Samhain and the Sacred Yew

At dusk on Samhain, the Celtic people celebrated the beginning of the new year.  They honored the cycles of light/dark, life/death and the sacred symbolism of opposites, believing that new life and light was birthed from the season of darkness. Samhain was a portal into the underworld where the veils became thin between the seen and unseen unlocking access to the spirit world of the ancestors.

The yew tree is also connected to Samhain, a sacred tree to the druids who saw it as a representation of the eternal cycle of life and death. The yew is one of the oldest living things on earth and is connected to the Crone of the triple goddess. She is the ancient goddess of wisdom who carries the seed of life into the other world for renewal. Known also as the tree of life and death it holds the medicine of death to the finite self and gives birth to immortality.  This wisdom offers great healing as it helps us overcome fear of change. Through change there is always a new beginning and transformation into embodying the next greater whole of ourselves. The yew reminds us that in seeing our eternal nature we can embrace the knowing that death and change are just portals to rebirth.

The wisdom of the yew has touched my own life deeply this past year and has become my personal totem for the initiation into transformation.   It has taught me that all life experiences are mirrors that reflect back what we need to learn to grow wiser. That in the darkness there is always light and surrendering to the natural cycles of change are what make us beautiful, alive and free.

Blessings of light to all~
Cara

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/154002379/fine-art-print-of-ireland-landscape?

"Healing From Within ~ Awakening the Divine Feminine" with Benig Mauger

HEALING FROM WITHIN 

Benig Mauger is a practicing psychoanalytical psychotherapist, writer, lecturer and pioneer in pre- and perinatal psychology. Concerned with the ways in which technology and modern living have resulted in "loss of soul", she combines her training and experience in Jungian depth psychology, pre- and perinatal psychology and spiritual awareness to look at ways of restoring soul to human life. 

Her soulful and inspiring work helps us journey to the core of our self to discover and embrace the wounds of loss and heart break which create space for renewal, empowerment and healing. Living in and inspired by the wild landscape of Connemara, her deep insights reflect the wisdom of the land and how it can reflect and heal our emotions.  Benig will be conducting a residential workshop in Galway in October. 

HEALING FROM WITHIN AWAKENING THE DIVINE FEMININE

A TWO DAY RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP AND RETREAT With Benig Mauger

Jungian Psychotherapist & Author 

While wanting to progress on our spiritual path, we are often held back by our sense of wounding. In this workshop I will outline the impact prenatal life, birth and early parenting has on our psyches and offer a framework for understanding how these imprints are played out in our lives and relationships. With its unique blend of Jungian Psychology and Spirituality and using meditation, art, music and dream work, this workshop will examine the soul patterns transmitted to us in early life and suggest that our wounds are actually conduits to healing and soul growth. Using myth and poetry and a workbook to help you begin your healing journey, you will awaken the Divine Feminine Within reconnecting with and healing your heart from wounds that may have held you back. Uncovering your personal birth myth and identifying your patterns in relationships will help you balance your inner masculine and feminine and recover a sense of inner wholeness and spiritual purpose.

Date: October 18-20th 2013
Venue: Parvani Hall, Tuam, Co. Galway. www.parvanihall.ie

Fee: €315 (dormitory) €345(Single room) includes all meals and accommodation. Bookings & Info: info@soul-connections.com; Phone: 0862840631

The group is limited to 12 participants so early booking is essential. 

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Here is an excerpt from an article published on her website: Soul Connections

Love, Heartbreak and Healing

    Give sorrow words;

           The grief that cannot speak

                  Whispers the o’er fraught heart  

                          And bids it break.

                                           Macbeth IV.111: William Shakespeare

 

"As a therapist with 20 years of listening to and bearing witness to heartbreak, it wasn't until I experienced it most profoundly myself that I understood it's beauty, it's depth and it's ability to thrust us into a spiritual journey. It was this experience that propelled me into writing my last book, " Love in a time of Broken Heart - Healing From Within" In it I have shared my life experience both as a woman and therapist. Using myths, and stories, I've charted the inner journey to healing after heart break as well as outlined the influence our early lives have on our love relationships- and much more. More importantly, writing this book, which for me was a spiritual journey, led me to a deeper understanding of the essence of the inner marriage, as well as the nature of love and our search for it. I learnt that for many of us our love relationships reflect our spiritual journey and how experiencing heartbreak can bring us to unconditional love. Lost in love can take us to experience our own hearts and our souls longings and connect us with our deep need for inner wholeness or spiritual fulfillment. 

How can heartbreak and soul pain be beautiful? Because it propels us deep into our inner selves, a terrain often left undiscovered in our hurried lifestyles. A terrain of such richness we ignore it at our peril- because if we continue to look outside of ourselves for everything, we will never heal and we will never find love.

To heal a broken heart, we have to go through a journey. We have to go through the dark night of the soul. Healing always comes from within. Healing from within means travelling into the profound terrain of our sould. It means exploring the older wisdom in our 'deep living heart', and surrendering to something far greater than the narrow focus of our ego-driven minds. We do not blame others for what they did, or didnot do, to make us unhappy. Ture healing invloves taking responsibility for the chlices we make and the relationshiops we have. 

