Think word association. I say a word without defining it and you reply with your thoughts on it. I'm asking an open question and hoping to get personal answers from it.

Ok, to be more specific I'm looking for a Celtic Reconstructionists personal view of the Celtic principle of Sovereignty, which could apply to nations, individuals, rulers or castes, or not at all.

And an additional question, just to help; how does a Celtic Reconstructionist reconstruct the Celtic Principle of Sovereignty into their beliefs and/or practices, if at all?

I hope that helps.

   Failte

  The Celts have all gone following the Wild Geese.

Hiraeth

Jun 2, 2009 -- 8:19AM, TomásFlannabhra wrote:

If we are to use ancient conceptions to inform our worldview, then sovereignty resides in the goddess of the land and she bestows it upon the rightful rí (king) or rather it might be better to say that the rí's sovereignty is legitimated by the goddess of the land through the union established between the two in the inaugural ritual. The rí also would have been the ceremonial possessor of the tuath's sovereignty.

Individuals were probably conceived as sovereign only in the context of belonging to a sovereign collective. In other words, I am free insofar as my clann or tuath is free.

I love that description. Thank you very much.

Ok, so in this sense what is your sovereign collective, clann or tuath? Or can you identify several; one containing another and/or overlapping? And who or what do you regard as your rí?

Here are my reflection on it. I don't live in the same tribal situation so I cannot reconstruct quite the same societal structure.  But I can certainly see where the principle of sovereignty operates in my life and society. In some ways I have my own personal rí. I have my own individual relationship with the land, with sovereignty, and so I am my own rí.

At the same time I live within a societal context. As a British Citizen my rí is the British monarchy and, indeed, under the law and order of British rule I have a certain amount of freedom. I am also a Citizen of the EU by extension of my British Citizenship. There is no rí as such except a series of agreements created by the various countries of the EU. This allows me to be resident in Spain, without visa, so I can live and work like I am a Spanish Citizen. The Spanish monarchy is my rí by extension of my EU citizenship and residence in Spain.

In a way the UN is also constructing a global "rí" principle that ensures that there is freedom and balance among its members.

I think the principle of Sovereignty was something that kept the balance between Land and People. When  the Sovereign was not "whole" or "healthy," spiritually or physically then Land and/or People suffered. This principle could be connected to present environmental problems. Somehow the "rí" of humanity, as a "sovereign collective," is not whole or healthy and somehow "divorced" from the Land.