Aoife is on a pathway devoted to remembering and reviving the ancient land-based & cultural wisdom of her beloved homelands, of Éire & Alba.
Her work is in many ways, soul retrieval, for ourselves and for the land. It is both cultural & spiritual repair work, strand by strand, re-weaving the tapestry of relationship between us, our heritage, and the natural world.
Born into a broken lineage without a connection to her ancestors, Aoife has been on a quest to re-weave the fabric of her lineage into a tapestry of wholeness again. Her ancestry is predominantly that of Gaelic, Irish, and Scottish. Her recently reclaimed surname is ‘‘Lowden’’ a Scottish name which means a ‘‘fire on a beacon hill’’. Aoife is passionate about her ancestry and supports others in repairing their ancestral relationship - including those of the Gaelic Diaspora.
Through fire ceremonies, sacred site turas, courses, retreats, and ancestral celebrations, she has been co-creating community & land-based gatherings and spaces for almost a decade.
Aoife was born and raised in Ireland, but now lives on a land based community project in the Highlands of Scotland. Her work continues to evolve as she draws upon the well of wisdom and IMBAS from the land which she is in direct relationship with.
Aoife believes in drawing upon the history and traditions that still exist, excavating and unearthing ways which have almost been lost. Yet an ember still has burnt, waiting for those who would come and nurture it back into a blazing fire. Will you help to tend this flame for the next generations to warm themselves by?
Fáilte agus beannachtaí a chairde,
Míle buíochas as a bheith anseo liom.
About Aoife
Aoife is on a life-long learning journey with the land, of returning to her ancestral life ways and cultural heritage.
My journey is to inspire a return to dùthchas a Gaelic word which relates to belonging to land - and of being identified with ones indigenous heritage.
I believe this return will support in the restoration of important life ways which have been harmed through colonial oppression - and that by us reclaiming our ‘‘dùthchas’’ we can heal our relationship with the Earth and ultimately restore balance in our eco-systems, creating the much needed cultural change and transformation.
My own journey began with being born into a sick society, born into a council estate on the foothills of the Dublin mountains - never too far from the land but also deeply disconnected and surrounded by depression, desolation, poverty - and as a result, & a very sick community. Through this environment like a flower through the crack in the concrete, I grew to become resilient and hyper-aware of the change needed in this world - being directly impacted by the very sick and traumatized culture we have all inherited.
I feel privileged in that even though the environment I was surrounded by was heavy, sick and not reflective of how I felt in my own inner belonging - it was one of rebellion. This enabled me to always dance to the beat of my own drum, and at a very young age I found a more spiritually fulfilling path that was deeply connected with the land and guided by a higher power.
Living in the forest at the Hill of Tara at the age of 19, then building my own hazel & willow bender on a hill-fort beside the Hill of Uisneach at 21, I was offered a space of unlearning and listening with the land that opened up my path of ancestral return in profound ways.
Through encountering the ancient landscape, apprenticing an Irish medicine woman for some years, journeying with our native plants & trees, language, music & dance, working with other indigenous healers to support my own healing journey, aswell as study of mythology, and devoting myself to a way of life which is of the lands I belong to.
I have been lighting & tending ceremonial fire spaces across Ireland for almost a decade, having held fire space at our various sacred sites, private ceremonies aswell as at big festivals including Hill of Uisneach, and Electric Picnic.
The spaces I offer are intended to facilitate ancestral connection, belonging and restoration of cultural life- ways, in a way that is merging with the new of what wishes to be born today. I am interested in reviving old indigenous Gaelic healing practices, such as the teine engine (neid fire), tigh n’allis (sweat house) purification rites, and living in relationship with the more-than-human world. My relationship with the ancestors, animals, plants and wider web manifests and expresses itself through my offerings which draw upon these allies to strengthen and support our journey of healing and cultural transformation.
I believe that this journey of cultural restoration is one that cannot be done alone, and thus requires co-operation and collaboration, and this is the foundation of the work that I offer - which is woven with others who are contributing to this awakening & healing process.
