THE TRUE WORD OF CELTIC POETRY-2016

The True Word of Celtic Poetry

 In this post I will bring you into the forbidden world of Celtic poems & Stories during the ancient times of the Celtic world. The word was considered so sacred that the Celtic people were forbidden to write anything down. So what they would do to pass down their wisdom, poetry and stories is by oral doing it. As the custodians changed throughout time of their sacred word; the poets were held in high regard and accorded very high in status.
Then came the Bardic Order~
The Bardic order was basically the primary order within the Druid's training. Why? because nothing could be written down as 'the true word Poetic'. Students were required to commit huge amounts of material to memory. This is how the Bardic System would work Their centers were deliberately severe because it was believed that sensory deprivation aided the poetic inspiration.
When composing an poem, the students were made to lie on the stone in the dark, with stones on their stomachs to stop them from becoming drowsy. This kinda training, to become a bard could take as long as 12years. The Studies that train to become an bard for the first 6years study; would be-encompassed grammar, philosophy, poetic form and finally the memorizing of numerous poems and stories; together with the laws of Bretha Nemed (the Law of Privileges). Which is also called the 'Secret Language of Poet'.

Each of the Students were titled the 'Noble Stream'.
Further studies say that the students would learn poetic form and composition in their 12year. In the 12year the students are called 'Ollamh' At this doing the students he/she is now a master of grammar, poetic form, law, composition, prophetic, invocation &of the skills of an oratory.

These students had committed thousands of lines of poetry to memory as well as 350+ stories. 

YOUR FRIEND ALWAYS

WENDY

QUEEN OF SHEBA

QUEEN OF SHEBA~

QUEEN OF SHEBA

Good morning my dears & welcome to my humble blog. Today I thought I would bring you all into the mystical world of Queen of Sheba. It is a interesting tale and one that I found that is in many scriptures of the bible too. During this post I will show some of the scriptures of the Queen of Sheba that I found in my own bible. She is recorded in the first book of Kings in the Old Testament. However, I thought I would write about her life and I will add the Scriptures as they come in the story for you to look-up if you wish too.  I hope that you find this tale as interesting as I have.
The Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon (1Kings 10:13) when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon & his relation to the name of the Lord. So she came to test him with hard questions. Upon arriving in Jerusalem with a grand caravan with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold & precious stones, the Queen came to King Solomon to talk about matters of importance, that had been on her brilliant mind. She also had many questions for him and came to test him. Solomon answered all her hard questions, however nothing was ever too hard for the king to explain to Queen of Sheba. When the Queen saw all the wisdom of the King & the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cup bearers and the burnt offering he made at the Temple of the Lord she was overwhelmed. The Queen continued to ask her questions; She said to the king, 'The report I heard in my own country about your achievements & your wisdom is true!. (Kings James version; 1 Kings 10: 2-13)

QUEEN SHEBA

AND KING SOLOMON

But I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own two eyes. Indeed, not even half was told to me; In wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I have heard.. How happy your men must be! Your Officials, who continually stand before you & hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel he has made you King to maintain Justice and righteousness. From that, the Queen gave King Solomon 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Then King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and again returned to her own country.
I have always been curious about the tale of Queen Sheba. I hope you have found this short but informative post interesting too. It states that around the tenth century B.C.; there was a Queen that lived in a Great nation rich with trade around the world. This Nation was know as Sheba. During the time of the Nation of Sheba their Queen decided to meet the Great King Solomon. Why? It seems their Queen didn't believe the

Queen Sheba

stories  she had heard about King Solomon's wisdom. Going to see the King in person with her questions to test the King would help the Queen and her country of Sheba to believe in his wisdom. So a few months later, the Queen of Sheba arrived at the royal courts of King Solomon. They meet for dinner. Then after that they had an meeting for her many questions to test the King. Later, after hours of talking with King Solomon, the Queen approval with his answers and decided he pasted her test. In the return of Queen of Sheba, she had given King Solomon plentiful gifts of gold, spices, many rare kinds of precious stones too. In return of her plentiful gift King Solomon game the Queen, 'All that she desired'. After their meeting the Queen of Sheba returned to her nation of Sheba.
You can find her in the Holy Bible in (Chronicles-2 9 1:13) This is just one of many that I found in my Bible. So I had a look in my bible where the Queen visits King Solomon. I found many more interesting tales of the great Queen. This part is where I found the Queen of Sheba once again and its said that even Christ himself spoke of the Queen of Sheba of the south who came to hear the wisdom of King Solomon. I couldn't find any other information, however it has been said there is precious pieces of historical evidence that has survived on the Queen of Sheba, problem is Where?
There is also the countless growth of myths and stories all over the centuries, perhaps the most famous & important of tales in regard to the Queen of Sheba is her connection with Ethiopia.

