Miach and Airmid

People:

• Ritual leader - prepares the space, lighting fire and opening well, and making private invocation to the gods of the occasion.
• Summoner - get people centered and brings them into the space, makes the general invocations, and at the end, gives them their charge upon leaving, then ushers them out.
• Miach - lies "dead" under the cloak, meditating on the power of life and death, and the effects of the various herbs.
• Airmid - tends Miach, tells story, gathers herbs, charges people.
• Diancecht - scatters herbs, expresses anger at being surpassed, possibly also claiming that we should not be able to reverse or overcome death as it's part of the natural order.

Materials

Fire cauldron, well, candles for Danu and Bile', Diancecht, Miach and Airmid, summoning bell, a bracing early-spring incense for the fire, such as juniper or sage, silver for the well. Airmid's cloak, and gathering basket, pins, 18 or 36 bunches of herbs labeled with their names.

Mystery Play

Miach lies dead under the cloak and Airmid tells the story of Nuada's arm and Diancecht's jealousy and her previous attempts to heal him. Most of the herbs are in place on the cloak, and she is looking for a few last ones around the room when Diancecht, who has been waiting outside, rushes into the room and scatters them. She asks the aid of all present, to help her gather the herbs again, as patience and perseverance are among the skills of a healer. As each person brings her a (labeled) bundle of herbs, she gives them back a sprig, telling them what it is and what it's for, and pins it on the cloak. When the cloak is complete, she lifts it to show that there are blank spots at head and heart, and enjoins the people, for the love of life and the defeat of winter's deathly despair, to go out and find the missing herbs to complete the cloak of Airmid, and bring the power of life back to the people.

Begin: Unity chant - I Walk in Beauty

Summoner: [rings summoning bell] Today you will share in a ritual of loss and renewal, of passion and awareness, of healing and the hope of rebirth. As you prepare yourself to enter sacred space, putting aside for this time all fear and sorrow, confusion and distraction, is there any need for which you would ask help from your community, any healing you would seek, or any news you would share with us? [pause for announcements] At the end of the ritual, there will be a time for healing work if it is needed. And now, center yourselves and prepare to enter the temple. [Begin chant again. Censes ritual leader, then leads off. Enter the space circling into comfortable places along the wall.]

Ritual leader: [Censes the people, entering the space last. Makes offerings to Well and Fire, then moves to altar and lights candles and lights candles to Danu and Bile', saying:] The power of creation moves from sky to sea, and back again, for ever and ever and ever. Bile', Danu, first father and mother, we honor and welcome your power here in our rite and in our hearts this day. F/ailte romhaibh, a uaisle. [And to Diancecht, Miach and Airmid saying:] Oh you who lend us grace and art, whose gift is healing and wholeness, Diancecht of renown, whose skill attached the silver arm for Nuada and gave it motion, Miach son of Diancecht, whose great skill gave even a cat's eye to a one-eyed man and who made severed flesh to grow again, and Airmid daughter of Diancecht who knows the secret of every wholesome herb and blessed water, be welcome here and share in this rite that honours you, lend us your art and wisdom, that we may walk in your ways. F/ailte romhaibh, a uaisle!

Airmid: Here lies one of power and beauty, dead before his time. My brother Miach lies slain by his father for surpassing him in skill. Hear then the tale of how this came to be. When Nuada was king of the Tuatha de Dannan, a good and just king was he. In battle his right arm was severed, and all knew that no king could rule with such a blemish. So Diancecht my father went to Goibniu the Smith and asked him to make a silver arm as perfect as any one of flesh. That he did, and my father attached it so that it moved and worked as well as ever the original. The people rejoiced to see their king thus restores, but still it was not sure of judgment. But my brother Miach had taken the severed arm, bound it with my herbs to preserve it, and when the time came, he joined it to stump knitting bone to bone, sinew to sinew, muscle to muscle, even nerve to nerve so that the arm was well and truly healed. Then was Nuada once again a fit king before the eyes of all men and gods, but my father burned for he felt his place usurped and his stature shamed. So it came to be that Diancecht in anger sought to kill his only son. But each time Miach was wounded, he called upon his sister Airmid, that I might heal him at the sacred well, and that I did now matter how severe the wound, until my father at last crushed my brother's head, the head wherein lies all intelligence, all virtue, all self, the very soul of a person. Sorrowing, I threw my cloak over him, and so he lies as I seek to gather the healing herbs which, each covering the part of the body it can heal, will restore him to his proper youthful vigour. Many have I gathered, the task is nearly done...

