Earth
In the Celtic traditions, the triplicity of earth, sea, and sky or air as three realms (with the fourth element of fire held as sacred but separate ) repeats itself often in the surviving lore. For this reason we will explore the traditions of each realm and element separately, beginning first with the element and realm of the earth, of manifestation and material life as well as rock and soil and planet earth herself.
The earth has been the repository for so much negativity in these last few centuries, with all the environmental damage and disrespect it endures. It has been seen as dirty, crude, and something a spiritual seeker needs to ascend away from or escape. This viewpoint justifies so much horror and damage. Once, nations around the world honoured the earth as goddess, giver of life, the source of all things, the seat of wisdom and beneficence, but no longer. She has become in humanity’s eyes a resource to be abused for short-term gain. By returning to this vision of her inner spirit, her ever-present and embodied deity, we can shift a great deal of that ignorance into awareness again. We can make changes at the roots of our connection with her from user and abuser to loving children and caretakers once again. Should we honour her, a fundamental shift in our consciousness may result, one which can fuel and inspire our ability to change our material lives and find solutions large and small to correct the damage. We can heal the wounds we have inflicted. The focus here is not guilt or shame but power and responsibility—every day, every generation has the chance to change. This is our turn, our opportunity.
Ways to Connect with the Land and Its Indwelling Soul
Walk barefoot, plant trees, meditate while sitting on the earth, create land art, calculate your carbon footprint and take practical regular steps to reduce it. Clean rubbish from your area. Switch to green electricity or solar panels in your home. Reduce your car journeys. Reduce or eliminate your plastic use. Grow your own food. Buy local. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle. Honour the living earth and all biodiversity.
Practical 
In general, a relationship with the earth means really getting to know your landscape and spending as much time in nature as you can, even if that means getting out into a park or small local woodland. Most cities have some green spaces that can be explored to the full. The land spirits in built up areas often respond well to signs of care and connection. What’s even better is spending time in more remote, wild places. Connection with the land takes time; earth spirits are not to be rushed, and patience is needed. Really take time, learning about the land around you, its flora and fauna, how rivers and springs travel across the land if any, how it changes through the seasons and its patterns of growth and decline, how it responds to different weather and of course, how different areas on the landscape feel. Allow each part of the land around you to show you its unique character, its energy and presence.
After a while, areas on the landscape that have a more magical or spirit-dwelling feeling will gradually become apparent. Look for places near water, or entrances to the earth, but equally look out for places with a special beauty or quality to the light. It may be somewhere that just feels nice or equally somewhere with a special tree or marvellous view … sometimes it is a place where the play of light and shade creates a beautiful effect, or somewhere a stream sings an especially lovely song as you pass, or the place where you notice the birds roost or sing at dusk. Let your subtle inner senses and a feeling for beauty reveal a place to you. Equally look out for places which feel more gloomy or sad. These may be places that need your care. Every landscape is different, and taking the time to get to know them as you would a group of friends takes time and sensitivity. Do not project too many of your own ideas upon the land, even if it has interesting or famous folklore. Allow its unique nature to speak to you in its own way. You may well find the legends and stories about a place ring true when you get to know it well, but do not come to it with your preconceived ideas; let it reveal itself to you over time, if it chooses to.
If you begin to feel as though you have found an area with a special feeling or magic, pay extra attention to it, and spend more time there. When you first go, don’t bring an agenda—just visit regularly, and give it your time and patience. Learn to notice its details.
After a while you may decide to bring the place offerings—a little gift of song, or a little cream poured at the base of a tree perhaps. Make sure whatever you offer is biodegradable and does no harm. A gift of bird food is good, or you can spend time cleaning away rubbish every time you pass. Give the land your time—the spirits always notice such things.
Eventually when the time feels right, see if you are able to connect with its indwelling spirit, its genius loci, or another guardian caretaking being. Find a place to sit comfortably. Really slow yourself down, quiet your mind, and breathe slowly and deeply. Feel the earth beneath you and the sky above.
Try to notice as you breathe the smells around you, the scent of the earth, the water, the trees—are they in leaf or wintery twigs? How does the wind move sitting here, does it reach you or is the place closed off and screened by plants or geographical features like a hill, or a bank? What is it like to sit here?
Now gently try to stretch your awareness out from yourself, and let yourself acknowledge the spirit presences around you—you may not feel them overtly, but let yourself accept that they are present.
Close your eyes, and breathe slow and deep, maintaining that feeling of being fully present as much as you can, and ask them to come and reveal themselves to you. State that you come in friendship and respect, and to learn from them what the land is like from their perspective. Communicate with them honestly, and simply, and wait for a response. It’s always best to use your own words, but try this as an example:
“Guardian spirits of this place, I come in friendship, may you show yourself to me, so I may learn your ways?”
Keep breathing slow and deep. Keep that sense of inner balance and presence. Let your senses stretch out around you. You may feel a presence around or behind you, you may feel a breath of wind upon your cheek or notice that a leaf has fluttered into your lap. Equally you may have a clear sense of a being ready to communicate with you in words or other gestures. Be open to all possibilities; allow everything you experience to be a form of communication for you to interpret with your inner knowing, your heart or your belly rather than your mind.
Allow the experience to be just as it is. Thank the spirits clearly. Leave them an offering again or show some other form of care for the place. Repeat the exercise when you return again. This technique evolves and grows like the land itself. It takes time, but eventually it will blossom into a clear sense of relationship, a two-way avenue of communication and communion.
Hag Stones
Hag stones are pebbles or lumps of stone with naturally occurring holes in them that go all the way through. These are powerful and ancient charms for protection that also assist in seeing spirits and faeries of all kinds. Hag stones function as doorways to other realms when held up to the eye and looked through. Used in this manner, a hag stone allows the practitioner to see things usually unseen. Spirits of all kinds may be discerned, as can energetic injuries and other phenomena such as elf-shot—when someone’s energy field or physical body has been injured by a spirit weapon or elf arrows. The spirit of the hag stone itself should always be honoured as an earth spirit in its own right and remembered as a friend. To own a hag stone is a powerful blessing. Strung up by the door with red thread, it is a powerful guardian that shall let no ill will cross the threshold.