Queen of Sheba at the king Solomon kingdom

when some say she was not treated kindly

In 1320 an Ethiopian monk named Yetshak had wrote an compendium of legends called Kebra Negast - 'Glory of the Kings'. Yetshak  the Ethiopia Monk had written  that when the Queen of Sheba referred to in Ethiopian as Makeda, visited King Solomon, she was seduced by the great King.  Solomon had said that the Queen was welcome to his hospitality, however must not take anything without asking. During the night hours, the Queen suffered a terrible thirst caused by a spicy meal that the King fed to her and she drank the water placed by her bed. The King said the Queen had broken his rules of his kingdom, so she must sleep with him as repayment. Nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy called Menelik. [There is always another tale to the story]
It is said that the Ethiopian people believe that the Queen of Sheba & her son both accepted the Jewish faith. It seems that the Monk Menelik founded the Solomon Jewish Faith Christian Faith, The dynasty in Aksum, Ethiopia. The Muslims would call the Queen of Sheba 'Balkis'. It was believed her great Nation was based in Yemen.
The Koran's describes the nation Sheba as being two gardens, irrigated by a grand dam. An advanced level of farming and good access to the Red Sea shipping channels and the Arabian Camel trains, meant the nation prospered at the time.

Note; Archaeological proof of this occurring in southern Arabia has been uncovered. The remains of a great dam can be viewed in the Mareb region of the Yemen, now considered to be the capital of the ancient nation of Sheba. This dam collapsed in 543AD, but scientists have been able to deduce that it would have been used to irrigated over 500 acres of farmland. In recent years Archaeologists have finished restoring an ancient temple known as the 'Throne of Balkis' in the Mareb region. The structure dates from the tenth century BC, so is from the right era to link with what we do know about the Queen. Two miles to the east of the Mareb region. Another ancient building known as the 'Temple of the Moon God' is also being studied. Scientists using radar equipment believe this is an extremely large and elaborate structure, and could yield the answers to many of the Sheba mysteries. Unfortunately such investigations have been plagued over the years by political in differences. So the dig has been on hold sadly for years and who knows when they can continue. They have said until these areas are more secure for researchers to study the real history of Sheba plus the political indifference to come to pass it would seem the Nation of Sheba will continue to be obscured by legends. The researchers can only work with the Scriptures in the bible at this time, but with a bit of faith they will be able to continue their dig.

When doing this tale of Queen Sheba I found that there were many different versions of photo's of the queen. The one above was the one that they say is mostly depicted in the bible but I have a hard time believing that one. She in my opinion was either from India or Africa. If I had to pick one it would be Africa .... I hope you enjoyed the true tale..

Love you all very much & thank you so much

for coming to my humble blog

your friend always

WENDY

SELCHIES-2016

SELCHIES -

Selkies are said to be fictional creatures that live in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish 
Mythology. They can shed their skin form seals to become humans which are usually woman. The legend is originated on the island of Orkney and the Shetland Islands. The Silkies have many different names.This can be Selchies; Silkies or Selch. is some of the Scots word for the seal/selkie from the old English seolh. 
Legends-
The legends of the Silkier has been around for centuries, especially in the Icelandic, Ireland and Scotland countries. These of course were the oceans of the very icy seas.The Selkies of these icy seas are able to become human by shedding their seal skins and can then return to the seal form by putting them back on. Ancient stories concerning the selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human[mostly always men] will not know that their lover is a selkie and wakes to find them gone.Other times the human male will hide the selkie skin which is almost always of a Female selkie, thus preventing her to return to the seal form. A selkie can only make contact with one particular human for a short amount of time before they must reture to the sea/ocean. They are not able to make contactt with that human again for seven years, unless the human has steal their selkie skin and hidden it or even worst of all 
''burned it' If they have burned the selkie seal skin they may never go back to the ocean again where they probably have a husband and children and a entire family that they will never see again. And the longing for the sea will forever be there but she will never be able to be again.
There are a few such stories in ballad; called the Great Silkie or Sule Skerry and the movie 

