Scholars have not yet found any textual evidence that either "Wild Goose" or "an geadh-glas" were used by ancient Christian Celts (435-793 AD) to refer to the Holy Spirit. The presence of geese in Celtic art does not itself constitute proof. Celtic Christians drew many animals and art without an interpretive key can be quite ambiguous.
It is also sometimes said that ancient Celtic Christians did not speak of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Yet Celts, both ancient and modern, did and do write of the Spirit as a dove and of that we have proof.
We do know the metaphor of the Holy Spirit as Wild Goose was in use about 1940 by 20th century visionary George MacLeod and /or his contemporary sources.
But that does not mean we should abandon the image. Not at all.
There are good reasons why the "wild goose= Holy Spirit" metaphor, may actually be more relevant for these tumultuous times if recently coined than if it had come from ancient Celtic Christians.
Much can be garnered for today by understanding ancient Celtic Christian Spirituality - and the nature of geese - as we heed the call of the Wild Goose.
Come, follow...
Holy Spirit, Wild Goose
Great Spirit,
Wild Goose of the Almighty
Be my eye in the dark places;
Be my flight in the trapped places;
Be my host in the wild places;
Be my brood in the barren places;
Be my formation in the lost places.
I am taking to heart that prayer of Ray Simpson, Guardian of the Community of Aidan and Hilda on the Holy Island of
Seeing where one ought to go with a new thing is more like catching up to a pillar of fire than it is executing a well-developed plan. Your situation changes and things seem out of control. The spirit reveals something new. A yearning grows in you. You seek the Lord in all the familiar places, but you are only met by an absence. Weary you sit not knowing what to do.
When in the murky distance, you hear something beckoning - high above - and you sense maybe what the next step might be, as if a flock of geese were miraculously forming an arrow in the sky to show you that way. But as you get up to go it's gone leaving you with a journey of hope that you heard it right.
Faithfully you walk on - in mission and in love with your Lord.
Deborah and I fresh from our pilgrimage to Lindisfarne find growing in us a gnawing hunger for missional community. We had once shared a few memorable days on Iona that other monastic centre of Celtic evangelism. The fleeting moments on Lindisfarne and Northumbria are calling us to a deeper friendship with the Northumbrian Community and are learning more about the inspiring vision of the community of Aidan and Hilda on
We are open to any who could help us along the way.
ALWAYS BEGINNERS
It is a new journey for me - I am just beginning to explore Celtic spirituality. The Celtic Church is variously dated, from as narrow as the 5th-6th centuries AD to from 435 AD when Patrick began his mission to Ireland to 793 AD when Viking raids destroyed the monastic communities. I am searching within the wider time frame. Yet the spirituality of the Celts is re-emerging of late as a viable alternative to the inherited ways.
So I am eager to learn to see the world as they saw it and to feel the gaps they felt between life now and the uncertain but assuredly better future to come. Yet I come at this with many disadvantages.
My mother was so loving but she was no Celt to sing me a lullaby in Gaelic.
My sister never spoke with an Irish lift.
My father had no Scottish brogue.
There's no Welsh in me.
So I am just an interloper, yet I'd like to be a learner if you'll help. This is so late in coming to me on my long journey that I have no hope of catching up to any of you who have been at this all your life.
TRUTH ABOUT THE GOOSE
A number of people on-line and in print are saying something stunningly fascinating if true.
Some say that in the Celtic tradition the Holy Spirit is not pictured as the peaceful and serene dove which settled on Jesus at his baptism. Rather the people in the Celtic Church, who unquestionably saw the life of faith as a pilgrimage, chose the image of Wild Goose (An Geadh-Glas) to depict the Holy Spirit.
This includes four thoughts...
1) The Celtic Christian Church said
2) the Holy Spirit is not like a Dove
3) the Holy Spirit is like a Wild Goose
4) specifically "an Geadh-Glas".
Knights in days gone by searched for the Holy Grail. While I am on a pilgrimage of discovery of the Celtic way of Jesus, I am also keeping an eye open for the Wild Goose and the first evidence of it being referred to. The trail of evidence so far stops far closer to our own time than with the ancient Celts.
But telling where it stops now would spoil the fun of the search (but we will say before this article is done).
So on with the chase...
starting in reverse order with the species...
4) AN GEADH-GLAS =THE WESTERN GREYLAG GOOSE
Celtic Christians studied the scriptures so they could understand God's ongoing active presence in His creation. They also studied the world drawing spiritual lessons from the ordinary. "If you want to know the Creator first understand and know the creation" (Columbanus, 540-615).
Only some specify the species. Ray Simpson (above), the band Iona (below), simply say the wild goose; others, "the bird of heaven."
The Scottish Gaelic "an geadh-glas" is literally "the goose-grey" and most likely refers to the Western Greylag (anser anser anser). Before a change in species nomenclature around 1778 the Greylag had been designated "Wild Goose" (anser ferus). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greylag_Goose"The ancestor of most domestic geese, the greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the wild geese native to the UK and Europe and is commonly seen in Scotland. http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greylaggoose/index.asp
It is therefore highly likely that the ancient Scottish Celtic Church was familiar with the Greylag. If Christian Celts had called the Holy Spirit the Wild Goose (which has not yet been proved), then a compelling case can be made that the bird they had in mind was indeed the Greylag, especially if they called it an geadh-glas.
"The native birds and wintering flocks found in Scotland retain the special appeal of truly wild geese." (see above "rspb.org.uk"). Yet there are significant differences between Greylags and genuinely wild species.
FERAL
"Greylags are widespread in the rest of the UK but are mainly feral rather than wild" (Natural History Museum UK), that is, they are more at home in croft and farm, becoming somewhat more comfortable near humans than purely in the wild (see The Skye & Lochalsh Biodiversity Action Plan).
They "tend to be semi-tame and uninspiring." (see above "rspb.org.uk")
[I suppose that could be said of many people.]
That might have been the reason God sent them to the Celtic monks! The monks of Iona and Lindisfarne, among others, wrote with goose quills. Birds which remain close to human settlements give the gift of a steady supply of quills for writing and the transcribing of scripture.
TASTY
Feral geese would mean a ready supply of meat for the occasional feasts. Tradition has it that Martin of Tours (316-397 AD in Gaul) had an extreme antipathy to geese. Tradition suggests that to avoid being made bishop, he tried to hide in a flock of domestic geese. They cackled. He was exposed and thus could not avoid being consecrated. To this day his annual feast is celebrated in France, Germany and Sweden with roasted goose.
Various local legends insist that Patrick, who evangelized Ireland was a nephew of Martin. It is said that Ninian, the first Celtic Bishop to reach Scotland, either met or was inspired by Martin's ministry or his monastic community. If either Patrick or Ninian knew of Martin's dislike of living geese, it would be surprising that they would deify a wild goose.
On the other hand, author Caitlin Matthews states (somewhere) that on Martin's coat of arms was a goose (the messenger of the gods?) and heavenly fire (The Holy Spirit?). But it is necessary to place an image in context if possible.
Martin was named after Mars, the Roman God of War. As we will see below, the bird most associated with Mars was the goose, because of that bird's attentiveness and aggression. Martin was ruthless in his destruction of the symbols of pagan druidism - though never violent toward pagans themselves. Could the goose and fire have been symbols of holy militarism? Was it showing two contrasting sides of Martin, the goose his reluctance, the fire what motivated him to action? Was it a wish for a good roast? It is hard to say. Art without the interpretive key of the artist can be quite ambiguous.
["Coats of arms" only emerged somewhere in the 12-14th centuries so nearly 1000 years would separate Martin of Tours himself from a coat of arms made in his honour. It is, however, possible that his standard / flag had flames of fire on it. I am still seeking an early depiction of either Martin's standard or his coat of arms.]
SOCIALIZATION
Konrad Lorenze in 1935 famously demonstrated that Greylag chicks, deprived of the mother's presence, would "bond with whatever animal is present and adopt this animal as their mother" (filial imprinting).[from "Early Socialization: Sociability and Attachment" by Cara Flanagan. Routledge, 1999, p. 26].
FLIGHT
A flocking bird would have spoken to the sense of community that was at the heart of Celtic Christianity. Research done in 1972 by Dr. Robert McNeish circulates widely on the net, rarely with the credit he deserves. Here is an example lifted from "Free On-line Health.com"
POINT: As each bird flaps its wings, it creates ‘uplift’ for the bird following. By flying in a V formation the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if the bird flew alone.
LESSON: When people share a common direction and sense of community they can reach their goals more easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
POINT: Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the ‘lifting power’ of the bird immediately in front.
LESSON: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.
POINT: When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.
LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks, and sharing leadership. With other people, as with geese, we are interdependent on each other.
POINT: The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
LESSON: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging and not something else.
Since this is based on relatively recent research, it is doubtful any of those four points were on the minds of the Celts. They certainly didn't write about it.
Still, though Celts would not have known the science behind why geese fly in "V" formations, they knew the reality of the advantage of working together. Based on the mission and ministry of Jesus, the Celtic Churches launched new missions with a leader and a dozen disciples. Yet they avoided developing mega-churches, tending to establish smaller community churches and buildings rather than the huge minsters of the Norman era.
It's worth adding that the loyalty of Greylags to their mates also would have appealed to the Celts.
RHYTHM
Celtic Christians are renowned for their sense of spiritual rhythm, especially the monks on Lindisfarne. That holy island is cut off from the mainland twice a day by the ebb and flow of the tides. Migrating birds would have also underlined to them that God has written seasonal rhythms into the creation. Thus monks would be reminded by the tides and the geese to keep daily and seasonal spiritual disciplines, such as observance of the church year. It was, in fact, a harsh debate over the timing of the celebration of Easter that led to the assembly at the Synod of Whitby (644 AD) of both Celtic Christians and Christians influenced by Rome. For the sake of the unity of the church, the Celtic Christians gave in to Rome's preferred dates. Some blame the eventual decline of Celtic Christianity to that momentous decision.
A NUISANCE
The Greylag in the 19th century (and presumably also the past) could be quite the nuisance rather than an inspiration. See the end of this blog for an 1885-1886 article on the Greylag in "Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness Volume 12" from Google books.
SLOW TO MIGRATE
"Greylag" either means "grey-legged" or "grey-laggard", that is, late, last or slow to migrate; in other words, a loiterer (see above "rspb.org.uk").
QUESTION:
Some of these traits are surprisingly human but are they what "wild goose" brings to mind? Naming a specific type of bird invites such speculation. It seems more poetically evocative to me not to mention the species.
A QUEST TO FIND THE CELTIC VOICE
Having searched high and low, documentary evidence is lacking that catches an ancient Celt calling the Holy Spirit "the wild goose". Such knowledge would be so wonderful for me - but certainly isn't easy to find. So far it has been a wild goose chase in the worst sense. Please leave a comment if you find something ancient on this.
Because, there is no firm supporting evidence to suggest this idea surfacing much further back than around 1940.WHY KEEP SEARCHING?
Knowing who first sang a song and the impulse which gave it birth helps us hear it with its own original natural-cultural rhythms and accompaniment to preserve it even while we add our own ad libs. With no Wild Goose tune being heard sung by ancient Christian Celts, we find we are humming a more modern melody.
There is a lot of romanticism in our contemporary Celtic revival. Where it helps us fly in formation behind our leader, we may yet arrive at our divine destination. Where it has us off on our own flights of fancy... well, we can get dangerously lost, especially in regards to truth.
I am greatly encouraged that the ancient Christian Celts were actually, in their own time, leading scholars, dedicated recorders of history, detail-oriented scribes faithful to the text of Scripture. The ancient Celtic monks, fastidiously copying every detail of Scripture (or whatever text they had been handed), whisper from within their beehive huts and across the centuries,
"Record it as truly as the triune God guides your flight."
The Venerable Bede set the standard high. Wedded to the Roman way of church, he nonetheless commended the life and manor of many of the Celts he write about. Bede researched carefully the most reliable of resources for his Ecclesiastical History of England. From his work is derivedmuch of our knowledge of the early Christian Celtics in England.
3) LOVIN’ THE GOOSE
The part about Christian Celts not seeing the spirit as a dove is just NOT TRUE.
Christian Celtic monks were notoriously scrupulous in their fidelity to the text of Scripture and knew well various God-given dove images written by the tender hand of the apostles, especially as we will see, the spirit's descent on Jesus at his Baptism.
There is wildness and unpredictability in doves, too. "The dove was not, as we often imagine it so domesticated that it never flies outside the comfort of its dovecot. The rock doves of the Bible flew in from the wild" (Ray Simpson, "Exploring Celtic Spirituality", p 163).
For example, in the Carmina Gadelica (that definitive compilation of oral Gaelic sayings by Alexander Carmicheal published in 1900), in "
Perhaps this is an allusion to the dove returning to Noah coming with an olive branch in its beak a sign that the wrath of God has been abated and a renewed nature will receive again God's human flock (Genesis 6-9). Ever since that day, a dove has been a sign of peace, rest, kindness, friendship - and a new beginning.
The most ancient Celtic Holy-Spirit-as-dove image I have found is in the Welsh Vita Sancti Samsonis, composed between 600-615 AD (or as late as 800 but clearly based on earlier sources)
Three brothers were ordained at the same place, two to the office of priest and he, the third, to that of deacon; but when the brothers were required, according to custom, to bend for pardon, the holy father, at the same time with St Eltut, saw a dove, sent from heaven through the open window, take its stand fixedly on high over St Samson, not as is the way of a bird flying or flitting about, but remaining all the time without the least flutter of its wings while the ministers went to and fro everywhere throughout the church.
in "the Life of Brenainn" (10th century)...
3876. Now thus was the holy old man: without any human raiment, but all his body was full of bright white feathers like a dove or a sea-mew. and it was almost the speech of an angel that he had.
in the Life of St Dubricius (13th Century)...
Among those that lived there was brother Samson, the son of Amon, who obtained from the said father, that at the episcopal seat, on the day of his ordination, first, a deacon, secondly, a priest, and thirdly, a bishop, a white dove should descend on his head, which was seen by the holy Archbishop, and by the Abbot Illtyd, during the whole time of his ordination.
These last two quotes, of course, are not from the "golden age" of Celtic Christianity but rather by medieval hagiographers who embellished the lives of the saints. Nevertheless they are consistent in their use of "dove" with the Vita Sancti Samsonis which is of the ancient Celts. Sometimes these writers did just pass on previous tradition. For example, in The Lives of the Saints in the Book of Lismore (15th century) we find repeated what was said of the saint in Vita Brigitae by Cogitous written no later than 650 AD, regarding Brigit (note the capital "D" on Dove)...
was compassionate towards the wretched : she was splendid in miracles and marvels: wherefore her name among created things is Dove among birds...
Most of these documents are searchable at the Celtic Christianity E-Library (http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/ccelibrary.htm)
1) IS THE WILD GOOSE AS HOLY SPIRIT CELTIC?
A) IS IT IN THEIR LITERATURE?
In none of those volumes – or any other ancient Celtic source I have access to- is there any hint of the wild goose replacing the dove as a representation of the Holy Spirit – and there are actually somewhat fewer geese of any sort in those writings than doves! Of course doves have a distinct advantage over geese in this regard in that the later are not mentioned in the Bible at all.
What Celtic Christians held in abundance was an intimate yearning for, combined with an intense familiarity with, the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Godhead was not a distant theological concept - not at all like a distant uncle or aunt you've heard about but never seen.
Rather, the Spirit was one of their three best friends, with power to comfort, heal and help in the most practical and mundane aspects of life's journey.