Reading the Wild
Really feeling in tune with the nature around you can take time and practice, and good observation. Learning about all the animals and plants that frequent the land around you can take time, but opens up another world of interconnectedness that is a spiritual and magical practice in its own right, enmeshing your spiritual life into the everyday world around you. In this way, the world itself may become your divination tool, you may find you can navigate your day on the clues and directions the greater web of life reveals to you.
Practical
Sit out in a spot in nature and try just being there in silence for twenty minutes. Take that time to be still and notice every living thing around you—every plant and tree, every animal and insect. Repeat this once a week or once a day (if you can), and repeat the exercise throughout a whole season, or even better, a whole year. The longer you sit in stillness and quiet, the more animals and birds will begin to relax and reveal themselves. Gradually you will notice the shifts and changes, and the things which remain unchanged. Certain features will show themselves as central points in an area, ecologically or energetically, and others will gain a prominence for a certain period of time. For example, you will notice certain birds will love a certain tree, while in another a particular insect will swarm, but just for the season. Try this at dawn and dusk, and notice the change between the creatures of the day and the creatures of the night.
I try to engage with this practice every day if I can and have been blessed to have seen an entire herd of wild deer come past me, feeding calmly while I sat in silence. British wildlife is very nervous as we don’t have many vast wild spaces, but I have sat while badgers snuffled and played at my feet. I have a favourite place to sit by an old oak tree where owls nest and watched them come home and go out hunting without any disturbance, close enough to touch. Owls, for example, are powerful spirit allies and connecting with them in this way creates a bond that will help serve us well in daily life as well as in spiritual work; they also remind us that we are living in a wonderful world full of its own living magic. Sitting quietly reduces much of the alarm an animal will feel at your coming into an area, and it is amazing what you will see. Over time, you will notice the differences and locations of birdsong, nests and burrows, small rodents scurrying home with food, and larger beasts such as deer, which are often able to go unseen despite their size. You’ll also notice which birds will tolerate each other and which won’t, and even how an area changes when people or a predator arrives or leaves. You’ll also begin to notice a whole host of other details your land uniquely contains, which you would otherwise miss. Given time, you will find that you can often recognise a type of tree by the sound the wind makes in its leaves before seeing it (which will change by season). You will also eventually know the best places to forage any needed plant materials at any time of the year—not merely their location but which conditions and areas grow the best specimens with the greatest lifeforce and fecundity. You will regain your own wild knowledge of an area, your own animal senses and instincts, your own place in the subtle and magical weaving of the land.
Practical
When you feel you know your landscape really well, it’s possible to open yourself up into continuous communication with it and let nature and your place among and within it inform you of changes in energy and atmosphere, and even illuminate you with regards to issues in your own life. We and nature are in constant relation, immersed in one another whether we are aware of it or not. This infinite web of connection performs very well as a living divination system if we are sensitive and present enough to heed the signs.
Practical
The next time you are out in nature, set out upon a walking mediation to simply become more aware of your surroundings and more attuned to the subtle communications and interrelations between all things.
Begin by just breathing. Imagine in your inner vision the vast, infinite web that connects you to all of creation, and all that is not creation—all of space and time. See yourself as a single point and moment within it. Don’t give this part too much time if this doesn’t suit you; just imagine that you are connected to everything around you, near and far, and that you are both a point within the web and also are traveling along a single thread.
As you take your walk, be quietly aware of the background of this web and the thread that you are travelling along and aim to become gently more and more aware of your feet upon the earth and your place of exact presence upon the earth—this spot, here, where you stand.
As you walk, allow your awareness to gently move out beyond you, and let all of nature around you in turn be a communication, and an expression, of All of the web. Be aware of sensations in your body, of your solar plexus, and your heart especially. As you move, notice the shifts in your own mood, and the atmosphere of the places you walk, the subtle changes of light and temperature, as well as the presence of natural features, rocks and trees for example, the behaviour of animals and the flight of birds, as well as any energetic, spiritual sensations you feel. Have no agenda, just open awareness of your place upon the web and the experience of witnessing the expression of creation around you. Notice the voice of nature in all its forms and everything else that comes up as you walk. Don’t analyse, just witness—be peaceful and receptive.
Take as many walks in this way as you can, and you will gradually become aware of animals and different types of trees and plants you never noticed at first, as well as energetic spaces and spirit presences, threads and paths of energy more distinct than others, some far finer and more subtle.
This practice has much to teach about the difference between how spirit and magic are explained in the rational sense and what we are actually engaging with; what we truly are in relation to everything else. It can be very humbling but also incredibly empowering as you begin to learn the land, and it begins to learn about you. It is also very healing.
You may be surprised to note that the rhythm and mood of what you see in nature may be mirrored in what happens to the lives of people in your area on that day. After a while, you may notice the interrelation between things—the flight of birds over a river as bad weather approaches, the roiling dance of autumn leaves down the road in the flow of a gust of wind. These may become indicators and signs of the wider energetic landscape, ways to divine wider events as well as your personal matters. It takes time, but tune in to read and take heed of the signs. This is an organic art more than a linear, logical thing to learn, but you’ll train yourself into that instinctual knowing that our ancient ancestors and animal cousins take for granted.
Practical
Let’s say you have an important meeting (business or personal) or something that could do with some inner preparation. On the day of the meeting, what is the first thing you see and hear when you first awake? Take note of simple details, as these are the first tracks as it were, upon the web you will be travelling along through life on that day. Just before you leave, imagine setting forth upon an infinite web of information and connection between you and all things. Remember that all things and infinite possibilities surround us at all times with every opportunity to redirect our course whenever we choose. Ask your spirit allies now to guide you to the best result of your meeting—be as clear as possible about defining the destination you choose for the outcome of your day. Take three deep breaths to be centred and really present. Be clear with your intention as you leave the house. What are the first noises you hear outside? What are the first things you see as you step outside? Don’t worry if you live in an urban or city environment, it’s the same. As you travel, do so in a relaxed way. Take heed of signs on buses, house names, road signs, as well as more natural things such as trees by the roadside or the flight of birds. Don’t dismiss the flight of the pigeon or the seagull, the child who crosses your path or the old woman sitting on the bench. Allow them to form a narrative in your mind, each a symbol of the process you are engaging in.
