{"id":20267,"date":"2025-05-08T19:40:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=20267"},"modified":"2025-05-08T20:15:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T20:15:51","slug":"bernhardt-house-2025-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/bernhardt-house-2025-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernhardt-House (2025 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phillip Bernhardt\u2013House
\n(Independent Scholar \/ Academic Vagabond<\/em>)<\/h2>\n

Paper
\npresented at the 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies
\n(Kalamazoo, 2025)<\/h3>\n

Session on<\/h3>\n

\u201cDream Books, Spells, Divination, Incubation, and Interpretation
\n\u2014’Sandalphon, Send Me a Dream’ \u201d
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Co-Sponsored by
\nResearch Group on Manuscript Evidence
\nSocietas Magica
\n<\/strong>P.-O.M.o.N.A.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Organized by<\/h4>\n

Phillip Bernhardt\u2013House (Academic Vagabond<\/em>)
\nMildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/em>)
\nClaire L. Fanger (Rice University<\/em>)<\/h4>\n

2025 Congress Program<\/a><\/h4>\n

\u201cIncubation, Inspiration, Incantation, or Invention?:
\nThe Imbas Forosnai<\/em> Ritual in Sanas Cormaic<\/em>
\nas Dream Divinatory Operation\u201d<\/h2>\n

Abstract<\/h3>\n

The 10-century text Sanas Cormaic<\/em> (\u201cCormac\u02bcs Glossary\u201d), attributed to the historic king\u2013bishop of Cashel
\nCormac ua Cuillean\u00e1in, defines imbas forosnai<\/em> (\u201cgreat knowledge which illuminates\u201d), including a description
\ninvolving animal sacrifice, incubatory sleep, and some unstated incantations, which then produce visionary
\nresults that answer a desired question for the person undergoing the ritual. The phrase \u201cimbas forosnai\u201d also
\noccurs in one of the Triads of Ireland<\/em> as the first of the \u201cThree Things Required of a Poet.\u201d Further, it is used to
\ndescribe the mantic gifts of Finn mac Cumhaill, the famous warrior-poet\/seer of Irish literature and folklore,
\nimparted to him via various otherworldly means depending on the story, which allowed him to discover hidden
\nknowledge. The ritual as described in Sanas Cormaic<\/em> also has similarities to another divinatory incubation
\ntechnique known in certain narrative texts as a tarbfheis<\/em>, \u201cbull-sleep,\u201d in which a bull is slain, its meat eaten, and
\nits skin is wrapped around the sleeper to induce a vision of the next successful candidate for kingship.<\/p>\n

While much evidence can be marshaled for this ritual\u02bcs comparative validity in an emerging picture of potential pre-
\nChristian mantic practices in Ireland, and likewise for the relevance of supernatural visionary inspiration in poetic
\ncontexts, the question remains: is all of this comparative material directly relevant and confirmatory of this
\nritual\u02bcs existence, or is it simply very alluring in painting such a picture, and the ecclesiastical author of Sanas<\/em>
\nCormaic<\/em> has built a creative but synthetically fabricated edifice suggested by diverse medieval Irish sources?
\nHave Celtic Studies scholars fallen under the spell of Cormac\u02bcs literary skill, linguistic knowledge, and
\ninventiveness \u2014 which is witnessed in other parts of his text \u2014 or does the discipline need to be awakened from its
\nartificially-induced slumber and the fever dream of medieval post-Christian sources accurately portraying pre-
\nChristian magical realities?<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

See also the companion Handout<\/strong><\/p>\n