| Place | Card No. | Date |
| Mc Arts Fort, Cave Hill, Ben Madigan, Belfast. | “11” | 22 /12/20 |
| Spiritual/Esoteric ref | Gaeilge | Eytmological Root |
| The Cave and The walled circle | Dún MacAirt, Binn Uamha, Beann Mheadagáin | Fort/Enclosure of the son of Art |
words here
11: McArts Fort : The Sword of Truth At first the city below Immersed in bright speckles Flickering jewels A river of broken cubes Brightness reflected On dancing crates Floating to the Lough. Blinding winter morning light It’s hard even to look up Through the branches Reduced glare A tumbling stream A winding stair Steps to the height Three and a half thousand. Two stones in sight Between them You sit The sword of Truth in Your Hand. A veil of incline sweeps back I drop to my knees between The white lime pillars I gaze into the hollow green. In the balance my life Beneath Your revelation. I in the mud. The unfolded layers The criers and sayers Tell the eternal myth The epitome of the human race The belt of stars The club of disgrace The beggar who steals From the garden and fields. You reach out both arms Offering the blade I receive, the gift from The Maid.
Extract from an email to LW…..
“I managed to make it up to Belfast before super lockdown 5 rolled into motion. Two reasons…. one to get collect delivery of a delayed but affordable piece of kitchen furniture from England at last, at the Argos there and another to visit Cavehill or as it is also known as (in it more nationalistic guise) …. McArts Fort ( Its also known too as Ben Madigan). This is actually a spectacular spot worthy of any in Ireland ….a Rath placed on precipice over a stunning view of the city on the edge of Belfast lough.
It’s a walk of three and a half kilometres up there through Cavehill country park but well worth it for the view and the spectacular cliffs. Laura certainly enjoyed the spectacular view too on the beautiful clear winters day. In a sense it was a treat before the restrictions came back, we felt very lucky indeed.“
The Approach
For some reason finding the best approach to McArts Fort was tricky. This felt weird because you can see it from almost every part of Belfast! The first trip in the summer when Laura and I approached it we ended up at Belfast Castle which was interesting though it had a number of the main rooms closed because of “the Covid”. But by the next trip we worked out that the best route was to go from the Crumlin road to the Ardoyne road and onto the Hightown Road, a high road out of Belfast that brought us up to Cave Hill Country Park car park . We certainly understood the significance of these road names from hearing so much dreadful news about Belfast during The Troubles over the years in the easy comfort of our southern Irish homes. But Violence from The Troubles came south of the border sometimes. A memory comes to mind……… to be contd
Video about the site
THE CRYSTAL PATH 