Journey of the Bard

Lyn Clark is a PhD candidate in adult education and counselling at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

“This book” writes the author, “can be read as an entertainment,
[as] a cultural history, or as an initiatory process.” The latter
approach reflects its origins as a guided vision quest of the
Bard/Shaman in a time in Celtic mythology when women could assume the
role of Bard.

The setting for the magic journey is the Tree of Life, a cosmos imaged
by the ancient Celts as The Underworld, The Garden, and The Celestial.
The seven realms within this universe correspond to the physiology of
the seven chakras of the human body. The author dons the cloak of the
Bard in a quest for personal growth and for sentience or “knowledge”
in this magically charged landscape/mindscape known universally as the
bridge to altered states of consciousness.

The chapters begin with wondrous tales of trance journeying, which are
followed by a history of the symbols therein. The metaphoric language of
the Bard’s travels allows the divine to be both communicated and
experienced, whereas the prosaic language of the history is a
mind-expanding display of the transformation of symbols through the
millennia. While each part of the chapter complements the other, the
change in writing style can prove disconcerting.

In each realm the Bard chooses a gift from among the many offered. In
one realm she/he receives the gift of courage and fortitude, in another
an apple, symbolizing the gift of spiritual awareness and wisdom. As a
cultural history of archetypes, the book is an informative and
consciousness-raising synthesis of material drawn from many sources; the
lack of an index, though, reduces its usefulness.

For those who choose to undertake the Bard’s journey, Owens
recommends spreading the reading over the 13 lunar months of the Celtic
calendar, just as Cerridwen set her cauldron brewing for a year and a
day to perfect the gift of knowledge.