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In spite of the embarrassment attendant upon representing the unconquerable champion of Ulster as falling in battle, the ancient Irish saga writers could not resist the temptation to depict his death. The result was 'The Great Rout of Muirthemne' (BRISLECH MàR MAIGE MUIRTHEMNE), generally known as 'The Death of CuChulain', which was composed , probably as early as the eighth century, by a writer of unusual ability. It is one of the most striking pieces of early Irish literature. The closing passage describing CuChulain's death is genuinely heroic in conception and in style. Fully conscious that his end is near, CuChulain goes forth to battle despite the omens that warn him; like Conaire in 'The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel', he is forced to break the taboos upon which his life depends, and at length he falls fighting single-handed against a band of vengeful but cowardly enemies. The other two death tales, which Cross and Slover gives in their ANCIENT IRISH TALES, although written more or less to order, contain some interesting motifs, among the most instructive of them being the attachment of the pagan king Conchobar to Christian tradition. This particular phase of the story is obviously an afterthought added at a fairly late date to a narrative of undoubtedly primitive content. Because of CuChulain's position as the central figure of the Ulster cycle, the account of his death is placed first, though the death of Celtchar is represented by the author as preceding it.
# 166
Caused by Macha's curse; manifested on occasion of Maev's famous cattleraid of Quelgny (Tain Bo Cuailgné).
# 562
(DET een eh)
(deh'ti re) Mother of CuChulain; sister of Conchobar. See also: DECTERA.
# 166
Son of King of the Decies wooes Light of Beauty (Sgeimh Solais).
# 562
# 562: Mother of Cuchulain by Lugh; daughter of Druid Cathbad; her appearance to Conor mac Nessa after three years absence; her gift of a son to Ulster, Cuchulain by Lugh. # 454: Sister of Conchobar. She and her fifty attendant maidens disappeared for three years. She was discovered, in bird-form, in a house of the Sidhe by Bricriu who concealed this from Conchobar - he merely told the king that he had been royally entertained in that place. Conchobar sent a message to the sidhe demanding that the woman of the house be sent to him, in order that he might sleep with her, according to the kingly rights. She was sent but was in labour on arrival. In the morning she bore a son and Bricriu at last revealed that the woman was Dectera. The father was Lugh, and the child was called Setanta until he killed the hound of Culann the Smith when he was afterwards called CuChulain.
# 454 - 562
John Dee (1527-1608) was Renaissance England's first Hermetic magus, a philosopher-magician in the Continental tradition of Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Henry Cornelius Agrippa and as one of the greatest mathematicians of his age, Dr Dee was a man of great and wide learning with that extraordinary capacity for concentrated study which seemed to characterize the men of the Renaissance. He was astronomer and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, with a subtle and profound intellect, fascinated by mysticism and entangled in it, and yet so innocent and guileless that he was an easy dupe to an impostor. It was Edward Kelly who introduced him to the dubious company of spirits who beguiled him for so long. He had already been attracted towards intercourse with angels by means of a mirror or crystal and through the intervention of 'a scryer' or medium, but in 1582 Kelly presented himself at Mortlake, and a partnership was established which lasted for over six years, all the initiative being in Kelly's hands, since he alone could obtain any response from the crystal. Dee was already much hated by the common people as a wizard, though he was still supported by the Queen. In 1583, Dee, Kelly and their wives left Mortlake and travelled to Holland, and the house was no sooner empty than a mob attacked it and sacked Dee's magnificent library of over 4,000 volumes. For six years they travelled over Europe, one patron after another wearying of Kelly's impostures, but Dee remaining blindly loyal. The first converse on the crystal had been through angels, but these deteriorated to spirits who seemed nearer to fairies than anything else, though they were intolerable prattlers. Sometimes the angels returned, and on one occasion they went too far, for they advised that the two philosophers should hold everything in common, including their wives. Jane Dee was much betterlooking than Mrs. Kelly. Dee regretfully agreed, but the wives objected, quarrels broke out and the two associates parted, though a correspondence was maintained between them. Dee's journal of the intercourse with the spirits was published by Méric Casaubon under the title of A TRUE AND FAITHFUL RELATION OF WHAT PASSED FOR MANY YEARS BETWEEN DR J. DEE AND SOME SPIRITS. It did no good to Dee's reputation, which has, however, been largely vindicated by the writings of Dr Frances A. Yates.
# 100 - 231
Now the Ford of Ferdia.
