knife, or other cutting tool, should be in the corner near the fire, where the fairies would go to sit.

'For want of which care many were hurt by them.' While it was desirable to exorcise them when in the open air, it was not deemed prudent to display an inhospitable spirit towards any member of the fairy world. The cases of successful exorcism by knife are many, and nothing in the realm of faerie is better authenticated. There was Evan Thomas, who, travelling by night over Bedwellty Mountain, towards the valley of Ebwy Fawr, where his house and estate were, saw the Gwyllion on each side of him, some of them dancing around him in fantastic fashion. He also heard the sound of a bugle-horn winding in the air, and there seemed to be invisible hunters riding by. He then began to be afraid, but recollected his having heard that any person seeing Gwyllion may drive them away by drawing out a knife. So he drew out his knife, and the fairies vanished directly. Now Evan Thomas was 'an old gentleman of such strict veracity that he' on one occasion 'did confess a truth against himself,' when he was 'like to suffer loss' thereby, and notwithstanding he 'was persuaded by some not to do it, yet he would persist in telling the truth, to his own hurt.' Should we find, in tracing these notions back to their source that they are connected with Arthur's sword Excalibur? If so, there again we touch the primeval world. Jones says that the Old Woman of the Mountain has, since about 1800, (at least in South Wales,) been driven into close quarters by the light of the Gospel-in fact, that she now haunts mines-or in the preacher's formal words, 'the coal-pits and holes of the earth.'

IV.

Among the traditions of the origin of the Gwyllion one which associates them with goats. Goats are in Wales held in peculiar esteem for their supposed occult intellectual powers. They are believed to be on very good terms with the Tylwyth Teg, and possessed of more knowledge than their appearance indicates. It is one of the peculiarities of the Tylwyth Teg that every Friday night they comb the goats' beards to make them decent for Sunday. Their association with the Gwyllion is related in the legend of Cadwaladr's goat: Cadwaladr owned a very handsome goat, named Jenny, of which he was extremely fond; and which seemed equally fond of him; but one day, as if the very diawi possessed her, she ran away into the hills, with Cadwaladr tearing after her, half mad with anger and affright.


At last his Welsh blood got so hot, as the goat eluded him again and again, that he flung a stone at her, which knocked her over a precipice, and she fell bleating to her doom. Cadwaladr made his way to the foot of the crag; the goat was dying, but not dead, and licked his hand--which so affected the poor man that he burst into tears, and sitting on the ground took the goat's head on his arm. The moon rose, and still he sat there. Presently he found that the goat had become transformed to a beautiful young woman, whose brown eyes, as her head lay on his arm, looked into his in a very disturbing way. 'Ah, Cadwaladr,' said she, 'have I at last found you?' Now Cadwaladr had a wife at home, and was much discomfited by this singular circumstance; but when the goat--yn awr maiden--arose, and putting her black slipper on the end of a moonbeam, held out her hand to him, he put his hand in hers and went with her. As for the hand, though it looked so fair, it felt just like a hoof.


They were soon on the top of the highest mountain in Wales, and surrounded by a vapoury company of goats with shadowy horns. These raised a most unearthly bleating about his ears. One, which seemed to be the king, had a voice that sounded above the din as the castle bells of Carmarthen used to do long ago above all the other bells in the town. This one rushed at Cadwaladr and butting him in the stomach sent him toppling over a crag as he had sent his poor nannygoat. When he came to himself, after his fall, the morning sun was shining on him and the birds were singing over his head. But he saw no more of either his goat or the fairy she had turned into, from that time to his death.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/wfl/wfl04.htm

Scientists Claim That Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness -

Scientists Claim That Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness -

Biocentrism

A book titled 'Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe' has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.
Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.

Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter. He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding. Lanza says that we carry space and timearound with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.

The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.

Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe. This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely. It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.
Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.

The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.

The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.

In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University. Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.

The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.

Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.
Soul

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist? Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim? According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe. Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.



Related: Spiritual Reality - Near Death Experiences

Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing. Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).

Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”

Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time. Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?

Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe.

If the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says “I had a near death experience”‘

He adds: “If they’re not revived, and the patient dies, it’s possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.”

This account of quantum consciousness explains things like near-death experiences, astral projection, out of body experiences, and even reincarnation without needing to appeal to religious ideology. The energy of your consciousness potentially gets recycled back into a different body at some point, and in the mean time it exists outside of the physical body on some other level of reality, and possibly in another universe.

Robert Lanza on Biocentrism:

- See more at: http://httptheforestofhealingningcom.ning.com/groups/science-club/physics/scientists-claim-that-quantum-theory-proves-consciousness-moves-t#sthash.G3w0UHpV.dpuf

Hi my dear friends here we explore further the worlds of infinite potentialities. Where science and spirituality meet, of worlds created from our own consciousness.
Now do you believe in fairies? :o)

Scientists Claim That Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness -

Biocentrism

Shamanism In The Celtic World

Shamanism In The Celtic World

by Corby Ingold

The idea of shamanism as a part of Celtic tradition has become very popular in recent years. Various authors and workshop presenters have promulgated the idea of a Celtic shamanism. What validity is there to the claim of these authors that Celtic peoples posessed an indigenous shamanism, similar and equal to the shamanic systems of Native Americans and other tribal peoples? This chapter will endeavor to examine the claims for an indigenous Celtic shamanism. We will draw upon sources both ancient and modern, literary as well as from folk and oral tradition.

In recent years authors such as John and Caitlin Mathews, Tom Cowan, and others, have spread the idea of a Celtic shamanism through their books and workshops. These primary writers have inspired a host of imitators. There are now ongoing workshops and classes in Celtic shamanism in which attendees pass through a graded curriculum of knowledge in order to qualify or be certified as bona fide practitioners of the tradition. This recent phenomenon has caused no end of controversy among students and scholars of Celtic tradition. Most of the controversy seems to constellate itself around the problem of identifying what a shaman actually is, and whether this kind of sacred practitioner can actually be said to have existed within ancient and more recent Celtic societies.

According to Mircea Eliade, "Magic and magicians are to be found more or less all over the world, whereas shamanism exhibits a particular magical specialty, on which we shall later dwell at length: "mastery over fire", "magical flight", and so on. By virtue of this fact, though the shaman is, among other things, a magician, not every magician can properly be termed a shaman. . . . . the shaman specializes in a trance in which his soul is believed to leave his body and ascend to the sky or descend to the underworld."(1.)

Michael Harner describes a shaman this way: "A shaman is a man or woman who enters an altered state of consciousness - at will- to contact or utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other persons. The shaman has at least one, and usually more, "spirits" in his personal service." Harner goes on to say, "To this I would add that, in his trance, he commonly works to restore a patient by restoring beneficial or vital power, or by extracting harmful power. The journey to which Eliade refers is usually undertaken to restore power or a lost soul."(2.) It should be pointed out here that Michael Harner is talking primarily about healing shamanism. A case can be made for the existence of other forms of shamanism, such as warrior shamanism, hunting shamanism, or even evil or black shamanism. In actual practice though, the various forms often exist side by side, though shamans do typically specialize. Thus a healer is not ususally a warrior, etc.

Shamanism, in a "pure" sense, is usually characterisitic of paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies. As such, it can safely be said to represent humankind's earliest and most primal form of religion, magic and healing modality. It is also the most conservative and well established form of human spirituality, as we were hunter gatherers for literally thousands and thousands of years, far longer than the subsequent span of our collective history. Contemporary thinkers like ecologist Paul Shephard and anthropologist Calvin Martin maintain that we are still, essentially, hunter-gatherers who have never left the Pleistocene era.(3.) This fits in well with many indigenous peoples' concept of the Original Instructions or Original Teachings, the primary and aboriginal rules for living received many thousands of years ago during the dreamtime or mythic beginning time of the tribe.

The Celts were, nonetheless, advanced beyond the paleolithic, hunter-gatherer stage long before they became distinguishable from their Indo European cousins and arose as a separate cultural entity. However, given the notable conservatism of Celtic society, it is very likely that they preserved archaic elements and institutions long beyond other Northern and Western European peoples. And this seems to be the main element upon which the argumant for a Celtic shamanism hinges. This and the fact that, although shamanism can be said to have it's origins in the paleolithic, it clearly survives in a fairly unaltered form within societies which have made the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist, pastoralist, or even modern post industrial lifestyles, as with contemporary Native Americans. Also, the Irish Celts, at least, did preserve within their society nominal hunter-warrior bands, as the existence of the fennidi clearly demonstrates.

The awenyddion of Wales, first written of in the Twefth century by Geraldus Cambrensis, are cited by some writers as evidence of a native tradition of Celtic shamanism. The awenyddion were prophets and soothsayers who , when asked a question by those seeking divinatory guidance, would fall into a deep trance and give strange, sibyl-like prophecies and oracular utterances. The trance of the awenyddion was so deep that it appeared to be a kind of posession, from which they had to be violently roused to awaken. Some have claimed that, like shamans the world over, the awwenyddion communed with their tutelary or helping spirits while in this state. Others have claimed that the phenomenon of the awenyddion does not resemble shamanism, but rather the trance posession of Vodun and other Afro-Carribean religions. This distinction between being "posessed" and posessing a guardian spirit helper is cited by Harner.(4.) Based upon this idea, and in reaction against the popularity of Mathews, et.al., some modern Celtic reconstructionists have gone so far as to claim that ancient Celtic spiritual practice , far from being in any way "shamanic", was actually more akin to the practices of Vodun, Santeria, and other African-derived religions, and thus incorporate African drumming, etc., into their "Celtic" rituals. As one who was both initiated into an indigenous shamanic tradition and served an eleven year apprenticeship with a master shaman of Salish and Nuu-Chah-Nulth descent, I have found that the distinction between trance posession and posessing a guardian spirit, while it sounds quite plausible on paper, often does not exist in actual practice. Thus, while Pacific Northwest elders exhort those with newly acquired spirit power to "have a strong mind, control that thing" (meaning the spirit helper), there are, equally, many traditional stories within the culture of those shamans who "go under the spirit", and perform miraculous or outlandish deeds, healings, etc., while under the influence of their helping spirit and later have no memory of their actions while in trance. And personally, I have always found it quite inconceivable that the ancient Celts were practicing anything remotely resembling contemporary Vodun.

It would appear from ethnographic literature that what we might refer to as the full shamanic complex is found primarily in primal hunter gatherer cultures. A nomadic or semi-nomadic life and close proximity to wilderness and wild animals is concomitant to this complex. Nonetheless, there are plenty of examples, throughout Asia, Northern Europe and the Americas of this shamanic complex surviving relatively unaltered even in urban environments. The non-urban, even anti-urban quality of ancient Celtic societies is very well attested to by Roman historians, who were keenly aware of the, to them, essentially alien nature of Celtic lifeways to their own urban, bureaucratic civilization. And of course, Finn MacCumhal, the Celtic shamanic figure par excellence, spent most of his life with his fennidi band in the wilderness among wild animals. For these reasons it is not too much of a stretch to conceive that some form of shamanic complex may have survived among the agricultural and pastoral Celts. The main consideration here is whether shamanism proper was a feature of Celtic culture. Some anthropological purists insist that shamanism proper is found only among Siberian and North and Central Asian societies. The fact that very pure forms of the shamanic complex are found among North, Central and South American, as well as Australian Aboriginal tribal groups seems to argue against this limited interpretation. Again, drawing from personal experience, academic definitions of shamanism and of what, precisely, a shaman is often differ considerably from the definitions of indigenous practitioners of the art. So the probelm arises: do we give more credence to academic definitions, often formed in an entirely artificial environment, with little or no actual field experience, or do we pay more attention to the indigenous practitioners, however lacking they may be in Western academic credentials?

According to Whistemenknee - "Walking Medicine Robe" (Johnny Moses), a Pacific Northwest Coast Indian Doctor, or shaman, "Well, my grandparents were both shamans. My grandfather was a shaman that dealt with mainly people who were dying, cases of near death experiences, and my grandmother was a midwife and a shaman that dealt mainly with children and counseling. . . . . They would also bring me around to other people who were also shamans; not necessarily my relatives. We went to other tribes and they would leave me with teachers who were shamans, for instance Twakwaddle and Towuk Bay. I was left with this one man at the age of eleven for two months to learn about spirit travelling, a shamanic practice that our people do. . . . . There are some shamans that just have the power to communicate with people well. There are some shamans that heal through art. There are some shamans that do the painting board ceremony, in which the shaman would ask the client, "Well, why are you here? What are you here for?" That's how they talk in Indian, and they'll start explaining themselves. The shaman will be a good listener, and through time of however long it takes for that person to explain themselves, it could be half an hour, three or four hours, sometimes all night. Then after that the shaman will go into shushutsulus, the spirit world. Some of the white people might call it a trance, but it's not really a trance because you know what you're doing at the same time that you're in the spirit world. The designs that he would start painting would have many different meanings. The painting might tell another shaman about the sickness, problem, that this person has. Another shaman might have the power to read paintings. He can look at the painting and tell the client what his sickness or problem is just by the painting. . . . . The shamans are always working together. That's what it's all about; coming together, learning about people. When you become a shaman you have to work for the people, not just for yourself. You have to share."(5)

Steven Wolf, a Sundancer and shamanic practitioner of Northern Cheyenne and Irish ancestry, who has practiced within the Northern Plains spiritual traditions for over twenty five years, has this to say:"These days everyone seems to have a definition, and interpretation of the term"shamanism". from the structural anthropologists to the mythologists to the Jungians, the Freudians, the transpersonal psychotherapists, the process oriented psychologists, to the New Agers with their psycho- babble. The academics hold to a strict, rigid definition, feeling they have proprietary rights to the term and smirking at everyone else. On the other hand, New Agers have a definition so broad as to be meaningless. Both sides miss the profound depth and breadth of this particular spiritual way, which is much more than mere technique. Shamanism may possibly be the oldest spiritual path, and consequently has far more profound implications for contemporary humans than its academic interpreters realize. The reason for this is that the act of interpretation is a mental exercise, whereas "shamanism" is a living dynamic that involves all of the senses. A sensuous experience that must be known in a primary and primal way. The mental wheel-spinning of academics or the shallow genuflecting of New Age entrepeneurs will never truly comprehend it until they stop interpreting and start experiencing it, internally and externally, with mind, emotion, body and spirit."(6)

If we use Harner's definition of a shaman (quoted above) as a man or woman who "enters an altered state of consciousness . . . to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other persons", and who has "at least one, and usually more, "spirits", in his personal service" (quotation marks Harner's), then we shall quite easily find many examples of the shaman within Celtic societies, from ancient up through contemporary times. It should be noted here that it has become fashionable of late in some quarters to attack Michael Harner, thus calling all he has written anent shamanism into question. Upon questioning these critics I have usually found that their reasons for attacking Harner are obscure (though perhaps jumping on the bandwagon of the latest intellectual fad isnt so obscure after all, - it certainly doesn't require much in the way of intelligence). To the extent that these critics are able to justify their position at all, it usually has something to do with the fact that Harner isn't teaching "cultural" shamanism - shamanism from within an indigenous cultural perspective. He certainly isn't, and makes his reasons for not doing so very clear in The Way of The Shaman. I was initiated into a Northwest Coast Native American shamanic tradition in 1984, and subsequently served an eleven year apprenticeship with my teacher/initiator, a master shaman of the SiSiWiss ("Sacred Breath") tradition. Let me go on record as saying that I find Harner's definition of a shaman to be a very accurate modern statement of what I have encountered in a more traditional cultural context. I have also attended two of the workshops presented by his Institute For Shamanic Studies (independently of my indigenous training) and find his presentation of basic shamanic techniques and knowledge to be accurate, honest and effective.

Celtic tales abound with examples of heroes who travel into one or more Otherworlds in quest of magical prizes, knowledge or power, with which to bring healing to the land, skill to craftsman, warrior or hunter. King Arthur's famous journey to Annwn, the Underworld of the British Celts, in quest of a mysterious Cauldron of Inspiration and Rebirth, recorded by the Thirteenth century Welsh poet Thomas Ap Einion (7), is a late example of the type of Celtic Otherworld journey known in old Irish as immramma. Immramma usually refers to a voyage by sea, that is, into that portion of the triadic Celtic cosmos (land, sea and sky) equated with the watery element. True to form, King Arthur journeys into Annwn aboard his magical ship Prydwen. The bard Taliesin, in many respects the classic shaman figure within Welsh tradition, accompanies Arthur on this perilous Otherworldly voyage. Like the Irish poet and outlaw Finn, who frequently pays a price of personal humiliation or wounding in obtaining Otherworldly gifts, Arthur does not emerge unscathed from this adventure. For though Arthur sets forth with three companies of men, "except for seven, none return". This idea of reciprocity between the worlds, that a price must be paid for Otherworldly knowledge and gifts, runs though world shamanic tradition. Shamans typically undergo exceptional ordeals in their quest for healing power, magical knowledge, etc. The very nature of the shaman's suffering and trials place him outside of ordinary society, where the thought of undertaking such dangerous questing is anathema to the conventional man or woman. This contributes to the shaman's liminality, the state of in betweeness that is one of the keynotes of Otherworldly and sacred power in Celtic tradition. The essential liminality of the Irish hero Finn and the Fiana, his war-band of fennidi or "outlaws", has been explored by Nagy (8) and others.

Outlaw, poet, craftsman and seer, Finn MacCumhal is the quintessential shamanic figure in the old Gaelic sagas, though by no means the only one demonstrating shamanic abilities.Early in life Finn undergoes the training to become a fennid, being raised in exile in the wilderness by two mysterious foster mothers, one known as a druid, who train him in the arts of hunting and fighting. According to Joseph Nagy, "In early Irish literature, the fennid usually appears as a figure living and functioning outside or on the margins of the tribal territory and community (the tuath)."(9). The fennidi together form a group called a fian, or war band. Their leader is the rifennid, usually one known for his exceptional prowess. These fennidi functioned as mercenaries and upholders of the law in ancient Ireland, even though they themselves were often seen as outlaws.

Finn becomes adept in the arts of fennidecht, the hunting and martial arts of the fennidi, and in time becomes rifennid of his own fian. An element that distinguishes Finn from other fennidi though is his status as a fili, or poet/seer. The role of fili is very highly regarded in the Irish tribal hierarchy, quite in contrast to Finn's other role as outlaw mercenary. This dual role fully establishes Finn's liminality, his quality of being both within and outside of any particular world, social stratum, role, etc. This liminality, and Finn's winning of liminal knowledge and power from Otherworldly sources, is illustrated in the many tales of his journeys into various Otherworld realms.

Like numerous other characters in traditional Celtic stories Finn passes quite easily between the worlds. Indeed, one often has the impression that Finn and his companions do not always know when they have left the ordinary, mortal world and passed into one of the Otherworldly realms. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the collection of stories about Finn and his fian, taken from Gaelic oral tradition, known as the bruidhean tales. According to leading Finn scholar Joseph Nagy, "The word bruidhean means "hostel," and in both Fenian and non-Fenian narrative the dwellings described as bruidhne are explicitly or implicitly otherworldly".(9). Finn and his men have many wondrous and terrifying adventures within these bruidhne, where they are often the guests, willing or otherwise, of supernatural hosts. As Nagy points out, "in the bruidhean situation Finn alternates radically between being a victimized guest and an agressive intruder - between being manipulated by, and a manipulator of, the otherworld." (9). The apparent dichotomy between being at the mercy of, and yet also manipulating the spirit world features strongly in the accounts of shamans the world over. In a number of the bruidhean stories Finn and his men become, or almost become, food for the Otherworldly hosts. In a Scottish bruidhean tale collected from oral tardition Finn is captured and placed upon a griddle, where his legs are burned off. He is then impaled upon a stake. In another tale the bruidhean host threatens to remove the flesh of the fennidi with pincers and feed it to his dogs; his cannibalistic wife wants to eat the fennidi raw. These stories are strikingly similar to accounts from shamans of many different cultures and eras who report a common experience of being devoured by spirits, only to be reshaped or reformed as a result and emerging from the experience restored to greater wholeness and vitality, often with enhanced shamanic powers. An indeed, in all of the stories in which Finn is cooked or dismembered he is eventually restored, and frequently gains some magical boon or ability which he is able to bring back from the Otherworld and use within human society.

Finn does, though, sometimes bear lasting wounds or scars from his Otherworldly battles. In a story called the 'Feast of Conan's House' Finn is tricked by a woman of the sidhe (faery or supernatural woman) into swimming in a magic lake which robs him of his characteristic youth and strength. The lord of a nearby dwelling gives Finn a magical drink which both restores Finn's strength and gives him special supernatural knowledge. Though Finn regains his youth, half of his hair remains grey. The faery lord offers to restore it to it's original color, but Finn chooses to keep it the way it is. From then on Finn's hair is half grey and his person exudes a smell of decay, emblems of his dealings with the Otherworld and of his supernatural knowledge. Such visible markers of Otherworldly experience and attainment form part of the shaman's regalia in many indigenous cultures, at once setting the shaman apart from the common populace and underscoring his liminality.

Finn also fulfills a shamanic role in one other important respect: his journeys into various Otherworld realms are not merely gratuitous, for he sometimes uses his supernatural powers to protect human society from dangerous Otherworld intrusions. As quintessentially liminal figures Finn and the fennidi act as buffers and border guards between the human and supernatural realms. Thus in one bruidhean tale the son of a king of the sidhe tries to conquer Ireland, but is defeated by Finn and his Fian. Again, in another story Finn's men protect the coastline from a sea monster Finn detects using his Otherworld-gained divinatory powers. Finn also rescues the corr bolg, or crane bag, a bundle of magical treasures of immeasurable value to the land of Ireland while avenging his father's death. The source of this Otherworldly bag is said to be the sea god Manannan, a mysterious deity possibly pre-dating the Celts, who acts to part the mists between the Worlds.

Another ancient Irish tale that perhaps goes the farthest in describing the various Otherworld islands encountered during immrama is Immram Curaig Maelduin Inso or The Voyage of Maelduin's Boat, first written down in the eighth or ninth century A.D. The hero Maelduin sets out to avenge his father's murder, first consulting a wise druid for counsel. He ends up voyaging with seventeen men in a curragh, or skin boat, to thirty three distinct Otherworld islands. Maelduin and his shipmates undergo numerous adventures on the magical islands with names like the Island of Giant Ants, The Island of the Crystal Keep, and the Island of the Falcon, where they encounter beautiful Otherworldly women, ancestors, and mysterious semi-divine beings. Through his adventures Maelduin's personality matures and deepens, he grows in wisdom and ends up forgiving his enemies.

A striking element of Maelduin's Voyage, like other Celtic wonder tales, is that the Otherworld realms are not described as amorphous, vaporous places constructed apparently of ectoplasm and dim, misty light, as in some modern New Age and spiritualistic literature, but rather as definite, embodied worlds, each vivid and unique. These are sensuous realms, the "many coloured land", as the early twentieth century poet and mystic AE (George Russell) characterized it, filled with forests of golden trees, magical animals who act as guides, women of unearthly beauty, and sparkling, crystal seas. In this respect, also, the Celtic tradition accords with accounts of shamans worldwide who describe the alternate worlds of their voyaging in specific and vivid terms. This very specificity of the shamanic spiritual worlds is what distinguishes the shaman's journey, always undertaken with a clear purpose in mind, from the mental wandering of psychically unbalanced individuals. This characterisitic of the Celtic tales is matched in the Northwest Coast SiSiWiss tradition, as presented by my teacher Whistemenknee and other elders, by the "Teachings", colorful stories handed down through many centuries of oral presentation, at potlatches and other ceremonies, which embody the entire spiritual lore of the hereditary northwest coast Indian Doctors (shamans). "We say the stories are the Teachings," as one elder expressed it. Within these stories animals talk, human beings travel to Otherworldly realms such as the land under the ocean, the land of the dead, or up into the sky world, or backward or forward through time. Hunters and basket weavers gain supernatural allies, and miraculous healings and transformations occur. All realms interpenetrate, the tree and rock people express their concern at what the human beings are doing to Mother Earth, little men who live beneath the earth tell shamans how to heal various diseases, and time is circular rather than linear. The various locales of the Spirit World, which it is assumed within the culture anyone can travel to, willingly or unwillingly, are described in precise and vivid terms. And just like our physical world, these various extra-physical realms, and the beings within them, operate according to specific laws. In this sense the ancestral shamanic teachings of traditional Northwest Coast Native American Medicine People and the ancient and modern Celtic tales of Finn, Maelduin, and Arthur, among others, provide a strong reflection of each other. Again, there is the implicit assumption that within Celtic societies, as with Native Americans, the stories carried, in addition to entertainment value, the moral values, codes of conduct, and inherited spiritual lore of the tuath or tribe.

Though the days of high Celtic culture, of kings, warriors and druids, is long past, many elements of pre-Christian belief and ritual have survived in what is popularly known as the Fairy Faith. These remnants of ancient belief and lore were handed down from generation to generation among humble cottagers, shepherds, farmers and village folk living in outlying areas along the Celtic fringe. Along with Celtic traditional music, this considerable body of lore and practice represents a living and bountful heritage for students of Celtic spiritual ways. Within the Fairy Faith tradition, practiced in a far more humble context than the aristocratic millieu of ancient Ireland and Wales, voyages to the Otherworld, often in the company of supernatural companions and helpers, are undertaken by seers and fairy doctors - healers who treat their clients with a combination of inherited folk charms and supernatural aid. W.B. Yeats, who recounted many of his personal dealings with the people of the sidhe, has this to say,"The most celebrated fairy doctors are sometimes people the fairies loved and carried away, and kept with them for seven years; not that those the fairies love are always carried off - they may merely grow silent and strange, and take to lonely wanderings in the "gentle" places. Such will, in after-times, be great poets or musicians, or fairy doctors . . ."(10). Going on to discuss witches, Yeats refers to another classic shamanic ability: shapeshifting: "But the central notion of witchcraft everywhere is the power to change into some fictitious form, usually in Ireland a hare or cat. Long ago a wolf was the favorite."(10). Here the great poet, in discussing the traditional lore of his native land, reveals the essentially shamanic nature of those beliefs and practices current among Irish country folk at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Perhaps the most famous fairy doctor of more recent times was Biddy Early, of County Clare in the west of Ireland, who died in 1873. Her life and doings are fairly well documented, due in part to the efforts of Lady Gregory who, early in the twentieth century, took it upon herself to interview many old people who had known Biddy and had been cured by her. Early in life Biddy reported experiences with the fairies as commonly as other children tell of playing with their friends. Though other country folk believed in and sometimes saw the "good people", as the fairies were traditionally called, Biddy demonstrated an unusual degree of familiarity and contact with them. It appears that, as time went on, she became more private about her dealings with the Otherworld folk, suffering, no doubt, some of the social stigma of those who were thought to be "fey". It is a fact that, throughout her life, she was often at odds with the local priest and bishop, who feared that her popularity as a healer among the local people threatened their spiritual authority. On several occasions they visited Biddy's home to rebuke her for her "devilish" and un-Christian practices. Nonetheless, Biddy's fame and efficacy as a fairy doctor spread throughout the land.

As a girl Biddy learned a great deal about the local herbs and healing plants, and her supernatural friends taught her of the plants' occult, as well as natural, healing properties. Combining this otherworldly knowledge with inherited lore that was, undoubtedly, passed down within her family, she quietly began using her powers to help a few close friends and family. As Dermot MacManus writes about her, "Country traditions vary a great deal, according to custom and kinship, and it is always difficult to find a satisfactory dividing line between them and full-blooded magic, for each merges into the other imperceptibly".(11)

Her reputation as a healer and 'white witch' soon spread, and though the parish priest and bishop may have disdained her occult powers, the effectiveness of her cures was all the guarantee the country folk needed. It was to Biddy that they came, for she alone could cure what the priest and the bishop, with all their orthodox prayers and rites, could not. Following old tradition, Biddy took no payment for her services, though she did accept gifts, and was quite clear about just what sort of gifts she desired. These frequently included gifts of strong drink, for which Biddy had a very human weakness.

