Aengus The Poet God of Love, Romance, and Meaning Aengus is the poet, the lover, the romantic, the god of mysterious groves and dark pools, not the demon lover but the dark and mysterious one. He appears as a man with long dark chestnut-colored hair in a deep green cloak and high brown boots. He wears a loose white poet's shirt, and a heavy belt with a jeweled sword. He has a chiseled face and bright emerald green eyes. He looks both artistic and tragic, a poet and a dreamer who has seen war and suffering. He says, Greetings to the one who is only half here. I am the romantic's god, and the surrealist's god. I represent the beauty of dark mystery, of striving, of secret love, of deep shadows where the land is brighter than the sky. But I am life and not death, the light, which is aware of its own shadows and wonders at its own complexity. I am the writer of journals, the painter of secret niches and hiding places, and the poet of love lost and found. I am the fish splashing in the river, the hawk flying through the skies, and the stag on the mountaintop. I am the chronicler of mysterious beauty. I am not the aesthetic of Japanese Shibusa, - it too is mysterious but too impersonal. My great artist is De Chirico, painter of the lost. My spirit may be seen in the ornate European castles, and in the ancient fountains and secret treasures of the earth. How do we love? Who do we love? Love is the affirmation of the past, continuing it into the present by loving those who evoke it. Love is also rejection of the past, the tearing out of pain in hopes that a new future may place a new glow in the heart. I am the poet of love. I look upon the twisted and painful results of love, and see the purity that it once was. I am both bard and artist, and I am also a god, so I am bound to these worlds of light and darkness. I am the artist of chiaroscuro, and part of me is in light, and part in shadow. The Loss of Romance in the Modern World Aengus comments on the state of love in the modern world: I am the god of love, new love, lost love, love that might have been, love which has been lost and found. My spark is in the woman watching the sails of the tall ships seeking her beloved's return; the child's wonder at a sky full of stars that looks like the sparkling eyes of his friend; the scent of burning leaves which reminds a man of the tragic death of his wife. I am the passionate god, the artist and the poet, the wild horse seeking freedom, and the man who fights danger for the sake of his family. I am intense emotion, subtle beauty, and the longing and tragedy which shapes and colors lives. I am love and joy, sorrow and anger, and beauty that comes from reflection on these - these are my paints and my canvas. I am an artist in many worlds. Love is diluted in the modern world, where people substitute entertainment for involvement. In movies, there is less chance for an unhappy ending - and if it comes, one can critique the film. To live by games and sports and films is to deny the power of the spirit, and to find satisfaction by vicarious emotion and conquest. Subtlety become blurred and desire blots out eroticism, power and status become more important than compassion and caring. Thus, people long for those who are unworthy, and the sensitive are harmed by the callousness of the ambitious. Children who seek love are often traumatized by parents who wish only authority and domination. Workers are harmed by callous bosses, and warriors are often brutalized by their own leaders. The strong denigrate the sensitive as weak, proud in their blindness and ignorance. Knowledge of love is relegated to dreamers and visionaries, while shortsightedness is glorified as pragmatism. I represent the long view over the horizon rather than the sight of what is in front of your nose, sensuality over the course of a lifetime rather than a one-night stand and a cigarette. I look with sympathy on those who seek meaning in life, and cannot find it, and those who are tired of objects but cannot find a way around them. I do not deal with love of power or money. These are the distractions of love. True love ultimately deals with what is over the horizon of existence. Sensitivity is not by nature perverse or weak, nor should love be directed towards material objects as the highest goal. Such love will draw the person back to death, in a narrow view rather than an expansive one. People create their own prisons when political claims, or territories or possessions become the chains around their hearts. Love can chain, and love can free - I prefer the latter. Love of sport teams, political parties, army, and church can all stand in the way of love that guides the spirit. Even human passion can chain the spirit, if the person looks only to the heart of the loved one, and does not see the greater beauty that is reflected there. Beauty transcends space and time, going across the world and down the generations. The Fair Folk have many perspectives, which could help those in the human world to nurture various qualities which have been de-emphasized, like meaning and compassion and beauty. When wealth and power become the only goals, the hand becomes a fist and the heart is hardened. Suffering become invisible, for it stands in the way of conquest. Vision becomes narrowed, and much of the world is unseen. But we who watch the morning sunrise with awe and wonder are far away now. I send blessings to those who strive, who see beyond the world of power and death, who know that something is missing but do not know what it is. What is missing is first the love of life, and second its transformations. I am the guide of love and longing, and I fill the sky and the heart with stars. Introduction | Manannan Mac Lir | Merlin | Taliesin | Building the Realms of the Fair Folk | Lir and Danu | Lugh, Aengus, and the Morrigan | Aengus, The Poet God of Love and Romance | Anya, Daughter of Manannan | Manannan's Ocean Kingdom | The Ancient Roads to the Fair Folk | Manannan's Horses | The Society of the Fair Folk | The Place of Transformation | Traveling Between the Worlds | Research Methodology | Conclusion Home Copyright © 2005,   J. Denosky,   All Rights Reserved