Preserving Sacred Sites in Ireland - Tara Skryne Preservation Group

The Lia Fáil (aka Stone of Destiny) atop the Hill of Tara,
County Meath, Ireland. Photo © Sean Gilmartin

Many of those involved in the struggle to stop the M3 Motorway are now involved in the Tara Skryne Preservation Group (TSPG), and are working to protect the sites that remain.

We are an allied group of local and non-local stakeholders and concerned citizens who wish to improve the Tara Skryne Landscape after the destruction wrought by the M3 Motorway through this most Sacred, Mythical, and Historical Valley of Ireland.

We are a volunteer, non politically affiliated organisation comprised of members of various groups who stood against the route of the M3 Motorway through the Tara Skryne Valley. Now that the Motorway has opened we stand together to demand the preservation of what remains of the Tara Skryne Valley ie. its protection against further inapproriate development as well as greater protection for our National Monuments and sacred places countrywide.

TPSG members are also involved in planning and coordinating the 2010 Sacred Fires event, and the UNESCO petition for World Heritage Status. You can check out their website and connect with them on Facebook.

In February 2010 - Imbolc - TSPG volunteers reconstructed the Inner Circle of the ancient Lismullin Henge. The M3 motorway bulldozed through this ancient site in the Tara-Skryne Valley.

While many are familiar with henges of stone, such as Stonehenge in England, many other sacred sites were surrounded with a circle of wooden poles which marked astronomical events, such as the place where the sun or moon would rise on a solstice or equinox. These sites have sometimes been forgotten until modern archaeology turns up the evidence of poles in the ground. As discussed in the video, the government knew they were destroying an irreplaceable sacred site when they bulldozed through. What does it do to the land, and the people, to now have cars and trucks speeding through the ceremonial enclosure?





View the video of the Lismullin Reconstruction

Samhain at Tara 2007 - 2010

Samhain on the Hill of Tara, 2007
photo courtesy tarataratara.net
Many of you reading this have been involved in the struggle to preserve the Tara-Skryne Valley from destruction. While some of the sacred sites in the valley have been irreparably damaged by construction of the superhighway, the struggle continues to preserve the rest of the valley from development. Earth-honoring peoples in Ireland and the diaspora are also working to preserve the ceremonial centers that remain, and to re-establish the old customs and rites that our ancestors observed at these sacred sites.

Many of you also participated in the 2007 Samhain event where we re-established the old custom of lighting the signal fires on Tlachtga, Tara, and the surrounding hills. Want to do it again?

The ritual we did in 2007:

I Stand With Tara

A Celtic Reconstructionist (Págánacht) ritual
for the protection of the sacred center:
the Tara-Skryne Valley in Ireland.

The night of Oct. 31 (Samhain) 2007

Worldwide
You can contact the usual suspects to co-ordinate participation this year. Join us on the Sábháil Teamhair (Save Tara) list for updates, and we hope to see you on Samhain, whether in person or in spirit.

People and groups who participated in 2007
(Twelve countries, twenty-two US states, and twenty areas of Ireland.)

Additional areas where the ceremonial fires were lit, that we heard about after the fact, include:
*Countries: England, Portugal, Saudi Arabia
*US States: Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Missouri

Pictures and Report from Samhain on the Hill of Tara

Organizers of the Samhain bonfires in Ireland have posted a report and pictures from the ceremony on the Hill of Tara.


Re-lighting the Sacred Fire on the Hill of Tara
Those we've heard from who were at the main fire have said they could really feel the energy, the love and protection coming to them from all over the world. *does happy dance*

Groups and individuals in fourteen countries, nineteen areas of Ireland, and twenty-one US states participated.

* Countries: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, England, New Zealand and Venezuela, Canada and the United States

* Areas of Ireland: Antrim, Armagh, Cork, Down, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and West Meath

* US States: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington

These are the areas we know of. We're still hearing about more participants who have only contacted us after the fact. The oldest participant we know of was one officiant who is eighty, the youngest an infant in his mother's arms. All joined in Gaelic Polytheist ritual to protect Tara.

More pledges for Tara

Since my last post, we have continued to receive messages from those committed to participating in the "I Stand with Tara" Samhain ritual. Many will be lighting at whatever local time coincides with the fire-lighting in Ireland (8pm Irish Time on the 31st, which is 3pm on the East Coast of the US), and leaving the fires lit into the night. Others will be lighting at sunset or after dark, local time.

We have now received confirmation from ten countries and eighteen US states. The Irish coordinators have heard from six countries and nineteen areas of Ireland. The age of participants ranges from children who will be included in the ritual to an officiant who is eighty years old.

Our current list:

• Countries: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Canada and the United States
• US States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington

Current list from the Irish coordinators:

• Areas of Ireland: Antrim, Armagh, Cork, Down, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and West Meath
• Countries: Canada, the US, Wales, New Zealand and Venezuela
  

We are especially pleased with the international cooperation that's been taking place, and the new friendships being forged.

