(Note: While this article purposes to set forth general elements of a Dalon ap Landu myth cycle, before this article, such a myth cycle did not exist. Except, of course, for a newly created battle between Dalon ap Landu and Hu-Gadarn, which was written--both in poetry and prose form--because of said lack of a myth for Dalon. Dalon's myth cycle, thus, is the epitome of Zen Druid myth. It is the myth that was, and is not, there.)

If one were to quickly glance over a Dalon Cycle-at least this one-it would reveal him to be almost a Neo-Celtic Messiah, were such a thing to exist, or more properly a Druid Everyman. Possibly even the pretense of for demi-godhood exists. He is very much an archetypal Druid as well as a Lord of the Groves. The much used title "Lord of the Groves" applies to several greater and lesser known Celtic deities (or at least does not apply to them for purposes of this article, supposing the various forms of Green Man and sylvan deities would be called Lord of the Grove in an extended sense) and can thus be seen as a description of intimate knowledge of Nature rather than mastery over it. First appearing as a name singularly encapsulating the Third Order of the RDNA (The Council of Dalon ap Landu) as well as the ideals Neo-Druids strive to attain, the fact that we were calling on him in our rites without having any form of myth for him, or other means of finding him in Celtic legend was all it took for us to decide, well, Dalon needed some kind of history to him.

Dalon first appears-in his myth-as a prophetic spirit. After all, he probably should have some form of pre-incarnational existence. Let's say that he's most likely an incarnation of Duir/Oak and a spiritual descendant of Nuada.

Despite our knowing the parentage of Dalon, his cycle has no birth, no nativity, though we'll say for the sake of convenience that this may have been lost in the course of time. As such neither given a concrete place of time, he is a person of pure mythology. He is a human manifestation of Duir/Oak, so he doesn't have a human heart, but in its place is an acorn, and all the potentiality contained therein.

His parent are a goddess (either Danu, Brigit, or Gaia depending on the source being used, and Landu, a chieftain, his human father (there may once have been a Landu Cycle, but none of it exists as of the writing of this article. Let's get those creative juices flowing then.) Landu feared than Dalon would discover his maternal origins, so as chieftain over his clan's holdings, he expelled every Druid from his clan's lands and had every stone circle cast down to discourage the impractical leanings of his son's mind. With the circle gone and no human teacher available Dalon is forced to go directly into groves to learn. His education and initiation comes not from the human world, but from Nature Herself during the vigils he holds at Her feet. Often this Nature Goddess is his Mother.

Greater and lesser loves and lusts of Dalon, especially the relationship he has with the Pine-Son. Unlike the Zeus/Ganymede story, there is no abduction. Unlike Apollo/Hyacinthus/Zephyr, there is no jealously, even in the face of extraneous, often bisexual, paramours they both entertain corporately and separately (yes, yes, it smacks of polyamoury, but let's remember this is a modern myth cycle). There is a progression from the awe of newfound love to mystical union to continual revelation and deep sharing. It is almost as if they meet as youths, handfast, and feasibly could grow old together and be buried side by side, were they mere mortals. Their bisexuality, as a concept, is conveniently a "modern anachronism read into the cycle but actually not applicable from their standpoint, as from the mythic standpoint, gender was a non-issue" in case anyone asks.

The enlightenment of Dalon ap Landu is very Buddha-esque. An authority I'll make up for documenting the enlightenment is No'one the Short, a true sage if ever there was one, said, "If Dalon see the Be'al, it is only during his Enlightenment," and "Since the Enlightenment of Dalon, the World Tree from his navel grows." One must assume that since Buddha's enlightenment happens under a Bodhi tree, Dalon's must happen beneath an Oak, although No' one's navel comment has caused some authorities to debate whether the World Tree in the Dalon cycle is actually an orange. Others insist that this is only navel gazing. The debate is cut short by a passage thought to originate with Dalon himself: "For now is every tree become the World Tree. The oak is the ash, the ask is the oak, bramble, chieftain, warrior.these are now made the same in my eyes, not as unknowing of the Mystery and every wall is laid flat in my eyes.every boundary is breached."

