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You might be forgiven for getting these two mixed up given the complex nature of the Irish Otherworld. In other cultures there are tales of some form of ‘underworld’ or ‘hell’ be it a place for the dead or a place full of monstrous creatures which escape into our world and cause havoc. Though both of these things in part apply in Irish lore there is much more which proves that the Irish Otherworld is NOT an Underworld.
✨ Post by Jon O’Sullivan
An Saol Eile – The Other Life
The most common translation for ‘an saol eile’ is the Otherworld, but in a more literal exploration of each word we find a different perspective. The Irish word for other is ‘eile’ but though ‘saol’ is world in this case it could also be read as existence, life or life time.
In this broader understanding of the word we find some clarity on what the Otherworld is actually like. It is not some hell scape full of monsters and the dead, but instead an entirely other existence running alongside our own and intersecting with our reality in certain places.
We can see examples of this in stories like Echtra Nera and Oisin and Tir na nOg. In both of these tales the hero enters the Otherworld and finds it a rich and abundant place full of life and beauty.
Nera follows a sidhe host into the mound of Cruachán, treats with the king there and is given a home, a wife and a job to fulfil. He lives there for a year but eventually returns to our world to find that not more than an hour or so has passed.
Oisin falls in love with a woman of the sidhe, the people of the Otherworld and she with him. She takes him upon a white steed across the waves and into the land of youth known as Tir na nOg. They live a long and full life and have children together.
Yet when homesickness takes him back to Ireland he finds it radically changed. His wife’s warning to not step off the horse is heeded but disaster strikes and the son of the great hero Fionn falls to the land of Ireland and all the long years of time rush in upon him causing a rapid ageing and eventual death.
In both of these and many other tales the Otherworld is shown clearly to be a place where life carries on in all of its fullness and variety, with many peoples and creatures. Not a place of death and tormented souls.
Teach Donn – The House of the Dead
As with a lot of things in life there are of course contradictions to almost every statement, so too with understanding that the Irish Otherworld is not an underworld. It is another life, an alternate place of existence with all of its own peoples, plants, animals and places. Yet it has one of those places that creates this contradiction.
Teach Donn, known as the Irish house of the dead is said to exist in the Otherworld, at a place that is both close to, but also separate from our reality. Yet this is no sepulchre or mortuary place, rather a location that some of the departed living can pass through on their journey after this life.
Named for Donn, one of the fallen sons of Mil who came in the last invasion during the Mythological cycle of Ireland’s past, Teach Donn was rumoured to be accessed from Bull Rock just off the coast of Ireland.
In the Lore of names and places there is a reference given, which though presented from a christian perspective does give us insight on the beliefs of “the heathen” of the time.
“So hence it is called Tech Duinn: and for this cause, according to the heathen, the souls of sinners visit Tech Duinn before they go to hell, and give their blessing, ere they go, to the soul of Donn. But as for the righteous soul of a penitent, it beholds the place from afar, and is not borne astray. Such, at least, is the belief of the heathen. Hence Tech Duinn is so called.”
Land of the Gods, and Much More
The Otherworld is a vast reality that is prescribed in many stories down through Ireland’s ancient past. So many that to list them all would be a task worthy of a full class at our Irish Pagan School. Yet there are a few locations that are worth mentioning.
The Sidhe / Sí
The Tuatha Dé Danann travelled in to the Otherworld and took up residence in the sidhe or ‘hollow hills’ becoming known as the Aos Sidhe and joining the other people of the sidhe already in the Otherworld
Emain Ablach
Also spelt as Emhain Abhlach means “Emhain of the Apples” and is an island paradise said to be the home of the sea God Manannán Mac Lir. In another poem from the 14th century, Emain Ablach is described as being filled with swans and yews. There is believed to be a vast apple tree there with silver branches and golden apples, both are items seen in other tales carried by Otherworldly people.
There are many locations in the Otherworld, some with unique properties much like Tir na nOg where no one ages.
The Voyage of Bran shows us other such islands in the Otherworld. One where everyone is always laughing and when one of his crew leaps to the shore he too begins to laugh non stop and must be left behind. They sail past an island where people roam about as if lost without memory. They eventually reach an island populated by only women, and it is here that Bran finds the woman who came to him in his dreams.
Hopefully now you will see that the Irish Otherworld is not an Underworld, but there is so much more to learn and explore. Yet to do so successfully it’s important to avoid the misconceptions that might prevent us from staying open minded and curious.
To Learn How to Explore the Irish Otherworld for Yourself…
✨Lora O’Brien’s Guided Journeys Method is an Ideal Place to Begin. [Take the Free Class Here] 👀
[…] association comes from stories where Manannán Mac Lir travels between the human world an the Otherworld, specifical Otherworldly islands. Although he is never depicted as ferrying human souls in older […]