The Goddess in the Landscape by Stuart McHardy

Excerpted; for full article see the link. My comments below are in brackets; the rest is by McHardy. I'll skip over his summary of various conquests that destroyed or obscured Scottish history. Then:

All of this ignores what can be clearly seen in the light of modern archaeological and historical learning - that Scotland was inhabited by people capable of sophisticated thinking with considerable mathematical and engineering powers from the time of the great stone circle of Calanais was raised about five thousand years ago.

Because of the lack of sources and the bias of historians towards both Christianity and an Oxbridge view of the world much Scottish folklore is ignored or misunderstood. This applies particularly to the Goddess in our landscape.

All of the pagan religions in Europe are accepted as having come through a Goddess phase and there is no reason to think Scotland should be any different. In fact behind tales of witches, supernatural females and Christian saints lies a reality that is still manifest in our landscape - that the Goddess walked these lands, and perhaps still does. In ancient religions it was natural to see life itself as emanating form a female source - after all do we not all come from our mothers - and the landscape of Scotland is dotted with referents to the female principle in its nurturing, life-giving sense, though we also have dark, violent females representing the destructive aspect of the Goddess, in short life and death.

Many of the most striking of our hills are called Paps and in Gaelic we have the terms Cioch and Mam which both refer to the differing shapes of the female breast. We have the Paps of Jura, the Paps of Fife, the Pap of Glencoe, the Maiden Paps in Roxburghshire, Maiden Pap in Sutherland and many others. There all also Bennachie -originally Bean na Cioch, and Lochnagar was initially Beinn na Ciochan and has its own Caisteal na Caillich, Meikle Pap and Little Pap. There are many others but naming them after the shape of the female breast alone is perhaps not enough to conclude that we are seeing remnants of the Goddess and her worship. However when we find holy wells, symbolic placenames associated with ritual and mythology and early sacred sites around such places it seems possible that Goddess worship was involved in the naming of such physical features.

In many parts of Scotland that were once Gaelic speaking, which is most of the country, there are tales of the Cailleach, an ancient name meaning the veiled one that used to mean the old woman or hag, but in modern times has come to mean nun. In many of the old tales however she is presented as the Spirit of Winter, keeping Bride, the Goddess of Summer imprisoned till she is released by her lover [maybe not so old]. As we shall see, the Cailleach in Gaelic tradition is matched by the figure of the Carlin in Scots tradition. There are literally dozens of placenames referring to the Cailleach and many such tales are attached to mountains.

One of the oldest tales of this kind refers to Scotland’s greatest natural wonder. This is the Corryvreckan the great whirlpool between the Inner Hebridean islands of Jura and Scarba. Just off Scarba’s south coast there is a huge underwater spike and when the Atlantic waters are forced through the Sound of Jura and meet tidal surges coming around both islands the waters start to gyrate around this spike and the whirlpool of the Corryvreckan is formed. It is at its most violent at the end of autumn though sailors who dare to cross it are always in danger at any time of the year.

Coire Bhreacain, Cauldron of the Cailleach's Plaid, a whirlpool caused by ocean currents hitting an underwater stone spire. See illustration here.

The name of the Corryvreckan was originally Coire Bhreacain* - "Cauldron of the Plaid." The term cauldron is one that is associated with Goddesses throughout Celtic and Germanic mythology and legend –perhaps why it is represented so widely on Pictish Symbol Stones - but here it has a specific meaning. It was in this great cauldron that the Cailleach washed her plaid, the traditional one-piece garment of the Highlands. It was this washing that was said to created the whirlpool in autumn, the sound of which can be heard for many miles around, After washing her plaid the Cailleach lays her plaid over the hills of west Scotland to dry. As she is the oldest being, clearly a reference to a Mother Goddess figure, her plaid is pure white - it needed no colour to differentiate her from other beings. [? It's the snows of winter covering the heather-speckled landscape!] This is of course a mythological explanation for the first snows of the year linked to the greatest physical event in the landscape of Scotland and her surrounding waters. Some scholars specifically link the Cailleach to Ben Nevis our greatest mountain and like many of our hills it has an Allt-na-Cailleach, stream of the Old Woman.

*Breacan, translated here as "plaid," was a word for the "great kilt," the length of wool that was wrapped around the waist, pleated several times (in the manner of a sari, gathering several folds) and then tucked and belted, wrapping the rest over the shoulders or around the waist, weather depending. Breacan comes from Old Gaelic breac, “spotted” or “speckled,” but it's inflected in the genitive, Coire Bhreacain: "of the plaid."