Next comes Dalon's coming to grips with his Shadow Aspect. There is some debate as to whether these tales come before or after the enlightenment episodes, but most sources say afterwards as a warning against self-righteousness. Trickster stories are usually incorporated under this heading.

The disowning of Dalon by Landu. This may originally have been a threefold disowning, for there are three different accounts of why Dalon was disowned. Source A holds that it was due to the religious aspect, Source B holds that Landu disapproved of the Dalon/Pine-Son romance, and Source C holds that he was disowned due to an incident in the shadow tales.

Forced out of Landu's lands, the next phase of Dalon's life begins with his becoming a hermit and interacting purely with the Old Ones. This, basically, is Dalon goes up the hill to commune with the Old Ones, returns to deliver his teachings in the Mishnah of Dalon. The whole thing is very Moses on the Mountain and Jesus-Sermon-on-the-Mount-ish. At some point in these discourses, Dalon raised his hands in the midst of a field (conveniently because he just came down from a mountain, possibly one of the Ozarks, much to the chagrin of Old World Druids) and the birds that were in the field arose around him and his Holy Band. The birds flew off to the Four Quarters. Dalon turned to his followers and said, "Even as these birds have flown, so do I send you into the Worlds. I am the door, but if is given to you to be the threshold. You are the reason for the door, you are my definition. Lest I send you out as a sower sows seeds, my speaking unto you will have been in vain." The fulfillment, the very apex, of the Mishnah of Dalon is the sending out of the Holy Band. They were his "apostles" if you can call them that. They were poor and illiterate, a rag-tag gathering of souls that had little in common other than the belief that they could change the world, and that someone had shown them how to do it.

Upon the sending out of the Holy Band, Dalon begins his own pilgrimage. The source of many local legends concerning Dalon in various capacities and guises, morality stories and miracle stories become part and parcel of this cycle, turning Dalon into a Messiah-like figure (also sort of like a Hercules figure in that lots of communities had a Hercules story in the areas that had Greek influence). He has to travel to establish covert recognition of his Divine Nature while, at the same time, discouraging any worship of himself as being especially Divine.

The transfiguration of Dalon is the culmination of his Great Pilgrimage, then Dalon returns to his ancestral home and to his father, Landu. No'one, on the subject of the transfiguration, said: "This can be seen as a lesser event than his enlightenment, for by defining himself as the model Druid, he attempts to limit what a Druid can be, and thus takes a step away from being an image of the all-encompassing Be'al" and "We cannot lose sight that although he an archetypal Druid manifesting human nature and awe at the Mysteries of Nature, he is-when transfigured-the Lord of the Groves, Spirit of Oak, as much as his rival, Hu-Gadarn."

Dalon finds Landu in Battle with Hu-Gadarn. Metaphysically, the battle represents our highest potentials grappling with primordial powers, or traditions of our tribe, and concepts beyond our ability to control. The battle between Landu and Hu-Gadarn is assumed to result the jealousy over the love of Dalon's divine mother (again, Her identity is variously given according to what source is used), and Hu-Gadarn kills Landu. Dalon rushes to Landu's side, picks up Landu's spear, and fights Hu-Gadarn. Dalon and Landu represent two visions of the Lord of the Groves. Hu-Gadarn represents the ancient and primal Lord of the Groves as the wildwood. Dalon represents the Lord of the Groves as that of mankind in relationship with the wildwood and Hierophant of the Druid Groves. Hu-Gadarn mortally wounds Dalon as a reminder of human mortality and weakness in the face of Nature itself, and then Hu-Gadarn disappears, either into the wildwood or the fog, depending once again upon the source being used.

