Not everything that shares this world with us is easily seen, understood, or inclined to make itself known.
For generations, Scotland’s hills, waters, homes and lonely roads have been inhabited by rather more than the living folk who walk them. There are the Sìth, the restless dead, familiar spirits, strange presences and countless other beings who wander in and out of our stories. Some offer help, others bring misfortune, and a fair few seem to have little interest in human affairs whatsoever.
These beliefs are more than fanciful tales told beside winter fires. They speak of a world alive with relationships, obligations, warnings and possibilities. A world where the boundaries between the ordinary and extraordinary are not always quite as certain as we might imagine.
Here, I explore Scotland’s supernatural traditions, their histories, contradictions and the ways they have shaped our understanding of life, death and everything that might lie between. Not to prove that every story is true, nor to explain away its strangeness, but to ask what these beliefs tell us about the people who held them, and perhaps something about ourselves.
Come a little closer. There is more here than meets the eye.
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
Those following along on social media will know I have been discussing divination for a while and researching the below bit of Audio exploring authentic Scottish Prayers or charms to
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
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.
It’s the time of year when we are around family and we celebrate the holidays and the winter moves in. As the winter comes fast and hard we huddle with our nearest
It’s the time of the year when I start thinking about the more witchier side of life and the name Nicneven and Hecate starts to be whispered of. Wrapped in
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
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
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
