Ella Young & The West
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In early Irish society there existed an honoured group of people called the “Filid.” They preserved the native stories and they were learned in the magical arts. It is within this ancient tradition that Ella Young (1867-1956) lived her unique and creative life. In the late 1800’s Ella began to gather the old tales that had been handed down from family to family for centuries. She lived among the rural folk in the West of Ireland and in the hills south of Dublin. As part of her devotion to Irish culture she learned Gaelic and, as a major contributor to the Celtic Revival, she taught classes in the language and the myths.


Ella’s spirituality reached deep into the land and into the heart of ancient Ireland. Others have called her a seeress, a druidess, or a witch – the magical name she gave herself was “Airmid” - the goddess of healing who drew her powers from the fertile green earth. She knew first-hand about the faery folk of Ireland – she heard their music and listened to their stories. Ella was truly blessed - for her life flowed in harmony with her beliefs, her nationalism, and her career as an author and lecturer.

Ella’s dear friend Maud Gonne described Ella as “an extraordinary woman [who] had the gift of making life colourful.” She was a valued and respected friend to many in Dublin during those exciting and important years of the Celtic Revival. She shared ideas on mysticism, literature, and nationalism with A.E. (George Russell), William Butler Yeats, Padriac Colum, Standish O’Grady, Austin Clarke, and others who worked to preserve Irish culture. Yet her work was not all about lofty ideals. After the 1916 uprising (which she witnessed) she hid ammunition in her home for the Republican Army and when the treaty with England was signed that divided the sacred island of Eire, Ella Young’s heart broke for she knew the magic had fled her native land.

In 1925 Ella Young came to America and brought with her all the myths and legends and she wrote them down as stories and as poems and she lectured in town halls and great universities. Her audiences were enthralled – not only by Ella’s great knowledge but also by the beauty and romance of her words. She became an important literary and spiritual figure in California, much as she had been in Dublin, influencing people like poet Robinson Jeffers, photographer Ansel Adams, artist John O’Shea, and composer Harry Partch. She found her faeries again in the sacred land of Point Lobos and in the isolation of her cottage garden on the dunes of Arroyo Grande
Ella Young's Cottage - Oceano, California

Photograph Copyright 2008 Denise Sallee
MY LADY OF DREAMS

One night the beauty of the stars,
Made magic for me white and still,
I climbed the road above the hill
The road no waking footstep mars.

I met my Lady in the wood
The black pine wood above the hill,
Dream-fair her beauty, white and still;
I knelt as one before the Rood.

White Dream that makes my life a war
Of wild desires and baffled will
Once more my soul with beauty fill
Rise through the darkness, O my Star.

Ella Young (1867 - 1956)