Obscure Mythology Chapter 15: Otherworld, the Celtic afterlife.

     Hello, first of all I want to apologize for being gone for so long, life has been throwing me a lot of curveballs and unfortunately, I can hit a fastball but not the off-speed stuff. The two people who influenced my life the most are gone and I still not sure how to cope with these losses. My Grandfather passed away a few weeks back, he was responsible for showing me the beauty and importance of the Natural world, I will miss him dearly. The other, my Grandmother is still alive but her mental capacities are gone for the most part, it was her fanciful bedtime stories that sparked my imagination and gave me my love for story telling. She was my spiritual and intellectual inspiration while my Grandfather was my natural tutor and instructor. I am who I am because of them and this is by far the most heartbreaking and emotionally draining experience I have ever been forced into and it isn’t even over yet. The hardest day of my life was walking into my Grandmother’s room and seeing her so helpless. It is hard to describe in words how utterly devastating it is to see someone you love so much in such a state. All I could think about was how much she did for me when I was growing up and how I couldn’t do anything for her. I stayed by her side for quite a while just holding her hand as she slept. I still feel horrible for pulling my hand away when it came time to leave. Yes, I had to pull my hand away from her because her grip was so tight, the woman who raised me, who held my hand when walking or squeezed them not so gently when I started acting up in church (which was a lot) didn’t want to let go of my hand. Although she will not remember my visit or that incident it will never leave my mind and I will always feel regret for leaving her.  I always knew that days like that would eventually happen but no matter how hard I tried to be prepared, I wasn’t, at all. I can see why people use the saying, “When it rains, it pours.” I have been drowning in sadness, hopelessness and fear these past few weeks and I needed to escape. Writing and research is how I do that and that is why I had to get back to my blog. I need to keep on pushing through these dark days and understand that everything happens for a reason and that the best way for me to battle is to do what I love doing. I had been scouring the Mythology dictionary for a good entry for today for a few weeks and even had about eight different choices to try to narrow down, until I opened the book today. It opened directly to the O section but more importantly right to today’s entry: The Otherworld, the Celtic version.  I’ve probably mentioned this a time or two but according to a few different DNA screens I am a full 25% Irish/Scottish so it only seems fitting that I try to understand death and rebirth through the eyes of my ancestors. I hope you enjoy this post.

Otherworld[=Avalon, British=Ard mhac leinn. Tir inna N’og, Irish] Home of the fairies: land of the Gods

A place where another existence, in many ways similar to this life, awaits those who died. A death in this life meant a rebirth in the Otherworld and vie versa. It is said to become visible to mortals at the feast of Samhain.

That place sounds okay to me, hell for all I know this is the Otherworld. It has the same sort of cyclical reincarnation theme that Eastern religions have as well, like I suspected it would yet it still holds a hint of a realm for the dead like the place Heaven was patterned after. I like the mention of Samhain as well, being a Wiccan, this is an important holiday or Sabbat as we call them. It is the one day of the year that the veil that separates the realm of the dead and the living is extremely weak. When the Catholics incorporated Samhain into their religious pantheon they renamed it All Saints Day, they claimed it was a day when the veil that separated Heaven and Earth was the weakest. It is of course most commonly referred to as Halloween today. Yes, they stole it and assimilated it into their own practices to make the transition from “heathen” to righteous Christian, but again I am digressing and showing my utter contempt for organized religion. I think I’ll end this for today thinking about my Grandfather working hard in his garden in the Otherworld waiting patiently for my Grandmother to bring him a glass of lemonade. Someday I’ll show up to pick a tomato or two but for now I can be happy knowing he is happy and doing what he loves doing. Have a great day and thanks for supporting me and my endeavors. As always: PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!