deepening the senses | ireland 2027
Walking Between Worlds
Deep Time • Landscape • Numinous • The Inner World
The Burren, Co Clare, Ireland
October 8th-15th, 2027
A seven-night intimate retreat in the Burren, on Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast, drawing on Jungian depth psychology, psychotherapy, Irish mythology and folklore to explore the inner world.
Here, mist moves in from the Atlantic, light shifts across ancient limestone, and an immense sky opens above us. “Shifting brilliancies,” as Seamus Heaney wrote, revealing a landscape at once stark, beautiful and strangely alive.
In this extraordinary place, at the Cailleach’s time, we step beyond the familiar rhythms of everyday life, making space to slow down, listen and attend to the quieter movements within.
Walking Between Worlds offers a rare opportunity for sustained inner exploration, held within a small group and rooted in the landscape and stories of Ireland.
Through dreams, embodied awareness, imagination and creative exploration, we turn towards the less familiar dimensions of ourselves—the stories we carry, the patterns that shape us and what may be seeking expression. Guided by an experienced psychotherapist, this work is held with care, sensitivity and respect for each person's pace.
Perhaps the deepest journeys are journeys of return. A return to what has been forgotten or left unlived, and to the older stories that still echo through us. Walking Between Worlds invites us to listen for what may be waiting to be remembered and brought home.
An Invitation
There are landscapes in which the past feels very close. The Burren in Co. Clare is one of them.
Portal tombs, standing stones, sacred wells and ancient pathways bear witness to thousands of years of human life. The presence of those who came before us remains in stone and story, place-name and tradition, memory and myth. Beneath this human history lies a much older one. Some 300 million years ago, the limestone beneath our feet was forming in a warm, shallow sea. Water, weather and immense stretches of geological time shaped the landscape we encounter today. Deep time. Ancestral time. Cailleach time.
Here, we enter the landscape slowly, listening with an inner ear to what has been carried, forgotten or left unlived. The ancient world becomes a meeting place between ancestral memory and personal experience, between the outer landscape and our inner lives. Perhaps this is one of the gifts of entering an ancient landscape: not to escape our lives, but to encounter them differently. The landscape becomes more than the setting for our retreat. It becomes part of the work itself.
This is the invitation of Deepening the Senses. This is Walking Between Worlds.
The Gaelic Otherworld
In Irish mythology and folklore, the Otherworld exists alongside the everyday world – a mysterious realm associated with the Aos Sí (the fairy folk), ancient mounds and hills, sacred wells and bodies of water. Certain places in the landscape were understood as thresholds where the boundary between worlds might grow thin.
Rather than a distant supernatural realm, the Otherworld was imagined as intimately entwined with this one – encountered through landscape and story, and in moments when the familiar gives way to mystery. Time moves differently there, and the old tales tell of people crossing into the Otherworld and returning changed by what they encountered.
During our retreat, we will gently explore the Gaelic Otherworld through myth, imagination and the landscape itself. Guided by an experienced psychotherapist and facilitator, we approach its stories symbolically and archetypally. The Otherworld becomes a doorway into the inner world – inviting us to encounter the unconscious, the numinous and less familiar dimensions of ourselves through dreams, symbols and imagination, at our own pace.
Rooted in Irish Myth & Ancestral Memory
Walking Between Worlds is rooted in the rich traditions of Irish mythology and folklore, explored both as stories belonging to a living cultural heritage and as images that may speak to our inner lives.
Here, in the ancient landscape of the Burren, we encounter the Cailleach, the Otherworld, the Aos Sí and those who cross between worlds. We honour the stories in their own right, while remaining curious about what they awaken in us. What draws us closer? What unsettles us? What feels strangely familiar?
Through myth, language, imagination and embodied experience, we explore the deeper stories we ourselves may be living, and what has been carried through family, culture and ancestral memory.
Here, Irish folklore, Myth and Jungian depth psychology and Psychothearpy meet, opening doorways into the numinous, the symbolic and the less familiar dimensions of ourselves.
