Irish mythology as a microcosm of order, balance, and chaos

In all things exists a balance. The balance exists where opposites come together, when it in neither one nor the other. The sea and the land come together as the shore, and the shore is the between of the two.

Chaos, as we understand it, is the natural state of things, and the One Who Made Order, or the Great Creator as some say, took this chaos and made the order that made life emerge.

By bringing together ice and fire, matter and energy, our universe was born.

Looking into Irish myth, in the book of invasions, we see the Fomorians, the Tuatha de Dannan, and the Milesians. The Fomori are the dark spirits, the antithesis of beauty, the Dannan are all that is beautiful, spirits of life and light, born of Danu, the Great Mother of Life. The Milisians are the ones who conquered them all.

On a physical level, they were all real tribes, the Fomori being there since the Paleolithic, the de Dannan were Neolithic arrivals, and the Milesians were the Iron Age invaders. But on a spiritual level, in analysis of the myths, there is another side.

The Fomori had always been there, in the myth, the de Dannan coming later and battle them forever, dark vs light. The Dannan would win, and rise above the Fomori, but would never destroy or banish them, because they were needed in the balance. This reflects the balance of chaos and order, the balance that sustains all life. Chaos can sustain no life on its own, because of its destructiveness, and order can not sustain life without the energy that chaos provides.

Apply this microcosm of Ireland to the World, and the spiritworld respectivly.

The Fomori are the spirits of the primordial earth, when, in most old myths, there was no life, only the image of volcanoes and lava and horrible heat. These are the oldest of the nature spirits no doubt.

When Danu gave birth to life, she brought the order, just like the Great had done with the universe. Her children were all that live, both spirit and physical. The Tuatha de Dannan are the spirits of life in nature, and all that is beautiful and good, they are the spirit of creation.

The Milesians are humans, who set out to conquer nature since we had the conscience to realize ourselves. We stand in the middle of chaos and order, sometimes causing one or the other, but always victim to both.

It is up to us to be the physical balance of the spiritual world as it relates to our world. That is the job of the shaman figure, to walk between the worlds and to assure that we keep our part in the balance.

Life needs chaos,life needs order, without it, life cant win. It is order and balance that nature maintains, and to keep that balance, we must live in harmony with nature, rather than seek to conquer it.

 

Well put!

 

thanks=) you read fast lol. PM me sometime, i miss ya

 

I really like that man good job.

 

Ive missed you too...funny because Ive been thinking about you alot! Can you PM me your address again? Ide like to send you and Faye a little something.

 

two people! come on, i put a lot of thought into that lol. Would love more comments on it at least

 

Excellent
I can see you've thought it out, makes a lot of sense.
Am going to have to dust off my book and read up on the Irish myths.

 

nice stuff