A Garden Interlude

 

Corp Criadhach

poppet by Shain Erin

Cha dèan mi corp-criadhach dhut

 cha nochd do chruth na mo dhàin

 cha chuir meallachd mar a chuir

 na seann bhàird air luchd an gràidh

 Thogadh iad luidheag bhon ùir

 an cumadh na dùilleag bochd

 ga milleadh is boinnean bùirn

 a’ sileadh ’s drùidhteadh tron chorp.

’S ann leatsa tha d’ àileachd fhèin

’s i gun fheum air m’ fhaclan fann

 gus a toirt don aimsir chèin

 ann an caint bhreugach gach rainn.

Chan fhalaich mi d’ ìomhaigh òr

 cha mhair seo ach mairidh i

 bheir mi air ais thugad beò

 do dhealbh; cum, a stòr, do bhith.

 

                 *********

I will not make you a clay-corpse,
 your shape will not find itself in my poems;
 Bards of old praised the ones they loved;
 I will not put such a cursed blessing upon you.

They hoisted a doll of rags from the ground,
 a mirage of a wretched girl
 being destroyed by drops of water,
 washing through and penetrating the corpse.

Your beauty is yours to command;
 my words of vanity, echoing
 with the false language of each stanza,
 cannot preserve it for posterity.

I will not hide your golden image –
this will not endure, but it will –
I will bring it back to you, your shape;
 Beloved, keep your life.

 

~ Corp-criadhach/Clay-corpse by Niall O’Gallagher

 

Over the last little while I have been looking into the historical use and folk references to the use of a corp criadhach in the hopes of finding out more for my own personal practice. Essentially, a corp criadhach or clay corpse/clay body is a Scottish variant of a poppet.

 

I have been working with poppets for a good while now for healing and other beneficial magic, but I have only come across one source that mentions them being used in love magic. For the most part in Scottish folk magic at least, they were used for more sinister purposes.

 

Faclair Gàidhlìg air son nan sgoiltean by Edward Dwelly describes them as:

"Clay corpse. When a witch desired to destroy any one to whom she had an ill-will, she often made a corpse of clay resembling the unfortunate one and placed it in some out-of-the-way burn under a precipice, in such a way that the water trickled slowly on it. As the clay body wasted so the live body of the person it resembled was also supposed to waste away. Were the body found, it was carefully preserved and so the spell of the witch was broken. Sometimes pins were stuck in the clay body to make the death of the doomed one more painful. Several such bodies have been found, even of late years."

John Gregorson Campbell also mentions as a material being used in Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. In the Lowlands of Scotland the corp criadhach was melted slowly by a fire, with the intention of causing a victim to suffer a slow and painful death.

 

In Perthshire a piece of wood stuck with pins was used against a minister. The out come was, "burning pains all over his body, and was slowly wasting away by some malady of which the nature could not be understood." Eventually the piece of wood was dug up by a woman who snuck up on the culprit while she was burying it, and once the pins were removed from the wood, the minister is said to have recovered. {Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland}

 

Another case is of Lady Fowlis {Catherine Ross} was indicted of witchcraft after she was accused of seeking the services of witches to create likenesses of her victims, fashioned out of clay. According to Alexander MacGregor in Highland Supersitions:

"The nature of these effigies can be explained. Such as were intended to be doomed, or destroyed, were formed out of clay into hideous figures, or rude statues larger than life-size. These were called cuirp-creadha or bodies of clay. Once formed, incantations and spells were uttered over them. Pins, nails, and feathers were pierced into them, and fairy arrows darted against them, with fearful oaths and imprecations. Such things Lady Fowlis resorted to for destroying her relatives..."

Perhaps one of the most popular examples can be found in Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft by Walter Scott, referencing the case of Isobel Gowdie:

"They devoted the male children of this gentleman (of the well-known family of Gordon of Park, I presume) to wasting illness, by the following lines, placing at the same time in the fire figures composed of clay mixed with paste, to represent the object: -- 

We put this water amongst this meal,
For long dwining and ill heal;
We put it in into the fire,
To burn them up stook and stour.
That they be burned with our will,
Like any stikkle in a kiln."

This is a practice that is reputed to have made its way over from Scotland to the "New World", at least by one person in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in the 1800's.

 

The one reference that I can recall figures being used in Scottish folk magic for love can be found in Selected Highland Folktales by Ronald McDonald Robertson. If any of my readers happen know of any other sources, please feel free to share them with me.
 

If you understand Gàidhlig, you can head on over to the Tobar an Dualchais website to hear some neat audio stories about clay corpses {stories can be found here, here, and here.}

Sláinte!

Laurel

Merry Lughnasadh!

{royalty free photo}

 

Walk softly, O man, past an acre of wheat,
With awe in your heart and your face.
Walk humbly, O man, and with reverent feet,
For strength slumbers here - Can't you feel its heart beat?
And beauty's own couch is an acre of wheat,
And holiness dwells in this place.

 

Breathe gently, O breeze, on the grain-heavy ears,
That drank long and deep of spring rain.
O breeze, ripple gently the yellow-tipped spears.
Our little ones, caught in the rush of the years,
Need growth that is stored in the wheat's golden ears
All mother-ripe now with smooth grain.

 

~ from Ballad of an Irish Wheat Field

 

Many blessings to you all and may have many bounties to celebrate!

 

Sláinte!

 

Laurel

And the Winner of the Lughnasadh Giveaway is...

....Vikki Sorros!

Congrats Vikki, your name was randomly selected and I will be sending you your goodies ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope you will all join me again for the giveaway that I will be doing for Samhain! :)

Laurel

Lughnasadh Giveaway Now Closed

The Lughnasadh giveaway is now closed. I will randomly draw a winner soon and will post the results within the next few days. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Lughnasadh Giveaway

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this giveaway posted folks! But here it is. This is what is in the Lughnasadh giveaway....

 

 

 

• One $20 Cyber Gift Certificate
• 1/2 oz Fertile Fields Incense
• Abundance Herbal Beeswax Candle
• Vintage J & G Meakin Studio "Poppies" Sugar Bowl
• "Country Remedies" by Karen Thesen
• Prosperity Herb Bottle Charm
• 10 Wee Baggies of Herbs

$20.00 Cyber Gift Certificate


{cyber gift certificate example}

I will email the winner a cyber gift certificate of $20.00 {CDN/US} value to the winner which can be used to either purchase from my Etsy shop or purchase services that are available on my website.

 

Fertile Fields Incense

 



Fertile Fields has a scent that is reminiscent of freshly mown hay thanks the sweet woodruff that it contains. Also added are elder berries, which gives it a touch of an earthy smell. This blend was created to be burnt for fertility, abundance, harvest blessings and other agricultural rituals, Lughnasadh and as an offering for Macha and equine allies. Some may find Fertile Fields is a suitable offering for other deities such as Tailtiu, Amaethon, or other deities associated with agriculture and the harvest.

Abundance Herbal Beeswax Candle

 

 

This candle is was made by me with harvest and abundance in mind. It is made from premium local beeswax which has been hand-poured into a small harvest-themed mason jar. Throughout the candle there are botanicals such as grain {locally grown}, lavender and meadowsweet {grown by me} and hawthorn berries and elderberries {wildcrafted by me}.

 

Vintage J & G Meakin Studio "Poppies" Sugar Bowl

 

I thought that this sugar bowl would make a lovely offering vessel for Lughnasadh {or Lammas} or perhaps would be suitable for a candle holder. The design is 1970's poppy motif by the English J & G Meakin Studio. It is in excellent condition and apparently this particular design is very collectable.

 

"Country Remedies" by Karen Thesen

Country Remedies by Karen Thesen is a lovely little book published in 1979. It is full of great herbal recipes and lore and the decorated with sweet botanical images. From the back of the book:

"A book full of natural wisdom & old wives' tales that work; the recipes & remedies that have been handed down for generations, from mother to daughter, from good fairy to godchild, to form the heart of self-sufficiency & country lore. Here are remedies that are born of experience & common sense, brewed up in country kitchens with ingredients from the pantry or gathered from gardens & fields."

This copy is in good shape with no missing pages. I think is a must for any herbfolk's library. :)

 

Prosperity Herb Bottle Charm

 

I made this little charm to draw in abundance and prosperity of all types. It is a little corked bottle with a variety of ingredients including grains, comfrey root, peppermint, juniper berries, bladderwrack, hollyhock leaves, and cinquefoil. The bottle was then sealed off with melted beeswax.



Ten Wee Baggies of Herbs

 

A gaggle of herbs that I recently harvested in my garden or out in some of my favourite wildcrafting haunts:

1. Mugwort {Caution: can be toxic!}
2. Goldenrod
3. Wormwood {Caution: can be toxic!}
4. Raspberry Leaves
5. Periwinkle Leaves {Caution: can be toxic!}
6. Viper's Bugloss
7. Lemon Balm
8. Common Tansy {Caution: can be toxic!}
9. Staghorn Sumac Berries
10. Blue Spruce Needles

***Should the winner live in a place where any of these herbs are considered controlled substances, then they can be replaced by another herb of choice {I will provide a list of what else I have available}.*** 

 

How to Enter the Giveaway



For those who are interested in entering, all you need to do is share a favourite summer/early fall recipe. All entries must be submitted to the comment section of this post; you can either just type it out there or link to a video or blog entry that is posted elsewhere. Previously some folks were having issues posting in my comment section, so I will accept entries that are emailed to me {unfetteredwood at yahoo dot ca} and I will post them in the comment section, along with listing who the name of the person it is for.  The winner will be drawn at random right after the closing date. Below you will see the vitals:

1. Only one entry per person.
2. Entrants must be 18 years or older.
3. The giveaway is open for all countries.
4. To enter you are not obligated to purchase anything from me or to subscribe to any of my social media haunts.
5. All entries must be submitted by Sunday July 28th at 3pm EST.
6. The winner will need to provide a mailing address to receive their pretties. The information provided will not be used for any other purpose than to receive their winnings. The information will not be given to anyone else, or sold to a third party.

*********

 

Good luck to all of you who enter!

 

Sláinte!

 

Laurel



Harvesting & Giving Thanks for Healing Herbs

 

Hello dear readers, I hope that everyone is having a lovely summer so far!

 

One of the most exciting times in my garden for me is when I get to harvest herbs in early summer. Last year I did a more in-depth post on some of the rituals that I do around this time for those who are interested. This post will just mostly be photos.

 

The lovely bounty.

 

My Midsummer shrine dedicated to Airmid & honeybees.

 

Offering stones, double pink columbine and hand-rolled beeswax candles.

 

 

Bee artwork done by Amanda Clark.

 

A vessel I made for healing.

In other news, I am getting everything together for a Lughnasadh giveaway, so stay tuned for that.

Sláinte!

Laurel