Thin Places Travel Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Segment 1- Mindie

Welcome to Episode 17 of the Thin Places Travel Podcast. This episode features Brittany France – an area with one of the largest collections of pre-Christian monuments in Europe. And these monuments are the run of the mill dolmens or passage tombs. The monuments in Brittany, in many instances, predate those in Ireland and the UK. Many believe the people who created the first of the monuments in Ireland and the UK came from Brittany. It was the Breton culture that established this pattern of erecting these ancient monuments.

We are so lucky to have the Brittany expert, Wendy Mewes on the podcast today. If you search the internet for guides in Brittany or books written on the ancient Breton landscape, you will find Wendy’s name and her website…. Wendymewes.com

She is a prolific writer and lecturer. On her website, she has a quote that reads, “My personal identity lies in the landscape.” Her books and writing speak to the concept that the landscape is alive and that there is an inherent “sense of place” unique to the Breton landscape. Wendy lives in Finistere – with its deep forests, sweeping shorelines and ancient stones – an amazing place for walking. 

Wendy has a background in ancient history, she is the author of numerous books about Brittany, and her articles have appeared widely in the press. In France, she has been filmed for TV and contributed to radio broadcasts on historical subjects. She has worked extensively in promoting Breton history and culture to English-speaking visitors through talks, courses, and guided visits.

Wendy now concentrates on landscape writing, most recently with Spirit of Place in Finistere (2017). She is currently working on two new books: one about the Breton saints and the other on walking ancient paths in the region.

Now … on to our interview with Wendy.

segment 2 – interview with wendy mewes

1. What is it about BRITTANY that is most compelling?

Brittany has a very beautiful and unspoilt landscape, full of hidden sites beyond linear time where eternal elementals still share their presence. It also triumphs in economies of scale with a wide variety of natural surroundings – secret river valleys, open moorland, deep forest, wild coast – within a relatively short distance. Many point to the power of granite, a stone forged from fire, for the strong atmosphere – it seems to affect people both well and badly! There is nothing excessive here: the scale of Brittany is so in tune with human scale that one can perfectly identify with the environment.

1. What is the background - history of the site or topic?

Brittany was well-populated in the Neolithic period and has the greatest density of megaliths in Europe, with standing-stones and burial chambers widespread. These sacred places continued to be revered by succeeding Bronze and Iron Age inhabitants. The arrival of Celtic Christianity with evangelists from Great Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire saw many of these sites taken over and Christianised in the rivalry between Nature and God. 

1. Are there any legends or mythology tied to the site or topic?

Brittany is the home of a vast treasury of legend, especially in the Celtic oral tradition. The megaliths in particular have their own stories of origin (usually involving giants or fairies), and there are hundreds of varieties of little people active in the landscape, as well as countless tales of the Breton saints with all their miracles and triumphs. One of the striking themes of oral culture here is the ubiquitous presence of Death (personified by Ankou, the Grim reaper).

1. Do you think those stories have a deeper meaning?

Stories inevitably spring from humans’ interest in themselves and our need for explanation and ‘certainty’. Many legends are self-referential and self-reverential. Often they resign us to our lack of control over life and death, making chaos less frightening. Here in Brittany they often reflect the early foundations of society as well as universal experiences. We look for intermediaries and intercession. Is it possible to pull back the curtain of culture and see a deeper state of being beyond?  When you can reach out to landscape as a living thing rather than human being, magic can happen.

1. What surprises travellers about the site? …. something one wouldn’t expect?

Visitors to Brittany are often surprised by the continuing power of oral culture today and the manifest pride in local heritage at all levels of society. Native language and traditional costumes are distinctive. Sacred processions, pilgrimages and boundary-walking (based on legend) still tie people to the land, and memory is regarded as a vibrant tool to preserve the past and animate the future.

1. What are your thoughts on thin places or liminal places where the physical and spiritual worlds seem to cross?

For me personally these are usually places where the elements of earth (stone), air and water combine in a special harmony. Often it is necessary to get through the cultural filter to a purer state in order to feel oneself absolutely part of the natural world and truly alive.

1. What advice would you give to a traveler who is seeking out thin places or sites with spiritual energy?

The megaliths are a tangible target and for many people a conduit to spiritual energy, but don’t neglect places were there is no hand of man on display: the granite boulders in a wide forest, the changes on a tidal shore, the hill-tops on the heath…

Wendy’s Books:

Spirit of Place in Finistere

Britany: A Cultural History

Discovering the History of Brittany

Walking the Brittany Coast

Legends of Brittany

FIND WENDY MEWES:

www.wendymewes.com   

www.wendymewes.blogspot.com   

Twitter: @brittanyexpert

wendymewes@orange.fr

SEGMENT 3 – Mindie on Brittany sites

PARIS to MOUNT ST-MICHEL

Go late – arrive at 4pm or there abouts. Check the tides.

Spend the night

 Awesome things to do in Finiestere

Parish Closes – Parish Close at Saint-Thégonnec   blog post by Mindie Burgoyne

Beaches – Côte Savage - Menhirs

Woodlands – Huelgoat, stones, forest walks, town. 

Rive Café Librairie – Hotel restaurant – Restaurant de Bretagne, very good food. 