As you approach your destination, become aware of entering an energetic bubble that is the environment for your meeting—this can be large, across many streets, or the size of the room. How do you feel as you come to this new threshold? Give yourself time to breathe and become centred, holding this new information as the advice from a friend.
Practical
Intimate knowledge of your landscape can be helpful in many ways; a closer relationship to the land means a closer relationship to the spirits, whether you are able to work with them clearly, or feel a need for tools to assist you. One such useful tool is a natural divination kit made of found objects. Often, this is a collection of something like thirteen to thirty small, natural (or mainly natural) found objects. It’s fine to include some manmade objects, so long as they feel right to you. Those who live in cities may perhaps add small items found in shops and markets to this, but the point isn’t to buy things—it’s to gradually attain a set of small useable items that express the landscape and all its inhabitants to you. This kit works in many ways, so how you make it depends on your landscape, feelings, preferences, and personal path. Each item needs to come to you or be found by you, and it works best if you acknowledge the indwelling spirit in each thing you find and take time to become aware of any symbolic meanings and let ideas about usage come to you. Creating your own divination set can take time—in fact it’s best of you don’t rush, but take time to let the kit build, even over many years, adding things and occasionally letting things go according to their own direction or instruction.
You will need a simple cloth or leather bag to store your items in, as well as a casting cloth (optional), a square of material to cast your items upon. You may also want to include a diary or notebook to record any observations and readings performed with your kit so that you may increase your knowledge as you become familiar with the kit.
Start by going to your sacred space—an altar in your home or a favourite place in nature. Ask the spirits of the land to grant you things you can use for guidance and divination. Some of these objects may become useful in spell work as well. Then go on a walk with the clear intention of finding your first item for your set. Take your time—after all, nature doesn’t rush. Try to be as mindful and aware as you can as you walk through the woods or local park. Let something come to you. It may be a small pebble you find on your path, a feather, or some other small item. When you come across something, hold it in your hand and breathe with it for a while. Ask yourself, “Is this the item I am guided to?” If you feel the answer is yes, take some time to meditate with the object or perhaps perform a shamanic or visionary journey to seek communion with its spirit and divine its message to you.
Take care to thank the spirits and the object verbally each time you add something to your set, and don’t try to get a complete set all at once. Let your collection build slowly, no more than one object at a time. Allow the area’s energy and makeup to talk to you through what you find, no matter if they are silver coins, safety pins, oak galls, or balls of moss. Let the land have its voice and strive to create a set that helps you hear it.
Divining Interpretation
Allow each object to speak to you and take time to let yourself feel it. Your intuition will guide you here. Some things will have very specific energies and feelings attached to them, while other things may have more symbolic relevance, which is fine too.
Here’s a list of common symbols for a natural divination set:
• Feather
• Round pebble
• Coin
• Heart shaped stone
• Acorn
• Oak gall
• Hazelnut
• Seashell
• Interesting twig
• Water polished glass
• Conker
• Red leaf
• Burnt stick
• Driftwood
• Tiny charm bottle of water
• Moss
• Animal tooth
• Claw
• Small bone
• Seed pod
• Ash keys
• Safety pin
• Crystal
• Rusty nail (blunt)
Using your set
You can use your set as soon as you have more than one thing in your bag. The easiest way to use it is to settle yourself, ask it a question, and dip your hand in to pull out the object that represents your answer. However, a more nuanced reading can be performed using techniques from other divination systems such as tarot.
Try a three-object reading for a simple past, present, and future answer or a twelve-object reading to represent the astrological houses for something more complex. These “spreads” can be laid upon your cloth, and you can go through them one object at a time to discern meaning in position and how they relate to one another.
One of the most interesting ways to use such a set is to perform a free-form divination also known as open casting: simply hold the bag, ask your question, and then reach in, grab a handful, and throw the objects gently upon the cloth. This technique requires good inner vision and sensitivity to work best but anyone can do it and it does get easier with practice. Take a few breaths and let your eyes rest upon the cloth and the objects. Consider them both individually and as a whole. What shapes do they make upon the cloth? Look out for a larger overall shape as well as “constellations” of smaller groups and patterns. Open up your senses and ignore your more logical thinking—allow yourself to feel what the objects are saying. Trust yourself and your relationship with the objects to reveal the meaning.
Natural Divination Kit
Some people like to overlay a pattern in the mind’s eye over their open cast readings, such as the wheel of the year or the zodiac and see these positions as well as the items to guide their interpretation, while others will use only their inner eye. Everyone is slightly different with these techniques, so it is best to allow yourself to feel out how you do it.
All really good divination is a felt art rather than a logical, learnt thing. Although learning systems and symbols can help, it can only take you so far, so allow yourself to experiment and have fun, seeking out your own inner guidance to find a way that has meaning and power for you.
Animal Spirits and Guides
The Iron Age Celts had a powerful relationship with animals and animal spirits, working with them for magic and power, as well as for farming and hunting. The earliest hunter gatherers probably learnt a great deal from observing animals in the wild and these traits continued to be observed and utilised to build a whole body of lore relating to animal spirits and allies as well as practical uses, which survived into the modern era, becoming the animal lore of the later sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. This animal knowledge is being revived today, and there are great projects throughout Britain and Ireland to restore land for wildlife and even reintroduce animals which became extinct in the British landscape over the last few hundred years such as boars, beavers, and white-tailed sea eagles.
