Thin Places - Mystical sites, Sacred Places in Ireland and beyond

There are Many Thin Places in Dingle

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Of all the places in Ireland, the Dingle peninsula is the most mystical to me. One could spend a month on Dingle and not see a tenth of the thin places. I suspect the grounds everywhere are littered with nodes where earth energy seeps through. Every sunrise, every sunset, every rainstorm, the light, the hills, the stones, the Atlantic, the views ... all are charged with a sort of divine presence.


Photo by Patty Green McArdle - Dingle Harbor

The photo above shows boats tied up at the Dingle Harbor. The photo placed 4th in popular vote in the Ireland Photos by You! contest. 59 photographs were entered and over 300 people voted by LIKING their favorite photos on Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland Facebook page.

Patty McArdle (the photographer) is a nurse who lives in Frederick, Maryland. She had this commentary to offer with her photo submission:

The picture was taken at Dingle Harbor on the Dingle Peninsula. While most thin places seem to be on land (or, at least, that is what I've always thought) this place seemed to call to me. Notice that these boats are not pleasure boats, but rather working boats. I felt not only the beauty of the boats but felt the presence of those hard-working Irishmen, past and present, who spent their lives on the water providing for their families and community. I believe that those who lived off of that water who have gone before us remain close in that harbor.

My husband and I were on 2 week adventure in Ireland, taking in the sights all up and down the west coast and more. This was a trip that we had planned for months and months and enjoyed every second of it! We can't wait to go back!

The Dingle Peninsula is in the southwest of Ireland and far removed from large centers of population. Dingle town is toward the western end on the south side of the peninsula . A snug harbor here entering from Dingle Bay is where many of the fishing and tour boats come it. This was also where pilgrims left in Medieval times to travel to Santiago de Compostela - the pilgrim trail of St. James in Spain.

Dingle has always been a holy place.

Photos of Dingle from the Travel Hag Flickr Site

The North Side of Dingle

On the north side of the peninsula are villages around Tralee Bay and Brandon Bay, and of course Mount Brandon - the holy mountain where St. Brendan is said to have had his vision which inspired him to set out with a fleet of curragh's to find the "promised land." In the end, Brendan came home to Ireland and founded several monastic communities. Mount Brandon is the second highest peak in Ireland and dominates the northern landscape which is dappled with villages, monastic ruins and megalithic monuments.... and some of the most beautiful strands (beaches) in all of Ireland.

I had a one of my most remarkable thin place experiences there in the shadow of Mount Brandon

The West and Southern Shore of Dingle

On the west end and the southern shore, the Dingle peninsula has tremendously scenic drives such as the Slea Head loop and Connor Pass (which connects the north and south shores). Bee hive huts, monastic settlement ruins, oratories, forts, cross slabs, standing stones, ogham stones and famine cottages can all be seen and visited along these roads.

The streets of Dingle town are friendly and chocked full of shops, pubs, galleries and lodging houses. The convent beside St. Mary's Catholic Church on Green Street has one of the most remarkable collections of Harry Clark stained glass windows in the world.

Art Thrives in Dingle

Art simply thrives in Dingle. Artists, crafters and galleries are prolific. Dingle is also one of the most vibrant centers for traditional Irish music. I interviewed painter, Carol Cronin in her gallery on Green Street and asked her if thin places mattered to artists. A video of the Carol Cronin interview is on the Travel Hag YouTube channel. In about 5 minutes, Carol explains how living on the Great Blasket Island transformed her as an artist.

Other posts on Dingle
The Man in the Sand - Dingle in the Shadow of Mount Brandon
Carol Cronin - Dingle Artist on Thin Places Impacting Creativity
Harry Clarke's Stained Glass in Dingle

The Burren - County Clare, Ireland - a Very Thin Place

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:25:00 +0000

The Burren, located in the West of Ireland (County Clare) is a stony moonscape full of jagged edges and mile upon mile of gray rock. It has long been viewed as a sacred landscape. Across the Burren are many high crosses, several monastic ruins, portal dolmens and over ninety megalithic tombs.

Photo by Christy Jackson Nicholas - Poulnabrone Dolmen

The photograph above placed 3rd in popular vote in the Ireland Photos by You! contest. 59 photographs were entered and over 300 people voted by LIKING their favorite photos on Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland Facebook page.

This view of the Poulnabrone Dolmen in the Burren - County Clare was submitted by Christy Jackson Nicholas, an artist from Morgantown, West Virginia with the caption Poulnabrone Dolmen, Summer Solstice, 2006.

Christy added this commentary after winning second place.

This was a shot we took near Summer Solstice in 2006. We loved the Burren, and it's alien landscape, and since we all take a pagan path, it was especially magical. We did have to wait around a while until the busload of tourists filtered out, but we wandered and explored the crikes and passed the time. It was a much-needed girls' trip vacation!

Christy is an accountant and an artist. Her work can be found on her website - Green Dragon Artist.

In places, the Burren has a barren, infertile appearance because of its lack of forests and endless vistas of rock. But because of its temperate climate, the Burren is also one of the most fertile regions in Ireland. There are lush fields and hundreds of wildflowers and blooming shrubs set against the rocky landscape - some of them growing up through the rock crevices.

The Burren one of the most remarkable and mystical landscapes in Europe.

It is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him and yet their cattle are very fat; for the grass growing in turfs of earth, of two or three foot square, that lie between the rocks, which are of limestone, is very sweet and nourishing. ~Edmund Ludlow,

Corcomroe Abbey

Corcomroe Abbey ruin sits in the center of a lush valley where a monastic community was able to thrive in the twelfth century. The abbey was most likely founded and financed by Donal Mór O'Brien, and it went strong for over 400 years - all the way up until the dissolution of the monasteries.

The Abbey sits just off one of the main roads that wind around the Burren. It's easy to explore and has a strong sense of solitude. Each time I visit Corcomroe it's the same ... a kind of forgotten relic almost projecting its memory of what once was. It is not a subtle presence.

Imagine that someone destroyed a magnificent gallery and all that was left were some walls and remnants of art clinging to the ruins. A thousand years after the destruction, you walk through and observe what's been left behind ... the raised arm of a bishop, the bold face of a saint, the curls on the head a warrior, detailed carvings on a column. You know the place was special ... alive with the collective results of talented artists that toiled for years on these works of art. But the place died and most of what was in it was lost. Only scraps are left, leaving hints of the place's former grandeur.

That's what Corcomroe is like. It's a lonely place.

The fishbone pattern on the ribs that support the vaulted roof over the sanctuary, the effigy of a Chieftain king, carved faces and flowers resembling bluebells atop the large columns are amazing. Corcomroe is a place to walk through slowly... to stop and notice the details.

The Poulnabrone

If the Burren had a brand, it would be the Poulnabrone portal dolmen (shown in the Christy's photo above). It dominates the landscape. It stands taller than a man, and dates back to somewhere between 3600 and 3800 BC. Buried beneath the dolmen are the remains of 22 people, 16 adults and 6 children. It was most likely a place for communal ritual. A sacred place.

Kilfenora

The church at Kilfenora was built in the 12th century. It is located on the edge of the village and is now enclosed with a roof and locked gate. Inside the church is the High Cross of Kilfenora and some interesting carvings on the walls. The Doorty high cross is also located there and the views from the church are lovely.

A beautiful post A Visit to Kilfenora Cathedral offers a unique perspective on this region and its history.

Thin Places - Glendalough - a Magical Place

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:48:00 +0000

Glendalough in County Wicklow - One of the Most Magical Places on Earth ~ Maya Hanley

The photograph above placed 2nd in popular vote in the Ireland Photos by You! contest. 59 photographs were entered and over 300 people voted by LIKING their favorite photos on Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland Facebook page.

This colorful Autumn scene was taken by Maya Hanley of Carlow, Ireland and submitted with the caption - Glendalough - County Wicklow, one of the most magical places on earth.

Maya added this commentary after winning second place.

It was taken in Glendalough on an October day when I had a friend over from Sweden. It was her first visit and I wanted her to see the magic of Glendalough. I grew up near there, in Roundwood, so Glendalough was sort of my back yard.

When we were small, my mother used to take us out on picnics in the summer and that photo was taken at the exact spot we used to picnic. In those days, we were able to light a fire and my mother would put potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil into the base of the fire and they would roast as the fire grew. She would boil a kettle on the fire and make tea that was smokey and delicious.

Mother would lie on the picnic blanket while we played in the river. After lunch, we would head to the lake, just around the corner and sit and look at the sky and the trees and talk about the history of the place and how there were fairies in the woods and other magical creatures. We all 'knew' there was something magical there, we could feel it in the soles of our bare feet as we ran about the place.

We always went to the wishing rock in the graveyard too. You had to stand with one hand in the groves of one rock and straddle the pathway to reach the other rock where there was always a pool of water, and make your wish.

I go back to Glendalough over and over again and it never fails to intrigue and inspire me. My friend,who was with me that day, was thunderstruck and it opened up a discussion of the 'other world' and what's possible. Since then, her life has taken another turn and has opened up to the idea of magic. I blame Glendalough!

Maya Hanley is a Marketing Consultant who works with small businesses, helping them with marketing strategies and social media practices. More information about Maya can be found on her website and on her Facebook business page.

A Little More about Glendalough

The name Glendalough means valley between two lakes, which is indeed where the ruins of St. Kevin's monastic city rest - in a valley between two lakes. In the late sixth century, St. Kevin founded a monastic community on this site and it flourished into the thirteenth century becoming a self sufficient city and center for learning. The remnants of the grand building that once stood are from the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The double gateway leading into Glendalough is rare and is actually set at two levels. The arches still stand - one slightly higher than the other. Several churches, a cathedral and round towers make up the main complex, which rests on a sea of grave markers remembering the dead of the Glendalough parish. St. Kevin's High Cross, though not as ornate as many others scattered around Ireland, stands in the center of the complex

Pathways and bridges guide the visitor in and out of ruins that cling to the present time and space, but somehow those old relics seem to connect with the past ... with a time when they were new and vibrant and the city thrived.

Even with throngs of visitors, one can find a quiet spot in Glendalough and ponder, pray, remember. There's a quietness about the place and a mystical draw that makes everyone want to return.

When I asked Paddy Moloney of the The Chieftains if he could name a thin place in Ireland, he remembered Glendalough. He said, "Glendalough is my parish. I live near there. I like to go there when it rains and walk and walk. Almost nobody goes there when it rains."

Flickr Slide Show comprised of photographs by Mindie Burgoyne - (c) 2012

Grave Marker at Ardmore Winning Entry in Ireland Photos by You Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:37:00 +0000

Ardmore - First Christian Settlement in Ireland

Photo by Martha McCartney - Grave Marker, Ardmore Cemetery

The photograph above placed first in popular vote in the Ireland Photos by You! contest. 59 photographs were entered and over 300 people voted by LIKING their favorite photos on Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland Facebook page.

This winning photograph depicts a grave marker in the Ardmore Church Cemetery in County Waterford. It was taken by Martha McCartney. I asked Martha to share some personal thoughts about the photograph and what her experience was when she took it.

Going to Ireland had been a dream of my father’s that was not realized. Our family has roots deep in Celtic history and my ancestors traveled from Scotland to Ireland before making the trek across the Atlantic in time for the Revolutionary War.

When I explained to my father that I wanted to make the trip and especially wanted to search for grave sites, he was excited but had only one request, this was for a “wee drop of the Irish Whiskey “ which was provided to him upon my return to the West Virginia hills that he called home.

