We are holding up the all-important scientific discovery of our time that can put an end to the dangerous dualism of matter vs. spirit that haunts spirituality and upholds patriarchy.
Among the Celtic peoples, the most venerated among the ancient gods was Lugh, the god of light and giftedness. Says John O’Donohue, “the Celtic mind adored the light…Ultimately light is the mother of life.”
Without light, life dwindles.
Where there is no light there can be no life. If the angel of the sun were to turn away from the earth, all human, animal , and vegetative life as we know it would disappear. Ice would freeze the earth again. Light is the secret presence of the divine. It keeps life awake.
The ancient poem “The Deer’s Cry” celebrates light:
Strength of heaven,
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire.
O’Donohue acclaims how
…the sun brings light or color. It causes grasses, crops, leaves, and flowers to grow. The sun brings forth the erotic charge of the curved earth; it awakens her wild sensuousness.
A Gaelic poem celebrates the sun as the eye and face of God.
The eye of the great God,
The eye of the God of glory,
The eye of the king of hosts,
The eye of the king of the living
Pouring upon us
at each time and season,
Pouring upon us
gently and generously
Glory to thee
Thou glorious sun
Glory to thee, thou son
Face of the God of life.
The Bhagavad Gita honors the divine origin of Light. Krishna speaks:
The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me.
Krishna is the source of light in all luminous objects. He is beyond the darkness of matter and is unmanifested He is knowledge. He is the object of knowledge, and he is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s heart.
In the Vedas, Brahman is celebrated as Light.
The cosmic waters glow. I am Light!
The light glows. I am Brahman!
Light glows within the human too and resides inside of us.
There is a Light that shines above this heaven, above all worlds, above everything that exists in the highest world beyond which there are no higher—this is the Light that shines within humans.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 56f., 63.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Celtic solar cross capturing the sun. Photo by Funk Dooby on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do these poems from the Celtic and Hindu traditions speak to you? Do they remind you of other teachings from Scriptures or saints?
Recommended Reading
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
23 thoughts on “Sacred Light among the Celts and in the Hindu Scriptures”
Yes! Brilliant work and so Meaningful☀️Much of what is “coming thru” is Speaking of the Light✨😇✨in fact, here is an excerpt of a note 📝 I wrote to mySelf before Reading this!
‘With the support of Mother Earth and the Creator I Now emanate from my Soul✨✨ Sacred🌊 Waves of Light ✨carrying Compassion to Empower the compassion of the Creator within every Creation upon the Earth!☀️The Earth is a space of compassion and love Eternally♾️✨😇this is Our collective experience.’🙏🏻💗✨🐠🌹✨
Keep on Keeping on Matt…this is All very “spot on” given the Universal Energies✨😇✨😇Pouring Out☀️Over Our Beloved Mother Earth💚💛❤️🩹
Thank You!!
Matthew, Today you share with us: “Among the Celtic peoples, the most venerated among the ancient gods was Lugh, the god of light and giftedness. Says John O’Donohue, “the Celtic mind adored the light…Ultimately light is the mother of life.” And more than this, The Celtic festival of Lughnasa–which involves the burning of bon fires, among other things, was in honor of Lugh. O’Donohue also acclaims how: “…the sun brings light or color. It causes grasses, crops, leaves, and flowers to grow. The sun brings forth the erotic charge of the curved earth; it awakens her wild sensuousness.” The ancient poem “The Deer’s Cry” celebrates light: “Strength of heaven, Light of sun, Radiance of moon, Splendor of fire.” And an old Gaelic poem celebrates the sun as the eye and face of God. Then turning to India, we read in the Bhagavad Gita that Krishna honors the divine origin of Light. Krishna speaks: “The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me.” And in the Vedas, Brahman is celebrated as Light, for we read: “The cosmic waters glow. I am Light! The light glows. I am Brahman!” Then you closes with the words of a true mystic: “There is a Light that shines above this heaven, above all worlds, above everything that exists in the highest world beyond which there are no higher—this is the Light that shines within humans.” Then you ask us: “Do these poems from the Celtic and Hindu traditions speak to you?” Both of these traditions do speak to me–I have even written a book on the Neopagan versions of the Celtic festival days. “Do they remind you of other teachings from Scriptures or saints?” Yes, but when I read your One River, Many Wells I can see the common sense of light in other faith traditions well.
