Scottish Folklore For Holy

September will be full of happiness

September will be full of blessings

September will be full of growth

September will be full of surprises

September will be full of positivity

September will be full of love

September will be full of kindness

Love Spell Masterpost

A collection of our favorite love (and love auxiliary) spells for Valentine’s Day and all year long. Remember to ask for consent before casting! 

Love (Attracting):

Shower Disks for Attracting Love 

Love Spell for a 3rd Party 

Jar for Attracting Romance

“Funnel of Love” Spell 

Love Drawing Bath Soak 

Bring Love My Way Spell

Simple Love Spell 

Simple Spell Jar for Love

The Love Stone

Love (Strengthening):

Love Spell Cocktail

Kitchen Witchcraft Pies for a Lover

Strength of Love Spell 

Spell to Strengthen Love 

To Make a Relationship Stronger

Lust and Sex:

Tea for Lust and Romance 

Spell for Passion

‘Shot to the Lust’ Mix

Sex Spell Candle 

Mermaid’s Kiss Enchantment

Sex Drive Sachet

Rose Romance Spray 

Spell to Improve Sex Life

Glamour:

Goddess Glamour Bath 

Goddess Glamour Shower Disks

Glamour Solid Perfume

Notice Me Glamour Spell

Lingerie Glamour Spray 

Glamour Facial Scrub 

How To Get Free Books On Folklore

I do not believe in gatekeeping knowledge, so this post will be sharing how I get all my folklore books for free, legally.

To explain, when a book gets over a certain age and the copyright is not upkept, it falls under “public domain.” When that happens, many different websites will provide those books as a free download.

This is not restricted to one type of book, either. You can grab anything from Sherlock Holmes to history books, to folklore, and more.

If you are looking for a specific book, you may have to check more than one source, so I suggest bookmarking more than one website.

Example Websites:

Internet Archive

Project Gutenberg

Google Books

Open Library

Electric Scotland (Scottish books)

Sacred Texts

National Library of Scotland: Ossain Collection

Forgotten Books

Hathitrust

For me when I download a book, I then upload them to my Google library so that I can use the search functions as well as bring up the books anywhere, but a popular PC option isCalibre.

If you are interested in Scotland-specific folklore, I do have some suggestions of books you can start with.

Scottish Folklore Books:

(link) A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Briggs (1976)

(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)

(link) Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1900)

(link) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1937)

(link) Notes on Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland by Walter Gregor, M.A. (1881)

(link) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)

(link) Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland by J. Maxwell Wood (1911)

(link) Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)

(link) Folk-Lore From The West of Ross-Shire by C.M. Robertson (1908)

(link) The Fairy Mythology / Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley (1850)

(link) Popular Tales of the West Highlands by John Francis Campbell (1862)

(link) Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales by Sir George Douglas

(link) The Scottish Fairy Book By Elizabeth W. Grierson (1918)

(link)

(link) Popular Superstitions of the Highlands By W Grant Stewart (1823)

Lughnasadh (sometimes written Lughnasa or Lúnasa) is a festival originating from Ireland that celebrates the start of the harvest season.

It is traditionally celebrated on August 1st (in the northern hemisphere) or halfway between the summer solstice and the fall equinox.

The festival is named for the Irish God Lugh and it is said that the festival started as a funeral feast and athletic competition to honor his mother or foster-mother Tailtiu who had died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture.

Hey Mate, got tips for Brigid Worship that doesn't involve American/English/Wiccan stuff? I'm an Irish ex-Catholic who's trying to worship the Tuatha Dé Danann (I'm mainly focusing on Brigid because I loved her Saint equivalent growing up), but a lot of my research keeps showing me English/American Neogpagan and Wiccan Shite. Any advice?

hey mate! i’ll link some resources for you to peruse, hopefully they help. mix up of gaelic-centric and celtic-centric pagan resources

Gaol Naofa (a website discussing Gaelic polytheism)

Tairis (another website discussing Gaelic polytheism)

An Introduction to the Tuatha  Dé Danann (video)

