Sitting with the Mothers: Getting to Know Bóinn
A Goddess Remembered during Winter Solstice Season
An audio recording is included as an invitation to experience the sacredness held within the voice (and tradition) of oral storytelling. If it resonates, please enjoy at your leisure - maybe curled up with a warm cuppa tea or held within the wild embrace of the magical natural world that surrounds you.
Mo ghrá go léir / All my love,
Erica
Ever since I was little, I’ve always felt a kinship with the animal realm.
One day, my cousins and I were walking through the barns at a local fall fair. I couldn’t have been more than nine or ten years old at the time, and I said (with a smile): I can talk to animals, you know.
My cousins giggled; to which my response was simply to show them.
As we walked by the sheep and cows, I let out a small vocal tone to which a beautiful mother cow echoed a response that billowed through the whole building.
We all were stunned. Even I couldn’t believe it.
I had always loved cows.
But that day, I felt an even deeper kinship to the beloved animals who roamed the many fields near my home.
Through the Sitting with the Mothers series, I am also bearing witness to the synonymous relationship between land and language. For a soul such as I, living across the Atlantic sea, longing to know Éire, her spirit, her ancient matriarchs, and her sacred lands, with humble curiosity, I lean into the incantations found within the rhythms and tone of her language to receive a glimpse into the herstory of her.
Goddess Bóinn
Bóinn, she who carries many a name.
Boann. Bóand. Bóinn.
To site a few.
With her name expressed through various phonetic iterations, one can find a common root word: bó (in Irish) meaning cow. In Live Irish Myths: Episode 16 - Boínn, Goddess of Brú na Boínne, Anthony Murphy explores additional insights into the Celtic semantic history of Bóinn’s name through it’s spellings - including Bouvinda meaning ‘illuminated cow’ with vind having connections to the colour white, illumination, and wisdom.
Bóinn, she who touches both earth and sky.
Upon the land of Éire, the Goddess Bóinn is synonymous with the River Boyne. In the same episode sited above, Murphy also explores how the name of The River Boyne is one of the earliest sited toponyms - dating back as far as the second century. The sacred waters of Bóinn rise near Carbury, County Kildare, flowing through County Meath towards the north east; where she finds her final resting place among the embrace of the Irish sea - between County Meath and Count Louth.
Yet, the poignant presence of Bóinn is sensed not only among Éire’s rivers; but in the stars, as well - what a gift for those of us living across the seas to be able to gaze upwards the heavens to receive a glimpse of her.
In Irish, The Milky Way is also known as Bealach na Bó Finne or ‘The Way of the White Cow’. To me, there is an enchanting essence to the proverbial saying as above, so below when considering the divine reflection of Boínn as both earth and sky.
Bóinn, Great Mother. Womb of Light.
In Irish mythology, Bóinn is the mother of Óengus Óg (the God of Love).
In preparing for this piece, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what my heart was longing to have affirmed in researching the connection between the Goddess Boínn, Brú na Bóinne, and the celebration of Winter Solstice. When
’s publishing of Womb of Light landed in my inbox, it felt as though her words were speaking directly to my heart - and what it longed to hear:Newgrange and its sister temples, Knowth (Cnoc Buí, ‘Hill of the Goddess Buí’) and Dowth (Dubad meaning ‘growing dark’ or ‘blackening’) are known as Brú na Bóinne, ‘Womb of the White Cow’ in Irish. Brú is most commonly translated as ‘mansion’ but in Old Irish, it also means ‘womb’ or ‘belly’.
One might say, Bóinn is embodied through curved stones and fertile earth at the site of these sacred mounds, found at the bend in her river.
To me, Brú na Bóinne is more than a home for kings and gods. It is the sacred grounds of the Womb of the White Cow. It is a sacred site the honours the powerful grace of Máthair Mhór and her capacity to hold the light of life within her.
What I love about the spirit of language found in the sharing of Bóinn’s story, is how we can rest within the rhythms of her and her mythology to feel her presence - even if we’re not able to walk among her ancient ruins or along the banks of her river.
Winter Solstice and Irish Mythology: A Love Story Resting in Sacred Stones and the Cosmos
A story goes, Bóinn was married to Nechtan (also known as Elcmaire). Their home, resting at the seat of Sí an Bhrú, was also the meeting place for a divine love story.1
Here, Bóinn (goddess of fertility and the River Boyne) and the Dagda (the great god of Tuatha Dé Dannon) fall in love.
Through their union, Bóinn becomes pregnant with the Dagda’s child. So, under his watchful eye and magical presence, the Dagda halts the sun in the sky. Not only as a means of concealing Bóinn’s pregnancy from her husband, but to evade time. For as the sun rested in the sky, Bóinn brings their son (Óengus Óg) into the world in what appears as a single day.
What is shared this story is echoed on the land of Éire during the Winter Solstice Season at the site of Newgrange - also known as Sí an Bhrú (one of the sacred mounds at Brú na Bóinne).
