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Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and cara is the word for friend. So anam cara in the Celtic world was one's “soul friend.” In the early Celtic church, a teacher, companion or spiritual guide could become an anam cara.
With the anam cara you could share your inner-most self, your mind and your heart. When you had an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul.”
The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. There is no cage for the soul. The soul is a divine light that flows into you and into your other. This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship.
You are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial half-truths of social acquaintance fall away, you can be as you really are. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person’s soul.
The anam cara was not merely a metaphor or ideal. It was a soul-bond that existed as a recognized and admired social construct. It altered the meaning of identity and perception - we look and see and understand differently. Initially, this can be disruptive and awkward, but it gradually refines our sensibility and transforms our way of being in the world.
The anam cara perspective is sublime because it permits us to enter this unity of ancient belonging.
The above descriptions are familiar to many in the modern healing professions, especially those whose roots reach down into antiquity through the firm and gentle bonds of lineage and ancestry.
Thanks to John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
With the anam cara you could share your inner-most self, your mind and your heart. When you had an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul.”
The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. There is no cage for the soul. The soul is a divine light that flows into you and into your other. This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship.
You are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial half-truths of social acquaintance fall away, you can be as you really are. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person’s soul.
The anam cara was not merely a metaphor or ideal. It was a soul-bond that existed as a recognized and admired social construct. It altered the meaning of identity and perception - we look and see and understand differently. Initially, this can be disruptive and awkward, but it gradually refines our sensibility and transforms our way of being in the world.
The anam cara perspective is sublime because it permits us to enter this unity of ancient belonging.
The above descriptions are familiar to many in the modern healing professions, especially those whose roots reach down into antiquity through the firm and gentle bonds of lineage and ancestry.
Thanks to John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
