Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage: The Wisdom of Irish Saints Kevin, Ita, and Enda
- Online retreat
- Self-study, start anytime
- Move at your own pace, in your own place
- Lifetime access
Registration Fee: $180 USD
Do you long to embark on a pilgrimage of the heart?
What might your intention be in this season of your life?
How might making a 9-day commitment to your inner journey reveal new pathways into the future?
Program Description
You are invited on a journey of the heart. In the Celtic imagination, the portal to cross thresholds into other realms is as close as our breath, as near as the pulse of our aliveness. You are invited onto a pilgrimage where you might physically walk only a few steps, but your soul can travel vast distances.
Abbey of the Arts has created this virtual pilgrimage with the help of our wonderful filmmaker friends at Morgan Creative and some of our favorite guides in Ireland as a way to invite you into the beauty of some of Ireland’s sacred places without having to pack a suitcase.
This pilgrimage was originally offered during Samhain (Oct 31 – Nov 8) which is the start of the new year in the Celtic calendar and the beginning of the dark half of the year. Samhain wisdom teaches us that all beginnings happen in the womb-space of holy darkness. This is also the time when the ancestors are considered to be especially close to us, dancing just beyond the veil.
In this nine-day pilgrimage you are invited to explore the gifts and invitations that Saints Kevin, Ita, and Enda have for us along with the wider wisdom of the Celtic tradition. Each day you will explore a different theme connected to their life and vision through teaching, music, meditation, storytelling, ritual, and embodied prayer to connect to the Celtic imagination and unearth your heart’s deep longings.
If a nine-day pilgrimage is too intense for your life commitments, you can spread them out over nine weeks or nine months. You have lifetime access to the material. Pilgrimage is time outside of time, so however you are being called to journey is perfect.
The live sessions were recorded over the feast of Samhain (Oct 31 – Nov 8) but can be watched at any time you want to connect with Ireland, Celtic spirituality and your ancestors. Please disregard any reference to sharing as a discussion forum is not included in this self-study version.
What might your intention be in this season of your life?
What are the new beginnings you desire?
How might making a 9-day commitment to your inner journey reveal new pathways into the future?
What's Included
Each video recording of the live session originally offered around the Feast of Samhain lasts approximately 75 minutes and includes teaching and meditation from Christine Valters Paintner, music and prayer from Simon de Voil, invitations into embodied prayer with Betsey Beckman, and beautifully filmed videos with local guides Dara Molloy, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, Pius Murray, Fr. Michael Rodgers, and Pádraigín Clancy, as well as storytelling from Órla Mc Govern, offering their wisdom and insight into aspects of Celtic pilgrimage and spirituality. These 10-15 minute videos were filmed at the islands of Inismor and Inisheer (two of the Aran islands off the coast from Galway) and the beautiful monastic city of Glendalough. The videos have the option to be viewed with closed captions and a transcript is available for download.
We explore the gifts and invitations that Saints Kevin, Ita, and Enda have for us. Each day we consider a different theme connected to their life and vision. Each day you will be invited into meditations to connect to the Celtic imagination and unearth your heart’s deep longings. There will be suggestions for practices of contemplative walking and other meditation between sessions.
If a nine-day pilgrimage is too intense for your life commitments, you can spread them out over nine weeks or nine months as you have lifetime access to them. Pilgrimage is time outside of time, so however you are being called to journey is perfect.
This pilgrimage also includes a bonus poetry reading with Irish poet Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin and an Irish Keen exploration (the ancient Irish death lament) with singer Mary Mc Laughlin. (Closed captions and a full transcript are available.)
What's Included
- 75 minute recorded webinars led by Christine Valters Painter with teaching and meditation that also includes:
- Music from Simon de Voil
- Invitations to embodied prayer with Betsey Beckman
- Beautifully filmed videos with local guides Dara Molloy, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, Pius Murray, Fr. Michael Rodgers, and Pádraigín Clancy, as well as storytelling from Órla Mc Govern, offering their wisdom and insight into aspects of Celtic pilgrimage and spirituality. These 10-15 minute videos were filmed at the islands of Inismor and Inisheer (two of the Aran islands off the coast from Galway) and the beautiful monastic city of Glendalough.
