"The Elements of the Duíle"

In our quest to understand the Cosmos or the self and their correspondences, directions, elements and/or their use in ancient Celtic, modern Celtic and Druidic divination, there is only one place to start: the Center of the World. Come journey with me from the House of the Dead to quite a different sort of a house.

The Center of the World

To a Celt the answer to the question, "Where is the Center of the World?," had three answers. As an individual, his/her answer would have been, "It is where I stand.". This referred to the "gorm a cli" or the center of the self, the "bosom or heart". As a member of a household it would have been, "It is the cleithe, the center pole of my home". As a member of a tuatha or clan it would have been the Bíle or sacred tree of the Gods. Each of these centers was connected together through the Goddess Brighid. She was the Goddess of Fire: fire in the head and heart, fire in the home and hearth, the fires of smiths and poets. She controlled the serpents of the "need-fire" and the feis. Brighid was the "daughter of fire" of The Dagda. She was the Magical element that connected the Three Worlds. If the elemental aspects of each of these Three Worlds was Land, Sea and Sky (Earth, Water and Air), then She was the Fire that transformed all three. It was Fire that opened the ways into the Otherworld at the Feis. It was Fire that gave inspiration to poets. It was Fire that warmed the anam as well as the Cauldrons of Wisdom, Warmth and Knowledge. To a Celt, the Center of the World was the interconnection of self, family and cosmos. It was fire that illuminated them all. Fire was at the center of Celtic and Druidic ritual.

Nine Elements

To further define the self, our first center, I am presenting a list of nine elements. Just as the hatha yoga define the human body as a "house with one column and nine doorways", the Celts defined the body as composed of many elements or "duíle". The neach ("living being") or duine ("person") was composed of nine duíle ("elements"). Each of these elements had it's corresponding cosmic element in the "Bith" (Cosmos). It was the interconnection of the duíle that gave truth to the saying, "As Above, so Below". When the corresponding elements of the Self and Cosmos were in harmony with one another, that was the time when the greatest Magicks could be worked. A Celt's Spirit was centered within the house of his body. Her home was focused upon where the hearth fires were "smoored". Their life was contained and centered around the clan or tuatha. Magick was everywhere and Life was only "real" within the boundaries of the Land. Everywhere else was considered to be "other". The following table attempts to define how the windows and doors of the body connected to the Land, the center and the Cosmos.

Fein (The Self) Bith (Cosmos) Directions Magical Tools

Before we discuss the elements and the Three Cauldrons further, let's see what an Ollamh had to say concerning their Mysteries as he attempted to harmonize his own Duíle with the Cosmos. This "look behind the scenes" is contained within a great and ancient invocation called, "The Mystery" and is attributed to Amergin, son of Mile, Ollamh of the Milesians (circa 1000 BCE. This translation is by R.A.S.Macalister from the Book of Invasions or the "Leabhar Gábala")

The Mystery, The Song of Amergin

Amergin was able to "become" one with his Cosmos and by this act of "becoming" he was able to summon the Power of Making as well. It is clear that we must ourselves understand the relationships of the body and the Cosmos before we attempt acts of Celtic Magick such as Ogham Divination. We must identify with each of the elements of ourselves and our surrounding world. In Part I of this paper I identified this need to connect the many levels of Self and Consciousness. In this segment, we will describe the Duíle and discuss the derived information (directions, elements, etc.) to clarify the assignments that have been made and establish how each can be used for divination. The following discussion covers the Cosmos, the Self, Directionality and Space.

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