The Children of Lir, Told by Ellen O'Malley Dunlop | S6 Ep10

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OUR STORY

The old myth is well known: King Lir’s four children are turned into swans by their jealous stepmother Aoife. This retelling brings us deep into the motivations and nuances of an old Indo-European story that came to Ireland with the Normans in the 12th century.

OUR GUEST

Ellen is currently a member of the Council of Europe's Expert Group on Violence Against Women. She is a qualified psychotherapist and group analyst. She was CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre from 2006-2016.  She gained a wealth of experience in lobbying government, designing and commissioning research studies and overseeing and publicly presenting national awareness campaigns about sexual violence, including the highly successful #AskConsent campaign.

Her interest in Mythology grew out of her work as a Jungian Psychotherapist, especially her dream analysis work with clients.

For 30 years she and her husband Sandy Dunlop (S5 Ep6) have organized and run the Bard Summer School on Clare Island Co. Mayo where with the group of participants,  they explore the  contemporary relevance of one of the wonderful Irish Myths. Ellen is also Guardian Chieftain of the O'Malley Clan.

Find out more about Ellen on Instagram @‌bardmythologies and https://bardmythologies.com/

OUR CONVERSATION

• Folks tend to recall this story as being lovely - "oh, the swans!" - but it’s really about abuse of power, abuse of children, and abuse of women
• Ellen’s translation work with Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, professor of Irish folklore at University College Dublin
• Transforming the archetype of the “evil stepmother” and looking at all the archetypes present in this story.
• Her work as a Jungian psychotherapist who worked with clients’ dreams, which often called on mythic figures
• The Children of Lir sculpture by Oisín Kelly in the Garden of Remembrance, created to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1916 rising in Parnell Square Garden
• The Magdalene Laundries, 1922 - 1996, where women were incarcerated for anything from perceived promiscuity to being considered a burden on their families or the State
• “There was no sex in Ireland until the Late Late Show”: the late night talk show hosted by Gay Byrne played a role in transforming Irish culture. 
• The change within Ireland that came with Marriage Equality and Abortion Referendums. 
• Ellen’s ancestor, the story of Grace O’Malley taught her that she could do whatever a man could do.

 Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com

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