Religion and spirituality has played an important part of my life. My family, Very Presbyterian (USA!), shaped me in an expansive and inclusive religious upbringing for which I’m very thankful. I grew up having a sense of my history dating back to Scotland on both sides and Scotland to the Cayman Islands on my father’s side. Read on to see how all of this plays into my beliefs.
I have a very unusual last name-Kirkconnell. To the best of my knowledge, there’s really only one other Heather Kirkconnell out there, and we’re connected on social media 😅. My family came from Scotland to the Americas via a sailor visiting the Cayman Islands. My grandfather was a first generation immigrant to the US, and my dad grew up in Florida, but spent time in the Cayman Islands. I love the Cayman Islands. I’ve spent the most time on Cayman Brac, where my great grandmother was from and my Grandfather retired to, but I’ve been on the other two islands a bit as well.
I enjoyed my travels to the Caymans, but going back even farther, I really appreciated my Scottish heritage. My mom’s side of the family also has a Scottish surname, and a tartan at that. I haven’t actually gone to Scotland, despite some respectably extensive travels around Europe in my younger yars 😅. What interests me most now is Celtic mysticism, which isn’t located in only Scotland as the Celtic peoples spread widely. Upon the arrival and integration of Catholicism, mysticism and spirits were brought in to Christian teachings and beautiful concepts such as “thin spaces” were born. Celtic style calligraphy, the uncials and half-uncials, are some of my favorite forms of calligraphy and I’ve practiced them a fair bit. It feels like a connection to ancient faith and spirituality. The Celtic knot was taken from the original Pagan/Duidic religion but came to symbolize the Trinity: Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Other symbols too, the Tree of Life, Celtic Cross, Triskelion, Spirals, are all absolutely beautiful. Many are really, really old, and although original meanings are sometimes obscured or coopted into Christianity, that link to the beliefs of humans over thousands of years is meaningful to me.
Just yesterday, I was listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation-The Cosmic We, with Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant. They were interviewing Dr. Rachel Harding who is a professor of indigenous religions, particularly African religions and what they formed in the Americas when mixed with Christianity under the tyranny of slavery. It ended with a call by Dr. Holmes to explore what indigenous beliefs your own history contained, because whether we recognize them or not, the influences are there. (White, protestant, Western) Christianity has certainly taken an interest in Celtic spirituality in recent decades. I think this is a reflection of what Dr. Holmes and Dr. Bryant were describing; get in touch with the historical religions and worldviews, and take what’s useful from them. Paganism is already a part of Christianity; take the cult of Mary, often attributed to the melding of premodern Irish paganism with the arrival of Christianity. According to the Perennial Tradition as taught at the CAC, what’s True now has always been True, so if it’s true, then God, or the Divine, revealed it many times (hence, ‘perennial’). I love this idea, and when I learned of it, it clarified a lot of what I had been thinking and feeling about Christianity and world religions already.
The unending Celtic symbols remind me that we are all One, we are all connected, and any separateness is illusionary. I believe in a Christianity that’s expansive, accepting, loving, and inclusive. Reaching backwards through time, and outwards to different cultures, religions, and peoples is an important spiritual practice in that it reminds me of the commandment to love. What symbols or reminders do you see in these Celtic symbols?
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