This garment, also called a tartan, was not necessarily in the cross-striped pattern we understand as "plaid." That word came from a Scots Gaelic word for "blanket," plaide meaning 'blanket', but also the rectangular wrapped garment that was worn several ways: the belted plaid (breacan féile) or "great kilt" which preceded the modern kilt; the arisaid (earasaid), a large shawl that could be wrapped into a dress; and several types of shoulder cape.

"Today, tartan refers to coloured patterns, though originally did not have to be made up of a pattern at all, as it referred to the type of weave; as late as the 1820s, some tartan cloth was described as "plain coloured ... without pattern". Patterned cloth from the Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlands was called breacan, meaning 'many colours'." A related name was given to the Cailleach Beinne Bric, "of the speckled mountain, who had a special chant: Cailleach Beinn A'Bhric Horò. But this tradition is so rich, I'll place it in a second lesson.

Resuming with McHardy's article:
This is essentially the same Old Woman located in different parts of the landscape of Scotland and one other striking example is Caillich na mointich. the Old Woman of the Moors whose form lies in the hills to the south of the great standing stone circle of Calanais [aka Callanish, the anglo spelling] which we shall look at later.

Time and again we find the Cailleach associated with mountains and on a clear day as the weather changes it is easy to see why. I recall standing on a hillside in Glen Clova looking north to Lochnagar in early autumn on a bright day with a few clouds high in the sky. As I watched clouds began to form around the head of Lochnagar and as the sky darkened clouds began to stream out from the mountain. The Goddess of course creates the weather as well as the planet and all its beings and it seems only natural that she should be located on our mountain tops. The harsh black figures of the Cailleachs associated with Bein Bhreac in Lochaber, Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross and many other Scottish mountains seem particularly apt creatures to be associated with Scottish winters - which every year exact a toll of sacrifice from among the walkers and climbers who venture amongst them.

One of the strongest associations of the Cailleach is the deer and Jura, mentioned above, means the Deer Isle from the Norse Dyr -ey and the Cailleach there, the Cailleach Mhor nam Fiadh, the Big Old Woman of the Deer is said to have no remorse in killing any non-Jura man who set foot on her island. This is very close to the notion of the Goddess representing the land and links with the ancient Celtic notion of the new king marrying the female representation of the land, thereby attaining sovereignty. Many Cailleachs are mentioned as helping deer hunters who approach them the right way.

Ben Cruachan which soars over the north side of the road between Dalmally and Oban has its own Cailleach story. Here the Cailleach was the guardian of a well on the summit of the mountain. Every evening she had to cover the well with a large flat stone and every morning take it off again. One night she was tired out after being out all day with her herds in Connel and fell asleep by the side of the well. Night fell and still she slept. Up came the waters of the well and flooded out over the land, rushing down the side of the mountain to the south. As the flood began to rage it broke through the Pass of Brander with a great roar and the Cailleach sprang awake. Try as she might she could not cap the well and the torrent flowed free drowning many a man and beast caught in its path. This is how Loch Awe was formed and it is said the Cailleach was so ashamed that she turned to stone and the stone still sits among the rocky ruins overlooking the Loch. [This resembles parallel stories about Sínand (Shannon) and Boand (Boyne), women who the rivers were named after; they are negative toward the women, and I think are later constructions, whether christian or pre-, over the original story in which they are the river.]

Here as with the Corryvreckan we have the Cailleach being instrumental in the formation of the landscape and the same story of the overflowing well is given for the origin of Loch Ness, and others. It is no surprise that tradition also tells us that the Cailleach formed the Hebridean islands when an apronful of stones she was carrying for the making of Scotland accidentally fell! [These stories are told all over Ireland and Scotland, and in Scandinavia, where it is often a giantess who drops the stones.]

Many mountains and glens in Scotland have stories of the Cailleach, always associated with the local landscape, for the stories were always told in such a way as to find an easy reception amongst their audience. Placenames and associated tales put her all over our landscape .

On Mull there is the Carn na Caillich where again the Cailleach dropped a load of stones when the strap of the creel she was carrying the stones in broke. Here she was said to have been trying to build a bridge over the Sound of Mull and intended putting chains across the Sound of Islay to stop ships passing. The stones where these chains were to be fixed used to be pointed out on Jura.

[This next one too looks to be a demonizing adaptation of the Cailleach tradition. Mary Condren, author of The Serpent and the Goddess, is coming out with a book soon that shows an older, non-antagonistic relationship between Brigit / Bríde and the Cailleach.]

