Waters Blessing and Healing Power
I grew up in a culture where water’s ability to bless and heal was as normal and everyday as yeast rising dough in Italy.
At a time when people rarely left the Emerald Isle (unless to emigrate), my Grandmother, Aunt and Mother would jet off to holy springs in faraway exotic places. Fatima and Lourdes don’t exactly rank on the exotic scale these days, but back then, anywhere over the Irish Sea conjured up images of tropical paradises. They didn’t fly to soak up the sun, or savour the cuisine, (although this was a definite bonus) they were on a mission, a holy healing mission. Taking my eldest sister, in the hope of curing her birth defect. She was born with one leg shorter then the other.
My family and sister would return with tanned faces and stories of miraculous miracles. Although, sadly, these miraculous cures never included my sister. I was never sick enough to warrant a trip, so these faraway sacred springs, with the power to cure the incurable, intrigued me all the more.
Although this didn’t mean I lacked for blessings. Holy water from Lourdes and Fatima was a treasured commodity and brought home in bucket loads for eager neighbours and relatives. Armed with her fresh supply of exotic holy water my grandmother had more reason to dowse me. She had a habit of splashing holy water on me when she felt I needed a blessing. This was every time I left the house, when I was down and sometimes when heading to bed.
You get used to being drenched with cold water in Ireland. It is inevitable that you will be caught in an unexpected downfall of rain a few times a week. So being doused with a cold splash of holy water when stirring sugar into your milky cup of tea is not as big a shock to the system as one would expect.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated my grandmother’s dedication to spiritually protecting me. I was truly blessed to have her. However, I never thought deeply about what the significance was to her, and I never asked her. But communication is not always transmitted through words.
I remember my Grandmother receiving a gift of holy water from a neighbour. The neighbour had collected it from a Holy well when visiting relatives in the country. My Grandmother treated this water like a treasure, something sacred, something powerful. There was some talk about the Holy well, it’s relevance, but this I forget, as a teenager sacred, Holy water was not something on my radar.
Now it 30 years after my Grandmother passed. I remember her and wish I could take her on a pilgrim of the incredible array of Holy Wells sprinkled around this island, we call home.
Let’s dive into the enchanting world of holy wells.
Sacred Wells, Alive and Well
Believe or not, in modern day Ireland, ancient water rituals are still alive and well (excuse the pun).
The Irish have kept not just hundreds, but thousands, of their holy wells intact and use them for prayer, blessings and pilgrimage.
These rituals stretch back to the days before Christianity landed on Irish shores.
Ireland is the proud record holder, the country with the most holy wells. And Ireland is not a big country.
In comparison, Northern Ireland (part of the UK) has only 112 holy wells, while Southern Ireland, which is only 6 times the size of NI, has over 3,000 holy wells.
Why would this be? Southern Ireland, even under the subversion of colonialism, has retained a strong identity and a link with an ancient spiritual lineage.
During colonialism, the Irish learnt how to maintain their identity even when a dominant force insisted they succumb.
Many Irish wells are still well-maintained and used by the locals as a source of sacred, blessed water.
The people of Southern Ireland’s spirit and connection with their land, nature and water, has not yet been fully severed.
Ancient Well Rituals
Ancient people travelled miles to harvest water, used to heal ailments, attract abundance, or protect homes.
A few years ago, I had been spending far too much time working on my laptop, and thus my eyes had decided to blur up. Their request for a break had been ignored, so they went on strike.
Near where I was living in Galway, was a tidal well, St Augustine’s Well. Known for its ability to heal eye ailments. I collected a big bottle from the shores of Galway bay one day and doused it over my eyes in bucketloads.
Sadly, it didn’t help; maybe I didn’t perform the correct ritual, maybe I was supposed to collect the water at noon, maybe I didn’t approach the well with enough reverence. Maybe there was a chant or prayer I failed to utter.
Perhaps in ancient times, it was known which eye ailment each eye curing well cured. One well cured blurred vision due to reading too much, one was for cataracts, another for glaucoma, another for dry eye, and so the list continues. But, I am guessing that none would have been for laptop fatigue.
Near where I live now there is a Holy well, Tubber Voydan which cures warts ( I know someone who cured his horse’s warts using it). The sacred well is located at the base of an ancient high cross and takes the form of a bullaun stone. Dedicated to the Saint Voydan.
There is also Well which brings animals back to life, even after it has been eaten. I don’t know anyone who has managed to do this, although admittedly I also don’t know anyone who has tried. The well is named after Saint Sourney a 6th century Irish saint who had the power to bring animals back to life.
You can find her well if you head to Ballinderreen, Co Glaway, and ask for Saint Sourney’s Well. Aside from resurrecting hamburgers and Sunday’s roast, Saint Sourney’s holy well is also known to cure headaches. To eradicate your persistent headache visit the well on a Monday, Thursday and the following Monday. Every time you visit the well you must leave something, even if this is a small button. The offering must be put on the raised bank of earth beside the well.
Well, this is just two of the many profoundly historic and richly symbolic wells that are dotted around the Burren.
