The Celtic Countryside Geographic Location in The Blessed Isles | World Anvil

The Celtic Countryside

A picture of an adult Rowan tree.
Rowan Tree by Eeno11
The Celtic world was one of possibilities instead of absolutes. Things could certainly exist in more than one state. In the view of the Celts, nothing was immutable, everything could change. Sometimes at moment's notice. To the Celts, borders of all things were blurred and hazy. Such as the case between the real world and the otherworld. Veils separating life and death, were viewed as thin. One can part this veil and enter the world of the dead. However, before you can do that, you had to know the way. Such a way was considered to be mysterious and one not followed. Those who wanted to know turned to the druids, who talked in riddles and said that the way was a riddle. Also, it was not easily understood.   Everything was seen as potentially alive. As a tree was alive, so was the rock. Hills was seen as the homes of powerful Sidhe lords. It was thought that standing stones were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Many trees were thought of to be magical in there own right.  And some trees were seen as symbols to the druids.  Animals were seen as having their own wisdom.  They were seen as different from humans, but neither inferior or superior.  People could learn from animals.   The Celts saw that the world was a place where the familiar could become strange; and the strange could become familiar. The world view of the Celts can be understood in two points. After all, the word "Celt" came from a root word that meant "hidden" or "concealed."  The word "kilt" came from the same root word. Celtic art was abstracted, to be sure.  The Celts used swirls and curves, having a beauty of their own.  To the Celts, everything was circular, round and not straight.  This was true in how the Celts viewed truth.  The Celts also saw life as being a cycle and never a linear line.  Eventually, after death, one would be reborn into new life.

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