In Spirit of Contemplation and Action 

Sunday 4 October – Friday 30 October 2026 | 12–15 places

“The body is your clay home, your only home in the universe. The body is in the soul; this recognition confers a sacred and mystical dignity on the body. The senses are divine thresholds. A spirituality of the senses is a spirituality of transfiguration.” 

– John O’Donohue

We’re excited to launch our first month-long residency this October, set within our 70-acre organic farm between the Irish Sea, the Vartry River and the Wicklow Mountains. 

To date, our traditional Spring 10-week programme has offered participants the luxury of time to take a long lens and look up and out into the vastness of the cosmos, the infinite complexity and diversity of life. It has always brought together an open-minded and curious community, from far-flung places around the world – all with an academic appetite to study the mysteries of the universe.

“Heart and mind wander back to their organic roots”

This new Autumn Sabbatical is an invitation to take a microscope and look inwards – to spiral into the profound mystery of how the creativity and love of God is alive within our own beings. The retreat is designed to be more mystical, contemplative and personal – using somatic, body-based practices to cultivate a transformational journey into the Mystery of Consciousness. 

The programme will be facilitated by Mel O’Driscoll and Taylor Marie Daniels, and, as we often say here, the Earth herself. Mel and Taylor will hold the healing space, drawing on Peter Levine’s practices supported by the circular wheel of Celtic spirituality and the most radical of Christ’s ministries. We offer teachings to deepen experience, and guide the rituals and pilgrimages that thread through each week. We also look to the unspoiled and special land here at An Tairseach to play a part.  

“Swap the phone for birdsong”

Many of us carry pains, traumas and anxieties that quietly narrow how present we can be in life. We want to open a space to meet these perspectives and experiences gently. We believe the human body is a sacred part of creation. When so much of daily life now plays on a screen, the organic intelligence of the Earth, present in the woodland, in the gardens, and in our own being, is a balm, remedy and root for us to both nurture, and be nurtured by, in coming years. As we begin to better navigate a relationship with ourselves and the Earth, we become a positive force for love and peace. We are the Earth, and the Earth is us.

Nature mysticism is at the heart of Laudato Si’, and the Green Martyrdom of the Celtic saints — Ciarán, Brigid, Gobnait, Kevin of Glendalough — grounds everything we do here. Celtic Christianity developed outside Roman rule, in a circular fashion around small agrarian settlements. Those homesteading monks are the lineage An Tairseach belongs to. The gardens, the conservation woodland, the polytunnels, the chapel — they are a contemporary reading of that older pattern. Each week of the Sabbatical includes a pilgrimage to a holy place in the surrounding landscape, to deepen the relationship between participant, place, and ancestral wisdom.

We welcome all who feel drawn to Nature—whether religious, spiritual, or simply seeking stillness and renewal. From those in active ministry to artists, teachers, practitioners, and seekers, all are invited to arrive open-hearted to the ancestral wisdom of Ireland and the quiet depth of Christian and Celtic ritual.

If you have been waiting for permission to stop, here it is!

Application details and more information at antairseach.ie/visit-us/sabbaticals. 

To enquire, contact info@antairseach.ie.