Water is life-giving. We meet it from the very beginning, in the womb. We emerge into the world when the waters break…

Bealtaine marks the beginning of summer in the ancient Celtic calendar. It is a Cross Quarter Day, halfway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice.  In ancient times, bonfires were lit to mark a time of change and transition, celebrating the season's turning…

Antoine O Raifteiri (Anthony Raftery) was an 18th-century blind Irish poet and fiddle player who came from the ancient bardic tradition. He lived and walked the roads of Mayo and, later, predominantly, South Galway, playing music and reciting poetry in the time before the famine…

As we emerge from the dark incubation of the wintering season, the world outside the window begins to come back to life. The buds are slowly coming onto the trees, the earth softens, and new life forms. Our souls are growing, too…

Ireland is world-renowned for its writers, poets, storytellers, artists and musicians. It is unclear when literacy first came to Ireland. The earliest Irish writings are inscriptions, mostly simple memorials, on stone in the Ogham alphabet, the earliest of which date to the 4th century…

Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley in English), or as she is known in Irish folklore, Granuaile, was born in Ireland around 1530. She was the daughter of Dubhdara O Máille, who commanded the biggest fleet of ships in Ireland at the time. They were from Clare Island, a stunning island in Clew Bay in Co. Mayo. When her father died…