Filidheachd/Poetry 

Some of my earliest memories are of the song of the wind in the trees outside my childhood home, of drawing very tall and very majestic faery-like beings (always in a specific color pink on pink paper), and also of collecting obscure, archaic, often British or old English words for snippets of poems and songs. I had a wee notebook of these word collections that was amongst my most treasured belongings. Much to the bewilderment of those around me, I often tried to semi-awkwardly string these words into my days like the pearls I felt they were. 

As my spiritual journey has deepened and continues to unwind, I have found that expressing in poems and songs still feels most true to my being, and is quite important to me. It has given me both a wee chuckle, and deep comfort to know that this form of expression, so innate to my being, can indeed be woven into a sacred practice with the Otherworld. Moreover, I feel that it is ultimately not me expressing, but the messages and wisdoms of Spirit floating into this dimension through the ink of the pen/sword that I happen to hold in my hand. 

I have also been deeply inspired by the tradition of the Gaelic Bards, a tradition long ago sprang from the Tuatha Dé Danann, and perhaps more specifically the lineage of the Filidh or Filí. I have found but a few stories of them, yet the Filidh are often remembered as sacred Bardic poets who specialised in bringing through prophetic messages from the Otherworld. They would join in ritual with the Otherworld through divination such as scrying or journeying with the noble fly agaric, then would weave these messages into poetic, intricately lilted ballads and prophetic tales of the future to share with humanity. It is believed that while Filidh and Bards were mostly men in modern times, the more ancient iteration of Filidh were perhaps most often women seers, and perhaps even descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Like the Bards, they devoted to spiritual training for many years before they completed their initiations, held their title, and thus begun to share their prophetic, poetic ballads with humanity, often walking from village to village solely devoted to ceremony, to the Faeries and beings of the Otherworld, and the holy messages that these songs carried.

Of their one lasting prophecy I have had the blessing to discover and read, I feel certain that they were able to see and deftly sing of the times in which we live now. 

While I can only aspire to such a caliber as these priestesses, I bow to them, to that lineage of prolific ceremonialists, to that sacred art, to the Tuatha Dé Danann. I hope to honour them and call to the wisp of their memory by way of my own writing. I aim to call back to their cadent prophecies, a wee echo of the truth they held, for we have lived the times they saw in the looking glass; we are living them, and we shall see it through.

Sometimes, I write under the pen name of Ionalí, which is a wee riddle unto itself, but is also my humble nod to the Filidh, and a wee, oceanic isle that often graced their initiations. 

After having had the honour and opportunity to learn from Bianca Casady as a part of two Re-Membering the Miracle poetry courses (where we were incidentally encouraged to keep a notebook of unique words for our pieces, a practice I have continued into my Gaelic studies), I felt heartened and emboldened enough to embark on the journey of fulfilling a prescription from the guidance the Otherworld, and a particularly noble ancestor from my mother’s side of the family. In so doing, I wrote a memoir in the form of a book of poems which seems to be but the beginning of my writing journey…

I have recently released this book, one voice amongst the cosmic orchestra, in honour of the children and young women to come.

It is a poetic memoir. It is a ceremonial saga. It is a resounding call for cosmic disclosure and liberation. 

You can find out more via the button below.

I am so honoured, grateful, and excited to share this weaving with yous!

Beannachdan mòra/ Big blessings, 

Sylvie