A Question for You…
How would it feel to follow your soul?
To believe that you, yes you, have a dán?
Our Celtic ancestors believed that each of us is born called, given a dán (pronounced “dawn”), a unique soul’s gift by the Universe, and when we live into our dán, we give back to the Universe because in this way, the universal intelligence can get to know itself better through us.
How do you live into your dán? The ancients believed it was through our creativity. And so another question for you…
If you were to believe in your dán, if you were to believe you have a creative destiny, who would this give you permission to be?
This is a space to help you find out. Welcome, fáilte.
Your Soul Care Package
Each month you will receive:
Regular Imbas Dispatch newsletters with a Celtic symbol or oracle card reading. ‘Imbas’ means otherworldly knowledge or wisdom that illuminates in Old Irish.
For Paid Members:
The Ritualist: A ritual to unlock the magic of your Celtic soul.
Full Moon Fairytale Céilí: A storytelling and mythic movement circle.
The Selkie Studio: Sharing space to explore this work, soul and archetypal themes in our lives in a safe and nourishing community.
Celtic Archetypes eBook: A rich compendium of Celtic goddesses, gods and archetypes with new additions each month (a rare find!)
For Founding Members:
Four soul-tending online retreats each year where we venture deep into mystical Ireland.
‘It is beautifully done, deeply researched and holds an intricate blending of professionalism and creativity that is rare.’
‘Your work always takes me to the Otherworld and have such nuggets of wisdom that deeply stir my being.’
‘Jen’s work is powerful, mythical, authentic, and important work of reclaiming and remembering. I honor my ancestors by sitting with her and feel deeply inspired, alive, and connected with each offering she brings.’
‘With your beautiful offerings, writing and spirit, I hope to awaken my DNA to this long ago knowing.’
‘I support your work because you share beautiful insights on Irish mythology, Irish Goddesses and how they are woven into our art and creativity today.’
Who Am I?
I’m Jennifer (or Jen), tá fáilte romhat, you are so welcome here!
A little about me…
I am a Dubliner born and bred, raised on story and creativity. As a child, my grandmother Frances filled my ears with Irish folklore she learned growing up in Pimlico, a working-class community in inner-city Dublin. She had a penchant for tales of the Banshee (Bean Sídhe), the psychopompal death messenger in Irish culture and so I have never in my life picked a comb off the road (more on this taboo to come…). Listening to Frances regale her stories felt like I had somehow been let in on a secret, on a whole otherworld of mythic beings and ways of knowing.
The Irish word for folklore is béaloideas, béal (“bale”) means mouth and oideas (“id-jis”) to give instruction or educate. This ‘mouth education’ that I received as a child urged me on to a degree in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies over 20 years ago now. And so, the Celtic Otherworld has always been a part of my life’s education in both informal and formal ways.
Nine Things I Love
1. My Boyos…
Adventures with my three beloved boyos, my husband Fergus and our two young sons. Our most recent adventure was driving from Dublin to the Orkney Islands, an ancient archipelago that lies in the North Sea off Scotland’s northernmost tip.
2. Friendship…
The craic with my family, friends and loved ones, there is no better tonic for life than friendship.
‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.’
An Irish proverb that speaks to how we live in the shelter of one another.
3. Making Art…
A passion I inherited from my wildly creative mother, Katherine, while avoiding any temptation to design matching outfits for myself and my kids. Photo of Katherine and me in the 1980s.
4. Sacred Sites…
I’ve done the photoshoot with the beautiful dress and medieval cloak and have a penchant for beauty, but in reality, my time on the land is more dungarees, wax jackets, and crawling into passage tombs like a little Gollum.
5. Books & Journals…
I adore books and journalling. The first book I ever bought for myself (not bought for me) was from a book token I was gifted as a young teen. I purchased Revolutionary Women: My Fight for Ireland’s Freedom by Kathleen Clarke. It says a lot about my teenage psyche!
6. The Sea…
‘Ebbtide has come to me as to the sea.’
The Cailleach
I am blessed to live by the sea and have always found a certain wonder in being an islander. I swim all year round when I’m feeling brave enough and love watersports like kayaking and surfing, albeit with a yearning these days with the family juggle. Photo of me catching the sun captured by my wonderful sister Gráinne, whose name means ‘sun’.
7. Ritual…
An early riser, before anyone in my house is up and school run chaos kicks off, I begin my day with ritual. This looks like a cauldron of dreamwork, bodywork, meditation, active imagination, proprioceptive writing, divination, art-making and more… all the practices in the marrow of The Celtic Creatives, and all in the spirit of co-creation.
‘In filling the well, think magic. Think delight. Think fun. Do not think duty. Do not do what you should do—spiritual sit-ups like reading a dull but recommended critical text. Do what intrigues you, explore what interests you; think mystery, not mastery.’
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
8. Community…
From working in a humanitarian organisation for 13 years before starting my own business, to serving as a board member of an award-winning provider of global citizenship education, to leading scouts for a decade, to standing as a lightbearer at the first St Brigid’s Day parade in North County Dublin, despite my oftentimes introversion, I know there is a vitality and humanity that can be found only in community.
9. Ireland…
I recently found this ridiculous postcard from 1995 that I sent to my grandmother, Frances, from an island in the Atlantic Ocean, where I spent my first summer at the age of 13, immersing myself—of my own headstrong volition—in the Irish language, hundreds of miles from the working-class Dublin suburb I called home. It reminds me of my ‘why’.
And a tenth for good measure: daring to live into my dán-desire to make Celtic soul a living aesthetic and in doing so, support people to find pathways to their dán, their creative destiny.
From my soul to yours, a chara,
Croí isteach,
Jen x
