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Celtic Dreams
And the Druids of Blue Mountain
These are our ancestors. I know they are mine, and perhaps your ancestors too.
I know them. I own them. I can feel them in my bones. The Druids were Celts. All our ancestors were somewhere, living, breathing, walking around, talking, learning, loving.
This painting captures a moment. Was it real? Did it really happen? Yes and no. Is there a Blue Mountain? I don’t know… probably. This painting stepped out of someone’s imagination and it probably captures a shard, a piece of some echo of a memory, passed down through a hundred, a thousand generations.
We all have historical memories, some more clear than others. This painting has haunted me for several years. It was at the antique store at Fort Andross, Maine. Every time I passed it I was drawn in, its ghostly images call out to me. I know this place. I know these people. They believed in nature. Were they perfect? No. They were successful enough that I have descended from them and I am here in the 21st century to speak to this memory.
Why all this Druid talk? The Druids were Celts, lovers of intricate knot patterns and lovers of wind, rain, blue skies and sunshine, lovers of the coming of spring and the finality of fall. They were close to the earth. I can smell the wood smoke. I can see the hearth fires burning.
In fact, when you look at what the Celts did in metalwork… they were masters. There are volumes written on Celtic art. They were so prolific, so obsessed with beautiful detailing, it was like they couldn’t make a metal tool without decorating it beautifully. Then there was the jewelry: great gifts and treasures to humanity that we are still deriving inspiration from. The present day Irish are the inheritors of much of this grand Celtic art.
What we share with you today is for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, and the Irish, the keepers of Celtic traditions.
Inspired by the Celts and their love of knot patterns, both of these items we describe in greater detail.
I think about these people often. I think about how I am here because they survived over 100 generations. I think about my people 3,000 years ago. The land they lived on, their homes and hearths, what they ate. I think about their religious beliefs and I think about this painting which may capture some aspects of their world, even if now some of it is only imagined.
I looked at this painting in an antique store for a long time. It’s colors, it’s rhythm spoke to me, and because it said the same thing every time I went back, I bought it. I probably have 20 books on the Ancient Celts, their knot patterns, stone work, gold and silver work. My people go back to Northern Europe, and in truth, all of our ancestors were around somewhere 3,000 years ago. I feel this ring deeply. Especially the deep engraved Celtic patterns on the east and west sides. This says something that echoes and resonates within me. It says something similar to the painting, different, yet similar.
