A calling

This is an old entry from my journal , apologies for those who have read this before ....

Let me tell you a story , a very familiar story , which even though you have heard it all before so many times , it keeps on amazing me and rekindle the Wonder ,so allow me to narrate … I recently moved in this little village in the middle of nowhere in the west of Ireland , the reason why I ended up here , I do not know  , could it be the sheer beauty of the place , the lake , the woods , the sense of Place ,a simpler life away from the busy towns ,or could it be the proximity of an early Gnostic monk monastery on the Holy Island nearby and its Round Tower reminiscent of the Qutub , the intimacy of its location too far from everywhere of ‘importance ‘ yet at equal distance to the nearest towns if you choose to avail of its services .. the sense of arriving home , once more … the kind of place which will embrace you or just spit you out …it called me and I had no choice .from the moment I arrived here , a chain reaction of ‘events ‘ unfolded …nothing too strange here really …

Right in the centre of this little village one can visit  a park , the Aistear Project ( journey in Irish ) , Thomas Berry described  the Aistear project as …‘an effort to bring the human and the universe into an immediacy with each other ‘…a project  instigated 20 years ago , when the all community followed their ‘vision ‘ and got together to create  this monumental  gem of a place .The project consists of a maze, a labyrinth and a performance area in the shape of a vesica Pisces...

Recently I decided to show and walk the maze with a dear friend, who was visiting, we started with the labyrinth only to discover at its very heart  a red rose blooming in Her glory ,defiant to the frost and enveloping chilly air. We proceeded to enter the maze, starting the pilgrimage which would walk us through the 7 chambers, which we found ourselves walking widdershins, again nothing strange here; the place was taking charge, sure why not... I will spare you most of what was revealed along the ‘journey ‘, clues scattered along …the spirals, the hammer  ...The stars, the Tau cross, the Plough...the Lilies , the air was charged , the place was  opening  up like a flowers revealing wonders , hidden in plain sight .. (I had walked the maze many times with my daughter and a multitude of people but never reach such an intensity)…until we arrived at the 5th chamber …and looked...there was a yew tree and a decorated high Cross depicting scenes of the crucifixion with the two ‘thieves’ on either side of Christ and the Holy Women and St. John at his feet.  The top panel of the shaft depicts Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life and below that Cain and Abel .There someone, a child maybe, had left on the bench a small worn laminated picture of a Wren...it left us speechless at first, both at once dazzled by the Mystery revealed, the simplicity of it all …I did buy since then the book written after the making of this place …inside there is a dedication.. ’this book is dedicated to all those who believed.’...

I do believe that this place created itself, the Force, the Stream finding the way, an expression through Form, creativity, to Life against the Lie. A Catalyst for this community who would run away in horror if words like witchcraft, Stream, Lucifer would be uttered to them. In this instance I know that the Blood spoke to Me , I do not have the delusion to have been 'chosen' to be the sole ‘guardian’ or this place ; this Flow , this Stream does not Need me to find expression , I am a simple woman trying to make sense of her own thoughts and life most of the time ,however I am aware of the responsibility given when that Link reflected in me whether or not I was aware of their existence before they came to call . This 'at all cost should be protected’, like so many did before, this is the Gift, Gebo, the sacrifice which has to be made.

That day we had gain a right of ingress congress and egress…I walked the maze and came out transformed. Now I KNOW why I moved here. I am at peace …for a while.

fff

Isabelle

“At each point you are reminded that other people have travelled, other people have had spiritual beliefs, other people have engaged in pilgrimages in the past and you are part of a very long continuum of human behaviour, a search to understand ourselves in the cosmos, in the Universe we live in.”  Dr. Eoin Grogan (2005)