celtic herbalism?--> dian cecht story

[ennys]

Hi everyone,

As I am still reading in 'the apple branch' by A. Kondratiev (see books forum), I read today the chapter about midsummer, in which the author mentions some things on traditional herbal lore in the celtic world. About the story of Dian Cecht who killed and buried his son Miach, on whose grave healing herbs growed. These herbs were gathered by Miach's sister Airmid on her cloak, and after that Dian Cecht, still jealous with his son's powers, onverturned the mantle and confused the order of the herbs. This would be why not everything is known now today in herbalism, and the work of the herbalist is to reconstruct the mantle, learning about the healing properties as much as he can.

after this there is the part that immediately caught my interest:

...Breton herbalists (louzaouerien) who have preserved something of their esoteric tradition do indeed see herbs as corresponding to the organs of a slain divinity. The sacred herbs are twenty-six in numer (rather than 365!): vervain is at the head, Saint Johnswort is the blood, mugwort is at the waist, and so on. This confirms that the ositioning of the herbs on the brat Airmeithe originally was meant to correspond to the configuration of Miach's anatomy.

Regretfully the author provided no notes whatsoever as to where he found this information. It sounds very interesting; a traditionol celtic herbal lore, the is reflected/based in the story of Dian Cecht and his children? And even more, a connection between an old Irish story and a more modern Breton tradition? That would be quite special. And of course, I'd like to know more about this herbal tradition.

Anyone?

[kproefrock]

Regretfully the author provided no notes whatsoever as to where he found this information. It sounds very interesting; a traditionol celtic herbal lore, the is reflected/based in the story of Dian Cecht and his children? And even more, a connection between an old Irish story and a more modern Breton tradition? That would be quite special. And of course, I'd like to know more about this herbal tradition.

Anyone?

Hello Ennys!
I hope that I will be able to speak to some part of your questions.

I would start with the following quote from Bruce Lincoln's, "Death, War and Sacrifice",
pg. 181, Lincoln says, "Healing, in fact, is a process precisely inverse
to that of sacrifice, at least as the two were practiced by the Celts and other
Indo-European peoples. Thus, while a sacrificer employed matter taken from a
victim's dismembered body to restore the cosmos, the healer used matter from the
universe to restore a damaged body. What is more, both of these practical
operations reflected a mythic ideology in which body and cosmos were understood
as homologous. It is this ideology, moreover, which was the basis of that
unified discourse which the Greeks and Romans called "physiology."

I would add that sacrifice was seen as an integral part of what kept the cosmos
going, that is, it was a returning of the essence of life back to the cosmos
which provided it in the first place. RB Onians discusses this concept of the
"essence of life" in great depth in his book "The Origins of European Thought".

I would propose that the story of Diancecht killing his son Miach may be a
version of this scenario. After Miach proves himself a great healer by
reattaching Nuada's actual arm (with Airmid's help) instead of the mechanical
one that Diancecht had attached, Diancecht slays him by slicing his head open
with his sword (it takes four strikes before Miach is unable to heal himself).
Where Miach is buried, 365 herbs grow, each for different aspects of the body.
My assumption is that those same herbs were not available as healing agents
prior to this event and that it was the "Life Essence", even the "Healing Power"
of Miach that was then able to perfuse those plants.They correspond to Miach's anatomy because they came from him, they are a living manifestation of his healing skills. As a result of Miach's sacrifice, humankind now had access to Miach's great healing prowess, but, we had to learn which of the herbs did which job after Diancecht scattered them
from Airmid's mantle.

Now, the story, as we are given it, is all about Diancecht being jealous of
Miach's ability--I wonder if the Christian monks recognized this as one of those
stories about a father God sacrificing His Son for the betterment of humankind
and found it a little to close to the story of Jesus. Could Diancecht, during
translation, have been given a foible like professional jealousy to make him
seem less "divine", less like Jehovah? On the same subject, didn't Jehovah
sacrifice his son Jesus in an attempt to usher in the dispensation of grace and
make it easier for humans to be able to acquire some kind of eternal salvation?
Is that similar to the concept that Lincoln proposes that the sacrifice was
necessary to ensure the continuation of the world?

woops Sometimes I get a little carried away.

