First, the link, since it will be of more interest to the general reader. This link is to a site that let's you search some online Gaelic dictionaries.
It was some liturgical musings that got me thinking about languages in the first place.
I get inspirations and ideas at the worst times, usually right in the middle of ritual (though I guess that shouldn't be surprising) and while I'm driving. Usually by the time I to where I can actually sit down and try to get my thoughts into font, I've been distracted.
In this case it has to do with my Tribe's liturgy framework. There's been one piece that has felt a little off during the past couple of rituals, and while mulling over a recent conversation with Sherri, the pieces fell into place in my head.
1) Language - I use a Welsh phrase even though our "liturgical markers" are Irish. Originally, it didn't bother me, probably because my patron diety is Welsh. But now when I think about it, it's almost like there's a grating noise. I don't know what changed, but I have the feeling it needs to be fixed.
2) Diety - I call on a diety by name, and it is the only diety referred to by name in the framework. My talk with Sherri got me thinking on ways to be more inclusive regarding our liturgy, and this stuck out like a sore thumb.
3) Passive - I ask the above diety to open the gate for me. I now feel like I should be the one opening the gate rather than being Mr.-Lazy-Druid and asking a god to do it for me. As soon as this occured to me, I started visualizing it in my mind and the notion meshed well with my other ritual visualizations.
I don't know exactly how the new opening of the gates will go yet, but once I do I think that I'll post both versions of the piece so folks can compare.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
My thoughts on the new version of opening the gates...I did like the wording, but my gut feeling is that it's a move in the wrong direction. I understand you reasons for wanting to remove the mentions of Math for linguistic continuity, but that was the only place where we consistently call upon a specific deity. I don't feel that calling upon deity in opening the gates is laziness, but rather presumptious to think that we should do it without them. If you want to keep things specifically Irish then what about Manannan?
I'm also feeling that our overall ritual is light on Deity. Back in the day, a tribe would have a specific tribal patron god and goddess that would receive the offerings etc. That's something that we've never pursued. Given the diverging cultural interests of our group I'm not certain if this is something that can be remedied or not.
I've actually been chewing on this in my head for a while. Probably because I clunkered so bad during that ritual I am still sorting in my head what felt wrong vs. what I messed up.
A agree with you... the wording was ok, but generalizing even further by removing diety didn't feel right. I may combine the two for Beltaine and give it a go, possibly calling in a different god as you suggested.
Post a Comment