260918

Fáilte ar ais!

Welcome back!

A List of Serendipities I Experienced in Ireland

1. A misshapen tree outside the train window that I can use as a Signal Tree in my story. It’s gorgeous from the consequences of a storm’s brutality against it.
2. Being able to see Clare Island and Croagh Patrick from my window.
3. The book right out on the table in Tertulia Book Shop about navigating by stars and more. The book is The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs, by Tristan Gooley. This is where I finally started learning about Réalta an eolais the Star of Knowledge (to Americans this is the North Star) which is the other half of the pairing, like Gráinne and Richard, with Claíomh an tSolais, the Sword of Light.
4. The young server, Kate, telling me her father sails to Clare Island and likes to map the Bay floor by hand. He says the best mapping is in areas where there is good fishing. Lots of fishermen have mapped it together. A big clue for my book of how Gráinne navigated so skillfully.
5. Getting to squish in a bog! (Log post 260906)
6. Taking a long walk to a Pharmacy, my phone saying I had arrived, but being at another one I like better and getting great help.
7. Being able to purchase Writers Blood Ink for fountain pens. It’s not available in the U.S. though American writers do sweat blood.
8. Mary O’Toole, out of the blue, standing next to me when I needed her.
9. The photo sent by an anonymous friend of Patricia’s, of the Boat House from where my grandfathers sailed for Lord Sligo.
10. The rain. It’s really soft and mostly mist. And I love how it is not there when you need it to be not there. It just clears when it’s time to get out of the car.
11. The sun. It makes everything look golden, even the air and sky. And it shines every day!
12. Tallow Balm. Who would have thought to use beef tallow on their face? Namawe would. In two days, my face is so much clearer!
13. The full set of the Annals of the Four Masters in the Westport Library. Wow!
14. How steep the hills are. Seriously. I can’t walk a mile.
15. One of my friends texting that my name came up at a conference of writers. I was missed – a true sign of belonging. I love my writing friends.
16. Patricia being inspired to take me to Kilmeema schoolhouse and cemetery and that turning out to be the correct cemetery of my father’s family.
17. Finding what we think could be a ruin of Belclare Castle, birthplace of Gráinne.
18. Noreen being willing and able to tell me about my family. I didn’t know their story was part of my research.
19. Patricia’s friend Muriel working at Ballintubber Abbey. She told us where the crypt for Tibbott na Long and his family is and moved things around so we could have great pictures from there for keepsakes.
20. A Fairy Circle that we did not plan for showing up on one of Patricia’s and my excursions.
21. Getting to enter the grounds of Ashford Castle that were closed for the day. (A famous person – not that famous person – was there to play golf. Patricia sweet-talked the guard into letting us come in.)
22. All the flowers!  They’re everywhere! And the same for colors – bright, cheery, and somehow all going together. I wasn’t expecting it this late in the season.
23. Really good soda bread being available the first evening. Soda bread and tea was the one thing I wanted to remember.
24. The owner of private property being right at the gate and letting us enter the property to see Castleburke, and the Hanging House next to it, which I had forgotten about.
25. The Shortest History of Ireland, by James Hawes, another book out on the table in Tertulia. It gives me context, that I understand better now, of the times Gráinne was in.
26. The Black Madonna on the side altar at St. Mary’s church. I have always been pulled to that painting.
27. The Swans outside my window. Swans are excellent totems for those connected to the Fairy Realm, poets, bards, mystics, and dreamers. (Animal Speak, page 196)[1]
28. The opportunity to watch the funeral on Clare Island from the comfort of my armchair in the apartment overlooking Westport Quay. I love watching the water as the tide changes constantly. And the skill of the camera person in the church made the experience feel intimate with the congregation.
29. The magic of technology and my friend Laurie being available to talk when I was panicking. A familiar voice of a wise friend led me to writing this list, and also making a request of Carlee for the website.
30. A miraculously sunny, calm day on Clare Island!

These posts do build on information included in earlier posts. If you would like to read them in order from the beginning, here is a link: https://thegrainneproject.com/260809-2/

[1] Animal Speak is a book by Ted Andrews quoted on the site, Druidry.org.