A tale told all over the Highlands at least concerns the Cailleach and Bride. In this tale the Cailleach, a great, black-faced Hag has Bride, the Goddess of Summer imprisoned and in some versions she is called her daughter. During the Winter while Bride is imprisoned the Cailleach goes around the country hammering the land with her great hammer and thus freezing it. Bride is given the impossible task of washing a brown fleece white while the Cailleach is out and about. Far off in the Land of Eternal Youth, Angus Og dreams of the beautiful maiden harshly imprisoned and resolves to come to her rescue. Bride herself manages to escape on the 1^st of February for three days but is soon recaptured. This is supposed to account for the three days of good weather that were said to happen at the beginning of February called lathan Bridean

Meanwhile Angus Og is searching everywhere for Bride and with the help of a mysterious male figure eventually locates her. He frees her and they are initially pursued by the Cailleach. But with Bride’s release Spring has come and the Cailleach’s powers fade quickly. At last she gives up the chase in disgust and throws her hammer under a holly bush - which is why nothing ever grows there. Bride and Angus Og are married and rule together over the Summer months till once again the Cailleach’s time comes round.

[In the older versions, it is not a hammer but the Cailleach's slachdán, staff or staff-like club, that she throws into the root of the gorse, as the warm season begins, to reemerge in late fall with the onset of winter. Here's a modern illustration of her by Mairín Taj Caya:]

This tale comes from long before the calendars were changed at the end of the 16^th century so it is perhaps surprising how often a short spell of weather does occur at the beginning of February. Or did the new calendar simply put things back in balance?

On the east of Scotland, much of which has been Scots-speaking for almost as long as Gaelic has been spoken in the west there is a figure which is a clear match for the Cailleach. This is the Carlin who like her counterpart has left traces in the landscape. [Carlin, "old woman."] The Paps of Fife were mentioned above and on the western side of the Lomond Hills, of which the Paps form part is the narrow gap known as Glenvale. Here stood a striking pillar of stone known as Carlin Maggie, which sadly has now fallen.

The Carlin-Maggie Stone in Kinross, original height 10 meters

The tale is that this was the a haunt of witches and Carlin Maggie was their leader. One time seeing Satan approach carrying a load of rocks she took a stand on Bishop’s Hill and preceded to flyte him - insult him in rhyme [flyting, a Norse word / custom]. He dropped his load of rocks and chased her coming close enough to turn her into stone at this spot overlooking Loch Leven. Here we have a representative of the old, pagan religion going against even the Christian Devil!

In the surrounding area there are records of fertility rituals associated with a nearby bore hole through rock called the Maiden Bore, old wells and even an early Christian fish sign carved in the living rock on West Lomond Hill. The clustering of such sites strongly supports the idea that such names were given in honour of the Goddess and that the area was one of considerable sanctity.

The Carlin who crops up in Scots medieval literature was the subject of one early anonymous poem, the Gyre-Carling, in which she is said to have farted out North Berwick Law! The poem was said to have been a favourite of James V. This is a bit different from the other tales here but still links her directly to the creation of the physical world and it is interesting that one of our most famous groups of witches gathered in the shade of North Berwick Law. The name Gyre-Carlin means something like the biting or ravenous old woman which is very like the meaning of the Cailleach Bheur, a name that crops up often in Gaelic traditions. [Derives from the Irish Cailleach Bhéara, the Old Woman of Béare in the far southwest of Ireland; but the Scottish stories about her are different.]

It is clear that the idea of the Hag of Winter is common to the Germanic and Celtic speaking traditions in Scotland and this might suggest we are dealing with an idea that comes from a time before either of these two languages had developed. This is impossible to prove but it is known that some aspects of Scottish tradition like the association of these female figures with deer, were common in other parts of Europe over 5,000 years ago.

The Gyre-Carling in the poem is also remarkably like the idea of the Cailleach presented in the poem The Manere of the Crying of Ane Playe by William Dunbar, the great 15^th/16^th century poet where, telling of her as the wife of Fionn: ”She spittit Lochlomond with her lips; Thunner and fireflaucht flew fae her hips.” Fireflaucht is lightning and this may be reference to her role as the source of storms and bad weather. The similarity between the Cailleach and Carlin here is absolute.

A striking suggestion of ancient worship and ritual comes from Loch Carlingwark in Dumfries. Here in the loch was found a great collection of votive gifts - gifts put into wells, rivers or lochs accompanying prayers to the goddess, or perhaps other divinities. Among the collection form Carlingwark, to be seen the Museum of Scotland, is a great cauldron, echoing the relationship between many early goddess figures and the actual source of food for family and communities. Water, the source and support of all life has long been central to pagan religion and accounts for the long association of prayer and ritual with wells, as we shall see later.

See next lesson on The Cailleach for more, in this section.

Calanais (anglicized as Callanish)

The stone circle of Calanais laid out on the ground in the shape of a Celtic Cross over 5000 years ago is truly one of Scotland’s wonders. Its use in lunar observation is now accepted and in the hills along which the moon “dances” at the end of its 18.6 year cycle we can see how important the notion of the goddess in the landscape must have been. In these hills to the south of the Calanais complex the outline of a reclining human figure can be seen. Though it is only recently that archaeologists have rediscovered the lunar associations of this magnificent megalithic site, local tradition has preserved at least one memory of the sanctity of the area. The term for the human figure reclining in the hills to the south in the Cailleach na Mointich - the Old Woman of the moors. In this sense Old Woman can be seen as referring to the Goddess, here present to underline the importance of the complex of megalithic sites round Loch Roag.

One tale that occurs in several locations tells how on the morning of Beltain the ancient tribal Feast to greet the summer, the Cailleach went to a holy well. Taking a mouthful of water just as the sun rose she drank and was magically transformed into the Summer Goddess, Bride, the forerunner of St. Brigit who has long been revered in the Western Isles. Here we seem to have a portrayal of a Goddess who corresponds to the old notion of the year being split into two main seasons- the Time of The Big Sun and the Time of the Little Sun. These seasons were separated by the great feasts of Beltain and Samhain. Although the other great quarter-day feasts of Imbolc (1st February) and Lammas(1^st August) were undoubtedly important they are clearly overshadowed by the other two. Imbolc itself is the Day of Bride and was linked to the start of lambing .

Bride survives in Gaelic tradition as the birthmaid of Christ [in Ireland, at least, the term was ban-chuideachaidh Moire: "Aid-Woman of Mary"] and many prayers were made to her. As we shall see later there are many Bride’s Wells in Scotland and the number of Kilbrides shows the extent of churches once dedicated to her. However there are other Bride names that suggest a strong connection to the earlier Goddess figure.

In Glen Clova in the Angus foothills of the Grampian mountains there is a pool by the roadside just east of the Gella bridge called Bride’s Coggie. A coggie is an old Scots term for a wooden bucket and this pool is said to be stone lined. In the same area there are placenames which refer to women which might give weight to the idea of a goddess site here. There is Clachnabrain which comes from the Gaelic Clach-na Mnathan -the stone of the women and Braeminzeon which is Braigh na Mnathan, hillside of the women.

Near Bride’s Bed in the shadow of the Craigs of Lethnot was the first location of a church in the glen. In a story that is repeated throughout the country we are told the stones of the church were always moved overnight from the selected spot till the site itself was changed. As we shall see one of the symbols of Bride is the serpent, or in Scottish terms, the adder. It is therefore worth noting that in this section of the glen, adders are regularly seen. In a glen just a few kilometres to the east, Glenesk, there is another Bride name, which this time is Bride’s Bed and might refer to an ancient man-made circular depression below Craigmaskeldie at the head of the glen. Also in Angus, near there is Bride’s Ring which is the remains of a prehistoric defensive structure.

Several examples of the rituals associated with Bride and St Bridget have been described in the past. In the Western Isles where Bride’s importance is emphasised in her title as Handmaiden to Mary or Birthmaiden to Christ there were intricate procedures followed at Imbolc, the feast of Bride on February 1^st. Old women would make up an oblong basket in the shape of a cradle, which they call leaba Bride, the bed of Bride. They would then take pains to decorate it with primroses, daisies and other flowers that open their eyes in the morning of the year. These would have been gathered from sunny sheltered valleys around. After that they would take a sheaf of corn [meaning grain, not necessarily maize] and fashion it into the shape of a woman which they would then dress up with brightly-coloured ribbons, sparkling sea shells and bright stones from the hill.. This figure is called Bride.

When it was all dressed and decorated, one of the women would go to the door of the house and, standing on the step with her hands on the jambs, call quietly into the darkness," Bride's bed is ready." Another woman behind her would reply," Let Bride come in. Bride is welcome." Then the woman at the door would again address Bride," Bride come thou in, thy bed is made. Preserve the house for the Trinity.” With great ceremony the women would proceed to lay the figure of Bride in the bed. A small straight white wand ( the bark being peeled off) would then be placed beside the figure. These wands were generally of birch, broom, bramble, white willow or other sacred wood.