Na hÉireanneach

A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland

Pagan Portals - Gods and Goddesses of Ireland: A Guide to Irish Deities

Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danann and of the Fianna of Ireland (not sure where to link, this was lent to me! fer sure you can find it though)

The Cailleach in Irish Megalithic Traditions

Druids, Deer, and Words of Power: Coming to Terms with Evil in Medieval Ireland

The Book of Celtic Magic: Transformative Teachings from the Cauldron of Awen by Kristoffer Hughes

The Religion of Ancient Celts 

Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts

Brigid of the Celts

An Introduction to Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism

The Tain (amazon bleugh)

Irish Imbolc Customs

Scottish Deities: Brighde

Brighid, Goddess and Saint

Tending Brighid’s Flame (amazon bleugh)

How to Make a Brighid Cross from Rushes

to keep in mind while reading: Cailleach is not a member of the Tuatha Dé, and her lore supersedes theirs by a long shot. The Cailleach - Brighid dichotomy is specifically a Scottish folkloric tradition and does not appear in Irish folkloric tradition.

as far as personal experience, i don’t know much about brighid. never formed a bond with her, honestly, and she’s never shown interest in me in return. but i still celebrate her feast and do a lot of basic worship of her that day.

my main tip for you would be that, well... it’ll seem harsh, but coming from a fellow irish person, the tuatha de danann are nothing like the catholic god. they don’t love you unconditionally, and they aren’t omnipresent or all knowing. wise and powerful, fer sure, but your relationship with them will be completely different and unfamiliar at first. 

the irish deities were originally venerated ancestors. they became divine as the legends of them spread. the tuatha de danann are more like if an EXTREMELY powerful and respected war general was your landlord. offerings are less about connection and more about payin’ your rent! 

at the bare bones basics: there was an agreement between humans and them that they’d retreat from the war that was resulting in the near-extinction of both their peoples, IF the human invaders would leave part of their harvest goods for them on the mounds and edges of forests and windowsills on certain fests and holidays. with that deal struck, the tuatha de danann retreated underground beneath the faery mounds and very soil we stand on.

so keep in mind: the gods do not love you until you build that relationship. they’re not your parent, they’re not a friend. they are wiser, stronger, and more powerful than you in every way. holy fear should be part of it at first when it comes to irish deities. obviously you can still form a close bond, even worship them or become a close communicator! but you have to earn that first. 

Candle Magic Beyond Colors

A lot of people talk about color correspondences with candles, but a candle's potential in magic runs way deeper than that! Here's a list of things I don't see people mention as much:

Loading a Candle

Carve out a small hole in the bottom of the candle and stuff it with herbs, a name, whatever else you want to "fill" the candle with.

Carvings

Etch sigils, symbols, names, and other things into the candle before burning! (I like the idea of writing my problems/worries onto the candle then watching as they burn and melt away.)

Dressing a Candle

Much like loading a candle, mix your herbs in an oil or have a pre-made magical oil ready to cover your candle in before lighting.

Reversals

Chop off the top of the candle, flip it upside down, and carve a new wick out of the bottom (now top.) This is a good way to inverse its symbolism!

Shape of Candle/Container

Not all candles are little cylenders. Candles shaped like pyramids, spheres, hearts, skulls, or animals can all have those correspondences taken into account as well.

Life of the Flame

Some candles are meant to only burn for a short period of time then be blown out. (Like birthday candles.) Others are meant to burn continuously over multiple days (like yahrzeit candles or seven-day candles.) Others can be lit or extinguished as you please. Which one makes the most sense for your goals?

Burning or Beacon?

A candle flame is a light in the darkness, drawing things near. It's also literal fire which can burn away whatever it touches. Which one is your candle trying to do, burn out something undesired or serve as a beacon for what you DO desire? Plan accordingly.

Read the Wax

Always a classic, you can read the shapes made from the wax once the spell is complete to get a gage of how things went/are going. Followup information is always good and can tell you a lot!!

Protection from Fairies: Juniper

Just like rowan, juniper is sometimes mentioned as being lucky and a ward to keep away the evil eye. Where Juniper is truly useful, though, is for saining. Saining is essentially purifying a person or area, and juniper was one of several tools that could be used to do this.

