The Four Winds: Mandala of Wholeness

As a previous student of psychology, I am quite familiar with Jung and his theories of the self and consciousness; as a person following an Earth-based spirituality, I am comfortable and feel quite at home in his ideas, identifying more closely with Jung than some of the other psychological theorists. When reading about the Mandala of Wholeness, I realized that I had essentially come up with my own mandala during my discussion of the Settling of the Manor of Tara, which included the elements of air, earth, water, and fire, with spirituality as the central focus. I find this interesting because many times when one is mastering concepts of a specific subject matter, one can pick up on ideas seemingly almost before they are taught, creating a very logical sort of “learning map” for future concepts. The idea of many mandalas being used throughout this course makes sense to me, just as the use of various mandalas as we make our way through life is also logical. Both the Irish and the Jungian mandalas, in their similarities and differences, have a place in my heart. To me, the Irish variation is rooted in more of the physical attributes while predictably, the Jungian model is more rooted in the psychological. Summed up another way, the Irish, like the Earth, is something we can see and touch while the Jungian model is more of a sensational model, something that is more unconscious and felt rather than seen.

The prosperity section in the East is more concerned with spiritual prosperity than literal. Generosity is a central concept here, and to me this means less the giving of physical gifts and more the anticipation of one’s needs and the willingness to go the distance to help someone in need with the understanding that you may get nothing out of it other than the satisfaction of being able to help. I try to make a difference in this way whenever possible, whether it is a simple matter or something more complex, no matter how far out of my way it takes me. Practicality also comes into play here, and is my lifestyle. I am a no-frills logical person by nature and I revel in the simple things. By this I mean not only the physically simple but the emotionally and psychologically simple as well. I try to see things at face value and don’t really like things that I have to interpret. I think the phrase “say what you mean and mean what you say” is very appropriate when discussing the Eastern part of the mandala. Traditionally, the East is also a farming Province, and this fits well in both the Irish and the Jungian model as sensation is the knowledge that something is there and thus, it is rooted in the physical presence as well as the practicality that exists at the heart of the farm.

In the South is the music section, but this term has less to do with actual music than a description word for the idea of creativity and inspiration. I believe creativity is at the heart of who we are and it comes into play in everything we do, whether it is actually part of a fine arts activity such as music, theatre, or poetry or whether we are looking to complete a more practical task. We use creativity in our daily lives whether we are at work and looking for ways to problem solve an issue, or whether we are at home raising children. Even simple everyday tasks like sweeping the floor requires creativity. I believe that from the beginning of time we have used creativity as a way of both solving problems as well as evolving and changing humanity into what it is today. In Jung’s model, creativity and feeling go hand in hand as both can be seen as our “rhythm of life”.

Knowledge in the West and battle in the North seem a bit obscure to me, and it almost seems like either these two should be swapped in the Irish model or perhaps in Jung’s model the ideas of thinking in the North and intuition in the West should be moved. Battle in the Irish model deals more with the ego and the relationship of the soul and thus would seem a little more intuitive to me. Even though the book says the two concepts should be separate, I disagree to a certain extent: I believe they can be seen as both separate entities but also combined into one, as thinking is intuitive and intuition is also a part of the thinking process. For this reason, I have symbolically combined them within the same paragraph. With that said, I am a firm believer in the idea that “knowledge is power” and that we should continually strive to learn throughout our lives. I am also a very intuitive person in that, when psychologically pulled in a certain direction, I think it is important to listen to that message. Basic instinct is a part of intuition but there is also a less logical part that doesn’t seem to follow a pattern, it just exists as almost an animalistic need that should at the very least, be acknowledged. I find that when I listen to the animal in me I can do no wrong and that if it feels right, it probably is.

When considering both the Irish and the Jungian models, all four directions work together for wholeness. Prosperity, music, knowledge and battle come together to create the sovereignty of wholeness, just as in the Jungian model where sensation, feeling, intuition, and thinking combine to create the individuality of wholeness. However, despite the fact that the central functions in each model can be seen as separate ideas, the general concept is of putting the four directions together like pieces of a pie to combine them into one, and then labelling it. Thus, we can see the individual pieces plus the “whole”, which I think could be summed up in both a simpler and more complex description of wholeness, called Earth.

Myth Work II: The Settling of the Manor of Tara

There are times when certain things are revealed to us at exactly the time that we need them to be. These revelations can appear in something complex such as an intuitive insight, or sometimes as a simple idea that can only be seen if certain other things have happened to precipitate it. Recently, this came to life for me when contemplating the myth of The Settling of the Manor of Tara. A few nights previously, I had been watching a movie called The Mysteries of the Cosmos, which was a documentary into the dawn of creation from the beginnings of the universe to the present. In the movie, it stated that Terra is the Latin word for “Earth”. This information was not exactly new to me, but because I had been studying this particular myth, it suddenly occurred to me that, although spelled and probably pronounced slightly differently, Earth could possibly be seen as not only Terra, but also in a sense, as Tara. In the beginning of the story, it states that, in the conference of Magh Bregh it was determined that the area that was Tara seemed excessive and too large an area but with no civilization and no services. Just as this was true for Tara, it is also true of the Earth, and especially of an older Earth where the population was not as large as it is today. An older Earth would also have seemed to be too large an area and also in need of partitioning. Many times when facing an immense task, it helps to go back to the basics. Just as the quarters of knowledge, battle, prosperity, music, and kingship in the center were the basics for Tara, the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water are the basic and oldest ingredients in nature’s recipe and make sense for the Earth, with spirit or consciousness as its center.

The myth also states that the nobles of Ireland were summoned to the feast of Tara by Diarmait son of Cerball, but they refused to participate in the feast until the settling of the manor of Tara was determined. This makes sense to me as well, because often we cannot move forward until we have addressed the concerns of our past. As a more obvious example, we cannot enter school if we have not first learned to walk and talk, in the same way that Tara could not be partitioned without the presence of a wise man who knew the stories of the past, because through our historical records we can better understand what is needed for our present and our future. Although Fintan was indeed old and wise, by himself he would not be enough to remember all that was needed. In much the same way that crucial information had appeared before me at just the point that I needed it, Trefuilngid Tre-eochair also appeared from the sunset at the exact moment that Tara needed him to appear. With Trefuilngid’s guidance, Fintan was able to complete this task as Trefuilngid filled in the gaps and “explained to all everything unknown”.

It seems to me that Trefuilngid represents not necessarily God, but the mere idea of God, meaning that in order to make difficult decisions, we need to be guided by a spirituality of some sort. Whether that is a physical being, a specific sense of presence that we cannot see or touch, or more of an extension of self is irrelevant. The idea is that we are all guided by some sort of force depending on our individual belief system. Though some may be uncomfortable with the idea of God, it may help to think of it as less of a Godly figure and more of a consciousness that simply enlightens us just when we need to be enlightened, helping us to stay focused in the moment. This entity is at our center and functions as spirit, governing all that we hold dear in our lives with the elements always present, not only around us but also as a part of us.