Introduction to ADF Comology : Introduction to ADF Comology Presented by:
Rev. Jessie “Medb” Olson
Adapted from:
“The Druid’s Cosmos” Dedicant Path Manual
Chaos and Cosmos : Chaos and Cosmos To the Ancestors, the world must have seemed chaotic.
Their village and tribe were probably the most stable forces in their lives.
Cosmos, means order, and the cosmos of these early tribes probably consisted of those things they could rely on.
Chaos is not always negative, it can also be the power of potential.
The ancients created ritual to manage the relationship between the Chaos and Order.
The Creation of the Universe : The Creation of the Universe There is not one single IE myth of creation.
Many IE tribes were influenced by neighboring cultures, which may have changed their original mythic beliefs.
Some very diverse IE cultures share similar elements in their creation myths.
Many scholars believe that these similarities may reflect the original myth from Proto-Indo-European times:
First there were two beings, Man and his Twin (sometimes accompanied by a cow or primordial beast).
Man (or the Gods) sacrificed or slew Twin and used the parts of his body to create the universe as we know it.
In some myths, Twin colonized the Underworld and became the first God of the Dead.
The Three Worlds : The Three Worlds In general terms, the ancients saw the universe divided up into three Worlds that we use in ADF.
The Heavens - or Upperworld where the gods live
The Underworld – where the ancestors and the cathonic dieties live.
The Midworld – where we and the Nature Spirts live.
The Three Worlds : The Three Worlds The Heavens
The place of order
Where the Shining Ones dwell
The predictable movement of the stars around the Pole Star shows great order.
Often represented by the fire hallows in ADF ritual.
Corresponds with the cauldron of the mind.
The Three Worlds : The Three Worlds The Underworld
Land of the Dead and of the chthonic deities.
The Underworld is also a source of fertility, and inspiration.
The powers of chaos and potential reside in the depths of the earth.
In some cultures, the Underworld is also seen as being islands across the western sea.
Represented by the well hallows in ADF rites.
Corresponds with the cauldron of the loins.
The Three Worlds : The Three Worlds The Midworld
The world in which we live.
The place of the Spirits of the Land.
The Otherworlds, the homes of the greater land spirits, such as the Sidhe, the Tylwyth Teg, the Wights, and the Dryads, etc. also exist here.
This is where chaos and order meet.
Represented by the tree hallow in ADF ritual.
Corresponds to the cauldron of the heart.
The Sacred Center of the Worlds : The Sacred Center of the Worlds In ritual, we re-creating the Cosmos.
We also re-create the time and place of that first creation.
The Sacred Center is that place created in ritual where all the Worlds meet.
Communication between these cosmic planes is easier at this point.
In this place, we can be in all Worlds at once and in all times at once.
To achieve this we recreate the cosmos and open a Gate between the Worlds.
The Triple Hallows : The Triple Hallows We need first to connect to the Worlds.
In ritual, we create gateways to these spiritual places.
The symbols of Well, Fire & Tree are the ones most commonly used in ADF (and Fire is required).
There are some accepted cultural variations such as Pit/Fire/Portal, three Fires, mountain, etc.
Fire
Well
Tree
The Triple Hallows : The Triple Hallows Fire
The Fire is the ancient focus of ritual.
It is the transmuter and transformer.
It can take something, like oil or butter, and change it into something else.
The Fire corresponds with the Shining Ones and Order
It serves as a connection to the world of the Heavens.
The Fire is common to all IE cultures.
The Triple Hallows : The Triple Hallows Well/Shaft/Pit/Chasm
The Well is an ancient place of offering.
The ancient Celts used to offer weapons, precious objects and even household goods to water.
The Well connects with the earth power beneath us and with the powers of chaos and potential.
It corresponds with the Sacred Dead and with the chthonic deities.
It is our connection to the Underworld.
The Well can also be seen as a shaft, pit or chasm.
The Triple Hallows : The Triple Hallows Tree/Axis Mundi/Pillar/Mountain/Omphalos
The Tree is the axis mundi or axis of the world.
It is the cosmic pillar that holds up the sky and connects, through its roots, with the lands below our feet.
The Tree, while existing in the Midworld, connects all the Worlds above and below.
It can be a tree, a mountain, an omphalos or even a pillar or boundary stone.
The Axis Mundi always stands at the center of ‘our' world.
Liminal Beings and Psychopomps : Liminal Beings and Psychopomps We call upon a special, liminal being to " join their magic with ours.“
They help us open the gateways to the Three worlds that have taken form in our Hallows.
We call these beings Gatekeepers.
Liminal Beings and Psychopomps : Liminal Beings and Psychopomps Liminality is the condition of being neither one thing nor another.
Liminal objects can be boundaries of all kinds, such as walls, hedges, and sea shores or even a place like a crossroads, that is neither one road nor another, or both at once.
Liminal times include dawn and dusk (neither day nor night) or even, for the Celts at least, the hinge days of Beltane and Samhain (neither summer nor winter).
The veils between the Worlds are thinnest at liminal times and places.
Liminal Beings and Psychopomps : Liminal Beings and Psychopomps The veils between the Worlds are thinnest at liminal times and places.
Certain beings are particularly known for crossing the boundaries between the Worlds.
Some carry folks into Faery, while others carry the dead to the Underworld or the Isles of the Blest.
These latter deities are also called psychopomps.
*ghosti : *ghosti *ghosti, is a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word that refers to "someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality."
The English words ‘guest' and ‘host' both come from *ghosti.
"I give that You may give," and this concept underlies our entire religion.
We give offerings to the Kindreds to form relationships with them.
Ritual exchange of gifts, and these ties could bind families for generations.
We give to the Kindreds in expectation that They will give to us in return.
Sacrifice : Sacrifice The word ‘sacrifice' sometimes has a negative connotation.
But the word comes from the Latin words sacer (sacred; to set apart) and facere (to make or to do).
The true meaning: "to make sacred, to set apart."
This is just what we do when we make our offerings to the Kindreds.
We are ‘setting them apart’ and making them appropriate for the Kindreds.
Sacrifice : Sacrifice There are a number of reasons for making sacrifice:
Reciprocity
Apotropaic Offerings
The Shared Meal
Maintaining the Cosmic Order
Chaos Mitigates Cosmos
Sacrifice : Sacrifice Reciprocity
I give so that You may give.
The most common form of sacrifice in ADF.
We make offerings to the Kindreds in order to receive blessings or wisdom in return.
Apotropaic Offerings
Averting evil or bad luck.
Here, the sacrificer makes an offering to say, in effect, "Take this and go," rather than to form a relationship with that Power.
The removal of any ritual pollution would also come under this heading.
Often used in dealing with the Outdwellers or Outsiders.
Sacrifice : Sacrifice The Shared Meal
We take food and eat some while giving the rest to the Kindred.
Enhances the unity of the People through celebration, and allows communion with the Kindreds.
Maintaining the Cosmic Order
When we give offerings that the unity of the people be enhanced, or the earth may be healed and strengthened, we are re-affirming the cosmic order.
Chaos Mitigates Cosmos
Too much order can cause brittleness
In our rites, we have Praise Offerings, which cannot be totally controlled.
Spontaneity in prayers, actions and praise can keep a ritual from becoming lifeless.
Cultural Variations : Cultural Variations Various hearth cultures of ADF interpret the Three Worlds and the Triple Hallows in different ways.
We’ve already discussed a few.
More information may be found on the pages or e-mail lists of the various Kins in ADF.
Celtic (Irish) : Celtic (Irish) Uisnech was the cosmological center of Ireland.
Here the Druid Mide built the first fire in Ireland that burned for seven years, and from which all hearth fires in the land were lit.
There was also a pillar stone at Uisnech which had five sides, representing the five provinces of Ireland.
The twelve chief rivers were also said to have come from Uisnech, either caused by a storm or flowing from the white-rimmed well there.
Instead of the Three Worlds of Heaven, Midworld and Underworld, the Irish thought of the cosmos as the Three Realms of Sky, Land and Sea.
The sea was equated with the Underworld because the Dead would journey to the distant islands of the West beyond the mists of the sea, where the sky and ocean touched.
Most Irish Celtic Groves in ADF use the Well, Fire, and Tree for the Hallows.
Germanic/Norse : Germanic/Norse Instead of three Worlds, the Norse have nine.
While Asgardhr and Vanaheim, Midgardhr, and Helheim may correspond well with Heaven, Midworld and Underworld, respectively, the other five worlds are more problematical.
Ljossalfheimr (Alfheimr), the land of the Light Alfs, might fit in well with the Heavens.
Svartalfheimr, land of the dwarves (whose names translate into things like "dead one" and "corpse").
Niflheim, the world of ice, may be part of the Underworld (Helheim may even be within Niflheim). Svartalfheimr may also be in the Midworld, as the caves and tunnels of the dwarves are directly below the earth.
Germanic/Norse : Germanic/Norse The other two worlds (Jotunheimer, land of Giants, and Muspellheim, realm of the Fire Giants) may also fit into the Midworld part of the ADF cosmos.
Yggdrasill, the great World Tree, is at the center of the Worlds and connects them all.
Odin, from his seat, could see all the Worlds at once, suggesting that it may have been on Yggdrasill.
At the World Tree's base are three Wells, Mimir's Well (connected with knowledge), Wyrd's Well (connected with the court of the Aesir) and Hvergelmir, where the serpent Nidhogg would chew at the root of Yggdrasill.
Mimir's Well could be a connection to the Ancestors, as a source of knowledge and wisdom.
And Fire, the great transmuter and transformer, takes sacrifices to the Spirits.
Hellenic : Hellenic In Hellenic religion, a mountain (and possibly Mt. Olympos, home of the 12 main Gods), might best correspond with the Heavens.
The world of men and of the land and tree spirits, such as centaurs and dryads, would be the Midworld, and Hades, the land of the Dead, fits in well with the Underworld.
The Triple Hallows of Well, Fire & Tree in Hellenic religion could be conceived of as Pit, Fire and Mountain.
A Mountain (again, possibly Olympos itself) could be the connection with the Heavens (though an Omphalos might work as well)
A Pit or chasm could be the connection to the Underworld (also, libations to the dead were often poured into holes specially made in the roofs of tombs, for the dead were ever thirsty).
The Fire, seen as the Goddess Hestia, is that central point here in the Midworld where everything comes together, and where transformation is possible.
References : References “The Druid’s Cosmos” Dedicant Path Manual. (19-26). .
“Articles on Our Cosmology” .