Ancestors Archives - Cailleachs Herbarium

Ancestors

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 are still married. It’s been a maze of solicitors, paper work, travel, packing and unpacking boxes and general DIY until my body ached too much and I had to sleep, stressed pets, stressed people and so many plants to move … I spare you the rest of the gory details. We made it through. All in one piece. Now it’s

Scott

Ancestors

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 little green or nutritional value. Scotland is also famous for its whisky along with a reputation for alcoholism, over drinking and bawdy times. Yes ,it’s true, Scottish people like to celebrate and have a love for unhealthy eating but it wasn’t and isn’t always this way. The Gaelic proverb says, “Lean gu dlùth ri cliù do shinnsre,” — “Follow closely to

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Ancestors

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 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

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Ancestors

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) 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

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Ancestors

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 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

Scott

Ancestors

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 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

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Ancestors

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 the idea of the Sidhe or Síth in Scottish culture. During research for the upcoming publication many ideas have come forward. Some of these ideas I spoke about last year at the Scottish Radical Herbal Gathering. This post develops those ideas found in the post Dead to Deity. It’s also a think piece. It presents a different narrative to what

Scott

A martinmas goose being ready to be killed by a man on a doorstep

Ancestors

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 true character of Samhuinn not so well-remembered. Martinmas should be significant to folk practitioners for the associations and traditions accompanying it. Change is inevitable. A time of change to the Scottish, is a chance for speculation and divination, worry, hope and sacrifice. This mind set is echoed in the changing of the seasons throughout the year but is especially felt at

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Ancestors

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 major, central rivers and aquifers of North America, including unceded Native American territory, sacred sites and burial grounds.. We have displaced people from a war torn country homeless and in danger in Calais. All because of one thing. Oil. Democracy and human rights are being overturned in the wake of this monster. It has me thinking. What do our tales,

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Ancestors

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 of the train, the rock of its carriage, always makes my mind drift. It gets me thinking. Back to old conversations and thoughts. I have pondered questions around animism and the dead a lot recently. In discussions, its been one of many topics raised over whisky, late into the evening. I thought the friendly debates and these unformed threads of ideas

Scott

a mossy gravestone - Cailleachs Herbarium

Ancestors

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 we will all encounter at some point. It got me thinking. As this is the darkest time of the year, what those who came before us thought of at this time of year? What were the beliefs of the folks who saw fairies and ancestors as ever-present. Is it animism? Is it fairy faith? This is a thought piece rather

Scott

Taigh Nam Bodach - In Glenn Cailleach - Cailleachs Herbarium

Ancestors

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 old age because he can’t count them all there are that many. The other part of the tale about the encroaching of man signified by the barking dog and her need to renew herself to become young again. In the previous post I discussed some of the background to the Cailleach and some of the folk tales that relate to

Scott

Deer in the woods - cailelachs herbarium

Ancestors

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,

Scott

The healing well of Bride heapstown cairn (2009)

Ancestors

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.

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Exploring the archives

Category: Ancestors

Category: Ancestors

Category: Ancestors

When the Spirit Moves You – Moving House and Animism in Scottish Folklore

Radicalising the Ancestral Scottish Diet

Scottish Folk magic and the dead (part three) – folk charms, herbs for the dead and second sight

Scottish Folk Magic and the dead (part two) – The dead as a witch familiar

Scottish Folk Magic and the Dead (part one) – Funerary customs and death related lore.

Scottish folk magic and the dead (an introduction)

Who the hell is Sidhe? – Fairy Faith and Animism in Scotland. A Challenge to Divinity

Martinmas – Sacrifice, Initiation, and Blood

A Gaelic response in support to Water is life. Water is sacred.

From Dead to Deity – How did the Celtic dead become gods?

The good, the dead, and the fairy faith – Animism and ancestors in Scottish folklore.

The Cailleach – A Tale of Balance Between Darkness and Light (Part Two)

The Cailleach – A Tale of Balance Between Darkness and Light (part one)

Airmed – herbal working ancestor – an inspiration

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