When I woke at 4 am, I knew that it had snowed overnight. An uncovered portion of window high above my head had a bright steam of reflected light flowing into the room. When I went downstairs and peered through the blind on the front door, there in front of me at the end of our short walkway was a beautiful deer, again bathed in light. We live about 50 feet from a forested path, a former rail line that has been paved for pedestrians, cyclists and runners. It is also the habitat for four-legged and winged wildlife. It was poetry in motion and made for a beautiful start to my day. — BB.
Bill, It sounded beautiful !!!
I love the beautiful images of light in this meditation. I resonate with what is conveyed through this reflection. I am reminded of many such expressions on light. Together with light I have always valued “darkness”. I wonder about the deep and life therein. Have I missed a reflection on the “other side” of light. If so is it possible to retrieve it somewhere?
One of the symbols for the heart is that of a triangle with a dot in the center. This image comes to my mind in reference to the light eminating from the heart… much like a prisim… reflecting and radiating the different spectrum of colours and values of light… the qualities, characteristics, and nature of light embodied within. This light originates from that spark of the Divine within, represented by the dot in the center of the triangle, the image of the heart. The triangle as the image of the heart, represents the incarnation, the indwelling living spiritual presence and essence of the trinity… rhythmically beating, pulsating, giving life to the covenant of sacred communion… of heart-to-heart relationship with. Seek within and you will find this. Touch upon this and the door will open within you… awakening you… to the ever unfolding, evolving and emerging light, truth and way of being and living in this spiritual reality… the remembrance of being eternally Oned With the light… that just is, was and ever shall be… already there… seeded and sealed within… simply awaiting to be broken open into givenness… like the dawning of a new day… like a rainbow after it rains… like moonbows on a winters full moonlit night… or like colourful dewdrops on a spiders web.
Jeanette, Thank you for your comment today !!!
I was intrigued by the comment that “the Celts came from India after all”. This is the first I have heard of this. Where can I learn more about this connection?
Terry, In view of your question: “I was intrigued by the comment that “the Celts came from India after all”. This is the first I have heard of this. Where can I learn more about this connection?” All that I found on the internet when I did a search on the origin of the Celts is that it said this: “Where did the Celts come from? Early sources place Celts in western Europe and also occupying land near the headwaters of the Danube River. Their home territories have often been traced to central and eastern France, extending across southern Germany and into the Czech Republic.” I wasn’t able to find anything on their origin being in India…
Terry I did read (somewhere) that some Gaelic words are similar to Sanskrit. That’s all I know.
For Celts and India, see the Introduction to my major book on Eckhart, Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, pp. 30-35 which includes several footnotes from others on the topic.
We humans need to anthropomorphize (God) in order to relate on a more personal level, but Divine LOVE remains Great Mystery (Wakan Tanka) as indigenous people knew/know. And yet, there is the incarnate Christ…
Yes! One of my brief prayers/mantra is:
LOVE~LIGHT~LIFE…
🔥💜🌎🙏
Mine also,Damian. I call it the trinity of Divinity.
As I was born in India, I can connect with the divine as playful and the origin of light. Devali, a feast day in India, celebrates light. In our Catholic faith, Christ is the light of the world. Light always dispels darkness including the darkness of our sins and our guilt. Christmas lights celebrate the birth of our Savior.
I don’t know if the Celts originated in India, but have no doubt that Indian spirituality has contributed immensely to the spiritual foundations of religious faith, be it Hinduism or Christianity. Being a Christian I am thankful for my Christian faith, but am also grateful for the contributions of saints and gurus such as Yogananda and Sivananda!
Having retired in Costa Rica I am also grateful for the tropical and mild climate and for the friendly people here!
Radiant golden-light rapturous experiences, often suffused with feelings of oneness with everything all around, are one of the two primary types of mystical experiences. (See the Progressive Christian theologian Marcus Borg’s book “Convictions” for his descriptions of his experiences and the theology he embraced because of them). He also noted that the descriptions in the book of Job, of God’s exclamations of the beauty of Creation, seemed to have a mystical Glory/light mystical oneness/unitive-clue in them. I would add that the Creation theme from God’s overarching unitive (and nondualistic) point of view, is THE KEY Neoplatonic mystical view, too, so that this Biblical revelation might encompass both types of mystical experiences, rolling them together into one larger message. Moses, too, had a Glory-Light burning bush PLUS a Neoplatonic unitive revelation, so that the two major types of mystical experiences — one very gloriously visible/conscious WITH/OF and one nondualisticly deeply interior, may be embraced together for a larger theme of the Wholeness of God’s majestic Glory.
