003 Rathcroghan and the People of the Mounds

SEGMENT 1- Mindie on Rathcroghan

 

Rathcroghan is a complex of 240 archaeological sites that includes 60 national monuments that are spread out in tract of land that is about 4 square miles. The sites range from Neolithic (5-7000 BC) to Medieval periods 5th – 15th centuries). On the site there are burial mounds, ring forts, enclosures, linear earthworks (roads / trails) and very special cave. Rathcroghan is located near the village of Tulsk in County Roscommon. It's known to be a royal site – the ancient capital of the province of Connaught. We talked a little bit about royal sites in the last podcast. These would have been sites of ritual and gathering. … sites of massive deposits of human emotion and energy. That human energy connected to the natural elemental energy of the land becomes something greater than the sum of its parts. I believe that human emotion and the energy it creates can impact energy of a place. Perhaps there was an inherent energy in the land that drew people –knowingly or unknowingly to mark out a sacred site. And as the human rituals and gatherings imprinted their own energy on the existing high energy of a place – a thin place is born. Rathcroghan is a thin place. While it may not be as well-known as the other royal sites in Ireland – Tara, Emain Macha, Cashel, Uisneagh – it's a remarkable thin places where the energies are often palpable. Rathcroghan Royal Site from Voices of the Dawn website

 

SEGMENT 2 – Guest Interview

 

We are lucky today to have Mike Croghan who lives there, talk with us today about this special site Mike and his rather are the last Croghans to live on Rathcroghan. They are a farming family. Mike also leads tours to sacred and archaeological sites in Western Ireland. He's also a professional photographer and does a lot of aerial filming.

 

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