Ireland Blog #3
March 31- April 10 2023
New World
The fighting had stopped
Like the parting of clouds
The wind celebrated
with the dancing children
The wonders of the world
Still stood, still balanced
By magic and
Joy still laughed and
Grief still ached.
The songs sang
And the trees spoke
This new world into Being
and the people--
We listened.
As travels go, I have been deep in the Mists of Presence and have not sat down to write in some time. I sit at a cafe in Trim after 10 days of traveling and am moved once again to share some of the magic from my time in Ireland.
After some much needed restoration with Sarah and her family, I was ready to go and adventure again. The night before my friend Laura arrived, I went out with Sarah to a local Ceilí (a contradance) at the church nearby. There I met and danced with a fellow who Sarah knew named Martin. She told me that he brought people to a nearby place and held song circles. This place is not an everyday spot, it is a gorgeous walk through the forest, across a stream, and into a clearing with resounding echoing magic whenever you make noise. It is quite a mystical and mysterious phenomena as there are no big rocks or masses for the sound to bounce back from. As we sat and talked about sound and music, he offered to come with me, Sarah, and her family and play music there together. We made a plan to meet the next evening right before dusk.
Laura arrived in the afternoon the next day. We spent our time playing with the children foraging and exploring the beautiful land they called home. We gathered nettles, sorrel, fiddleheads, wild garlic, and primrose flowers. In the evening we drove to the forest walk and journeyed with our instruments to the clearing.
The sound was extraordinary. It sounded as though beings were singing back, and perhaps they were. We sang well passed dark as the oncoming full moon watched overhead.
We headed out the next morning and drove to Valentia Island. We stayed at an amazing cottage where we met our super cool airbnb host, Anthea. She lived across the way and was creating the most amazing tiny home/bus/creative-finds village for people to gather and host retreats.
The next day we headed North. We booked another airbnb for the next two weeks as we were both starting to feel sick and needed a place to ground and recover. What we did not know is that the spot Laura picked out would be another incredibly cool village-in-the-making, called Cnoc Suain (https://www.cnocsuain.com/). It would be hard to encapsulate the magic of this spot and the incredible vision the family holds right here right now. Here is an excerpt from their website:
“Cnoc Suain, in County Galway, is an enchanting family-owned hillside settlement of restored and reimagined traditional thatched and slate-roofed cottages, vernacular styled buildings, dry stone walls, biodiverse habitats and traces of an ancient past. It is situated on 200 acres of pristine bogland in the Connemara Gaeltacht, overlooking river, lake and Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast”.
The family of O’Hare’s that they bought it from had had the land in the family for 400 years. It is now a place of culture, belonging, rewilding, and learning. I highly recommend exploring their website to get a deeper feel for this amazing place.
From there we headed North still, all the way up to Sligo. There we stayed at a glamping spot next to the sea. It was such a magical evening. The sun set over the cliffs, the waves crashed on the rocks, and the wild song was singing loudly through dreams and visions.
We spent the next three nights outside of Navan, a town 45 minutes north of Dublin city. While we were here we cared for our bodies, soul, and spirit through food, rest, and sacred sites.
Baths, sauna, hottub, lake & river cold plunges, screen time, stretching, and lots of good giggles.
At the Hill of Tara we met a mystical man who followed the Old Norse Ways. He gave us gifts and told us many stories. We want and connected deeply with this powerful, soulfull land, filled with a lot of history and stories.
At Tchladga (also known as the Hill of Ward) we spoke again to the land, connecting our hearts and minds to the sould of this place, listening to the land and ancient history speak directly to us.
Now Laura continues her journey in Europe for another two weeks before heading home. I have a couple of days to reset near Dublin before welcoming my sweet mama to Ireland! We spent two weeks here in 2017, and I am so excited to be back here together. We will spend another week in Ireland before heading to Wales for another two weeks of adventuring before heading home.
Stay tuned for more!
With love,
Savannah