A Pilgrimage to the Oracle Cave

Listening to the Bones

There is a tangible feeling in the islands off the West of Scotland. Here in some of the most westerly islands of Europe there is a feeling of this place overlapping with the Otherworld, it’s a place where worlds merge and ancestral voices whisper on the wind.

Looking Over to the Isle of Rum

I have spent a long time pouring over maps, exploring the contours and plotting out the path to the Oracle’s Cave. It’s a curious site which archeologists named which indicates how even they were affected by the air of mystery of this place. It was probably on Julian Cope’s site the Modern Antiquarian that I first read about this site. Then reading further archeological reports which uses descriptions such as ‘ritual enclosure’, ‘ermetic’ and ‘prehistoric’ engaged both my interest and imagination.

Sron-na h-Iolaire – the Eagle’s Promontory

I try to visit this little island every year (grateful to take folks on the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland / Gather the Keeners retreat). A second name for the Islands is the sea kenning name of the Isle of the Big Women. There is always a day midweek, as by this time the woman has gotten to know the island a little that they are invited to undertake a pilgrimage. We begin the day in silence and then each woman makes her ritual journey off to a particular place to spend the day. They are encouraged to perform a small ritual as they enter into a deeper level of conversation with the land. This is often a rare opportunity for women plus there is the added layer of feeling relatively safe as opposed to being out in nature in other parts of the world (human predators being the main risk).

On this day I decided to make my own pilgrimage, one I had been looking forward to for a long time. on this day. The journey to the cave took 18 miles on an island that is around 5 miles long and 3 miles across.

It was a very windy day and so being high on the cliffs was a little daunting, at times and I had to crouch down to traverse small sheep paths that had been made through scree slopes of landslides of rocks, boulders, and soil that had come tumbling down from the cliffs above. Often vertigo got the better of me and I slid down 20 meters or so on my backside just to stay safe and not be blown away. The view over to the Isle of Skye was stunning and I could see no signs whatever of human activity as if I had indeed slipped between worlds, or perhaps gone back in time.

The site area is in an area called the ‘Struidh’ which translates as rocky place. I found myself scrambling over massive boulders, which often resulted in spaces between them suddenly dropping down 6 feet or so. I retreated for a while to find an archeologist photo which highlighted the entrance so I could work out its exact location.

As I rummaged and rummaged in my rucksack, my mind recalled it sitting by my bedside back at the hostel. It seemed an absolutely impossible task to find a small oval opening which was probably obscured by bracken.

The Oracle Cave Entrance

I need a sign – such as a small bird or a mystical gravitational pull. You need a signal seemed to be the reply. I need a sign, not a signal I thought – wondering if I was having this conversation with myself. I pulled out my phone to check the time and amazingly, on the remotest part of the island I had a phone signal. This was indeed my sign, so I quickly looked up the archeological record and saved the photo which highlighted the entrance. This way I could position the eagle rock with the cliffs and be able to work out where the entrance to the cave (on relatively flat land) was located.

The interior of the cave

‘This unusual site is situated in the midst of a boulder field on the broken ground between the cliffs of Sron na h-Iolaire and the coast below. It consists of a substantial grass-and bracken-grown platform that measures about 20m from E to W by at least 10m transversely, on top of which there are the remains of a circular enclosure, probably a roundhouse, measuring about 6m in internal diameter within drystone rubble walls 2m thick. The wall thickens to 4m at the entrance to the enclosure where a narrow passage provides access to the interior. On the far side is the entrance to a large boulder cave that runs W beneath the enclosure wall. The main chamber of the cave measures about 7m from NE to SW by up to 3.5m transversely and 2.5m high; but there are other smaller chambers opening off to either side and at the end. The cave entrance and the sides of the chamber have been modified by the insertion of rough walling, while a thick deposit of midden material covers the floor. This includes animal bones, shells and broken hammerstones, some of which have a concretion of crushed shell to their points. Other hammerstones occur in the many small caves and voids found between and beneath the boulders nearby.‘ – Archeological Report/Canmore Record.

