Mercury is Cazimi during a big retrograde shift today so I figured it would be a great day to sit down and write some of my thoughts from my recent trip to Ireland.
Two years ago, I took the leap and went to Ireland on a solo trip, left side of the road and all. I did not know why at the time, but I felt this huge call to go.
When I got there, it felt like a returning. This past September, I felt the same feeling. Of Belonging.
I felt like I was home.
August 2024
September 2026
I was driving to the Cliffs of Moher from Galway, a friendly stranger in the city suggested for me to make a quick pitstop to Dunguaire Castle on my way there. I stopped in the teeny little seaside town of Kinvara, enjoyed a delicious prawn salad watching the boats wave in the water.
There was a little shop I wandered into next door, The Secret Garden. “This is for me”, I thought. It was a place with lots of locally-made goodies and I was in heaven. As I headed to the checkout, arms full: a linen shawl with a celtic embroidery, a facial oil made from flowers in her garden, I met the creator at the register. She explained that the shop was a co-op and the makers took turns running it. She was from Colorado and alongside making beauty skincare remedies out of herbs and florals from her garden, she also gave personalized guided tours. I told her I was headed up to the Cliffs and she gave me the best piece of advice that changed my life. She said, “you don’t want to go to the proper Cliffs. It’s a tourist trap. Go to Hags Head instead.”
She explained that there was a cost to entry for the Cliffs. I learned later, the locals call it their Disneyland. She said it would be a tourist trap. Instead, she gave me directions for how to get to a place she took her groups. There was a farmhouse you could park at and walk up to a space that was quieter, with just as good of a view.
So, knowing deep in my spirit, she was right, I took her advice. I enjoyed the leisurely drive up the hillsides of County Clare, and made my way to the Farm she spoke of. I ran into an older farmer and I was admiring his cows. He kindly showed me the way to the place I could park.
I began my journey to the cliffs enjoying a brisk walk through farm land with horses, cows, flowers and even a friendly black and white farm cat who escorted me the whole way there.
I got to the entry and hopped over the fence via stone steps. I had the entire place to myself. And I was in reverence of it all. I felt the magnitude of these cliffs. Of years and years of history washing over me. I felt myself in past, future and present. I was encouraged by a friend to write a letter. When I was in Hawaii celebrating my 30th Birthday, I did this very thing. On the eve of my solar return, I wrote a letter, released all that was weighing me down, and left a smoky quartz crystal buried on the beach there. I wrote my letter, facetimed my dad to show him how cool it was, and then left with the knowing that I would some day return.
I began manifesting a way to get back to Ireland. She is a place that feels like a warm hug, a cozy cup of tea & the soothing sounds of your grandma telling stories you’ve heard a million times before.
She envelops you in her love, one Guinness and one cozy pub at a time. But beyond that, there is a sense of groundedness and assuredness I experienced there I had never experienced before. There was a sense of expansion, in the quiet moments, that stayed with me for those many years leading up to my return. I also left with this greater feeling of discovering more of my Celtic heritage and honoring those traditions for my own life and practices.
When I saw Dose Yoga announce their Ireland Retreat, I felt the same guttural instinct, that it was my way of passage. Through incredible alignment, I was blessed with the opportunity to be able to join them for this experience.
The retreat, located at Cliffs of Moher Retreat ( I did not know where they were going in Ireland when I signed up ) was a beautiful encapsulation of rest, deep nourishment, discovery, respect for the land and nature, and transformative yoga and breath work classes.
There was a tea bar full of any type of tea your heart may desire. The meals were made by an onsite chef named Martha, who put all the love she had into her dishes with many of the ingredients grown right on the property or nearby farms. There were fresh flowers and taper candles that extended down long farm-style tables. We found respite from the blustery weather with a cuppa and stoking a fire.
I began honing my intuitive practice, something that has always been inside me, but something I found true confidence in my gift while I was there. My new friends allowed for me to give them readings which were a mix of tarot and astrology, and I began to see the impact they made on each individual. They walked away from the reading with something only I could share with them. I had this beautiful realization: I am a conduit for the divine to pass through me and present the insight they each needed to receive.
In my corporate life, I do this similarly with beautifying wording, advertisements, design, and allowing people to receive information in a way that is appealing.
This feels like a very honest, authentic version of that, and in Ireland, it felt like my Ancestors were guiding me along this path.
I will tell you exactly how I know…
When my Mom and Aunt joined me in Ireland for the second leg of the trip, they picked me up in Ennistymon, and I had made a best friend, who feels more like a sister, than a stranger. She is one of the coolest individuals I have met to date in my adult life.
They requested for me to take them back to the Cliffs so we made the trek back to Hags Head, ignoring all signs that said it was closed. We pull on the path, and it neighbored the same Retreat I had just been at for the last week!
When I wrote my letter and manifested my return, I had no idea that years later, I’d be right back in the same neighborhood, doing this work. And so it is.
We pulled up to the entrance of Hags Head and the owner of the Farm happened to be there. She explained they were about to have a wedding and it was closed to the public. I told her how much this place meant to be and about my letter and she agreed to let us return once more.
I dropped my mom and Aunt off at the gate and parked at the farm house and took the same path I had once taken. I was walking in my own footsteps from 2 years prior. Something about that walk, being there with my matriarchal line, and being the version of me that had completed the retreat just felt so aligned.
I hopped over the same stone pathway, and we enjoyed watching the couple drive up in their vintage car and into their ceremony site, being the exact place I had left my letter.
After the wedding, my mom and aunt walked back to the car and I had a moment alone with myself. I decided not to look for the original letter I had hidden there, but instead took another opportunity to write again. To manifest my return once more. To set the intentions of the next phase of my life and the woman who would return back to the states a changed person.
There is so much more I want to share about this so very special trip but I will leave you with this:
