Introduction to Holy Wells Revival

exploring a growing interest in the discovery, revival, and care of natural water springs ...

My own personal passions are the folklore of the sidhe, water, trees and woodlands, hence being host of Nature Folklore. This year I have noticed an escalating interest in people discovering and visiting, natural spring wells, sacred wells, blessed wells. The most common name that we call them by is, 'holy wells', with the word 'holy' seemingly coming from Saxon and associated tribes words pronounced as 'Hal' or 'Heil', to describe being whole and uncontaminated. Later, those words, or similar, were used to describe and bless others with health and happiness. Also, as we know, the Christian and other church movements have made use of the word 'holy' for spiritual veneration too.

Beyond the well established devoted delights of 'Ancient & Holy Wells Of Ireland' and 'All Is Well' groups on Facebook, it seems that during this post-covid lock down summer, there are suddenly Holy Well discovery, recording and restoring projects for many of Ireland's counties, and some UK ones too. Some of these projects are managed by volunteering individuals and some projects are sponsored and funded by counties and heritage support groups. 

My own revival of visiting wells, this summer onwards, has been handy for me because due to disability that took me away from working our garden, medical people have been nagging me ... "You must do something to get moving again! Get outside ... and don't just sit around!"

So when my partner, Claire, went cycling around Achill Island and Mayo, and I cannot cycle for awhile, I found myself going back to my old passion of seeking out and discovering Holy Wells ... and it has become the perfect medicine for me to do. 

My current idea and 'Holy Wells Revival' project, that is very connected to Nature Folklore, is to develop 'Holy Wells Revival' as a themed project of locating and visiting wells. I am developing a hub for sharing links to spring and holy wells exploring individuals and care groups. Also, as a broadcaster I will serve a short weekly broadcast on Thursdays to update you with weekly news of what is going on in the ancient and holy wells world, and include guests involved in 'holy wells' projects telling their latest stories.

Through this edition of Nature Folklore I will indulge you in these blessed water wells, and I will explain more about my 'Holy Wells Revival' project, and invite you to help in fun ways.

To start, for this Sunday, and for the upcoming Thursday evening 'Holy Wells Revival' shows, do you have any poems, or short stories, and experiences about and related to visiting and caring for 'holy wells'? I would love to invite you to share your stories and poems as a guest, either live, pre-recorded, or use photographs. Please message me with what you have to share. Thank you.