Butter --- to die for.  Baguettes, pastries, coffees – all good.

Menhirs – Ty Hir Gite  

 I See Hearts in Brittany – Menhir De Goalennac blog post by Mindie Burgoyne

Wedge tombs (Alley grave)

The Monts D’Arree

Quote from Wendy Mewes’ book, Things to See and Do in the Monts D’Arrée

The eerie landscape of trelless jutting crags, moors, peat-bogs and a misty bowl of marsh around the reservoir Lac St-Michel give a memorable impression of stark wilderness and is fittingly the source of many Breton legends

SEGMENT 4 –2019 Tours

By the time this podcast launches, I will be leading two group tours in Ireland.  So for a total of three weeks, I’m not only away from my desk and podcasting equipment, I’m also under the pressures of managing a group tour.

Before I left I tried very hard to get the information about our 2019 tours launched and published on the website.  They are set, but I’m still refining the details. So for those of you who are interested, I will be leading three group tours to thin places and one group tour for Mind, Body, Spirit Travel. 

The first tour will be Scotland – The Western Isles.  May 10 – 21 (11 days 10 nights)

Second tour will be the Mind, Body, Spirit Tour – a group tour to Newfoundland and Labrador.  Dates for that tour are  June 22 – July 1   We will tour the upper peninsula and the lower ridge of Labrador visiting 3 world heritage sites and some of the most awesome scenery in North America.

Third tour will be Discover the North in Ireland – September 8 to the 17th –

Fourth tour will be immediately after that one – The Hags Journey – a tour of Western Ireland focusing on heroic Irish feminine figures – saints and goddesses.

I intend to post something on the website http://thinplacestour.com about this so people can make note of the dates.

Segment 1- Mindie

This episode is focused on the largest of Ireland’s islands – Achill Island. It lies of the coast of County Mayo, and can be accessed by a bridge. It’s an island of stories, of sorrow, of powerful women, and it has some of the most beautiful scenery is all of Ireland with sheer cliffs, amazing mountains, bogland, sandy beaches and historic villages.  Achill Island  - as my friend Ruth O’Hagan says, “… is one big, fat, giant amethyst sitting in Atlantic Ocean. And it’s true that amethysts were mined here, and one can still see the veins of purple in the gray rock cliff faces.

Achill is old landscape. Inhabitants of the island are said to go back 5000 years.  The Belfast born painter, Paul Henry visited Achill Island with the intent of staying a few weeks, but found that he couldn’t leave. He said of Achill Island, “Achill … called to me as no other place had ever done.” He ended us staying for years.

Patricia Byrne is a writer who currently lives in Limerick, but is from County Mayo and has Achill Island ancestors. The stories of Achill Island and her ancestors captured her imagination so strongly that she has spent years researching and writing narrative non-fiction about the island’s history and people.   She is a graduate of the NUI Galway writer program. Her most recently historical non fiction books are:

The Preach and the Prelate: The Achill Mission Colony and the Battle for Souls in Famine Ireland  

And

The Veiled Woman of Achill: Island Outrage and a Playboy Drama

In our conversation today, Patricia and I talk about the stories in her books, but also about Achill Island itself and many opportunities for travelers to the island.

Segment 2 - GUEST INTERVIEW

1. What is it about Slievemore Deserted Village that is most compelling?

It is the mountainside remains of a village that was deserted during and after Ireland’s Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century. It includes the remains of over 80 cottages and also potato ridges – lazy beds.

1. What is the background - history of the site?
   
   When the potato famine struck in 1845 the movement of people form the village started through a combination of famine death, emigration, evictions and movement of the people towards the sea. This movement continued after the Great Famine and the settlement developed into a ‘booley’ village – with people using the village for summer grazing of their animals on the mountain slopes and moving down to the villages of Dooagh and other areas by the sea in the winter.

1. Are there any legends or mythology tied to the site?

The people tell stories of suffering associated with the village; of losing their lands on Slievemore and being forced to build new soil from sand, seaweed and peat closer to the seashore. The ‘lazy bed’ potato ridges are clearly visible to this day and evoke memories of the trauma of suffering arising from the failure of the potato crop.

1. Do you think those stories have a deeper meaning?

The place and the stories carry the people’s memories of their history and their suffering. The historical trauma is buried in the soil.

1. What surprises travelers about the site? …. something one wouldn’t expect?

People are surprised when they come close to the site and observe the detail of the houses and their construction methods as well as the still evident shape of the potato ridges dug into the mountain slopes. The Nobel Laurate writer Heinrich Boll had a cottage nearby in the 1950s and spoke of his astonishment on coming upon this village, ‘a skeleton of human habitation’.

1. What are your thoughts on thin places or liminal places where the physical and spiritual worlds seem to cross?

The landscape carries powerful memories of our ancestors’ lives and their traumas. We can walk upon the ground where they lived, toiled and suffered. The place is a poignant image of leaving – through death and emigration – and absence.  

1. What advice would you give to a traveler who is seeking out thin places or sites with spiritual energy?

Learn what you can of the place’s history and stories. Then go to the place, walk there quietly and reflect on what the place and landscape conveys to you.  

