Listen to the Land Speak: A Journey into the wisdom of what lies beneath us

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Only criticism is that it can be a bit much at times, and without some basic prior knowledge of certain mythological aspects/places it can make you lost. In this book, Magan appears to set out on a related exercise, which is to tie elements of the Irish landscape, rather than the Irish language, to ancient mythology, religion, custom, and life. During lockdowns many of us rediscovered our local landscapes – hills, woods, rivers – and this book is an opportunity for us all to learn even more about some of these important Irish sites.

Listen to the Land Speak - Booktopia Listen to the Land Speak - Booktopia

Magan, a chief guard of the secrets of the Irish past, has reintroduced the Irish heritage to its people, and to those around the world willing to learn about its ways.The saint was a descendant of Rudraige mac Sithrigi, a high king of Ireland who is associated with the great supernatural wave Tonn Rudraige and who is said to be buried on the shore beside it. He uncovers the ancient myths that have shaped our national identity and are embedded in the strata of land that have endured through millennia - from ice ages through to famines and floods.

Listen to the Land Speak - Manchán Magan - €19.99 - Castle Books Listen to the Land Speak - Manchán Magan - €19.99 - Castle Books

Machán does a great job of putting in his own personal experiences and linking it to a greater discussion of how we relate to the natural world and each other. By infusing his work with his own personal experience of the places he has visited and explored, he proves just how simple it can be to reconnect with these moments of lost knowledge, leaving us a guide map to the landmarks in Ireland that still hold the gravitas and energy to reconnect us to the past. A fascinating book that explores the overlap between the Ireland that exists in mythology and the Ireland that exists today. It reads as accessible academia, however it lacks the footnoting that could lend it more clear purpose.It is his aim then, to bring us back to a point in time where the people were as connected to the land and the murmurs of the past as those that lived generations before them.