'The Secret of Roan Inish'. 
The Selkie legend is also told in Wales, but in a slightly different form. The selkies are humans who have returned to the sea. Dylan - Dylan Eil Don - the firstborn of Arianrhod - was variously a merman or sea spirit who is some versions of the story escapes to the sea immediately after birth. In the Faroe Islands there are two version of the story of the Selkie or what they say 'Seal's Wife'. This is how the tale goes; A Young farmer from the town of Mikladalur on the island of kalsoy goes to

the beach to watch the selkies dance under the moon light as they always do every summer, because it can be so very cold in the winter months. The selkies always take care in hiding their seal skins so that they can find them at dawn to put them back on to go back into the sea their home to their families. Also so that no farmers or fishermen can find them to make them their wife against the will. Well, in this tale that is just what happened to one such selkie, the farmer that was watching them dance by the moon light was also watching where they were putting there seal skins too. He had his eye on one beautiful selkie maiden, so he went to find her skin and so she couldn't go back to sea, and forced her to marry him.

The farmer kept her skin in a chest, and the key to lock it around his neck both day and night. One day when he was out fishing, the farmer discovered that he forgotten to bring his key. When he returned home the selkie wife had escaped back to the sea, leaving their children behind. Sadly years later, when the farmer was on a hunt in the ocean, he killed both her selkie husband and her two selkie sons. She then promised to take revenge upon the men of the island of Mikladalur. Some of them drowned, some shall fall from the cliffs and slopes and this shall continued, until so many men have been lost that they will be able to link arms around the whole island of Kallsoy.
Male Selkies are very handsome in their human form, and have a

great seduction powers over the human women. They will typically seek those who are dissatisfied with their romantic life. This includes married women waiting for their fisherman husbands to come home after months at sea. If a human woman wishes to make contact with a selkie male all she has to do is go to a beach and shed seven tears into the sea.
If a human male steals a female selkie's skin, she is in his power, that instant he has taken her seal skin. Then is forced to become his wife.

Female selkies are said to make excellent wives, however their true love & home is the sea, they will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean. If  she finds her skin again, she will immediately return to her true home, and sometimes to her selkie husband in the sea. Sometimes a selkie maiden is taken as a wife by a human man and she has several children by him. In these stories, it is one of her children who has discovered her sealskin who often unwitting of its significance and she soon returns to the sea leaving the child. The selkie woman usually avoids seeing her human husband again but is sometimes shown visiting her children and playing with them in the waves. Selkies are not always faithless lovers. One tale of a fisherman Cagan who married a Seal-Woman.

Against his wife's wishes he set sail during a dangerously late in the year, and was trapped battling a terrible storm, unable to return home. His wife shifted to her seal form and saved him, even though this meant she could never return to her human body and hence her happy home.
Some stories from Shetland have selkies luring islanders into the sea at midsummer, the lovelorn-humans never returning to dry land. Seal shapeshifters similar to the selkie exist in the folklore of many cultures. A corresponding creature existed in Swedish legend,and the Chinook people of North America have a similar tale of a boy who changes into a seal.

Theories of the origins of the Selkie~    

There seem to be lots of theories on the Selkie, one is that they belief is that the selkie ware actually fur-clad Finns, traveling by kayak. Another is that shipwrecked Spaniards that washed ashore and their jet black hair resembled seals. As the anthropologist A. Asbjorn Jon has recognized though, there is a strong body of lore that indicates that selkies are said to be supernaturally formed

from the souls of drowned people.

It really comes down to what you believe.

I hope you all enjoyed the legend of the Selchies

there are so many legends about them

Odine the Selkie Movie

love you all

Your Friend always

WENDY