Juniper, or the mountain yew, was burned by the Highlanders both in the house and in the byre as a purification rite on New Year’s morning. Like all magical plants, it had to be pulled in a particular manner. The Silver Bough: Volume 1  by F. Marian McNeill (1957-1968)

“This plant is a protection by sea and land, and no house in which it is will take fire. It must be pulled by the roots, with its branches made into four bunches, and taken between the five fingers…” The History of Witchcraft in Europe by Various Authors

Drawing of a branch of Juniperus communis with fruit cross-section and catkin. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), v. 15, 1911, p. 557

The…Other Children of Lir

Lost princes || A family dynasty || Judgment 

Continuing my (very very slooow and overly specific) journey through Irish tradition, I wanted to talk about some of the more mysterious personages.  Tw for two (brief) mentions of assault/dubious consent, without detail. Manannan mac Lir is probably one of the better known figures (which is why he’s the jumping off point for so much of my writing) alongside his foster son Lugh and his pupil Aengus - but he’s also given an extensive family of children, including Mongan, Eachdond Mor, and Gaidiar. None are quite as well-known or have stories so well-preserved (apart from possibly Niamh of the Golden Hair) but what we do know about them is interesting. Niamh could probably do with her own post so I’ll respectfully leave her out of this one. Aine is also given as Manannan’s daughter in certain sources but I couldn’t verify this and she would also need her own feature.

Mongan is interesting in that in most stories of his birth he’s half human, half tuatha de - if such a division can be considered clear cut. In The Voyage of Bran, Manannan stops Bran (another appearance of Lough Foyle) at sea to tell him that he’s going to concieve a son who’ll be a great hero. Stories vary but generally, Mongan’s father Fiachna (meaning crow) is fighting in Scotland. He’s losing, until Manannan shows up and says he’ll help, for a price. Fiachna makes the old mistake - “I’ll give anything” - and Manannan asks for his wife. In other (nicer) versions, Fiachna’s wife is well aware and the all three people involved consent. Mongan is raised in the Otherworld until his late teens, when he returns to start his job as King. Interestingly, he doesn’t seem that interested in ruling and spends his time drinking wine and playing games. He has to be prompted into making decisions by his father, and even then he retains a sense of ennui and longing to return to the Otherworld. He shapeshifts into children, a washerwoman, a priest - he has as many faces and is as fluid as you’d expect.

Eachdond Mor, Mongan’s older brother, is pictured sitting as Manannan’s left hand, accompanied by his ally Abartach, a trickster who shares a name with a character from the story of the Gilla Decair and a “wizard”/sidhe lord/creature from Garvagh in Ulster, and may be connected with Midir.

Gaidiar is Eachdond’s brother, and commits “adultery” with Becuma, a “woman of the sidhe” (in some tellings he assaults her, in others it is consensual) while they are both in prior relationships, for which she is expelled from Tir na Nog beginning a saga involving a king falling in love with her and accidentally cursing Ireland. Becuma, as the woman, is treated as solely responsible while Gaidiar - and the king - seemingly avoid repercussions. 

Both brothers in their very brief appearances are portrayed as powerful lords or kings in their own right, rubbing shoulders with Aengus, the Dagda, Finbhara and Bodb Derg. 

((I’ll probably come back and edit this since I know there’s a story I’m forgetting, but I’m too tired to remember it properly now, but hopefully somebody finds it interesting!))

Historical Hogmanay (Scottish New Year)

Hogmanay is the name for the Scottish New Year Eve, and was once thought to be a time when the veil was thin, allowing all sorts of creatures from the Otherworld into ours. Some theorize that this supernatural aspect is even where the name came from.

 “We know that on this night it was considered necessary to propitiate the dwellers in fairy-land, who, with the Phynnodderees, Witches, and Spirits of all kinds, were abroad and especially powerful. We may, therefore, perhaps translate Hog-man-aye into Hanga-man-ey–“mound-men (for) ever,” the Fairies being considered as dwellers in the hows (or tumuli, or green mounds)…-“ The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man by A. W. Moore[1891]

The pagan roots of the festival were once clear, and some locations held onto those traditions longer than others. For example, the Isle of Man once had a person puppet a horses head made of wood that was called White Mare.

