Tara Trees

www.tara-trees.org
 

Welcome to Tara Tree Trail

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Photographs and words celebrating the

beautiful trees and landscape

of Hill of Tara, Co Meath, Ireland

 

HAZY LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

looking from Tara to Skryne

skryne summer view

 

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You will always find a welcome at the Hill of Tara

whether you come to share in a ceremony with one of the many spiritual groups that connect to the Hill,

enjoy a walk on the Hill,  have a guided tour,

sup a cuppa and snack in Maguires and find that present you need in the gift and craft shop,

browse and, he hopes, buy a book from Michael Slavin

or visit Mary, and she hopes, make a purchase in the Pottery shop.


distant view6  moonlight
 

 New Book available

by TaraCelebration...
By
 

 

2nd edition of Eight Festivals is now available - softcover edition 15 euros - available through Blurb...

we feel this book is different - there is a wealth of information on the seasons and how to celebrate them on the internet and in published books....    but this recounts  through picture, verse and story what TaraCelebrations have actually done at their gatherings - providing ideas on how to structure ceremony and most of all what you can enjoy when tuning into the energies of the moment...

Guided Tours of the Hill of Tara - Summer 2009

Tours by appointment - suggested times -

Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening

meet at the gate 7.30pm

Saturdays and Sundays

meet at the gate 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm

tour approx. one hour

 adults 5 euro / families 10 euro

other tour times and groups by arrangement

During the tours we shall explore this sacred site by sharing our experiences of the Hill. 

mound circle central

We shall connect the threads of archaeology, history, myth, earth energies

and the mystery and magic that make Tara a special place.

 Organised by your tour guides Martin Dier and Nora Judge

www.NativeSpiritTours.com
  

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The Hill of Tara had five names...

The first was Druim Descuin, or the Conspicuous Hill;

the second was Liath Druim, or Liath's Hill from a Firbolg chief of that name who was the first to clear it of wood;

the third was Druim Cain, or the Beautiful Hill;

the fourth was Cathair Crofinn;

and the fifth name was Teamair (now Anglicised Tara, from the genitive case Teambrach of the word), a name which it got from being the burial place of Tea, the wife of Eremon, the son of Milesius."

from Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish by Eugene O'Curry, 1873.

 

 

 

- spring equinox -   This is the time of balance

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... the time when the human reunites with all beings and recognises there is no separation.  There is a renewal of brother/sisterhood between humans and all beings.  

We welcome the energy, wisdom and magic of the woodland and of this place.  The vast and hidden world beyond our normal human perceptions.  

We come in respect, peace, love and blessing for each other within all realms. 

We acknowledge, in harmony, all before us, behind us, to our rightside, to our leftside, the sun, moon, stars and the earth and all surrounding us.

We invite all beings of this land to join us in joy today.

 

  

 

"kept, like any other jewel, in the treasury of Tara."

From:Celtic Myth and Legend  by Charles Squire [1905]

The "yew-tree at the head of Baile's strand" had grown out of the grave of Baile of the Honeyed Speech, and it bore the appearance of Baile's love, Ailinn. This Gaelic Romeo and Juliet were of royal birth: Baile was heir to Ulster, and Ailinn was daughter of the King of Leinster's son. Not by any feud of Montague and Capulet were they parted, however, but by the craft of a ghostly enemy. They had appointed to meet one another at Dundealgan, and Baile, who arrived there first, was greeted by a stranger.

"What news do you bring?" asked Baile. "None," replied the stranger, "except that Ailinn of Leinster was setting out to meet her lover, but the men of Leinster kept her back, and her heart broke then and there from grief." When Baile heard this, his own heart broke, and he fell dead on the strand, while the messenger went on the wings of the wind to the home of Ailinn, who had not yet started.

"Whence come you?" she asked him. "From Ulster, by the shore of Dundealgan, where I saw men raising a stone over one who had just died, and on the stone I read the name of Baile. He had come to meet some woman he was in love with, but it was destined that they should never see one another again in life."

At this news Ailinn, too, fell dead, and was buried; and we are told that an apple-tree grew out of her grave, the apples of which bore the likeness of the face of Baile, while a yew-tree sprung from Baile's grave, and took the appearance of Ailinn. This legend, which is probably a part of the common heritage of the Aryans, is found in folk-lore over an area which stretches from Ireland to India.

