Postcards from The Hedge - Dispatch 10: "Bhuel, a chailleach"
"Bhuel, a chailleach"
(vwell ah kh-eye-lak)
The cailleach is the mystical hag.
This Donegal greeting was gifted to Scoil Scairte by Annemarie Ní Churreáin
Welcome to our tenth dispatch of Postcards from the Hedge. This month's care package has been prepared by our founder Kathy Scott.
Dear Ones,
I am delighted to be preparing this care package for you as the veil thins here on the Beara Peninsula. I arrived here just in time for Samhain and a long awaited reunion with the mystical hag of Beara.
The Trailblazery was born at the portal of Samhain in a crucible moment - a time of great global crisis and we have spent the last decade making creative projects as a response to the crucible moments of our time. Thank you for traveling with us. You can watch more below..
Samhain is the cross-quarter portal, half-way between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice that marks the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The ancients welcomed Samhain as a time of initiation into the darkness of the womb and tomb. They celebrated the cycle of birth, death and rebirth - the great trifecta at the source of all existence. The cauldron was the alchemical symbol for transformation and transmutation.
During this time, the veils between the physical and spirit worlds are thinnest as we enter into the darkest part of the year governed by the Great Crone Goddesses. Life and death merge and the seen and unseen commune, allowing for access to deep inner wisdom and guidance. Darkness was associated with new beginnings, the potential of the seed below the ground. This is a liminal time where we are asked to enter the void. This is the dark night of the soul. Here is a Hedge School clip from our guest Thomas Moore, psychotherapist, former monk, and writer of popular spiritual books, including the New York Times bestseller Care of the Soul.
In ancient mythology and folklore, the wisdom of darkness is often expressed by the crone figure known as the Cailleach - the Irish word for a hag or old crone. She can be found in Ireland, Scotland and England, traced through the names of ancient monuments and natural wonders and through mythology and stories. She is also connected to the ’bean sidhe’ or banshee - the wild women of the Otherworld.
We call in The Cailleach, Divine Hag and Creatrix and ask her to guide us through these dark times. Her role is to catalyse change through the transformative power of darkness. She leads through death into new life. She is the protectress of the land and all of the creatures who dwell here. Her role is to catalyse change through the transformative power of darkness, to lead through death into new life.
As the world around us prepares to go into darkness and the animals prepare to hibernate we too can take cue from the more than human world. This is the time to review all that you've received throughout the year, and it's also a time to review what needs to be relinquished.
Some Journal Prompts to inspire you
🍂What signs of the thinning veil do you sense around you?
🍂What is your relationship like to your ancestors?
🍂What life changes have you experienced from the last Samhain to this one?
🍂What cycles and patterns have you noticed?
🍂What lessons have you learned and what are your takeaways?
🍂What are you ready to let go of?
🍂What wants to die?
🍂What might emerge from the darkness?
🍂What is ready to be born?
🍂How will you honour the darkness?
🍂What self care practices will support you to rest and be open to receive?
We hosted some of the worlds most inspiring guides and luminaries at Samhain, 2020. We have prepared them all to share with you below in Hedge School Highlights.
Enjoy these days - may the fading light be yours.
Beannachtaí
Kathy and all at the Hedge School
Hedge School Highlights
Put on the kettle, make a cuppa and watch some golden moments from our Hedge School musicians and performers who remind us to mind ourselves, each other and this place we call home
Recommended Resources
Here are a few reading, watching and listening pieces inspired by the Hedge School to mind you in the days ahead
Samhain: Working with Rosemary
As we quickly approach Samhain, it is a useful practice to spend some time with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and build her into your Samhain practices. Below is some of the magic and medicine of Rosemary, and a number of ancestor and Samhain-focused practices that you can use with Rosemary.
An Ancestral Ally of Humans: History, Medicine, Magic
This ancient herb, Rosemary has been with humanity almost as long as we have written records. Native to the mediterranean region, rosemary was first found referenced on cuineform tablets from Ancient Egypt that are from 5000 BCE–thus, humanity has at least an 8000 year old relationship with this herb. It was spread to China as early as the 2nd century CE, and to Europe in the middle ages. It came to North America and South America in the 1700s and now has global reach.
The “officinalis” in Rosemary’s latin name indicates that this was an herb used as of the materia medica in ancient Rome and beyond. While Linneaus in the 18th century came up with the Latin taxonomy of naming plants, and thus gave Rosemary her official “officinalis” designation, the uses of this plant go back quite further. In fact, the term “rosemary” derives from Latin, ros marinus (“dew of the sea”). Even the word itself has a wonderful history.
Rosemary has been considered by many cultures as a sacred herb tied to memory and remembrance, and love. This was certainly known in Ancient Greece and Rome as well as in much of the other cultures in the Mediterranean, where rosemary was used both for weddings (in the form of sprigs or wreaths) as well as for funerals to honour the dead. It is burned as incense, used in cooking, used as medicine and used in funeral ceremonies–a tradition that continues to modern times in Australia and other nations. Thus, you might say that Rosemary is an ally to us both in life, and in death.
♪ Listen: For you ears
Woven Kin | "Hibernate" Album
Lana Del Ray | "Must be the season of the witch"
Ghosteen | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
✦ Smell: For your Nose
Rosemary Smudges and Incense
Rosemary (on its own or combined with other herbs) make fantastic herbs for doing any kind of memory work or clearing work. Make sure you use fresh rosemary for your smudge stick making–dried rosemary is brittle and easily falls off the branch. Other herbs to work with include Blessed Thistle (Cnicus benedictus), Mugwort (Artemisia spp.)
✯ Watch: For your eyes
Movies
The Harry Potter series
Witches of Eastwick
Practical Magic
Sleepy Hollow
The Crucible
Bed-knobs and Broomsticks
Interview with a Vampire
❤ Read: For your heart
The Sacred Herbs of Samhain: Plants to Contact the Spirits of the Dead (2019) | Ellen Evert Hopman
Ever Ancient, Ever New | Dolores T. Whelan
The Poison Glen (2021) | Annemarie Ní Churreáin
Dark Nights of The Soul (2004), Care of the Soul (1992) , Thomas Moore
✬ Connect: For your Soul
Due to popular demand, we have decided to keep the doors open for The Sunday Service. The Sunday Service is a free drop-in space created by and for women, where you can receive gifts of breath work, movement practices, yoga, mindfulness, embodiment, wisdom teachings and other wellbeing practices for six consecutive Sundays. You can join us here