Tag: Tir Na Nog

White Horse of the Otherworld

Blessings as we near the cross quarter turn of the wheel at Imbolc, in between Winter and Spring. I can feel the seeds and prayers and dreams awakening underneath the soil finding room the breath. A quickening of becoming who and what we are. As it happens, these cross quarter and seasonal alignments are portals for entering deeper realities in dreaming. A blessing to remember the otherworld as among the community of beings with whom we share this world in the past, present, and future.

White Horse in the Burren
County Clare, Ireland photo: Valley Reed 2018

1/30/25 Time Jumping into the Otherworld

Last night in dreaming, I was time jumping into the past, traveling through house after house going easily through walls and windows until I reached the time I was tracking in the 1800’s to a village in Ireland. The second story building I was moving through became solid suddenly and when I went through the picture window, the glass broke and I fell to the ground. I was time tracking movements of a wild white horse, and my journey had brought to this time and place. I could see the worn deer trail alongside a railroad track and caught a glimpse of the gorgeous white horse ahead, who took my breath away, and my heart skipped a beat. I knew the path I must follow to catch up with this otherworldly horse, but first I must mark where I came through in my time travels, so I could return again to my own time. I walked back to find the broken window where I had fallen into this time in the 1800’s. There in the street looking up at the broken window was a couple, who I knew to be connected to the good folk. They said, “Yep, this is the place!” I looked carefully at the window and felt something was off about it, and decided to walk a bit further up the street, and found that the blue ornate building I had entered through was there but the window was no longer broken. Some faery mischief was afoot, the couple was trying to trick me to entering another timeline beyond the one I had travelled. I called them on their trick, and said they would need to make an offering for a dumb supper at the crossroads in order to make amends to the spirits of the otherworld.

The couple agreed, and came to the crossroads prepared to make an offering with a plate of meat and potatoes. The woman was pregnant and wore a beautiful, blue slate, silk dress, and when she went to set the plate down at the crossroads, she had a look of distress as her water had broken, and her beautiful silk gown had water all over it. Her labor was about to start. I felt the intensity of the moment, as she made offerings to the spirits her birthing had begun. I looked closely at the offering and noticed there were three pieces of coal on the plate, and asked them to be removed, the faeries won’t like that as an offering., and I certainly didn’t want to offend the faeries.

The husband removed the coal as requested and the offering was completed. Now I was free to go about my journey of tracking the wild white horse. I returned to the deer path along the train tracks and went about setting my sights on the White Horse leading me deeper inside the otherworld.

Fairy Bridge in Ireland
Photo by Valley Reed 2019

While a dumb Supper is usually held during Samhain as a silent way of communing with the spirits by offering a meal when the veil between the world thins, this ritual supper at the crossroads of Imbolc (a term meaning “in the belly” when sheep are pregnant and begin to lactate) is a halfway point between Winter and Spring, and a portal when the doors between the otherworld are open to bring through birth and new beginnings.

The story unfolds of the dumb Supper offering as that of making amends, in this world and the otherworld, and remove anything blocking that connection. It is said that coal was often left in barns to keep fairies from steeling milk. In this way, the coal must be removed so that the fairies may receive the offerings, while being respectful and honoring of this liminal sacred space and what is brought into it. The very act of making this offering at the crossroads, is a watershed moment, when the water breaks, and birth begins. This encounter frees me to carry on my journey in search of the White Horse of the Otherworld.

Enbarr is a magic white horse of Celtic lore who could travel between worlds, and the otherworld. The horse could travel across water or land and is associated with going on a mystical journey. Enbarr is connected with Niamh, the Queen of Tir na nOg (Land of the Young) an island of the Celtic Otherworld, which is a parallel universe that exists alongside this one. It is home to the Tuatha De Danann also known as the Faery Folk, Good People, Shining Ones, or Sidhe. Niamh means bright or radiant and she herself is a Faery Queen. What follows is a Gaelic lullaby, “Sleeping in Tir na Nog” by Liz Knowles inspired by the painting by Jack B. Yeats In Tir na nOg.

https://on.soundcloud.com/uP8pWZYbDXfcTFdX9
In Tir na nOg by Jack B. Yeats 1936 oil on canvas

