BALLYVOURNEY to the sacred well dedicated to Et. Gobnait. Many of the sacred wells were originally pagan shrines. The Celts believed the earth's waters were issued form the Underworld Goddess who ruled both birth and death. For them the waters represented her eternal wisdom and her life giving spirit. They believed that the easiest way to gain access to the Other world was through the divine springs and wells. Another feature here is a SHEELA-NA-GIG but more on this later because this is just cool.I come from a Catholic background. I grew up praying on the rosary. My Nana Gin taught me how to use the rosary. As a child it had a profound effect on me in a positive way that I will always cherish. For as long as I can remember I have been having conversations with God even before I prayed with the rosaries. This gets complicated. And I won't get into my personal evolution of faith BUT for me a person who has always been interested in the study of religion, faith, philosophy and metaphysics among other types of spirituality, learning Ireland's Celtic Catholic faith is illuminating. I will touch more on this later. But to give you an example it's like be a buddhist and Catholic and the same time. Your heart feels both.
