The Silver Branch
Oracle Card. Imbas Dispatch #45
Hello Shining Ones,
On this, the Lunar New Year and Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese Zodiac, along with the solar eclipse of the new moon in Aquarius (whew!), I share a new oracle card, the symbol of the Silver Branch from Celtic Dream Oracle: Ancient Symbols to Guide Your Modern Life. This card is all about a change in perception.
‘What is so strange is that before we sought it, the Grail sought us. Also, before we sought it, the Silver Branch sought us. We are being sought. But, given the noisesphere of our own creation that we live in, we are making it almost infinitely difficult to be found.’
John Moriarty, A Hut at the Edge of the Village
Silver Branch
Keywords:
Silver Branch Perception, Second Sight, Inner-truth
Suit:
The Gifts
Symbol:
An apple from the silver branch is offered to the riders to gift them the otherworldly sight needed to make it across the waves of Manannán MacLir, god of the sea, into the Otherworld.
Lore:
Two gloriously enchanting myths that feature the silver branch are tales of two kings, Bran meaning ‘raven’ in Old Irish and Cormac potentially meaning ‘raven-son’.
In ‘The Voyage of Bran’ (Imram Brain), King Bran ventures out of his fort away from the collective bustle and is lulled down into the earth’s slumber by a ceol sídhe, by fairy music. When he stirs from his mystical sleep, Bran discovers not far from his wakening body, a silver apple branch with crystal burls on it that burst into blossom. He takes the silver branch and returns to the royal house, where in the centre of its banqueting hall appears an otherworldly woman in ‘strange raiment’. Upon seeing Bran, she begins to incantate melodious poetry inviting him to come with her to the Otherworld. She describes an ancient tree there where birds as our oldest timekeepers sing the hours into form. When her chant is complete, the silver branch is released from Bran into her hand and she dissolves like mist.
Bran answers the call and along with 27 men (3 x 3 x 3) sets sail on a coracle deep into the unknown. After a couple of days adrift, they encounter Manannán Mac Lir, god of the sea, riding his chariot across the waves. He tells Bran to look deeper, to see beyond the sea. Bran squints at the water through the eyes of logic, what is visible to the human eye. Manannán urges Bran to look again with second sight, not to see water but to see the world beyond the veil of waves, to see the mystical and paradisiacal plains of his Avalonian landscape, of the Otherworld.
In ‘Cormac’s Adventure in the Land of Promise’ (Echtra Cormaic i Tír Tairngirí), Cormac is visited by a mysterious guest at the royal citadel of Tara who tells him he has come from the land of truth. He is described as having ‘two blunt shoes of white bronze between his feet and the earth’. Unbeknownst to Cormac this elusive visitor is Manannán Mac Lir, his shoes perhaps a bridge between the otherworldly realm of the sea, and the earth. He carries on his shoulder a silver branch upon which three golden apples hang. The branch can sing fairy music which brings delight and amusement even to women in the pangs of childbirth. The stranger gifts Cormac the silver branch in return for three wishes that he will ask of the king.
These wishes come to pass as the spiriting away of Cormac’s daughter, son and queen, Eithne to the Otherworld. Cormac regretting his trade travels to the Otherworld in search of his family. There, he witnesses many wondrous things like the roof of a palace where half of it is thatched using the white wings of birds, a place that is half made of spirit. He also encounters the Fountain of Knowledge and is told that no one can have true wisdom without drinking from this otherworldly source. Manannán Mac Lir reveals his identity and reunites Cormac with his family. He gifts Cormac a golden grail cup that breaks in three if falsehoods are uttered beneath it and reforms when truth is spoken. By bringing this cup back to the kingdom of Tara, to this waking world, Cormac remains tethered to the truth of the Otherworld - and this is what makes him a fine king.
When this card appears:
This card is an invitation to use what Irish philosopher and mystic, John Moriarty calls your ‘Silver Branch Perception’. To attune your way of seeing whatever you are faced with at this moment in time with an otherworldly sight. Go on a voyage inside of yourself and seek the wisdom available to you when you drink from your own inner Fountain of Knowledge. Keep looking again, asking, what more is here? What wants to reveal itself to me? Be patient, keep attuning. This is not a time to seek answers from the outside world, do not outsource your power. This can be a moment of great revelation from soul.
Invocation:
I go within and not without,
To a place of abundance and not of lack,
To seek from the palace of white feathers,
Where flows my Fountain of Knowledge,
My waters of revelation,
Trusting I will drink the answers I seek,
The truth that is known, only to me.
If you’re feeling the horse energy this week, you can find the ‘horse’ card from my oracle here:
Wishing you every blessing under the stars this week.
Croí isteach,
Jen x
Sources
Literary:
Echtra Cormaic i Tír Tairngirí, ‘Cormac’s Adventure in the Land of Promise’, edited and translated by Whitley Stokes.
Imram Brain, ‘The Voyage of Bran’ translated by Kuno Meyer.
Art:
Collage created with art from Albert Herter.
Powerful and timely ✨💛🙏🏼
This was a gift .Ironically I'd asked for external signs and guidance as I struggle with impatience at the slow progress of an issue currently affecting my life. The guidance comes invoking my hero John Moriarty ,to go within to the wellspring of my own wisdom. Thank you