Ancient Ireland
Ancient Ireland for me refers to times before history, which leaves much to be imagined. We can draw on Irish archaeology, mythology and all kinds of other resources to provide us with information. But these sources are limited in so many ways. We need imagination, journeys, dreams, visits to ancient sites, art and culture to inspire us to think about possibilities for totally different ways of being.
Archaeology provides fabulous details about the ancient past and about the stone monuments that we see all over Ireland. Archaeologists excavated and rebuilt Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth and have discovered a world of mounds, wooden circles and other ceremonial structures. We can learn about housing, clothing, food, travel, the alignment of monuments and so much more. But archaeology relies on what has been left behind after thousands of years – it can’t tell us about how the people thought and felt or why they built ceremonial structures of stone and wood.
Irish Mythology is filled with stories of magic, shapeshifting, journeys to Otherworlds and the bounty of nature. The Tuatha de Dannann (people of Danu, a mother goddess) fill people with wonder and their goddesses and gods inspire people to connect with an ancient spirituality. Boann is an example of a goddess who has fascinated me. The Boyne is named after her, and Newgrange is part of Bru na Boinne, the palace or dwelling of Boann. For me Boann is of the earth, she is of water, she is the milky way beaming down on us, offering the nurturance of abundant millk, the wisdom of the hazel nuts, the love of sexual pleasure and child-bearing. She inspires me to imagine a new time and place where once again we live in harmony with the earth and each other and love flows without fear.
Perhaps the most surprising insight from human development is that human beings have had the same brain as we modern humans for hundreds of thousands of years.
So if we were transported back in time to 5,000 years ago we would meet people who are like us in many ways, but are also very different. All over the world people have built megalithic structures.
People all over Ireland and globally are imagining a spirituality through experiential and inspirational knowledge, by this I mean knowledge that we don’t get from a book, but gain through experience, dreams, psychic revelations, intuitions, art and culture. In Ireland, people are developing new forms of spirituality drawing on all the rich resources and their own experiences. Many different strands –goddess and wiccan spirituality, druidry, paganism, celtic shamanism and individual journeys – agree that the Solstices, Equinoxes marked important times in the year and that ancient people also marked the so-called cross quarter days.
This eight-fold wheel of the year is widely known all over the world. New and old forms of ritual, ceremony, storytelling, pilgrimages and gatherings are bridging contemporary and ancient spirituality.
