For Jennifer Murphy, founder of The Celtic Creatives, storytelling is more than an art—it’s a bridge to ancestral wisdom, creativity, and personal transformation. Inspired by her grandmother Frances O’Sullivan, a masterful storyteller who turned hardship into enchantment, Jennifer’s work revives the rich traditions of Irish folklore and mythology. With a background in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies, Sociocultural Anthropology, and Jungian Psychology with Art Therapy, Jennifer blends scholarship with embodied wisdom. As a Feminine Embodiment Coach and Non-Linear Movement Teacher, she guides others in reclaiming creativity through myth, movement, and magic. In this interview with Mystic Mag, she shares the inspiration behind The Celtic Creatives, the role of folklore in modern life, and how storytelling connects us to our deepest selves.
You describe your journey as an ever-unfolding apprenticeship. Can you share a moment when following these “breadcrumbs” led you somewhere completely unexpected?
As early as I can remember, my grandmother Frances O’Sullivan filled my ears with Irish folklore she learned growing up in Pimlico, a working-class community in inner-city Dublin.
Listening to Frances regale her stories felt like I had somehow been let in on a secret, on a whole otherworld of magical beings and ways of knowing. The Irish word for folklore is béaloideas, béal means ‘mouth’ and oideas means ‘to give instruction’ or ‘educate’. This ‘mouth education’ that I received as a child guided me to a degree in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies over 20 years ago now. So in ways, it was Frances who dropped the first breadcrumb for me to follow.
I went on to become an anthropologist working for a human rights and humanitarian organisation here in Ireland and I was so committed to the cause that I felt I would work in this sector forever (I’m still involved to this day as a board director of a local civil society organisation).
But then early in pregnancy with my second son, a tenacious obstetrician discovered a lump on my cervix. I was sent for an emergency colposcopy and diagnosed with precancerous cells and a cervical polyp, a (usually) benign tumour. My smear test was not due for months. I felt so fortunate that the pregnancy aggravated the condition and it was uncovered. As it was too dangerous to disrupt the cervix during pregnancy, cervical changes were monitored through multiple colposcopies and a procedure scheduled for 10-weeks postpartum to give me time to heal after childbirth.
During this time, I started to have dreams of Queen Medb, an old Sovereignty Goddess in Irish mythology, who during my studies all those years ago, had touched me with her archetypal presence. I had grown up in the aliveness of Irish folklore, then trained as an academic, but Medb in the dreamworld was a symbol of the integration of both, of what our ancestors understood as imbas (divine wisdom that illuminates) and sous (scientific or academic knowledge).
In a dream she told me to go up to my attic to find my Celtic Studies notes from college. When I woke up I thought there was no way I could keep those notes, I’m not a hoarder (except for books!), so up I went following this breadcrumb and there I found everything I had learned. I inhaled it and The Celtic Creatives or what was first called the Celtic School of Embodiment was birthed along with my new baby.
With your background in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies, how do you see ancient Celtic wisdom influencing or guiding people in today’s fast-paced world?
I believe that the global polycrisis we are experiencing at this time is waking people up to the sense that there has to be another way, and I see this in my work especially with the Irish Diaspora, many of whom are living on the stolen lands of First Nations. In a world in flux, people want to know where they belong and are willing to devote themselves to rediscovering these lost parts of themselves. One example of how I see ancient Celtic wisdom influencing or guiding people in today’s fast-paced world is through seasonal wisdom and cyclic living.
Our ancestors were animistic, believing that all of life contained anima, or anam in Irish: soul. The Earth holds all living beings, curates the elements and carries the Anima Mundi, the World’s Soul. Each one of us—you, me, crow, oak—is made from the same manifest and yet mysterious force of creation itself. We are made from nature.
We live in an overculture that sees itself separate from, and superior to nature. Capitalism has no interest in the intelligence of nature bar for extraction. Giving way to nature’s intelligence in our lives and creative work can be an act of liberation from the oppressive and fear-based narratives of capitalism – not many of nature’s creatures are forced to live authentically in the way that humans do to survive.
When we align ourselves to the ancestral Gaelic seasons or wider Celtic Calendar, we open ourselves up to magic. This provides a framework to live an authentic life that is fuelled by deep belonging, trust in our soul’s path, and abundant creativity. Anyone can do this, you don’t have to leave your modern life to live cyclically. This is about applying an ancestral framework to contemporary times.
