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2020 - Lughnasadh Reunion - Bective Mill

BBQ area at Bective Mill.... under cover but in the open air. Site of a memorable Reunion.

J x 2 set up a celebration table of symbolic and meaningful items... and food of course.

Air, water, earth and fire on the table.

Nero, the new dog at Bective, who is super friendly, explores something interesting nearby.

Susan, nr. Dublin, set up a symbolic centre

On a flower of life patterned plate she placed the card she picked for the evening.

A pendant, gifted at Tara on Imbolc 2020, is made from an oak on the Hill.

Jellyfish on Portmarnock Beach nr Dublin

Pat found these giants on a walk... they arrived over the weekend in their hundreds. Visitors from the Arctic and North Pacific oceans.

Lion's Mane invades the beach.... at the time of the New Moon in Leo.

Comet Neowise - Visitor from the Universe

End July 2020 - Goodbye to comet C/2020 F3 which is slowly fading from our skies now..... ( aka NEOWISE - Near Earth Object Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer). It appeared 27th March 2020. One of the brightest comets in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997 - photographed by Martin D in Navan.

7 Directions focus in Derbyshire

Nora set up a vase of hawthorn and rose hips, and coloured a mandala, focussing on the 7 directions, while tuning in.

Lughnasadh sunset in Derbyshire

Hot sultry days and spectacular sunsets. Louise, in Derbyshire, shared this photo 7th August 2020. The glorious colours at dusk continued through the whole month.

Bective - B and B now closed

BBQ Area

We held Monday meditations in the Mill building until a fire destroyed the inside rooms in 2019. The Bed and Breakfast building was untouched and operated for a few more years as an enjoyable place to rest up beside the River Boyne, dependent on current government restrictions due to Covid-19.

Lughnasadh Reunion on 17th August 2020 was a happy return, with the Monday meditation re-starting on 24th August, albeit outdoors in the BBQ area and limited numbers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When stricter rules came in these were abandoned, starting again on Monday 5th July 2021.

Bective meditation Sept 2021.


This time we were at the Mill in a marquee.

Finally, meditations moved back to their original venue at An Tobar. However Covid restrictions meant that was not viable and we reverted to online connection.

Bective Abbey

There are records of a Mill being in the area since the heyday of the Abbey, but the history is a bit clouded in mystery. Bective Abbey, sited on a gentle rise above the River Boyne, was established by the Cistercians in 1147. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary it's walls are mainly intact, with beautiful cloisters and other rooms to explore. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed extensive monastic gardens and further buildings probably used by the monks and lay brothers.

The Cistercians owned many granges (farms) and were commercially successful in managing the landscape. Based in France they searched for noble patrons and prime farmland. At Bective they found rich lush pastureland and Murchadh O Melaghlin, King of Meath, and at his invitation they moved into the area and took over the local farms, then employing the owners in the service of the monastery. Austere and requiring strict conformance to the Rules of St. Benedict, their observance included manual work and agricultural labour in the fields of the Abbey. In 1536 Bective was dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII and the community dispersed to live with the locals.

Despite having been restrained in the energy of this powerful management by Christian monks many find a peaceful atmosphere and calmness in the semi- ruined buildings.

There is a small car park and information boards at the Abbey site.

Hidden Treasure - as related in Duchas.ie Schools Project

People say there is gold buried in Bective Abbey. A man named Downes from Cannistown, Navan, who went to America dreamt of gold being buried in an old ruin. He returned home to dig for it and brought three other men along with him. He was digging in Bective Abbey. He never returned and was never heard of again after the first night he went there. People say there is a Bishop buried in a gold coffin in Bective Abbey. This was never dug for.