The Three Realms

[IvyWitch]

I've been reading some resources on modern Druidry and Celtic belief systems, and I'm not sure I really quite grasp the concepts of the three realms. In many Druid organizations, there's a central idea of the well, tree, and fire, and in the (Irish) Celtic beliefs, there is the idea of the land, sea and sky. I'm very used to the Greek elemental system, and I haven't found much explanation of the Celtic ideas especially that could help me wrap my mind around them. Does anyone know of any good books, or websites that go into it? Or, can anyone help me out and explain?

[Morrigan_Wolfwind]

Going with my instinct here, as well as what I picked up from random sources, so I can't help you with any websites or books. :sheepish:

The tree - Trees connect many aspects of life. Real trees are usually little universes in themselves; birds nest in them, animals eat their fruit and take shelter in the branches. Trees are also a good sign of water--they can last without water for a while, but it has to be there for the tree to even survive. They're like representations of the world, and in my opinion it relates to your physical body.

Fire - Do you know about imbas? It translates to something like "fire in the head," which is what bards tap into for inspiration. My guess is that the fire is your conscious mind--intelligence, feelings, etc.

The well - There are certain wells in Ireland that are considered blessed. Wells were and are still an important source of water, and I read somewhere that they could take messages to the Faerie realm--like when people nowadays throw coins into fountains and make wishes. Wells are kind of fuzzy for me, too, but I think they represent your subconscious--the things you don't really think about.

I could be wrong, or at least not quite there, but I hope that's given you a better idea.

[TomasFlannabhra]

I've been reading some resources on modern Druidry and Celtic belief systems, and I'm not sure I really quite grasp the concepts of the three realms. In many Druid organizations, there's a central idea of the well, tree, and fire, and in the (Irish) Celtic beliefs, there is the idea of the land, sea and sky. I'm very used to the Greek elemental system, and I haven't found much explanation of the Celtic ideas especially that could help me wrap my mind around them. Does anyone know of any good books, or websites that go into it? Or, can anyone help me out and explain?

Land, Sea and Sky are viewed as the three divisions of the cosmos. Land (talamh) is the land where we mortals dwell and it also known as the world of Bith (realms and worlds are different when speaking of the cosmos). The sea (muir) is well, the sea that ever surrounds us. It is overlapped by the Otherworld or Underworld, where the spirits and Gods dwell. The sky (neamh), which is overlapped by the Upperworld, is the heavens and home of the celestial bodies-- stars, planets, clouds, etc.

The fire, well, and tree are not realms but they function as the axis-mundi (a connector of the worlds) and the omphalos (the center of the world). They also function as gates that open to the Otherworld. In Irish ritual, the sacred center and axis-mundi is often represented by the well or a well accompanied by a tree. Personally, I use just the well as it is the Source and therefor can function as the axis-mundi. Others feel that the well must be accompanied by the tree in order to fully function as the axis-mundi (the well brings the waters up from the Under, feeding the Tree at the middle, and the branches of the tree reach up to the Upper...). Fire is what binds and burns at the center of the Three Realms, also functioning as a gate.

I touch up a bit on Gaelic cosmology in my ritual outline (http://www.gaolnaofa.org/ritualoutline.html), as well.

[Seren_]

I've been reading some resources on modern Druidry and Celtic belief systems, and I'm not sure I really quite grasp the concepts of the three realms. In many Druid organizations, there's a central idea of the well, tree, and fire, and in the (Irish) Celtic beliefs, there is the idea of the land, sea and sky. I'm very used to the Greek elemental system, and I haven't found much explanation of the Celtic ideas especially that could help me wrap my mind around them. Does anyone know of any good books, or websites that go into it? Or, can anyone help me out and explain?

One of the best places to look is in the Irish tale The Cattle Raid of Cooley (usually called The Tain). The father of the hero, Cu Chulainn, tries to rouse the men of Ulster to his son's aid by proclaiming: "Is it the sky that breaks or the sea that ebbs, or the earth that quakes or is this the distress of my son fighting against the odds on the Tain Bo Cualigne?"

