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Dowth, a megalithic Sacred Mound, was located on the north bank of the Boyne river, a couple of miles from the Slane to Drogheda road on the west end of a long ridge two kilometres east of Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland. The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, near the villages of Donore and Slane, offers tours of the three Boyne Valley passage chambers of Dowth, Knowth, and Newgrange. Believed to be the oldest of the three Boyne Valley passage chambers, with a height of fifteen metres and a diameter of eighty-five metres, Dowth was also built around the same timeframe, more than 5,000 years ago. The ancient site of two Passage Chambers, Dowth radiates an Otherworldly tranquility and an interrelated spirituality with the surrounding Natural World landscape despite its legendary status as the "Fairy Mound of Darkness".
The two Passage Chambers
of Dowth (Dowth North and Dowth South) had lower roofs and shorter passages than
either Newgrange or Knowth. Dowth North had an eight metre passage that lead to
a cruciform orthostat chamber with three recesses symbolizing Triplication.
"Three" was a holy number for the Celts of Ireland and the Celtic Ancient Culture which had many different meanings beside the most traditional of the representations, that of the three realms of Land, Sea, and Sky. Triplication or the power of a group of three was a significant symbolic pattern or design that recurred in Irish Celtic art, mythology, and spirituality. There were the Three Kindreds (ancestors, fairies, goddesses and gods). Storytellers told tales of goddesses and Otherworld Beings appearing at critical life passage moments in groups of three. Triple faced; triple headed Celtic deities were venerated in various forms with the most popular being the triplicity of the mother goddess energy. Sometimes the three goddesses depicted were identical; while, at other times their overall potency was heightened by showing three different aspects of the divine feminine role. After travelling down a passage that first turned right and then turned left, Celts had to cross three sill stones to gain access to an Otherworld alcove.
Celtic spiritual
traditions in Ireland included deeply held beliefs in an afterlife, fairy
mounds, immortality, magic, nature spirits, and supernatural and mythical beings
who made their home in the Otherworld...
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