Dreamtime: Remembering John Moriarty at Orlagh House in the heart of the Dublin Mountains

““Healing in our cultural present will come as a consequence of healing in our cultural past...to do this, we need people who can live in our cultural Dreamtime, people who go walkabout, creatively within the old myths, people who go walkabout into the unknown.”

– John Moriarty

Dear Friends

As we approach our Winter Solstice gathering at Orlagh House we wanted to let you know about our new ticket offering for couples/besties and partners-in crime of €245 euros which is a saving of €25 euros. We are also delighted to announced a programme of experiences that will honour the late great John Moriarty, (eco-poet, writer and philosopher).

Solstice is a unique opportunity to step out of the mayhem of ‘consumer-time’ and into the magic of ‘time out of time’. The Winter Solstice to our ancestors was one of the most potent times of the year. Through ritual and myth they honoured the return of the first rays of light after the darkest night. Myth, story, music and ritual are portals from which we can drop into the Dreamtime; the space where healing happens, intuition resides, and creativity arises. As we prepare to dive deep we will be remembering the power of ritual and mythic surrender

“All time is once-upon-a-time Time…Once-upon-a-time Time thinks us. Asleep and awake, it dreams us, it lives us.”

– John Moriarty

One of our guides Laura Murphy (Writer & Creator of IMBAS) will take us on a guided visualisation experience that explores Ireland’s Dreamtime and Diarmuid Lyng (Wild Irish Retreats) will host ‘Time out of Time’ a listening experience created with audio clips of pure John Moriarty gold. This special offering includes conversation and live music from Patrick O’Laoghaire of I have a Tribe

Time is fast becoming one of the scarcest resources of modern living. 76% of respondents in a recent Deloitte study reported having the same or less free time than the previous year. ‘Not spending quality time with family and friends’ appears ubiquitously across death-bed regret lists. We live in the age of convenience, yet we’re more time-starved than ever before. Constantly busy, rarely still.

Laura Murphy adds

“The reality is that there will only ever be 24 hours in a day. This we cannot change. But…what if…there was a way to extend time …a way to expand our experience of time and in so doing, access deep states of calm, healing, creativity and flow. Modern understanding of ourselves is largely based on a linear, sequential notion of time. The kind of time we measure in seconds, minutes and hours. Enslavement to this perception of time may have brought ‘progress’ but at what cost? Destruction of the planet, anyone? Disconnection from our humanity? Unprecedented levels of depression and stress?
Our ancestors held another way of perceiving time. Ancient Greeks call it Kairos. Australian Aboriginals call it Dreamtime. In Ireland, we call it Tir Na nOg. It is a circular, cyclical understanding of time that points to the existence of the ever-available eternal ‘moment’ underpinning all experience. Maybe it’s not really time at all, but a type of consciousness, a state-of-being that transcends time and space. As Moriarty tells us, it “is much freer…and allows for a complete change of the state of mind, at any moment. One cycle finished, we can drop or rise to another level, and be in a new world at once.”

The poets of ancient Ireland had beautiful techniques for accessing this state of consciousness. Once lost through generations of empire and religion, they are now being revived anew. Using the power of spoken word as invocation, music, sacred oils and well water Laura will offer a visceral, visionary experience of stepping out of linear time. You will become what Moriarty calls ‘the temporary one of the Dream’. You will emerge, illuminated with Imbas Forosnai (Sacred Wisdom), the Holy Grail of Irish mythology.

‘Time out of Time’ is a celebration of the solar nadir and an ideal opportunity to reflect on the stories we tell ourselves as we come face to face with ecological collapse. Diarmuid Lyng will host a listening hour with recordings of John Moriarty as our guide. Join us for an hour of music and mysticism as we gather, in time out of time, to be share stories about learning to walk more beautifully on the earth.

Solstice is a unique opportunity to step out of the mayhem of ‘consumer-time’ and into the magic of ‘time out of time’. In the darkest part of the year, Nature asks us to pause, draw inward and connect with our own still point. Amidst acres of winter wonderland we intend to unwind, attune to the rhythms of the natural world and surrender to mythic time. We will be nourished by delicious warming foods, hot spiced drinks, candlelight rituals, story-sharing, live music and blazing fires under the roof of our favourite rambling Georgian mansion.

Our informal faculty includes Anna Mieke {Musician & Songwriter}, Carol McInerney {Movement therapist & Dance Teacher}, Chloe McHugh {Sonas Sound Therapy}, Diarmuid Lyng {Father, Hurler, Campaigner), Laura Murphy {Artist & Creator of IMBAS}, Patrick O'Laoghaire {Artist & Musician} Siobhan de Paor {Poet, Activist & Performance Artist}

You can watch some of our Summer Solstice adventures here.

Amidst acres of winter wonderland we intend to unwind, attune to the rhythms of the natural world and surrender to mythic time. We will be nourished by delicious warming foods, hot spiced drinks, candlelight rituals, story-sharing, live music and blazing fires under the roof of our favourite rambling Georgian mansion. Our informal faculty includes Liam Ó Maonlaí, { Musician, Singer, Songwriter}, Anna Mieke {Musician & Songwriter}, Carol McInerney {Movement therapist & Dance Teacher}, Chloe McHugh {Sonas Sound Therapy}, Diarmuid Lyng {Father, Hurler, Campaigner), Laura Murphy {Artist , Writer & Creator of IMBAS}, Patrick O'Laoghaire {Artist & Musician} Siobhan de Paor {Poet, Activist & Performance Artist}

If you are feeling the pull into Dreamtime, these are the Solstice Experiences in store for you…..