Your Host — Eileen Ní Shuilleabháin
I grew up in the Irish-speaking region in the South Connemara Gaeltacht, where Gaeilge is my first language. The unique landscape, folklore, mythology, ancient heritage and the presence of the Otherworld were woven into everyday life. That landscape continues to shape how I experience the world and approach my work.
For more than twenty years, I have worked in clinical social work, psychotherapy and the facilitation of experiential groups. Alongside my clinical practice, I have a particular interest in ancestral memory, intergenerational trauma and the ways family and cultural histories continue to shape our inner lives. I also hold a master's degree in Irish Mythology and Folklore.
My work seeks to bring the ancient Gaelic world and psychotherapy into comhrá—into conversation. Jungian depth psychology, Irish mythology and folklore, Gaeilge, the Irish language, symbol, landscape and embodied experience all have a place in this dialogue. Walking Between Worlds Retreat has grown from this meeting place.
At the heart of the retreat is an invitation to explore the unlived life: the possibilities, longings and less familiar parts of ourselves that may be waiting to be recognised and given expression. My approach is gentle yet deep, grounded in professional experience and respect for each person's individual journey.
We will walk among ancient stones, feel the Atlantic weather on our faces, and give ourselves the rare gift of time to listen, wonder and follow what stirs within. There is something about this landscape that invites another way of being—a space in which we may become curious about what calls us, what we carry from those who came before us, and what may now be asking to take shape in our own lives.
It took me time to find the right place to hold this work. I believe I have found it here. I look forward to sharing this experience with you and discovering what may emerge as we walk between worlds, together.
Beidh fáilte romhat.
You will be very welcome.
Grá mór,
Eileen
BSocSc · MA Social Work · MA Psychotherapy · MA Irish Mythology and Folklore · Dip. Supervision · Dip. Jungian Psychology · Certified Coach (WCI), USA
Our home in the Burren
For seven nights, we will make our home at the Cliffs of Moher Retreat Centre, on Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast - surrounded by open countryside, country lanes, within walking distance of the Cliffs of Moher, and on the edge of the ancient limestone landscape of the Burren.
Choosing the right place, and finding a home for this work was central to developing the retreat. I wanted somewhere that would be more than simply a place to stay - it was essential that the place would become part of the experience itself. The Cliffs of Moher Retreat Centre offers a beautiful and intimate setting in which to gather, eat well, rest deeply, and allow the pace of ordinary life to soften. The place itself is just, beautiful.
Our days will move between journeys out into the Burren, the rain showers and changing light of the Wild Atlantic, and the warmth of returning home again - to tea by the fire, nourishing food, conversation, solitude and rest. There will be time to wander, read, write in your journal, soak in the outdoor hot tub, warm yourself in the sauna, in and out of the rain and wind and wild early Samhain weather, or simply retreat to your room and listen to the weather moving in from the Atlantic.
The rhythm of the retreat is one of venturing out and returning home - of wildness and shelter, landscape and inner landscape, movement and stillness.
A Glimpse of our Home for the Week
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Gathered Around the Table
Fresh Atlantic air has a way of making us hungry.
After mornings together and time spent out in the Burren landscape, we will return to generous, nourishing vegetarian meals in the evening
prepared for us by the retreat centre’s chefs, with ingredients drawn from their organic gardens. Meals will be part of the rhythm and pleasure of our days
- leisurely brunches, evening dinners, good food, conversation and laughter around the table.
And between meals, there will always be tea and coffee ready to hand, snacks and baked goods in the afternoons, something to keep us going after a walk in the atlantic air.
There is something deeply restorative about being well fed, with nourishing food, in good company, with with nowhere else that you need to be.
“Every day was still shaped by weather, but every night their mouths filled with Atlantic storms and clouded-over stars..”
Eavan Boland - “The Singers”
File | Poet
The Shape of our days
Walking Between Worlds will unfold at an unhurried pace, moving between facilitated time together, journeys into the Burren landscape, story, imagination and generous periods of rest.
