A Journey Of Destiny
Protecting & Advocating For Irish Women
A Journey With The Divine Feminine
For some time now, I have been walking the path of the Divine Feminine, or more honestly, she has been walking through me. Connecting deeply with this energy on the Emerald Isle has ultimately led me to opening an integrative women’s health practice, in which I am regularly in awe of the power and absolute magic that women hold. As well as their bodies being sacred portals for creative energy and the passage of new souls into the world, they also possess a courage and strength that some days I can’t quite fathom.
I sit with women every day in my practice. I witness them and listen intently to the stories about their lives and the experiences that the women before them endured. Part of my role as a healer is to be a channel for the accumulated grief and rage that they hold in their energy body, which at some points has consumed me too. I often find myself furious about what women have endured at the hands of the Church, the hands of a broken medical system, and the hands of centuries of patriarchy that sought to silence, diminish, erase and control them.
We should all be carrying this rage, regardless of gender.
Fears That Shadow My Destiny
I have known for as long as I can remember that I was destined to be a protector and advocate for women. I worked tirelessly over several decades to understand the science and physiology of their unique and ever changing bodies, and how to think outside the box when it came to diagnosis and treatment. My journey led me into functional and integrative medicine, desperate to find the answers often overlooked by the siloed views of the mainstream medical establishment. I also walked the path of energetic and spiritual healing, and received the sacred rite of the womb keeper to help women heal from generations of pain and remember their magic.
However, bridging the two worlds of doctor and healer has not been easy, and I have battled deeply with the fear of judgement on my path. I feared that my logical medical doctor colleagues would see me as “woo woo” and dismiss my medical knowledge and value. I was also met with trepidation by some of the acupuncturists and herbalist when I said I had been trained in western medicine and pharmacology! I know now that this fear prevented me from fully revealing myself and what I actually do, which has ultimately obscured my evolution and authentic expression. If I am honest, I have never quite felt like I fit into either world, but what I do know is that I’m not here to conform to any established model or way of doing things. I am here to pave a unique new path.
But what is the path of my destiny I wondered.
A Journey To The Stone Of Destiny
After I opened sacred space last night, I wrapped my hand around my warm cup of mugwort tea and set my intention for the evening’s shamanic breathwork journey. I asked my guides to reveal the path of my destiny to me. As always, what unfolded was immense!
As I settled into my journey and my breathing found a nice rhythm, I allowed my “second sight” to come into full view. I immediately recognised the location I had been taken to as the Hill of Tara. This ancient, wind-bitten hill in County Meath is often considered the heartbeat of Ireland that has been occupied continuously since the Neolithic era.
I followed the luminous light beings that were guiding me. We approached a large group of people that had gathered at the base of a mound. What stood on the top of the mound, in all it’s glory, was the Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny.
According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the ancient Book of Invasions, the Lia Fáil was brought to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann, the semi-divine race who are the mythological ancestors of the Irish people. They had travelled to the mystical Northern Isles to learn skills and magic in four sacred cities, and from each city they carried back one of the four great treasures of Ireland: the Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Nuada, the Cauldron of Dagda, and the Lia Fáil.
The Lia Fáil became the sacred stone upon which all the High Kings of Ireland were crowned. When a rightful king placed his feet upon it, the stone was said to roar in a piercing cry of recognition that could be heard across the entire island. Beyond confirming kingship, the stone was also believed to rejuvenate whoever it chose, granting a long and prosperous reign.
As I got closer, I could see that each member of the crowd was taking turns to ascend the mound and attempt to retrieve a sword that was embedded within the stone.
Fear To Step Forward
A duality of emotions rose within me as I watched each person try their hand at pulling the sword from the stone. The first that I became aware of was a deep intuitive knowing that every cell in my body was telling me that I could do it, that the sword was destined to be mine. But the shadow of fear soon crept in that kept me glued to my spot. The fear that had many voices began to consume me. What if I fail while everyone is standing here watching? What if I don’t have the strength to wield this sword? What if the responsibility that comes with success is too much?
Suddenly, all eyes were on me and the luminous guides cleared a path so that I could approach the stone. The closer I got, the more radiant the stone became. A golden light awoke within the stone that sent spirals of light into the sword. The sword began to glow in the most stunning electric blue light as my hand closed around the hilt. In that moment, the stone responded to my energy and began to sing. I pulled the sword from the stone as smoothly as a hot knife runs through butter.
The Shadow of Cúchulainn
The significance of the sword in the Lia Fáil was not lost on me, and in the depths of my shamanic journey I was reminded of a famous sword-and-stone legend. In Irish mythology, the great hero Cúchulainn, one of the most beloved and fearsome figures in Celtic lore, once stood before the Lia Fáil in fury. The stone had refused to roar for his protégé, Lugaid Riab nDerg. Enraged by what he saw as a rejection of someone he loved, Cúchulainn drew his sword and struck the stone, splitting it in two.
From that day forward, the stone fell largely silent and only sang for a handful of the most legendary kings: Conn of the Hundred Battles and Brian Boru at his coronation in 1002 AD. There is so much to sit with in this story. A powerful man, enraged that the sacred earth did not confirm what he had decided. Striking the speaking stone into silence. A familiar pattern for many, I am sure!
The Duality Within The Stone
After drawing the sword from the stone I was then taken into deep contemplation about the duality of what the stone itself represents. On one hand the stone is well regarded as the sacred oracle that crowned kings. The roaring voice of destiny through which the gods announced their chosen one. I really love this divine nod to sovereignty and power that was decided by the gods, not man.
However, on the other hand, the Lia Fáil is also a standing phallic stone of white granite and quartz that is believed by many to represent fertility and generative life-force. This links it directly to something far more ancient than kingship: the earth religions that preceded structured political systems, in which the land was understood as a goddess, and fertility was the most sacred power of all.
In early Irish tradition, a king was not merely a political ruler, he was married to the land and a guardian of her mystic power. In my journey I got a sense that the stone represented that sacred union or meeting point between human authority and the earth's blessing. A king who made the stone roar guaranteed not just his own reign, but the abundance of his people through fertile harvests, healthy livestock, and the continued turning of the great wheel of life.
Stepping Into Sovereign Energy
As I returned to the familiarity of the human world my head was spinning with questions. I found myself reflecting on the significance of my journey to the stone of destiny and everything that had unfolded.
What had struck me most deeply was my fear to step forward. As I mulled it over, I realised that what I feared the most was what success would mean. Because the moment that you draw the sword, you can no longer pretend you don't carry it. You can no longer hover at the edges of your purpose, doing good work quietly, staying just small enough to avoid the full weight of what you are here to do. Drawing the sword is an act of acceptance of your destined path.
The path of the sovereign is not a path of power for its own sake. It is a path of responsibility. Of showing up, again and again, for something larger than yourself. In the Irish tradition, the king who was chosen by the stone was not elevated above his people, he was actually bound to them. His wellbeing and theirs were one. If the land suffered, then the king had failed. If the people were unprotected, the sovereignty was hollow.
That is the contract I felt the stone was offering me as I drew the sword from it. To walk the path of the protector and advocate for the feminine, for women's bodies, women's health and women's history on this land. To me, this means to stand and witness the lineage of every woman who was silenced, who was burned, who was medicalised into submission, and who was told her knowing was madness.
It’s time for me to move beyond my fears and do what my destiny is calling for.
Are you ready to do the same?