- Poem videos by Christine Valters Paintner
- BONUS: Poetry reading with Irish poet Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin and an Irish Keen exploration (the ancient Irish death lament) with singer Mary Mc Laughlin
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Lifetime access to all material in our private and easy-to-navigate retreat platform
Pilgrimage is a way to encounter the divine in all moments, but especially in the stranger. That stranger might be in ourselves or the stranger in others.
Weekly Themes
Day 1
St. Kevin: Journey and Pilgrimage
Drawing on wisdom from St. Kevin’s life, we explore what happens when we awaken to all of life as a journey and see the gifts each day brings, embracing pilgrimage as an opening to new possibilities.
Day 2
St. Kevin: The Veil is Thin
With St. Kevin and the community of Glendalough as guide, we’re invited to feel the kinship of the living and the dead as one great community through leaning into the wisdom of our intuition, dreams, and signs and symbols.
Day 3
St. Kevin: Retreat to the Desert
The Celtic monks sought desert places in the wilderness to have radical encounters with creation. Through St. Kevin’s story with the blackbird, we’re invited to enter our own desert spaces to be undone and softened by the divine presence.
Day 4
St. Ita: Women in Monastic Life
Through St. Ita and through exploring women in the monastic life, we honor their struggle to live into the fullness of their calling and celebrate the ways in which they did, pondering how we might live into the fullness of who we are.
Day 5
St. Ita: Dreams and Visions
St. Ita’s visions and dreams guided her own journey, and engaging with her story invites us to commit to deepening our practice of tending to day dreams and night dreams, trusting these dreams respond to our intention and our desire.
Day 6
St. Ita: Samhain and Seasonal Rhythms
With St. Ita to support us, we’re invited to hold the tension that can accompany welcoming the ancestors — grief in the loss and also beautiful joy of knowing that there is this shimmering love of thousands across the veil blessing us.
Day 7
St. Enda: Angel’s Walk
Visiting St. Enda’s monastery and the Footpath of the Angels, we’re invited to walk and pray with angels, resting into a sense of the angelic realm as an extension of the divine love.
Day 8
St. Enda: Way of the Hermit
With St. Enda as guide, we explore the hermit’s way as a resistance to the pressures of modern life and a celebration of the beauty of creation and the love of the creator that is always available when we slow down enough to receive.
Day 9
St. Enda: Remembering Who You Are
We invite the wisdom of St. Kevin, St. Ita, and St. Enda from this pilgrimage to wash over us and consider what this journey has helped us to remember about who we are, what we love, and what we long for.
Rhythm of the Pilgrimage
Each day for nine days, you will receive an email with a link to that day’s content. Content includes a 75 minute recorded webinar with teaching and meditation, music, invitations into embodied prayer, and beautifully filmed videos of sacred sites in the west of Ireland. We’ve also included a bonus poetry reading with Irish poet Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin and an Irish Keen exploration (the ancient Irish death lament) with singer Mary Mc Laughlin.
You have lifetime access to the materials and can move at your own pace.
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE
Christine is the director and abbess of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery—a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
Rev Simon Ruth de Voil
Reverend Simon Ruth de Voil is an interfaith-interspiritual minister, sacred musician, spiritual counsellor, and chaplain. His sacred work—both musical and interpersonal—explores themes of the inner landscape of the soul, the enchantment of the natural world, and the healing power of spiritual practice. As a chaplain and counsellor, Simon helps individuals and groups connect sacred presence with everyday life. Simon is also a transgender activist and a luthier in training. Visit Simon’s website at SimondeVoil.com.
Guest Teachers
Betsey Beckman
Deirdre Ní Chinnéide
Dara Molloy
Pius Murray
Mary Mc Laughlin
Órla Mc Govern
Fr. Michael Rodgers
Pádraigín Clancy
Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin
We have to go away from the normal place where we are secure, and where we identify ourselves. We have to leave all that behind and find the bigger self.
Praise for the Pilgrimage
Registration
$180
Registration Fee
If you need a different payment plan or a scholarship to make this program accessible, please complete the scholarship request form.
Terms and Conditions
Please consider your purchase carefully and review the many free materials we have on our website to make sure the program will be a good fit or get in touch with any questions.
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Some self-study retreats include video or audio recordings of sessions that were recorded in a live community offering of the retreat and may make reference to forums or other modes of sharing. Please disregard these as self-study retreats do not have these available.
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