SACRED IRELAND: The Magic of Celtic Ireland

August 15-24, 2017

Join us for the magic and mystery in Ireland!

There’s a magic and mystery about Ireland which is recognized by people worldwide. The varied landscape of lush green meadows, mountain ranges and spectacular coastline certainly lead one to believe that this land is blessed – it’s truly the “Land of the Goddess Eriu.” Stories of fairy folk and leprechauns make us wonder if indeed this lush land has it’s own special guardians.

There’s a feeling of spirituality held within the land that has been honored by successive generations through different belief systems over millennia.

Our travels will take us back in time and into the realms of myth, legend and deep wisdom as we make a circular journey through the provinces of the Republic of Ireland visiting sites revered as sacred by Pagans and Christians for thousands of years.

This opens a doorway for each of us to discover forgotten aspects of our inner world. As various sages down the ages, including Einstein, have said “Be open to magic and it will indeed happen!” Our ancestors knew this and they are inviting you to do the same.

Highlights of Our Unforgettable Journey…

  • Explore the Book of Kells and it’s five High Crosses
  • From the top of Slieve na Caillighe – the Mountain of the Witch get a bird’s eye view of seventeen counties
  • Visit Newgrange and Knowth cairns, Ireland’s most famous Neolithic sites
  • Open to the secrets of the holy well at Tara, the ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland
  • Explore historic Kildare Cathedral and climb the mysterious round tower in its grounds, the only one in Ireland we can ascend
  • Visit Bridget’s holy well and the Brigidine Sisters who maintain her perpetual flame
  • We’ll go back in time to the Neolithic as we explore Ireland’s largest megalithic complex at Carrrowmore
  • Explore Carrowkeel set high in the Bricklieve Mountains offering sensational views of the surrounding landscape and fourteen Neolithic cairns
  • Venture into the Wicklow mountains to visit Glendalough, an atmospheric former monastic community

I am ready to go!

What’s Included

  • All breakfasts and some dinners are included on our journey – see itinerary for details
  • All ground transport to sacred sites and from the Dublin airport (pickup at specified time)
  • Entrance fees to the sacred sites
  • 9 nights at our hotels double occupancy
  • All tour guide fees
  • Gratuities & taxes on included accommodations and meals
  • Descriptive and spiritual guides to teach you about the history and mysticism of the region

What’s Not Included

  • Your international round-trip air flight is not-included in the cost of the journey
  • Lunches and those evening meals listed as ‘not included’
  • Tips for bell-boys and room maids not included (we recommend $1.00 per night)
  • Other non-included items would include souvenir shopping, personal phone calls, laundry, alcoholic and bottled beverages

Itinerary

Day 1 – Tues 15th Aug

Collection from Dublin airport and drive to our hotel in Naas – for 3 nights. Introductions and orientation meeting followed by dinner at the hotel.

Day 2 – Wed 16th Aug

We start our journey with a pilgrimage to Kildare, the home of Brigid. She was both Pagan goddess and early Christian saint. St Brigid established a monastery in 470AD, probably at the location of a former pagan sacred site. Kildare Cathedral developed from this monastery in the early 13th century and is unusual in Ireland for being Anglican. It contains a hidden “sheela-na-gig,” a pagan symbol of fertility and the feminine. Within the graveyard is the only surviving round tower in Ireland that you can climb.

We will visit St Brigid’s Well, a place of peace and tranquility that has been revered since beyond memory. The Brigidine Sisters, who maintain her perpetual flame, are a shining light for peace and have recently opened a new centre that we will visit when we go to meet them. Free choice dinner not included.

Day 3 – Thurs 17th Aug

The former monastic site of Glendalough meaning “Glen of the two lakes” is set in a valley of great natural beauty and serenity surrounded by the Wicklow Mountains. The “monastic city” was mostly built in the 12th century and comprises several churches, a spectacular round tower and an early Celtic cross. We explore the legends as well as the ruins and take time to walk in the natural woodland that was home to this spiritual retreat.

