Aengus is a deathless comrade of the Spring, and we may well pray to him to let his green fire move in our veins."
- Fiona MacLeod, "The Birds of Aengus Og"
Aengus Ma Og is the Irish deity whose spirit inhabits the megalithic monument of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley of Ireland. His hostel on the banks of the Boyne is a traditional entrance to the otherworld, a place where souls congregate and rest. In their soul's circuit, several Irish heroes and heroines have become lost or disorientated. It is within Aengus's care that they are given time to recover.
Birds and other animals begin to choose their mates as the growing year burgeons strongly in the strengthening sunlight. The green fire that runs all over the earth is sparked by this very sunlight and the deep germinating power of the earth. When plants reach toward the sunlight, the red, violet, and blue bands of the light spectrum activate the chlorophyll pigment within each leaf so that it reflects green. This pigment alters as the year progresses, causing the leaves to change color, but from this time forward the medley of greens is apparent.
This green fire is also within us - not in our physical bodies, as it is in plants, but in our emotional and creative lives. Spring fever has many manifestations, some almost hormonal. The creative urge of spring brings into being much verse, for example, as our emotional upheavals reach out for fresh life and vigor. To experience the green fire and answer to its call is to commune with the green vigor of Aengus.
Where is the green fire in your own life at this time? Take your emotional and creative temperature; then give yourself over to something pleasurable and enlivening this week."
- Caitlin Matthews, The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year
, 1999, p. 159; Meditation for March 29th. March Holidays and Religious Celebrations
March Poetry and Lore
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