We love this article from our Spring 2021 issue, featuring the acclaimed wise woman and teacher Amantha Murphy. In it, Amantha described her remarkable journey, and what the path of the Seabhean means to her: ‘For me, this is the traditional Irish path of the healing woman and seer.’ Enjoy the full article below.
Celtic Soul Journeys
Mother Nature and You
by Alison McEvoy
A call to the Hearth
Wise woman Amantha Murphy is a joy to listen to. You get the feeling of being immediately transported back to an older, simpler time. Her voice and her stories carry you to a space around the hearth, where connection to the land, to the community, to the wisdom within, are live and vital forces pulsing through the heart of the human being.
Remembering Your Roots
For Amantha, reconnecting into what may have been misplaced within begins with the roots – the ancestors. She tells wonderful stories about her own grandmother, a small lady with a big heart, the midwife of the community, who guided life both in and out of this world. Hers is an invitation to us all to get to know our roots.
The lives and experiences of our ancestors created patterns of feeling, thinking, being and acting in them. These patterns were woven into their DNA, and the ongoing flow of that DNA, to their children, and their children’s children and into you. This can so often be seen through the simple act of children imitating the actions and absorbing the attitudes of their care-givers. We need to know our ancestors’ stories. To know who we are – so we can understand whose griefs, pains and hardships, or whose joys, wonders and curiosities, are emanating out from within us.
It was Amantha’s grandmother who first initiated her towards the path of the Seabhean. ‘For me, this is the traditional Irish path of the healing woman and seer.’ Her book reveals the teachings she has gleaned from a lifetime of treading this path, allowing willing readers to ‘delve deeper within themselves … to become all that one is meant to be within the essence of their nature.’
Landmarks Along the ‘Way’
Walking a conscious journey through life involves recognising the often silent, gentle communications that Life offers us. Amantha remains consistently open to this guidance, listening, asking for clarification and responding to the call. It can sound complicated – however, it’s really rather simple. Where it leads you is always where you need to be. The following story is how Celtic Soul Journeys began;
‘I went to a psychotherapy conference in Killarney in 1995. There were many people from the US attending. I met some women who asked me to take them to the sacred sites upon the land, and I panicked. I went into the bathroom, and turning inwards, I asked, “what do you want me to do, Great Mother? What do you want of me here?” In response I heard the words, “Bring them in pilgrimage”. I came out and said “Yes…” Thus, the next phase of my journey began.’
Offerings
Amantha offers a variety of ways for you to access her work. Amantha’s book ‘The Way of the Seabhean’ finally emerged from its womb of creation this February. You can also walk with her through pilgrimage or have her enact rites of passage for you or your loved ones during times of transition or hardship. She offers teaching courses online and personal sessions, one to one. If you feel the call, remember to respond, and remember that on the other side of your response to the call of your soul lies healing, reconnection and wholeness. Bless your way!