Cu Chulainn's dad is giving the king of Ulster a bit of a dig here. The king ruled the land and the people, and a just rule was shown by peace and plenty in the land. For the world to be turned upside down, the king would have had to have done something seriously wrong (like not rising to Cu Chulainn's aid, here). The king then uses the three realm formula back at Cu's dad to say very pointedly that everything seems fine to him, to reinforce the fact that he's doing just fine as king, thankyouverymuch.

It's also used in oaths and poems throughout the early medieval period, and you can see the concept in songs recorded in nineteenth century Scotland.

Looking at the Irish myths and so on, you can find a few themes associated with each realm.

Sea - the Irish viewed the seas as having Otherworldly qualities. Each river in Ireland had an Otherworldly source (such as the Well of Segais for the River Boyne). Boann drank from the well when she shouldn't have, and the well overflowed and she ran in shame. The well followed her to the sea, forming the river. The well was surrounded by sacred hazel trees which conveyed wisdom and knowledge, so these associations can be found with water as well.

Early Christian Voyage tales (known as Immrama) generally involve a bunch of blokes setting out to sea in order to atone for some sort of sin. On the journey they find themselves transformed in some way that means they can never return home - like they've been away for hundreds of years even though it seems like they've been away months or days, and to set foot on land means they'll crumble to dust.

These transformative qualities work the other way as well. All the mythological settlers of Ireland (the people of Cessair, Parthalon, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, Tuatha De Danann and the Milesians) all came from across the sea to settle on the land. The Fomorians, who never technically settled Ireland for themself, also came from the sea and their name is thought to mean 'under-sea dwellers'. Each race gave something to the land of Ireland during their contact with it. The Fir Bolg brought kingship, the Tuatha brought arts and skills, the Fomorians gave knowledge of agriculture etc.

Land - the land was integral to the wellbeing of the people, providing a large part of the food that was needed for survival. The king was intimately related to the land through his symbolic marriage to it. The land was represented by the sovereignty goddess who could be hideous or beautiful depending on the circumstance; if the king did wrong she could appear as a hideous hag to foretell his doom (just as the land would suffer disease and famine, or entrances to the Otherworld like the burial mounds would suddenly appear bear etc), or else she would be hideous in order to test a prospective king. If he slept with her, in spite of her appearance, he would have showed true judgement and so was fit to rule, and she'd transform into a beautiful woman.

The sidhe or the gods live in the land, inside the old burial mounds and other mysterious prehistoric features. These are places where mortals might come into contact with them, and it's from these places, not the Otherworldly sea, that they generally seek contact with us.

Sky - Some sources say that unlike the other settlers of Ireland, who came via ships on the sea, the Tuatha De Danann came by dark clouds in the air. Although they dwell under the hills and mounds of Ireland, many see them as belonging to this realm. Personally I see them as being associated with the land more than anything, but oftentimes you'll see that their messengers are birds.

Of course the sky is also home to clouds, the sun, the moon and the stars etc which often comprise the elements or dúile, as they're called.

[TomasFlannabhra]

An interesting article is Irish Perceptions of the Cosmos (http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c23/c23-174.pdf), which takes an indepth look into the Tain and its references to Land, Sky, Sea as well as other sources.

[Seren_]

Trees are often considered sacred in Irish lore/law. There was the concept of the bile, which was basically a sacred tree that formed the centre of a tuath's territory (metaphorically, if not literally, I'd guess).

According to the tale The Settling of the Manor of Tara, the wise man Fintan mac Bochra was given the task of planting the seeds of five trees wherever he thought they would grow in Ireland. He was given the seeds by a mysterious giant called Trefuilngid, who appeared at Tara during a feast, and their purpose was presumably to establish the four quarters from whence the lore of Ireland would be brought to the hearth of Tara to be heard and witnessed. Until Trefuilngid, there were no lore-keepers in Ireland, and so here we see the five sacred trees cementing the form of Ireland for the future, although the exact location of most of them is not certain.


