The Land of Magic
falling through time, abandoned islands, selkie songs, and searching for fairies
When I was daydreaming as a child, I would imagine rolling hills and misty cliff sides, crashing surf. I would think of a land where faeries hid behind stones and princesses looked out from lonely grey towers. I would think of white horses and sea monsters and knights in shining armor. I would think of dewey grass and storms and magic places that crossed time and space, just over the hills of heather.
I didn’t always know it, but I was thinking of Ireland.
On the podcast today, I’m celebrating the magic of Ireland - with audio taken from the many episodes I've done in the past on Celtic legends and folklore, including the story of Oisin and Niamh and the land of Tir na Nog, the land of Eternal Youth, and Oisin's famed debate with St. Patrick. We'll learn about the abandoned Irish island of Blasket and get lost in some eerie beautiful Selkie stories. We will also explore the famous and outstandingly beautiful Book of Kells. We'll hear about one of Ireland's patron saints' St. Columbia and how he rebuked the Loch Ness Monster. At the end of the episode we'll enjoy some poetry by W.B. Yeats.
Listen on podbean, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you download your podcasts,
or you can tune in right here.
Ireland has always been the land of myths and dreams and magic things, of thin places and monsters and beautiful other worlds. When you walk the green open land, a rush of air blasting from the cliffs, breathing in the sea and the earth and the grey clouds, you think, yes, there could be fairies, there could be selkies, and forgotten kings and lost princesses. If they are anywhere, they are here.
Ireland, with its love of story and song and strange stories, was a fertile land for the Catholic faith. Shrines and holy wells and stone churches dot the countryside to this day. Saints of renown - St. Brigid, St. Columba, St. Kevin, and course, St. Patrick - walked this open land with pilgrim spirits, encountering the myths and legends of their adopted country.
The poet and warrior Oisin (famous for his journey to Tir Na Nog, the land of eternal youth) is said to have debated with St. Patrick, ultimately rejecting Christianity for refusing to believe eternal heavenly reward would be denied to his beloved hounds and his pagan father. The tensions between the Christian faith and the old ways were real, but the love of art and beauty and ‘that other world’ was natural and complimentary. The famous illuminated manuscript of the gospels, The Book of Kells, has been described as the most beautiful book the world. The 12th century writer Gerald of Wales would say of it,
“This were the work of an angel, and not of a man.”
Ireland is the place where saints rebuked monsters and expelled snakes. Nothing was impossible here, the lines between myth and legend, what is real and what is not, who could say? Who can say?
"So maybe people one time had the power to see what's hidden from us. In the hills there's something to be seen, I'm sure o' that. And on the sea."
"We believe what we believe [...] And there's no way to ken is it right or wrong."David Thomson, People of the Sea
I hope you enjoy this magical deep dive into Ireland’s myths, legends, and stories as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Week.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Want to experience all this magic in person? Want to see the Book of Kells and the Trinity College Library for yourself? Why not join me and
this October as we enjoy High Tea, sheepherding demonstrations, hiking St. Patrick’s mountain, dancing to fiddle music, praying in ancient monasteries and at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, toasting our way through a literary pub crawl, whiskey tastings, and so much more.Best way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
A Guinness and signing up for this trip! Slainte!
It's so interesting that some of us (or maybe all of us) are given a vision of a magical place we're supposed to discover. For me it was rural upstate NY. Before I even knew about geography (or NY) I dreamed and drew pictures of exactly where my ancestors settled when they came from the British Isles. For me I think it's destiny and genetic memory at play.
I had such a similar experience of “oh this is the place I’ve been dreaming of” when I went to Scotland. I’ve never seen a place where I can look at the land and feel like I am seeing a visual manifestation of the music that is native to it.