Sacred Springs & Holy Wells

Source :: Sisters of the Rose

Holy Wells & Sacred Springs dot the landscape across Ireland and other Celtic lands. Most are dedicated to a Saint, some are Christianized springs leftover from pagan eras. They have long been important places, once for providing drinkable, life giving waters, then for places of healing and prayer, solace and pilgrimage. Today, people still visit these holy wells. At these revered sites, you may find candles burning as votive offerings, coins tossed into water with silent wishes, or ribbons & cloth hanging from a nearby sacred tree, tied in prayer. Maybe a letter has been tucked under a stone, a necklace hung on a branch, a bouquet of flowers laid delicately by. 

Saint Brigid's Holy Well, Tully, Kildare

Source :: Ireland's Holy Wells

Source :: Ireland's Holy Wells

Rag Tree in Connemara, Ireland,  Source: Emerald Post

Lady Well, Sticklepath, Devon, England

Source :: Myth & Moor

The tradition of visiting holy wells was the inspiration behind my Wishing Well Candles. The candle, tied with ribbon & containing a lucky Irish coin at the bottom, signifies the ancient tradition of pilgrimage to holy places of prayer & healing, to sacred waters in sacred woods, welling up from the Otherworld. 

A little collection of tokens from Ireland lit by a Wishing Well Candle

I imagine folks placing the candle somewhere they know to be special. Because we know that many places can be holy, sacred, and magical to you without the designation of anyone else. Perhaps your candle sits in you library nook, where you light it as you travel through the pages of books. Maybe in your little shrine to Ireland, where it reminds of your journeys across the lands of your ancestors. Perhaps it's in your flower garden where the flower faeries come out to play. Maybe it sits by a photo of a loved one who has passed, where love & memories flow like clear spring water. Wherever you light it, may its flame kindle peace.  

Here are some places on the web to visit if you want to explore more about Holy Wells:

Megalithic Ireland - a comprehensive list & photos of Holy Wells

Myth & Moor - Water, Wild & Sacred

Myth & Moor - The Blessings of the Trees (Clootie Trees)

Ireland's Holy Wells

Autumn in the Hedges of our Heart

Glendalough Forest in October

I've been lucky enough to ramble the Celtic lands of Ireland, England, & Wales during this ephemeral season of Autumn. To taste the blackberries on the brambles, to stir up golden leaves. They are beautiful, enchanting places in each season but they have a atmosphere to them in the Fall, with the hedgerows adorned with myriad berries and the valleys swallowed in mists.

It is not wonder that so many of our Halloween traditions are rooted in these lands. More on Samhain traditions in the following week but today I share some of the fruits of fall that I've encountered on my travels, some of the shimmering leaves, the golden light and the mythic shadows.

Giant Rosehips found in Cornwall, England - The biggest I've ever seen! Rosehips are edible & medicinal & kind of otherworldly here. 

Rosehips - What is left after a rose blooms. 

Rowan Berries - just everywhere across the countryside

Rowan Berries

Hawthorn Berries

View of Glendalough (Valley of the Two Lakes) from a long hike uphill. 

Dublin Cobbles and Gilt Leaves

Path to Tintern Abbey, County Wexford, Ireland

A gold leaf strewn path at Glenariff Forest Park, Antrim, Ireland. The Waterfall Hike. 

A Glowing Orange Footpath through Tollymore Forest Park, County Down, Ireland

Also hop over to Into the Hermitage to read of an artist's daily life during Autumn in England - full of old traditions - including elderberry and rosehip syrups. Rima Staines makes the most mysteriously beautiful art forever situated in the hedgerows of Autumn. Here shop is HERE .