ANCIENT CELTIC PRAYER

About the common background of the cultures in the world and in the time, Starting with a Celtic Prayer.

By Ashok Silwal

Give yourself time to work:
It is the price of success.

Give yourself time to think:
It is the source of power.

Give yourself time to love and be loved:
It is the privilege of the Gods.

Give yourself time to play:
It is the secret of eternal youth.

Give yourself time to read:
It is the foundation of wisdom.

Give yourself time to dream:
It is like connecting your chariot to a star.

Give yourself time to make friends:
It is the way to happiness.

Give yourself time to look at the world around you:
The day is short to be selfish.

Give yourself time to laugh:
It is the music of the Soul.

Today I am here to my readers with these good inducements, not only for the Celts probably and a little ‘pill’ of European culture.

About the Celts, some of you will certainly know the music whose melodies sometimes recall those of our mountain valleys.

But who were the Celts?

They lived in the Danube and Rhine basin. (today Germany and Austria) Around the 10th century BC, they began to move to the rest of Europe: especially to central France, Spain, England and Ireland.

The Celts worked the metals with which they made jewels, precious objects and weapons, in fact they were a warrior people.
They lived on agriculture: mainly based on cereals and vegetables and viticulture; and on livestock farming: pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, poultry.

In all Celtic communities,
-political power was in the hands of ‘princes’, noble warriors who did not carry out any work activity.
-religious power was in the hands of ‘druids’ (priests) who enjoyed important privileges. They were the only intermediaries between the world of Gods and that of men. They celebrated rites, performed sacrifices (including human ones), interpreted omens. They had to dedicate twenty years to the mental learning of sacred texts which the Celtic religion forbade to reproduce in written form. In fact, the Celts used money but had no writing.

They were free men; slaves were mostly prisoners of war.

Today, Celtic languages and culture arouse a lot of interest and passion, especially in the countries were they have spread across: Ireland and parts of Scotland and Wales.

The famous and best known Celtic music is related to different types of dances such as ‘jigs’.

In Celtic Traditions, there are many symbols which contain the thought, mythology, religion of this people.

-SPIRAL: motion of the sun and energy.
-DOUBLE SPIRAL: harmonization of the opposites; flow of life.
-CELTIC CROSS: four elements, water, air, earth and fire united by the Spirit.
-LABYRINTH: the tortuous way to reach the Center, the Knowledge.
-TRISKELE : three spirals that depart from the same center, symbolizing the forces of the Universe, the Cosmic cyclicality. If the direction proceeds from right, it is energy (exteriority); if from left, descent into the underworld (interiority).

I think it was nice to know a little about the origin and the cultural provenance of this Celtic Prayer with its ‘advices’.

I did not want to bore you with too much information (those of you who are interested can look on the web and on YouTube there is some beautiful Celtic Music.).

I am always surprised at how little the questions and answers that human beings ask themselves have changed: the Sun, the Harmony of the Universe, the language of Symbols, the importance of priests in social life.

There is almost always a common background in the various cultures in the world and in the time.

I find it a beautiful and deep reality that should unite all the human beings.

It is my belief and my wish.