The women would then level the ashes on the hearth, smoothing them over carefully. The following morning the whole family would make a close examination of the ashes. If they found the mark of the wand of Bride they would rejoice, but if what they found was lorg Bride, the footprint of Bride, they would have cause for great celebration, for this was taken to mean that Bride herself was present in their home during the night. This was widely believed to mean that there would be increase in family, in flock, and in field in the coming year. If there were no marks on the ashes, the family would be disappointed for they thought that this was a sign that Bride was offended and had not hear their call. They would then make offerings to try and propitiate her. This is clearly nothing to do with Christianity, even if Bride was the Birthmaid of Christ.

[This overnight divination from the ashes was also practiced in Poland and in other places.]

Within Gaelic tradition there is one association with Bride that stands out as a particularly strong echo of pre-Christian thought and that is her association with the serpent. The serpent in Christian terms is of course evil but several rhymes survive showing that Bride, was directly associated with this unlikely creature. In Scottish terms particularly the association is specifically with the adder as that is our only indigenous snake. It is also of course a creature strongly linked with various traditions regarding those most romantic and insubstantial figures, the Druids. McNeill gives this version of a hymn to the adder which was believed to emerge from its hibernation on Imbolc, St Bride's Day February 1st,

"Today is the day of Bride
the serpent shall come from the hole
I will not molest the serpent
Nor will the serpent molest me"

This has been commented upon as a relic of serpent worship by several commentators but it is probably truer to say that the serpent/adder is a symbol associated with the Mother Goddess and the serpent in many cultures has been seen as a symbol of knowledge. The creature’s habits of shedding its skin and of hibernating underground both make it a good symbol for the ideas of regeneration and rebirth. In ancient times when prayers were said to try and ensure the harvest for the coming season the serpent’s association with the earth itself was also significant.

There are scholars who think that our ancestors prayed to those who had gone before them to work magic on the seeds in the earth to ensue harvest the following year. This makes sense and the serpent as a being that appeared to cross into the underworld was a powerful symbol. The appearance of a variety of serpent/adder representations on Pictish Symbol Stones strongly suggests they saw it as a powerful religious symbol and it is at least possible that they associated it with Bride herself.

We should be remember that these practices are recorded as happening in communities that had been ostensibly Christian for over a thousand years and this underlines the hold that the idea Bride, an aspect of the Mother Goddess, continued to have on both community and individual until very recently. Just as Bride is associated with the serpent, the Cailleach is associated with the cauldron, another symbol found on the Pictish Symbol Stones. As the passage above illustrates there were also rituals associated with such figures - rituals that might come from as far back as the Stone Age, another point to which we shall return.

Older Than Time: The Myth of the Cailleach, the Great Mother

This source draws on some sources that astonished me when I first found them.

In Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend, Donald Alexander McKenzie hails the Cailleach as the mother of all gods and goddesses in Scotland, and Scottish folk tale collector J.G MacKay refers to her as the most tremendous figure in Gaelic myth today. Although her name can be found throughout Scotland in folklore, customs, ancient monuments and the natural landscape, the Cailleach is one of the lesser-known figures of Celtic mythology and is often overlooked. Her true origins have been lost over time. She is vastly ancient and predates even the Celtic mythology of which she has become a part. One Highland folk tale states that she existed ‘from the long eternity of the world’.

[I'm going to skip over some of the screwy theory that attempts to link the Cailleach with Kali, based on spurious etymology; don't fall for it.]

The Cailleach is a crone goddess, usually depicted dressed entirely in grey with a dun-coloured plaid wrapped around her shoulders. Her face is wan and blue, like that of a corpse, and her hair is long and white and speckled with frost. She has a single eye in the centre of her forehead, a trait characteristic of deities who can see beyond this world and into the next.

Many stories describe the Cailleach as wearing an apron or as having a creel strapped to her back, and carrying a wooden staff. In a few sources the staff is replaced with a wand, and in others, a hammer, the crossover suggesting that this could be a shillelagh, a walking stick and club made from the wood of the blackthorn tree. The blackthorn has long been associated with witches, and with the crone aspect of the goddess.

...

