Awakening The Soul: A Spiritual Journey Through Ireland's Sacred Landscapes

Prologue...

Tomorrow night I’m flying off to Ireland. I know there’s nothing particularly special about traveling, but this is much more than a trip to me. I previously had the opportunity to visit Ireland (twice), and both times I failed to actually get there. This time, I’m going to make it. No matter what.

The idea for this trip to Ireland was born almost a year ago. I was in one of the darkest places of my life, and it led me back to my roots. The pain and sorrow I was experiencing was much greater than I could explain - it was as if a door had been open to the breadth of the suffering of humanity (or something like that). I came face to face with the horrendous things we human beings, including myself, do and are capable of. It was as if a veil had been lifted before my eyes, revealing a haunting truth after years of comfortable illusion. It was during this period when I got a calling to go back. Back in time, back to where it all began, back to the soil and the home of my ancestors.

From that calling came a thirst for knowledge that at the time was unquenchable. I started to learn about my heritage, my people and the atrocities they had to endure. Famine, war, heartbreak - all of these were elements in the lineage leading up to my birth. I consumed everything I possibly could, and I found a reflection of my sorrow in the Irish poets of old. It’s difficult to explain, but it was the first time in my life I felt so deeply understood. I realized I had no choice but to go and see it all for myself.

I knew I wanted to take an extended trip, but I also knew I was starting my own business and leaving for that long without getting paid was risky business. So, I weighed my options, and at the advice of a friend looked into WWOOF, a farming/ volunteer-type organization. Basically, you can work on farms all over the world, and in return get room and board taken care of. I looked it up, and sure enough there was a farm not far outside my family’s ancestral town in Cork. I booked it, and decided to just follow wherever the wind took me. In a hilarious cosmic joke, as it turns out it’s a potato farm, and I will be spending most of my next two weeks “spud-digging” a.k.a. potato farming. I don’t think it gets any more Irish than that!

I’ll be working on the farm for two weeks, with nights and weekends free. I will visit my family’s origin town, and I will roam the countryside as much as time allows. After that, I’ll have a week free to travel Ireland as a whole. I want to work hard, and I want to pray, cry and laugh. I want to spend as much time as I can alone, with the ghosts that roam the Irish landscape. Although I don’t know what it is, I know they have something important to tell me. That said, regardless of the visions I have in my head, I’m sure the experience will turn out to be quite different than anything I can expect.

I’m not sure if any of this made sense - there are many different elements at play, and I’m finding it difficult to articulate. If I had to sum it all up, I guess I would say I’m trusting my gut. That’s about it. I’m going to write as much as I can while I’m over there, but I don’t plan on publishing anything until I return. For all of you who have followed my journey and writing thus far, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I’ll see you in a few weeks. 🍀

-D