I am Rowan Morrison, daughter of Evelyn and Alick Morrison. Granddaughter of Evelyn and William Irvine, and Violet and John Morrison. Great granddaughter of Kate and Issac Lockyer. Grace and James Irvine. Jemima and John Morrison, and Mary and John Ballantyne. 

 

I hear the calling on a deep soul level to the land of my birth and the worlds of myth and magic. I am a Daughter of the Cailleach, creator and first ancestor of Scotland. The greatest crone of them all. The old woman of the otherworld. The primordial giantess of land, sea, and sky. The wise woman spirit who has taught me many things. This calling is the fire in my blood and breath in my bones.

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Writing about myself feels strange. I have always hated labels; they are, by nature, limiting, but I feel forced to use them to try and describe the key parts of myself that inform my current work. Here goes........

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STORYTELLER (SEANACHAIDH)

As a child, I would sit by the hearth and listen to my bird-charming granny tell stories. I knew that words were magical, for when they were spoken, they somehow transformed into living, breathing images in my mind. Fed by my imagination, their enchanted threads led me into the depths of the dark forest where I met wicked witches, covens of crones, and my mither, the Cailleach. 

 

This planted a seed in my heart that was nourished by my hunger for knowledge of the lore and tales of my land. It was an alchemical reaction that ultimately led to me becoming a storyteller who speaks in the 'mither tongue' as Scots vernacular is a beautiful language.

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I am pulled like a moth to the flame to stories connected to the landscape, such as the Cailleach tales. To supernatural stories of witchcraft and dark magic. Tales from the liminal place where land meets the sea. Stories of Scotland's mythical female creatures.  I have told stories at the local and international levels and was interviewed about Scottish bardic traditions.

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I trained in Community Drama and Arts and became a Theatre of the Oppressed Facilitator. I earned a degree in Community Eduction at Edinburgh University and specialised in adult education and went on to work in the fields of domestic abuse and health and wellbeing. 

 

After years of writing original short stories and rewriting traditional tales, I self-published my first book, The Witches of Culross. A weaving of historical fact and fiction that was inspired by the true story of a mother and daughter from Culross who were both executed for the crime of witchcraft. It is threaded with belief and customs, and the dialogue is written in Old Scots. 

 

If the Carlin Wife approves, I will create a new performance for this year's Scottish International Storytelling Festival and finally finish my Anthology of Scottish Witch Folktales, which explores the witch in Scottish folklore and will highlight the importance of lore as a credible source for the subject of the Scottish Witch Hunts. 

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WISE WOMAN (BEAN FEASA)

I​ was born with a strong connection to spirits of the otherworld, but as a child, there was no one to teach me the old ways. No unbroken lineage of ancestral healers. I learnt my craft from the spirits that spoke to me, the land of my birth and the traditions of my people. Walking a solitary path is difficult, and my visions were often overwhelming. I tried to shut this doorway to the otherworld. I did not want this sight. I believed it was a curse that branded me as an outsider. This was not a choice! I was chosen by the spirits.  

 

​​I could not ignore the calling. In this process, a recurring dismemberment dream led me to shamanism. I fell in love with the power of the drum as a way to connect with ancestral and familiar spirits. To deepen my understanding of the unseen and dream worlds. I trained as a shamanic practitioner and qualified as a cross-cultural teacher with Sandra Ingerman, a world-renowned shamanic teacher. But for me, without ancestral roots, some of these teachings lacked power. 

 

The message from the spirits was loud and clear. I was to reclaim the magic of my people. My life had come full circle, I immersed myself in the lore, tales and animistic folk magic practices of Scotland. I put the meat on the bones of the cross-cultural courses, and researched the forgotten practice of keening, which enabled me to create a vocal form of psychopomp that I have used to cross over the earthbound spirits of the women accused of witchcraft. 

 

​​WITCH ANUM CARA 

I have always had a relationship with the dead. It took me many years to accept this was my purpose. Now, the threads of my life have come together to weave an intimate understanding of the part I play in crossing over the souls of accused witches and teaching this form of vocal psychopomp.  

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I view the burning times through a spiritual lens. I believe that this traumatic period has caused a deep generational wound. Many women know that if they had lived during the witch hunts, they would have shared the fate of the accused. What happened to them has left a legacy of fear and a cultural entanglement of misunderstanding of our magical customs.

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I have always found it unforgivable that the accused were denied funerary rites.  At that time, most would have believed that without the observance of death customs, their soul would not ascend to heaven. It came to me in the dreamtime that, like the Bean Chaoite of old, I should keen to sing home the souls from the witchcraft trials. I built the small Cairn of Remembrance that I saw in the dream at the Crook of Devon, and became a Witch Anum Cara with a devotional practice to the dead.  

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I took part in an international documentary called 'Women who carry medicine. I allowed the crew to film a crossing-over ceremony and a healing where a spirit entered my body.  I have created memorial events and collaborated with other creatives whose work is inspired by the Scottish witch hunts. We call ourselves the Creative Coven - 1563. Telling the stories of the accused witches and creating art is a powerful act of remembrance in recognition of the injustice they suffered at the behest of state and religious authorities. 

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When I am not doing all of the above, I can be found creating strange things and walking around Loch Leven with my two little dogs, Angus and Florrie.