A Sacred Journey into The Heart of Ireland Tours

As Druids we're often looking for deeper or transformational experiences in nature. A huge opportunity presents itself for those interested in a guided tour through some of Ireland's most mystical places that we often long to go home to. There are a few spaces left in the Sacred Journey Ireland Tours for May and July! 

Ireland has an iconic place in the worlds psyche, hearkening us back to an ancient spiritual connection with our own wild soul and pure nature. Those who visit Ireland feel embraced by a feeling of finally coming home, a soul retrieval across space and time. The wide open places of windswept beauty, the rugged wild shorelines, spectacular ancient sites, the green expanse of fields of grass open the hearts longing for connection. Ireland holds the keys to unlocking the door to an ancient memory that awakens our blueprint to be interconnected with nature and remember our ancestral belonging. This is not an average tour of beautiful places, but one that takes you deeper into the mysteries of Ireland's ancient past and present; a pilgrimage to your own Ancient Remembrance. 

The energy of Ireland is transformational. There is a reason why this land has more sacred sites than anywhere in the world! For thousands of years, Ireland was a renowned place of pilgrimage where people experienced divine communion with nature, the devas and sacred places of transcendence. Seasonal festivals worshiped the sun and its life giving powers which is today memorialized in hundreds of megalithic sites. These ancient sites hold great power. They were created to honor the ancestors and eternal life serving as portals to anchor celestial energy and knowledge in the earthly realm, "As Above, So Below". The indigenous Celtic and proto-Celtic tribes practiced an earth based spirituality which has now reincarnated in the form of modern Druidism and Celtic Shamanism.

The wild elements, nature spirits and Sidhe are still very much alive with a profound numinous energy that can awaken your spirit. Experience a life changing journey that will fill your soul with awe and steep you in connection to your own Divine Essence. Ireland is guaranteed to transform you, either in the most subtle or profound ways! On our journey we will walk through the portal of time and visit the most sacred landscapes used for ceremony and pilgrimage for thousands of years. We also have a deep connection to many unknown places that have special energy and beauty. We will guide you into the real hidden mysteries of this fabled land that exists in the multidimensional layers of ancient sites. The spirit guardians of sites have much to share with those who have the ears and hearts to listen.

We will guide you how to listen, hear and see the spirits of nature and the mythical Sidhe through shamanic and meditation techniques. We will listen to the voices of the elements through the four elements; earth, air, water and fire. The stones, holy wells, sun and wind carry ancient energetic signatures that enliven dormant codes for awakening the spirit. We will also reconnect with the wisdom of our ancient ancestors who once lived in harmony and reverence with the cycles of life learning how to anchor this wisdom within to take home and rejuvenate your life.

Your guides:

Cara Gardner recently lived in Ireland for four years studying shamanism, Irish archaeology and psychotherapy. She experienced a life changing initiation into the mysteries of Ireland and the healing arts of celtic shamanism and druidry.  She is now a spiritual counselor, celtic shamanic healer, druid and professional photographer practicing in California.

Mary O' Halloran is a renowned Transforming Cellular Memory and Bioenergy healer from Co. Clare, professional tour guide, archaeologist and folklore expert. 

Upcoming Ireland Journeys:

"A Sacred Journey into the Heart of Ireland"

May 12-19th, 2018
July 21-28th, 2018

And stay tuned for Cara's upcoming "Tree Spirit Journey" August 2018
"Sacred Sites and Ancient Trees of England" with special guest guide Druid Philip Carr Gomm

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Honoring Trees and Nature Through Wood Carving

"The trees know that you can be still and grow at the same time." -Chris McGeown

If you're looking for what sort of inspiration may come out of the mountainous woodland of Wales, look no further than craftsman and carver Giles Newman. With only his ax and chisel, he carves exquisitely detailed spoons and necklaces out of naturally fallen pieces of wood in the forest he tends. Newman has been practising his carving skills for many years but has only recently begun sharing his inspirational pieces with the world.   

"With a background in photography and graphic design but a lifelong love of woodlands and wilderness, I started wood carving in early 2015 as a way to spend more time in the small woodland that I manage in the mountains of North Wales. Using only the tools that I already had for looking after the woodland, my axe and a knife, I began carving wooden spoons from wind fallen trees and branches that I would find and forage for on the woodland floor. After twelve months I abandoned my life as a designer and photographer to pursue my wood carving full time.

My work is created from and inspired by the woodlands that surround me. Often a reflection of the passing seasons, my carvings are personal observations and interpretations of natural beauty and celebrate the momentary minutiae that serve as markers of time in nature. I seek to carve intricate, organic and fleetingly fragile subjects that contrast the characteristics of rigid strength and longevity with which wood, as a material, is imbued. In the form of a spoon, the sculptural nature of my work contradicts the principle that the shape of a tool must be defined by its function and challenges the viewer to question the form of objects that are at once fundamental to our everyday lives, but most often seen as mundane and given little regard." -Giles Newman

There is something spectacular about creating something beautiful from fallen wood albeit, a small piece. It's as if its essence has been carried on or been at the very least, honored. It's as if through Giles, the tree has gone on to inspire more people to love and appreciate trees. 