I’ve supported clients to bring the Celtic Calendar to life in diverse ways—from mapping its wisdom to the menstrual cycle, astrological cycles, or using it as a business model for strategic planning, quarterly planning, and holistic programmes, to aligning it to psycho-spiritual alchemy grounded in Jungian psychology. I’ve just launched a new course, Celtic Soul Garden where participants will bring a creative project (anything from a book, an art project, an offering or course, a design project, a product, a podcast etc.) through the seasons of Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa creating in a way that feels cyclic, organic and deeply honouring of body and soul.
What type of services do you offer?
I offer one-on-one creative mentoring, especially for people who are interested in bringing Celtic mythology to life through their own work, art or creative practice. I curate a membership community on Substack. This includes monthly creative rituals rooted in Celtic wisdom, a Full Moon Fairytale Céilí storytelling and movement class, The Selkie Studio, a gathering to share our collective insights into this work, along with a focus ‘mythic ancestor’ each month, exploring a Celtic deity and how they can inspire our lives today e.g. Brigid, Áine, the Cailleach, the Morrigan, Manannán Mac Lir, and so forth.
I have a number of self-guided courses, including my most popular course, the Celtic Woman’s Voyage, a year-long journey through the Celtic Calendar in companionship with Irish goddesses. I also offer courses, like my new upcoming Celtic Soul Garden on how to align creative projects to the seasonal wisdom of the Celtic Calendar, and in-person creative retreats in Ireland.
As a Feminine Embodiment Coach and Non-Linear Movement Teacher, how do you help people reconnect with their bodies and emotions through movement?
Early Irish society was structured around a story with the Áes Dána, ‘People of Arts’, the poet-seers, druids, craftspeople holding positions of honour within the tuath, the tribe. Today, the Irish Arts Council is led by an elected body of the same name.
Modern science has only caught up thousands of years later with what the Áes Dána knew—that we, you and I—are wired for stories. Stories stimulate parts of our brains that amplify our intuition, helping us intuit other people’s thoughts and emotions. They also stimulate empathy – when we resonate with a character in a story, our brain produces the neuropeptide oxytocin, the ‘love hormone’ that fosters human bonding and togetherness.
My training as a Feminine Embodiment Coach and Non-Linear Movement Teacher inspired me to take this wisdom and create practices where people explore the experience of a story within their own bodies. One example is my Full Moon Fairytale Céilí events. At our last gathering, I shared a story from Irish mythology about the sacred union of the sovereignty goddess and king, Medb Lethderg and Cormac MacAirt and how their divine union enabled the people and land to prosper – this being symbolic of the union of the feminine and masculine powers within ourselves that when integrated allow us to flourish.
Following the story, I guided the class through a non-linear movement practice where they connected with the archetypal images of the sovereignty goddess and king and moved with them through a series of stages in their bodies. Alchemy so often happens in these practices because we’re working with ancestral narrative and moving it through the body by flowing with the thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations that arise in response and allowing them to be without judgement or the need to analyse. It’s a deep form of catharsis that is quite difficult to put into words. In alchemical terms, we could see this as a space for body (salt) and soul (sulphur) to come together through the movement of spirit (mercury).
The Celtic tradition is rich with poetry, music, and mythology. What does it mean to be a Celtic Creative today, and how do you help others connect with their own Celtic roots?
For me, being a Celtic Creative is embodying three core values, which is how I help others connect with their own Celtic roots:
1. Roots: I believe that deep roots in our mystical lineage grow slowly, nourished by care, intention and grace. I attune to and trust my inner seasons, embracing the great cycles of life.
2. Heart: I create heart-led and safe spaces for self-discovery, tenderness and transformation. I honour the diversity of how each one of us makes meaning, valuing how we can all bring the Celtic tradition to modern life in our own unique way.
3. Magic: In the Irish language, the word for magic is draíocht, from the root draoi meaning ‘druid’. This comes from the Proto-Celtic dru-wid, meaning ‘oak-knower’ or to know the oak tree. I believe that through our connection to nature and the cosmos, we open ourselves up to the synchronicity and wonder of the universe to illuminate our soul’s path, what our ancestors called, our dán.