Cernunnos and the Wild Herdsman
Iron age Celts everywhere, but most notably in Gaul, venerated a horned deity who was associated with antlers, deer, serpents, and other animals. This figure is commonly called Cernunnos, most likely from the Celtic word cer, meaning horn. Epigraphic evidence for his worship is found on the famous “Pillar of the boatmen” found in Paris, original home of the Parisii tribe dating to about 14 CE, as well as in Luxembourg where a metal plaque dedicated to him was found, probably made by the local Treveri tribe. Arguments have been made that associate Cernunnos with the medieval English figure Herne and the eighth-century CE Irish figure Conall Cernach, found in the Táin Bó Fraích (cattle raid on Fraech) of the Ulster cycle. Other horned gods are found throughout the Celtic diaspora; petroglyphs and sculptures of horned gods have been found in Cisalpine Gaul and Celtiberia. The most famous Cernunnos figure is found in relief on the Gundestrup Cauldron, found in Jutland in 1891. Arguments for dating this are complex and vary from around 150 to 100 BCE; other, wilder arguments date it to anywhere up to 300 CE, but these are less convincing. The Cernunnos relief on the cauldron gives us his most classic appearance, suited, sitting cross legged, with antlers and torcs, holding a horned serpent. Here we see him as a shamanic, meditative figure, lord of the animals, but posed as still, connected, rather than hunting or herding … giving us great clues into how to use this ancestral path to connect with spirits and with the land around us, and how to work with Cernunnos himself.
Practical
Cernunnos—Seeking Wisdom
from the Wild Huntsman
Try this exercise to connect with the wild huntsman and deepen your connection with the animal spirits.
Find a place to sit comfortably, preferably in nature somewhere where you will not be disturbed, or equally in some sacred space indoors if need be. Settle yourself and take three deep, slow breaths. Try to sit with your back straight and either cross legged or with your bare feet flat on the ground. Really tune into the earth beneath you, remember you are ultimately part of one planet sized ecosystem and organism, and breath slowly with the earth, letting Her hold you and support your body. After a while, begin to breathe that connection with the earth into your body, see it in your inner vision as life giving sap, or golden green light, and let it slowly fill your body and your energy field, your soul or aura. Give it plenty of time.
In your inner vision, gradually imagine an archway of two oak trees before you with a path of pale stone leading through a forest. This forest is a vast and timeless place—it is the great boreal forest of spirit that spans all times across all the northern lands from Siberia to Scotland to Canada to Mongolia. All things may be found here, for the forest is rich in secrets and wonders. See your bare feet on the path and walk along it through the trees. Take note of the feel of the air and light—is it day or night? Dawn or dusk? Let the vision before you grow in depth and detail. What trees can you see? What animals? How does it feel to enter this great and ancient place?
In time, the path leads you to a large, sacred clearing. The Celts called them Nemetons, or sacred groves, and in the centre of the clearing is a great tall oak tree, ancient and resplendent. This is known in Ireland as the Bile, the sacred world tree where gods and men gather. As soon as you enter this sacred enclosure, you notice a shift in the atmosphere—a stillness, a sense of power in the air. Take your time and wander around the space, feeling yourself present in this place between the worlds.
In time you notice the birdsong and hear beneath it a slow, quiet music—it is the sound of flutes and the wind in the reeds, thrumming and soaring among the birdsong. The melody seems to weave in and out of your perception before growing stronger and clearer. Shapes begin to emerge from the trees, and you find yourself in a gathering of many beings—men, women, birds, animals of every kind—assemble before the oak and sit quietly before it. You take your place among them.
The tree before you is enormous, far bigger than any tree you have seen before; it is like a giant sentient being, aware and thrumming with vitality and power. For a while you are dazzled by its sheer presence, but after a while you begin to see a figure sitting at its base among its roots. The figure is a man, several times larger than any living man with great antlers springing from his brow. His eyes are deep and dark as a forest pool, and you notice a great serpent coiled at his feet. It rears its head to him as he sits in contemplation.
Spend some time with this ancient god of the greenwood; seek his wisdom. You may ask questions or be shown mysteries. Consider here your relationship with nature, the forest itself, and with all wild places. Consider your relationship with the animal kingdom. What can you do to strengthen your bonds with the wild world?
When you feel it is time or he dismisses you, thank Cernunnos. Turning your back, return the way you came along the path.
Cernunnos
Take some deep breaths; feel the air in your lungs and the blood in your veins. Open your eyes and wiggle your fingers and toes to feel fully back to your body.
Practical 
Take practical steps in the real world to support ecology and especially animal welfare. Increase your knowledge of the animals that live around you—there are a great may animal species living wild even in cities. What can you do to support them and build your connection with the animal world? What environmental lifestyle and consumerist changes can you make? Are there places you can give your money and/or time to support the animals of the world?
Practical
Note: What follows is no substitute for common sense and should not be used to approach dangerous animals, to aid hunting, or to put yourself at risk in any way. If you are tracking an animal that may be dangerous, avoid it. Take time to learn about the animal’s specific behaviours before trying this exercise, and always take responsibility for your safety.
A technique long used by hunters and shamans in many parts of the world is to mimic an animal’s behaviour. For instance, early humans may have learned to hunt by copying wolves, and many shamanic cultures have ceremonies where the spirits of animals are invoked and copied in their stances and movements in order to draw in their wisdom and power. One technique used when stalking deer is to slowly dip your head and torso down straight while keeping your eyes locked on the animal; another that can work with birds is to tip or angle the head to mimic the head movements. At other times, going to a place where you can watch animals unobserved can be an amazing experience, but you must have great patience and forethought. The most common method is to construct an animal hideout of branches and leaves or use a camouflaged tent.
Tracking and stalking animals takes a lot of knowledge and experience, but the goal doesn’t have to be hunting—you can instead use these methods to gain a deeper knowledge of an animal and walk in closer connection to the wild environment, holding a quieter and more humble presence in the forest or any natural environment. This technique can be used with no animal in mind but will transform your experience of walking through nature and maximise the chances of coming across animals unawares.
Start with both feet on the ground, standing calm and relaxed. Somehow animals see you easier if your body language is tense.
Slowly raise one of your feet and stand with all of your body weight on the opposite leg, balancing like a heron. Be fully conscious about where you will put your foot down. Gently place your foot down so as it will cause no noise, smoothly shifting your balance. If it causes sound, go very slowly. If you feel unbalanced, back off onto the other foot again and adjust. Repeat with the other foot, going slowly and being fully present in your surroundings and the placement of both feet. Your stride will be shorter and slower, but with practice, it can feel very relaxed and fluid. Breathe slowly, drop your shoulders, feel yourself in contact with the earth, all your tension sinking downwards, softly. With practice you can become very quiet indeed, and leave minimal tracks yourself.
