What does it mean to be a family rooted in Irish Culture in Modern Ireland? Join Siobhán de Paor and Diarmuid Lyng as they explore the revival of Irish culture and spirituality.

Mystics and Misfits: Walking the Old Way

A weekend of spiritual renaissance weaving nature rites, folk prayer and pilgrimage inspired by the ancient wisdom in the Irish language and the teachings of John Moriarty.

This is an immersive retreat rooted in Irish culture, spirituality, and nature. It runs from Friday evening through Sunday and blends ancient tradition with lived, embodied experience.

This weekend is for anyone drawn to Irish heritage and sacred practice, or simply slowing down and reconnecting — with culture, nature, and community.

What To Expect:

Friday:

• Delicious Organic Dinner
• Film Screening of IMMRÁM
• Q&A with Siobhán & Diarmuid

Join us for a delicious, organic meal served with the freshest ingredients from An Tairseach Organic Farm followed by a screening of IMMRÁM (meaning journey in Irish) and a Q&A Session with Siobhán and Diarmuid.

About the Film: For a full year between the Celtic new year of Samhain, Immrám, an experimental nonfiction film, directed by Michael Holly and Mieke Vanmechelen, follows the life of Wild Irish creators Siobhán de Paor, Diarmuid Lyng and their three children. Travel with them along St. Declan’s pilgrim route, listen and learn from the wisdom of John Moriarty and explore the grassroot revival of the Irish culture that is happing across the country.

Watch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksqb9enqp7I

Saturday

• Nature rites of passage
• Folk prayer and family life
• Organic Lunch
• Wild hurling with Diarmuid
• Create with clay with Siobhán
• Community meal
• Fire side connection

Start the day with a shared prayer practice, then join Diarmuid in conversation about the importance of nature rites of passage in a modern age and how his wild hurling, personal development and men’s work facilitates this.

How can we reclaim a sense of initiation, resilience and connection that makes us more human, in contact with our heritage and place?

Experience the rosary as Gaeilge, as an ancient mantra to the Divine Mother.  Siobhán will introduce Ireland’s ancestral prayer through a contemporary lens. Our exploration will happen in a chapel of stain glass with depictions of the mysteries of the Rosary. Siobhán work is a living expression of organic spirituality of motherhood and nature based living that enlivens, reconnects and roots all at once.

How can an active, embodied prayer life extend beyond the frame of institution in a way that rewilds, nurtures and plants us back into the land?

In the afternoon these explorations will be put into practice on our working Organic Farm through wild hurling and creative clay making.

These workshops will be suitable to people of all abilities – creative and physical. All that’s needed is an open curiosity to see where the old ways may take us.

In the evening you are invited to cook a community meal and join us around the fire for connection, play and creative expression. Bring an instrument, poem or song if you have one, or just sit back and soak in the fire side vibes. This is optional but often where much of the magic happens..

Sunday

• Morning Prayer
• The Act of Pilgrimage
• Packed Lunch
• Pilgrimage at Glendalough

On Sunday morning, after a morning prayer practice, you’ll be invited into a dynamic exploration of pilgrimage in the 21^st century.

Together we’ll set intentions before setting out – via carpool – to the ancient monastic city of Glendalough.

We will walk with intent and at this sacred site make a collective prayer – responding to the place itself and the harvest of our weekend. Here we share and end in closing circle.

You can take your time and head home, at your own leisure, when you feel like your pilgrimage has come to an end.