23/11/2025
The ancient churches of Ireland were once held within sacred groves of trees. The more than human beings were just as present for the rights and rituals that helped us to make meaning of our lives.
Yet, over time, walls were built around the sacred, and the holy was gatekept by those who quenched raw and wild expression in the name of reverence. The same oppressive forces that hid the holy behind books and dogma put an end to our indigenous land-based rites and rituals that wove us into an ecology with all of life.
What could be more reverent than honouring the rites of death and grief through primal movement and sound to the beat of the drum and voices of our elders?
What could be more holy than wailing amongst the trees, held by your community?
What is more sacred than meeting loss with our whole hearts, giving up our whole bodies to the alchemist of loss?
How would it be to gather in council with the more than human, amongst the groves to tend to the most tender parts of our humanity?
What if we welcomed grief back into sacred ecology once more?
This deep winter, the temple in the sacred grove will open its gates to do just that.
On winter Solstice, I invite you to the Temple of the Tender Hearted.
We will gather for two hours on Sunday mornings for 6 weeks to bring our grief to the altar of ecology
We will journey with the elements, plant allies and animal guides to understand the unique ecology of grief that lives within our bodies. We will rest in ritual space with all that longs to be heard, felt and seen.
BEAR - EARTH - HAWTHORN
WHALE - WATER - ROSE
FOX - FIRE - BRAMBLE
OWL - AIR - MUGWORT
WOLF - ETHER - ASH
What wishes to be woven back into belonging?
The temple gates are open 🤍
If your heart feels the call, DM me for the full invitation ❤️🔥✨🙏🏻
In tenderness,
Oonagh x