Celtic Lore & Legend (31 page)
Read Celtic Lore & Legend Online
Authors: Bob Curran
“She was at last obedient, and swam into the midst of the circle, and there stood still, suddenly I saw moreover that she drew back her pointing hand. All this while I do confess that my knees shook under me, and the drops of sweat ran down my flesh like rain. But now, although face to face with the spirit, my heart grew calm and my mind was composed. I knew that the pentacle would govern her, and the ring must bind, until I gave the word. Then I called to mind the rule laid down of old, that no angel or fiend, no spirit, good or evil, will ever speak until they have been first spoken to. NB—This is the great law of prayer. God will not yield reply until man hath made vocal entreaty, once and again. So I went on to demand, as the books advise, and the phantom made answer, willingly Questioned wherefore not at rest. Unquiet because of a certain sin. Asked what, and by whom. Revealed it, but it is
sub sigillo
, and therefore
nafas dictu
[
Editor’s Note
: It was given to him under the seal of a confessional and cannot be directly spoken about.]; more anon. Enquired what sign she could give that she was a true spirit and not a false fiend. Stated, before next Yule-tide, a fearful pestilence would lay waste the land and myriads of souls would be loosened from their flesh, until as she piteously said: “all our valleys will be full”. Asked again why she so terrified the lad. Replied: “It is the law; we must seek a youth or a maiden of clean life, and under age, to receive messages and admonitions”. We conversed with many more words, but it is not lawful for me to set them down. Pen and ink would degrade and defile the thoughts she uttered and which my mind received that day. I broke the ring and she passed, but to return once more next day. At evensong, a long discourse with that ancient transgressor Mr. B. Great horror and remorse; entire atonement and penance; whatsoever I enjoin; full acknowledgement before pardon.”
A strange tale is written down.
January 13, 1665—“At sunrise, I was again in the field. She came in at once, as it seemed with freedom. Enquired if she knew my thoughts, and what I was going to relate? Answered, “Nay we only know what we perceive and hear, we cannot see the heart”. Then I rehearsed the penitent words of the man she had come to denounce, and the satisfaction he would perform. Then said she: “Peace in our midst”. I went through the proper forms of dismissal, and fulfilled all as it was set down and written in my memoranda and then, with fixed rites, I did dismiss that troubled ghost, until she peacefully withdrew, gliding towards the west. Neither did she ever
afterward appear, but was allayed until she shall come in her second flesh in the valley of Armageddon on the last day”.
These quaint and curious details from the ‘diurnal’ of a simple-hearted clergyman of the seventeenth century appear to betoken his personal persuasion of the truth of what he saw and said, although the statements are strongly tinged with what some may term the superstition, and others, the excessive beliefs of those times. It is a singular fact, however, that the canon which authorises exorcism under episcopal licence is still a part of the ecclesiastical law of the Anglican Church, although it might have a singular effect on the nerves of certain of our bishops if their clergy were to resort to them for the faculty which Parson Rudall obtained. The general facts stated in his diary are to this day matters of belief in that neighbourhood; and it has been always accounted a strong proof of the veracity of the Parson and the Ghost that the plague, fatal to so many thousands, did break out in London at the close of that very same year. We may well excuse a triumphant entry, on a subsequent page of the ‘diurnal’ with the date of July 10, 1665.
“How sorely must the infidels and heretics of this generation be dismayed when they know that this Black Death, which is now swallowing its thousands in the streets of the great city, was foretold six months agone, under the exorcisms of the country minister, by a visible and suppliant ghost! And what pleasures and improvements do such deny themselves who scorn and avoid all opportunity of intercourse with souls separate and the spirits, glad and sorrowful, which inhabit the unseen world.”
A
Ahern, Kate,
140
Ailell,
21-32
Ambrose’s stone,
38
Ankou, the,
182-186
Ard Feis,
8
Armed Knight, the,
45
B
banshee, Irish,
187-188
baptism and changelings,
174
Benandoner,
47
Bendyth y Mamau,
66
Black Arcan,
57-58
Blake, Colonel,
213-215
,
225
,
227-228
Blight, Tamsin,
101
blood-drawing ghost, the,
154-162
“Book of Invasions,”
63
“Botathen Ghost, The,”
268
excerpt from,
269-281
Breton folktale, excerpt from a,
148-152
“Brownie of the Black Haggs, The,”
232-250
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
,
209
burragh-boos.
see
love charms.
C
Cambrensius, Geraldus,
83-84
canwyll corph.
see
corpse candle.
“Caractacus,”
37
ceilidh-houses,
8
Celtic heritage,
99
Celtic lore, influence of,
12
Celtic shamans,
101
,
104-105
,
106
Celtic society, folktales and legends in,
97-99
changeling legends, Welsh,
173-180
charm
burn,
103-104
pick of thorns,
104
staunching blood,
105
toothache,
105
charms and spells,
211
Cornish,
101-105
children, fairies and human,
173-175
Christian
charms,
104-105
traditions,
107-108
Christianity and the Celtic world,
85
Christianity, fairies and,
139-140
circles of stones,
41-42
coach of the dead, the,
183-184
Coblynau,
68
Coll Dhu,
212-229
Conn,
20
Cornish
charms and spells,
101-105
language,
270-271
Cornwall,
34
corpse candle, the,
188-192
Corwrion Changeling Legend,
175-176
crick stone in Morva,
41
Croker, Thomas Crofton,
140
cromlech of Lanyon,
40
crossroads in Celtic lore,
148
Cruachan, Connal MacRig,
21-22
,
86-93
Cruachan: The Place of the Sidhe,
19-32
Cuchulain of Muirthemne
, excerpt from,
20-32
Curtin, Jeremiah,
154
D
dead returning to world of living, the,
251-252
death and the Celts,
153-154
,
181
“death coach, the,”
181-182
Description of the Western Isles of Scotland
,
A
, excerpt from,
164-172
Devil’s Doorway, the,
45-46
Dracula, Count,
208
“Drolls, Traditions and
Superstitions of Old Cornwall,”
48
“druid circles,”
33
Dynon Bach Teg,
67
E
Elidorus,
83-84
Eminent Welshmen
,
83
F
“Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland,” excerpt from,
140-146
fairies,
amusements of,
127-128
bodies of,
124
dress of,
124
encounters with the,
115-119
general description of,
195-203
homes of,
127
in Irish folklore, the,
113-114
male,
125
names given to,
66
ointment to see,
133-134
places of the,
20
social aspects of,
123
fairies and
Christianity,
139-140
human children,
173-175
human qualities,
231-232
humans as neighbors,
133
men of second sight,
197
and Men, contact between,
113-114
fairy brides and mortal men Welsh legends,
72-84
fairy kind,
63
in Ireland,
121
fairy ladies and mortal men,
69-72
Fairy Mythology,
65
fairy realm, questions about,
193
festivals,
15-16
Findabair,
26-27
folktales and legends in Celtic society,
97-99
funeral, phantom,
190-192
G
Gab Lucas,
184-186
Garth Uchaf, Llanuwchllyn
Giants Causeway, the,
47
Gilbert, C.S.,
39
Glasynys,
77-78
Gors Goch Changeling Legend, The,
178-179
Gregory, Lady Augusta,
20
,
114
,
115
Gwyll,
67
H
Hawker, Reverend Robert Stephen,
268
Hogg, James,
232
I
invaders of the Celtic peoples,
53
Ireland, fairy kind in,
121
Irish mythology and the “good people,”
122
Irish Wonders
, excerpt from,
122-131
iron and the fairy bride,
73
,
75
J
Jones, Reverend Edmund,
188
K
King Arthur,
46
and the giants,
48
“King Arthur’s Stone,”
46
Kirk, Reverend Robert,
193-195
L
Le Braz, Anatole,
182
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan,
208
“Legend of Knockgrafton, The,”
148
Llanfrothen Legend, The,
81
Llanfwrog Changeling Legend,
177-178
moving of the,
37
love charms,
210-211
Lovecraft, H.P.,
207
M
Mabinogion,
17
Machen, Arthur,
207-208
magical stones,
33-34
Martin, Martin,
164
McAnally, Dr. David Rice,
122
McClour, Janet,
255-265
McCumhaill, Fion,
47
McDonald, Angus,
54
Men-an-Tol, the,
40-41
“Men of the West,”
268
Merlin, Ambrose,
38
Merodach,
235-250
Midnight Washerwomen,
148
Mulholland, Rosa,
212
Muller, Max,
70
Myddfai Legend, The,
78
Myddvai Legend, The,
79-84
N
Nera,
29-31
night dancers at the
crossroads,
149-152
“Nine Maids, The,”
42-43
“Not to Be Taken at Bedtime,”
212-229
“Notes on Y Tylwyth Teg,” excerpt from,
64
O
Observations on the Snowdon Mountains
,
74
,
75
ointment to see fairies,
133-134
,
135
Otherworld, the,
181
as place of the dead,
251