What we have been told about the Tuatha Dé Danann (in the Lebor Gabála) is that they spent time in the “northern islands of the world” studying the occult sciences and arts. These islands have been identified as Lochlann by some (Denmark and Scandinavia). They were said to have been a tribe that originally came from “Greece” while the Milesians were said to have come from “Spain.” In Celtic terms, Spain, Greece, the North, and Lochlann were all beyond nine waves and are considered to be “Other.” To the Celts, this was also true for such places as India, Italy, Persia and Egypt. They were all in the “Other place.” That is why a dindshenchas can be written about the river Boyne, saying that it is the river that flows through all the parts of the world. That is how the Well of Segais can be a source for all the rivers of Ireland. In the Celtic mental / spiritual outlook, all places are connected, once they are within the province of the Otherworld. This also occurs for us when our sacred center connects us to the Otherworld or any other sacred center. That is how the center of the world can be connected to the center of Ireland and the center of the hearthfire. The spiritual connection of these centers comes through the gods and the Otherworld.

The center of Munster and the center of Connacht are the same spiritual centers if they have any truth or value to them. The same can be said for the centers of Ulster, Leinster, and Meath; the same for Ireland; the same for the world, the family and the self. This idea is one that I believe many Indo-European cultures also embraced in the more hidden, esoteric aspects of their theologies.

It is known that Uisneach was one of the sacred centers of Ireland and it is there that Aill na Mireann (the Stone of Divisions) was located (which represents the five provinces of Ireland). It has been said that Tara, Tailtenn, and Tlachtga, were the other centers of Ireland. All of these centers were located within the central province, which was Meath. Irish cosmology has long been four quarters and a fifth within the center. The fifth treasure has always been the Sovereignty of the Land, which all four other treasures protect, nurture, secure or foretell. Most certainly there are three worlds, in Irish Celtic cosmology, but there are also four treasures to secure the land for the people.

Crúachain was the sacred center of the province of Connaught, while Emain Macha was the sacred center of Ulster in ancient times. Tara has traditionally always been a center of Ireland as a whole (as were the three previously mentioned locations in Meath).