St. Berrihert’s Kyle – Glen of Aherlow – County Tipperary

On a thin places tour of Ireland, the traveler focuses on places where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin.  In these mystical places spiritual energy is high, and there is a strong sense of the life force that charges every living thing.  Thin places have a special energy, a vibration that resonates. The landscape has a magnetic pull.

While thin places exist everywhere, Ireland has hundreds scattered over a country that is barely the size of West Virginia or Vermont. If you are intrigued by ancient standing stones, old oak trees, monastic ruins; if you’re inspired by castles, intrigued by stories of heroes, giants, goddesses and kings;  if you hunger for a connection with your ancestors or long to go deeper into your own spirit and soul, then you’re ripe for a mystical tour of Ireland’s thin places.

Here are six reasons to tour Ireland’s thin places:

1. You’re Searching … Spiritually

The Rock of Cashel – County Tipperary

Perhaps you are longing to know more about what lies beyond earthly existence. Maybe you have a desire to travel inward, a desire to belong to something greater.  You love nature and know that every living thing is charged with the Divine presence.  You love history and stories of your ancient civilizations.

You want to connect with an ancient landscape – to touch the Other world –  to draw from it, to feel the pulse of the earth’s energy, to feel the presence of those who went before and those who will come after, to walk in a magical landscape in order to discover your own inner landscape.

Next Thin Places Tour of Ireland is September 2014.  Register Today.

2. You’re Growing … Spiritually

King Oak – 700 years old – on the grounds of Charleville Castle – County Offaly

You already have one foot in this world and one in the Other world.  You may have a great affinity for trees, for stones, for wildlife, mountains and the sea. Sometimes you journey during meditation.  You believe there are no coincidences. To you coincidences and synchronicity are the language of the spirit world. Sometimes you can sense the memories of the past in a particular place.  You are intrigued by old stones, by art, poetry and music.  They transport you into a higher existence. Yet though you have these sensitivities, you know there is more.  You’re looking to perfect your gifts and you’re hungry for a deeper understanding.

3. You’re Already Using Your Spiritual Gifts

St. Kevin’s Church – Glendalough – County Wicklow

Perhaps you’re a healer, a priest, a spiritual director, and energy worker, a psychic medium, a mystic, a therapist, or someone who offers powerful prayers for others.  You’re able to walk in both worlds and have an internal sense of the Divine. You successfully communicate with spirits and otherworldly beings.  You may have a strong understanding of earth energies, and can feel the vibrations in a highly charged site.  You may have an understanding of the spiritual power in ritual and devotion (rounds of prayers such as the rosary, ritual practices,  meditation, pilgrimage, visits to holy wells).

4. You Are a Teacher

Castleruddery Stone Circle – County Wicklow

You may be responsible for teaching others spiritual or healing practices… a practitioner who trains others, a mentor, an artist, a therapist.  In a world where spiritual leaders are scarce and negative forces threaten to quench the zeal and passion of those who seek a higher existence, being in a mystical landscape refreshes and strengthens the soul.  Creativity thrives.  Needed spirit guides appear.  Lifelong friends are made.

5. You’re in Need of Healing

Whether it’s physical, emotional or spiritual healing you need, Ireland’s thin places have a strong, healing energy.  The soul soaks up this energy with every step into the mystical landscape.

6. You Love Someone Who Fits the Descriptions Above

People on spiritual journeys often reach out for the support of friends or family.  While some like a solitary experience, others want a close companion or soul mate to travel with them.  Though you may not be searching spiritually, or looking to deepen your own  understanding, you may be called to support someone who is.  Often times people who support others on a thin places journey will find unexpected benefits in their own lives. It may be nothing more than relaxation and a calming of the spirit, but if you’re asked to go on a thin places tour, it’s most likely meant to be.

Why not consider joining us on a thin places tour of Ireland?

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Grianan of Aileach – County Donegal

Grianán of Aileach or Grianán Ailligh is a cashel on the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal. Also known as the “Sun Palace,” it was the royal citadel of the northern Ui Néill  (O’Neills) from the 5th to 12th century.

The Cashel

The cashel dates to the third century and archaeologists suspect it could have been built on a former Neolithic sacred site or burial mound.  Experts in Irish culture and heritage believe that the mound was used for ritual purposes as far back as 1700 BC and was the center of one of Ulster’s ancient kingdoms – and later the political center of the ruling O’Neill’s and later the O’Donnells.  This would have been the royal center, where kings were crowned and rituals carried out as well as a defensive structure.

Though the actual ring fort was probably built in early Christian times, the three concentric rings surrounding the cashel as well as artifacts discovered in the surrounding rings suggest this spot was used for ritual much earlier. The cashel itself is 77 feet in diameter and its walls are 13 feet thick with chambers embedded.  Inside the circle are stairways built into the inside walls the lead to ringed seating areas – like an amphitheater.  This seating gallery would hold hundred of people who could witness inaugurations and other ritual ceremonies.

Inside the Grianan

The City of Derry’s website has a video embedded that was filmed inside the cashel and shows a reenactment of a medieval celebration

From the top of the ring one can see for miles in every direction.  Counties Tyrone, Donegal and Derry are in view with mountains, cliffs, open pastures, villages and beaches.  Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly, the two bodies of water that flank the Inishowen Peninsula swirl about in that landscape.  The peninsula rolls out like a blanket from this vantage point, eventually vanishing in a misty gray horizon (on a sunny day, that is).  It’s easy to understand how the cashel on dominated the region and became as the political center. Its remarkable disk-image capping a hill 800 feet above sea level is visible to so much of the surrounding countryside.