What hands collected the shellfish from the beach below?

Hammerstone

I sat quietly in the space, examining the shells and the hammerstone used to smash them. I have heard of local folks who used this chamber to shelter from storms, but who was it that modified this place, and what was its purpose?

Looking Out to the Entrance

Although I had researched this site and looked forward to visiting for over two years somehow it was more about the journey to this place – the physical and psychological barriers rather than reaching the place itself. The previous year I was packed and ready to make the journey but on awakening, I hadn’t felt quite right, and knowing it’s a physical journey I had decided not to go – which was the best decision as days later my not-quite-right feeling had turned out to be Chicken Pox.

Slowly over the next few days, I kept returning to the place and the land released her story.

An offering to this place

It’s been a long journey through many decades of my life and an otherworldly figure who was as much bird as human, visiting this cave was an important part of her story.

It was here on this island at the edge of the world that she revealed herself as Eagle. It was as if I had to journey with her through all these stages before I could really get to know her.

There is much more to her story, a story that will be in my book The Ancestral Mothers of Scotland.

Click here to read some of the return journey as I walked back from the Oracles Cave - Brighid in Front, Mary Behind.

Keening Over the Bones - 2020 Ancestral Mothers Retreat

Are You a Spiritual Woman Wishing to Make A Deep Connection with the Land?

Walk the land visiting sacred sites, offering gestures of ritual as you begin to weave a relationship with this place.

Feed a Deep Hunger & Answer an Ancient Longing

Let me be your guide as you sink your roots down into an ancient spiritual bedrock and feed your hunger and quench your thirst for connection.

Embody Your Wild Self & ‘Big Woman’

You’ll hear the stories behind the islands Gaelic name of the ‘Isle of the Big Women’ and explore what ‘wild’ actually means. Stories of the Ancestral Mothers will allow you to explore parts of yourself and offer invitations to reclaiming lost parts of yourself.

Keening Over the Bones

You will work with your grief for all that is unfolding in the world through the ancient female tradition of Keening, a practice of the Bean Feasa (Wise Woman). We’ll tap into that lineage which stretches past Celtic Culture back to the era of our most ancient foremothers - the Bone Mothers.

Immerse Yourself in a Place of Transformation

Deep healing can take place in these thresholds places, transformation is different for each woman - yet almost everyone who comes on this retreat has been deeply affected. The activities are set up to allow you the opportunity to sink into the energy of this place and reclaim our relationship with the natural world.

Leave with a Sustainable and Lasting Connection

This retreat is an opportunity to forge an unbreakable connection which will continue to support you when you return home. Like any strong and beneficial relationship it will help you weather any storms you might face and will be a sustainable force to support you in the work you do in the world.



Prayer Beads of the Wise Women

Her hand moves slowly over the beads as her eyes look out over the landscape. We are in the time of Lughnsadgh, a festival which although it has been known by many names has always been a time of great gatherings.

The priestess sits with her thoughts as the morning unfolds, as she holds her prayers beads in hand. She is of the clan of the Old Antlered One, an ancient linage which stretches back to the time of the great ice. The antler on her prayer beads is now deer but it symbolizes a time of the reindeer and all the mysteries that her lineage holds.

Under this time of the waxing gathering moon she looks forward to seeing her sisters of the seal clan, the wise selkie women, she looks forward to meeting her bear sisters, the women who tend the Cave of the Grandmothers plus her sisters of the Shield and the women of the Eagle clan.

Although this is the time of year when the clans gather, exchange gifts, teach each other new skills there is also much singing and dancing later into the night. The wise women find the time to gather together just with their sisters - to join in circle and honor the old ones - through ritual and ceremony and rites of the mysteries each women holds in her linage. each of the women carry their own prayer beads. It is their connection when they aren’t together.

The circle the women form together is the circle of life - reflected in the circle the prayer beads create. The circle of beads replicates the great circle of life which holds each birth and breath, each stage of life, of love, tears and joy and it also holds our fial journey the one we take back home through death and rebirth.

The beads hold all of this and rarely, very rarely there will be so much intense emotion that the silk will actually break, the beads tumbling to the ground - all within helping the ritual of release in whatever form it takes.

The priestesses of the old Antlered One hold antlers on their prayer beads sets, In honor of a great antler which has been carried down from priestess to priestess through many generations. This great antler is said to have come from a time of the great ice. The antler they carry on their prayer beads connects them to their ancient lineage. (although probably deer is a symbol that connects them to this ancient linage.

There are priestess whose beads hold a hag stone, a snake stone - some of these women are midwives for throughout folklore these stones have helped aid women 9and animals) in birth. SOme women see the great eye of the Cailleach in these stones and use it in their work as they connect to the great primordial Hag. Some women whisper incantations, spells and all manner of well chosen words through the eyes of the hag stone.

Grandmother Bear - click on image to view in shop

Whatever your lineage, wherever you are to hold your prayer beads in your hand is an invitation to enter sacred space. The first three circular silver beads are ‘step beads’ and as you hold each of these eel yourself dropping down into the mindset of entering sacred space - picture a temple, a shrine or holy ground. Next is an invitation to leave all your baggage - your questions and worries, this ‘mystery bead’ invites us just to be present within this sacred place, to let go and to sink into the mystery, honor that which we don’t fully understand.

The circle the beads form has eight sections representing the festivals of the year. They are represented by eight wise women who hold the traditions of the Ancestral Mother, women who hold the relates mysteries and practice those rites and ceremonies. Each section has a ‘threshold’ bead where the energies of the festivals merge and overlap. Right now we are in Lughnsasdgh but you might well be beginning to feel the pull of autumn equinox. And so as you hold your beads what is it you are priestessing - what tradition do you follow and what wisdom do you practice, hold or are perhaps seeking?

If you are interested in journeying the Wheel of the Year with the priestesses of the clans of the Ancestral Mothers - click here to sign up for the mailing list then you’ll receive your invitation to join the course before it launches at Autumn Equinox.

Tulsi

 I give thanks to this goddess plant Tulsi. She has helped me deal with numerous stresses and overwhelming demands. She's helped me to relax - which has given me the energy to say no to things and to finding the energy for the things that need to get done and those nurturing things that feed me in return.  She carries an offering bowl, she offers herself, what do we offer in return?

It is hot here in the Appalachians. Way too hot for this transplant to cope. Summer is hectic enough - so many things demanding that small precious amount of energy. Energy that is quickly depleted from a bad nights sleep - which starts the cycle of the next day off with even less energy to begin with!

But there is magic in these nights. A chorus of singing frogs and a light show from hundreds of will-o-the-wisp fireflies pulsing in the trees. Pulsing in rhythm with a  scattering of stars sprinkled out in the dark skies above them.

What I really miss is a cooling down at night. Just now in Scotland it barely gets dark. There is a long dwindling twilight stretching out for hours. Oh how strange it is here to go indoors and suddenly when you come out in 20 mins later it's already dark. That will never cease to confuse me, night as a great magician robbing me of twilight. Twilights are powerful thresholds, great gradual waning of light. It's in that threshold that spirituality was born, there that our ancestors listened to the land - and that the land told them the sacred stories.

The climate is chaotic, I suffer boughts of crippling anxiety - what’s to come, what is unfolding around the world. I just can't cope and a horrible anxiety grips me. At these times I turn to Tulsi/holy basil (Ocimum sanctum) and she offers sanctuary.

