By Stephen of Clan B-axter
May the road rise to meet your feet on the grind, May the gods offer a thousand welcomes to allow you to arrived, So you can hear the music and dance along the path to find; The far away tree of Tir Na Nog of youthful soul and mind, Where a day can pass like a year timed, To afford the wandering soul all skills to be climbed, Perfection of all art, mending, building and even laird applied, Not forgetting to sharpen thy Axe, thicken thine shield, tighten thy bow and quicken thine sword we spell-bind, To create with your hands but also thy heart & mind, Only to charge control to the child, maiden and family whether graced or unrefined, By repeating this oath aloud a promise enshrined, But are rewarded by all strength our gods provided, Signed in Ogham by the insular gods aligned, Of Lughnasadh, ceranos, Ogmios and Eriu combined; Not forgetting Anu of An, Ki, Enki, Enlis and Nammu primed, To swear by theses elements of space, nature and time sublimed,
In our own words of Danu, Nuada, allód, belanus and Lughnasa the one who shined, For he heard the mùsic and danced along the path to find, 300 years there to perfect all skill but only one day on earth confined, For it is this and nothing more haste ye be blind, To do bad and remember for all time or do good and forget and never remind, In the name of the warrior be blessed to be spinned, In the name of the father I charge ye to be divined, In the name of the mother forever be kind, In the name of the innocent I charge thee to take as guided, I swear this to the gods of the land, sea and sky deveined, I swear to the gods whom my people described, And if I break my oath I have not tired, May the land open and swallow the signed, May the sea rise to drown the assigned, And the sky fall upon thee blinded. And so it is... "NÍ BHÍONN AN RATH ACHT MAR MBIONN AN SMACH" (To fully excel at something you must be fully committed).
The Adventures of Lughnasadh "the man who became a god" coming soon on Clan B - Functional Art.