I often find myself gravitating toward places and people without fully knowing why.
Last year I went to Ireland, and I wasn’t entirely sure why I was going. I had been there before. I had tasted something of what she offered. Then an opportunity opened, and I went.
This time, I explored a little more on my own before joining with like-minded souls. I walked the lands and met the goddess herself in a different way than I had before.
And then, near the end of the journey, we went to the Hill of Tara.
When I saw the standing stone, I smiled so broadly. It felt like seeing an old friend waiting for me.
As I wrapped my arms around that stone, as I had done before, it was her who told me:
“I called you here.”
“It was me who beckoned you back to this place, to discover once more, to deepen your relationship with these lands, these people, these stories, myths and songs.”
As I held that stone, I felt complete in the journey somehow. I knew I had received what I had come to receive, even though I couldn’t yet understand the depth of it or what it would mean.
She spoke to a deep knowing within me.
Isn’t it funny how a stone can feel like an old friend? A companion that has somehow held you from across the world, long before you even knew it was there.
Sometimes it is only when we stand with the stone, walk upon the land, or meet the waters that a deep remembrance rises within us. A knowing that we are held. Loved. Supported. Maybe even a remembrance of something that reaches beyond this lifetime, reminding us that we are connected to where we stand, where we walk, and where we breathe.
Travel can do that.
There are places people have been drawn to for hundreds, even thousands, of years. We can explore their history and follow their stories endlessly. And I have found that when I arrive, it is the land that tells me.
The land reminds me.
Of the energy.
Of the breath.
Of the prayer.
Of something I may have forgotten I knew.
Maybe a story is what first draws us there. Maybe it is an image we see on a screen that somehow beckons us to meet the place in person.
I once saw an image of Machu Picchu with words that said something like, you cannot truly know the beauty of a place until you have stood with it.
I understand that.
Because when we allow ourselves to be engulfed by a place, something opens. We can feel. We can sense. We can know. The deeper parts of us begin meeting the deeper presence of the place itself.
This is part of what I want to share in Ireland.
In May 2027, I invite you to walk the Living Land of Ireland with me. We will travel with a small group of like-minded people, held together in a journey of discovery, experience, and opening.
And even if you have walked these lands before, perhaps Ireland is calling you to meet her again, in a new way. Maybe more deeply.
Will you join us?
You can explore the Ireland journey here:
https://bit.ly/irelandthelivingland
Love and blessings,
Susan