LINKS

BOOKS BY PATRICIA BYRNE

The Preach and the Prelate: The Achill Mission Colony and the Battle for Souls in Famine Ireland  

The Veiled Woman of Achill: Island Outrage and a Playboy Drama

Patricia Byrne’s Website  www.patriciabyrneauthor.com

Twitter  @pbyrnewrites

Achill Heritage Center  

Slievemore Deserted Village

sEGMENT 3 – mindie on achill island

Additional commentary

Other Sites and People Mentioned in this podcast

Francis Van Male and the Red Fox Press

Visual Poetry on Achill Island  - by Mindie Burgoyne

Amethyst Hotel - - Now Amethyst Bar

Heinrich Böll – Irish Journal

St. Dymphna’s Holy Well

The Atlantic Drive

Artists who fell in Love with the Rugged Beauty of Achill

2019 Ireland Tours – Scotland and Ireland – visit http://thinplacestour.com

CONCLUSION

Excerpt from Irish Journal by Heinrich Böll, read by Mindie

I met Dara Molloy over 20 years ago when we were both at a Céile Dé conference in County Wicklow. I met many great thinkers and spiritual leaders at that conference – many of whom are friends today. That conference gave me a proper introduction to Celtic Spirituality. Dara and his wife were a young couple at the time, living on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands. Back then, Inis Mór was even more remote than it is today. They had their young son with them. At some point in the conference, I think it was actually a break out session because there were few of us in the room – Dara spoke about living on the island and the hardships of living without modern conveniences (like washing machines). And I recall that one crystal clear moment when he said something that I never forgot. He said, “Inis Mór is my place of resurrection.”

I’ve spent the last twenty years or so, contemplating that concept and what it means. The clip that you heard from Dara during the intro is his definition of a place of I’ve heard the story of St. Gobnait and we shared her story in episode one. Just to briefly recap, St. Gobnait was a 6th century young woman fleeing from some persecutor. She landed in the Aran Islands and set up a monastic community on Inis Oírr (the smallest island). Then she had a vision that she was to go on a journey to find her place of resurrection. She was to journey across Ireland until she found nine white deer grazing. There she would find her place of resurrection. She traveled through the beautiful hills and valleys of west cork and finally found her nine white deer in Ballyvourney. She set up her community there and performed many great works for the local people. They still revere her today especially around her burial site, church ruins and her holy well.

There so many sacred places in Ireland. And Inis Mór has an abundance. Let’s get to the interview with Dara and hear more about the island and places of resurrection.

segment 2 – guest interview

Highlights from the Dara Molloy interview

ON PLACES OF RESURRECTION

[The term Places of Resurrection] came from the Celtic monks. The Celtic monks, I think were very creative and imaginative in the way the they understood scripture. And particularly I think they were interested in images and parables and stories and metaphors because that’s the approach to spirituality that the Celtic monks have always taken. It’s not logical. It’s not analytical. They never became theologians. They more became poets.

Part of their whole way of life as spiritual people was to – in their earlier part of life – was to wander … ‘wander for Christ’ they ended up calling it. … This wandering generally didn’t have a focal point. It wasn’t like they were on pilgrimage to place X or place Y. It more that they were allowing the spirit to guide them wherever it led them. And they believed that if they did that authentically that eventually they would find their place of resurrection – that’s what they called it. The place of resurrection would be where they settled down and that would be where they would discover who they were really meant to be, and the work they were meant to do.

ON INIS MÓR

The best way to describe Inis Mór is that it’s magical. It’s amazing. It’s an experiential place. You might go to a library where you learn something that you might get into your head. But when you come to Inis Mór, you experience something… you can then go off and have a look at your experience and put words on it and give a narrative and so on – which, of course is what I did and what I continue to do – but the island itself has an energy about it which is very light in the sense of “bright”… and it has a depth to it that you can sense especially in the spiritual places.

ON HOLY WELLS

Our pagan traditions influenced hugely the development of Christianity in Ireland. It’s like a seamless robe that has some threads from the pagan tradition and some threads from the Christian tradition. Doing the “rounds” began in the pagan tradition. So if you take a holy well today, they’re all named in Ireland after a saint… but before Christianity these wells were also sacred places. And for the druids who were the spiritual leaders for these Celtic peoples, the wells were sacred because they marked an entrance into the womb of the earth itself. And the earth was a mother, and she was a goddess.

WHAT SURPRISES PEOPLE WHEN THEY COME TO INIS MÓR?

When you come to any of the three Aran Islands, they’re quite flat, there are no tree and there isn’t anything to block your view. And what you see are stone walls – everywhere. And I think it’s kind of surprising and shocking to people to see just how many stone walls are, how intricately they’re built, how many different styles there are to building a stone wall, how small the fields are, and just how far they can see in every direction. So when you come to Aran, you get a long distance view of life… Aran is expansive.

• Getting Married on the Aran Island

• Thin places and how we can use them.

