Ardú na sióga –Tuatha Dé Danann Rising
Oil on Canvas. 60 X 45 cm
It is written in the Lebor Gabála Érenn,The Irish Book Of Invasions that the ancient mythical race of Tuatha Dé Danann came to Ireland after their original homelands of Falias, Murias, Gorias, and Finias located somewhere in the western Atlantic, was destroyed during a great natural catastrophe or flood.
These were the people of the Goddess Danu, a druidic class associated with the light of the sun and skilled in religious, legal and astronomical knowledge. It is supposed that these were the ancient ones who built the great and mysterious stone megaliths scattered like a constellations all over the Island of Ireland.
During the golden age of their ascendancy In Ireland the Tuatha Dé Danann gifted the people of the land with knowledge of the four hallows. These were four mystical objects of great wisdom and power. They were the Lia Fáil , the Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Nuada and the Cauldron of the Dagda, each of the four hallows came from each of the
great cities of Falias, Murias, Gorias, and Finias.
Only women and men of pure heart and noble intention could be initiated in the knowledge of the hallows. The chosen ones, through their received knowledge could expand the horizon of their domain, in a great way, for the greater good.
The Tuatha Dé Danann were recorded to have ruled over Ireland for 150 years but following the invasion of the Milesians (the forefathers of the modern day Irish) The Tuatha De Danann were forced into retreated. Instead of giving up their sacred Island they cloaked themselves in invisibility and went to dwell in the Sidhe as a spirit race, becoming over thousands of years the pantheon of the indigenous old Irish that reside in the ancient megalithic mounds of Ireland.
Irish Folklore is laced with legend and prophecy about the eventual return of the Tuatha Dé. Story has It, that forming a legion - they will come racing back through the sídhe, back from the otherworld to help Ireland in its time of greatest need. They will awaken the people of the land from their enchanted sleep and great forgetting. When the old ones return, it will be a time when ‘‘symbols will be more real than the things they represent, when people no longer have thoughts of their own and their minds are stronger than their instincts.’’A great battle and insurrection will ensue against the forces of darkness. It will be a battle that is won and Ireland will be restored to its glory once again.
The painting Ardú na sióga – came about as a result of learning more about the stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann and wanting to imagine an ephemeral spirit race of ancient Ireland rising from the Sidhe, coming to fulfil prophecy by bringing with them their mystical unknown, to help us transcends the known darkness and challenges of our time.