SSP’s 2025 INTERNATIONAL Conference
Sacred Paths:
A Shamanic Retreat in the Heart of Ireland
September 22-24, 2025
IRISH CELTIC SHAMANISM
IN THE THE HEART OF IRELAND
The conference will be a deep dive into a glorious exploration of important sacred sites in County Meath, Ireland and the magnificent Boyne Valley region of this inspiring country. We are honored to have wonderfully wise and skilled Irish shamanic teachers, guides and historians to facilitate our journey. This will be a very special, intimate connection with the spiritual guides, the land, the folklore and the ancestors of Ireland and the Celtic world.
Together we will explore the Hill of Tara, Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks and Sliabh Na Cailliagh Loughcrew. There you will experience teachings and rituals from the ancient mythology and history of each site led by one of our experienced Celtic teachers and historians. With guided ceremonies, teachings, and time for personal prayers and contemplation, you will forge a nourishing relationship with the potent spiritual energies of these sites.
We will be based at the Bellinter House in Navan, County Meath, Ireland with excursions to surrounding sacred sites. Bellinter is about 30 minutes from the Dublin, Ireland Airport.
The SSP Conference has come to be known internationally as a unique opportunity to learn, share and heal within a shamanic container. Does your Celtic soul hear the call to join us in this exciting life-changing epic Gathering in Ireland?
Enjoy our homebase of Bellinter House in County Meath which has beautiful bedrooms including breakfast in the dining room each morning. Dinners will be available, as well as access to the on-site spa. Rooms and meals must be booked separately with Bellinter once you have registered with SSP.
On Tuesday, we will travel to the sacred sites of Fuair Cnoic/FourKnocks in the morning and to the Hill of Tara in the afternoon and evening. On Wednesday, we will travel to Sliabh na Cailliagh Loughcrew. The image to the right is of Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks by Anthony Murphy.
County Meath, Ireland will be our area of exploration. The sacred sites and places we will visit and the presenters during our time together will be outstanding. County Meath has some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland as well as many spectacular sacred sites.
What to Expect
A ceremonial cAULDRON to guide the entire experience
Inspiring and informative TEACHERS AND HISTORIANS
DEEP EXPLORATION OF SACRED SITES IN IRELAND
Connection with SHAMANIC Community
SHAMANIC Journeys AND RITUALS
Many useful shamanic tools and practices
A strong connection with Irish celtic shamanism
Featured Presenters
DR. KAREN WARD
Karen will be doing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and more…
As we weave together in a new Tribe, Tuatha in Irish Gaelic, we create a sacred space for the place we will call home from home for our Conference by honouring the 4 cardinal directions, the Earth, the Sky and especially the spiritual centre of our hearts inextricably connected to our Celtic souls.
Dr Karen Ward is a Shamanic Therapist, Supervisor and Teacher. Trained in the Celtic lineage and Druidic traditions, she co-founded and runs the Slí An Chroí School of Irish Celtic Shamanism with her husband John Cantwell. Her very popular Moon Mná (Irish Gaelic for Women) offers online Courses incorporating important Celtic Rite of Passage Ceremonies inspired by the archetypal energies of the Irish Goddesses. Karen is author of renowned book Change a Little to Change a Lot 2009, co-editor of Soul Seers – an Irish Anthology of Celtic Shamanism 2019, Goddesses of Ireland: ancient wisdom for modern women and the annual Moon Mná Diary-Journal 2017 to date. She is a Counselling Psychotherapist and Supervisor based at her Dublin Clinic since 1997, leading workshops countrywide and abroad to teach her Energy Therapy technique based on Celtic Shamanism to fellow health practitioners. She is honoured to have co-rediscovered the Brigid’s Way Celtic Pilgrimage in 2013.
www.slianchroi.ie, www.moonmna.ie, www.drkarenwardtherapist.ie
JOHN CANTWELL
John will give us a presentation on the first day and will also do an Immrama Journey at Fuair Cnoic (Fourknocks)
Presentation, September 22nd: Bringing all together for the first time at the 2025 Annual Conference, John will extend a warm, traditional welcome to those who have travelled from near and far to bring presence and togetherness. There will be a sharing of the Ancestral voices he has heard as part of the preparatory ceremonies on the land, undertaken in the months, weeks and days before the Conference begins. There will be words of purpose, intention and invitation. The place of the immrama will be a central experience, these are the “wonder voyages” of the Irish tradition, equivalent to shamanic journeys. Visiting, honouring and protecting Ireland ancient sacred sites is a keystone in his life and in this hour with John, he will speak of how the rare energies there usher us the visitors, into becoming sacred beings.
