Oran Mor

Ireland cosmogony

Once upon a time, there was no time. There were also no Gods and no woman or man to walk the land.

Once upon a time, there was no time. There were also no Gods and no woman or man to walk the land. There was no land, nor sea, nor sky. There was only the depths of nothingness and its dark, eternal quiet. And slowly a strain of melody moved across the endless dark, a whisper first. The music was the Oran Mór, ‘The Great Melody’, and it grew into a great spiralling, gathering sound and momentum, reaching further and louder, building to a great crescendo until, a sea-horse was born out of the white sea-foam.

She was a mare and her name was Lir. Oran Mór did not cease with the initial creation. Many more came then, emerging out of the sound that was singing itself to create the waters, one thing begetting another until a whole ocean of sea-horses was sung into being all rushing towards the point where the sea meets land.

The song is simply there and the song sings the dark oceans into being and sings the land into being and out of the song the singer emerges to become one with her creations. She is the eternal spirit woman, Oran Mór itself singing on in delight. She sings the sky into being and at first there is chaos as the wild seas and winds whirl across oceans and upwards creating millions of stars.

A star falls to earth creating an island out of which arises a majestic mountain. And from there the eternal spirit sings the sacred sites into being. And a seed appearsand is dropped into the earth to become an oak tree rising upwards towards the sky.

Out of the oak tree sprouts a plant and the plant gives birth to a God who gives birth to more Gods. The Gods live in the invisible spaces listening to the spirit woman sing. Her name is Ladra The White Ancient and she sings at the sacred sites creating dreams that create new cycles of plants, flowers, trees and animals.

Giants too are born as Ladra hurls pieces of bark from the Oak tree to earth. The Giants wander coming to rest in places where they become mountains.

The primordial sea melody, the Oran Mór, sings on today, filling creation – for all those who can hear – with its divine harmony. It flows through the giant mountains, submerged cities, invisible worlds, the mystic rivers and sacred wells and through every living creature, an invisible life force, a font of creation for all who can hear its song.

And so it was that the world began in nothingness and silence, followed by song and it was the song that sang the land and sea and sky into existence through the eternal spirit or White Ancient to become part of our conscious mind and memory. It is the White Ancient who dreams humans into being, culminating with the singing into existence of the ancient Celts.