@Lar Dooley
It’s all about perceptions, and understanding.
You visit a sacred space, you are rushed in, and rushed out, you are told a story, you believe you are being reliably informed, and you leave with a perception of the truth. The centre chamber of Newgrange is one of the most iconic and most visited spaces in Irish history. You pay to come in here and you expect to be told what the passage of Newgrange actually means.
So, you are told a story of a gigantic tomb, where the ancients ground up the bones of our ancestors to fill the tomb with. Only there are no ashes, or bones ‘because the place was open for 200 years and someone must have stolen them all’.
We are reliably informed that the right hand recess of Newgrange is the most important, because the right hand recess of all our ‘tombs’ are the most important. So, no one pays any attention to the left hand recess. But here is the true story of Newgrange. You see, it is here that the most significant carvings, with the exception of one other carving are. Because the left hand recess accepted the most precious gift, the gift of life, or death.
The carving on the front of the right hand orthostat, which no one is ever shown, and precious few ever see, is a simple carving of Spelt Wheat. The offertory platter on the floor is where the gift of spelt wheat was set, and the carving on the rear stone details the number of generations of Neolithic peoples who inhabited the land, when the giant tumulus was built.
But is this really important in the context of a Neolithic passage tomb, where no bodies were found, where no fairies exist, and where we are told a story which bears as much truth to us, as the translation we are given for Sid in Broga / Brugh na Sidh. Because ‘Brugh’ is not a palace, and ‘Sidh’ is not a fairy.
The story told to tourists entering Newgrange bears as much truth to it, as does the story of the Cailleach being a witch, Brugh na Sidh simply means ‘The cusp of the spirit world’. Once you climb up those steps, cross over the closed ring of kerbstones, you leave the mortal world and you enter the spirit world. THAT is the one fact you need to understand when entering Newgrange.
In order to decipher the meanings of imagery inside the spirit world, you do not need an Honours Degree in Archaeology — you need an understanding of Spirit and the spirit world. This is where our esteemed guides, managers and scientists fall down, they have as much spirit as alcohol free beer, and the have as much body as the empty can left after the tasteless brew has been consumed.
Newgrange is NOT a tomb, it is NOT a fairy palace, it was NOT designed to hold the bodies of our ancestors, and the right hand recess is where the flour was ground, to be taken outside and turned into the gift of sacred bread, the ancient equivalent of the holy bread we receive in our modern cathedrals. It has nothing to do with grinding ancestral bones. It’s about time that the people who run our ancient spiritual temples began to understand their function.
Corn in Neolithic times was a simple gift of life, and it’s absence was a death sentence. If there was no corn, there was no life. So, stop telling fairy stories, stop telling tales of flying witches, start trying to understand life in the Neolithic, and then you begin to understand what being Irish, and what being Indigenous Irish means. Enough of the ‘Planter mentality’ and more of the understanding of the proud heritage enshrined, by our ancestors, in our Indigenous culture.
Life in the Neolithic was tough, people lived to a very young age, before passing to Spirit. Their children lost their parents by age 10 at the eldest, but were brought up in a civilised society, designed to encompass the mortal world and the Spirit world. Their parents entered the Spirit world when they were young children, so the Spirit World was a huge part of their lives. Eliminate one world from Neolithic life, and all you are left with is misunderstanding — and fairy stories.
Simply dismissing history, and the beautiful rock carvings, and the very facts before your eyes and you are left trying to make sense of half a deck of cards. The guides in Newgrange are left playing Poker with half a deck of cards, so you only get half the story, and this is a fact you need to take on board, before you visit Newgrange. Don’t believe everything you hear, open your eyes, your mind and your Spirit, and therein lies the truth.
@Lar Dooley