So far the life of Biddy Early exemplifies a number of themes which we can recognize from cross cultural accounts of shamans. Early in life she is chosen by, and demonstrates a marked affinity for, the denizens of a hidden, supernatural realm. These invisible allies instruct her in the healing arts, and combining their Otherworldly instruction with traditional lore passed down within her family, she gains prominence as a healer and seer. The fairies gift does not come without price, for the young Biddy undergoes a certain amount of social stigmatization as a result of her supernatural leanings, and this parallels somewhat the traumatic initiation of shamans within many indigenous cultures. This stigmatization continues throughout her life, despite her popularity as a healer, in the form of condemnation by church authorities.

A turning point in Biddy's career came when she received the gift of a mysterious blue bottle, which some authors have compared to a shamanic "power object" (12), from the fairies. Her son, who shared her ability to see and communicate with the Otherworld folk, but not her healing and other magical gifts, was returning home one summer day. He was a lad of about nineteen at this time, of fine physical condition and noted athletic prowess. He had decided to take a short cut across country when, about a mile from his home, he saw a group of fairies with hurley sticks in a field, preparing for a game. But they were a man short, and asked young Early if he would come and play for them. He finally agreed, and playing well and skillfully, his team won. The fairies then presented him with a blue glass bottle and told him to take it to his mother. He asked them what he should say to her, but they answered, "You will tell her nothing. Just give it to her. She will know."(11). When he got home he presented the bottle to Biddy, who gazed into it with astonishment. She soon noticed that the bottle began to fill with a vaprous mist, within which she could see mysterious signs and portents which had meaning for her. Though able to heal and function as a seer without it, Biddy began to employ the blue bottle in her work with clients and found that it enhanced her abilities. When she was unable to help a person in her usual way she would gaze into the fairy bottle, and soon found the message or information that enabled her to help the client. Within the swirling mists that formed within the bottle Biddy was able to see images of things to come, and the accuracy of the prophecies and personal predictions which she shared quite freely with those who consulted her was proverbial among the country folk who lived round about. Also, if Biddy gazed into the bottle and the characteristic mist did not appear, she knew that she could not help the person and would send them away. When Biddy died she left instructions that the bottle be cast into the depths of Loch Kilgarron, near to her home, from whence it has never been recovered.

Here again we encounter an element in fairly recent Irish country lore that reflects a theme running through cross cultural accounts of shamans. The receipt of a magical gift from Otherworld helpers which enables the shaman to heal and prophesy for the good of the community is a phenomenon encountered in many cultures around the world. A significant element within the story is the casting of the bottle into Loch Kilgarron at Biddy's death, suggesting a return of the magical gift to it's Otherworldly origins, since lakes are frequently entry ways into the numinous realms in Celtic tradition.

The final significant point in Biddy's career, from a shamanic standpoint, is the little shed behind her house to which she would often repair at night to commune with her Otherworld helpers. This small enclosure was isolated by a little distance from the distractions of her home and family, and was probably dark dark inside, rather like a Native American sweat lodge. Her she held nightly consultations with the fairy folk who were her invisible companions and instructors in the arts of healing, spellcraft and prophecy. The dark enclosure within which to commune with tutelary deities and helping spirits is, again, so well known within the annals of shamanism as to require no comment. Biddy's shed could have served a similar function to the bull hide in which the seer was wrapped during the ancient Gaelic tarbh feis ceremony, recounted in 'The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel'. (13)

It appears as though the fairie doctor tradition in Ireland and Scotland, like many aspects of traditional culture, either disappeared or went underground with increasing modernization and technological advances in the Gaelic speaking and adjoining areas where it survived most strongly. However, I remember tales of people who had the "sight" and the ability to heal in Connemara and County Clare in Ireland in the 1970's. And the interraction with the sidhe, in the village in County Galway and surrounding areas where I then resided, was a fact of daily life. As a Dublin educated traditional musician once said to an American friend of mine when asked about the fairies, "Well, I dont believe in them . . . . but, they're there."

In her book Seal Morning, Rowena Farre gives an account of Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, a couple of fairie doctors who were her neighbors in a remote part of Sutherland, in northern Scotland, in the 1950's. The Fraser's were renowned healers, especially gifted in working with animals. Mr. Fraser was also known as a storyteller who had memorized three hundred and seventy six stories. Mrs. Fraser was an accomplished singer of Gaelic mouth music or peurt a beul, as well as being an extremely skilled knitter. "Mr. Fraser accepted fairies and the efficacy of spells in the same way as others accept the power of electricity. He did not believe so much as know, and therein lay his strength".(14). Farre goes on to say that Mr. Fraser's father was from Wester Ross and his mother was from Tiree, in the Outer Hebrides. In his northern Scottish tradition magical knowledge is passed on from mother to son, and from father to daughter, and this is how the fairie traditions, the traditional lore of healing and spellcasting and seership, were passed on to Mr. Fraser and his sister.

