Ancient Celtic Poetry – A ‘Yin-Yang’ Ideology?

Celtic Warriors 'Unite' with Nature!

As investigate of ancient human thought and culture around the world - appears to suggest that the observation of nature served as the basis of the development of spiritual and religious ideology and ritual. Despite the obvious environmental, linguistic and cultural differences, a ‘similarity’ of appreciating the processes of nature becomes evident. Druids are believed to have been a type of shaman whose function involved the bringing together of spiritual-emotional-physical processes both of the inner and outer human-being and the natural world – so that all disruptive and ‘dissonant’ frequencies of life are reduced or removed. Living in accordance with the processes of nature – so that the inner processes of the human mind and body ‘reflect’ the balance and cyclic necessity of the physical cosmos – ensures psychological, emotional and physical (vibrant) health. The British academic – Peter Berresford Ellis – is a world-renowned scholar on Celtic history and he states the following: ​

Metal 'Celtic' Sheild

‘The Dagda became their father; thus, humankind call him “The Father of the Gods”. And Brigid became the wise one, exalted in learning and much did she imbibe from the mighty Danu and from Bile, the sacred oak. She was hailed as the mother of healing, of craftmanship and of plenty; indeed, she excelled of all knowledge. She showed her children that true wisdom was only to be garnered from the feet of Danu, the Mother Goddess, and so only to be found at the water’s edge. Those who gathered such knowledge also paid deference to Bile, the sacred oak. Because they were not allowed to speak his holy name, they called the oak draoi and those learned in such knowledge were said to possess oak (dru) knowledge (vid) and thus were known as Druids.’ ​

Peter Berresford Ellis: The Chronicles of the Celts – New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, Robinson, (1999), Page 22 ​

Celtic Women Were 'Equal' to Men and Fought on the Battlefield!

The old Celtic language(s) have a definite relationship with the ancient Sanskrit language of India – suggesting that the early Celtic peoples themselves may have originated in Asia and slowly migrated Westward. Although once everywhere in Western Europe – today - the (ethnic) Celtic people only exist in small enclaves with five of these groupings existing n the UK as the Scots, Irish, Welsh, Cornish and the people living on the Isle of Manx. Another group – thought to be Cornish conscripts fighting in the Roman Legions – now lives in a small part of France (Brittany) and are known as the ‘Bretons’. Generally speaking, any area known as ‘Galatia’ (or similar) is usually inhabited by Celts or the descendants of Celts, etc. Peter Berresford Ellis, however, suggests that there is a definite similarity between much of the Celtic myths and legends and the Brahmanic Upanishads, and other spiritual texts – often ‘Buddhist’.  ​

The Celtic Cross 'Pre-Dates' Christianity and Refers to the 'Four Seasons'...

‘The Vedas, four books of learning composed in North India, in the period 1000-500 BCE, are named from the Sanskrit root vid, meaning “knowledge”. This same root occurs in Old Irish as uid, meaning “observation, perception and knowledge”. Most people will immediately recognise it as one of the two roots of the compound Celtic word Druid – dru-vid, arguably meaning “thorough knowledge”.; 
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Peter Berresford Ellis: The Chronicles of the Celts – New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, Robinson, (1999), Page 7 (Introduction) ​

Celtic Spirituality 'Reflected' Nature

What I want to share, however, is a 9th century CE Celtic poem that appears to express the very thinking that lies behind the yin-yang ideology and the concept that governs the interactive movements of the internal (Chinese) martial art of Taijiquan: 

I was a listener in the woods, 
I was a gazer at the stars, 
I was not blind where secrets were concerned, 
I was silent in a wilderness, 
I was talkative among many, 
I was mild in the mead-hall, 
I was stern in battle, 
I was gentle towards allies, 
I was a physician of the sick, 
I was weak towards the feeble, 
I was strong towards the powerful, 
I was not parsimonious lest I should be burdensome,  
I was not arrogant though I was wise, 
I was not given to vain promises though I was strong, 
I was not unsafe though I was swift, 
I did not deride the old though I was young, 
I was not boastful though I was a good fighter, 
I would not speak about any one in their absence, 
I would not reproach, but I would praise,  
I would not ask, but I would give. ​

Cormac Mac Cuileannain 
King and Poet of Cashel – AD 836-908 

Peter Berresford Ellis: The Chronicles of the Celts – New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, Robinson, (1999), (Dedication) 

Druids Focused the 'Inner' and 'Outer' Powers of the Universe!