Recently I have had the pleasure of speaking to the ever hospitable Professor Terry Gunnell at Iceland’s University all about Guising, Skekling and skeklers. As part of the Taibhsear Collective …
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
Carmina Gadleica Vol III
‘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.’
Carmina Gadleica Vol III
Recently I have had the pleasure of speaking to the ever hospitable Professor Terry Gunnell at Iceland’s University all about Guising, Skekling and skeklers. As part of the Taibhsear Collective …
I ‘m currently obsessed with the idea of parts of the self in Scottish folklore. Not just our bodies but what our spiritual DNA or what our sprit was once …
“The sun will rise and set regardless, what we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us”. Chris Bickerton In a world heading toward the …
I’ve been struggling with ideas of Scottish appropriation from our culture for a while now. Some of you may have read Saining Not Smudging. This article explored it in reverse …
Saining is the Scottish Folk magic act of purification – a way of blessing or removing enchantments that uses smoke or other methods like tar or water or written texts …
The below is the introduction for the event Dreaming Bread and Skyrie Stanes on the 11th of November 2018. I thought I’d share it on the website for folk who …