Imbas forosna

Imbas forosna [ 'imbas forʼosna ], also imbass forosna ("the comprehensive knowledge that illuminates") is the name of a certain type of prophecy or fortune-telling that was practiced in ancient times by the Celtic filid (poets). Awenydd was a similar practice in Wales .

method

In the glossary of Bishop Cormac ( Sanas Cormaic ) it is described how the imbas forosna takes place:

The fili chews the raw meat of a pig, a dog or a cat, lays it on a stone slab by the door, speaks a blessing about it and offers it to the gods with a prayer . If he then has no vision ( aisling [e] ) , he chants the mantra in his palms and lies down to sleep, pressing his palms to his cheeks. The dream should then show him in a vision everything he desires to know. During sleep he must be guarded so that he is not disturbed, because this would make it impossible for his soul to return to the body, which would be his death. After an indefinite period of time - from a few minutes to nine days - he wakes up and announces the result. The length of sleep should also depend on how long he has sacrificed.

Cormac explains the word imbas with the fact that the "palms" ( bas ) are placed "on" ( im ) the cheeks. Birkhan and Maier , on the other hand, derive it from “comprehensive” ( imb ) and “knowledge” ( fess ).

The Holy Patrick of Ireland (... 4-5 century AD) to the imbas forosna have already banned, a more detailed description of the process at the time of Cormac - 900 AD -. Therefore is at least doubtful..

Other practices

The fili also had the teinm laída , also teinm laeda , ("opening with a song") and the díchetal do chennaib ("invocation from the bone ends" [?], Or "improvised invocation" [?]) As well as the tarb- feis ("bull sleep", to recognize the new king). In teinm laída , he places an object on the person who wants to know something, sings a rhythmic song, at the end of which the result is shouted out as if in a trance . This practice was forbidden by Saint Patrick after the Sanas Cormaic because of the often associated idol sacrifices. The díchetal do chennaib is said to have proceeded similarly. This form of prophecy was considered harmless by Patrick, since no sacrifices were made, he did not prohibit it. All four of the divination practices mentioned here were, according to the old laws, unavoidable requirements for the ollam , the poet of the highest degree.

literature

Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-48234-1 .

Web links

Jan Fries: Cauldrons of the gods: A Manual of Celtic Magick. Mandrake of Oxford, ISBN 1-869928-709 , p. 382 f.
Robert D. Scott: Thumb of Knowledge. Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-0-766-17997-4 , pp. 97 f.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 931 f.
^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 176 f.
↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. P. 130.
↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. P. 49.
^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 310.

[HB-1] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 931 f.

[2] Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 176 f.

[3] Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. P. 130.

[4] Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. P. 49.

[5] Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 310.