If you can see an animal, allow your movements to reflect what is happening. If the animal is alert and looking around or listening, still yourself calmly and wait. Let yourself be aware but peaceful; let your consciousness melt into the trees and nature around you, and you will draw less attention. Wait until it goes back to feeding and starts making a bit of noise.
If it is relatively safe, go barefoot or use soft footwear rather than thick boots so you can feel the contours of the ground.
Try to let your senses widen and your vision soften; take in peripheral details while focusing on your immediate steps or the animal you are watching. Be quiet and soft in your manner so that you can hear more around you and locate noises more effectively.
Note which way the wind is blowing. Stay downwind of the animal you are watching so it doesn’t smell you.
Pay attention. Be still when the air is still, and take advantage of the wind blowing and the noises it brings to mask your movements. Rainfall noises are also helpful in this way. It’s easier to get close to an animal that is feeding or otherwise distracted than one who is already aware of you.
Take advantage of visual cover, trees, landscape features and areas of shadow. You’ll be seen far easier approaching in an open space. Think ahead about the landscape and plan your route beforehand where possible.
Sometimes total silence is the only option. Be prepared to move your body according to the needs of the situation; you may have to crouch or even crawl. You may also need to stand perfectly still for an uncomfortable amount of time … extreme patience is sometimes needed if you want to draw close to an animal.
Pay attention to the birds. If you disturb the birds, it is likely the deer will notice and run.
Use the animal’s own movement to your advantage. If you notice the animal is coming in your direction, try to hide yourself and get into a good position beforehand.
Remember that you too are an animal; nearly all of your ancestors except those of the last century or two used these skills all the time. Work on staying centred and present. Let your shoulders drop and your intuition awaken. Your common sense will kick in if you are calmly aware of yourself and your position in the landscape. Let your inner animal and your inner hunter guide you. Your body knows the way.
Animal Familiars
An animal familiar or helping spirit is the perfect ally to help you navigate your ordinary day-to-day life and keep your awareness empowered and present for the gifts and challenges of the middle realm. Animal allies can be worked with in many ways. They can provide insight and comfort in troubling times as well as emotional support, psychic protection, and inspiration that helps you to adopt their unique characteristics for solving problems and uncovering new trackways to your goals. They can encourage resilience as well as improving your instincts and intuition.
Practical
Try this exercise to connect with an animal spirit to be your familiar, a guide and ally in the middle realm, the mortal realm. It builds upon your work to journey and meet Cernunnos in the wild wood.
As with the exercise above, where we contacted Cernunnos, we begin by sitting comfortably, preferably out in nature somewhere where you will not be disturbed, but equally in some sacred space indoors if need be. Settle yourself and take three deep slow breaths. Try to sit with your back straight and either cross legged or with your bare feet flat on the ground. Really tune into the earth beneath you and remember that you are ultimately part of one planet-sized ecosystem and organism. Breathe slowly with the earth, letting her hold you and support your body. After a while, begin to breath in that connection with the earth into your body; see it in your inner vision as life-giving sap or golden green light, and let it slowly fill your body and your energy field, your soul or aura. Give it plenty of time.
Just as we did before, gradually allow your inner vision to imagine an archway of the two oak trees before you with a pale stone path leading through the forest. Remember that this forest is a vast and timeless place, the great boreal forest of spirit that spans all times and across all the northern lands from Siberia to Scotland to Canada to Mongolia. All things may be found here, for the forest is rich in secrets and wonders. See your bare feet on the path and begin to walk along it through the trees. Take note of the feel of the air and the appearance of light—is it day or night? Dawn or dusk? Let the vision before you grow in depth and detail. What trees can you see? What animals? How does it feel to enter this great and ancient place?
In time, the path leads you to the large, sacred clearing. In the centre of the clearing is the great tall oak tree, ancient and resplendent. It is the Bile, the sacred world tree where gods and men gather. As soon as you enter this sacred enclosure, you notice a shift in the atmosphere … a stillness, a sense of power in the air. Take your time to wander around the space and feel yourself present in this place between the worlds.
Eventually you notice birdsong and hear beneath it a slow quiet music, the sound of flute and the wind in reeds, thrumming and soaring among the birdsong. It seems to weave in and out of your perception before growing stronger and clearer. When you came here before, you encountered many beings and the great god Cernunnos himself. This time however, you wander the clearing alone and approach the great oak tree yourself. As you approach it, you reach out to touch its rough bark, and call out in your heart to meet your animal ally, your guide and animal kin.
A creature now emerges from the forest and approaches you in the centre of the clearing. It stands before you regarding you with bright, deep eyes. What animal is it? Does this feel right to you? You have permission to ask for another ally if this doesn’t feel right—the world of the spirits has its own ways, and you may be tested or have many options. If you wish, return another time.
If you feel the animal in front of you is your ally, nod your head slowly, and look deep into its eyes. Ask it if it is willing to help you. It may respond with words or it may use body language or other signs and sounds. Spend time with your ally to ask it whatever questions you would like, bonding with it as you would a new friend.
When you feel it is time, ask your ally how it may work with you in the mortal world. After it responds, offer it your thanks and return the way you came along the path.
Take some deep breaths—feel the air in your lungs and the blood in your veins. Open your eyes and wiggle your fingers and toes to feel fully back to your body.
Fith-fath: Shapeshifting
Usually translated as “deer aspect,” fith-fath is a Gaelic term referring to a charm and technique that may have its roots in hunting practices and is also described in numerous Celtic prayers, suggestive of earlier pre-Christian shapeshifting practices. Some of these verbal charms can be found in Scots Gaelic collections of prayers; an elemental version calling in the qualities of fire, lightning, sea, and earth can be found in The Lorica of St Patrick, a famous Irish protection prayer. Most call upon the spirit qualities of animals for magical power, protection and to invoke invisibility. A simple fith-fath can be found in the collection of lore from the Outer Hebrides, the Carmina Gadelica.
Fath fith
Ni mi ort,
Le Muire na frithe,
Le Bride na brot,
Bho chire, bho ruta,
Bho mhise, bho bhoc,
Bho shionn, ’s bho mhac-tire,
Bho chrain, ’s bho thorc,
Bho chu, ’s bho chat,
Bho mhaghan masaich,
Bho chu fasaich,
Bho scan foirir,
Bho bho, bho mharc,
Bho tharbh, bho earc,
Bho mhurn, bho mhac,
Bho iantaidh an adhar,
Fath fith
Will I make on thee,
By Mary of the augury,
By Bride of the corslet,
From sheep, from ram,
From goat, from buck,
From fox, from wolf,
From sow, from boar,
From dog, from cat,
From hipped-bear,
From wilderness-dog,
From watchful ‘scan,’
From cow, from horse,
From bull, from heifer,
From daughter, from son.’ 16
Another, by the famous Scottish witch Isobel Gowdie, concerns turning into a hare:
I shall go into a hare,
With sorrow and sigh and mickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil’s name
Ay till I come home again.’
To change back, the charm was:
‘Hare, hare, God send thee care.
I am in a hare’s likeness now,
But I shall be in a woman’s likeness even now.17
Practical
Do not try this exercise until you have fully recovered from any serious mental health issues and illnesses. Though shapeshifting can be very empowering, it requires a robust sense of self and a grounded attitude.
After you have completed the journey to meet your animal ally several times and feel you have established a good and trusting relationship with them, ask them to follow you back to the day-to-day middle world. When you have completed your inner journey, spend a few moments holding an awareness of your animal familiar with you and breathe with them in slow, deep breaths. Imagine in your inner vision that they are seated next to you and share your breathing. When you breathe out, they breathe in, when you breathe in, they breathe out. Do this for a few minutes before trying to move around, letting your movements express those of your animal guide. How do they move around the space? What are their gestures and expressions, how to they move their limbs, their spine, their head? Imagine they are moving with you and mimic their movements as you see them in your inner eye. Allow yourself to have fun and express yourself and your bodies’ wisdom together with your familiar. Make a physical connection—let your muscles and very being explore that animal aspect within you.
After a few minutes—no more than ten the first few times you try it—thank your ally and ask them to return to the spirit realm. Stamp your feet on the ground. Without hyperventilating, breathe out great puffs of air to feel your connection is now gone. Clap your hands and feel your back, straight and tall. Feel that you once again fully inhabit yourself in your human form.
Practical
After you feel you have built up a good connection with your familiar or animal ally and can use this connection to sense it and move with it in the room, it is time to work with it in more practical ways. One of the best practices to develop relies on a certain amount of inner vision and seership in addition to a strong sense of presence in your day. This practice can be taken up by anyone willing to give it time and develop the sensitivity, as the familiar will do their best to communicate with you regardless of your psychic abilities or lack of them. When starting the day, call to your familiar to walk with you throughout the day and point things out to you when needed, such as warnings or suggestions on where to go or avoid. Ask your familiar for the same guidance with people and other decisions, such as which foods to buy in the market, which road to take home, and so on. That said, don’t hand over all responsibility to your familiar—use your own common sense and make your own choices What you are doing here is developing an awareness of your familiar when it is out and about, and to heed warnings it gives you. Sometimes this will be the sight of the actual animal type during your day, behaving unusually, sometimes this will be a flash in your mind’s eye, at other times it may be more subtle such as on product labels, street or shop signs, or represented in other ways. Equally you can develop the habit of calling them into your everyday life and increase your ability to heed their communications by carrying objects associated with your familiar, such as jewellery or a postcard image, or their likeness taped to your car dashboard.
Another way to work with your familiar in everyday life is to use its example when in need, such as embodying its behaviours and traditional associations as traits of your own behaviour. For example, a dog ally or familiar is a loyal friend and powerful guardian who fiercely protects whomever it cares about. Perhaps a dog coming to you is a suggestion to develop these qualities in yourself for a while. In addition, a dog ally can be called upon to guard the house at night and protect physical as well as spiritual and psychic boundaries. It can also be sent off to hunt down things you need such as information, objects, or even opportunities. Every animal familiar is different, but your work with them will always be dependent on your relationship, which should be one of mutual respect. Communicate with them in ritual as well as in your day-to-day life; interweave the communications of your mundane and magical sides, and always thank your familiar for its help. Make it regular offerings as well; ask it what it would like, or make offerings appropriate to its animal type.
Clan Animals
Many Scottish and Irish clans were represented by animals and used animals on their coats of arms, but it was also common for an animal to represent the clan’s “soul,” like an overarching spirit being or riochd nan Daoine (Scots Gaelic) which often appeared in dreams and visions to represent and embody the clan itself. At other times, the souls of dead clansmen were seen in animal form. It was quite common for ideas about spirits, ghosts, animal ‘familiars’ and even demons to overlap in Celtic cultures, the common experience of seeing spirits, with its roots in the pre-Christian cultures, survived and even thrived in various forms throughout the Christian era and beyond, continuing to this day.