The first place that I searched for ancestral graves was the cemetery at Ardmore. Perched high on a hill overlooking a sweeping view of the Atlantic, it is instilled with a sense of maritime tragedy being filled with the graves of sea captains and mourning widows. This site seeped into my heart and although I visited many other spots in Ireland where I felt a connection, none were as intensely peaceful and calming as Ardmore.

To be able to look from grave to the sea is remarkable, the round tower standing guard over the ancient temple ruins and the amazing statuary seem to make the senses more intact, the colors and scents more vivid, the boundary between antiquity and present seem to melt away making it a truly thin place and the feeling of spirituality is palpable.

Martha lives in the Pacific Northwest and is a photographer, poet and artist. You can view more of her work at Lillie Savage.

A little more about Ardmore ....

Ardmore is believed to be the first Christian settlement in Ireland, founded by St. Declan - a Welshman who emigrated from Wales to this spot in County Waterford sometime between 350 AD and 420 AD. This means Declan's settlement would have predated St. Patrick's return to Ireland as a Priest and Bishop.

Ardmore has four unique thin places wrapped into one beautiful setting on the Atlantic Ocean.

The BEACH The beach or strand is stunning and one of the finest beaches in all of Ireland. On the shoreline is St. Declan's rock (seen in slideshow below) which is believed to have carried his vestments and bell across the ocean. Many believe this boulder still carries healing powers. It has sat in the same spot for centuries, according to the locals.

St. Declan's Holy Well - The south road out of Ardmore town ascends up to St. Declan's Holy Well. The remains of a hermitage still stand - Temple Dysert - and within the remains is a holy well where the pilgrim can extract or drink water believed to have healing powers.

Slide show of Cobh and Ardmore - Thin Places Tour 2011

The Cliff Walk - As the visitor continues up the hill past the Holy Well, the road opens up into a wide mesa-like space with spectacular views of the sea. The Ardmore Cliff Walk is not to be missed. The sweeping views of the Atlantic, the cliffs, the waterfowl and Ardmore town are breathtaking.

The Monastic Settlement - As the settlement and cemetery come into view, St. Declan's Church with its 9th century carvings and roundtower, overtake the senses. What must it have been like to come upon this spot when the settlement was thriving? Today's parallel experience might be a popular city skyline like San Francisco or New York. The familiar landmarks would remind ship captains that sailed up the Atlantic - "There's Ardmore." It still has that same stunning sense of place that almost cries out from the landscape.

The monastic area has many graves - in fact, almost every square inch of ground space is marked for a person that sleeps below. Some grave markers are elaborate like the one in Martha's photograph above. Many are mere rocks or pieces of slate set as a meager reminder of what the departed's family could afford. But elaborate or meager, the dotted hallowed ground claims its place in the Ardmore memory. .. and gives the visitor a sense of not walking alone.

Thin Places - Eric Weiner Opens a New Understanding

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Iona Abbey - Scotland

I love that Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss wrote an article on Thin Places. The niche is so narrow and Eric's high profile and the New York Time's wide distribution has opened up the subject of thin places to a wider audience. To date most people who write about thin places are academics or clergy. Eric revealed the concept to the traveling world - to ordinary people.

So what are thin places?

My one sentence definition has always been "places where the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thin."

I wrote my answer to that question in an article published back in 2001. Over the past eleven years ago since I wrote that article, Walking Through Thin Places has been translated into many languages and republished in hundreds of journals, magazines, e-zine, documents, sermons and websites. This one paragraph from the article shows up in my Google alerts at least three times a week, meaning that it appears on some new web page Google has indexed. Does that mean I'm an authority? No. It means not a lot of people were writing about thin places. I'm happy that Eric has jumped into the game and elevated the visibility.

Thin Places are ports in the storm of life, where the pilgrims can move closer to the God they seek, where one leaves that which is familiar and journeys into the Divine Presence. They are stopping places where men and women are given pause to wonder about what lies beyond the mundane rituals, the grief, trials and boredom of our day-to-day life. They probe to the core of the human heart and open the pathway that leads to satisfying the familiar hungers and yearnings common to all people on earth, the hunger to be connected, to be a part of something greater, to be loved, to find peace.

Labbacallee Wedge Tomb - aka The Hags Bed, Co. Cork

Eric Weiner weighs the concept of two co-existing worlds - a physical world and an eternal world, in his article Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer. He describes thin places. He states "They are locales where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent or, as I like to think of it, the Infinite Whatever."

I love the article because Eric is speaking for the common person. The one who goes into a place and somehow is transformed for having gone there. The non-scholars and non-academics who sense something special about a particular place are represented in Eric's article, and he has opened up a whole new concept to the average traveler. Hooray for Eric Weiner!

Understanding of Thin Places Goes Deeper

Eric is a travel writer known for traveling the world. His great gift is his ability to write about travel in the context of a story. It makes the reader feel as if he or she is right along with him. He so casual, so conversational, so real.

But I disagree with Eric on airports and bars being thin places - and bookstores too, "especially Powells of Portland, Ore." (nothing against Powell's). I think what he was trying to say is that these places bring out a sense of transformation in us... that's what makes them thin. Thin places are where we feel good. He states that Jerusalem is not a thin place because it's now "thick with animosity and weighed under with historical grievances."

Kildavnet Cemetery, Achill Island

It almost seems as if the implication in the article is that we can create these thin places or destroy them at will by our actions. We can build an atmosphere around the site with a cathedral or church or bar or airport or tear it down with an attitude. But the main thrust of the article eludes to there being some ephemerality (is that word?) that meets you in certain places and Poof! You're in a thin place.

I didn't invent the concept of thin places. People in the Celtic traditions have been talking of thin places for centuries. The Irish language has words to describe and define thin places that we Anglos have translation for. What I have learned from these humble people and loving teachers of Celtic spirituality is that the place itself is different.

Thin places do not dictate the behavior of God. God is everywhere and we don't need to be in a thin place to connect with the Divine presence. We can feel God's presence anytime, anywhere - at church, at a bar, the airport, Powell's Books, on the beach. We may sense God at special times of the day - twilight and dawn. But that simply means we are spiritual people and by the grace of God we can connect at will.

Thin Places Are Inherently"thin"

The concept of a place being thin in and of itself gives religious people angst. It doesn't fit in their doctrine. I've lost several friends who fear I've been claimed by the dark forces, and become a witch, a new age freak. One recently said to me, "We fear we've lost you to the other side." I've been held up to criticism on the Internet on blogs of pastors and religious leaders who negate my beliefs because they're not Bible based - therefore can't be true.

The older I get the less I care about people these people. I miss those friends who have walked away from me until I'm "healed" or "brought back." But I'm not walking away from what I know is the truth.

The truth is that some places are special. I've felt it. I've seen it. And I've been changed by it.

Kevin's Kitchen - Glendalough - Co. Wicklow

These places were special long before anyone could write about them or read about them. Call it energy, call it thin, call it mystical. Some places are so cloaked in the presence of the Divine that the human spirit, if allowed can sense their energy. People are drawn to these sites, and then drawn back to them. They are transformed when they visit them.

The ancients knew this. They had a way to understand the concept of thin places. It was an understanding uncluttered by scholarly knowledge or religious doctrine. The charism of those places was felt long ago and the sites were marked. This is the reason there are churches, cathedrals, high crosses, stone circles, pyramids, temples and an endless stream of seekers coming to those places.

Shrine at the Well of the Wethers - Co. Kerry

And I also disagree about thickness of Jerusalem, not because I've been there, but because sadness, grievances, and bad blood do not negate thinness. I remember visiting Northern Ireland during the Troubles and seeing the razor wire, the militant graffiti, the soldiers stalking the streets and crouching in the alleys in Armagh and Portadown. I was stopped coming out of Tyrone by a soldier whose machine gun was inches away from my face as he leaned through my car window. Yet the high crosses and stone circles in the Tyrone landscape was no less sacred. The Armagh Cathedrals did not lose their draw nor did the area surrounding the Navan fort. These are thin places with or without the mark of hatred and grief.

Thin places are not places where God arbitrarily chooses to reveal his / her Divine presence in a more powerful way. God does not change. Ever.

The best quote I ever heard on thin places was by Mark Patrick Hederman, Abbot of Glenstal Abbey in Limerick. ....

On the summit of Mount Sinai, on the road to Santiago, God does not stand any closer or speak any louder. But we listen better.

The thin place changes us. We are transformed. That's why we keep going back and seeking out new places.

More reading -

Harry Clarke's Stained Glass in Dingle

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:17:00 +0000

Harry Clarke Window - The Agony in the Garden

The Dingle Peninsula in Ireland's south west corner is a magical place. Everyone knows that. But apart from the well-known sites like Slea Head, Gallarus Oratory, the Blasket Island, bee hive huts, and Mount Brandon there are hidden jewels often undiscovered by the average traveler.

One such place is Chapel of the Sacred Heart located in the center of town in a Gothic style building next to St. Mary's Church. The building was formerly a convent for the Presentation Sisters. It is now part of the in the Díseart of Irish Spirituality and Culture, a place where students of Irish culture and spirituality can learn, grow, study and share.

The chapel is unique because it houses twelve lancet (or six two-glass) stained glass windows by the renowned Irish artist, Harry Clarke. In 1929, the Irish Statesman published an article by Irish Nationalist and mystical writer George Russell (aka AE). In the article, Russell stated:

Harry Clarke is one of the strangest geniuses of his time ... He might have incarnated from the dark side of the moon.

So many churches in Ireland will claim one Harry Clarke window as an element to attract visitors. (And viewing one window IS worth a visit anywhere). But to have six sets all together in one spot is a feast for both eyes and spirit.

Harry Clarke Window - Gift of the Magi

The windows in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart depict six scenes from the life of Christ - Visit of the Magi, Baptism by John the Baptist, Suffer the Little Children, Sermon on the Mount, Agony in the Garden, and Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene.

Visitors can stop in the Visitor Centre's office at St. Mary's Chapel and ask for a guided tour. A young woman conducted a personal tour from me explaining that this was once a convent and the chapel was solely for the nuns. The sisters were the only beneficiaries of this magnificent art except for on rare occasions.

Harry Clarke Window - Let the Little Children Come to Me

A tour takes about and hour, and there are beautiful walled gardens as well as a hidden tunnel that can be explored with a guide. If you're in Dingle, ask about the Clarke windows. Anyone can direct you to St. Mary's Catholic Church. The former convent / An Diseart Visitor Centre is next door.

Calling ahead would be prudent to insure someone will be there to guide a tour. For more complete information, contact the Díseart Institute of Irish Spirituality and Culture.

Where is Robert the Bruce's Heart?

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Marker placed over the site where Robert the Bruce's heart was buried

While living, Robert the Bruce made a request that his heart be buried in the Holy Land. He died in 1329 and was buried in Dumfernline. Per his request, a soldier carried his heart to the Holy Land but was killed on the trip. The heart was recovered and brought back to Scotland where Robert's son - then King David II asked that it be buried at Melrose.

The burial place of the heart was forgotten over the centuries, but rediscovered in 1996 during an archeological excavation. The Scots reburied the heart and held a contest for the design of the marker.

The marker has an X symbolizing St. Andrew's cross that appears on the Scottish flag, and a heart through which the X weaves. The inscription reads, "A noble heart may have nane ease, gif freedom failye." Translation- A noble heart cannot be at peace if freedom is lacking.

