Eochair: A Riddle Decoded

Eochair (Mac Rí in Éirinn) is the young son of the Irish King and a noblewoman. Mac Rí in Éirinn was under a Binding Spell to go to the Land of Syria and confront the giant King there. It is the Hero's journey, where he meets All, his Beloved, the first daughter of the King of Syria. She gives him three powerful gifts to help him. The story spirals through time from mythology through history, culture, language, and the music of the Irish people. It is both an outer and an inner mystical journey. Eochair is given three tasks - to battle brute beasts (conquest, banishment, famine, migration, and poverty to get the Giant's Tongue (language) from the Western lands (the Gaeltacht); he must fight great giants and monsters to retrieve the songbird (Sean Nos music). Finally, he must travel to Land-under-Sea to give the Giant King a ring. There are three binding spells, three giants, and three aspects of the Feminine. Once Eochair arrives at the Source (Syria) he must journey to the mysterious realm of Land-under-Sea, where he must fight the Giants in three great battles. Left-behind-Land is an inner realm he then finds himself in, where he must confront his demons of pride, arrogance, and depression to heal and transform. Mac Rí in Éirinn meets All as a swan at Imbolc. The first battle with the Giants was at Beltane, a time of fertility; the second battle was at the Summer Solstice, with the death of the Oak King and the birth of the Holly King. The final battle at Yuletide was the great battle of Light over Darkness at the Winter Solstice. When he meets All in early Spring, they are bound to one another in a great Love, never spoken.