Move to the Emerald Isle

Self portrait as the Morrigan. Place: my backyard, Co Leitrim, Ireland.

 Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!
--William Butler Yeats

It's been a while since I've posted here...and that's because I've been busy moving country! 

It's taken me the past year to move and settle in, with Gwyddie in tow! Yes, he went on a plane. Yes, he was ok. :) I almost had a heart attack, but he was fine. 

Art. And Magick. And Nature. And so many things I love, and that I have been connecting with in new ways since my arrival. I feel that my whole energetic system is recalibrating, adjusting to and taking in the land and its history and wonders. 

As it happens, my ancestry (as I understand it so far) originates in part from this place. My ancestors left Sligo during the Great Hunger.

I have been developing a new relationship to plants and witchcraft here, and to the Goddess Morrigan in specific. 

I was priveleged to have the Scarlet Tongue Project come from the US to film me as part of their documentary on women and anger (as expressed through female artists). I danced as the Morrigan and was interviewed. There will be more about that this coming spring/summer. 

I've had a profound Samhain season beginning with a visit to the Morrigan's Cave, aka Oweynagat, aka Hells Gate. It's an underground passage located within the ancient royal complex site of Ráth Crúachan, seat of the great warrior Queen Medb. (It is written in Ogham inside the cave entrance: ‘of Fraech, son of Medb’.) The Morrigan is said to come out of the opening each Samhain; going into the cave---and coming out--was a moving and transformative experience, bonding me further to the land. 

I was honored to also invoke the Dark Goddess as The Morrigan with dance and a new poem at the Samhain ritual in Belfast.

And, I was priviedged to afterward explore and climb Sliabh Crúb in the Mountains of Mourne, sacred to The Callieach (Winter hag goddess) and visit Legannay Dolmen, sacred to the goddess Áine.

There's been so much to adjust to...its been challenging and overwhelming!

parting the Veil

For She who is Great

The body of the Goddess; The Morrigan's Cave. Holy place from which She is said to emerge each Samhain as the year dies and is reborn. To enter or to exit you will be on your belly and your knees. Leave nothing behind...but don't forget a sacrifice.

Legananny Dolmen. Doorway to the Otherworld and portal tomb. Sacred to the Goddess Áine, Irish deity of love, sovereignty, dance and resilience. Liagán Áine: Her standing stone. That stone has been sitting atop that little point for thousands of years!

At Glastonbury Abbey during my visit to England (photo taken by Paul Weston)

Sheemore hill, the Big Hill of the Sidhe

Abandoned cottage. Angelica grows outside.

our backyard