Newgrange - Be There on the Solstice

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:31:00 +0000

Newgrange Passage Tomb Entrance - Boyne Valley - Ireland

According to Mary Gibbons, Newgrange is the oldest building in the world that is completely intact. True, this 5000 year old passage tomb is ancient, but more extraordinary is its archaeological design that allows light to pass through a lintel at the entrance and pour into the tomb once a year - during the winter solstice.

Actually, light passes into the tomb at Newgrange for about 5 days surrounding the actual solstice each year, while it remains completely dark the other 360 days.

During the daylight hours throughout the year, visitors can tour Newgrange - actually go inside the tomb on a guided tour of about 20 people at a time. The tour guide turns off the lights to leave visitors in total blackness - then a slight beam of tungsten light is gradually pushed through the lintel to give the visitors a hint of what the rising sun would do on the morning of the shortest day of the year.

That alone, is worth a trip to Ireland. But as the man-made light is flowing up the passageway, every visitor wonders .... "Wouldn't it be magnificent to be here on the actual solstice and see the sunrise for myself?"

Every year on the Solstice, the folks managing Newgrange allow 100 people to experience the solstice from inside the tomb. People are selected by lottery. Anyone can enter by submitting his or her name at the Bru Na Boinne Visitor Center. If you can't do this in person, you can email the staff and ask them to enter the lottery on your behalf.

The entrance passage at Newgrange

The drawing for the 2012 solstice will be held on September 28, 2012. Children from three local schools will choose the winning applicants and 50 winners will be notified by mid October. Each winning applicant will be allowed to bring one guest and the 100 lucky people will be assigned to attend one of the five days surrounding the winter solstice of 2012 (December 21st). The event is totally dependent on the weather, so if cloud cover obstructs the sunrise, there will be no light in the tomb.

In 2011 there were 31,531 entries for the Winter Solstice Draw for 2011. Odds of winning are slightly better than 1 in 600. That makes the Newgrange Solstice Lottery ten times easier to win than the Maryland Match 5 Lottery (matching 5).

Newgrange Passage Tomb - Boyne Valley - Ireland

I sent my application request to the staff at the Visitor Center, and got a nice email confirmation within 24 hours from Eleanor that my name had been entered.

From: Bru Na Boinne
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:05:09 +0000
To: Mindie Burgoyne
Subject: Re: application for Winter Solstice Lottery at Newgrange 2012

Dear Mindie, Your name has been entered into the 2012 Solstice Lottery. Good Luck! Eleanor

I so hope I win. And if I don't I'll enter every year until I die.

Farewell, Kathleen O'Hagan and Padua House of Armagh.

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:38:00 +0000

Padua House B&B - Cathedral Street, Armagh

On my first visit to Armagh - in fact, my first visit to Northern Ireland - my traveling companions and I searched a travel guide for B&Bs. It was 1998. Northern Ireland was an occupied country with British troops, rifled up with combat gear stationed on the streets and in the alley ways.

On the road to the North from the Republic, we paged through a guidebook entitled Bed and Breakfast Ireland by Elsie Dillard and Susan Causin. The book mentioned only four B&Bs in Armagh. One B&B stood out - Padua House on Cathedral Road. The text began...

Guests are made to feel like part of the family at Padua House. Mr and Mrs O'Hagan are a friendly, welcoming couple who thoroughly enjoy their visitors. The family lounge is shared with guests, who are encouraged to join the owners after a busy day's touring. A hot drink is almost always available.

I had an older version of the guide. Mr O'Hagan had passed away by the time we visited. But the authors could not have been more accurate about Mrs. O'Hagan. Staying with her was like staying as an invited guest in someone's home. There was no sterility or formality, just casual, genuine warmth. We were invited to have tea and treats when we arrived well after dark in April of 1998.

During the course of that stay, Kathleen and I chatted about both being widows. Her sympathy for my widowhood at such a young age was so strong. We talked endlessly about the Troubles in the North, and I was able to get a first hand interview with someone who had lived through the worst of it. We talked about coincidences and how people are brought together. We talked about the Trinity and the meaning of 3's and how the number 3 surfaces in our lives to remind us of God's presence.

The address of Padua House was "63" Cathedral Street. We discovered together that the "6" (the sum of two 3s) and the 3 = three 3s ... same as the Trinity. Kathleen reminded me that 7 was God's number, reserved only for him. A reminder of his divinity.

I believe Padua House was a thin place, and that Kathleen O'Hagan was a subtle messenger in my life.

I wrote and entire blog post about Padua House and Kathleen - Armagh: Twin Symbols of Conflict and Unity - where I detail coincidences and synchronicity that led me to the house and shaped my experience of Armagh and the North. Two years later I returned to Ireland with a new husband. We stayed at Padua House with Kathleen and her hospitality was just as rich as in 1998.

Dan and I always hoped we would return to Padua House and see Kathleen again. She had this motherly magnetism. I wanted to tell her about my writing and how it was coming along, how the kids were grown and the grandchildren arriving. I wanted to ask her about the shift in the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants since occupation ended. I wanted to chat with her about more thin places in the North. Unfortunately, a meeting with Kathleen and a return to Padua House will never happen.

Yesterday, I received a comment on the blog post about Armagh that mentioned Kathleen. A local Armagh resident who knew Kathleen mentioned that she has passed away earlier this year.

I looked up her obituary online and found two conflicting dates of death - March 7th and July 3rd. Evidently one of the posts transposed the numbers - 3/7 or 7/3. Kathleen's special numbers.

Rest in Peace, dear friend.

Related Posts - Armagh: Twin Symbols of Conflict and Unity

Two Great Books on County Mayo - by Michael Mullen

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:31:00 +0000

My good friend Michael Mullen has published his second book on County Mayo. Well known as a writer of Children's Literature with books such as Mangus the Lollipop Man and Sea Wolves from the North (Wolfhound Press), Michael is also a great historian and story weaver who knows as much about his native County Mayo as any living person.

The Road Taken; a Guide to the Roads and Scenery of Mayo by Michael Mullen was published by Nonsuch Publishing in 2008. In this book, Mullen takes the reader on a journey through the Mayo landscape- from it rugged cliffs, it tortured sea, it craggy mountains, placid lakes, rolling farmland and thriving villages, Mullen describes the landscape mentioning details most visitors would miss. While describing the landscape, Mullen weaves into his commentary, the history of Mayo and the stories of the people in the West of Ireland. This is wonderful travel guide for those who want to learn of Mayo's geological, anthropological and spiritual history. Every major town or region in County Mayo is covered in this book that also includes 101 photographs.

The book reads like a geographic guide that goes in a wheel pattern with Castlebar (Mullen's hometown) as the hub of the wheel. Most of the roads are seldom taken by travelers that come through Mayo, yet have some of the most breathtaking and interesting sites along the way. For the traveler who wants to explore Mayo, or have a reference about the Mayo landscape, this book is will go beyond expectations.

Mayo - The Waters and the Wild published by Cottage Publications in 2004 is written by Michael and complemented with illustrations by Castlebar artist, John Peter McHugh. Images of McHugh's watercolors complete the mystical tone set by Mullen's writing. The book features the "wild" side of Mayo, or parts of Mayo connected to lakes and rivers. Some of the sites covered are Croagh Patrick, Ballintuber Abbey, Ballycroy, Delphi, Ballina, Lough Mask, Newport, Castlebar (the Mall), Kildavnet Castle, Achill Island, Doolough and Clew Bay.

Mullen covers the history of each site with a flare for story telling. History never sounded so interesting. For the traveler who may be going to Mayo, this book is invaluable as an easy to read historical perspective of prominent sites. For natives of Mayo, or lovers of that part of the West of Ireland, Mayo - the Waters and the Wild is an important addition to a collection of books on Ireland.

Tintern Abbey - the Other Tintern in Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Tintern Abbey - Co. Wexford, Ireland

It was on July 13th in 1798 that William Wordsworth began to write the poem, Tintern Abbey. He later wrote that "... No poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant ..." He was, of course, writing about the famous Tintern Abbey in Wales on the River Wye, founded by the Cistercians in 1131. The ruins of that abbey in Wales remain, surrounded by parkland. It's a very thin place.

But there is another Tintern Abbey and it, too is a magical place. It is located in County Wexford, and was once the most powerful Cistercian house in the south east of Ireland. It also lay in ruins today, but there is a remarkable restoration effort going on to shore up walls and create a spiritual public place.

Tintern Abbey - Co. Wexford, Ireland

I stumbled onto to Tintern Abbey in Wexford simply because I saw it labeled on the road map. I had been to the one in Wales, and was curious. There was nothing about this Wexford Tintern Abbey in the guidebooks. So on a gloomy February day I drove onto the abbey property at dusk. The ruins rose out of the landscape with such glory, that it gave me chills.

The earth energy of Tintern is vibrant.

The abbey was founded by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (Wales). Marshal had been named Earl of Leinster and in 1200 he set out on his first visit to Ireland. His ship was wrecked. He cried out to God for rescue, and made a promise that he would found a monastery where ever he safely landed.

He washed up on Bannow Bay in Wexford and made good on his promise. He donated 9000 acres of land to the Cistercians for a monastery. He brought monks from Tintern Abbey in Wales (he was also a patron of that abbey) to colonize the monastic settlement. This new abbey in Ireland was named "Tintern" after the abbey in Wales.

It is sometimes referred to as Tintern de Voto which means "Tintern of the Vow."

These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration: — feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love

Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth

Carol Cronin - Dingle Artist - on Thin Places Impacting Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:06:00 +0000

Does the landscape impact creativity? Does where you are matter when you're trying to create? Does the earth energy in thin places affect the creative mind and spirit?

This is the first in a series of interviews with artists exploring this subject. I met Carol Cronin while in Dingle this past May. The Carol Cronin Gallery is located on Green Street between St. Mary's Church and Main Street. I asked Carol if being in Dingle - or anywhere for that matter - was important to her painting. She gave a resounding "yes" and we videotaped a short interview.

It's no small coincidence that certain landscapes attract artists, healers, and mystics. And when reviewing the fruits of their creativity, it's hard to separate the artist from the landscape. Think of Yeats without Ireland's landscape woven into his poetery. Max Ernst painted the Sedona desert long before he physically saw it.

And the great State of Maine ...It drew writers Margaret Wise Brown, E.B. White, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and countless others to its forests, towns and shoreline. Recently best-selling author, Terry Goodkind said this of Maine ...

I had to live this long, have the experiences I've had, to create what I do. I knew I wanted to write for years, but I had to be ready so I wouldn't blow it. The move to Maine was the final step.

Is it any small wonder that Paris attracted artists for generations. Is it really the light? Whether it's earth energy, the intersection of ley lines or some other ephemeral blessing ... the land or sense of place appears to matter to artists.

What Are Thin Places? Video of Sacred Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:23:00 +0000

Frequently, people ask me what thin places are. Typically I respond, "a thin place is a place where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. Here's a video with images of Ireland, that explains the thin places concept. Consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel so you can be notified when new travel videos appear.

The Celtic harp music in the background is by Anne Roos. The song is Craigieburn Wood from her Light in the Forest collection. I'm grateful to Ann and her publisher for allowing me to use this music in the video.

Video Image Listing
Several have asked so here is a listing of the 33 images in the video in order of appearance.

