Celtic Medicine Stories

Kat Houghton PhD

Myths, wonder tales and folklore from the Celtic lands with an eye to personal transformation adventuresintheotherworld.substack.com

  1. JAN 10

    Merlin: Prophesy from the Forest

    This one again. This story won’t leave me alone. This is a re-telling of Merlin’s story as it comes through me often. We have little on record of this battle, the battle of Arfderydd recorded in the year 573. It’s location is thought to have been in what is now an old field just north of the Scottish- English border. And it is recorded as one of the three futile battles of Britain. It is also recorded that this is the battle in which merlin went mad and spend 3 days and 3 nights without food, drink or sleep in the wildwood. In this telling the story of the battle and what happened after is my imagining - having spend time up there on that land and time fasting out in the woods. the prophesy at the end of this telling has been recorded in multiple ways in multiple texts. I recommend you give yourself some space to listen to this one. It’s not good driving material. It might require you to dig into your own loss, and what we’ve lost collectively. And from that the seeds of knowing push through the dark soil bringing new life. I invite you to reflect on what it might mean to turn yourself into soil. To delve deeper into the images and archetypes that stand out for you in this story I invite you to subscribe to the free email course: Working with Archetypes here https://soul.kathoughton.com/working-with-archetypes This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventuresintheotherworld.substack.com

    32 min
  2. 12/14/2024

    Becoming Wisdom: Pwyll and Arawn

    Nine hundred years ago in Medieval Wales, an unknown author wrote down tales that have been carried in the oral tradition for at least 2,000 years. Some think this collection of tales, known as The Mabinogion, is much older than that. This story, about Pwyll Prince of Dyfed is set before the Saxons, before the Romans, in a time when the native Brittons roamed freely across most of what is now Wales, England and Scotland. The Mabinogion are thought to be a collection of teaching tales for young nobles. This first one is a story of male initiation. Pwyll’s mentor shows up as Arawn King of Annwfn, which is the Welsh Otherworld. Annwfn translates as the very deep, inner world. This is an encounter with the Magical Huntsman who appears frequently in Celtic lore, you may have come across him as Gwyn ap Nudd. Whomever wrote down these stories put a Christian veneer on them, but the bulk of them remain decidedly pre-Christian. This is the first section of what is knows as the First Branch of the Mabinogi, there are two more sections in the branch and three more branches. I'll be recording re-tellings of the other parts over the next few months. Adventures in the Otherworld is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Learn more about me here: https://www.kathoughton.com/ To delve deeper into the images and archetypes that stand out for you in this story I invite you to subscribe to the free email course: Working with Archetypes here https://soul.kathoughton.com/working-with-archetypes This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventuresintheotherworld.substack.com

    20 min

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Myths, wonder tales and folklore from the Celtic lands with an eye to personal transformation adventuresintheotherworld.substack.com

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