Dalon gives the Pine-Son the acorn as an androgynous symbol and as a token of love (remember, the acorn is Dalon's heart) and tries to hold onto life as Winter's chill sets in. When at last he can hold on no more, the pine-Son finally gives him the pine cone while the Pine-Son discourses concerning the eternality of the soul, reincarnation, et cetera. Dalon finally dies in the arms of the Pine-Son. Following Dalon's death there are later metaphysical attributions, in liturgy, written word, and oral tradition as the Lord of the Groves, Initiator, and Dying/Reborn God. He appears as a Nature Spirit in several diverse accounts, and is then reborn. When the rebirth occurs, the Druids are sent out in search of the reborn Lord of the Groves.

The Reformed Druids of North America began, with no connection to either the Paleo or the modern European Druids, at Carleton College in April of 1963. At that time the college had a requirement for graduation stating that

A number of students felt that it was unfair to require people to attend services and decided to test the policy. The protesters were led by the original "Triumvirate," consisting of David Fisher, Howard Cherniack, and Norman Nelson. They noted the escape clause of "or at any regularly organized service of public worship" and realized that they could create and organize such a service themselves and offer it up to the relevant deans as a fulfillment of the requirement. The college would have two choices, as they saw it: either to refuse to recognize them and be accused of religious discrimination, or to let them graduate at which point the movement would be declared a hoax and the requirement further ridiculed.2

Instead, in the summer of 1964, John Nason, the president of the college, sent out a memo revoking the requirement. It should be noted that Nason had already decided that the college's policy of in Loco Parentis was outdated and may have been planning to revoke the requirement all along. The role of the Druids in its elimination is debatable, but they cheerfully took the credit for its disappearance.

Two things about this origin are crucial to the understanding of Reformed Druidism. The first is that the founders never intended the movement to last. The second is that the Reformed Druids had no connection what so ever to any other Druid group at the time of their founding. 3

The Reformed Druid movement embodies none of the philosophy, worldview, cultural resonance or even religion of the Celts, Paleo, or Meso Druids. The name was picked because it was sufficiently venerable to be taken seriously and sufficiently misunderstood that the young RDNA could make up whatever they chose and not be called on inaccuracies. 5 As the story goes, Howard Cherniack's parents did not like indicating that they were Jewish on government forms, and had taken to writing "Druid" instead. The Triumvirate picked up the idea and ran with it, inventing beliefs as they went.

The subsequent history of the movement is complex and fascinating but I do not intend to address it here. Scharding has covered it more thoroughly than I am ever likely to and traces its internal dividing and developments over a thirty-year span. I will attempt to avoid much of that discussion except where it is relevant to our purpose here.

These are the only two tenets of the Reformed Druids of North America- and the only two statements with which all Druids are ever likely to agree. Everything else is up to the individual. In their original form the tenets are rather cumbersome. They are often paraphrased as "Nature is good" and "Nature is good." A more serious way of putting it, currently practiced amongst the Druids at Carleton is to say that first: The spiritual search is an important, individual, and life long endeavor, and secondly, that one way of searching lies through the study, understanding, and awareness of nature. Each of these phrasings indicates something rather different if they are taken literally, yet it is at one truth that they point. The only commandment I have ever seen attached to Reformed Druidism is Think for thyself! The tenets, however you conceive of them, establish the framework in which to do this.

Druidism teaches that you have the right to believe what you know to be true, no mater what anyone else thinks of it. At the same time it holds that you cannot simply pick what you would like to be the case, nor design a cosmology irrespective of what the world teaches. To be a Druid is to deliberately and consciously seek out the truth of the world and decide for yourself what it is you will believe. Margot Adler sheds some useful light on the matter when she writes, "The original founders seemed to hold the fundamental idea that one should scrutinize religion from 'a state of rebellion,' neither embracing traditional faiths nor rejecting them." 8

Druids look everywhere for inspiration. World philosophies, religions, science fiction, children's books, strange dreams, the flight of swallows; all are considered equally valid insights to potential truths that must be at least examined, if never espoused. As Scharding writes, "It was important to Druidism that you believed your own views instead of slavishly following those of others, provided that you had carefully examined them and judged them sound." 9 This intellectual honesty is a necessary--if not sufficient--feature of the Druidic search. Without it the movement would descend into utter relativism. 10