Mr. Fraser was on speaking terms with water horses, supernatural creatures who haunt local lochs and often lure the unsuspecting to a watery death. His father, also a fairie doctor, had tamed one, so that it would come when he whistled and carry him to the other side of the loch. Mr. Fraser goes on to disclose elements of traditional Celtic magical lore to Rowena Farre, including the proper times of day for casting spells, occult lore of birds and animals, and a number of stories dealing with human interraction with the Otherworld. Farre's book, which was a popular best seller in the 1950's, should give the lie to those writers who claim that the fairie doctor tradition died out at the turn of the century and that nothing of the old ways survived into modern times.

We have made a brief survey of several traditional stories and historical and recent accounts, primarily from the Gaelic tradition, which all seem to illustrate a very strong shamanic component within Celtic society. It remains for us to ask whether we can then confidently speak of the existence of Celtic shamanism and Celtic shamans. This is where problems arise. Though the shamanic components within Gaelic and Celtic tradition are, as I have tried to demonstrate, fairly easy to discern, it is difficult to assess whether these components were part of a cohesive system of practice and belief that comprises what we would refer to, in other indigenous contexts, as shamanism . Certainly, in the case of the ancient Celts, it is very difficult to know this, since those elements of ancient ritual and religious practice that have come down to us are very fragmented. In the more recent examples of the fairie doctors, I am almost tempted to say that we have something very close to the full shamanic complex. For one thing, my own experiences in the Connemara Gaeltacht (Gaelic speaking area) and in the Outer Hebrides in the early 1970's made it very clear to me that the traditional belief in and interraction with fairies and other Otherworldly denizens was a fact of daily life for the farmers I lived amongst. This interraction took the form of frequent stories told about them, prayers, offerings, and other humble practices. A number of elements of the Gaelic fairie faith as I experienced it then were remarkably similar to traditional teachings and stories I encountered a decade later when learning from Pacific Northwest Coast elders and shamans on reservations in northen Washington, half a world away.

In the fairie doctor tradition we have something surviving into our own time that we can draw upon, since much has been written down and recorded about it. Much else, of course, remains locked within oral tradition, being jealously guarded by those few families who may carry the traditions today. Still, there is much food for fruitful research here, and probably much more to be brought to light by the skilled and sensitive student. The ideal student here, as in any of the multitiude of surviving indigenous and folk-magical traditions around the world, will be one who, while perhaps academically trained, has yet that awareness of and sensitivity to the Otherworld that will make her the ideal bridge between cultures and ways of knowing.

It is clear, of course, that one element of classical shamanism is missing from the Celtic tradition: the drum. Though Sean o'Riada began the modern revival of the bodhran as a band instrument, subsequently to be popularized by The Chieftains and other Celtic bands, it seems fairly clear from historical evidence that it's prior use was limited to the annual Wren Boys ceremony in County Kerry. But even within indigenous cultures commonly identified by anthropologists as containing the shamanic complex, not all shamans used the drum for travelling in the way popularized by Michael Harner in The Way of The Shaman. Some South American shamans shake dry leaves on a branch to induce trance, and shamans elsewhere work with bells, gongs, stringed instruments, or simply with the human voice, traditionally a very powerful opener of Otherworld gateways. Celtic peoples have never wanted for forms of musical expression, whether instrumental or vocal, and surely would have evolved their own means of using sound to travel into realms beyond the physical.

The final problem remaining to us is identifying the Celtic shaman. We have no word from ancient Celtic tradition that is exactly cognate with the word "shaman", though there are plenty of terms for religious and magical practitioners of various types. Some scholars have suggested the Old Irish word fili, meaning a kind of poet/seer, as the likely term for a shaman in ancient Irish society. Opinions on this are, however, far from unanimous. Without knowing what an ancient Celtic shaman might have been called within whichever of the Celtic societies he existed in, and precisely how his role as a shaman was defined within those societies, it is very difficult to say with any certainty that there were Celtic shamans.

We can say with some certainty, however, that shamanic elements are to be found within Celtic tradition from ancient to modern times, and back up our assertion with prominent examples such as those given here. For the modern spiritual seeker or shamanic practitioner seeking a connection with Celtic roots, there is a wealth of rich material to explore in several languages, existing in books both ancient and modern. There is, in addition, research to be done among living Celtic peoples and lands. And ultimately, there is the Land herself upon which our Celtic ancestors lived, and upon which their descendants yet live today. If we empty ourselves, and go to Her, and seek in the silence to hear Her voice, she will speak to us as she spoke to those ancient and far flung wanderers.

Thank you my dear friend for visiting this blog. Please feel free to share your thoughts

http://www.druidry.org/library/members-articles/shamanism-celtic-world