The view from the cashel

Tied to Celtic Mystery

Folklore suggests that prior to the cashel, this hill was associated with deities linked to the sun.  In Irish “Ail” refers to stone.  Grianán in Irish means “sunny spot” or sun temple.  So the name could refer to a stony sun temple or palace.  But according to author Cary Meehan who wrote Sacred Ireland, it can also mean sunny disposition or of the sun.  In Celtic mythology Grainne was the sister of Aine – goddes of the sun, and though Grainne was known as goddess of corn or grain (springs from the earth after being nurtured by the sun), both sisters are said to have been birthed by a sunbeam or “of the sun.”

There is also a tradition that the temple was built by Daghdha, the good god or god of the earth.  He was known as the King of the Tuatha dé Danann, a race of supernatural beings descended from the Goddess Danu.  They inhabited Ireland before the Celts. This tradition has Daghda building the fort to protect the grave of his son. A variation tells of giants building the hill and the Grianán on top a residence for the shining ones who gave birth to the children of the sídhe.  All of these traditions link the hill and the fort on top with supernatural beings, to unseen energy and power and a link to the Otherworld.

Cashels were built for defensive purposes, but circles are also linked to Irish ritual and spirituality.  The shape represents a deeper meaning.  Stone circles, carved spirals on implements and burial stones, circular mounds covering passage tombs indicate this.  There was also a later belief that circular buildings had no corners for evil entities to hide.  Thus one can’t dismiss the spiritual importance of Grianán of Aileach, even though the cashel marked it as a secular site. The traditional beliefs embedded in the Irish life permeated all they did.  This circular fort sitting atop three concentric circles on a circular hill was built with circles in mind.  And the site has a powerful energy about it.

Originally the cashel had been the stronghold of the 4th century chieftain, Niall of the 9 Hostages. Later it became the stronghold of the O’Neill kings and the O’Donnells.  The cashel was mostly destroyed in 1101 by the king of Munster, Murtagh O’Brien and his army in retaliation for the O’Neill’s destruction of his palace in Clare (Kincora).  After they sacked Grianán of Aileach, Murtagh O’Brien told his army of a thousand men to each take a stone from the cashel with them so that the fort could not be rebuilt.

The cashel was later restored again in 1837 by a Dr. Bernard from Belfast. And in 2007 the Irish Office of Public Works restored it to the excellent condition it is in today.  Some say it is over restored.  But over-restoration has not blocked the ancient energy that still apparently seeps from the ground and surroundings.

Grianan of Aileach Entrance

The Energy Linked to Grianán of Aileach

Irish Musician, Tommy Makem in his book Tommy Makem’s Secret Ireland wrote about his experience in trying to tape a television interview with Derry songwriter, Roy Arbuckle inside the cashel .  Arbuckle laughed and told Makem that they’d never be able to record inside the walls.  Makem couldn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t work.

But it didn’t work. Within a minute the sound engineer notice erratic movements on the meters which he couldn’t correct.  The struggle continued for an hour and a half. They finally eked out 15 minutes worth of an interview, and as soon as they were done, all the batteries went dead.  Somehow, Arbuckle expected this difficulty.  Makem writes, “Roy seemed to understand the workings of some hidden forces in this magical place.  He was chucking all the way back to Derry.”

It is true that Grianán of Aileach has an energy about it.  One feels it on the walk up the hill to reach the cashel. It’s mad windy on that hilltop but as soon as you enter the linteled doorway into the ring, all the sounds of wind cease.  Everything is suddenly still, and there is a strange silence.  As soon as I crossed that threshold my imagination moved immediately to those who were in this space before… the sounds, the voices, the cheering, the shouting almost as if an old movie was playing in my head.

The entrance into the cashel is a threshold the opens into a place of different energy.

Over-restored or not, that energy is still present and the views of the surrounding landscape are some of the best I’ve seen in Ireland.  Standing on the top level of the cashel ridge I surveyed the breadth of three counties – their pastures, mountains and Loughs Foyle and Swilly.  The oneness of Ireland then and now is knitted together in that view.

One can see the approximate location of Rathmullen, a village on the west bank of Lough Swilly. It was from there that Hugh O’Neill and Rory O’Donnell left on a French boat bound for Spain one midnight in September of 1607.  With 90+ relatives they sailed out of Lough Swilly changing the Irish social and political landscape forever.  It marked an end to the old Gaelic order. An order of Chieftains and clans and common beliefs and the practice of rich traditions rooted in an ancient time.

And behind the fleeing earls was Grianán of Aileach, a remnant of old Ireland.  In its time it was a great royal center, second to the Hill of Tara. An ancient road links them to each other.  There is a legend of a cave in the hill beneath the cashel where the horsemen of the Great Hugh O’Neill rest in a magic sleep in full armor, mounted on their horses.  The sleeping spell will only be broken when the next destined leader of Ulster arrives to lead them to victory.

So it seems there’s still a little magic left at Grianán of Aileach.

Sources used for writing this post:

A Traveler‘s Guide to Sacred Ireland by Cary Meehan
Tommy Makem’s Secret Ireland by Tommy Makem
Legendary Ireland by Eithne Massey
Mythic Ireland by Michael Dames
National and Historic Monuments of Ireland by Peter Harbison
Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis
Goddess Alive!: Inviting Celtic & Norse Goddesses Into Your Life  by Michelle Skye
From Inishowen Buncrana Calling, the Heritage of Eoghain website by Brian Lace

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Knights of St. Patrick – St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

What to see in Dublin – Ireland’s biggest City?