We lunch at Avoca Handweavers’ award-winning café and take a tour of the oldest woolen mill in Ireland. We travel through the stunning high moorland scenery of the Wicklow Gap to visit two stone circles within a sacred landscape. Castleruddery, a small stone circle, contains two large quartz blocks as portal stones that are highly energetic. Athgreany Piper’s Stones, are reputed to be dancers who were turned to stone for dancing on Sunday but locals say that fairies still play the bagpipes at midnight! Dinner at hotel.

Day 4 – Fri 18th Aug

Today we drive across the width of Ireland to the dramatically located harbor town of Sligo, our base for the next three days (3 ½ hrs). The town looks out to the west through the harbor and Sligo Bay to the open Atlantic and is protected by the imposing flat topped mountain of Benbulbin to the north. The rest of the day is free time to explore this charming town including the ruins of medieval Sligo Abbey. Free choice dinner not included.

Day 5 – Sat 19th Aug

Carrowkeel is set high in the rugged Bricklieve Mountains and offers sensational views of the surrounding landscape. It is wild and spectacular here and it allows us to easily imagine ourselves in Neolithic times when the forces and places of Nature were revered as part of their worldview and spirituality; as we reach the top we are in another world. There are fourteen Neolithic cairns, two of which have three-sided recesses forming a cruciform chamber that we can enter. Cairn G has a light-box above the entrance, similar to the one at Newgrange, and this admits the light of the setting sun around midsummer and the setting moon around midwinter.

Carrowmore is the largest megalithic complex in Ireland covering more than 1 ½ square miles. There are remains of thirty passage cairns, together forming an oval shape, many of which have a dolmen at their centre. The sacred mountain of Knocknarea, with Maebh’s Cairn on top, is visible to the northwest. We will have the whole day to explore these landscapes that have been revered as sacred for over 5,000 years. Dinner at the hotel

Day 6 – Sun 20th Aug

Today we explore County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. Our first stop is at the oldest field system in the world, the Ceide Fields. Set high on the clifftops the pyramidal shaped visitor centre has a glazed viewing area at its peak affording spectacular views out over the ocean as well as an informative audio-visual show on the people who lived here 5,500 years ago.

We’ll have lunch at the visitor center cafe. We then take a short journey but leap forward five thousand years to the Franciscan Moyne Abbey dating to 1462AD. The ruins are amongst the most intact of any Irish abbey and give a glimpse into medieval monastic life. Set in a rural location and receiving few visitors it has a very peaceful atmosphere, ideal for meditating or ceremony. Free choice dinner not included.

Day 7 – Mon 21st Aug

Today we travel to Kells via a brief detour into Northern Ireland. We will be traveling to our third and final hotel base in Kells (3 1/2 hours) for 3 nights. There are no border controls as we cross over into Ulster to visit the enigmatic Janus Idol and Lustymore Idol on Boa Island. Two carved stone statues that may date to the Bronze Age are located in the atmospheric early Christian graveyard of Caldragh that is around fifteen hundred years old. There are similarities to the Easter Island Moai and some people think they look alien so lets see who you think they were.

When we arrive in Kells you will have a free afternoon and evening to explore the town with its five High Crosses and other historic sites. Free choice dinner not included

Day 8 – Tues 22nd Aug

This morning our climb up to the hilltop cairns of Loughcrew is rewarded with panoramic views of seventeen counties (or so we’re told!). The old name for Loughcrew was Slieve na Caillighe, Gaelic for Mountain of the Witch. We can gain access into Cairn T that has elaborately carved and decorated stones in its inner recesses and the Hag’s Chair set into the northern side of the kerb. We’ll take time to personally experience the energies of the different cairns that each have solar alignments on various Celtic Festival dates.

Ireland Pilgrimage to Tara WellWe have a relaxed lunch at Tara before visiting the royal centre of the ancient capital of Leinster and the place where the king undertook the ‘Ban Fheis’ or sacred marriage to the goddess in order to secure fertility and wellbeing for the land and his people. Its importance grew until the king of Tara was also seen as the High King of all Ireland, but only after undertaking tests to prove his rightfulness to be king. We explore the complex of sites at Tara including Grainne’s (Sun Goddess) Mound, the Mound of Hostages, the Stone of Destiny and Teach Cormaic. Free choice dinner not included.

