An Ghealach

The Irish Word for “The Moon.”

The moon has a face we can see and an unseen side in the shadows.  This is a wonderful symbol for our own psyche. To know our own “wholeness” is to come to know the hidden parts of our own selves. Our shadow is the pain we’ve forgotten, the parts of ourselves we suppressed to fit in. What is wonderful about our shadow is how, although daunting, embracing and meeting it holds such richness for our personal growth and development. There lies the key to the heart of the self.

For centuries, the moon was seen to influence our moods and emotions. Indeed, the Roman goddess of the moon bore a name that remains familiar to us today: Luna, a prefix of the word “lunatic.” 

It's so interesting to me that the Irish word for madness is also associated with the Irish word for the moon. Gealt is also connected to the word "Geal," which means brightness—the brighter face of the moon.

Someone who was considered mad or insane was called “gealt”. “Teach na ngealt” was the asylum of old or "house of the mad" after the moon.

In Kerry, there is a valley called “Gleann-na-nGealt” (Valley of the Mad), which has a “Tobar na nGealt” (a Well of the Mad). Here, the king of Ulster was said to have been cured of his “madness”. References to this well date back as far as 1584, when the King of Ulster was said to have visited this well, drank of its water, and was miraculously cured of his madness.

Focail Gaeilge | ‘Irish Words’

In this series, I share words in Gaeilge (Irish) and explore these words through a Depth Psychology lens, allowing us to begin exploring our inner world— our psyche, and deepen our understanding of our place in the world around us. When we embrace our native language or become curious about the languages from our ancestral roots, we can embrace our sense of place, our speech, our imagination, our psyche, and the song of the soul...