Immrama – Fuair Cnoic (Fourknocks), September 23rd: As part of your visit to this unique Megalithic Passage Tomb, John will prepare and open the ground for immrama, moving us into immersion with the Ancestors of this sacred place. With safe and accessible entry, the vibration of bodhrán (drum), fire and spoken word combine to carry us from observer to participant in an embrace with Ancient Ones who built this temple to the eternal soul, visible in, but not bound by life nor death. The presence of Na Sí, the Good People as the Faerie Folk are known, is regarded as strong at Fuar Chnoic (Fourknocks), keeping it hidden by comparison to other sacred sites in the county. The dream of the immrama facilitated by John is that we have revealed to us what is reserved for the few, not the many.
John (or Seán as is also known) Cantwell is husband of Dr Karen Ward and co-director with her of Slí An Chroí (“Pathway of the Heart”), one of Ireland’s foremost shamanic schools and keepers of their native Irish Celtic lineage. Dublin born of Cork parents and now 61 years a growing, John lives in a belonging and dedication to Ireland’s physical and metaphysical realms of mystical beauty and wonder. He is a teacher, healer, ceremonialist, writer, mentor, speaker and activist. He stands at the doorways of the island’s native mythology and of the Ancestors, opening ways for entry and beyond. For several years, he and Karen offered celebration of the 4 cross quarter seasonal Celtic festivals live for SSP members and they continue to do so now, for the 4 festivals of Solstice (Winter and Summer) and Equinox (Spring and Autumn/Fall). At the September Equinox in 2023, he co-presented with Karen at the SSP Annual Conference in Wisconsin “Teachings From The Land, Visible and Invisible”, sharing myth, lore, shapeshifting and ceremonies of Ireland’s tradition. He is especially honoured and proud that the 2025 SSP Annual Conference blesses his native land and Ancestors.
Website: https://www.slianchroi.ie
ANTHONY MURPHY
Our Guide and Teacher at Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks Sacred Site on Tuesday morning, September 23rd.
THE WONDERS OF FOURKNOCKS
Fourknocks is a megalithic passage-tomb that is thought to be the same age as Newgrange, which would make it over 5,000 years old. It is a small but fascinating monument of the Neolithic. Our tour will explore the archaeology, history, myths and legends, and the place name of Fourknocks. I will show the participants all of the megalithic art inside the monument, some of which is quite exquisite, and we will find out just why Fourknocks is so unique and important.
Anthony Murphy is an author, journalist, photographer, citizen archaeologist and astronomer who has published ten books about the ancient monuments of Ireland and their associated myths and legends and astronomical alignments. He has curated the Mythical Ireland website (www.mythicalireland.com) since the year 2000, and runs associated social media channels. He hosts a weekly livestream called Live Irish Myths. In 2018, he discovered the subsurface remnants of what is likely to be a Late Neolithic Timber Henge close to Newgrange, dubbed ‘Dronehenge. In 2021, he found a number of ancient dugout boats in the River Boyne in Drogheda. He has also found several hundred previously unrecorded monuments in satellite imagery of Ireland on Google Earth and Apple Maps. He lives in Drogheda with his wife Ann and their five children.
Cáit Branigan
Cait will be one of our Teachers at the Hill of Tara
Voices of the Land
In this presentation, we will explore the use of our voice to heal and restore our relationship with the land and all beings.
Cait Branigan is an Ordained Priestess Hierophant of the Western Mystery Tradition, Druid, Bean Feasa/Traditional Healer working within the traditions of Ireland. She works with individuals for healing at her centre in Co. Wexford. An essential part of her work is in the area of Women’s Mysteries in which she has conducted workshops and ceremonies around the country. She facilitates sweat lodges within the Irish Tradition and performs Rites of Passage within the community. She is a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and the Fellowship of Isis. She also works with and teaches groups in Ireland and internationally.
Eimear Burke
Eimear will be one of our Teachers at the Hill of Tara
Rath Gráinne , Stories of the Land
Stories are the gateway to the past, present and future. Stories act as bridges to the land around us; they connect us to our ancestors, and like mycelial networks, they lead us to the wisdom and magic of the past. As we listen to stories, we hear the voices of our ancestors, which take us to places of wonder within ourselves, allowing us to open our hearts, minds and souls.