“He went round the table snapping the horse’s mouth at the guests who finally chased him from the room, after much rough play.” The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man by A. W. Moore[1891]

Similarly, some places in Scotland had a person in a cows hide who would be chased around the house by people with sticks.

“Each then pulled off a piece of the hide, and burnt it for the purpose of driving away disease.” The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man by A. W. Moore[1891]

Many of the traditions have died out, while others might still seem familiar.

Fires

For some on the last day of the year, the fire was to be smothered and made smooth. First thing in the morning, you would look for prints in the ash.

“The first thing on New Year’s morning was to examine if there was in the ashes any mark like the shape of a human foot with the toes pointing towards the door. If there was such a mark, one was to be removed from the family before the year was run. Some climbed to the roof of the house and looked down the “lum” for the dreaded mark.” Notes on Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland by Walter Gregor, M.A. (1881)

For others, the fire was not allowed to go out all night.

"It was a practice not to be neglected to keep the fire alive in the house all night. No one was to come near it but a friend, and, as an additional security against its going out, candles were kept burning. Hence, the other name given to the night, Oidhche Choinnle, i.e. candle night." Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

If the fire did go out, you would be on your own. It was considered unlucky to give out fire on the first day of the year, so your neighbors would be unlikely to assist.

“It gave the means to witches and evilly-disposed people to do irreparable mischief to the cattle and their produce. The dying out of the fire was, therefore, a serious inconvenience in days when lucifer matches were unknown.” Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

Juniper Saining

“On New Year’s day the Highlanders burned juniper before their cattle.” Old Scottish Customs, Local and General by Ellen Emma Guthrie 1885

Saining is a set of practices to cleanse or ward off evil, and juniper smoke is one example of it. Saining could be done at any time of year, but it was though to be stronger during times when the veil was thin.

Every room was cleansed with the smoke, and so were humans and cattle.

“Stewart in his “Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland” tells how on the last night of the year the Strathdown Highlanders used to bring home great loads of juniper, which on New Year’s Day was kindled in the different rooms, all apertures being closed so that the smoke might produce a thorough fumigation. Not only human beings had to stand this, but horses and other animals were treated in the same way to preserve them from harm throughout the year. Moreover, first thing on New Year’s morning, everybody, while still in bed, was asperged with a large brush.” Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, by Clement A. Miles, [1912]

Mumming

Mumming or guising is something people tend to associate with Halloween (trick-or-treating), but it also happened on Christmas and Hogmanay. Mummers (commonly poor folk) would entertain in exchange for food and drink.

Here is an example of just one rhyme:

“Get up, goodwife, and shake your feathers, And dinna think that we are beggars; For we are bairns come out to play, Get up and gie’s our hogmanay!” Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, by Clement A. Miles, [1912]

Drinking

This is something people will recognize; drinking. People would get together with food and drinks (typically het pint).

“On the approach of twelve o’clock, a hot pint was prepared—that is, a kettle or flagon full of warm, spiced, and sweetened ale, with an infusion of spirits. When the clock had struck the knell of the departed year, each member of the family drank of this mixture ‘A good health and a happy New Year and many of them’ to all the rest, with a general hand-shaking.” Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, by Clement A. Miles, [1912]

When midnight hit, you would share with neighbors.

"Even the poorest in Scotland exchange sips of hot spiced ale, and make offerings of cakes, buns, and shortbread to their neighbours when ushering in the New Year on the stroke of midnight." Manners, Customs, and Observances: Their Origin and Significance by Leopold Wagner[1894]

First Footing

Who was first to enter your home on the new year could alter your luck for the year.

“The first-footers are off and away, flying in every direction through the city, singing, cheering, and shaking hands with all and sundry.” Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, by Clement A. Miles, [1912]

For many places, you would hope it to be a dark-haired man.