The power of three is well known in many theories based
on physics, mathematics, and philosophy in the field of
science. In Ireland and throughout Wales and Scotland this
power is found in our legends with three-fold goddess, the
three Brigit's, and the three daughters of Eriu for which
Ireland is named. Our male heroes often travel in bands
of three or are born at the same moments that others of
the same name are born. Our ancestors placed the wisdom
of our culture into forms of three verses that were memorized
and passed along in Oral traditions. These verses were filled
with relationships to the earth and ways to guide ones daily
life in accordance with these laws, some of which were the
Bretha Comaithchesa: (Laws of the neighborhood) and the
Welsh & Irish Triads.
The triple spiral carved within the cairn at New Grange
in the Boyne Valley Ireland is perhaps becoming universally
recognized. This symbol conveys layers of meanings that
continue & evolve in organic ways to those who understand
the language living within these images. We now recognize
the relationship between art and the astronomy reflected
in the presence of engraved sundials, solar-lunar imagery
and calendars that are depicted. The triune of mind, body,
soul or links to past, present, future and even birth, death,
rebirth provides essential meaning for exploration. My personal
understanding continues to evolve as I become familiar with
the layers of inter-connectness existing between all in
life. My original lesson with the triple spiral at Newgrange
came in 1959 on a cold Winter Solstice morning, by invitation
of my grandfather. We entered the cairn in relative darkness
and silently stood waiting for something that was unknown
to me to begin. When the red warm light began to flood the
darkness with its liquid gold, the movement toward me was
captivating. I had been placed in a specific spot located
directly across from the triple-spiral and it was there
that I saw the light stop momentarily focused upon the symbol,
with all the point marks that capture the light causing
it to wink and sparkle with life similar to the stars in
the night sky. I knew at that moment this space was a womb
and a place of birth and re-birth.
I have carried this knowledge with me over the years, watching
the theories from the various excavations and watching the
Boyne Valley become a tourist route of the 21st Century.
I have always stood on the threshold, between worlds, ready
at a moments notice to move in either direction, for this
is my relationship with sacred time and the consciousness
of here & there, spirit and otherworldly entities, between
and betwixt the veils of existence. I have learned how to
see between the worlds, a twilight vision offering views
that is a combining of both worlds, like the mixing of waters
from two sacred wells. I understand the fine delicate thread
that holds it all together is gently woven with each of
our hands. When we pull the thread this threatens cutting
; death, and to follow the thread on means rebirth. This
enchantment of the otherworld has invited me deeper into
the worlds that lie beyond the normal attention of others.
It has awakened the inner knowledge living within my cells,
a shape-shifting energy from earth, to water, to air into
fire. I have been shown many times the births and re-births
within the womb of Newgrange. My eldest son was conceived
in the early spring of equinox and was born on winter solstice,
as many generations before have guided. I took him into
this cairn at Winter Solstice when he was young to show
him what I had been given and he immediately understood
without language as I watched this light & meaning fill
him completely until he exclaimed to me, " This too
is my legacy !"
I have been shown that the bones of our ancestors were taken
and placed reverently into the large bowl at the time of
birthing, as an opportunity for the spirit of re-birth to
occur. I had read that the Grooved Ware People believed
that the light of Venus transferred the souls of the departed
into the bodies of the newborn. Looking at the work done
at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey, built circa, 3,550 BCE, details
the sophisticated calendar, which can be used to indicate
changing seasons. This was used for creating & adjusting
important elements including the tides and length of day
and the times of planting. These will drift out of alignment
when not regularly corrected and its designers used the
Venus Star to provide this means. Venus appears as a morning
star around the time of winter solstice four years out of
every eight, the remaining four years it rises as an evening
star and follows the setting sun down. This cycle repeats
itself exactly every 40 years. This is the important work
of Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas.
In brief conclusion, it would seem that Bryn Celli Ddu
was designed for a small group of people to enter &
observe the solar and the Venus cycles with a great amount
of accuracy. Within the legends of the site are connections
with the Irish tribe of the Tuatha de Danann and Gwydion
ap Don, who was a Bard and learned man of science. This
tribe is linked via legend to the line of King David, through
the daughter of Zedekiah who according the legend made her
home in the Hill of Tara in Ireland.The site at Bryn Celi
Ddu was one of many schools of learning in the British Isles
that was known around the world at his time in our history.
When I discovered the work of Charles Ross and his experiment
where he arranged a lens in front of a wooden plank, so
that it focused the sun rays on the plank and burned a track
on the wood. Each day he put a new piece of wood in this
holder and after 366 consecutive days he plotted out the
pattern the sun's rays had burned into the planks. He found
the resulting shape was a perfect double spiral. Using what
is termed an Uriels Machine, which is nothing more than
two straight sticks to align the equinox shadows and mark
out the center and the sunrise & sunset. If those same
two sticks are placed in the ground a few feet apart, the
sun will cast interesting shadows over the course of a year.
As the sun moves out from spring equinox toward summer solstice
it will trace a spiral upon the ground, then it turns and
retraces itself back to the starting point of autumn equinox.
A single spiral equals three months time; so three spirals
must equal nine months time and this is the exact period
of human gestation. The triple spiral at Newgrange is cut
into the great stone at the entrance and onto the hidden
part of the inner chamber, where only the reflected light
of Venus strikes.
This validated the information I had been given as a child
in this cairn!
The science was revealing the story I knew was truth. Women
entered this space ceremonially prior to the beginning of
labor to rest and create space within this womb cairn in
preparation for birth. There was in place a selection process
to facilitate the use of this space by all the tribes following
the wheel of the year. The tribe would camp on the nearby
grounds waiting in support and celebration of this mystery
of birth/rebirth. This sacred ceremony of birth links us
to many other ancient cultures in ways we still lack in
understanding. Mating rituals did exist and still do and
these were inherited from our ancestors and were a vital
part of our seasonal rituals.
Next time you wander into the numerous stone cairns that
reside on the plains of Ireland, notice the inner shape
is womb-like, prepared in earth with fluid and curving shapes
and not the straight exact lines we know they also were
capable of building. The instructive ornamentations of great
stone telling of astronomy, calendars, and astrology along
with imagery of ebbing & flowing and the interrelationships
existing within life itself.
These Cairns are familiar to the clan of women for they
are indeed shaped like our reproductive parts, the utereus,
fallopian tubes & ovaries with a long, dark birth canal
to enter from one world to the next.
I would love to know what this inspires within you and welcome
your comments.
S.Geoghegan
Email: Siofrageoghegan@yahoo.ie
Website: www.ancientgoddesspilgrimage.com
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