Banshees vs Alchemy?
by John Willmott of Celtic Ways
A few nights ago at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, where I live, some of us witnessed a woman in a dark cloak and light hair who seemed to just vanish before our eyes. The stories of Banshees and ghosts Of Glendalough reared from several local mouths and in every case was a "witch".
In Ireland and elsewhere stories of mysterious, mythical and spiritual women ends up classifying them as "witches" otherwise images of death, destruction and disorder. As many of you know, the truth is that the so called witches were ladies with a wonderful knowledge of plants and their use in healing and caring.
So who spreads the news that these women are evil, of destruction, death and to be avoided and even banished and destroyed? Alchemists? Hmm, what does he mean you may (or hopefully) ask?
For thousands of years there seems to have been a propaganda war, resulting into some incredible cruelty, between the herbalists and alchemists. Its still happening today.
Herbalists have focused on developing wisdom on maintaining our health and life according to the flow of nature while alchemists have developed crafts and science that weave and control elements.
Until around 1900's the "herbalists" were the norm and "alchemists" were the outcasts even though the alchemists sometimes had their controlling words and way such as the mis-information, disgrace and banishing of witches.
It is interesting to note that the "herbalists", and especially witches", were portrayed as women and the "alchemists" as men. This is not across the board, though, because many men through my father's family ancestry were herbalists who did use words, verses and chants as kind of timers plus moon and astrological calculations as measurements rather than predictions for prognosis and progress of illness. Yes, chants and verses were a kind of stop watch rather than magical spells.
From the 1900s, and especially from the chemistry boom of the 1950s, the alchemists became the norm and the herbalists were suddenly outcast and even threatened with "legal" extinction.
Today, the propaganda war between each party is very evident on television, particularly in the USA. Sit for a meal at 6:00 pm and study the content of the news broadcasts with their sponsoring commercials. You will often find that when there is intensive advertising of pharmaceutical medications there is a newspaper report slipped in condemning the use and effects of a herbal preparation. When the herb companies manage to slip in advertising during this news section there is usually a newspaper report condemning the side effects of a pharmaceutical product.
If it was not for "alchemy" I would not be able to have a pc and internet service to send these words to you so I appreciate it in my life.
Although alchemy is usually a craft pursued initially from inspiration and often from love it could not be a carrier of life, love and the flow of nature like herbalism. I once worked for a herb company where its president one explained his work as "if you separate the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and all other components of an orange, you could successfully put them all back together again, but you could never re-create an orange".
When we visit the sites of ancient temples of Ireland and the sites of Celtic Christianity we witness construction, crafts and alchemy inspired by the love and flow of God and nature. We can be amazed by their vision and content but the most important response seems to be their positioning and signposting so that even today we can be at these places and experience the unexplainable flow of love and life.
When we try to explain we set the foundation for wonderful stories and legends. They stir love, wonder, curiosity and fear and like the legends and stories of the Banshees can be used to entertain, warn, discipline and even mis-inform.
A few nights ago at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, where I live, some of us witnessed a woman in a dark cloak and light hair who seemed to just vanish before our eyes. The stories of Banshees and ghosts Of Glendalough reared from several local mouths and in every case was a "witch".
In Ireland and elsewhere stories of mysterious, mythical and spiritual women ends up classifying them as "witches" otherwise images of death, destruction and disorder. As many of you know, the truth is that the so called witches were ladies with a wonderful knowledge of plants and their use in healing and caring.
So who spreads the news that these women are evil, of destruction, death and to be avoided and even banished and destroyed? Alchemists? Hmm, what does he mean you may (or hopefully) ask?
For thousands of years there seems to have been a propaganda war, resulting into some incredible cruelty, between the herbalists and alchemists. Its still happening today.
Herbalists have focused on developing wisdom on maintaining our health and life according to the flow of nature while alchemists have developed crafts and science that weave and control elements.
Until around 1900's the "herbalists" were the norm and "alchemists" were the outcasts even though the alchemists sometimes had their controlling words and way such as the mis-information, disgrace and banishing of witches.
It is interesting to note that the "herbalists", and especially witches", were portrayed as women and the "alchemists" as men. This is not across the board, though, because many men through my father's family ancestry were herbalists who did use words, verses and chants as kind of timers plus moon and astrological calculations as measurements rather than predictions for prognosis and progress of illness. Yes, chants and verses were a kind of stop watch rather than magical spells.
From the 1900s, and especially from the chemistry boom of the 1950s, the alchemists became the norm and the herbalists were suddenly outcast and even threatened with "legal" extinction.
Today, the propaganda war between each party is very evident on television, particularly in the USA. Sit for a meal at 6:00 pm and study the content of the news broadcasts with their sponsoring commercials. You will often find that when there is intensive advertising of pharmaceutical medications there is a newspaper report slipped in condemning the use and effects of a herbal preparation. When the herb companies manage to slip in advertising during this news section there is usually a newspaper report condemning the side effects of a pharmaceutical product.
If it was not for "alchemy" I would not be able to have a pc and internet service to send these words to you so I appreciate it in my life.
Although alchemy is usually a craft pursued initially from inspiration and often from love it could not be a carrier of life, love and the flow of nature like herbalism. I once worked for a herb company where its president one explained his work as "if you separate the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and all other components of an orange, you could successfully put them all back together again, but you could never re-create an orange".
When we visit the sites of ancient temples of Ireland and the sites of Celtic Christianity we witness construction, crafts and alchemy inspired by the love and flow of God and nature. We can be amazed by their vision and content but the most important response seems to be their positioning and signposting so that even today we can be at these places and experience the unexplainable flow of love and life.
When we try to explain we set the foundation for wonderful stories and legends. They stir love, wonder, curiosity and fear and like the legends and stories of the Banshees can be used to entertain, warn, discipline and even mis-inform.
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