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Celtic Sacred Landscapes PDF

230 Pages·1996·7.668 MB·English
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$24-95 C S eltic acred L andscapes NIGEL PENNICK The Celtic tradition is one of the most ancient in Europe, with roots going back nearly 3,000 years. Today there is much to be learned from the Celtic world-view, with its emphasis on the recognition of the unseen world and the vital part it plays in our relationship with the physical landscape. In this exciting new study, Nigel Pennick shows us the holy sites of Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe through Celtic eyes, reinvesting each place in the landscape with its ancient spiritual, symbolic and mythological importance. From the original Celtic site of the castle at Tintagel, passing through the sacred forest of Broceliande in Brittany, and on to the monastery of Scelig Mhichil off the coast of Ireland, Nigel Pennick takes us on an exhilarating spiritual and historical tour of the Celtic holy places of Europe. He delves into’ the mystery and lore behind the power of sacred trees and stones; springs and wells as places of healing; holy mountains as centers of geomythic energies; sacred caves; holy islands; sanctified earthworks and cities; paths and trackways; places for demons and supernatural beings; the visible instances of the divine in hidden temples; and the holy places of the Celtic saints. Through these themes, supported by a wide-ranging gazetteer of sites, he reveals the continuing importance of the Celtic tradition to us today. With 64 illustrations On the jacket Front: Celtic labyrinth designs. Back (left to right): ogham characters; the Ballinderry gameboard; plans of underground structures; chart showing the division of the day into tides; tenth-century cross at Nevern. CELTIC SACRED LANDSCAPES CELTIC SACRED LANDSCAPES NIGEL PENNICK with 64 illustrations THAMES AND HUDSON Frontispiece: The Celtic cross at Ballaugh, Isle of Man, carved by the Manx runemaster Gaut Bjornsson, reproduces in stone the wintry solar phenomenon of the sun-wheel. Any copy of this book issued by the publisher as a paperback is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including these words being imposed on a subsequent purchaser. Illustrations and text © 1996 Nigel Pennick First published in the United States of America in 1996 by Thames and Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 95-60273 ISBN 0-500-01666-6 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Great Britain Contents Introduction: The Inner and the Outer Landscape 6 i. The Celtic Symbolic Landscape n 2. Sacred Trees 21 3. Sacred Stones 39 4. Springs, Wells and Places of Healing 63 5. Holy Mountains 79 6. Sacred Caves and Subterránea 93 7. Holy Islands 105 8. Earthworks, Enclosures and Cities 115 9. Trackways and Spirit-Paths 129 10. Places of Epiphany 141 11. Images and Temples 149 12. Continuity in the Celtic Church 165 Postscript: Out of the Wasteland 179 Gazetteer of Notable Celtic Sacred Places 181 Bibliography 221 Index 223 INTRODUCTION The Inner and the Outer Landscape The three principal endeavours of a Bard: One is to learn and collect sciences; The second is to teach; And the third is to make peace And to put an end to all injury; For to do contrary to these things Is not usual or becoming to a Bard. The Triads of Britain F WE LOOK at the landscape through contemporary eyes, our view can I be only partial; people in other times, or with other beliefs, have seen things quite differently. The nature of some languages makes it impos­ sible to speak or think in abstract terms, and it was so in pre-modern Celtic tongues. The Celtic bards, in the times before literacy, recorded and remembered everything poetically. Notable events, and their location in the landscape, were recalled in oral aphorisms, ballads, sagas and triads. This poetic vision of the landscape, ensouled with spirits, is a particularly human and therefore humane vision of the world. It describes Carl Jung’s enigmatic ‘unknown topographical law that rules a man’s disposition’. Humans are at one with nature. We are part of it, not separate from it. To the bard, the powers of nature, animals and the human psyche are best personified in anthropomorphic forms that exemplify these qualities. Because they are essential qualities, archetypes and images, and because their existence is implicit rather than explicit in the material world, they are ‘otherworldly’. Nevertheless, their existence is real: events, thoughts, ideas, physical objects and places can be understood in terms of these essences. It is inevitable that everything described by humans must be explained in human terms. These descriptions are interpretations of reality accord­ ing to the structure and function of human consciousness. We should always bear in mind that, whilst many descriptions render the perceived reality very well, we should never take them literally. For, once they become

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