Those [ghosts] of persons about to die or newly dead, or of persons lying asleep, might appear as birds, moths, butterflies, bees, cattle, dogs, cats, mice, horses, frogs, pigs, deer, &c. In Arran to dream of certain dogs is to dream of MacGregors, MacAlisters or MacDonalds. Other clan soul-forms are bees (Mackenzies), plovers (Curries), doves (MacKelvies), cats (MacNicols and MacNeishes), pigs (Cooks and MacMasters), mice (Bannatynes), bulls (MacNeils), rabbits (Mackinnons), frogs (Sillars), sheep (Kerrs). The clan soul-animal or insect was called riochd nan daoine (“sign”, “form” or “spirit” of the folk).18
Animals in the Celtic tradition
Adder
Nathair (Irish, Scots Gaelic) Neidr (Welsh)
In cultures around the world, snakes have long been associated with transformation and earth energies. They are also often seen as representations of phallic power and fertility. Symbolising the soul’s journey into the underworld and its return, they were closely connected to Druidry and featured on Pictish stones; they were also important to the Anglo-Saxons, for whom they represented the same things—transformation, sexuality, life force, and healing. St Patrick was said to have removed all the snakes from Ireland—a possible reference to the triumph of Christianity over the druids, as Ireland has no native snakes. The Welsh bards sometimes referred to the druids as Naddred—adders—presumably for their work with life force and magic. While snakes were often connected to ideas about male sexuality, they were also associated with goddesses as sacred guardians of wells and holy springs, especially Brigid, who later became Christianised as St. Brigit. Snakes were also closely associated with the horned god Cernunnos, who was often depicted wearing or holding snakes. Snakes were also depicted with eggs, and there is a close connection between these two forms of creative power—the Welsh druids were thought to have a precious stone known as the druid’s egg, or the serpent’s egg, which was their greatest treasure and most powerful magical tool. As an omen, familiar or ally, the snake teaches the importance of transformation, and of living close to the earth fully embodied, as a source of power and wisdom.
Bear
Béar (Irish) mathan (Scots Gaelic) arth (Welsh)
Bears are guardians of earth energy and deep primal, ancestral power. The Gaulish Celts worshipped a bear goddess, Artio, and a bear god, Artaois, most notably at the city of Berne, (Bear city) in Switzerland. An altar dedicated to the bear god has also been found in the town of Saint-Pé-d’Ardet in the Vallée de l’Ourse (Valley of the Bear), near Lourdes in France. Bears were always honoured as powerful animals since the earliest times, and possible signs of their veneration—especially that of the cave bear—have been found dating back as far as the middle Palaeolithic era, fifty thousand years ago.19 The Celtic Caledonian bear was considered so ferocious it was greatly prized in Rome for fighting in the arena, and many chieftains and warriors wore bearskin as a sign of their ferocity and status. The legendary King Arthur, probably once a god, perhaps embodied by a pre-Roman British war leader, takes his name from the bear—art—as a fierce protector of the land who carries the power of the ancestors and the earth with him. Equally the Pole Star, part of the constellation the great bear, is seen as a guide and ally when traversing the underworld, when we find ourselves floundering in our lives, or through the dark northern winter months. For this reason, modern druids call the Winter Solstice Alban Arthan, the light of Arthur, to invoke his protective presence both in earthly and stellar form. The bear as an omen, familiar or animal ally calls you to remember your wild knowing, and to honour your ancestral roots. Protective and powerful the bear teaches about the balance between winter and summer as markers of our spiritual journey, and the balance between our instinctual knowing and our higher reasoning, indicating that both are needed to seek wisdom and self-knowledge.
Boar
Torc (Irish and Scots Gaelic) twrch, baedd (Welsh)
Boars were associated with warriorship and leadership across Iron Age Britain and Ireland, as well as northern Europe. They were deeply important to the Picts in what is now Scotland, and several famous carved Pictish stones have been found with beautifully designed boars upon them, bristles raised ready for battle. The Knocknagael Boar-Stone is a large slate slab with a beautifully designed carving of a boar. Above it is a disc and rectangle shape known as a “mirror case design” dating to the seventh century. The stone shows that the boar’s cultural importance continued well into the Christian era. Elsewhere in Scotland, the famous boar stone at Dunadd stands near where the kings of the Dál Riata were crowned. Boars were also popular symbols to decorate Celtic armour, and a helmet with a boar’s crest was found in Wales. The boar symbolises fierceness and intimidating power; they can be very dangerous animals and to hunt the boar was a sign of great male prowess in former times. In the earliest Celtic period, the boar hunt may well have had ritual significance, and its mentions in the Celtic literature of Wales and Ireland give it mythic importance. Boar hunts in myth may have represented a journey into the otherworld, with the corresponding themes of life and death. Facing your fears and inner demons, represented by the fierce boar, may have been seen as yielding spiritual treasure upon the heroes return, transforming them upon return to the mortal world. The Irish Fionn cycle mentions Formael, a huge boar who kills fifty warriors and fifty hounds in one day. In the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, two boars—Ysgithyrwyn, the king of boars, and Twrch Trwyth, the boar of Trwyth—must be killed for the hero Culhwch to be allowed to marry Olwen, the daughter of the giant Yspadadden Penncawr. Twrch Trwyth has a comb and scissors (perhaps symbols of an ancient goddess) tangled on his head that must be retrieved to groom the giant’s hair. A boar as an omen, familiar, or animal ally teaches the qualities of bravery and leadership, as well as the benefit of confronting our own inner and underworld material to transform it and gain its power.
Fox
Sionnach (Irish and Scots Gaelic) llwynog (Welsh)
Foxes have long been considered creatures of wild intelligence and cunning. In the British Isles, these clever and elusive animals have often become the focus of rage by those who see nature as something to be controlled, tamed, feared, or even eradicated. And yet, as one of our last remaining predators, the harm they pose is almost non-existent, completely out of balance with the ferocity of opposition to them found in the countryside and the town. Despite this challenge, foxes have proven themselves to be highly adaptable animals who have found a way to survive even in the harshest of urban environments, where many wild animals could not. They bring with them the reminder that nature will always find a way. It was these qualities that made them so popular with the Celts, and they were taken up as tribal symbol animals with great enthusiasm. A Gaulish chieftain, Louernius, was known as son of the fox, and in Ireland the chieftains of the high status O’Catharniagh clan were known as Sinnachs, or the foxes. Lindow Man, an Iron Age body found in a peat bog at Lindow near Manchester wore a fox fur armlet among other details which suggested he was a high-status individual and possibly a ritual sacrifice. It may be that foxes themselves were once sacrificed by the Celts, as they have been found ritually buried in both France and England. A ritual pit in Hampshire contained one red deer and twelve foxes, suggesting a connection between the colour of their pelts and perhaps a magical significance to their red fur. As an omen, familiar, or animal ally, the fox teaches us about our relationship with wildness whether in the world around us or within. Cunning and adaptable, foxes carry an innate intelligence and can disappear into a landscape almost without trace but are also a depository for peoples fear and prejudices. If fox is your ally, walk softly and seek to be aware of what is around you.
