Day 14 - Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Alder is the tree of strong foundations. Sacred to the Welsh God, Bran the Blessed, this tree resists water rot and served as the foundation for bridges. It represents stability, courage, honor, defense, and bridges. Alder reminds me that this trip is laying a new foundation of spirituality for me, and I am crossing a bridge from the old to the new.

This is the last day of Mara’s amazing tour, and the Grand Finale – New Grange and Tara Hill!

Brú na Bóinne, now known as Newgrange, is the largest earth burial chamber in Europe, and was built about 5,000 years ago near the river Boyne.

Boanne is the Goddess or spirit of the River Boyne. She is the Goddess of the White Cow, and her stream of milk is said to be the Milky Way. She is said to be the mother of Aengus Mac Og, the God of youth and love, by her lover the Good God, Dagda, (who considered the father of the Gods). Brú na Bóinne is the main residence of Aengus. The source of the Boyne River is said to be a sacred pool, called Sagais, over which a holy Hawthorn tree grows, dropping its fruit, the nuts of knowledge into the water. From here, Bradan, the Salmon of Knowledge, partakes of the nuts from the sacred tree, making it the wisest of all beings. This is the same salmon the Irish warrior, Fionn MacCumhal (Finn MacCool), was set to cook for his master. In the process of cooking the fish, he burnt his thumb, and inadvertently sucked it to relieve the pain, which gave him the wisdom of the ages whenever he placed his thumb in his mouth.

The Boyne River

The famous spiral carved stones at the entrance to New Grange.

A closer look at this amazing intricately carved stone

At the gift shop, I found an exquisite pendant reflecting this magical stone.

New Grange had carved stones around the entire circumference of the mound

Inside the chambers, we noted large bowls, or slabs, for cremated ashes. This national treasure is closely guarded and we were not allowed to take pictures inside, or to touch the stones themselves.

The next stop on our tour was to Knowth, a complex of burial chambers not too far from Newgrange. Like Brú na Bóinne, the circumference of these mounds were comprised of carved stones.

Here the stones seemed to be carved with “torques”

Here I met up with an amazing harper from Seattle, Peter Berry, who was delighted to play my little Kilcoy harp under the grassy eaves of the chamber.

Our next leg of the journey took us to perhaps the most famous spot in all of Ireland – Teamhair na Rí, the Hill of Tara.

We were privileged to have for our guide Michael Slavin, who has written many books about this holy hill, and owns a small book store at the foot of it, where his tours begin.

Tara was the fortress of the High King of Ireland, where all the other kings came to pay homage.

The ancient earthworks, site of the original halls of Tara

Burial mound on the Hill of Tara

Virginaia stands by the Lia Fal, the ancient stone that cries out when in the presence of the true king.

The most magical place at Tara, for me, was the fairy hawthorn tree. I played my harp to the Faeries in gratitude for their gentle presence throughout this magical tour.

Mara under the Hawthorn tree

We stopped at a churchyard at the bottom of the Hill of Tara, where we dowsed the ancient tombstones. The whole area was charged with a potent energy.

In this churchyard, as in many places throughout the tour, I collected raven feathers, which represent their Irish Goddess, Morrigan, who could transform herself into a raven.

At the bottom of Tara Hill there was a Well of the Calf (which refers to Boanne), where oak, ash and thorn had been planted nearby.

Oak Ash Hawthorn

Slavin told us that there were many sacred wells on or near the Hill of Tara, including a “cursing well” which he refused to take us to!

It was here, at this well that we did our final ritual – a closing ceremony on the Hill of Tara, and Mara taught us how to do a “Lorica” or breastplate invoking the deities of Ireland. “The blessings of Aine of the flowing Air before us; the blessings of Maeve, the Queen of Connaught behind us; the blessings of Macha the Protector to the right of us; the blessings of Brigid of the Flames to the left; the blessings of Grania of the brilliant sun above us, the blessings of Danu, queen of the mountains underneath us; and the blessings of Boand, the flowing river that surrounds us.”

With that, and the blessings of the ancient Goddesses or Ireland, our tour with Mara Freeman ended. We went back to the hotel to back for our return the next day.

But I intended to stay on for yet another week!

Back to day 13 Continue to day 15