Sword and Sorcery:
The Sean Ciall tradition and the way of the mystic warrior
©Robert Reeder

The Sean Ciall tradition, and indeed all traditions of Celtic magic, emphasizes the development and union of the three realms of Body, Mind and Spirit. The “Body” is represented by the Cearcall a’Claidheamh, or Circle of the Sword; the path of the warrior. Every culture in every time has recognized the archetype of the mystic warrior in both life and fiction, whether they are called Samurai, Templars or Jedi Knights. In the Gaelic world, all warriors (and to the Gael, every soldier is a warrior, by definition) are mystical, in precisely the same manner as healers and midwives; in the act of killing, and also of preventing killing, the warrior has some modicum of control over the passage from one realm of existence to another.  

The sword itself is the symbol of this line of magick, however it would be erroneous to consider it only a symbol. While initiates of this line are definitely expected to be proficient with modern battlefield weaponry and tactics, the sword, antiquated though it is, is still one of these. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, US Marines were trained in it’s usage for trench combat, using a style of kenjutsu which happens to be very similar to the one taught formally in Sean Cill. During World War II many Japanese pilots carried a short-sword as their sidearm in lieu of a pistol, and throughout the world the cutlass is still used as for shipboard defense, where the discharge of firearms might breach the hull and sink the vessel. It is not only for historical or cultural reasons that Sean Cill teaches, as a fair approximation of Irish long-sword technique, the particular form of kenjutsu that we do. As a sword-based martial art, there are many which are prettier, more elegant, or generally more difficult and hence better suited as a mystical discipline; ours however is meant to be an actual fighting form, the basics of which may be taught and effectively implemented in a very short period of time. That said, do not be limited to this particular sword-form. If another seems better suited to your temperament or physique, by all means pursue that; the purpose is that you develop the techniques, instincts and discipline of a fighter, not that you adhere to any particular style.
    For full initiation into this Circle, there is a requirement (in some sense, the only requirement) that one have served honorably in the armed forces of his or her country. This is no idle thing; one cannot become a warrior until one has confronted the realities of war, and developed the sort of visceral loathing of warfare, in all of its forms, which only service can foster. I also consider professional law-enforcement or fire-fighting to fulfill this requirement, but not everyone would agree with me on that, especially the latter (while a fire-fighter certainly puts herself  “in harms way” in the line of duty, she isn’t forced to confront the willful taking of another’s life—while I agree with this rationale, I wouldn’t exclude someone from initiating on account of it). That said, there is no reason for one who has not fulfilled this requirement to not study and work with the material of this Cearcall, even exclusively of the other two, if their will so dictates.  The same is obviously true of the other two Cearcallain as well; one need not commit their life to the study in order to study, it’s just that dilettantes of a specific line don’t get initiated into it. 
    The four branches of the armed forces in this country (and their respective subsidiaries, for example the National Guard for the Army) correspond, pretty simply and directly, to the four Platonic elements of an Ceithir; the Marine Corps to Fire, the Air Force to Air, the Navy to Water and the Army to Earth. Meditation on the relationship between these four in this context can reveal some pretty startling connections between the elements which may not be readily apparent in other correspondences, but seem to hold up, once “discovered”, in other contexts. It’s worth spending some time on, if you’re so inclined.
    In stating that every soldier (or sailor, or airman, or whatever) is a warrior, the Sean Cill tradition may well be stating a fundamental truth; that what makes one a “warrior” as opposed to merely a “fighter” is not training, but intent. A rear echelon soldier (a supply sergeant stationed at Fort Dix, for example) has still gone through the internal process of coming to a conscious willingness to possibly kill and die in the line of duty. More importantly, perhaps, she has undergone a series of external trials and shocks deliberately calculated to irrevocably transform her into an entirely new persona, or, rarely, an entirely new person. In magick, this is called “initiation”, for the sergeant it was called “boot camp”. 

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