Bull
Tarbh (Irish, Scots Gaelic) Tarw (Welsh)
Bulls symbolised great power and fertility in the Celtic traditions. The Irish once held the Tarbh Feis, the bull feast, as part of a ritual to determine who would be the next king, and they were closely associated with the thunder god Taranis, who was said to bring expansiveness and abundance, the great fertility of the sky down to the earth. Bulls represent potency and steadfast persistence in achieving goals over time. They are also territorial guardians of the earth. Symbols of wealth virility and power, bulls signify kingship in the sense that they encourage our inner sovereignty and the wise use of strength to overcome life challenges and achieve our aims, especially if they involve protecting or increasing the well-being of the family, tribe, or collective. If the bull or cow is an omen, familiar or animal ally, you will learn that strength is developed over time and should be used with honour and integrity as a source of power to support those around you as well as yourself. An animal of great nobility and abundance, the bull teaches the importance of generosity and endurance with regards to leadership and caregiving. We are reminded that those in power equally hold a moral responsibility to those around them.
Dog
Cù (Irish and Scots Gaelic) Ci (welsh)
The dog represents protection and loyalty, the companion. Dogs are always seen as guardians to the mysteries, capable of underworld travel. They are excellent allies to lead you through the otherworld and alerting you to danger and consuming negative energy. Dogs represent faithfulness and loyalty, fierceness and guidance. The Irish hero Cù Chulainn, the hound of Ulster, from the famous tale the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) was named after a hound he killed, and a responsibility that he took on to be the faithful guard and protector of the people of Ulster against its enemies. There are several other famous hounds in the Celtic traditions such as King Arthur’s hound Caball, and Dormach of the ruddy nose, the hound of the Welsh hunter god Gwyn ap Nudd. Gwyn and his hound lead the spectral wild hunt, the faery or otherworldly hounds the Cŵn Annwn, also known in some parts of the UK as the Wish or Wisked Hounds—a tradition Christianised into calling them Hell Hounds as the traditions of the faery hunt were subsumed into ideas of a demonic hunt that lead its prey to hell. If the dog or hound appears as an omen, familiar, or ally, you are called to learn the wisdom of loyalty and faithfulness in your relationships, as well as when to rescind that loyalty. Dogs are also powerful guides to assist in accessing the otherworld or underworld and protect you when traversing these realms in spirit.
Deer
Fia (Irish) Fiadh (Scots Gaelic) Carw (Welsh)
Deer and stags, closely associated with Cernunnos, are an archetypal symbol of the wild—graceful and powerful, they are utterly present to their surroundings and embody dignity and have a proud, regal quality. Seen as kings of the forest, stags are known for their beautiful antlers and their spectacular battles during the rutting season. Sexuality, power, independence, and integrity are all represented by the deer, who have been honoured in Ireland and the UK for millennia. Ritual deposits of antlers probably honouring the gods of the hunt have been found dating from the Neolithic era and even earlier. At Star Carr in Yorkshire, a great deal of archaeological finds dating to the Mesolithic era (the site was in use between approximately 9300 BCE and 8480 BCE) have been discovered, pointing to the ritual use of antlered headdresses, which have been fantastically preserved in the waterlogged peat. Elements of the veneration of deer and deer gods remain to this day. The famous Abbots Bromley horn dance, which takes place in September, ushers in the autumn with festivities and a ritual folk dance that uses antlers. The dance is a tradition dating to the eleventh century and illustrates the importance of the deer to British folk culture. In Ireland, the wife of the hero magician Fionn Mac Cumhail was a woman named Sadhbh, who had been turned into a deer by a jealous suitor. She was told she could be freed of her enchantment if she went to the Dun (castle) of Fionn, where she was magically turned back to her original human form. Fionn fell deeply in love with her, but she was tricked into her deer form once again. While Fionn searched for her endlessly he was only able to retrieve their son, Oisin, from the enchantment; Sadhbh was never seen again. If a deer comes to you as an omen, familiar, or animal ally, you are called to learn the wisdom of your heart as well as your sexual nature, and to learn how to carry the qualities of emotion and sexuality with grace and balance. Love and fertility are both in the realm of the deer, as is the quiet majesty of the wild. Learn to be still and silent, and feel your way forwards from your heart and central knowing core.
Wolf
Faolchú/Mactíre (Irish) Allaidh (Scots Gaelic) Blaidd (Welsh)
Wolves were always known to be teachers as well as guides in wild places. Often feared, wolves are actually shy, secretive animals who are fiercely loyal to their pack and their partners. They teach us about using our intuition and instincts. There were numerous Scottish clans that had the wolf as their totem, such as the MacLennans and the Macmillans. Wolves were favourite images for late Iron Age iconography, and they were often depicted with the horned god. The Gundestrup cauldron depicts wolves together with stags, a snake, and a boar. Wolves were once widespread in Britain and Ireland but were hunted to extinction perhaps in part due to the island nature of both areas. The last wolf was killed in Ireland in the late 1700s, some three hundred years after they were made extinct in England. However, wolves feature especially strongly in Irish mythology. The mythological High King of Ireland Cormac mac Airt was said to have been raised by wolves and know their speech, and he was said to have been accompanied by four wolves throughout his life. The war goddess the Mórríghan was said to turn into a red wolf, particularly in her battle against Cú Chulainn. And in the Fenian Cycle is a character named Airitech who has daughters who appear as werewolves. As an omen, familiar, or animal ally, wolves are steadfast friends who teach us to value experience and the learned wisdom of the body. We are called to trust our gut and animal senses, as well as our wild inner selves.
16. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica Vol II, 24–25.
17. Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, 3, part 2, (Bannatyne Club: 1833), 607.
18. Donald Mackenzie, Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk Life: Studies in Race, Culture and Tradition, (Read Books Ltd. 1933). Kindle edition, location 4202.
19. Ina Wunn, “Beginning of Religion.” Numen 47, no. 4 (2000): 435–436. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.uwtsd.ac.uk/stable/3270307.