Tag: nature
Maidin ag Dún Aonghusa

Maidin ag Dún Aonghusa

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For several days, sunrise at the fort was my goal but I never seemed to be up before the dawn. My goal was to walk up in darkness–for some reason that walk in the cover of night was incredibly special–and photograph the fort before daylight.

Finally, some wild force awakened me and I gathered my photography gear, warm layers and boots and quietly exited the guest house. As soon as I opened the front door the wind grabbed my hair. It was crazy again which would make the walk up in darkness even more exciting.

As I entered the prehistoric fort, built over 3000 years ago, the wind once again grabbed me and I stumbled forward into the first circle. I grounded myself and walked over a field of rocks and climbed again to the upper level of the fort.

The night before I sat on a huge slab of rock close to the edge. On that morning, I stayed far away from the edge due to the swirling winds moving through the fort. In fact, I could hardly stand at the same place where just hours before the wind kissed my face in sweet caresses.

With my backpack secured and the tripod in one hand, I stood in darkness facing the sea and with a strong voice repeated the invocation I do every morning. As I begin to speak, the wind completely stopped.

I rise with the strength of Heaven. Light of the sun. Radiance of the moon. Splendor of the stars. Swiftness of Air, Power of Flame, Depth of Sea, Stability of Earth. I rise with a mighty strength because I know the Oneness of All Creation.

The moment I finished speaking, the wind whipped around me. I paused….did that really happen? I asked myself. The answer I heard in my mind was, The planet is alive and listening.  Definitely something I believe but that morning’s experience took the truth deeper.

In four days, I made six trips up to the fort, four of them in darkness. The wildness of the place called to my wild spirit. The wind, sea and stone worked deep magic on me….for which I am deeply grateful.

Maidin ag Dún Aonghusa….Morning at Dún Aonghusa
Beannachtaí

Beannachtaí

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The pilgrimage to Árainn or Inis Mor, Ireland brought such deep contemplation and expansion for me. The stories I could share are many.

Like the old man who stumbled and whispered his life story to me and apologized for it in a small cafe. He taught me how the story we tell and re-tell weaves the life we experience. We come to believe a personal myth that too easily becomes a permanent judgment we settle upon ourselves.

Or the story of walking up to the fort again at night under the half-moon. Stars were brilliant, wind soft and distant waves crashing kept me singing to that bass drum as I climbed. The moon glade on the sea was moving with ripples like a golden sea serpent and I sat in the highest section of the fort viewing the Milky Way as the sea sang 300 feet beneath me.

Those stories might appear later in expansion. But today, I want to share a blessing I wrote while on retreat.

May the beauty of your own heart rise above the filter of your mind to infuse your thoughts with peace, kindness and love.

May the strength of your heart give you courage to love openly and without requirement.

May the dreams held within your heart be given wings to transport them beyond doubt and fear.

May your heart open like petals of the most beautiful flower and may you drink deeply from the sweet nectar and become drunk on the fragrance.

May your heart know the precious gift of love given freely, expecting nothing in return.

May the life that longs to live through you be born through your magnificent heart.

Beannachtaí…Blessings
Tairseachas

Tairseachas

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While singing during the morning session of the Celtic spirituality retreat I went into meditation and saw myself wearing a dark blue cloak with a triple goddess spiral clasp at the throat. I was wearing tall boots and splashing in huge puddles that created rain when I stomped. I was near the bee hive hut where I first met Fiona, the white horse.

Fiona was the name I ‘heard’ while our group was with her the day before and it wasn’t until I was researching the origin of it that my jaw dropped: it is a Latinized form of the Gaelic word meaning ‘white’ or ‘fair.’ Maybe I remember Gaelic after all.

Back to the vision…

When I met Fiona I jumped on her back with no reins or saddle because no self-respecting free spirit would ever allow herself to be controlled. With her mane and my long hair flying we flew through the star-filled sky. Freedom and power!

The stomping in the vision was a proclamation of power. This is who I am! This is the leaping-off place! 


After the gathering, each of us went off on our own for a Threshold walk. In Celtic Spirituality, Thresholds are important markers. They are inner doorways, places between two worlds, transitions from one place to another, but there are physical expressions of them: mists, doorways, gateways.

On my walk I was greeted by a sweet black and white dog and so turned in the direction he led. Immediately after turning I saw a beautiful dapple horse on the hill near the cafe. Down the lane and past the Irish Cob and her filly….my feet carried me to see Fiona.

After walking down the steep hill and through the stile in the rock wall, through small rock-enclosed pastures I came to the bog just before the bee hive hut. Water was standing almost knee-deep in places due to heavy rains. I was just one pasture away from the hut so the only choice was to move forward.

Rain gear keeps rain off. Gore-tex boots are waterproof….unless water is over the ankles. As I splashed through the water, lifting my feet high for efficiency, I remembered the vision and the powerful stomping. This is who I am! This is the leaping off point!

