Cailleachs Herbarium
Exploring Scottish Folk Practices and Traditions
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When the Spirit Moves You – Moving House and Animism in Scottish Folklore
They say moving house is one of the most stressful things. It’s right up there with death and divorce. Having moved to a new house over the Bealtainn weekend I can agree. Though luckily no one got killed and we…
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Radicalising the Ancestral Scottish Diet
The ancestral scottish diet is not all haggis, neeps and tatties! Scotland is famous for its food. However, it’s famous for its food for the wrong reasons. Scotland is renowned for its food being deep-fried, covered in fat and having very…
Scottish Folk magic and the dead (part three) – folk charms, herbs for the dead and second sight
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…
Scottish Folk Magic and the dead (part two) – The dead as a witch familiar
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)…
Scottish Folk Magic and the Dead (part one) – Funerary customs and death related lore.
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…
Scottish folk magic and the dead (an introduction)
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…
Who the hell is Sidhe? – Fairy Faith and Animism in Scotland. A Challenge to Divinity
This post about the fairy faith been a long time in the coming. I can only apologise for that, I have been busy researching for a new book that explores these issues in more detail. I was asked to discuss…
Martinmas – Sacrifice, Initiation, and Blood
What is Martinmas? Martinmas is a poor cousin of other the other high and holy days. A mostly forgotten day in the year before the start of Yule and after Samhuinn’s end. However, I think Martinmas holds some of the…
A Gaelic response in support to Water is life. Water is sacred.
Water is life. Water is sacred. The travesties that are happening around ours and others countries right now are many. We have fracking underway in England. We have the Dakota Access Pipeline company attempting to cut its way across the…
From Dead to Deity – How did the Celtic dead become gods?
I’m sitting on a train. It’s like a liminal space, I’m not moving but rushing forward at the same time. Travelling through the amazing Scottish landscape, it’s always a joy. Even though a brown, white and green dusk coloured blur beyond the window. The sound…
The good, the dead, and the fairy faith – Animism and ancestors in Scottish folklore.
Winter time is always a time for me to ponder on those who have passed. Their missing faces from the celebration table hit pretty hard at this time of year. I don’t mean to be maudlin but it’s a reality…
The Cailleach – A Tale of Balance Between Darkness and Light (Part Two)
The Cailleach is a very interesting figure in Gaelic even possibly Celtic myth and beyond.The above video represents some of the Cailleach’s folk stories, the first about the priest who tries to count the bones in her house and dies of…
The Cailleach – A Tale of Balance Between Darkness and Light (part one)
As we move into the winter months I can’t think of a more appropriate force and mythological figure to write about. The Callieach is someone very close to me, and a reason why this website is called as it is. Recently I have noticed with interest posts written about her, some accurate some not so much, so I thought I would offer my humble opinion on this fascinating figure.
Airmed – herbal working ancestor – an inspiration
The inspiration for this site and what we are attempting to achieve came from a number of ideas that had been ruminating for a long time. One of these stories is about a Airmid from the Tuatha de dannann.