On December 21st, 2024, at approximately 9:20am GMT, winter rays of the solstice sun will have illuminated the inner chamber of Sí an Bhrú.
Similarly, on the surrounding mornings of the Winter Solstice season (from about December 19th to 23rd), with its rising position upon the southeastern horizon2, it will appear as though the sun is at a ‘stand still’.
The celestial magic of Bóinn’s and the Dagda’s love story continues to reverberate through time as the sun seems to pause for seventeen magical moments, each year on December 21st.
Thither from the south came Boand wife of Nechtain to the love-tryst to the house of Elcmaire, lord of horses, a man that gave many a good judgment. Thither came by chance the Dagda into the house of famous Elcmaire: he fell to importuning the woman: he brought her to the birth in a single day. It was then they made the sun stand still to the end of nine months – strange the tale – warming the noble ether in the roof of the perfect firmament. Then said the woman here: "Union with thee, that were my one desire!" "And Oengus shall be the boy's name," said the Dagda, in noble wise. Boannd II. The Metrical Dindshenchas. Volume 3.
For me, the Winter Solstice season is about honouring the sacred darkness and the spark of light from which all creation is born - through the womb of a mother.
So, what if we paused in the stillness?
What if we could ‘stop time’ and relish in the womb of darkness?
What if we could be poised on the cusp of creation?
What if we could be nourished in the renewal of new light?
As Máthair Mhór sings to us her lullabies through rivers and stones.
As she peers down from the heavens or cradles the earth of our bones.
This is where I meet Bóinn.
In the stories of her spirit held within the stars and land.
To me, Brú na Bóinne is Bóinn; and Bóinn is Brú na Bóinne.
For Bóinn
For, 'twas her who birthed
The light that dwelled
Within the womb
From darkness
Illuminated
New life did bloom
A Telling of: Brigid and the Stars
In a recent roadtrip with my brother’s family, I noticed how my young niece would erupt with joy and laughter every time she saw cows.
Her laughter made my heart sing.
Her joy made my spirit dance.
This story came into being from a shared experience. That of a proud aunt - who was once just like her niece.
That of an aunt wanting to gift her niece a story inspired by our Irish ancestry. A story of magic, wonder, wise women - and of course, cows.
It’s a story inspired by the love and reverence I have for the wise spirits of the animal realm.
Yet, most importantly, it’s inspired by a heart longing to honour Boínn and her story.
So, may Brigid and the Stars be warm company around the hearth of your Winter Solstice Season. And may the herstory Boínn always be remembered.
Mo ghrá go léir,
Erica
[Brigid and the Stars starts at the time stamp of 10:55. The audio is linked at the beginning of this offering.]
Being of Irish and French ancestry, I continue to be reverently grateful to the traditional spirits and keepers of the land [past, present, and forth-coming] of the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg People; where I was born and currently reside.
Culture, language, and stories run within the rivers and are held within the stones of landscapes. Míle buíochas, a thousand thanks, for the opportunity to live, create, share stories, and walk alongside you.
Interested in more information on 1:1 supportive offerings or Erica’s approach to sacred storytelling?
Please visit Into the Circle with Erica O’Reilly for more information.
I would love for Weavings of the Wise & Embodied to be an opportunity for us to connect in shared story. A homecoming of souls around the hearth, held within this sacred liminal space.
Please feel welcome to contribute or share by leaving a comment below. It would be wonderful to hear from you.
Until we meet in circle again, may grace and ease continue to find you.
Le dea ghuí / With good wishes,
Erica
My personal perception of this story (alongside my resonance with the Goddess Boínn) has been inspired and influenced by the magical telling of Laura Murphy’s Boinn Re:membered as shared with
and The KnotWork Storytelling Podcast. This experience was one of my first introductions to Boínn - and it shook me to my core. So, while my heartful understanding of Boínn may differ from what’s documented within the Metrical Dindshechas (as scribed by Christian monks centuries ago), I feel there’s space for all versions of her story. To me, this is the beauty of sharing and connecting through myth. These stories have lives of their own; that shift or grow with the passage of time. So, for me personally, there’s the presence of a love story in held within the mysticism of the Winter Solstice Season and the stone walls of Brú na Bóinne. This is where I speak from.Murphy, Anthony. The Dagda & Cosmology in the Early Stories of Brug Na Bóinne.
Thank you for this post of deep beauty Erica, it really feels like Bóinn is coming through in the most creative and rousing of ways - on our retreat on her banks in October she came through in people's night dreams. It's like she's wanting to make herself known again and so, it's so deeply moving to read and be inspired by your words. & happy birthday, Lá Fhéile Erica! 😍 Sending humongous hugs across the Atlantic Xx
This is so beautiful. I love the way that you are weaving they stories and your life. I haven't seen the ice candles before. Can you expand on that a little? The tradition and how to create them?