Celebrated, international bestselling author Manchán Magan takes readers on a fresh, eye-opening journey as he re-examines old Irish ways, finding links between ancient Irish beliefs and other Indigenous cultures around the world. With a foreword by Robert Macfarlane and a contribution by Merlin Sheldrake.

Ireland may be a modern European country, but its old traditions, folktales, and mythologies reveal a relationship to the natural world that much more closely resemble global indigenous traditions of reciprocity, respect, and reverence.

In Seeing What's Hidden Manchán Magan takes the reader along as he re-examines the old Irish ways, finding many a link between ancient Irish beliefs and other indigenous cultures around the world. Manchán explains that before Ireland was colonized (first by the Vikings, and later by England) it was an island shrouded in fog and mystery, bordered by coastline and covered in green, damp forest.

In this book, Manchán returns to that pre-colonial Ireland. From the inherent reciprocity of the Irish language to retellings of ancient Irish folktales, Manchán reminds readers that Ireland was once a culture with a deeply spiritual relationship to the Earth and the sea and its people are still connected to the old ways and stories. By remembering what they once knew, the Irish—and all of us—can create a renewed relationship to land, tradition, and each other. 

Seeing What's Hidden is Manchán’s last book. In October of 2025 he passed away at age 55 of cancer while working on these pages. The project was completed by his close friends and colleagues.

About The Author

Manchán Magan was an Irish writer, podcaster, and documentary maker. He wrote for the Irish Times, was presenter on the RTÉ podcast The Almanac of Ireland, and the author of the award-winning, best-selling Listen to the Land Speak and Thirty Two Words for Field. His illustrated books include Tree Dogs, Banshees Fingers, and Other Irish Words for Nature (Gill, 2021) and Wolf-Men and Water Hounds (Gill, 2023).  

He made dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ, and the Travel Channel, was on the board of Hometree, a native woodland and land regeneration charity, and Common Knowledge, a non-profit social enterprise teaching skills for a sustainable homelife. He was also an ambassador for The Rivers Trust and lived for a quarter-century in an oak wood, with bees, hens, and, occasionally, pigs in a grass-roofed house near Lough Lene, Co Westmeath.

On October 2nd, 2025 Manchán died at the age of 55 of cancer. Considered a national treasure for his work bringing attention to the Irish language, Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins said of Magan and his passing: “Manchán truly lived an inspirational life and helped so many people to find a deeper meaning in their lives. . . Manchán’s vision and understanding were not limited to Ireland or the Irish language, but to what we share and are connected to with all forms of life that live within native and indigenous cultures, languages and communities across the globe. . . He will be deeply missed."