Spear of Illumination

Symbols from Irish Mythology. Imbas Dispatch #7

A Chairde, Friends,

If you could be the custodian of four supernatural treasures, what four treasures would you choose?

Yesterday, I asked my five and eight-year-old sons this question. They weren’t happy with four treasures, no no, too limiting for their imaginations. So they came up with ten magical rings they would wear on each of their fingers endowed with these powers:

• Ring 1: Helps you run at the speed of light

• Ring 2: Makes you jump really high

• Ring 3: Heals you straight away if you get hurt, and you can heal others with it

• Ring 4: Can capture and redirect lightning, and the elements

• Ring 5: Helps you control the galaxy (I'm hoping this wasn’t intended in a global domination kind of way)

• Ring 6: Translates the language of nature—of plants and animals—so that you can understand what a tree is saying to you

• Ring 7: Brings about world peace

• Ring 8: Protects you and helps you protect others

• Ring 9: Makes you see through stuff like walls

• Ring 10: Gives you supersonic hearing

With their ten imaginary rings on fingers, they were literally blinging with magic!

Art inspired by The Empty Tomb by Mikhail Nesterov

Four Treasures of the Immortals

I shared with them then that the Tribe of the Mother Goddess Danu (Tuatha Dé Danann)—the goddesses and gods of Ireland—brought four supernatural treasures with them when they arrived on these shores. The story goes that on their way here, they first visited four mystical cities to learn their ‘genuine wisdom’, occult lore and secret magic. In each of these cities was a master poet-seer (file) who gifted the Tuatha Dé Danann their knowledge and along with this came four treasures:

• From the mystical city of Goirias, came the Gae Assail, the spear of the shining god Lugh¹

• From Findias, came what is often called the Claíomh Solais, the ‘Sword of Light’, of Nuada, king of the Tuatha Dé

• From Murias, came the Coire Ansic, the ‘Cauldron of Plenty’, of the Dagda, the horned father of the tribe

• From Falias, came the Lia Fáil, the ‘Stone of Destiny’

When I look at these treasures, practical questions pop into my brain like, why do most belong to the male gods or I flinch at the thought of violence with the spear and the sword. But, mythology is the story of the soul and so when I look at the symbolism of these jewels, they take on much deeper, profound meaning for my life.

In this Imbas Dispatch, I’ll share about the first treasure listed above, the spear of Lugh. Then in the weeks to come, I’ll share reflections on the other three treasures. Before I do, I invite you to see symbols as both collective and personal. Symbols from mythology often hold archetypal energies, this sense of a meaning we inherently recognise that’s part of the common soup of humanity we all nourish ourselves from. They appear across many cultures but look a little different according to how that culture likes to cook the symbol.

Symbols are also personal, taking on meaning that reflects our own lived experience and ways of making meaning with the world. There may be commonalities in what the symbol means to you and me, but there’ll also be differences. That makes this all the more interesting!

The Spear

The Gae Assail (‘Spear of Assal’) belongs to the shining god Lugh. It is described as a lightning weapon (not far off Ring 4 on my boys’ list) and is compared to Mjölnir, Thor’s enchanted hammer in Norse mythology.² It always returns to Lugh’s hand after it has completed its mission, usually death, as it never misses its target. Lugh’s epithet, one of the names given to him that describes his qualities, is Lámhfhada, meaning long arm or long hand likely in reference to his ability to hurl the spear.

This spear holds a symbolism akin to the wands in tarot. In fact, the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann align to the four suits in tarot, as they do for what are called the four psychological types in Jungian psychology, how we orientate ourselves in the world through thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation. The spear, like the wands, can help us with our intuition, which is our ability to access information for our lives that hasn’t gone through the filter of conscious reasoning. Intuition is often experienced as a ‘knowing’ that can seem illogical but sings of truth.

As befits a lightning spear, intuition can ignite the flame of inspiration, the ‘fire in the head’ as our ancestors called it. The tip of this spear was so fiery that it was kept in a vat of water when not in use. If the thrower shouted, ‘Yew!’ (ibar), as in yew tree, when throwing the spear, it meant certain death. If we take this out of the literal into the psychological—the study of the soul—the yew is described as the ‘spell of knowledge’ in ancient Ireland.³ The spear of intuition comes for you and you are hit with the spell of knowledge, magic and wisdom together. Intuition so often brings death because it defies reason, it kills our dependence on logic, creating something new in its place.

Intuition can also bring startling clarity. Lugh is said to have killed his grandfather, Balor of the Evil Eye, by throwing the spear into his giant insidious eyeball. Balor is of the older Fomorian gods who represent primordial chaos. When Lugh throws his spear, he pierces into chaos to bring illumination. It is fitting for Lugh to do this because he is also called, Samildánach, meaning that he is the most skilled of all the gods in poetry and inspiration. Intuition is the poetry of the soul and so it makes sense that he should hurl the spear of illumination at us in the hope that it rouses our soul.

Like the spear, intuition never misses its target but whether it pierces through our consciousness or not is another thing. How many times have we all been struck by intuition and not heeded its wisdom?

From Ella Young’s The Coming of Lugh illustrated by Maud Gonne

Journal Prompt

The main takeaway here is that if someone launches a spear at you and shouts ‘Yew!’, get ready to be knocked off your feet with intuition… For now, here is a journal prompt for your week ahead inspired by this symbol:

Think of a current challenge or decision you’re facing. Gently close down your eyes, take three luxurious breaths, and invite the image of Lugh with his fiery spear of illumination to float up from the unconscious. Then ask the fire, as a symbol of your intuition, for guidance. Write down whatever comes to mind, without censorship. You could even ask, ‘Intuition, what would you have me know?’

I would love to learn from you and how you make meaning with this symbol so please feel so welcome to share.

Croí isteach,

Jen x

1. Depending on the Old Irish manuscript, the spear comes from Goirias or in another source, Findias

2. Early Irish History and Mythology by Thomas F. O’Rahilly

3. Ireland’s Trees: Myths, Legends and Folklore by Niall MacCoitir