Into The West
And Brand New Gatherings
Pints with the mighty Liam O’Maonlai on the return from Inis Oirr
Hello friends, just before we set sail for today’s EPIC, I wanted to let you know of five stand-alone weekends I’m leading in Devon, UK, over the next year. Usually they are tied into attendance of an entire programme, and, although the weekends are certainly connected, they can also be experienced as stand-alone gatherings.
THE SINGING BONE: Brand New Weekends 2025/26
September 5th – 7th 2025
The Hazel Bush & The Magic Hour
A weekend exploring the mysteries and grandeur of the Celtic and Arthurian traditions. From the Invasion Tales of Ancient Ireland to the magic of Deirdre of the Sorrows, through to lesser-known gems of the Arthurian cannon. This is a masterclass into a world filled with fairies, quests and adventure. Alongside the stories will be readings from bardic sources and some exploration of the Irish philosopher John Moriarty.
November 7th – 9th 2025
The Red, The Black & The White
The genius of the fairy tale – a gathering dedicated to the compact vitality of this wonderful folk tradition. Martin will be revisiting some of his favourite stories while introducing some that are quite new to him. What separates a fairy tale from a myth from a folk tale or epic? Alongside the stories, Martin will unpack classic motifs and themes from the tradition.
December 12th – 14th 2025
Wild Christ (With Rowan Williams, Mark Vernon, Natasha Kozaily, Heather Pollington)
A weekend of Christian Wonder Tales. From stories of the early saints through to Joseph venturing through the Underworld in Egypt, to tales of Yeshua himself, what do these amazing stories tell us about how to live? Martin brings thirty years of exploring myth and story to the immensity and mystery of the Christian tradition.
February 6th – 8th 2026
Bearskin
A gathering for men, exploring myths and stories that underpin masculine consciousness in its most elevated form. We will learn from myth and folk tale of the Chivalric tradition, and the concept of Noblesse Oblige. This brings much of Martin’s previous work with Robert Bly, Malidome Somé, Daniel Deardorff and others into new ground. What does mythopoetic work have to say to us in the 21st Century?
March 27th – 29th 2026
Red Bead Woman
Our final weekend is to follow an ecological thread into the heart of the mythic. We explore stories that talk about a world that thinks in myth. These are tales that invigorate us with narratives far from the city gates, that are strange and redemptive, enabling us a sophisticated kind of hope in troubled times.
Consider having a peer over at: The Singing Bone
Into the West
It is a rain-flogged labyrinth of a haunt, gold-grey, ridged with un-dry stone walls and the smallest wee fields you ever saw. And it must have been some kind of anguish to cart seaweed from the ocean up to the fields. Bless those sturdy donkeys of olde. The salty mass tipped shuddering out amongst the stones. In the field corners even now, cow turds are piled up to dry and become fire-lighters. No one under forty wants to handle the dung anymore.
There’s a big emptiness on the island in the middle of winter. Could quite give you thump if you’re not used to being on your own. I walk in circles around my digs a bit, agape at the views, then locate the shop to panic-buy bacon, soda bread, eggs, coffee, butter and the like. Getting dark I peer through the windows of Flaherty’s bar and see there’s more than a few in there, re-arranging the tastebuds of their afternoon to a more positive perspective. Soon, soon but not yet. I want to relish in the aloneness before pints. I need a few more days just be buffeted about by the new-ancientness of this place. I need the discomfort I know will come.
I have something a little dreamlike for you, even more than usual. It’s a long audio recording, taken from my sit on the smallest Aran Island Inis Oirr, about eighteen months ago. This is a recording exclusively for the dear parish of Beasts & Vines. It’s a strong experience listening to this again, and wondering if I’ve been a good custodian of everything that came to me during those days. It was rather tough - raw in its disclosure - but I’d never trade such a journey.