Tulsi has been honored as sacred in India for thousands and thousands of years. It is kept in many Indian courtyards where it is believed to offer divine protection.  For more than 5000 years Tulsi has been considered India's "Queen of Herbs" and has been revered as one of the most sacred herbs in India, infused with healing power. Hindus view Tulsi (also spelled Tulasi or Thulasi) as a goddess in the form of a plant bestowed with great spiritual and healing powers. According to legend, no amount of gold could outweigh Krishna's power, but a single Tulsi leaf placed on the pan in loving devotion tilted that scale. In India today, Tulsi is still traditionally grown in an earthenware pot in every family home or garden, and the leaves are used to make a delicious and refreshing tea that possesses wonderful health benefits.

As Tulsi traveled west along the early trade routes from the Orient to Europe, it became known to the Christians as "sacred" or "holy" basil as is reflected in its Latin botanical name, Ocimum sanctum. They hailed Tulsi as "The King of Herbs' instead of as a queen, and Holy Basil became routinely included in legends, offerings and worship rituals and was looked on by many as a gift of Christ.

Medicinally it's been used in the treatment of colds and flus  to cleanse the respiratory tract of toxins, and in the relief of  gas and bloating.  The oil is an antioxidant and is used for pain and arthritis.  Recent scientific reports have confirmed the healing potential in medical conditions ranging from diabetes to cancer. 

Promotional video from Organic India

Tulsi is considered an adoptogen, a group of herbs which greatly improve your body's ability to adapt to stress, whether it's a hectic schedule, heat or cold, noise, high altitudes or any number of other stressors. This elite class of herbs impart strength, energy, stamina, endurance, and they improve mental clarity. In many parts of the non-Western world adaptogens are used extensively in high-risk, fast-reflex occupations, from athletes to miners to deep sea divers. Stress poisons every inch of the body. It cripples the immune system, upsets delicate hormones, and disrupts digestion, among other things. Most dangerous of all, it dials up inflammation. Stress lies at the root of every inflammatory disease, says Aggarwal, who is chief of the cytokine research section in the department of clinical immunology, bioimmunotherapy, and experimental therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Ginseng and other adaptogenic herbs share rare and coveted traits — they mitigate the negative impact of stress by strengthening and stabilizing your body. “No category of herbs holds more potential for overworked, overstressed Americans than adaptogens,” says David Winston, RH (AHG), herbalist, ethnobotanist, and coauthor of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief (Healing Arts Press, 2007). “They are a bridge that can carry us over stressful situations with our health intact.”

The idea behind adaptogenic herbs is that a plant’s DNA can do for people what it’s done for plants for millions of years — make us more pliable, adaptable, and resilient. Each of these herbs has its own personality, thanks to different active ingredients. Some are more stimulating, while others are more calming; some dial down a hyperactive immune system, and others increase immune response.

Women carry holy basil plants (Ocimum tenuiflorum) on their heads during a religious procession in Hyderabad, India

Tulsi also plays a vital role in the Indian lunar calendar. Kaartik (October-November) is loved by Tulsi. During this time the holy plants are decorated with structures of sugar cane, mango leaves and flowers. One day during this period is celebrated as “Tulsi Vivah” or the wedding day of Tulsi and Shaligram (stone form of a sacred lingam). The Tulasi goddess is formally married to Lord Vishnu annually on the eleventh bright day of Kaartik; this inaugurates the marriage season in India.

---

Information links:

Seeds of India

Adaptogens

Ancient Healers: Adaptogens

A Burning of the Scrolls & Reading by the Clouds

At Spring Equinox it is the great crone brings us out of the months of darkness, drawing us into the light half of the year again. Over the years her story has morphed and changed in reflection of people’s beliefs - this one and mighty crone who created the landscape is reduced to an evil old hag who becomes jealous of the new life and beauty of spring represented by Brighid.

This is not my story. My Cailleach hasn't gone anywhere, she didn't fight with anyone. As spring unfurls in the great greening she merely took off that winter plaid and released that tender green she has been carrying all winter. She spends her spring and summer days walking the mountains and hanging out with her herds of deer, her fairy cattle. Enjoying the births and death. In fact, if you climb to the heights of a Scottish or Irish mountain you might even hear the snoring of this great hag! 

