Fáilte go dtí Tara Celebrations - gathering to celebrate our lives and all life on earth

On arrival we found the well flooded in the lower section so we could not use that area.

Sixteen gathered on the path by the bench, familiar faces and welcome newbies and visitors.

Thanks to Susan for the photos.

Although not beside the well entrance we did not forget it, and placed lights on the top step.

When looking at the photos afterwards we saw a red mist on some of them - in hindsight we did of course call in the local Gods and Goddesses and Medb Lethderg (`red-side`) is land goddess of sovereignty at Tara...

and a line of lights which we cannot account for

We all shared the calling of the elements and directions, Gods and Goddesses, and in love and light the ancesters.  We felt to read the ancestral honouring 3 times by 3 different people.

Our centre was simple, four coloured electric tea lights placed in the north, east, south and west, with a central cauldron.

We wrote what we wanted to leave behind in the old year onto a piece of paper, and then while summoning up all emotions of  'I really want to get rid of this' tossed it into the cauldron. 

Before lighting the papers we silently recalled what we had written, said aloud 'I really want to get rid of this', with the group witnessing this and responding 'We support you'. 

Then we lit all the papers and they quickly burnt, the smoke rising up and over the surrounding circle of people.

The half moon hung high above us bright and white / silver, we could see the 7 lights of the Plough. 

People were letting off fireworks on the hill so every so often there would be a crash and a whoosh and bright stars falling through the sky. 

We talked of the Pleiades and navigating by the stars. 

 One of the people brought a dog, little white terrier, who every so often barked at something we could not see!

We honoured our ancestors, remembering stories of their lives, some spoke openly whilst others held their ancestral memories and space in silence.

Finally it was time to bring closure to the last cycle. 

We extinguished the flame in the lantern, which has been lit for so many celebrations in recent years, and stood in the dark.  It was pure magic when we turned off all the lights and candles and stood, lit only by the moon.  How quickly our eyes adjusted to that.

The dark structure of the lantern shone silver under the moon, and especially brightly as the camera flashed for a photo.  Those flashes added to the ambience, dare we say eeriness, of the moment.

We confirmed our intention to meet at Winter Solstice, in person or 'in spirit', thanked and blessed the overlighting energies and said 'sin sin'.

Time for cake, biscuits and sweet juicy plums.

In Galway Martin carved out his pumpkin...  wondering was that before or after the wine?