March 13, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

We were staying at Serenity B&B in Sligo. Hosts Brendan and Elizabeth had now become friends. As was my custom, I wandered into the kitchen after breakfast to let them know we were leaving for the day. As was his custom, Brendan asked where we were off to. I said we were on our way to meet with a shaman. While Brendan has never been completely sure about the spiritual nature of the pilgrimages, he’s always been intrigued. Shaman. It didn’t register with him. “Now, I don’t know that word.” I mentioned the man’s name and offered that he is perhaps better known as a healer.

“Ah, now. I don’t know him but I know of him. Our son teaches his son at the local primary school. He’s the fella always looking at the clouds.”

Exactly.

When we met with Liam he was reluctant to name himself Shaman, although that is how he had been described to me. He said his work is simply about Earth energy connections. 

Shaman. The word comes from the Tungusic people in Siberia and means to know, which is the same definition of Wicca. The common definition is one who uses magic for the purpose of curing the sick, divining the hidden, and controlling events. Because this wisdom tradition was present in many, if not every, ancient culture around the world we also have the labels of Kahuna, Medicine Man/Woman, and Witch Doctor, among others. In Ireland they were the Druids.

Long before religion was imported or imposed, these were the individuals who knew and practiced the power of working with Earth and other realm energies. Always in service to their people, never power for the sake of having power. Always honoring the web of all life. It was a spiritual tradition that evolved naturally, nature ally, being of the Earth and from the Earth. It was and still is a spiritual tradition as old as dirt. 

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 12, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

Myth is much more important and true than history.
History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.
Joseph Campbell

If you’ve followed my writing you know this quote is a favorite. Through his life and work, Joseph Campbell dispelled the misconception that myths are not a credible view of our past. Myths are not, as suggested in common vernacular, lies. They are stories handed down through countless generations that offer an understanding of how ancient people lived with each other and the world around them. Theirs was a world and world view rooted in other realms. Our worldview is not so inclusive.

Irish mythology tells us the ancient people built sacred monuments and megaliths. So we look to the science of archeology for insights and information. Irish mythology also tells us the people had a relationship with the sun, moon, and stars. So we look to the science of astronomy. Only recently have these disciplines acknowledged a mutual and integrative relevance in understanding the mysteries of early Irish culture.

On my first trip to Ireland I bought several books on stone circles. Focused entirely on an archeological perspective, they offered nothing more than the location, size, and number of stones. Wanting to understand the purpose of the circles, I fell into conversation with a bookshop owner. She told me there was a book but that it was out of print and likely wouldn’t be reprinted because the archeological community in Ireland rejected the contents. I eventually found a used copy. The Stars And The Stones presented the work of Martin Brennan and Jack Roberts who would become a friend and colleague. Spending time and many a cold and dark night in the field, they had discovered that most if not all the major Irish megaliths are oriented to the rising or setting positions of the sun. Even more remarkably, they found that the beams of light projected into the inner chambers of these megalithic structures illuminate images carved on the stones, as if spelling out messages in an archaic code. The book was first published in 1983. Years later it would be republished with a different name. Although archeologists would eventually accept these findings, almost forty years later the megaliths are still called burial chambers reflecting the long held belief that this was their sole purpose. 

So now archeology and astronomy are on speaking terms and their combined perspectives are insightful. But they still tend to reject a major and significant perspective. Even my dear friend Jack rolls his eyes at the mere mention of ley lines and names them a load of rubbish. Yet mythology is clear that unseen and other realm influences were fundamental in the lives of early Irish people. This mythic perspective, while still present in folklore, legend, and stories of farmers like Noone, is regarded with skepticism. While mythology is filled with stories of shape shifting, visiting other realms, and communication with plants and animals, those influences are not allowed a place in our modern world.

About the Santa Claus myth we say that just because you believe in him doesn’t mean he’s real. About other realms I would say that just because you don’t believe in them doesn’t mean they aren’t real. I offer that this is the better mythic perspective.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 11, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

I grew up in farm country. Pullman, Washington, is a small university town surrounded by the rolling Palouse hills and fields of wheat and barley. My dad was a plant breeder at the university and we spent many post-harvest afternoons with farm families, the dads talking crops and yields while we kids played in the grain silos. Farm journals arrived at our house regularly and Dad was featured in many of them. But there was never a story like this one in any of them. It would have been inconceivable. 

This article appeared in the Irish AgriLand farming news publication last fall, with a headline that pulls no punches. A farmer and his magical field: How fairies have ‘kept the land sacred in Ireland’ It is the story of a Galway farmer, Noone, who has farmed his land for forty years. It is the story of his connection to, as writer notes, what some may believe to just be mythology and his claim of being a faery whisperer. Rather than paraphrase, I will just offer a few excerpts.