It’s impossible to know if she was always the hag that she is now recognised as or if the Celts endowed her with the crone status in recognition of her great antiquity. The word Cailleach itself, however, is easier to trace – it came to the Gaelic language during the dark ages, based on the Latin root ‘pallium’, meaning ‘a veil’. ‘Cailleach’ as a word has evolved over time and its meaning is now commonly accepted as ‘Old Wife’, but its literal translation is ‘Veiled One’.

The Cailleach is known throughout the British Isles in varying guises. She is Cailleach Bheur, Beira and Carlin in Scotland, Cally Berry and Cailleach Bheara in Ireland, Black Annis in England and Cailleach ny Groamch or Cailleach Groarnagh on the Isle of Man. In addition to these area-specific titles, she assumes many other circumstantial labels: the Blue Hag of Winter, Bone Mother, Woman of Stones, Cailleach Nollaig (the Christmas old wife), Cailleach Mhor Nam Fiadh (the great old woman of the deer), and Cailleach Beinne Breac (old woman of the speckled mountain) amongst others.

Despite the many variations of her name and excepting a few area-specific tweaks to her story, the myths surrounding her consistently focus on her four main aspects: bringer of winter, weather witch, goddess of destruction, and goddess of creation.

Her most prominent characteristic is that of the winter goddess, ushering in the cold and dark winter months at Samhain, the Celtic festival from which our Halloween celebrations originate, and maintaining the cold until Imbolc, the Celtic festival of growth and renewal which is now widely marked in America as Groundhog Day. [But she is also the harvest goddess, with the ceremonial last sheaf harvested ofte being named the Cailleach.]

In the dark hours of Samhain, the Cailleach washes her great plaid in the Corryvreckan, a huge whirlpool located just north of the Isle of Jura. When her plaid emerges from the tumultuous waters clean and shining white, the Cailleach uses it to cover Scotland in a blanket of snow. Throughout winter she walks the land, striking the ground and trees with her staff to crush any signs of growth that appear there. In some sources she is depicted as riding across the land on the back of a grey wolf rather than walking.
...

Her guardian aspect has been connected to many wild animals, including wolves and boar, but the most widely known is that of the Cailleach Mhor Nam Fiadh, protector of the deer. She assumes this title throughout the Scottish Highlands, particularly around Loch Treig in the Grampian Mountains. In this area, the local hunters were said to have had a relationship of mutual respect with the Cailleach who ensured that there was always a healthy population of deer to provide them with food and pelts. In return she expected the hunters to keep to her instructions regarding which deer to cull and when, controlling the balance between humans and nature. If her instructions were not followed, there were serious consequences.

One story tells of two boys who were sent out by their father to Stob Choire Claurigh to bring home a deer for their evening meal. Without first consulting the Cailleach, the boys killed a stag, tied a rope around its neck and dragged it for many miles back home, only to discover upon their arrival that the stag had disappeared and the rope alone remained. Their irate father explained to them that if you show no respect to the Cailleach, you receive nothing in return.

[Many stories emphasize the Cailleach's hostility toward hunters and their dogs, who she fights fiercely, often attempting to bind the hound with a hair in order to get at the hunter.]

In direct contrast to her destructive aspect, the Cailleach is also a great creator goddess. Many sources go so far as to credit her with the creation of Scotland itself. She is portrayed as wading through the surrounding waters up and down the length of the country, dropping large boulders from her creel or apron to make the islands and scattering smaller rocks and stones in the process to make great mountains, Beinn na Caillich on the Isle of Skye amongst them. A scarred path down the side of Schiehallion bears her name, Sgriob na Calliach, literally furrow of the Cailleach, and is said to have been made when she lost her footing and slid down the mountain.

...

The Shieling (House) of the Cailleach and the Bodach in Perthshire

The House of the Cailleach, Taigh na Cailleach, can be found at the head of Glen Lyon, itself situated near another of her namesakes, Glen Cailleach. This remote turfed shieling has been regarded as a shrine to the goddess for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, and twice a year a simple and unique ritual is enacted.

At Beltane, the Celtic festival marking the beginning of summer, the stacked stones that seal the entrance of Taigh Na Cailleach are removed, the roof is freshly thatched, and a family of water-worn stones resembling figures – the Cailleach, the Bodach (old man), and the Nighean (daughter) – are brought outside, where they remain throughout the summer months. At Samhain, the beginning of winter, the symbolic stones are placed back inside the House before it’s entrance is blocked up, and it remains this way until the following summer when the cycle begins again. 