Another significant feature of Druidic "belief" is that it is compatible with almost any other religious system. It serves to accentuate rather than replace a person's faith. Michael Scharding is a devout (maybe) Catholic as well as being a Druid. The group today contains at least one Atheist Druid, Jewish Druid, Quaker Druid, Seventh Day Adventist Druid, and innumerable Agnostic and Confused Druids. Indeed, the people who have taken Reformed Druidism to be their only religion have always been in the minority. The movement is hardly a thing that one can be converted to. The most common reaction to the personal acceptance of being a Druid is one of coming home. My own was, "Oh--now at last I have a name for what I've always done." The inclusiveness with which Druidism approaches all other religions is one of its strongest and most redeeming features.

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I get one of these delightful letters about every week and spend copious amounts of work-time on them. Perhaps this sample response may assist you in your own correspondence. I sometimes wish to tell them that we do keep records, "but only back to 538 A.D., and strangely they are all in a mysterious language on golden plates." But honestly, it is a pressing dilemma for a movement that espouses tradition but rejects many of those traditions of the last 1300 years of recorded history. I hope that it opens your eyes to the desperate desire of many young pagans to fill a "missing link" between themselves and their more ancient ancestors. Is this a curable condition, and do you have any other responses to this perennial question?

Dear Mike, My question is about a matter of how does one research their ancestor's involvement with druidism? I am very interested in finding out a few things about my family and believe somehow our lives have been impacted by our ancestor's involvement. This may sound outlandish but I would like to know to figure or trace information. What are the oldest records, and whom does one speak with for this sort of information? If you are not sure, please forward this to somebody who might be of be of some help. Thank you very much! Yours truly, Desperately Seeking Seanachi

Dear Seanachi,

Hi, how ya doing?

I wish I could be of greater help on this subject. My parents have done extensive genealogy back to the 17th century, and we're pretty sure we've got more ancestors before those ones. But in my own Reformed Druidic way, I' ll try to offer my best advice on this frequent question. There may be a solution imbedded somewhere in this long reply.

Most genealogical records of American/British/French citizens only go about to the 17th century (ask the Mormons for assistance on research); unless you are linked to a royal family, then you go back into the late medieval age (barring "secret" records, if they exist or are not doctored). This sadly leaves all of us out of any connection with "actual ancient druids" who more or less vanished by the 7th to 9th century, probably. It is probably that every clan had its Druid (or at least a bard or two).

But given the closeness to royalty and religious power throughout the ancient and modern world (every single U.S. President is a descendent of William the Conqueror, and the one with the most direct patriarchal connection (and always the tallest except for G.W. Bush, but he didn't really win) has always won the presidency. Their family trees are carefully done by a foundation, so finding a president or noble in your family tree would be a good route.

Now although Patriarchy was seemingly well established by the first few centuries of the Christian Era, we cannot be entirely sure that the job of Druid was passed on from parent to child, and there is evidence that in some Celtic area, that inheritance may have passed through the mother and adoption of apprentices or nephews and nieces was frequently an established part of village life and career training. But, let's assume for now that Druids didn't sensibly select the smartest and most promising children of the countryside, and rather only passed on their knowledge and powers to their biological offspring, irregardless of their natural talent (one of the reasons why hereditary Monarchy is not a great idea). Well, since celibacy wasn't truly in effect until the 16th century for many clergy and monks and popes; and many Druids reportedly re-defined their job-description to "Christian" with changing fashions of power; a link to an ancient abbot, bishop or pope would also be a good bet.

Now, you might have better luck finding a family connection to a meso-pagan Druidic revival organization since 1697 (one of the fraternalistic clubs.). They presumably kept membership records. If there were any "Druidic Survivals," they probably would have joined one of these clubs over the last three centuries. Contact OBOD or (http://druidry.org/) or UAOD or AOD (http://www.igld.org/orgnat.htm) to pursue this route, then provide a list of your family members and time periods and they may or may not be able to confirm or disconfirm their membership.

