The Hill of the Witch

We took to the road last weekend intending to ramble around the area of Loughcrew otherwise known as Sliabh na Cailleach and to view the paintings of a Dublin based artist Lar Dooley, which had caught Mrs H’s eye on Facebook.

It was a soft day, meaning that although warm it was very damp, with fine misty rain. Not the type of day for me to walk up the hill to the cairns although I have done so in the past. The climb is quite easy when going up but coming down it can be very treacherous and my old bones no longer appreciate tumbles.

The hill of the witch - the Cairns of Loughcrew, a quick guide by Anthony Murphy


Instead we headed to the new to us visitor centre, several buildings, one of which was once a cottage home. The cafe was inviting and the staff friendly so we partook of a great up of coffee then went into the gallery to view the work of Lar Dooley. Each image was inspired by the landscape of Loughcrew and the ancient cairns with their stone art. His technique was unusual, to me it seemed almost ceramic in texture, with symbols seemingly carved into stone. Mrs H fell in love with an illustration of the stone which sits in a chamber inside Cairn T and is illuminated by the sun at the Equinoxes.

https://www.loughcrewmegalithiccentre.com/tips-for-visiting-loughcrew

This over looks the childrens' playground.

The courtyard where an old bone shaker leans next to the wall.

A fairy bridge - not that I was aware of any!

EQUINOX

We wended our way homewards stopping in Oldcastle Co. Meath which I was surprised to learn is a relatively new town, created by the Naper family in the 18th century.

This auction house had some classical pieces of furniture on show.

I can only presume that the people from these cars were

propping up the pub counters.

A memorial to two sons of Ireland who lost their lives

when fighting of independence in the 1920's

A colourful corner in Oldcastle

The link below has an audio which goes into great detail about the town of Oldcastle and I suggest that you read and hear for yourselves all about the place.

http://www.discoverboynevalley.ie/boyne-valley-drive/heritage-sites/oldcastle

We shall shortly be revisiting the megalithic centre and hopefully to meet and speak with Lar Dooley

so I will keep you informed. Until then take care of yourselves.

Blake's Art

I recently visited the home of a friend and was immediately attracted by a collage on his wall.

"Goodness who produced that ? It's terrific " I enquired.

"Blake gave it to me, it is one of his pieces that he did for an exam." He replied.

On my return home I phoned Blake and asked him about the work and what led him to produce this piece. 

He asked if I'd ever heard of Sacred Geometry?

In reply I told him what I knew of the theory and of how in my mind it has a loose connection with the earth energies that flow around the planet, for that that's what I saw in his illustration.

We then discussed how he had produced the piece by allowing his subconscious to randomly select a coloured pencil which he picked up with his left hand from a multitude of colours. 

Passing it to his right hand he drew and once used the colour was discarded and placed to his right. 

The real leaves that surround the drawing make a connection to the earth.

The CD placed in the centre reflects light and contains every colour.

Blake's creation reminded me of a colour sensitivity test that I devised many years ago. 

Participants who were right handed were blindfolded and randomly selected a coloured pencil with their left hand.

They held it for a few minutes and attempted to identify the colour using their other senses.

Then on a piece of paper they draw a shape or image which they thought was relevant.

Using the right hand they wrote the name of the colour they felt it was.

The results were very interesting, most people managed to get about forty percent correct on their first attempt. 

When the right-handed people used their right hand to pick up the pencils the results were a little higher and only one person out of a hundred was able to identify every colour with his right hand and none at all with his left.

Have you ever attempted to work with your subconscious or intuition ?