We start almost all of our Thin Places mystical tours in Dublin because that’s where the airport is located. But how to choose what to see in Dublin? But being a bustling international City, Dublin doesn’t seem like a place one would find sites of high energy vibration or a sense of walking in two worlds. But since almost all international tourists enter the country through this city it’s worthwhile to mention some sites worth seeing.

Certainly among those would be the two Cathedrals south of the River Liffey – Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Garden of Remembrance – Children of Lir

There are many thin places in Dublin. Ancient Holy Wells of Dublin by Gary Branigan proves that holy sites are in your midst even on the busiest of streets, and Gary has identified about a half dozen right in the City Centre.  Most thin places I’ve sensed in Dublin are closely related to the arts. If being in a thin place inspires artists to create and draw on other-worldly energy, then that thin-place energy that inspired them lives in the art. The art itself radiates the energy and connects with those who take the time to let it soak in. One need only to visit the Famine Memorial along the Quay or the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square to connect with such energy. Both are within a mile of each other in the City Centre.

The Gate Theater – Dublin

But a sweet cluster of thin places are scattered around Parnell Square, named for Charles Stewart Parnell.  On the south / east corner where O’Connell Street links with the square are some interesting Georgian houses, with the Gate Theater, anchoring the corner.  Actors like Michael Gambon, James Mason and Orson Wells go their start at the Gate.  It’s known for its productions of works by Irish playwrights including Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde.

Dublin Writers Museum

Just up from the Gate Theater is the Garden of Remembrance, one of the most inspiring sites in all of Ireland.  Across from the Garden of Remembrance on the north side is the Dublin Writers Musuem.  It’s an excellent tribute to Ireland’s literary greats from Johnathan Swift to Brendan Behan.  There’s numerous letters, books, and artifacts from some of the greatest writers in literary history such as like William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.  Some interesting personal items include Brendan Behan’s union card and typewriter, letters written by W.B. Yeats and a first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  There are dozens of personal items carefully preserved and displayed.

The Audience: Irish Writers – Blue by Mia Funk 2009

The Hugh Lane Gallery is also on the north side of the square, was the first public gallery of modern art in the world.  It houses a great collection of Francis Bacon’s work. When Bacon’s heirs donated the entire contents of his studio in England to the gallery, careful attention was paid to recreate the studio in the Lane Gallery to closely resemble the original studio.

Chapter One Restaurant

Chapter One Restaurant situated between the Irish Writers Museum and the Hugh Lane Gallery is one of ten Michelin star restaurants in all of Ireland (2013), a mark of excellence in cuisine and service.  The owners take pride in using local artisans and food producers.  They believe that drawing on local talent in the way of food growing and producing is what sets them apart from other dining venues and creates opportunities for growth.

Patrick Conway’s Pub – where Padraic Pearse surrendered during the Eastern Uprising of 1916

On the south side is the now shuttered Patrick Conway’s Pub, the oldest pub on Dublin’s north side.  This is where Pádraic Pearse surrendered to the British after the Easter Rising failed in 1916 – which is so noted by a plaque on the outside wall.  And as if echoing that association with Irish patriots, the Sinn Fein Dublin office and shop is catty corner to Conway’s pub.

Sinn Fein – Dublin Shop

Dublin is full of art, from the statues of Irish heroes on O’Connell Street to the Cathedrals (St. Patrick’s and Christ Church) to the roadside devotional statues to saints, the Blessed Virgin and Jesus.  There’s much to enjoy about the city that connects with the desire for thin places.

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh – Church of Ireland

Coming into Armagh from the Monaghan Road one gets a dramatic view of the city skyline, especially at twilight. The view is dominated by two buildings on two hills – St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Both are diocesan bishoprics, both are built on holy ground and both are tied to legends of St. Patrick. One is the Church of Ireland cathedral built on the ancient holy site where St. Patrick is believed to have built his first stone church in the 5th century. The other is a stunning Gothic-style Roman Catholic Cathedral, its cornerstone laid on St. Patrick’s Day 1840. It was completed in the early 20th century, with a serious halt to the construction during the Great Hunger.  Armagh is known for being the ancient seat of the Ulster kings and the place that gave us the Knights of the Red Branch and Cuchulainn – the Hound of Ulster, a who was the Incredible Hulk of Ireland.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh – Roman Catholic

Armagh is also a city defined by twins linked to tragedy and triumph.  Armagh  comes from two Irish words that together mean the “Hill of Macha” or the “Height of Macha.”

Ard means hill or height and Macha is the name of an Ulster goddess who had super powers enabling her to run faster than any living creature.  When she was pregnant and near delivery, her prideful husband boasted to the local king who was also prideful about his swift horses, that Macha could outrun them.  The embarrassed king ordered Macha to prove it by racing his fastest horses in a competition staged in the presence of all of his friends.

Macha begged for mercy because she was heavily pregnant, but the king refused her pleas and forced her to run the race.  Macha ran – and won.  All, including the king were in awe of her strength. But at the end of the race Macha collapsed and died whilst giving birth to twins – a boy and a girl, one representing a blessing and the other a curse on the Ulstermen to last nine generations. The blessing was that Ulstermen would develop great strength and be the mightiest warriors in all the land.  The curse was that at the times when they are in the greatest need, they would be stricken with the pains of childbirth and be incapacitated for five days and four nights.  The boy went to sea (the otherworld) and met his mother and the other gods and goddesses.  The girl stayed behind, motherless in a world that exploited and oppressed her kind.