Sliabh na Caillí - This photo was taken from the top of Sliabh na Caillí - or "Hill of the Hag" in County Meath. I was standing just near Loughcrew tombs .. a very thin place
Glencolumbkille - County Donegal ... these stones are one of the final stations in the Glencolumbkille pilgrim walk.
Gallarus Oratory - Dingle
"The sleeping giant" - one of the Blasket Islands off the coast of Dingle
Beehive huts - Dingle
Ardmore, County Waterford - site of St. Declan's monastic community, the first Christian community in Ireland.
Uragh Stone Circle - on the Beara Peninsula, County (the Kingdom of) Kerry
Muckross Abbey, county Kerry - cloister walk ruins with giant yew tree in the center.
Statue of St. Patrick at Ballintubber Abbey (County Mayo) - marking the beginning of the pilgrim's walk up the holy mountain - Crough Patrick. The mountain can be faintly seen in the background.
Brandon Bay at the foot of Mount Brandon - Dingle (Mount Brandon is hidden in the clouds)
A view from Mount Brandon - Dingle
The Rock of Cashel taken from the Hoare Abbey runis, County Tipperary
Dolmen at Carrowmore megalithic burial ground - County Sligo
Benbulben - County Sligo
Tobar na Molt - "Well of the Wethers" - Inside of the chapel at this site, located in County Kerry near Ardfert. Believed to be the place where St. Brendan was baptized and where St. Ita is buried. Holy well outside. is adjacent.
The Well of the Wethers - holy well at Tobar na Molt (pilgrim is kneeling next to the well) - chapel is the stone building
Caldragh Cemetery, County Fermanagh - site of two janus figures seen here as the taller stones. This is both an ancient cemetery and present day cemetery.
Tobar Bride - St. Brigid's Holy Well in Kildare. Pilgrimage site with markings doing prayer "rounds"... near site where St. Brigid founded her monastery.
"Clooties" on tree adjacent to St. Brigid's Holy Well in Kildare - tokens of devotion.
Signpost for Castleruddery Stone Circle in County Wicklow. Near Glendalough
Stones from the Castleruddery Stone Circle
Lia Fáil - or "Stone of Destiny" or Coronation Stone of Tara - Hill of Tara, County Meath.
Clonfert Cathedral - site of St. Brendan's monastic community. St. Brendan is said to be buried outside the church doorway.
Kilmacduagh Monastery ruins in County Galway, near Gort. Monastery founded by St. Colman (son of Duagh). Famous for its leaning round tower. A magical place!
Knock shrine - County Mayo - More pilgrims travel to this site than any other in Ireland. Place where Virgin Mary, St. John and St. Joseph appeared to villagers in 1879. Apparition has been recreated in stone.
The "Autograph Tree" at Coole Park, home of Lady Gregory. Famous literary figures including W. B. Yeats, Bernard Shaw, J.M. Synge and Sean O'Casey carved their names or initials in this copper beach. The tree still stands.
Gougane Barra - smallest church in Ireland - County Cork. Built on the site of the monastic settlement founded by St. Finbar.
Thoor Ballylee - Castle in County Galway restored and lived in by W. B. Yeats. It was from this place that Yeats wrote The Tower and many of his later collections.
The Burren - meaning "great rock", this place in County Clare is a vast wasteland of rock - very mystical. .. like a moonscape. Visitors feel compelled to build "cairns" or small towers made of the rock scattered throughout the landscape. Ancient settlements can still be identified here.
Cairns built in the Burren by visitors. Hundreds of these are scattered across the landscape.
Poulnabrone dolmen - ancient tomb in the Burren, tall enough for a man to stand underneath the capstone.
Cashelkeelty stone circle, County Kerry - on the Old Green Road running down the Beara Peninsula. Seeing this circle requires a trek off the main road (about 2 miles).
View from the road up to Mount Brandon. This rainbow stayed in the sky a full 20 minutes.

If you enjoyed this video, consider subscribing to the Travel Hag YouTube Channel so you can be notified when new travel videos appear.

Croagh Patrick - Climbing the Reek - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:02:00 +0000

Guest blogger, Michael Mullen, well-known author in Ireland, presents Part III of his series of posts on Crough Patrick, the Holy Mountain in County Mayo.

Croagh Patrick is a singular mountain. Above all it is a spiritual place. Set about it are the remains of the Celtic Church. On Inisboffin to the south-west lies the remains on a small monastery. The window frames the great mountain. It was here that Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne came after the his defeat at the Synod of Whitby. He brought with him Irish and English monks. There was a dispute between the two groups, so he left the island with the English group and set up Mayo Abbey. Recent archaeological surveys indicate that Mayo Abbey was as important in its time as Clonmacnoise and that Saxon students were drawn to this place of learning.

One summer's day I sailed to this island. The waves were calm and a curious seal, well moustached, peered out at us from the tranquil water. We approached the island from the west for there is a small anchorage there, and the small hermitage, with its sacred slabs and crosses, is well protected from the south westerly gales.

St. Colman - Clare Island and Clew Bay

It is well called Cathair na Naomh or the enclosure of the saints. Many of the earliest Celtic ornaments are engraved on the slabs standing about the enclosure , particularly the Dolphin slab, which date it to the sixth and early part of the seventh century. Of these decorated stones Professor Herity writes,

It appears that the hermitages, both on the islands and the desert places of the mainland opposite, are foundations of the earliest centuries of Christianity, a fact demonstrated by the early dates of the cross-slabs. Further, many of these slabs demonstrate surprisingly direct contacts with centers of innovation in Ireland and the continent. Through them we can dimly perceive the presence in the west of early illuminated manuscripts and metalwork crosses which may have served to transmit some of the designs of the cross-carved slabs.

Saint Patrick's influence was firm and vital. All about the sacred mountain lie early churches, early symbols and early crosses. How can we catch the Celtic voice of that time? The most immediate voice is that of Saint Patrick's breastplate or Lorcia, which although not written by Saint Patrick catches the mind set of the time. It is a long poem and it is obvious that it is chanted like some incantation against evil. I quote and unfamiliar passage

I invoke to-day all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

It possesses immediately spiritual strength and is the voice of the early church. Croagh Patrick, in a physical manner, dominated the Celtic Church. It possessed a simplicity and an intensity which a more formal church lacks. It possessed a joy and an awakening to a fresh and spiritual view of the world. It is a pastoral world, surrounded by the beauties of nature, where the saints can pray and meditate. It is a world where the natural is so close to the supernatural that the mind moves easily from one to the other.

Saint Columcille writes,

How happy the son is of Dima! No sorrow
For him is designed,
He is having, this hour, round his own cell in Durrow
The wish of his mind:
The sound of the wind in the elms, like the strings of
A harp being played,
The note of the blackbird that claps with the wings of
Delight in the glade.
With him in Rosgrencha the cattle are lowing
At earliest dawn,
On the brink of the summer the pigeons are cooing
And doves on his lawn.

For the early Irish church was filled with poetry and music, a delicate delight in nature, a direct relationship with God, unburden by complicated theology. After the death of Saint Patrick, the church flourished. Ireland did become the Island of Saints and scholars, and the three great monuments to this golden period are The Book of Kells; the Ardagh Chalice and Muiredach's Cross at Monasterboice. Thus the great period is marked in vellum, silver and stone, each a masterpiece and each carrying the mystical circles of an earlier age.

Croagh Patrick then is the sacred mountain, perhaps as sacred now as it was in the early Christian Church. As the twentieth century, reels from materialism and all the wars which have ravaged the century, the Holocaust and the local wars and the soul looks for some definition, it will find it in high and thin places, remote and awesome. That is why pilgrims, sometimes in bare feet, make their way along the path worn out by the footsteps of their ancestors.

Doo Lough - County Mayo

This great mountain has dominated my life. I know it in all its moods. On a summer day it stands sharp and pristine against a blue sky. It shimmers like some Greek mountain upon which the gods take residence. It dominates the landscape with its imposing presence and the eye is drawn towards its and the mind is called towards its summit. In autumn, as the strength of the sun wanes, it carries deeper colors. In winter, it is the first mountain to bear a cap of snow and then it is almost inaccessible and private. Springs brings a renewal and the beginning of pilgrimage.

It is a mountain of many moods. On wet and on windy days is becomes opaque. When the mists roll in from the sea it is shrouded and inaccessible and dangerous to attempt the summit. It becomes a private and introspective place. When luminous clouds pass above it, it carries their shapes across its surface. When the sun shines firmly on its surfaces, it is light purple and in the hollows dark purple. It fits all our human moods the variety of our spiritual desires.

The grey path, etched by pilgrim feet draw the pilgrim towards the summit.

One night as a young man, I set off for the summit with the pilgrims in July. I joined the human chain which stretched from the base at Murrisk to the top of the mountain. The pilgrims were funneled on to the path at Owen Campbell's pub and we began the arduous ascent. At this level some small bushes and shrubs gains sustenance from the boggy soil, but soon the trace of vegetation, falls away. Moss and rough grass is barely sustained on the lower limits.

The path is tortuous and uneven. Rough stones break the surface and pilgrims sometimes balance precariously on the rocks. The accents are familiar and they mingle together. Small groups call out the rosary as they move up the slope. Others, with pilgrim staffs, search for purchase. Some walk on bare feet. The young push optimistically up the slope, those who are older plod onwards. The level land has fallen away and small lights on the flatlands mark individual habitations, clusters of lights mark the towns and the light house at the eastern end of the bay, flashes out its warning beam.

Now I join a human river of feeling. A sense of individuality falls away and I become part of a spiritual process, part of something which has gone on for a long time. There are no words to define the change within or the link I feel with all those bound to the surface of the mountain and to all the pilgrims who have taken this track for more years than the archaeologists can ascertain.

On the lower summit, it grows lonely and the pilgrims bend their backs towards the slope . There is greater silence now. On the hip of the mountain there is a small respite. The path runs level. It is time to prepare for the final ascent. The winds curve up the mountain from the south. Even on a summer night their is wind on the mountain. It grows colder and the mind grows bleak. There is no icon or image to sustain one on the final push. At this point the mountain slope rises sharply. It is covered by shards of rock, which run beneath the pilgrims feet. One bends forward and clings to the mountain. Nothing is easy now and the darkness does not reveal the summit.

Those returning call out words of encouragement. Finally there is a small tilt and the going gets easy. A few more meters brings the pilgrim to the summit. I had reached the highest level. A great circle of people bound closely together in a human wheel moved about the church calling out the pilgrims prayers, their voices raised in petition. I join the pilgrims, individuality shed.

I had reached the platform on the mountain. Here Patrick had lived and slept for forty days. On this spot he has tussled with demons and deepened his spirituality. In this bleak place he could come to terms with himself and his mission. No one is unmoved on this platform on the very edge of Europe and while the comfort is cold, the weather variable and the body weary the spirit takes heart. One looks evenly on life and eternity, at the ephemeral and that which is profound and fecund. The better part of ones nature is freed for a time and from time, soars for a shot time on the back of an eagle's wings.

You come face to face with your better nature and that is a frightening thing. Who wishes to look into the clear face of God particularly a sin sodden soul like myself. But these are moments or epiphanies when light flashes within the mind, when the spirits is illuminated and charged. It happened to Paul in a dramatic fashion on the way to Damascus and quietly to Augustine at Ostia, and surprisingly to Aquinas at the very end of his days, when the most rational of men had a mystical vision.

I had none of these experiences on Croagh Patrick, but I did climb up out of a normal habitat and a normal world until I could climb no further. I stood close to a thin place, a place of white light before it is fragmented into weaker color. There is no need for voice or complexity on this platform, for that splinters vision.

