Our homes were round once – a sacred circle. Imagine. A home with no corners. A roundhouse. Folk say the Romans made houses rectangles and introduced the cross-cutting corners of …
Cailleachs Herbarium
Exploring Scottish Folk Belief and Folk Magic
Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread Available for Pre-Order
Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread explores Scottish folk beliefs, traditions, and folk magic in detail, with over 520 pages, including illustrations, and is a true collector's edition. This is a limited edition; once the book has sold out, it will no longer be available.
Pre-order
The old people had runes which they sang to the spirits dwelling in the sea and in the mountain, in the wind and in the whirlwind, in the lightning and in the thunder, in the sun and in the moon and in the stars of heaven. I was naught but a toddling child at the time, but I remember well the ways of the old people. Then came notice of eviction, and burning and emigration and the people were scattered and sundered over the world, and the old ways disappeared with the old people. Oh they disappeared indeed, and nothing so good is come in their stead – naught so good is come, my beloved, nor ever will come
‘The people addressed ranns (song /incantations /rune) to the sun, moon and stars. Men and women saluted the morning sun and hailed the new moon. The practice prevailed over the British Isles, nor is it yet obsolete, though now a matter of form more than belief. The people hailed the morning sun as they would a great person come back to their land, and they hailed the new moon “lòchran mór an àigh – the great lamp of grace” with joyous welcome and acclaim. The sun was a matter of great awe, but the moon was a friend of great love, guiding their course upon land and sea and their path wherever they went…In the time of my father and my mother, there was no man in Barra who would not take off his bonnet to the white sun of power, nor a woman in Barra who would not bend her body to the white moon of the seasons.’
Latest Writing
-
- Animismcosmologyhealing wells
Sacred Water : Journeys of Transformation and Personal Power in Scottish Folklore
In Scottish cosmology, sacred waters such as our sea and rivers are more than elements; they are animated by their own spirits and present to us gateways to profound wisdom, …
-
In the mountainous highlands and rugged borderlands of Scotland, the ancient belief in the evil eye, known as the “uncannie eye” or “ill eye” still lingers, casting a shadow over …
- CommodificationConservationFolk TalesOpinion piece
Deforestation and the Ghost Pines of Caledonia – How the Vikings burnt Scotland’s Forests
Deforestation is a global problem. One caused by human action – a tiny fraction of our native forests remain in Scotland. Human connection to the history of deforestation in Scotland …
-
Fastern’s E’en or Fasterns Een is a festival in Scotland, held on the Tuesday before Lent, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday. Fastern E’en comes from Scots. Fastern’s E’en is also …
-
Scottish healing wells or stroopie wells hold a deep and long history. Stroopie comes from the Gaelic word tobar-shrùbaidh meaning healing well the last word shrùbaidh sounds like stroopie. We …