Twin Cathedrals

St. Patrick’s Cathedral (COI) in Armagh

The twin pinnacles in the Armagh skyline are side-by-side hills each capped with a cathedral of two similar faiths. The two religions have a history of bloody conflict that goes back 700 years. They are the Catholics and the Protestants of Northern Ireland.   Some say they mirror the ancient story of the twins of Macha, forced to be birthed violently because of pride, arrogance and greed. One allowed to be the warrior and the other oppressed with little power, forced into servitude. Triumph and tragedy. Blessing and curse.

Shopping district in Armagh

But today’s Armagh shows few remnants of that conflict.  People are warm and friendly, the downtown has nice shops and restaurants.  It’s a busy town, but there are only scant traces of the brutal conflict that raged only a few decades.  If I hadn’t been to Northern Ireland during the Troubles, I wouldn’t be able to measure the difference.  But as a visiting American who traveled there both when the country was occupied and in recent years, I see the radical difference.  Today there are no soldiers in the streets with machine guns, or crouching in alley ways, no razor wire, no moratorium on cameras and taking pictures, no tense people who don’t look up as you pass them on sidewalks – locals who provide no warm welcome for visitors… except for a few who were in the tourism business, and even they were guarded.

Armagh and the North – Good Times and Bad

Gargoil on St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh

Don’t get me wrong.  I loved Armagh then and I love it now as I love all of Northern Ireland. The only difference between the two time periods is that the curse is lifted.  The two sides want to get along.  They want peace.  They want their children to be safe.  They want to thrive economically and welcome visitors.  Both sides know and always have known that they live in a magical land – a land of pristine beauty, a land of stories, a land of mystical energy.  They’re eager to share their country’s treasures in the safe environment that has grown out of their commitment to peace.  And visitors are very welcome.

Janus figure – Caldragh Cemetery

During all of the troubles and conflict, the ancient Janus figure still stood watch in that mystical cemetery named Caldragh in County Fermanagh.  Saint Patrick’s Chair and holy well was still perched in the Altadaven Forest waiting for pilgrims to come forward and present their wishes.  The sands of Whitepark Bay still sang in the wind. The stone circles at Beaghmore were still lying in wait in the shadow of the Sperrin Mountains ready to enchant the visitor looking for those spiritual ports in the storm that we call thin places.   The North has always been beautiful and worth visiting, but it’s good to see the people of the North enjoying their land and each other.

Discover the North Tour

Both St. Patrick’s Cathedrals in Armagh are a part of our Discover the North tours as are St. Patrick’s Chair, Caldragh Cemetery, Beaghmore Stone Circles, Whitepark Bay and many other mystical sites.
Related Posts –
Padua House and Kathleen O’Hagan of Armagh
Armagh – Twin Symbols of Conflict and Unity

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

St. Patrick’s Chair – Altadaven (Demon Cliff)

The old County Tyrone legend states that if you sit in St. Patrick’s Chair located in the Altadaven Wood, and make a wish – that wish will come true within one year.

Mine did.  But I’m not telling .. because you’re not supposed to tell.  You’re supposed to keep it all to yourself.

This throne-like chair is carved out of one huge hunk of rock, and how it got placed so high on a cliff-like edge of the path through the woods is anyone’s guess.  It’s been there for centuries.

Altadaven means “cliff of the demons.” It’s believed that this site, found deep in the thick forest surrounded by amazingly tall fir trees and hard woods with holly and ivy and fern lining the path, was once a meeting place for the druids.  The legend tells of how St. Patrick came to this place and drove the demons (druids) “over the cliff.”

So what once was pagan became Christian.  And what once was a center for druidic ritual became a center for prayer and Christian devotion.  Today, tokens left behind at the site suggest both Christian and non-Christian people come as pilgrims to this powerful site.

There is a definite separation of energy at the entrance to Favour Royal Forest  – as it used to be known.  The entrance to the forest is a defined edge, with a keen sense of power.  It’s a crossing, an opening into place with different energy.

The forest is thick and damp and the trees tall and slim with feathery leaves. The path is lined with ivy and fern.  It is part of an old road called the Sliabh Beagh Way that runs across the countryside. It’s long been known as and enchanted road, and the forest around this part of the path is still referred to as the Fairy Green.  It ascends to Pinnacle Rock which is where the Chair is.

I knew that we were on our way to see St. Patrick’s Chair because a friend brought me there.  But I wonder how travelers would feel who didn’t know it was there – they were just walking this ancient path feeling the closeness of the trees and the energy around them… and then …. at the top of a rise they see this throne-like chair, six feet high, hewn from a boulder.  And suddenly they know this is some special place. Some amazing place of resurrection.

Path on Pinnacle Rock leading up to St. Patrick’s Chair

From the chair there is a steep path leading down to another massive rock, this one with a small well carved out.  There is water in the well and the path is lined with clooties and rags left behind by people who brought burdens to this holy well.  They say the well never runs dry and that the water has healing properties.  Others say the rock with the bullaun is covering an open chamber.