Photograph of Fiona taken on a sunny day….

After sloshing and stomping through the bog I crested the small hill to find Fiona waiting for me. I fed her sweet grass and then ducked into the stone hut, where a monk from perhaps the 8th century had lived and others after him, and squatted out of the rain.

Fiona stuck her head inside and whinnied. She wanted so badly to be out of the rain. I fed her large handfuls of lush grass from another pasture before leaving her–consolation for her lack of shelter. And I thanked her for being a guide to the Otherworld for me and assisting in my moving through the Threshold to freedom.

…

Tairseachas….Gateway….Portal…Threshold

 
An Fharraige

An Fharraige

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Before breakfast I walked to the Sea. It was just out the guesthouse and down the hill past the cemetery and the pasture full of cows and lush, green grass. The rock wall opening had a slanted walkway that led to the sand.

Grass and flowers, then large strands and piles of kelp lay between me and the gently lapping waves. The tides on Árainn or Inis Mor, Ireland are 18 feet daily so there are great spans of beach covered every day with the clear, cold Atlantic Ocean.

I took off my boots and socks and rolled up my pants. I wanted nothing separating my toes and the sea. It was shocking how cold the water was but admittedly, it felt amazing on feet that rarely are confined by shoes and had been in boots for days. But 57 degree water for a tropical gal? Someone saw people swimming the day before but to be clear, it wasn’t me.

The soft texture of the sand–like flour–and the cold water was such a contrast. The sensory differences made my body rejoice. Laughter and song erupted as I played along the shore.

The colors of softest gray to creamy white were mixed in large ripples in the sand and their intertwining dance was so lovely it brought tears. Muted, mixed well yet distinctly different colors.

Perhaps our relationship with Spirit is like that. So much the same….One…yet the colors of our distinct beingness give way to patterns of such beauty.

When I feel lonely I will recall those sands and know that God and all of creation form such a lovely mosaic of creative amazement. Individually unique yet part of the same matter that is stars, sand and brown eyes through which I behold the beauty.

An Fharraige….The Sea.
Do Ghrá Árainn

Do Ghrá Árainn

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The window from my room at the bed & breakfast overlooked the ruin. Michael, the trap and horse driver, recommended a visit there and gave directions. So I left Tigh Fitz and crossed the road, heading south to the first road. I turned right and after a short distance came upon a narrow pathway that led up through pastures where fuzzy cows laid chewing their cud.

It was nearing sunset so I moved steadily upward, the rich light calling me with urgency. Over stiles I climbed, through rock fences and briars that hugged the footpath, using flat rocks to stay free of black mud.

The little church of St Benan was probably built in the 11th century* and was possibly used by a hermit associated with a nearby monastery. According to Dara Ó Maoildhia, in ancient times travelers visited Árainn, or Inis Mor. Irish monks, at one time, would take pilgrimages to the island that were as important as those to Jerusalem and Rome.

But the history wasn’t what I was focused on. As I crested the top of the steep, grassy hill I felt it–the thundering voice of the sea meeting craggy, dark rock face of the Irish shoreline. It reverberated loudly through flat rocks that covered the landscape. I climbed thinking I would visit Teampall Bheanáin, ruins of a small chapel, but it was the sea that truly called me.

 

As I climbed beyond Teampall Bheanáin, layers of cracked and broken karst crisscrossing in mind-blowing patterns lead to the crashing sea. Distant walls of stacked stone created even more patterns for my eyes to feast upon.

I paused to take a couple of photographs but quickly walked through an expanse of rocky grassland to the Voice calling me. It wasn’t as if the edge of a cliff was nearby and the huge waves blew spray on me…it was a quarter mile away and the roar of the sea meeting shore created an underlying boom that I felt through my bones. The sound reverberated upwards through my body and anchored me fully in the present moment.

After several moments of feeling awestruck, I moved forward. There was such sweet communion and bliss between the deep bass of the sea and me. And while I cannot share the depth of experience because that is beyond description by words, I can say that when a Voice with such strength and presence speaks, the only option is to give It undivided attention.

The vibration of the thundering Voice opened a doorway within me, a Threshold appeared and I felt steady and ready to walk through it.

Thus began my journey on Árainn. Safe passage through the week I was there and back over Galway Bay to the mainland of Ireland have come about but echoes of the Voice reverberate still through the corridors of my being days after my first encounter with It.

Do Ghrá Árainn…..For the love of Árainn

*Dara Ó Maoildhia wrote a wonderful little guide for all seekers traveling to Árainn. It is filled with great information about the island, especially for those intending a pilgrimage. It is called A Pocket Guide to Árainn: Legends in the Landscape and can be purchased on the island or you can email Dara and get a copy before you travel there….it helped me to learn as much as possible before going.