Dúchas is an Irish word that means to belong. Words from indigenous languages, such as Irish, hold entire stories within them and I love to discover these stories and to experience the pulses of remembering that occur when I spiral into them.
Let’s explore the story of this compelling Irish word, a word from our mother tongue, remembered or forgotten, yet ever quickening within us. Dúchas is our birthright and our heritage, it is the native place from which we are from and the sense of claiming that place as a part of us. It is the place we are from. From, as in, before we colonized a different land. From, as in, where our DNA has been nourished through the mists of time. From, as in, the innate qualities we were born with, the instincts and yearnings that we didn’t learn and that are a part of us, nonetheless. Dúchas is the inner drive to belong to place, to community, to the land; the essence of what we were born with and oft what we ache to discover again.
Many of us are seeking new ways to find meaning, to discover dúchas, in a sustainable way, as we navigate through the sludge of consumerism, capitalism and patriarchy and the resultant perpetuation of the climate crisis, injustice and oppression. Our heritage traditions have battled against the forces of imperialism and colonialization, and we can step into our own mythic resistance when we grab the spear of light and wield the sword of truth, found in the Irish Wisdom Tradition.
Coming back to our roots and the stories and myths that are alive there, can bring us meaning. Becoming indigenous again and living in cycle with the Earth, the sun and the moon, can help us discern what is important in the larger scope. Remembering our own ancestral practices, rituals and traditions and discovering ways to shape them into meaning for these times, offers a foundation to move forward from.
The Irish Wisdom Tradition is deep and wide, a sea of story, folklore and song that we can dive into. Here we can discover the selkies swimming with us and the salmon of knowledge offering imbas, divine wisdom, from the sacred wells and holy springs, ever flowing from the womb of the Earth. The Irish Wisdom Tradition is a cloak we can wrap around ourselves, growing and expanding, like Brighid’s mythical cloak, claiming our birthright and our heritage. The Irish Wisdom Tradition invites slowing down and listening, at the hearth, with a steaming cup of nettle tea shared with the Cailleach, the crone of the land.
The yearning to belong, to deepen into dúchas, will take us on a quest, our very own mythological journey, to remember who we are and what we are meant to do. The ancestors and the fairies, the gods and goddesses of the Tuatha de Danaan, will be your companions on the quest and the airts of the elements of air, fire, water and earth will be your tools. This quest is spirallic and is about the journey itself: the inward journey and the outward journey.
The Irish Wisdom Tradition is rooted in nature and the great mystery is held with the trees and stones, with the winds and the waters, with the becoming moon and the seasons of the Wheel of the Year, and with the seasons of our own lives. We deepen into this mystery in the liminal places and at the wild edges, at cliff sides and in meadows revealed in the dark forest and within the hidden spaces of the hedgerows.
The quest into the mystery and possibility found in the Irish Wisdom Tradition and dúchas, offers not only answers and instead more questions to live into and journey through. In these questions we find our own roots, our truth and authentic path. We discover, in the wanderings, why we are here and how we can serve. We come back into relationship with the land and the non-human kin. We become a participant in the mythic life and dream into the future, guided by our ancestors and the same stories and myths that guided them.
In the quest and in the questions we find our belonging and we claim this birthright and heritage as our own. Dúchas.
