Ireland’s Mythic World ViewA Wisdom Tradition
Ten Wisdoms of Ireland’s Ancient Past
An eight week course via Zoom. Course starts on May 15th 2021. Price €140
What is Ireland’s Mythic heritage?
Having been Immersed in the Cycles of Irish Myth it begins to be possible to ascertain an Archaic World View. The Ancient Irish had a sophisticated and coherent system, a consistently thought out and complete view of things.
This ancient world view covers psychology, economics, politics, the judicial system and the law, aesthetics and the cosmos. It is also polyvalent and polysemic, which means it works at many levels. In short, it represents the “total social situation”
This approach to Myth is built on what would once have been the Bardic practice of telling these mythic stories in a group setting. This was an oral tradition and the reception of the story was through hearing rather than reading. It is a very different experience.
An eight week course via Zoom. Course starts on May 15th 2021
Exploring The Myths And Archetypes Of Ireland
As well as identifying this overall world view it is possible to identify what might be described as the “Wisdoms of the Irish”. Having been involved for 25 years, the Bard will be proposing Ten Wisdoms of the Irish. They are to be seen as “best current thinking”. In essence a start. It will be the collective task of the participants to agree on the proposition or not. Maybe there are more wisdoms, maybe less. But our primary informant is the stories themselves.
The Ten Mythic Wisdoms
- The Wisdom of the Others
- The Wisdom of Longevity
- The Wisdom of Shape Shifting
- The Wisdom of Silver Branch
- The Wisdom of the Fifths
- The Wisdom of the Kings Hall
- The Best of the Best
- Confronting the Shadow
- The Kings Journey
- The Power of the Oral
Course starts on May 15th 2021
1
Week 1: Ireland’s Mythic Heritage
Introduction and Overview. The first people. Cesair and Fintan.
2
Week 2: The Fir Bolg and the Fifth Province
The Bag Men of Ireland. Second Battle of Moytura. Balor’s Evil Eye and the Shadow.
3
Week 3: The Tain: Cú Chulainn
The Birth and Boyhood deeds. The Battle at the Ford and Connla.
4
Week 4: Fionn and the Fianna
Boyhood Deeds Fionn comes to Tara
5
Week 5: The Voyage of Bran
The Idea of Sacred Kingship… Queenship and The Ten Wisdoms ….
6
Week 6: Niall of the Nine Hostages
The Meeting with the Divine in the Irish Tradition. The Birth of Mongan
7
Week 7: Group ReTellings
To challenge the best current thinking
8
Week 8: Review and Reflections
Where are we now on the Wisdoms. Reflections on the Immersions
WEDNESDAYS
Bonus Lectures
At the core of the Bard Events is a Myth Telling. One of our storytellers literally returns to the oral tradition and tells a story. This moment, this ritual is fundamental. It keeps us grounded in the wisdom, grounded in the tradition both in terms of process (oral telling) and the content (the myths themselves).
WEDNESDAY 1
Myth and Philosophy, Wisdom and Knowledge
WEDNESDAY 2
The Ancient Irish Calendar: Time, Story and Ritual
WEDNESDAY 3
Unravelling Celtic Mythology in Contemporary Irish Poets
About The Bard Listen to Emma and Ellen tell you the Bard’s story
What are the wisdoms that have spoken to you?
Because of the “something we cannot see” which is culture, we will hold the work we are doing up against that other coherent and well thought out system with which everyone is familiar, Christianity. Again we will take the stories with which we are familiar as our comparison. This is not meant as a critique, or as a contest of ‘belief systems” but more as a means of deepening our understanding. You know mythologies best through comparison.
coursE PRICE
€
140
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An eight week course via Zoom. Course starts on May 15th 2021
Taking Myth Seriously
Myth is not the wisdom of gods, and when it speaks of gods and goddesses they are not of a transcendent kind but rather a representation of the exemplary in that each stands for something, it can be seen as a representation, a humanised form of those forces that shape us. So when a Greek hero falls in love it is Aphrodite that is in him that takes him over. To dismiss myth as untruth is to entirely miss the point.
