Duile: Faerie Elements
There are many Faerie Duile, or Elements. They have correspondences in both the
physical body (microcosm), the soul-body, and in the multiverse (macrocosm).
There are also many systems (ways of categorizing) of Faerie Elements.
You will notice that I do not include Fire as an element. In the Celtic mind,
fire is seen as spirit. it is creation and destruction. it is the presence of
the Deities, or the spark of inspiration. But Faerie Duile are a very personal
thing. You must discover a system that works only for you.
Here are two ways of viewing the Faerie Duile:
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I The Nine Duile
key: du/ile= body part= soul-lore
Land:
earth(talamh)= flesh(colaind)= elemental make-up (duile)
stone(cloch)= bone(cnaimh)= shape(delvh)
salt(salan)= nerves(ne/aro/g)= mind & will(menma)
Sea:
rain(ba/isteach)= fluid(lionn])= shadow & shape-shifting self(pu/ca)
cloud(nel)= brain(imradud)= mind(imradud)
sea(muir)= blood(fuil)= subconscious & memory(cuimhne)
Sky:
sun(grain)= face(drech)= self(fe/in)
star(re/altai/)= eye(s)[su/il(e)]= shade-soul(enaid)
wind(gaeth)= breath1(ana/l)= breath2(ana/l)
note: breath1 is the physical air intake, while breath2 is inspirational breath.
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II The Six Duile
key: element= body counterpart
Gaeth (Wind)= Ana/l (Breath)
Nel (Cloud)= Imradud (Mind)
Grain (Sun)= Drech (Face)
Muir (Sea)= Fuil (Blood)
Talamh (Earth)= Colaind (Flesh)
Cloch (Stone)= Cnaimh (Bone)
This is based on a Welsh medieval medical text. It was christianized so those
lines have been deleted:
There should be eight parts in each man: the first part of the earth, the
second of the sea, the third of the sun, the fourth of the wind, the fifth of
the cloud, the sixth of stone [the seventh of the Holy Spirit, the eighth of
the light of the world called Christ].
Man's flesh is of the earth, his blood of the sea, his eyes of the sun, his
breath of the wind, his mind and his inconstancy of the cloud, his bones of the
stone [his soul of the Holy Spirit, his understanding of the light of the world
called Christ].
If the greatest part of him is of the earth, he will be languid and heavy, if
of the sea, he will be wise, if of the sun, he will be wild and warlike, if of
the wind he will be volatile and adulterous, if of the cloud he will be
volatile and wrathful, if of the stone, he will be hard and niggardly as a
thief [if of the Holy Sirit he will be amialble and perfect and godly in his
deeds].
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