The Holy Well at Altadaven Forest near St. Patrick’s Chair

Tokens have been placed on the chair by pilgrims.  Rosaries, holy cards, medals, statues, coins, a candle.  The air is thick with wishes and dreams both recent and ancient.  So many hopes are left to rest on St. Patrick’s Chair.

Tokens left behind on the chair

If you visit St. Patrick’s Chair, be sure to make your own wish.  But don’t tell anyone.

Shamrocks at the foot of St. Patrick’s Chair

The air around this place is charged with an energy that is no so gentle but more powerful, thick with presence.  And the beauty of the forest is stunning.  So much of Ireland is rock and open fields and rolling hills.  A forest that one can easily walk through is a special to find.

If ever there was a portal into the world beyond this on, it would be here.

Guest on 2013 Discover the North Tour reaches St. Patrick’s Chair

St. Patrick’s Chair and Holy Well are on the 2014 Discover the North Tour of Ireland.

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Legend tells us that St Brigid was born near Kildare to a slave mother who was a Christian and very sickly. As a child, Brigid persuaded the Druid master to free her mother which in turn freed Brigid to enter religious life.

Kildare is one of the stops on the Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland  – Castles, Saints & Druids in September 2014.

Since there were no convents in Ireland, Brigid began one in Kildare. The sisters of St. Brigid prayed simply and deeply and served the poor. We know that Brigid was a contemporary of St. Patrick and a strong legend states that she was ordained a bishop because of her superior knowledge and closeness to God.

Another legend is associated with the goddess or holy woman, called Brigid dating back to pre-Christian times in this region.  Stories of the two women have been woven and spun into legends and tales that all point to a holy woman, who drew followers to this site and performed rituals that were associated with healing, protection, comfort and help for the poor.  The town of Kildare grew up around the community that this woman – Brigid – founded.

Kildare translated means “cell” or church of the oak.  Oaks were known to be sacred trees in pre-Christian Ireland which gives weight to the pagan or goddess tradition of Brigid.  But it is believed that a Christian woman named Brigid founded a community here around 480 AD, that she was a contemporary of St. Patrick and was recognized for great spiritual wisdom.  There are legends that she was ordained a bishop in the church due to her wisdom.

Brigid is now one of Ireland’s patron saints, and is often linked in patronage to farmers and poor pastoral workers – the common citizen, the oppressed Irish tenant farmer of past centuries. It is possible – some say likely – that St. Brigid located her religious community on the spot where the Kildare Cathedral is now situated. 13th century buildings now occupy the spot along with the second tallest round tower in Ireland and an oratory and fire pit which likely date back to pagan times.  Legend states that St. Brigid kept an flame burning in the fire pit continually as a devotion to the Holy Spirit.  The perpetual flame is still cared for today by the Brigidine sisters who live nearby. For centuries this cathedral site has been a draw for pilgrims – a holy place, a place of spiritual strength.

Nearby is St. Brigid’s Holy Well, and the thinness of this place is palpable.  This is actually a secondary well, springing from a known ancient holy well a short distance away.  Volunteers and benefactors have created a beautiful setting around St. Brigid’s Holy Well also known as Tobar Bride.  A bronze statue of St. Brigid lifting the eternal flame has been added in recent years.  Stone prayer stations lead from the well to a running spring.

Wells were considered holy by the pre-Christian Irish being that they sprung from the “underworld” or the womb of the earth.  That tradition of holiness exists today.  Water from holy wells is believed to have special power for healing and spiritual protection.

“A holy well is very special. To watch water springing from the earth is to witness creation in the act of pure, unconditional generosity. At a holy well, my own interior holy well has an opportunity to make itself known to me.” – Gay Barbizon, Brigid’s Kildare; The Fire, the Well and the Oak.

Upon entering Tobar Bride, the pilgrim can see a small devotional shrine where donations are publicly accepted and welcomed.  The old pagan tradition encourages the pilgrim to leave an offering when taking water from the well.

Pilgrims are encouraged to say prayers at each of the seven stations at Tobar Bride.  Just past the small devotional shrine is the spring marked by a stone arch.  This is the first station.  Water flows through two oval shaped stones. Some say these stones symbolize the breasts of the earth – our mother.  The bronze statue of St. Brigid is near to the arch.

Past the arch are five standing stones or “stations” that represent a part of Brigid’s nature.  Pilgrims pause and recognize these qualities and perhaps pray for the same graces to develop in their own lives.

First stone – Brigid the woman of Ireland, the patroness, the protector of a beloved country.

Second stone – Brigid the peacemaker, healing division, bringing forward unity.

Third stone – Brigid the friend of the poor, advocate of the marginalized, speaker for they that have no voice.

Fourth stone – Brigid the hearthwoman, keeping the home flame burning, welcoming all, woman of hospitality.

Fifth stone – Brigid the woman of contemplation, which leads to wisdom and closeness with the Creator.

St. Brigid’s Holy Well – Kildare

The holy well behind the five standing stones marks the 7th station.  It is here that one can pause and reflect, pray for a loved one, and draw water – perhaps to take to a loved one who is ill or to bless a home.

It is traditional belief that a person taking something from (holy water) from a devotional site should leave something behind.  Notice the tree behind the well.  Dangling from its branches are stips of cloth and other tokens – also known as “clooties” – that have been left behind by pilgrims.  The cloth may have been touched to the person for whom the pilgrim is praying.  Sometimes pilgrims leave photos or personal belongings behind – things that have touched the person they are praying for.  This tree had a baby’s shoe dangling from a branch.

