Slí na Sinsear—which translates from Gaeilge as "The Way of the Ancestors"—is dedicated to the preservation, documentation, and contemporary activation of intangible cultural heritage & ancestral lifeways across Ireland and Scotland.
Aoife’s work is rooted in the ancient mythology of Ireland & Scotland, from the Dé Danann to the Fianna - her work is cultural & ancestral recovery rooted in the landscape and in ‘‘dùthchas’’ - a return to communal belonging with the land.
She has been participating, & curating events for the last decade in both Ireland and Scotland.
Aoife (Howe)Ní Lodainn, is a guide and facilitator of courses, ceremonies & gatherings which aim to support in building relationship rooted in land-based ancestral wisdom & community.
Through story, music, craft & healing ceremony, Aoife weaves together threads of ancestral remembrance rooted in the land-based traditional and emergent culture of Ireland and Scotland.
Weaving the old with the new -
Aoife creates spaces rooted in wild & ancient wisdom, whilst allowing the space for our emerging culture to come through & evolve.
Aoife is passionate about reviving & bringing awareness to our endangered indigenous cultural practices, such as that of the Tine Éigin, (Neid fire) and the reimagining of an Teach Allais (Sweat House).
Aoife founded Slí na Sinsear where she weaves offerings inspired by the ancient lands of Éire and Alba, often in collaboration with the many communities of which she is a part of.
About Aoife & Slí na Sinsear
”Is muide Éire, we are the land of the Druids. The ancient star temples, stone circles, standing stones. Holy wells, sacred rivers & seas. We are the people of the trees. Oak our King. Is muide na nGael, we are the Gaels. Land of magic, music, poetry, learning. Milk apples & honey. Harp, salmon, owl & deer. Home of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Amergins song blows through the winds.”
Fire Ceremony
Aoife has been a devoted apprentice of fire tending for the past 12 years, holding hundreds of sacred fires across ceremonies, national festivals, and intimate gatherings in Ireland, the Isles, and globally. Her work is rooted in the ancient, cyclical wisdom of the land. The ceremonial spaces she creates are focused on personal and collective healing, working in deep relationship with the spirits of the land, native herbs, sacred woods, and placed-based wisdom, to reconnect us with our true essence and heal the disconnection that modern life imposes upon us. She remains an active leader in the modern revival of our native cultural and somatic healing practices connected to the element of Fire.
Sacred Sites
Aoife guides through the ancient, living landscape of Ireland's sacred sites. She curates unique “turas naofa”—sacred journeys through the landscape—and is available for individual, group, and community bookings. Her journeys weave ceremony, foraging, deep folklore, traditional music, and living lineage customs into the experience. A lived, deeply rooted relationship with these sacred complexes over many years forms the foundational soil from which she guides.
Plants & Herbs
Aoife shares a profound passion for the plant kingdom, creating empowering, immersive spaces for people to listen to and learn from the plants in sacred ceremony. Her specific emphasis is on cultivating a direct, animate relationship with the land as our primary teacher. She offers regular plant journeys, experiential events, and deep-immersion retreats both online and in person. Her small-batch herbal offerings, crafted in alignment with seasonal rhythms, can be found in the online shop.
Music & Dance
Aoife is a passionate carrier of Irish song, music, and dance. Having danced since the age of four, she re-anchored her practice as an adult by completing an intensive two-year Diploma in Traditional Irish Music in 2018. Traditional music and expression are permanently woven into all of Aoife's offerings. She loves supporting people in connecting to their heritage and to one another through the communal joy of Céilí dancing, and the ancestral practice of sharing songs, poetry, and storytelling by the fireside in a relaxed, open-hearted environment—exactly as our ancestors have always done.
Crafts & Culture
Ancestral Lifeways: Rooted in the concept of dúchas, Slí na Sinsear activates endangered indigenous heritage practices, traditional crafts, and native somatic customs.
Heritage Crafts: Immersive workshops focusing on the physical arts of heritage recovery, many of Aoife’s offerings include traditional crafts and tangible skill learning.
Language and Lore: Integrating Gaeilge (Irish language), local storytelling, and place-based lineage history directly into hands-on learning environments to preserve intangible cultural heritage.
Work offered by Aoife
Seasamh inár gcumhacht,
We remember,
who we truly are
Tá ár lá anseo.
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