S2 #22 / David Keohan, Irish Stones of Strength

Spirit Box

Today we welcome Indiana Stones himself, the one and only David Keohan. Hailing from Ireland, David is a Stone lifter, a kettlebell world champion, an artist and a musician. He’s been on a mission to recover Ireland's lost stone lifting culture and has done so through our literature and folklore. We spoke all about his stone lifting journey from his lifting of the fianna stone in Scotland which inspired his own search in Ireland. Culminating in the rediscovery of the stone described by the famous Galway writer Liam O'Flaherty in his short story ‘The Stone’. He has rediscovered 30 testing stones, a remarkable act of reclamation and celebration of this lost tradition. Through this act David has created a remarkable and unique magical act of healing of the multi-generational trauma of Ireland's colonisation. These great testing stones, now rediscovered form a chain back into our ancient past, before colonisation, before christianity and in lifting these stones once more the chain is renewed, in a feat of strength and deep ancestral healing. His work is a brilliant and inspiring intersection of folklore, magic, mythology, and strength. In the Plus show we get into ancestral work, and animism. We talk about Peig Sayers and Ghosts leading us to tell their stories. The death stone of Cú Chulainn, the Irish Hercules and to close out the show I read Liam O'Flaherty’s short story ‘The Stone’. Show notes: David’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_indiana_st... David’s YouTube / @davidindianakeohans3566 Duchas.ie https://www.duchas.ie/en Liam O'Flaherty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_O%... David’s article on the Stone of Inishmore THE QUEST FOR THE STONE OF INISHMORE - Ireland The Stone by Liam O’Flaherty https://archive.org/.../shortstorieso... The Aran Islands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aran_Islands The Aran Islands drone footage • THE ARAN ISLANDS BY DRONE (IRELAND)- ... Caher Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caher_I... Pre famine Irish tallest in Europe https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-s... Peig Sayers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peig_Sa... Cú Chulainn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%BA... Feature on my grandfathers book https://roaringwaterjournal.com/2023/... My grandfather's book https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-searc... And here's the photos of the Kusthi wrestlers I mentioned. https://www.darraghmason.com/index/G0... Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka