#Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

[a-h-mad-hish]

“One of the deepest longings of the human soul is to be seen.”

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, by John O'Donohue

[mountain-sage]

“Love is the threshold where divine and human presence ebb and flow into each other.”

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

O'Donohue, John

[eyeoftheheart]

Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest Heaven, The Empyrean by Gustave Doré

“There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. In the kingdom of love there is no competition; there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have. One remembers here Dante’s notion* that the secret rhythm of the universe is the rhythm of love, which moves the stars and the planets. Love is the source, center, and destiny of experience.”

~ Anam Cara: A Book Of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue

*“L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle. The love that moves the sun and the other stars.”

~ Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, 1320.

(This line appears at the very end of Dante’s Divine Comedy, where Beatrice reveals to Dante the ultimate source of cosmic order and divine will: love. In Dante’s cosmology, this divine love is responsible for the motion of the heavens, symbolizing the ultimate force that governs the universe.)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1963.  Herb Slodounik

[Historyinpictures]

* * * *

“You are so knitted into a day. You are within it; the day is as close as your skin. It is around your eyes; it is inside your mind. The day moves you, often it can weigh you down; or again it can raise you up. Yet the amazing fact is: this day vanishes. When you look behind you, you do not see your past standing there in a series of day shapes. You cannot wander back through the gallery of your past. Your days have disappeared silently and for ever. Your future time has not arrived yet. The only ground of time is the present moment.” - John O’Donohue, from Anam Cara, The Book of Celtic Wisdom

[alchemicalcodes]

Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom. John O'Donohue.

[innervoiceartblog]

Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the lowlands of complacency and partial fulfillment.

― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

[withnailrules]

One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people.

—John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

[the-mandolorian]

“Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the lowlands of complacency and partial fulfillment. The eternal makes you urgent. You are loath to let compromise or the threat of danger hold you back from striving toward the summit of fulfillment.”

― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

[thrallofthesoul]

everything but nothing

Light touches everything, yet what does it truly hold? 

"The future stands still, but we move in infinite space." (1)

We drift through that space, sensing the light, but it does not show us what we expect. Instead, it sharpens the edges of shadow, making absence more vivid, more pressing. The future does not guide; it waits, still, while we trace its contours in the dim glow.

"What is light? It is the visible evidence of the invisible." (2)

The more light reveals, the more we become aware of what escapes our grasp. Darkness does not simply oppose light; it lingers as the inevitable counterpart to everything illuminated. The clearer the light, the more profound the unknown, casting its weight beneath every surface we encounter.

"The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." (3)

We chase the light, but it dances just beyond our understanding, always slipping into something deeper. The silence of the world stretches out beneath us, an abyss—waiting, without explanation. The light does not reveal the depth; it only makes us aware of how far the fall might be.

The abyss, then, is not simply the absence of light—it is the endless unknown that the light illuminates but never explains. We hover on its edge, drawn in by the flickering glow, but beneath us, the void waits, indifferent, infinite.

(1) Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (2) John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (3) Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

[rodwhite]

The screens vs. the real intimacy of the soul

When John O’Donohue published Anam Cara: A Celtic Book of Wisdom in 1997, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair presided over the politics of the West. At that time, here in Philadelphia, we were a few years into planting a church. It had a great run until my successors hit the pandemic wall. The 90’s seem like a very long time ago. But in many ways, O’Donohue is even more relevant now than he was in the…

[montaguewhitsel]

“It is strange to be here.  The Mystery never leaves you alone.” (xv) -        John O’Donohue  Anam Cara: a Book of Celtic Wisdom (1997)

[a-h-mad-hish]

“Unfinished Poem I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, John O'Donohue

[mountain-sage]

Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the lowlands of complacency and partial fulfillment.

John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

[eyeoftheheart]

The natural gesture of the Divine Masculine, when healthy, awake and alive, is the desire and willingness to bow to the Divine Feminine. The Divine Masculine, in its truest form, being in harmony with its divine intention and integrity, is a force that serves, protects and uplifts the Divine Feminine. The God-given purpose and destiny of the masculine is to be the guardian of the feminine. To be the guardian of the feminine is to be the guardian of the sacred flame of life, for the feminine is the wellspring of life. The healthy masculine creates a safe and sacred space for the feminine to blossom and unfold fully and bows in recognition of her mystery. Her mystery is the mystery of "the hidden treasure" as the Sufis call it, the life-giving, divine spark of creation itself.

The relationship between the masculine and feminine energy is meant to be a divine dance where both can express themselves authentically, united yet distinct in a union of love. In the dance between these energies, the masculine does not lose his strength; rather, he magnifies, deepens and purifies it. Similarly, the grounded presence of the Divine Masculine, his steady and unwavering love, creates a sanctuary in which the Divine Feminine feels safe to awaken fully to her truest and highest self. Ultimately, the Divine Masculine's presence serves as a mirror, reflecting back to her the truth of her own divinity and worth. His strength and presence invites openness, trust, and the flourishing of the feminine’s gifts of healing, beauty, and grace. The selfless quality of the Divine Masculine’s love for the Feminine is a love that holds space without asking for anything in return, and in this selfless giving, the Feminine shines, illuminating the world with her unique beauty and grace. Together, they embody a love that is both transcendent and transformative. This union is not merely romantic in the ordinary earthly sense; it is truly sacred, romantic and erotic in a divine sense.

+++

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, "On Marriage" (1923)

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

~ Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi, (1995)

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”

~ Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)

“When two people come together, an ancient circle closes between them. Above them and around them a sacredness unfolds, and their souls enter that secret shelter where the Divine can dwell.”

~ John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (1997)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"The Ice Cave" 1950 by Georgia O'Keefe. : Guillaume Gris

* * *

“You are so knitted into a day. You are within it; the day is as close as your skin. It is around your eyes; it is inside your mind. The day moves you, often it can weigh you down; or again it can raise you up. Yet the amazing fact is: this day vanishes. When you look behind you, you do not see your past standing there in a series of day shapes. You cannot wander back through the gallery of your past. Your days have disappeared silently and for ever. Your future time has not arrived yet. The only ground of time is the present moment.”

- John O’Donohue, from Anam Cara, The Book of Celtic Wisdom

[jacciturner]

Spiritual Practice: Seeing Yourself as a Stranger

I’ve been quiet here lately, doing a lot of book signings, gathering with friends, and celebrating the holidays with family. I hope you are surrounded by love and light, good friends, warmth, and delicious food this season. I’ve been enamored by a book by John O’Donoghue lately, called Anam Cara: A book of Celtic Wisdom. It is so deep that I’m savoring it slowly and will probably have to read it…