The Cloud of Unknowing

A Pocket Guide to Aran - Legends in the Landscape by Dara Molloy

The Globalisation of God: A Celtic Christianity’s Nemesis

Dara Molloy website

Aisling Publications

Facebook Celtic Spirituality with Dara Molloy

Facebook – Tour Pilgrim Guide

Facebook – Celtic Wedding Celebrant

SEGMENT 3 – Mindie – 2 Books

The Aran Islands by John Millington Synge, c. 1907

Commentary written about the years he spend in the Aran Islands, the people, traditions, culture and landscape. Written as beautifully as any great travel writer could do.

A Pocket Guide to Arain – Legends in the Landscape by Dara Molloy.

Perfect little guidebook written by a local guide who blends history, mythology and spiritualty all through the descriptions.

Welcome to episode 6 of the Thin Places Travel Podcast. Today we have Irish American musician, Joanie Madden from the band, Cherish the Ladies as a guest. And we'll be featuring the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna, County Galway as a thin places travel destination.

Joanie Madden, Irish American Musician

In our last episode, we talked about a connection to the landscape fueling a person’s creativity and passion artistic outlets. We discussed the concept that where you are can have an effect on artistic productivity. It seems that Ireland is full of artists – performing artists, literary artists, visual artists, musicians. Perhaps there is something in the land that stirs the creative soul.

This week as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we were fortunate to be able to chat with Joanie Madden, one of the founders of the all-woman Irish music band, Cherish the Ladies. The group has been actively performing for 33 years, has been nominated for a Grammy and has recorded and released seventeen albums. Their newest album Heart of the Home has just been released this month and it features several tunes written by Joanie Madden.

Joanie is a child of Irish emigrants. She was raised in the Bronx, NY. Her father was from Portumna in the eastern part of County Galway, and her mother was from Miltown Malbay in West County Clare.

Joanie is an All-Ireland flute and whistle champion. She has sold over a half million solo albums and performed on over 200 recordings including 3 Grammy-winning albums. In 2016, Irish America Magazine named Joanie as one of the Top 50 most Powerful Irish Women in the World.

Segment 2 - Interview with Joanie Madden

LINKS

Cherish the Ladies
Cherish the Ladies on Facebook
Cherish the Ladies on Twitter 
Joanie Madden on Twitter 
Cherish the Ladies on Youtube

Segment 3 - The Irish Workhouse Centre - Portumna, County Clare

To tie in with Joanie’s reflections on her father’s hometown of Portumna, and her moving musical tribute to the Portumna workhouse, we’re highlighting the Irish Workhouse Center in Portumna as our featured destination for this podcast.

Portumna is a town in east County Galway that was established by the Normans in the twelfth century. The town sits on the River Shannon - the longest river in Ireland - and in its day, it was an important river crossing.

A ferry crossing was established in the early fourteenth century and today a dual lane roadway - the N65, crosses the Shannon in Portumna connecting County Galway with County Tipperary.

The name Port Omna means landing place or “port” of the oak. People have been living in Portumna since the late stone age.

Portumna has a castle, part of which is open to visitors - and a forest part with walking and cycling paths pathways through woodlands and along the shores of Lough Derg. In that forest are the ruins of Portumna Abbey, which was founded in 1426 by Murchad O’Madden.

But today Portumna is well known for its restored Irish Workhouse interpreting a very painful part of Irish history - but perhaps a necessary part to remember and understand.

A private group has developed this workhouse site into the Irish Workhouse Centre to find new uses for the old buildings and to bring significant social, cultural and economic benefits to the area. It is now the arts, heritage and cultural centre for the region. Last year the Centre won the national Heritage Council award for its heritage activities.

We are fortunate to have with us today Steve Dolan, a historian based in East Galway and the Manager of the Irish Workhouse Centre. Steve holds an MBA from the National University in Galway and an MA in History from the University of Limerick. He is the editor of the South East Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Journal. This year his book - All Out: The Birth, Growth, and Decline of Cricket in County Galway, 1825-1925 is being published.

Segment 4 - Interview with Steve Dolan of the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna

LINKS

Irish Workhouse Centre

South East Galway Archaeological and Historical Society (SEGAHS)

Portumna Castle and Demesne 

Portumna Abbey located in the Forest Park

Portumna Forest Park

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces.

And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing.

Please join us for our next episode, our guest will be Dara Molloy, a Celtic Priest from Inis Mor on the Aran Islands. We'll be talking about Places of Resurrection. So long, for now.

Segment 1- Mindie

Dingle has all of the elements people want to experience on an Ireland tour – pristine beaches, rolling hills with 40 shades of green, wild landscapes with cliffs and crashing waves, ancient historic monuments, vibrant towns, Irish culture – music, dance the pub culture, off-shore island visits, wonderful interpretive centers, fabulous food, a significant arts culture, mountains, valleys, sacred sites. Dingle has them all. It’s a worthwhile place to spend several days.

Segment 2 – Guest Interview

We are lucky today to have with us today, Kevin O’Shea from Celtic Nature Walking Tours. …

Celtic Nature Walking Tours

SEGMENT 3 – Dingle’s spiritual vibe

Dingle has an energy that naturally connects with human spirituality. Being in Dingle lends itself to mediation, to reflection and raising one’s spiritual vibration. Dingle is a thin place.

People have written entire books about Dingle and many of them feature the draw inward, personal transformation.

Chet Raymo, who was a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Stonehill College in Massachusettes is also a brilliant writer and poet. He had a summer home in Dingle and wrote the book Climbing Brandon about Mount Brandon. He also wrote Honey for Stone, A Naturalist’s Search for God about his experiences in Dingle.

Chet admits that he’s an agnostic and states that his academic training, has led to his rejection of the religious principles he was taught as a child. He’s basically agnostic. But he writes the Dingle landscape tends to stir his own spirituality.

Honey from Stone: A Naturalist’s Search for God

Mindie’s Experience – Man in the Sand

Mark Patrick Hederman, OSB quote:

“On the summit of Mount Sinai, on the road to Santiago, God does not stand any closer or speak any louder. But we listen better.”

Carol Cronin of Dingle Interview on Thin Places

10 Things You Must Do in Dingle

SEGMENT 4 – 10 Things to do in dingle

Ten Things You Must Do in Dingle

Map of 10 things to do in Dingle

Folk Concert at St. James Church

O’Sullivan’s Courthouse Pub

Carol Cronin Gallery

Courtney’s Bakery

Celtic Nature Walking Tours

An Gailearai Beag – West Kerry Craft Guild

Harry Clarke Windows

SEGMENT 5 - CONCLUDE

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces.

And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing, In our next episode, our guest will be [Joanie Madden] So long, for now.

Segment 1- Mindie – BURIAL GROUNDS – DEATH AND THE ANCIENTS

Death is the ultimate connection to the landscape.

Experiencing of Death and birth. Both are beginnings and ends of life cycles

It seems the ancient people of Western Europe may have articulated this concept in their passage tombs. Sometimes they resemble a womb … with the earth as the mother.

Thin places are places where we mark beginning and ends. These are sacred times. Fitting to be remembered and memorialized in sacred spaces.

In this next segment, Archaeologist Michael Moylan takes us to a burial ground in Connemara long forgotten. He uncovers a few graves and talks a little about the burial process in that region.

SEGMENT 2 - GUEST INTERVIEW

Michael Moylan is an archaeologist and tour operator from County Galway who invited me today to visit him on a small exploration of some graves that seem to be washing away at a place called Storm Beach. It is located just behind the Connemara Regional Airport I County Galway. Michael has unearthed some graves and discussed their age and some other specifics as well as some wonderful destinations to visit in Ireland.

Michael Gibbons Archaeology Travel

Omey Island

Kylemore Abbey

Connemara Aiport (view of Storm Beach from the air -

Welcome to Connemara

NOTE: Michael Moylan did alert the people of the community around Storm Beach to come consider taking care of these gravesites that were washing away, distributing bones along the beaches.

SEGMENT 3 - SITE REVIEW Omey IsLand

Omey Island – off the western edge of Connemara in County Galway. Accessible at low tide only. You can walk or drive across the strand onto the island. Tides are high so be aware that at certain times of the year, the tide can come in quickly and be high enough to cover a vehicle.

SIGHT AND PERCEPTIONS – the island is very old.

• According to the Irish Central Statistics Office, there is no one left living full time on the island anymore.

• The weather is dramatic – especially the wind

• There were people living on Omey Island thousands of years ago. It was also believed to be the last holdout of paganism in Ireland.

• St. Feichin was seventh century saint who founded a monastic settlement on Omey Island. He later went on to found several other settlements including Fore Abbey in co. Meath which is what he’s most famous for. But he started here on Omey. Nothing is left of his original settlement on Omey, but it continued to foster a Christian community well into the Medieval times, and there are ruins from that community.

• There’s a large bowl-shaped out impression on a hillside in Omey Island, and in the center of it are the ruins of a Medieval church. This is likely where St. Feichin had his monastery and the ruins are of a later church. The church ruins and remnants of the community were buried in the sand – the wind is very strong. The hole or depression that you now see the church ruin sitting in shows how it was excavated in 1981 after being buried in the sand. Surrounding the area is a semi sunken village – foundations from stone huts, occupied by islanders were also discovered. The village was wiped out during the Famine. The wind literally blew the sand over the little village and the church.
  

• I took a tour of Omey Island with the archaeologist, Michael Mullen who works with Michael Moylan. I asked him about the famine and how it hit Omey. I asked if there was a massive evacuation and he said that often times, families just closed the doors to their cottages and laid down and died.
  

• Omey is one of the wild places where nature is reclaiming the landscape. We went in May and noticed all the wildflowers. The old graveyard was nearly covered in Primrose.

• Omey Island has a mystical quality about it in all its harshness and wild beauty. It’s worth a visit. Check the tides before venturing. Even walking along the hard sand causeway at low tide is worth the visit.

Omey Island Tides

Michael Gibbons Archaeology Travel

Omey Island

Omey Island Walk

Exploring the Aughrus Peninsula

SEGMENT 4 – MINDIE RECCOMENDS

Hidden Messages in Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto – written in 2001. Through high speed photography demonstrated how frozen water crystals changed when exposed to concentrated thought. The thoughts were sometimes spoken – even written – communicated in many languages. But as the thoughts changed, the crystal shapes and vibrancy changed. The book expands to discuss water and our connection to it and our intimate connection with all life and some amazing experiments that show that we can communicate with nature in a way to heal the land and heal ourselves.

SEGMENT 5 - CONCLUDE

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces.

If you’d like more information on our tours, you can visit our website at thinplacestour.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing. In our next episode, our guest will be Kevin O’Shea who will talk to us about Dingle.

SEGMENT 1- Mindie on Rathcroghan

Rathcroghan is a complex of 240 archaeological sites that includes 60 national monuments that are spread out in tract of land that is about 4 square miles. The sites range from Neolithic (5-7000 BC) to Medieval periods 5th – 15th centuries). On the site there are burial mounds, ring forts, enclosures, linear earthworks (roads / trails) and very special cave. Rathcroghan is located near the village of Tulsk in County Roscommon. It’s known to be a royal site – the ancient capital of the province of Connaught. We talked a little bit about royal sites in the last podcast. These would have been sites of ritual and gathering. … sites of massive deposits of human emotion and energy. That human energy connected to the natural elemental energy of the land becomes something greater than the sum of its parts. I believe that human emotion and the energy it creates can impact energy of a place. Perhaps there was an inherent energy in the land that drew people –knowingly or unknowingly to mark out a sacred site. And as the human rituals and gatherings imprinted their own energy on the existing high energy of a place – a thin place is born. Rathcroghan is a thin place. While it may not be as well-known as the other royal sites in Ireland – Tara, Emain Macha, Cashel, Uisneagh – it’s a remarkable thin places where the energies are often palpable. Rathcroghan Royal Site from Voices of the Dawn website

SEGMENT 2 – Guest Interview

We are lucky today to have Mike Croghan who lives there, talk with us today about this special site Mike and his rather are the last Croghans to live on Rathcroghan. They are a farming family. Mike also leads tours to sacred and archaeological sites in Western Ireland. He’s also a professional photographer and does a lot of aerial filming.

Rathcroghan Tours – tours by Mike Croghan Please note that the other two websites mentioned (raven.photo and airview.ie are no longer available)

SEGMENT 3 – Mindie Recommends

I’m going to end this podcast with a recommendation for you. The Leprechaun Museum in Dublin. Open daily, staffed by trained storytellers who are passionate about Irish mythology, tradition and understanding of the otherworld. Open Daily 10 :30 am to 6pm. Guided tours and awesome interpretive displays that focus on the people of the Sidhe and Irish folklore. Also open at night – Friday and Saturday for the Darkland tour – twisted tales from the darker side of Ireland. About 16 EUR to get in. Quality entertainment. Leprechaun Museum – Dublin Leprechauns: Facts About the Irish Trickster Fairy

SEGMENT 4 - CONCLUDE

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces. If you’d like more information on our tours, you can visit our website at thinplacestour.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing.

Thin Places Tours

Thin Places Blog Travel Hag Blog

SEGMENT 1 – MINDIE BURGOYNE In this podcast, we’re going to talk about the energetic pull of the earth and how people have felt that pull over the ages. If there’s one phrase I hear repeatedly from people who read my posts or come on our tours it’s that they have “felt a pull or a draw” to a particular place. Ireland is frequently mentioned.

Joseph Dispenza in his wonderful little book, The Way of the Traveler states, « All travel is inner travel. » He goes on to say in the introduction…that the « call to travel » is as much a part of the journey as the actual travel itself. Dreaming of the travel... imagining what we’ll see, how we’ll feel, what we may learn, who we may meet … it’s all a part of the entire travel experience and the change --- the inner change that happens to people when they travel.

For some of us, that call to travel or dreaming of travel feels almost like a romance… something out there is pulling us, creating a yearning – a thirst that can’t be quenched until we get to that place. It’s as if the place itself has some power or capability of relationship. Mahatma Ghandi said, “There is an indefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power that makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses.”

Some of you have probably heard about ley lines. This term refers to invisible lines of energy that run through the earth in a grid-like form. Water tends to run along these lines and people with high sensitivity to these lines of earth energy had methods of finding water and springs by connecting with the lines through dowsing – using a forked branch or metal rod. Many of the first nation people used only their open palm stretched out in front of them to feel the energy vibration and locate water … or perhaps they used the lines to for other things … like where to locate sacred ritual spots. We know that many ancient civilizations erected temples, ritual sites, gathering places and burial mounds in straight lines. In fact, the remains of old ritual sites are often found in straight line patterns across the earth. Freemasons tracked energy lines when building and designing castles, cathedrals and burial grounds.

They made use of volcanic plugs – which are places where molten rock hardened in the event of an active volcano « plugging up » so to speak the enormous pressure within the volcano. These are considered power points in the earth.

All of this is very interesting but what does it mean to us as travelers or people who feel drawn to particular places? We don’t know. But the discussion raises interesting questions. Like … can we be affected by that power within the place? Does it help us connect with a higher form of ourselves? help us focus... help us on that inner journey? Are they portals to another dimension? Can we access that other dimension? Let’s talk with Annie Conboy and listen to what she has to say.

SEGMENT 2 – INTERVIEW WITH ANNIE CONBOY Annie Conboy is a spiritual counselor, intuitive medium and energy healer who has been practicing for eleven years publicly. Annie is from Hebdon Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. She is a mother and works full time as an intuitive. Links to Annie Conboy: Annie’s Daily Blog http://annieconboy.net Facebook: Facebook.com/annie.conboy Twitter @annieconboy

SEGMENT 3 - SITE REVIEW

TULLYHOGUE – COUNTY TYRONE

Northern Ireland has such a mystical landscape because much of it has been left untouched by development and tourist intrusion. So, go there while you can before this pristine landscape vanishes with the economic prosperity that comes with enterprise.

You’d never know that just off of an old country road south of Cookstown in County Tyrone was an ancient royal site still well intact. It’s surrounded by beautiful farmland and rolling hills, and the turnoff, while well marked is doesn’t indicate near the fanfare that this powerful site should have.

Tullyhogue. The name means “mound of the young men.” In the eleventh century, it was an inaugural site for the Kings of Ulster – the northern province of Ireland. These would have been the O’Neil’s of Tyrone. The O’Hagans were the stewards who cared for the site and managed the royal gatherings and site rituals. Hugh O’Neill, the last of the chieftains to be crowned here in 1593. Twelve years later, he and the last bit of Irish royalty fled Ireland and the plantation of Ulster began.

There was a great stone chair at Tullyhogue – a coronation chair heaved out of a large boulder. The chair was noted on the map done by Richard Bartlett done in 1602. It shows a rude sketch of the coronation on Tullyhogue with the king seated in the stone chair, which sits atop a hill. A half dozen men standing around him with an O’Hagan holding a single shoe over his head. The notation below it says “Tulloghogé, On this hill the Irish Create their O. Neale.”

The single shoe ritual is remembered as a coronation tradition, but the details of its meaning are sketchy.

• would be king places shoe or slipper on the coronation site the night before in a gesture meant to “claim the land as his.” At the coronation, the shoe is placed on the royal foot by one of the attending family (in Tullyhogue’s case – that would be an O’Hagan).
• the shoe may have been thrown over the head of the king as a sign of good luck.
• The shoe may be connected to the carving of footprints into inaugural stones.

When a king of a clan was crowned :

• married to the land
• married to the goddess of the land
• crowning sites always on hills where the land can be surveyed.

Characteristics of these royal sites

• on hilltops
• ring barrows – fort-like structure, also provided the ability to process within the rings and survey the event from an elevation.
• Linear earthwork avenue – a processional roadway.
• Sometimes a standing stone, coronations stone or throne.

Sites were believed to be places of ritual, - coronations, burials, rituals of connecting to the ancestors of possibly bridging the two worlds – this world and the world beyond.

Tullyhogue is still beautifully intact. While there is no chair – part of the chair is believed to be incorporated into the stone wall of a nearby church.

• The surrounding landscape is still gorgeous and easy to survey
• Avenue is still in place, a straight road going up to the hill
• The earthworks are still in place. There are huge trees now growing in them. The entrance is still open and one can easily imagine the procession and the events that took place here.
• The stories still hang behind
• Now it’s been redeveloped – large car park, meandering walkway, benches and interpretive signage.

Tullyhogue is also one of those sites that you want to return to … you want to go back and re-experience what you had there … but every time it’s a little different. Don’t rush when going to this site. Take time to read the signage that tells the stories of the O’Neills, the O’Hagans and what happened on the site. It makes for a rich experience.

Irish Archaeology – Medieval Houses at Tullyhogue fort, Co. Tyrone BBC New – Where Kings of Ulster ‘were crowned’” Sit Dig to Begin

SEGMENT 4 – POEM

Wander-Thirst by Gerald Gould

BEYOND the East the sunrise,

beyond the West the sea,

And East and West the wander-thirst

that will not let me be;

It works in me like madness, dear,

to bid me say good-bye;

For the seas call, and the stars call,

and oh! the call of the sky!

I know not where the white road runs,

nor what the blue hills are;

But a man can have the sun for a friend,

and for his guide a star;

And there's no end of voyaging

when once the voice is heard,

For the rivers call, and the roads call,

and oh! the call of the bird!

Yonder the long horizon lies,

and there by night and day

The old ships draw to home again,

the young ships sail away;

And come I may, but go I must,

and, if men ask you why,

You may put the blame on the stars and the sun

and the white road and the sky.

~Gerald Gould was born in Yorkshire, England in 1885 and died in 1936 in London. He was a journalist and a supporter of women’s suffrage. “Wander-Thirst” is his most quoted work.

The Collected Poems of Gerald Gould

SEGMENT 5 – Mindie recommends

I’m going to end with a book recommendation. The book is The Way of the Traveler – Making Every Trip a Journey of Self Discovery by Joseph Dispenza

This is a little book you can read in a day or read little clips over the course of a week or month. I even have the audiobook and find it great for listening to the car. The book is a collection of reflections on the spiritual aspects of travel, and a call to be changed internally by every travel experience.

Dispanza is a former cloistered monk. He’s also a scholar having taught at American University in DC and the College of Santa Fe in NM. He presents a method of travel that promotes self-discovery and uncovering a life path through travel.

The book has five parts – all stages of travel The Call to Journey - - the Preparation – the Encounter (or actual travel experience) – the Homecoming and Recounting the Tale. The insights communicated in the book aid the individual travel experience in an amazing way. There are concepts to explore, like being fearful of certain travel experiences and how to discover the root of the fear. But there’s also practical advice like what to take with you, bringing back gifts and how to travel so that you will also retain great memories so that can revisit the experience in your imagination.

The book also has scores of quotes and exercises to reinforce the concepts presented in each section. The Way of the Traveler: Making Every Trip a Journey of Self-Discover by Joseph Dispenza

SEGMENT 6 - CONCLUDE

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces. If you’d like more information on our tours, you can visit our website at thinplacestour.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing.

Thin Places Tours

Thin Places Blog Travel Hag Blog

In this episode, Thin Places Podcast host, Mindie Burgoyne explores several questions concerning how we define “thin” places or mystical places. The basic definition she ascribes is, “thin places are places where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin.” SEGMENT 1- Questions on thin places:

What are thin places – a place where the veil between this world and the otherworld is thin. Are places made thin by us or are they inherently thin? How do identify a thin place? What caused the ancients to choose certain places that still vibrate today? Why Ireland – why are there so many thin places there? In an effort to further explain the qualities of thin places, Mindie shares the story of The Journey of St. Gobnait and “places of resurrection” Links to posts about St. Gobnait and places of resurrection:

• St. Gobnait: Patron of Ballyvourney, County Cork
• Inis Oírr – Aran Islands Little Sister
• St. Gobnait’s Holy Well – Ballyvourney

SEGMENT 2 – GUEST INTERVIEW

Ruth O’Hagan discusses the concept of thin places in Ireland

Ruth is from County Clare. She works in family psychology and teaches in university masters and doctorate programs on the supervision and training of therapists and clinicians. Her background is deeply spiritual, and she comes from a long line of natural healers.

SEGMENT 3 – Mindie recommends

Two books: How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill In the House of Memory by Steve Rabey (out of print) Amazon, AbeBooks or Book Depository

SEGMENT 4 - CONCLUDE

Thank you for listening to the Thin Places Travel Podcast. If you have questions, thoughts, travel stories or sites you’d like us to feature on this podcast, you can find us on the web at thinplacespodcast.com. Just click the contact link. You can also find me on twitter at @travelhags and on Facebook at facebook.com/thinplaces. If you’d like more information on our tours, you can visit our website at thinplacestour.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us quick rating and review on iTunes – under Thin Places Travel Podcast., and consider subscribing,

ADDITIONAL LINKS OF INTEREST

Inis Caeltra – Holy Island in County Clare http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/holy_island1.htm Holy Island Boat Trips https://www.holyisland.ie/ Clarevirtually Website on travel in East Clare http://clarevirtually.ie/ National Geographic Traveler – The Curse of Inis Caeltra http://www.natgeotraveller.co.uk/destinations/europe/ireland/ireland-the-curse-of-inis-cealtra/

Segment 1- Introduction

Dolores has always been a teacher and educator. And she’s one of the most educated people I’ve ever met. At one time she was a biochemistry lecturer holding a Master of Science degree from Trinity College Dublin. Now she is an author and lecturer on spirituality and also leads pilgrimages to the sacred places in Ireland and Iona, Scotland. Dolores has written extensively on education, creativity and Celtic Spirituality. She has facilitated workshops and retreats in Celtic Spirituality and personal empowerment for over 25 years.

Her most recent book is Ever Ancient, Ever New: Celtic Spirituality in the 21st Century explores the wisdom of the Celtic tradition through the Celtic Year calendar and co created a perpetual Celtic calendar with US artist, the late Cynthia Matyi.

Dolores loves to share her passion for the wisdom held within the Celtic Year  calendar which celebrates the festivals associated with the seasons of the Celtic year . Her work has been featured on RTE Radio and on RTE Television Nationwide  She is  a co-founder of  both The Brigid of Faughart Festival  now in its  10th year  and the Brigids Way Pilgrimage  which is in its 5th  year.

segment 2 – Dolores whelan interview

WEBSITE: Dolores Whelan website  http://www.doloreswhelan.ie

AUDIO CD: Journey through the Celtic Year CD by Dolores Whelan

CALENDAR: Celtic Calendar – Dolores Whelan and Cynthia Matyi

BOOK: Ever Ancient, Ever New: Celtic Spirituality in the 21st Century

BOOKS: Dolores Whelan’s other titles

Brigid of Faughart Festival

Newgrange

Beltany Stone Circle:

 Beltany a Thin Place in Donegal  

Bridge to the Otherworld: A Rainbow at Beltany

Sliabh na Calliagh - Loughcrew

Sean O’Duinn – Where Three Streams Meet

Sean O’Duinn – The Rites of Brigid, Goddess and Saint  

Hill of Uisneach – Walking Meditation on the Hill of Uisneach

Hill of Tara

St. Brigid

SEGMENT 5 - CONCLUDE

Several of the sites mentioned by Dolores Whelan will be sites on our 2019 tours of thin places – in particular the Hill of Tara and Newgrange and Beltany Stone Circle.  Stay tuned in our next episode for the announcement of dates and destinations for 2019.  It looks like we will have 4 tours next year – Scotland – 2 in Ireland and one in North America