The pastoral setting of this park-like devotional space is near the Curragh – or places where the thoroughbred race horses – famous in Kildare – run and are kept.  It is almost impossible not to be moved when entering this space.

This is a very Thin Place.

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Of all the Famine Memorials I’ve seen in Ireland, the one in Custom House Quay in Dublin’s Docklands is the most moving.  Life-size sculptures of  gaunt, listless peasants stand almost as if in slow motion … wandering down the quay.

If ever there was a depiction of “walking in two worlds” it here.

One world reflects the current pulse of Dublin. Business people, tourists, and cyclists move along this path on the north side of the River Liffey at a quick pace. Their intent is focused. Even those sitting on  benches are texting, or chatting on the phone, or reading. Few take notice the bronze faces and bodies – frozen in place.

The Other world is the world of the famine walkers.  The world of 1845 when Great Hunger began. The walkers move quietly through the chaos of busy Dublin, slowly and deliberately. They plead for help, for food, for shelter from those who have plenty, but are are turned away or ignored…. treat like bothersome pests.

They begged the world to notice them then.  They beg the world to notice them now.

When the world looked away, they lost their homes, their children died, their families crumbled. They starved.

Now they are a memory that moves through the veil of time onto Custom House Quay so that we who have much, might be moved.

One of the first Famine voyages carrying the starving Irish to new lives in America left from the this place. The ship was named Perseverance. It sailed on St. Patrick’s Day in 1846 and landed in New York two months later.

The bronze figures were designed and crafted by Dublin sculptor Rowan Gillespie, and they were presented to to the City of Dublin in 1997.

Our guests on Thin Places tours in 2014 will visit this Memorial and a few others in Dublin.

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Athassel Priory – Golden, Co. Tipperary

A medieval road that has so many stories to tell, stories of laughter, love, terror, murder & life. In a county with such a rich history roads like these have so much to tell, but we have to be their voice.

Tipperary has a built heritage that would put most counties in Ireland to shame. If you threw a stone in any part of this wonderful county you would be hard pressed not to hit a historical site, it maybe stone age, iron age, bronze age or early medieval, middle or late medieval.

Athassel Priory – Nave of the Church

As I walk this road I wonder if Lord Inchaquinn used this road on his way to Athassel Priory, a visit that resulted in plunder and the end of this great priory. After his visit no more would the bell call the monks to worship, no more would the workers be seen in the fields planting or saving crops or tending livestock.

A peace fell on Athassel priory as Inchaquinn headed back to his home in Bunratty, his English master pleased with his violent conquest of those peaceful men of god.

This road has also seen famine, the poor people of this rich green fertile valley “The Golden vale” they could not have seen their precious potato fail. A population to big for their island home, to poor to grow anything but the praitie and kept in ignorance by Lord & Master.

This road has seen more resent action during our war of independence and civil war.  The barracks at the top of the road was attacked. But this road has also seen and heard laughter. It was home for many years to the school house.  Children from the village of Golden would walk each weekday to school. There is a two story building which is now in ruins but as I pass I can still hear the children at play.

I often wonder about young couples heading to the village for the fair or for the dancing at the cross roads, young love in early bloom. The farm workers heading to and from work over the centuries, planning their days & their lives. How many dreamed of traveling to other countries, of the chance to make a new life, to make their fortune and to be able to help their families back home.

We can now say that “Far away hills are greener” but to people who worked long hours at back breaking work those hills are the only thing that offered hope. So many people would have kept some little bit of sanity in the hope that they could save enough money for a passage to England, Australia or North America.

Athassel Priory Cloister Garth

Athassel Priory now lay in ruins but we need to remember that at one stage it was one of the most important priory’s in Ireland and England With the prior having a seat at parliament. A one mile walk to this wonderful site and yet I cannot but think how much history has this road seen.

Athassel Priory Gate and Bridge

John Cash is a photographer, historian and tour guide who specializes in County Tipperary.  You can visit his Luv Tipperary Facebook page for more great content like this post.

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

I remember visiting Northern Ireland in the days when the military occupied the border equipped with machine guns and combat gear.  I loved the north just as much then as I do now that the army, barbed wire and weapons are gone and a quiet peace has settled over the land.  It’s a rugged, raw and ancient landscape that isn’t changed by external forces. Battles come and battle go, but the land and its sacred places remain unmoved and unchanged.

The North is my favorite region probably because the bones of the old landscape still peek through the sod without having to fight massive motorways and residential developments for attention.  The ancients knew the energy was powerful here, and they marked many of their sacred places. While some markings have fallen away, the energy still lives. It continues to nourish the human spirit today just as it has for thousands of years.

Sadly, most tourists in the north pass by these special places not realizing that just off the road they’re driving on are stopping places where the traveler can walk in two worlds at once. Here are seven of my favorites in the North. You can’t approach this thin places and not be moved.

BEAGHMORE STONE CIRCLES – Co. Tyrone

Beaghmore Stone Circles in County Tyrone – Northern Ireland

I’m an earth energy novice. Like most common people, I can tell when a place has a sacred feel, but I can’t feel the energy move through the stones and emanate from earth the way some of my friends can.  But Beaghmore radiates energy that even I can feel.  It’s palpable.

Beaghmore is a series of seven stone circles set in a clearing at the edge of the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone. Six of of the circles are paired and one stands alone.  The circles date back to 2000 BC. Artifacts excavated from the site suggest ritual activity 1000 years before that.

