John Doan: Music
Skellig Michael
A Rock in the Sea "As I climbed the path winding up to the ancient construction near the top of that cliff, I sensed that I was on the threshold of something utterly unique. Nothing in my experience had prepared me for the huddle of domes, crouching halfway to heaven in this all but inaccessible place, with an intimidating immensity of space all around, where it was easy to feel that you had reached a limit of this world." Geoffrey Moorhouse (author of Sun Dancing - A Vision of Medieval Ireland).My visit to Skellig Michael, a small island ten miles off the point of the Iveragh Peninsula, was one of my most exciting adventures to a sacred place. This lonely site well suited for solitude and prayer served as a remote monastery that was not only the westernmost outpost of Christianity in the old world but was revered as one of the most holy spots in all of Ireland. It appears as a defiant arm of granite reaching some seven hundred and twenty feet up into the grey cloud sky. It is almost impossible to reach safely most times of the year given to the tremendous ocean swells and crashing surf. St. Finian is said to have founded the tiny monastery in the 6th century where it remained a safe haven for worship until the Vikings began their attacks three hundred years later. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who not only presided over high places but is said to have helped Saint Patrick chase the sn akes out of Ireland. Inspired by the desert fathers to seek God's voice out and away from the cities, these courageous monks found here the constant reminder of God's awesome force as they braved the elements of rain, wind, and cold within beehive shaped huts of piled stone. One of their primary duties was to pray for those who have not heard the word and or have not believed it while also hoping to do spiritual battle against the spirit of plague, pestilence, and warring powers. I hired a boatman to take me out to that rock in the sea. Upon arrival he positioned his boat so I could jump ashore when the twelve foot swell raised us up to the dock. There were 600 steps chiseled into the rocks by monks ages ago. They were worn smooth by millennia of storms and footsteps that had lead faithfully to the compound high up near the top peak. Along the ascent the brisk air was busied with Gannets, and Puffins and other strange fowl. Once at the top it was like stepping into another time as I walked among the stone huts and felt an intoxication looking out upon the sweeping panorama of clear blue water, unworldly cloud formations, and powerful focused shafts of light. I tried to capture with this music a sense of this drama, this adventure in living that I found at Skellig Michael - a rock in the sea.