Haddin Arts & Sciences Forum: “Thirty-Three Days on the Trail of the Goddesses of Ireland: A Heuristic Approach to Ancestral Irish Pilgrimage”

Presenter: Nichole Lariscy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of English

Topic: “Thirty-Three Days on the Trail of the Goddesses of Ireland: A Heuristic Approach to Ancestral Irish Pilgrimage”

This presentation examines my thirty-three day pilgrimage through Ireland’s sacred
landscapes associated with the sovereignty goddesses Brigid, Maeve, Ériu, and the
Cailleach. Using spiritual autobiography and heuristic inquiry, it explores how ancestral
pilgrimage fosters ecological re-enchantment, ancestral remembering, and feminine
spiritual transformation. Undertaken from an Irish American diasporic perspective, my
journey honored the memory of my deceased mother, sought healing for a son living
with severe chronic mental illness, deepened relationships with ancestors and landscape,
and marked a personal transition from mother to crone. Through embodied encounters
along the Táin Way, the Brigid Way, the Hill of Uisneach, Muckalee, Glendalough, and
Lugnaquilla, recurring themes of sovereignty, grief, belonging, and rootedness emerged.
The study argues that ancestral Irish pilgrimage extends beyond heritage tourism,
functioning as a practice of cultural and ecological remembering that reconnects
pilgrims with sacred land, story, ancestry, and community while reimagining ancient
traditions as sources of wisdom for contemporary life.

Lunch will be served. Please RSVP here by Monday, Feb. 8., to help us plan for the correct number of meals.

Questions? Email [email protected].

The Haddin Arts & Sciences Forum offers scholarship that is interdisciplinary and translatable to a broad audience, celebrating and elevating the intellectual vibrancy present in the academic atmosphere of the College of Arts and Sciences.