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Welcome back to the Candlelit Tales Podcast.

This episode is a conversation Aron Hegarty had in January 2025, with the Founder of the Gaelic Woodland Project, Eoghan Connoughtan, who we’ve had on the podcast before and another fascinating character, who uses ritual, storytelling and mythology in a unique way: Shivam O’Brien, the founder of Spirit Horse in Wales.

Spirit Horse hosts retreats and ritual gatherings in 200 acres of land that has been allowed to rewild in Wales after being purchased in the mid 90’s. Spirit Horse is now a ceremonial village of yurts and Celtic roundhouses set amongst waterfalls and mountains.

Under Shivam's direction, ancient values, ritual, meditation, storytelling, tribal living, the performing arts, touching the earth and creative rebellion came to provide the backbone for this ongoing experiment in the rewilding of people, land and culture.

The Gaelic Woodland is a social experiment, whose main objective was to create native woodlands and protect the existing woodlands on the Island of Ireland.

This conversation was recorded in January 2025 in Galway at Shivam’s home. As he wanted to talk to Eoghan and Aron about the shared mindset between Candlelit Tales, Spirit Horse and the Gaelic Woodland Project..

The GWP are now preparing to plant their 11 acres in Mayo with native trees. All donations to the charity go towards ecological respiration in Ireland. The GWP is still raising funds to buy more land, and to plant more trees.

Eoghan and Aron are on the board of the GWP, which is hugely collaborative, inclusive and focused on skill sharing. The community is a beautiful one to be part of, and if you'd like to learn more about the GWP, follow the links below:

https://gaelicwoodlandproject.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gaelicwoodlandproject?igsh=cHpla3JrY2NxNmYx

You can find out more about Spirit Horse here:

https://www.spirithorse.co.uk

This podcast is proudly sponsored by the people who donate to us each month via

https://www.patreon.com/candlelittales and anyone who sends us a once-off donation through the Paypal button on our website http://candlelittales.ie/