by Searles O'Dubhain

Across the Indo-European traditions, a question and answer between teacher and student is the oldest vehicle for cosmological teaching. In the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, Gārgī Vācaknavī asks Yājñavalkya: on what is the universe woven, layer by layer, like warp and woof? Each answer opens onto a deeper question, until the teacher finally refuses to answer — warning the student that the final truth cannot be spoken, only experienced. Searles O'Dubhain, a practitioner working within the Irish Celtic tradition, transposes this same dialogue structure into the Celtic cosmos: the weaving of the world through water, wind, sea, land, sky, sun, moon, the Cattle of Tethra, the lands of the gods, the Cró of Lugh, the four cities of the Tuatha Dé Danann — and at last, the powers of Draíocht and the mastery of the Dagda. Then the teacher falls silent.

This dialogue draws on the Colloquy of the Two Sages and reflects Searles O'Dubhain's sustained argument that Celtic and Vedic traditions share deep structural parallels in cosmology and pedagogy. Posted to alt.religion.druid in September 2003.

Here I present a hypothetical discussion between a Druid and his student that is based on other similar statements of cosmic order and organization that exist in many Indo-European traditions. The Colloquy of the Two Sages contains a similar form of esoteric questioning and answering through the art of Ogham kennings. The model for the text of this conversation is directly based in large part on the sixth Brāhmana of the Third Division of the Brihad Āranyaka Upanishad, recorded between Gārgī Vācaknavī (the student) and Yājñavalkya (the teacher or Sage).

The Dialogue

"Then the student asked him: 'My teacher', said she, 'since everything in Creation is woven, like warp and woof, on water — on the flows of creation, the powers of the universe which are brí and bua — on what, please tell me, is water woven like warp and woof (amhail deilbh, amhail eanglaim)?'"

The teacher answered, "On the winds (gaoth), my student; on streams of water and whirlwinds (sruth bua: caise uisce, gaoth ghuairneáin)."

"On what then, are the streams and winds woven?" asked the student.

"On the worlds of the open sea and the enclosed lands and the columns of the sky (an fharraige choimhthíoch is tír is Maige Tuired), my student," answered the teacher.

"On what, then, pray, are the worlds of the open sea and the enclosed lands and the columns of the sky woven?" inquired the student.

"Not hard to say," answered the teacher, "On the worlds of the spirits of the air, the forests, the depths and the mountains, my student — the Sídhe."

Next the student questioned, "On what, then, please tell me, are the worlds of the spirits of the air, forests, the depths, and the mountains woven?"

"Easily answered: on the wheel of the Sun (Roth Grían), my student," replied the teacher.

"On what, then, pray, is the wheel of the Sun woven?" was the next question put forward by the student to the teacher.

"This too is easily answered," he said, "on the houses of the Moon (Tiath an Éasca)."

Then the student asked, "On what, then, please tell me, are the houses of the Moon woven?"

"Ní hansa — on the plains of the Cattle of Tethra my student," answered the teacher.

"On what, then, pray, are the plains of the Cattle of Tethra woven?" inquired the student.

"On the lands of the gods (Maigh Mhór), my student," said the teacher.

"On what, then, pray tell, are the lands of the gods woven?"

"On the Cró of Lugh, my student," was the answer given.

"On what, then, please tell me, is the Cró of Lugh woven?"

"On the treasures of the cities of Findias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias, my student," was the enlightened reply from the teacher.

"On what, then, pray tell, are the treasures of the cities of Findias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias woven?"

"On the powers and skills of Draíocht and the mastery of the Dagda, the God of Druids, my student," was the steadfast answer given by the teacher.

"On what, then, please tell me, are the powers and skills of Draíocht and the mastery of the Dagda, woven like warp and woof, like Land, Sea and Wind, like Sun and Moon, like the Cattle of Tethra and the worlds of the gods?" asked the student finally.

Then the teacher, instead of answering the question directly, warned the student not to ask too much about things that are not easily understood but which must be experienced and mastered through training.

This is thought to mean that the teacher did not give the answer in plain words, but through the means of kennings or by having the student learn the ways through pathworking. It is clear from the Druid's statement, as well as from other passages in the ancient wisdom, that he had Tír na Bhithbheo (Annwn, Alltar, Tír na n'Óg, Tír Andomain) — the eternal Otherworld, the unknowable, sacred reality — in mind: the ground within which everything else is based, and from which everything is sourced and reborn. Here also is to be discovered and understood the fundamental relationship existing between the different components of the three worlds, as well as the balances existing between the deities of Order (the Tuatha Dé Danann) and the deities of Chaos (the Fomorii / Tuatha Dé Domnann).

This knowledge of ultimate reality must be experienced personally by the student through mantic methods of meditation using Ogham, journeying through immrama, and transcendence through imbas. It cannot be learned from study alone, though it can be embraced and understood using the traditional teaching methods of Druids and by the work of the Druid Way. The sacred nature of the Druid Way is preserved from being profaned by mundane writing by this principle — which also protects the sacred ways and esoteric powers of many other religions and mysteries. Some things must be accomplished by the student themselves. No amount of reading or studying will bring one across the bridge of shadows. That work must be accomplished by those who study the knowledge of Druids, those who dare to make the attempt, those who have achieved a focused will, those who have attained the silence that is beyond ordinary consciousness.

Colophon

Written by Searles O'Dubhain and posted to alt.religion.druid on 20 September 2003. Adapted from the structure of the sixth Brāhmana of the Third Division of the Brihad Āranyaka Upanishad (dialogue of Gārgī Vācaknavī and Yājñavalkya), transposed into the vocabulary of Celtic cosmology and Druidic practice. The dialogue draws on the Colloquy of the Two Sages as its native Celtic parallel.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected]

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