At the Easter Gathering at Findhorn, many of those who went to the dawn ceremony on the beach and witnessed Fionntulach singing Crist Limm, asked about the prayer afterwards. Crist Limm is a Old Irish ‘encompassing’ prayer (pre 9th century), prayed in song and movement. Here are the Gaelic words, with a guide to pronounciation, and the movements. To hear Sr Fionntulach singing it, click on this link.
To begin, lower eyes and head… and cross both hands over heart … Then open eyes and say or sing :
Crist Limm (Creest leem) – May Christ be with me – Both hands extended
Crist Reum (Creest room) – Christ before me – right hand reaches forward
Crist desum (Creest dess-oom) – Christ to the right of me – right hand reaches right-wards
Críst im degaid (Creest im deg-id) – Christ behind me - Left hand reaches over shoulder
Críst tuathum (Creest too-ah-hoom) – Christ to the left of me - Left hand reaches left-wards
Críst uasum (Creest oo-ah-soom) – Christ above me - Right hand reaches sky-wards
Críst issum (Creest ees-oom) – Christ below me - Left hand reaches earth-wards
Críst indium (Creest in-dee-oom) – Christ within me – Both hands cross over heart
Repeat three times. Then keep repeating last line for as long as you like.
To end - close eyes and lower head, saying “Amen”
Findhorn beach - 2012 Easter dawn
CDs of the Celtic chants (fonn) can be purchased on-line from the Ceile De website: www.ceilede.co.uk To hear some examples, click on the Fonn page of the site.
Also, do see Sr Fionntulach’s poetic description of the heart-opening process that can occur from Easter to Pentecost for those who use this period to till the inner soil: The Name of the Rose