Irish-Americans and the spiritual longing for the motherland

[Aoife]

Hello!

My name is Zoë Donnelly and I've grown up mainly in the states of California, Oregon and Hawaii. I am Irish on both sides of my family (Donnelly, Campbell, McKenna, Gilleo, O'Rielly, O'Donnell, O'Niell are the most recent surnames of the last 100 years or so and I'm aware some of them are Scottish in origin) For as long as I can remember I've felt this hole within me that no religion, personal happiness or area could fill. I had always had a love of what I knew of Ireland and dreamed of going there my entire life. I had communicated these feelings to my mother and she simply said "Old soul" which is, as I've understood it, is a sort of reincarnation. That I've longed for a home other than where I was born because my soul was ultimately tied to Ireland and had been Irish-Irish in the past.

In 2005 I finally went to Ireland. From the second the plane touched down I felt the hole filled. It was amazing...it was the only time in my life that I had ever felt 100% complete. Of course, because I was only 19 I had a lot of growing to do...but it was with a full...heart? Soul? I lived there for 6 months and fell in love with what I already believed and could finally confirm.

Anyway, I was wondering what Ireland-born people thought of this and if other Irish-Americans have felt the same thing.

PS Later I brought my mother to Ireland for a visit and she said she felt the same hole filled too.

PPS When I left Ireland to return to the states the hole returned and I've been dealing with the emptiness since.

[ideagirl]

I think some people feel this--but not just people of Irish descent, and it's not only felt for countries from which you have ancestry. In fact it's not necessarily something you feel about an entire country; you can also feel it about a particular region only. I've always felt it about a certain part of California (roughly the coastal and near-coastal area from Monterey to Mendocino). I felt it about England, which is a miniscule part of my ancestry (there's much more Irish and Spanish than English in me), and that feeling didn't last forever--I'd felt a massive connection with England since my childhood (which was kind of funny since I was raised to identify as Irish-American), and I moved there for a few years, but everyday modern England (high crime, yobs, Thatcherites, City stockbroker types...) really did a number on my deep old love of that country.

I think following those feelings can guide you as to where you should live, though--where you would thrive--at least for a time, and possibly for your whole life. Have you looked into moving back to Ireland somehow?

[Gwion]

I wonder if the Welsh hireath extends to ancestral longings.

Perhaps it's all to do with tuning in to the anima loci.

I sometimes wonder if it's analogous to resonance. Your own spirit has a resonant frequency and is most at home where the ambient resonant frequencies create the right harmonies. To continue the analogy; there are some places that I find discordant and some that I find harmonious. I am lucky that I now live in a place that I find harmonious. I hope that you may do so too before too long.

[mickey_strange]

I actually had to think a few moments before I started this reply. I'm a first generation American, both my parents were born and raised in northern Ireland; I grew up listening to Irish music, and visited when i was ten. I grew up in Southern California, just a few short miles from the beach, I've lived in the high desert of California, and in parts of the Midwestern U.S., but have never been happy away from the smell of the sea, and the sounds of Ireland.

[TreyWard]

I definitely find this longing to be a central part of my spiritual and bardic path. I learned at about 14 that, several generations back, my family came Ulster and that our last name, Ward, was just anglicized from Mac an Bháird, or Son of the Bard. Being a young fellow already interested in fantasy, wizards, dragons, and the like, this came as wonderful news. I had a connection to this wonderful place! I dove into anything Irish or Celtic head-first, including learning about the ancient bards. Naturally, that lead me into reading about druidry and modern Celtic wisdom traditions, and then I finally joined OBOD in November of 2011.

So my ancestry is essentially the jump-start for my spiritual life as it is today. I try to infuse my practices with as much of the Irish spirit as I can, referring to the Awen by its Irish name Imbas, for example. My primary spiritual guide is Brighid.

I definitely feel that hole that you referred to. I haven't made it across the pond yet, but it is the first thing I plan to do once I am done with my education. I particularly want to see County Donegal (well, as much of Ulster as I can, really!), Newgrange, and the Hill of Tara.Did you get to visit any of those areas in your stay? If so, what were they like?

[Donata]

This longing for a land of my ancestors but not of my own birth has also haunted me - compounded by the fact that I have ancestors from more than one land, and one distant one from this land ofmy birth America.

One day in meditation I connected with the great Spirit of the Planet - the source of Spirit of the Land/s and realized that any spirit of the land is connected with all others and all are really one.
Since then I've been able to connect through this great planetary spirit, which manifests individually in a particular cultural or if you will, geographic matrix, to the spirit of place of any area where I find myself. I also discovered the 'telegraph system' of trees.They connect through their roots across the land, and through the water that flows in their roots, across the waters, to other trees in other lands.
It's easy to see that the connection of spirit and the connection of trees is a manifestation of the web of life which connects us with all beings.

The hole may be there for the particular manifestation of spirit of a particular land, but in the end, all are connected and you can make the intention to connect to a part if you wish. It's often easier to connect with and work with a smaller area where we live or where we feel a connection, while keeping in mind that we will always be working on some level with the web of life and the planetary spirit of place.

Bright Blessings,
Donata