Throughout the year I always feel that this old hag has got my back - summer, autumn, winter or spring. So in the days leading up to the full moon I out out a call for anyone who wished to offer a prayer to the old one. I am not a priest or a priestess, I am no different to the women who sent their requests from all over the world. The only difference being I was born in the lands of the Cailleach, the lands whose very bedrock is formed from her bones. She is Scottish and Irish (much like myself), she does not walk the land of this continent (US), for the peoples of this land have other great giant women and sacred hags. The people of this land who do see the Cailleach it is because they have blood ties to the lands she was born of. There is no heather or peat, no great Scottish moor or mountains on this continent that belong to the Cailleach.

I gathered the antler (top photo) I found on the way to the Shrine of the Cailleach, I was perfectly happy to just leave the antler in the bog but I felt a push on my shoulder to reach down and take it. The vole or mice gnawings, or perhaps the scrapings of antler on stone when it was attached to the stag's head read like symbols and markings of a secret language waiting to be read. 

Prayer for the Cailleach Vigil

I had envisaged a great fire whose sparks would fly up to the stars on the night I ritually burned all the little scrolls of paper but the weather here was torrential rain and the wood and fire pit had transformed into a little pool of water. So I had to improvise under a porch roof, at an angle I could just see the rising moon.

I walked a circle around the table holding the scrolls of paper, I do not call in directions or cast circles but walk the path of the Ancestral Mothers, the path of the year and as I walk those women join me - the wise women and the priestesses, the ancient ones. Not everyone turns up of course!

I lit the little scrolls of paper, there was no great flames but more a smoldering and sometimes that little line of fire circled the scrolls as if accepting the prayers and translated them into a fiery language - to exist just momentarily. Maybe just long enough to reach the old one’s ear, for I have known her to stand so tall that I can see her from this continent over the ocean.

One Samhain eve I was north in Maine walking by the ocean. I felt sad that I wasn’t in Scotland to awake in the morning to see if there was the first dusting of snow on the hills after the old one ushered in Winter wen she washes her great plaid int he whirlpool of Corryvrecken, the cailleach’s cauldron. Suddenly I noticed two clouds appear just over the horizon like two great eyebrows framing two eyes. The branch of a tree beside me formed a nose and a rock in the water resembled lips. I thought I was hallucinating as tis face emerged so I asked a friend and she too saw the face - the face of the cailleach standing so tall that I could see her on another continent!

After alighting all the scrolls I scanned the sky, the moon was now shining and the clouds racing by where illuminated a brilliant white against a dark sky. I practice neldoracht of reading by the clouds and I was surprised I didn’t see something in the clouds, I have seen great hag faces and owls peering down and the holes n the clouds which form their eyes are filled with dark skies and stars.

Then I realized the reading of the clouds wasn’t for me bit for all those whose scrolls were offered to the old hag. So i’m adding some photos below of the clouds and maybe you’ll see a figure or something that catches your imagination which is a message from the old hag to you!

The Path to Beltane with the Ancestral Mothers

Photo copyright Jasper Schwartz for Beltane Fire Society

Beltane Fires Burning

In my younger years my Beltane was often a wild affair and was celebrated with fire - just as a fire festival should be! Yet my vision of Beltane, and the wheel of the year in general has changed over the years. I now I look upon Beltane as an ebb and flow of many different forms of desire.

Beltane on the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland wheel is marked by sacred desires and unspoken yearnings - those long far off callings that speak to us through time. I often feel they are longings that call to us of home, and home looks different for every woman, home becomes apparent when we take time for ourselves wrap ourselves up in our sealskins and then we’re recharged ready to engage again - with family, our community and with our role we play in the world.