When we lose love, we empower ourselves through a journey of healing which includes honest self

-examination and evaluation. And since we have learned that love can bring us back to ourselves and reveal our souls in a way not possible otherwise,our journey to healing after heartbreak will result in a stronger, more beautiful and resilient soul, and an open heart." Benig Mauger

 

 

"What matters if we lose what or who we love when deep down we know we can never lose love, never, our love is our portal to the divine and our loved one lives on in everything around us that holds the spark of soul. Never ever give up, no matter how many times your heart is broken; rather be grateful for the gift of heartbreak and the crack that bruises your soul to its expansion. Let yourself be seared by love and loss." Benig Mauger

 

Contact Benig Mauger:

info@soul-connections.com

Soul Connections

Visit Benig's facebook page Soul Connections for such beautiful insights into the nature of being, loss, healing and love. Interconnected with the wild landscape of Connemara, Ireland her insights refresh and inspire the soul. 

Soul Connections Facebook 

 

*photography by Cara Mia Photography & Sacred Ireland Images

Jackie Queally ~ Celtic Trails Guide, Author, Dowsing Expert and Healer

As a spiritual healer and reflexology teacher I always had an affinity with the land, particularly in what is generally known as the Celtic nations. I started Celtic Trails up in 1999 in Edinburgh in Scotland as there was so much fascinating history and undiscovered sites on my doorstep! My first tours were the Merlin tour (Merlin blesses my work), Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar, the Celtic saints of East Lothian, Cairnapple (Scotland's Stonehenge), Old abbeys and legends of the Borders and last but not least Ancient Edinburgh. 

I started each tour with an introductory talk in which clearly I was guided by invisible energies. It built up a great positive bond between those participating and helped set the tone for the day. These day tours were a great success and after nine years I wanted a sabbatical. By then I had written a number of small booklets on the legends and history and ley lines of the region. I also had written two esoteric guides to Rosslyn Chapel see Celtic Trails Books.  

I was the original external guide to this beautiful temple of initiation. Here is an enjoyable and insightful interview recently conducted with me on the subject that will give an interesting introduction to the subject:

Radio Interview with Jackie on Bob Charles Show

So for my sabbatical I came to Ireland where I wrote Arks Within Grail Lands that sums up an energy system that is reflected in earth grids on both a global and a galactic scale. The Reshel (mystic William Buehler’s term) works with many strata of inner earth beings as well as high angelic energies. I first taught a five day workshop in the synergy light work attached to this research in Rosslyn. Many experts in shamanism and angelic work came and over the years I had taught many people in small groups this specialist form of meditation to link with the high realms. Then in Ireland I continued this work for the first few years setting up small nucleus groups in Uisneach, Ennis, Kinvara and Gort in Galway. 

During this period I developed an in depth knowledge of the Burren where my father was born on its southern edge (near Lahinch). I attended many talks and explored the land. I had been donated an intricate earth grid to work with by geometer Anthony Peart whose research features in Arks within Grail Lands to begin with. I knew one day this knowledge would be applied in service to others but I had to bide my time and learn new skills to the tour guiding and writing and reflexology teaching I used to engage in. I first learnt to do a deep massage based on acupuncture and other eastern modalities. I was already versed in spiritual healing and sensed that the land and one’s whole body (including auric fields) was one interconnected temple in terms of energy, each with the ability to affect the other.

 After having trained in a form of vibrational healing taught by the inventor of that term Fabien Maman who is a musician and acupuncturist I realized more and more how vibration was the key to all understanding. So I applied that knowledge gained in “sound acupuncture” to the land and wrote a book about the Five Elements and the Burren Landscape. (The Burren is a beautiful and unique natural landscape in the west of Ireland covering part of Clare and Galway.) The title is Spirit of the Burren (to be released Fall of 13) and I have created an interesting and stimulating presentation to accompany it. This truly unique book concludes with a message that is inspiring as the Reshel earth grid discovered there links to the very high realms. Parallel to this activity I started creating films of my favourite nature sites. I am blessed living in an area beset with underground rivers and caves as the river weaves her way both above and below the limestone here-this is the earliest part of the Burren. Sometimes I give performances of these films to music created by a composer friend. I recite my nature poems to the scenes and it clearly moves the audiences. I also have written two poetry books on nature (Tree Murmurs and Eternal Elements).
My other “arm” is dowsing as this applies to ley lines and earth grids I have worked with since the late 1990s in a deep, multi-dimensional way. I also have healed using dowsing and so I conduct workshops in both dowsing on the land and for healing/health. 

The next workshop is to be held in the Slieve Aughty Riding Centre on November 8^th and 9^th in East Galway. This has a lovely new purpose-built building. For 75 euros per day you have an organic lunch and refreshments too.

 

For 2014 onwards I am focusing on creating more extended tours of both Ireland and Scotland- I did some ranging from 2 days to 9 days last year. Based on presentations I have on Rosslyn Chapel I have created a five day tour taking in Roslin Glen, Rosslyn Chapel, the wilder and sacred sites of Edinburgh, and the mystical sites of Glen Lyon in Highland Perthshire. All these connect via strong leys that carry the elixir of the Golden Cup of the Grail tradition that I will explain.  In Ireland I prefer to focus on the Burren naturally and can add sites in County Sligo or the Boyne Valley in the main. 
All these activities are linked to one another: the dowsing, the talks, the tours and the relevant books. I welcome any questions or inquiries about my work. jackiequeally@gmail.com  I hope you can join me in spirit or in person on any of my guided tours or day workshops.

Lastly, thank you to this new blog Sacred Ireland Portal created by Cara Gardner who is contributing to sharing the healing and sacred energy of Ireland with a wider audience. I hope to work with her for posterity and furthering the sacred work we all engage in. 

Blessings~ Jackie

*photography by Sacred Ireland Images and Cara Mia Photography