The Kingdom Is Asleep: Stories & Spells

In the story of Briar Rose, we find a kingdom that has fallen asleep under a spell. The kingdom is surrounded by a briar thorn hedge that no one can seem to penetrate.

Perhaps you see it too; a world under a spell. Or many spells.

It’s good not to be naive about the number of spells we are under these days and how costly it is to break them.

But I’d like to wonder a bit about the relationship between stories and spells.

In her book The Celtic Spirit, Caitlin Matthews, Celtic scholar and author, poses the question like this:

“She tells that when Merlin is exposed to the terrible carnage of the battle of Arfderwydd he becomes mad and runs into the depths of the forest. Within the forest’s embrace, he becomes one with the trees and seasons and puts aside the terrible sights he has seen to focus upon the gifts of the wild world, becoming rusticated and “uncivilized.”

Ever pertinent and prophetic, he sees through the pretexts and pretensions of those who come to lure him back to civilization with the sure instinct of an animal.

He does not respond to anyone except his friend, the Welsh poet, Taliesin who comes to sit with him. Only then does Merlin respond, asking the odd question, “Why do we have weather?”