“In the depths of winter I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer”
a Winter Warming Mountain Retreat
Solstice - a one-day immersive heart warming experience for men and women to celebrate this special turning point of the wheel of the year. Solstice took place in the deep Midwinter as a winter immersion was a cosy wellbeing retreat all about Yule. The winter Solstice marks the still point of the sun. As the earth sleeps and the animals hibernate we gathered to welcome the return of new light in the same tradition as our ancestors throughout the ages.
A collective experience set at Orlagh House a beautiful country estate with panoramic views across the Dublin Mountains and the Irish Sea. In the darkest part of the year when the days are shortest, Nature asks us humans to pause, draw inward and connect with our own still point. Amidst acres of winter wonderland we went to unwind and attune to the rhythms of the natural world and be nourished by delicious warming foods, hot spiced drinks, candlelight rituals and blazing fires under the roof of our favourite rambling Georgian mansion.
Solstice weaves human connection with nature, conversation, movement, music, food, meditation, ritual, ceremony and other creative experiences. We invited people together to share a sense of belonging and participation with our wild selves and the wild world that nourishes us. We gathered some of Ireland’s leading blazers of trails to guide us through our Solstice celebrations.
Winter Solstice (also known as Saturnalia) has been celebrated for thousands of years, and many of the traditions now associated with Christmas had their roots in winter solstice celebrations – including Yule logs, mistletoe and Christmas trees. The Druids – the priests of the ancient Celts – used evergreen trees, holly and mistletoe as symbols of everlasting life during winter solstice rituals. As ancestors-in-training we wished to honour some of the ancient indigenous practices in our native tradition with a contemporary twist learning from the land through foraging and wildcrafting. There were fireside talks about the late great John Moriarty with some of our own wisdom keepers and keepers of the flame. We welcomed choral adventures and live musical performances from Liam O’Maonlai, Anna Mieke and I have a Tribe.
“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath”
Other adventures included experiential practices like dance, meditation, breathwork, visualisation, yoga nidra, sound baths, fire ceremony, ritual and a communal sit down winter Solstice feast with delicious food from our friend Natasha at The Vegan Kitchen.
Our informal faculty included Anna Mieke {Musician & Songwriter}, Carol McInerney {Movement therapist & Dance Teacher}, Chloe McHugh {Sonas Sound Therapy}, Diarmuid Lyng {Father, Hurler, Campaigner), Laura Murphy {Artist & Creator of IMBAS}, Liam O’Maonlai {Artist & Musician}, Patrick O'Laoghaire {Artist & Musician} and Siobhan de Paor {Poet, Activist & Performance Artist}
Solstice Experiences included
· Wilderness Workshops
· Earth Medicine Practices
· Conversation + Storysharing
· Movement Sessions
· Sound Baths
· Yoga Nidra
· Healing Visualisations
· Live Music Performance
· Fire Ceremony Ritual
· Acoustic Meditation
· Communal Solstice Supper with delicious food from our friend Natasha at The Vegan Kitchen