The Heart of Dreaming

In my dreaming last night, in preparation for a soul recovery workshop I had to facilitate the next day, I put the question to my dreams, Where is the rest of me? In my dreaming, this is what came;

 

Sacred King with the Magic Armor and Sacred Heart

In the twilight zone between waking and dreaming, I had a conscious dream encounter, where I found myself in direct contact with a magical king wearing his under suit of chain link armor. He was talking to me about how we are linked. He was showing me, that what I need to bring into this life is a courageous heart. I quite liked this man, he was perhaps an Irish King and very, very handsome and the years shown, were that of vigor and youth.  I was amazed at the connection we shared and how clear the communication was between us. I began to realize that this was an alternate personality living in another life time with which perhaps, I am connected. He was sharing with me how I need to bring something of what he has to offer me, into my present lifetime. This was fully through the practice of conscious dreaming and dream incubation, that I was able to reach this connection so directly and clearly. I questioned the information and where I was and what I was seeing at first, but then other people began to enter the scene and I was seeing him interacting with a lot different people in his environment, much as a King would. The action was not particularly lively or the conversations interesting, I was actually seeing him as he is now in his current lifetime. I did try to ask his name, but was not able to hold onto that information. I was bumped by my partner in bed and found myself having disrupted transmission, where my dream screen went black and blue for a moment, until I was able to tune back into to where I was.

He did show me his magical suit of armor and his sacred heart, which beamed glowing out from the center of his chest, his strong beating heart was open and his armor did not cover it. I do recall near the end of our exchange, where a falcon returned to land on his arm.

This sacred King who entered my dreaming, was keen to show me his armor and his heart and talk with me about how I can have a more courageous heart. He was there to share this magical gift with me. It was the same suit of armor I saw in my journey into the House of Time, at a recent shamanic gathering I attended with my teacher Robert Moss along with advanced students and dream teachers who gathered in upstate New York.  In one of our journeys into the House of  Time, I found myself entering an ancient castle where I found a chain link under suit of armor that was made of light.

Songs of the Fey

Further in my dreaming from last night, I found myself  in connection with some faery women who were speaking in their native tongue. They were teaching me to speak their language, which they communicate mostly by singing to one another. When they sing, the powerful sound carries as if from another world away. There is also a kind of clicking noise they make, which is also a part of their language.  I then find I have returned from this place and am now present with a group of Robert Moss students. We are supposed to do some kind of creative presentation, and I am going to sing a fairy song in their language, as they have taught me. I sang a bit to Robert to demonstrate what I am talking about and I am able to sing with a powerful voice and make the clicking noises I was taught. A friend began talking to me about reading the fairy tale, “Snow White and Rose Red” from the Fairy Book Collection by Andrew Lang. My friend and I are both working on the same project together and she is going to do a creative presentation with me. We all celebrate together with a drink of fine Irish whiskey from delicate Irish tea cups.

Snow White and Rose Red by Andrew Lang
Snow White and Rose Red by Andrew Lang

This theme of the Sacred King with the Sacred Heart returned over and again in our soul recovery workshop today. One surfaced for a member of our group as a dreaming memory from childhood, where she was offered during our conscious shamanic group journey, to reclaim the Sacred Heart which she had been convinced to leave behind as a child.  In another journey, the Sacred King/God showed itself in a journey to the upper realm, where another member of our group connected with the Tir Na Nog, the legendary other world in Celtic Mythistory. Another dreamer connected with a fiery red headed goddess, who emerged from a sacred healing pool offering her healing from a difficult past relationship. Some of the Action Plans which came from our shamanic conscious dream journey exploration included, singing outside more with children, while another person found their guidance was to tell more stories. It seems the inspiration and healing of the good people, the shining ones, was with us today and in dreaming. Blessed Be. A Wonderful Way to Celebrate the World Day of Active Dreaming today, where dream teachers and dream ambassadors from around the world, were sharing the core practices of Active Dreaming with other eager dreamers. May all your doors and paths and gateways be open, and may all your doors and paths and gateways between the worlds, and may all your doors and paths, to any who would do you or those you love any harm, be closed. May it be so. Blessed Dreaming.

By Valley Reed © 2014