S6 Ep 19 From Lochlann to Éire: A Cailleach Story from the Outer Hebrides

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OUR STORY

This tale from the Outer Hebrides weaves together an unjust king, a sovereign maiden, and the Cailleach. It originates in a certain place on Isle of Harris, but spans many landscapes from Lochlann (Norway) to Éire (Ireland).

Tracy Chipman received this story of the Cailleach Squire in the late 1990s from an islander from the village of Leverburgh named Norman MacLeod. It has never been published, and was given to Tracy in hopes that she’d preserve and share it as part of the Hebridean Folklore Project.

OUR GUEST

Tracy Chipman is a somatic healing artist, oral storyteller, creative writer, and a certified TRE® provider who weaves together ancient and new experiences designed to invite us into deeper connections with ourselves and the animate world. She resides in Washburn, Wisconsin, on the traditional territories of the Ojibwe peoples. In March 2023 Tracy published her first book, Borealis Mundi - Resting in Place, Loss & Grace. 

Learn more about her work. www.tracychipman.net, IG @all.here.dwell.free, Substack: allheredwellfree.substack.com, and Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/tchipman_storyteller

OUR CONVERSATION

• Meeting the elemental powers of the land in an “un-storied” way rather imposing our expected stories upon them.
• The language and the access to the imaginal that has been lost in modernity
• The power of orality. We reference a recent article by Sophie Strand (a guest S2 Ep 3 and S4 Ep3) called Against Self Capture.
• The understanding of sovereignty and virginity as being related to being complete unto oneself
• The experience of telling stories in certain atmospheres and how different elements emerge.
• The sweetest sound in the world, according to Finn MacCool: “the music of what happens”
• What it’s like to tell Scottish stories on Turtle Island, being aware of appropriation and learning how to stay centered in yourself when called out. The messiness and difficult encounters when doing cultural work

Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com

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