Page 18 - Celtic Beasts Sampler

from the Underworld. In old representations, both Eastern and Western,

St. Blaise was still sometimes shown accompanied by his animals as well

an holding the candles which connect him with Imbolc. There is another

tale of St. Blaise, in which he orders a wolf to return a stolen pig to the

woman from whom the wolf stole it. The Breton word "Blez" means
“wolf”, and the pig represents the Underworld. It is possible that the

wolf stealing the pig represents Hades stealing Persephone, who. like the

pig returned to the "woman", in eventually returned to her mother De-

meter. Finally, of course, the Old English word "Blaze" means "to burn

brightly," which relates it to the root meaning of Shaman.

Our departed Ancestors have proceeded us into the otherworld, as have

our Shamanic forbears, the old divinities, and the saints an well. They

live on in memory and in eternity. what has remained constant from age

to age in Mother Earth and her wide variety of non-human inhabitants.

If. through artistic symbolism. the goddess Artemis and the god Cernun-

nos could continue to be identified because of their stag companions. so
could Sts. Cadoc, Teilo, Hurbert, Eustace and many others who followed.

Since their stags are never named. we are allowed to wonder whether

they might not be the same stag reappearing again and again. whose

true home is the Shamanic Otherworld. if we can come to understand

this otherworld stag better. we might be better able to appreciate the

splendour of a living stag. Glancing through a Celtic lens we might begin

to gain deeper insight into all kinds of beasts. This book in intended to
be such a lens.

Feast of St. Patrick

March 17. 1998

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