The Dragon’s Teeth – Beaghmore Stone Circle

Two interesting things about Beaghmore – The circle that stands alone has 800 jagged stones set in the center (known as Dragon’s Teeth) and one circle has a portal to the Otherworld.  In the center of the circle with the portal is a recent burn mark in the center of scorched grass and earth.  It is currently being used as a ritual site.

Read more about the mystical nature of  Beaghmore on Maura Brooks’ blog.

THE GIANT’S RING – Belfast

The Giant’s Ring – Belfast

Belfast gets a ton of visitors.  But how many know that just outside the city is henge  monument that predates the pyramids of Egypt? A henge monument is a circular enclosure with a ditch carved out inside the ring.  A henge fort is the same circular enclosure on the ditch is on the outside making it easier to defend the fort.

The Giant’s ring is a henge monument with the ring and ditch easily identified.  The earth ring is about 600 feet in diameter and in the center is a slight hill crowned by a five large stones that support a large capstone.  It’s believed that these stones on the hill are what remains of a neolithic passage tomb.  The area is now preserved and used as a park.  The visitor can do a ritual walk around the ring and then examine the stones in the center.  There is actually a 3 mile defined walk of the ring and surrounds that includes a bridge that dates back to the Stone Age and a historic woodland.
There is a lovely energy here.

NAVAN FORT – Co. Armagh

The Mound at Navan Fort

I knew about Navan Fort being the legendary stronghold for the Knights of the Red Branch and the place where the goddess Macha died giving birth to her twins.  Also known as “Eamhain Mhacha” or the “twins of Macha,” Navan Fort was associated with pagan ritual for years.

But what I didn’t know was that the famous mound (130 feet in diameter and about 20 feet high) had a fire ritual history.  About 94 BC a wood temple supported by large oak pillars was built where the mound is and burned on the site in ritual fashion.  The ruins of the temple were covered up with stone and earth creating the mound we see today. Excavation showed that soil used in the covering of the temple came from other places – some quite distant.  Today people return to soak in the energy of the mound which apparently is still quite active. There is also a tradition of rolling down the mound to in order to soak in the energy of the mound whilst giving one’s own energy back to the mound.

At the base of the mound is a fairy tree, an old oak that looks much like a dragon rearing up against an enemy.

The Fairy Tree at Navan Fort (right)

The story of Navan Fort is well told during the guided tour.  For the full experience, pay the money at the Visitor’s Center and take the tour.  The guides are fabulous and there is much to learn from them.

WHITEPARK BAY – Co. Antrim

White Park Bay – Antrim Coast

Everyone knows about the great tourist sites on the Antrim Coast – the Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Bushmills Distillery.  Travelers visiting these places pass right by Whitepark Bay not realizing what a mystical site they’re overlooking.

Right between the Causeway and Rope Bridge, just off the A2 is Whitepark Bay.  It has a car park and solid stairway that descends to the magical beach where the sand sings.

True.

The sand on the beach is mixed with chalk from the cliff face which gives it such a fine consistency that when the wind blows a certain way (which it inevitably will) one can hear the sand “hum” with vibration.  The cliffs are gorgeous and tucked into their vegetation overgrowth are the remains of passage tombs.  This space in the landscape was considered sacred to the ancients.  This beach is a thin place.  It’s a portal, a threshold to the Otherworld.  A place for thinking, for connection with your higher self.  One only has to walk it to know this truth.

I collect heart shaped rocks when I travel as souvenirs from my twin granddaughters.  This usually takes an hour or more to find the perfect rock shaped like a heart.  At Whitepark I set out looking for two heart shaped rocks and asked my friend Maura to help thinking we could save time.  Suddenly they were everywhere.  Within 10 minutes we found 8.

8 Heart Stones found at White Park Bay

8 … a mystical number for sure.  The number that symbolizes infinity, connection to the Creator, the Cosmic Christ, the totality of the Universe.  Maura kept one for herself.  I brought 7 home.  On sits on my desk. A daily reminder of Whitepark Bay.

GRIANÁN of AILEACH and the INISHOWEN PENINSULA – Co. Donegal

Grianan of Aleach – County Donegal

Driving the circle around the Inishowen Peninsula is at least a half-day, if not whole day commitment. But why not commit?  It is some of the most spectacular driving in all of Ireland.  And unlike many of the other spectacular drives (Ring of Kerry, Sally Gap, Connemara Hills, Molls Gap) it isn’t so crowded with visitors and coaches.  Even in the cold and the pouring rain, the Inishowen is gorgeous.  At its base on the south eastern side is Grianán of Aileach, also known as the Sun Palace.

Grianán of Aileach was the ancient royal site for northern Ui Néil from the 5th to the 12th century.  The now restored cashel dates to the 3rd century and caps three concentric earth rings.  The panoramic views from the cashel of the peninsula, Loughs Foil and Swilly and the city of Derry are dizzying – especially if you’re balancing yourself on the top ridge of the cashel.

Views from the cashel – Grianan of Aileach

There is also a tradition that the temple was built by Daghdha, the good god or god of the earth.  He was known as the King of the Tuatha dé Danann, a race of supernatural beings descended from the Goddess Danu.  They inhabited Ireland before the Celts. This tradition has Daghda building the fort to protect the grave of his son. A variation tells of giants building the hill and the Grianán on top a residence for the shining ones who gave birth to the children of the sídhe.  All of these traditions link the hill and the fort on top with supernatural beings, to unseen energy and power and a link to the Otherworld.

