Legends in the Landscape
There are four harbours between Heaven and Earth where souls are cleansed. The Paradise of Adam, Rome, Aran and Jerusalem. No angel who ever came to Ireland to help Gael or Gall returned to Heaven without first visiting Aran, and if people understood how greatly the Lord loves Aran, they would all come there to partake of its blessings.
Corma mac Cuilennain
King-Bishop of Cashel, died 908 AD
On the western edge of Ireland out in the Atlantic about 11 nautical miles from the mainland, sits Árainn a collection of three islands which have been an important destination for pilgrims since ancient times. Ranking next to Jerusalem and Rome as important pilgrimage sites, Irish monks beginning in the 5th century discovered it to be a place that nourishes the soul to such a degree that at one point there were 10 monasteries on the main island which is known as Inis Mor. Even before St. Enda, the first of the Celtic monks to establish a monastery in 485 AD, there is evidence of human presence and early stone construction dating back roughly 5,000 years, to around 3,000 BCE–4,000 BCE. These ancient peoples left behind stone structures and prehistoric forts which include evidence of an understanding of the presence of something holy in the land which was later acknowledged by the Celtic monks when they carved their crosses on the stone structures. The stone seen below is one of those structures which has been determined to be placed there during the Stone Age to mark a place of ritual and worship because of the holiness of the land. That same stone has a Celtic cross on it, carved by the monks in the 5th and 6th century, again for the same reason of the sense of sacredness. Pilgrims today are invited to pause at the stone and hold on to it with reverence gleaning from it whatever the Spirit offers.
The pilgrim below experienced an awakening as she held on to this holy rock which I will share with you in the days to come. Inis Mor is a place of ephiphany, re-entry, birth groundedness and resurrection. I look forward to sharing more about this place that has changed my life.
This old song from Jimmy Buffett comes to mind...I could change a few of the lyrics to make it fit better, but in Àrainn, I have found me a home.
Please
June 13, 2025 by Rosemerry
If you are one who has practicemeeting the pain of the world,we need you.Right now we need youto teach us it is possibleto swallow what is weightyand still be able to rise.We need you to remind uswe can be furious and scaredand near demolished by injusticeand still thrill at the tasteof a strawberry, ripe and sweet,can still meet a strangerand shake their hand,believing in their humanness.We need you to show us howwe, too, can fall into the darkest,unplumbed pit and learn therea courage and beautywe could never learn from the light.If you have drowned in sorrowand still have somehow founda way to breathe, please, lead us.You are the ones with the lanterns we need,the ones we will use to find our wayback into the refuge of each other’s hearts.
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