Another route. Since it is generally agreed that when explicit Druidry was suppressed, the bards probably continued some of the stories, truth or lore of the Celtic religious culture. So if you could find any minstrels or entertainers (like O'Carolan and such) then you might have a connection. Such as a "harper" or MacCruithin, or one of the hereditary piper families of a clann. Many chieftainships and positions were hereditary, and the clann system continued to the 16th century in Ireland and 19th century in Scotland, well into the historical period.

If you wave enough money or foolishness in public, someone will supply all your needs (see credit card salesmen and Madame Cleo). Anyone who offers you a Celtic pedigree chart is probably just trying to scam some money; and there are lots of them already working the Scottish/Irish-descendent market; adding you would not take much more trouble. Demand to see the original documents and blow the dust off them yourself.

Here are the last few methods, and perhaps least satisfying for pedigree mongers, is Idea, Nature, Divine Inspiration, Simple Mathematics, and of course the Apple and Boat test.

If the thoughts and beliefs of the Druids can leap from their bodies to non-blood relationship people through the medium of words and music and custom; then by studying ancient and modern Celtic culture you can regain the seeds of those past souls and hopefully they will regerminate into a similar tree.

If the Druids gained their knowledge and power through the observation and interaction with Nature over generations; then you can by doing likewise, and thereby you and your descendents will gradually build up a similar bloodline of power.

Being the impatient Americans that we are, you could jump-start the whole process by getting your parents to convert, or even (like the Mormons) retroactively convert your ancestors in their heavenly rest to your new religious program. That would add several generations to your current status of inheritance.

Surely, if you are a good Druid, and I think you are, then you believe in the Gods (or at least on alternative weeks, like me). Now, the Deities should be technically more powerful than the worshippers (otherwise the roles would be reversed). If the gods still exist, and the Druids listened to them, then you can ask the gods to download that power and information to you from their backup disk, right? This is known as the prayer method. Are there any signs of artistic, ESP, political or musical prodigies in your family line?

Now there is a famous Irish proverb: "In the veins of every Irishman is the blood of a king, and a slave." Kings and slaves are but two sides of the same coin or "The Wheel of Fortune." Let's explore this further:

By argument: There are 600 Million Europeans today. There were only 30 million Europeans during the Black Plague of 13th century. Probably only seven million in 1 AD in Europe during the Roman Empire (which is why a single legion of 10,000 was so HUGE a problem for the Celts). Let's assume that two million of those were Celtic religious practioners (France, Switzerland, North Italy, Spain, Dalmatia, Turkey, Britain, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark/West Germany), with about 20,000 Druids/Intelligentsia (1%) okay?

There are plenty of legends with Druids having offspring. Assume 1.2 kids per Druid (probably three is normal, but child mortality, plagues and war reduce it, plus overlapping descendents) and a 20 year inter-generational period with 100 generations since 1 A.D..

So, you've got 20,000 ancient druids (1.3 to the 100th power which is 8,2817,974.5) producing a whopping grand sum of about 165,6359,490,440.3 currently living Druid descendents at a minimum. And it's a possible 2,535,301,200,456,458,802,993,406,410,7520,000 people, if we use 2.0 kids for calculations; but there are only 8,021,020,016 people on earth now). So with Europe and America and Australia's combined estimated Celtic-descendent population of about 400,000,000 people, you have at least at 40-100% chance of having a Druid ancestor, depending on your calculations, without knowing any more than that your great grandmother was a McWhatzername.

Unfortunately, we don't know their Druid ancestor's name(s) and street postal address(es), but let me assure you by your very presence, that not knowing your ancestor's name will negate your existence or your heritage. I' ve got lots of ancestors I don't know too well, and I do fine.