“Jude’s depth and breadth of experience and knowledge as a woman, artist and scholar indigenous to the lands of the Ancestral Mothers inspires trust in the authenticity and wisdom of her teaching and guidance around the Wheel. Discovering Jude and her work has greatly enhanced and expanded my search for the path to my personal Ancestral Mothers and traditions. ” - Ann Harrison

A Primordial Landscape - Looking over to Jura from Oronsay

The Wise Woman Cee-al

Each festival on the Ancestral Mothers journey around the year is represented by an Ancestral Mother - Bear guardians, Goddesses, Bean Feasa (Wise Woman), priestesses - they take many roles but are women who honor Her in her many forms.

Cee-al is the figure of Beltane, her story comes from the nomadic mesolithic peoples off the west coast of Scotland around 6,000 BCE. They traveled from island to island following the natural rhythms and the natural harvests of the land and sea. Cee-al’s role was to know when to move, to know those signs in the landscape to ensure they moved at the right time. She also has a deep relationship with seals and is a guide to women who seek out their sealskins, to women who wish to feed their ancient longing.

A Years Journey Around the Wheel

The course introduces the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland through folklore, art and imagination and honors the energies of the seasons through simple gestures of ritual, art and in creating an altar which helps you focus on the elements of the festival you wish to work with.

Last Retreat Spot - Is it Yours?

We have one place left on the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland Retreat

Is this last available place yours?

We’re keeping the registration open for you!

Peat Cutting - isle of Eigg

Maybe it’s time to answer that ancient calling from the bones of your ancestors!

and hear the stories of the Ancestral Mothers (From Goddesses to Amazons, Antlered priestesses to Selkies and primal old crones)

Can you feel the coldness of the water as you drink from the Well of the Holy Women and ask the old ones for their blessing?

What will you gather while beach combing to adorn your doll? A pinch of wool, a feather or shell?

You’ll meet the islanders with a local croft tour and join the local singing group for an evening

Will you be brave enough to step into the loch and submerge yourself under the water?

Will you step fully into your stride and embody your wild self?

(This is an island whose name is the Isle of the Big Women)

Join a like minded circle of women to share your experience and deepen your connections

Imagine yourself inspired and transformed and to take that energy home again and infuse your life

PLUS receive a free pass to one year of online courses!

Your journey from Glasgow to the Eigg ferry takes you on one of the top scenic railway journeys of the world.

You’ll travel over the Glenfinnan Viaduct  made even more famous by the scene from Harry Potter

Transformation

Are you ready for an experience that will change you?

If the answer is ‘yes’ get in touch we’ve extend the registration deadline so you can find us!

Ancestral Mothers of Scotland Retreat

Ancestral Mothers of Scotland Retreat. Isle of Eigg, Inner hebrides, Scotland. 8-15th June

Have you ever felt a deep soul calling or a yearning for an ancient connection?

- Come join us on an island at the edge of the world. An island who still holds ancient magic and mystery.

- An island whose Gaelic name translates as ‘the Isle of the Big Women’.

- Get to know the Ancestral Mothers through storytelling, doll making, art, ritual and folk magic.

Doll Making

You will translate your own experiences and what ancestral mother you are drawn to through doll making. All materials are provided and you’ll be guided through ech stage producing a finished doll to take home and be your connection to this spacial place.

Storytelling

Each day you’ll hear a story of one of the Ancestral Mothers and a guided meditation will help you to connect to these ancient figures. You’ll also learn about the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland Wheel of the Year as well as receive a years pass to take all of the ‘Path of the Ancestral Mothers’ courses for free.

Sacred Sites

We will offer gestures of ritual at sacred sites together as a group or individually at the Well of the Holy Women, the Hill of the Cailleach and the Loch of the Holy Women.

Magic & Mystery

These Hebridean islands are one one of the last realms of he Celtic nation and lands of the pre-Celtic peoples. People first arrived on this island around 6,000 BCE and today can still see the remains of their dwellings. At this time of year long lingering twilight’s draw you into a time between time - a time that inspired these ancient people to tell the stories of this land and the ‘Big Women’.

We currently have 4 places available