What Would Dagda Do?
- When there is no restriction to what you can do, what then should you do?
The Tuatha Dé Danann came into Ireland as immigrants descended from emigrants. They are said to have been a people skilled in every art and possessing all manner of occult knowledge having traveled far and wide in its seeking. Among these people came The Dagda into Ireland. The tribe of Danú included many a master - the healer Dian Cecht, the smith Goibhniu, the champion Ogma and even Lugh known as the ildanach 'he of many skills' - yet it was the Dagda who was called the chief God, even among them, for his abilities.
With his harp, Coir-cethar-chuir 'the Rightness of four angles' he could turn the seasons through their order. Upon its strings he could perform the strain of joy to make folk revel and laugh, the strain of sorrow to make them weep and grieve, and the strain of slumber so that they might find rest.
With the Coiri an Dagdai, 'the cauldron of the Dagda', any company who came to him would never go unsatisfied.
When his son Cermait was slain by Lugh for marital indiscretion, the Dagda sought out and took up power over life and death itself, in the form of the Lorg Mór, the great club/staff. With it he restored life to his child and swore oaths on the guarantee of his powers over all creation.
This Great God set forth the boundaries of Ireland's provinces, cleared a forest in one night so that a plain stood in its place, caused the rivers themselves to come into the land, and drove a monster from Ireland so that the sea itself left with it and a new plain was created.
So we reach the question, when power over the seasons, the land, the sea and even life and death are yours to command, what then do you do? What then should you do?
When I think of my own trials, I often find myself wondering, what would Dagda do?