Mystics, One and All

Spring Equinox 2024 began on March 19, two days after St. Patrick’s Day, and on the same day as the Daily Meditations of the Center for Action and Contemplation contained this quote: “The everyday mystics I grew up with had knapsacks full of spiritual gifts. They could conjure in the kitchen, offer blessed assurance, and braid hair.” Barbara Holms, PhD; CAC, “The Mystics Who Surround Us”.

The Book, The Sun Dances: Prayers and Blessings from the Gaelic by Alexander Carmichael contains prayers handed down orally and recorded by the author in Ireland and Scotland in the late 19th century. How old they are is not known. The Contents alone introduces us to the everyday mysticism of the Celtic people. There are blessings for bathing, milking, a joyous death and the “Charm for the Face of a Maiden” among many others. 

This short excerpt from “The Consecration of the Seed” is very appropriate for Spring:

             I will go out to sow the seed,
             In the name of Him who gave it growth;
             I will place my front in the wind,
             And throw a gracious handful on high… 

Barbara Holms’s roots on her mother’s side are in Cameroon. The Celtic oral prayers originated long ago in Ireland and Scotland. Jose Hobday, was a Seneca, Franciscan sister closed one of her poems about a strawberry with these words: