I stood in the place my ancestors had stood…..5,000 years ago. It was a sacred site, marked by stones that had been placed there in celebration, tribute, worship? We don’t know. But they chose these sacred sites and built them to be aligned with each other, the stars in a constellation, the shining of the sun on the winter or summer solstice, the equinox and perhaps other things.
What endures is the mystery, the profound sense of spiritual significance, and for me, a palpable sense of connectedness to this time, the ancestors, the spirits. It changes your perspective, to sit in places such as these, and to be mindful of time, place and importance. My sense of what is important shifted; my sense of the beautiful, if elusive, melding of the archeology with the mythology was what spoke to me, and I learned to just be with the mystery of it.
We don’t have to figure it all out, to understand every piece of the puzzle that is yet to be solved. It is enough, I think, to be in the experience and just notice and feel….and in that place of mystery a peace descends and an intuitive sense of understanding can emerge.
I have a lot to process after spending two weeks in Ireland, eight of those days touring Ancient Sacred sites, and doing meditation and ceremony in a variety of the sites. It was an incredible experience, one that will reverberate for some time it seems.