Noble Order of Tara - Hill of Tara and Danaan Treasures by Lawrence Durdin-Robertson

Lawrence Durdin-Robertson (right) and Olivia Robertson (center) and new Knight Commander. Lawrence bestowing the accolade. Temple of Isis, Clonegal Castle, Ireland. Photo courtesy of John Merron.

Excerpts from the Writings of Lawrence Durdin-Robertson

The Hill of Tara

The Danaan Treasures

I. From Juno Covella, Goddesses of the Fixed Calendar

March

Founders of Tara

Spanish-Irish: TEA and TEPHI, Milesian Princesses, founders of Tara. (Macalister, Tara, p. 167) “There was also a celebration in Tara held on the occasion of the Vernal Equinox; and here also there was a sacred fire lit, from which all other fires had to be kindled”. See also under October 31st. (Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain, p. 227) “The Assembly of Tara was under the patronage of another goddess, Tea.”

II. Juno Covella, Goddesses of the Fixed Calendar

November

Assembly at Tara

TEA and TEPHI; The Assembly at Tara. (Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain, p. 227) “The Assembly of Tara was under the patronage of another goddess, Tea”. (Macalister, Tara, p. 156) “The Assemblies at Tara took place on Samain”. Tea and Tephi, described as Milesian princesses, founded Tara, the ancient religious and political centre of Ireland.

III. Juno Covella, Goddesses of the Fixed Calendar

October

Treasures of the Danaans

Irish: ECHTGE and THE FOUR TUATHA-DE-DANANN WOMEN. (Yeats, Mythologies, p. 220) on the journey of Red Hanrahan on Samhain Night:

“And he could walk no longer, but sat down on the heather where he was, in the heart of Slieve Echtge …

“And after a while he took notice that there was a door close to him, and a light coming from it, and he wondered that being so close to him he had not seen it before. And he rose up, and tired as he was he went in at the door, and although it was. night-time outside, it was daylight he found within. And ,Presently he met with an old man that had been gathering summer thyme and yellow flag-flowers, and it seemed as if all the sweet smells of summer were with him …

“And with that he brought him into a very big shining house, and every grand thing that Hanrahan had ever heard of, and every colour he had even seen, was in it. There was a high place at the end of the house, and on it there was sitting in a high chair a woman, the most beautiful the world ever saw, having a long pale face and flowers about it, but she had the tired look of one that had been long waiting. And there were sitting on the step below her chair four grey old women, and the one of them was holding a great cauldron in her lap; and another a great stone upon her knees, and heavy as it was it seemed light to her; and another of them had a very long spear that was made of pointed wood; and the last of them had a sword that was without a scabbard.

“Then the first of the old women rose up, holding the cauldron between her two hands, and she said, ‘Pleasure’ ... Then the second old woman rose up with the stone in her hands, and she said, ‘Power’; and the third old woman rose up with a spear in her hand, and she said, ‘Courage’; and the last of the old women rose up having the sword in her hands, and she said, ‘Knowledge’ … And then the four old women went out of the door, bringing their four treasures with them …”

Note: (Moore, Hist. Ireland, Vol. 1. p. 76) “the Tuatha-De-Danaan ... became possessors ... of certain marvellous treasures, among which were the Stone of Destiny, the sorcerer’s spear and the magic cauldron”. A fourth treasure is listed by Macalister (Tara, p. 135) as the “invincible sword”. The Stone of Destiny or Lia Fail, originally the inauguration stone of the Irish monarchs at Tara, was later moved to Scone. It is now in Westminster Abbey (Wood, Prim. Inhabitants Ireland, p. 23).

IV. Tea and Tephi

Goddesses of Tara

Lawrence Durdin-Robertson in his book “The Year of the Goddess” writes: “The Assembly of Tara, the ancient religious and political centre of Ireland, was under the patronage of the goddess Tea ...”

Another of his works, “Communion with the Goddess: Temples of the West,” contains the following (from Macalister): “The name of Tara in its Irish form is Temuir, in modern orthography Teamhair … Tea was the wife of Eremon, the leader of the ‘Milesian’ expedition which colonised Ireland from Spain. In Spain, Tea had chanced to see the Rampart of Tephi. When with her people, she begged her husband to give her the ridge, now called Tara, but then Druim Cain, ‘The Fair Ridge’, the prayer was granted. Tea built a wall round the ridge in imitation of Teipe-mur (the Wall of Teipe or Tephi) …”

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