Colette O'Neill

The Magical Garden

This is the magical Stone Circle at Bealtaine Cottage.

It lies at the southern edge of the land and was, until recently, part of a form of ancient stones that had been cleared from the surface of the soil and pushed back into the recesses of the hill.

Some of the stones are huge and took several people to move them into position.

I worked alongside an archaeologist friend of mine, who had shown an interest in this particular site for some time.

It was he who urged me to allow himself and some colleagues to move the stones back into place.

The site was chosen following careful study of the alignments of several megalithic structures within the area, including a cairn on top of Kilronan Mountain, which lies to the north of the circle, in a direct line with the centre.

Although the Celts did not build the megalithic structures found within their lands, they were certainly aware of them.

The Fairy Rings are as much a part of Irish folklore as the Celts themselves…with stories of the mysterious lights that are seen within them when the Sidhe or Fairy Folk dance on moonlit nights.

These monuments were attributed to the the Tuatha de Danann, whom, it was said, disappeared, underground, into the hills and mountains.

The ancient stone sites are portals, where entrance to the human world can be made…and vice versa!

So, the Fairy Ring is now restored…just what Bealtaine Cottage was missing!

 It sits well in the landscape of trees and Nature that abounds the land.

With a stone seat nearby to sit and wait for the Fairy Folk on a moonlit night!

 

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19 comments

  2. So beautiful and mystical a perfect meditation spot! We have what we like to call a fairy ring, it isn’t with stones but with this gray tight to the ground plant. It is at least six foot in diameter and resides in the middle of the field behind our house. I get a very good feeling when I look at it. 🙂

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  4. Absolutely perfect! There really is something magical about them. Where are the stones in relation to the fairy dell? What a delight your gardens are! Patti

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    • This is where it gets to be very strange…the stones, Fairy Dell, Spring Well and Fairy Thorn tree are in an alignment, running south to north, toward the cairn on the mountain to the north.
      Colx

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      • Interesting. Is North/South the usual alignment of the circles? Or is there something significant about the placement of the cairn on the mountain? I am sure there is a story there. I love the ancient stones in Ireland. It just adds to the magic of the place. Patti

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        • I am not sure of the common alignments, but the centre of the circle is in line with the cairn, so perhaps it is on a ley line. I hope to talk with a friend soon who is familiar with dowsing and ley line energies.
          Colx

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          • I’m not an expert, but my impression is that significance of a site’s alignment with another may depend on how it is aligned (after all, if you draw an imaginary line as the crow flies, you could claim any site is in alignment with any other…). If several sites are in a visual alignment with each other I would think that suggests some significance to the original builders.

            If one site has a defined entrance, and that entrance is aligned with one of more sites, then that might imply a greater significance or special association between the sites (or maybe just signify a higher level of organization and/or status among the builders).

            A few sites are aligned with each other and with sunrise on certain days, and those would probably have held a more complex meaning to the builders. (Those are aligned East/West, of course.)

            Sounds like you have a wonderful group of portals or thin places at Bealtaine Cottage. No wonder so many people are drawn to it, both in person and online.

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            • Thanks for the information, Rich.
              Working out how all these ancient places interact is fascinating, for, of course, we have little knowledge on the relationships our ancestors had with the land, other than what we work out and make sense of.
              More often than not we have to fall back on our intuitive understanding of the landscape, something that countless, previous generations have successfully done. Midwinter may shine a further light, followed by midsummer…it has taken eight years to uncover this much and may be many more years of revelations.
              Colx

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  6. This is just the most incredible thing!! A fairy ring has got to be the most cool thing EVER that one could have in her garden, or anywhere else, for that matter. You’ve done a beautiful job with yours! You say that the Celts did not build the big rings…I thought they were the ones that built all these things in Ireland and in the UK. I would love to know the real history, if anyone knows the actual history of these ancient rock formations. I actually bought a book full of huge photographs of them all over Ireland! I guess I just always assumed the Celts built them. Hmmm! Curious!

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    • The early pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland (known as the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fir Bolg) came to be seen as mythical and were associated with stories of fairies, also known as the “Good People”.
      Fairy forts and prehistoric Tumuli were seen as entrances to their world.
      There has been a layering on history in Ireland.
      We often refer to much of our history as being Celtic or the Celts, but we, as a people, are woven into the complete history of Ireland very tightly indeed. Each generation weaves itself into the previous one and assimilation takes place without even noticing.
      The fact is that there were many people before the Celts and many after…we carry the Celtic blood and tribes with us.
      Colx

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      • Thanks for the history lesson, which I am happy to learn! I soak up all the Irish lore and history I can find and always love to learn more! You have a truly magical bit of land there, which must be so enchanting and inspirational….I wish so much that I could visit it in person one day!

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Your comments are welcome!