Manannan is the god-king-leader of a group of the Fair Folk whose
values and ideals are associated with the water element and the
deep blue-green light of the ocean.
I am lord of the ocean, the ocean of mind and heart. It is not physical water -
it is a metaphor for the depth and the power of my world. You have seen its
colors, - royal blue, bright cerulean, deep green, shining gold and white,
These are the brilliant colors of the world of the Fair Ones, not muddied
by matter.
In my court, there are artists, musicians, and dancers. They reflect the
changes of the universe, and they are wind and waves, seasons changing,
fair weather and storms. There are craftsman and sculptors and weavers, and
the objects of our world are ever new. There are also mages who tell the
future, sense dangers, and protects us with their visions.
Of the roles we have, the mage is the most rare and most difficult. A mage
must have concentration, dedication, and clear spiritual sight. He or she
must know the working of the worlds, of both those above us and those
below. For most of us, living in one or two worlds is sufficient. A mage
must live in many at once in order to act as an early warning system. The
mage must also deal with education about travel to other worlds,
information about the life-styles and values of other cultures, and he must
act as
an orientation person or guide for visitors to our worlds. Thus, they must
know more about our world than most of the inhabitants.
Among our people, a god is in a position of defense and responsibility. It is
much like kingship, except that our worlds are spiritual, and we can create
their structures [through the process of visualization].
I have made the world of our people, the People of Lir, according to the
ideals of beauty, harmony, drama, and grace. We seek light, we dance
beauty, we move in drama and harmony.
Some of us live here permanently, and some of us live here part time and
part-time in other worlds. We all get together for holidays, processions
and dances.
It is important for modern people to learn of the ancient races. The past
is the source of the present, and the mythic past is important because it
influences the ideals and lifestyles of the present. Without noble kings
and warriors, who do the young respect? Criminals and boors. They wear
rags as fashion, live in dark ugly houses with physical light but no
spiritual light. Beauty itself is out of fashion, and its substitutes are
novelty and destruction.
The Fair Folk and the people of the earth are neighbors, though our fences
separate us. We have much to teach each other. It would be interesting to
see if any of our skills could be shared over the walls that divide us.
My image was stabilized under Roman rule, so there are many Roman
influences in fashion and architecture here. Those of that era who worshiped me
visualized many aspects of my paradise, and added to its beauty and
complexity. However there were also oriental influences in ceramics,
textiles, and food. I combine the best of the world's extremes.
The Holidays of the People of Lir
As for our traditions, we move according to the seasons. In this, your
Wiccans echo our concerns. I instituted holidays which are both official
and unofficial, to sanctify the course of our lives.
Your Halloween, or Samhain, is our holiday of Union. It is the Wave of
Beginning, when our world splashed into being. We rose as other worlds fell
- thus the paradox of the beginning of the year being the death of the old
rather than the birth of the new. We begin with what came before, our
ancestors, our teachers, our older races. At the Holiday of Union, we
reunite with them, and remember our origins.
Thus we call them forth on the mists of our oceans, within the shining rainbows, to
declare our loyalty. We salute the spirit as we descend into matter, and we
have ritual processions representing the descent. It is our time of
openness to two worlds, and the easiest time to transit between one world
and another. It is also the time of transformation, of worlds and
identities, when people tire of the old and desire the new.
For you, ancestors are ghosts or perhaps devils, but for us they are
respected elders. Thus, Union is a time for respect for our elders.
The Celtic holiday Candlemas is our Feast of Light,
to remember our spiritual goals.
Though we exist in the darkness of a semi-material world, it
is part of the cycle of spirit. We worship
the flame within the darkness, the sun shining at midnight, the birth of
spiritual awareness in a life of matter and instinct. We glorify the light,
fill the place or room with light and say, "from this we have come, and to
this we go".
Your Beltane is the Feast of Flowers, which celebrates the grace and
beauty of the world of form. We fill the place or room with beauty, with
flowers, perfumes, brocades, jewelry, masks, dolls, and robes of silk, satin,
and gauze. It is a time for wearing hats and cloaks, for dressing up pets
and plants, for redecorating and doing art work. As the feast of beauty,
people might eat well, make love, and dance and sing. We seek beauty and
grace in all things.
The Celt's Lammas holiday is our feast of fruits,
the result of our manifestation
in physical form. We celebrate accomplishments, and things of value that we
have done. It may be new ideas, or new arrangements of older ideas. It
might be helping others or teaching. It might be building or making things -
houses, furniture, sculpture, or labyrinths. We discuss needs we have seen,
and how we have fulfilled those needs. We are craftsman, and this is a time
for showing the work we have done during the year. That is what makes
living in a semi-material world worthwhile - what we have accomplished
while there.
When we do not exist in the physical or semi-material worlds, and live instead in a more
spiritual
or ethereal
one, these holidays are spiritualized. We look at beautiful thoughts and
emotions rather than beautiful objects, at manifestation in visual or
musical forms rather than physical ones.
In between the major Holidays, we have the Theater of the Moon. Each month,
at new and full moon, we have dramas of our history and travels. We
remember the actions of the greatest gods, in power or in exile, and
beautiful women who saved or betrayed them. We act out battles, and
dangers, and heroism. We glorify past and future.