That was a long time ago and I need to return to this place again. I need to climb out of existence, its speed, its vast communication network, its cynical propaganda, its Babel of voices and particularly the Babel of philosophers who eschew wisdom which is damn tiresome and a thin pabulum for my soul. I will never cross over to the other side as the mystics have done for like Sancha Panza I ride upon a mule and I never had the idealism to tilt at a windmill.

As I recall the first experience, I remember how the dawn broke uncertainly in the east, then how the sky was suffused with light, how the landscape and seascape took dark form and then final form. The great bay lay beneath me, the drumlin islands, en échelon, as the geologists say. They set the direction from which the great glaciers came and point in the direction towards which they departed. A cairn of rounded stones lie about each island base. They say that there is an island in the bay for every year, but I have never counted them and I do not know if it is true. To the north lay the mountains of Mayo, to the south the Skeffrey hills and in a line west Ahagower where Saint Patrick celebrated Easter.

The descent from the mountain was rapid. The scree ran before us and soon we were on the saddle, then we took the broader path towards Murrisk. I was secure on the flat lands, safe in its intimate beauty. Every pilgrim had been moved in some way by the mountain. The physical challenge alone has its own value, the spiritual challenge is profound and not easily described. But it is deeply felt and sets deep roots.

I have traveled in many places since then. I have stood on the plateau of Massada and looked across the Dead Sea towards Moab, walked across Red Square and looked at the waxen face of Lenin, lay upon my back and studied the Sistine chapel, visited Tsarkoe Selo and prayed in the small chapel frequented by the Romanov family, before they were transported to Siberia and execution. I witnessed the White nights of Saint Petersburg and sailed upon the Sea of Galilee. I prayed at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and took a bus to Bethlehem. But I have never been in a thin place comparable to Croagh Patrick, where there was no image and no icon, little comfort and dawn a toss away. What happened there was profound and silent and I could never catch it in the net of words.

If you cross the road at Owen Campbell's pub and continue the path to the sea you will come upon one of my favorite places, Murrisk Abbey. I will neither describe its architecture, its history or its topography. It was founded in 1457 and its function failed somewhere at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In 1730 Father William Bourke was transferred from the abbey and sent inland. He expresses the sadness of departure in this Irish poem which I translate freely.

Fare well to you Murrisk,
A most pleasant , most joyful place.
Farewell to the to the honey bearing mountains,
South of the Reek.
Most glorious to me
Was the oyster catcher wading on the sea margin
More glorious than the fairy music of the world.
-all the fairy music of the world.
Now when I rise in the morning
I see in the distance the Reek,
My heart within is in frenzy
And my mind burdened.
I am not accustomed to these inland people
They are not pleasant and lack joy.
They are images cut from a green oak
With an axe.
If I can endure this place
Until the cuckoo speaks
I will then return home
And visit my favored place.
Were it not for the submission and respect
I always have held for the order,
I would never have abandoned Murrisk
And the beauty of its harbors.
There is little more to say. The rest is monastic silence.

St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain - Part I by Michael Mullen
St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain Part II by Michael Mullen

Hit the Follow this Blog button on the right to be kept informed when new posts are added.

Guest author today is Michael Mullen of Castlebar, County Mayo. Michael is a well known Irish writer of Children's Literature, Historical Fiction and many works written in Gaeilge, the Irish native language. This is the final entry of a three part series of posts on St. Patrick and his holy mountain known as Croagh Patrick.

Text Copyright 2001, 2011 by Michael Mullen. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Richard Rohr - The Celts Didn't Invent Thin Places

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Janus figure - Caldragh Cemetery, Boa Island

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest, author, speaker and spiritual leader I have long followed and respected. His insights into spirituality, prayer and contemplation are some of the best in today's world of faith leaders. However, his post, Life on the Edge: Understanding the Prophetic Position in the Huffington Post today disappoints me. He relates living on the "spiritual edge" as living in a thin place.

The post points out that thresholds, doorways, bridges and other entryways, have long been linked to guardians or helpers appointed to assist with crossing over. He then links the same concept to spiritual thresholds and calls them thin places.

I don't mind if he wants to use "thin place" as his personal, spiritual term for a threshold to a spiritual state state of contemplation.

However, in his post, Fr. Rohr links the term "thin places" to the the Celts. He states, "The edge is a holy place, or as the Celts called it, "a thin place" and you have to be taught how to live there."

The Celts were a culture of people that arrived in Ireland after 500 BC. The idea of thin places or doorways to the Otherworld were solidly a part of the Irish culture long before the Celts came. Newgrange passage tomb is 5200 years old and has entrance stones with large spirals carved into the surface, common symbols for the pre-Christian Irish - and linked to their concept of thin places.

Drombeg and other stone circles in Ireland date 800 - 1200 BC. Tombs on the Hill of Tara date back to 3000 BC. The Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren dates back 5000 years. We know that sects of the pre-Christian Irish believed there was another world - and Underworld where a parallel civilization (often linked to enchantments) lived. They believed there were openings where the inhabitants of the other world came and went between worlds - thin places. Legends of fairy forts or nodes where passage between worlds was possible were known as thin places or enchanted places.

The Hill of Uisneach was believed to be a thin place, not so much because of its being an opening for passing between worlds, but for the strong energy that comes to the through the earth from below - supernatural power that humans could draw from.

The thin places concept was a part of the pre-Christian or pagan charism and these beliefs or sensitivities - existed prior to the Celts. The concept is rejected by many of the present day Christian communities, often being linked to "new age" heathenism.

Fr. Rohr also writes, "To take your position on the spiritual edge of things is to learn how to move safely in and out, back and forth, across and return. It is a prophetic position..." He uses this phrase not to relate that the place where you physically stand (on the edge) puts you in a prophetic position. He's writing about something ephemeral or of the consciousness or mind. The physical place doesn't appear to have any significance in his definition.

These pre-Christian Irish people believed the thin place itself had the mystical or spiritual power. One didn't create a thin place simply by moving into a state of contemplation or spiritual trance. The site itself was thin and that made spiritual contemplation more powerful.

I have no issue with people who want to give their own definitions to the term thin place. But I find it frustrating when writers recreate the pre-Christian Irish definition to suit whatever spiritual premise they happen to be writing about.

Considering Fr. Rohr is a scholar and has traveled much of the world, his "thin places" reference in this post appears to be reaching .... and sounds trite and sappy. It seems to be a feeble support to a lofty, contemplative concept.

Croagh Patrick - Climbing the Reek Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:56:00 +0000

This is the second of a three part series of posts on St. Patrick and his holy mountain known as Croagh Patrick written by Irish author, Michael Mullen. Read first post in the series - St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain.

If one studies the movement of the sun On 18th of April and 24 August the setting sun rests on the summit of the mountain and then slides down the northern flank. So perhaps the mountain marked the movement of the sun across the heavens. How many other markings lie about the county aligned with this sacred mountain? To ascribe a low intelligence to our ancestors a lack of a deep religious instinct to diminish both them and us. The story of Saint Patrick has been well and often told. It is pivotal to the story of the Mountain. The outline of the story is familiar. As Daphne C. Pochin Mould says in her books The Irish Saints.

Patrick, apostle of Ireland, head of the belief of the Gaels, as he is styled in the Martyrology of Gormon, is a person of whom we know, as it were, everything and nothing.

He is the author to two works -his Confessions and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. The Lorica or Breastplate of Saint Patrick, once attributed to him, is believed to be of later provenance. But let us see what is firmly established about the man.

St. Patrick the man
We cannot give a date for his birth but it is believed that he died in 493 and is buried in Armagh. He was born near the west coast of Roman Britain and was given the name Succat. His people were Christian and his father an official of some importance. He was taken captive by Irish raiders and brought to Ireland where he was sold to a pig farmer. Many associate him with Co. Antrim but there is equally strong evidence that he served out his time in County Mayo, perhaps in North Mayo. He spent six years herding swine on a mountain. In fact he must have been attracted to the loneliness of mountains. While herding swine he became prayerful.

So he became familiar with the solitude of the Irish hillsides and the Irish woods. He learned the Irish tongue and through his master Milchu, he became familiar with the rituals of Druidism. One the mountain of Slemish he was visited by visions and in one he was instructed to escape. There is a tradition that made his way to Mayo and sailed out of Clew Bay. He was taken aboard a the ship which carried Irish wolfhounds. If he did then one of the last things he saw as the coast receded was the great mountain of quartzite. His journey was eventful. They were shipwrecked and traveled through a strange and desolate landscape.

He gives us the following tentative information concerning his life.

I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, of the village of Bannaven Tuburniae; he had a country seat nearby and there I was taken captive. I was then about sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people..

And I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me-as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent.

Eventually he reached home and would have stayed contentedly with his own people but he head the voice of the Irish, close to the Wood of Voclut near the Western Sea, which called him to come and walk with them. Had he been more accurate and was he familiar with modern autobiography we would have a much clearer knowledge of his life. Wishing to become a priest he went Saint Martin's Monastery at Tours, and again to the island sanctuary of Léirns. It is obvious from the life of Saint Germain that Patrick was a capable and suitable candidate to send to Ireland to convert the Irish. Others had failed. He arrived with a retinue of people knew exactly what he was about. He must have been familiar with the landscape of Ireland and the centre of power and culture. Contrary to the law of the high king he lit a Pascal fire on Slane hill, a hill within view of Tara. With that gesture he challenged the druidical power.

The following words are ascribed to the druids although there is no historical proof for this event as the Pascal fire goes back to the 8th century.

O King live for ever; this fire, which has been lighted in defiance of the royal edict, will blaze for ever in this land unless it be this very night extinguished.

So he took on their power of fire with the Pascal fire. It was a symbol of what was to come. With fire he dealt with fire. This was an affirmation and a moment which marks the firm beginning of conversion. His life as a missionary was not an easy one. In fact it was dangerous. He writes of "twelve dangers in which my life was at stake-not to mention numerous plots." This phrase alone opens up a whole field of speculation. What were the dangers and who were his enemies? No doubt he was engaged in a power struggle with kings and druids. He lived dangerously and his mind was singularly determined.

St. Patrick's Pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick
During all his travels and visitations he came to Croagh Patrick. He traveled to Aughagower in 440. He would have journey along the ancient path from Cruchan. Aughagower was an important location and the seat of a chieftain. When Patrick arrived he came with his house hold. We have a list in the life of Saint Patrick written in the seventh century by Tírechán. He arrived with his bishop, his priest, his judge, his chaplain, his psalmist, his chamberlain, his bell-ringer, his cook, his brewer, his charioteer, his masons, his woodsman, his cowherd and many others.

In other words he was equal to any chieftain. He was also well organized. Most likely he built a church there and set about appointing bishops. As he looked west he would note the high, quartzite cone of Mount Eagle as it was then known. He would have been curious about the mountain and known its importance to the ancient Irish. Here too he would leave the Christian mark, as he had left it on standing stones and in other places sacred to the druids.

And so he set out to climb Mons Aigli, the Mountain of the eagle, as it was then called. He passed along the path, worn by other visitors. As he mounted the minor flanks he would observe the breathtaking scenery about him; towards the south the Sheffery hills running directly towards Killery harbour; to the north, the lone shape of Neiphin Mountain and the mountains of Mayo. As he reached the base of the central cone, the myriad islands in Clew bay, with their humped backs would become more distinct.