Some days will take us into ancient places; others will invite us to stay close to home. There will be structure, but also room for the weather, the landscape and the simple pleasure of being to shape our days.
Ritual will provide a gentle thread throughout the week, marking moments of arrival, reflection, transition and return.
Most mornings will begin with guided experiential work, drawing on embodied awareness, authentic movement, dream work, Irish mythology and creative exploration with clay and art.
There will be time to reflect, journal and share within the group, if you wish. You will always be invited to participate in a way that honours your own experience and pace.
Entering the Burren Landscape
The Burren will be more than the setting for our retreat. We will journey into the landscape itself, accompanied on our excursion day by a local guide, exploring ancient sites and places rich in history, mythology and folklore.
Our journeys will take us among ancient stones, holy wells and places associated with the Aos Sí and the Gaelic Otherworld. We will make a pilgrimage to St Brigid's Well, where people have come for generations to seek healing, blessing and connection. Here, we will have time to pause with intention, remember those we love and, if we wish, leave a small offering in gratitude.
These are not simply sightseeing visits. Each place has been thoughtfully chosen as part of the retreat's inner journey. We will slow down, listen to the stories of the land, attend to our senses and notice what may stir within us.
Here, deep time is not simply something we learn about. It is something we are invited to experience.
Time To Just Be
Not every moment of Walking Between Worlds will be filled. Spaciousness is an essential part of our time together.
There will be afternoons to rest, dream, read or write; to wander the quiet country lanes, watch the Atlantic weather roll in, or curl up by the fire with a book and a cup of tea.
During your free time, you can enjoy the retreat centre's wellness facilities, including its cedar sauna, herbal steam room, outdoor hot tub and cold plunge pools.
And there will be opportunities simply to enjoy being in the west of Ireland: a walk to the nearby village, a quiet corner in a local pub, perhaps a pint of Guinness, good conversation or, with a little luck, some traditional Irish music.
Nothing needs to be filled. Rest, pleasure, dreaming and simply being here are part of the journey too.
Storytelling by the Fire
As evening draws in, we will gather around the fire and enter the world of story. During our week, we will be joined by a seanchaí, a traditional Irish storyteller, who will bring to life tales rooted in the folklore, landscape and oral traditions of Ireland.
We will hear stories of the Aos Sí, the Otherworld and mysterious encounters from Irish tradition, alongside tales belonging to the landscape of County Clare. Stories heard by the hearth may take on a different meaning as we encounter the places and landscapes from which they emerged.
There is something special about hearing a story spoken aloud, particularly in the hands of a seanchaí. We listen for the images it awakens, what feels strangely familiar, and what may linger long after the telling.
Around the fire, story becomes something shared and alive, connecting an ancient oral tradition with the landscape around us and our own inner worlds.
Opening the Inner Path
Through carefully facilitated inner depth work, we make space for a deeper kind of listening -slowing down, turning our attention inward and becoming curious about what may be stirring beneath the surface of everyday awareness.
Through authentic movement, embodied meditation, dream work, art and clay, Irish mythology and archetypal imagery, we explore different pathways into the inner world. What cannot yet be expressed in words may emerge through movement, appear in a dream, take shape through our hands or find expression in an image or symbol.
Rather than rushing to interpret or explain, we learn to stay close to what emerges, allowing time for its meaning to unfold. Drawing on my experience in psychotherapy and experiential group work, I will carefully hold and guide this process, helping us attend to the inner images, feelings, patterns and connections that may begin to reveal themselves.
Across the week, these different strands of movement, dream, creativity, myth and landscape will be thoughtfully woven together. Each experience may deepen or illuminate another, creating a sustained process of inner exploration in which we can listen for what carries life and energy, what remains unlived and what may be seeking expression in our lives.
“A Journey into the wideness...a Journey where each point of arrival - whether in one’s poetry, or one’s life - turned out to be a stepping stone rather than a destination.”
