Now I’ve been to Glendolough a couple times in my life – maybe 4 times or something like that, and I always say it is one of my favorite places on earth … and there have been times, stressful times, when I’ve been slogging my way down 7th Avenue in New York – that I’ll take a second and remember Glendolough, and think to myself: “It’s out there now. It’s out there right now. It exists.”<\/p>\n
We ended up staying over in the area because it was dark and the prospect of driving out of there through the Wicklow Mountains was rather daunting (although my sisters and I did do just that!). We hung out at the local pub. And of course, made lifelong friends. I have acquired more email addresses on strips of paper than I know what to do with.<\/p>\n
But the best part … the best part of this particular trip to Glendolough … was that I got to live out a fantasy I have always had. Every time I have gone there before, it’s to visit the ruins, like a good tourist does … see the sights … and then leave. The place is always packed, filled with people wandering around … which is not a bad thing, not at all … but my fantasy has always been to walk through those ruins at night, by myself. To hang out with the gravestones, the old cathedral, the “kitchen”, etc. To be alone with the place.<\/p>\n
And once the pub closed, I did just that. There was a wind storm going on, it was a wet and windy night, the air filled with the roar of wind, and the clattering of the full stream nearby. There were spectacular stars. Glendalough is in a valley, with brown wooded mountains rising steeply on either side. You are in a gap, a deep trough in the hills. The wind races between the mountains like a ravening ghost. It was indeed a bit creepy … to stroll amongst the graveyard alone, at 1 a.m. – and I need to take some time with myself to be able to describe it.<\/p>\n
I feel that, in Glendalough, I am confronted with a mystery of some kind. The place doesn’t give up all its secrets. Ever. Not in the daylight, certainly not, but even less so in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
There were moments when I could not tell what century I was in. It certainly was not a modern century … it was in the late 5th century, when Christianity was close to its pagan roots. The place has a fierceness to it – which I had sensed in my other visits there, you can’t get away from it, but the fierceness came out full throttle in the middle of the night, when I was there on myh lonesome. The high Celtic crosses shadowed in the black, the silhouette of the tower off to my right rising up into the sky. And it gave me a very weird feeling – I’m telling you, I haven’t quite found the words yet. The best way I can describe it is that I was in the presence of Mystery itself. It also felt like this had to be holy ground … it is a holy place. Not just because of St. Kevin and all that … It feels like it was a holy place before St. Kevin even arrived. He just recognized what was already there.<\/p>\n
I probably sound goofy and all that … but it was one of the most primal powerful experiences of my life, walking in the pitch black – the PITCH BLACK – amongst the enormous tilting gravestones, gravestones which are covered with white lichen – so they glimmer oddly in the pale moonlight … the shadowed silhouettes of these ancient stone buildings all around me … the graves, the stream, the crumbling stones …<\/p>\n
I was almost in tears when I went back to my room. I didn’t know what it was that I sensed. Something very powerful, something fierce, something … almost UN-holy. It’s a ferocious place – and I’ve only seen it surrounded by other tourists and visitors. Regardless, even if you see it then, in the daylight, during visiting hours, it is a very very special place.<\/p>\n
But at one in the morning, by yourself, surrounded by the stone ruins, the gravestones, the moonlight and the roaring sounds of rushing water … it is like a different place altogether.<\/p>\n
I will never forget it in all my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now I’ve been to Glendolough a couple times in my life – maybe 4 times or something like that, and I always say it is one of my favorite places on earth … and there have been times, stressful times, … Continue reading