The Cailleach, Bodach, and their Daughter

The Cailleach (more from Stuart McHardy) More on the Corryvreckan Whirlpool (see the link for photos)

The Hag of Winter is known in Scotland and Ireland as The Cailleach, of which Cailich is variant, though there are many more stories and placenames associated with her in the latter, as was painted out by the great folklorist Katherine Briggs over fifty years ago. The idea that The Cailleach was imported into Scotland from Ireland is another instance of reality contradicting accepted notions. If the Cailleach did in fact originate in Ireland why do we in Scotland have so many more stories of her?

Her name in Gaelic means the hooded, or veiled one and after Christianity arrived became the accepted term for a nun. This has led to an interesting situation where confusion arises between a figure who was part of ancient Mother Goddess belief and Christian nuns. In ancient belief she was particularly known for spreading the harsh weather of winter and for living on mountain tops.

Within oral tradition people told the stories of their mythology and legend within their own environment and thus there are Cailleach stories and placenames in much of Highland Scotland, and in many of the Hebridean islands. On the east of Scotland where the Scots language developed parallel to Gaelic she is known as the Carlin, who is sometimes known as the Queen of the Witches.

While the idea of Cailleach meaning nun is a simple reflection of the hooded wimples nuns wore in terms of the original Cailleach the idea of hooding or veiling has another meaning. A mountain top wreathed in cloud can be considered veiled. Local weather lore throughout Scotland, and still extant in some parts, is full of references to cloudy summits having a ‘cap’ on – and this would appear to contain the same idea.

Mountains on which she was said to have lived include Ben Nevis, Ben Wyvis, Ben Breac, Ben Cruachan, the Paps of Jura, Schiehallion and Lochnagar has its Allt-na-Cailleach, a burn, and Caistel Caillich, her castle. And there is of course Beinn na Caillich in Knoydart and another in Skye. These are all high prominent hills, particularly Ben Nevis, the highest point on the British Isles.

Such hills attract weather – clouds cluster round them before spreading out over surrounding countryside which could be interpreted as the Goddess spreading the weather out. Her role in bringing on winter includes a tale of her riding out from Ben Nevis with eight sister hags to hammer the frost into the ground. This grouping of nine mythological or legendary females is extremely widepsread both within and outside Scotland and I have looked at it in detail elsewhere (McHardy 2003).

The Cailleach is also in many places credited with creating the landscape – hills, islands etc. This is one of the basic ideas of mythology – it explains the physical world in human terms and is therefore probably truly ancient indeed. Most of the Cailleach placenames in the Highlands are up high and some, like on Lochnagar are part of a cluster of significant placenames and specific physical markers – the massif has two clear breast shaped peaks, Meikle Pap and Little Pap, Such peaks appear to have been the focus for various kinds of spiritual or sacral belief and activity in the far past. ...

The Corryvreckan Whirlpool

Earlier we looked at the story of the Cailleach washing her plaid in the Corryvreckan whirlpool between Jura and Scarba. Whirlpools are one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring sights in nature. These magnificent spinning cauldrons are formed where tides crash or sea water is forced into narrow vortices.

The Corryvreckan is one of only seven major whirlpools in the world. These magnificent examples of nature in the raw have long held a particular place in the human psyche, and have myths and legends associated with them that seem to come from the edge of time.

The Gulf of Corryvreckan is over 300 feet deep but when the whirlpool is at full power the depth of the water is less than a hundred feet. The particular cause of this awesome power is a subterranean spike, called An Cailleach, off the coast of Scarba which causes the great Atlantic waves to form into a giant vortex and create the Corryvreckan whirlpool.

It is a dangerous place and local fishermen and sailors have a wealth of stories of its dangers. Even on calm days the swell of the Corryvreckan can be several feet. The effect of the whirlpool is quite dramatic. For hour after hour when the Atlantitic comes in, great spirals of water are thrown into the advancing tide.

The spirals start with waves shooting up form a relatively flat surface with a great booming sound. When the whirlpool is at its wildest at the beginning of winter the sounds can be heard twenty miles away and more. The spirals thrown into the advancing Atlantic tide are just like those we find carved on megalithic sites in many parts of Europe and it is not diffcult to imagine the awe that this wonder of nature aroused in the hearts and minds of our ancestors. The fact that the spike that creates the whirlpool is called An Cailleach is clearly linked it to the ancient mythological explanation of the first snow fall we considered earlier. And through the Cailleach and her plaid the story links to Ben Nevis.

Here we have the most dramatic geophysical event in Europe and Britian’s highest mountain linked in ancient story through the person of the Cailleach. As we shall see the mountain range to the south of Ben Nevis, the Mamores, part of the area said to be covered by her plaid, also carry a link to the old beliefs in a Mother Goddess.