Is Walking Between Worlds calling to you?
Do you find yourself at a threshold in life, longing to step away from everyday demands and make space for your inner world, imagination and the ancestral threads you carry. Over seven nights, you are invited into a carefully held journey of psychological exploration, in a group that honours your individual pace.
Walking between Worlds may be for you if:
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You Find Yourself at a Threshold
A time of change, questioning or new possibility, and you long for space to listen to what may be beginning to stir within you. Perhaps you have been through a threshold in your life and you wish to honor and tend to what has emerged, and its gifts to you inyour life.
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You Wish to Explore Dreams, Symbols and Inner Images
You wish to create time to work with the inner landscape in a sustained supported exploration to tend to what is shaping your inner life, the inner myth, through gentle yet meaningful inner depth work.
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You want to reconnect with ways of knowing that are easily lost in a busy life
You year to rediscover the wisdom of the body, senses, intuition and imagination, through carefully guided experiential practices.
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You feel a particular connection to Ireland
You wish to connect to the ancient landscape, mythology, language and folklore, and the possibility of encountering these traditions in a deeply personal way.
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You are Curious about Ancestry and Belonging.
The stories carried through family, culture and generations, and how they may continue to shape who you are and who you are becoming.
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You wish to experience Depth alongside Beauty and Rest
Seven nights of meaningful exploration, extraordinary landscapes, nourishing food, warm hospitality and the freedom to simply be, calls you.
You do not need to arrive with answers. The invitation is simply to come with curiosity and a willingness to listen: to the land, to deep time, to the old stories, to those who came before us, and to the deeper heart of yourself.
Begin the Journey
If you feel the call of Walking Between Worlds, I would love to welcome you to the Burren.
What is included?
Seven nights’ accommodation at the Cliffs of Moher Retreat Centre on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic coast
All professionally facilitated Jungian Depth Work / Psychotherapy group facilitations with Eileen throughout the week
Pre-retreat reflections and invitations to support you into the experience in the months leading up to our time in Ireland
Daily brunch and dinner, freshly prepared by the retreat centre’s chefs, alongside Tea, coffee, snacks and baked goods available in the afternoons
Full use of the wellness suite - cedar sauna, herbal steam room, outdoor hot tub and cold plunge
A facilitated Day Excursion into the Burren, with private transportation and local guide, visiting ancient and storied place - including Brigid’s Well in Co. Clare.
An evening by the fire with a traditional Irish Seanchaí, sharing stories from Ireland’s oral and folkloric tradition
Time to experience the Cliffs of Moher at your own pace, within walking distance of our retreat home
An midweek evening together in a County Clare pub.
Private group transfer between Dublin Airport and the retreat centre at designated arrival and departure times
Bespoke Walking Between Worlds welcome gifts, thoughtfully chosen and awaiting your arrival.
Generous unscheduled time for rest, walking, reflection, wellness, reading, dreaming - or simply enjoying being in Ireland
A 2.5 hour Online Group Gathering after the retreat offering space to reconnect, reflect and support the integration of the work into everyday life.
The Arc of the Journey
Our journey begins before we gather in the Burren and continues long after we return home.
In the months leading up to the retreat, you will receive gentle invitations from me by email: stories, images and questions to sit with, allowing the themes of Walking Between Worlds to begin quietly unfolding.
We will gather in October 2027, as the year turns towards Samhain and the dark half of the year, the time of the Cailleach. A fitting threshold for our journey inward, inviting us into a season of reflection, remembrance and discovery. What emerges may need time to settle, deepen and take root.
Then, at Brigid's time of Imbolg, in February 2028, as the first stirrings of spring return, we will gather again for an intimate, participants-only 2.5-hour online Integration Gathering. Together, we will reconnect with our experience in the Burren, reflect on what has unfolded through winter, and listen for what may now be ready to emerge.
From the Cailleach's time into winter's darkness, and towards Brigid and the returning light, the retreat becomes part of a larger journey, allowing what we discover to find its way into our everyday lives.