Diancecht: [Enters in fury, shaking the cloak of herbs, and says:] Never will my son be healed, though it gives me sorrow, for the power of perfect healing and eternal life must not fall to the hands of men. They will not keep it proper and sacred. Thus I scatter the gifts given too freely given, that in struggle and striving they will be slowly won instead.

Airmid: Long has been my toil, and the task now to begin again. Help me search for the healing herbs scattered here by my father. Each has many virtues, and power to heal one part of the body most particularly. Find them, bring them to me, and I will instruct you in the lore of herbs.

[The people bring the bunches of herbs. As each bunch is brought, Airmid takes it, returns to the giver a pinch of it, names it and tells one of its virtues. Then she pins it onto the cloak.]

[As they search, Ritual leader begins this chant:]

She changes everything she touches and everything she touches changes
She changes everything she touches and everything she touches changes
Everything lost is found again, in a new form, in a new way
Everything hurt is healed again, in a new life, in a new day

Suggested herbs:

• Alehoof (ground ivy) - testicles/menstrual, bronchitis, sinus, eyes, indigestion
• Chamomile - colic, teeth
• Comfrey - tendons, bones
• Dandelion - warts
• Valerian - nerves
• Violet - gums
• Coltsfoot - lungs, chest
• Peppermint - stomach
• Calendula - skin, knee sprains
• Strawberry leaf - skin
• Lavender - voice, headache
• Celandine - eyes, kidneys, headaches
• Lady's mantle - swollen glands, bladder stones
• St. John's wort - bedwetting, depression, wounds, chest colds
• Tansy - astringent
• Lemon Balm - fever, depression
• Yarrow - nosebleed
• Sage - legs, larynx, tonsils
• Horehound - throat
• Verbena (vervain) - liver
• Marsh mallow - bones, stomach
• Hops - calming
• Feverfew - headaches
• Basil - abdomen
• Ginger - stomach and ears

Airmid: [when the herbs have all been brought back, Airmid lifts the cloak and says:] I give thanks to you for your diligent searching. Gifts of healing have you brought me, to add to the healing that love and skill can secure. Your loving prayers, too, will help to bring life back to the earth and the children of the earth. There is hope now of return. But still, this cloak is not complete. The healing herbs have been widely scattered, and those which will heal the head, the seat of the soul of all life, are not all here. I charge you, therefore, who love life and living, to go forth into the world, searching far and wide to complete the cloak of Airmid. Charge, likewise, all whom you meet, to aid you in this seeking. It is in close and loving observation of the earth that renewal and survival may be obtained. Take my blessing with the herbs I have given you, and go. [Airmid replaces the cloak over Miach]

Summoner: [leads the people out of the temple, moving sunwise around the space]
Chant:
We are alive, as the earth is alive
We have the power to create our freedom
If we have courage, we can be healers, like the sun we shall rise
If we have courage, we can be healers, like the moon we shall rise...

Ritual leader: [along with Airmid, helps Miach to return to himself. First saying:] Miach, skilled surgeon, well-loved healer, long and sorrowful is your story. We thank you for your gifts and for your presence here, and as we bid you farewell to return to the realms of the gods, we offer you our blessings and love. Release, no, the body of this your servant, that he may return to the realms of me. Go with blessing. Slan leat! [Hands the cloak to Airmid to put on, then helps the person playing Miach to sit up, say his name three times, drink some water, etc. When he's ready, Ritual leader directs him to go put out the candle for Miach on the altar, with any personal words that may seem right to him.]

Ritual leader: [then does the same for the person who has been Airmid, saying:] Airmid, finest of herbalists, gentle healer, long and hopeful is your story. We thank you for your gifts and for your presence here, and as we bid you farewell to return to the realms of the gods, we offer you our blessings and love. Release, now, the body of this your servant, that she may return to the realms of men. Go with blessing. Slan leat! [Then takes the cloak from the person playing Airmid and helps her to say her name three times, drink some water, or whatever she needs. When she's ready, Ritual leader directs her to go put out the candle for Airmid on the altar, with any personal words that may seem right to her.

[Finally, Ritual leader addresses the candle for Diancecht, saying:] Diancecht, first of physicians, we honor your skill and wisdom. We thank you for your presence here in this rite and for the gifts you share with us. Great are the lessons you teach us, even when they are not easy. As we bid you farewell to return to the realms of the gods, we offer you our blessings and love. Slan leat! [puts out the candle]

The person who was Airmid or Miach will go to see if there was a need expressed for any further work. If there was, the rest of the group will return to the temple, do the healing work, then close the fire and well, and end with a familiar chant. If not, a messenger will indicate that the rite can be finished and Ritual leader will close the fire and well, returning the space to its usual state.

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