BOA ISLAND & CALDRAGH CEMETERY – Co. Fermanagh

Caldragh Cemetery – Boa Island

This is place every mystic should visit before he or she dies.  Walking into Caldragh is like passing into another world.  It’s an ancient cemetery on Boa Island set on the north shore of Lough Erne.  It is surrounded by hazel woods with a fairy tree at the entrance.  The ground is lumpy due to all the old graves, marked with jagged stones now covered by grass.   There are also new graves but no church indicating this particular spot is still a place of sacred reverence for the local community.

Pendulums over the Janus figure – Caldragh Cemetery on Boa Island

Caldragh Cemetery is most famous for its Janus figure, a stone figure likely dating to the 4th or 5th century that has a face carved on both sides (thus the name Janus who was the Roman god of two faces). The Janus stands about 4 feet high and many archaeologists and mystics have guessed at what the two-faced figure represents, but it’s all speculation.  There is a great energy in the stone.  A dangling a pendulum above this stone spins quickly, even for the beginner.  And the quiet soul will find a peaceful rest and easy connection to the Otherworld here.

Poet and Northern Ireland native, Seamus Heaney memorialized the Janus figure in a poem.

JANUARY GOD

Then I found a two faced stone
On burial ground,
God-eyed, sex-mouthed, it’s brain
A watery wound.

In the wet gap of the year,
Daubed with fresh lake mud,
I faltered near his power —-
January God.

Who broke the water, the hymen
With his great antlers —-
There reigned upon each ghost tine
His familiars,

The mothering earth, the stones
Taken by each wave,
The fleshy aftergrass, the bones
Subsoil in each grave.

For me Caldragh is much like the Rock of Cashel.  No matter how many times I visit, I always want to return.

ALTADAVEN WOOD & ST. PATRICK’S CHAIR  – Co. Tyrone

Altadaven Wood – Path on Pinnacle Rock leading up to St. Patrick’s Chair

Altadaven Wood or Favour Royal Forest is an old wooded area bisected by an ancient road known as the Sliabh Beagh Way which snaked through Counties Tyrone, Fermanagh and Monaghan.  On that road is the Demon Cliff where there is a large stone throne-like chair straddling a narrow space on the road.  The chair, and the well below it are now known as St. Patrick’s Chair.  Legends tell of this being an ancient druidic site that St. Patrick came upon while walking the Sliabh Beagh Way.  When he saw the pagan ritual being performed he raised his crozier and cast the demons (druids) off the cliff and claimed the sacred site for Christ.

Tour guest, Tom Quigley stands at St. Patrick’s Chair – County Tyrone

The forest is one of those great “edges” in the world where one crosses over into something upon entry. It’s thick and the mystical walk to the chair is deeply shaded by fir trees and lined with ivy, holly and fern. And suddenly you’re at the chair.  Tokens left behind are reminders of other pilgrims who walk to the chair with intentions in their hearts.  Some say that if you sit in the chair and make a wish, your wish will come true within one year unless you tell someone. It’s worth the walk.

All of the sites mentioned above are featured on our DISCOVER THE NORTH mystical tour of Ireland’s thin places. 

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net

Beltany Stone Circle – Co. Donegal

Every year we travel to Ireland with a few guests and we share with them some of our favorite thin places, mystical places where the veil between the two worlds is thin.  I’ve been traveling to Ireland for the last 20 years and when I add up the expense of this travel it would have paid for a trip around the world … but I keep going back to the same country.  Why?

One of our guests on the 2013 Discover the North tour was a personal friend.  He asked me if I was going to do tours to other thin places – Scotland maybe …. perhaps Wales or France or Russia.  Certainly these countries had thin places.

I didn’t have an answer. I wondered for months about what he said.  Maybe Ireland was just too easy.  Maybe I was too comfortable with the familiar.

My husband agreed.  He was open to expanding the thin places field of travel. With these thoughts in mind I traveled to the North last September secretly expected it would be my last trip to Ireland for awhile.  It was time to move on to other thin places.

Glencolmcille – County Donegal

GLENCOLMCILLE

Our Discover the North group’s first two days were exciting and a little stressful with getting everyone settled in.  By the third day we all knew each other and the schedule was a bit more relaxed.  On day 3 half our group went fishing while the other half took a leisurely drive through Glencolmcille, a gorgeous, rural village in hills of County Donegal where St. Columba founded a monastery and pilgrims have been coming for years.

There’s a church in the valley – right in the middle of the glen.  St. Columba’s Church.  And just outside the church yard is a standing stone, a way marker that serves as one of the turas on the Glencolmcille pilgrimage.  The group got off the bus at this church and scattered across the church yard and neighboring fields.

I took a moment to walk behind the church and take in the landscape.  In one single moment a feeling I can’t describe swept over me.  I knew why I kept coming to Ireland.  There’s a connection to the land for me.  Though I’m not native to Ireland and I’ll never leave my home in Maryland permanently, there’s something about Ireland – especially in the North – that connects.  It means something.

I grow and change with every visit. I learn something new.  I see something new.  I discover some new truth with every visit.

So we’ll be returning to the North the year in May with another group.  I got so enthusiastic after last years tour that I scheduled two tours to Ireland this year.

France, Scotland, Wales and Russia will have to wait.

St. Columba’s Church and standing stone at Glencolmcille

Mindie Burgoyne

thinplaces.net