Newgrange book described as "the work of a spiritual warrior"

Dolores Whelan, author of 'Ever Ancient, Ever New' and an expert on Celtic spirituality, said the following at the launch of Newgrange: Monument to Immortality at The Barbican Centre, Drogheda, on Friday, 9th November 2012.

Anthony's new book on Newgrange offers the reader many different pathways back into the great ancient spiritual heritage of his country.

Newgrange: Monument to Immortality author Anthony Murphy with Dolores Whelan at the book launch in Drogheda

For people like Anthony, newgrange is a very alive, vibrant place and he poses the question, "Can we learn something about why it was built, what its importance was, why it has survived not only as a physical structure but as a dimension of the human psyche. And what, if any, message might it have for us 21st Century humans?

Having established the archaeological foundations he opens up the conversation to a wider space, which includes the cosmological dimensions of Newgrange and the spiritual relevance of this mystical place. If we are to find this knowledge we must spend quiet time there. We must move into an inner space where it would be possible for the Gods and Goddesses who resided in Newgrange come to meet us.

This book explores the archaeology, the astronomy, the spirituality and the mystery of Newgrange. It moves away from the safe options and becomes expansive in the questions it poses.

This book is also a very personal statement, reflecting Anthony's own spiritual journey, his struggles, his questions, his dark night of the soul, and again he does not seek to offer definitive answers but hints at possibilities.

Anthony suggests the defeat of the Tuatha Dé Danann at the hands of the Milesians is at the root of the wasteland that is Western culture, a view shared by the late John Moriarty.

This significant book reflects for me a person who has access to large regions of the intelligence of the universe within themselves, a person who has expanded beyond the confines of the rigid left brain and is in contact with heart knowledge, someone who has allowed themselves to become a conduit for the energies of Newgrange to flow out into the wider world in 2012.

This book is big, courageous, magical, challenging and transformative! This book celebrates our ancestors, not as dead people, but as an integral aspect of ourselves that is longing to be reunited in our hearts.

In summary, 'Newgrange: Monument to Immortality' is the work of a spiritual warrior, who might have been described in the following Triad from our tradition:

A person who has the Eye to see what is

The Heart to feel what is and the courage that dares to follow

New exhibition to feature pictures of Newgrange

The major historical landmarks of the Boyne Valley - along with a few lesser known ones - will feature in an evocative new exhibition by accomplished local photographer Pat Burns opening next week in Drogheda.

Swans and Newgrange . . . one of the Pat Burns photos
which will feature in the exhibition, being opened by
Anthony Murphy.

The exhibition of highly atmospheric black and white prints is the result of five years of meticulous observation and many pre-dawn forays to catch the magical early morning light.

The exhibition, at the Abbey Gallery in Dominic Street, will feature rich moody images of Newgrange, the Hill of Slane, Monasterboice, Mellifont, Dunmoe Castle, Bective Abbey, Tara, Trim Castle, the cairns at Loughcrew and the standing stones at Baltray.

“For over 5,000 years, builders have left their mark in wonderful inscribed stone buildings and monuments across this ancient and historical countryside. It is a rich and royal landscape, home to high kings and druids, Christian saints, monks and monasteries,” says Pat, who hails from Laytown.

“The connecting thread in the landscape is the River Boyne from which the Valley takes its name.”

“The exhibition is an attempt to capture in black and white photographic images not only the beauty of the landscape of the Boyne Valley, but also the power, sense of mystery and atmosphere that still inhabits the place.” 

“There's something palpable that still seems to cling to and live on in the castle ruins, in the high crosses and monasteries, the trees, standing stones, ancient mounds and along the river Boyne itself.”

Adds Pat: “The exhibition is not meant to be an in depth pictorial record of the Boyne Valley. Rather it is a personal visual homage to this place of myth, mystery and beauty.”

Pat is a self-taught photographer with a particular interest in documentary and landscape work. He has recorded many aspects of life and community in Laytown where he has lived for almost thirty years.

The exhibition will be opened by Anthony Murphy, co-author of Island Of The Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers, on Thursday July 26 at 7.30pm.

The Mound of the Hostages at Tara

Cairn S at Loughcrew

The Hag's Chair at Cairn T, Loughcrew