The Gaelic version has, however, an ending unknown to the others. The two trees, it relates, were cut down, and made into wands upon which the poets of Ulster and of Leinster cut the songs of the love-tragedies of their two provinces, in ogam. But even these mute memorials of Baile and Ailinn were destined not to be divided. After two hundred years, Art the "Lonely", High-King of Ireland, ordered them to be brought to the hall of Tara, and, as soon as the wands found themselves under the same roof, they all sprang together, and no force or skill could part them again. So the king commanded them to be "kept, like any other jewel, in the treasury of Tara." 

3 trunks

a branch of a tree bearing apples, nuts, acorns, and berries

From: Survivals in Belief Among the Celts, by George Henderson, [1911]

"The Bile Tortan stood in Magh Tortan in Meath, near Ardbreacan, and was blown down in the reign of the sons of Aedh Slaine, about the middle of the seventh century. This tree was one of the three wonderful trees of Eirinn, and had stood at the time of the Milesian conquest, more than a thousand years." 

"Bile Tortan, Eo Rossa, Craebh Mughna, Craebh Dathi, Bile Uisnigh were five ancient trees which sprang up in Erin in the reign of Conaing Begeglach (Anno Mundi 4388).

Conaing held a certain assembly at Tara . . . and they saw coming towards them from the west a man of wonderful size, carrying in his hand a branch of a tree bearing apples, nuts, acorns, and berries. . . . He told them he had come from the place of the sun's rising in the east to the place of its going down in the west, to know why it had stood still for a day, and having obtained the cause of this irregularity that he was now on his return again to the east. He shook the produce of this branch on the ground; and these being taken up by various persons and planted in various localities, produced these wonderful trees which were all blown down in the seventh century.

The Bile Tortan near Ardbreacan, in the Co. Meath, was ash. The Eo Rossa near Leith-Ghleann (Leithlin) was a yew tree, and became the property of St. Molaise of Leith-Ghlenn, from which St. Moling obtained as much of it as made shingles for his Duirthech or Oratory, at Tech Moling, now St. Mullin's, on the river Barrow in Co. Carlow, and which was built for him by . . . Goban Saor. According to an Irish life of St. Moling . . . the Craebh Mughna was oak, and stood near Bealach Mughna in Magh Ailbhe, in the southern part of Co. Kildare. The Craebh Dathi was ash, and stood in the district of Fir Bile (now Ferbil), to which it gave name, in Co. Westmeath. The Craebh Uisnigh was ash, and stood on the hill of Uisnech, in Co. Westmeath."

Summer solstice sunset trees


Map Download go to www.TaraCelebrations.org/view/MAP Be part of a big mystery experiment to divine energy and water lines on the hill top of Tara. Print out the above map....

Teach Miodhchuarta This was possibly the ceremonial entrance onto Tara, where the roads to the Hill met.

Raith Grainne & Cloenfherta Three circular earthworks on the north west side of the Hill.

Garran na Coille The collection of oaks and chestnuts provide a wonderfully peaceful place in which to stroll and reflect on time and space.

Raith na Senad & Duma na nGiall A geophysical survey revealed a large circle of over 300 huge posts, probably oak, beneath Raith na Senad and the church

Rath na Rig, Tech Cormaic & the Forrad Contained within Rath na RIg are ditch enclosures Tech Cormaic and the Forrad (or Royal Seat).

Raith Loegaire A Late Bronze Age ringfort.      

St. Patrick's Church Here is a wonderful stand of beech trees, a grand nesting site for crows.

Pathways

Leaves, branches, trunks & roots Every part of the whole is beautiful

Seasons Trees stand and watch and inhale everything that occurs around them.

Simulacra With the eye of faith and a little imagination

Sacred Well   5th March 2009        

Dalgan Park Wildlife Sanctuary Enjoy a stroll in the peaceful parkland and woodland - on the N3 road between Navan and Tara.

We also love - Ireland and beyond...

Tree Meditations These meditations have been inspired by the trees of Tara

Tree Identification & Glossary

Tara Celebrations Celebrating the eight festivals of the Celtic year.

Tara links Tara Celebrations, Native Spirit Tours, Boyne Wisdom, Meath Archaeological & Historical Society,  Knowth and Newgrange, Bakewell Tree Trail, Living Democracy, ...