Mac Tire

The Irish Word for “Wolf.”

I love that the Irish word for wolf means 'son of the land'. The Grey wolf was an integral part of the Irish countryside and culture until 1786, when the last wild wolf in Ireland was said to have been killed. The last of its kind. A breed now extinct. It is said to have been killed near a stream in County Carlow. The arrival of Oliver Cromwell in Ireland spelt the end for the Irish wolf. Cromwell ordered on the 27th of April, 1652, to prevent the export of Wolfhounds, and bounties were arranged to hunt the wolves. The demise of the natural forests and areas of wild countryside at that time also contributed to the demise.  

Wolves feature prominently in Irish mythology. The Morrígan, in a battle with Cú Chulainn, was said to take on the form of a red-furred wolf. Cormac Mac Airt, the High King of Ireland whose seat was at Tara, was said to have been raised by wolves and that he could understand their speech. 

The archetypal image of the wolf in psychological development is an interesting one. Wolves teach us symbolically to attune to our own wild, instinctual nature. When we dream about wolves, perhaps the invitation from the unconscious is to become curious about the wild, intuitive instinct within ourselves. The ground of our being, our authentic nature. Mac Tire - Son of the land.  Where do we need that energy in our conscious lives these days?

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...