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Hollow Bones

"In our life there is a time of wonder. Walking with the ancient ones as they share their world. And the dancing voices are carried by the wind. As I walk this sacred ground, I know I'm not alone, and I thank Mother Earth."  ~Alex Davis, Seneca Cayuga

Sacred Scotland - Strong Feelings at Callanish Stones

8/11/2017

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Continuing our islands investigation, we ferried to the Outer Hebrides and onto the island of Lewis.

Mythological creatures called the Blue Men of the Minch are said to inhabit these dark waters off the western coast of Scotland. 

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They’re storm kelpies, or in Scottish Gaelic, na fir ghorma. The word gorm refers to any shade of blue, and na fir can be translated as “the men.”

Folk tales say the mythical blue men may have been part of a tribe of “fallen angels” that split into three. The first became the ground dwelling fairies, the second evolved to become the sea inhabiting blue men, and the remainder the “Merry Dancers” of the Northern Lights in the sky. I love this legend!
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The Blue Men have the power to create storms, but when the weather is fine they sleep or float just under the surface of the water. They swim with their torso from the waist up raised out of the sea, twisting and diving like a porpoise. They are able to converse with mariners are said to shout two lines of poetry to a skipper in a rhyming duel before capsizing their boat. Unless the captain can complete the verse, they will seize his boat.  Uh-huh. Tell legends like this to a writer, and you can be sure it’ll end up as a short story supplement to her novel series eventually!

I marveled at the empty distances between the few small villages, and how the sheep were allowed to graze anywhere.


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You could round a bend in the road and find one right in the middle. Our driver called them “Harris Tweed on the hoof”.



Our major site visit in the Outer Hebrides was Calanais, referred to as the “Stonehenge of the Hebrides.” The main Calanais, site is part of a wider landscape temple embracing satellite sites of stone settings and circles. 
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​This is a lunar observatory created as an ancient power center to witness the major lunar standstill that occurs only once every 18.9 years. (The next lunar standstill will be stages by the moon in 2025.)
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Calanais I site includes a central monolith, an inner chambered cairn, a circle of 13 stones, and avenues that run north, south, east and west and make up the stone heart of the site, laid out in the shape of a Celtic cross. 

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​The stones are gneiss rock, black metamorphic rock banded with quartz and mica, and nearly three million years old.

The Pixar film Brave features several scenes set in and around the stones. And The Starz TV series, Outlander, based on a series of books by Diana Gabaldon, has used the stones as a model for a fictional circle near Culloden called Craigh na Dun.

Maybe the site has become too popular. Or, maybe the stones have absorbed the negative emotions of the people who now trek out to this secluded site to visit. Maybe they even resent the renewed attention?  After all, its own people abandoned the site around 800 BC and let the peat reclaim it until farmers re-cleared the area in 1857.

Whatever the reason, this site ignited an overpowering feeling of anger and resentment in me, a feeling that lingered long after we left the stones. Part of the issue was a pre-teen boy who stood in the middle of this sacred sit, acting stupid and making gang signs while his mom tried to take his picture.

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Nevertheless, the only place I felt comfortable was in the inner circle of the structure, said to be where the Druid leaders would stand to address their followers. I couldn’t wait to leave.

I wasn’t the only one to feel strong negative emotions this day, enough, in fact, that Linda, our co-leader, met with us before dinner to discuss our feelings.
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We’d been drawing a tarot card each day, and during the meeting, I drew the Moon card, after hesitating, and emphatically rejecting, a different card. 
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​The rejected card, as it turned out, was the Devil.

Linda’s interpretation was that the Moon card reminds me that the sacred and true is always there, no matter what else is going on. Meanwhile, the Devil is trying to get my attention, saying, “Hey, look at these distractions, pay attention to them, let me ruin your day!”

She also pointed out that I’d been dragging my red scarf on the ground much of the day, and its color was a perfect match to the red cape on the Death card. She gave me a lot to think about.
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The next morning we visited the Calanais III site, and it was completely different. This double-ring site includes a grouping of three stones named “Mother, Maiden and Crone,” and it had a remarkable atmosphere, as quiet as the wind. It also has less visitors than its better-well-known sister site.  Our group went early, winding into the rocks holding hands. We held a short ritual circle, undisturbed by any other visitors.

It was the perfect way to end our time on Lewis, before driving across the isthmus to catch our ferry to the Isle of Skye. I’ll tell you about Skye and our last island, magical Iona, when I conclude my Scotland tour blog next weekend.

Until then, Blessed Be. And pay attention to the signs you are presented in your daily life!



