A Healing
Journey
About me
I’m Ruth and I am a holistic healer, ritualist, space holder, and ceremonialist, working with women at the edge of what they think is possible.
My work brings together sound healing, journeying, somatic practice, IFS parts work, ancestral healing, and Celtic folklore to help women come home to themselves. To their bodies. To the truth that lives in their bones.
These are not separate modalities bolted together. I see them as different languages for the same ancient knowing: that healing lives in the body, in the parts of us we have hidden, in the lines of those who came before us.
But this work didn't arrive fully formed from a single course or tradition. It was forged in the fire of my own life, and grounded in years of training, study, and practice.
My path began over 25 years ago in archives, pouring over the lives of medieval women healers. Their stories struck something deep in me, a sense of recognition that I couldn't yet name. Little did I know then that their wisdom would one day guide my own healing and practice.
Growing up in Northern Ireland, I carried what so many Irish women carry: the weight of patriarchy, religious fear, the scars of violence and secrets not spoken aloud. The trauma was not just mine. It was ancestral, woven through generations of women before me. It was and is also collective.
It manifested as physical pain that no conventional treatment could reach. Endometriosis. TMJ. Fibromyalgia. Anxiety. IBS. Depression. A body that had carried too much.
Sound became my medicine.
The drumbeat was a surprising remedy. As I connected with the rhythms of my ancestors, I found my way back to myself. When I leaped into the world of sound therapy, I realised I wasn't acquiring a new skill. I was reclaiming an ancient heritage through the drum.
“I loved the design of each Circle. Your inspiring knowledge and enthusiasm. Your shared vulnerability and guidance. I felt seen, heard, welcomed, and a part of something bigger.
I tapped into a sense of peace I hadn't experienced since having my baby last April. This has been the best medicine. My creative practice has really taken off and I have no doubt this is thanks to the inner work done here.
Thank you so much for holding space, being so versatile and authentic. I felt so safe arriving just as I am and I've never done anything like this before.”
Anne, Participant of Brigid Circle
Much of my journey has been shadow work. Meeting the parts of myself I had long hidden. Learning to quieten the inner critic and welcome my own worth. IFS parts work gave me a language for what I had always sensed: that we are not broken, only fragmented. That every part of us, however defended or exiled, carries a wisdom and a need.
Somatic practice taught me to follow what the body already knew. To release the trauma stored in the tissue, to unravel the knots around the heart.
And then came the ancestors.
Working with ancestral healing has been the most profound layer of this journey. Understanding that what I carried wasn't only mine, and that healing it had ripples far beyond my own life. This is the work that calls me most deeply, and it runs through everything I do.
The Deeper work
I am currently completing my Celtic shamanic practitioner training, deepening my understanding of the lineages, the land, and the practices that have guided Celtic people for thousands of years.
Working with the goddess energies of Brigid, the Morrighan, and the great cycles of the year has brought my own healing into a new dimension.
And it has woven a thread between the medieval women healers I studied long ago and the women I sit with today.
What strikes me, the further I go, is how much these paths converge. Parts work. Somatic practice. Ancestral healing. Celtic ceremony. Different maps, the same territory: the human soul, seeking to come home.
“Ruth is an incredible facilitator and created a safe space to play, connect and share.
I joined my first women’s drumming circle last month in the woods, and left feeling lighter, joyful and connected to the women around me as well as the earth, trees and seasons!”
Oglivz, Participant of Women’s Woodland Drum Circle
My background is unconventional, but I have come to see how every thread of it belongs.
A research degree into the lives of medieval women healers gave me a deep reverence for embodied, hidden knowledge. A postgraduate qualification in museum studies and years working in museums taught me how objects hold story, how altars become living things, how a carefully held space carries meaning across time. Reiki, sound therapy training, IFS, and my ongoing Celtic shamanic practitioner training have given me the tools to meet what lives in the body, in the psyche, and in the ancestral line.
My supervisors tell me this work is in me. I believe them. And I am also committed to the container: trained, supervised, and in ongoing personal work. Because I know from my own journey that only by tending our own wounds can we truly be of service to others.
I am a registered practitioner with the Federation of Holistic Therapists.
The Weaving
If my story resonates with you, if you have felt the call to come home to yourself,
to heal what has been carried too long,
I invite you to reach out.
Together, we can work with the wisdom of
your body, the medicine of sound and ritual,
and the deep current of your ancestral line.
Healing is not a destination. It is a path of
courage, vulnerability, and discovery.
It is a path I am honoured to walk.
And one I hope to share with you.
“It's still settling, but since working with Ruth, I feel like I have a sovereignty that I was waiting to step in to.
I have always been connected to my creativity, but now I cherish it. Perhaps I thought before, because it's open to everyone, that my creativity was just a detail about me. I now realise it's one of my gifts, to be celebrated and shared.
Thank you, Ruth. You create such magic.”
Ellen, Participant of Bone Deep Circles
-
![sound therapist in bristol]()
1-1 Holistic Healing (in person)
Deep, personalised healing sessions in Bristol for women. Working with your body, your parts, and your ancestral line to help you come home to yourself.
-
![Irish ancestral healing therapist online]()
1-1 Holistic Healing (online)
Same depth of healing work, wherever you are. Online 1-1’s available for women anywhere in the world or who prefer to work from your own space.
-
![Celtic shamanic rattle on altar]()
Ancestral Healing
Healing that goes beyond the individual. Work with the patterns, pain, and gifts carried in your lineage & discover that some of what you carry was never yours alone. Available in person / online.
-
![Women's drum circle around fire in Bristol woodlands]()
Women's Drum Circles
Three Monthly drum circles in Bristol where women drum, sing, and move together, remembering their cyclical, powerful nature. No experience needed. Drums & rattles available to borrow.
-
![]()
Women's Somatic Circles
Seasonal Bone Deep circles where women gather around the Celtic Wheel alongside the energies of Celtic goddesses & ancestral wisdom. Sound, ritual, drum journeys, & community.
"I've been feeling so much lighter in the way I show up every day.
The anxiety and stress over all the responsibilities I've been carrying are dissipating.
It feels really good to approach each day in the present moment."
Kristen, 1-1 online session
Book a discovery call
If you want to discover if this work could be for you, please feel free to get in touch for an informal chat without any obligation.