Day 9 – Wed 23rd Aug

Today we visit the Bru na Boinne visitor center to learn about Newgrange and Knowth cairns, Ireland’s most famous Neolithic sites.

Anthony Murphy, author of “Newgrange: Monument to Immortality,” will be our expert Irish guide for the day to share his wisdom with us as we experience the sacred sites of the Boyne Valley.New Grange ruins in Ireland

We’ll be guided inside Newgrange – known as a passage tomb, but also a place of initiation and spiritual rites of passage. It is aligned such that the midwinter solstice sunrise casts a shadow that extends deep inside the passage to the central chambers. Lunch at the visitors centre & talk by Anthony Murphy.

Afternoon visit to Knowth that has the finest Neolithic stone carvings in Europe that decorate most of the kerbstones around the base of the cairn. Farewell dinner at the hotel.

Day 10 – Thurs 24th Aug

To Dublin airport for flights home or private time in Dublin. Our hearts are full, friends have been made and memories will never be forgotten!

This looks amazing!!

Trip Leaders

Glenn Broughton, who is English, has been researching and visiting ancient sacred sites for twenty years and is drawn to explore their energetic properties and how such places of power affect us today. Knowing intuitively that they have something to teach us Glenn has been a tour guide for most of this time leading groups exploring the mystery of sacred sites through Sacred Britain Tours / Journeys With Soul.

He also lectures internationally on sacred sites, earth mysteries and crop circles, and is the co-founder & co-organizer of Earth Spirit Conferences in the USA. Glenn came to sacred sites via a circuitous life path which included school-teaching, founding and running an inner city community arts centre, house renovation, wholesale organic food distribution, and leading spiritual development and earth mysteries groups and workshops.

Running alongside all of these activities was a constant spiritual exploration which opened many doors and led to many questions. Practicing Vipassana meditation, traveling, and training with the National Federation of Spiritual Healers and the International College of Crystal Healing, were all experiences which have informed his current perspective.

Cameron Broughton’s life path has taken many directions; adventurer, seeker of spirit, functions and conference organizer, group leader, entrepreneur, massage therapist, healing facilitator and mother. Following her passion brought her to England in 1996 where through a serendipitous unfolding of events she met Glenn (her life partner) on the first tour that he led visiting the Sacred Sites of the Southwest of England. It has been an amazing journey, rich with the beauty of life and all that it encompasses!

Since meeting Glenn she has had the pleasure of living in Britain for several years and now spends half her time there leading pilgrimages exploring Britain’s ancient and modern mysteries. It gives her great pleasure as an American to share her enthusiasm and love for the magic of England, its legends, myths and mysteries. Cameron is deeply aware of the transformations that such journeys can bring about and she looks forward to meeting you and helping to make your journey a truly unforgettable one.

Registration

The 2017 trip cost is:
£1995 (approx $2500.00 USD) per person double occupancy
Single occupancy supplement: £275.

$700.00 deposit is required to hold your place with your trip registration form. The balance is required 75 days (2½ months) before the start of the tour (we will remind you).

Please note your deposit is non-refundable. If you cancel before 21 days prior to start date, we will refund 50% unless you find a replacement, in which case your deposit will be forfeited. No refunds if you cancel later than 21 days prior to tour start date. We reserve the right to cancel the trip if it is not meeting the trip minimum, but your funds are fully refundable if this occurs. Trip cancellation insurance is always recommended when making travel plans. You can use our suggested Travel Guard Insurance online and choose from several policy options.

Place your deposit NOW with our secure online store (your deposit holds your spot). Money orders and checks are also welcome (as long as your check has enough time to clear before the trip departure date). Simply mail your check to: Journeys of the Spirit, 6245 Vista Verde Dr W, Gulfport, FL 33707.

When you hit the blue Add to Cart button, your selection will go immediately into the shopping cart. When you are finished, then click the “Checkout Now” button.

If you don’t wish to register online or are having issues, call 1-866-866-5566 or email us.

Make a Payment

Deposit

$700Add to cart

If you’ve found this trip after the registration date – no worries! Give us a call and we’ll do our best to get you on the trip.

If you prefer not to make payments online, please give us a ring at 1-866-866-5566. Money orders are also acceptable for your deposit. We look forward to sharing this amazing adventure with you!

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