"'O Cormac, Grandson of Conn', said Carbery, 'I desire to know how I shall behave among the wise and the foolish, among friends and strangers, among the old and the young, among the innocent and the wicked.'"
--From the Instructions of King Cormac.

Honourable companions,

In the brief words of this letter I treat the issue of honour, when an entire volume is deserved. It is simple enough to identify dishonour when we see it, but difficult to define honour, and therefore it is harder still to manifest it. Honour is often collected with a series of humane virtues including honesty, truthfulness, reliability, dignity, incorruptability, and steadfastness. For contemporary Pagans, honour is one of the most central moral principles that the Ancestors teach us and invite us to emulate.

No one can trace a direct family geneology to the actual builders of Stonehenge, or any other megalithic monument, or to the characters who feature in the mythology of our faith. Nonetheless we consider those people our ancestors. These ancestors are our spiritual predecessors, who gave to us the principles and practices of our religion. Therefore we treat them with the same dignity that we treat our biological ancestors.

Therefore, also, we seek connection with our spiritual ancestors. The most clear means by which we may achieve a degree of connection with them is by using the monuments and structures that they built. They gave these monuments to everyone; to each other in their day, and to us in ours. A thing built to outlast one's own lifespan is a gift to future generations. We express no gratitude for that gift by vandalising the stones with graphiti or smearing them with our exrement and urine. A thing built to outlast one's own lifespan is also a message communicated to future generations. In the case of Stonehenge, the message has to do with the perpetual renewal of the seasons. It is revealed to us every time the midsummer Sun rises over the Heel Stone. We do honour to the Ancestors by listening.

Contemporary Pagans are learning to listen. Most of the crowd of spectators who came to Stonehenge at Midsummer of this year, did not come to listen. Some came to communicate their own message to the world. Even while I grant the possibility (and, indeed, probability) that the message from these people is worthy and needs to be heared, one does no honour to the Ancestors or to oneself by hijacking the message of Stonehenge for one's own purposes. Rather, one appears to be desperate for an audience, as if the truth of one's message alone is not enough to compell listeners. I say to them: The message of Stonehenge was meant for you too, for it was meant for everyone. I invite you to listen with us, and then we will be ready to listen to you. But I fear you are not listening, either to the ancestors who built Stonehenge, or to me.

It may seem strange to do honour to the Ancestors because, one could say, they are no longer with us. To be an ancestor, one must be dead; and one who is dead cannot be said to "be" anything (even dead, if "being dead" is a state of being. Such is the weakness of the English language). A common answer to this argument that one might find in the Pagan community is the denial that the Ancestors are not with us, and the emphatic claim that they are present indeed, in spirit, or through their works. My response goes thiswise: We do honour to the Ancestors for their sake, but if they are present with us or if they are not present with us, we do honour to the Ancestors for our own sake. So it is that I tell you, good and learned friends, this new triad. Three are the uses for honour: a shield, a spear, a chariot.

When honour is a shield it defends and protects its bearer from blemishes to his reputation. Honour is carried as a shield by all those who value their reputation. While some say that one's reputation, poor or praiseworthy, does not impact their personal sense of well-being, still it is a treasure, for without a good reputation it is difficult gain the help of others when one needs it. We read in our Celtic history how the Ancestral warriors of the ancient time were preoccupied with their "enech"*, and the praise that can improve it and the satire that can diminish it. Both Cu Chullain and Fionn MacCumhall give their underlings extensive instructions on how to keep their honour blemish-free, not only to shield their reputation but also to promote social harmony and personal esteem. Because contemporary Pagans seek to emulate the Ancestral heroes, it seems that the cardinal virtue for contemporary pagans on the "warrior path" is honour. But to seek honour for the sake of one's reputation alone seems insufficient, because it requires one to win recognition from other people without connecting to their needs and sufferings. Nor does seeking improvement of the reputation connect one to his own inner needs and sufferings. Let the good reputation won by honour come as a genuine award recieved on the way, so to speak, towards the greater goal of connectivity with needs and sufferings within and without you.

When honour is a spear it thrusts against vice, and destroys greed, hostility, and injustice wherever it surrounds the warrior who bears it. Honour is employed a spear by those for whom acts of compassion are the central means to the blessed life. The reputation earned by one who wields honour as a spear is truly earned, and not sought for its own sake. In addition, the connection to the needs and sufferings in the world around the warrior is established. I believe that the Ancestral Druids would have taught the warriors of their day that it is important to focus the spear of one's energy at social injustice. If so, and if not so, I agree, and were I posessed of the social power of the ancient Druids, I would instruct the warriors the same way. But even as the energy of one's being is focused on the suffering of the world, it is not focused on the mysteries of being, nor on the inner sufferings of the psyche, which is the appropriate field of battle for the Druid.

When honour is a chariot it carries its bearer across the sea to the place where, as Manannan said, "there is only Truth"* and all suffering, heaviness, indescision, and any other disturbance to the warrior's own inner harmony are overcome. It is for one's own sake that one engages honour as a chariot, for this kind of honour will raise one's face. Yet it is also for the sake of others as well, for this kind of honour will produce works of compassion spontaneously, and naturally, as the warrior manifests a clear character. The distinction between one's own suffering and the suffering of others is abolished. At this level of being honour takes no effort, for honour as a shield takes strength to lift and honour as a spear takes dexterity to throw. The chariot of honour carries its rider to any achievement and through any project she wishes to undertake. Good and learned friends, I invite you to contemplate what it means to balance on the chariot of honour.

As the Ancestors did.

I conclude with the words of King Cormac, as he answers Carbery's question, that I used to introduce this letter. He tells us what it means for him to balance on the chariot of honour.

"Be not too wise, nor too foolish,
Be not too conceited, nor too diffident,
Be not too talkative, nor too silent
Be not too hard, nor too feeble
If you be too wise, one will expect too much of you
If you be too foolish, you will be deceived
If you be too conceited, you will be thought vexatious
If you be too humble, you will be without honour.
If you be too talkative, you will not be heeded;
If you be too silent, you will not be regarded.
If you be too hard, you will be broken
If you be too feeble, you will be crushed."

Cathbad Writing from the Grove,
and in the season of Midsummer, of the year 1999

*"enech": Irish for "face", implying reputation.

*"The place where there is only Truth" Lady Augusta Gregory, [Manannan's] Three Calls to Cormac, in Gods and Fighting Men (Colyn Smyth, Buckinghamshire, 1903)