To illustrate, if the Gaelic sources from which the Carmina Gadelica was compiled are consistent with Celtic Christian spirituality, we can hear their dependence for God in A Prayer for Grace (p. 35)
I AM bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who died for me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In love and desire.
or from The Bathing prayer, p 61, the Spirit is as close as one's bath water... This may seem playful but it is in imitation of an Irish Celtic practice of immersing a baptismal candidate three times since Jesus had been in the grave three days (Ray Simpson).
The three palmfuls
Of the Secret Three,
To preserve thee
From every envy,
Evil eye and death;
The palmful of the God of Life,
The palmful of the Christ of Love,
The palmful of the Spirit of Peace,
Triune
Of Grace.
And one of my favs, the Bed Blessing (p. 83)
I am lying down to-night with the Holy Spirit,
And the Holy Spirit this night will lie down with me,
I will lie down this night with the Three of my love,
And the Three of my love will lie down with me.
This 19th century Gaelic intimacy is only possible if the Holy Spirit is docile and gentle: settled. Yet the settling on the loved by the beloved three is never static or doctrinaire but alive and invigorating as the most passionate of friends can be.
Yet the yearning for more - and for guidance and protection are never absent either.
Celts of all descriptions delighted in an imaginative, nature-oriented use of the tongue. Such a playfulness as we are investigating is indeed consistent with them, but not to the extent of rejecting scripture.
- SUCH AS THE CELTIC GOSPELS
The
Since geese frequented the Lindisfarne environs, and it was goose quills with which the text was written, geese in the drawings may have just been acknowledging life around that
fragment at Abercorn,
If these are geese, why does the lower one appear to have a hooked beak? Is it instead a stylized "bird of heaven" frequently found in Celtic Christian art?
Pillars of stone were understood everywhere in the ancient world to be a claim to link earth and heaven. Note the intriguing circles around each bird. The circle around the cross-beams of a Celtic cross was a symbol of Jesus' Resurrection. Is this bird a symbol of the Holy Spirit? If so, why are two birds circled?
One looks left, the other right. Neither are contained by the circle. The wings are outstretched but the legs are perched, grounded, much as a bird ready to take flight.
To the left is a full sized view of what the restored cross would look like. In those days, where people were buried was said to be the place of resurrection. "It is possible that underlying this idea was the intuition that the Christian's work of prayer continued after death and was particularly focussed upon the place that had been God's home for them" (Simpson. p. 246) (http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_072/72_217_223.pdf
Considering the relatively low position of these birds of heaven on the restored cross, it would be within the Celtic world-view to take these birds as signifying this:
"Blessings from the Three, all you who have come to pay homage to the departed at this Holy Cross shrine. Be assured that till the day of his resurrection, the prayers of Bishop Trumwin continue to go from here to heaven on your behalf and of his people, whether they be left or right."
Or it could be simply Celtic interlaced zoomorphic designs typical of the era indicating an embrace of both earth and heaven but not much more.
It's hard to know what was intended.
It is certainly less than convincing proof of the Holy Spirit as Wild Goose theory.
HMMM... THEN WHY THE WILD GOOSE?
We have yet to find the Christian Celt who first spoke this way. There are only ambiguous hints that that connection may have been made in Celtic art.
IF WE CAN'T SHOW IT IS ANCIENT CELTIC, IS IT AT LEAST CELTISH
"Following a wild goose" (in the best sense of the phrase) has some affinities with the well known Celtic view of the Christian spiritual life as pilgrimage. Consider this hymn, attributed to Columba (521-597 AD):
I journey on my way.
What need I fear when thou art near,
O King of night and day?
More safe am I within thy hand
than if a host should round me stand.
My destined time is known to thee,
and death will keep his hour;
did warriors strong around me throng,
they could not stay his power:
no walls of stone can man defend
when thou thy messenger dost send.
My life I yield to thy decree,
and bow to thy control
in peaceful calm, for from thine arm
no power can wrest my soul.
Could earthly omens e'er appal
a man that heeds the heavenly call?
The child of God can fear no ill,
his chosen dread no foe;
we leave our fate with thee, and wait
thy bidding when to go.
'Tis not from chance our comfort springs.
thou art our trust, O King of kings.
Is it consistent with what Celtic Christians might have said?
TIMELY
Certainly an increasing number of good people think so. This belief (true or not) is widely (wildly?) held, and indeed is currently much in vogue. The story of the emerging Iona community is loving punctuated with allusions to the Wild Goose leading the founders of the community: "Chasing the Wild Goose": The story of the Iona Community, Ron Fergusson, Wild Goose Publishing, 1998.
A decade later and another has been published by an innovative American church planter and Christian leader in Washington DC. It adds little to our understanding of Celtic Christians yet still is an enjoyable read: "The Wild Goose Chase": Rediscover The Adventure Of Pursuing God by Mark Batterson, Random House, 2008.
With the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service estimating that there are more Canadian Geese in North America than any other time in history, the time is ripe (perhaps over-ripe) to teach some good godly lessons from these noble birds.
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=608670
If this theory is true - which is far from certain - how might the Celts have come to this radically unsettling turbulent image for the comforter of John's gospel?
Of course, this is just speculation but...
In ancient pagan circles, geese were considered messengers of the gods - presumably because of their long flights heavenward beyond the horizon and their faithful return in due season.
Further says Answer.com:
The animal most associated with Mars, the Roman god of war, is “the goose, which for Celts evokes the protectiveness of an alert sentry as well as a certain measure of aggression."
Notice it is not adventuressness, per se, but militaristic qualities of watchfulness and aggression. Geese are also like an army in that they operate in graceful cooperative formations, fly in stealth (until somebody honks) and when they land, suddenly occupy a wide swath of territory. At a "Celtic Animals" site is the claim that the goose was a common symbol displayed in the homes of Celtic warriors off on a combat mission so as to encourage their return (though no source is given
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/Celtic-animals.html
"Wild Geese" has been a designation for Irish mercenary soldiers for centuries, specifically those serving foreign armies in continental Europe. A 1978 movie of the same name was based on mercenaries in WWII.
How might geese, associated with war as they were even in Celtic times, have become a symbol for the power of God revealed in the gospel? Here's one suggestion following the logic developed in Thomas Cahill’s “How the Irish Saved Civilization:”
Could it be that after their conversion to Christianity and setting aside their bellicose nature for a more irenic one, the Celts transformed the image of the goose from an icon of militaristic war to another kind of campaign: one that would inspire monks such as Columcille, Aidan, and Columbanus to such risky evangelistic adventure by God's grace they would convert or reconvert much of Europe?
SO WHAT"S THE BIG DEAL?
Well, credit should be given where credit is due of course. But the "wild goose = holy spirit" image improperly attributed to the early Christian Celts risks concealing and distorting what their actual motivation was for their legendary travels.
Irish Christian Celts were not just trying to follow the Spirit's lead. They were also acting out of penance. Leaving Ireland, abandoning the places they loved for the sake of Christ and the gospel was for them a form of martyrdom. Columba in particular may have actually been in a self-regulated exile. Many of these monks had given up aristocratic priviledges to follow Christ - that was part of what made them so attractive to others. Traveling to parts unknown was a way of mortifying the flesh: Celts of all varieties could be ruthless that way.
Today, we are unlikely to be impressed with those motivations. Indeed, they would cause us some concern. Candidates who confess they want to be in ministry to work out previous sins are quickly weeded out of ordination processes.
The "wild goose" metaphor, as compelling as it is, bears none of that. Rather, it implies something more appropriate for our own age: a free response of the will to a free call of the spirit to go to parts unknown - without any penitential overlays. At least, I have yet to catch any of the people who claim this connection speaking that
way.
MAYBE WE NEED BOTH BIRDS
If the truth be known, we need the Spirit of both birds:
the dove to anoint and comfort in the silence of our cells:
the wild goose to send us out
transcending the powers of the empires that only crush the human spirit
we landing in power to bring good news to the poor in the empty abandoned places of the world,
then flying home again to our cells to praise the God who has brought us home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown us.CONCLUSION - SO WE CAN SAFELY SAY
Until other evidence is presented...
1) The Celtic Christian Church. said..
