Appendix - late 1995

Celtic Music for a "New World Paradigm" by Maireid Sullivan, Oct. 1995,
in response to messages and questions following publication in
Irish newspapers and Music journals across the US.

To understand the currents of our changing times we need to understand our history.

When we look back at European history we see the expansion of patriarchal society directly related to the destruction of old feminine/Goddess focused cultures.

The contradiction in the tenets of Christianity and the history of the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church (and the later Protestant Churches) is framed by the history of cruelty to helpless individuals all over the world, in the name of Christ. True Christian spirituality has always been congruent with women's values. Early Celtic Christians debated, long and hard, their traditional Celtic concept of 'Free Will' as apposed to partriarchal Roman Christianity's concept of 'Original Sin'.
(See Peter Berresford Ellis, 1994, The Druids.)

Why did feminine energy need to be suppressed so that masculine energy could thrive? Was it the necessary means to achieve 'growth' and 'progress'? Do we really want to live in a world where a military style of discipline and exploitation of "the public" represents the pinnacle of professional success where the ultimate goal is material wealth and efficiency?

Long ago, when the echoes of the old Celtic culture could still be heard across Europe, "the Feminine" was suppressed when whole cultures were converted, by the sword, to the dominant brand of patriarchal Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church. Following the Crusades, during the 12th century, in Southern France, the RCC turned it's attention to the "heritics within" Christendom - Catharism aka Albigensianism of Southern France: "The Cathar Heresy" led to The Albigensian Crusade. From the office of Pope Innocent III, when asked how the soldiers could tell the faithful from the heretics, a legate is reported to have said "Kill them all. God will know his own". Over a million people were killed in a twenty year scourge. These people, who were highly advanced intellectually and culturally, were annihilated because they didn't agree with Church doctrine, (they believed the Church was hopelessly materialistic!).

By the 14th century, after the heretics were exterminated, (heathen means "hidden" and pagan means "traditional country dweller"), the Inquisition turned its full attention to traditional women's roles in midwifery and the healing arts, condeming women as practitioners of witchcraft. Witch hunting became a major industry. Reports reveal that hundreds of thousands to millions of women were burned at the stake over a period of five long centuries. This time span includes two hundred and fifty years of concentrated effort in exploitation, extortion, blackmail, ritual persecution, murder - and confiscation of land. (See George Duby, 1993, The Knight, the Lady and The Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France, University of Chicago Press)

From ancient Celtic times, Western European women held positions of leadership on every level in traditional culture, including authority over marriage and family matters. The eastern patriarchal origin of the Roman Catholic Church clashed with the freedom and power enjoyed by Western European women, before they were classed as heritics.

The RCC Inquisition (in order to maintain its corporate obligations with a new source of income and after completing its task in confiscating the property of the heretics) invented the crime of witchcraft and relied on the most outrageous practices of torture as a means of proving it. One report describes women hanging by their hands, which were tied behind them, until their shoulders were dislocated -- then their feet were basted in oil and lowered over a fire until they confessed to the charges. There are many more shocking examples of cruelty. (Torture instruments were inscribed with the motto: Soli Deo Gloria - Glory be only to God.)

The Church took away women's political power and called them witches in order to confiscate their property. (For further information and extensive bibliographic listings see Barbara Walker, 1983, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets, Harper Collins.)

The whole of the western world has suffered trauma to the collective consciousness as a result of this setback to civilized society, especially Celtic culture, which had attained an unprecedented balance between men and women.

No wonder we have a lot of healing and correcting to do!
I hear a great chorus of people waking up to this reality with faith in human capacity to survive and improve their lot! These are very exciting times for those who will not let fear of failure block their creativity. I can think of no better time to be alive than the present!

On a personal note, my own journey as an independent artist is a testament to personal healing, and learning to follow intuition. These notes reflect my growing understanding of the significance of world history's shaping of our lives and how we, in turn, can shape the story of our future world. We have the tools at our finger tips! Why not take action to show the love and gratitude we all keep hidden - in abundance - even from ourselves?

I am one person and one person can make a difference!
This is my motto. I have retained my sense of independence by working hard every day to make my music and my message live in the world. Every learning experience is a treasure. To paraphrase a Sufi saying, there are as many ways to reunite with the spiritual source as there are breaths of individuals.

The first person in the USA to show faith in my music and my purpose was Kevin Maxwell, music manager at the legendary Bodhi Tree Bookstore. Now my album, "Dancer", has complete mainstream and alternative record store distribution in the USA, Asia and Australia and parts of Europe and is receiving growing radio play. Narada Records' compilation recording of four female singers, "Celtic Voices - Women of Song", includes three songs from "Dancer." It has been on Billboard's World Music Top 10 since September '95. ("Dancer" was its inspiration.) Hearts of Space Records' Celtic Twilight 3, Lullabies,' includes a traditional Irish lullaby "Connamara Cradle Song" from "Dancer"

I am being given opportunities to perform at Festivals and in concert around the world where I can personally share the evocative feeling and beauty of ancient melodies along with my own expressions of poetry and song.

Because I see myself as an artist and communicator, the themes in my songs muse over contemporary issues. Music gives me the opportunity to have meaningful relationships.

Every day I see magic happen. I no longer experience time as linear but as a weaving, moving web of relationships. This is my personal "new world paradigm shift".

~

Mairéid Sullivan is a singer/songwriter, poet and student of history, born in County Cork, Ireland. she has lived in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.