# 562
# 701: Deer were always considered magical creatures. The extrusion of horn from their heads was a symbol of powerful life force. Horned deer were the animal prototypes of the Horned God. Medieval wizards expressly preferred parchment made of deer skin for the writing of their letter amulets. Durham cathedral was founded on the site of an ancient deer shrine. Its name was originally Duirholm, the Meadow of the Deer. It was a pagan pilgrimage center for at least four centuries. - # 161: In Celtic tradition deer are frequently the means of taking souls to the otherworld. There are Celtic, Irish and Gaelic goddesses associated with them, such as Flidass, Goddess of Venery, who has a chariot drawn by deer. They are supernatural animals of the fairy world and are fairy cattle and messengers. Stag hunts often end in some supernatural situation. Deer skin and antlers were used as ritual ornaments and vestments.
# 454: The Deer is one of the foremost transformatory beasts in British mythology, especially in its form of the White Doe or White Stag, which is frequently an otherworldly messenger which hunters encounter, leading them ever deeper into the forest to unknown wonders. From the WhiteStag encountered by Pwyll to the White Hart which Galahad sees, betokening Christ, pagan and folklore traditions have asserted the beauty and mystical grace of this creature. Sadbh was enchanted into the form of a doe. Gilfaethwy, while Gwydion was changed into a stag. The human antlered figure has been a potent image from primeval times onwards, from the shaman-hunter and the Wild Huntsman in his form of Cernunnos, to the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance which is still danced every September - the time when the deer are in rut.
# 161 - 439 - 441 - 454 - 701
Among the many beliefs held about the fairies, there is one strand which describes them as beautiful in appearance, but with a deformity which they cannot always hide. The Scandinavian ellewomen, for instance, have beautiful faces, but if looked at from behind are seen to be hollow. The evil but beautiful Glaistigs of the Highlands wear trailing green dresses to conceal their goat's hoofs. The Shetland Henkies were given that name because they limped in their dancing. J. G. Campbell, in his SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND, says: 'Generally some personal defect is ascribed to them by which they become known to be of no mortal race. In Mull and the neighbourhood they are said to have only one nostril, the other being imperforate.' The physical defects of the Bean Sidhe as described by him are such that she could never under any circumstance be called beautiful: 'The Bean Sith was detected by her extraordinary voracity (a cow at a meal), a frightful front tooth, the entire want of a nostril, a web foot, preternaturally long breasts, etc. According to George MacDonald, The Aberdeenshire Brownies had a thumb with the rest of the fingers joined together. It seems likely that these characteristics were given to the fairies by people who believed them to be fallen angels, or yet more closely related to the Devil. The Devil's cloven hoof is perhaps one of the most common articles of folk belief. As Alexander Roberts put it in his TREATISE OF WITCHCRAFT, 'Yet he cannot so perfectly represent the fashion of a man's body but that there is some sensible deformity by which he bewrayeth himself.'
# 100 - 131
# 166: (dâr'dre or dâr'dryu)
# 562: Daughter of Felim; Druid Cathbad draws her horoscope; Conor decides to wed her when of age; nursed by Levarcam; she loves Naisi (Naoisi) and put a gease on him to carry her off; returns with Naisi to Ireland; forced to wed Conor, she dashes herself against a rock and is killed; the tales of Grania and Deirdre compared; Pronoun Deirdre: deer'dree.
# 454: Daughter of Fedlimid mac Daill, harper and chief-storyteller of Conchobar. Cathbad prophesied that she would bring death and sorrow to Ulster and, though the Ulstermen demanded her death, Conchobar fostered her secretly with Lebharcham until Deirdre was old enough to be his wife. Deirdre saw some ravens feasting on blood in the snow and wished for a man whose skin was white as the snow, whose hair was black as the raven's, and whose cheek would be as red as the blood. With Naoisi and his brothers, she wandered throughout Ireland, pursued by Conchobar, until they fled to Alba at last. Fergus mac Roigh was sent to fetch them back, promising Conchobar's friendship, but they were betrayed on their return. The sons of Usnach were slain and Deirdre was bound to Conchobar as his wife. He eventually gave her to Eoghan, a client king, who had dealt the death blow to Naoisi. Between these twin evils she flung herself from Eoghan's chariot and dashed her brains out on a stone. Her laments for the life she had lived in Alba contain the purest strain of poetic lament in Irish literature. Like Helen of Troy, Deirdriu ushers in the decline of Ulster's greatness.
# 166 - 266 - 454 - 562 - 656
# 160 p 186 ff
Creator Deities (Rituals involving: divine consciousness; illumination; enlightenment; spiritual development and attainment; finding the karmic purpose in life) -
# 160 p 188
# 160 p 189 ff
# 160 p 189
# 160 p 188 ff
# 160 p 192
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