There is no textual evidence in ancient Celtic Christian sources for the claim. At the very best there may be hints in some ancient Celtic art but even this is by no means certain.
It should be enough that modern poets and spiritual people on the journey find this image compelling.
But, citing the Celts as the source implies that this Holy Spirit / Wild Goose image is more ancient than the 20th century. Celtic Christianity was by no means a uniform much-of-a-muchness over time and place. Tradition traces seven Celtic Nations: in addition to Ireland, Scotland and Wales, are also parts of Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Spain and Brittany. Though there is much cultural overlapping, there are regional differences.2) Did Celts say the Holy Spirit is not like a Dove...?
Celts as a Biblical people said no such thing. The Dove is often used in reference to the Holy Spirit because it is in the scripture which they scrupulously copied and emulated. Ray Simpson states that firmly (see above).
3) Did Celts say the Holy Spirit is like a Wild Goose...?
It's an inspiring image but how old is it really? "No historical evidence can been adduced to support this" says the Rev'd Dr. Ian Bradley, who teaches at the University of St Andrew, Fife, Scotland and publishes in the areas of contemporary British Christianity, Celtic Christianity and more (see also below). He and other scholars dismissed the central thesis of our quest after an extensive disciplined search of potential sources. No verifiable record has since weighed in to the contrary.
4) Specificity was the goose "an Geadh-Glas".
The Greylag is "an geadh-glas" but being "tame and uninspiring" seems not the most ideal species to illustrate wild unpredictability. Saying the generic "Wild Goose" without further designating the breed of bird seems more evocative to me.
George MacLeod, founder of the
Therefore, George MacLeod should receive proper credit for introducing this notion to us. The
Yet surely MacLeod would have credited the faithful highlanders who presumably, he said, preserved such imaginative theological speech for who knows how long.
The breathtakingly haunting "Here I Stand" lovingly sung by "Iona" makes the best case for continued use of the image. This version has been placed as a sampler on YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycELmMgwNZ8
Queue it up and listen in.
But the poem stands on its own merits:
Here I stand, looking out to sea
Where a thousand souls have prayed
And a thousand lives were laid on the sand
Were laid on the sand
Years have passed, since they have died
And The Word shall last
And the Wild Goose shall fly
Shall fly
Here I stand, looking out to sea
And I say a prayer
That the Wild Goose will come to me
The Wild Goose shall come to me
Order the whole Iona DVD at http://www.amazon.ca/Iona/dp/B0002XOZ0G
Or go to their official web site: www.iona.uk.com/newindex/2004_pages/home.htm
What does the song mean? In spite of the passing of so many of the faithful, to natural causes or the Vikings' murderous raids and the martyrdom on the sandy beaches of the monks of Iona (and
God's word which they faithfully transcribed and for which they gave their lives, will endure forever,
and the Spirit will continue the work of Jesus and come to comfort those still in mourning and to empower them to carry on
Maybe that's what it's saying...
Yet this poem is so riveting because it is not straight-forwardly clear who or what this wild goose is:
Is it enough just to make it a wooden reference for the Holy Spirit?
Or is the goose more a symbol of a living one who flies free above the tragedy
searching for a heart to make a home in?
Or is it Jesus who will return?
Or is the wild goose someone who has gone across the waves, perhaps to evangelize the hinterlands, and for whom the singer longs?
Or is it my own hopes that are coming, someday flying home to me on the wind?
Or some combination of the above...
Or something else...
The power of this dramatic poem is that it is so open-ended - and that fascinates and moves me more than if it had just been explained away by the droll "the Holy Spirit will come to me."
So I love the image. It moves me toward my goal and gives me vision...
...so the chase continues.
____________________________
FOOTNOTES
This is my pseudo-scholarly chase for the "wild goose" as Holy Spirit, even though I am told that the phrase "wild goose chase" is either about horse racing (!) or vain hopes and dates only back to Shakespeare (see below).
From: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/wild-goose-chase.html...
