Croagh Patrick, previously known as Cruachan Aigle, has been a sacred mountain since prehistory. It is on this mountain, according to folk tradition, that Patrick gathered the snakes before banishing them from Ireland. Here, the saint fasted for 40 days and 40 nights with giant birds circling above him. His first major escapade in Ireland was the lighting of the sacred flame of the Paschal Fire atop the Hill of Slane, in direct contravention of the Irish law which forbade the ignition of any Easter fire before the sacred fire had first been tindered by the King on the Hill of Tara. Remarkably, Croagh Patrick and Slane are part of a huge alignment system, stretching from the east coast of Ireland to the west, across more than 135 miles of landscape. The alignment starts at Millmount, not far from where Patrick landed on the Boyne Estuary, and continues through Slane and Kells towards the Cruachan Ai complex in Roscommon, the home of the Connaught kings and Queen Medb's stronghold. The alignment also follows the Tóchar Padraig, Patrick's causeway, a pilgrim route which follows a path across 20 miles of countryside from Ballintubber Abbey through Aghagower to Croagh Patrick. On the last Sunday of every July, pilgims flock to the holy mountain to climb to the summit. For more on the equinox alignment of Saint Patrick, see this page. The discovery of this astonishing alignment, coupled with other new revelations, is detailed in the expanded and updated second edition of Island of the Setting Sun which will be published in July.