March 22, 2023

Yeah. I sat with that myself. But if the poo fits, write about it.

My first week here in Ireland was filled with colleagues, musicians, healers, storytellers, Druids, artists, and time in a new sacred site. Well, beyond ancient but new to me. There was something of an initiatory energy in that sacred landscape that is still unfolding and clearly will continue when I return. Cahercommaun will be a powerful highlight of the Gatherings in May, June, and September.

This week has been filled with neighbors and networks, an electrician, a plumber, and a man who will sort out the septic system here at HazelWood Cottage. I’ve paid our wifi bill for the coming year, decided on the color to paint the cottage, and sorted out the logistics of getting the cottage power washed and painted…basically ticking through the list of things I hoped to accomplish. 

It’s tempting to name only one of these weeks sacred. 

Yet this week has been filled with storytellers and stories. Something inherent in hanging with the Irish. When I was trying to determine when our bathroom was installed, I talked with neighbor Mary who was around then and mentioned that I knew the cottage was built in 1952 and understood the bathroom was added nine years later. “Ah sure, no,” she said. “There were no toilets in Ireland at that time. They didn’t come in until the late 60s and early 70s.” It was a sweeping statement and perhaps not true for all of Ireland, but certainly plausible here in the West where many communities didn’t get electricity until the 80s. I was stunned. I was graduating high school and there were no toilets here? 

Now, our septic system has been a bit dodgy and required the occasional activity of opening up access to the septic pipe near the cottage and shoving 20′ of what was once a chimney brush through it to clear the clog. Not a pleasant task. But when John – I know, interesting name for this project – came to assess the situation he asked how often we needed to rod the system. Rod the system. There’s actually a name for this. Who knew? Ah, the stuff you learn.

Not exactly a sacred week. And yet, in a sense it was absolutely that. If not exactly sacred, absolutely in service to the sacred. For my whole purpose for owning this cottage is to support the sacred work I do here in Ireland, including stewarding the portal in the front garden. As I spend time aligned with the flow of sacred energies here, it’s important that I steward the flow of energies at the cottage. Water, power, and sewage. They all have to flow properly. And that’s what this week has been about. And so yes, sacred sewage.

Beannacht,
Judith