And in Job’s case, finding out that God didn’t stomp on Job with a crushing “you puny, whiny little mudwalker, who do you think you are? Behold My Majesty!” slapdown, but instead embraced Job with a “Come, my Beloved, see the Glory of Creation WITH ME” mystical union, changes the Job story into a rapturous revelation of God’s enduring love for Job and for all of Creation.
Melinda, Thank you for sharing with us what you have learned about Job “seeing the light” in Marcus Borg’s discussion of the Job story. You write: “And in Job’s case, finding out that God didn’t stomp on Job with a crushing ‘you puny, whiny little mudwalker, who do you think you are? Behold My Majesty!’ slapdown, but instead embraced Job with a ‘Come, my Beloved, see the Glory of Creation WITH ME’ mystical union, changes the Job story into a rapturous revelation of God’s enduring love for Job and for all of Creation.”
Ever since we began meditating on LIGHT I have become acutely aware of the little flare of light that beams in the eyes of every person I see.
In reading the meditations on light, I miss darkness, the yin to light’s yang.
I know there was much attention to the wonder and mystery of the dark
during Advent. As the Via Positiva compliments the Via Negativa, I hope
both can be seen as compliments. Our Western civilization has focused
on the light alone for so long that our “enlightenment” has led to turning
a blind eye to the beauty of nature, the deep unconscious, the divine feminine
and the cycles of life.
marijo, I understand the need for balance as represented in the yin and yang symbol. We need darkness as well as the light. This you express in this way: “Our Western civilization has focused on the light alone for so long that our “enlightenment”–well this is just to let you know that Matthew writes at length about what he calls our need for “endarkenment!” Try reading Matthew’s book: Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science. This book, Matthew coauthored with scientist, Rupert Sheldrake, who was Director of Studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Clare College, Cambridge University.
Loving these teachings on Light.
Regarding the Celt/India comment I would like to share this link talking about the Druid Hindu connection and what is currently being explored.
https://druidry.org/druid-way/other-paths/druidry-dharma
Ellen, Thank you for providing us with information about the Druid Hindu connection and what is currently being explored. However, just two points to consider. First, the idea that the word “Druid” comes from the Sanskrit doesn’t necessarily mean a connection with the origin of the Druids in India, because many European words have Sanskrit roots. And this doesn’t mean that Europeans came from India, but that Sanskrit influenced European languages. Secondly, it was mentioned in the video of how the Druids worshiped in the sacred groves and practiced their own form of astrology, but so did ancient Jews as we read in 1 Kings 14:23 and Isaiah 47:13–though I must admit that these were considered the “bad” Jews who were not practicing as they should have. There was no room for deep ecumenism in those days…
Rick, this comes from the book Of Gods and Holidays by Jonas Trinkunas on Baltic paganism. While the Baltic peoples are known to have originated in the Indus Valley (the closest language to modern Lithuanian is Sanskrit), the Baltic deities are recognized to have analogs across the traditions of Indo-European peoples. Quoting:
The Baltic pantheon of sky gods is very closely related to that of all other Indo-European groups. To it belong Dievas (proto-Baltic Deivas), the god of the shining sky, related to Old Indian Dyaus, Greek Zeus, Roman Dens; the Thunder god, Lithuanian Perkunas, Latvian Perkons,Prussian Perkonis, in name and function are closely associated with the Slavic Perun, Hittite Peruna. Old Indian Parjanya, Celtic Hercynia, as well as to Scandinavian Thor, German Donnar and Roman Jupiter (the oak, the tree of Perkunas, in Latin is quercus, which comes from percus); Saule, the Sun, is very closely related to Vedic Surya and Savitar, the early Greek Helios, and the other Indo-European sun-gods, though the Baltic Saule is of a feminine gender; Lithuanian Menuo, Latvian Meness, the Moon god; Latvian Auseklis, Lithuanian Ausrine, the morning star and goddess of the Dawn, related to the Vedic Ushas, and its counterpart, the Lithuanian Vakarine, the evening star, both being personifications of the planet Venus. Among the sky gods there was also the divine smith, called simply Kalvis, “smith”, or in diminutive form, Kalvelis and Kalvaitis.