Through the story: The Settling of the Manor of Tara, in this session, we will create a journey/ceremony where we will find our own Tara, our own sacred land, navigating our East, South, West, North, and Sacred Centre to find those gifts to be nurtured within.
Eimear Burke is a Druid and a Storyteller. She has a deep love of the ancient Irish tales and has a passion for storytelling. She brings the old tales to new audiences, and – while remaining faithful to the stories – often examines them from new perspectives, so that listeners experience them as fresh and relevant. She loves to weave in song and the harp into her stories. She particularly enjoys showing people the sacred sites of Ireland and telling the ancient tales right where they happened.
Eimear has private practice as a Counselling Psychologist and her interests in Druidry and psychology have led her to act as a Celebrant, helping people to design and enact meaningful rites of passage. She is licensed to perform legal weddings in the Republic of Ireland and can also offer non legal ceremonies.
Eimear is the Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) and lives in Kilkenny, Ireland. She is also a Priestess dedicated to Danú in the Fellowship of Isis. She is an Arch Druidess in the Druid Clan of Dana and a member of the Noble Order of Tara.
Website: www.kilkennydruidry.com
Jaime Meyer
Jaime will be our guide and teacher at the Sliabh Na Cailliagh Loughcrew site.
My presentation will be an active ceremony of vision, prayer and offerings with the Cailleach. She is the well-known Irish figure of the dark half of the year, the north on the Wheel of life, the grandmother spirit who assembled the very mountains, who looks over the deer and other creatures, the one who brings the cleansing winter storms, and helps us to step fully into our own power. She is the Dark mother of life and we will work with her on her land.
Jaime Meyer is President of the Board of Directors of SSP and a shamanic practitioner living in MInneapolis, Minnesota, USA. His background includes many years as playwright, street performer, drum circle facilitator, seminary graduate, and, for the last 14 years, full-time practice as a shamanic teacher and healer. His influences are many, but he is chiefly grounded in the world of the Peruvian Amazon Jungle and the Celtic tradition. Some of his teachers include Jose and Lena Stevens, Tom Cowan, Ailo Gaup, Martin Prechtel and Sandra Ingerman. His website: www.drummingthesoulawake.com
TEACHINGS SCHEDULE
On Monday, arrival is between 1:00 and 3:00 PM at Bellinter House with the Opening Ceremony with Dr. Karen Ward and John Cantwell occurring at 5:00 PM followed by a presentation by John Cantwell from 5:30-6:30 PM and then dinner at Bellinter House.
On Tuesday, teachings and visits will go from about 9:30 AM until 8:30 PM when we visit the Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks Sacred Site with our guide Anthony Murphy in the morning and the Hill of Tara in the afternoon and evening with our guides Eimear Burke and Cait Branigan. We will also have dinner that evening at Maguires, near the Hill of Tara.
On Wednesday, we will visit Sliabh na Cailliagh Loughcrew with our guide Jaime Meyer from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM followed by the Closing Ceremony back at Bellinter House at 1:30 PM and lunch at Bellinter, or on your own.
There will be a detailed schedule and more info for the whole conference available in the event portal which will open when we are closer to the conference time.
Please review the registration details below before registering for more important information.
Email Lally at admin@shamanicpractice.org with any questions.
Images above, Left to Right: Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks, Hill of Tara, and Sliabh Na Cailliagh Loughcrew
Image of Fuair Cnoic/Fourknocks courtesy of Anthony Murphy
Please click to view the following information before you register:
REGISTRATION Details: Read Before Registering
Please read through the following information to understand your options before you register.
Booking the Conference
The SSP Registration Fee includes only the conference fee. You are responsible for paying for and booking the Bellinter House hotel and any airfare or transportation costs.
You must first buy your conference registration here and then once you have confirmation that you are registered (you will get a confirmation email from SSP), please book your room. To book your room please call Bellinter House at + 353 46 903 0900. Enter a + before the number ( hold “0” down for the plus sign) if dialing from a cell phone, or 011 if dialing from a landline. They are 5 hours later than the East Coast and 8 hours later than the West Coast of the US, so call in the morning. You can also email to book your room by emailing events@bellinterhouse.com and cc’ing reservations@bellinterhouse.com.
You can go to the Bellinter House website to review the available rooms, but you must call or email them to reserve them. Register everyone in your party with SSP first before contacting Bellinter House. You must register for the conference with SSP first to make sure there is enough room first before booking with Bellinter.
