Meditation: The Path to Queen Maedhbh's Cairn

A guided meditation up Cnoc na Riabh to Queen Maedhbh's cairn and, perhaps, to somewhere deeper than what meets the eye.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Please make yourself comfortable. Settle down and slow down until you're still. You may wish to close your eyes. You may wish to soften them. Concentrate on your breath, the life-giving quality of it, as you inhale and exhale slowly and deliberately. If thoughts come, let them come, and then let them pass. Do not grasp them, but do not give them any worry. You're doing just fine. Keep breathing. Targ Danalishtak Isling Shi Mach. Draw your breath in and let her out. You are alive. You are alive, and you are walking between high hedges on your way to see the queen. Ahead, the great striped hill rises above you, its flat top covered in mist. It is ringed with dark green pines, and below that are shrubs, then pasture. You hear the gentle calling of cattle. It has rained recently, and it may do so again. The path is damp. The gravel crunches underneath your feet as you ascend a slight incline, moving ever closer to her. The path turns, taking you along the side of the crook, the hill, and you follow it, trusting it will bring you to her. You pass crumbled houses, overgrown with long grasses. You think about who may have lived in them, and under what circumstances they left. As your gaze passes above their remains, you see the sea, calm and silver. There are clouds above it and around you, and in the distance you can see a sheet of rain falling from them, veiling the land below and streaming mist. It is possible this rain will fall on you, such as life. Taring Danalish Tach is Ling Shi Mach. Draw your breath in and let her out. You enter the forest, climbing ever upward on wooden planks. Someone has driven nails into all of the planks in an effort to improve the grip in this moist environment. Together they make a staircase, surrounded by soft pine needles. Little light penetrates here. The darkness in the trees is punctuated only by subdued sunlight through holes made when trees fell during a storm. The staircase turns and turns again, and you wonder how long you will be climbing them. Then, finally, you turn a corner and light bursts forth. The skies have cleared, and before you is bright, brilliant blue. Your speed increases, drawn to it. You leave the forest behind you. Truly, the top of this crook is entirely unlike the forest. There are no trees here, only one single scraggly bush. It sits above masses of purple heather. Beside it passes your trail, a dirt path worn by thousands of feet. Supplicants to the queen. You are surprised by how long you walk here before you see it. Her cairn. Across the heather, finally, the cairn rises above, stark and majestic against the backdrop of the sky. You would like to run to her, but you walk and breathe. Taring Danal Ishach Is Lig Shiamach. It feels like forever as you walk toward her, keeping your eyes always on the cairn. You marvel at its size, and wonder how on earth it was built, here, atop a crook that is often battered with wind and rain. As if summoned by those thoughts, a great wind rips across the open crook, and you hasten to zip up your raincoat. The clouds you saw on the way up have found you here. You hunch against the weather and wait for it to pass. And pass it does. It is but a moment, then it is over. The sky remains grey, and you continue on your way to her. You are before the Cairn, and it towers over you. There is a large flat stone on the ground before it, and you sit on it before wondering about its past purpose. Was this an altar? Are you a sacrifice? You close your eyes and think on her. Some time passes with nothing but a slight wind in your ears. And then perhaps a distant drum talking. The rustle of feet as they move. The smell of campfires waft across your nose. What's going on here? You open your eyes to see. What do you see in this ancient place? The central cairn is still there, but it's surrounded by other structures now, other cairns of smaller sizes. They fan out from it. And everywhere on top of the crook are fires and people. In the distant hills, fires respond. The top of every crook glows with the light of them. Above, the stars are clear within a dark night sky. You have been sitting on an altar, indeed, and now you're kneeling upon it. What do you offer? Give it to her without expectation. She would have it as is due her. But she is also generous, and she would provide as well as take. And so you may ask her a question if you wish, and she may answer it. Or you could simply praise her. If you made a vow to her, you'd best honour it. Tarang Danal Ishtach Islig. Kneeling on the stone, you close your eyes again. The fires have burned long, and the stars have moved across the sky. Many of the others have gone. And it's time for you to go as well. Tarang the Knowlish Tok Is Lig Shimach. Time passed, and time passes, and time will pass. You see her cairn before you as it is now in this day. You rise and wander the sight. The image of what you saw there juxtaposed over what is here, now, open cairns, stones exposed to the sky. But you know what's below and behind and inside. Tarang Danol Ishtach Islag. Bring awareness back to yourself. Naratatu Ray, when you're ready. Make small movements in the muscles that you're able to control. Let these movements continue up your body toward your eyes. Open your eyes slowly and gently. Keeping them soft at first until you're able to open them fully. Record what you've learned here. Anything Bon Real Maeve may have told you, anything you may have seen. Act on her advice or your vows, if there were any. Go forth with what you have received here, and thank her. Ahara, Guru Mahad, Astoyin Iracht. Friend, thank you for your best effort.