Accommodation and Investment
Your investment includes seven nights at the Cliffs of Moher Retreat Centre, the complete Walking Between Worlds programme and guided experiences, daily brunch and dinner, and all other inclusions outlined above. Flights are not included.
Our bedrooms are warm, comfortable and thoughtfully appointed, with quality linens and space to settle in. Shared and private rooms are available, with private accommodation limited. The retreat is intentionally small, (maximum 21 participatns), allowing for personal attention, meaningful connection and the depth of professionally facilitated work. All prices are per person for the full seven-night experience. *Private rooms are allocated in order of confirmed enrolment.
Extended payment plans are available should you prefer to spread the cost over the months leading up to the retreat.
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Shared Ensuite
Twin ensuite room shared with one other participant
$5,650 per personFINAL FEW SPACES!
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Private Room · Shared Bathroom
Private bedroom with bathroom shared between two rooms
$6,350 per personFULLY BOOKED!
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Private Ensuite
Private bedroom with private bathroom
$6,950 per personFULLY BOOKED!
Next Steps…
My Invitation to You
Walking Between Worlds is an intimate, professionally facilitated retreat, and the experience we create together matters deeply to me. Because we will be engaging in meaningful inner exploration within a small group, I would love for us to meet before you decide to join.
If you feel drawn to spending these seven nights in the Burren, I invite you to get in touch.
I will send you the retreat brochure, with further details about the experience, accommodation, travel and enrolment, giving you time to read and reflect. You will then be invited to a complimentary 20-minute Exploratory Conversation with me.
This is a relaxed opportunity to meet, ask questions and explore whether Walking Between Worlds feels like the right experience for you.
Following our conversation, if we both feel it is a good fit, I will personally invite you to secure your place.
I would love to welcome you to the Burren.
What Deepening the Senses Participants have said...
FAQ
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Walking Between Worlds is an intimate, experiential retreat for those drawn to exploring their inner lives through dream, imagination, movement, creativity, myth and landscape. It is open to men and women.
You do not need Irish ancestry or previous experience of Jungian psychology, dream work or other inner practices. What matters most is curiosity, openness and a willingness to engage with your own experience and that of the group with care and respect.
Before joining, you will have an opportunity to meet with Eileen to explore together whether the retreat feels right for you at this time.
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Walking Between Worlds is an experiential retreat informed by Jungian depth psychology and my more than twenty years of experience in psychotherapy and group facilitation. It offers opportunities for meaningful inner exploration within a carefully held group setting.
While the work may be psychologically significant, the retreat is not a substitute for individual psychotherapy, psychiatric care or other mental-health treatment.
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You do not need to be particularly fit, but you should be comfortable with short, gentle walks across the Burren’s natural terrain, which can be rocky, uneven and weather-dependent. There will be no strenuous hikes or significant climbs, and plenty of time for rest.
If you have mobility, accessibility or health considerations, you are welcome to discuss these with Eileen during your Exploratory Conversation to explore whether the retreat is suitable for you.
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Our days will have a rhythm rather than a rigid schedule. Facilitated inner work, Authentic Movement, dream exploration and creative practice will sit alongside time in the Burren, shared meals, conversation, rest and solitude.
Some days will take us into the landscape; others will invite us more deeply inward. There will be generous unscheduled time for walking, reading, reflection, enjoying the wellness facilities—or simply being in Ireland.
The week is intentionally curated, with facilitated work, encounters with landscape and story, and the quieter spaces in between woven together as part of the Deepening the Senses experience.
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Absolutely! You are very welcome to come on your own, and you may arrive without knowing anyone else in the group.
Welcoming people is one of my favourite parts of facilitating a retreat. I know that arriving somewhere new, perhaps tired from travelling and uncertain about what lies ahead, can feel like a threshold in itself. I want you to arrive knowing that a place has been prepared for you. You are expected. You are welcomed.
