Practice in Place

My lecturer at University College Cork informed us that Ireland was believed to be the most densely named place in Europe, and possibly beyond. Ireland is a tiny place, really, just one third the size of the state of Colorado, yet if you visit long enough and spend time talking to local residents it seems like every large rock and small hillock has it's own name, and possibly a story as well. 

It's such an important aspect of Irish culture that Place Names was its own unit in my Master's program. 

While some of this might be a whimsical cultural penchant, it has deep historical origins. There are texts recorded in various manuscripts from the 11th century onward, dedicated to the stories of places. And these stories, in poetry and in prose, appear to be from a much older oral tradition. Many of the place names listed in these manuscript copies had fallen out of use centuries prior to the writing. Many of the texts appear to be Pagan or pre-Christian centric, absent of the usual florid Christian additions, or Roman slanders about Pagan Ireland. 

They are called Dindshenchas, pronounced din HEN uh chus, following the Irish pattern of losing 's's and adding in 'uh's. The word evolved into modern Irish meaning as "dinnseanchas" only "topography." The old texts are divided into the Metrical Dindshenchas (poetry) and the Prose Dindchenchas. 

As place names go they are less historical or geographical and more fantastical and mythological. They appear to have fulfilled a requirement for the memorization not only of the mental map of the countryside, but of stories and heroic figures as well. Druids spent twenty years in learning. They were the intellectual elite of Irish society the equivalent of doctors, lawyers, professors, and master crafts persons. All that they learned in every area and profession was memorized and they could recite from any source of knowledge. 

As in our society today, education was open to the privileged, and we see in the myths that the upper class could all recite from poetry and lore, that the warrior class was also expected to have learned copious amounts of verse in history, genealogy, and of course, topography. The warrior bands could hardly have been effective without an extensive working knowledge of the terrain. 

For an Irish person, even today, the landscape is alive with references. The trees and rocks are known. Every bird species is connected to a story, a poem, or a song. 

The trick is to connect experience to the landscape to a story, song, or poem. This is not a condition that can be brought about through reading or imagination. It has to be done. It has to be lived. It has to be sung. This is the way of a spiritual practice that is located in space and time, in the earth, and in the body. It is not virtual or imagined. 

The start of this is to recognize that where each of us is, is sacred. The space where we stand is the sacred landscape. The life around us has voices. The plants have names. The sun rises in a different place every morning. The world is waiting for us to put down our written words and go outside. Even opening a window to hear the world as it exists in a moment is more real than anything we can read. 

A syllable spoken has more power than any word we wrote. The air vibrates with meaning that has come from our throats. So much more if we can warble out some musical notes. Our stories need to be *told.* 

Go say it outside to the stars. 

Nothing really happens tomorrow. It only happens now. It happens here, wherever you are. 

The next step is to fill in the gaps in a world where knowledge isn't sung. To create new songs we will have to read online or in books, or watch videos. For us to have stories that are densely named we will have to introduce ourselves and learn some names: bird names, and plant species, and geological terms. It's the good manners of an animist practice to learn more about the elements of our world, with some effort and respect. 

But don't just learn the dry facts. Talk to the the rocks. Trade memories of camping trips in named valleys. Share with each other the secret identities and uses of plants right at hand. 

This is the cornerstone of a practice in place. This place, where you are, right now. It's all sacred. 

Peace of the mountains to you, 

Paulie Rainbow

founder: Druidry Centered Women's Circle of the Rockies