Bellinter House
Bellinter House sits on the south bank of the River Boyne within sight of ancient Tara and is approximately six miles from the town of Navan and seven miles to the town of Trim in County Meath. We recommend going to Trim for any supplies need as they have more available. Bellinter House is a splendid Georgian mansion, built about 1750, is located in the heart of the Boyne Valley, less than 5 minutes from the M3 motorway and under 30 minutes from Dublin City center and Dublin airport. A property designed originally by Richard Castles for John Preston, this house was once used as a country retreat for the Preston Family, to abscond from the city for the summer months.
You will stay at Bellinter House for the duration of the conference, Monday, Septmber 22nd through Wednesday, September 24th. The conference ends mid-day on Wednesday so you may want to stay Wednesday night too. Definitely book Monday and Tuesday nights and likely Wednesday if you prefer.
All bedrooms have their own private bathrooms and all include breakfast in the restaurant each morning. There are several types of rooms so you can pick the level that you want when you make your reservation.
The prices for each room per night are the following:
Standard Double Room – Single Occupancy – €139.00 Bed & Breakfast
Standard Double or Twin Room – Double Occupancy – €159.00 Bed & Breakfast
Deluxe Double Room – Single Occupancy – €179.00 Bed & Breakfast
Deluxe Double or Twin Room – Double Occupancy – €199.00 Bed & Breakfast
Main House Suite – Single Occupancy – €239.00 Bed & Breakfast
Main House Suite – Double Occupancy – €259.00 Bed & Breakfast
There is also a spa on site and you may want to book services there during your stay.
Meals
Breakfast in the dining room is included with every room.
For lunches, you will want to have had lunch already once you arrive at Bellinter House on Monday to check in with registration between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. On Tuesday, you will buy lunch out at The Music Center near the Fuar Chnoic FourKnocks site or at the Hill of Tara Cafe . For the lunch on Wednesday, we will have lunch at Bellinter House once the Closing Ceremony is over about 2:00 PM. Alternately, you can just leave after the Closing Ceremony and find lunch on your own.
For Dinners, we will have dinner at Bellinter House on Monday evening and on Tuesday we will have dinner out at a lovely place called Maguires near the Hill of Tara. On Wednesday, the conference will be over by dinnertime so you will be on your own for that.
You are responsible for paying for all meals and lodging.
When you make your reservation with Bellinter House, you must book both your room and your meals. Again, breakfast is included but you will want to reserve Lunch on Wednesday at 2:00 PM and Dinner on Monday at 6:30 PM. Lunch and Dinner Tuesday will be out at the sites so no need to book those.
Bellinter House is in a secluded location so if you want to visit other towns for supplies etc.. make sure to do it beforehand or during the day and give yourself extra time on the narrow country roads.
Transportation
You are responsible for getting to Bellinter House on your own. However, we will rent two 20-person vans to transport everyone to and from the sacred sites from Bellinter House on Tuesday and Wednesday.
FLYING IN
You will want to fly into the Dublin, Ireland Airport. The airport is about 30 minutes from Bellinter House so you will need to hire a taxi or other ride from the airport or rent a car for your travels. Once you arrive at Bellinter House we will have vans to transport us to the sacred sites on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please arrive at Bellinter House between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on Monday, September 22nd for registration check-in. The conference will go until about 2:00 PM on Wednesday, September 24th.
REFUND POLICY
Refunds will be issued in full for refund requests received on or before July 15, 2025. After July 15th, 2025 no refunds will be issued except in the case of emergency. If the event is rescheduled or canceled, all purchases will be refunded in full.
OTHER TRIPS
John Cantwell and Dr. Karen Ward of Sli An Chroi will be doing a special extra trip following the conference from September 25-27 to the Aran Island of Inis Mor, and Jaime Meyer is doing a trip beforehand involving Newgrange, the Boyne River, and the Hill of Uisneach, with nights in Dublin from September 18 to 21, so make room in your schedule if you want to join in on those special extra trips. Here are the details on Jaime’s Trip and to sign up for it. More details will follow later but save the dates and build that time into your travel plans if you want to attend. There will be a separate charge and booking with the teachers directly for these extra trips. Please contact Karen and John at johnandkaren@slianchroi.com or Jaime at drummingthesoulawake@gmail.com for inquiries about these trips.
About SSP Membership
Society for Shamanic Practice is a non-profit membership organization. Membership fees are our backbone of support in allowing us to realize our mission. In gratitude, we offer ongoing benefits to our members including discounts to our events and much more. If you are not already, BECOME A MEMBER before registering to take advantage of our member discount.
Register For The Event
Early Bird Pricing Until March 15th