The Cailleach and Deer [in which she appears to hunters]

Traditionally the red deer of the mountains were known as the cattle of the Cailleach. A story from as recently as 1773 occurs in Scrope’s Days of Deer-stalking, p198ff. In this two hunters set out south from Braemar in search of red deer. They headed over towards the forest of Atholl and were overtaken by a snowstorm coming from the north which soon cleared. They managed to find some deer and shot and wounded a hind. They were trailing her by the blood-drops in the snow when the snow returned, but this time much stronger. Luckily they had their plaids with them and managed to find a shelter in the lee of some rocks where they settled down to pass the night, eating the oatcakes and drinking the whisky they had brought with them. Come the morning things were little better and thoughts of deer were replaced by the need to concentrate on one thing, survival. The wind was still blowing from the north and with the visibility no more than a few yards they could do little other than keep the wind at their backs, as they struggled on. Unknown to them the wind began to veer to the east and keeping it at their backs meant they were heading west instead of south. There were no landmarks visible to help them at all.

By nightfall their provisions were running out and they were facing another night sheltering among rocks when they saw an old sheiling bothy ahead of them. These were the traditional summer dwellings for the lads and lasses who went to the high pastures with the cattle and they expected it to be deserted. It would provide them with much needed shelter.

Just as they came near, to their great surprise the door opened and there stood an old woman of wild and haggard appearance who beckoned them in, told them she had been expecting them and that their supper and beds were ready. They were astounded at this but went in to the bothy. There they sat as the old woman, crooning a song in a language they could not recognise poured out soup for them.

Cold and hungry as they were still they realised that something uncanny was happening and were reluctant to begin eating. She told them that she herself had the power over the weather as they sat there petrified. She held up a rope with three knots in it and these are the words she said as given by Scrope:

‘If I lowse the first [knot], there shall blaw a fair wind, such as the deer stalker may wish; if I lowse the second, a stronger blast shall sweep o’er the hills; and if I lowse the third, sic a storm will brak out, as neither man nor beast can thole; and the blast shall yowl down the corries and the glens, and the pines shall faw crashin into the torrents, and this bare arm shall guide the course o the storm, as I sit on my throne of Cairn-Gower, on the tap o Ben-y-Gloe. Weel did ye ken my pouer the day, when the wind was cauld and dedly, and all was dimmed in snaw – and ye see that ye was expectit here, and ye hae brought nae venison; but if ye mean to thrive, ye maun place a fat hart, or a yeld [barren] hind in the braes o’ Atholl, by Fraser’s cairn, at midnight, the first Monday in every month, while the season lasts. If ye neglect this my biddin, foul will befaw ye, and the fate of Walter o Rhuairm shall owertak ye; ye shall surely perish in the waste; the raven shall croak yer dirge; and yer bones shall be pickit by the eagle.’

[She is telling them they need to bring an offering of deer to her to a certain cairn (stone pile, also designates megaliths) once a month.]

The hunters gave their word to do as she asked , ate and fell asleep, waking in the morning in a deserted bothy with no sign of the old woman. The storm had ceased and they made their way off the hill.

This is clearly the Cailleach herself. And the knotted string links her to the various wise women the length and breadth of Scotland who used to sell winds to sailors into the nineteenth century. Scrope tells the story as if he believes it happened but it is reminiscent of ancient beliefs regarding the Cailleach. The are many locations throughout Scotland where she is closely associated with the red deer and it was suggested in the 1930s that there was a deer-goddess cult and that there might have been deer-priestesses.

Again this is something I have looked at elsewhere (McHardy 2003) and it is worth noting that many Pictish symbol stones have deer carved on them. Some are deer heads which look like masks and there are some grounds for thinking that there may indeed have been deer-priestesses in Scotland, perhaps performing rites like the one that still continues at Abbot’s Bromley in Staffordshire in England. It is thought by many to be a survival of pagan practice.

The dressing in deer skins, antlers etc has been interpreted as being linked to shape-shifting, something which occurs amongst various female groups in traditional lore. Modern thinking is that this is further linked to the practices of shamanism in which the practitioner ‘becomes’ another being to undertake a spirit journey. This type of belief is widespread and also very ancient. The Paps of Jura have already been mentioned and on the side of one of them is the Sgriob na Caillich, her furrow or score which she made down the side of Ben an Oir. Jura is famous for its population of red deer and the island’s name means Deer Isle and comes from the Norse.

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