I hope that some of this is helpful!
Have a wonderful day!
Kenneth

[ennys]

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for your long answer, food for thought!!!

Now I have something to look further on, do you (or somebody else) have any idea where I could find more about this related Breton healing tradition??

xx
Ennys

[kproefrock]

do you (or somebody else) have any idea where I could find more about this related Breton healing tradition??

Hello Ennys,
I would also love to know if others on this forum have delved into this topic. I am in the process, along with several other people, of attempting to reconstruct a larger Celtic cosmological approach to healing and herbalism. The tradition that Alexei is referring to in his book is largely incomplete, it is a starting point and some decent references to check out:
"Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing" by Stephen Pollington
"Healing Threads: Traditional Medicines of the Highlands And Islands" by Mary Beith

I hope that these are helpful!
Have a wonderful day!
Kenneth

[ennys]

Leechcraft!!

Makes me think of the Leiden Leechbook, a ninth century Latin book on herbalism, intertwined with Old Breton or Old Welsh (I remember there was a discussion about that) words, especially plant names. I should look into that one maybe, we have an edition in the library. The manuscript is, if I recall it well, only four pages, the first and the last two of a katern, I thought my teacher said, we read it in class. I can't remember it to be very interesting, but I was not interested in herbalism and plant lore, then...I still have the copies and the notes, so I'm going after it.

I am going to look for those books you named when I will have a bit more time, they sound so interesting!! Still have to finish the apple branch and I am reading other stuff at the same time, but it will come once

Thanks for being very helpful again!

[Dathi]

Greetings,
Just reviving this.

Anyone aware of any books / projects / resources which seek to recreate a list of the 365 herbs on Miach's grave / Airmid's cloak?

Here is an interesting and detailed list of phyto-therapeutic / magical plants: http://www.magicspells.in/magical_herba ... edia_h.htm

Something like this is what I'm looking for, but with an "Irish" flavour.

Related links: http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/

http://www.botanicgardens.ie/herb/census/history.htm

http://www.shee-eire.com/Herbs,Trees&Fu ... s/Main.htm

This fantastic book is my prime reference: http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Wild-Plants ... t_ep_dpi_2

along with http://www.appletree.ie/cat/books/7676.htm

And whilst all the above resources are very interesting, I cannot seem to find a specific list (even a speculative starter list) relating to Dian Cecht / Miach / Airmid.

Failing that, I'll have to start one!!!

CFN,

Dathi

[DaRC]

Hi Dathi - I'm looking around and it seems everyone took a step back
So it looks like it could be yours to start the list - perhaps create a separate thread?

The trouble is that looking here: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/comindxa.html there's 800 plants back in the 1930's. I can see that pruning it to 365 will be a challenge.

[Dathi]

Greetings all,

Here is an attempt by a mate to recreate Miach's grave. Pretty nifty, I thought.

druidgarden.jpg

Miach's Garden

(213.04 KiB) Downloaded 621 times

Still a work in progress but a great idea.

Dathi

[skydove]

Hi Dathi
Can you tell us a little more about your friends project, it was a bit hard to see from the photo whether he had made a specific design and also what plants he had used. What a wonderful location in which to live and plant a garden.

[Dathi]

Greetings Skydove,

This garden is laid out in the design of a body in the foetal position i.e. as was typical in Neolithic burial ritual. The plant collection has a wonderful selection of archaeophytes, these being flowers and plants found in Ireland in ancient times. He has Woad, St John's Wort, Mullion, several kinds of mint, Mugwort, Lady's Bedstraw, Tansy, Sage, Rue, Enchanter's Herb (Vervain), Plantain, Wild garlic, Meadowsweet, Foxglove and all sorts of wonderful stuff. It's all a bit special.

Naturally, it's not an exact replica of Miach's grave, it's only inspired by the tale.

The search for the exact list of "real" original druids herbs continues. there are several speculative sources. Here is an interesting link: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33654/33 ... 3654-h.htm

Dathi