Celtic Friendship

Anam Cara - Celtic Soul Friend

I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately with too-long-to-do lists, deadlines,  forms , appointments and schedules packed to prevent completion of just about any and every task at one sitting.  Sound familiar?

I found relief, a sense of spaciousness in preparing for a class I taught yesterday called Hearing the Ancient Call of the Celts.  With classes like this, I like to start with an overview of beloved qualities associated with Celtic spirituality.  I read that the word belief comes from the word beloved.  We believe what we hold with affection. The traits associated with Celtic Faith remind me why I’m so thrilled to travel this fall to Scotland. 

As an aside,  a few spots remain in our September's group to Scotland. There is time for you to join and revel in Celtic land and spirituality with the following qualities, 

-    The Celts  saw themselves as integrated with creation. Their myths and hagiography (stories of the saints) show tenderness for creatures and respect for the land, sea, trees, and the elements.

2-    Out of this view of nature, the Celts saw the divine presence in the matter of their own bodies. 

3-    Women and Men shared leadership.

4-    The Celts loved travel, learning, and the imagination as a way to live and honor the gift of life and access to the other worlds.  

5-    They were learned and developed in the arts, particularly esteeming poetry and storytelling. 

6-    They held great curiosity about the other invisible worlds. They believed the dead to be present in one of these near and unseen worlds. 

7-    They had a high view of friendship as seen in the role of “anam cara” or soul friend which recognized the powerful gentleness we can extend to another. 

I like to think about these qualities,  especially friendship.  Years ago I took a class at Vancouver School of Theology on spiritual direction.  A good portion of the material studied was spiritual friendship.  In fact we read a sweet little book called Spiritual Friendship, a classic by Aelred of Rievaulx, a Celtic Cistercian Abbot, known for his practice and nuanced teachings on friendship.  

Modern day Welsh poet, David Whyte, conveys the sacred gentleness of an Anam Cara in the following,  

 
... the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.  David Whyte, Consolations

To you my friends, who have plans to travel with me this September and those who will travel  in spirit,  remember the nurture available in Celtic spirituality.  

 

We have the privilege in our autumn pilgrimage to be on the land that grew this sweet understanding of the Divine.   Sue - May