“This phrase [wild goose chase] is old and appears to be one of the many phrases introduced to the language by Shakespeare. The first recorded citation is from Romeo and Juliet, 1592:
Romeo: Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match.
Mercutio: Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five.
Our current use of the phrase alludes to an undertaking which will probably prove to be fruitless - clearly wild geese are difficult to catch. Our understanding of the term differs from that in use in Shakespeare's day. The earlier meaning related not to hunting but to horse racing. A 'wild goose chase' was a chase in which horses followed a lead horse at a set distance, mimicking wild geese flying in formation. The equine connection was referred to in another early citation, just ten years after Shakespeare - Nicholas Breton's The Mother's Blessing, 1602:
"Esteeme a horse, according to his pace, But loose no wagers on a wilde goose chase."
That meaning had been lost by the 19th century. In Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811, he defines the term much the way we do today:
"A tedious uncertain pursuit, like the following a flock of wild geese, who are remarkably shy."
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A 1885-1886 article on the Greylag in "Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness Volume 12" p. 26.
Copyright Google Books.
GREY-LEGGED GOOOSE, OR GREY-LAG.
Latin — Anser ferus. Gs&lic—Geadh-glas. Welsh — Gwydd.
In the old song, already quoted in the article on the
Capercaillie, we have — "
An lachag riabhach, geadh-glas nan lar-innis',
Is eala 's ciatfaiche snamh."
The brown-striped duck, grey goose of the Western Isles,
And the proudly-swimming swan.
The grey-lag may well be called the "grey goose of the Western
Isles," as it is a permanent resident there, and is everything but
a friend to the crofters. This will be seen from the following
quotation from Grey : — " The grey-lag is now almost wholly
confined during the breeding season to some of the bleakest bird-
nurseries of the Outer Hebrides. There it leads a comparatively
quiet life, being but seldom molested, save at the season when the
slender crops are being gathered ; and even then the native
farmers prefer the practice of driving it off by lighting fires to the
extreme measure of powder and shot. For the last hundred years,
indeed, the flocks of wild geeso that collect about that season — and
a very important one it is to these isolated husbandmen — have
been kept at bay by fires alone. As soon as the breeding season
is over the geese gather into large flocks, and are then very
destructive to farm produce of all kinds ; indeed, it requires the
utmost watchfulness on the part of the crofters to keep them in
check. Several fires are made in the fields, and kept burning
night said day, and by this means the crops are to a great extent
saved. But the moment any of the fires are allowed to fail, the
geese, which are continually shifting about on the wing, suddenly
pitch on the unprotected spot, and often do much mischief before
they are discovered."
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Muriel Helen Dawson's sketch - Greylag geese and Invernessshire landscape
The Latin name for the greylag (grey-legged) goose is Anser anser, in Gaelic geadh-glas. This comment accompanies a 23, Jan. 1956 sketch "Greylag geese and Invernessshire landscape" by Muriel Helen Dawson. Interestingly, the second sheet of the sketch pad "bears a small reversed triangular icon of the Dove of Peace with 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' across the top, in gouache." Obviously no replacement of the Holy Spirit as dove there.
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web.mac.com/govertvanginkel/verbindendcommuniceren/
Here is a record of the long heroic search to find that author and re-confirm the claims made. http://suewidemark.com/lessonsgeese.htm. Sue Widemark's success gives me hope for my own quest - though her work did not include anything on Celts.
2 comments:
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Thank you so much for this fascinating and inspiring blog! I had assumed that the wild goose was a symbol of the ancient Celts for the Holy Spirit, so your research is revealing and intriguing for me.
Not that it upsets me - it's only a symbol and symbols are made and changed as people's understanding and insight change. Symbols are pictures to help our soul understand, not a literal fixed statement. So if it helps us to think of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose, then why not? As long as we don't attribute that picture to antiquity when there is no evidence for that.
Thank you for the lessons to be learned from the wild goose - very helpful and insightful.
And above all, I am touched by your description of our deep yearning for Truth,of being called beyond what we know, only to find that when we go towards what has called us, it changes, and we go on searching in hope. Kindred spirit, blessings to you.
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