“I farm a mixed farm here – I have sucklers, sheep and horses…I also have a fairy field,” Noone tells AgriLand. “A lot of people come here to see the fairies in this field and they get great experiences here. I have the porthole to the fairy world, where the blackthorn meets the whitethorn.” Noone says that people come to the area and get great experiences of peace, joy, healings and some “find emotions here”.

Noone feels that he gets great inspiration when he goes to the field. “I go in here [wondering] about when to sell livestock and that’s only the farming end of it. Just to know when to sell and be ahead and thank God this year I obeyed them [fairies] – I’m well ahead before the lockdown. Of course I believe in it – it has helped me in farming a lot.”

“If you respect the fairies they will respect you.” Noone says it is all about mutual respect – that if people respect the fairies, the fairies will respect them. “Treat the fairies as you would like to be treated yourself – not skitted at, not laughed at, but just left alone and nurtured.”

“The people who don’t believe is a great thing…because that means that I’m doing something right. A great friend of mine who lives up the road, he came into this field and he was a skeptic and he came out of this field a full believer. He had an experience.”

According to Noone, the fairies are a part of that “great tradition of a culture of land and they kept the land sacred” in Ireland. “They were the real things that kept the land sacred in Ireland,” he says. “The covenant of Ireland is the land of Ireland. That black soil that we’re standing on here, that’s what gives us life and that’s where we came from and that’s where we’re going back to.”

A few years ago shortly before Dad died I was back in Pullman and had occasion to spend time with three brothers – brothers I used to play with in the silos and who have been farming that same family farm for almost fifty years. During one conversation I acknowledged and expressed my appreciation for their deep and long connection to the land. I likely said something about the spirit of the place. They looked at me like I was crazy. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t mention the faeries and other realm energies. 

AgriLand and Wheat Life. Wheat Life is Washington’s premiere magazine for wheat and barley producers and they did an amazing piece on Dad when he died. These two journals are not just worlds apart, they are other realms apart. No, AgriLand is definitely not my father’s farm journal. However recent communications from Dad, from those other realms of his Irish ancestry, suggest that he might have wished it was.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

Thanks Shannon for sending me this AgriLand story!

March 10, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

Earth energies. Ley lines. Spirit roads. Faery paths. The Catholic Church was having none of it. For the light of ancient wisdom, it was a time of great snuffing. The Church was determined to expunge the St. John gospel of the divine and sacred being present in all things, teachings that aligned with ancient Irish spiritual traditions, teachings in harmony with Gnositc and Coptic beliefs. The Church was determined to enforce the teachings of St. Peter that it was only possible to have a relationship with the divine through the structure and teachings of the Church. 

Perhaps a bit dim on the concept of these unseen other realm energies being present in the landscape itself, their efforts included blocking the doors and windows of early churches that were built on ley lines as if this would thwart both the flow of energy and the belief systems that honored such energetic harmonies. 

The physical blocking was a failed strategy. When we meditated in the church pictured here – the old door was blocked up but another was created on the side of the church – the energy was vibrant. However blocking those beliefs systems was more successful. Although present in legend and lore and even a few current stories, the Irish people largely began to abandon that other realm knowing and the traditions that kept that knowing alive.  

That some of my Irish friends and colleagues roll their eyes at the mere mention of ley lines is so curious to me and a topic for upcoming posts. But first, another story from current times. For the great snuffing was rigorous but not absolute.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 6, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

We were nearing the end of our pilgrimage and she was distressed. A deeply religious and spiritual woman, Mel had not been able to feel the energies in the many sacred sites we had visited. As we walked to the Dysert O’Dea church she again mentioned that she was so envious of others who had touched the mystery and was sadly resigned to returning to the States without that experience.

As we entered the church I took her hand and guided her to the center to stand on the energy line and face the windows that looked out to the Celtic Cross in the adjacent field. I gave her a hug and stepped back. 

Taking a deep breath and grounding with the Earth, she stood there for only a few moments before turning to me. Her face was filled with joy, her eyes were filled with tears. “I feel it! I feel it! It’s so amazing and powerful.”

Energy lines, ley lines, are considered with great skepticism by many including a few of my Irish friends and colleagues, something I will explore more in future posts. But the ancient people knew they were real. And they still exude a powerful and palpable presence.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 4, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

Birds, cats, and a man with a Fu Manchu mustache. The carved faces over the door of this church near Corofin in County Clare tell an intriguing story. If only we could read it.

Yet the stone heads are only one aspect of the mystery that surrounds this site. While the story of the heads remains elusive, we do know that there are influences of gnostics, Egyptian Coptic Christians, and Desert Fathers & Mothers present here. Even the name of this place, Dysert O’Dea or Díseart Uí Dheá in Irish, is an indication of that influence. Díseart, being the word for hermitage, begs a question of whether it would be more accurate to name those early gnostic hermits Díseart Fathers & Mothers.

