Origin stories of the people of Manannan Mac Lir The royal mage said, This story is from one of our history books. We have told of creation from Lir's light, and the part of the color spectrum from which our universe was created. But there have been many adventures of our people, some with other races of the Fair Folk, and some with humanity. Long ago, after our world was created, Manannan and Fand wanted to understand the rest of the universe. So they created a golden coach with fantastic whirled shapes and arches, and plants made of emeralds and pearls. They went to visit some of the lands of our people. But they were not always welcome. Some people can be rather ugly and violent, and they sought excuses for war. Instead of receiving us as visitors, they called our gods trespassers. They threatened us with war animals, and the revenge of poisonous plants, and threatened to steal away the treasures of Manannan's world. The men were cruel and lustful, and sought to take Fand by force. Manannan fought them off, and took his lady back to the World of Dreams. But he knew they would be followed, so our people of crafts and beauty and dance had to become warriors. This is the worst aspect of war - it drags everybody down to the level of hatred and violence. We cannot be killed, as humans are, and we do not end up with battlefields of death and decay. But the beauty of our land can be taken, our artwork smashed, our boats, which fly through the world can be burned, and our women and children taken away to a foreign land. So we had to turn lutes into swords, and fight. Nobody wants to do it, but everybody recognizes its importance. The mages knew that their people were not soldiers, but they also knew that the people could learn and create swiftly. So they sent out their minds and used their intuitive abilities to learn the skills of their warrior neighbors. They saw that the desire for war was based on lack of creativity - that the opposing culture chose to steal or destroy rather than create for itself. Some gods were jealous of any creations but their own, and they end up starving their cultures of beauty. They do this in various ways. Some allow music but not art, some painting but not dance, and some are allowed to make swords but not pictures. So they came to steal and destroy for their god's glory so that none could create but him. In order to defend our people, the mages created a fence of beauty around our world, full of distractions and false pathways to confuse the attackers. The weakness of soldiers is obedience - they cannot find their way through mazes when each soldier has a different maze and the leaders cannot agree on the direction in which to proceed. Each soldier had fantasies and desires created before his eyes, and each had to tread a labyrinth to reach those goals. Reality was superimposed upon reality, and false pathways led to deep prisons. Very little of their army made it through the maze. Our people were victorious and succeeded in fighting off the invaders. The mages worked hard, and were given noble status. Today they work with both gods and goddesses, both with Queen Anya, and also with Manannan and Fand. While the Queen Anya travels with them and they are part of her court, for Manannan, they are more consultants to be called on in times of need. This was our origin story of the warrior and protective mages of our people. The Story of Creation The ethics of the Fair Folk are based on a god and a goddess who are different, yet equally valued and respected. In the beginning was the boundless ocean, with no beginning or end, and all depth and no surface. Yet it came to have shining light within it, and this light rippled through it accompanied by the sound of harps. When the ripples would collide, the primal sound would change to violins and lyres, and to bagpipes and drums. Light created sound, and both created complexity. From the shining white light of eternity came rainbows, with harp and flute. From the brilliant blue-green light at the beginning came the light of the ocean which became the light of the Fair Folk . At its most intense were Lord Manannan and Lady Fand, whose names are like the fluttering descent of reverberating harp strings. They rise out of the turquoise light in a great white sun, edged with blue, green, and gold. These are the colors of the people of Manannan , and they wear them as badges of honor. From other colored lights came the other gods, Lugh and Dowda (or Dagda). The sun itself was Lir, the radiance of creation. The colors of creation where related to the different roles the Fair Folk played during life. The blue and green light was the basis of the creation of mages and artists, who are associated with rain and water. Those whose identities were based on red and orange light became the knights and warriors, associated with fire and wind. The white and yellow light produced hermits, seeking only to return to the source and avoiding the realms of manifestation. The indigo and purple lights produced sorcerers and priests, who explored subtle powers of grasping sky and earth, seeking to harness the power of the worlds of creation they had left. Each group had different adventures. Those of blue light traveled the path of mage, writer and artist in creating beauty, those of red light walked the roads of blood and thunder and war, those of white light trod the path of renunciation, and those of purple light experienced secrecy and power, and sorcery and mysterious journeys. When our gods began, they were pure thought, pure idea. They did not have bodies and worlds, only awareness. But this awareness came to create the matrix of the creation we know today - time and space, and then echoes of the cosmic ocean in rivers, lakes, and seas. There were fantastic plants, silver trees with golden fruit, giants flowers with perfume and soft petals, and beautiful palaces that glowed from within and were lit by gardens of luminous flowers. Eventually, plants, animals, and people appeared, and artists who recreated worlds out of less brilliant light. It was from the conflict that arose from less brilliant forms of light that dissonance was created, and then hostility and destruction. While plant forms stayed bright in most worlds, animals and humans descended into conflict and partial darkness. In opposition to this darkness arose such virtues as courage and heroism, and compassion and self sacrifice. From the darkness again rose light. This is the history of the Fair Folk, the endless struggles of light and darkness. It is also the history of humankind. Introduction | History | Manannan Mac Lir | Merlin | Taliesin | Building the Realms of the Fair Folk | Lir and Danu | Lugh and the Morrigan | Anya, Daughter of Manannan | Manannan's Ocean Kingdom | Aengus, The Poet God of Love and Romance | 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