Now the path rises steeply, and small, flinty rocks, sharp and jagged would have slipped beneath his feet as he arched forward and clung to the steep mountain. Finally he reached the summit, with its slight, platform. Now he could see the bulk of Clare island, stout and firm at the opening to the bay. Beyond that lay an unknown world, which Saint Brendan would later navigate. He would have looked all around him and observed every interesting, outcrop of rock and mountain. He stood above his kingdom. Indeed this moment was a watershed for the Celtic Church.

It is said that he remained on the mountain for forty days. He would have no doubt remembered the visit of Moses to Mount Sinai. It was on such a high pinnacle that Moses received and formulated the ten commandments He could also have been preparing for Easter and the Resurrection. But it was a remote time for him, a time for prayer and reflection and Saint Patrick and a period when he could be removed from the sea of trouble which washed around the base of the mountain. It was this time period which gives the mountain its vast spiritual significance and it is here that the old ends and the new begins. The pagan pilgrimage path would become a Christian pilgrimage path and the stone buildings on the mountain be supplanted by an oratory.

Excavations of Croagh Patrick
Recently excavations have discovered an oratory, not unlike the stone oratory at Gallaraus, which was made of dry stone, and shaped like the centre of an upturned boat. This is the moment of silence and reflection and since then every pilgrim has been drawn to the mountain by the same spiritual instinct. They say that he banished the snakes, but there never were snakes in Ireland. That he banished demons in another thing; the demons were the demons of paganism.

In the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick the following strange image occurs.

Now at the end of those forty days and forty nights the mountain was filled with black birds, so that he knew not heaven nor earth. He strikes his bell at them, so that the men of Ireland heard its voice and he flung it at them, so that its gap broke out of it ... no demon came to the land of Erin after that.

Croagh Patrick - a thin place
A precipice to the south side of the mountain is known as the Hollow of the Demons. This makes Croagh Patrick relevant on many levels and it is the core reason why pilgrims have been drawn to the summit for seventeen hundred years.

Croagh Patrick with Famine Ship

On this arid summit, where the winds blow hard, where no root takes hold, where distance seems infinite and heaven close, the spirit is tested and replenished, for the pilgrim had reached a thin place, where one steps into the highest dimension of one's existence.

The deserts of Egypt drew the early fathers to is dry expanses. The summit of the mountain is a hard desert where only the spirit can flourish, where the ground is covered with sharp rocks, where the back drops to ordinary life are removed. It is here that the human spirit passes from the comfortable world into a spiritual world. That is why it is a significant place.

On this singular mountain, forty days before Easter, where Patrick faced came face to face with himself, perhaps where he was tested by temptation and visited with visions. It is from these forty days, or period of silence, prayer and penitence that Mount Aglie derives part of its intense spiritual energy and which set standards for the early Celtic Church. It became a symbol of Ireland's enduring faith.

St. Patrick after Croagh Patrick mission
Having finished this, the most intense spiritual period of his life, Patrick descended along the pilgrim path, energized and refreshed. He walked to Aghagower to his friend, Senach the bishop and Mathone the Nun and celebrated the Easter festival with them. This was a decisive moment for Saint Patrick and the early Christian church. It happened in the year 441.

Patrick had twenty more years of missionary activity. He developed a native clergy, fostered the growth of monasticism, established diocese, and held church councils. He was a man of action who lived a vigorous life, who intellectual ability and honesty had been questioned, whose suitability to the priesthood had been challenged and who had lead a life of hardship and danger. When he died his body was interred in Armagh.

Croagh Patrick is a singular mountain. Above all it is a spiritual place. Set about it are the remains of the Celtic Church. On Inisboffin to the south-west lies the remains on a small monastery. The window frames the great mountain. It was here that Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne came after the his defeat at the Synod of Whitby. He brought with him Irish and English monks. There was a dispute between the two groups, so he left the island with the English group and set up Mayo Abbey. Recent archaeological surveys indicate that Mayo Abbey was as important in its time as Clonmacnoise and that Saxon students were drawn to this place of learning.

Watch this blog for St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain - Part III
Read first post in the series - St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain.

Guest author today is Michael Mullen of Castlebar, County Mayo. Michael is a well known Irish writer of Children's Literature, Historical Fiction and many works written in Gaeilge, the Irish native language

Text Copyright 2001, 2011 by Michael Mullen. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Armagh - Twin Symbols of Conflict and Unity

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:30:00 +0000

St. Patrick's Cathedral - Armagh - Roman Catholic

Coming into Armagh from the Monaghan Road offers a dramatic view of the city skyline, especially after twilight. The view is dominated by two buildings on two hills - St. Patrick's Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral (not a typo).

Both are diocesan bishoprics, both built on holy ground and both tied to legends of St. Patrick. One is the Church of Ireland cathedral built on the ancient holy site where St. Patrick 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.

St Patrick's Cathedral - Armagh - Church of Ireland

One view of that skyline speaks volumes. The twin pinnacles of the city bolstering two similar houses of worship whose congregations have withstood centuries of conflict and division. Some say they mirror the ancient story of the twins of Macha, birthed after an exhausting (and pointless) race. She cursed the land as her revenge.

I first entered Northern Ireland through Armagh in April of 1998. just a week after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. I didn't know much about the conflict except for what I acquired listening to Irish ballads. I always wanted to see that movie with Daniel Day Lewis about the Northern Irish Catholic father and son, but never managed to get my hands on copy. I knew our relatives were from Derry, and we were a part of this genetic landscape. I had great interest in the culture, people and places here, but had little information. I entered Northern Ireland full of curiosity.

We checked into Padua House Bed and Breakfast, run by Kathleen O'Hagan. It's a brownstone, townhouse located on the main road at the base of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral. Kathleen was (and is) one of the most hospitable hosts I've encountered in all my travels. Her home was simple and warm as was her sense of hospitality.

Notice the Details. Mark the Coincidences. Chart Synchronicity

If we are to grow spiritually from travel, noticing coincidences is part of the learning. I keep a log when I travel and jot down events, feelings and coincidences. Synchronicity is the language of the spirit. It's when unrelated events seem to come together in a common purpose that we know we are touching the otherworld. The events may not speak to us until long after the journey is over. Tracing the path in words and recollections can reveal wonders later.

Here's an excerpt from my travel log written the first night in Armagh.

April 19, 1998 - 11pm ~ Armagh
I write from a bedroom located in Padua House, a B&B in downtown Armagh. I am lying on a bed in front of a large window. I was startled when I pulled back the drapes. Consuming every inch of the glass is a spectacular view of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Catholic) - a prominent sight in the Armagh skyline. If I turn off the incandescent light in my room I can still write by the lights coming off the Cathedral - and when I look up, I'm consumed by the awe of those twin spires and that Gothic face.

Three blocks from the Catholic Cathedral, skyline is the CI Cathedral, also named St. Patrick’s. It was from that hill that St. Patrick himself led the Irish Church in 5th century, and became noted for being one of the only leaders in history to spread Christianity throughout a nation without inflicting or creating bloodshed in the process. The bodies of Brian Boru and his eldest son rest in the ground here, noted by a plaque on the Cathedral wall.

The Armagh skyline with these two holy places climbing out of the landscape speaks volumes about the Irish people. Two separate groups reaching for the same prize, claiming the same name, but can't seem to reach each other.

Coincidences and events -

I'm arriving in Northern Ireland for the first time one week after the Good Friday Agreement was reached - a turning point in deescalation of violence between Catholics and Protestants. Also one week to the day from Easter Sunday.
I am staying at Padua House named for my close spiritual friend [Anthony of Padua] - a patron of the owner as well.
My room has is the smallest in the house, but has the magnificent view of the Cathedral and is the only room in the house with a view of the Cathedral. No one appreciates the view of a holy place like me.
Mrs. O’Hagan served us tea before we retired to our rooms. Larry and Sheila [my traveling companions] were exhausted but I was wound up. I was invited to watch television with the family and we watched In the Name of the Father, a film about the troubles in Northern Ireland. Seeing this movie with a Northern Ireland family who had their house - Padua House - destroyed by a bomb was strange - but strangley meaningful.
Just as I conclude writing these coincidences and events, the cathedral bells begin to chime marking the midnight hour.

What wonderful gifts .... Mrs. O’Hagan, Pauda House, In the Name of the Father, the view of the Cathedral, the sound of the bells.

This moment stands still in time. I figure I'll always remember it. Who knows for what?

The next day we saw the occupying forces crouching in doorways, carrying machine guns as they lingered in Portadown and Armagh. Ornate graffiti with militant images, razor wire around buildings, and IRA signage was a eerie shift from the loud tourist welcome we experienced in the Republic [of Ireland]. But I loved that visit to the north. I never felt unsafe. I knew the anger was not with tourists. My travel log entry from that day was more vivid than my memory.

April 20, 1998 - 9 pm
At breakfast, Mrs. O’Hagan shared the story of how her house was destroyed. Someone planted a car bomb outside her house and when it exploded she and her family were in the back yard. The windows were all blown out, the fireplaces destroyed. All wiring and lighting fixtures, and windows had to be replaced and the walls re-plastered. The bomb was a random act, not intended for anyone in particular. One of her grandchildren was sleeping near the stairwell, and while he was not hurt badly, he was terrified and covered with glass. They found the front window curtains in the back yard. Insurance covered none of the cost of restoration.

Mrs O'Hagan said there was a nice brick mason who came in to rebuild her fireplaces and chimneys and commented, “Pity, the poor man was shot and killed by a British soldier just weeks after he finished the work.” I asked why he was shot...was he a member of the IRA or targeted because of political ties. She replied “No. He was just a Catholic.” She then went on to say, "Everyone here has been touched by the Troubles.”

We went up the hill to attend 10:00 mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is magnificent! It's the combination of the ancient and the modern all woven into a masterpiece that stirs the spirit and proclaims the greatness of God. I had two thoughts as I walked through. One - all the saints depicted are Irish, most with names I've never heard. It seems that the Irish are so into being Irish. Would a Cathedral in France or Spain or Italy only depict native saints? Does any country have this many saints? Two - not one square inch of this massive structure is blank or vacant. It is all covered with art. Even the paint on the walls is covered with Celtic designs. And all the art means something or is remembering something or someone. It’s almost impossible to take in that much meaning...

…On our way to Lurgan we went through Portadown. The British forces in uniform stood with grease paint on their faces and machine guns prepared for use. Their tanks blocked a section of the street. We ate lunch here and again experienced the cold apprehension of the people of the North. Two days after our visit here, a Catholic cab driver (father of 5) was gunned down randomly in a parking lot.

Armagh - a City Transformed

Since that visit thirteen years ago, a generation has come of age in Northern Ireland, and the people there have achieved success in mending divisions and unifying communities. It's a safe and comfortable place, still with differences, but tempered by common purposes. All in the North I've spoken to admit to wanting more united communities and less focus on differences. Tourism has flourished, the apprehensive facades have fallen away and been replaced by enthusiasm. Economic growth and a regional pride in one common heritage have laid a foundation for the visitor to have rich, meaningful, fun experiences.

One quality I love about the North is that tourism has not (yet) overwhelmed the country as it has in parts of the Republic. One can still visit "old Ireland" and connect with people that carry qualities of the ancient, mystical culture. Many of the rural landscapes seem more pristine, and less interrupted by development. I encourage all to visit Armagh and all parts of the North.

Visit Armgah's Thin Places
Both St. Patrick's Cathedrals in Armagh are rich in history and art and worth an hour visit each. Nearby are some remarkable thin places including Killevy, Emhain Macha, Slieve Gullion passage tomb, Clontygorra, and Kilnasaggart. The Ballykeel dolmen is also worth visiting and is very near Killevy.

