dead

scapulimancy – Slinneanachd – Slinnairachd – divination by shoulder blade in Scottish Folk magic an exploration of the evidence and method.

The struggles and revelations of Scotland’s people are stamped into the landscape, like wrinkles on the palms of old lady history some say put there by the Cailleach herself. Some experiences deep ravines. Other lines the soft touch of poetry skimming the surface like scree. With such deep history surrounding us it can’t help but inspire thoughts about the riddles of these places. Secrets coded in name and metaphor. Dark brooding and inspirational names captured in Gaelic given to desolate munro, shadowy river and unfathomable loch. Names such as Bod an Deamhain – the devil’s penis (point), Dùn dá Gaoithe…

The mist the dew, the dew the mist The mist, the dew, in the eye of my love In the eye of my love, Thou who didst open the young eye Close it tonight in the sleep of death In the sleep of death – the road to the isles 1927 This series explores our ancestors experience with the dead and folk magic. Veneration of the dead was born from encounters with the Neolithic landscape, dualism of Roman and later Christian thinking and smatterings of Norse fatalism and anglo-saxon pragmatism. All Scottish folk magic stems from this cultural intertwining. The role of the…

It is the familiar spirit of the place; It judges, presides, inspires Everything in its empire; It is perhaps a fairy or a god? (No, in fact it was a cat, ed) – Charles Baudelaire (the flowers of evil, 1857) The call of the desolate, dank and dead. Twilights veil settles thickly on a resting landscape. Nightfall’s gloaming orange light catching the harl, billowing mist unrolling like a generous feather duvet. Vapour peaks and troughs captured by the sinking Valium sunset form a myriad of grotesques as they rise and fall from sight. Unrelenting drizzle frames Scotland in driech endless…

 Introduction I introduced a series of writing exploring the role of the oft neglected dead in Scottish folk magic. If you haven’t read it I suggest you have a wee read. It sets the tone of the rest of the series. Due to the amount of lore and other related bits of information this article is quite dense. A fuller exploration of the subject of funerary customs, death and folklore requires more writing than I feel I’m capable of in a web format. (and maybe more than you’d like to read- It needs chapters). To keep the flow a little…

Dondering around the countryside, sauntering through glen, dirt track, woods and burns. Battling the wind and falling leaves. Passed graveyard and sacred stones. An idea presented itself. To write a series of posts embracing the theme of the season. The dead. There’s a lot of information kicking around already about the dead and their relationship to Scottish folk magic traditions and lore. Some populist and modern, others older or academic. Most of it focussed on the dead as a secondary or tertiary concern to Scottish life. However, there is a different role the dead and the Sidhe/Sith play. A more…