A Magical Apple — Invitation to the Otherworlds
Imagine living a mundane human life, then suddenly encountering a beautiful faery woman who offers you a magical apple and invites you to join her in the faery realm. How would you respond?
Many people would be quite shocked and perhaps even frightened, but Connla the Fair was intrigued.
The story of Connla is more than just an ancient myth; it provides a window into the Celtic spiritual worldview, specifically the complex relationship between the mortal world and the Otherworld.
The Tale of Connla the Fair
The Tale of Connla the Fair is an Old Irish myth in which Connla, a prince, encounters a mysterious woman of enchanting beauty. She hails from the Otherworld, obviously a faery.
Connla of the Fiery Hair is the son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, the High King of Ireland. While Connla stands by his father’s side near the royal throne, the etherial woman appears, but is visible only to Connla.
She’s dressed in strange attire, marking her as a figure not of this world. Connla hears her singing praises of her Otherworld homeland, a place free from death, filled with beauty and abundance.
The mysterious woman presents Connla with a magical apple, a symbolic invitation to her Otherworld home. She promises him a life of immortality, eternal youth, and love, if he chooses to return with her. The king, fearing the loss of his son, calls his Druid to banish her.
“Then Coran the Druid stood forth and chanted his spells towards the spot where the maiden’s voice had been heard. And none heard her voice again, nor could Connla see her longer. Only as she vanished before the Druid’s mighty spell, she threw an apple to Connla.
“For a whole month from that day Connla would take nothing, either to eat or to drink, save only from that apple. But as he ate it grew again and always kept whole. And all the while there grew within him a mighty yearning and longing after the maiden he had seen.”
Read the whole story here.
Of course, Connla is torn between the love for his father and the mortal world, and the enticing promises of the faery woman. But, despite the Druid’s efforts to banish her, Connla’s longing for the faery woman and the Otherworld grows.
Finally, the woman reappears and Connla travels with her to the Otherworld, leaving behind his father and the human realm. Connla is never seen again in the world of mortals.
The Magic of Apples
The tale of Connla the Fair beautifully encapsulates various themes, including:
- the allure of the Otherworld
- the concept of destiny and choice
- the magic of the apple tree
Of course, the mysterious Isle of Avalon is also known as the Isle of Apples.
In other stories, a silver branch or magical apple branch with blossoms is presented as an invitation or key to the Celtic Otherworld or faery realm — also providing a direct link to Avalon.
Cormac and the Silver Branch
Cormac was High King of Ireland. He was known as the best king that ever reigned, but only after his encounter with a mysterious stranger.
Looking out from his ramparts one day, the king [Cormac] saw a stranger approach his castle carrying a silver branch with three red gold apples on it. The stranger had an aura of peaceful tranquillity about him and was invited into the castle.
Cormac offered generous hospitality to his guest and the two men talked together for many hours. The stranger said he was from “a country where there is nothing but truth and where there is neither age nor withering away, nor heaviness, nor sadness, nor jealousy nor pride.”
When the visitor took the silver branch and shook it gently, the most haunting, beautiful melody filled the room. “This branch will banish all sorrow & sad memories from your mind ” announced the stranger “you will completely forget the troubles of the world” Cormac eagerly requested to have the branch as a token of their new friendship.
Read the whole story here.
A Lesson from the Faeries
The stranger is obviously a faery or elven being. In exchange for the branch, Cormac had to agree to let his wife and children be taken to the faery realm. Naturally, this distressed him and he went in search of them. At this point, the riders of the Sidhe swept him up and carried him across the sea to the Isle of Apples.
Seeing that the king had learned to value his family appropriately, he was allowed to return with them to Tara where he ruled justly for the rest of his days.
Parallels with Arthurian Lore
In each of these stories, the faeries reach out to humans, much as they do repeatedly in the Arthurian saga. Sometimes they simply fall in love with a human and want to share a life together, but often, as in the story of Cormac, they bring valuable lessons.
It seems that the apple and its branches can act as a bridge between humans and faeries, or perhaps serve as a portal between the worlds.
The apple tree may even help connect us with the New Earth reality, since it already exists in the faery realm. (Perhaps that is a secret that Adam and Eve of Hebrew mythology were not meant to discover.)
My sense is that the apple tree can exist in both worlds at once and the faeries offer it to us as a way to connect with their realm. Remember that next time you eat an apple or sit under an apple tree. There may be more at work than meets the eye.
New Earth Ambassador — Faery Emissary
Sharing Health, Wealth & Faery Magic to Uplift the World!
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