Now if you're a "Christian Druid," congratulations, it gets much more simple!! Since you believe in "Ya*weh, then you believe the first Humans were Adam and Eve (among others). Now Adam and Eve were originally on very close terms with God (as all the Druids were) and lived in a Garden, with intricate association and knowledge of all the plants and creatures of the Earth (in fact they named them all). This would qualify as "Druidic" by many definitions. So if Adam and Eve were Druids and Druidesses, then we all are Druidic descendents. If by chance, non-Druidic people were around (because some women was marrying all these sons of Adams, unless constructing women was a family business for the Adamses) then the flood killed all of them all, leaving only Noah's offspring, who have a direct link to Adam, thus insuring and cementing our Druidic heritage, including the Maori exchange student at your neighbor's house.

I hope that in someway, I've been helpful and reassuring on this fascinating topic. I wish you the best of luck in your search, and hope you get back to me when you find a promising path to your solution.

-Mike the Fool
AD of DC

Well, after discussing junk food and sanitary issues of the Celts, I believe it is time to address the abysmal eating habits of modern Celts, and their health implications. It is a sad fact that as the waves of Germanic people pushed through Europe, the Celts found it was their turn to choose less desirable and more defensible territory. Any visit to a Gaeltacht region of Celtic speaking territory in Brittany or Wales will show you the poor quality of the farming. Now, it is a little known fact that 2,500 years ago, much of Britain and Ireland's barren hills and plains were covered in thick forest full of lions, bears giant deer, and other monsters. Centuries of degradatory farming erosion, poor arboreal harvesting and other ecological disasters have made many of the bogs and moors of the British Isles. So much for being in harmony with nature. Such a fate awaits the Brazilian rainforest.

For the purpose of the remainder of the essay, we will assume the general French and Belgium and Galician populations are not Celtic. According to the genetic test in the last issue, the English are generally of recent immigrant stock (only back to the 8th century), despite their understandable desire to be aboriginally of the land in which they dwell. Population and ecological pressures have increased the reliance of the Celts to rely on fish, animal and dairy products. The deer hunts of Ireland's roaming army are legendary, as were Robin Hoods in England.

This hunting/gathering/survival lifestyle continues to be eked out in the small crofting communities of the western shores of Scotland and Ireland on the rugged stony coast. A croft is defined as a land holding between one and 50 acres. A crofter's son once defined a croft as "a small area of land surrounded by regulations." For example, there are roughly 2,000 crofts on the Isle of Skye, but of these only 100 or so are large enough to allow a crofter to earn his entire livelihood from the land. The crofts, once laid out to provide homes together with a home food supply are, as one can see, a survival of past economic conditions. Today, the crofter's role is to provide a family home and a side-line to whatever other job the crofter can obtain. The majority of their working age population have to search elsewhere for employment. Some find seasonal work in the building or service industries while others serve in the oilfields of the North Sea. (More details on the history of crafting at http://pages.eidosnet.co.uk/~skye/crofting.html)

I found the health statistics rather surprising. Celtic regions (e.g. highlands) tend to be poorer than Anglo areas, with reduced access to health care, nutritional education, higher incidents of low-rate babies and more farm accidents. Sound familiar? This is all accentuated by the lack of physical exercise among non-farmers/athletes in modern cultures.

We all know that British rockers never smile in photos, not because they are cool and grim, but because they have some of the most nasty teeth in Europe, with about 50% of Scottish adults in 1970 having not a single natural teeth left in their head, now down to "only" 20%; (which is still 12% higher than England) and much worse in the Highlands. So when you think of all those bards, imagine why the music is much better than the singing (which must be hard with dentures.) Of course, it was the introduction of sugar in the 16th century that was a prime culprit.

UK (9%) and Ireland (6%) show the lowest level of mammography for at-risk age women and among the lowest rates for immunization of child-hood diseases in Europe(87%) which is higher than the US (60%) Scotland has the lowest rate of breast-feeding in Europe (only 35% in first six weeks, 15% in highlands) mostly due to factors of poverty and prudity (or at least that's the rumor). The birth rate of Ireland and Scotland is the lowest since the famines of 1855. Access to family planning is less than easy in Ireland. Drug use is about as bad as the US and worse than most of Europe outside of the Netherlands.