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Researching My Next Book in Scotland

6/24/2017

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     Older than Stonehenge,   the Ring of Brodegar makes an impressive landmark for miles around.  We will spend three days of our tour exploring Orkney.  
     Our Scotland visit will begin with a tour of all things Outlander.


In one week we leave for Scotland!

My heritage is Scot-Irish, so I'm looking forward to tracing my Campbell and Idol roots. I know my Campbell relatives have been in the Midwest states since the mid-1800s, but I haven't been able to trace them back further, so hopefully Scotland records will help me find when they immigrated.

And, speaking of research, Book 2 of my Ancient Magic series will be set in Scotland, and deciding on the exact site is the main purpose of this trip. The characters and plot can be written from my imagination, but an actual site visit is what "anchors" the book and gives it authenticity.

Will the story be set at the Ring of Brodgar?  With its prehistoric sun and moon temples, this is the heartland of the Neolithic North, a bleak, mysterious place that has made Orkney Island a magnet for archaeologists, historians and other researchers for decades.  We're spending three days in Orkney, including a guided tour of the archaeological excavations on the Ness of Brodgar. These sites pre-date both Stonehenge and Avebury by some 500 years.

Orkney is actually closer to Norway than to London. It's only 50 miles south of Greenland and begins where the North Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. I'm told the area feels like the end of edge of the world, and I can't wait to see it in person.

Maybe the story will journey to the Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis, a complex of megalithic stones laid out in the shape of a Celtic cross, with astronomical alignments that feature vividly in this sacred landscape. One of the stones is estimated to be three billion years old. That gives me shivers!

This landscape temple and its satellite sites makes up a lunar observatory created as an ancient power center to witness the major lunar standstill that occurs only once every 18.6 years (The next lunar standstill will take place in 2025). Two of our tour guides live in this area, so hopefully they will have many little-known tales to tell.

Or perhaps the book will originate in Iona, the home of one of the Book of Kells (circa AD 800), one of the finest illuminated manuscripts over created. When the Vikings sacked the island and its monastery in the late eighth century, the monks secreted the book off to safety in Ireland, but the rest of their entire library of knowledge went under the sea.

Iona is believed by some to be the Yew Island of the Druids, the sacred isle known as 'Tir nan Og, the land of youth, and the 'Otherworld." Such a lot of expectations to live up to!

The Inner Hebredes are separated from the Outer Hebrides by the Minch, a treacherous strait of water on the northwest coast. Famous supernatural inhabitants, called the Blue Men, are said to guard the strait. Something like 'mermen', the blue men tribe live in deep underwater caves and swim alongside ships passing the Sound of Shiant, luring sailors into the sea and creating storms to wreck ships. Some say they are fallen angels. I say they sound like the perfect subjects for a short story between novels!

I'll be posting musings and pictures of our Scotland travels for the next three weeks. I hope you will join me to learn more about our travels through Sacred Scotland.
 
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Beltane: Celebrating Sexuality

4/28/2017

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There are two high sabbats within the annual cycle of Witch's celebrations. The first is Samhain, on October 31, marked by somber rites of death and return. Then, directly across the Wheel of the Year is Beltane, on May 1.

Beltane is the sweet yang to Hallows' dark yin—a joyous celebration of life and sexuality. Lots of lovers and weddings. I even find the butterflies flitting our backyard garden, locked in coitus. Mother Nature is regenerating her children, and everything is horny.

The followers of the Old Religion met on mountaintops and danced the spiral dance on the night before, called Walpurgis Night. The ancients believed that the earth appreciated the sexual energy expended in her open fields, that it stimulated the fertility of the crops and animals. Babies that resulted from these parties were called sons and daughters of Pan, or Cernunnos, since all men represented him.
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I wish we were going to Scotland a month sooner, so we could attend the annual Beltane Fire Festival on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh (shown here). It claims to be the biggest Beltane festival in the world.
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Here at home, we make flower caplets for our heads and dance around the Maypole. One year I hosted a back-yard concert for my friend Wendy Rule, and she and her husband Tim danced with us.

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If you want to attract Beltane love into your life, here's an attracting oil recipe.
Love Oil
Mix one ounce Almond oil or vegetable glycerin with the following essential oils:
  • 4 drops rose
  • 3 drops apple
  • 2 drops jasmine
  • 1 drop lavender
    Apply the finished blend to your heart chakra and to the chakra area just above the genitals to attract love.
     

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    Writer, witch, mother and wife. Order of importance is a continual shuffle.

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