The five sacred trees were known as the Ash of Tortu, the Bole of Ross (a yew), the Yew of Mugna, the Bough of Dathi (an ash), and the Ash of Uisnech. The Dindschenchas tells us that the Yew of Mugna had a trunk that was thirty cubits in girth, and it bore three types of fruit – “...the acorn, the dark narrow nut, and the apple.” Perhaps for this reason, some sources list it as an oak and not a yew tree.


The ash of Tortu, like many other sacred trees, was used as a meeting place for the men of the province - “When the men of Tortu used to meet together round the huge conspicuous tree, the pelting of the storms did not reach them, until the day when it was decayed.” When it finally succumbed to the elements, at great age, two parts of the plain's prosperity went with it, and fifty men were crushed.


The Queen of Connacht, Medb, was said to have a bile, so there were also 'lesser' bile's than the main five.

Trees are also frequently associated with wells, which are often seen as Otherworldly gateways. It's possible that their associations together are meant to reinforce the idea of the Otherworldly source of the king's power: without the approval of the sovereignty goddess, the king couldn't rule. Rivers, often having an Otherworldly mythological from a well, are often associated with particular goddesses, and the rivers themselves often form convenient territorial boundaries...

In more modern practice the trees associated with the wells often form the focus of offerings (clootie trees, they're called in Scotland). Wells are often associated with healing and people would visit them to try and find a cure for a particular ailment. They were usually visited on particular days (like one of the Cross Quarter Days, or the day of the saint the well's associated with), and the person would drink from the well after saying prayers and walking round it sunwise. Rags, ribbons and pieces of cloth are left at the tree in order to leave the problem or ailment behind, as a sort of offering.

With fire, it has cleansing, purifying and protecting properties. It provides warmth and cooked food, and as Morrigan_Wolfwind says, it's the source of imbas, a sort of Otherworldly inspiration. You often see mythological figures like Fionn receiving their inspiration from the result of cooking with fire. In Fionn's case, he was tending some sort of magical brew and accidentally burned his thumb and gained the knowledge by sucking on it without thinking.

I hope that helps...I tried to keep it short and sweet ;)

[Brigid Rowan]

Wonderful information, thank you..Im not a recon, Im very much an "I-dont-know", as Im new to paganism and my path is still evolving, but this was all very eye-opening for me. Thanks!

[skilly-nilly]

I've been reading some resources on modern Druidry and Celtic belief systems, and I'm not sure I really quite grasp the concepts of the three realms. In many Druid organizations, there's a central idea of the well, tree, and fire, and in the (Irish) Celtic beliefs, there is the idea of the land, sea and sky. I'm very used to the Greek elemental system, and I haven't found much explanation of the Celtic ideas especially that could help me wrap my mind around them. Does anyone know of any good books, or websites that go into it? Or, can anyone help me out and explain?


You're talking about 3 different things (though related) here.

There's the 3 Realms; land, sea, sky (or if you didn't happen to live near a sea--tilled ground, forest, and sky) which are the divisions of the Cosmos.

Well, Tree, and Fire are means by which to access the non-human parts of the Cosmos.... the Well goes down into the Under-Land, the Tree reaches above Land, and the Fire drops into your head from OtherWhere. In the same way that your blood (in a small way) is like the Sea (in the Large) in the dúile, the Tree is also like the central pole of your house:
http://www.nd.edu/~ikuijt/Ireland/Sites/cnoetzel/HouseC_reconst_small.jpg

The 4-Elements system doesn't correspond to the 3 Realms---you couldn't go to 'Earth' in the same way that you live in 'Land'. As I see it, the 4 Elements are a way of defining what things are made of, and there is an Irish system that defines what things are made of. There are 9 inter-related elements (the dúile) that are more like the 4 Greco-Roman elements. Here is a good essay about the dúile:
http://www.geocities.com/wiccantwinpaths/altarstuff/celticstuff/commentaries/duile.htm

I like it because I see 'stone' and 'earth' as distinguishable elements too. As well, 'plants' is an element and I always had trouble with that lack in the 4 element system.

Hope that's useful.