Beyond the stone faces and the name, there’s the building’s orientation. It’s sited on an energy line that runs through the center of the church, a line so powerful that a large Celtic Cross was placed on that line in a nearby field long after the church was built. And while the other mystic influences seem today decorative remnants of another time, this energy line is still potent and powerful. And yes, there is a story.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 3, 2021

Just a bit of an art break as we wander back to Ireland. This image appears on the cover of The Celtic Twilight, a book W.B. Yeats wrote in 1902.  Enjoy!

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 2, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

Finally. The cottage was ready to rent. New doors and windows, fresh paint, new beds and bedding, furnishings and finishing touches in place. So when I was there in September I put the word out through my networks as personal recommendation is the only way I want to find people to stay at the cottage. The first two women were lovely but not in a position to contribute the small amount I am asking to cover utilities. Then I had lunch with Sara Jane, a friend who lives in Gort. 

She asked if I ever work with Feng Shui. No. I know scant little about it beyond the basic definition of being an ancient Chinese philosophy that works with the flow of energy to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. It is the power of nature and the energy of the large magnetic field of the universe.

No. I had never worked with Feng Shui. Undaunted, Sara Jane suggested I go to the southeast corner of the cottage, as that is the direction of abundance, and do ceremony. Right. But I thought I’d give it a go.

Now, I’ve named all the bedrooms in the cottage after wise women ancestors. There’s the Biddy Early bedroom which always raises eyebrows and the question of who would want to stay in a bedroom named after Ireland’s most famous witch. There’s the St. Gobnait bedroom to honor her mysticism. And there’s the Augusta Gregory bedroom in honor of Lady Gregory, the author who lived in nearby Coole Park and opened her home to writers, visionaries, progressive philosophers, and even mystics of her time. 

The Augusta Gregory bedroom is in the southeast corner of the cottage. I lit a candle and went in to talk with her. I told her that, like her, I want to welcome the same kinds of people to HazelWood cottage. I also mentioned that unlike her I didn’t have the means to host people without compensation. And I asked if she could help me out. 

The next day Sara Jane emailed me. A friend of hers, a woman who writes and illustrates children’s books, was interested in staying at the cottage for a month. And she had the ability to contribute financially. In fact when Mary and I spoke and the issue of payment came up she argued that what I was asking was half of what she was willing to pay.

Was it Feng Shui and the power of the Dragon? Was it Lady Gregory? I don’t know. But it was a reminder of how the animating life force energy present in all things is honored by many cultures and spiritual traditions. If it was Feng Shui it was amazing to dance with the Dragon even briefly. There is a lifetime of learning and understanding in the Feng Shui tradition. It’s intriguing. But I will stay with the Irish tradition, my heritage. I am beginning to understand it’s a journey I started lifetimes ago. It’s a journey I will continue. 

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

March 1, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

Filled with Aboriginal stories, legends, myths, and fables, the books have been on my shelves for more than two decades. And I thought they were wonderful. But then another book arrived, this one with the writings of Australian Aboriginal leaders and elders. And in these writings they criticized the cultural misinterpretation and even appropriation of Western white authors, naming specifically the man who authored the books I thought were wonderful.

These authors are attempting to carry out an impossible task. It is a futile exercise to attempt to capture a living tradition and cut it off from its life-force. In other words, to try and take s story form the land from which it was born … demonstrates an ignorance of exactly what a traditional Aboriginal story is, what it is connected to and what it cannot be disconnected from. I would argue that it is imperative for Western writers and readers of Aboriginal stories to be aware of the interpretative strategies they bring to the stories. Such a takeover of the stores by the West is analogous to ‘taking over’ the land. Christine Morris

Engaging with entities and energies in realms beyond the currently pervasive human perspective is fundamental to both Aboriginal and Irish spiritual traditions. I offer these words from the leaders and elders.

The Aboriginal view of the world is so very different to the Western view. We see land as an extension of our physical, spiritual, and emotional form, and as the essence of our life-force, to the point that all of life and creation are revered and valued. Dr. Anne Pattel-Gray

We Australian Aborigines make no distinction between the religious and the secular, between the natural and the supernatural. Our religion can be seen as a particular view of the universe and sets of relationships with it; relationships which include people, gods, Spirit, magical power, totems, the land, features of the landscape, living creatures, trees, plants and all physical objects. Relationships with people and the Ancestral Spirits are universally the most important, for at the centre of life is the community of (people) and Spirits, all of whom are alive. Djiniyini Condarra

The Dreaming was the creation period when the Ancestors created the land and all upon it. … Animals, the topography and humans were all one and the one emanated from the land. At the end of the creation period the Creators either became part of the land or some other part of the cosmos. So to my people, the Creator Beings are in the land. Their Spirit is ever-present in the land and can be called upon at any time. Christine Morris

There is a spirit, a force, that animates all life. Only when we accept this do we see humans as part of rather than separate from the web of life. Only when we acknowledge this can we begin to understand how our ancestors engaged with these life force energies and why, for the Irish, it was not an issue of avoiding the movements and migrations of the faeries. It was about attending the flow of life energies. All life energies.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com