A western druidic lineage
'The Merlin', as in "The Merlin of Britain", is a title of a green western lineage of spiritual sages. Merlin, understood as the wizard-prophet to King Arthur, belongs to this ancient lineage, as do many others down the ages, often working in obscurity. Columcille (or Columba) also belonged to this lineage. His father was a Druid, and Columcille arguably took much pre-Christian symbology into Christianity (Columba, the Last Irish Druid, Chris McClintock, Aesun Publishing 2012). He founded a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona in the 6th century. It was here that I was able to tap into this lineage.
Cernunnos, source of the Merlin lineage.
The original source of this lineage is Cernunnos, known in Old Irish literature as Uindos, elsewhere as Herne (Hermes), Hu Gadarn, and Hesus (Jesus). He is the most ancient Celtic deity, called the “Lord of Wild and All Things” and "wild god of the forest." He is ever discreet, serene, and humble. He has been depicted as holding a torc in his right hand and a ram-headed snake in the left.
The heart of Cernunnos is gentle, with a deep and tender care for the forest and all its inhabitants, the wild animals in our mind. He is more a Lover and Protector, than a Fighter. Cernunnos shows traits and symbols more in common with the patron god of healers and magicians, the god of wealth and Lord of Death in his union with his consort, the Lady of Life. He is above all the archetype of natural innocence.
Inner alchemy
We may sometimes feel intensely conflicted by emotions suddenly stirred up by life-situations. These emotions contain of themselves an innate wisdom, but to find this wisdom asks the courage to enter fully into the emotion as it arises, without acting it out or denying it. In a sense, the courage of a warrior. These energies may then serve as mirrors in which we can transmute passion into the wisdom of being. The emotions are understood as impersonal expressions of nature, of the elements - fire, water, air, earth and space. Opening to the rawness of the inner elements transmutes them into wisdom as egoless being, which is peace.