The Sacred Hermitage

Your place in the silence of the grove

Saint Tugdual the Younger, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Danyell, one of the founding figures of our church in the 20th century, lived in a place in Brittany he called the Hermitage of the Ancient Celtic Church. It is from this place that the name of our church comes. He lived there similar to the hermit in the story of the Holy Grail by Chretien de Troyes in his hermitage surrounded by forest and nature. Although life could also be hard, he found ideal conditions there for a spiritual life; what was called the green martyrdom in the Celtic church. He built himself a chapel there and a place to live. We too can create such a place for ourselves, whether in the physical world or in the inner spiritual realm. We call the inner place the Sacred Hermitage. It is always with us and a place of rest, peace, recuperation and vitalisation. There the elements are present in a particularly pure form. We reach this place on a path through the forest until we reach a clearing. The open and wide sky shines over this place, lit by the sun during the day and by the moon and stars at night. The clearing is covered with fresh green grass and moss and surrounded by old trees, the sacred grove. At the edge is a small chapel; a place where we can retreat and pray and celebrate private mass in a sheltered area. The grove is protected by a Caim, a prayer of protection that puts an other-worldly veil around this place so that it cannot be seen from the outside. Only people we invite to this place can enter, be it an anam cara, a soul friend, dear friends, relatives and ancestors, brothers and sisters from the order, a priest or priestess, holy counsellors or a bishop for a special blessing or consecration. In this place the body comes to rest, the speech and thoughts to silence and the mind to expansiveness. In this state of rest, stillness and spaciousness, the elements and gifts of the Eucharist can nourish us and bring back lost parts of the soul. It opens us to the mystery of the Holy Three. The Guardian of the Sacred Groves watches over this place.

Enter the Sacred Hermitage

Close your eyes if you like and get into a comfortable position. Take three deep breaths, one with the earth beneath you, one with the sky above you and one with the sea or trees around you. Bring your body to stillness, your thoughts to silence and your mind to spaciousness. You enter the path into the forest and walk towards the grove. You pass old oaks, beeches and other trees until you come to the entrance of a clearing, the area of the inner hermitage. You ask the old oaks standing at the entrance for permission to enter and it is granted. You take off your shoes, for this is a sacred place. In the middle of the clearing you notice the sky above you and whether it is day or night. Below you, you feel the green grass and the moss under your feet. You feel the presence of the trees around you and greet the guardian of the grove. With your own Caim protection prayer and a hand movement with your index finger around you in a clockwise direction (sun movement) you close the circle and put a protective veil around the grove. You can now either stay outside in the green chapel or enter the chapel at the eastern edge of the clearing. You open the door and enter. You cross yourself with pure holy water from the spring at the foot of the grove and bow before the altar. If you feel like it, light candles on the altar in your mind. Notice what you see in the chapel. Then take a seat and go through the body in the inner pilgrimage, so that you arrive fully here. You can now do what you came here to do. When you are ready to leave, leave the chapel after you have bent down in front of the altar once more and extinguish the candles you lit earlier. Thank the guardian of the grove and say goodbye. Release the veil of the Caim protection prayer with a counterclockwise movement of your hand. Now go back the same way you came. Now come back to normal everyday consciousness. Perhaps you would like to have a drink or a snack to ground yourself.