BTW, it looks like the natural fires, rituals, and sharing of traditional songs and poetry will be the main event. We haven't heard much about the electric beacons idea lately, but one can watch the reports on Irish Indymedia, Tarapixie, Save Tara or the YahooGroup for updates.

Samhain at Tara: Ritual Fires vs Photo Ops - collective actions and compromises

A bit of, shall we say, spirited discussion has been going on about how to do both ceremonial fires and media-grabbing beacons during the Samhain event in Ireland. Understandably, the traditional fire and ritual crowd is not too happy about any electric lights being involved. Also understandably, those who want a big media event in order to mobilize more support for fighting the roadway want to use at least some high-powered electric lights in order to create a headline-grabbing photo op.

The compromise so far is to have a reduced number of electric lights, which will only be on briefly, for the photo op. Organizers who want the electric beacons are promising not to interfere with the more traditional fire ceremonies. Discussions are continuing. Updated plan here: http://tarawatch.org/?p=545

I Stand with Tara - Samhain Ritual

On Samhain night, Oct. 31 2007, people all over the world will be uniting in a ritual to help protect and preserve one of the most sacred sites in Ireland, and indeed the world: The Hill of Tara and the surrounding Skryne Valley, in County Meath, Ireland.

As many of you know, the site is still threatened with destruction. We are working together with activists in Ireland to help stop this, both with this-world activism and with a ritual we've written to help support the activists spiritually.

In the time of our ancestors, Tara was the center of a ritual complex, where signal fires were lit to mark the holy day, and whose light spread out from hilltop to hilltop across the land. Now, the center has been neglected, so much so that some think it is no matter to desecrate it. So we meet on Samhain to add our energy and prayers to revitalise and resacralise Tara.

In the past, the signal and sacred flames were taken from Tara; but on Samhain we will all unite to send the power and blessings back to Tara, to rebuild the source. We will light our individual fires on hilltops and in fields, and in homes around the world. We will have people climbing the surrounding hills all across Ireland, and in many countries the world around. We will unite our flames with the center. We will unite to protect Tara.

Read more at http://www.paganachd.com/tara

At the end of the pre-ritual briefing we've posted information on how to help physically - by writing letters, sending money, calling with moral support, or going and standing in front of bulldozers. Our other offering is this ritual, which I wrote together with my friend and colleague, Raven nic Rhóisín, after we both got some heavy requests from the spirits.

Note - I will be adding more graphics and smoothing out the visuals of the site a bit more in the coming days, but all the info should be there. We welcome your feedback! If you plan on participating in the ritual, please consider letting us know. We may be posting a list of participants on the site. If you write us, let us know how you'd like to be named. We suggest using one of the formats in the ritual, explained in under the "Introduce yourself (threefold) and Lighting the Signal Fires For Tara" instructions on the pre-ritual briefing page (http://www.paganachd.com/tara/pre-ritual.html).

cross-posted to a handful of other places. feel free to re-post this message and link to the ritual on the website.

The Hill of Tara - Samhain

In a few days Raven nic Rhóisín and I will be posting a Celtic Reconstructionist Samhain ritual we've written for the protection of Tara. We were hoping to have it live on paganachd.com before the weekend, but we're still putting the finishing touches on it. We weren't going to announce it until it was done, but today we found out a few other people have also come up with a very similar idea, using the same imagery. Major Shared Gnosis is at work here! We were already co-ordinating efforts with folks on the ground in Ireland, but now it seems there's going to be lots more of us.

The idea is for people all over the world to re-light the signal fires for Tara, but this time we are sending the energy back - focusing the light and protection back at Tara, from wherever we are in the world.

There's been a bit of synchronistic discussion about it here: http://community.livejournal.com/cr_r/254906.html
and now some folks are going big-media with the concept, as seen here: http://tarawatch.org/?p=536

More links to get hip with what's going on on Tara, and why this sacred site, and the people there fighting to save her, deserves our help:

* Send money to the fund for an independent archaeological survey of the site (http://www.hilloftara.info/)

* Sign the online petition to save Tara (http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara)

* Write letters to Irish government officials (addresses here: http://globalartscollective.org/acf/act_now.htm with guidelines on how to write a good letter here: http://globalartscollective.org/acf/sample_letter.htm However, please note that John Gormley is now Minister for the Environment, not Dick Roche.)

* Write polite letters to Irish and Irish-American (or Irish-Canadian, etc.) newspapers about the issue.

* Send supplies and letters of support to protesters on-site. Tarapixie seems to be doing most of the coordinating on the ground. Reach her and her crew via http://www.tarapixie.net/. Cell phone numbers for the protesters: 086 1758 557
086 1537 146
(they've put these numbers all over the net, so calling should be ok). If you're calling from America, the code you need to dial is 011 + 353 + number.

We'll post again when the ritual is live. The URL will be http://paganachd.com/tara Hope to "see" you on Samhain!