Once upon a time, I read a book that began, "the past may be forgotten, but it is never dead." This is a very striking statement but is it true? Just how much of the past has really been forgotten and how much of it has been sculpted into fantasy, folklore and fairytale.

Long before there was literacy there was genius. As with most ancient cultures such as the American Indian, the Euro-Indian, the Summerian, the Hebraic and the Classical World, there has been a tradition of saving the history of the tribe or group through story telling and memorized recounting with poetry or song to make the retelling easier. What has developed over time as folklore and fairy tale most probably began in older times as rudimentary metaphysics.

We owe much to the Celts. The Celts were made up of many tribes that lived in various parts of Europe including Spain, Germany, France, Italy and of course, the British Isles. They were a people characterized by their observers, who were often their enemies, as warlike, just, righteous, frightening, ferocious, proud, courageous, often drunken, and very combative. While they may have been these things they were certainly also pondering, superstitious, artistic, and spiritual.

To be precise, the Celts first made their entry into the world stage about 600 B.C.E., about one hundred years after the founding of Rome, following their crossing of the Rhine. One group settled in France and became the Gauls. Another tribe settled in the Iberian Peninsula and became "great sea traders." In approximately the third century B.C.E., the Celts invaded the Greek world finally settling in modern day Turkey. Here they were known as the Galatians (from the word Gaul or Gaulish) to whom Paul addressed them in a letter, which can be read in the Galatians of the New Testament. From Gaul, the Celts became the Britons and as early as 400 B.C.E., moved to the British Islands, where approximately nine centuries later, would be pushed by the Angles and Saxons into Cornwall, where they would become the Cornish, and Wales where they would become the Welsh, and then into Ireland, where they would be known as the Irish.

Despite the fact that the Celts lived throughout Europe, they were actually made up of many different "tribes," and were not, at any time, a "cohesive" nation. There was no real unity. They had different languages, lifestyles and traditions. One thing they did share however was a similar belief in the immanence of the spirit in this world and the immortality of the soul.

Ireland, the mountainous regions of Wales and the Highlands of Western Scotland, held a special historical position as the keepers of the Celtic Tradition. Because these areas were not invaded by the Romans, and were too difficult to be invaded by other tribes, the Celtic culture remained basically untouched by outside influences approximately 300 years longer than anywhere else, and thus the language, beliefs, and other features remained almost unaltered.

The Celts held close to their pantheon of "gods" and demi-gods. This assemblage included great leaders, warriors, ghosts, elementals, spirits and gods and goddesses in the classical sense. In fact, Roman commentators of the time reflected how pre-occupied the Celts were with their "religion" and its expression in their everyday life. But was it really just a strange kind of superstition or a deep strain of mysticism through which one could discover the mysteries of the divine universe. In order to reach the other world, one needed a key to unlock the door that held this side and that side apart. The key of course was found in the stories held onto by the keepers of the tales or the Druids and the lesser Druids, known as Bards and Poets.

The Celts were fascinated by the power of words. Every noble or high family maintained their own ancestral poets. Some households boasted to have as many as twenty or thirty "family poets." It is from these poets, who maintained an oral tradition, that we learn of a race of people that pre-dated the Celts. In one of the Celtic foundation myths called Tuatha De Danaan or the People of the Goddess Danu, we learn that Ireland was populated before the Celts "invaded," by a people who had built the great barrows and tumuli that dot the landscape to this day. These people, as described in the myth, are highly skilled in building and craftsmanship. They are described as being taller (than the Celts), otherworldly beings. These are the people who eventually evolved into being "the little people," the fairies and other enchanted beings who continually resurface and who haunt the tombs and fairy mounds they once built. Some note that calling these larger, more artful aborigines the little people was an attempt to disguise the Celts' fear and guilt of having exploited and displaced them.

The people who lived in the dark abyss of time before the People of Danu are said to have come to the land on the First of May or Beltaine , which was sacred to their God of Death, at a very remote time when Ireland was only one "treeless plain watered by three lakes and nine rivers." The people increased as time went on and the land stretched by some miracle and the labors of the people themselves. The Plain grew from one to four and the lakes numbered seven. The number of people grew from forty-eight to five thousand. The people prevailed against wars with the Fomors and the three powers of darkness: winter, evil and death. They were preeminent in their battle against a demon and enjoyed peace for hundreds of years. Then illness struck on Beltaine and they were all destroyed. Having a premonition of their death, they all gathered on the first plain so that those who lived might better be able to bury those who died. This plain is identified as Sen Mag , the Old Plain, and it is now marked by a mound near Dublin called Tallaght , formerly known as Tamlecht Muintre Partholain (The Plague Grave of the Partholain People). Following the Partholains , as legend recalls, came a tribe known as Nemed that carried on the traditions of their forerunners. In any event, those tribes that proceeded the Celts were considered to be odd and magical and were often referred to as Children or People of Darkness. Keep in mind then that they were considered to be the antithesis of the Celts who concerned themselves to be the People of the Light.

Druids, Bards and Poets lived in both in this world and in the world of Fairy. Fairy or Faery as it is now labeled, is the name generally applied to the Celtic unseen world. The cosmology of fairy is extensive. There are worlds upon worlds. There are beings upon beings. There are water nymphs, gnomes, goblins, Leprechauns, knockers, pixies, godmothers or good mothers, banshees, changelings, bogeymen, red caps, giants, dwarfs and more. Sometimes Faery crosses over into this world and touches the mundane briefly, thus changing the earth-born forever. It is the ideal. It is the supernatural. Once more when referring to Fairy one sees that there is a historical seed. The concept of an otherworldly race of beings has been closely associated with the peoples that were already occupying Ireland, Wales and Scotland when the Celts arrived.

It is worth mentioning that the idea of what a Fairy is today is somewhat different than the Celt faery folk. They were a real presence and their relationship to Celtic mysticism and belief was paramount. In the areas of Brittany, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and the Isle of Man, Fairies came in many shapes and designs. They are usually collectively referred to as the Wee Folk but their personality and intentions are not uniform or restricted. They are usually conceived as bringing very personal experiences to those with whom they have interaction. Beliefs about fairies include ideas that they are fallen angels, disembodied spirits, and elementals or nature spirits. There remains a strong belief that the dead dwell among the fairies. Throughout Celtic Fairy lore is a reoccurring idea that there is need for human contact on the part of the spirit entities. That these people of the Old Plain or Hollow Hills and Mounds have a need to contact us to share their secrets.

What is a fairytale? Often repeated by the Singer, Poet or Bard, it was more than a mere story concerning only the mundane. It was a story weaved with threads of metaphysical suppositions that not only entertained but taught. More often than not it brought lessons of morality, justice, hope, love, treachery and fulfillment. Faery is the embodiment of that which populates that other realm, which if one is lucky either good or bad, divine or brilliant might encounter. Along with Faery there were also vestiges of magic and objects associated with otherworldliness such as Sacred Groves of Oak Trees (from which we get the Oak Man), cauldrons, severed heads, shape shifting, music, maimed body parts such as a wounded foot or blind eye of a truly enchanted being, deep pools of water and sacred wells, stones of enchantment (such as Stonehenge), and mounds of faery or Hollow Hills. These ingredients are more often then not found within the lore and tales reflecting the Celtic cosmology.

In the Celtic "society" there were three branches of authority. There was the chieftain king, who was "One among many. He was usually the best fighter with the best horse and the most followers or men. He was not a king in the sense of an absolute monarch, rather he was a peer with the upmost respect among his own. The other chieftains so valued "him" that they pledged their support to him. The third group were the artisans. They were the crafters and the ones who made things, such as objects of warfare, swords and such. But between the king and the artisan, was the "priest." The knower. The Holder of Truth. The Druid. The Poet.

So important was the keeping of the stories, that the position of the story teller often eclipsed that of the king or military leader in the hearts and minds of the people. Was not the position of Merlin (or the Merlin, when it is referred to as being a position rather than a person) of the Tales of King Arthur, the king's adviser and wizard, more important than that of King Arthur himself? Some might say that King Arthur was clearly a player in a "drama" created by Merlin.

In Celtic society the Priest was a Druid, and below him was the Bard and the Poet. They were, according to accounts of Caesar free from having to fight in war or pay taxes. In return for these advantages they often had to "get by heart" great numbers of "verses." Despite the fact that public transactions were recorded (often in Greek letters), Druidic doctrines, were not. To do so, it was believed, would cause the tales or histories to be adulterated, thus losing their "power and truth." But also it was clear that the Druids would have lost some of their own power and authority as well.

Why did the Druid hold such power. In a basically unlettered society, that is, one with no real written language, he would have been the one who understood and held the memories of the people. By modern standards we assess illiteracy with ignorance, but this is a gross exaggeration by ancient standards. The Celts may not have relied upon a written history of their people, but they were far from uninformed. All the wars they had fought and won; all the births and deaths; the ancestral lines; the traditions and more were remembered and safeguarded by the Druids and Bards. In Ireland there is ample evidence that proves there was an unwritten oral tradition for the preservation and transfer of genealogy, anecdote, law, custom, poetry, songs, eulogies and folklore long before formal writing was introduced.

The Druid was often "betwixt and between" as the saying goes. The Druid held the understanding of the past, the present of the future. The Druids were the conduits or mediators between what is seen and unseen. The Celtic Druid, Bards and Poets relied heavily upon what is called Mythopoetic language or metaphor to heal and educate. For one of their jobs as Priest was also healer. They were the guides into the transcended realms of the human condition. The purpose of many poems was to mesmerize and cause the listener to feel. They provided the door through which the mysteries of the irrational world could be explored.

Because they knew the past, it is not so surprising a step to think they could actually travel there and even change it, thus changing the present. It is remarked that Taliesin, a famous Poet and Bard traveled back into the past to observe first hand battles and important moments in history. This is only one of their magical qualities, which was both frightening and amazing. If a Druid or Poet could travel back to the past and observe it could he not also change it? If so, then the fortunes of the family or tribe could be jeopardized, should a Druid/Poet deem it so.

There were many "cycles" that a Druid knew and told. Traditionally he would have been the ambiguous figure that lives in both the known and unknown worlds. Bringing other realities to light, he was also a great riddler and beguiler. A technique often used by shamen and healers to help one understand the true nature of oneself and the universe. Looking at Celtic Lore, this is often the case.

The oldest "literature" and stories of the Celts are made up of tales regarding the early heros of their world. The Mabinogi, The Tain Bo` Cuailnge, the Book of Dun Cow or Lebor na hUidre and others were recounted by oral tradition alone until they were finally set down to print during approximately the 12th century by monks. It is also worth noting that none of the tales are now complete and most have been finely brushed with a Christian moral sense, which altered their original composition somewhat.

Because of the oral tradition, most of the body of ancient stories have been lost now with only fragments remaining. Most probably myth mixed with history, they are stories of conquest, love, fertility, seduction, quests and journeys. There are encounters with cattle raiding, goddesses, ghosts, chariot races and severed heads. The Ulster Cycle , as the Tain has come to be known, most probably dates back to the time of Christ, perhaps two centuries earlier and as with the Mabinogi, it allows us a glimpse into what the Celtic world was like. The Celts were a people living in an highly agricultural society driven by chieftains and kings with a considerably developed religious/spiritual system. They were close to nature and were pantheistic in world view.

The Mabinogi and other tales demonstrate a very intense mythological Celtic tradition that reflects an agricultural society with a deeply spiritual world view. Usually referred to as the four branches, the Mabinogi, reaches back into the recesses of Celtic antiquity and with much debate in the literary community is believed to be in part at least, a collective work referring to the Celtic God Maponos, although there are certainly episodes that appear independent of that. In understatement, The Mabinogi is an extensive collection of lore and adventure.

Elements of how the other world entwines with this world are clear in these works. For example, in the Tain,

a woman appears one day for the widower Crunnchu and at once without a word, starts taking care of him and his house. Eventually she discloses her identity to him, she is Macha, daughter of Sainreth mac Imbaith, or the "Spirit of the Sea." She tells him that he may not reveal her identity to anyone. While staying with Crunnchu, he prospers greatly. Before attending a gathering, the woman warns him not to boast about her and he agrees. However, while at the gathering he boasts that he has a woman who can outrun the royal horses. Upon hearing this, the King sends for her and she is compelled to prove Crunnchu's words. She begs not to be forced to run a race because she is pregnant and near her time. She is forced to run the race nevertheless in front of the assembly. As she is winning the race and crosses the finish line, she gives birth to twins - a boy and a girl, Emain and Macha. She then utters a cruse, stating that in time of their greatest need, the Ulstermen will all experience the pains of childbirth. As the years go on, indeed the Ulstermen do experience great pains during their time of tribulation. It is also interesting to mention that Emain and Macha are never heard about again however the capital of Ulster takes it name from them - Emain Macha.

Susan Bosler writes under the name MorganLaFey. She is a writer and historian living in California with her husband, cats and dogs. You can visit her world at her website http://www.geociities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/8346