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Full Moon Tidbits and Ways to Celebrate

This month, on January 31st there is a particularly interesting moon occurring in which we have a full super moon, blue moon and lunar eclipse! It is the "Ice" moon according to the Coligny calendar! 

"To our ancestors' unaided perception both sun and moon appeared the same size in the skies. The path of the sun expanded and contracted, its power increasing and diminishing through the year, while the moon waxed to a perfect silver white circle, then waned until it disappeared into the darkness. Little is known of how the ancient Druids worked with the moon's cycles, though there is evidence that their calendars were moon orientated. Pliny tells of Druids cutting mistletoe on the sixth day of the waxing moon. There is mention, too, of other herbs, of the moon phases and the moon being a source of healing. There is imagery of gods and priests with crescent shapes assumed to be lunar symbols.  For those practising Druidry today, the moon is equal in importance to the sun and as many rites are held at night, in the flickering light of the fire, as are held during the daytime." -Emma Restall Orr

While we know practically nothing about actual celebrations or rituals the Celts might have participated in during the varying cycles of the moon we do have historic written accounts of their knowledge of its cycle and its effect on earth, the tides and us. We know that they performed certain rituals or picked specific herbs during particular phases of the moon. The Coligny Calendar was based on both the lunar and solar cycle. Many stone circles are aligned with the moon cycles and even rare lunar events. The Stenness standing stones on Orkney Scotland are aligned with a lunar phenomenon occurring every 18.6 years. 

While these sites were built by Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures, the original inhabitants of the British Isles, they are equally a part of Pagan and British Isle culture and we can assume passed their knowledge and possibly rituals in usage of the stones to the Celts and Druids upon inhabiting their land. The Celts and the culture that followed may have likely been the descendants of the builders themselves. We know they held the moon in high regard, at least equally to the sun but maybe even more so as they started their days with the rising of the moon verses the sun. This reverence has persisted among locals on the British Isles and has been revitalized in paganism today all around the world. 

Did you know it takes the moon approximately 29.5 days to revolve around the earth? Coincidently, a woman's period cycle is on average 28-30 days and as a result women are intimately connected to the moon. The sun is typically associated with the masculine and the moon, the feminine. By honoring and celebrating the moon, we celebrate the divine feminine energy and connectedness in everything and our importance in continuing, nurturing and celebrating the cycle of birth and life on our earth. The full moon is said to be the time when our intuition and "powers" for cleansing or ritual are at their highest. We celebrate the masculine, the sun, equally in depth what it lacks in breadth with the solstices and equinoxes! 

"Mistletoe rarely grows on oaks, but is sought with reverence and cut only on the sixth day of the moon."  -Pliny The Younger (Rome)

"Some authors assert that the Gallaicans are atheists whereas the Celtiberians and the neighboring peoples of the North dance and revel all night long by their homes, with their families, during the full moon, in order to honor an anonymous god." -Strabo (Greek)

"While Attalus was encamped on the Macistus, an eclipse of the moon took place, which the Galli took to be an unfavorable sign; and they were also wearied of moving about with their wives and children who followed in the carts. Accordingly, they refused to march on." -Polybius (Greek)

Ways to Celebrate:

•Altar: Designate a space in your altar for the moon, honoring the divine feminine and goddess energy. This could be a feminine type statue, a specific crystal like moonstone or even a picture. It could be anything at all really that represents the moon to you!

•Moon gazing: Take time to gaze at the moon as often as you like! Try laying down and truly taking the time to soak in it's cleansing and energizing energy. Take this time to meditate and think on important issues. Use the moon's strength to empower your sense of self, confidence and decision making. Some prefer to lay out nude if weather permits.

•Create: Use moon gazing time to write and create! Use it as a reminder to write in your journal or grimoire. Create a piece of art or craft such as a painting, wreath, jewelry piece, candle, soap, bath bomb etc. etc. etc.

•Bonfire: Have a bonfire for yourself, family or friends. Get outside and enjoy the night! Start a drum circle! It's up to you!

•Relax: Many times life gets in the way of setting aside even the shortest of moments for ourselves. Take the full moon as a reminder and excuse to take a relaxing bath surrounded by your crystals, candles and relaxing music. Get a massage, pedicure, manicure or new hair cut! 

•Tarot reading:  Have yours read by someone else or get your own set and do your own! Close your eyes and focus your intent. Shuffle the cards 5 times representing air, water, earth, fire, spirit. You could also do seven times incorporating the "underworld" and "upperworld" in druid culture on top of those five. Once shuffling is completed, choose 3 cards at random. Designate what each card will mean before you pull the cards. Example: Card 1- What challenges am I facing? Card 2- What awareness will help manifest my desires? Card 3- What should I focus on until the next full moon? These can be whatever you want but whatever they are is what you're focusing on while shuffling your cards.

•Ritual divination: Along with cleansing yourself by laying out and gazing at the moon, the full moon would be the time to "mentally" cleanse your altar, tools, home, pets, family... etc. This ritual would entail anything your creative mind can come up with that has meaning to you! One common way is to simply smudge the house or tools using various herbs and then laying them out in the direct moonlight.

•Swimming: The full moon is a perfect time to take a dip in any natural body of water or your own swimming pool or jacuzzi! Water was considered both physically, mentally and spiritually “cleansing”. 

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