We will gather as the year turns towards Samhain, with the darkness of an Irish autumn evening outside and the warmth of the fire within. I am already imagining that first welcome, the beginning of our journey together.
There will be time to get to know one another naturally, with space for solitude and your own rhythm within the group.
If you are travelling alone and choose shared accommodation, you can be paired with another participant in a twin ensuite room.
Beidh míle fáilte romhat.
You will be a thousand times welcome. -
Our journey begins before we gather in the Burren. In the months leading up to the retreat, you will receive occasional, participants-only invitations from me—questions, stories, images and reflections to explore in your own time, allowing the themes of Walking Between Worlds to begin unfolding before we meet.
After returning home, we will give the experience time to settle. At Brigid’s time in February 2028, we will gather again for a 2.5-hour online Integration Gathering, an intimate, participants-only space to reconnect, reflect on what has continued to unfold and explore how the experience may find expression in everyday life.
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My approach to Walking Between Worlds grows from two strands of my life: my upbringing in the South Connemara Gaeltacht, where Irish language, folklore, storytelling and the presence of the Otherworld were part of everyday life, and more than twenty years of professional experience in psychotherapy and group facilitation.
My training in Jungian depth psychology and psychotherapy has given me another way of engaging with myth, symbol, dream and the unconscious, while my clinical experience informs how I carefully hold the psychological process—attending to what unfolds within each person, within the group and in our shared experience.
It is at the meeting place of these two worlds—the lived and inherited world of Irish tradition and the professionally grounded world of psychological depth—that my work now lives.
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Walking Between Worlds is an intimate retreat, welcoming a maximum of 21 participants. This small group allows for connection, trust and the spaciousness needed for meaningful inner depth work.
Is the retreat open to everyone?
Yes. The retreat welcomes people of all genders. What brings us together is a shared curiosity about our inner lives, an openness to reflection and a willingness to engage with the experience of the week.
Places are limited, and room choices are subject to availability. Accommodation preferences and availability will be discussed during your initial conversation with Eileen.
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Walking Between Worlds is informed by Jungian depth psychology, Eileen’s professional experience as a psychotherapist and more than twenty years of group facilitation. The retreat invites meaningful psychological and emotional exploration within a carefully held group setting.
However, this is a retreat experience, not psychotherapy, psychiatric treatment, medical care or crisis support, nor is it a substitute for these services.
Experiential inner work can sometimes bring emotionally significant material to the surface. Participants are therefore invited to consider their readiness for this experience. The Exploratory Conversation and enrollment process offer an opportunity to discuss relevant circumstances and explore whether the retreat is suitable at this time.
The retreat may not be appropriate for those currently experiencing significant psychological distress, in crisis, or requiring mental-health support beyond what a group retreat can provide.
All participants will be asked to review and sign a participation agreement outlining the nature and scope of the retreat, participant responsibilities and terms of participation.
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Yes. Because Walking Between Worlds is an intimate, experiential retreat, enrollment is a personal and considered process. It allows us to get to know one another and explore whether the retreat feels right for you.
1. Request the Retreat Brochure
Your first step is to request the brochure, with details of the retreat, accommodation, investment, travel and enrollment.2. Exploratory Conversation
We will arrange a complimentary 20-minute conversation to meet, answer your questions and explore what draws you to the retreat. We can also discuss extended payment options if helpful.3. Participant Information & Agreement
Following an invitation to join, you will complete a confidential participant form and review the Participation Agreement, covering the nature of the retreat, group confidentiality, responsibilities and booking terms.4. Accommodation & Payment
You will choose your preferred accommodation, subject to availability, and make the required deposit or first payment to secure your place. Any individual payment plan will also be confirmed.5. Preparing for Ireland
You will receive practical information about travel, transfers, what to bring and arranging appropriate travel insurance.And the journey begins before we meet. In the months leading up to October, you will receive occasional, participants-only reflections and invitations from me, allowing a connection with the work to begin taking shape before we gather in the Burren.