Related Posts - Padua House and Kathleen O'Hagan of Armagh

Croagh Patrick - Climbing the Reek Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Guest author today is Michael Mullen of Castlebar, County Mayo. Michael is well known in Ireland as writer of Children's Literature, Historical Fiction and works in Gaeilge, the Irish native language. This post is the first of a series of three posts on the holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, and ancient mystical site where St. Patrick is said to have spent 40 days in contemplation.

Croagh Patrick - a Thin Place
Christian and pagan, this is a sacred mountain. Set at the western edge of Europe and standing above Clew Bay, it dominates the landscape and the sea scape. Its spine is franked with a gray path, traced out by pilgrim feet, for pilgrims have made their way to the summit of this majestic mountain for many thousands of years.
It is the quartz core of a much larger mountain, but time, and weather have worn it down and polished it into a pyramid. At its northern base, scree, lies about it, a testimony to the wear and tear upon ancient things.

Each day of year some pilgrim makes his her way to the sacred summit. Sometimes only a few pilgrims are strung out on the mountain path but during the great festivals, it becomes a living path. Day and night they come and go along the tortuous path, each linked together by some sacred purpose. On the important nights it is a river of living light. This has gone on for two millennia, perhaps three, and it will continue while the mountain holds and that will take it to the rim of forever.

Croagh Patrick - "It is a singular place, set in a primitive landscape, lonely and challenging"

For on this high and remote place one is close to the gate of heaven, close to the early Christian spirit and perhaps close to ones best aspirations. It is a singular place, set in a primitive landscape, lonely and challenging, like the sharp pinnacles of Schelig Mhicil in Kerry or Mont San Michel of the coast of France

Croagh Patrick - a thin place
The mystical and the pilgrim parts of our nature are attracted to such places. It is as natural as the air we breathe. In fact the first poem in Irish literature, written by Amergin has the following strange lines. It was composed well over two thousand years ago and possesses a haunting, magical quality. The poet stands at a point where he is in a thin place and passing towards some magical or spiritual plain.

I am the god who creates in the head of man the fire of thought.  Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain?

These lines have the ring of spirituality. They represent something profound, and when Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland on his mission he knew something of the ancient rituals and the mind set of the druids and the kings. He was Roman and Celt and this gave him a singular advantage in his missionary work. He imposed a new spirituality on an old spirituality and there is a continuum in the thought patterns between the pagan and the Christian mind. On many of the pagan symbols he and his followers cut the firm cross of Christ. Perhaps we could say that the ancient Irish possessed minds that were naturally Christian.

The beginning of Tóchar Phádraig
at Ballintubber Abbey

St. Patrick imposed a new spirituality on an old spirituality
In recent years, through archaeology and historical research, our fragments of knowledge concerning this singular mountain are taking a more definite shape. The mountain is being restored to its important place in our archaeology, history, spirituality and culture.

The mountain is singular in its presence, not unlike the great central arch of a Gothic cathedral, supported by two lesser arches. It is clean cut against the sky and arrests the eye. No other mountain creates such an impression except perhaps Knocknarea in County Sligo, with its great megalithic cairn of stones. Knocknarea is set above Sligo bay and has a seminal influence on the poet W. B. Yeats.

What Jacqueline O Brien and Peter Harbison say of Knocknarea in their book Ancient Ireland is applicable to Croagh Patrick.

Strong religious beliefs and social circumstances must have motivated the creation of the eleven meter high megalithic monument on top of Knocnarea in County Sligo- and undertaking as difficult to achieve as trying to work out how many Stone Age man hours went into its undertaking.

This gives us a method of reading the sacred history of Croagh Patrick, for as I said it has always been sacred. It gives us also a method of reading ancient and Celtic spirituality, for the Irish Church was different to the Roman Church and this created much controversy at the time; many assemblies, many arguments and defeat in the end for the Irish. It came to a head at the Whiteby.

The Ancient History of the Mountain
One must place the Mountain in its archaeological context for it is part of the archaeological remains which stand on the mountain side and lie about the base and stretch far into the surrounding country. Man and women has left their mark upon the landscape from the very beginning. The date of the arrival of the first settlers in Mayo cannot be ascertained definitely, but we can say with some certainly that the arrived some seven and a half thousand years ago. They were Stone Age people and they were a highly organized and religious people.

We know this from the excavations at the Céide fields in North Mayo. Here Doctor Seamus Caulfield discovered a civilization beneath a vast blanket bog. It is all quite exciting how this discovery was made. For many years turf cutters had encountered wall places beneath the bogs. This argued that prior to the growth of the bog cover a system of fields had been built. Though archaeological excavations it was discovered that an extensive filed pattern covering some thousand acres lay beneath the blanket of bog. So a highly organized society lived here many thousands of years ago. It is the beginning of archaeology.

Linked to these fields were huge burial tombs, with their great orthostats, their stone caps and their orientation towards the east, the source of light. We can argue from the presence of these Iron age monuments that these first settlers followed rituals that we no longer understand, but they were the rituals of life and death; rituals that must have been related to the seasons and the harvests. They were a reasonable and intelligent people and the great and mysterious monument, Newgrange was built a thousand years before the pyramids. It remains a mathematical and mysterious puzzle. The markings the tomb have never been deciphered, but the building is linked to the movements of the sun and the stars.

Ancient Meanings Linked to Today
All this is central to the importance of Croagh Patrick. If ritual was part of the old world then there is no doubt that ritual was central to their great quartzite mountain. The path which the pilgrims take is very ancient and stretches far back into history and right to the centre of Ireland. The ancient route from Cruachan, to the summit of Croagh Patrick, is now call Tóchar Phádraig, which in translation means Patrick's Causeway. It led, we believe along a road which stretches from Roscommon to Mayo. Today this route is marked out by ruined churches, abbeys and settlements. Thus, we establish the first tentative link with the sacred mountain on the very edge of the Atlantic. We are more definite when we take up the pilgrim route at Ballintubber Abbey. A pilgrim can now take the route from the famous Abbey and travel through Aghagower on the way to Croagh Patrick. One is almost certain that this was Saint Patrick's route to the sacred mountain.

It is only now that we are coming to understand the great monuments of the ancient world; the pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, the Mexican temples, Newgrange, the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and many others. The were more than massive monuments, requiring great engineering skills. They were solar temples, celestial observation points, centers were the rhythm of the seasons and the passage of stars across the heavens were computed. Croagh Patrick seems to be locked into some understanding of the movements of the sun. There is a remarkable rock outcrop decorated with Prehistoric Art.

Watch this blog for St. Patrick and His Holy Mountain - Part II and Part III
Hit the Follow this Blog button on the right to be kept informed when new posts are added.

Text Copyright 2001, 2011 by Michael Mullen. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Thin Places - Energy Lines and Earth Openings

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:01:00 +0000

Carrowmore - County Sligo

A few weeks ago a friend of mine from the UK (who also happens to be a medium) offered me amazing insight into the thin places concept. Annie told me that there are veins or channels of energy that surge through the earth beneath its surface. There are also little "nodes" or areas where this energy pushes through.

These piercings of energy through the earth's surface offer immense spiritual power to those that are tuned into it. Ancient people knew this and gravitated to these places where the energy was the strongest. They buried their dead, practiced spiritual rituals, built temples, charted the seasons, and left behind architectural wonders that have us smart people still baffled today about how they managed it all.

We can see remnants of sacred gathering places, especially in the UK and Ireland, where old stone ruins still consecrate the landscape with their faithful benediction. They offer inspiration to the traveler who can only glance in awe while passing by, and silently call out to the seekers hungry for a taste of the eternal world.

Annie added that catastrophic events like war generate intense bad energy. The human anger, rage and violence brought forth in battle mingles with the earth's energy and contaminates it. Certain areas can be marked for centuries by the bad "karma" left from such a short concentration of ugliness.

And there's more ...

That same defiled energy can reenter the node and be absorbed in the veins of energy that surge through the earth. The earth carries that darkness to other nodes. It spreads.

The converse is also true. Love, joy, happiness also affects the energy and it, too spreads.

Annie said that she lives near a node, and there was once a terrible battle there. Many churches have sprung up in the area, and there seems to be a high concentration of people in the region who have healing powers. It's almost as if the wounded part of the earth is calling spiritual healers to itself.

Because of the wound ... that region of the earth becomes a magnet for healers.

The theory mirrors much of what we hear today about healing, energy and alternative health practices. The Reiki movement and acupuncture follow this tradition.

Visiting a thin place could be good for both the body and soul, if one is tuned in.

Thin Places Tour - May 15 - 24th

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:01:00 +0000

View from Mount Brandon - Dingle

In May of 2011 I will be escorting a group of travelers to Ireland to visit some thin places. Our travels will include the Newgrange passage tombs, followed by a house party in Dublin. The next day we'll be off to Kildare to visit the old town and cathedral as well as St. Brigid's holy well. From there we'll travel Holy Cross Abbey where there is said to be a relic of the true cross. Then onto the Rock Cashel, one of Ireland's most thin places and Athassel Priory ruins at twilight (very mystical site). After a night in Cashel town we'll move on to Ardmore, a beautiful seaside town where St. Declan founded his monastery, then onto Cork city where the group will have a free day and be able to relax or take optional tours that inlcude Cobh, Kinsale and St. Gobnaits Holy Well.

After two nights in Cork we'll pass by Timoleague, Drombeg Stone Circle and Skibbereen, finally arriving in the Medieval city - Kenmare. The next day we'll explore the Beara peninsula and its stone circle, seaside views, mountain trails and mystical southern tip where Dursey Island accessed only by boat or cable car. Then on to Gouganne Barre, the smallest church in Ireland, sent in a valley on a site where St. Finbar once founded a monastery (one of the most scenic places in Ireland). After traveling through Gap of Dunloe, we'll arrive in the most mystical place of all - Dingle. One free day will allow for relaxation and exploring and we'll end the trip with a farewell party.

Please consider joining us. It will be one of the most memorable experiences. Traveling to Ireland is always wonderful, but 10 days of travel to mystical places charged with spiritual energy is life-changing.

Travel information including the daily itinerary, process for reservations and information about the mystical sacred sites we'll visit can be found at the Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland website. The land portion of the tour (lodging, breakfast, admissions, ground transportation and some dinners) is just $1999 per person.

Are you being called to join us?

Don't Rush Through Thin Places

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:18:00 +0000

When I travel, I take my notes into a digital recorder. Then I transcribe them later into a travel journal. The following is a journal entry from 2007. I was standing at Cashelkeelty Stone Circle on the Beara Peninsula in Ireland. I don't remember writing this ... or even thinking this. But it's advise worth sharing.

Rushing is something one must not do when walking through thin places. It is better to see fewer thin places and not rush, than to see many and jam them into full days.

The journey is the important thing – not the destination.

It is also best to approach the site without snapping pictures. Feel the site, feel the moment, listen and watch for the signs. Time will stand still. You'll lose track.

When time becomes apparent again, that's when you take pictures... at the end of the journey. That's when you can sense what's important in that particular thin place. Approach each site with a sense of awe trying to feel the thinness and connect with the other world.

I believe that a prayer is much more powerful in a thin place, because in a way we are already closer to God. You don’t have to concentrate or try as hard to PUT yourself in the Divine Presence or the Other world.

You are already there.

Rushing loses all these effects, and isn’t helpful. If I rushed to get back because of the rain or the loss off time, I wouldn’t have seen or felt as much.

The goal is to enter INTO the thin place and experience it… not see from afar or just from the surface.

~Mindie Burgoyne - Cashelkeelty Stone Circle, Beara Peninsula, Ireland, 2-22-2007
Photo - the Beara Road near Ardgroom, taken by Mindie Burgoyne 2007 (c)

Remembering John O'Donohue

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:09:00 +0000

It's been three years since the world lost the great poet and Celtic mystic, John O'Donohue. He had such insight to thin places, what they mean and how they affect the world. Certainly I've learned more from him - through his writing - than any other single person.

His books Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes should be read by all interested in Celtic Spirituality. Reading Divine Beauty changed my life... changed my spirit.

Some good resources online for getting better acquainted with John...

The John O'Donohue Website

A Remembrance of John O'Donohue on NPR

The Inner Landscape of Beauty - one of the last interview John gave before his death. (click on the listen now option)

Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world awaits. ~John O'Donohue

Why Visit Thin Places? - Answers? Healing? Wisdom? Maybe.

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 18:23:00 +0000

What is the purpose of traveling to a thin place?

If thin places are those where the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thin... what, exactly is the draw? People say after visiting - "A sense of peace washes over you" or "I feel closer to God."

Personally, I can feel close to God in church, in my home, or driving to work; and I can have a peaceful feeling wash over me when I take a walk. So why are thin places any different that any other place where spirituality is exercised? And what is it about these sites that draw generation of pilgrims and visitors back over and over to the same sites?

Remarkable things happen when you visit a thin place and allow your spirit to communicate. Answers come to us, messages are relayed, strength is absorbed, healing happens. We go to thin places for answers to prayers, for wisdom, for energy, for power to overcome or endure, to be healed. We go there because thin places are inherently charged with the Divine, and like a great well filled to the brim, the spiritual gifts are ready to be drawn out by the faithful.

These days, I mostly go to thin places to listen.

Caitlin Matthew in Walkers Between the Worlds (co-authored with her husband John) states that these two worlds are one reality - one existence with two sides. We experience our physical world with our bodies and we communicate with our five senses. But our souls communicate with the other world. Every human being has a spiritual side. This spirit moves and shifts in a different way.

Looking for coincidences or signs of synchronicity can be indicators of the two worlds communicating. This happens all the time to me - and I don't always understand it. But sometimes later - like pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle - the coincidences and events begin to speak. A journal is crucial for understanding what has happened, or trying to make sense of voices, the communications, the messages of the eternal world.

A few of my own experiences in thin places ....

The man in the sand which I wrote about in a post last month about an experience I had in Dingle on Fermoyle Strand in the shadow of Mount Brandon. Just after a silent (if desperate prayer), I looked across the sand and noticed an image of a man.
The proposal of marriage I received at St Kieran's Cell in Clonmacnoise (skip down to the last long paragraph). It was strange how this old man appeared, and strange how he began speaking to me right away and within minutes asked to marry him. I wrote it down. Only after reading my journals years later did I discover that he proposed on the same day that I met my husband - in the same place where my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.
The rainbow over the lake on the Leenane Road - this happened while I was with two other people who were equally stunned.

There are so many more - the arrow on the stone at the Isle of Mull, the Mysterious Lady at Kincora, the sky opening at the Hill of Uisneach ... some day I'll write about all of these, but suffice it to say ... if you look for messages, listen for the voices, reach out for the signs - they will be there.

Many disbelievers will say it's all contrived. No evidence will ever be enough to persuade the folks that there is another world. But for those who are open, great spiritual growth awaits in thin places.

Consider going on our thin places tour of Ireland.. It will be a rewarding experience.

5 Must-See Thin Places in Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Thin places are specific sites with a mystical quality - where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. Ireland is littered with these places - some are very familiar to the traveler like the Hill of Tara, Newgrange, Drombeg stone circle, Glendalough and Carrowmore. But some are not so familiar and are a "must see" for the pilgrim traveler or those looking to connect with eternal world.

Here are 5 - not-so-well-known thin places in Ireland to include in your travel itinerary.

1. The Hill of Uisneach - County Westmeath

Believed to be at the geographic center of Ireland, the hill of Uisneach doesn't look much different from the other hills in Ireland. One could easily miss it save for the signage that now identifies the hill and shows the traveler where to park. From the crest of the Hill of Uisneach the views are magnificent. Some say you can see 20 of the 32 counties on a clear day. Ritual fires were lit on Uisneach that could be seen from all the neighboring counties in the Irish midlands - and those fires signaled other fires to be lit in the farther reaches until ritual fires were burning all across the island from sea to sea. According to Cary Meehan, there is a well on the southern slope that is the source of twelve rivers. All the energy lay lines of Ireland meet at Uisneach. The hill is said to be the burial site of the goddess, Eriu from which Eire - or Ireland - draws its name. She is buried beneath a capstone on the southwestern slope.

2. Boa Island - Caldragh Cemetery - County Fermanagh

In the scenic county known for its lakes (Fermanagh) lies an ancient cemetery on Boa Island. The cemetery is surrounded by hazelwood trees and well preserved. The lumpy ground covering graves dating back centuries takes the pilgrim back in time, but not so much as the two stone figures that dominate the cemetery, and seem to follow the visitor into every corner. The large statue stands about 3 feet tall and has a face and torso carved on both sides. Commonly referred to as the Janus figure - Janus being the "all seeing" two-faced god who saw all things from the rising to the setting of the sun - the stone figure has a mystical quality. It watches you. There is no point in the cemetery that one cannot look over and see the Janus figure "watching." A smaller figure known as the Lusty Man (because it was brought from Lusty Beg) isn't quite so imposing. A friend of mine told me that if you bring a pendulum and hold it above each of these figures, the Janus figure will cause the pendulum to rotate clockwise while the lusty man causes the pendulum to rotate counter-clockwise. Much history here. Read more about Caldragh Cemetery in Five Keys to Learning from Thin Places.

3. Coole Park - Home of Lady Gregory - County Galway

Though this 1000 acres which was formerly the estate of Lady Gregory is not associated with rituals, sacred rites or holy wells; it holds a mystical quality and a sense of time standing still. Lady Gregory was an Anglo-Irish born woman who was known for her significant contributions to the Irish Literary Revival. Her home here at Coole Park and the grounds were a magnet for writers, and they visited her often. It was here that William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O'Casey - and many others carved their initials on the famous "autograph tree." The tree still stands surrounded by acres of woodland and gardens. The traveler becomes an image in that artistic, literary landscape. It makes me wonder if the landscape itself and its mystical quality fostered the creativity that grew here - or if the creative people consecrated the land leaving an imprint behind that still affirms, fosters and draws out the artistic talent of visitors. Don't miss the museum. It lays a great foundation of the story behind the park.

4. Glencolumbkille - County Donegal

Glencolumbkille is a beautiful valley consecrated by St. Columcille (Columba) himself after he drove demons from this glen into the ocean. St. Columba (aka as Columcille) was born near this area. He began his holy ministry in Donegal and this valley, now known as Glencolumbkille is marked by spots of devotion known as "turas" where the pilgrim pauses, reflects and prays. For centuries, pilgrims have traveled to Glencolumbkille and through acts of devotion, prayer and fasting have continued to consecrate this already sacred land. An old poet wrote of Glencolumbkille...

"... echoes of the centuries' feet
That moved along the penitential stones
In all thy winds are sweet.
Here came my fathers in their life's high day
In barefoot sorrow, but God knows the whole:
Not for themselves they fasted, but to lay
Up riches for my soul."

5. The Stone Circles along the Beara Way - County Cork

The southwest of Ireland is littered with megalithic and neolithic reminders of sacred spaces. While many visitors take in the beauty of the Ring of Kerry and visit the Dingle Peninsula, few investigate the wonder of the Beara Peninsula. There is an ancient road - known as the Green Road or the Beara Way that follows the peninsula. It runs over mountains, through pastures and rocky fields and along the way are several stone circles - each set in a high clearing. My favorite of these is Cashelkeelty Stone Circle. Also along the way is Uragh stone circle and Ardgroom circle. The peacefulness of the setting and timelessness of each visit are things the pilgrim never forgets. Take a day and visit the stones along the Beara Way.

NOTE: The Stone Circles of Beara are on the Thin Places Mystical Tour to Ireland scheduled for May 15 - 24, 2011. Book your spot now.

Moorehall in County Mayo - Ghosts of Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Mindie) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:35:00 +0000

On a dreary winter day in February of 2007, my dear friend, author Michael Mullen of Castlebar took me on a day-long visit to thin places in County Mayo. We started early in the morning and ended the day at Moorehall. Pictured above, one can see the grand residence is but a shadow of its former self. The house was built by George Moore around 1795 on a hill overlooking Lough Carra. His son George II had a fondness for books and built a vast library at Moorehall that is said to have included a manuscript copy of the Annals of the Four Masters. The Moores were part of the Anglo Irish aristocracy and were later known locally as being sympathetic to the plight of the common man, and more benevolent to their Irish tenants during the Irish potato famine that others of their social stature.

George Henry (son of George II) oversaw the estate during the Great Hunger and spent much of his early life focued on horse racing. He used the fortune he won in a particular race to provide relief to his tenant families. Rents were commuted, and food distributed so that no family on the Moore estate was evicted, and no tenants died of hunger during the famine. George Henry entered Irish politics during his later life. He died of a stroke at Moorehall in 1870.

George Henry's son, George IV had the heart of an artist and went off to study painting in Paris after his father's death in 1970. He switched his focus to writing and became acquainted with many of the great European writers of the day. My friend, Michael told me that George Henry entertained many writers at Moorehall... that Moorehall itself was a tribute to great thinking - great thinkers.

On February 1, 1923 the house was set afire by - as the Steward of Moorehall stated "an ignorant mob that don't know what they are doing." All was lost including the grand library, including the copy of the Annals of the Four Masters. The mob apparently objected to the Moore family's stance on Irish liberation. Maurice Moore, brother of George IV hoped to restore the home one day, but died in 1939 before he could achieve any attempt and the estate was eventually given over to the government, who hold it today. It is now a park with beautifully forested walking trails.

Why did Michael take me to this place 84 years after its destruction? He explained that this was a place where beautiful thoughts led to creative concoctions in literature. Some places lend themselves to the freeing of the mind. This is one of them. It's funny that I've known Michael for years and read many of his books, my favorites being The Hungry Land and Kelly. Michael is known today for being a great writer of Irish children's literature and more currently books written in the Irish language. The piece of Michael's writing that most impressed me was Croagh Patrick, a Perspective where he produced my favorite quote about thin places.

On this arid summit, where the winds blow hard, where no root takes hold, where distance seems infinite and heaven close, the spirit is tested and replenished, for the pilgrim had reached a thin place, where one steps into the highest dimension of one's existence.

But for all I knew of Michael, I really knew nothing of his past. On our walk through the woods around Moorehall, Michael told me about his life. All the intimate details poured forth. What a wonderful story it was too.

I came to Moorehall with an old friend, unfamiliar with that particular landscape or the story of the family that once lived there. While there, Michael and I became images in the same landscape occupied by the Moore family, their tenants, their friends, their visitors and the mob that destroyed the place. The separation of time and space was minimal.

We left Moorehall, not as old friends - but as "soul friends" - Anam Caras. Thin Places are fertile ground for moving closer to those around you.

References used for this article include the commentary of Phillip O'Reilly, a descendant of the last Steward of Moorehall. Photos by Mindie Burgoyne - Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved. Used only with permission.