Consumption of grain-based products in last 24 hours:

Obesity Percentage(by various BMI stats for Male/Female)

Things are improving, and the drinking and smoking statistics are rosier.
Smoking (Male/Female)

Note: Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer and death in Scotland

Alcohol Consumption Frequency
infrequent(below 1 per week)/average (2 to 3 per week)/frequent (nearly daily) for male and female showing remarkably high abstinence in Ireland, despite traditional stereotypes.

Note: Average Scottish Male consumes 20 alcohol units per week (females at 8 units), i.e. a unit is one 12oz. beer, one cup wine or one shot whiskey.

"The national diet is notoriously high in fat, salt and sugar and low in fruit and vegetables. Next to smoking, our diet is the single most significant cause of poor health, contributing to a range of serious illness, which include coronary heart disease, certain cancers, strokes, osteoporosis and diabetes." How bad is the food really? (Where do you think the restaurant McDonalds was inspired?) Yes, it's rather untasty, probably due to the parcity of strong spices in northern Europe. The old worn saying is that if you want to put on two stone spend a month in Belgium, and to take it off, go to England for a few week. (The drink is better in the latter, I believe.) Perhaps Americans are like the pot calling the kettle black.

I remember during my stays at B and Bs in Ireland in 1998, the standard dreaded breakfast "Heartbreak Special" was two links, a thick slice of sweet black pudding (blood sausage), a banger (sardine), two fried eggs, some bacon, a boiled tomato, and a slice of toast with heaps of butter. For the porridge, there was a pitcher of heavy cream; and a cup of coffee Lard-made biscuits were available on the side. Last year, Mike told me he had similar fare in the Scottish dormitory, and Mairi said Welsh fare was not much better. Think fish and chips or the ubiquitous "crisps" (potato chips in 50 flavors) and candy/tobacco stores.

This is not a newly acquired taste of an enriched society, but the fulfillment of centuries of cultural dreams. I bring you this ancient story, in which a chronically troublesome incarcerated bard is hauled out of chains and brought to cure the king of a demon who had hid inside his gullet. The possession caused unimaginable hunger in the ruler that was draining the wealth of the countryside. MacGonglinney, on promise of his prompt release, told the following story after starving the king for five days. As the insanely hungry king listened, bound in ropes at the three narrows, the demon inside slowly came further and further out of the King's mouth, until MacGonglinney grabbed it and threw it into the fireplace, curing the king. The following version is at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mcft/mcft06.html and a longer version is recorded at http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T308002/text001.html

I leave you with his words:

25th California Celtic Studies Conference

The annual meeting of CSANA will be held in conjunction with the annual University of California Celtic Studies Conference on the UC Berkeley campus April 3-6, 2003. Our invited speakers include Sioned Davies (Cardiff University), Patrick Ford (Harvard University), Sarah Higley (University of Rochester), Joseph F. Nagy (University of California, Los Angeles), Diarmuid ﾓ Gioll疂n (University College Cork), and Oliver Padel (University of Cambridge).

Submission of abstracts is solicited on a wide variety of Celtic topics, including from the fields of anthropology, archaeology, art history, folklore, history, linguistics, literature, and music. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length, and abstracts of one page only should be sent by January 15, 2003 to:

Maria Teresa Agozzino (Mabli), Celtic Colloquium Chair Celtic Studies Program, 6303 Dwinelle Hall, MC 2690 University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Or e-mailed to: mabela@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Astronomical Samhain, when the Sun is half-way between the fall Equinox and Winter Solstice will occur on Nov 7, 2002 at 4:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, or as 15 degrees of Scorpius on Nov 7, at 06:23 a.m. PST.

The Missal-Any is published eight times a year. Post mail subscriptions are $8.00 and email subscriptions are free. Or write an article or send us a cartoon and receive a year's post mail subscription free.

The Missal-Any
c/o Weinberger
P.O. Box 5003
Elmwood Station
Berkeley, CA 94705

E-Mail: poppinjay@earthlink.net

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