In his book, The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell says, “Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life... Myths and dreams come from the same place. They come from realizations of some kind that have then to find expression in symbolic form.” Often, that form finds an expression in art.
What you see in this picture is an artistic expression inspired by Irish myths. As you approach this impressive giant, now seemingly lifeless on the ground, you read its story:
“It is said that when the Tuatha de Danann were overcome by the Celts… or Milesians, that in order to escape the encroaching hoard, they shed their physical form and became a more Magical People. They retreated to underground places… dark caverns… underneath huge boulders and into the below Realm of Sacred Trees. They became known as The Fae… and favoured quieter forests and sheltered, thick hedgerows. They could be unkind, sly… or benevolent and good to the odd human they encountered!”
Description by the park management
The lifeless giant no longer appears so lifeless. Or rather, it is lifeless to us, physical beings, and at the same time, it is a sacred tree, home to magical people who have transformed themselves into a non-physical form of being. The Fae. A self-transformation to ensure that being continues. After all, why should something have only one level of being, only one layer of meaning, always, unchanging? Life preserves itself by transforming itself. And some self-transformations are indeed feats of magic.
The artist who created this work says the following: “I began to think about The Fae, and how there could be the ‘essence’ of some of their People intertwined within the network of roots. The carvings represent a variety of possible Fae characters. Who knows, maybe they are gladly observing us as we wander through our Parks and Countryside.”
Indeed, who knows! Have you ever thought you knew someone beyond any doubt only to find yourself bewildered by something they did or said? If that is true of fellow humans, then what can we say about magical people! But who were they, these people, before they became The Fae? Who were the Tuatha de Danann?
The mythological people Tuatha de Danann are said to have been devoted to Danu. In this picture, you see an artist’s expression of this divine Mother, symbolising “the female energy or “Life Force” within our natural environment. She represented growth and regeneration, wisdom and prosperity.”
What comes to your mind when you think of prosperity? Do you associate it with stability, certainty, predictability? Now, the interesting thing about Danu and the mythological people devoted to her is the intertwining of prosperity with wisdom, growth and regeneration. Not maintaining the status quo no matter what. Since Tuatha de Danann, translated from old Gaelic, means “Children of Danu”, it is no wonder that, when the time came, they underwent self-transformation in order to prosper.
What about Danu herself? This is the story that meets you when you approach the sculpture:
“Here she is seen nurturing an array of animals from land, sea and sky. Her life force is present within the very soil that feeds our Trees, plants and crops. The Raven on top of the sculpture is a Norse emblem and represents the Norse settlement of Fingal [local county, part of Dublin Region] in the 9th and 10th centuries.”
Description by the park management
If an ancient Celtic divine Mother can accommodate Norse symbolism into its wise, growing, regenerating prosperity of meanings, it can serve as a reminder and an inspiration – there are ways of finding the resources we need to take on our own transformational journeys, whatever that might mean for each of us in every stage of our lives.
"The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can."
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)
keep exploring!
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